Cao Bao, Zang Ba, as well as Song Xian and Wei Xu, who had come all the way from Qingzhou, had led the army slowly into Xiapi City.
Although the Qingzhou Army was composed of new recruits, it was not difficult to defeat the soldiers who stayed in Xuzhou under the leadership of two experienced generals, Song Xian and Wei Xu.
What's more, there are still inner gates in Xiapi City that should be opened, which made Song Xian and Wei Xu feel that the battle in Xiapi was boring and made people doze off...
Cao Bao had a total of more than 17,000 men, 10,000 of whom were the Qingzhou Army commanded by Song Xian and Wei Xu.
There are seven thousand people left, two thousand of them are Cao Bao's troops and horses, and the other five thousand are guards borrowed from his own family and other noble families.
Just as Mi Zhu said, the Cao family has been operating in Xiapi City for many years, and he has already secretly deployed an internal response, waiting for the arrival of the army to open the gate of Xiapi City.
Zhang Fei tried to force Cao Bao to reveal his flaws without being completely sure, but in the end he was a little too impatient.
The lack of a counselor with an overall view and comprehensive planning was the main reason why the three Liu Bei brothers failed repeatedly in the early years.
Zhang Fei's response was quite timely.
Although Xuzhou was lost, at least he still took most of the officials loyal to Liu Bei and nearly 2,000 soldiers gathered on the road to Xuyi to join Liu Bei's camp.
However, Liu Bei's family members were all trapped in Xiapi City.
Xuyi, Liu Bei has been confronting Ji Ling for almost half a month.
Today, suddenly from the direction of Xuzhou, a group of extremely miserable soldiers and officials came over.
In the large tent of the Chinese army,
Liu Bei looked at Zhang Fei, who was covered in scars and looked depressed. After all, he just sighed and did not blame him.
However, after Guan Yu counted the defeated troops and civil and military officials, he hurriedly entered the Chinese army's tent, came to Zhang Fei and asked: "Third brother, why don't you see the eldest brother's family?"
Zhang Fei raised his head with difficulty, his face gloomy.
"I...I was about to lead the troops to my eldest brother's house, but Cao Bao's soldiers had already blocked our way."
When Guan Yu heard that Zhang Fei had not only lost Xuzhou, but also trapped Liu Bei's family in the city, he couldn't help scolding him loudly, blaming him for acting too recklessly and not considering the consequences.
Zhang Fei was so scolded by Guan Yu that he did not dare to fight back, and his face gradually turned red.
Zhang Fei lowered his head in shame, but happened to see the double sword hanging on Liu Bei's waist.
Zhang Fei, feeling extremely ashamed, suddenly reached out and pulled out the long sword from Liu Bei's waist, and was about to wipe his neck and commit suicide on the spot!
Fortunately, Liu Bei reacted quickly and quickly held down the hilt of the sword and Zhang Fei's big hand.
Seeing this, Mi Zhu, Jian Yong, Sun Qian and others around him also stepped forward to stop him, and then they stopped Zhang Fei who wanted to commit suicide.
Liu Bei comforted Zhang Fei, and after Guan Yu apologized to Zhang Fei and offered some kind words, Zhang Fei slowly calmed down.
"It's impossible for Cao Bao to have so many soldiers. Where did those soldiers come from?" Liu Bei asked the doubt in everyone's mind.
"Since Xuzhou doesn't have such soldiers, could they be from other places?"
"Other places? You mean other princes?"
Sun Qian frowned and named the three most likely origins, "Cao Cao? Yuan Shao? Lu Bu?"
Liu Bei suddenly seemed to catch something in his mind, so he said: "Could it be that Cao Cao transferred me out of Xuzhou under the guise of the emperor's order, and then secretly colluded with Cao Bao to annex my Xuzhou again?"
Mi Zhu shook his head and said: "What Cao Cao did in Yanzhou made the local families in Xuzhou reject him. It is impossible for them to cooperate with Cao's army."
Liu Bei felt that what Mi Zhu said made sense. He nodded slightly and said, "I didn't think carefully."
