Liu Bei escaped from the center of the whirlpool in Xuchang and went south non-stop.

Before leaving Xuchang, Liu Bei had already planned, and he felt inexplicably unhappy about Gongsun Du in the north, so he abandoned it directly; Zhang Xiu, who is close to the left, is trapped in one place, and next to Cao Cao, sooner or later he will be destroyed by him, and he will be directly pulled out, and the rest is Jiangdong Sun Ce, Jingzhou Liu Biao, and Liu Yan of Yizhou and Zhang Lu of Hanzhong. Zhang Lu is just a thief, Jiangdong is too far, Yizhou is not only a long way, but also very difficult, or Jingzhou is better.

All the way south, Liu Bei went to Xiangyang and met Liu Biao.

When the two met for the first time, they had the posture of hating each other. One has just been ruined to completely take charge of Jingzhou's plan, and the other has just escaped from the wolf's den in embarrassment, and it really feels like a brother and a brother.

Liu Biao immediately patted his chest and said: "Xuande, there is still a shortage of your own people in charge of Jingzhou for your brother, since you are here, you will help your brother." ”

"Brother, but if you have a command, just say it." Liu Beiqiang suppressed the joy in his heart, but he was thinking in his heart: It was the right time to come to Jingzhou.

Subsequently, when Liu Biao proposed to let Liu Bei serve as the captain of the city gate, Cai Mao and others all refused, and the reason was very legitimate-before he made an inch, he took power, which was afraid of causing people's hearts to fluctuate and be unfavorable to the army.

said that Liu Biao couldn't even say anything to refute.

Fortunately, Cai Mao and the others saw that Liu's surface was not good-looking, and they knew that they couldn't be too faceless, so they suggested again: "Wancheng Zhang Xiu has the intention of going south to invade and plunder, so it is better to let Uncle Liu Huang go to Xinye and face Zhang Xiu, first, to see if Uncle Liu has real ability, and secondly, it is also a good place to make meritorious contributions." ”

Although Liu Biao was not happy when he heard it, he also felt that it was indeed a good idea, so he agreed, and promised: "Brother Xian will go to recruit troops and horses by himself, as long as it does not exceed four thousand, all the grain, grass and ordnance will be borne by Xiangyang." ”

"Yes, thank you, brother...... State Shepherd! ”

Liu Bei was not unhappy, but very happy, he could get Xinye, and he could recruit troops on his own, and he didn't have to worry about food, grass and ordnance, which was not too cool.

Liu Bei took Guan Yu, as well as 1,000 spears, 600 broadswords, 400 longbows, 1,000 cloth armor, 1,000 leather armor, a total of 2,000 sets of ordnance, and 3,000 stones of grain and grass left Xiangyang and went to Xinye. The rest of the ordnance and grain and grass were detained by Cai Mao on the grounds that Liu Bei's subordinates were insufficient and might be looted by bandits, and at the end he told him half sarcastically and half hypocritically - "When Uncle Liu Huang recruits enough people, all the ordnance, grain and grass will be indispensable." ”

Liu Bei was very dissatisfied, and with full of pride, he rushed to Xinye, and immediately began to recruit troops and horses.

A few days later, after Liu Bei finally figured out the situation in Xinye, he scolded Cai Mao shamelessly in the study.

Why?

Because there are less than 5,000 households in the entire new field, if you want to recruit 4,000 people, you must have one person from one household. Liu Bei was sure that if he dared to do this, Cai Mao would definitely label him a reckless soldier.

At this point, Liu Bei had no choice but to recruit 2,000 sergeants according to the ordnance given by Cai Mao, and it took a full month.

Fortunately, Guan Yu and Guan Ping's father and son, as well as Chen Zhi, have extraordinary abilities in military training, and in a month's time, these two thousand recruits have given them some appearance, but the consumption of grain and grass is a bit large, and it is almost one-fifth.

Seeing that the weather was getting colder and would enter the 39th day in a few days, Liu Bei arranged the affairs of Xinye, and took Chen Zhi on the road to Xiangyang. On the one hand, it was a report at the end of the year, and on the other hand, Liu Bei was worried that he would be pitted by Cai Mao just by handing over the fold.

When he arrived in Xiangyang, Liu Bei went straight to the Prefecture Pastoral Mansion, and after reporting the situation in Xinye, he raised the situation of food shortage. The meaning is already self-evident.

Liu Biao naturally didn't want to treat this fellow sect who relied on him as a confidant, so he just pretended to beat one or two, and then called Cai Mao and others over, and instructed them to prepare grain and grass for Liu Bei, and also faintly mentioned the matter of ordnance and grain and grass last time. This made Cai Mao and others, who originally wanted to oppose one or two, only respond.

