Chapter 43 Chapter 43 No War No Peace

Liu Xuande's order was still vague. For Zhang Fei, who was determined to win, he always felt a little dissatisfied. "It is said that Liu Dai was brave and good at fighting in the battle of Hulaoguan. I also know this. Even so, what can it do to me? Later, Zhang Fei will ride over and catch that guy and bring him back. Let big brother take a good look." "Your bravery is unquestionable, but your violent personality worries me very much. You must be careful when you go." As soon as Zhang Fei heard Liu Xuande's admonition, he felt angry. "Irritable, irritable, my eldest brother always criticizes me as a reckless man, and hates me like a horsefly in my ear and a crab in my arms. If I kill Liu Dai, you can say whatever you want, whether you are the eldest brother or the lord , you can’t say that your brother-in-law has done something stupid.”

Zhang Fei talked nonsense, and walked out of the pavilion angrily.He ordered three thousand soldiers and horses to mobilize before the war. Due to the boredom in his heart, Zhang Fei couldn't help venting his anger on his soldiers.He said sharply, "Now we are going to capture Liu Dai alive. Unlike Guan Yu, I have very strict military discipline." The soldiers led by Zhang Fei were particularly afraid of their own generals, even more than they were afraid of the enemy. General Liu Dai of the Cao Army who was in charge of the siege also knew that Zhang Fei was coming to attack, and was very frightened, so he quickly ordered the soldiers under him: "Stick to the fences, trenches and gates, and we will never take the initiative to attack."

Zhang Fei went out of the city to attack quickly by means of hand-to-hand combat, but he didn't expect the enemy to hide inside like a worm and would not come out to fight.Zhang Fei had nothing to do about it, so he had to instigate the soldiers to go to the bottom of the enemy's defense camp every day and shout loudly and curse: "Wooden man! Big dung! Forgot to take a shit!" Zhang Fei is impatient, and he was very angry when he saw this scene. He ordered in a rough voice to the soldiers: "Enough is enough. We are going to carry out a night attack. At the second watch tonight, we will start a night attack and trample those moths to death. Everyone, get ready."

After the preparations were completed, Zhang Fei said again: "You must cultivate your spirit first!" So he invited the soldiers to drink during the day.He himself drank the wine in great gulps. "This is really a capable general." The soldiers praised Zhang Fei while drinking. One of the soldiers didn't drink for some reason. Zhang Fei beat him severely, and cursed at him, "Before our army set off at night, we stabbed you boy and sacrificed your blood to the military flag. Now hang you on a big tree where everyone can see. " The soldiers cried and clapped their hands together and begged for mercy, but Zhang Fei refused to forgive him. He tied his hands behind his back and hung him from a big tree, inflicting cruel punishment on him.

In the evening, a large group of crows gathered on the big tree. The soldier who was beaten to pieces by Zhang Fei and turned purple may look like a dead body. Some crows boldly landed on his face, flapping their wings and pecking. his eyes.The soldier's body was covered with black crows, and he could no longer distinguish the five bodies, and the high air was full of piercing noises. "Ah, beast!" The tortured soldier let out a scream, and the crow flew away. When the tortured soldiers bowed their heads exhaustedly, the crows came again. "Help!" The tortured soldiers kept shouting.

At this time, taking advantage of the gloomy sky in the evening, a soldier climbed up the tree, whispered a few words in the ear of the tortured soldier, and cut the rope tied to his body. I could only hear the tortured soldiers saying in hatred: "Bastard! How can we not avenge this revenge?!" The half-dead tortured soldier and the soldier who rescued him supported each other, looked back at Zhang Fei's position full of hatred, and then fled in the dark night, not knowing where to go. In the camp, Zhang Fei continued to drink. At this time, a corporal came in in a panic and reported: "Due to the negligence of the guards, something went wrong. I'm really sorry."

Then, the corporal leader bowed his head and reported the reason why the soldier who was tied to the tree for punishment suddenly disappeared without knowing it.He was trembling with fright, indescribable. "I know, I know, as a general, what do I need to know about these trivial things? Hahaha, that will be fine." Zhang Fei held up the big cup and drank it as if celebrating himself.He walked out of the tent, looked up at the starry sky, and said to himself: "It's almost two watch. My three thousand soldiers and horses are divided into three and act separately. Some will take shortcuts to attack quietly, and some will go around the mountain to make a detour. Support, and some are left to deal with the frontal enemy."

Not long after Zhang Fei gave the order, first two thousand soldiers set off quietly in the dark. They seemed to be ambush soldiers who went around behind the enemy's fortification. "It's still early, you can have another drink." Zhang Fei left the remaining one-third of the soldiers and horses where they were.Just an hour before the action, he still drank without leaving the flagon, and only occasionally observed the movement of Xing Dou. That night, Liu Dai's defense camp had known the news that the enemy general Zhang Fei was coming to attack tonight, so there was a highly tense atmosphere inside and out.

