Summary of the previous chapter: Cai Mao got Liu Cong's talisman, took it to Ma Xiaoquan, and invited Ma Xiaoquan to work together to find the treasure. Ma Xiaoquan agreed...
When Liu Bei heard this, he shook his head and said: "Jing Sheng entrusted his two sons to me during his lifetime. Thanks to his kindness in taking me in, how could I do such a treacherous thing? No, absolutely not!"
Zhuge Liang also advised: "My lord, Cao Cao has marched through the new wilderness and has already attacked Wancheng. If we take advantage of the situation and seize Xiangyang, the seat of government, and then use the banner of anti-Cao Cao, even if we can't fight against Cao Cao, we still have a chance to escape, lord."
, I hope my lord will think twice!"
Liu Bei frowned, thought for a moment, then shook his head and said: "No, absolutely not, I can never do such a rebellious thing!"
Guan Yu and Zhang Fei stepped forward and said in unison with red eyes: "Brother? You..."
Liu Bei pulled out his sword with a clang, glared at everyone and said, "If you have more words, don't blame me for being ruthless! You don't need to say any more! I have made up my mind!"
Everyone was unwilling to give up, but Liu Bei had made up his mind and it was hard to say anything else.
At this moment, laughter suddenly came from outside the meeting hall.
Liu Bei was already very angry. When he heard laughter, he shouted: "Come here, let me arrest the people outside the door!"
Before anyone could take action, a handsome man with purple hair flashed out of the door.
"Huh?" Liu Bei was stunned for a moment: "Master Shangxian?"
The purple-haired man laughed: "Xuande, I haven't seen you for a while, haha..."
Liu Bei suppressed the anger in his heart, stepped forward and cupped his hands and said: "It's really unlucky for Master Shangxian to come. Then Cao Cao..."
Ma Xiaoquan waved his hand: "I know, Xuande, I know you won't agree to capture Jingzhou, so I came here to help you."
Liu Bei was overjoyed when he heard this and said quickly: "Master Shangxian, what should I do?"
Ma Xiaoquan pretended to think deeply for a moment, and then slowly said: "Escape!"
Liu Bei smiled bitterly and said: "Haha, Lord Immortal, is this the help you give me?"
Ma Xiaoquan nodded: "Xuande, let me ask you, if you escape, where will you choose to escape to?"
Liu Bei thought for a moment and said, "I don't know either!"
Ma Xiaoquan smiled slightly, turned to Zhuge Liang and asked: "Kong Ming, what do you think?"
Zhuge Liang thought for a while, then stepped forward and said with cupped hands: "My lord, Lord Shangxian, I think we should first flee to Xiakou to join Liu Qi, and then join forces with Jiangdong Sun Quan..."
Zhuge Liang summarized his thoughts in short words. When Liu Bei heard this, his eyes lit up and he said, "Can this work?"
Ma Xiaoquan looked at Liu Bei's flickering eyes and said with a smile: "Xuande, your eyes betrayed you. Haha, it's urgent. Do you have any other choice?"
Liu Bei chuckled and shook his head.
"Then set off immediately!"
Liu Bei asked Ma Xiaoquan: "What about you, Master Shangxian?"
Ma Xiaoquan said: "Something will happen to you along the way, well, I will help you!"
"Master Shangxian, why do you want to help me? Could it be that you and Cao..."
Ma Xiaoquan shook his head: "I said that your life should not be cut off, and you, Liu Xuande, are not a thing in the pool. One day, you will definitely be able to have your own territory, haha... Xuande, you
Don’t be too happy too soon, everything I do is destiny, you don’t have to worry too much!”
Liu Bei nodded and led Zhuge Liang and others to deploy the work.
In his left eye, Yuan suddenly said: "Huntama Xiaoquan, you are really good at making things up! What is destiny?"
Ma Xiaoquan responded: "What is compilation? This is obviously history, okay? I am following the wheel of history and moving forward bravely, okay?"
"Poor mouth"
...
That night, Liu Bei led his troops to leave Fancheng.
From Fancheng to Xiakou, we had to choose a different route from Cao Cao's march. Since Cao Cao was starting from Xinye, Ma Xiaoquan suggested that Liu Bei take a slight detour.
Zhuge Liang and others also fully agreed with this, and marched quickly. On the night of the third day, Liu Bei's army arrived at Xiangyang City.
Liu Bei personally stood under the city and shouted for him to see Liu Cong. Unfortunately, Liu Cong was so cowardly that not only was the city gate closed, he didn't even have the courage to stand on the city wall to see Liu Bei.
Liu Bei was unwilling to give in and shouted into the city: "Liu Cong, come out and meet me. I want to ask you what exactly..."
The city was quiet.
Liu Bei cursed angrily: "It's because of people like you that Jingzhou fell into the hands of thieves..."
Liu Bei's burst of yelling and cursing was not only not refuted by the people in the city, but also aroused the resonance of the people in the outer city. In an instant, a large number of people decided to leave with Duke Xuande.
In the inner city, Liu Cong was hiding in bed, trembling and asking Mrs. Cai outside the bed: "Mother, has Liu Bei left?"
Mrs. Cai shook her head: "Not yet, but I probably won't come in!"
