Chapter 41: Twelve Jiangdong Generals Go to Xiling! Liu Bei Does Not Listen to Kong Ming's Advice!

Chapter 041: Twelve Jiangdong Generals Go to Xiling! Liu Bei Does Not Listen to Kong Ming's Advice!

Cao thieves are rushing to Jiangling? !

Liu Bei's head buzzed, and his voice became shrill: "Impossible! How could Cao Cao rush to Jiangling?"

"Xi Ling defeated Cao Ren's army of 30,000, and the Xi Ling thief captured Cao Ren alive. Why did Cao not come to Xi Ling to avenge his cousin? Why did he come to Jiang Ling?!"

"Brother!" Zhang Fei was so anxious that he squeezed the horse's belly, causing the horse to whine. "It's absolutely true. The scouts I sent out have reported back one after another. There is no way it's wrong!"

Zhang Fei's voice was as loud as thunder.

Liu Bei's face turned pale. If his fearless third brother could be so anxious, he might...that Cao thief was really coming to Jiangling.

How could this happen?
how so? !

It was Xiling who defeated Cao Cao's 30,000-strong army, and it was Xiling who captured Cao Cao's cousin Cao Ren. What does it have to do with Jiangling?

Others may not know, but Liu Xuande must know. He took Jiangling City without sending a single soldier...

It was clearly Cao's army that withdrew on their own.

The ownerless city was taken by himself, and Cao Cao actually sent troops to attack? !

Liu Bei forced himself to calm down and said, "Let's go! Go back to Jiangling, go back to Jiangling quickly!"

Seeing that his elder brother finally reacted, Zhang Fei breathed a sigh of relief and finally paid attention to Liu Bei's abnormality: "Brother, your crown and robe..."

Zhao Yun: "My lord, you came to Xiling to reward the three armies of Jiangdong, but the Xiling garrison commander refused to see you and made you wait outside the city from day till night."

"When we were about to return, the Xiling thief led the Shanyue barbarians from Jiangdong to rob our reward. The lord was almost injured by those Shanyue barbarians."

Big brother was kind enough to reward the troops, but he was bullied by the Xiling garrison commander?
Zhang Fei was immediately furious: "My elder brother is a descendant of the Han Dynasty and a hero of the world. How dare this thief from Jiangdong insult my brother like this?"

"I'm going to poke that thief's ten thousand transparent holes!"

As he said this, Zhang Fei was about to ride his horse towards Xiling City.

"Yide!" Liu Bei grabbed Zhang Fei's reins and said impatiently, "What time is it now? Cao's army is approaching, return to Jiangling quickly!"

……

On the Yangtze River, a large number of boats were sailing from Jiangdong, heading towards Xiling in Jiangbei. Each boat was full of Shanyue people. They were the fleet sent by Jiangdong to Xiling to exchange for Cao's prisoners.

On the bow of the leading ship, Lu Su stood facing the wind by the river, looking at the faint outline of Xiling City on the other side of the river with an indifferent expression.

Just as Zhuge Jin had said in the palace before, no matter what the outcome would be between Xiling and Cao Cao, at least sending these 5,000 Shanyue to Xiling would both benefit Jiangdong and damage Cao Cao, so why not do it?

As for what happens next, it all depends on the luck of the Xiling bandit general...

"Zi Jing! Wait a minute!"

Suddenly, a familiar shout came from behind Lu Su's ship.

Lu Su looked back and saw a boat approaching, filled with a group of people?

When he looked closely, Lu Su was horrified to see that among the group of people on the bow were Cheng Pu, General Huang Gai, Han Dang, Jiang Qin, Zhou Tai...

A total of twelve people!
Each of them has made great military achievements and holds a respected position. They were all generals who followed the late Lord Sun in the past. Each of them is a pillar of Jiangdong!

"Generals, you..." Lu Su was stunned.

How could these important generals from Jiangdong, who now each lead an army and have important tasks, be mixed in the fleet that he was escorting the Shanyue people?
Are they disregarding Jiangdong's military laws?
Before Lu Su could react, a group of veteran generals had already boarded the ship.

"Zi Jing, don't panic..." The old general Cheng Pu bowed to Lu Su and said, "We are here to take advantage of Zi Jing's trip to Xiling to meet the commander of Xiling."

The Battle of Shentingling is a past that they will never be able to get over.

Because it left an indelible and extremely vivid impression in their hearts: a young boy who was still immature, blocked twelve of them by himself, fighting from day to dusk...

The young general of Shentingling is now separated from them by a river, and they have never been able to meet each other. This has always been a regret for the Jiangdong generals who participated in the battle of Shentingling.

Now, that young general actually defeated Cao Ren’s army of 30,000 with a smaller force, and even captured Cao Ren on the battlefield!
When the commander-in-chief of Jiangdong heard the news, he could no longer bear it.

