News of the fall of Guangling City quickly spread throughout Xuzhou, causing great shock to all parties.
The two parties who felt it most directly were Sun Ce and Liu Bei.
Going down to Pitan City, Sun Ce suddenly lost his composure after hearing the news that Guangling had been captured, Qiao Rui was captured, and Mrs. Wu's whereabouts were unknown. He punched the table in front of him and broke it into two pieces. He shouted sternly: "Yuan's son, An." How dare you bully me like this!"
"The Yuan family's ferocious tiger? I want to see if this ferocious tiger can survive in the hands of me, the Jiangdong tiger!"
Zhou Yu looked ashamed, fell to the ground and worshiped: "This battle is Yu's crime, please punish Bo Fu."
After hearing this, Sun Ce hurriedly stepped forward to help Zhou Yu up, and sighed: "It's not Gong Jin's fault, it's the ferocious tiger's cunning. There's no such thing as permanent victory in the world!"
Zhou Yu lowered his head and said, "But the wife was trapped inside!"
He described the situation at that time and finally said: "The wife insisted that Yu escape to deliver the message, but Yu couldn't refuse, so she had the nerve to come to see Bo Fu."
Sun Ce's face was gloomy and uncertain. He knew Mrs. Wu's temper. She was very independent and respected her reputation. She would definitely not ride on the same horse as Zhou Yu, so Zhou Yu really couldn't be blamed for this.
He felt a little irritated, "Mom, do you want us not to expose her fall?"
"Let us announce to the public that she is dead?"
"Then how can we rescue her?"
"If we can't exchange hostages, why don't we just wait for my mother to escape on her own?"
Zhou Yu's expression changed several times, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Yu does have a plan."
"Now that Guangling is about to be settled, there will be no peace in the city, and there will definitely be many soldiers and civilians who are devoted to Bo Fu."
"If Bo Fu counterattacks, tooth for tooth, and breaks into the city at night, he may not be able to defeat Guangling again!"
After hearing this, Sun Ce suddenly laughed and said, "Gong Jin's plan is very clever!"
"I will order all the cavalry and go straight to Guangling!"
"However, the Cao family is eyeing Tancheng dozens of miles away. Once I leave, the pressure to defend the city will increase sharply. I will leave Zhang Xun with you and hope that Gongjin will defend the city until I come back."
After hearing this, Zhou Yu hurriedly said: "Don't worry, Bo Fu, I will swear to defend this city no matter how much I want to do!"
After hearing this, Sun Ce patted Zhou Yu on the shoulder and strode out of the door.
In Guangling Haixi City, the Mi Mansion was decorated with lights and colorful, and the Mi family spent a lot of money this time. Not only did they give away a huge amount of wealth, but they also dedicated this mansion to Liu Bei as a new house.
Mi Fang walked into Mi Zhen's outer room and saw that the plates of side dishes on the table had long been cold, but they were not missing at all. She frowned at the maid and said, "Little sister, you still haven't eaten?"
The maid hurriedly replied: "I drank two mouthfuls of porridge last night, but today I didn't even move my chopsticks."
After hearing this, Mi Fang walked to the door of the boudoir, knocked on the door, and said, "Little sister, tomorrow is your wedding day, and you won't be able to eat for the whole day. You might as well eat something today."
Mi Zhen's feeble voice came from the room, "Thank you for your concern, brother. I will go out to eat when I have some energy."
After hearing this, Mi Fang shook her head helplessly and said, "Little sister, if you want to be more open-minded, I'll leave first and come back tomorrow."
As soon as he left the room, he saw Mi Zhu rushing over with a very ugly expression on his face, wondering: "What happened?"
Mi Zhu whispered: "Things have changed!"
"The lord's wife and daughter have been found!"
Mi Fang was surprised when she heard this: "Sun Ce wants to send the lord's wife and daughter back?"
"This is strange. I heard that Sun Ce is extremely tough and not like this kind of person. Could it be that the envoy offered some conditions in exchange?"
Mi Zhu yelled: "Who is Sun Ce? It's that fierce tiger of the Yuan family!"
"He captured Guangling and rescued the lord's wife and daughter. At the same time, he sent someone to deliver a message to the lord, asking the lord to send someone to bring his wife back!"
Mi Fang didn't react for a moment: "Which fierce tiger?"
Mi Zhu lowered his voice, "What other fierce tiger is that Yuan Xi who was appointed governor of Youzhou just after he was adopted!"
Mi Fang was stunned after hearing this: "Is it him?"
"Didn't he just get married in Yecheng and go to fight in Youzhou? How could he appear in Guangling, thousands of miles away?"
Mi Zhu sighed: "How do I know, but the news is absolutely true, Sun Ce did lose Guangling!"
After hearing this, Mi Fang smiled and said, "I didn't misjudge him. This man is really capable of tossing people around. It's not a waste of time for me to make friends with him that day."
Mi Zhu thought to herself: "What kind of friendship? You almost offended someone to death."
Mi Fang suddenly reacted, "What about the little sister's marriage?"
Mi Zhu sighed: "I'm afraid there's going to be a big setback."
"This news will come sooner or later. It would be nice if my little sister got married, but something like this happened the day before."
Mi Fang said: "That's not right. If the lord wants to marry a younger sister, what if he is not marrying his real wife or bringing his wife back?"
Mi Zhu sighed: "You don't understand. My wife was trapped in Tancheng that day, so you can treat her as dead, and the lord will lose his original wife. It is the lord who has the final say on whether to marry a wife or a concubine."
"But now that the wife is not dead, any concubine must be approved by the original wife, and the top priority is to bring back the wife. Marrying at this time will destroy one's reputation, and the lord will never do that."
After listening to this, Mi Fang felt relieved for some reason. He said, "Is this so dirty?"
