"These idiots are finally willing to come out?" The man stepped forward, pointed his spear and shouted: "Raise the fire!"
As soon as the order was given, a blast of gongs was heard below the city, and torches were lit. The general, with the head of a leopard and eyes, the chin of a swallow and the beard of a tiger, was none other than Zhang Fei.
Liu Hao was shocked, turned around and ran towards the city. He collided with the defenders who were going out, blocked the city gate, screamed loudly, and squeezed in with all his strength.
"Follow me!" Zhang Fei thrust his spear forward and rushed into the doorway in the chaos.
The Shu army was in chaos. There was no difference in status at this time. They were crowded and trampled on each other. Liu Hao was knocked down in the chaos and could not get up at all. He was trampled to death by the rebel army.
Before the defenders of the pass could react, Zhang Fei had already led his troops into the pass. Some defenders hurriedly blocked the pass, but Zhang Fei killed them all. Yan Yunqi went straight to the pass. Seeing that the situation was not good, the defenders either fled or surrendered. In the blink of an eye, Then control the door.
Zhang Fei came to the top of the city, looked at the fire raging into the sky in the direction of the camp, and laughed loudly: "Yang Huaigui's son actually wants to steal my old camp. I have obtained Fushui Pass, what kind of camp do I need?"
Soldiers were assigned to guard the gate and take prisoners into custody. Zhang Fei came to the government office and ordered people to search for Deng Xian's whereabouts. Hearing that he was recuperating from an injury in the post office, he came to see him in person.
At this time, the sky was dimming, and Zhang Fei arrived at his residence. Without waiting for Deng Xian to get up, he stepped forward and clasped his fists, saying: "Thanks to the general for enduring the humiliation and bearing the heavy burden, we were able to successfully win the battle. I don't want this credit, Lao Zhang, and I'll give it to you!"
Deng Xian hurriedly said: "The general cannot do this great gift. Even Cao Cao may not be able to use such a clever trick. Mere flesh wounds are nothing to us warriors."
It turned out that Zhang Fei could not lure the troops out. Seeing that the deadline was approaching, he came up with this painful plan and discussed it with Deng Xian all night long.
Deng Xianzheng was newly promoted and felt uneasy about not gaining Liu Qi's trust. Hearing Zhang Fei's plan was an opportunity to show his loyalty. The two hit it off immediately and acted according to the plan, which turned out to be a great success.
Zhang Fei praised Deng Xian a few words and asked him to recover from his injuries. He took Liu Xian, Kou Feng and others into the customs, and sent someone to report the news to Liu Qi.
When Kou Feng arrived at the gate, he saw countless wooden stakes lying at the foot of the city wall, with hemp ropes tied to them. They passed through the wooden circles hung on the hooks and locks. He wondered: "How can these wooden stakes help the general break the city?"
Last night, he asked for orders to come to the city. Zhang Fei agreed in the tent, but before leaving, he changed his plan and asked him to ambush outside the camp, saying that he had his own way to break the barrier.
Zhang Fei laughed and said: "I ordered people to throw the hook locks on the top of the city, pull the wooden stakes up, and pretend that someone is climbing the city. When the defenders cut the ropes, they will make a sound to lure them out of the city."
Kou Feng was stunned and sighed: "It's incredible that the general used wooden rings to hang wooden stakes."
Zhang Fei waved his hand and said with a smile: "What's so strange about this? When I was a butcher, I always used this wooden hoop to hoist the animals for slaughter, which saves effort and is convenient."
Everyone was amused by Zhang Fei, and Liu Xian sighed again and again. They all said that Zhang Fei was reckless, but they didn't know that he was also as careful as his hair. This plan, even the sleeping dragon and phoenix chick, may not be so thorough.
The next day when Liu Qi's troops arrived, Zhang Fei led the generals out of the camp. Liu Qi laughed and said, "I didn't expect that my third uncle would have such a plan. This cruel trick is really clever."
Pang Tong said: "If you don't need to provoke the generals, how can Yide be willing to use cunning?"
"In the past, the eldest son and several military advisors were here, so why should I, Old Zhang, bother?" Zhang Fei chuckled, "This time, it's just the same old trick, and it's just a blockade in Shu. They only know that I, Old Zhang, got into trouble because of drinking, but... I don’t know that I also captured Generals Liu Dai and Wang Zhong while drunk.”
