Chapter 45 4. Fleeing from east to west

This day was noon on September 11th in the thirteenth year of Jian'an (AD 208).The sun in late autumn exposed most of its face from the layers of white clouds like fish scales, shining red and warm on the sky. On the flat open space at the foot of Changbanpo, Jingzhou expatriate households, scholars and Liu Bei's soldiers all gathered in one pile to the east and one pile to the west, and the cooks and cookers from various private camps also started to bury the pots. cooking. Just when wisps of cooking smoke were curling up in the autumn sun, a young sentry scout rushed all the way into the Chinese military camp, and rushed to Liu Bei, who was standing under a big tree and talking side by side. In front of Zhuge Liang, his legs softened and he bent his knees, stretched out his right hand and pointed to the south, and roared hoarsely with his mouth open, babbling incomprehensibly.

Liu Bei listened intently for a while, then suddenly lowered his head and moved closer, staring at the young scout and asking, "Are they here? How many are there?" The young scout swallowed his saliva, but still stammered and couldn't understand, but his face was pale with fright. "My lord—" Zhuge Liang's whisper drew Liu Bei's attention away from the scout, and he turned to look at Zhuge Liang, only to see that the goose feather fan in his hand was already pointing obliquely to the south... Looking in the direction pointed by the goose feather fan, Liu Bei's breathing almost stopped suddenly.I saw a thick dust curtain slowly rising on the high hillside in the south, covering half of the sky, and the rumbling and thunderous sound of horseshoes rolled in, deafening, but there was nothing to be seen.

When Liu Bei, his subordinates, and generals were in a state of disbelief, they saw dark clouds suddenly piled up on the high slope—looking closely, they turned out to be densely packed rows of tall horses and brave knights. It spread out to be more than a mile wide.Then, thousands of banners flew up again, waving in the air, and the leading banner was written with the word "曺" in official script. And under the banner with the word "曺", suddenly stood a tall flame-red horse, on which sat a half-hundred-year-old man wearing a purple gold helmet with a tiger's head and silver armor with fish scales. , but standing on the top of the slope astride the horse, there is a sense of majesty and solemnity covering the mountains and plains while looking up and down, as if no matter how majestic the mountains in this world are, they are a little shorter than him.

——It turns out that he is Cao Cao. Cao Cao swept his eyes towards Gaopo's feet, slowly pumped up his chest, and shouted very slowly and very loudly: "Liu Xuande! You surrender..." Afterwards, the tens of thousands of tiger and leopard knights behind him also raised their voices and shouted: "Liu Xuande! You surrender..." Their sound waves swayed across the flat land like rolling spring thunder, causing echoes among the mountains, and the overseas Chinese and Liu Bei's soldiers at the foot of the hill could also hear clearly-they sent out a burst of sound. Exclaimed like a tidal wave, one after another commotion, they all rushed towards Liu Bei's Chinese army tent at the same time.It seemed that the closer they were to Uncle Liu, the more secure they would feel.

At this time, Liu Fengsun Qian hurriedly rushed over to persuade him: "My lord, you and the military division should retreat quickly - let us deal with it here!" Liu Bei was expressionless, but pondered for a while.Zhuge Liang gently waved his goose feather fan beside him, and said calmly: "Cao Thief's tiger and leopard cavalry have been galloping for nearly thirty hours, and our soldiers are waiting for work at leisure. Why don't you let go and fight them bloody first? So I can give an explanation to the more than 100,000 righteous people of Jingzhou." Liu Bei couldn't help frowning when he listened: Yes, Cao Jun's cavalry is indeed coming fiercely, if his men and horses run away when they encounter them, and retreat without a fight, how will the more than 100,000 Jingzhou righteous people think of themselves?I have always advertised to the outside world that "love the people like a son, and benevolent and moral". Now when the enemy is in front of him, he is even unwilling to show a gesture of sharing weal and woe with the people. Wouldn't it make the people of the world laugh?Even if it is necessary to implement the plan of fleeing east and west, and the golden cicada escapes its shell, now it is time to fight head-on and still have to fight head-on.In this way, when I make a comeback one day and occupy Jingzhou, I will not give others the excuse of abandoning people in distress.Thinking of this, Liu Bei thought for sure, and immediately swept away the previous panic and hesitation, looked back at the generals and officials around him, gritted his teeth and said fiercely: "Fight! Bloody battle to the end! Cao Aman is really deceiving—— If you don't kill his rebellious spirit, how can Bei be worthy of the people of Jingzhou who came to justice together?" Then, with a glint in his eyes, he issued a general order to Liu Feng and Sun Qian: "Feng'er, Sun Jun, you go to the front line immediately. Gather your soldiers and fight in formation! Bei personally sits in the army and beats drums to cheer you on!"

