Liu Bei's army and Zhang Xiu's remnant army have joined together. Liu Bei's army now has less than 4,000 people left, and most of them are wounded. Among them are 3,000 Qingzhou soldiers who were lucky enough to be brought back by Zhang Fei's deputy general. As for Bai Er The heavy armored soldiers, as well as the Yellow Turban Army in Yuzhou, have been wiped out. Even the main generals of the two armies, from Chen to Liu Pi, died in Yangzhou, and Zhang Xiu was not much better. Twenty thousand Xiliang iron cavalry went out Yes, now there are only a thousand people left around, and most of these thousand people no longer have fighting spirit. The arrogance and pride that belonged to the Xiliang iron cavalry are all gone. Can't beat them all, Zhang Xiu's only consolation is that Hu Che'er is not dead, but Hu Che'er was also abolished, with a broken arm, the general's career is almost at the end, they abandoned most of their belongings, Even the horses are no longer needed, and they are all thrown to all the soldiers in Yangzhou. What they bring most is food and grass, because this is what they need for marching. They are all heading towards the small road in the dense forest of Yangzhou generation. If you go, you are afraid of being chased by the Bingzhou wolf riders. Once you are chased by the Bingzhou wolf riders, even the old, weak, sick and disabled may not be able to escape.
Shuttle in the dense forest for several days, no one can bear it. They have been marching for 14 or 5 days. Originally, it would take seven or eight days to walk from Hefei Shouchun to the border of Yangzhou. But now walking in the dense forest to avoid being hunted down, this road is very long. It is difficult to see the Yangzhou border on the 14th or 15th. As long as they can't get out of Yangzhou, they are still in danger of being hunted down.
"Everyone set up camp and rest!" The sky gradually darkened and the dense forest at night was still full of dangers. In the past half month, several soldiers were killed by snakes and insects alone. There are also many injured people whose wounds were infected due to the humidity of the dense forest and died one after another, so they chose to travel during the day and set up camp at night.
In fact, it looks like setting up a camp, but in fact it is just a few tents. Because they are afraid that a bonfire will be raised to cause chasing soldiers, the food is basically swallowed directly with clear water, which is very simple. Some soldiers even had diarrhea because of this.
Another day of running. Everyone is also very tired. As one of the two major coalition forces, Liu Bei, the lord, issued an order to rest. Zhang Xiu has not fully recovered from his injuries, so Liu Bei is doing these things.
Everyone started to get busy. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Liu Bei found a place alone and sat on a rock, gradually meditating. His eyes were a little glazed. Sometimes he frowned, sometimes he sighed and shook his head, not knowing what he was thinking.
"My lord. Do you have something on your mind!" Just as Liu Bei was thinking for a long time, a voice interrupted his continued thinking. A man in a tattered scholar's robe walked to Liu Bei's side. This man was Pang Tong, because the dense forest There are too many branches and there are no good roads, they are all small roads, so the clothes on Pang Tong's body were all scraped by those branches and turned into beggar clothes. In order to speed up and travel better, he also took off the outer armor.
"Yuan Zhi!" Liu Bei saw a faint smile on the corner of the visitor's mouth, but that smile was very ugly because it was far-fetched. "I'm just meditating, what's on my mind!" It's so possible for Liu Bei to tell Pang Tong about his loneliness!
Liu Bei had great ambitions since he was a child, he wanted to add the canopy, he wanted to become a big man in the true sense, but the world makes fun of people, he Liu Bei is just a small child from a poor family, not even a child from a poor family , is just a person who sells straw sandals, so Liu Bei started from a lower starting point than anyone else. He thought that relying on his own hard work and struggle would make people look at him with admiration and make great things come, but he It was wrong, it was wrong too much, this is an era of opportunities everywhere, but it is also an era of dangers, because of his birth, Liu Bei was blinded and humiliated. The one who looked down on Liu Bei was his mentor Lu Zhi, but because Liu Bei wanted to stand out and was afraid that he would be implicated by Lu Zhi, he even abandoned the friendship between master and apprentice.
Although Liu Bei got Xuzhou and Yuzhou one after another, he thought he was getting closer to that ideal, but he didn't expect that he was farther away from him. The white-eared heavy armor was gone, and Liu Bei's biggest hole card was gone. Liu Bei was really very happy. Confused, he didn't know what he should do when he returned to Yuzhou!
In Yuzhou, there are only 20,000 garrison troops and 10,000 Qingzhou soldiers and horses in the hands of the second brother Guan Yu! The 20,000 garrison troops were all called up temporarily, ranging from grandpas in their fifties and sixties to children in their seventies and eights. How high is this combat effectiveness!
