In terms of fire intensity alone, the fire in Xindu can be said to be the worst in a century. Because the fire broke out in the granary and there was no one in the city to put out the fire, the flames raged among millions of rice noodles, almost like starting a prairie fire on autumn grass, and turned into flames that burned the city in a very short period of time. Most of the citizens were still packing their belongings at home in order to escape from the city. Unexpectedly, they suddenly felt a heat wave, and then were engulfed in flames in an instant, without even having time to cry out.
When the people in the rest of the city saw this purgatory-like scene, they were all frightened and crowded towards the city gate like a swarm. However, the city gate was narrow, and half of it was impassable due to the fire. As a result, tens of thousands of people had to crowd into several streets, shoving and cursing in disorder. In addition, the rebels tried to kill people to clear the way, which soon led to stampedes and vendettas. The entire Eastern Dynasty seemed to be submerged and swallowed up by a curse. On the first day of the fire, tens of thousands of innocent people died in and outside Xindu.
By the time the Western Army arrived belatedly after cleaning the battlefield, the situation in Xindu was already appalling. In this capital city of Guandong, which is known as "the rich and prosperous Guandong and the majestic Hebei", corpses are lying on pillows outside the city, and refugees are scattered everywhere. People can be seen everywhere holding corpses or missing limbs and crying in the countryside. There may be many scholars among them. Previously, the Easterners used the Western dynasty to mostly use barbarians, and mocked the Western dynasty as "Western barbarians", comparing themselves to "Chinese well-dressed people". But at this time, their hair was disheveled and their clothes were in rags. They looked like zombies, and they no longer looked like "models in clothes".
Upon seeing this, Liu Bei went to Xinfa Zheng and asked him to bring the masses to appease the people. At the same time, he ordered Yuan Tan to organize people to put out the fire and provide disaster relief. He himself observed the Xindu City Pool closely. However, the fire was not extinguished at this time. A few dozen steps away from the city, the heat wave forced him to move in. What he smelled in his nose was a burning smell. Liu Bei looked at the smoke marks on the city wall. I couldn't help but curse Cao Cao secretly in my heart, but there was nothing I could do. He knew in his heart that a great famine in Hebei next year might be inevitable.
As for Cao Cao, he gathered two thousand men and horses in the east of the city and ran eastward along Jiangshui River at starry night. He arrived at Xiuxian County late at night. When he heard the sound of several rivers converging in front of him, he planned to cross the river here. They didn't dare to light a fire, so they sent out all the cavalry to search for boats along the coast, and only eight or nine fishing boats were found. We can only let people get on the boat in batches, hold the reins and let the horses swim with the boat. At noon the next day, all the people and horses arrived at the south bank of Jiangshui River.
Seeing that the Western Army did not continue to pursue him, he guessed that his plan had succeeded, so he left some people on the north bank to help the defeated soldiers who followed scattered across the river. Within about three or four days, Tian Feng, Lu Zhao, Li Tong and others all crossed the river and gathered some scattered soldiers one after another. There were more than 18,000 foot and horse soldiers in total. Not daring to stay long, he burned the boat and wandered southward.
Food was exhausted along the way, it was raining and snowing, and people were cold and hungry, so they looted some villages indiscriminately. Qingzhou had just received the news of the defeat of the imperial army, and saw people coming to kill and rob. They thought it was the Westerners who came to take revenge. They were so frightened that they fled for refuge.
After a few days, we got the news. It turned out that these people were the remnants of the Eastern Army, and they were supposedly here to take refuge. However, every city was afraid that the Western Army would take advantage of the situation to attack, and they didn't know how long Cao Cao could hold out, so they didn't dare to open the city to accept them.
After Zhang He, the governor of Qingzhou, learned about it, he led the crowd to greet him, and he managed to calm the crowd. But how long the Eastern Army can hold on at this time, no one dares to say. But the plain is too close to the Western Army, and we absolutely cannot stay any longer.
