Liu Futong felt desolate in his heart. He had been trapped in Anfeng for more than two months, struggling to hold on, just waiting for good news from Shandong.
Who would have expected such a result?
Anfeng's generals were also demoralized one by one, and the food in the city was exhausted. Everyone could not eat enough, and they even lost the strength to be angry.
Sheng Wenyu has not seen Liu Futong for several days. The latter locked himself in the house and saw no one.
He understood Liu Futong's mood, and he also knew that even if the two met to discuss it, they would not be able to change the situation.
That afternoon, Sheng Wenyu was walking on the streets of the city, and saw that the streets were full of hungry people, including the old, weak, sick and disabled. Those who had the strength had long since fled Anfeng.
Suddenly, he saw a group of people gathered around a dry well, seemingly fighting over something.
When I took a closer look, it turned out that someone had made mud balls from the soil at the bottom of the well, rolled them in oil, and sold them to others. There were actually many people buying them.
Sheng Wenyu sighed, took a deep breath, made a decision in his heart, and headed towards the south gate.
Halfway through the journey, a sergeant came to report that Liu Futong had called him over to talk.
Sheng Wenyu originally planned to meet Liu Futong, but he felt refreshed and walked faster.
Arriving at the tower and entering Liu Futong's room, Sheng Wenyu was greatly surprised.
I thought Liu Futong must be depressed, but unexpectedly he seemed to be in good spirits and was looking at the map on the wall.
Sheng Wenyu said in surprise: "Brother Liu, what are you doing?"
Liu Futong smiled slightly and waved: "Brother Sheng, you are here, come here quickly."
Sheng Wenyu was puzzled and came to Liu Futong's side, looking up at the map.
"Brother Liu, what are you looking at?"
Liu Futong smiled and did not answer, but asked: "Brother Sheng, how much food is left in the city?"
Sheng Wenyu said solemnly: "We have run out of food a long time ago. The soldiers ate everything they could eat. Most of the people fled to Haozhou and Luzhou. The ones who stayed were the old, weak, sick and disabled, and they even started to eat wells."
Bottom mud pills. Soon, I’m afraid I’ll be eating carrion!”
Liu Futong took a deep breath and said: "Brother Sheng, can you go to Jiangdu Mansion to borrow food?"
Sheng Wenyu changed his color and said: "Borrow it? Do you still want to persist?!"
Liu Futong nodded.
Sheng Wenyu said in shock: "Tian Feng and Wang Shicheng have surrendered, what are you holding on to?"
Liu Futong said with blazing eyes: "Brother, believe me, we still have a chance!"
Sheng Wenyu asked anxiously: "What opportunity?"
Liu Futong shook his head: "I can't tell you yet!"
Sheng Wenyu stared at him closely without saying a word. He knew that Liu Futong never lied. Since he said so, there must be a reason.
However, in this current situation, he couldn't think of anything else to look forward to!
At this moment, Liu Liu rushed in with a look of panic.
"Taifu, Sheng Pingzhang, and Zuo Junbi sent a message asking us to hand over His Majesty. He only gave us one hour, and he will attack the city after one hour!"
Liu Futong snorted coldly and said: "Zuo Junbi has always been impatient, but it seems he is finally going to take action!"
Sheng Wenyu looked at him and said, "Brother Liu, what should we do next?"
Liu Futong said flatly: "You go and borrow food, and I will defend the city!"
Sheng Wenyu was silent for a long time, remembering that he had promised Liu Futong to support him no matter what, and finally nodded.
"Okay, I'll go right away."
As soon as he finished speaking, Li Rong suddenly ran in.
"Master, what's wrong, Guo Shanfeng has taken your Majesty and the Queen Mother away!"
Liu Liu cursed angrily: "They are indeed bandits. We should not have recruited them in the first place!"
Liu Futong's expression also changed, he stood up and asked: "Where did they escape to?"
Li Rongdao: "To the southeast, they should have gone to Jiangdu Army!"
Liu Futong said sternly: "We must not let them escape. Order three thousand cavalry and follow me in pursuit!"
Liu Liu said: "Master, all the horses have been eaten!"
Liu Futong said angrily: "Didn't I give the order to keep at least three thousand horses?"
Sheng Wenyu sighed: "Brother Liu, under such circumstances, it is really difficult for you to ask the soldiers to obey this order!"
Liu Futong said in a deep voice: "How many horses are there?"
Liu Liu whispered: "Your mount is the only one left."
Liu Futong made a quick decision: "Then run over and chase them. They have no horses and women and children, so they can't run fast!"
Immediately, he led Sheng Wenyu, Liu Liu and others, ordered three thousand infantry, came out from the east gate, and chased along the avenue.
This pursuit lasted a day and a night, until they reached the border between Anfeng and Haozhou, and finally caught up with Guo Shanfeng, Han Qing'er and Liu Chun.
This place happened to be an open plain, and Guo Shanfeng and others had nowhere to escape, and were quickly surrounded by Liu Futong's army.
Liu Futong shouted: "Guo Shanfeng, if you want to leave, I won't keep you. Why do you want to rob your Majesty and the Queen Mother?"
Guo Shanfeng snorted and said: "They volunteered to come with me. Taifu Liu, you are a great hero, a great hero, and villains always admire you!"
