When Shen Chen learned of Liu Bei's defeat, it was already the afternoon of July 15.

He was taken aback and immediately sent scouts out to look for him.

Fortunately, there were still a small number of elites around Liu Bei, and Zhao Yun, Chen Zhi and others protected him and withdrew to Dingling.

Shen Chen personally went to Dingling on July 16 to meet him, and Cao Hong's pursuers were urgent, and a big battle broke out between the two sides in the area of Dongbutang.

After returning to Kunyang, Shen Chen's army replenished military supplies and had sufficient arrows, and when the enemy and I met in Dongbutang, Cao Hong's former army was repulsed by Shen Chen's army and was forced to stop pursuing.

So Liu Bei returned to Kunyang smoothly, and in the next few days, a large number of scouts were sent out to search for the scattered people.

The rest of the troops were found one after another, and the damaged main forces were actually still those old Yuan clans in Runan, and Liu Bei's main force was only two or three thousand people, so he did not suffer much loss.

It's just that Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Tai Shi Ci and others were separated, and Liu Bei was very anxious.

On July 17, Zhang Fei, who commanded the cavalry, was the first to return. Immediately afterwards, on July 20, Tai Shici also arrived in Kunyang.

One of them was a cavalry unit, with strong mobility, and left Cao's army and went straight to Kunyang.

The other is that Tai Shi Ci broke through to the south, Dingying is in the south, there is no Cao Army, and Xiping County is in the west, Li Tong was disabled, and he only dared to garrison and did not dare to attack, so both of them returned to Liu Bei's account smoothly.

Only Guan Yu has not seen the news for a long time, and everyone is anxious.

Because Cao Hong has been stationed in Dingling, and has been stationed in the area of Xiangcheng, there are still a small number of Li Tong's men and horses in Xiping County in the south, so it can be said that Kunyang is surrounded on three sides.

At this time, if Guan Yu was intercepted by Cao Jun on the way back to Kunyang, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Therefore, after Shen Chen and Liu Bei discussed, they decided to reorganize the soldiers and horses a little, and when the two soldiers were united, they were ready to take the initiative to attack in order to contain Cao Hong's forces.

From the beginning of this year to the present, Shen Chen's Huangmenting Army and Ganning Army have lost nearly half of their 10,000 horses.

When he sent troops to Xudu for the second time, Shen Chen still had 6,500 people. Shen Zhen led 1,000 people as the general of Kunyang, Lou Fa led 1,500 people to the north to make a feint, and Shen Chen took 4,000 people to Dingying to attack Manzhong.

After the convergence of Dingying and Liu Bei, the two worked together to kill Manzhong, and immediately went east to repel Li Tong, and then divided their troops to the north, and encountered Ren Jun's Diannong army in the area of Bali Bridge.

After returning to Kunyang after the war, he counted the battle losses, except for the battle in pursuit of Cao Cao, the most tragic battle that Shen Chen fought was this battle.

Nearly 1,000 people were lost, the soldiers of Huangmenting were reduced by 300 people, and now there are 1,600 left, and the Ganning army has lost nearly 700 people, so now with the troops of Shen Zhen and Lou Fa, the total strength is still about 5,400 people.

There were also some disabled soldiers and horses, and the actual number of soldiers who could be used in battle was about 5,000.

Shen Chen left 1,000 to garrison Kunyang, and the more than 4,000 scattered soldiers and soldiers that Liu Bei had gathered back, about 8,000 people moved closer to the direction of Dingying, intending to contain Cao Hong's main force and prevent Cao Hong from besieging and killing the scattered Liu Bei's army.

However, I didn't expect that not long after the army left the city, in the direction of Wuyang in the south, suddenly a galloping horse galloped over, but it was a few scouts, who told Liu Bei that Guan Yu was coming from the south in the direction of Kunyang.

Hearing the news, everyone hurriedly went to greet them.

All the way to the south, to Lishui, this Lishui is not the Lishui of Hunan, but the Lishui of Runan. This river originates from Hengshan in Ye County, and later generations are Liming Mountain in Fangcheng County, and injects Rushui into the east, and the south of this river is Wuyang, and then it is Xiping after passing the water.

Liu Bei, Shen Chen and others looked at the Li Pavilion outside Wuyang City, and saw that on the official road in the south, a large group of people and horses came in a mighty way, and the leader was wearing a green robe stained with dust, and rode horses all the way.

It was Guan Yu.

"Big brother and third brother!"

A mile away, Guan Yu waved his hand and shouted.

Liu Bei, Zhang Fei and the others hurriedly moved forward, and saw a sea of people behind Guan Yu, and there were four or five thousand people dragging their families.

"Second brother."

"Second brother!"

Liu Bei and Zhang Fei turned over and dismounted, stepped forward and hugged Guan Yu tightly.

All three laughed.

The joy of such a reunion, from Xuzhou to now, they have experienced countless times.

Every time, they were broken up by Lu Bu Yuan Shu or Cao Cao, and finally reunited with difficulty, and their friendship never changed.

After everyone laughed heartily and rejoiced in the joy of reunion again, Liu Bei looked at the people behind him in surprise and asked, "Second brother, what's going on?" ”

"Envoy."

Before Guan Yu could speak, the two majestic and powerful men beside him stepped forward and knelt down on one knee and said, "Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao have seen the envoy. ”

"Two righteous men, please get up quickly."

