Chapter 51 Chapter 51: Liu Xuande Goes to Jizhou

The situation in Xiaopei City is critical, and now it is like a candle in the wind. Liu Xuande, who was in Xiaopei, was thinking hard about countermeasures. Although Sun Qian had just returned from Jizhou, he did not mention any of Yuan Shao's promises in his report. Liu Xuande was obviously panicked. "Brother, if you are so troubled, you won't be able to come up with a clever plan, and it will also affect the morale of our army. It is also a battle, wouldn't it be better for us to be more energetic?" "Oh, is it Zhang Fei? You're right. It's a pity that the whole town has heard about the 200,000 Cao troops."

"How about two hundred thousand? What about one million? These are nothing to worry about. Because Cao Cao is impatient, and his army came from Xudu. It also takes four or five days. Such an overtired army is nothing to fear." "However, sooner or later, the enemy will prepare for a long-term siege, and will surround this small city with ten or twenty floors." "So, before they have had time to adjust and the army has not yet relieved fatigue, please send me to lead my elite soldiers to launch a surprise attack on Cao's army. First, deal a heavy blow to the enemy's forward troops, and then form an alliance with Guan Yu in Xiapi City. When the enemy has no time to deal with the ever-changing changes on the battlefield, his army will instead become his weakness, which will soon reveal its flaws. Isn't it?"

After listening to Zhang Fei's words, one can know that his fighting spirit is very strong, and he is a person who does not know sorrow.But Liu Xuande was cautious in handling things, he had to think over everything repeatedly, and being cautious, his worries were naturally too much. "Cao Cao doesn't do anything, just leave it to his idiots to take care of it. Brother, can you see the trick I just said?" "Yes, I admire it very much. For many years, I have always thought that you have no other characteristics except a little bravery, but recently you adopted a good plan to capture Liu Dai alive, and now you have proposed to me a clever plan that is in line with the art of war. Okay, Just follow your plan, let you take the lead, and completely defeat Cao Cao's vanguard."

Choose the good and use it, this is the magnanimous Liu Xuande.Besides, his views on Zhang Fei have also changed recently, so he readily agreed to Zhang Fei's strategy this time. Zhang Fei said eagerly, "Come on, let you see how good I am!" So he stepped up his preparations, always waiting for the time to surprise Cao Jun. The 200,000 enemy troops soon reached the county boundary of Xiaopei. One day, a gust of wind blew and broke the tooth flag of the Chinese army with a "snap".Cao Cao, who usually doesn't go to worship the gods, just arrived at the battle that day, so he thought about it a lot.

"What will the result be?" Cao Cao sat on his horse and closed his eyes in meditation, divining the fortunes of this war by himself.Next, he wanted to test the opinions of his subordinates. "Do you think this is a good omen or a bad omen?" Cao Cao asked looking back at the generals. Xun Yu stepped forward and asked Cao Cao, "Which direction is the wind blowing from?" "It's blowing from the southeast." "What color is the flag on the broken pole?" "It's red." "The red flag was blown off by the southeast wind? In that case, the prime minister doesn't have to worry about it. This phenomenon is listed in the Art of War's "Astronomical Phenomenon: Zhanfeng Jue". It is a sign showing the enemy's late-night operations .”

At this time, the pioneer Mao Jie also deliberately rode back to Cao Cao from the front, and put forward the same opinion: "The flagpole of the red flag is blown down by the southeast wind, which is a sign of the enemy's night attack. This is the motto handed down by ancient military strategists. Training." Cao Cao thanked the sky and said: "God gave me a warning and protected me. I, Cao Cao, dare not slack off. I will definitely divide my troops into nine formations and lay ambushes on all sides. I order the whole army to maintain high morale and wait for the night to come."

Cao Cao set up a must-kill capture formation.For this night battle, the whole army quickly hid in the dark as the sun slowly set. "Brother, how are you getting ready?" "It's ready. Zhang Fei, are your troops ready?" "My troops are always ready to fight, so don't worry about it. Originally, Sun Gan wanted to fight, but I asked him to stay and defend the city. We can't fight out of the city." "Today is really unfortunate. It is a moonlit night that is not conducive to night raids. Aren't you worried about being discovered by the enemy?"

