Can I get to the other side?.

Chapter 50 Dilemma
Liu Bei's attack on Pei County had lasted for exactly five days.

Attacking a city is a very time-consuming task. It is usually based on siege, cutting off the enemy's food supply lines, and forcing the enemy to surrender after the food in the city is exhausted. It is rare for a large army to attack by force.

Because cities are easy to defend but difficult to attack, if you want to attack by force, you will need at least several times the number of troops as the defenders in the city to be able to capture it, and it will also cost you heavy casualties, which is often not worth the effort.

There were as many as 6,000 defenders in Pei County. It was like a dream for Liu Bei to capture the city with only 5,000 men.

But with the military order, even though he knew that the possibility of 5,000 people taking Pei County was almost zero, he still had to send troops to attack, to fight for that glimmer of hope.

So on the first day after arriving outside Pei County, Liu Bei personally commanded the army and launched a fierce attack on Pei County under the cover of night, hoping to capture Pei County by surprise, but the result was not satisfactory.

Not only did many of the 5,000 soldiers die, but many of the remaining soldiers were injured, and their morale was low and their troops were scattered, forcing him to rest and think of countermeasures.

This thinking took me four full days.

At the foot of a mountain ten miles away from Pei County, Liu Bei's Shanying was stationed, and also there was Yuan Shao's 50,000 troops stationed there to support him.

The dark tents were everywhere on the mountains, which looked extremely shocking from a distance.

At this time, on a small hill in the camp, Liu, Guan and Zhang were standing here, looking at Pei County in the distance.

"Five days have passed..."

Liu Bei sighed, with an indelible sadness on his face.

In the past few days, he had not slept well because of the tremendous pressure brought by the military order. He felt anxious every time he thought about it.

How can we capture Pei County?

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei saw this and although they were worried about their elder brother, they could not think of a better solution.

Zhang Fei could not help but said anxiously: "Brother, let's find a way to escape quickly. With so few soldiers left, how can we possibly capture Pei County?"

A group of remnant soldiers captured Pei County in five days.

It's totally a fantasy!

Liu Bei smiled bitterly and said, "We can't escape. There are people watching us in the barracks. If we try to escape, Yan Liang and Wen Chou will know immediately."

"Yuan Shao didn't send these two here just for show."

If he could escape, Liu Bei would have done so long ago.

But the key point is that there is no chance of escape at all. Yan Liang and Wen Chou kept a close eye on them and even sent people to check on the situation every day.

How to escape with such precautions?
Once they were discovered, Yan Liang and Wen Chou would immediately lead a large army to hunt them down. How could the three of them defeat an army of tens of thousands?
Guan Yu's eyes flashed with a fierce look, and he said, "Why not just go all out and burn the food and supplies and the military camp before running away? Then we'll see whether Yan Liang and Wen Chou will chase us or put out the fire first!"

Food and supplies are the most important things for the army. If the food and supplies are burned, the army may directly collapse. He doesn't believe that Yan Liang and Wen Chou will not even care about this.

Liu Bei still rejected this proposal, shaking his head and saying: "I have seen them, they have long been on guard, this strategy will not work."

It's not like he hadn't thought about this plan. On that day, he went to the food and supplies area to take a look and found that the number of soldiers patrolling and guarding the area was three times the usual number.

It was obvious that the other side was preventing them from setting fire to the food supplies.

"These two damn guys!"

Zhang Fei was extremely angry when he heard this, but he had no place to vent his anger, so he could only punch a nearby pine tree hard, leaving a deep fist mark on it and causing the entire tree to shake.

"I would rather lead my troops to attack a city and die on the battlefield than be punished by military law!"

"Brother, let me lead the troops to attack the city tomorrow. If we succeed, we will continue to be brothers in this life. If we fail, we will be brothers in the next life!"

Zhang Fei simply looked down upon these two guys, Yan Liang and Wen Chou.

He would rather die in battle than die at their hands! Guan Yu also said in a deep voice: "Brother, I will go with my third brother! We live or die! What is there to be afraid of!"

Faced with the two brothers' request for battle, Liu Bei remained silent.

Is this the last resort?

"Liu Xuande, oh Liu Xuande, you have the blood of the Han Dynasty flowing in your veins. A mere Pei County has pushed you to the point of desperation!"

"What a irony!"

Liu Bei felt bitter and full of self-blame.

If he had not coveted the huge appeal brought by the emperor's edict and had not gone to the emperor privately, how could he have fallen into Yuan Shao's trap and ended up in such a predicament?
It wouldn't matter if he died, but what made him most ashamed was that his two brothers had to die with him.

Liu Bei sighed, turned around and walked towards the military camp, leaving behind only one sentence full of fatigue: "Let me think of another way."

Until the last moment, he didn't want Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to lead the troops to attack the city personally, because that would be no different from committing suicide.

If that moment really came, he would not live like this.

"Brother, don't hesitate!"

Zhang Fei shouted at Liu Bei's back: "Just let me and my second brother lead the troops to attack the city. Maybe we can take it down!"

"Besides, it's not a good idea to drag it on like this. Is it possible that Lu Bu will honestly return Pei County to us?"

After he said this, Liu Bei paused.

He suddenly turned around and looked at Zhang Fei, his eyes gleaming with brilliance, and asked, "Yide, what did you just say?"

Zhang Fei was stunned for a moment, scratched his head and said, "I said, let me and my second brother lead the troops to attack the city, maybe we can capture it."

"Not this one, but the next one!"

"It's not a good idea to drag it on like this. Is it possible that Lu Bu will honestly return Pei County to us?"

"Yes! That's right! This is it! This is it!"

Liu Bei slapped his thigh, his face full of excitement, and he couldn't help laughing out loud.

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were frightened by him.

The two looked at each other and saw the worry in each other's eyes.

Brother...are you crazy?

After a long while, Liu Bei took a deep breath, suppressed his excitement, and said with a sharp look in his eyes: "Yunchang, Yide, I have a solution!"

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei felt even more puzzled.

Zhang Fei, in particular, looked strange and asked, "Brother, you don't really want Lu Bu to return Pei County to us, do you?"

"why not?"

Liu Bei had no intention of joking and said seriously: "Although Lü Bu is fickle and can be called a villain, he has no ambition to establish his own regime. He can even be called loyal to the Han Dynasty and Your Majesty."

"If not, why would Your Majesty personally confer the title of Marquis Wen on him?"

"Your Majesty is now controlled by Yuan Shao. I just need to tell Lu Bu about your situation and unite with him to help me overcome my current predicament. He may agree!"

This is the solution he came up with to break the impasse!

(End of this chapter)