It is said that Bafu cherishes people's livelihood and is people-oriented, but Yang Feng has always believed that Bafu is not as pedantic as it is now. It is clear that they have tens of thousands of troops, and their military and material resources are far superior to the enemy's. They know that the enemy is taking the people as hostages and will go north to join Yuan Shao. Once they are allowed to cross the river, the whole situation will be unimaginable. But the Bafu in front of him was really able to use no weapons, and he just maintained a distance of ten miles between the two armies and followed them leisurely.
Of course, this does not mean that Bafu has no means. Once Bai Bo stopped in front, Bafu followed suit, sending people to bury pots and cook rice in the front army, and then knights to roam around in the rear army. They spread the word to the people that as long as they fled south, they would be welcomed by the imperial army and would be treated with porridge and rice.
The people of Xuzhou were originally coerced by Bai Bo. Naturally, they were very willing to hear this news. However, Bai Bo had already made arrangements. Most of the soldiers were guarding the south wing. If there was a disturbance by refugees and they intended to escape and return south, the soldiers would immediately attack. He beheaded the people in public, which made the people he brought with him never dare to return southward. They could only escape from the camp if they found a gap or two in the middle of the night. After a few days, only more than 10,000 people managed to escape, which was really insignificant compared to Bai Bo's team of nearly 700,000 people.
Yang Feng, Han Xian and others were still worried at first, so he and his followers camped in the north. They have secretly made a plan. Once the Bafu launches a general attack, they will abandon most of it and run north day and night, and they can always escape with a life. But now, they wanted to laugh at Liu Bei: "How can a woman's benevolence achieve great things?" So they relaxed and lived as casually as if they were in Xiapi. There are even songs circulating secretly, saying: "Liu Gongren, look ten miles away. The tyrant is brave and sends you to the East China Sea."
On February 27th, Bai Bo and his group arrived at Haiqu, which was only a hundred miles away from Beihai County in the north. It was expected that in three days, the Bafu would only be able to sigh and sigh because of the white land, and would be unable to do anything.
On this day, Yang Feng and the others also received a reply from Yuan Shao. The letter stated that he had sent troops to the south bank of the plain and prepared thousands of ships in Liaocheng. As long as they reached the south bank of the river, they would be able to cross the river and head north.
As for the arrangements after crossing the river, Yuan Shao also made it clear that taking advantage of the good opportunity of the Bafu to move south, Yuan Shao is also deploying troops and generals. It is expected that he will lead a large army to encircle Yijing again by the end of the month. Without Liu Bei's help this time, Yuan Shao is determined to capture Yijing. Once Yi Jing is lost, Youzhou will also be owned by Yuan Shao. Therefore, Yuan Shao planned to appoint Yang Feng as the governor of Yuyang, Han Xian as the governor of Peiping, and Dugu Qubei as the eastern chanyu. He also assigned some Wuhuan to be their commanders and ordered them to lead the people of Xuzhou to settle in these two counties.
Although it was not as good as the official position in the Linzi court, Yang Feng and his party also knew that he came from afar to seek refuge and was a rebel, so it was rare to receive such treatment, so they were still satisfied. After days of marching, the morale of the army was somewhat low. Yang Feng took this opportunity to publicize the contents of the letter. After the officers and soldiers read it, their morale was indeed greatly boosted.
Taking this opportunity, Chen Gui suddenly suggested: Although escape is imminent, most of the soldiers in the army are from Xuzhou. When they think about leaving their hometown and going to Hebei soon, and not knowing how long it will take to come back, everyone's homesickness will inevitably overflow. Therefore, he planned to hold a banquet here and invited Yang Feng and others to participate. He hoped that the emperor and his ministers could establish friendship here and work together to overcome the difficulties in the future. Maybe after many years when the world is unified, this matter can also become a good talk.
Yang Feng and Dugu Qubei happily agreed, but only Han Xian refused. He said: "Drinking makes people crazy, so it is better to drink less." Everyone knew that he was practicing chanting Buddha's name, so they did not force it.
So when the sunset turned from yellow to red, Chen Gui found a pavilion on the roadside as a place for banquet. I don’t know who managed this pavilion before. The pavilion is quite elegantly maintained. There are clumps of bamboos in the courtyard and clusters of vines in front of the pavilion. On the other side of the road is a river more than two feet wide, shaded by willows. Down below, the gurgling water makes people feel happy unconsciously.
"The Romance of Fairy Wood"
Probably because it had rained upstream, the water level of the river was high at this time. A few soldiers who were good at water pulled the net into the water. After a few back and forth, they actually pulled a basket full and threw out finger-sized fry. Among them were actually There were also a dozen bass. Chen Gui was very happy after hearing this. He sent someone to set up the table and fetch some water shield. The sea bass is delicious, and only the sweetness of water shield can complement it.
Time flew by so fast, and when Yang Feng and others came to sit down, only a palm-sized patch of red clouds remained on the horizon. The sky was naturally dark, because Chen Gui arranged for people to serve porridge outside the pavilion, and many refugees lined up in the pavilion. Yang Feng came from the middle and watched from a distance as nearly a hundred lights were being lit in the case table. The servants These lamps are held high to guide the nobles in the army. As they move forward and backward, the red flames flicker and intersect, like stars flowing in the world.