Liu Feng and Sun Gan all clasped their fists in response, and rushed forward under orders.Liu Bei turned around and shouted to the messenger, "Beat the drum!" "咚咚咚" bursts of heavy and vigorous drums, urging the previously scattered soldiers to quickly gather together, those veterans brought by Liu Bei from Xuzhou who were mixed in the refugee camp team, when they heard the majestic drums Summoning, everyone's morale is boosted, as if a wolf has aroused all the sternness.These fierce soldiers who have been rolling on the blade for many years and are used to strong winds and waves prepared their own weapons in a moment, and gathered under the banners of their respective generals, divided into archers, spearmen, The shield players lined up in three layers and were ready to go.

At this time, Zhuge Liang drove his horse and ran to the people who were rushing over, and persuaded loudly: "My fathers and elders followed Liu Huangshu to the south with righteousness. Now that the Cao thief is chasing him, Liu Huangshu and Liang should fight to the death to repay the kindness of your fathers and elders! The elders are unarmed, and retreat, and the detachment returns to the battalion to defend itself - so as not to be accidentally injured in the melee!" The overseas Chinese in Jingzhou stared at him silently for a moment, and then dispersed chattering. "Hey! It's all our fault that we walked too slowly, making Uncle Liu Huang..."

"Military Master Zhuge is right—let's retreat quickly and don't hinder Uncle Liu's battle." "Let's go! Let's go..." After calling back the Jingzhou scholars, Zhuge Liang called Liu Nuo, the commander of the guards under Liu Bei's tent, and said: "Liu Jun, after the battle, you will lead the guards to protect the lord closely, and you must not let the lord fall into a melee. Among them, the lord is the head of the three armies, and there is absolutely no room for loss!" Liu Nuo has been Liu Bei's personal bodyguard since he was in Runan, and his martial arts skills are not inferior to Liu Feng's, so he is a fierce general.It's just that his personality has always been deep and introverted, and he is usually not easy to make friends with, and he is not good at speaking.After hearing Zhuge Liang's order, Liu Nuo still had no expression on his face, but nodded emphatically to express his understanding.

After Zhuge Liang finished his orders, he clamped his legs around the horse's belly, and drove the horse back and forth to inspect the formation.He doesn't need to hear Liu Nuo's answer. He knows that Liu Nuo, who has always been silent, doesn't like to talk, but he will be extremely serious when he executes orders—and with Liu Nuo's seriousness, responsibility and superb martial arts, he will be able to protect the lord Safety. "Put on the war drum!" Liu Bei ordered loudly, and a large cowhide war drum was quickly lifted in front of him.He rolled up his sleeves, took the two drumsticks and held them tightly in his hands, walked to the front of the drum step by step, raised the drumsticks high, and said, "Boom!" Boom, boom, pounding."

The soldiers of Army Liu were boiling. They followed the sound and watched Uncle Liu Huang, whose temples were already a little gray, struggling to beat the drums to help the battle. The blood in each chest seemed to be rolling with the sound of his deep and violent drums—— Qi Qi cheered loudly like a landslide and tsunami, and his morale soared to the sky.