"Choosing the dark night is the law of night attack. But on a moonlit night like tonight, the enemy will also have the illusion that they will not attack at night, so that they can camp with confidence. This creates opportunities for us to attack unexpectedly." "That makes sense." "I estimate that the enemy will relax their vigilance tonight, and everyone will fall into a deep sleep. Let's hurry up and fight." According to the original plan, Zhang Fei should be fully responsible for the night attack.But facing the huge Cao army gathered in front of him, Liu Xuande was really worried about how to implement Zhang Fei's night attack strategy, so he decided to go into battle in person.He and Zhang Feibing went out of the city to fight in two ways.

Zhang Fei was very happy that his elder brother decided to adopt his own strategy and was able to fight according to his own ideas. He secretly believed that this battle was a sure thing to win. At that time, the bright moon was shining brightly.Zhang Fei ordered his troops to be silent, and quietly approached the enemy's line with their horses on their horses. "how is the situation?" Zhang Fei asked the scouts who came back from the investigation. The scout replied affirmatively: "Even the sentinels of the enemy army are asleep." "Really? As expected!"

Zhang Fei grandly ordered his subordinates to issue shouts as a battle signal, and at the same time organize the entire army to concentrate their forces and plunge straight into the enemy's interior like a sharp sword. "Hey! Where is the enemy's central army? Where is Cao Cao's camp?" Zhang Fei looked around suspiciously, and saw some deep valleys scattered among the surrounding mountains and fields.At this time, there was silence everywhere, and it seemed that even the grass and trees were sleeping soundly.All I heard was the sound of a stream coming from nowhere, but I couldn't see a single enemy soldier.