The next day, Liu Bei left Xiangyang with 10,000 stones, grain and grass, and 1,000 leather armor, at the urging of Cai Mao and others. The grain and grass in front was ordered by Liu Biao, because he was warned, Cai Mao did not deduct it again this time, and the latter was the condition for Liu Bei to leave as soon as possible, which was regarded as a "fair deal" with Cai Mao and others.

After getting so many things, Liu Bei was very happy.

All the way north, within a few days, I came to the southwest of Xinye.

"Uncle Liu Huang won't send it if he walks slowly!"

After getting off the boat, Liu Bei heard Zhang Yun's voice behind him, and replied in his heart: "There is Captain Lao Zhang to send him off, thank you!" ”

Zhang Yun waved his hand, and led his warship down the river and soon disappeared from Liu Bei's sight.

Liu Bei didn't procrastinate, and shouted for his subordinates who had already picked up the supplies and set off to return to Xinye.

Xinye is only more than 20 miles away from the water, but walking on the road today, Liu Bei somehow always felt a little worried in his heart.

"Chen arrives!"

"Lord!" Chen Zhi immediately appeared in front of Liu Bei, with a hint of doubt on his face.

Liu Bei didn't bother to explain to him, but said: "We are understaffed, so we have to be more careful." ”

Chen Zhi looked at the land of no more than twenty miles, and said secretly in his heart: Could it be that there are still people who dare to rob near the city?

"Yes, my lord."

No matter what he thought in his heart, Chen Zhi still faithfully fulfilled Liu Bei's order: "Be energetic, don't be cut off at the door of your house, if that's the case, it will be a big joke." ”

Liu Bei listened to Chen Zhi's shouting, and couldn't help nodding secretly, but his heart suddenly froze, and the sound of arrows breaking through the air also reached his ears.

"Alert!" While Liu Bei shouted, he had already drawn his sword in his hand.

"Oh~"

Liu Bei slashed the arrows that attacked him to the ground with a sword, and before he could think about it, the sound of several arrows breaking through the air sounded. Liu Bei's complexion changed suddenly, and he subconsciously turned over and fell off his horse, and he heard the wailing of the war horse, and his mount fell in his eyes full of disbelief.

"Protect the lord!"

Seeing this urgency, Chen Zhi blocked in front of Liu Bei with a dodge, at this time he was very glad that he was not far away just now, otherwise, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Because Chen Dao's movements were fast, coupled with his shouting, the soldiers who were originally stunned came back to their senses, and finally blocked Liu Bei all around.

Liu Bei was worried about the loss of materials, and said: "Chen Dao, don't worry about preparing here, protecting the materials is the key, if the materials are damaged this time, our trip will be in vain." ”

"This ......" is the lord on the one hand, and the materials that he has obtained after a lot of hardships on the other hand, and Chen Zhi immediately fell into contradictions.

"What this, this!"

Liu Bei's eyes widened, and he said angrily: "Just leave four people, Bei is also a battle-hardened person, how can he be hurt by these young people." ”

"That ......"

Chen Zhi was still hesitating, but when he saw Liu Bei lose another look, he hurriedly said, "Yes, lord." ”

Immediately, Chen Zhi took people to protect the materials, leaving four people to protect Liu Bei.

Liu Bei really deserves to be the true heir of Gaozu, and at the stall where Chen Zhi left, he took the four of them to hide next to a carriage, using the carriage as a cover to avoid arrows from the shadows, and also protected the carriage by the way.

After that, Liu Bei's fear of someone looting supplies did not happen, but some arrows were shot at him. One of his guards was shot and died. It was only at this time that Liu Bei realized that the person in the dark was not coming for the materials, but for him.

Who exactly wants to kill Liu Bei? Is it Cao Cao's female thief? Is he going to kill them all?

Liu Bei was so angry when he thought of this, and then at this moment, a strong force came from his left shoulder, if he hadn't woken up in time and turned around in time to stabilize his body, I was afraid that he would have fallen to the ground. Then, without waiting for Liu Bei to scold, he saw an arrow flying past him in his standing position, and quickly shut up.

"Everyone, be careful! The enemy has not come out for such a long time, there must not be many people, as long as he holds this moment and a half, the second brother will get the news and rush to him, and the enemy will be self-defeating at that time. Liu Bei hurriedly hid and shouted at the same time.

As Liu Bei said, half an hour later, Guan Yu arrived with a large number of people, and then searched the vicinity, but no one was found.

Back in the city, Liu Bei pulled Guan Yu and whispered: "Second brother, my brother suspects that Cao Cao's family still doesn't want to let us go, we must be careful in the future, and we must not go out alone." Even Xian and Heping's nephews are the same, and they must not give Cao Thief a chance to take advantage of it. ”

"How dare this dog thief?" Guan Yu was furious, but he had no choice but to agree with Liu Bei's words. However, in order to avoid shaking the morale of the army, Liu Bei and Guan Yu did not mean to make a big noise, but just reminded others to be cautious and bring guards when they went out.