Chapter 1454 Lost
Liu Bei seemed to hear his mother''s crying in a low voice, tick-tock, whimpering, and even deeply felt that his arms seemed to be wet with tears, and his robe stuck to his body, like a tightly wrapped The thing that binds him, presses him smaller and smaller, and presses him tighter and tighter.
"what!"
Liu Bei suddenly turned over and sat up, only to realize that it was already raining, and the rain drifted in and wet his clothes.
"Brother..." Guan Yu, who was guarding outside, turned his head, with raindrops on his face, the torn battle robe in front of him had been soaked by the rain, and a large dark spot spread out, while Guan Yu''s back was dry. of.
...
"Second brother, thank you for your hard work." Liu Bei didn''t say any words of thanks, nor did he say any polite words to let Guan Yu not have to shelter him from the wind and rain, because Liu Bei knew that they were not brothers, but they were better than brothers.
Guan Yu nodded silently, and stepped aside.
This cave, in fact, may be better in terms of a hollow, it is a sunken stone platform under the rocks, and it can barely accommodate two or three people. Although it is crowded, it is much better than lying on the mud that will return to moisture at night.
Liu Bei jumped off the rock, stood in the light rain, raised his face, closed his eyes, let the slightly cool rain fall on his head and face, took a long breath, and casually tore off his robe, Wiping his face, he didn''t care about this brocade jacket that was originally Liu Bei''s favorite, embroidered with fish and dragon patterns.
"Where''s the third brother?" Liu Bei looked around and asked.
"I brought some people and went to the woods to collect firewood..." Guan Yu replied from the side, after a moment of silence, he added, "...Last night, more than ten people escaped..."
Liu Bei''s smile froze for a moment, and then continued to bloom, "It''s okay! Everyone has his own ambition, let him go!"
Throw away the city and go to the country, the soldiers are scattered, but Liu Bei''s smile remains the same, making people feel at ease when they see it, but the shadow hidden in the wrinkles of the smile is a pain that only Liu Bei understands.
"Hahaha!" Before Zhang Feiren arrived, his voice came first, and he got out of the forest with something dangling in his hand, "Brother! Look, I hunted two rabbits! There are also two mountain pheasants!"
"Okay!" Liu Bei''s smile became brighter, "It''s washed and peeled, and stewed in the pot! Give everyone a share, everyone has it!" Some soldiers came out with Zhang Fei, holding some wild vegetables and vegetables in their hands. Mushrooms or something seems to be a good harvest.
Seeing the blood food, the listless soldiers seemed to have regained some energy, and immediately became busy in the open space in front of the forest. Some were digging earthen stoves, some were fetching water, and some were looking for dry wood and dead branches. …
Liu Bei walked slowly, meeting almost every soldier with a smile and nodding, sometimes he saw familiar veterans, and even stopped to chat for a few words, and when he came back after walking around, he saw Zhang Fei He had been sitting on the boulder for a long time, with his hands in his arms, and his eyes were rolling.
Seeing that Liu Bei and Guan Yu were back, Zhang Fei jumped down quickly, and then put some in. He carefully took out four small bird eggs from his bosom, and gave two to Liu Bei, and then gave one to Guan Yu. Finally, I held a small bird’s egg by myself, and laughed a few times, “I just saw a bird’s nest in the woods, I took it out… I specially saved it for the elder brother and the second brother, and it’s still warm… so little Things, brother, don’t need to distribute them to soldiers anymore..."
Liu Bei held two bird eggs that were no bigger than thumbs. He looked at the eggs, then at Zhang Fei, and couldn''t help but burst out laughing. Zhang Fei carefully hid such fragile things, and emphasized that, it''s really...
"Okay, there''s no distinction..." Liu Bei smiled, nodded, took Zhang Fei''s hand, and then returned a bird egg, saying, "It''s hard work for the third brother to hunt early in the morning... I can eat one. , this is still for you..."
"Huh? This... Big Brother... Second Brother..." Zhang Fei was stunned for a moment, then looked at Liu Bei, and then at Guan Yu.
Guan Yu glanced at Zhang Fei: "Look what a certain person is doing! Since the elder brother gave it to you, just eat it!"
"Oh!" Zhang Fei was not polite, he threw the two eggs into his mouth, and they crushed them with a crackling sound, and swallowed them in a few mouthfuls.
Liu Bei smiled slightly, and like Zhang Fei, he crushed the whole egg and swallowed it.
Guan Yu is the same.
Although the shell of a bird egg is hard, it is considered a solid substance after all. The empty abdomen was crying, rubbing against each other painfully, with some mixture of eggshells and egg liquid, the burning feeling between the chest and abdomen became better.
"Come, sit down." Liu Bei greeted, looked at Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, and said, "We were defeated... There is no need to deny this, but we must know why we were defeated, and also... for the next time... next time we will not repeat the same mistakes ..."
