Xiahoudun's army was only more than 100 miles away from Xinye City, and he didn't see a single soldier in Xinye, Xiahoudun had doubts, and said to Li Dian and Li Dao: "At this time, Liu Bei's army is not seen, what do you say Liu Bei's idea, is it because he wants to stick to Xinye?" ”

Li Dian reminded: "Recently, I heard that Liu Bei worshiped Zhuge Liang as a military advisor, and I heard that Zhuge Liang was out of the same house as Xu Shu and Pang Tongshi, so I don't think it would be so unwise, and the general should send someone to inquire about the news first to prevent fraud." Xiahoudun followed his plan, slowed down the march, and asked the spies to go to inquire about Xinye's news.

The spies soon discovered the Xinye army not far away, and hurriedly reported that Xiahoudun had found more than 10,000 enemy troops. Seeing the news of Liu Beijun, Xiahoudun breathed a sigh of relief and ordered to prepare for battle. Liu Bei faced Xiahou and said calmly: "General Xiahou hasn't seen you for a long time, I heard that you have lost to Yuan Xi several times, why don't you go to Hebei to take revenge, but come to my Xinye?" ”

Xiahoudun heard Liu Bei laughing at himself, and immediately became furious: "The big-eared thief Hugh wants to stir up right and wrong, this general just sees that you are unhappy, and today I will destroy you first, and then fight a decisive battle with Hebei, lest you be a despicable villain from behind the attack." After saying that, Xiahoudun ordered Li Dian to fight.

Liu Feng is a young hero, a newborn calf who is not afraid of tigers, and stepped forward to confront Li Dian. Li Dian's martial arts in the Cao army are not outstanding, but he thought it was more than enough to deal with Liu Feng, but he didn't expect Liu Feng to be trained by Zhang Fei on weekdays, and he was also quite powerful, and his marksmanship was also accurate, and Li Dian would not defeat him for a while.

After dozens of rounds, Li Dian is a veteran of the battlefield and has rich combat experience, and Liu Feng is difficult to parry. Liu Bei was worried about Liu Feng's safety, so he immediately led his army to cover Liu Feng and fought with Xiahoudun. Liu Bei has been in Xinye for many years, and he has not done anything else, specifically to train the army, and the gap between the Xinye Army and Cao Jun is not big.

Liu Bei had few soldiers and was gradually defeated, so he could only retreat to Xinye. Xiahou chased after him until Bowangpo, Li Dian persuaded: "General Xiahou, Liu Bei is defeated but not chaotic, his appearance is suspicious, the woods in front are dense, I am afraid that there are ambushes, and I can't chase them anymore." ”

Li Tong also echoed: "What Vice General Li said is reasonable, and Liu Bei's Guan Yu and Zhang Fei have not yet fought, General Xiahou should be careful." ”

Although the two persuaded them so much, Xiahoudun disagreed and said: "In Xinye Town, Liu Bei is weak, if Liu Bei is let go, it is equivalent to letting the tiger return to the mountain." You two stay here, and I will lead a great army to chase after me, and if I am victorious, you two will help me to collect supplies; If there is an ambush, they will answer me. In front of you, I will not forget your good. ”

Xiahoudun decided that Liu Bei was already at the end of his crossbow, and entered the Bowangpo woods to pursue Liu Bei. Although Li Dian and Li Tong didn't think that they would continue to pursue, Xiahou didn't treat him well, so they could only bite the bullet and enter the Bowangpo woods to pursue Liu Bei together.

Sure enough, as Zhuge Liang expected, Xiahoudun was greedy and rushed into the Bowangpo forest. Guan Ping saw Cao Jun enter the woods, and when the time was ripe, he lit the prepared fire oil, sulfur and other materials to set the woods on fire, and ordered the sergeant to fire arrows at Cao Jun.

Seeing that the woods were on fire and there was an ambush on the opposite side, Cao Jun immediately became chaotic, trampled on each other, withdrew from the woods, and lost thousands of people. Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, who were ambushed in Yushan and Anlin, saw that Bowangpo was on fire, and the two led the army to kill Xiahoudun, Guan Yu Zhang Fei was unstoppable, Xiahoudun could not resist, Li Dian and Li Tong could only protect Xiahoudun and retreated, more than half of the 50,000 army was lost, and the military supplies were all lost to Liu Beijun, Xiahoudun had no choice but to ask Cao Cao who had come to Xinye.

It was the first time that Liu Bei had defeated Cao's army so easily, and while ordering the soldiers to collect the spoils of war, he ordered people to prepare to celebrate the victory over Xiahoudun. After this battle, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were also convinced, Guan Yu insisted on accepting the punishment, Zhuge Liang said that Guan Yu's merits were greater than his faults, which was enough to offset them. Zhuge Liang was not carried away by the victory in the first battle, but persuaded Liu Bei: "Lord, it is gratifying to defeat Xiahoudun, but there are more than 100,000 troops of Cao Cao behind. Cao Cao's subordinates are capable of producing many people, and they will never be as reckless as Xiahoudun, I think Xinye can't hold it. ”

Zhuge Liang's words made Liu Bei, who was full of hope and show his strength, fall into a trough again, and said unwillingly: "Our army only has one place, Xinye, if it is lost, it can only take refuge in Xiangyang." ”

Zhang Fei muttered: "The military advisor is like a god, just a Cao Cao, why be afraid." Strategist, it's better to let Lao Zhang and I screw his head off. ”

Zhuge Liang shook his head and said: "General Zhang doesn't know, these tens of thousands of elite soldiers in Xinye are all the hard work of the lord, and they will be of great use in the future, so there is no need to fight hard with Cao Cao." Lord, let's not go to Xiangyang, Xiangyang is now in the hands of Cai Mao, he won't accept us and wait, let's go to Jiangxia to vote for the eldest son! ”

"I'm only worried that Cao Cao will anger the people of Xinye and start a killing spree, so I am really ashamed of the people's trust." Although retreating to Jiangxia was the best choice to preserve his strength, Liu Bei believed that the reputation he had built up in Jingzhou over the past five years would also be ruined by his escape.