After discussing with the people accompanying him, Cao Cao decided to temporarily transfer to Linzi. As soon as we arrived at Zi, it was the old capital of Gengcang. It had strong fortifications and sufficient food and grass to hold on. Second, most of the people around Laizi were Taiping Dao believers, who had been fighting with Liu Bei for dozens of years. They were incompatible with the Western Dynasty, and there would be no more mutiny in Xindu.
Just entering Linzi again, Cao Cao was full of emotions. The last time he came to this city, it was still the scene of the Seven Years of Yanxing. At that time, Cao Cao defeated Liu Bei in Bohai and defeated 300,000 with 60,000 soldiers. The foundation of the Eastern Dynasty lasted for more than ten years. At that time, he was based in Linzi, marched in three directions, conquered more than ten counties in one year, marched across Henan, and reached Hulao. How high-spirited was he? But at the moment, he is defeated with only a handful of remnants of his army, hoping to survive here. When Cao Cao thought about this, he couldn't help but feel that all his thoughts were abandoned and he felt endless melancholy.
But he quickly got excited again, thinking that although the situation seemed to be favorable to the Western Army, it was not completely without opportunities for the Eastern Dynasty. The key point lies in the changes in people's hearts in Hebei. After Cao Cao's grain requisition, the food shortage in Hebei has become extremely serious. However, the Westerners mobilized nearly 200,000 troops for the eastward expedition, which will inevitably lead to a large-scale civil uprising in the coming year. As long as they wait for the opportunity in Linzi, they can wait for the opportunity. After the change, when the Western Dynasty was exhausted in Hebei and waited for an opportunity to counterattack, it might be possible to recapture Hebei.
For this reason, Cao Cao made a lot of preparations to hold on.
The first is to order Xia Houyuan and Cao Zhen to lead their troops to Donglai. After all, Donglai has sea routes to communicate with Liaodong, and can transport Pingzhou's army and food and supplies. And if the Eastern Army is unable to resist the Westerners, Cao Cao can rush into Donglai and escape back to Liaodong on a floating boat. As long as Donglai is stabilized, the Easterners can advance and retreat with a solid foundation.
The second was to write to Sun Quan asking for help. Cao Cao talked about the truth of the death of lips and teeth in the letter, hoping that Sun Quan could send an army to Xuzhou for reinforcements to help Cao Cao involve the Western Army. If that failed, he could also send troops out of Huaibei and take the opportunity to capture Yuzhou, but You must not sit back and watch success or failure, otherwise if the skin is gone, how will the hair be attached?
After receiving the letter, Sun Quan also knew that the matter was of great importance. After a court discussion, he decided to make Lu Meng the chief general, Zhu Ran and Cheng Pu as deputy generals, and lead 20,000 troops to immediately cross the Huaihe River to assist Cao Cao. Before leaving, Sun Quan and Lu Meng discussed that the situation was complicated and difficult to understand, and although reinforcements were sent, they should not act rashly. If Cao Cao can fight, he will fight. If Cao Cao cannot fight, he will bluff. After Lu Meng sent troops, the state government continued to recruit large armies in the Shouchun area, taking advantage of the emptiness of the Central Plains to send troops out of Yuzhou.
Let’s talk about Liu Bei’s side. Seeing that Hebei was in a mess, Liu Bei hesitated for a moment. After Fa Zheng and most of his troops arrived, he held a military meeting with everyone to discuss follow-up strategic issues. He said: “Cao’s thieves are so cruel that The people in Hebei are in dire straits, with corpses scattered all over the fields. The winter is unbearable now, and Xindu has saved only ten grains. I am afraid that next year in Hebei will be very difficult, and I feel uneasy about it. But now the Cao thieves have been defeated, and the army should have taken advantage of the victory to pursue them. Time, whether to pursue or to keep, you can tell me."
At this time, the generals had received the news that Cao Cao had fled to Linzi, and they mostly stayed and watched Hebei. For example, Yuan Tan had been stationed in the plains and was familiar with the situation around Qingzhou, so he persuaded Liu Bei: "Your Majesty fought with Cao Cao before, but he won a great victory. , but field battles are ultimately disadvantageous, not to mention Linzi is a strong city in the world with a dense network of rivers, making it difficult to attack. Now that Hebei has been captured, Cao Cao's situation is over. It is better to consolidate Hebei as the foundation first, and then plan for it slowly." The other generals also agreed. .
