Three Kingdoms.

  Chapter 1353 Mercy

  On the banks of the Sishui River, a group of people was rushing along the river bank in the direction of Xia Xiang. Walking in the middle of the queue was Liu Bei. He led 4,000 troops just to break the siege of Xia Xiang.

The prime minister originally had nearly 2,000 soldiers, but Zhang Fei brought another 2,000 soldiers with him, and the total number was nearly 4,000. If we mobilize some more civilians in the city, we should be able to gather 6,000 soldiers. , and even if Ji Ling has a large number of people, it should be somewhat difficult to "surround them with ten and attack them with five". How could Zhang Fei lose his support so quickly?

what is the problem?

  Liu Bei only thought about Zhang Fei's strength, but he didn't consider Zhang Fei's violent temper.

  When Zhang Fei came to the prime minister, he naturally wanted to call the peasants and send more money and food, so the nobles who were the prime minister quit. For these people, the only advantage of admitting Liu Bei is that Liu Bei's land tax is low. As a result, in a blink of an eye, Liu Bei's third brother is more ruthless in asking for money, food, and people than before. How can this be tolerated?

   What’s more, it’s Liu Bei who wants to fight Yuan Shu, and it’s not these low-ranking nobles who want to fight Yuan Shu. Anyway, don’t you have to pay food to any family, but it’s just more or less. It’s not worth fighting hard...

Another point, isn’t the basic skill of the Chinese people a bargaining skill? The gentry Haoyou, who is a prime minister, naturally thinks that Zhang Fei is asking for a lot of money, so he will naturally pay back the money, and then the middleman will make the difference, uh, wrong, negotiate A middle price, but I didn't expect that Zhang Fei, who has a bad temper, started right away without finishing three sentences!

   Immediately, the photos are all over the place!

  Finally Zhang Fei got the money and food he wanted, but it also planted the root of disaster. Not long after Ji Ling besieged the city, the gentry in Xiaxiang City, who felt that they had been humiliated by Zhang Fei, secretly communicated with Ji Ling in order to cooperate with each other. , It can't be said that Xiaxiang County has already changed hands.

After such a change, Zhang Fei immediately fell into a predicament when he was a prime minister. On the one hand, although Ji Ling's surprise attack was blocked, he suffered heavy losses. At the same time, Zhang Fei also doubted whether the other prime ministers had a second traitor. And Zhang Fei didn't know how to conceal such doubts, which made the photoshopped person even more uneasy...

  Others are doubting themselves, who is so stupid, and still wholeheartedly working for others?

  So he fell into a vicious circle, the more he doubted, the more eccentric he became, and the more eccentric he became, the more suspicious he became. In the end, Zhang Fei was helpless and had to ask Liu Bei for help.

Liu Bei really didn't expect Zhang Fei to be so unbearable. He originally thought that he could last for at least a month. Then the cold winter came, and Ji Ling's troops in the wild would not be able to retreat. It is possible, but now Liu Bei can only adjust his combat strategy...

  In the battle of the army, in many cases, no one can avoid the other. After all, there are only a few traffic arteries, and scouts from both sides are cruising in front of the army, and many things cannot be hidden at all.

Just like now, although Ji Ling knew of Liu Bei's arrival first, Liu Bei's scouts also quickly found out where Ji Ling's camp was, and Liu Bei prepared to set up camp ten miles away from Ji Ling's camp, and then Advancing can attack and retreating can be defensive, just like when he led soldiers to Xuzhou to rescue Tao Qian.

   But this time, Ji Ling was obviously unwilling to let Liu Bei set up camp so comfortably. It seemed that he had already prepared for it. He led a soldier and waited for Liu Bei to arrive at about ten miles away.

  Liu Bei had no choice but to travel a long distance, and if he fought, he would inevitably be at a disadvantage, so he could only avoid the edge first, and then retreated ten miles to the village...

  ………………

  In autumn and winter, the water level of the Sishui River has dropped a lot, and the water flow has also slowed down a lot.

  Looking to the distance on the other side, you can see Liu Bei's new camp, squatting there in darkness, motionless.

  Ji Ling deliberately drove Liu Bei ten miles away, just to let Liu Bei camp at this location. Here Surabaya turns, the water flow slows down, and you can swim directly.

  It was already night, and the stars were twinkling overhead, and when the moon was on the lookout, it was big and round hanging in the sky. The sky and the earth are quiet. In such a night, with such a beautiful scene, who would have thought that a **** fight would follow?

The torches and lights in Liu Bei's camp were burning at night, which added a bit of tranquility. Most of the soldiers were fast asleep. Wearing a fur hat, He Ge stood facing south, occasionally walking a few steps, moving his body stiffened by the night wind.

