Guan Yu listened to Zhang Fei's panicked words and looked at the people scattered dead along the road, feeling a rare hesitation in his heart.
He knew that he couldn't think about whether Liu Bei was dead or alive now, otherwise, nothing would be done at all!
It must be assumed and confirmed now that Liu Bei is still alive!
What we need to do now is to find Liu Bei. The key is to choose to go to Guangling or to search nearby?
Although the former may be missed, it is not safe to stay here. What if Yuan Shujun comes after him?
Guan Yu thought about it again and again, gritted his teeth and said: "Third brother, you bring half of your troops and stay to look for your elder brother!"
"But we need to be alert at all times to see if there is an attack from Yuan Shu's army. We must not fight head-on. If we see a bad opportunity, we must immediately flee to Guangling and join me."
"I will follow the traces of these people and go to Guangling to look for my elder brother. If I find him, I will come back to pick you up."
After hearing this, Zhang Fei responded: "Second brother, don't worry, leave this place to me. It's best for you to go to Guangling as soon as possible!"
Guan Yu nodded slightly, then galloped away with his men and horses.
He led his troops and marched for a day and a night, but they were already exhausted of men and horses before they could enter Guangling territory for more than a hundred miles.
In order to avoid Cao Jun, Guan Yu marched day and night. At this moment, it was dawn. Seeing that the soldiers were tired, he asked them to hide in the woods to rest for a while. The soldiers quickly leaned against the tree trunks and fell asleep instantly.
However, Guan Yu took a few personal guards to check the enemy's situation from a high place. He saw lush green everywhere, and the mountains and fields were all green, and he couldn't see the invincible army at all.
He watched for a while, and when he was about to return, he saw a figure coming from a very far distance.
Guan Yu signaled everyone to be quiet. He looked closely and found that there were only two people coming, one riding on the horse and the other holding the reins. He couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief.
He looked for a while to make sure there was no one behind him, then he got on his horse and rushed there. When he got close, the sound of horse hooves startled the other party, and the man walking subconsciously ran away.
Guan Yu shouted: "Mi Fang, stop!"
The man's body shook, turned around, and said in disbelief: "General Guan?"
Seeing the woman on horseback, she quickly dismounted and bowed: "Finally, I see the general!"
That person was Mi Fang, and the person riding on the horse was Liu Bei's concubine, Mrs. Gan.
Guan Yu was full of doubts, "Madam followed my eldest brother to escape, and Governor Mi is in Houqiu. How could we meet him?"
"Where is the eldest brother's wife and daughter?"
Mi Fang explained a few words helplessly, and Guan Yu was furious. He grabbed the skirt of Mi Fang's clothes and lifted her up, "The city was lost only because of your incompetence, but you actually left your eldest brother, his wife and daughter behind?"
Mi Fang had been running around for two days and was already on the verge of collapse. He shouted: "Why do you mean I abandoned my wife? It's clear that my wife doesn't want to come with me!"
"With only one horse, what else can I do?"
"I didn't even bring my sister out!"
In fact, what Mi Fang said was not wrong, because under the circumstances, one horse could only have two people at most, and without Mi Fang, even if the horse was given away, the two women would not be able to protect themselves.
After thinking over and over again, Mi Fang finally chose to take Mrs. Gan with her and leave Mi Zhen and Liu Bei's wife and daughter behind.
Now that he thought about it, although he felt a little regretful, he felt that he had done the right thing. Who knew when he would encounter the enemy at that time?
Maybe they could separate and save one party, and maybe someone on Mi Zhen's side would be rescued?
However, Mi Fang vaguely knew in her heart that the chance of something bad or bad being left behind was much greater.
But he no longer dares to think about it. At that time, he could only make this choice, and only he could bring Mrs. Gan out.
Guan Yu was still angry, so he lifted Mi Fang up a little, so that Mi Fang could stand on tiptoes to breathe, and said coldly: "Then why did you bring Mrs. Gan out alone?"
Mi Fang's face turned red and she was already competing with Guan Yu. He shouted: "Of course there is a reason for this. Why doesn't the general ask his wife?"
When Mrs. Gan saw it, she came over and said softly: "General, calm down, this is all my fault."
"This opportunity was given to me by my wife."
Guan Yu's eyes widened, "What did you say?"
"Why is Madam like this?"
Mrs. Gan lowered her head and said, "Because I am pregnant."
