Liu Biao died of illness, and his concubine Liu Cong succeeded Jingzhou. Within a month, Cao Cao really went south. Liu Bei led his army to station troops in Fancheng, but he didn't know that Liu Cong had ordered someone to surrender to Cao Cao. It wasn't until Cao Cao's army and horses arrived in Wancheng that Liu Bei received the news from Liu Cong's men.
He had a mouth but couldn't say it was full of depression. In anger, he beheaded the envoy sent by Liu Cong with a sword, and led the army to the city of Xiangyang to question him. But he only saw a cold city wall and the soldiers who drew their bows and arrows. Liu Cong didn't come to see him at all.
Liu Bei looked blankly at the soldiers on the city wall, and those soldiers pointed their bows and arrows at him, as if if he didn't leave, all arrows would be fired at the next moment.
He still remembered what Liu Biao said to him, if you are willing, I hope you can help Cong'er, but now it is no longer a matter of whether he is willing or not.
Under the city, Liu Bei nodded, and whispered, as if explaining to himself: "This is a troubled world."
After speaking, he pulled his horse and led the army to retreat.
When Liu Bei withdrew, many people in Jingzhou abandoned Liu Cong and followed him. In the end, there were more than 100,000 people accompanying him.
"Liu Bei led the people east?" Cao Cao sat under his tent, heard Xiaoqi's report, lowered his eyes, and looked at the map on the desktop.
After pondering for a while, he said: "When Hulao passed, I knew that he was not in the pool. It was a mistake not to keep him in Xuzhou."
Everyone was sitting in the tent, Cao Cao put away the map in his hand, and smiled again: "How far does he think he can go with a hundred thousand people?"
Indeed, if Liu Bei just retreated with his army and horses, it would not be easy to catch up with him.
But now with 100,000 people, the daily journey may only be more than ten miles, and Qingqi can catch up with them in a day or two.
Once caught up, one hundred thousand people will become a drag instead of fighting strength, and they will collapse as soon as they charge.
Knowing this, Liu Bei led the people to evacuate. He didn't know whether it was benevolence or wisdom to do so.
But this is also the reason why Cao Cao treats him differently, such courage is not something ordinary people can have.
Cao Cao sat up straight and raised his eyes.
"Then chase after him, this time I will definitely not let this Liu Bei go away again."
at night.
Liu Bei ordered the army to stop and repair on the side of the road. Many of the people were women and children, who could no longer walk after a day's journey, and had no way to continue on their way. And on this day, they only traveled ten miles.
A bonfire was lit, and Liu Bei sat by the bonfire frowning. It has been seven days since they retreated here from Xiangyang, but they didn't go far at all. Cao Jun may have already arrived in Xiangyang. If he came to chase them, he should be able to catch up with them in a few days.
He raised his head, and by the light of the fire, he looked at the scattered bonfires on the road in the distance, and the people who were huddled around the bonfires, and sighed helplessly.
Amidst the sighs, a person sat down beside Liu Bei: "My lord, what are you sighing for?"
Liu Bei looked, it was a young man in a white robe, his face relaxed a little, but he still said with a sad face.
"Kong Ming, I'm wondering if I can really bring them to Jiangxia safely."
The young man named Kong Ming replied with a slight smile.
"If the lord feels that there is nothing to be done, wouldn't it be fine to abandon them?"
Liu Bei was startled, and waved his hand with a wry smile: "Kong Ming, you know I won't do this."
On the winding road, clusters of bonfires stretched far away. Although the clusters of flames were not bright, they were connected in a line, illuminating the entire road.
Looking at the flames stretching far away, Liu Bei said.
"Since they believe in me and dare to follow each other, why don't I dare to go with them?"
······
Cao Cao chased Liu Bei to the east, and at the same time worried that Liu Bei would go straight to Jiangling first, so he asked Gu Nan and Guo Jia to lead thousands of cavalry to attack Jiangling. If Liu Bei attacked the city, they would stop him before he attacked.
Before leaving, Gu Nan specially found Cao Chun who was leading the tiger and leopard cavalry under Cao Cao's tent, and had a word with him.
If Cao Cao asks him to go after Liu Bei, don't believe in doubting the army.
Cao Chun seemed to understand, but he agreed first.
As dusk draws near, the sound of the wind sweeps across the road like howling waves. The people of Jingzhou followed Liu Bei's army horses, walking slowly, and they were exhausted from the long journey.
Liu Bei who was walking in front suddenly heard a sound, and before he could react, flags appeared on the surrounding mountain roads. The flag fluttered in the wind, and a single word Cao covered the dim light of the sky in the distance. What came together was the deafening sound of marching, and there were at least ten thousand people here.
