Yu Hui is an honest farmer. His ancestors have lived in Pengcheng for generations and have a nice house and several acres of thin farmland.
On this day, Yu Hui went to the fields to farm as usual.
It was just after noon, and some people running eastward with their families and families appeared on the official road. Yu Hui couldn't help but be confused. He put down his work and called out to a young man pushing a trolley on the road with an old mother.
"Hey! Baby, where are you going?"
"Uncle, Sun Ce is here. He's killing people everywhere. He's very powerful! You should run away as well."
Yu Hui was stunned. This place is not far from Jiangdong. Sun Ce's reputation often spreads here. Most of them have a good reputation, at least for the people at the bottom. Moreover, Sun Ce had served under Shouchun's master Yuan Shu a few years ago, and he had some connections with this place. It was hard to believe that Sun Ce was killing people everywhere.
I guess it was a rumor spread from somewhere.
Yu Hui laughed, lowered his head and continued working. When the young man saw that the uncle ignored him, he knew that he didn't believe it. He didn't say anything more and pushed the cart away.
After a while, several groups of people passed by and fled eastward, including a young couple. The man stopped and shouted to Yu Hui.
"Uncle, why don't you run away? Sun Ce has entered Shouchun, killing people and setting fires everywhere. I heard he wants to massacre the city for revenge!"
"My dear, the one who attacked Shouchun was the King of Wei, and the one who betrayed the King of Chu was the King of Han. What does it have to do with us?"
"Uncle, the King of Chu issued a proclamation to avenge the King of Han. Don't forget that Shouchun is under the rule of the King of Han now!"
Yu Hui's heart skipped a beat and he was speechless. The man continued.
"I didn't believe it when I heard others say that the Chu army was so ferocious, but my home is close to Shouchun, so I climbed two hills to see it. My dear, the fire in Shouchun City burned half the sky red, and the thick smoke could be seen more than ten miles away. .”
After saying that, the man said no more and left along the official road with his little wife.
Yu Hui also stopped what he was doing at this time and stood there in shock and hesitation. After a while, he came to the roadside with a hoe. When he saw the next passerby fleeing to the east, he asked hurriedly.
"Hey, sister, I heard that the Chu army would kill anyone they saw when they came, but is it true?"
The woman who was stopped was carrying an eleven or twelve-year-old child, and she burst into tears when she heard this.
"If this were not the case, who would be willing to leave their hometown? Uncle, you should run away too."
Yu Hui was finally completely panicked. He sat down on the ground and said in despair.
"This is how to do?"
"What can we do? Run away. Before the army of the King of Han left, they said that although the King of Han was temporarily defeated by the King of Chu, the King of Han was kind-hearted and willing to accept the people of Shouchun. As long as they went to Xiaopei and defeated the Chu army, every household would If you can get an acre of land, at least you still have a way to survive.”
Yu Hui was overjoyed and thanked him profusely. Then he ran back to the village, shouted loudly, and talked to the villagers about the brutality of the Chu army and the benevolence of the Han army as if he had seen it with his own eyes. In the blink of an eye, a whole village of people also joined the army "escape" eastward.
??????
The sun was setting in the west, and the people who had gathered to watch the fire in the palace and treasury had already hid in their homes. At this moment, they were peeping through the doors and windows to watch the Chu army that quickly occupied Shouchun.
On top of the ruins, Ji Shu and others sat together and listened carefully to the information that had just been sent back.
"How unreasonable! It must be Zhuge Liang's plan again! How dare Zhuge Liang bully me like this!"
General Huang Gai was a veteran of the Chu State. His hair was already graying, and he was quickly trusted by Sun Ce for his maturity and poise. But after listening to the scout's report, Huang Gai was furious. He stood up suddenly and asked Ji Shu for orders with a fierce look like he was about to draw his sword to kill.
"Commander, give me 10,000 soldiers and horses, and I will come back to you with Zhuge Liang's head."
Strangely, Ji Shu didn't feel the slightest anger at this time.
Have you become numb in your heart by scheming against others, being plotted by others, and deceiving others?
No, maybe it's because he's already capable of meaner things.
"Hehehe~~"
Ji Shu's sudden laughter made everyone a little stunned.
"Military advisor?" Jiang Qin hesitated to speak.
Compared with Jiang Qin who was not easy to speak, Huang Gai was much more straightforward.
"Is the military advisor confused by Zhuge Liang's anger?"
Ji Shu waved his hands repeatedly, stopped laughing and said.
"Old General Huang, please be patient."
Ji Shu knew very well that if he agreed to Huang Gai's request and let him pursue with a light force, he might see Huang Gai's head instead of Zhuge Liang's head.
"I would like to ask General Huang first, why did Zhuge Liang do this?"