Pang Tong smiled and said: "This is called good deeds never leaving home, and bad deeds traveling thousands of miles away."
"This is absolutely true!" Zhang Fei nodded repeatedly and took the initiative to plead guilty: "I, Old Zhang, drank in the army again and beat the soldiers. I violated the military order and asked the general to punish him."
Liu Qi hurriedly held Zhang Fei's arm: "The third uncle is here to capture the city. He did this deliberately and is not within the scope of military law."
Pang Tong also said: "No one is a sage, how can he have no faults? The difficulty is that he has faults without knowing it. Now that the general knows this fault, there is no greater good!"
In order to prevent Zhang Fei from causing trouble after drinking and whipping the soldiers, Liu Qi took great pains and reiterated the military orders many times, asking Pang Tong and others to remind and advise him frequently, and finally he became a little aware.
Liu Qi was greatly relieved and said: "Although it was a trick this time, the soldiers were punished for no reason. Third uncle must make amends to them in time."
"I have given the credit to Deng Xian!" Zhang Fei nodded slightly and said nonchalantly: "But those soldiers... just beat them if they were beaten. Just give them more rewards. Why apologize?"
"No!" Liu Qi said hurriedly: "Although gold and silver can boost morale, it is not enough to win people's hearts. Only by comparing hearts and minds can the three armies be put to good use."
"I remember it!" Zhang Fei frowned slightly, obviously not taking it to heart.
Pang Tong said from the side: "Loyal words are hard to hear. I hope Yide can understand the great efforts of the eldest son. If the general can be as considerate to the soldiers as Yun Chang, he will be followed by loyal and brave guards like Zhou Cang."
Zhang Fei paused slightly, clasped his fists and said, "I'm going to apologize to them right now."
Watching Zhang Fei stride away, Liu Qi secretly shook his head. Although Zhang Fei could listen to Pang Tong's advice, it didn't seem to come from his heart.
The two men, Guan and Zhang, were completely opposite in their treatment of outsiders. One was arrogant but did not bully those below, and the other respected the virtuous but did not show sympathy for villains. In the end, both suffered great losses.
This is probably related to their origins. Guan Yu was forced by the noble officials and eventually fled the rivers and lakes. He had a chivalrous spirit and was extremely disdainful of the hypocritical and arrogant wealthy families, but he was full of sympathy for ordinary people.
Although Zhang Fei is a butcher, he is also a landlord and has quite a lot of land. He is in awe and envy of famous scholars, but he looks down on ordinary people. In his eyes, those soldiers are just servants and it is natural to beat and scold them. .
In the past two years, under the influence of Jingzhou celebrities such as Li Dian and Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu has become much more humble, but he still looks down upon those children of aristocratic families.
The same is true for Zhang Fei. Although he realized his mistake after everyone's persuasion, deep down in his heart, he still couldn't reflect on himself.
The state is easy to change, but the nature is hard to change. Especially in the feudal era, this kind of class consciousness is basically difficult to change. Liu Bei couldn't persuade him, so Liu Qi could only do his best!
When everyone came to Guanzhong, Zhang Fei had already ordered Liu Xian to issue an announcement to calm the people, and everything in the city was in order. Liu Qi also rewarded Deng Xian, which completely calmed down the intention to surrender.
When the county magistrate of Fucheng heard that Fushui Pass had been lost and that Yang Huai and Gao Pei had been killed, he knew that he was no match for Liu Qi, so he took the initiative to send a letter of surrender.
Liu Qi was overjoyed and ordered Liu Xian to guard the pass and lead the army to Fucheng. The county magistrate led his troops to surrender. When he entered the city, the people lined the streets to welcome him. They rewarded the three armies in the city that day, and the morale of the Jingzhou army was high.
At this time, there was no news about Zhao Yun who had sent troops from Nanchong. Liu Qi ordered Kou Feng to lead 3,000 troops southward along the Fulishui River to meet Zhao Yun in Guanghan.
Further ahead is Mianzhu, which was once the prefecture of Yizhou and operated by Liu Yan for several years. Although there was a fire, the city wall was not damaged, and its strength was second only to Chengdu.
While everyone was discussing the matter of taking Mianzhu, they saw one man clasping his fists and saying, "General, don't worry about this. I only need a piece of paper to ask Mianzhu to open the door and surrender."
