I don’t know what time it was in the afternoon, but the clouds in the sky gradually increased, and when the sun disappeared and reappeared, it seemed to be almost dusk.
The right army of the Western Dynasty was chased by the Easterners for a whole day. Many of them lost their formation and could only walk towards Pingcheng in a daze. When the enemy came to rescue them, they mounted their horses to fight. Invincible would dismount to take a breather and rest. When the East's pursuit finally stopped, they suddenly realized that they had been without food and water for a day. Many of them had cracked and swollen lips, and their throats were dry and hoarse.
In the Western Dynasty, Zhang Fei, the governor of Dingxiang, the general who conquered the north, and the Marquis of Zhending County, led his cavalry to charge and maneuver among the defeated army. They fought for unknown number of rounds. There were only a dozen riders left, the flag was lost, the water in the kettle had long been exhausted, and the soldiers were extremely hungry and thirsty. They saw that there were still some muddy water in the potholes on the ground. Everyone stopped, took off the horse's visor and chest armor, and asked the horse to lower its head to drink water.
Since Qi Wangru said: "Horses can drink, so can people." He wanted to lie down on the ground to draw water. Jia Kui next to him grabbed him and said: "The muddy water is too dirty to drink directly." He untied his turban, immersed it in the dirty water, then lifted it up and twisted it, and opened his mouth to catch the dripping water to drink. Seeing this, everyone imitated his example and used their kerchiefs to squeeze muddy water to quench their thirst.
At this moment, the dust was flying, and a group of cavalry without flags appeared beside them. When he saw them gathered in the puddle, they suddenly stopped. Zhang Fei didn't know whether they were friends or foes, so he shouted to them: "Who is coming?" At the same time, he held the long stick beside the saddle tightly, intending to show his face to the other side. If you show hostility, throw it out immediately.
The people over there said, "I am Fa Xiaozhi! Is this General Zhang Yide?"
Zhang Fei couldn't help but be overjoyed when he heard that it was Fazheng, and immediately responded: "It's Xiaozhi! I'm right here!"
The two groups of men and horses quickly approached each other. When Zhang Fei and Fazheng saw each other's dusty and dusty appearance, they couldn't help but think of the hard battle just now, and felt quite lucky to have survived. But then, the first words Fazheng spoke made Zhang Fei change his face, and he asked: "Have you ever seen your envoy?"
As a general, Liu Bei's formation can be said to be full of powerful generals. Therefore, although the army was in disarray, Zhang Fei had not yet thought about Liu Bei's danger. When he heard Fazheng asking about Liu Bei's news, he couldn't help being frightened. He immediately asked: "Isn't Xiaozhi in my brother's camp? How come I don't know the news?" ?”
Fazheng shook his head and said: "The battle just collapsed, and we were all in chaos! No one could be seen at all. Now the Dongren seemed to have been repelled by the dragon head, and I had to take a breath. As a result, the entire organization is now in chaos, and there is no trace of anyone at all." I don’t know the situation.”
It turned out that the news was just lost. Zhang Fei breathed a sigh of relief. At this time, he heard Fazheng say: "I don't know where your envoy is now, but since the people in the east didn't make loud noises and cheers, he must be fine. The top priority is still We need to gather the remaining soldiers and return to Pingcheng."
Zhang Fei nodded while thinking: "You are right. If we wait until dark, not to mention whether the East bandits will come after us, I am afraid that many people will become deserters."
He ordered the sergeant to pack up his things and continue to retreat. The two groups formed a group, and then shouted along the road to rest the confused soldiers on the ground. This process was very long, and their party also saw many flags and weapons thrown on the ground, as well as some spare horses that had lost their owners. They said that these things should be gathered together, and then the flags would be raised high. At this time, the retreat would be as smooth as a tributary flowing into a river. It's just that the organization of the entire team is very loose. There is no order among the soldiers along the way. From time to time, there are laggards and conflicts. While Zhang Fei whipped the soldiers to urge them to return to the team, he also deeply felt that it was important to survive in this battle. What a fluke.
But how did the left army in the north regain its morale after its formation was broken, and quickly launch a counterattack? This question puzzled them greatly. The answer is actually very simple, just because the military restructuring has not yet been extended to the Bafu Army, the Beifu Army under Zhang Fei is only in name only. And only time can slowly change this understanding.
Fortunately, on the way back, they met Liu Bao, Jian Yong, Chang Xi, Zhu Hao, Chen Dao and other Bafu generals one after another. Although everyone was exhausted, they felt a sense of disaster when they met each other. If you don't die, you will have the comfort of a happy future. It was only after they returned to Pingcheng that they realized they still hadn't seen Liu Bei. They ordered to inquire in the army, but no results were obtained for a while. At this time, Chen Chong had not returned yet. Everyone was lucky and thought: "Maybe the general has run into the left army."
When dusk dissipated and night fell, Chen Chong led the Zuo Army to arrive belatedly, but what he brought back was a silent answer: Zuo Jun had never seen it before. There was chaos in the camp, and many generals on the left were in panic. Fortunately, Chen Chong immediately ordered to block the news among the troops, saying only that Liu Bei was indeed among the left army and was recovering from injuries. In addition, he agreed with Fazheng's judgment that the Eastern Army should not have captured Liu Bei, so he sent more than a thousand people back to the battlefield and asked Chen Dao to take charge of the search in the middle of the night.