Huang Gai replied with an unhappy look on his face.
"Of course it is to discredit our Chu country and gain the moral upper hand. I know what you mean, military advisor. You want to say that Zhuge Pif set up this trap to provoke us and set up an ambush when we pursue."
Having said this, Huang Gai put one hand on his hips and the other on the hilt of his sword and smiled confidently. His smile is not arrogance, but the confidence that comes from fighting on countless battlefields.
"Military advisors, don't think of me as a warrior. To put it bluntly, when Huang Gai followed the late emperor on the battlefield, you and my lord were still learning to talk. Huang Gai rolled out of the dead, Zhuge Liang Since the common man has set up such a vicious plan to provoke us, I just want to show him the power of our Chu army. Military advisor, I only need 10,000 elite soldiers. If Zhuge Liang really sets an ambush on the road, I will come back to you with his head!"
"Then if Zhuge Liang hides an ambush among the fleeing civilians and suddenly attacks our army, and it is difficult to tell which are the civilians and which are the enemy troops in the chaos, will you kill them?"
Ji Shu stopped Huang Gai's question with just one sentence.
If he were ordered to kill him, I'm afraid the rumors would be confirmed, and jumping into the Yellow River wouldn't be able to clean him up. But if we don't kill, we are just being controlled by others. If we cooperate with other ambush, we will definitely lose.
Huang Gai broke into a cold sweat and murmured.
"Here, Liu Bei is famous far and wide, so he won't hold the common people hostage as shields, right?"
"Who said he held the people hostage as shields? The world will only know that the Chu army was brutal and massacred cities and villages. The Han army retreated with the people of Pengcheng, but the Chu army pursued them all the way, causing heavy casualties to the soldiers and civilians."
This is shameless.
Huang Gai was confident that he could deal with all kinds of ambushes. The experience he gained on the battlefield was beyond what Ji Shu and the others could compare with, but it was no longer a question of how to fight. If the situation mentioned by Ji Shu really happens, no matter how hard we fight, we will lose.
Huang Gai's anger gradually faded, he stamped his feet fiercely and still asked unwillingly.
"Military advisor, then we can only watch Liu Bei's army take tens of thousands of people and flee?"
Why didn't they see anything else?
It is true that the Chu army suffered a heavy loss at the moment, but why did Liu Bei, who always regarded himself as benevolent and righteous, agree to implement such a strategy?
It’s the gap in national power!
In the last battle, the Chu State lost nearly 60,000 troops in Xuzhou. In addition, the more than 20,000 people were wiped out by Cao Cao. The losses were heavy. The three years of Chu State's hard work in recuperating was almost wiped out in one battle. In contrast, Xu Han only lost more than 40,000 troops.
Even so, Chu State could still launch a war of 100,000 men, but what about Xu Han's military strength?
Xu Han had fought wars with Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, and Yuan Shu. In order to maintain a strength of 100,000 troops during successive campaigns, Xu Han had already recruited many troops many times. In addition to this loss, Ji Shu dared to say that Xu Han could now replenish 70,000 troops, which would be considered the maximum.
This is the difference between strong and weak countries.
Liu Bei lacked population, lacked people to cultivate the land, and lacked strong men to join the army.
Hidden under the trick is Xu Han's weakness!
After all, Sun Ce was short of supplies, cut off food and grass, and exhausted his soldiers amid heavy siege. Under such conditions, he was still able to break out of the siege and escape back to Jiangdong. Now that he is fully prepared and armed with 100,000 elite troops, he is angry. How can Liu Bei not be afraid?
Liu Bei did not have the courage that Cao Cao had when he faced Yuan Shao in Guandu and still dared to fight to the death despite a strength gap of 300,000. He is like this, and so is his army.
Xu Han was afraid of Chu.
It was precisely because of this that Ji Shu laughed out loud before. He was still a little confused about how to win this battle, but his eyes suddenly became clear.
He stood up lightly, with a strange light in his eyes.
"Since they want someone so much, then just give it to them!"
??????
Ji Shu's troops stayed in Shouchun City until Sun Ce's army arrived and then handed over the defense and once again advanced to Xuzhou as a vanguard army.
But at this time, the rumors were spreading more and more widely and became more terrifying for some reason. Ji Shu's vanguard army had just arrived at the former site of Pengcheng Fortress. There were many eyewitness reports of the Chu army burning, killing and looting all the way from Shouchun to Pengcheng in Qiaoxian, Dongping and Rencheng in Xuzhou. There were even reports that the Chu army wanted to massacre them. Xuzhou’s threats.
Who can not be afraid? Countless people joined the fleeing team.
Nearly 200,000 people from Pengcheng, Qiaoxian, Dongping, and Rencheng flocked to Xiaopei.
