Guan Yu was taken aback. When he turned to look, he saw that Liu Bei's raised hand was slowly lowering. Hundreds of archers sprang up from the mountains and forests on both sides, all soldiers from Pingyuan County.
Liu Bei waved his hand and told the soldiers to retreat and put them forward by himself.
Guan Yu recovered from the shock and asked, "Big brother, Sun Jian has promised to hand over Yuxi, and I promised to let him go. Why did you order him to be shot?"
When Guan Yu forced Sun Jian to the river, Liu Bei had already led his army there. Seeing that the surrounding terrain was conducive to hiding, he ordered the archers to dive into the forest and watched his gestures. Guan Yu and Sun Jian focused their attention. On the opponent’s body, he didn’t notice Liu Bei’s actions at all. Just when Sun Jian was about to hand over Yuxi and relax his vigilance, Liu Bei suddenly ordered the arrows to be released.
Liu Bei heard some complaints in Guan Yu’s words, but was not annoyed, and said indifferently: "Sun Jian himself said that if he has a jade seal of the country, he will be killed by a thousand arrows. I just helped him take the oath. "
As he said, he came to Sun Jian’s body and jumped off his horse. Sun Jian’s eyes were staring, and he never stared at him until he died. He still tightly grasped a yellow cloth wrapped around his waist with his left hand. Liu Bei forcefully opened Sun Jian’s fingers. I took the package and opened it gently. Inside was a small vermilion box. Inside the box was a four-inch jade seal with five dragons carved on it. A corner was missing on the side. It was inlaid with gold, and there were eight. A seal character: Receiving orders from heaven, it is longevity and Yongchang,
Seeing these words, Liu Bei's eyes lit up, and the hand holding Yuxi shook involuntarily.
Guan Yu also dismounted and came to the front. He didn't look at the Yuxi in Liu Bei's hand, but first bowed to Sun Jian's body deeply. Then he turned around and said to Liu Bei: "Brother, shall we give Yuxi to Yuan Shao first? ,"
Liu Bei was still immersed in inexplicable excitement. It wasn't until Guan Yu asked again that he came back to his senses, and said with a serious face, "No, Chang Yun, can't you see that Yuan Shao and the princes have different intentions? , Handing the Yuxi into their hands is tantamount to entering a tiger’s mouth. I will look for opportunities to hand it over to the emperor by myself."
Guan Yu thought for a while and felt that Liu Bei was right, so he nodded and said, "Then let's go back now. Don't let Master Kong worry about it."
Liu Bei played with Yuxi for a while, and then carefully put it back into the box, wrapped it in yellow cloth, hid it around his waist, turned on his horse, and said to Guan Yu: "The thing about Yuxi in my hands must not be revealed. Come out, so as not to attract the princes' secret hands,"
Guan Yu also leaped on the horse and said: "If Master Kong asks about the whereabouts of Sun Jian, how do we answer?"
As Liu Bei rode his horse forward, he said without hesitation: "I said he couldn't catch up, and he ran away."
It was said that Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, and Han were three people who were flanked by the Xuzhou Army and the North Navy and broke through. It was not until more than an hour later that they regrouped. There were only more than a dozen cavalry around, and all of them were wounded. , Especially Han Dang was the most injured, and his face was completely defaced, and even his mind was a little unclear. As for Sun Jian, he didn’t even know where to escape.
Cheng Pu and Huang Gai didn't dare to be careless. While helping Han Dang bandage his wounds, they looked around for Sun Jian's whereabouts. Along the way, dozens of remnants were gathered one after another. Some surviving soldiers pointed to the dense forest in front of them and said It was as if seeing the lord being chased by others and fled into the forest. Cheng Pu and Huang Gai couldn’t take a break, and immediately led everyone into the forest. Han Dang, who had just slowed down, also supported him. Search in the forest,
Suddenly, the soldier in front yelled: "Come on, Lord, Lord, he has already..."
The soldiers didn’t finish their words, and they couldn’t make a sound. Cheng Pu and the others hurried over with a strained heart, but they saw Sun Jian on the riverside beach with feather arrows all over his body. With the support of these arrows, his body did not. Falling down, still maintaining a half-kneeling posture,
Upon seeing this, Cheng Pu yelled: "Master," his eyes went dark, and he passed out.
Huang Gaiqiang endured his grief, walked forward, stretched out his hand and wiped Sun Jian’s face, and closed his eyes, but he was already in tears.
There was a lot of laughter in the city of Xuzhou. Tao Qian hosted a banquet in the hall to entertain Kong Rong and Liu Bei and his party. All the civil and military in Xuzhou were excited about today’s victory. They all had a drink and frequently asked Kong Rong and Liu Bei. People toast, Tao Qian frowned and sighed.
Kong Rong asked incomprehensibly: "Sun Jian is already defeated, why is Tao Shijun still frowning?"
Tao Qian sighed and said: "Although Sun Jian and the others all escaped this time, and Yu Xi was not able to get it back. Sun Jian is brave and will never swallow this bad breath. He will regain his vitality in the future and will definitely come. For revenge, I lack good generals in Xuzhou. How can I resist it in the future, because Tao was careless at a certain time, but he wanted to harm the soldiers and citizens of the city. How can Tao bear it?"
