In the morning, Mrs. Mi climbed up to the east gate tower of Xiakou and delivered food to Liu Bei.
Yesterday, Liu Bei's hair was disheveled and he could not vent his depression. He patted the railing, waved away the guards, and stood there alone, looking at the river for a whole night.
Unexpectedly, when Mrs. Mi came back, she saw Liu Bei still maintaining his posture at night, and she suddenly felt sad.
Liao Hua carried Guan Ping on his back and returned to Xiakou City with a few remaining soldiers. He entered the city through the west gate and brought news of the fall of Shiyang City.
It was just dawn and the people in the city were not awake yet, so not many people knew about it. However, many people in the city defenders saw Liao Hua entering the city, so Mrs. Mi also heard about it.
Three months ago, Liu Bei was stationed in Xinye, and everything was fine. Now, with his eldest brother Mi Zhu dead and his husband in exile in Jiangxia, everything has changed.
She also heard that Guan Yu had not returned yet and his life or death was uncertain. She could not help but pursed her lips and came to Liu Bei with a food box.
Seeing that he was coming, Liu Bei waved his hands desolately and said, "I'm not hungry."
Mrs. Mi sighed: "Husband, you have been waiting all night, please have something to eat."
Liu Bei still shook his head.
The sharp winter cold blew Mrs. Mi's hair, and when she looked up again, Liu Bei came up to help her take care of her hair. She was stunned for a moment.
"Madam, Liu Xuande has seen too many failures in his life. He was defeated in Xuzhou, defeated in Xiapi, defeated in Xinye, defeated in Dangyang. He spent his whole life wandering around and traveling thousands of miles without making any achievements. Now even your eldest brother and Gu's second son have failed. I can't even protect my brother, I'm in such a miserable state. Madam, do you think I'm particularly useless?"
Mrs. Mi gritted her teeth and said: "I am a woman, so I shouldn't talk about military matters. However, even if Shi Yang is lost, we still have Miangkou and Anlu to defend..."
By the time I got to the end, I was crying.
In fact, even she knew that Miokou and Anlu were too close to Xiakou. Once they arrived at Miokou, they could attack Xiakou at any time.
Once Shi Yang lost, they lost their last strategic barrier.
But she didn't know that there were actually 10,000 naval troops and 10,000 infantrymen in Xiakou, but Liu Bei only sent more than a thousand people to guard Shiyang because he had long been prepared for the decisive battle in Xiakou and did not want to fight again. A waste of troops.
After all, the waterways in Jiangxia County are too developed. If Zhao Yan's troops do not attack Shiyang, but go directly down the river, Xiakou will have to face Cao Cao's army alone.
Liu Bei always knew military matters. He looked straight at the river and said: "Madam, since the Yellow Turban chaos, all the princes in this world have come together. They are all from famous and powerful families. The worst is that they are filial and honest. Only Gu! Only Gu! He was born alone at a young age, clothed in cloth, and became a general. For twenty years, he alone conquered the Yellow Turbans, fought against Lu Bu, and guarded Cao Cao's thieves, and worked hard for the foundation of the Han Dynasty."
"With today's achievements, there is nothing to be happy about, and nothing to be sad about losing."
"It's just Shiyang City. I don't care. What I care about is the life and death of my brothers, the safety of the soldiers, and the survival of the people."
"What I care about is that I can't kill the enemy's thieves with my own hands, which will bring shame to the emperor and ruin the rites and music."
"What I care about is that we can't rejuvenate the Yan Han three times, causing the lives of all beings to be devastated and fighting endlessly!"
A gust of wind blew up, and all Liu Bei's tangled hair was blown up. In Mrs. Mi's eyes, this independent figure at the top of the city was like a solitary goose in the rain, or like a solitary red bird on the river. It could obviously fly away at any time, but it carried too much.
Mrs. Mi cried: "Husband, I don't know... so much, I... I only know that my husband has been defeated in the world, and none of the advisers or brave generals around me... have abandoned you!"
After saying this, Liu Bei froze as if he had been hit by something.
He patted the railing with a thoughtful look in his eyes.
Mrs. Mi quietly put the rice on the ground, with a look of pleading in her eyes.
Liu Bei gradually whispered: "Yes, they do not abandon Gu because they believe in Liu Xuande's three words. However... Gu also heard rumors that Gu is hypocritical and pretentious."
"But that's not right! If you stick to the virtues in your heart, even if you are said to be hypocritical, what does it matter for the rest of your life?"
"The princes have nine virtues. I think I am not perfect and cannot do that, but I will try my best to do it!"
"People, don't do good deeds because they are small, and don't do evil because they are small. Only the virtuous and virtuous can obey others. The word benevolence and virtue can't be achieved in one day. It will take a month. It can't be done in one month. , It only takes one year to do it alone, if you can’t do it in one year, it will take your whole life to do it alone.”
He spoke softly at first, but later he laughed loudly and said: "I have been wandering all my life, but I still have a group of like-minded brothers! I will be defeated, I will not collapse, I will run away, and I will not be robbed of my ambition!"
