After some discussion, everyone dispersed and began to prepare for tonight's retreat.
At this moment, Liu Bei seemed to remember something and said to Zhang Fei,
"Third brother, please quickly send someone to notify Prefect Han and tell him that we are leaving!"
"Little brother, I obey!"
Zhang Fei clasped his fists, stood up and left the camp.
However, not long after he walked out, someone called him from behind.
"General Yide, stay!"
Zhang Fei turned around and found that it was Zhuge Liang who stopped him.
"What are the military advisor's orders?"
Zhuge Liang saw that there was no one around, so he came forward and whispered,
"General Yide should not inform Han Xuan."
"Why?"
Zhang Fei said strangely.
"If Han Xuan knew that we were going to withdraw, he would definitely flee in advance. Who will resist Cao's army for us in the meantime?"
Zhuge Liang said softly.
Zhang Fei was stunned for a moment, and his eyes widened instantly.
"The military advisor wants... Han Xuan to be the scapegoat!"
"good!"
Zhuge Liang nodded heavily.
Once Cao Jun discovers that the coalition forces are retreating, they will definitely send troops to pursue them.
If they catch up, the coalition forces will be in trouble.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang planned to hide it from Han Xuan and let him delay Cao Jun for the coalition forces!
"But wouldn't it be unreasonable to do this? If big brother knew about it, wouldn't he blame us?"
Zhang Fei hesitated.
"It's Han Xuan's fault for this matter. If he hadn't refused to lend us the road so that Yang Ling could easily capture the three counties of Jingnan, why would he have caused the current situation?"
Zhuge Liang said calmly,
"My Lord has a kind heart and cares about others. There are some things he doesn't want to do, but we have to do it."
"General Yide, do you understand?"
Zhang Fei was silent for a while, and finally nodded heavily.
"What the military advisor said is absolutely true, I promise you!"
"That's good, Liang thanks General Yide!"
Zhuge Liang smiled happily when he heard this!
…
When night slowly fell, the coalition soldiers, who had been well prepared, began to retreat from the camp in batches!
Everything went very smoothly, and Cao Jun on the other side knew nothing about it.
"Uncle Liu Huang, please take care, we are waiting for you in Fankou!"
Huang Gai saluted Liu Bei solemnly and left the camp with the last group of troops.
Watching their figures disappear into the night, Liu Bei felt both happy and disappointed.
A group of them entered Changsha County with great fanfare, hoping to stop Cao's army.
Tens of thousands of civilians were recruited and a defense line was built along the Xiang River.
As a result, he didn't even fight a single battle and had to leave Changsha County in disgrace.
How can this make Liu Bei feel better?
Zhuge Liang on the side seemed to understand Liu Bei's thoughts and comforted him with kind words,
"My lord, you don't have to be depressed. You can keep the green hills and don't have to worry about running out of firewood."
"The military advisor is right!"
Liu Bei regained his composure and returned to the camp with Zhuge Liang and Zhang Fei.
In addition to Liu Bei and the others, Chen Dao and more than a hundred cavalry remained in the camp.
After breakfast, a sergeant came to report that Guan Yu was here again!
"Please keep calm, my lord, and don't show any signs of weakness."
Zhuge Liang whispered.
"Don't worry, sergeant, I have my own sense of discretion!"
Liu Bei took a deep breath and nodded.
He and Zhang Fei stood up, walked outside, and soon arrived at the bridge.
"Second brother!"
"Second brother!"
"Big brother, third brother!"
Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei each said hello and started chatting again.
After talking for a long time, seeing that the sky was almost dark, the two parties handed over their hands and left.
Seeing that Guan Yu failed to notice anything unusual, Liu Bei breathed a sigh of relief and went straight back to his military camp.
…
This was repeated for two more days.
On this day, after Liu Bei finished his meeting with Guan Yu and returned to the camp, Zhuge Liang came over.
"Lord, the time has come, we can withdraw!"
"good!"
Liu Bei nodded in relief, hurriedly greeted Zhang Fei, Chen Dao and others, and hurriedly left the camp.
Not long after they left, a group of people came from the direction of Linxiang.
The leader was none other than Han Xuan, the governor of Changsha.
Since Liu Bei was stationed in Xiangshui, he would send messengers to Linxiang every now and then.
Either report the war situation to Han Xuan, or ask for food, grass and baggage.
But in recent days, Liu Bei was busy retreating and ignored Han Xuan.
Han Xuan didn't receive any news for a long time, and he was murmuring in his heart, so he personally brought people here to see what happened.
However, before reaching the gate of the military camp, Han Xuan noticed something was wrong.
Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang had always been strict in running their armies. How could there not be even a single gatekeeper at the camp gate?
When the group of them entered the camp, they were even more stunned.
The huge camp was empty, not to mention the soldiers, not even a ghost!
"The big-eared thief Liu Bei is really a hypocritical villain!"
Han Xuan reacted and became furious!
In order for Liu Bei to help him resist Cao's army, he not only recruited a large number of civilians, but also provided a large amount of supplies!
As long as Liu Bei spoke, Han Xuan was almost completely satisfied.
But he never expected that Liu Bei would run away in advance without even saying hello!
"Prefect, be careful what you say!"
The cronies on the side quickly grabbed Han Xuan and said nervously,
"I'm afraid even Cao Jun didn't know about Liu Bei's escape! Let's not make any noise, lest Cao Jun find out!"
"Yes, yes, you are right!"
Han Xuan quickly lowered his voice and ordered,
"Quick, let's retreat too!"
Han Xuan and his party left just as quickly as they came, leaving only an empty military camp.
At the same time, Cao Ying on the south bank of the Xiang River.
After Guan Yu returned to the camp, he reported to Yang Ling as usual.
He was just about to leave when he was stopped by Yang Ling.
"General Guan, aren't you curious as to why I ask you to persuade Liu Bei to surrender every day?"
Guan Yu was slightly startled, cupped his hands and said,
"The general is indeed curious, but the general must have his own deep meaning when doing things!"
Yang Ling laughed, put down the brush in his hand, and ordered,
"Please also ask General Yun Chang to come and invite Master Gao and General Meng Qi to the camp gate."
Although Guan Yu had doubts, he still obeyed the order and left.
After a while, Ma Chao, Gao Rou, Gao Shun, Dian Wei, Xu Chu and others came to the camp gate together.
Yang Ling was standing by the river with his hands behind his back, looking at the other side of the river.
"The general called us here, but do you have something important to say?"
Yang Ling turned around and smiled,
"Don't you always want to know why I ask General Guan to persuade Liu Bei to surrender every day?"
Everyone was stunned for a moment, but Ma Chao was the first to react.
"Could it be that the general is planning to tell us?"
"Yes, now that the time has come, it's time to tell you why."
Yang Ling smiled and nodded,
"I'm just doing it to cover up Chen Cang's plan!"
