Yuan Tan raised the urgent letter on the table and said to Guo Tu and Xin Ping who were following him: "There is an urgent letter from Xuzhou. You must have read it."
After he said this, he stopped making any sound and waited quietly for the two of them to speak.
Xin Ping hesitated for a moment and then said: "Help immediately."
Yuan Tan looked at Guo Tu. Seeing this, Guo Tu hurriedly said: "No."
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you to go south or even north. How can you miss it?"
Xin Ping sneered and said: "This is a good opportunity to stand still and wait for the Yuan family's children to be killed?"
Guo Tu said disapprovingly: "It's not that serious."
"The fierce tiger is now saving Donghai, not Guangling. This is not Yuan's territory."
"When we send troops, aren't we just making wedding clothes for them?"
"The fierce tiger talks nicely. He keeps claiming to save the siege of the East China Sea, but what does this have to do with us?"
"He is Xuzhou Mu!"
Xin Ping heard this and said anxiously: "Yuan Tu, Fierce Tiger also captured Xuzhou for the Yuan family. Now that Xuzhou has been attacked by Cao Cao, if the East China Sea is lost, it will also be a loss for the Yuan family!"
Guo Tu sneered and said: "Zhongzhi, don't forget that the fierce tiger wanted to control Xuzhou!"
"His plan will force you to push your power to Langya, where you can't go south. Who can't see that he has selfish motives?"
"If he is sincere, why not give Guangling to the envoy?"
"Now we are stuck in a difficult situation. If we want to expand, we have no place to go!"
"Now that the East China Sea is in turmoil, it's a great time to take advantage of it!"
"And Zhongzhi thought Fierce Tiger was being kind? He fought without warning and the incident of raiding the Qingzhou pirates is still fresh in your mind. Have you forgotten it?"
Xin Ping shook his head, "Yuan Tu's words are wrong."
"The incident of the Qingzhou pirates was originally due to your lax restraint. Not only did they rob Yuan's merchant ship, but they also didn't inform us afterwards. If you ask me, Guan Hai and these people died well, but living is simply a disgrace to your reputation.
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Guo Tu saw that Yuan Tan's face was ugly and secretly thought that Xin Ping didn't know whether he was really stupid or pretending to be stupid. How could you not know this kind of thing?
He smiled and said: "Zhongzhi, in this world, if you don't plot against others, others will plot against you."
"Not to mention Mr. Xianfu, if you are trapped in Qingzhou and can't even compare to the fierce tiger, how will you have the chance to inherit the Yuan family in the future?"
"You must know that Xiuhu has two male heirs!"
Seeing the look of approval on Yuan Tan's face, Xin Ping said anxiously: "If you want to attack Jiangdong, you can borrow a way from the fierce tiger. Now it is unjust to take it without saying anything."
Guo Tu sneered: "In today's world, are there still righteous wars?"
"With this kind of womanly kindness, do you want to harm the envoy?"
Xin Ping said angrily: "If you act without a bottom line, you will harm the envoy!"
"you……"
Yuan Tan interrupted the two of them and said, "Stop arguing."
"The enemy is pretending to be a Taishan bandit to attack the East China Sea. I want to send troops at this time. What will Xian Yi think? It seems that I have ulterior motives."
"I will first write a letter to Xian Yi and agree to send troops, but I have to listen to his orders, so I dare not act rashly now."
"In the meantime, we will lead our troops southward first and camp between the Langya and East China Sea. If we show interest, they will send people to us to ask for help again, and then we can go south."
Xin Ping hesitated and said: "If Master Xian Yi is defeated by the enemy, wouldn't it be too late..."
Guo Tu said: "If we really can't defeat him, we can retreat by sea without risking his life."
After hearing this, Yuan Tan nodded and said, "Yes, that's it."
"You two go back and have a good rest."
Xin Ping sighed and left. Before the Yuan family had conquered the world, their disciples had already begun to hold each other back!
None of the people present felt that Yuan Xi could take advantage of Xuzhou this time. After all, according to the intelligence they had received, Yuan Xi was now at an absolute disadvantage in terms of generals and troops.
"Enemy attack!"
"Enemy attack!"
One after another, miserable screams resounded through the sky that was about to fall into darkness.
Liu Bei asked Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to stay and defend the city, and he took hundreds of thousands of Xiapi people north to Tancheng. As a result, he walked nearly 200 miles and saw that there were still more than 100 miles to reach Tancheng. However, when it was about to get dark, Liu Bei Suffered a large number of enemy attacks!
Almost all the sentinels at the front of the team were killed or injured, and the remaining few tried their best to escape and report the enemy's situation. Liu Bei didn't know that he had fallen into the trap, so he got on his horse and shouted to Chen Dao and others: "Follow me and stop them. Let the people escape first!"
Sun Qian said anxiously: "Your Majesty, you must not do this!"
"It's getting late, and the enemy's strength is unknown. It's very dangerous to engage in battle at this time!"
Liu Bei shouted: "How can we escape at this time?"
"If something happens to you, how will we deal with it?"
Jian Yong urged: "Your Majesty, you should make a decisive decision at this time and follow the example of Xiapi. A strong man's wrist will be cut off!"
"Otherwise, if these 10,000 soldiers are lost, we will not even have the capital to make a comeback!"
Liu Bei hesitated, his face changed several times, and finally he gritted his teeth and said: "I, Liu Xuande, treat others kindly and righteously. If I break my promise and abandon the people and run away alone, how can I see the people of the world, and how can the people of the world be willing to join me?"
"Although fighting at night is not good for me, isn't it the same for them?"
"If we fight to the death, there is still a glimmer of hope. If we flee without fighting, our entire army will be annihilated!"