They must see their old friends no matter what!
Therefore, he secretly mixed in the fleet that Lu Su was escorting the Shanyue in and also headed for Xiling.

Lu Su smiled bitterly: "Generals, you are entrusted with the important task of Jiangdong, but you crossed the river for that Xiling thief. If the lord knew..."

The old general Huang Gai said solemnly: "If we can see the old friend again, we would rather be punished by the Wu Marquis's military law!!"

……

……

Jiangling City!
The sky was dark and it was already evening.

The big city of Jiangling stands majestically on the north bank of the Yangtze River, facing the small city of Gong'an on the south bank across the river.

Once upon a time, Zhou Gongjin stationed his troops in Gong'an and launched a protracted battle against Jiangling City. However, Jiangling was guarded by Cao Ren, and Zhou Gongjin, the Grand Commander of Jiangdong, did not gain any advantage in the end.

But now, whether it is Gong'an or Jiangling, they have been taken into Liu Xuande's pocket without any effort.

However, at this time, Jiangling City was filled with a solemn atmosphere, with soldiers patrolling constantly, and even Guan Yu personally climbed up to the top of the city wall...

Just because the scouts in front reported that Cao Cao’s army was about to arrive!

Guan Erye stroked his beautiful beard, his eyes full of worry: "In three days at most, Cao's army will arrive, but my brother has not returned from Xiling to reward the troops..."

Looking towards the direction of Xiling, even Guan Yu felt very curious about the mysterious Western Guardian.

When did such a person appear among these Jiangdong rats? You have to know that Cao Ren was a famous general of the time, and Guan Yu had to endure many hardships at his hands.

And although Cao Ren's martial arts skills were not first-rate, he was still able to withstand a few moves from his Green Dragon Crescent Blade.

Now, Cao Ren's army of 30,000 was attacking Xiling, but was directly defeated by the Xiling defender, so that Cao Ren was captured alive. Even Guan Yu, who was used to many storms, found it unbelievable!
Guan Yu looked up at the big banner with the Chinese character "Liu" on the top of the city wall. He recalled the whole story of how his elder brother got Jiangling...

It can be said that my brother got Jiangling City without any effort.

According to the people in the city, the 3,000 defenders in Jiangling City withdrew on their own.

But the eldest brother said that someone had put up a flag with the word "Liu" on the top of the city wall and shouted at him to go to the other side. Only then did the eldest brother realize that there were no soldiers in Jiangling City!

The eldest brother also said that the voice that called him sounded a bit like Liu Wu...

and many more!

Like Liu Wu?
At this moment, Guan Yu seemed to have grasped some incredible secret, and he suddenly looked towards Xiling...

"Open the city gate quickly!!"

Zhang Fei's voice suddenly exploded in Guan Yu's ears.

Guan Yu's thoughts were interrupted directly.

When he came to his senses, he saw that Liu Bei, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun and others had returned from the city.

The city gate was already wide open, and Guan Yu hurried down the city wall, only to see Liu Bei and his entourage rushing in.

Guan Yu: "Brother is finally back. The latest spies report that the Cao army coming to our Jiangling this time is no less than 50,000."

fifty thousand?

Liu Bei was slightly stunned.

Cao Cao really thought highly of Liu Xuande and sent an army of 50,000 to attack just the city of Jiangling.

Suddenly, Liu Bei felt the pressure...

Jiangling City is located on the north bank of the Yangtze River. It is an isolated city. If it wants to withstand the fierce attack of Cao Cao's 50,000 troops, it will definitely pay a huge price!
Liu Xuande took a deep breath and asked, "Who are the generals of Cao's army coming this time?"

"The commander is Xiahou Yuan," Guan Yu replied.

As a general, Xiahou Yuan was good at charging and often catching the enemy off guard.

"Xiahou Yuan, I knew it was him." Liu Xuande said in a cold voice. They had encountered him in the Battle of Changbanpo before, and they were old rivals.

There's only one Xiahou Yuan, nothing to worry about.

Just hold on to Jiangling!

"The main general is Xiahou Yuan, and there are Zhang He, Yu Jin, Xu Huang..."

Guan Yu's sudden words stunned Liu Bei. Zhang He used his troops skillfully and the enemy was afraid of him.

Yu Jin led his army in a strict and disciplined manner and was known for his resoluteness and seriousness, with the style of a famous general in ancient times.

Xu Huang has the style of Zhou Yafu...

At this moment, Liu Xuande could no longer relax!
Guan Yu sighed and continued, "Zhang Liao, a former general of Lu Bu, has also arrived. He is similar to Zhang He, Yu Jin, and Xu Huang, and each leads 10,000 soldiers."