"Why, what's the matter? Where are these fellows? It's incredible." Zhang Fei and his subordinates were not only discouraged, but even panicked. At this moment, the surrounding forests and mountains and valleys burst into loud laughter. "What? What? Oh, it turns out that the enemy has camouflaged the terrain." It was too late for Zhang Fei to realize that the enemy soldiers disguised as grass and trees let out earth-shattering shouts, and for a moment it seemed that the voices of the enemy soldiers were everywhere. "Catch Zhang Fei alive!" "We can't let Liu Xuande escape!" The night attack initiated by Liu Xuande and Zhang Fei was besieged and killed by Cao Jun unexpectedly.Immediately, their ranks were in chaos and their morale was demoralized.During the rounds of battles with various enemy forces, they suddenly realized that the enemy generals in the east are Zhang Liao, the enemy generals in the west are Xu Chu, the enemy generals in the south are Yu Jin, the enemy generals in the north are Li Dian, and the enemy generals in the southeast are Xu Huang. Cao's cavalry unit, Lejin's bow and crossbow team in the southwest, Xiahoudun's broadsword team in the northeast, and Xiahouyuan's flying spear team in the northwest, all besieged like iron barrels on eight sides, surrounded by roughly hundreds of thousands of Cao troops. One-tenth of Zhang Fei and Liu Xuande's small troops. "No one can be let go!" Cao Jun shouted and kept moving forward, narrowing the encirclement. Zhang Fei, who was targeted by the attack, stepped on his stirrup regretfully, and shouted a little discouraged: "My God!" He rushed left and right, fighting with all his courage in vain. The soldiers under him were either killed by the enemy, or threw away their weapons and surrendered to the enemy. He himself was injured in several places, and his whole body was covered with blood. Just after getting rid of Xu Huang's pursuit, he was intercepted by Le Jin again, as if being chased by a fire without stopping, he managed to kill a bloody path. Zhang Fei turned his head to look at the number of soldiers who continued to follow him, it was really pitiful, there were less than twenty cavalry. Zhang Fei said to them: "This stupid battle is over, we can't fight to the death here. Come with me." However, since the retreat route had been cut off by Cao Jun, Zhang Fei had no choice but to flee in the direction of Mount Mangdang. At the same time, Liu Xuande also fell into the self-evident doom. Cao Cao's army surrounded the rear of Liu and Zhang's troops. Under the attack of Xiahoudun and Xiahouyuan's coalition forces, Liu Xuande's troops were quickly wiped out.Liu Xuande fled to Xiaopei with only thirty or forty riders.Unexpectedly, Xiaopei City has been occupied by Cao Jun.The flames on the city tower soared into the sky, leaving Liu Xuande who was looking across the moat dumbfounded. Liu Xuande hurriedly changed his route and continued to flee in the pre-dawn night.Because Xiaopei has been occupied by Cao Jun, he is now homeless. While running away, Liu Xuande said to the soldiers who followed: "The matter is over, we have to go to Xuzhou." However, when they approached Xuzhou City, they saw that all the flags bathed in the morning light on the city tower had been changed to Cao Cao's flags. "How to do this?" Liu Xuande was talking to himself in a daze, as if he lost his way for a moment. As the sun rose, he looked around at the surrounding mountains and rivers. In the misty morning mist, it seemed that smoke and dust were flying everywhere.Liu Xuande knew in his heart that Cao Cao's army would definitely arrive here. "Ah, a big mistake has been made! Only wise men rely on their own wisdom to mistakenly adopt seemingly clever tricks. It is my own negligence that led to the arrogant Zhang Feixian's tricks." At this time, Liu Xuande couldn't catch his navel, and there was a deep regret in his brows.But he immediately found out the source of the mistake: "I am the chief general, and he is a subordinate. It was my own mistakes as the chief general that caused this big mistake." The top priority is to find a place to stay right now. "How can I escape the danger here? ... Where should I settle down?" Facing the current problem that needs to be solved urgently, he changed his mind and immediately had an idea. "By the way, temporarily go to Jizhou to seek refuge with Yuan Shao, let's make another plan!" Liu Xuande suddenly remembered the words that Yuan Shao asked Sun Qian to convey to him when he sent Sun Qian to Jizhou not long ago: "If you are defeated by Cao Cao, please come to Jizhou. There should be no misunderstanding." Only then did he feel Yuan Shao's kindness precious. On the way, they encountered Le Jin and Xiahou Dun's army who had been chasing them since last night, so he and his men fled in all directions.Single-handedly, Liu Xuande finally escaped the danger after going through untold hardships, and set foot on the land of Qingzhou the next day. Then, Liu Xuande ate and slept in the open, ate grass roots and wild rat meat, and after a lot of hardships, he finally arrived at the city of Qingzhou. Yuan Tan, the lord of Qingzhou City, is the eldest son of Yuan Shao. Yuan Tan received Liu Xuande warmly, and said to him with a sigh: "I have heard about you from my father before, so I have been worried about you this time." He settled Liu Xuande in the guest house and sent an envoy to his father. I sent my own letter and eagerly awaited instructions. The letter wrote: "Xuzhou and Xiaopei soon fell, Liu Xuande and his wife were also separated, and he fled to Qingzhou alone. I would like to ask for instructions on how to arrange it?" After Yuan Shao read the letter, he said: "I must fulfill what I said earlier." So he immediately sent an army to welcome Liu Xuande to Jizhou.Not only that, Yuan Shao also prepared chariots and horses, and made a special trip to meet Liu Xuande at a place called Pingyuan, thirty miles outside Jizhou City. This is a very high courtesy. Soon, Yuan Shao led Liu Xuande to the city gate.Liu Xuande immediately got off his horse and knelt down on the ground. He thanked Yuan Shao, "I'm just a defeated general in exile. What credit do I have for enjoying such courtesy today? The general is too polite." Liu Xuande insisted on getting off his horse and walking. After entering the city, Yuan Shao explained to Liu Xuande again about Sun Qian returning empty-handed a few days ago, he said: "Maybe you will make fun of me for worrying about my son, but my son's illness is really something that cannot be compared with other things. I was physically and mentally exhausted at the time, so I didn’t come to help in the end. But there are several prefectures in Hebei, and there are rich products. I hope you can rest assured that you will be fine if you live for a few years.” "I'm really ashamed to see the general. I lost my family, left my wife and children, and left me alone and living under your family. I didn't expect you to give me such a high courtesy. I feel very sorry. Now I can only thank you from the bottom of my heart Kuanren..." Liu Xuande felt that his face was dull, so he could only bow humbly to Yuan Shao to express his gratitude.