And the remaining Qingzhou soldiers have 10,000 horses, but they are also light infantry! If you want to rebuild the white-eared heavy armor, it will not only have people, but also elite armor. It is tens of gold, and the five thousand heavy armor is as high as ten thousand gold. If there is no battle in Yangzhou, Liu Bei can still afford it, but now, Yuzhou's foundation is about to be emptied by him! Not to mention the establishment of the Baier Heavy Armor, I am afraid that even supporting the daily food and grass expenses will become a problem. Why did Liu Bei spend such a large price this time? Isn't it because of the title of benevolence and righteousness, and Zhang Xiu's surrender!
But now there is benevolence and righteousness, but Zhang Xiu has not surrendered, why? Because the current Zhang Xiu is much stronger than Liu Bei, why does Zhang Xiu listen to you Liu Bei? Although Liu Bei has saved Zhang Xiu, but Zhang Xiu has never helped Liu Bei!
Unable to get Zhang Xiu's surrender, and the white-eared heavy armor is gone, Liu Bei couldn't help being confused and didn't know where his future lies. He began to lose heart, and began to question himself. Maybe the struggle for hegemony in this world does not belong to him at all. This one sells sandals. This kind of depression can only be thought by myself, how can I talk to others! So Liu Bei didn't want to answer Pang Tong's question.
Liu Bei didn't want to answer, but Pang Tong had a way to ask, "My lord is thinking about General Zhang Xiu, right?"
"Yes" subconsciously Liu Bei was about to nod, then shook his head again.
"My lord, why do you need to keep it from me!" Pang Tong smiled wryly and shook his head, "I have already become one with the lord, the matter of the lord is my matter of Pang Tong, but the lord is worried about the Xiliang iron cavalry power?!"
"Hehe, I know I can't hide it from you, Pang Shiyuan!" Liu Bei is indeed worried about this. If he Liu Bei wants to make a comeback, and cheer up after this time, then he can only add fresh blood to strengthen his strength, otherwise he will just Can sit and wait, his two neighbors are waiting to finish their own affairs and annex him.
"My lord, have you checked General Yangwu's tone? General Yangwu didn't say a word about submitting to the lord?!" Pang Tong continued to ask.
Liu Bei nodded while listening to Pang Tong's inquiry. Liu Bei has been getting close to Zhang Xiu, and Zhang Xiu also responded positively, and he is more than respectful to Liu Bei, but once Liu Bei mentions that he is advancing and retreating with Nanyang. Zhang Xiu faltered and changed the subject. It's clear that I don't want to join Liu Bei's army! In fact, Zhang Xiu couldn't be blamed for this. If your Liu Bei white ear heavy armor is still there. Yuzhou has plenty of money and food, or you have captured Shouchun and captured Yangzhou. The two states of Yuzhou and Yangzhou are connected, so Zhang Xiu will join Liu Bei's army without hesitation, because the current Zhang Xiu does not get along well with Liu Biao of Jingzhou and Cao Cao of Yanzhou, and now he has hatred with Lu Bu, so he has to surrender to Liu Bei. Because of his role, Liu Bei can give him the second position in the army, but now! Not only did Liu Bei fail to win Yangzhou, but he also emptied his foundation in Yuzhou, and now he has lost his trump card, the white-eared heavy armor, and was chased by Lu Bu's army so that he fled into the dense forest. How can such a master seek refuge!
Zhang Xiu is a little more tragic, he still has more than 10,000 Xiliang iron cavalry and 30,000 infantry in Nanyang, and Liu Bei has no more than 30,000 infantry at full count. E Nanyang, a county in the middle of the country, is rich. How could this make Zhang Xiu surrender? Even if Zhang Xiu wanted to, those generals who Zhang Xiu stayed in Nanyang would not agree.
"What can Shi Yuan teach me!" Seeing Pang Tong's smiling expression, Liu Bei knew that Pang Tong might have made up his mind.
"Hehe, my lord, you have fallen into a dead end. You want the soldiers and horses of the Xiliang Iron Cavalry, but you don't necessarily have to get them from Zhang Xiu,"
Pang Tong is pointing out the maze to Liu Bei.
"Huh?!" Liu Bei could understand a little bit just now, but now he doesn't understand at all. This Xiliang iron cavalry is Zhang Xiu's soldier and horse. If he doesn't surrender Zhang Xiu, he will get the military power of Xiliang iron cavalry!
"In other words, subjugating Zhang Xiu and subduing the Xiliang iron cavalry are completely different things. To get the Xiliang iron cavalry, you don't necessarily have to get Zhang Xiu!" Pang Tong quickly pointed out that if Liu Bei didn't know, he would be really hungry and an idiot.