Cao Cao sat in a car, looked at the people of Jingzhou and Liu Bei's soldiers and horses below, stood up, and the red cloak on his back moved with the wind.
Once this Jingzhou is pacified and this Liu Bei is exterminated, the world will not be far away.
He raised his hand, and in the wind, he issued an order: "Enter the battle!"
The war drum sounded in an instant, and before Liu Bei had time to order the soldiers and horses to form an array, the people behind him were already in chaos.
The sound of galloping horses was like thunder, and the sound of war drums seemed to be heavy in the sky. Cao Jun rushed down in one fell swoop, and when he saw a man in armor, he swung his knife and fell.
But the people were in a mess and fled in all directions.
Liu Bei's ears were buzzing, and he could hardly hear the voices on both sides. He only knew that a group of people rushed towards him, and the blades in their hands were shining brightly.
"Brother." A very soft voice seemed to be calling from a distance, and this was the first voice Liu Bei heard.
After that, all kinds of voices poured into the ears again and again in an instant, and there were more and more noises.
"Brother!" The voice sounded again in the chaos, this time it was very close, right beside him, and he turned his head.
It was Zhang Fei who was standing beside him, raised the spear in his hand and stabbed a rushing Cao Jun, and shouted at Liu Bei: "Brother, go!"
As he said that, he patted the war horse under Liu Bei with one hand, and the horse ran up immediately, leading Liu Bei away.
Seeing Liu Bei walking away, Zhang Fei gritted his teeth, looked at the formation, waved the spear in his hand resentfully, and then retreated.
There were wailing and crying sounds all around, mixed with screams, horseshoes trampled, wheels rolled, and war drums sounded.
The people who were running didn't know where they were going to escape, maybe it was just instinct that told them to escape, and only by escaping from this place could they survive.
In the chaotic crowd, one or two people fell to the ground, but no one would pull them, no one even looked at them, only feet stepped on them, and soon they became silent.
The war horse, which lost its owner, ran wildly and bumped into a half-grown child. The horse's hoof stepped on the child's chest, and the child twitched twice and stopped moving. There was still a chaotic sound, the surroundings hadn't changed a bit, but there was an extra woman crying.
Everything should be that sentence, this is a troubled world.
"Puff!" The spear pierced Cao Jun's chest, and a white-clothed general came out of the chaos, his white armor stained with blood.
Looking back, he didn't find Liu Bei, nor did he find Liu Bei's family.
He clenched his long spear tightly in his hand, and was about to fight back when he suddenly heard a call.
"General, General."
The general in white followed the voice and saw a man wearing Liu Beijun's armor, lying on the ground with a painful expression on his face.
"Why are you here?"
The soldier clutched his leg and said with difficulty.
"General, I am a soldier driving the chariot for the mistress. Just now when Cao Jun came out, the horse was startled and threw me off the chariot and broke my leg."
The general in white frowned and asked quickly: "Then what about the mistress and son, can you see the lord?"
The soldier swallowed.
"The mistress and son were rushed into Cao Junli by horses and disappeared, and the mistress was covered by General Zhang and went to the east."
The general was silent for a moment, jumped off his horse, pulled the soldier into a bush and said.
"You stay here, maybe you can escape Cao Jun."
As he spoke, he led the horse, turned around and raised his long spear towards the chaos in the mountain road.
"General." The soldier stared blankly at the general in white: "You still want to go back?"
The sound of the wind in the mountains was like bursts of crying and howling, mixed with the voices of the rebellious army. Cao Jun was chasing and killing Liu Bei's remnant army, and there were countless people who abandoned men and women and left.
"The mistress and son are still in Cao Jun, I should go back."
The general in white got on his horse and raised his spear.
"But General, Cao Jun has tens of thousands." The soldier said.
The general looked back at the soldier and asked suddenly.
"Do you know Baima Yicong?"
The soldier couldn't answer.
The white horse righteousness was famous outside the Great Wall, and the white horse was bathed in blood. The three thousand cavalry made Xianbei Wuhuan dare not enter the country.
But now, he is the last one left.
"Where righteousness comes, life and death follow."
The general said something that the soldiers could not understand. This was the call sign of Baima Yicong, which once resounded beyond the Great Wall.
And Liu Bei is the righteousness he recognized.
As soon as the words fell, the general clamped his legs between the horse's belly, and the white war horse galloped up. The white cloak was rolled up, revealing the appearance of the troubled times.
The call sign is still there, but I don't see the white horse righteousness back then.
But as long as the righteousness and courage in this chest are still there, the white horse righteousness will be there.