Chapter 44 3. Hiding soldiers among the people

On the side of the road, a crooked small wooden sign marked the place name: Changbanpo, Dangyang County. Liu Bei brought more than 100,000 Jingzhou overseas Chinese households and soldiers across the south bank of the Hanshui River. Because they dragged too many old and young women and children along the way, the entire team moved at a snail's pace.However, such a large and loose mixed team of soldiers and civilians was able to maintain a progress of fifteen or six miles a day and an orderly order, and finally arrived at Changbanpo, Dangyang County on the morning of the fifteenth day. Here, it is really a great miracle.

This is thanks to Zhuge Liang, Mr. Nanyang Wolong who newly voted in Liu Bei's shogunate.These days, Zhuge Liang has been running back and forth arranging and taking care of the board and lodging of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians.No matter how urgent and complicated the situation is, he can always find the most appropriate way and the most suitable person in the shortest time to solve those various affairs, large and small. Therefore, the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians under his coordination command The next road came south in an orderly manner, without any major disturbances on the way.Not even a little looting or brawling.Based on this, Liu Bei's old generals Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, etc. couldn't help admiring and admiring Zhuge Liang who was invited out of the mountain by his lord Sangu Maolu.

Sometimes Liu Bei felt a little sorry, looked at Zhuge Liang's sweaty temples and face, and called Zhang Fei several times to let him take a rest, but Zhuge Liang just turned his head and smiled at him, and hurried back and forth.I really don't know how this young Gaoshi who always likes to be clean and tidy, talk and chant can endure such hardship and do these chores? What Liu Bei and his generals admired was Zhuge Liang's genius in overall planning and coordination, but what moved the Jingzhou overseas Chinese who accompanied the army southward was Liu Bei's sage heart who shared weal and woe with everyone.At first, they were worried that Liu Bei would follow the advice of some of his staff and abandon them to flee in the deserted wilderness.However, after a few days, they gradually felt relieved.Liu Bei is indeed worthy of the reputation of "the hero and benevolent monarch". Even though the diaspora team greatly slowed down the marching speed, he has no complaints. Every day, he takes his two wives to each diaspora group to appease Somehow, for those patriarchs and elders with big surnames, he often personally delivered food and vegetables to the door, and greeted them with care.Once, Uncle Zhao, the elder of the Zhao family, was really embarrassed, and said sincerely: "Uncle Liu Huang, you see, we old and weak women and children are really a drag on you... You should just leave us alone. Hurry up and go to Jiangling by yourself! None of us will blame you..."

As soon as Liu Bei heard this, he held his hand on the spot and said with tears in his eyes: "Fathers, folks, if you don't go to follow righteousness because of your lack of talent, how can you bear to abandon him privately to protect your own safety? Mr. Zhao , Your words are really shocking..." His expressive confession immediately brought tears to the eyes of the overseas Chinese who gathered around the scene, and they were deeply moved. At this moment, after seeing the road sign on Changbanpo, Liu Bei couldn't help standing on his horse and pondering.I have finally arrived here - can I still go to Jiangling City now?The guards at Jiangling City were Zhang Yun and Liu Biao's confidantes before they were alive. Don't worry about Liu Xian, they should have received the "Letter of Surrendering to the Court and Suing Jingzhou Fathers and Fathers" that Liu Cong sent to the counties and counties a long time ago, right?Zhang Yun will definitely stand with Cai Mao, Kuai Yue, and Han Song and strongly agree to surrender to Cao Cao; although Liu Xian's attitude has not been very clear, so far he has not sent a messenger to contact him secretly ventilation.This shows that in Jiangling City, the forces of Zhang Yun and other descendants must have gained the upper hand.If I rushed over hastily, I'm afraid I will end up with nowhere to go, and pursuers in the end.

Of course, Liu Pan, Huang Zhong and others rushed over from Dongting Lake to support, which was also a big help.However, as long as Zhang Yun and the others firmly hold onto Jiangling, within three to five days, they insist on blocking the attacks of themselves and Liu Pan from both the north and the south. Yes... But, given the sufficient conditions of Jiangling City's food, grass, armor and other sufficient conditions, Zhang Yun and the others don't say that they can resist for three to five days, even if they stick to it for thirty to fifty days, it will not be a problem... Thinking of this, Liu Bei frowned even more , reining in the mount and spinning slowly on the spot.