But when Liu Bei saw this situation, he still hesitated and said that he would postpone the matter for later discussion. Fa Zheng saw that something was wrong, and immediately met with Liu Bei privately and said: "The generals have been fighting hard for several months and are already a little tired. It is human nature not to want to pursue them in the winter. However, your Majesty must be cautious and do not let women's benevolence You missed something big!"
He analyzed Liu Bei in detail: "Now it seems that Hebei has been pacified, but in fact what we have gained is just some grass and trees on the wall. Seeing that Cao Cao's power is weak, he switched to the imperial court, but in fact, the nobles of Hebei have occupied Wubao, and Baili is king. , I have been a traitor to the East for decades, how can I be sincere in taking refuge? They are all disobedient people! I am afraid that when Cao Cao leads his troops next year, when the food shortage comes, all the counties will rebel! By then, our army will be deep in the quagmire , there are enemies on all sides, and there is not enough food and grass. Even if we have an army of one hundred thousand or one million, what is the use?"
After discussing the unreliability of Hebei, Fazheng analyzed the need for the Eastern Expedition for Liu Bei: "Now Cao Cao's thieves have suffered a sudden defeat, with only 30,000 soldiers. Our army is at the end of the war, and he is just a ball of sand. All we can hope for is People in Hebei are in doubt. But this is a big mistake! Qingzhou and Liaodong are far apart from the Bohai Sea. A trip often takes less than a month. As long as our army ignores Hebei, it can be easily blocked. As long as your Majesty surrounds Linzi and divides his troops. Occupying Donglai, Cao Cao is just a bird in a cage, a fish in a net, waiting to die in the city! Seeing that His Majesty's troops are so powerful in Wubao, Hebei, Cao Cao naturally stopped thinking about it and guarded the city of Chou. He can do it later. Conquer slowly."
Liu Bei thought for a long time, raised his eyes and said to Fazheng: "It's just that if the country sends a large number of troops to Qingzhou, it will be unable to provide relief to Hebei. Countless people will die in the coming year. Isn't it my fault? I'm afraid the elders of Jizhou want to kill me!"
Fazheng said categorically: "Your Majesty, the Han family system is the way of kings and dominators, not the way of benevolence. Since ancient times, the winner has been the king and the loser. If we can't take advantage of the situation to wipe out the Cao thieves today, there will be another ten years of hard fighting and waste. Countless, don’t we owe it to the world? How can the suffering of one state be compared to the suffering of nine states? Didn’t our great ancestor break the agreement and attack and kill him when he negotiated peace with Xiang Yu? This is a matter of concern for the country, the country, and the country, so please be considerate of it!"
When Liu Bei heard this, he lingered for a long time, unable to make up his mind. In anxiety, he drew his sword and looked around. He accidentally saw the white hair on his temples reflected on the sword's edge. He was shocked all over, which finally prompted him to decide to pursue.
The next day, Liu Bei sent a warrant to Zhang Fei, ordering him to lead the Beifu army southward to the vicinity of Xindu, ready to quell the rebellion at any time. He himself notified the entire army and decided to continue chasing Cao Cao eastward, violating military law. Then he personally led 20,000 cavalry, crossed the Jiangshui River with lightning speed, and appeared in the plains. Counties in the plains no longer had any extra troops to explore the enemy's situation. They only knew that a large army was coming from afar, so they continued to hold on. As a result, Liu Bei did not attack, but went straight across the Yellow River, crossed Jishui the next day, and rushed to Linzi City that night.
At dawn, the people from the East looked around the city and were surprised to find a red flag fluttering in the wind on a high ground in the north of Linzi City, and countless Han soldiers were walking back and forth, setting up camp and cooking. Behind them was the iron armor that was unloaded on the ground. The contrasting brilliance was like the ripples of light in midsummer, which made them squint their eyes.
Liu Bei had made up his mind to fight his final battle with Cao Cao under this city.
