noffsinger Chapter 253 Liu Bei's Online Escape! His talent for conquering a nation has been snatched away
Chapter 253 Liu Bei's Online Escape! His talent for conquering a nation has been snatched away
Shinno
Liu Bei, rubbing his calves, remarked in front of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei:
"I never expected that the injury I sustained in Xuzhou would have healed so quickly."
"It's a pity, brother, that I'm worried I'll never have the chance to go to the battlefield again!"
Before he could finish speaking, Guan Yu offered words of comfort:
"Brother, don't overthink it. Liu Jingzhou is quite dependent on you."
"Besides my elder brother, there is no one else in the entire Jingzhou who dares to fight Cao Cao's army!"
When Guan Yu said this, he was implicitly excluding Zhang Xiu from the calculations.
After all, Liu Bei and Zhang Xiu were not of the same nature.
Zhang Xiu's 30,000 men were his own; they were more like mercenaries, paid and fed to do his bidding.
Their loyalty to Liu Biao was relatively low, or even almost nonexistent.
Most of Liu Bei's troops were funded by Liu Biao, not to mention money and provisions; they were essentially Liu Biao's regular staff.
"I hope so."
Liu Bei sighed helplessly.
Since the last major defeat at Nanyang, Liu Biao had been comforting Liu Bei by saying that everything was alright.
In reality, the support given to Liu Bei has clearly decreased.
Cai Mao, Kuai Yue, and others bluntly stated that Liu Bei was all show and no substance!
This is also why Liu Biao increased his support for Zhang Xiu.
He discovered that Liu Bei seemed to have won very few battles so far...
The win rate isn't zero, but it's definitely extremely low.
(To be honest, this isn't to say that Liu Bei was incompetent; there are several reasons, as explained earlier.)
But just as Liu Bei was marveling at the "regeneration of his spleen and flesh,"
Zhou Cang suddenly ran in from outside and reported to Liu Bei:
"My lord, something terrible has happened!"
"A massive army of Cao Cao, whose exact numbers are unknown, is marching towards my Xinye!"
"What!?"
Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei all wore the same shocked expression.
Liu Bei immediately exclaimed in surprise:
"Where did Zhang Xiu go? Could it be that Cao Cao's army has already captured Wancheng without anyone noticing?"
Zhou Cang said awkwardly:
"The vanguard of Cao Cao's army is none other than Zhang Xiu."
Liu Bei: "..."
Guan Yu and Zhang Fei: "..."
The three brothers quickly exchanged glances.
That look held a meaning only the three of them understood.
To run or not to run?
Where to escape?
a quarter of an hour later
Liu Bei packed his bags with the speed of a special forces soldier and announced to the soldiers in Xinye City:
"Gentlemen, Xinye City will be abolished from now on. You will all follow me to Xiangyang!"
Soldiers from other registered households naturally don't care.
But the local soldiers in Xinye all changed their expressions drastically.
They chattered amongst themselves, expressing their bewilderment at Liu Bei's sudden and unexpected decision to abandon Xinye.
"Big brother, don't worry about them!"
"Let's go by ourselves!"
Zhang Fei urged Liu Bei impatiently.
Liu Bei, however, was somewhat reluctant to give up the hard-won military power.
Who knows how many soldiers Liu Biao will give him when he arrives in Xiangyang!
In Xinye, at least there are still five or six thousand people available.
"Enough, enough. Those who do not wish to follow me may remain in Xinye."
Liu Bei ultimately decided to abandon some of his soldiers.
As for why he didn't keep it from the soldiers first, it was because he was afraid that they would panic on the way due to Cao Cao's pursuit.
If some clever guy tries to take his head and claim a reward from Cao Cao's army, wouldn't that be the end of us?
In that case, it would have been better to tell the soldiers from the beginning that he was about to abandon Xinye.
Under such circumstances, those who flee with him are definitely willing to go with him.
This is quite different from the original historical account of the Battle of Changban.
The reason Liu Bei was in such a sorry state at Changban Slope was because he did not know beforehand that Liu Biao had died of illness, and that Cai Mao and Kuai Yue had surrendered to Cao Cao with Liu Cong.
He foolishly led his men to flee towards Xiangyang.
It's easy to imagine that he was caught in a pincer movement!
With no other option, they had to change their route to Changbanpo, which caused them to waste a lot of time. In the end, they were caught up by Cao Cao's Tiger and Leopard Cavalry and were brutally beaten!
And now, Liu Bei's skill in escaping is still going strong.
The goal is Xiangyang, clear and unambiguous.
Unfortunately, what Liu Bei didn't know was...
He has once again missed out on a talent, and one who could have been the very person who would destroy a nation in the future!
Deng Chang, the chief clerk of Xinye, did not choose to flee with Liu Bei because his wife was pregnant, but stayed to take care of her.
Deng Chang was different from ordinary soldiers; he was, after all, a member of the powerful Deng family, a local strongman in Xinye.
I certainly have some knowledge and experience.
Although Liu Bei did not explicitly state the reason for abandoning Xinye, Deng Chang had a guess in his mind.
"Could it be that Cao Cao's army has attacked?"
Deng Chang thought to himself.
"No, I must protect my wife and children; I cannot let them get hurt!"
Deng Chang thought to himself.
But in reality, his own safety is also extremely important.
Otherwise, leaving only his wife and newborn child would absolutely cause his status within the family to plummet to the margins.
Within powerful families and influential clans, people are often treated differently depending on who they are.
Without adult males present, they might not necessarily be abandoned, but they were destined to be bullied.
The resources available to children during their school years will definitely be halved.
This may explain why Deng Ai, despite being born into the Deng family of Xinye, ended up as an ordinary garrison soldier in Cao Wei.
Having lost his father at a young age and his mother at the age of four, Deng Ai in the original history was destined to live a life of contempt and dependence on others.
And this moment.
Liu Bei abandoned Xinye.
Deng Chang was unwilling to leave and joined other members of the Deng family in reinforcing the defenses of Xinye.
They knew, of course, that they were no match for Cao Cao's army.
But they still had to put on a show to demonstrate that they weren't completely powerless to resist.
Liu Bei's decisive action allowed him to successfully evade the first wave of Cao Cao's army's attack.
Cao Ang, Zhang Xiu, Jia Xu, Zhao Yun, and Cao Chun led the Xiliang Iron Cavalry, the Dragon Cavalry, and the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry as the vanguard and arrived at Xinye.
"The whole army obeys the order!"
"Don't bully the people of Xinye!"
"Those who disobey orders will be killed!"
Cao Ang's expression was not as dignified as Cao Cao's.
But at this critical juncture, no Cao army soldier dared to test the sharpness of Cao Ang's sword.
"General Zilong, please go and appease the people who naturally distrust the army."
Cao Ang approached Zhao Yun and made a request.
Zhao Yun immediately cupped his hands and said:
"This humble general will obey your orders, young master!"
Among Cao Cao's generals, Zhao Yun had the most amiable appearance.
At the same time, Zhao Yun had extensive experience in dealing with ordinary people.
He knew what to say at this moment to ease the people's distrust and wariness of the army.
And the other side
Cao Ang, Zhang Xiu, Jia Xu, and Cao Chun met with various powerful figures in Xinye City.
The Deng family was also in this line.
Deng Chang, accompanied by his wife who was eight months pregnant, bowed to Cao Ang.
Cao Ang quickly helped the couple up and said to Deng Chang:
"Since the lady is pregnant, we can skip the formalities."
“My Cao army is not a bad person. If the lady needs anything during childbirth, she can ask my Cao army at any time.”
Cao Ang's gentle voice brought tears to Deng Chang's eyes.
……