  Ji Ling's lieutenant Zhang Xun led his soldiers and horses from the hiding place on the other side of Surabaya, armed with soldiers, and led the horses to move forward gently. The horses had their mouths in their mouths, their knives were out of their sheaths, their guns were in their hands, and their bows and arrows were within reach on the side of their horses' backs. Twenty riders formed a triangular formation, a total of ten formations. Zhang Xun took the lead and walked in the front, and his personal guards followed closely on Zhang Xun's left and right sides, closely covering him.

  Liu Bei's camp was all focused on the south direction, and there was a river across Surabaya. He never expected that someone would cross Surabaya from behind and come to sneak attack, so almost no night patrol guards were dispatched in this direction.

  The sound of the splashing water seemed to be louder, but it still failed to arouse the vigilance of Liu Bei's soldiers.

  The first cry finally sounded in the night sky, tearing apart the surrounding silence, as if it exploded in everyone's heart! And Zhang Xun led his men and horses, and had already rushed to a place four or five hundred steps away from Liu Bei's camp!

  The cavalrymen under Zhang Xun subconsciously stepped on the spurs and pierced them straight into the horse's belly. The horses could not scream with the spears in their mouths, so they could only spread their hooves and charge forward crazily!

Shouts followed one after another, and then all kinds of sounds came out together. Above the sentry tower in the camp, soldiers frantically knocked on the warning gong, and more torches were lit, and the swaying flames Among them, you can see many soldiers in Liu Bei's camp, rushing out of the tent in panic, ramming around without thinking!

   Liu Bei's low-level non-commissioned officers who were lying in their clothes stood up one after another, but the first thing they did was not to resist, but to quickly mobilize their own men to suppress Ying Xiao!

  The civilians who came with the army were already terrified, running and screaming. If there is no suppression, this panic will soon spread to the entire army, leading to incurable consequences!

So when Zhang Xun approached Liu Bei's camp with his cavalry, except for a few soldiers on the two sentry towers in the back camp who leaned out and opened their big infantry bows in an attempt to shoot, they were not attacked at all. stop.

But just relying on the few infantry on the sentry tower, how long can it last there? Under the counterattack of Zhang Xun's cavalry, the soldiers above Diao Dou on the sentry tower quickly screamed and went straight from Diao Dou. It fell straight down!

  Rockets shot in from outside the camp like shooting stars!

Because the focus of Liu Bei's defense is on the south, the north side is the rear camp, which means that a lot of food and supplies brought with the army have been piled up. As a result, a lot of rockets shot in by Zhang Xun's cavalry happened to be ignited, and suddenly ignited A lot of fire.

Normally, to pile up flammable items such as grain and grass, it is necessary to lay rattan mats outside, and then apply a thick layer of wet mud to prevent fire, but the problem is that today Liu Bei was driven back ten miles by Ji Ling. The time is not so abundant, and the days are short in winter, resulting in many tasks that should have been completed at night, including the detailed arson work in the camp...

  The flames rose up, illuminating Liu Bei's pale face.

  ………………

Liu Bei was in a state of desperation, and fled back to Xiapi with the remnants of the defeated generals. Of the 4,000 soldiers he brought out, only less than 1,000 came back. The fire did not directly lose much, and more of them sneaked away halfway. Those Danyang soldiers followed Liu Bei.

  The grain and grass were burned, and the morale of the army suddenly disappeared. If Liu Bei hadn't immediately chosen to transfer in on the spot, he might not be able to serve the party and the country anymore.

  Fortunately, Zhang Fei saw that the situation was not going well, abandoned the city and broke out of the siege, and found Liu Bei. A brave warrior like Zhang Fei is in his prime, unless there is a considerable opponent who can block him, otherwise Zhang Fei will break the surface with a point, and it is really difficult for ordinary soldiers to defend.

  Ji Ling has been besieging the city for many days, and the new city needs to be reorganized and repaired. Therefore, although he is not chasing all the way now, he will catch up sooner or later.

  However, when Liu Bei and Zhang Fei arrived at Xiapi, thinking about reviving Xiapi and continuing its glory, they found that the four gates of Xiapi were closed tightly, and the soldiers on the top of the city seemed to be facing an enemy.

  And outside the moat at the bottom of the city, there was only one person standing, with a crown and long sleeves, standing proudly in the cold wind. It was Chen Deng.

   "Chen Jiazi!" Zhang Fei slapped his horse forward, almost hit Chen Deng's nose with his spear, and shouted angrily, "What are you doing! Quickly let someone open the door and let a certain brother enter the city!"