After everyone heard this, they also knew that it was a critical moment of life and death. Now that Liu Bei had made up his mind, there was no point in opposing it now, so they had to accept the order.
Liu Bei rode up to the panic-stricken people and shouted: "Fellow folks, listen to me!"
"Now that we have encountered an enemy, we can no longer go to Tancheng in the north!"
"Everyone, now go from north to east and take refuge in Guangling!"
"Xuzhou Mu Yuan Shijun is kind to me, and he will definitely be able to protect you!"
"Before that, I will hold off the enemy for you, please run away quickly!"
After hearing this, the people knelt down and said, "We are willing to live and die with the envoy!"
Chen Dao shouted: "How can you block the swordsman with your bare hands? There is going to be a battle here soon, so go as soon as possible!"
After hearing this, all the people reluctantly got up and wanted to take him to Guangling and escape.
Liu Bei rode up to the carriage and said to the carriage: "Madams, there are many swamps and rivers on the way to Guangling. It is difficult to move forward. At that time, we can only leave it to fate."
The curtains opened, revealing the faces of Mrs. Liu Bei and Mrs. Gan. Bei's daughter hid behind Mrs. Liu Bei and poked half of her face out, with a worried look on her face.
Compared to Mrs. Gan who looked a little panicked, Mrs. Liu Bei said decisively: "Okay, staying here is also hindering your husband, let's go first!"
After speaking, she said to the coachman: "Let's go now!"
Liu Bei looked at the people leaving and told Chen Dao: "Send people to Xiapi to ask for help, so that they can stop guarding the city and come to meet them quickly."
Chen Dao quickly sent someone out and said: "It's hundreds of miles away. Even if the two generals arrive, it will be a few days later."
Liu Bei also knew that it was too late, and sighed: "I have no other choice."
The shouts of killing were heard everywhere, so Chen Daojian said: "How about mixing the soldiers into the fleeing people?"
"Wouldn't it be good to have more than 100,000 civilians mixed in with 10,000 soldiers so that outsiders wouldn't be able to detect it at all? Once the enemy arrives, they can suddenly launch a surprise attack."
"Otherwise, if we form a formation in the dark, we will only be targeted and defeated by the enemy, and I'm afraid we won't be able to hold on until dawn."
Liu Bei hesitated. This was tantamount to using the people as a shield!
But he also had to admit that facing an unknown enemy, he had no chance of winning.
Because according to the estimates of the spies who came back, the other side's soldiers were far more numerous than the soldiers on our side!
He hesitated for a moment and then counted: "You lead three thousand soldiers and hide among the people. I will lead seven thousand soldiers and follow behind."
"If the enemy comes at that time, we can attack from both sides."
Chen Dao also felt that this method was safer than the one he proposed, so he immediately led his troops to arrange it.
Liu Bei turned to his subordinates and said: "The generals will stay, the civil servants will leave first!"
After everyone heard this, they did not dare to neglect them. The generals formed a formation and the civil servants hurriedly blended into the people and fled. They only regretted that their parents had lost two legs.
Cao Ren stood in front of the formation on horseback and said to Xun You: "Sir, with a clever plan, he caught them all. Ren fell to the ground in admiration."
Xun You shook his feather fan and said with a smile: "This is not difficult. Nine times out of ten, the march will be along the main roads and rivers. Although there are many rivers in Xuzhou, there are relatively few choices of places to cross the rivers."
"Many of the road locations from Xiapi to Tancheng are inappropriate. If they are eliminated, the rest will naturally be their marching route."
After a while, spies kept coming to report. After hearing this, Cao Ren smiled at Xun You and said, "Liu Bei actually sought his own death and protected the people from retreating!"
"This way, none of them can escape!"
"Now we will attack Liu Beijun one after another and kill them all!"
Xun You heard this and said, "No."
"The trapped beast still fights, which only increases our damage."
"The general must understand who our biggest target is. Before that, there is no need to increase the damage."
Cao Ren blinked, "What do you mean, sir?"
A sharp look flashed in Xun You's eyes, "Taking advantage of the darkness, attack the people directly!"
"While they are in panic and dispersed, drive them to attack Liu Bei's army, which will inevitably lead to a huge rout!"
"When the hundreds of thousands of people are dispersed in Guangling, if the fierce tiger comes to help, we will be able to fish in troubled waters!"
Cao Ren was overjoyed after hearing this, "Sir, you are wise!"
He immediately waved and said to Li Dian, Xia Houen and dozens of Cao Ying generals behind him: "Everyone, go ahead and make contributions today!"
Everyone accepted the order with a roar.
I saw groups of Cao's troops, led by various generals, dividing and outflanking the fleeing people.
Most of Xuzhou is a plain, and the people cannot hide at all. Soon they encountered a group of people fleeing.
Cao's army was like a wolf entering a flock of sheep and pounced on them fiercely. With a long knife in one hand and a torch in the other, they killed people and burned vehicles when they saw them. Suddenly, the sky was filled with cries and screams in the dark night.
More than a hundred miles to the north, several Cao army troops were besieging Tancheng.
The leaders are clearly Cao Cao and Cheng Yu!
Cao Cao actually sent three armies and devoted most of his troops to the Xuzhou battlefield!
However, Cheng Yu, who was familiar with him, was not surprised at all. After all, when Cao Cao was still weak, he dared to plan a sneak attack on Yecheng. Now that his power has grown several times, he is bound to win Xuzhou!
Cao Cao looked at Tancheng in the distance, but there was a rare trace of worry on his face, "Have you found no trace of the vicious tiger yet?"
"Where does Zhongde think he is most likely to appear?"
"Or maybe those urgent letters for help were all a pretense, and he actually gave up on the East China Sea?"