"My lord..." Zhuge Liang drove over from behind him on a war horse, looked at the road sign, pondered for a while, and then said, "Since we have arrived at Changbanpo, in Liang's opinion, it is better to let the team stay for a while. Stop here and wait for the scouts to report later before dealing with it." Liu Bei hummed and nodded slowly. At this moment, a series of "cracking" sound of horseshoes came galloping from behind their mounts.Liu Bei turned his head to follow the sound, but saw that a scout under his command rushed to the front on horseback, his expression was extremely flustered, and he hurriedly clasped his fists and said, "My lord, Cao thief has a large cavalry from the direction of Bianxian County. Chasing and killing..."

"How long will it take for them to attack?" Zhuge Liang, who was standing side by side with Liu Bei, asked bluntly. "According to the military division, according to their marching speed, they will be able to catch up within an hour at the fastest, and an hour and a half at the slowest." "About an hour? They came so fast?" Liu Bei was stunned, and quickly turned his gaze to Zhuge Liang, "Military Master, what do you think?" "It should be about an hour and a half." Zhuge Liang didn't seem particularly surprised, but casually untied the goose feather fan hanging from his waist, held it in his hand and shook it gently, "According to what Liang expected, With the attack method of the Tiger and Leopard Battalion of the Cao Army, it is impossible to chase up our team by biting the tail. Because we are a mixed army and civilians, walking in a staggered manner. The main force of the three armies is hidden inside, the army is among the people, and the people are in the army, turning the tangible into the invisible, so that outsiders can't figure out the reality.

"So, if I were Cao Mengde, I would definitely divide my troops into two groups. One route followed our army in accordance with the conventional method; The army brigade passed in parallel, went around to the front, and turned around to copy back, blocking our way to the south, and gave us a head-on blow, so as to smash the battalion of scattered overseas Chinese refugees in one fell swoop, forcing the main force of our army to show up to fight with us. This is an open decisive battle. In this way, they will have to go to the front to fight our army at least one and a half hours later... Within this one and a half hours, we have to figure out how to deal with it!"

Seeing Zhuge Liang's calm and relaxed expression while shaking a feather fan, Liu Bei's heart immediately calmed down.He nodded deeply, and let out a sigh of relief: "It seems that the military division's predictions were correct. This Changbanpo is really the place where our army and Cao's bandits met hand-to-hand. If so——we We can only prepare to fight a tough battle with Cao thief here!" "My lord, if you want the golden cicada to get out of its shell, you have to fight this tough battle, and you have to lose." Zhuge Liang's eyes sank, and he glanced at the Jingzhou overseas Chinese with their families behind him, "It's just that I have pity on these Innocent and righteous people, Liang really can't bear to treat them..." After speaking, the circles of his eyes could not help but gradually turn red.

When Liu Bei heard this, his face was filled with sadness, and he said leisurely: "Alas... this fact is difficult to have both—if they stay in Fancheng and Xiangyang, they will eventually be unable to escape the slaughter and plunder of Cao's bandit army!" Liu Bei's adopted son Liu Feng, who had been accompanying and guarding the two of them, couldn't hold back his anxiety when he heard this, and couldn't help but interjected a sentence: "Father, military advisor, please forgive me for talking too much, since I really want to stay here at Changbanpo According to my opinion, the main force of the front army and the central army must be separated from the entire brigade to prepare for the battle, otherwise it may be too late!"