That night, the Westerners sent out searched back and forth along the battlefield during the day. However, the battlefield was so large and deep in the dark night. People only felt a deep terror, along with the rotten stench and odor around them. The smell of blood slowly descended in the silent night.
The partial general Chen Dao, like Fazheng, was originally in Liu Bei's formation and was responsible for guarding the commander. However, in the face of the Eastern Army's continuous attacks on the formation, the people in the formation lost their commanding flags, causing chaos in command, and he was immediately dispersed. After the war, Chen Dao felt deeply derelict in his duty when he learned that his master was missing, so he took the initiative to search for him.
But after searching for more than an hour, the Western Army found about two hundred wounded people who were dying, but there was still no news about Liu Bei. This really made people irritable and anxious. Chen Dao stopped in a wormwood bush and looked around. When he saw crows flying in the night sky, he couldn't help but said to his followers: "As a general, as long as he is still alive, he will never do anything." There is no sound. Could it be that he fell into the enemy's position and was killed? It's just that the thieves couldn't recognize him, which is why there is silence now."
The servant said: "The general is simply dressed and wears ordinary armor. It is very possible!"
Chen Dao was affirmed and felt even more depressed, but thinking of Liu Bei's kindness to him in the past, he immediately said: "I am just a Henan ranger with a despicable status, but I am appreciated by the general and even risk my life. If I can't save him today, If you take it back, what shame can I have to survive in this world? Even if it is a corpse, I will take it back!"
At this point, the voice was choked with sobs. After he made up his mind, he guessed Liu Bei's possible escape route, thinking: "The Easterners are attacking from the side of Cetian Lake. With the general's personality, will he go in the opposite direction and break out by Cetian Lake?" It’s true that I haven’t found it there yet.”
After discussing it with his subordinates, they all thought it was very possible. So they gathered nearly a hundred people. In order to prevent the Eastern scouts from discovering anything unusual, they wrapped themselves in black cloth, leaned on their horses and ran towards Cetian Lake.
The closer they got to Cetian Lake, the stronger they could smell the smell of blood and corpses. When they arrived at the lake, they saw piles of corpses, many of them headless, and the blood on the ground also accumulated in pools. Some flowed into the lake, and the blood diluted into pink. Under the moonlight, the lake water is as dense as peach blossoms.
But Westerners had no intention of watching. They just looked up at the sky, looking at the dim stars and moon in the night. After estimating the time, they carefully took out the fire sickle from the bag, started a fire, and searched for it on the ground based on their memory. They held up the light like fireflies and searched all over the place where they were lost during the day. They opened up the corpses that were pungent with blood and smelled of feces and urine, and identified them one by one. In the end, Chen Dao fell to the ground tired. He had not had a good rest for a day. At this time, his whole body was soaked with sweat, and tears dripped down along with the sweat.
Chen Dao cried and said: "The ancestors of the Han Dynasty, please protect him. We have lost our ambition and fought hard for the country. We dare not slack off in the fight. Why? If you really still care about future generations, lead us I found the general, and he almost caused me to die afterwards, so why should I hate him?" He sat to catch his breath, his face covered with tears and sweat, and coupled with extreme fatigue, he staggered and was about to fall asleep.
At this time, Chen Dao saw a person walking slowly in the distance, but because he was too tired, he couldn't see the person's appearance clearly. He just vaguely heard the person asking him, as if he was asking about his identity, and he became confused. Huhudi replied: "I am Chen Dao from Jinyang Bafu." The man gave him something and left quickly.
Chen Dao felt that the thing he got was very cold, and he suddenly woke up. He quickly wiped away his tears and opened it, and found that what he got was a short-sheath hidden sword. When he pulled it open, he found that "Siqi" was engraved on both sides of the sword. , the word "fluctuation". Chen Dao Yi Lin, isn't this the congratulatory gift that former Shangshu Lu Zhi gave to the general when he got married? Looking again at the scabbard, there was a piece of cloth inside, which said: "Three feet under the black stone by the lake."
He quickly called someone to come and look for him along the lake shore. After walking for half a mile, I found a three-foot-large stone on the shore. It was completely dark without any light. Under the stone was a steep slope, almost perpendicular to the lake. Chen Dao stretched out his upper body and looked down, and found a cave in it! He got into it and raised a fire, and saw a person fainting in it, it was Liu Bei!
】
He was covered in blood, his face was stained with mud and blood, and his body exuded the unpleasant smell of rotting corpses, but he was still breathing and moaning at this moment, clearly still alive. Chen Dao hurriedly took him out to check his injuries and found that he had been hit by two arrows in the back. However, the arrows were pulled out and herbs were wrapped in a towel to stop the bleeding.
Chen Dao hurriedly kowtowed and prayed to the sky, thinking: "It's so pitiful that the general survived like this. Could it be that the man who gave me the instructions just now is the heroic spirit of his ancestors?" When he asked the followers around him, they all said that The person was wearing a veilless Guangli, so he couldn't see clearly. No one knew how he came, and no one knew how he left.
Since he couldn't figure it out, Chen Dao stopped thinking about it. Instead, he helped Liu Bei onto the horse's back, slowly patted him awake, and secretly headed to Pingcheng.