Guan Yu was stunned, and he immediately understood why Mrs. Liu Bei gave up the chance of escape to Mrs. Gan.
Liu Bei is almost forty, but he still has no male heir.
This is fatal to the lord. Even if a foundation is laid in the future, who can inherit it?
Although Liu Bei's first wife is a few years younger than Liu Bei, she only gave birth to a daughter more than ten years ago, so it is obviously difficult for her to have another daughter.
Moreover, Liu Bei has been living on the move. Although he has Mrs. Gan as his concubine, it is difficult to get pregnant under such circumstances, let alone a male.
Now that Mrs. Gan is pregnant, if she gives birth to a boy, Liu Bei will have a successor!
Thinking of this, Guan Yu suddenly realized that he had wrongly blamed Mi Fang. In this case, taking away Mrs. Gan was indeed the best choice!
He loosened his hand, let go of Mi Fang's clothes, opened his mouth, but did not apologize.
Mi Fang sat on the ground and gasped for air, cursing in her heart, "What the hell!"
I worked so hard for your three brothers and even got my own girl into trouble. Is this what I got in exchange?
Now that Liu Bei's life and death are unknown, how can you show any face?
I don’t want to play anymore!
But Mi Fang then thought about it. If she wanted to save her life now, she still had to rely on Guan Yu's protection, so she had to suppress her anger.
Guan Yu spoke up: "When you came here, did you hear any news about my lord?"
Both Mrs. Gan and Mi Fang shook their heads. Mrs. Gan hesitated and said: "My husband's whereabouts are unknown the night he was attacked."
"I guess that he must have entered Guangling without seeing him."
Guan Yu pondered, what Mrs. Gan said did make some sense, but he had to see it with his own eyes before he could rest assured. Thinking of this, he said, "I will send some soldiers to send you to meet up with your third brother."
"I will lead the army to Guangling to look for my brother. If there is still no news after two days, I will come back to find you."
After saying that, Guan Yu led his soldiers and headed towards Haixi in the morning light.
But he didn't know that at this moment, a hundred miles in front of him, a fierce bloody battle was gradually involving everyone on the battlefield.
Yuan Xi led a surprise attack on Cao Chunle and pushed back the two armies. He was able to lead his men into the camp to join Lu Xun. The two discussed how to retreat after resisting for half an hour.
However, at this time, Cao's army arrived on the battlefield.
Yuan Xi looked at the Cao army coming from all over the mountains and fields, and saw that most of their heads were wrapped in green cloth. He couldn't help but feel a little numb. These were Qingzhou soldiers!
The Qingzhou soldiers are extremely unruly. Although their equipment is not very good, they are very powerful. The current reinforcements are probably at least 10,000 or 20,000 people!
Cao Cao really invested all his capital.
Yuan Xi smiled bitterly. He still underestimated Cao Cao's determination to kill him. He would be eaten by the other party if he was not careful.
He smiled at Lu Xun and said, "Bo Yan, I tricked you this time."
Lu Xun replied: "Young master is brave, just risk your life to accompany him."
"But Xun doesn't want to die so easily. If we plan well, we should be able to delay it for half a day. We can only wait and see if things turn around."
When Yuan Xi heard Lu Xun's plan, he smiled and said, "Bo Yan is more thoughtful than me."
"Although there must be counselors coming from the opposite side, we can really take advantage of our ability to command faster than the other side."
"The next step is left to Boyan."
Cao Ren brought the Chinese army to join Cao Chunlejin. When he learned the news of Xia Houyuan's defeat, he sighed: "A wonderful man has suffered the loss of this fierce tiger again."
"However, the opponent's camp is crude and cannot be defended at all. We will organize our army immediately and attack the camp from three directions!"
Not long after, the war drums of Cao's army sounded. Cao Ren commanded the central army, Cao Chun's cavalry and Yue's advanced troops all went to outflank the camp.
Suddenly I heard the spy in front reply: "The enemy has abandoned the stronghold!"
Cao Ren quickly rode forward, and sure enough he found that the opponent's cavalry and infantry had withdrawn from the stockade and ran towards Haixi City!
He was anxious, Cao Cao's rear army was the main force, and it would take at least several hours to arrive. His mission was to surround Yuan Xi, hold him back, and prevent him from escaping.
Now if the other party escapes back to Haixi, won't all previous efforts be wasted?
