The winter snow is getting heavier and heavier, and the weather is getting colder and colder, and Liu Bei and his three thousand loyal Geng's subordinates, who have finally walked out of the mountains and have been tortured to the point of exhaustion, can only risk surviving the mountain village of more than 100 families, half asking and half coercing to enter the village.

But all the food in the poor mountain village can only feed Liu Bei's 3,000 men and horses for two days, so Liu Bei, who loves the people like a son, has to endure the pain and order to kill more than 30 weak or injured war horses, and stuff the 3,000 soldiers under his command into each household to rest for two days.

At night, the mountain village was still a busy scene of bonfires and smoke, Liu Bei, who ate a large bowl of horse meat and drank two large bowls of corn porridge, took a breath of air, and accompanied by his second brother Guan Yu, visited his wounded and sick brothers from house to house, and thanked the villagers who took in his 3,000 men and horses whether they wanted to or not.

The snow seemed to be falling heavier and heavier, and Liu Bei, who was physically and mentally exhausted, stopped on the way back to his residence after his inspection, looked at the endless gray night in the south, and sighed faintly: "The continuous march of the day and night in the past ten days is far more difficult than we estimated at the beginning!" If I had made up my mind ten days and eight days earlier, I wouldn't have ended up with the result of being so tired and injured like this, alas...... Did you put out the vigilance? ”

"The guard posts in the southwest and north directions are all five miles away, so don't worry about it, but I didn't expect that the Qingzhou army would be able to establish a government office and militia group after occupying this Hanoi county for only one month, and quickly promulgated and began to implement Qingzhou's strict armor protection system......

"If it weren't for the fact that this place is still more than 30 miles away from the nearest Gongcheng county town (Jinghui County) to the south, the villagers are also simple and kind. I'm afraid I won't be able to sleep tonight, little brother......"

"Now I just don't know, what will happen on the way south to the banks of the great river? If we don't get it right, we will soon be discovered by the villagers and report to the officials quickly. ”

Guan Yu also sighed in the face of the predicament faced by his department.

The armor protection system and militia system that the entire Han Dynasty has never had are extremely surprising. Then a feeling of extreme powerlessness flooded over my heart.

Liu Bei slowly stretched out his cold hand, caught a few falling snowflakes, and laughed at himself helplessly: "I guess you can also see it, second brother, all along, the foolish brother has been noncommittal about Qingzhou's new policy, and his evaluation is mixed, but he actually disagrees with it in his heart. Liu Zijian, who is innovative and full of copper smell, lacks good feelings, and always feels that the reason why he can grow rapidly from scratch is just a good fate! ”

In recent years, Liu Zijian has held high the banner of the edict of the first emperor. In my opinion, the ultimate goal of wantonly suppressing dissidents and trying their best to implement the new policy in Qingzhou is just to win the hearts and minds of the people, and to rob the rich and help the poor in a different way. It wasn't until he suddenly united with Gongsun Bogui to quickly eliminate Liu Yu's subordinates, and then turned around and came back to conquer Yuan Benchu on a large scale. I woke up suddenly. ”

"Alas...... When I think about it now, I'm so ashamed! I'm not as much as Liu Zijian! ”

Guan Yu smiled slightly bitterly, but still comforted him in a harmonious voice: "Brother must not be presumptuous, if it is falling apart today, the heroes are everywhere, although Liu Zijian is full of strange materials, but he only occupies the two states of Qingdao and Hebei among the thirteen states in the world...... Especially in the south, there are endless wars. We have a chance. ”

Liu Bei smiled with satisfaction and shook off the snowflakes in his palm. Grabbed Guan Yu and continued to stroll forward: "What the second brother said is true, what he said is true!" Let's go back and get a good night's sleep first, and then talk slowly after we wake up, to see how we can cross the river safely and quickly and go south to Yuzhou......"

"As long as we can safely reach the chaotic and war-torn border area between Yuzhou and Jingzhou, our brothers will definitely be able to break out of the world."

"Brother, but you have a plan?" Guan Yu asked with concern.

Liu Bei nodded: "Come, talk as you go...... The foolish brother speculated that due to the death of General Tao Gongzu, the entire Xuzhou group was divided without a leader, although there was still the strongest Mi family in Xuzhou, and it was also supported by Qingzhou, and it was struggling to maintain it, trying to dominate Xuzhou with the assistance of the Langya army of his in-law Liu Zijian, and achieve a great cause......

However, the strong and strong Lü Fengxian surprisingly took the lead in occupying the most important Pengcheng, and to the north there was Cao Mengde, who had to temporarily retreat due to his lack of strength, and to the south there was Yuan Highway, which was gradually growing and ambitious, and had coveted the wealth of Xuzhou for a long time. Under such circumstances, Xuzhou, which is already the land of the four wars, has firmly involved the eyes and ears of the world's heroes! ”

"In this way, the situation in Xuzhou, which seems to be gradually easing, is actually still full of crises!" Guan Yu echoed in a low voice.

Liu Bei, who came to the spirit, smiled slightly, and continued: "Brother Fool thinks that at least in the next half a year, the Qingxu Coalition Army, which is trapped by various internal and external forces, will not be able to defeat the unruly but powerful Lu Fengxian...... Even if Liu Zijian came to Pengcheng in person, there was nothing he could do, unless he could deter Cao Mengde and Yuan Highway, who were eyeing him, and quickly destroy Lu Fengxian's department, which had become his biggest obstacle! ”

"In the current chaotic situation, Liu Zijian's best choice is actually to simply temporarily back down, and let Lu Fengxian and other parties compete with each other by sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger, otherwise he will definitely fall deeper and deeper, and he will not be able to take care of other places at all."

"In this way, the border area between Yuzhou and Jingzhou, where the army is empty and no one cares about, is undoubtedly the best place for us...... We can show our strength in the name of respecting the imperial court to quell the bandits, and it only takes half a year to achieve a foundation. With our own territory, our brothers can gain the attention of all the princes, and even get the appointment of the imperial court. ”

Guan Yu was greatly moved when he heard this, and he had no doubts about his brother Liu Bei's foresight, but the current difficult situation made him deeply worried:

"What the eldest brother said is extremely true, but ...... The most important thing at the moment is to go south as soon as possible, see what method can be used to avoid the Qingzhou army along the way, and cross the river safely. ”

Liu Bei thought so, nodded and stopped: "Second brother, what if we go south openly and honestly, and borrow the road to cross the river from the Qingzhou Army after identifying ourselves?" ”

Guan Yu was taken aback, and looked at Liu Bei with wide eyes: "In that case, we shouldn't have taken advantage of the chaos to say goodbye!" ”

Liu Bei's face was filled with a hint of bitterness: "If we don't take advantage of the chaos to leave ten days ago and quietly go south, after Gongsun Bogui and Liu Zijian defeat Yuan Benchu, can we still go?" Even if they are willing to let our brothers go, how should we deal with them? ”

Guan Yu immediately remembered the attempt to make profits between Gongsun Chan and Liu Yu after being attached to Gongsun Chan for several years, remembered Liu Cun's generous support and the many guiltes of his three brothers, and remembered Liu Cun's before and after when he came to Zhao Zilong's house in Changshan to worship, he couldn't help but sigh under the guilt:

"Shameless!" (To be continued......)