People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 354 Tangled
In the mountain camp, the soldiers were resting separately. Although it was difficult to effectively organize a large army in such a place, under Zhou Yu's arrangement, the soldiers still had their respective responsibilities and order. The army distributed throughout the mountains and forests was scattered but not empty, and loose but not slack.

In complex woodlands, as long as Zhou Yu's army rests, the main mountain roads will be opened up as soon as possible, so that the army can respond and assemble quickly in any situation.

In the distant mountains and forests, Zhou Yu also sent out a large number of spies and scouts to give timely warnings if anything was wrong.

Fighting in the mountains is not an easy task. Just marching can stump most generals. Only top talents like Zhou Yu can handle the current situation with ease.

However, Zhou Yu was not in a very good mood at this time. He frowned and looked gloomy. He crumpled a piece of letter into a ball and threw it into the fire.

"I didn't expect that Xuan Xia's attack target this time was not just Yuzhou. Cao Cao's letter reported that Xuan Xia had large armies from Jizhou and Qingzhou heading south. I'm afraid the battle has already begun."

As he spoke, Zhou Yu had already stood up and looked towards the depths of the forest in the south, his eyes full of helplessness and unwillingness.

It's just a little bit short, just a few more days.
"Alas, the enemy's timing is too critical. In this case, we may have to let Lu Meng go." Lu Su also stood up, his face equally uncomfortable.

He knew that the army should go down the mountain. Now that a stronger enemy was approaching, they had to put more energy into dealing with the stronger enemy.

As for Lu Meng, although it would only take a few more days to defeat the opponent, he had to give up now.

Zhou Yu let out a long sigh, but then he smiled and adjusted his mentality very quickly: "It doesn't matter. When fighting with the enemy, why can't we just fight back and forth? Let's deal with their tricks first. You little thief Lu Meng, there will be plenty of opportunities to deal with him!"

Perhaps it is a common characteristic among strong people that both Zhou Yu and Cao Cao can quickly dispel the depression brought by difficulties and will not hesitate because of it.

Zhou Yu's carefree and confident attitude obviously infected Lu Su, who also smiled and said, "In that case, let's order a retreat."

They were indeed not the kind of people who hesitated. Since they knew they had no choice, they made the decision very happily. Even though this retreat would make all the previous efforts to encircle and suppress Lu Meng go to waste, they accepted it calmly.

When the order to retreat was given, a young general in Zhou Yu's army suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. If Lu Meng was here at this time, he would definitely exclaim in surprise. This man was Lu Meng's brother-in-law Deng Dang.

Deng Dang took the initiative to follow Sun Ce into the army three years ago, intending to take Lu Meng with him, but the plan was ruined by a book called "The Book of Nature".

Now Deng Dang followed Sun Ce in his campaigns to the east and the west, and gradually accumulated a lot of military merits. He became a middle-level general in the army and had made some achievements.

However, when he was doing well, he wanted to give some advice to his brother-in-law Lu Meng. However, when he inquired about the facts, he was shocked.

He had never expected that Lu Meng would be so bold that he would pick up a book called "The Book of Nature" and actually imitate the man in the north to rebel. He remembered that Lu Meng was obsessed with reading books and finally caused a disaster.

What surprised him even more was that Lu Meng's ruckus really caused quite a stir, and he even created a large commotion with tens of thousands of people in Runan. This had caused headaches for the princes for several years, but they were unable to do anything about him.

If Lu Meng was just a petty thief and was quickly suppressed, Deng Dang would only think that this kid was courting death.

But Lu Meng is now considered a local hero, and Deng Dang actually admires him a little. To some extent, it can be said that Lu Meng is doing much better than his brother-in-law.

However, Lü Meng was his brother-in-law after all, which was very disadvantageous to him in the army. Fortunately, this relationship was unknown to outsiders, so Deng Dang never made it public. But he never expected that he would have to follow the army to attack Lü Meng in the end, which was really fatal.

Deng Dang could imagine that if he really killed Lu Meng, his wife would definitely fight with him to the death when he returned home.

Deng Dang followed the army into this battle. Although he seemed to be calm on the surface, he was actually praying for Lu Meng every day.

When he saw Huang Gai leading his army to the battle, he was so worried that his heart was about to jump out of his chest. He was very worried that Lu Meng would be defeated by this old general. When he saw Huang Gai coming back in defeat, he almost couldn't hold back his laughter.

But this happiness only lasted for a few days. With Zhou Yu's intervention, the situation soon became one-sided.

The more smoothly his side advanced, the more tormented and conflicted Deng Dang became. He couldn't really just watch the army kill his wife's brother.

But I can’t even save others by myself, which is really fatal.

Deng Dang's mind was full of thoughts on how to break the impasse, but he could not find any good solution.

Finally, at the most dangerous moment, the turning point came.

Deng Dang finally breathed a sigh of relief after hearing the order for the army to retreat. Although he didn't know why they had to retreat, at least he didn't have to face torture.

The army moved quickly and soon evacuated along the original route. During the entire evacuation process, they still maintained sufficient vigilance.

Deng Dang followed the army, and before leaving, he looked back into the depths of the forest.

You are lucky this time, but it may not be the case next time. You must take advantage of this opportunity to develop yourself. If you encounter this again in the future, I, your brother-in-law, will not be able to save you.
Perhaps he felt something in his heart, Lu Meng, who was far away in the deep mountains and forests, suddenly turned his head at this moment.

It might take some time for the news of Zhou Yu's army's retreat to reach here, so he just took a quick look, dispelled the strange feeling, and then focused his attention back on the present.

In front of him was Li Zheng, who was also sitting under the tree. At this moment, Li Zheng was chattering away, imparting his experience to him.

"In fact, the leader has been paying attention to you for a long time. Before I set out, the leader told me his views on the development of Runan. The leader said that the brothers in Runan have been behind enemy lines for a long time and will be besieged for a long time. This situation is different from when we were developing in Youzhou.

During the Youzhou period, each prefecture and county fought against each other, and after the Yellow Turban Rebellion, a large number of prefecture and county officials were missing. We mostly faced pressure from one county at a time, so we were able to gradually grow and develop.

But you are different. Now the southern states and counties have united and they have a unified command. To some extent, this environment is worse than ours. It is simply not possible for you to follow our path. "

Hearing Li Zheng's words, Lu Meng nodded frequently, and gradually had a clear idea about his own development: "So what path should we take?"

Li Zheng smiled and said, "The leader's opinion is that Runan may not be able to confront the enemy head-on for a long time, so we cannot focus on developing counties, but should take root in the vast rural areas."

(End of this chapter)