After hearing this, Liu Bei made a sudden move, and quickly got up to salute and said: "Tao Shijun don’t need to worry, Liu’s brother Guan Yu is brave and martial, and Sun Jian is definitely not his opponent. If Liu can be trusted by Liu, Liu is willing to stay. Come down and help the emperor guard Xuzhou,"
Tao Qian couldn't help being overjoyed. He even claimed to thank him, and said: "Liu Gong is willing to come forward. It is the blessing of Xuzhou soldiers and people. Tao thanked Liu Gong for all the soldiers and people in the prefecture."
Liu Bei hurriedly supported Tao Qian and said: "Liu is also a Han family clan, protecting the environment and protecting the people, it's really his duty."
Ever since he confessed that he was a clan of the Han clan in the League of Lords, he has always put this identity on his lips, as if he was not reminding others, but worried that he would forget it. However, as soon as he spoke his words, he Thinking of Liu Xin's coming, his face couldn't help but blush, and he glanced at Kong Rong and saw that he didn't have any reaction, so he was relieved.
Unexpectedly, Tao Qian was very excited. He took Liu Bei's hand and said: "Tao is old, weak, sick, and overwhelmed. Although he has two sons, he has no talents. After the imperial family, Liu Gong is also famous for his virtue. Tao is willing to take time off to recuperate and give up the position of shepherd in the state to Gong Liu, and hope that Gong Liu will not refuse."
Liu Bei offered to help Tao Qian guard Xuzhou. He just wanted to find a place to stay and then slowly plot. He didn't expect Tao Qian to take the initiative to give way. He was surprised. Liu Bei's mouth moved slightly, almost. He wanted to agree, and suddenly remembered that this was Tao Qian’s tentative words, and hurriedly said: "How can Liu come up to help Tao Shijun for his loyalty, but how can he take it for himself? Wouldn’t it be a ridicule for the people of the world? No,"
However, Mi Zhu knew that the chaos was going to happen today. Tao Qian alone could not hold Xuzhou. Liu Bei was a suitable candidate for Xuzhou Mu, so he stood up and persuaded: "Xuan Degong listened to me. Xuzhou has always been rich, with a million registered permanent residence. As Xuan De is a clan family member, he can lead this prefecture to contribute to the Han Dynasty, and he cannot refuse."
Guan Yu knew that Liu Bei had great ambitions. If he could get Xuzhou, it would be a good opportunity. He also got up and said, "Since Tao Shi has given her permission, why not temporarily act for the state affairs, so that Tao Shijun can recover from his illness."
Although Liu Bei also wanted to occupy Xuzhou, he had already said his words and simply kept this tall image, so he resolutely refused to agree.
Tao Qian had no choice but to say: "Then please ask Liu Gong to mobilize Xiaopei first to meet the needs of food and grass and have Xuzhou supply."
Liu Bei had no objection to such an arrangement, and he graciously agreed.
On the way to Xiaopei with his army, Guan Yu asked incomprehensibly: "Big Brother, it's not Xuzhou that we forced him to, why didn't Big Brother agree to such a good opportunity?"
Facing Guan Yu’s question, Liu Bei just smiled and shook his head without saying a word, and galloped forward on his horse.
Just when Tao Qianxiang let Xuzhou, Liu Xin led the army to leave Yique Pass and came to Yingchuan City. Yique Pass was defended by Zhang Ren. Naturally, Liu Xin didn’t have to worry. Before leaving, he just told Zhang Ren again and again. People in Luoyang went south to flee, don’t stop them, let them go out.
Although Liu Xin did not spend a single soldier in the attack on Yingchuan, Yingchuan suffered from the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the scourge of the Xiliang soldiers. It has long been dilapidated. It was just a few days before Liu Xin went north. The engineering team has all been transferred over and is rushing to repair the city and roads. The farmers have already understood the new taxation policy, and their enthusiasm has been unprecedentedly high. They have come to the fields and devoted themselves to the intense work. It was a busy day, even the continuous spring rain did not prevent the development of various tasks.
Liu Xin rested in Yingchuan County for one night. The next morning, he took Chen Gong, Kuai Yue, Huang Zhong, Zhao Yun, Zhang Liao, Gao Shun and others to revisit the Yingchuan Academy in the suburbs. When the people saw the Jingzhou army passing by, they would cheer.
These people are very welcome to the Jingzhou Army. Many of them have fled to Xiangyang. The last group of Yellow Turban soldiers in Yingchuan was also wiped out by the Jingzhou Army. In the past few days, there have been some Jingzhou Army from Nanyang, Nanxiang and other places transferred to help them repair their houses, plant crops, and distribute food, but they refused to drink them even a sip of water. This increased the goodwill of the people in Yingchuan towards the Jingzhou army. When most of the army were newly recruited soldiers this year, many young people in Yingchuan had already begun to inquire whether they could join the Jingzhou army.
Liu Xin looked at these simple people, turned his head and said to the civil and military around him: "Do you see that the people are the most kind, and their requirements are not high. As long as you treat them well, they will support you. We people Although they are all in high positions, you must keep the people in their hearts at all times."
When Chen Gong and others listened, they nodded and thought silently about what Liu Xin said.
Liu Xin looked up at the sky and continued: "Humans must always be in awe. Even the emperor should not do whatever he wants. There is a truth, everyone must bear in mind that water can carry and overturn the boat. The imperial court is like a big ship on the river, and the people all over the world are the surging river water, which can both lift and overturn the big ship. Therefore, we must always care about the suffering of the people."
Having said that, Liu Xin couldn't help but think of a poem.