"Third brother! Don't be reckless!" Liu Bei caught up, jumped off the horse, walked up to Chen Deng, glanced at Xiapi City, which was closed with four doors, and said to Chen Deng, "Yuanlong, this is...why? "

  Seeing this, Zhang Fei also jumped off his horse, leaned on his spear, and stood behind Liu Bei.

  Chen Deng didn't even look at Zhang Fei, but surong bowed to Liu Bei and said, "Master, do you want to save the people of Xuzhou? Do you want to harm the people of Xuzhou?"

   "This..." Liu Bei was a little angry in his heart, but he still said, "As a Mushou, it is natural to protect the people of one side...Why did Yuanlong say that?"

  Chen Deng glanced at Zhang Fei and said: "I heard that the three generals in Xiaxiang City whipped the gentry and blackmailed the people, so that the army and the people will be separated and the people will be defeated... Is this the way to protect the king?"

   Zhang Fei was so angry that he raised his fist the size of a sandbag and was about to beat Chen Deng, but was stopped by Liu Bei.

   "The third brother has a reckless personality, and under his impatience, his behavior was slightly inappropriate..." Liu Bei said to Chen Deng, "Being willing to take the blame for the third brother..."

"Brother!" Zhang Fei raised his beard, stared wide-eyed, spit at Chen Deng, and yelled loudly, "What are you guilty of, what are you charged with? At the time of the battle, he refused to pay the food and salary, and delayed the military plane. Beheaded! A certain one was just whipped, already pardoned, what more crime!"

   "Losing a city is a serious crime! Beheading according to the law!" Chen Deng said bluntly, "If the three generals want to discuss military law, they will immediately obey the law here!"

   "Nonsense! I'm going to kill you!" Zhang Fei was furious, and Liu Bei almost couldn't hold back.

"The three generals can kill a certain person, but they can kill all the people in the world! Is this the way to make the king love the people?" Chen Deng's voice is not worse than Zhang Fei's, "The obedient one lives, and the rebellious one dies! How different from the national traitor Dong Zhuo! Tao Shijun entrusted Xuzhou to Liu Shijun, because he respected him as an elder, benevolent and righteous, and loved the people! The three generals want to make Liu Shijun get a bad name, and he will be cast aside by the people of the world!"

   "Third brother!" Liu Bei changed his face, pointed his finger to one side, and said angrily, "Stay aside and wait! Don't come unless you are summoned!"

   "Hmph!" Zhang Fei glared at Chen Deng again, knowing the seriousness, so he stopped talking and turned away.

  Liu Bei bowed to Chen Deng, and said: "The third brother was impolite, and someone made an apology for the third brother... But Yuan Long has anything to say, you may as well just say it."

"Don't dare to be an envoy's great gift..." Chen Deng hurriedly returned the gift, and then bowed down and said, "The latter general is so powerful that the envoy can't support him alone. How many soldiers can they hold on to? When the city is broken, how can the people be blamed? The people of Xuzhou, just out of the misery, faced catastrophe, and I really couldn't bear it, so I risked my life to stop the envoy. If the envoy is strange, he will Please behead someone, it has nothing to do with the people in the city..."

   "This..." Liu Bei hurriedly stepped forward to help Chen Deng up, tears welling up in his eyes, "I also know what Yuanlong means, but... May I ask what strategy Yuanlong has for you?"

Chen Deng said: "The current strategy is useless to stick to it...someone has ordered someone to prepare food and grass in the forest ten miles east of the city, so that you can take it, and quickly go to Pengcheng, transfer to Yanzhou, and find reinforcements from the imperial court...The latter general Jingyu burned all over the place. , even if the situation is strong at this time, it will not last long... A certain man pretended to surrender to the general after the army, and when the envoy's heavenly soldiers arrived, he could cooperate with the inside and outside, and take the city like turning back... In this way, the people of Xuzhou will not only save their lives, but also avoid reality. Wouldn't it be good to have both? I hope you will think about it deeply."

Liu Bei held Chen Deng's arm, tears welling up in his eyes: "Before you know...the people of Xuzhou can avoid military disasters, so what's the pity for one person to gain or lose! So I follow Yuanlong's policy... I hope that one day I can have a good time with Yuanlong again... "

   "May you be kind!"

  Chen Deng took a step back without hesitation, and paid respects.

   "May you be kind!"

  Xiapi City also seemed to understand something, and there were many echoing voices.

   "May you be kind!"

  More voices sounded, Liu Bei finally couldn't help it, tears poured down his throat, waved his hand towards the top of the city with sobs, bid farewell to Chen Deng, and led the remnant soldiers towards the east...

  (end of this chapter)