Mi Zhu glanced at him, "It's just a temporary delay. When Madam comes back, it's just a formality. Will she be able to really fight against the lord by then?"
After hearing this, Mi Fang said bitterly: "This marriage is so awkward, it's better not to get married."
Mi Zhu felt depressed, thinking that this was the end of the matter, how could there be a way back?
He had already given the money, goods and soldiers of the Mi family to Liu Bei in advance to recruit troops. At this time, the Mi family was left with nothing but airs. If they didn't marry Mi Zhen, wouldn't the Mi family's gamble be in vain?
In the mansion, Liu Bei sat at the top and showed the silk book sent by Yuan Xi to everyone, "Yuan Youzhou sent a letter from Guangling, asking me to send troops to welcome my wife back. What do you think?"
Everyone looked at each other, thinking, what else do we have in mind? Why does the Lord ask us?
Zhang Fei shouted: "Of course I welcome my eldest sister-in-law back, but what about my eldest brother's marriage?"
After hearing this, everyone secretly gave a thumbs up, thinking that Zhang Fei finally got to the point, it's not easy.
Liu Bei was upset and thought to himself that I finally got you to show your attitude. Third brother, you have blocked it all for me, right?
Guan Yu stood up and said, "The important thing now is to welcome back the wife and the lord's daughter, but it is not good for the marriage with the Mi family to be delayed for too long."
"At this time, Yuan Shu's army is everywhere in Guangling. Yu Yuan will take five hundred horse archers to Guangling and escort his wife back to Haixi."
After hearing this, everyone said one after another: "General Guan is right."
Seeing that both brothers had expressed their stance, Liu Bei knew that the matter of postponing the marriage was a done deal, so he could only nod his head and said: "In that case, my second brother will order all the soldiers and horses to go to Guangling."
Guan Yu cupped his fists and accepted the order. When he saw Liu Bei winking, he immediately understood.
After everyone dispersed, the three brothers sat together again. Liu Bei said bluntly: "I asked the second brother to go this time because there is another important matter."
Guan Yu hurriedly said: "Brother, please tell me."
Liu Bei sighed and said: "That day I sent Yuan Long to Yecheng to ask for help, but Duke Benchu disappeared behind closed doors. However, Yuan Xi really helped me no matter what his purpose was."
"The bottom line condition I gave Yuan Long at that time was that whoever could help me get Xuzhou back would share Xuzhou equally with them."
When Zhang Fei heard this, he immediately became unhappy, "Why should I give my eldest brother's territory to others?"
Liu Bei sighed: "Third brother, look at how many things have happened in Xuzhou over the past year or so."
"Do you think we can defend Xuzhou alone?"
Zhang Fei choked after hearing this. He had lost Tancheng. He was always ashamed and did not dare to mention it again.
Liu Bei added: "I do regret that I didn't listen to the long article."
Zhang Fei heard this and said angrily: "That dog Chen Qun is just a white-eyed wolf. He actually went to Cao Cao. If I meet him in the future, I will rip off his head too!"
All three of them were in a bad mood. After Tancheng was lost, not only the officials under Liu Bei's command, not only the scholars in Yuzhou, but also the local scholars in Xuzhou were quite complaining. Many people took the opportunity to leave. It is said that Chen Qun was the one who led the bad way. .
Guan Yu said: "The matter has come to this, and it will not help to talk about the past, but I do think that the elder brother has a good idea."
"If we can lead the Yuan family to co-govern Xuzhou, we will have a big help and a chance to recuperate."
Zhang Fei frowned and said: "That boy from the Yuan family is extremely cunning and never gets up early without any benefit. What if he wants to poach us?"
After hearing this, Guan Yu stroked his beard and said, "My third brother is overly worried."
"Throughout our journey, whether under Gongsun Zan or Tian Kai Tao Qian, in terms of winning over scholars and spreading our reputation, who has Brother been afraid of?"
Zhang Fei thought for a while and then said happily: "That's right. We are the only ones poaching other people's corners. We have never seen others poach us!"
Liu Bei chuckled and said to Guan Yu: "My second brother is going to Guangling this time. The first is to welcome back my wife and daughter. The second is to have a good talk with Yuan Xi to see if he can be persuaded to help us drive Cao Cao and Yuan Shu out." Xuzhou.”
After hearing this, Guan Yu clasped his fists and said, "Yu will definitely live up to your brother's trust."
He hesitated: "What if Yuan Long had negotiated terms with Yuan Xi in Yecheng?"
Liu Bei pondered for a moment, "Yuan Long is still in Yecheng, I'm afraid he still doesn't know about it, so my second brother can just pretend not to know."
Guan Yu hesitated and said, "Yu understands."
Two days after Guan Yu left, Chen Deng hurried back from Yecheng.
He received a letter from Yuan Xi the day before yesterday, in which he apologized to Chen Deng in a very polite tone, saying that he had to keep it secret that day. Now that he has captured Guangling, it can be regarded as fulfilling his promise that day.
After seeing it, Chen Deng was not only not angry, but also very happy. Yuan Xi really kept his word!
However, the letter did not mention a word about the original conditions between the two. Chen Deng thought that since Liu Bei asked him to make the promise on his behalf, he could not pretend to be stupid and avoid it, so he hurriedly left Yecheng and returned to Haixi.
As soon as he saw Liu Bei, he said: "That day, I had already promised, as your lord said, that if he lifted the siege of Xuzhou, we could rule together in the future, according to your lord's opinion."
After hearing this, Liu Bei said: "Yuan Long is very hard to travel back and forth. I have sent Yunchang to talk about this matter, so Yuan Long doesn't have to worry about it."
Chen Deng heard the meaning of Liu Bei's words and felt slightly cold in his heart.
(End of chapter)