"Don't panic. This is just news from the enemy's deserters. It is very dangerous to believe it easily. I will interrogate the two deserters myself and bring them here." Liu Dai admonished his subordinates not to shake the morale of the army, and at the same time asked his subordinates to bring the two enemy deserters who fled to inform him in the evening to him. Liu Dai took a closer look, one was just an ordinary soldier, the other had scars on his hands and feet, and his head was swollen like a wine jar. Liu Dai said, "Hey, you two deserters from the enemy army! You guys accepted Zhang Fei's plan and ran to us to inform us that Zhang Fei was coming to sneak attack tonight. It's so ridiculous, you must want to spread the word All kinds of rumors are here to confuse our position, right? To tell you the truth, I, Liu Dai, are not so easy to deceive."

"Nothing. Even if we become ghosts, we swear that Zhang Fei will end up in pieces. We really fled to your army's position." "Why do you have such deep hatred for Zhang Fei?" "The details have been told to your subordinates before, other than that, there are no more details to add." "You are not wrong at all. Why did you have to be beaten by Zhang Fei and tied tightly to the top of a big tree?" "Oh, he is so vicious, so we must avenge him." "Then, take off the deserter's clothes and let me have a look." Liu Dai ordered to his subordinates.

After a while, the deserter was stripped of his clothes and completely naked. Looking closely, not only the face, limbs, but also the body and arms had deep rope marks, and the whole body was swollen like a tortoise shell. "So it's like this, it doesn't look like a fraud." At this time, even Liu Dai, who was very suspicious, believed more than half of it, but he was still unable to make a decision, so he did not actively carry out preparations to prevent the enemy's night attack. Just after the second watch in the middle of the night, the night shift soldiers standing on the round wooden watchtower in the defense village suddenly knocked on the police board and shouted: "The enemy army who attacked at night is coming!" In the dark night, only the shouts of enemy soldiers like a surging tide can be heard.Then, in front of the formation gate, the enemy army piled up firewood, and a raging fire suddenly ignited, the fire reflected the sky red, and the arrows with sound fell on Liu Dai's side one after another. "Oops! The enemy's deserters are not lying, and now the whole army is fighting together!" Panicked, Liu Dai himself quickly picked up the weapon he was handy, and directly participated in the defense of the stronghold. Fires were set everywhere, arrows rained like rain, drums kept beating, and shouts were like waves. Zhang Fei's night attack was just like his character, with a huge momentum. Liu Dai looked at it and couldn't help saying: "This guy looks very brave, but he doesn't have any resourcefulness. I don't know what he is doing." Zhang Fei's night attack was very messy. Under Liu Dai's command, all the soldiers in the defense village gathered and launched a counterattack against Zhang Fei's troops, and quickly repelled the night attacking enemy troops. No matter how Zhang Fei yelled "No retreat!", the overall collapse of the attacking force was already unstoppable.Zhang Fei had no choice but to flee with the retreating troops, being swept up by the fire in the billowing smoke. "I will take Zhang Fei's head tonight, and I will never let those attackers survive!" Liu Dai issued an order for the final general attack. The gate of the defense village was finally opened, and Cao Jun swarmed out and began to pursue. Seeing this scene, Zhang Fei smiled happily: "The time for liquidation has come, the enemy has fallen into my trap!" He suddenly turned his horse's head and shouted loudly: "Capture Liu Dai alive!" At the same time, Zhang Feijun, who was still fleeing just now, unexpectedly counterattacked aggressively with Zhang Fei, instantly reversing the offensive and defensive situation between the enemy and ourselves. "This is incredible!" Liu Dai, who is usually extremely cautious, was suddenly taken aback.He hurriedly retreated to his defense stronghold, but it was too late.That night, the army that attacked Cao Ying directly accounted for only one-third of Zhang Fei's forces.The other third of the main force detoured to the back of the defense village or to the mountains on the side. They attacked together when Cao Jun opened the door to pursue them, and easily captured Cao Jun's defense village.So the defense village at this time is no longer Liu Dai's camp. "Did you fall for it?" Looking at Liu Dai's panicked look, Zhang Fei laughed loudly.He chased after him with his horse, captured Liu Dai alive, and threw him to the ground. "Tie him up and take him back!" Zhang Fei proudly ordered to the soldiers. At this time, a shout came from the defense stronghold: "Quickly untie the ropes on us!" The shouters were the two fleeing soldiers.According to Zhang Fei's order, they deliberately escaped from Zhang Fei's position and reported to Liu Dai the news of Zhang Fei's surprise attack tonight.But Liu Dai was suspicious before believing it, and he hadn't treated them well.The two soldiers made special contributions in this battle. Zhang Fei said: "Untie them quickly and take good care of them!" Zhang Fei personally untied the rope for the two of them, and triumphantly returned. The remaining enemies had surrendered, so Zhang Fei ordered Cao Jun's defense camp to be burned, and returned to Xuzhou with Liu Dai and a large number of prisoners. After hearing the good news, Liu Xuande