No matter what the warring parties think, but one thing is for sure the same, no one wants to lose the battle.
In the middle of the battle with Ji Ling, Liu Bei originally tried to use this time to order him to go north to attack Yuan Shao to cheat the world, but he failed.
Liu Bei mobilized his soldiers on a large scale, making an appearance of going north, which naturally lured Ji Ling to attack, but Ji Ling detected the ambush army instead...
To ambush is naturally to divide the troops, and the division of the troops means the dispersion of forces. When the scattered forces encounter Ji Ling''s large army attack, even fierce generals like Guan Yu and Zhang Fei still cannot recover from the defeat. They can only protect them. Liu Bei fled all the way.
"I have been thinking for the past two days, why such an ambush would be exposed..." Guan Yu squinted his eyes and said in a deep voice, "The whole army went north, Yuan Jun came to chase...everything is normal...but..."
Liu Bei closed his eyes, and the eyeballs under the eyelids rolled rapidly.
"It''s really strange..." Zhang Fei also scratched his head, and said, "A certain leader is located in the valley, and for some reason, Yuan Jun came directly to attack... It''s like, it''s like he knew I was in the valley... "
Guan Yu squinted his eyes and said: "It is impossible to say that Yuan Jun scouts will investigate... The third brother has never noticed..."
Zhang Fei raised his eyebrows and said angrily: "Impossible! My old Zhang is at the mouth of the valley, and I haven''t left an inch! Outside the valley is covered by forests. If you don''t go out through the forest, how can you see what''s going on inside the valley? I didn''t see any Yuan Jun scouts." , the Yuan family''s army came directly!"
Liu Bei opened his eyes and said, "Who else knows about the ambush besides the two virtuous brothers?" It''s not too strange that the strategy was seen through. After all, what Liu Bei can think of, others may also think of it. , but it is very strange that the place where the ambush was accurately found without the scouts'' early detection.
Guan Yu''s slender phoenix eyes swept left and right, and said, "Zi Zhong, Yuan Tan... and the Sima of each army... eh? Third brother, where is Chen Song and Chen Zicheng, the Sima under your command?" Mi Zhu and Gu Yong followed The military officials of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei naturally knew the specific plans and arrangements, while the army Sima was the front-line commander and was responsible for the specific arrangements of the army''s miscellaneous matters.
"Chen Zicheng?" Zhang Fei was stunned for a moment, then turned to look at Liu Bei, and said, "Didn''t Chen Zicheng get the order of his elder brother to go...Could it be..."
Liu Bei shook his head and smiled wryly: "Is there any order... Even if there is something, I will go to the third brother directly, so how can I pass the third brother to pass some orders to your army Sima..."
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh! I''m so angry!" Zhang Fei was furious, stood up and roared to the sky, scaring many surrounding soldiers to turn their heads to look over.
"Third Brother!" Guan Yu said in a deep voice, "Shut up! Sit down!"
Chen Song, from Chen County. The family was in decline, so I traveled around, knowing that Liu Bei was looking for talents, so I came here to vote.
Liu Bei quickly recalled the relevant information about Chen Song. Although he was unwilling to associate everything with that young man with a beard, no matter from that point of view, Chen Song was still the most likely traitor.
"..." Zhang Fei sat down, his face tightly wrinkled into a ball, he didn''t cry loudly, just shed tears silently, big tears popped out from the corners of Zhang Fei''s eyes, and jumped onto his beard, Then, like swinging on a swing, after shaking a few beards, it fell to the ground.
Zhang Fei was very sad, crying like a child weighing two hundred catties.
Because of my own negligence, Liu Bei and Guan Yu had to return to rescue, leading to the regret of the defeat of the entire army...
Although Liu Bei and Guan Yu didn''t say a word of blame after the defeat, Zhang Fei still felt very uncomfortable in his heart. Now that he knows that the most critical factor of the defeat may be caused by himself, the turbulent emotions in his heart are naturally for a while. hard to control.
Chen Song is also bearded, although not as exaggerated as Zhang Fei, but Zhang Fei and Chen Song seem to hit it off, there is an indescribable intimacy, and this kind of intimacy and trust may be because Zhang Fei listened to Chen Song. When making excuses, there is no reason to think too much...
Guan Yu sighed, then reached out and patted Zhang Fei''s shoulder lightly.
Liu Bei was silent for a while, then suddenly burst out laughing: "Third Brother! What''s so sad about this! Instead, you should be happy!"
"Huh?" Zhang Fei was a little confused.
"Only when it''s cold will you know the pines and cypresses, and if you''re far away, you''ll see the power for a long time..." Liu Bei said with a smile.
Liu Bei pointed his arms around, and said loudly: "Some treacherous villains, let''s go! Let''s go! What a pity! There are two brothers, there are you here, the friendship is like gold and stone, and the loyalty is clear to the world! Enough, enough Hey! After this catastrophe, there are still people who will never leave here, so why worry about the big things not helping! Congratulations, congratulations!"