At that time, there was no such thing as eight hundred defeating a hundred thousand. Everyone only knew about Zhang Wenyuan who killed Tadun in Liucheng, but it was already terrifying enough!
Liu Bei moved his neck slightly, his face turned pale: "Who else?"

Guan Yu said, "There is another one who will go ahead, Le Jin."

Le Jin was the first to climb the ladder in every battle, and was famous for his bravery and decisiveness. He would capture flags and kill generals!
Le Jin was promoted to the rank of lord because of the four great military merits: breaking through the enemy lines, being the first to reach the enemy line, beheading the general, and seizing the flag.

Can Le Jin climb up to the city of Jiangling?

At this point, Liu Bei had no other words and just went to the county magistrate's mansion in silence.

He remembered someone.

He missed Mr. Kong Ming.

After walking a few steps, he turned back suddenly and said, "Go to Gong'an quickly and ask Zhuge Kongming, the military advisor, to come and help us!"

……

An hour later, it was already late at night and the lights in the Jiangling City County Magistrate's mansion were brightly on!

"Jiangling City already has 5,000 troops stationed there!"

"There are 30,000 troops stationed in Gong'an City."

"There are 20,000 troops stationed in Jiangxia."

"Lingling has 5,000 troops, Wuling has 3,000, Changsha has 5,000, and Guiyang has 2,000..."

Liu Bei's group is taking inventory of the troops under their command.
At this time, in the county magistrate's mansion, not only Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun were present, but even Sun Qian, Mi Zhu and Jian Yong also rushed over late at night to participate in the meeting.

It shows how critical the situation is!
"Brother, looking at it as a whole, we have 80,000 soldiers. Why should we be afraid of him?" Zhang Fei gestured again and again. 80,000 against 50,000, the advantage is in my hands. The more he gestured, the more excited he became.

Guan Yu also said in a daze: "Now we not only occupy most of Jingzhou, but also have 80,000 soldiers under our command."

Looking back, on the eve of the Battle of Chibi, when Liu Bei fled to Jiangxia, he only had Guan Yu's 5,000 men under his command, and he was living in Liu Qi's Jiangxia City. He really had no place to stand!

After the Battle of Red Cliffs, Liu Xuande suddenly controlled most of Jingzhou and had 80,000 soldiers and horses, and had become one of the most powerful heroes in the world!
Among the 80,000 troops, some were Cao's surrendered soldiers captured in the Battle of Chibi, the largest proportion was the troops from the four counties in southern Jing, and the 10,000 soldiers of Liu Qi were also in his hands.

"It was all thanks to Mr. Kong Ming's planning that we were able to establish a foundation. In a short period of time, we had 80,000 soldiers and horses..."

Liu Bei flattered Zhuge Liang.
However, Kong Ming's expression was not natural at this time. Liu Bei was right and wrong. Zhuge Liang had made great contributions to the success of his uncle.

Perhaps there is another person who was able to swallow up such a large amount of power in such a short period of time, and his achievements can be compared with those of Kong Ming, and that is... Liu Wu.

Zhuge Liang often had high-level ideas, but putting them into practice was extremely difficult.

For example, when Wei Yan opened the city gate to let Liu Bei enter Xiangyang, it was mainly because of Liu Wu. Otherwise, why would Wei Yan risk his head?
It's a pity that Wen Pin messed it up...

Later, it was Liu Wu who ran around to recruit the four counties in southern Jing to surrender. If Liu Wu and Wei Yan had not made a blood alliance, how could Wei Yan risk his life for the second time to kill his former master and offer Changsha?

Not to mention Liu Qi, who killed Liu Qi?

Liu Wu!

Zhuge Liang had no idea about this matter. After all, he was a man of integrity, and only Liu Wu could do such a thing.

If Liu Qi had not died, could Liu Bei have secured his position as the lord of Jingzhou?
If Liu Qi had not died, how could the more than 10,000 troops in Jiangxia fall into Liu Bei's hands?
Liu Bei flattered Kong Ming for a while, and finally bowed to him and said: "I always said in the past that with you, I am like a fish in water, but today I, Liu Xuande, want to say that without you, I would not be here today!"

Zhuge Liang quickly stood up and said: "Without a lord, I will not be able to live out the rest of my life..."

Those who knew the situation looked unhappy because an important person was missing today. Liu Bei now wanted to push all the previous credit onto Kong Ming, and Zhuge Liang did not seem happy about it.

Zhang Fei laughed: "Well, that's right. Without Mr. Kong Ming, we would definitely not be where we are today. Without his elder brother, Mr. Kong Ming would have nowhere to live in his old age, right?"

Zhang Yide was rough but meticulous, and was obviously trying to liven up the atmosphere.

Then the meeting got down to business!