Liu Bei glanced at Zhuge Liang, saw that he was slowly stopping his tears, nodded slightly to himself, and replied: "Feng'er is right, you should take care of this right away. You should go to the Central Army to inform Uncle Zhang, Pull the main force of these two teams out of the whole brigade as soon as possible, but instead of facing a battle, they rush to gather in the hills and forests in the eastern part of Dangyang County, ready to meet the whole army at any time, and you and Sun Qian will be responsible for taking over The remaining small part of the Chinese army and former soldiers..." Zhuge Liang gently shook the goose feather fan, and added: "My lord, you ordered Yide (Zhang Fei's word Yide) to be stationed by the small river east of Changbanpo for observation. You must maintain a high degree of vigilance. He Not only should we keep an eye on the situation here at Changbanpo, but we should also pay attention to the news from Hanjinkou.” "Okay. Foster father, military adviser, my child will remember." Liu Feng nodded vigorously, then suddenly rolled his eyes, and asked again, "So, what about the rear army?" Hearing his question, Zhuge Liang slapped the goose feather fan in his hand outwards lightly, but turned his face away, and didn't answer, as if he was avoiding the question. Liu Bei glared at Liu Feng, and said coldly, "We must leave some people to guard the overseas refugees, right? Take all the troops out of the battalion, and within half an hour, this place will be in chaos!" Liu Feng thumped in his heart, and hurriedly said: "But General Zilong (Zhao Yun's word Zilong) and Master Yuanzhi (Xu Shu's word Yuanzhi) led the rear team to protect the two wives, A Dou, and two sisters—there must always be Let's get them out first?" Liu Bei sighed, shook his head and said, "How can this be done? If the general's family members abscond from the camp secretly, those big family members accompanying the army will be alarmed immediately. This kind of thing of leaving everyone behind and fleeing privately , how can I, Liu Xuande, do it..." "Father... Ah Dou is your only child! He is also the only younger brother of the child!" Liu Feng said anxiously, scratching the back of his head. At this time, Zhuge Liang turned around, half covered his face with the goose feather fan in his hand, and whispered to Liu Feng: "Don't worry, Mr. Liu. Later, my military division will send a confidant to send out all the things that were agreed upon just now. Inform Zilong and Yuanzhi of the matter, and tell them—except that they cannot escort the lord’s family to leave before Cao Jun arrives, everything is allowed for them to do at their own expense..." "Kong Ming! You—" Liu Bei snorted heavily. Zhuge Liang straightened his face, arched his hands, and replied solemnly to Liu Bei: "My lord, when the Cao thief came, Zilong and Yuanzhi guarded the two wives and Adou, and they went forward and retreated with the people. There is nothing wrong what!" After hearing this, Liu Bei was speechless and could only nod silently. Seeing that this important event was finally agreed upon as he wished, Liu Feng felt relieved as if he had let go of a boulder.He was about to pull his horse and leave, but suddenly he turned around and came back as if thinking of something, and asked with some concern: "Father Cao, military advisor, what if Bandit Cao sees through our plan of fleeing east and west? If the thief underestimates the huge temptation of Jiangling City for a moment, ignores it, and still blindly pursues us, what should we do?" "Feng'er's words are too much to worry about. How can Jiangling City be compared to ordinary cities? It is the naval headquarters in Jingzhou, and it is also an important place at the throat of the river. It is also the largest granary and arsenal in Jiangbei, with all kinds of armor and utensils. After taking down Jiangling, one controlled the lifeline of the eight counties in Jingzhou, and the other controlled the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. From then on, this Yangtze river moat can be said to be shared with the Jiangdong Sun family!" Zhuge Liang gently shook the goose feather fan, his eyes Looking to the south, he said eloquently, "Faced with such a large piece of fat, Cao Bandit, a hungry wolf, will surely pounce on it with red eyes! Naturally, we will be able to take this opportunity to get rid of the golden cicada's shell." "Military Master, you are speaking too lightly..." Liu Feng's eyes were always full of sorrow, "Ye-father had dealt with Cao Bandit a lot, how cunning Cao Bandit is in using soldiers, this time he is also It may not be so easy to be fooled." "Feng'er, you don't need to say any more here. Just follow the strategy you agreed on just now!" Hearing this, Liu Bei couldn't help feeling an indescribable irritability in his heart, and he stopped with a sudden shout Liu Feng—but he seemed to realize that he had lost his composure, so he hurriedly softened his voice, regained his calm face, and said calmly to Liu Feng, who had been bluffed by himself and his face changed a little, " Confucius said: "Do your best and then listen to the destiny." At present, the military situation is critical, and we can only take one step at a time, and seize the chance to fight our way through all kinds of difficulties and dangers!" Zhuge Liang didn't interject to say anything, but slowly waving the goose feather fan as if nothing had happened, thinking to himself: Liu Feng is indeed over-concerned-even though Cao Cao's tiger and leopard cavalry are incomparably elite, they are exhausted from a long distance, and they have traveled a long distance to catch up with us One day and one night, he traveled more than 300 miles, which can be described as "at the end of the crossbow, it is impossible to wear Lulu"!This kind of action is also a big taboo in military tactics, so it is said that "the general must be defeated".If we meet him on a narrow road in Dangyang County, we will rely on the bravery of our infantry and wait for work with ease. If we resist head-on, even if it is difficult to win, it may be more than enough to escape.