"You mean?!" Liu Bei frowned. He knew what Pang Tong said, but then shook his head violently. Absolutely impossible!"
"My lord, don't you know that you are not a husband if you are not poisonous! If you want to achieve a hegemony, you must let go of the hearts of these women and children! Just like Cao Cao, if you break it, you will break it!" Pang Tong clasped his fists at Liu Bei, he didn't say Cao Cao Fortunately, when Cao Cao and Liu Bei were mentioned, there was a trace of anger.
"Don't say the same thing about me and Cao thief! I said that this matter is not allowed, but it is not! There is no need to say any more!" Liu Bei already had a look of embarrassment on his face, and he left immediately without listening to Pang Tong's words.
Seeing Liu Bei's leaving figure, Pang Tong sighed, why didn't he know Liu Bei's scruples! This fact is not very sure, once it is exposed, the consequences will be unimaginable, but if it is not big, Pang Tong will do it, even if it fails, it only needs to kill him Pang Tong.
Make up your mind! Pang Tong also left. Instead of returning directly to his own tent, he headed towards another tent. This tent was the tent of Zhang Fei, who had a bit of resentment with Pang Tong.
"Military adviser?!" Zhang Fei frowned when he saw the person coming, and he didn't give Pang Tong a good look. Although his elder brother admitted that Chen Dao's death was his elder brother's fault, Zhang Fei knew that without Pang Tong, his elder brother would have taken him with him. If the soldiers and horses leave, they won't let the whole army of Bai Er's heavy armor be annihilated. After all, it's the fat black man in front of him. "What's the matter? It's okay, just press Lao Zhang and rest." Without paying attention to Pang Tong, he got on the simple bed made of wood.
"Third General, I know you have complaints against me, and I also know you hate me," Pang Tong said, looking at Zhang Fei.
"Hmph, how dare you! Let the eldest brother know that I, Lao Zhang, will apologize to you again!" Zhang Fei still turned his back to talk to Pang Tong in an extremely impolite manner.
Pang Tong didn't care either, he knew that Zhang Fei was such a person, "But this time I still hope that the three generals can cooperate with me. The general will deal with it!"
"Huh?!" Zhang Fei frowned and turned around. He didn't turn his head when he heard Pang Tong let go behind him. Although he hated Pang Tong, he also knew that Pang Tong was his elder brother's adviser and military adviser. What he cared about was the front That sentence, big brother's great cause! This has to make Zhang Fei carefully listen to what Pang Tong said, "Say it!"
"Three generals, the lord conquered Yangzhou and wanted to capture Yangzhou and Yuzhou, and then conquer Xuzhou and Qingzhou to settle the Central Plains. However, our army lost too much in the battle of Yangzhou Road, Yuzhou was exhausted, and General Chen Dao was even more heavily armed with five thousand white ears. The soldiers were buried in Yangzhou! If we go back to Yuzhou now, we don’t know when the Lord’s great cause will be accomplished, and it is even possible that Lu Bu’s army will attack Yuzhou. What can we do to stop it! So for the current plan, Only by winning over the Xiliang iron cavalry in the hands of Zhang Xiu can we protect ourselves and then pursue a great cause! I hope the three generals will give me a helping hand!"
"What should I do?!" Zhang Fei asked the method concisely, as long as it was beneficial to his elder brother, Zhang Fei would support it.
"Three generals, so and so!" Pang Tong said to Zhang Fei with a smile in his heart.
"You!" Zhang Fei was a little stunned after hearing what Pang Tong said, because this matter is really serious, if one fails, their Liu Bei army may be completely wiped out.
"Don't worry! Three generals! If things change, you can just blame me, Pang Tong! Don't make things difficult for the lord!" Pang Tong explained to Zhang Fei!
"Hmph, who do you think I am, Zhang Fei? You need a scribe to come and shoot? If it doesn't work, it's a big deal that I, Lao Zhang, will accompany you on a trip to the Underworld!"
"So, please wait for the good news from the three generals!" Pang Tong exited Zhang Fei's camp excitedly.
The same scene appeared in Liao Hua's camp again. Liao Hua was much easier than Zhang Fei. He originally wanted to get close to Pang Tong and the two formed an interest group. Now Pang Tong said that it would be fine once the incident was shifted to him. , and once it succeeds, it may be a great achievement, how could Liao Hua not want to! Immediately agreed.
Both sides were completed, Liao Hua didn't know why he was still a little worried, he looked at Zhang Xiu's camp opposite, suddenly regained his composure, gritted his teeth and walked towards Zhang Xiu's camp. He didn't enter Zhang Xiu's tent, but went to another tent. (to be continued..)
ps: The third update! There are more below! I will sleep! Code now! This is not number five, this is still owed yesterday!