Chapter 25 Chapter 25 Escape!Liu Bei!

run away! Under Zhuge Kongming's suggestion, Liu Bei began to flee from Fancheng to the south.This time he fled with his family and family, so he couldn't just escape, he had to recruit soldiers along the way. ——Join forces with Sun Quan in the South. This is Kong Ming's strategy. Peer-to-peer alliances may be difficult to achieve. But if it is annexed, the so-called alliance will be meaningless.If it is impossible to join forces at a ratio of four to six or three to seven, such an alliance will eventually lead to the elimination of Liu Bei's forces.Therefore, they had to flee while recruiting troops to increase their momentum.

If Xiangyang, whose morale collapsed due to the decision to report, was captured in one go, and Liu Cong's head was taken down, it was possible to obtain all Jingzhou's troops.But Liu Bei, who had promised Liu Biao on his deathbed, said he couldn't bear to attack Liu Cong.Kong Ming felt that Liu Bei was so pedantic. "However, this is Liu Bei's strength. Isn't that what I like about him?" Kong Ming thinks this is a helpless thing. Since we decided not to attack Liu Cong, we must try to take away as many troops as possible from Jingzhou. The method Kong Ming thought of was to instigate riots in Xiangyang City.

——The enemy is coming!Come out and fight, everyone! Liu Bei's army that entered Xiangyang then dispersed in all directions, making such a loud noise.When Liu Cong's soldiers rushed out, they shouted "Fight this way! Fight this way" to induce them. --strangeness!Didn't they say they were going to make peace?How did the enemy come here? All Jingzhou soldiers tilted their heads in surprise and thought.As a result, they were lured away without seeing the enemy soldiers.Since Liu Bei's army and Jingzhou soldiers wore the same military uniform, this matter was done quite smoothly.

Under this situation, many soldiers were confusedly incorporated into Liu Bei's army, while some generals and schools automatically joined Liu Bei because they did not want to surrender to Cao Cao.These people include Huo Jun, Yi Ji, Liu Yong, Xu Shu and other backbone cadres. "I have something to see General Liu Cong! I have something to say to him! Please open the door!" Liu Bei came to Liu Cong's formation, stopped his horse and shouted loudly.He intended to question Liu Cong for attempting to surrender to Cao Cao without saying hello to him at the front.As a result, Liu Cong was so frightened that he couldn't stand up when he heard Liu Bei's voice.

"This kind of useless, I don't even bother to kill!" Liu Bei then put down the foul words, turned around and left.After that, he came to Liu Biao's grave and wept.After seeing this, many people decided to join Liu Bei.It was not only soldiers who were taken in by Liu Bei, but also many ordinary people, all with their families. After surrendering to Cao Cao, high-ranking cadres in Jingzhou may be awarded official positions, but the residents will never escape the fate of being plundered.Those who did not want to suffer such hardships naturally took their wealth and followed Liu Bei one after another.

"Of course we have more numbers, the better, but the old and weak, women and children who get in the way must stay behind. The marching speed is too slow, and Cao Jun will catch up!" Kong Ming said so.But Liu Bei frowned and said: "Only someone has the possibility to do great things. They are all people who have come to rely on me. How can I bear to leave them alone! No matter what, let's take them away!" "Master is really terrible—" Kong Ming said so, but smiled, "Okay, just take them along!" Although such a decision is simply fatal, Kong Ming thinks that Liu Bei is heartbroken by this.

"This person will definitely become a master in the future." Zhuge Kongming looked at his master with admiration. Liu Bei's army, which took in Jingzhou's troops in Xiangyang, immediately went south.This action must be quick, otherwise Cao Jun will catch up.Guan Yu led an army from Xiangyang to the south by water. Just as Kong Ming worried, the main force traveling by land was moving very slowly. On the other hand, Cao Cao, who entered Xiangyang, accepted Liu Cong's surrender, but when he knew that Liu Bei had fled to the south, he was stunned. "Hurry up! Don't let Liu Bei escape!"

Cao Cao immediately issued an order to chase south. Five thousand fast light knights were selected.Although there are not many in number, they are all carefully selected elites. This army has Cao Cao's cousin Cao Chun as the commander-in-chief and Wen Pin as the deputy general.Wenpin was the general of Liu Cong who had just surrendered. He was familiar with geography and was ordered to serve as a guide. "be quick!" Cao Cao urged this group of people again and again. This carefully selected light cavalry regiment chased Liu Bei southward at a speed of 120 kilometers day and night. At the time, this was an amazingly fast pursuit.