"But I still have to say that those who know the current affairs are heroes. It's time for you to recognize the reality and follow us to surrender to the Jiangdu Army. That is the right way!"
Liu Fu said: "I don't have time to talk nonsense with you. Let the Queen Mother and Your Majesty go quickly. I can let you go!"
Liu Chun said sharply: "Liu Futong, don't be hypocritical. Our mother and son are puppets and tools in your hands! We are going to join Sister Yang now to live a stable life. If you stop us, we would rather die!"
Liu Futong was silent for a long time and said: "Okay, you can leave, but Your Majesty must stay."
Liu Chun hugged Han Qing'er's head tightly and said angrily: "He is my son, of course he must follow me!"
Liu Futong shook his head and said: "Then please forgive me for being rude!"
He raised his hand and was about to order an attack. Suddenly he heard the sound of horse hoofbeats and saw smoke billowing from the north as a cavalry galloped towards him.
Liu Futong was secretly frightened and could not care about the mountain wind for the time being. He ordered his soldiers to form a defensive formation and prepare to face the enemy.
After a while, the cavalry came closer, holding a Zhang Shicheng flag, and it was Zhang Shicheng's army.
A man came forward in the team, wearing a golden helmet and golden armor. It was Zhang Shicheng himself.
"Liu Futong, hand over Prince Xiao Ming!" he shouted loudly.
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Liu Futong observed carefully for a moment and found that Zhang Shicheng had five thousand cavalry, and was shocked.
"Zhang Shicheng, you just lost the battle in Shandong. If you don't defend Xuzhou well, what are you doing here?"
Zhang Shicheng snorted and said nothing.
Although he suffered heavy losses in the Shandong War, he also gained a reputation. Many Song armies in Shandong began to send people to contact him.
Zhang Shicheng wanted to conquer these scattered Shandong troops, but the leaders did not agree. In their words, they insisted that they were officials of the Song army.
After Zhang Shicheng thought for a while, he felt that as long as he captured King Xiao Ming and followed Liu Futong's example in supporting him as emperor, then they would not refuse.
"Liu Futong, you no longer have the ability to protect Prince Xiao Ming, you should leave him to me!"
Liu Futong was about to answer when he suddenly heard Liu Liu shouting: "No, Zuo Junbi's people are here too!"
Liu Futong turned around and saw that a group of cavalry was coming from behind. They also numbered about five thousand, with bright armor and neat military appearance.
The leading general is wearing white clothes and armor, and is holding a Fangtian painted halberd. Who is it if he is not Zuo Junbi?
Liu Futong complained secretly, knowing that he could no longer bring back Xiao Mingwang, so he looked up to the sky and sighed.
Sheng Wenyu whispered: "Brother Liu, can that unspeakable thing you mentioned just now help us get out of trouble?"
Liu Futong looked pale and shook his head.
Sheng Wenyu said: "The matter has come to this, can't you tell me what is going on?"
Liu Futong took a deep breath and whispered a few words to him.
After hearing this, Sheng Wenyu was surprised and happy: "Haha, okay, great!" It was as if he had no regrets after hearing the news.
Zuo Junbi ordered his men to prepare an assault formation, and then drove his horses forward. He first looked at Liu Futong, and then turned to Zhang Shicheng in the north.
"King Cheng, you are neither the Red Scarf Army nor the White Lotus Sect, so don't fight with me about Prince Xiao Ming!"
Zhang Shicheng said coldly: "We are all rebels, why should we divide them into the Red Scarf Army and the Tsing Yi Army?"
Zuo Junbi spun Fang Tian's painted halberd in a circle and said loudly: "That's fine, then let's just do what we can!"
Just as he was about to rush over, he saw dust rising from the southeast, and a larger cavalry force came quickly, followed by a group of infantry.
Judging from the flag, it is Jiangdu Army.
In fact, the Jiangdu Army barracks was nearby. Sun Hu had already noticed the situation here, but he did not come forward immediately. Instead, he sent scouts to check the surrounding situation.
Seeing Zuo Junbi and Zhang Shicheng arriving, and there was nothing unusual around them, he stopped hiding and came with all his troops.
Zhang Shicheng saw that Jiangdu's soldiers were so numerous that he was definitely unable to compete, so he said angrily: "Sun Hu, your Jiangdu army has occupied the entire Jiangnan, what else do you want King Xiao Ming to do?"
Sun Hu laughed and said: "King Cheng is joking. King Xiao Ming is the brother of our General Han, how can we ignore him?"
Han Lin'er said loudly: "Brother, are you okay?"
Liu Chun patted Han Qing'er's head and asked him to respond.
Han Qing'er shouted at the top of her lungs: "Brother, save me!"
The two responded to each other, and Zhang Shicheng and Zuo Junbi's expressions became extremely ugly.
When Guanshanfeng saw Liu Futong in a daze, he waved his hand, and his men and horses protected Han Qing'er and Liu Chun and ran towards Jiangdu's army.
Under the threat of Jiangdu Army, Liu Futong, Zhang Shicheng and Zuo Junbi did not dare to pursue, and could only watch as Xiao Ming Wang entered the Jiangdu Army camp.
Zhang Shicheng snorted angrily, waved his hand, and retreated with his men.