felt extremely excited, and greatly praised Zhang Fei's ingenious technique. "Zhang Fei is irritable by nature. I didn't expect him to use his resourcefulness this time to achieve great military exploits. I can now say that he also has the ability to be a general." So Liu Xuande went out of the city to meet Zhang Fei's team in person. Zhang Feiliang raised his voice and said proudly, "Big Brother, Big Brother, you always say that I'm an annoying reckless man like a horsefly in your ears or a crab in your arms, so what should you say today?" Liu Xuande said with a smile: "You are very different today. You can really be called an excellent general rarely seen in the past." Guan Yu, who was standing by the side, also interjected and joked: "Don't forget, if the elder brother hadn't criticized you so strictly, boy, you would not have won such a beautiful and big victory. What would you do with Liu Dai's head? Wouldn't it be a long time ago? Cut it off and bring it back?" "Well, maybe so." Zhang Fei let out a burst of laughter, Liu Xuande laughed loudly, and Guan Yu also laughed vigorously. When the three of them were laughing together, the heavily tied Liu Dai was escorted onto the stage by the soldiers, with the same expression on his face as before. Liu Xuande glanced at Liu Dai, as if he was thinking about something.He suddenly untied the rope for Liu Dai himself, and said kindly: "Come with me!" He personally guided Liu Dai into a small pavilion. The enemy general Wang Zhong captured earlier was under house arrest there.In the small pavilion, he enjoyed the fine clothes and fine food specially sent by Liu Xuande.Liu Xuande asked the two enemy generals to sit at a table filled with delicious food and wine. Wang Zhongdao: "I didn't expect to be entertained by you, Liu Xuande, after being captured. I hope we can restore our freedom as soon as possible." Liu Xuande kept persuading him to drink, and comforted him with kind words, without showing any contempt towards the former opponent. Liu Xuande said sincerely: "To tell you the truth, my mistake this time is that I, Liu Xuande, fought against you. I myself was greatly favored by the prime minister, not to mention that the prime minister's order is the imperial court's imperial order. Why should I betray the prime minister? I often think that as long as I have the opportunity, I must repay the prime minister's great kindness. Due to an accidental incident, the prime minister misunderstood me so much, I can only sigh my own immorality, and please go back to Xudu and pay your respects. Prime Minister, tell me Liu Xuande's difficulties truthfully." Liu Dai and Wang Zhong were momentarily at a loss for Liu Xuande's hospitality and his sincere words, but looked at each other in surprise. However, the two had no choice but to reply with sincerity: "Liu Yuzhou, we already understand your true feelings, but we are now prisoners of your step, how can we go back to Xudu and tell the Prime Minister what you said?" Liu Xuande's attitude was more sincere: "I let you suffer the shame of the rope for a while, I am really sorry. I have never had any illegal intentions to kill the two lives. As long as you are willing, you can leave Xuzhou at any time. This is my Liu Xuande's respect to the prime minister's army A proof of what I meant. It would be much appreciated if you could understand my kindness." Sure enough, on the second day, Liu Xuande sent the two generals out of the city, and returned all the captured soldiers to Liu Dai and Wang Zhong. "It seems that Liu Xuande has no hostility towards us, he is really a rare warm-hearted person among soldiers." The two were grateful for Liu Xuande's magnanimity, and they hurriedly assembled their soldiers and horses and immediately set off to return to Xudu. However, a group of people suddenly appeared in a forest on the way.It turned out that Zhang Fei led the troops to attack. Zhang Fei stood in front of the second general, blocking their way.Holding a Zhangba spear in his hand, he stared at each other angrily, and shouted loudly: "It took us a long time to capture the two of you alive. Could it be that we let you go so easily? Even if my elder brother lets you go, I won't let you go. If you think about it, why don't you let go?" Try it!" Liu Dai and Wang Zhong no longer had the will to fight, they were just trembling on their horses. At this time, a rider came from behind.It was Guan Yu who came.Because Liu Xuande was very worried that something would happen to Cao Jun on the way back, he specially ordered Guan Yu to come and find out what happened. Unexpectedly, when he came here, he saw Zhang Fei blocking the way. Guan Yu couldn't help shouting loudly: "Zhang Fei! Zhang Fei! Why do you want to do such a senseless and illegal thing again? Are you going to disobey the order of the elder brother?" "Oh, it's the second brother, why did you stop me? If these guys are let go today, one day they will attack us again." "If they come again, we'll capture them alive again." "That's too much trouble!" "I've said it several times, why don't you listen?" "Can't you?" "If you insist on killing those two generals, then I, Guan Yu, will be your opponent first. Come on, let's fight first." "What stupid words are you talking about?" Zhang Fei yelled dissatisfied, and then stepped aside.After thanking Liu Dai and Wang Zhong for their kindness, they took the remnant soldiers and ran away towards Xudu. Later, considering Xuzhou's unfavorable defense, Liu Xuande decided to rely on the city of Xiaopei, placed his wife and children under Guan Yu's men, and moved to Xiapi City where Lu Bu had lived.