Only the soldiers around knew what was going on. Although not everyone understood or believed Liu Bei''s happy event, at least the surrounding atmosphere was no longer heavy, and some vitality was radiated.
Zhang Fei also knew that he had lost his composure, so he wiped away his tears, looked at Liu Bei and Guan Yu, and said, "Big Brother, Second Brother, you...you don''t blame me?"
Liu Bei smiled and said, "No blame, no blame."
"Why are you to blame?" Guan Yu patted Zhang Fei, "Be more careful next time..." As he spoke, Guan Yu suddenly raised his eyebrows, like a long knife raised, and swept towards the man who was commanding in the distance. Liu Li, another army commander in charge of the army.
Liu Bei noticed Guan Yu''s strangeness, and followed Guan Yu''s gaze. After pondering for a moment, he waved his hands and said softly, "Second brother, don''t do this...Chen... Zicheng is Zicheng, Jingguo is Jingguo, you can''t Confused..."
Guan Yu still stared at Liu Li, and said: "I know that elder brother has a kind heart...but this person also has a lot of contacts with Chen thief..."
Liu Bei pondered for a while, still shook his head, and said softly: "If it was before, it would be suspicious, but in the current situation, what do you and I have for him to plot? Second brother, don''t let people''s hearts go cold... Besides, Jing Guo and Zi Cheng Tong is the Sima of the army, so naturally there are many contacts, this matter is not surprising..."
"Hmm..." Guan Yu nodded slowly after hearing this, and then looked away from Liu Li.
Although we have found out the reason for the failure, it doesn’t mean we can get rid of the predicament we are facing now. Where to go next is still a question that needs to be considered in detail.
The failure to conquer Xuzhou for the second time is not only the pain of Liu Bei, but also the pain of the people of Xuzhou. From the time of Tao Qian to the present, Xuzhou has not been without disputes. Therefore, many Xuzhou people also gradually fled. With the decline of population, Xuzhou is no longer a rich place, but a situation of ten rooms and nine empty rooms.
The most critical point is that Xuzhou is between Cao Cao, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, and the swaying grass between the three parties is not very good after all, and there is no way to talk about stable development. As long as there is a slight sign of growth, it will immediately Attracting a lot of attention, Liu Bei has experienced this matter once, and he doesn''t want to experience it again.
The soldiers on the side finished cooking the wild vegetable porridge, and the faint smell of food permeated the air. Liu Bei clapped his hands, stood up, and said with a smile, "Let''s go, eat first! After eating... let''s go to Jingzhou!"
"Jingzhou?" Guan Yu frowned.
Liu Bei said with a smile: "The owner of Jingzhou is a clan relative of the Han Dynasty, and has the honor of the eight nobles. You should be happy to accept my generation..."
"I''m not saying that Jingzhou is not good..." Guan Yu followed a few steps up and said in a low voice, "Brother, you know what I mean..." Guan Yu is also clear, after all, now the north is either Cao Cao or Yuan Shao, only the south seems to be There is still some space, but if he goes to seek refuge like this, it means that Liu Bei will once again be reduced to the level of a younger brother, living on the breath of others. Guan Yu is proud, so he is unwilling, and he doesn''t want to see Liu Bei go to compromise.
"Second brother''s thoughts, of course I know!" Liu Bei laughed, his smile was bright and bright, he pointed his hand forward like the edge of a sword, and said firmly, "As long as the three of us are in the same place and our hearts are in the same place, It doesn''t matter if you are in a thousand troubles! One day, you will finally break out a glorious road!"
Guan Yu caressed his long beard, narrowed his eyes slightly, and replied proudly: "If that''s the case, then go to Jingzhou!"
Liu Bei laughed, smiled, nodded, and walked forward.
Guan Yu and Zhang Fei followed behind Liu Bei, one left and one right, their waists straight, like unsheathed swords, still sharp, just like the situation when they set off from Taoyuan back then.
Although people are middle-aged.
Although nothing happened.
Although defeated again.
Although there is no food and clothing.
But losing is not terrible. The frightening thing is that after being defeated, he couldn''t stand up again, and lay down in the mud flat and turned into pus and blood.
Liu Bei''s smile is still brilliant, bright, with a childlike innocence, it seems to warm people up just by looking at it, and it seems to be exactly the same as the smile he had when he had never experienced failure.
The only thing that is different from before is the two or three extra wrinkles on Liu Bei''s face, hidden under the bright smile, which are as deep as scars, which will only split in the dead of night. Pulling, stinging, reminding Liu Bei, telling Liu Bei that he is still a loser, that his childhood dream, brother''s promise, and soldier''s expectation have not yet been realized.
"As long as you don''t lower your head..." Liu Bei looked into the distance and said proudly, "You can still see the whole world!"
(end of this chapter)