"A true man should never forget his ambition and overcome all obstacles!"
After saying that, he drew out his sword and slashed it on the city wall, saying proudly: "It doesn't matter if I move around in all directions, I, Liu Xuande, stand upright and suffer a minor defeat, so why should I be afraid!"
As they were talking, applause suddenly came from behind. The couple looked back and saw an ugly man applauding.
Liu Bei was so surprised that he threw away his sword, took a few steps over, grabbed the opponent's hand and said: "Commander, you are back!"
The person who came was Pang Tong. Pang Tong laughed a few times and said, "My lord, if you have such ambitions, why worry about the uncertainty of the world!"
Liu Bei asked: "Military advisor, how is the alliance going?"
"this……"
Pang Tong hesitated for a moment before telling the news that although the alliance was formed, only 10,000 elite troops came to assist.
In fact, Zhou Yu's army had already arrived opposite Xiakou, but because of the darkness, they stopped marching and had already set up camp. Pang Tong was afraid that Liu Bei would be worried, so he rushed over to inform them.
Liu Bei was very depressed. It turned out that the troops he had been waiting for all night stopped when they were approaching.
Hearing that Sun Quan only sent 10,000 people, he said with emotion: "It's okay, it's better to rely on yourself than to rely on others. Counting on others will not work after all."
Pang Tong held out three fingers and said: "Exactly, I have understood a lot of things during this mission. Now I have three strategies to tell you, my lord. Please make your decision."
"Appreciate further details."
Liu Bei was looking forward to Pang Tong's strategy. Unexpectedly, his face turned darker when Pang Tong said something.
"The first plan is to surround Wei and rescue Zhao. I heard that Ma Teng from Xiliang has taken his family to Xudu, so Xiliang will not rebel for the time being. But there is still a force of troops heading east from Xiliang and Bingzhou to the west. This is what Thief Cao has to worry about!"
"who is it?"
Liu Bei was curious. After Cao Cao conquered Wuhuan in the east and captured Jingzhou in the south, the only large-scale forces in the world that were still divided were Ma Teng, Liu Zhang, Zhang Lu, and Sun Quan. Others, such as Shi Xie, had no intention of competing in the Central Plains. ability.
The only people in the north who can truly threaten Cao Cao are Ma Teng and Han Sui from Xiliang. If Xiliang doesn't send troops, then who can.
As a result, Pang Tong said the words "Southern Huns", and Liu Bei's face suddenly turned pale.
"How can we, the Han family, use the troops and horses of outsiders from the Xiongnu!"
Pang Tong shook his head and said: "I heard that Liu Bao, the Zuoxian King of the Southern Huns, is the descendant of Taizu Emperor Gao's clan daughter and his relative Maodun Shanyu. He is an orthodox Han clan clan and not an outsider."
"this……"
Liu Bei hesitated immediately. He was from a humble background, and the only thing he could rely on was his bloodline. However, Prince Jing of Zhongshan had many children, so his bloodline was not considered valuable.
Liu Bang's marriage to Modun Chanyu is recorded in "Historical Records" and "Hanshu", and Liu Bei has read it. If King Zuo Xian is really a descendant of Modun Chanyu, wouldn't he be a relative of his uncle Liu Huang?
Four hundred years ago, they were all members of the same family, so how could we say they were outsiders? Maybe they are closer to the royal family than my own.
"If you are not from my tribe, your heart must be different..."
Liu Bei tried to refute, but was persuaded by Pang Tong: "In urgent matters, which one is more important, the national traitor or the clan? My lord only needs to agree, and I will choose one of the advisers, explain the good words, and I will have a way to persuade the southern Xiongnu to send troops!"
Liu Bei was silent.
Pang Tong added: "The second plan is that I came up from the river and saw that there were many plagues in the villages along the river. Cao's thieves came from the north and were not accustomed to the climate. We only need to send people to spread the disease to Cao's army. It can be used as an army of 100,000 people!"
Liu Bei's expression suddenly changed: "No!"
Mrs. Mi also turned pale. She didn't expect that a scholar like Pang Tong would come up with such a vicious plan.
It turns out that Sun Quan conquered Huang Zu in the west and defeated several cities at the beginning of the year. Later, he defeated Queyue City where Huang Zu had stationed troops. Because he resented Huang Zu for killing Sun Jian and many Jiangdong generals and blocking their way to the west for nearly ten years, he simply Queyue City and some surrounding villages were massacred.
Queyue City is still deserted to this day. Because the massacre was not handled properly, the plague spread to nearby villages. It did not stop until winter, but there are still villages suffering from the plague.
Pang Tong shook his head and said: "The soldiers are deceitful. We retreat to Xiakou, which is already a place of life and death. How can we be benevolent to women?"
Liu Bei gritted his teeth. If he was still hesitating about the first strategy, the second one was too harmful to Tianhe. He really couldn't accept it.
Seeing the hesitation on his face, Pang Tong sighed inwardly and came up with his third plan.
"The third plan is to hand over all the naval forces to Zhou Gongjin and listen to his command!"