When Cao Cao received the urgent report of the departure of Cao Cao's southern expedition, Sun Quan's camp also fell into a state of tension.The theory of the main war and the theory of peace immediately came together. ——The opponent has the Son of Heaven. Like Jingzhou, this is also the reason for the Soochow peace talkers. --No!Cao Cao is a rebellious minister who restrains the freedom of the emperor!The traitor must be destroyed! This is the assertion of the belligerents. The elder Zhang Zhao is the representative of the peace talkers, and most of the local rich families are peace talkers, while the advocates of the war talkers are mainly Lu Su and others from the north.

What the main battle theorists are afraid of is that Cao Cao will annex Jingzhou's troops and come south with a super large expeditionary force.To prevent this, they were eager to form an alliance with Liu Biao of Jingzhou. ——Allied with Jingzhou. This is the condition of the main battle theory.If Sun Quan promised to send reinforcements, the Jingzhou side might cancel the attack on Xiakou in the past, and fight Cao Cao because they expected reinforcements from Soochow. "Isn't this too wishful thinking?" The peacemakers criticized the war faction. "It's hard to say until then."

The war faction answered the peace faction in this way. The news of Liu Biao's death came just at this time. "This is a good opportunity. I will go to Jingzhou myself." Lu Su, the leader of the main combat faction, said. According to the usual practice, envoys must be dispatched at this time.Since Sun Quan attacked Huangzu and occupied Xiakou, the two camps have broken off diplomatic relations.Even so, the Jingzhou side should accept the questioning of the envoys.If this is the case, you can take this opportunity to discuss the offensive and defensive alliance. Lu Su decided to personally undertake the task of questioning the envoys, starting from Chaisang, where Sun Quan was located.Chaisang is now Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province, located at the foot of Lushan Mountain, and is the hometown of Tao Yuanming, an idyllic poet. What is Lu Su's purpose? He has already sent conspirators to Jingzhou, so he can grasp the situation there.There were factions in Liu Biao's camp, and there was no advantage in being allied to them—he knew this well enough, so it was not his goal to ally himself with Liu Biao's son.The object of his alliance is Liu Bei, who is more reliable. Lu Su knew very clearly through personal experience that the local powerful families in Sun Quan's camp tended to make peace, and the Cai family, the biggest pillar of the Jingzhou regime, and other local powerful families were also eager to surrender to Cao Cao.Liu Bei is not.He is a person from other places, and he has an old grudge with Cao Cao, so he must fight to the end. ——Obtain Jingzhou, and then ally with our Sun Quan army! Lu Su was going to persuade Liu Bei in this way.When he arrived at Xiakou on the Yangtze River, he heard the news that Cao Jun had invaded Jingzhou. "Quick! We must move forward as fast as possible!" He barely rested in Xiakou, and continued on his journey northward. Liu Bei is heading south from Xiangyang, and he now leads an army of 100,000.In fact, it is difficult to call this team an "army", because most of them are ordinary people, and there are only more than 20,000 soldiers in armor. When Lu Su arrived in Jiangling near the present-day Shashi City, Liu Bei had fled to Dangyang, and the two finally met in Dangyang. "Brother Liu, who are you going to join?" Lu Su asked. According to Zhuge Kongming's plan, they were going to join Sun Quan.However, whoever speaks about it first will be in poor condition.If Sun Quan's name was mentioned at this time, the other party would definitely say: —Let me mediate this matter!It's not easy, but I try my best. The result is to owe the other party a favor. "I'm going to seek refuge with Cangwu prefect Wu Ju..." For a while, Liu Bei said this against his will. "Brother Liu must not be like this. Wu Ju is a vulgar person. Besides, this person will never have the stamina to accommodate you. Since you want to rely on others, you might as well rely on General Sun. He has always respected sages very much, and he also I respect a real warrior very much, how about you send your confidants to bring up the alliance with him? This is for your own good, I hope you will think twice." Lu Su said. This is what the other party said first. "Let me think about it. In fact, I also feel that the journey to join Cangwu is too far away." Liu Bei revealed a tone of willingness to accept. At this time, Cao Jun's light cavalry troops, which