Chapter 40: Uncle Liu is here. Is the princess shy?

Chapter 040: Uncle Liu is here. Is the princess shy?

Wow! ~
On the north bank of the river, dozens of boats were sailing downstream with the river breeze.

The ship was loaded with pigs, sheep, fine wine, and all kinds of things to reward the troops. It was the fleet that Liu Bei was preparing to take to Xiling to reward the three armies.

It would take a whole day and night to travel from Jiangling to Xiling even with a forced march, not to mention carrying so many pigs and sheep as reward for the troops. Liu Bei was eager to see the commander of Xiling immediately and was not willing to waste so much time.

Liu Bei simply took a boat downstream and took advantage of the good breeze to reach Xiling in just one day.

On the leading large ship, Liu Bei looked into the distance and could vaguely see the outline of Xiling City.

"My lord, after getting off the boat, we will reach Xiling City in a few miles." Zhao Yun rode his horse beside Liu Bei: "The battle of Xiling has just ended. I am afraid the road is not safe. Please wait for a moment, I will go and explore the way first..."

"Ridiculous!" Liu Bei frowned and interrupted Zhao Yun directly: "I am an ally of Jiangdong. I came to Xiling because Jiangdong defeated Cao's army. We are here to reward Jiangdong's allies."

"If I, Liu Xuande, don't even dare to walk a few miles, then what kind of allies are we? Why should we send troops?"

Liu Bei spoke righteously, then stood up, straightened his clothes, got off the boat and went ashore: "Get off the boat and order the soldiers to bring in wine and food to reward the troops."

At Liu Huangshu's command, five hundred soldiers immediately went ashore carrying wine, meat and various gifts to reward the troops.

For a moment, there was a lot of noise on the shore, and all kinds of gifts for the troops were dazzling and piled up like mountains.

Liu Bei nodded with satisfaction. When he invited Kong Ming out of seclusion that year, it was not so grand. He thought that the commander of Xiling would be able to see his sincerity in wanting to make friends with him.

Emperor Liu was almost impatient to see the brave general: "Don't delay in visiting the troops, and quickly go to Xiling City."

……

Inside Xiling City.

"kill!"

"kill!!"

"Push harder! If you don't push harder now, will you save it for closing your eyes on the battlefield?!"

"Didn't you eat? This spear thrust is so weak, is it just to tickle the enemy?!"

The training ground was filled with shouts of killing, and a large number of young and strong men were training with spears in hand, sweating profusely.

Gan Ning patrolled around with a whip in hand, cursing from time to time. Most of Cao's troops were approaching, and these young and strong Shanyue men who had not received formal training had to master basic combat skills in the shortest possible time.

Otherwise, they would be pigs and sheep under the knife of Cao's army.

Inside the central army tent, Liu Wu was standing in front of a map of Jingxiang.

Lu Xun stood beside Liu Wu, holding a wooden stick and drawing a line on the map: "According to the news from the spies in Xiling, the main force of Cao's army should have advanced to Xiangyang."

"Xi Ling must seize every moment to prepare for war."

Lu Xun showed a worried look on his face and subconsciously looked towards Liu Wu. Can Xiling City still survive under the leadership of his lord like it did the last time it fought against Cao Ren?

"You can't fight head-on. That would be courting death." Liu Wu's voice was as calm as ever.

His gaze moved from the black dot with [Xiangyang] on the map to the location of [Xiling]: "This time, when fighting against Cao Cao's main force in the southern expedition, we can only focus on defending."

"We have to fight Cao Cao!"

"He has a large army and is certainly aggressive, but the food and fodder for these 80,000 soldiers will be enough to give him a headache."

"As long as we defend Xiling, he will be short of food and grass, and his morale will be low. In addition, the allied forces of Sun and Liu are eyeing both sides of the Yangtze River. Cao Cao cannot and dare not waste time with us."

Liu Wu slowly turned around and sat behind the desk: "With no results, morale is low, and there are enemies around. As long as Cao Cao is still awake, he has no choice but to withdraw his troops."

In just a few words, Liu Wu determined the basic strategy for this war, which was to focus on defense and fight with Cao Cao.

