Liu Bei quickly led his troops to set off to provide logistics for the army, and the main forces of the various armies also set off later and began to march towards Liangzhou.
Liu Bei initially thought that the Liangzhou rebels suffered a disastrous defeat and lost two generals, Li Wenhou and Beigong Boyu, and that their power would be greatly weakened and they would not be able to resist the Han army. However, subsequent facts proved that the Liangzhou rebels were very resilient. It's really strong.
Zhou Shen's troops pursued the rebels all the way to Yuzhong County in Jincheng County, surrounded the county seat, and prepared to completely eliminate the Han Sui and Bian Zhang rebels who were defending the city, and lay siege to the city.
As a subordinate whom Zhou Shen had just accepted, Sun Jian wanted to make meritorious deeds, but he was also knowledgeable in the art of war. He had some ideas about the dangers of Yuzhong City and believed that attacking the city was not a good option.
"The art of war says that the priority is to attack the city first and attack the heart first. Now that our army has the advantage, why not encircle it instead of attack it, and cut off the rebels' food routes to completely isolate them?"
Sun Jian advised Zhou Shen thus.
Zhou Shen looked at Sun Jian and felt that this guy was quite familiar to him. He just came from Liu Bei's place and he was telling me what to do? Who are you?
But for Liu Bei's sake, Zhou Shen could not rebuke Sun Jian, so he could only reject his opinion and ordered Sun Jian to lead an army to attack the city.
Don’t you want military glory?
Then go to death and attack the city for me!
Sun Jian was quite helpless, but he really wanted military glory. Since Zhou Shen gave him the opportunity, he also wanted to seize it, so he led his troops to attack the city.
He was indeed brave, but in terms of bravery and individual combat effectiveness, the Liangzhou rebels were not inferior to the Jiangdong soldiers. Sun Jian led his army to attack the city many times, but failed to succeed. Instead, he lost many soldiers and generals, and many of his soldiers were lost.
Zhou Shen failed to make progress, and Dong Zhuo made little progress.
His original plan was to lead his army into Longxi County to completely eliminate the rebellious Xianling Qiang. However, he did not expect that the Xianling Qiang had already broken out of Longxi County and invaded Hanyang County. Dong Zhuo met many Qiang troops led by Xianling Qiang at Wangyuan and was captured. Forced to start the battle in advance, the situation is unfavorable.
The other group was led by Bao Hong, who served as You Fufeng. This group of troops entered Wudu County to attack the local Qiang people. However, they encountered strong resistance from the local Qiang people using the terrain, and the battle situation was equally unfavorable.
It can be said that the three-way march was not smooth. This made Zhang Wen, the coach, very troubled. He constantly collected intelligence from all aspects and tried to analyze what was going on.
Liu Bei, who was responsible for protecting the army's logistics and food routes, also learned from the person in charge of sending wounded soldiers down from the front that the battle situation of the front-line army was unfavorable, especially that of Zhou Shen's troops, who had lost a lot of soldiers due to their strong attack on the city.
Even one day when Liu Bei personally delivered medicinal herbs to the wounded barracks, he saw Sun Jian's trusted general Cheng Pu in the wounded barracks.
At that time, Cheng Pu's upper body was covered with medicine in three wounds. According to what he said, Sun Jian was also injured, but Sun Jian was slightly injured and could not get out of the firing line. He was still fighting in Yuzhong City, while more than half of the Jiangdong soldiers were injured. Cheng Pu was very worried. .
"The morale of the rebels in Yuzhong City was not affected, but General Zhou insisted on attacking the city. Sun Sima persuaded him to besiege but not to attack, and mainly focus on cutting off the rebels' food routes, but General Zhou refused to listen and insisted on attacking. City, thinking that the rebels' morale was shaken and they could directly break through the city and win. As a result, there has been no progress until now, but the morale of our army has been low."
Cheng Pu kept complaining about Zhou Shen who didn't listen to kind words, but Liu Bei felt that what Zhou Shen did was not too outrageous, but Sun Jian was a little confused about his identity and spoke rashly, but Zhou Shen didn't even look at him. It's because of my own face.
But Liu Bei was no longer interested in using his face on Sun Jian.
He patted Cheng Pu on the shoulder.
"Demou recover well and don't think too much. General Zhou must have his own opinions on doing this. But judging from his accent, it seems that Demou is not from Jiangdong?"