Jian Yong: "Although we have many soldiers, they are spread out over too many places. We can't mobilize them all at once."

Sun Qian: "And we have to defend Jiangling, an isolated city on the north bank. Not only will we have to collapse thousands of miles, but we will also have to collapse the river!"

Mi Zhu: "We can't transfer all the soldiers here. The counties in southern Jing still need to be garrisoned..."

With a long sigh, Liu Bei also said: "The situation in Jiangdong is uncertain now, so the troops in Jiangxia cannot be mobilized."

Jiangdong first broke the engagement, Sun Shangxiang was not sent over as promised, and now she is in Xiling City...

Liu Bei really didn't dare to be arrogant.

Guan Yu's eyes flickered. "Cao's army has come with a large army. This will probably be a protracted battle. Once the defense of the city begins, Jiangling will be isolated and helpless. After all, this city is isolated on the north bank."

Zhang Fei also spoke up: "Yes, once Cao's army besieges the city, with the river blocking the way, I'm afraid that the Public Security Department will not be able to provide support. Most of our soldiers are from the south, and they are no match for Cao's army in field battles..."

……

The stars were moving, the moon was shifting eastward, the night was quiet, and a heated debate was still going on in Xiling City.

As the candle burned out and the night was about to dawn, Liu Xuande slammed the table and said, "I have made up my mind!"

"Immediately transfer all the food and soldiers in Gong'an City to the north bank. If Cao's army moves south to capture Jiangling, I will use a large number of troops to stop them!"

"Second brother, third brother, Zilong, the three of you also go into the city and defend one side each! And invite old General Huang Zhong to defend the city. With the four of you and all our elite troops, I, Liu Xuande, don't believe that the five best generals can take it down?!"

Liu Bei was determined to do so. As soon as he finished speaking, there was silence in the room.

Everyone knows that a new war is about to begin...

At that time, Cao Ren was in Jiangling City, resisting Zhou Yu's army, and Liu Bei also believed that he could stop the attack of the Five Elite Generals in Jiangling!
Liu Bei had to defend Jiangling City no matter what! There was no other way! Because this city carried his ambition to cross Jing and Yi and head north to the Central Plains!
At this moment, Zhuge Liang, who had not participated in the discussion tonight, stood up...

Everyone in the field stared at Kong Ming in a daze. It was already this time, everything had been deployed, and Liu Bei was so determined, so why was Kong Ming still standing out?
"Please abandon Jiangling and retreat to the south bank of the river."

"My lord, let's go back to Gong'an..." Kong Ming's voice was filled with deep fatigue.

"What are you talking about, sir? Don't you know that Zhou Yu took advantage of the prestige of the Battle of Red Cliffs and led his army in countless battles, but still failed to capture the city of Jiangling?" Liu Bei seemed very excited.

"Sir, don't you know how important Jiangling City is? If we take this city, we can cross Jing and Yi in sight!"

"We can take this city and return to the Central Plains once the opportunity arises..."

"We were driven all the way from the Central Plains to the South by Cao Cao. We must go back eventually..."

"Jiangling is the gateway for us to return home..."

Having said that,

Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Zilong and others were all moved.

They were all from Yan and Zhao, and fought in the Central Plains year after year, but were defeated by Cao Cao again and again...

Guan Yu felt something, and he stood on Liu Bei's side, saying, "Over the years, we have been going south, south, south, and south, and now we can't even set foot on the north bank of the river?!"

da~
The feather fan was gently put down by Kong Ming.
Zhuge Liang straightened his clothes slightly, then bowed deeply to Liu Xuande and said, "My lord, Kong Ming asks you to abandon Jiangling, and let's go back to Gong'an City! After this fierce battle, I'm afraid..."

"What you said makes sense, sir." Before Zhuge Liang could finish his words, he was interrupted by Liu Bei.

At this time, Liu Xuande's eyes were red and filled with tears. He turned away, as if he couldn't bear to be seen.

Everyone just heard him say: "Sir, how could Liu Bei not know your truth? But I, Liu Xuande, cannot do this. Liu Xuande cannot retreat!"

"You saw it that day, sir. The people in Jiangling City spontaneously raised a large flag with the word "Liu" on it. Even though I was on the river, the elders still called my name!"

"I really don't know how long the people of Jiangling have waited for the moment when I, Liu Bei, enter the city!"

"I, Liu Bei, am Liu Bei. I would rather the world betray me than betray the world. I have already abandoned Xinye once... At that time, 100,000 people from Xinye followed me, and countless people died and were injured. Woo woo~"

At this point, Liu Bei was already crying.

Then, everyone saw him suddenly turn around. At this moment, Lord Xuande was already crying like rain: "This time, Liu Bei must not abandon Jiangling again!"

(End of this chapter)