Cao Cao's army was large in size and consumed more resources. In addition, he was surrounded by Sun and Liu, so he could not afford to waste time.

Of course, the premise of all this is that Xiling City can be defended...

Listening to his lord's plan, Lu Xun's anxiety and worry in his heart disappeared unknowingly.

Tap tap tap~
There was a sound of light footsteps.

Sun Shangxiang lifted the curtain and walked to Liu Wu's desk with a tea tray. Her next move instantly made Lu Xun's eyes widen...

Patter~
Sun Shangxiang blushed and poured Liu Wu a cup of hot tea in a rather unfamiliar manner.

This spoiled Princess Jiangdong, who was regarded as the apple of the eye by three generations of Jiangdong lords, actually poured tea and water for Liu Wu like a maid? !
Lu Xun was amazed. Is this still the Princess Jiangdong that he knew?

If this matter spreads to Jiangdong, the entire Jianye will probably be shocked!
Thinking of this, he subconsciously looked at Liu Wu.

Liu Wu picked up the teacup and said, "I don't support idle people in Xiling."

As soon as he finished speaking, Sun Shangxiang's face seemed to be burning red.

She was filled with shame and anger. When had she ever done the job of serving tea or water in her life?

If my second brother didn't want me and I had nowhere to go, who would serve this guy? !
"Lord!"

Gao Shun hurried into the tent with a strange look on his face: "Liu Bei is here, bringing pigs, sheep and fine wine, saying... saying he is here to entertain the troops."

Liu Bei is coming?

Liu Bei is here!

There was silence in the big tent, and Sun Shangxiang and Lu Xun had dazed looks on their faces.

Lu Xun was startled and reacted first.

What is Liu Bei doing here?
Maybe I heard some rumors...

The more Lu Xun thought about it, the stranger his expression became. His eyes involuntarily turned to Sun Shangxiang, then to Liu Wu, and moved back and forth between the two of them.

After Gao Shun reported the news, he kept his head down.

After a long time, he finally couldn't help but looked up at Liu Wu quietly.

Then, his eyes subconsciously turned to Sun Shangxiang.

After all, the relationship between the Lord and this Jiangdong Princess and Liu Xuande is [unusual]...

Why did Liu Bei come to Xiling City?
Even Liu Wu was slightly stunned at this moment. He was about to say something, but suddenly he found that the atmosphere in the military tent was not right...

What are Lu Xun and Gao Shun looking at?
Liu Wu instinctively followed the direction of their gaze and saw Sun Shangxiang with a red face and her head down, keeping silent.

Liu Wu seemed to have thought of something, and said in a cold voice: "Uncle Liu is here, is the princess shy?"

Sun Shangxiang looked up suddenly. These words seemed to step on her tail.

Directly out of shame and anger.

Wow! ~
She even flipped over the table on Liu Wu's side: "I won't marry that hypocritical old man Liu Xuande!"

Before he finished speaking, Sun Shangxiang had already rushed out of the tent.

Lu Xun was stunned, but Gao Shun had already stepped forward and asked, "My lord, do you want to see Liu Bei or not?"

……

Outside Xiling City.

There were piles of meat, rows of fine wine, and countless other rewards.

However, the gate of Xiling city was tightly closed and could not be opened.

"Sergeants on the city wall! Report this to your general immediately..." At the foot of the city wall, Liu Bei yelled at the top of his lungs, "Left General of Han, Marquis of Yicheng, Governor of Yuzhou, my uncle Liu Bei Liu Xuande has come to pay a special visit to the commander of Xiling!"

"I am an ally of Jiangdong. I heard that you defeated 30,000 Cao troops in Xiling and captured Cao Ren alive! I am overjoyed and have prepared pigs, sheep and fine wine to reward the troops!"

Outside the city, Liu Bei was shouting heart-wrenchingly.

But the soldiers on the city wall remained silent.

"My lord, why don't we go back to Jiangling first?" Zhao Yun couldn't bear to see his lord gasping for breath.