Cheng Pu was stunned for a moment, then nodded.
"I am from Youbeiping County."
"Oh? You Beiping? Isn't that from Youzhou? I am also from Youzhou. I was born in Zhuo County, not far from Youbeiping."
Liu Bei sat next to Cheng Pu and asked with a smile: "Since Demou is from Youzhou, how did he fight with Wentai from Jiangdong? I think Demou is an extraordinary talker. Have you ever been an official?"
Cheng Pu looked a little sad when he heard this.
"Before, I also served as an official in the county. However, because I was young and energetic, I offended the chief officials of the county. I had no choice but to leave my hometown and fled across the rivers and seas by boat. I fled all the way to Huaisi, where I happened to meet Sun Sima. I recruited an army to attack the Yellow Turban bandits, so I entrusted Sun Sima to march and fight with him. It has been more than a year now."
"I see, it's been a really bumpy road."
Liu Bei sighed: "There is a similar person beside me, Guan Yunchang. You should know him. He was born in Hedong County. He couldn't stand the strong men bullying the weak in the village, so he fought hard to kill them. He fled to Youzhou and was taken in by me. You They have similar experiences."
Cheng Pu nodded slowly.
"There are many people in this world who have to flee because they have offended the powerful. Who would be willing to leave their homeland unless they have no other choice?"
"Yes, the pain of leaving one's homeland is something most people can feel."
Liu Bei said slowly: "Does Demou have any plans after this? After this battle is over, does Demou have any ideas?"
Cheng Pu shook his head slowly.
"Since I have been taken in by Sun Sima, I should follow Sun Sima in the battle. After that, I will just wait for Sun Sima to achieve military exploits before making any plans, but..."
Having said this, Cheng Pu looked at Liu Bei's face.
Liu Bei was a little strange.
"What's wrong?"
Cheng Pu hesitated for a moment and then spoke.
"I hope Captain Liu won't take offense to the fact that Sun Sima requested to serve under General Zhou because he wanted to fight. Sun Sima just wanted to make meritorious deeds too much."
"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. Everyone in the world wants to make meritorious deeds. Otherwise, why would they join the army? I can understand Wentai."
Liu Bei smiled and waved his hand: "I won't take this kind of thing to heart. Helping others is a beautiful thing in my opinion, but it's just a little effort, so why not do it?"
Cheng Pu admired Liu Bei very much.
"Liu Duwei is so elegant and elegant, Cheng admires him!"
"Demou take good care of your injuries and don't think too much. When your injuries are healed, Wentai will still need you."
Liu Bei patted Cheng Pu's hand, smiled, stood up and left.
After walking a few steps, Liu Bei turned around.
"By the way, Demou, you have been away from home for a long time. Have you ever thought about going back to your hometown to see your family and tribe?"
Cheng Pu was stunned when he heard this, and it took him a while to react.
"Cheng has offended the county magistrate and cannot return, otherwise there will be a big disaster. What do you mean?"
"My father-in-law once served as the governor of Zhuo County and has a good relationship with the current Liu Fujun of Youbeiping. If De Mou wants to return home to visit relatives, I can ask my father-in-law to write a letter to Liu Fujun and ask Liu Fujun to intercede on his behalf. This Maybe the matter will be over, what do you think Demou thinks?"
Liu Bei looked at Cheng Pu with a smile.
Cheng Pu was in a daze again.
"Is this...is this really okay? Cheng Mou offended a senior official very badly..."
Liu Bei shook his head.
"If even such a small thing cannot satisfy De Mo, he is afraid that he will offend me quite a lot. I think any smart person can make his own choice whether to agree or not."
Only then did Cheng Pu realize that Liu Bei's identity was very unusual.
As a big boss with a very high social status, it is hard to say whether a county official would have the guts to refuse Liu Bei's request.
The ruling order of the Han Empire has not yet completely collapsed. With Liu Bei's connections and influence in Shangshutai, there are really many ways to make a county chief official feel uncomfortable.
Not to mention that Liu Bei is also from Youzhou.
Cheng Pu's heart beat violently.
He missed his family and his hometown. Without thinking too much, he asked Liu Bei to help him bridge the gap. If things went well, he would be grateful to Liu Bei for the rest of his life.
(End of chapter)
