"Thanks to the bravery and skill of the troops trained by Yuan Chang, and the calm command of Yide, who held the water and cut off the bridge, Zilong rushed into the formation seven times. Fang delayed the time. We followed the lord all the way to the west until Yun Chang came to meet him. , and never encountered any pursuit.”
Xu Shu told Zhang Xi the entire battle of Changbanpo with emotion on his face.
After Zhang Fei seized the water and broke the bridge, Cao Chun was frightened by Zhao Yun's assault and did not dare to attack the chariot formation with all his strength. In addition, Zhao Yun led his cavalry to attack three times. Not only Cao Chun and Cao Xiu were killed in fear, but also most of the tiger and leopard cavalry. They were all too scared to fight Zhao Yun.
After all, this subordinate has no enemies in Yihe, so why go up there and die? !
Therefore, the tiger and leopard cavalry lost all their energy after being killed, and the attack was unfavorable, which delayed Zhang Fei until the reinforcements led by Guan Yu arrived.
As soon as Guan Yu's reinforcements arrived, Cao Chun knew that the situation was over and it was meaningless to defeat the chariot formation now, so he led the remaining three thousand tiger and leopard cavalry to retreat directly without giving Guan Yu any chance.
If Zhao Yun is suspected of being able to take his own head among the tens of thousands of troops, then this guy here is not a suspect, he can really do it, and there are examples.
If Guan Yu can lead reinforcements, it means that Liu Bei has escaped. In this case, Cao Chun does not want to confront Guan Yu head-on.
One may not be able to defeat him, and the other is that there is no benefit in defeating him.
Liu Bei ran away. Even if he defeated Guan Yu, it would be considered a mission failure. If he accidentally hurt Guan Yu, he might even be scolded by Cao Cao, so why bother.
At this point, the battle at Changbanpo ended, and Zhang Fei still broke the bridge based on the water, showing his style as a famous general.
As for Zhao Yun, well, there is no need to be questioned this time. Even with the three victories in the pursuit of Cao Xiu at the beginning, Zhao Yun actually killed seven in and seven out this time, making Cao's army timid and did not dare to fight.
Zhang Xi felt a little sorry for Zhao Yun without the reputation of being a savior in times of crisis, but at the same time he felt as if he was not sorry.
In any case, although Zhang Xi was not able to witness the battle of Changbanpo in person, Zhang Xi could still imagine the difficulties and twists and turns involved through Xu Shu's words.
Of course, the most important thing is that Liu Bei's army was not dispersed by the tiger and leopard cavalry, and the families of the officers and soldiers were not separated. They even protected tens of thousands of people marching to the mouth of the Han River, waiting to go to Jiangxia to resettle.
It can be said that this is the best result.
But in Liu Bei's view, this was still a failure - he failed to stop Cao Cao from going south in Fancheng, nor did he achieve his goal of entering Jiangling to defend against the enemy. Now he could only flee in a hurry and go to Jiangxia to join Liu Qi.
As for Liu Qi's attitude, Liu Bei was not very sure.
The time was too short, and Liu Bei felt that his penetration into Jiangxia was not strong, so he held a secret meeting at Hanjinkou to discuss how to proceed after reaching Jiangxia.
Both Zhang Xi and Chen Dao participated in this secret meeting, where they reported to Liu Bei the current situation in Jiangxia.
As the postal governor of Jiangxia, Zhang Xi already controlled part of Jiangxia's military affairs, and Liu Qi did not show much vigilance about this.
Chen Dao has also mastered an army of three thousand soldiers. Chen Dao can guarantee that these troops are loyal to Liu Bei.
As for the others, Chen Jiu had been incited to rebel by Zhang Xi, and the more than 10,000 navy troops under his command basically listened to Chen Jiu instead of Liu Qi. Although Su Fei was Liu Biao's subordinate, he himself had euphemistically expressed his willingness to join Liu Bei. I have also met Liu Bei.
The rest depends on whether Liu Bei can truly absorb them and let them be used by Liu Bei.
As for the 7,000 men under Huang She's control, Huang She would only consider his own power. He would not let go of his military power, but he would not fall to Liu Qi either.
It can be said that most of Jiangxia's military power is in Liu Bei's hands.