"Huff... No..." Liu Bei gasped for air while explaining for Xiling: "After all, the commander of Xiling is a general under the command of Wu Hou of Jiangdong." "Such a powerful general is isolated in Jiangbei, so he must be hesitating to see me to avoid suspicion... No problem, I will wait for him here, he will definitely understand my sincerity."

Where there is metal and stone, sincerity will open it!

I will put in the same effort as when I asked Kong Ming to come out of seclusion and visited him three times at his cottage. I don't believe that I cannot move the other party and make him come out to see me.

Liu Bei slumped in the carriage, asking the accompanying soldiers to continue shouting while he waited patiently.

Time flies, the sun in the sky slowly sets and turns into sunset, and the gorgeous sunset is eventually swallowed up by the darkness.

call! ~
The cold wind howled in the dead of winter, but it could not blow open the city gate of Xiling.

Liu Bei's face turned pale, and it was unclear whether it was because of the cold or anger.

At this point, Liu Bei didn't understand, what's the point of avoiding suspicion? The other party just didn't want to see him!

He was the uncle of the Han emperor. Even though he had visited him three times, Kong Ming was not at home and he could not find him when he looked for him.

The Xiling defender is inside the city, but he would rather freeze than open the door. He is too lazy to even cover himself with a piece of fig leaf. This clearly tells him that he is too lazy to see his uncle Liu!

"Zi Long!"

Liu Bei gritted his teeth and stood up tremblingly: "Let's go!"

"Take these gifts back as they were given to the troops. Don't keep any of them!"

As he said this, Liu Bei could not help but turn around, pointing at the top of the city wall and yelling, "You country bumpkin, you reckless general! How dare you treat the descendants of the Han Dynasty like this? One day you will surely die under the sword of Cao Cao!!"

……

……

The night was dim and torches were lit everywhere on the city walls.

Ever since Xiling City fell into Liu Wu's hands, it has been in a state of preparation for war.

thump,
thump,
Bang...

Torches flickered as an armored general walked up the steps, slowly climbing to the top of the city wall, step by step.

"General!" General Qu, who was stationed here, bowed and saluted with a very respectful attitude.

Because in Xiling City, except for the Shanyue people who came from Jiangdong, most of the soldiers are subordinates of this general.

The general was stern and asked coldly, "Is Liu Bei gone?"

"Yes." General Qu said, stretching out his hand and pointing in a direction outside the city.

Wei Yan looked in the direction General Qu pointed. The stars were low in the sky, the moon was bright in the sky, and the river was rippling and shining.

Under the moonlight, you can clearly see hundreds of people busying themselves on the river.

Needless to say, those were the wine and meat that Liu Bei had spent a lot of money to buy to reward Xiling. Since Xiling refused to accept them, he couldn't just throw them away, so he could only load them on the ship and ship them back.

Looking at the crowd of people busy loading the ship a few miles away, Wei Yan's eyes flashed with a hint of coldness: "Zi Lie still needs you to resist Cao Mengde's army in Jiangling, so he won't attack you..."

"But I may not!"

Wei Yan then went down the city wall, mounted his horse, and galloped through Xiling City.

In just half a cup of tea, they had already arrived at a training ground, where a bonfire was burning and three thousand Shanyue soldiers, who had been training all day, were enjoying porridge.

These days we only have two meals a day, no dinner, probably because we aren’t hungry when we fall asleep.

However, all the soldiers in the city, including these scattered Shanyue soldiers, were undergoing high-intensity training and preparing for war every day, and their bodies simply could not bear it, so they added a thick porridge when the sun went down.

This is already very happy for these Shanyue people...

A whip flashed past,
boom! ~
The porridge pot overturned, and the thick porridge spilled all over the floor. The hundreds of Shanyue soldiers present were extremely angry, but when they saw who had overturned their pots, they all retreated back.

Wei Yan, Wei Wenchang, powerful Han people who could kill hundreds or thousands of them with just one sentence.

When Cao Ren attacked the city not long ago, the Shanyue people had seen how powerful he was, especially his sword...

Wei Yan looked at the Shanyue soldiers who were afraid of him and said, "That's right, Nai Gong did it on purpose!"

"Naigong deliberately upset your fate. I know you are all very angry, but you are afraid of me, so you dare not resist."