had been chasing them day and night, had arrived near Dangyang.The conflict between the two armies took place in a place called Changban in Dangyang. The word "conflict" makes people mistakenly think that the two armies are equally powerful. The actual situation is that Cao Cao's army attacked Liu Bei with overwhelming momentum. Liu Bei's army, who led most of the common people, was not only in the way, but also marched slowly, which also reduced the soldiers' willingness to fight. The group action did not look like a war at all, and there was no tension at all. After a chaotic battle, Liu Bei was defeated like a mountain.Liu Bei fled desperately again, and he even abandoned his family members who were traveling with him. Liu Bei lost his wife when he was in Xuzhou. The deceased wife had been captured by Lu Bu and Cao Cao respectively.After Liu Bei came to Jingzhou, he married the Gan family. Last year, he had a son for the first time.His wife Gan and the baby accompanied him in the army, but Liu Bei abandoned them. The woman who became Liu Bei's wife seemed to be unable to escape the fate of being captured by the enemy many times. During this escape, Gan and her one-year-old baby (later Liu Chan) once fell into the hands of Cao Jun. "What a terrible person—" When the fierce general Zhao Yun saw his master Liu Bei abandoning his wife and children and fleeing, he murmured like this.Kong Ming also said the same thing when he knew Liu Bei couldn't bear to attack Liu Cong.Even so, these two people still love Liu Bei from the bottom of their hearts. "Okay! I'll take it back!" Zhao Yun leaped into Cao Jun who was trying to take Mrs. Gan and the baby away with the carriage. Although Cao Jun was all selected elite soldiers, there were only 5,000 in number.And it was only a team of a dozen people who took Mrs. Gan's carriage.Zhao Yun took these dozen or so soldiers of Cao Jun as his opponents, fought hard and staggered them, and finally rescued Mrs. Gan and her son.At this time, Liu Bei's army had already retreated, and there was not a single figure of his own army around. Liu Bei ran away desperately, and Zhang Fei was in the rear.Zhang Fei frantically wiped out the enemy soldiers who came after him, and covered Liu Bei and his party to escape to Hanshui. On the way there is a long bridge called Changban Bridge. Zhang Fei stood in the middle of the bridge with his spear in his arms, and shouted loudly: "Zhang Yide is here! Kill those who are not afraid of death!" The face is vermilion, the corners of the eyebrows are raised, and Zhang Fei's big eyes are staring majesticly, which reminds people of Fan Kuai at the Hongmen Banquet in the past. Cao Cao's soldiers were intimidated by Zhang Fei's power, and no one dared to step forward for the time being.As a result, Liu Bei and his party were able to escape far away. Before Zhang Fei and his men left, they cut off the Changban Bridge, making it impossible for Cao Cao's army to pursue them. Liu Bei waved his whip again and again, galloping all the way towards the Han River.When you arrive at Hanshui, you can join Guan Yu's troops who are heading south by the waterway. "We really survived the catastrophe..." Zhuge Kongming said.This is all the result of not beheading Liu Cong and leading a large group of ordinary people to march-of course Kong Ming complained to Liu Bei. Liu Bei smiled wryly. "Too many talents have been lost..." Liu Bei, who was riding on the horse, said a little dejectedly. "My friend Xu Shu is gone too..." Kong Ming said.Xu Shu, who was originally under Liu Biao's command, later switched to Liu Bei in Xiangyang.But his mother Yu Dangyang was captured by Cao Cao's army. Xu Shu bid farewell to Liu Bei with tears and decided to surrender to Cao Cao. "Xu Shu is really a dutiful son, there is no other way. Cao Cao found a bargain..." Liu Bei had to give up, but shook his head as if attached. "Zhao Yun seems to have escaped too. I haven't seen his shadow until now." Zhang Fei said.Liu Bei's generals scattered in Changban, Dangyang, rushed from all over to the vicinity of Hanshui, and returned to the original team.Only Zhao Yun has not been seen for a long time. "Zilong (referring to Zhao Yun) will never abandon me. If he is alive, he will definitely come back!" Liu Bei asserted so. At this moment, cheers sounded from behind. "What's the matter?" Liu Bei asked. The orderly came galloping up from behind and shouted: "General Zhao is back! He's still bringing his wife and son with him!" There was another round of cheers. At this moment, there were also cheers from the front. It turned out that Guan Yu's army, who was heading south by water, also sent people to meet them.