In fact, everyone invited has arrived. As a social banquet, there are not only Bai Bo's soldiers, but also celebrities from various famous families who accompanied him from Xuzhou. The total number of people is nearly two hundred, but many of them are not even Yang Feng. Very familiar. Because there were too many people at the banquet, the banquet was simply divided into two venues. Officers with more than 600 shi and county magistrates had a banquet in the pavilion, while officers with less than 600 shi and county magistrates had a banquet outside the pavilion. Then more than a hundred personal guards guarded the courtyard, preventing ordinary people from coming and going.
The banquet begins.
Yang Feng sat in the chair and saw the crowds in the courtyard and the warm atmosphere. He also tasted the delicious dishes and sweet wine. After three rounds of drinking, he felt quite happy. Some words came to his throat, and he seemed to be unwilling to spit them out. It happened that Chen Gui came forward at this time. After raising his glass and toasting, he slowly said to him: "Since Ming Gong is here, you might as well say something. All the gentlemen here are happy to listen."
This was exactly what Yang Feng thought. He nodded slightly, picked up the wine cup, stood up and looked around. When everyone saw this, they all knew that he had something to say, so the banquet became quiet. Only the spring night wind made a rustling sound when it passed through the bamboo forest.
Yang Feng said: "I feel ashamed to say that when the chaos was first suppressed, Brother Han, Brother Dugu and I were defeated by Liu Bei and Chen Chong, so we had no choice but to leave Bingzhou. At that time, we had no friends and ran south in a hurry. We thought we had no way out and would die of thirst soon. Then I heard that Linzi had a kingly spirit, so I passed Wuguan, fled to Nanyang, crossed Yuzhou, and settled in Guangling. It has been five years now. At first, we were ordered by Zhang Rao to resist Yuan Shu, but unexpectedly, Linzi was in chaos. , the destiny of the state declined, the state promoted Brother Han as the shepherd and guard, and I as the general. Unexpectedly, I, the rebellious people of Xihe, became as noble as I am today. Speaking of which, you are all my nobles."
When it came to this point, everyone did not even dare to say it, but hearing the sincerity of this statement, they could not help but feel a little sad. They also heard Yang Feng continue to say: "I only lament that my talent and virtue are shallow, and I cannot stay in this land with you. I have to leave my hometown." People have caused you to leave your hometown, so I hope you won’t blame me.”
Everyone present, whether they were veterans from Xihe or celebrities from Qingxu, were moved by the words and wiped away tears with their hands, feeling extremely sad. When Yang Feng saw that everyone was in a mood, he changed his tone and said loudly: "When I left Guanzhong, Yang made an oath that one day I would fight hard and return to my homeland. Now you are all in the same trouble as me. We are crossing to the north together, and Yang Feng is also willing to swear that after crossing the river, I will work with all of you to return south and not give up until I kill Liu Bei!"
After that, he drank the wine in one gulp and immediately threw down the cup. Just as he was about to continue speaking some heroic words, he suddenly heard someone not far away saying, "I wonder what Liu Bei failed to do to Brother Yang?"
Yang Feng was stunned for a moment, and felt that the voice sounded familiar, but before he could react, more than a hundred soldiers suddenly poured out of the house behind the pavilion. The sound of clashing armored weapons was heard, like a flood overflowing an embankment. More than a hundred people surrounded the pavilion and blocked all the entrances and exits in an instant.
When the soldiers outside the gate heard the movement in the pavilion, they knew that something had happened. Immediately some led most of them to rush into the pavilion. Others called out, "Whoever dares to kidnap Yang Shuai, come forward and kill him!" But before he could rush to the door, he heard a cold voice coming from behind: "If you rush in, you will be guilty of the same crime as Yang Feng and others!"
The Baibo soldiers turned around and saw an eight-foot tall man standing behind him with a knife, and then hundreds of people walked out of the refugees. They were either holding knives or bows and crossbows, and their sharp edges looked like blood under the red light. Clarity. One of the old soldiers recognized the big man's identity and exclaimed, "It's Wei Wenchang!"
Wei Yan's reputation was so popular that the gatekeepers couldn't move after hearing this. Only a few Huns took up their swords, and even though they knew the situation was over, they still had to fight against the trapped beasts. They rushed through the crowd with knives, hitting several arrows on the way, until they were a few steps in front of Wei Yan, and then they slashed several times for the Han army before falling to the ground and waiting to die. The soldiers did not take his life immediately, but lifted him up. After leaving half of them to guard the gate, they walked through the pavilion gate and walked into the pavilion.
The celebrities in Xuzhou in the courtyard were secretly frightened when they saw that they were surrounded by hundreds of soldiers inside and outside. Then, they saw a man walking out of the armor. Everyone was wearing leather armor, but he was the only one wearing iron armor. The workmanship was exquisite and the patterns were beautiful. He was obviously a very noble person. When the old soldiers of Xihe saw him, they all looked ashamed and did not dare to look at each other with their heads down.
It was Liu Bei who came.
At this time, Yang Feng was surrounded by several people. He wanted to resist, but the soldiers held his shoulders down. He could not draw out the knife. He could only struggle with his hands, butt with his head and bite with his mouth. One man saw the right moment and put his foot on his calf. Yang Feng couldn't bear the pain. The soldiers took the opportunity to use their strength and finally pushed him to the ground. At this time, another person fell on him, and Yang Feng was no longer able to resist, so he could only let the Han soldiers tie him up and remove his weapons and knives.
The other generals in the courtyard, such as Dugu Qubei, Zheng Bao and others, were also captured in this way.
Liu Bei walked up to Yang Feng, first smiled softly at Chen Gui who was not far away, and then lowered his head and said to Yang Feng: "Commander Yang, are you okay?"