Beside him, Cai Mao spat and said: "It's just Liu Bei, what are you afraid of? Let me go out and teach him a lesson!"
Mrs. Cai scolded: "Don't you think you are causing trouble enough? Come back!"
Cai Mao just wanted to go back, but thought that he was now the Prime Minister's subordinate, so he said: "I am now the commander of the navy under the Prime Minister's account, you can't order me!" After that, Cai Mao rushed out of the room with his sword in hand.
...
Liu Bei had scolded enough, but he was still angry in his heart. Just as he was about to slow down and scold again, the inner city gate suddenly opened, and then, a group of light cavalry rushed out and headed towards his direction.
Liu Bei was shocked, but it was too late.
"Brother..."
"Brother..."
"Lord..."
Just as the spear of the golden helmet general was about to pierce him, he saw an erratic purple figure flash for a moment. Then, Liu Bei only heard a "pop" sound, and the scene became quiet for an instant.
Cai Mao had a big mouth and couldn't figure it out. Now his neck was being pinched by Master Shangxian.
"Lord Immortal, you?"
Ma Xiaoquan snorted coldly: "Degui, order all your people to withdraw! Immediately!"
Cai Mao was unwilling to give in, but with one side of his eye he saw a crimson flame burning in Master Shangxian's other hand, and immediately shouted to the light cavalry behind him: "Stop, everyone, get back here, quickly!"
Liu Bei was still in shock. At this time, Guan, Zhang and Zhao had surrounded him. Seeing that Ma Xiaoquan had subdued Cai Mao in one fell swoop, the three of them drew their swords and wanted to take the opportunity to kill Cai Mao.
With a "boom", Ma Xiaoquan threw out a crimson flame ribbon in front of the three people.
The three of them were stunned for a moment and stopped obediently.
Ma Xiaoquan released the hand that was pinching Cai Mao's neck, extinguished the flame on the other hand and said, "Degui, have you forgotten what you and I promised?"
Cai Hao thought for a moment and said: "But Master Shangxian, Liu Bei...if I take Liu Bei's head, the Prime Minister will definitely..."
"Pah!" Before Cai Mao could finish his words, Ma Xiaoquan slapped Cai Mao squarely in the face.
Cai Mao looked at Ma Xiaoquan in horror.
Ma Xiaoquan scolded: "Some things should not be done too much. Do you understand?"
Cai Mao felt angry in his heart, but thinking about the hand that Master Shangxian had used to pull him off his horse just now, he had no choice but to suppress his anger and snorted lowly.
"Get out!" Ma Xiaoquan kicked Cai Mao.
Cai Mao got up from the ground and rode away bitterly.
Ma Xiaoquan turned around and said to Liu Bei: "Xuande, as the lord, you should not take too many risks. Do you understand?"
Liu Bei patted his chest and said thanks: "Thank you, Lord Immortal, I will remember it!"
"Well! Take a rest and let's set off at dawn!"
"yes!"
...
At dawn the next day, Liu Bei led the army and civilians to march towards Xiakou.
Xiangyang is not far from Dangyang and reaches Xiakou. Taking Dangyang is the shortest and relatively safest way.
Liu Bei's original intention was to bypass Dangyang and take the water route, but the sudden increase in the number of people in Xiangyang forced Liu Bei to change his original intention and choose Dangyang. Of course, Ma Xiaoquan also strongly recommended taking Dangyang.
Liu Bei asked: "Master Shangxian, why do you recommend me to go to Dangyang?"
Ma Xiaoquan chuckled and said, "The first route from Dangyang to Xiakou is the shortest. Don't you deny this?"
Liu Bei nodded.
"Furthermore, with so many people following you, let alone ships, we are already running out of food and other supplies. Can we still travel by water under such conditions?"
Liu Bei hummed and said, "Indeed, I didn't expect so many people to be willing to follow me."
Zhang Fei stepped forward and whispered: "Brother, why are you taking these people with you? You know, if we hurry up, it won't take long to reach Xiakou. But if we take these people with us, we can reach Xiakou in one day."
At most 20 miles.”
Liu Bei said seriously: "Third brother, these people gave up the good life in Xiangyang and voluntarily traveled with me. As ministers, they should take responsibility. I would rather let the people of the world fail me than I can let the people of the world fail me."
Zhang Fei was helpless and did not dare to say anything more, so he had to retreat to one side and sulk.
Guan Yu looked at Ma Xiaoquan for help. Ma Xiaoquan shook his head and said that he would not persuade. Guan Yu had no choice but to wave his hand and stop talking.
The large army marched forward for a whole day and only walked about fifteen miles. This speed was simply slower than a snail.
Zhuge Liang and others repeatedly persuaded Liu Bei to abandon the people and led the light cavalry to Xiakou to join Liu Qi and then to Jiangling. However, Liu Bei refused to listen and would drag this group of people with him life or death.
On the other hand, Cao Cao has successfully captured Wancheng.
The spies came to report that Liu Bei was heading to Xiangyang. Cao Cao made a decisive decision and immediately led his army to Xiangyang to intercept Liu Bei. Unfortunately, when he arrived in Xiangyang, he heard that Liu Bei had left.
Cao Cao asked Liu Cong: "Why don't you delay for a while until I come and capture Liu Bei?"