Chapter 71 Big-eared thief, do you still recognize me, Wei Wenchang? ! Liu Bei was stunned!

Chapter 071: Big-eared thief, do you still recognize me, Wei Wenchang? ! Liu Bei was stunned!

call! ~
The cold wind was howling on the river. Densely packed boats were sailing out of Jiangling, going up and down all the way, passing through the thin river fog, and heading straight towards the direction of Gong'an on the opposite side.

On a ship in the middle, Liu Bei stood at the bow facing the wind.

"My lord, all the soldiers in Jiangling City have already boarded the ship..." Zhao Yun stood behind Liu Bei and bowed and replied: "Even if Cao's army arrived at the foot of Jiangling City now, it would be too late to pursue us."

Liu Bei breathed a sigh of relief, finally managing to save the remaining troops.

Liu Huangshu looked around and saw that each ship was carrying soldiers who had withdrawn. However, these soldiers were standing on the decks of their respective ships, making the decks and bows seem a little empty...

Liu Bei felt a sharp pain in his heart. The damage in the Battle of Jiangling was too great, with nearly 20,000 casualties!

But what made Liu Bei even more heartbroken was that he paid the price of 20,000 troops for Jiangling City, but now he had to withdraw from Jiangling, giving away the meat in his mouth.

Jiangling City is an extremely important place for me to achieve my great cause!
That was his hope to control Jing and Yi, and go north to the Central Plains to reach Wan and Luo!
But now, Cao Cao led his army to the outskirts of Jiangling City...

Gone, all gone!

Useless!

Wrong!

Is it possible that his career, which had just begun to take off, will become a mirage?

Liu Bei felt like he was fuming with anger, with nowhere to vent it. He gritted his teeth and looked back at Jiangling City: "Cao Mengde! Cao Aman! Cao thief!!"

"I, Liu Xuande, will avenge this vengeance someday!"

At this moment, Liu Bei wished he could eat Cao Cao alive.

This damned Cao thief had previously fallen into the Xiling garrison commander's plan to divide his troops without even realizing it, and now he is actually leading his troops to attack us personally...

A strange idea suddenly came to Liu Bei's mind. Since this Cao villain had headed for Jiangling, Xiling City must have been broken by now, and the Xiling defender who had plotted against him must have died at the hands of Cao Cao!
Thinking of this, Liu Bei felt inexplicably better. This was God's will.

"Lord! Lord!" Just at this moment, a hurried shout came from the front.

Liu Bei turned around in surprise and saw a small boat paddling towards his ship, going against the flow of boats returning to Gong'an from Jiangling City.

On the small boat, there was a man with a feather fan and a blue scarf, it was Zhuge Liang.

"Military advisor? Kong Ming?" Liu Bei was stunned and quickly ordered Zhao Yun: "Quick, take Kong Ming aboard."

As they were talking, Zhuge Liang's boat had already approached Liu Bei's ship, and Zhao Yun personally took Zhuge Liang aboard.

Liu Bei was surprised: "Why did Kong Ming come to this point?"

"My lord! I have already written to you before, explaining the pros and cons of defending Jiangling at this time..." Zhuge Liang did not bother to greet Liu Bei. He grabbed Liu Bei's sleeve and said, "And I also said in the letter that I would transfer elite troops from southern Jing to help Jiangling! But now..."

"But why did the lord withdraw his troops from Jiangling now?!"

"After this retreat, it will be difficult for us to occupy Jiangling again..."

"My lord, if you turn the ship around now and lead your troops back to Jiangling, perhaps it won't be too late!"

Zhuge Liang grasped Liu Bei's sleeve tightly, his eyes full of hope that the other party would change his mind.

unfortunately,

In the end, Uncle Liu disappointed Mr. Wulong.

"Hey!~"

Liu Huangshu sighed softly, and held Zhuge Liang's hand with his backhand: "How could I not know what Kong Ming said? How could I not know the importance of Jiangling?"

"But Military Advisor, look..."

Liu Bei suddenly raised his hand and pointed at the other warships around him: "Look at the soldiers on these ships. Not only are they all injured, but they can't even fill the bows of the ships."

"Kong Ming! In the Battle of Jiangling, our army suffered heavy casualties. Twenty thousand, nearly twenty thousand casualties! Twenty thousand elite soldiers!"

At this point, Liu Bei's heart began to ache uncontrollably again. How much time would it take him and how much would it cost to gather these 20,000 elite soldiers?

Now it’s gone if you say no?
Liu Bei's face was full of compassion: "Those dead and wounded soldiers have wives, children and parents, and those who survived also have wives, children and parents..."

"Now that Cao Cao is personally leading the main force to attack, Jiangling City will definitely not be able to resist. How can we bear to let those soldiers who are lucky enough to survive go to die again?"

"Besides, these soldiers are the wealth you, Kong Ming, have worked so hard to build for me. How can I bear to watch your hard work go to waste?!"

