Chapter 49 Dangyang chase

After Liu Biao's death, Liu Bei was still discussing politics with Zhuge Liang all day long in Fancheng, but soon he also felt that the political atmosphere had changed. There were many northerners in Xiangfan area, some of whom were still in the attire of court officials. The more Liu Bei thought about it, the more something was wrong, so he sent someone to Xiangyang to ask Liu Cong. Seeing that the fire could not be contained in the paper, Liu Cong deliberately sent a Confucian scholar named Song Zhong to tell Liu Bei: "We have surrendered to Cao Cao. , and Cao Cao's army is currently in Wancheng."

When Liu Bei heard the news, it was like a thunderclap, probably even the cilia in his stomach stood up. He trembled and shouted: "You people are doing things in private, and you only tell me when the disaster is imminent. Don't you think it's too much?" Is it too much?" After speaking, he drew out the knife and pointed at Song Zhong, "Even if you cut off your head today, it's not enough to vent your anger, I'm leaving, the man doesn't bother to kill such a bag like you, get out!" In this critical moment, Liu Bei can still maintain a certain calmness, instead of being angry and killing people to vent his anger. It can be seen that Liu Bei at this time has been tempered over the years, and he is no longer the young man who was dazzled by blood and whipped him in anger. Now, he has matured politically.

Watching Song Zhong escape from Fancheng in a frantic manner, Liu Bei felt his body was still shaking violently, so he hurriedly summoned his core staff to discuss how to deal with the crisis. At the meeting, someone suggested that the army should be led to capture Xiangyang, capture Liu Cong and the Jingzhou officials who have no morals and no shame, and then retreat south to Jiangling to fight against Cao Cao for a long time. But Liu Bei shook his head and said, "Liu Biao entrusted his son to me when he was about to die, and asked me to break his promise, but I couldn't do it, so how could I have the face to go to Liu Biao in public?"

It is not known whether Liu Bei's remarks were sincere and political language.On the positive side, during the seven years in Jingzhou, Liu Bei never attempted to seize power (even if he did, it was hidden very deeply). Perhaps he was really grateful to Liu Biao and could not bear to attack his son.From a utilitarian point of view, taking Liu Cong and others captive to Jiangling is of no benefit to resisting Cao Cao, but will cause internal conflicts in the Liu Bei Group. This suggestion was rejected, so Jiangling City in the south is Liu Bei's only choice now.Jiangling is an important crossing of the Yangtze River, an important town built by Liu Biao, with strong city defenses and sufficient food and grass. If Cao's army is blocked there, at least the four counties in the south of the Yangtze River can be kept, leaving the capital to turn around.

The arrow is already on the string, and there is no delay. Liu Bei quickly made arrangements to divide his troops and retreat.Guan Yu led hundreds of ships, first down the Han River eastward to Xiakou, and then into the Yangtze River upstream westward to Jiangling, in order to retain at least part of the water force.And Liu Bei, Zhao Yun, Zhang Fei, Xu Shu, Zhuge Liang and others led the troops to cross the Han River in the south and head straight for Jiangling by land. When Liu Bei passed Xiangyang, Zhuge Liang persuaded him to attack the city again, but Liu Bei couldn't bear it.He called Liu Cong loudly outside the city, but the poor Liu Cong was afraid and afraid to show his face, so Liu Bei went to Liu Biao's tomb to bid farewell to the late Lao Zhou Mu with tears.

Liu Bei's series of actions made him form a sharp contrast with Liu Cong, Cai Mao and others: on the one hand, he sticks to Liu's position, resists foreign enemies, is tenacious, and values ​​love and righteousness; on the other hand, he specializes in fighting among brothers, Kowtowing to Cao Cao, personal interests come first. Many people and people of insight in Jingxiang couldn't help asking questions: "The same surname is Liu, why is there such a big gap in life?" Therefore, inspired by Liu Bei's awe-inspiring righteousness, many "non-Cao faction" people in Jingzhou who have ideals, ambitions, and aspirations are willing to give up their stable life and choose to follow Liu Bei to resist the northern invaders.