"Brother, I think the most likely candidate is Qingzhou Lu Bu!" Zhang Fei frowned and said after thinking for a moment.
"Is there any evidence?" Liu Bei turned to look at Zhang Fei and asked.
"I have sent many spies to monitor Cao Bao's movements. Although Cao Bao himself has not done much, the Cao family has had many business dealings with Qingzhou some time ago." This news was exactly what Mi Zhu told him.
Zhang Fei said this, suddenly raised his hand and slapped himself hard, saying:
"It's all my fault that I didn't have the idea beforehand to find out what the Cao family was doing behind Cao Bao's back. The Qingzhou soldiers might have quietly come to Xuzhou at that time."
"Chen Gong is a famous scholar in Yanzhou and has a huge reputation among famous families.
When they first withdrew from Yanzhou, a large number of Yanzhou gentry and gentry followed them.
If it was Chen Gong who took action, the Xuzhou family would probably really reach a cooperation with him." The more Mi Zhu thought about it, the more he felt that it was Qingzhou Lu Bu who was causing trouble.
Everyone was silent. No matter who made the move, the outcome was a foregone conclusion. It would be useless to hold anyone responsible now.
Liu Bei discussed with everyone that now that Xuzhou is lost, if Ji Ling and Cao Bao attack from both front and rear, it will be difficult to resist.
So Liu Beijun took advantage of Ji Ling not knowing about the changes in Xuzhou, so he broke camp overnight and headed to the small town of Guangling.
Cao Bao successfully took control of Xiapi. Feeling satisfied, he sent people to imprison all Liu Bei's family members.
However, Liu Bei's second wife Mi Zhen is Mi Zhu's sister, and the Mi family is quite well-connected in Xuzhou, so Cao Bao dare not do anything to them for the time being.
Wang Xiu was sitting on his knees in his remote cabin, having just finished writing about the events that happened in Xiapi City today.
"Cao Bao has successfully expelled Zhang Fei and occupied Xiapi. Except for the Mi family and the Chen family, all the Xuzhou families are willing to join Marquis Wen. At this point, the military advisor's plans in Xuzhou have been completed."
Writing this, Wang Xiu suddenly revealed a sarcastic arc: "Cao Bao's prestige is not enough to become the lord of Xuzhou. He wants to ask the lord to give him more support and help."
After writing, Wang Xiu picked up the letter paper. After the ink was dry, he packed the letter and handed it to his subordinates, saying: "It must be delivered to the military advisor as quickly as possible!"
"Here!"
...
The news from Wang Xiu of Xuzhou was quickly delivered to Chen Gong in just one day and one night.
Chen Gong held the letter and came to Lu Bu's mansion with brisk steps and joy in his heart.
Since all Lu Bu's family members fell to Puyang, Lu Bu rarely smiled.
But when Chen Gong saw Lu Bu in the backyard pavilion, he found that Lu Bu was reading something and smiling like a silly child.
After entering, Chen Gong saw a stack of letters in Lu Bu's hand.
Chen Gong estimated that these were probably sent from Chen Liu, and only Lu Lingqi, Diao Chan and Yan could make Lu Bu smile from the bottom of his heart.
As for Cao Bao's daughter, Lu Bu almost ignored her.
He agreed to marry her just because of political needs. She is actually a poor person.
"Ahem!" Chen Gong coughed heavily a few meters away.
After Lu Bu heard Chen Gong's voice, he put away the letter in his hand, stood up and asked Chen Gong, "Sir, do you have anything important to do when you are here?"
"Marquis Wen, our plan in Xuzhou was successful!" Chen Gong smiled brightly.
Lu Bu didn't know why Chen Gong was so happy, so he asked curiously: "The military advisor's plans are always flawless and rarely fail, shouldn't he be so rude?"
Chen Gong laughed and said: "Haha! I still can't hide it from you Fengxian!!"
"Military advisor, please speak clearly!"
Chen Gong originally had a lot to say in his heart, but looking at Lu Bu's face that had the traces of time, all his words finally converged into one sentence: "Fengxian, you can take your wife and children home!"