Looking at Liu Bei's sad expression, Zhuge Liang felt powerless.

But he still wanted to try to persuade him again: "My lord, just as Liang said in my previous letter, the bravery of the Xiling defenders is probably far beyond your imagination, and the brutality of the battle in Xiling is no less fierce than that in Jiangling!"

"Now that Cao Cao has led his main force to attack, it means that Xiling has been captured and the general guarding Xiling is dead!"

"Please think about this, my lord. Given the bravery of the Xiling defender, how many soldiers would Cao Mengde have if he captured Xiling City? How much combat power would those soldiers have? Cao Cao no longer has the strength to attack Jiangling. The Cao army that is coming now must be bluffing."

"As long as you defend Jiangling City, Jiangling will never fall into the hands of Cao!"

The more Zhuge Liang spoke, the more excited he became: "My Lord! For Jiangling, our army has suffered tens of thousands of casualties. If you retreat now, the blood of 20,000 soldiers will be wasted like the surging river!"

Zhuge Liang's words pierced his heart. Liu Bei, who had originally made up his mind to return to Gong'an, began to waver subconsciously...

Liu Bei had already paid the price of 20,000 elite troops for Jiangling City. Naturally, he was unwilling to withdraw from Jiangling City.

What if you don’t retreat?

Kong Ming said that Cao's army was bluffing and had no siege power. This certainly sounded very tempting to Liu Bei, but what if Cao's army was not bluffing...

Should they turn back to Jiangling and continue defending the city, or cross the river back to Gong'an?

For a moment, Liu Bei was hesitant and uncertain...

Zhuge Liang standing next to him was finally in complete despair. Was he really going to watch the Jiangling City, a crucial place in his lord's future cause, being handed over to others so easily?
Do not!
no way!

Zhuge Liang's eyes were determined, and he bowed deeply to Liu Bei: "If you don't return to Jiangling, I will drown in this river!"

After saying this, he didn't wait for Liu Bei to react.

Plop! ~
Zhuge Liang actually leaped into the surging river...

Suddenly, Liu Bei's panicked howl was heard on the boat:
"Quick! Save Mr. Kong Ming!"

"Sir! Sir! I will go back to Jiangling with you!"

……

At the east gate of Jiangling City, an army flying the flag of Cao’s army slowly approached Jiangling City.

The closer they got, the more Wei Yan, who was leading the army with the big banner with the Chinese character "Cao", felt nervous. He subconsciously turned around to look...

Although the team behind him was long, Wei Yan actually just stretched the distance between the teams as much as possible. This team had only 6,000 people in total, and they were 6,000 tired soldiers.

At this moment, it seems that Cao's army and Liu's army are fighting fiercely in Xiling City!

Sending these 6,000 tired soldiers up there would be no more than delivering a dish, but Zilie said it was okay.

Wei Yan subconsciously recalled the incident before, when Liu Wu captured Cao Ren alive in front of the enemy's formation, led Gao Shun to abduct Cao Ren to Jiangling, and finally disguised himself as Cao's army to sneak into the city.

But the situation was different then.
At that time, Xiling City was already empty, and with Cao Ren as a cover, it was naturally easy to take Jiangling.

Now that Cao and Liu are fighting fiercely in Jiangling City, I am afraid that I can't even enter the gate of Jiangling, let alone take Jiangling with these 6,000 exhausted soldiers...

Ok?
wrong!

Wei Yan looked up suddenly. He was about to reach the city of Jiangling, but why didn't he hear any shouting or killing?
He immediately called a scout and said, "Go to Jiangling City to find out what's going on." "Yes, sir!"

The scout flew away immediately.

But a moment later, the scout hurried back and said, "Reporting to the general, this Jiangling City... is an empty city."

Empty city?

Wei Yan was stunned: "Where are the two armies of Cao and Liu that are fighting each other?"

Scout: "According to the people in the city, Cao's army had already withdrawn earlier today. Not long ago, Liu Bei thought we were Cao's main force and came to kill us. In panic, all the Jiangling defenders have completely withdrawn from Jiangling City."

Cao's army left?

Liu Bei thought his army was the main force of Cao's army?!
Did Zilie anticipate all of this?

Wei Yan sat on his horse, completely stunned.

No wonder, no wonder Zilie was so confident while lying on his sickbed, all of this was actually part of his plan...

Wei Yan had always respected Liu Wu before, but at this moment, he felt awe towards Liu Wu for the first time. The so-called brilliant strategy of Zhuge Liang under Liu Wu's command was just this.

He looked up at the banner of Cao Cao held high in his hand, and suddenly couldn't help laughing: "My lord is very smart, but now it is me, Wei Wenchang, the fake Mengde, who has scared away the big-eared thief, the real Xuande, hahahahahaha..."

"Enter the city! Enter the city quickly!!"

……

"My lord has ordered all ships to turn around and return to Jiangling!"