"But," Wei Yan's expression changed when he said this. He stretched out his arms like the fathers of these Shanyue soldiers: "You will definitely be grateful to me in the future!"

"You are Shanyue, the Yue people from the mountains, the children who came out of the mountains. You have a miserable life! Your hometown was invaded by those Jiangdong rats. They captured your people and robbed your food, leaving you alone and helpless, and even sold you to us!"

"At this point, even if we take out the best things, it will only be a slightly thicker porridge. Come on! Pick up the swords that were distributed to you, call your companions, bring your brothers, and Naigong will take you to eat meat today!"

As he said this, Wei Yan whipped his horse and rode away.

The Shanyue soldiers in the parade ground were stunned for just a moment, and then became excited. They threw away all the military laws they had learned in the training over the past few days, and they felt like they had returned to their tribe.

They took up their weapons, called on their companions, brought their brothers, and rose up in a commotion, roaring like a tide...

There were more than 3,000 Shanyue soldiers, and not a single one was left. They all followed Wei Yan and ran out of the city.

"It's right in front. When you see those things, you will know that Nai Gong did not lie to you!" Wei Yan pointed to the river bank several miles away, and the Shanyue people then rushed past.

Liu Bei's 500-odd followers were still loading things onto the boat when they saw a large group of savages rushing towards them frantically.

"This, this..." Liu Bei was stunned.

"It's the Shanyue soldiers from Jiangdong!" Zhao Yun reacted immediately.

The children who came out of the mountains saw the whole pig, the huge cow's head, and the lamb legs, and they went crazy, they went completely crazy!
General Wei Wenchang really didn't lie to them. They can now eat meat and they want to eat something good!

Anyone who dares to stop them will be hacked down with swords!

Facing the three thousand frantic Shanyue soldiers, the five hundred followers Liu Bei brought with him were simply unable to resist...

……

……

Half an hour later,
Liu Bei was covered in dust and his clothes were all wet. If Zhao Yun hadn't protected him in time, his gorgeous robe would have been stripped off by the Shanyue people.

As for the Shanyue group, they had already eaten and drunk their fill and returned to Xiling City to sleep.

"Jiangdong rat!"

"Damn it!!"

"How dare you, a Jiangdong rat, insult me ​​like this?!"

Liu Xuande's unprecedented loss of composure!
The last time he went to Jiangdong with good intentions to reward the troops, he was almost killed by Zhou Yu. If it weren't for Guan Yu, Liu Bei would not have survived the Battle of Red Cliffs.

This time he came to reward the army, if it weren't for Zhao Zilong protecting his master, Liu Bei would have been stripped naked and thrown into the river to feed the fish.

"Sun Quan, you bastard! I will make Jiangdong give me an explanation. I will ask Sun Zhongmou whether he still wants the Sun-Liu alliance and whether he still wants to fight Cao Cao together?"

Liu Bei was still angry.
At this time, a rider came galloping under the starry night: "Brother, the spies reported that Cao Cao's army is coming from Xiangyang and will arrive soon!"

The person who came was Zhang Yide.
Zhang Yide was extremely anxious at the moment and didn't care about Liu Bei's current miserable appearance.

"Good!" Liu Bei's mind suddenly became clear: "Cao's bandits have arrived, and the end of the Jiangling bandits has come. They will suffer for their own evil deeds, and God will take them away now!"

"They must be here to attack Xiling. How could Cao Cao be willing to lose his cousin Cao Ren?"

"Third brother, Zilong, let's go quickly! Otherwise we will be affected."

However, at this moment Zhang Fei was standing in a daze on his horse, not moving at all.

Liu Bei was anxious: "Third brother, why don't you hurry up and leave?"

Zhang Fei said with a bitter face: "Brother, the Cao army heading south that the spies discovered is not coming to attack Xiling!"

Liu Bei was extremely surprised when he heard this: "Aren't they here to attack Xiling? Then where are the Cao troops heading south coming to attack? Could they be here to attack Jiangling?"

Zhang Yide shouted directly at the river bank: "Cao's army is coming for Jiangling!"

(End of this chapter)