People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 561 Benevolence and Righteousness
Standing on the top of Jiangling City, looking out at the sky and the earth, there is a clear sky, the Yangtze River is rushing on the ground, and there are continuous mountains in the distance. All these elements finally form a magnificent landscape picture.

If a poet visits this place, he will inevitably be inspired by the things he sees and compose a magnificent poem.

But Liu Bei, standing on the top of Jiangling City, had no such interest at all. He was not as talented in poetry as Cao Cao, and he had no such leisure time at this moment. Even if he was really asked to compose a poem, the poems he produced would definitely not be as magnificent and generous works as "Viewing the Sea" and "Short Song", but only his full of worries and sorrows to express.

No matter how magnificent the mountains and rivers before his eyes were, in Liu Bei's eyes at this moment, they were nothing more than a declining state.

The Shu Han Dynasty had already reached its end, and the mission of supporting the Han Dynasty was out of the question. Even revenge for the second and third brothers seemed to have become a complete luxury.

Liu Bei clearly realized that this was the end of his life and career.

If Liu Bei were asked to express his emotions through poetry at this time, it would only be like Li Yu's "Spring River Flowing Eastward".

The Shu army outside the city has already assembled. An army of 60,000 to 70,000 has been stationed in Jiangling for several months. This has prevented Lu Meng, who occupied Xiangyang, from making further advances and ensured the safety of the hinterland of Jingzhou.

Of course, in the same way, Sun Quan, who was stationed in Wuling County, was also on guard against Wuli Zhanglu in Shuzhong.

Unfortunately, at this point, they can no longer continue to retreat like this. The long-term persistence has already exhausted their food reserves. If they don't want to starve to death, they can only take the initiative to seek change.

At this juncture, there was indeed not-so-good news coming from the front line. Zhou Yu in Changsha was in the same desperate situation as them and had to seek a head-on battle with the Yellow Turbans. He wrote a letter asking for help in order to gather all his forces and fight with all his strength.

The army has gathered under the city gate. Next, they will rush to Changsha for the final battle. Everything will be settled in this battle.

"Your Majesty, the army has assembled and it's time for us to leave." At some point, Xu Shu quietly came to Liu Bei.

Liu Bei nodded, and looked at the city behind him with melancholy and helplessness: "Yes, it's time to go. I have been hiding for several months. It's finally time to face it."

Xu Shu said in a deep voice: "In this decisive battle, our army of more than 300,000 soldiers may not be unable to gain a glimmer of hope. It is not the end of the road yet. Your Majesty, please do not be depressed!"

Liu Bei looked at him and just smiled faintly.

How could Liu Bei not understand whether there was still a glimmer of hope? The current Wu and Shu were just struggling to survive and refused to accept their fate. This trip was more like a journey to die to give himself an explanation than a battle at the front line.

There is no hope of supporting the Han Dynasty, and revenge for Guan Yu and Zhang Fei is even more of a fantasy. So ending one's life on the road to progress may be the best answer for oneself.

"After our army leaves, I think Lu Meng will lead his troops into Nanjun." Liu Bei looked in the direction of Xiangyang, as if he could already foresee the situation that after the army withdrew, Lu Meng would move in and take over everything.

Xu Shu nodded dejectedly: "Our army is running out of food and grass. We can no longer hold on. We can only give up the land."

Liu Bei shook his head and said, "I think the same thing will happen to Wuling County. After Sun Quan leaves, Wuli and Zhanglu will follow him in. In the end, we will defend it for several months but still won't be able to defend anything."

Xu Shu was silent for a while after hearing this. He actually felt very uncomfortable about it.

The entire process of responding to the Yellow Turbans' southern expedition from the beginning to now can be said to be very long, but the Wu and Shu armies have never actually had a direct battle with the Yellow Turbans. Even so, the situation has unknowingly turned to Xuan Xia's side.

The Yellow Turbans did not even need to seek a decisive battle. They could make the Wu and Shu armies flustered through various tactical maneuvers. They were led by the nose all the way without a thorough battle, and Wu and Shu found that they had lost all their land one after another. This feeling is like having no place to use your strength, like punching cotton.

In the end, they could not avoid actively seeking a decisive battle, and it was only now that they finally realized some of the problems.

Liu Bei sighed and blamed himself: "If you are afraid before the battle, you have already lost half the battle. We made a wrong move from the beginning. If we had not avoided the battle and hoped to stop the enemy on the other side, but actively let them in and seek a decisive battle, perhaps we would have had a better chance of winning."

Xu Shu smiled bitterly: "Your Majesty is right, but now that things have come to this, we can only accept the reality."

Xu Shu certainly understood that even if Liu Bei had taken the initiative to lure the Yellow Turbans across the river for a decisive battle as Liu Bei had said, things might not have turned out well. This was just a fantasy of Liu Bei's after his failure.

Of course, he would not burst Liu Bei's fantasy.

The whole process was so passive and difficult, not because of any wrong choices, but because of the huge gap in strength between the two sides.

In the face of absolute strength, all struggles are meaningless. Xuan Xia's strength is completely not on the same level as Wu Shu. It is already good enough that he can survive until now.

Liu Bei wanted to say something, but he paused as soon as he opened his mouth, then shook his head dejectedly.

It is useless to say anything at this time. In the end, I still have to accept the reality as Xu Shu said. Even if the last part of the road is the end of the road, I should finish it.
"Let's go and meet Xu Chen."

Liu Bei straightened his clothes, forced himself to cheer up, and finally had some imperial dignity, then walked towards the city.

Xu Shu followed closely behind, and the two of them walked down the city wall one after the other. Then, under the protection of their personal guards, they mounted their horses and rode slowly out of the city gate to join the army that had already lined up outside the city.

The eyes of tens of thousands of Shu troops were all focused on them, and everyone was looking at Liu Bei.

This is the monarch they serve.

The part of the army led by Liu Bei himself was his most core force, and these soldiers were also loyal to him.

After all, among the princes of the time, Liu Bei was quite benevolent and righteous, which made many people willing to follow him. This was his unique personal charm.

Liu Bei believed that the way of benevolence and righteousness he believed in was the righteous way of a king, so he could unite the people and should be the final winner.

This is what he believes in and he has always done so, and it has indeed achieved results.

If he were facing other enemies, with such a large army, Liu Bei would be confident that he could defeat the enemy no matter how difficult the situation was.

But the enemies he faces now make it difficult for him to have any confidence.

Because, even if it was a competition of benevolence and righteousness, that person was far more benevolent than himself, and the most righteous person in history. Even the path that he was best at and most comfortable with was far behind that person. He didn't know how he could defeat the other person.

Oh, the vast heaven, how unkind to me!
(End of this chapter)