"What? Go back to Jiangling?"

"Could it be that the Lord wants to continue defending Jiangling?"

"But I guess the main force of Cao's army has already entered Jiangling City. How can we defend it now if we go back?!"

A strange scene was happening on the river at this moment. The boats that were originally rushing back to Gong'an from Jiangling suddenly turned around and headed back to Jiangling.

All the soldiers were in an uproar.

call! ~
At this moment, a river breeze blew up from the direction of Gong'an. With the help of this strong wind, Liu Jun's boat went to Jiangling even faster than when it came.

"Ah!"

On the leading ship, Zhuge Liang, who had been rescued, had become a drowned chicken. He was shivering with cold and sneezing continuously.

Liu Bei took off his outer robe and put it on Zhuge Liang, and said helplessly: "Sir, if you have any advice in the future, just speak frankly. Why... why do you have to do this?"

This Mr. Wolong is a talented person whom I invited back three times to help me achieve great things. If anything happens to him, I'm afraid I won't even have a place to cry.

Zhuge Liang also smiled bitterly. If Uncle Liu had listened to his advice just now, why would he have jumped into the river to express his integrity?

I just hope that by now I can return to Jiangling City, everything will still be in time.

With the help of strong winds and blowing sails, Liu Jun's boat arrived at the shore of Jiangling in just half an incense stick of time.

Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang and others were the first to land.

The moment they got ashore, they both looked up at the top of Jiangling City at the same time.

But on the top of the city wall, there was a big flag with the word "Cao" on it, fluttering in the wind!

Tick ​​tock! ~
Drops of cold water flowed down the temples of Zhuge Liang, who was already soaked.

He closed his eyes in pain, his heart was dead...

late!

It was still a step too late after all!
Jiangling City was lost after all!

This was the closest time for the lord to realize the strategy of [Crossing Jing and Yi], but the lord missed it. Is this God's will?

Liu Bei, who was standing by, was also staring at the big banner in a daze...

Although he had long known in his heart that Jiangling must have been occupied by Cao Cao, when he actually saw the large flag with the word "Cao" on it, he still subconsciously felt confused and lost.

It seems like I have lost something very important.

"Sir, there is no need to be like this..." Liu Bei quickly adjusted his mood and did not forget to comfort Zhuge Liang.

He pointed to the large banner on the city wall and said, "Where the banner is, it must be Cao Mengde himself."

"As the saying goes, a blessing in disguise. What if the troops under Cao's command still have some strength left after the battle to destroy Xiling? If we still hold on in the city, I don't know how many troops we will lose this time..."

The voice has not fallen,

Suddenly, a general's figure flashed over the city.

hum! ~
A terrifying broadsword was raised with a loud bang. The cold light under the sunlight was so glaring that people dared not even look at it directly.

The sword whistled down.

Hack hard on the flagpole!
Click! ~
With a sharp sound, the big banner with the word "Cao" on it on the city wall was actually cut in half!
The large banner embroidered with golden threads fluttered and fell from the top of the city wall...

The generals of Cao’s army cut down the banner of their own prime minister?

What's going on?
Liu Bei and others looked at the scene in amazement.

Only Zhuge Liang looked at the scene in front of him with an expressionless face, as if he had already guessed everything.

Wow! ~
Before Liu Bei and his men could react, a new large flag was planted on the top of the city wall again, with a huge word "Liu" embroidered on it!

Zhao Yun, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Huang Zhong and others were all stunned.

They simply couldn't understand what was happening on the city wall. Cao's army cut down the banner with the word "Cao" on it and replaced it with the banner with the word "Liu" on it. It couldn't be that Cao's army kidnapped Cao Mengde and wanted to surrender to their own lord, right?

"Sure enough, it's true! The people's will, this is what the people of Jiangling City want..." Liu Bei next to him suddenly became excited. He remembered how he got the general city in the first place.

At that time, there were also [righteous men] who planted their own flags on the top of the city.

It is certainly the same now. The elders of Jiangling City are still on my side, Liu Xuande!

"Military Advisor, look at this..."

"Alas, my lord!" Zhuge Liang shook his head and interrupted Liu Bei directly: "The two banners with the word Liu raised in Jiangling City are not your Liu!"

Not my Liu?
Who else is qualified to raise the big flag with the word "Liu" on the top of the city wall of Jiangling, except me, Liu Xuande?

Liu Bei was stunned. He subconsciously raised his head and looked towards the city again...

At this time!

The face of the general on the city wall appeared clearly in everyone's sight. It was Wei Yan, Wei Wenchang!
call! ~
The wind howls,

The big banner with the word "Liu" on it was rolling endlessly!

Wei Yan's laughter echoed wildly in the strong wind!
"Hahahahaha!!"

“Hahahaha!!~”

"Liu Xuande, do you still recognize me, Wei Wenchang?!"

"Big Ear Thief, you, you, hahahaha..."

(End of this chapter)