Huo Jun, a native of Zhijiang in South County, first led hundreds of militiamen from his hometown to join Liu Bei's army. Xiang Lang, a native of Yicheng in South County and then the county magistrate of Linju, also joined Liu Bei and retreated south together. It is like flowing water.When Liu Bei reached Dangyang County, the entire retreating team had swelled to more than 100,000 people, carrying thousands of supplies. The huge team slowed down the marching speed, and they could only march more than ten miles a day, so some staff suggested to Liu Bei: "The most important thing right now is to withdraw from Jiangling. Although we have a large number of people, they are all civilians who cannot fight. , if Cao Jun comes, how should we resist?"

Liu Bei shook his head: "If you want to achieve great things, you must put people first. Today, so many people follow me, how can I abandon them?" Many scholars of later generations believe that this is a political show made by Liu Bei, which is nothing more than to win people's hearts. Didn't Zhuge Liang once say "Cao Cao occupies the sky, Sun Quan occupies the land, and Liu Bei occupies the harmony of people"? What the author wants to say is that even though many of Liu Bei's actions are suspected of "winning people's hearts", I believe at least this time it is not.

After more than ten years of hard work, Liu Bei is still the same Liu Bei who would lead thousands of hungry people to save Xuzhou.He must be aware of the urgency of the situation at that time, but he has no way to refuse the call of those civilians who keep saying "General Liu", and he can't let go of being a big brother. At least until the last moment, he will be by the side of these followers ,share weal and woe. He resigned himself to fate. Of course, there is another possibility: in his view, this is just a simple math problem. Liu Bei may have estimated the speed of Cao Cao's advance a little beforehand: Fancheng is 200 kilometers away from Jiangling, and Wancheng is 320 kilometers away from Jiangling. Only by advancing at a speed of 1.6 times can it be possible to catch up with Liu Bei before reaching Jiangling. This does not include the necessary delay when Cao Cao accepted the surrender in Xiangyang. Therefore, even if the marching speed is slowed down by the people, Liu Bei thinks there is still time. Surplus.

If the above logical reasoning is followed, Liu Bei certainly has plenty of time to lead the people to Jiangling.However, Liu Bei had been away from Cao Cao for too long after all. He ignored the strength of Cao Jun and underestimated Cao Cao's determination to drive him out. As soon as Cao Cao's army entered Xinye, he had already received the news of Liu Bei's retreat to the south. Cao Cao was deeply afraid that Liu Bei would obtain military supplies from Jiangling and form a stalemate with himself, so he left his luggage and the Qing army went to Xiangyang. After simply accepting Liu Cong's surrender, Immediately, Wenpin, the newly surrendered Jingzhou general, led the way, and dispatched 5,000 cavalry to pursue Liu Bei to the south, and the main force of this pursuit army was the most elite tiger and leopard cavalry in Cao's army.