Zhuge Liang knew what Liu Bei was thinking, shook his feather fan, thought quietly, and after weighing the pros and cons, he suggested: "The lord can order the people to follow him to Jiangxia, although it will delay our retreat, as long as we make proper arrangements, we can still reach Jiangxia safely." ”

Liu Bei spread the news that Cao Cao led an army of more than 100,000 to attack Xinye according to Zhuge Liang's plan, and Cao's army was brutal and unkind, committing heinous evil deeds in Xuzhou, which also spread in Xinye, so the people of Xinye were willing to flee with Uncle Liu, who was generous to others.

Cao Cao's army had arrived near Xinye at this time, and when he heard that Xiahou had been defeated in the hands of his subordinate Liu Bei, he was immediately furious and reproached: "How can Yuan make you so confused, the road is narrow, and the woods are dense, so you must be careful to ambush and be greedy for merit." Someone came, dragged Xiahoudun down, and beheaded the public. ”

Li Dian and Li Tong stepped forward to plead: "My lord, it was the two of us who didn't discover Liu Bei's conspiracy, so they were involved in the three armies, and they were willing to be punished for General Xiahou." Xiahoudun saw that the two of them interceded for themselves, and they were willing to be punished on their behalf, and they felt uneasy, but Xiahoudun was also a person who dared to act and dare to take all the responsibility on his body, and even said that he did not listen to the advice of the two, so he was defeated, and he was willing to die and alert the three armies!

Everyone understood that Cao Cao just wanted to enforce strict military discipline, not really wanted to kill Xiahoudun. Xiahoudun was the first general under Cao Cao, and he had an excellent relationship with the generals, and the generals pleaded for mercy. Xun You said: "Lord, Liu Bei has been fighting with our army for many years, although this person is good at buying people's hearts, but his ability to lead the troops is average, it seems that the plan to lure the enemy must come from the hands of Zhuge Liang, Yuan let the general be familiar with Liu Bei, but he doesn't know Zhuge Liang, it is also excusable, and I hope that the lord will fall lightly." ”

Cao Cao saw that Xun Yu interceded for Xiahou Dun, and said quite reasonably, it was indeed because he underestimated Liu Bei that he was defeated, and said in a soothing tone: "Since everyone intercedes for you, I will order you to make up for your mistakes, and if you act rashly, you will be punished for both crimes!" Xiahoudun, Li Dian, and Li Tong thanked Cao Cao, stood aside, and said no more.

Cao Cao led his troops extremely carefully, and when he arrived at Xinye, he saw no movement, and he was puzzled. Cao Cao ordered Xu Huang to go to the test and found that Xinye was empty, not to mention Liu Beijun, even the people of Xinye were gone. Cao Cao said to Xun You: "Gongda, what do you say Liu Bei's idea is, he actually wants to run for his life with the people, can he escape?" ”

Liu Bei's small abacus couldn't hide Xun You, Xun You analyzed for Cao Cao: "Lord, Liu Bei is fake benevolence and righteousness, and he fled with the people of Xinye just to maintain his reputation in Jingzhou, that is, he wants to use the lives of the people of Xinye to discredit our army, even if our army captures Jingzhou, it will be difficult to win the hearts of the people in a short time, and Liu Bei will make a comeback in the future." ”

Jingzhou Xiangyang Assassin Mansion, Liu Biao, who had not had much time, was also worried because of Cao's army going south, and passed away gloomily, and he didn't have time to explain the future and designate a successor. Cai Mao, Cai Zhong, and Cai conspired to make Liu Cong, the youngest son of Liu Biao, the lord of Jingzhou. Although Wen Ping, Han Song, Jun Huo and others supported Liu Qi, they were soft-spoken, and the most important thing was that now that Cao Cao was going south, Jingzhou could not be left without an owner for a day, so they acquiesced to Liu Cong.

The generals of Jingzhou will luggage Liu Cong and respect Liu Cong as the pastor of Jingzhou. Wen Ping suggested: "My lord, now that Cao Cao is going south, Uncle Liu Huang is invincible, and he has led the army to escape, if our army does not send troops to block Cao's army on the north bank of the Han River, once the army comes to the city, I am afraid that Jingzhou will be in danger." ”

Liu Cong was young, so he naturally looked at Cai and Cai Mao, Cai Mao and Wen Ping have always been at odds, and retorted: "General Wen's words are wrong, the Cao army is coming from afar, the grain and grass must be insufficient, and our army should stick to Xiangyang." Cao Cao also has to face Yuan Xi in Hebei, and after a long time, he will definitely retreat. The lord may order the gates of the city to be closed to prevent anyone from entering. Although Wen Ping is capable, he can't be reused, Liu Biao is gone, and the power is in the hands of Cai Mao, Wen Ping is angry and leads his troops to leave Xiangyang City.

Liu Bei led the people of Xinye to successfully reach the south bank of the Han River, and he didn't know that Liu Biao had died, but fortunately, Zhuge Liang warned himself that Cai Mao would definitely not take him in and prepare to go to Jiangxia. Liu Bei said to the people: "Just now I have sent someone to Xiangyang for help, Xiangyang refuses to accept our army, I am ready to go to Jiangxia and take refuge in the eldest prince." The people of Xinye secretly hated the ruthlessness of the Xiangyang people, and decided to travel thousands of miles to follow Liu Bei to Jiangxia.