As for Jiangxia's government affairs, Zhang Xi didn't know much about it. Chen Zhen was in control of it. But with Liu Qi's character and ability, you are overthinking how much government affairs and official appointment and dismissal power you expect him to control in Jiangxia.
After Liu Bei figured out the actual situation in Jiangxia, he suddenly felt much more relaxed.
Zhang Xi and others could not do any better. Under these conditions, if Liu Bei could not control Jiangxia, then he would not be the Han Zhaolie Emperor who could make a comeback after being displaced.
Liu Bei's army stayed at Hanjinkou for ten days. After all the people had been sent to Jiangxia by the navy, Liu Bei took a boat and led his soldiers south to Xiakou.
Liu Qi has sent a letter and agreed to meet Liu Bei in Xiakou.
Liu Qi was already a little confused now.
In less than a month, his father died, Liu Cong succeeded to the throne, Cao's army went south, Liu Cong surrendered, and Liu Bei was defeated. The continuous blows had almost destroyed Liu Qi's originally not very strong will.
Liu Qi was now in a panic, very worried that Cao Cao would take advantage of the situation to attack Jiangxia, and his life would be in danger.
If Chen Zhen hadn't tried his best to dissuade and comfort Liu Qi, he might have collapsed long ago.
However, Liu Qi is better than Liu Cong. He is not suppressed by the Jingzhou family, and he will not make the decision to surrender directly after being kidnapped by the Jingzhou family. Liu Qi still does not want to give up the inheritance left by his father.
Whether you have the ability or not is one thing; choosing to surrender without fighting is another matter entirely.
But Liu Qi also knows his own abilities and knows that he is definitely no match for the world-famous Prime Minister Cao, so now Liu Bei is his only life-saving straw.
Liu Qi personally went to Xiakou to greet Liu Bei, which was indeed sincere. He hoped that Liu Bei could help him stop Cao Cao from going south.
After all, Liu Bei is also a world-famous hero. Although he abandoned Xinye and went to Fancheng and failed twice in a row, Liu Qi had no choice.
Liu Bei is definitely stronger than him. If Liu Bei can't stop Cao Cao, then Liu Qi's victory is in vain.
After the uncle and nephew met, they expressed their heartfelt feelings to each other. Especially Liu Qi, who suddenly encountered these changes, was a little unable to hold on. After meeting Liu Bei, he cried bitterly. Liu Bei comforted him for a long time before he finally stabilized his mood.
Then the uncle and nephew discussed it, and Liu Qi decided to let Liu Bei garrison Xiakou. Chen Dao, Zhang Xi, and Wei Yan would lead 3,000 men to assist Liu Bei. At the same time, he ordered the navy commander Chen Zui to support him in Shaxian and obey Liu Bei's orders. Fight against Cao Cao.
Only Liu Qi himself took Su Fei's 5,000 men to guard Xiling as Liu Bei's backup.
In fact, it was still Liu Biao's trick, letting Liu Bei resist Cao Cao from the front, and he made a decision after observing the success or failure from behind.
The reason why Liu Bei was asked to garrison Xiakou was because Xiakou was where the Han River merged into the Yangtze River. If Cao Cao marched eastwards, whether by water or land, he had to pass through Xiakou. The geographical location here is very important.
Moreover, Liu Qi was more generous than Liu Biao. He lent Liu Bei 3,000 troops and allowed 10,000 naval troops to support him in Shaxian. This was much better than Liu Biao letting Liu Bei lead his troops to garrison in the new territory.
As for the 70,000 to 80,000 people brought by Liu Bei, Liu Qi, as the governor of Jiangxia, accepted them unceremoniously.
Now the world is in chaos and there is a shortage of people everywhere. These 60,000 to 70,000 people are just used by Liu Qi to supplement the population of E County and other places that have just experienced war, and will not be left to Liu Bei.
Liu Bei didn't mind this. After all, Liu Qi's vision and methods were just that, and he wouldn't think about winning people's hearts at all.
And these people all followed Liu Bei all the way from Jingbei to the south, and they were protected by Liu Bei all the way. Who do these people recognize in the future? Do you need to ask? !