The tiger and leopard cavalry should be a special force formed by Cao Cao before and after the Battle of Guandu. Its members are composed of centurion commanders in the army (probably equivalent to the current company commander) or particularly brave cavalry. It is self-evident that they are elite and brave.Cao Cao entrusted this group of killing machines to the leadership of Cao Ren's younger brother Cao Chun. Cao Chun was rigorous and reasonable, and led this army quite appropriately. During the Battle of Nanpi in the tenth year of Jian'an, the Tiger and Leopard Rider cut off Yuan Tan's head; during the expedition to Karasuma in the twelfth year of Jian'an, the Tiger and Leopard Rider captured Karasuma Shanyu Tadun... We have reason to believe that the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry is a mobile unit dedicated to "beheading operations", and its elite level can be compared with the US Navy SEALs who killed bin Laden. Facing the "escape king" Liu Bei, Cao Cao once again joined this "beheading force" for no other purpose than to get Liu Bei's head. It is said that this special force launched a powerful and rapid march from Xiangyang, without stopping all day and night, and chased southward for more than 300 miles, which is almost 150 kilometers, and finally met Liu Bei's main force in the Changban area of ​​​​Dangyang County . Cao Jun went straight into the battle without a break, which completely shocked Liu Bei's army who was still walking, and Liu Bei's troops collapsed at the touch of a touch.At this moment, Liu Bei can't care about his fathers and villagers, he doesn't even want his wife and children. Without a word, he took a few guards to turn around and slipped towards the east, leaving behind Zhang Fei who hasn't had much role yet. After breaking with twenty riders. It is said that Zhang Fei selected a river bridge, demolished the bridge, guarded along the river, and ordered the soldiers to raise dust to cover up its reality.When the pursuers arrived, Zhang Fei looked at the river bank with glaring eyes and yelled, "You are Zhang Yide, you can come and fight to the death!" Its momentum is so powerful that even the most elite tiger and leopard cavalry dare not rush forward.Seeing the smoke in front of him, Cao Chun became suspicious and hurriedly ordered his left and right to check the weather report of the day.Not a moment later, his subordinates reported: "Today's official data, the PM2.5 value is normal, and the weather is good." Cao Chun looked up to the sky and smiled: "The weather is good and the smoke is billowing, there must be an ambush!" Then he ordered the withdrawal of troops. Zhang Fei let out a long breath, and sighed: "Even the most elite tiger and leopard riders have been fooled, and the official data will be cheating!" The above is of course a joke, excerpted from the Internet, with slight changes, just for the pleasure of watching the officials. However, Cao Chun did not order to chase at that time. Presumably, the crossing bridge was destroyed at that time, and the sergeants of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry were probably exhausted, so he gave up the pursuit and gave Liu Bei a way to survive, thus leaving a mark in the combat history of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry. A dishonorable sum. On the other hand, the family members left behind by Liu Bei became the main targets of Cao Jun. At this time, it was time for Zhao Yun to play. He hugged Liu Chan, the future ruler of the Shu Han Empire, and at the same time protected Mrs. Gan, and escaped with great danger. Cao Jun's pursuit, but Liu Bei's other two daughters could not get the blessing of General Zhao and were captured. In addition, Xu Shu's mother was also captured by Cao Jun in this battle, which led to "Xu Shu entered Cao Ying" later. In the real historical data, there is no record of Zhao Yun slaughtering the miscellaneous fish in Cao Ying, or Zhang Fei yelling at Xia Houjie to death, but Liu Bei's core guards can be regarded as able to retreat in front of the world's most elite tiger and leopard cavalry. It is worthy of praise. After a whole day of fleeing, Liu Bei finally got rid of Cao Jun's pursuit temporarily. At that time, most of the troops had dispersed and all their luggage was lost. Liu Bei recalled the dilapidated scenes in Xuzhou, Xiaopei and Runan.He couldn't help sighing: The seven years of peace and stability in Jingzhou turned out to be just a fantasy, and in the end, didn't he become a lost dog again? The bad news didn't end there. At this time Xu Shu ran over, crying and saying that his mother was arrested, he was in a mess, and he would not be able to do anything if he stayed, so he bid farewell to Liu Bei and switched to Cao Cao. On the other side, there was news that Zhao Yun had surrendered to Cao Cao. Liu Bei was getting annoyed, so he threw his halberd at the man and shouted, "Shut up! Zilong will never let me down!" Of course, Liu Bei was not completely sure when he said these words. According to common sense, under such a situation, even if Zhao Yun surrendered, it is understandable. Even Guan Yu was forced to surrender to Cao?However, this day's bad news came one after another, which had already made him tired of coping. He could only vent the pent-up block in his chest by roaring so loudly. "Twenty years of hard work, once I return to before liberation, who did I provoke and whom?" The author believes that this is the true meaning behind that roar. Fortunately, later that day, Liu Bei finally got a little comfort. Zhao Yun returned with little Liu Chan and Mrs. Gan (but Liu Bei did not throw his son to the ground), and Guan Yu's navy had also arrived at the Hanshui Ferry not far from Nagasaka.So Liu Beiqiang cheered up and took the remnants of the defeated generals to the ferry to join Guan Yu. It's just that the road to Jiangling has been cut off, and the four counties in the south of the Yangtze River will sooner or later become Cao Cao's possessions.Looking at the Han River in late autumn, Liu Bei couldn't help falling into despair again: This game of chess that has been played for twenty years has finally come to an end, and I am the one who loses in the end.What kings and hegemons, what revival of the Han Dynasty, what the world is, it's just a joke! However, Liu Bei's life is always turning around in places where mountains and rivers are restored. On that day, a strange visitor came to Liu Bei's big tent. This man was a tall and tall young man who spoke with a Huainan accent. The thick calluses on his fingers showed that he was once an archer.Although he was wearing a Confucian uniform, he still couldn't hide his heroic temperament. His name is Lu Su.