Cao Ren was very anxious and shouted: "Hurry up and chase!"
He looked at the battlefield, mobilized his soldiers, bypassed the camp, and followed Cao Chun's cavalry in pursuit of the Youzhou army.
At this time, at the rear of the battlefield, Xun You was riding his horse panting, and then the general rushed to the battlefield.
Cao Hong marched day and night, unable to take care of the stragglers. As a military advisor, Xun You rode a horse, but his riding skills were not comparable to those of the generals, so he was left behind.
Xun You arrived at the battlefield more than an hour later than Cao Ren's main force. At this time, Cao Ren had already led the army to launch a surprise attack. When Xun You saw the battlefield situation from a distance, his face suddenly changed and he shouted: "Not good."
"Hurry up and tell Zixiao to be careful of the empty camp!"
However, it was already too late. Before the men sent by Xun You could arrive, there was an explosion and everyone should have retreated. The deserted Youzhou military camp was densely populated with countless people, who directly attacked Cao Ren's rear army!
Xun You saw it from a distance and sighed repeatedly. The other party mobilized soldiers and issued orders much faster than his own, so even if he saw the problem in time, he would not have time to transmit the order to the battlefield!
The Youzhou army arrived at night and hid among them. Because it was dark, Cao Ren couldn't tell how many people there were in the Youzhou army. He only saw many people fleeing. In desperation, he misjudged and was caught. flaw!
The rear army was unprepared. Under the full force of the attack by the well-armed Youzhou Army, it suffered heavy losses. Cao Ren's heart was bleeding and he quickly issued an order for Cao Chunle to come in for rescue.
However, Cao Chun was entangled by the Youzhou cavalry. If Le Jin wanted to go around the camp, he would have to go in a big circle, and he couldn't get around it in a hurry!
Cao Ren looked up and saw that all the Youzhou troops who had escaped had returned and were charging towards him. He was shocked and quickly ordered the soldiers to retreat while fighting. No matter how brave he was, he would not go up and die. The other party is obviously planning to behead the general!
While he ordered the soldiers to form a formation with shields, he slowly retreated, blocking several attacks from the Youzhou Army. Just as he was about to join Le Jin, he heard several loud bangs, and several large pieces of Cao's army's formation were blown apart. At the opening, Youzhou soldiers took advantage of the situation and rushed in.
Cao Ren didn't know why, so he had to retreat quickly. As a result, the battle became more chaotic. The opponent's archers fired arrows at him desperately, and Cao Ren's mount was shot to death in a short time.
Cao Ren was hit by an arrow in the shoulder. Seeing the opponent approaching dozens of steps, he thought to himself that he was really in trouble this time!
Just when he was desperate, another trumpet sounded, and Xun You ordered the thousands of infantry he brought to rush into the battlefield and attack the Youzhou soldiers who came out of the camp. The two sides suddenly fought.
This time, the pressure on Cao Ren's rear army was relieved. He quickly found the weak spot in the encirclement, led his troops to break out of the encirclement with all his strength, and joined Xun You.
Yuan Xi and Lu Xun returned to the camp, secretly thinking that it was a pity that no one expected that Cao Jun still had a reserve army!
In fact, they didn't know that this was just a coincidence. If Xun You had not fallen behind, Cao's army would have been surrounded.
But having said that, Xun You was present, and Cao Ren may not have fallen into the trap. There were too many factors on the battlefield, and the two sides were intrigues. No one could see clearly the outcome behind the fog.
Lu Xun looked through the telescope and saw that Cao's army quickly reorganized their formation as they retreated, and said, "The opponent's generals are experienced in military tactics, and I'm afraid they also have good counselors."
"There's some trouble now."
Xun You was talking to Cao Ren about the situation. While listening, Cao Ren ordered someone to take out the arrow from his shoulder and bandage the wound. He gritted his teeth and put on his armor. When Xun You saw it, he said, "General, don't force yourself."
Cao Ren shook his head and said: "The envoy gave a special order. This matter is important and there must be no mistakes. If the ferocious tiger escapes, how can I have the face to face the envoy?"
While the two were talking, another spy came to report, "General, the Youzhou Army has begun to retreat again!"
The two of them looked at each other speechless and cursed in their hearts. The other party was afraid that they had figured out their purpose and were pulling back and forth!
The key point is that I have to chase him, this battle is too disgusting!
(End of chapter)