After the arrangements were made, Liu Qi immediately said goodbye to Liu Bei and returned to Xiling County to take charge. After all, Xiakou was too close to Cao Jun, and Liu Qi had no sense of security here.
Liu Bei did not force him to stay. Liu Qi was here, but there were some things that were not easy for him to do. Liu Qi left, so Liu Bei could make arrangements.
After Liu Qi left, Zhang Xi and several others returned to Liu Bei's command. Together with Chen Jiu, a navy general recommended by Zhang Xi, Liu Bei hosted a banquet for these people.
Chen Jiu expressed his loyalty to Liu Bei on the spot, and Liu Bei still let Chen Jiu lead the navy and gave him the official position of "Jingbei Zhonglang General".
This is another official position created by Liu Bei. It can be regarded as a miscellaneous general. After all, these days, Guan Yu is just a partial general, Wei Yan and Chen Dao are just captains, and Chen is a new recruit. Because he has mastered the naval army, he got such a The rank of general is already not easy.
Besides, Chen was only a lieutenant under Huang Zu, but now he has been promoted to a general with a miscellaneous rank. It can be regarded as a high-ranking position no matter how you look at it.
Chen was very satisfied with this, and was also very grateful to Zhang Xi. He didn't expect that after fighting side by side for half a month, he would actually have such a harvest now.
In this way, Liu Bei temporarily stabilized in Xiakou and continued to train his troops to deal with Cao Cao's possible move south.
As for Cao Cao, he really doesn't care about Liu Bei for the time being.
Cao Chun failed to lead his army in pursuit and lost a thousand tiger and leopard cavalry. Xu Huang and Man Chong led their troops to intercept Hanjinkou and were defeated by Guan Yu, making Cao Cao realize that Liu Bei was not without the strength to fight.
Therefore, Cao Cao does not plan to compete with Liu Bei for the time being, but focuses his main energy on sorting out the situation in Jingzhou.
Jingzhou surrendered too quickly, causing Cao Cao to take over the affairs of Jingzhou for a while, and had to rely on the wealthy families in Jingzhou to complete it.
Cao Cao first appointed Liu Cong as the governor of Qingzhou in the name of the emperor and asked Liu Cong to leave Jingzhou so that he could better govern Jingzhou.
Of course, there is no way to kill. Cao Cao always pays equal attention to kindness and power when doing things.
Cao Cao would often show no mercy to those who confronted him and would definitely eradicate them. However, Cao Cao always treated those who surrendered to him favorably, so he just sent Liu Cong away and had no intention of killing Liu Cong.
The Cai family and the Kuai family, the two Jingzhou aristocratic families who advocated Liu Cong's surrender, Cai Mao and Cao Cao, had an old friendship. The two brothers Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue were not only celebrities in Jingzhou, but also had outstanding abilities. In addition, as Jingzhou's local snakes, No matter what, Cao Cao must reuse it to calm people's hearts.
After solving the problem of the aristocratic families in Jingzhou, Cao Cao, with the assistance of the Jingzhou aristocratic families, sent people to Nanjun and the four counties of Jingnan to recruit them. The local magistrates and wealthy families were basically just grassroots and chose to submit to Cao Cao without any resistance. .
Therefore, in a short period of time, Cao Cao really had no intention of sending troops eastward, and Liu Bei could temporarily breathe a sigh of relief.
But Jiangdong can't catch his breath now.
Cao Cao occupied Jingzhou and recruited those who surrendered and recruited rebels. It didn't look like he was just going to leave after capturing Jingzhou.
The surrender of the Jingzhou family set another example for the Jiangdong family, which caused a lot of discussion among the Jiangdong family. The whole atmosphere was quite bad, and it felt like they might imitate the Jingzhou family at any time.
Sun Quan had a headache over this, a very big headache.
Therefore, Sun Quan sent Lu Su across the river to Jiangxia.
The call was to express condolences to Liu Biao, but in fact, it was to come to Liu Bei to find out the truth.
Not only to inquire about Cao Cao's truth, but also to find out whether Liu Bei and Liu Qi have the power and possibility to jointly fight against Cao Cao.
Sun Quan did not want to be Liu Cong, let alone Liu Cong.
(End of chapter)