Liu Bei hurriedly stepped forward to help, he has always been a corporal of Lixian, not to mention those who bring people to vote, even the poor people of Qianshou can enter and leave his mansion at will, and he is a person who is very close to the lower class.

Guan Yu introduced: "Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao were originally the remnants of the Yellow Turban, in the area of Woniu Mountain in Xiping, after I broke through from the army, I went east to Xihua, I wanted to come to Kunyang to find the eldest brother, but there were Cao Jun everywhere, I could only go south first, to the Yang'an area, a few days ago when I came north to Kunyang, I met them. ”

Zhou Cang said: "The villain has always admired the prestige of General Guan, and the general had to commit to Cao Cao for the two sisters-in-law, and after killing Yan Liang to repay Cao Cao's kindness, he resolutely went south to find the envoy. ”

These two people belong to the fish that slipped through the net last time Shen Chen cleared Runan and Nanyang Yellow Turbans.

Their camp was in the southwest of Xiping County, in the aftermath of Dabie Mountain in the southwest of Zhumadian in later generations, so when Cao Cao attacked the Yellow Turban in Runan, it did not affect them, and naturally he would not accept the invitation to Nanyang.

After the first battle, Guan Yu broke through and ran eastward, ran to Xihua County, originally wanted to go west to Kunyang, but there were Cao troops everywhere around Kunyang, and Cao Hong chased urgently, so he had to choose to go south, from Dabie Mountain to Kunyang, and ended up in Woniu Mountain.

After the two knew that it was Guan Yu, they immediately admired it in their hearts. Although he did not pass the five levels and cut six generals, Guan Yu bid farewell to Cao Cao for his righteous brother, gave up his glory and wealth, and resolutely returned to Liu Bei's account.

Therefore, he was immediately willing to take four or five thousand people from the camp and follow Guan Yu. When passing through Xiping, Li Tong and Zhao Yan were disabled, and even if they saw them, they did not dare to send troops to pursue.

Of course.

Most of the so-called four or five thousand people are old and weak, women and children, young and strong, about a thousand years old, and their combat effectiveness is very limited.

But even so, it is a great supplement for Liu Bei, who is in dire need of troops.

So when he heard that someone was coming to defect, Liu Bei said very happily: "As long as you are willing to come to fight against Cao thieves and help the Han family, what is there to do?" The two of them were under the account of my second brother first, and followed Yun Chang to make contributions. ”

"Thank you."

The two of them thanked each other.

At that moment, everyone received Guan Yu and immediately set off back to Kunyang.

When he arrived in the city, Shen Chen immediately arranged for people to settle the rest of the Yellow Turban brought by Pei Yuanshao in Zhoucang, and at the same time helped Liu Bei to reorganize his soldiers.

He asked Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao to send the old and weak women and children to Ye County in the rear, and when the time came, he would send someone to take them to Xinye.

Then Wuyang and Yexian each sent some of Liu Bei's second-line soldiers and horses to garrison, and his main force and Liu Bei's elite soldiers, adding up to about 7,000 people, were stationed in Kunyang.

It wasn't until late July that the mess was sorted out.

Due to the abundant supplies in the rear, the Huangmen Pavilion is still continuously transporting grain and grass to the Kunyang area of Shangye County in the north, so even if there are more than 10,000 mouths to eat, there is not much pressure.

It's just that there is no problem with ordinary food, and meat is very scarce.

Shen Chen asked the soldiers to go hunting in the nearby mountains every day, and at the same time asked Deng Mao, the commander of Xinye County in the rear, to help buy a batch of pork, whether it was pickled fresh pork or bacon strips, barely maintaining meat supplies for the main soldiers.

By the beginning of August, all kinds of things had finally been dealt with, and Shen Chen finally had free time to chat with Liu Bei about national affairs.

On this day, Liu Bei was handling some military affairs in the Kunyang County Ya.

Although he is a guest army, he has more titles.

Uncle Huang of the Han Dynasty, General Zuo, Yuzhou Mu, Yicheng Pavilion Marquis.

Any one of them is stronger than Shen Chen's Zhonglang General Liu Biaofeng.

What's more, Shen Chen, the middle man, will be appointed by Liu Biao as a state pastor, which does not have much legal effect.

And Liu Bei's titles were all given by Liu Xie, the genuine son of heaven, and they have extremely high political significance.

Later, why did he go to Yuan Shaona, Yuan Shao had to personally greet him for 200 miles; Go to Liu Biao, Liu Biao is also personally ten miles to greet him?

It has nothing to do with the reputation of benevolence and righteousness, it is all brought by this group of titles.

To some extent, Liu Bei was nothing before he went to Xudu.

After going to Xudu, Liu Xie gave him a gilded pass, and he was crowned by a bunch of titles issued by the emperor's edict, and his identity immediately became different.

So although it was a guest army, Shen Chen and Liu Bei did not have a direct subordinate relationship, but Shen Chen still insisted on focusing on him.

In the county hall of the county government, Liu Bei was quite distressed at this time.

In recent days, although a lot of routs have been gathered, plus the armies of Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao, there are barely more than 6,000 horses.

But most of them were the rout of the old Yuan clan that had been gathered.

At that time, Cao Hong attacked, and many of the old Yuan clan's troops died, fled, and surrendered, making a mess.

Liu Bei's main force was about 3,000 people, and another 3,000 people were willing to follow him, so there were 6,000 people when the main camp was preparing to go east.

But after the main camp was destroyed, there were less than 3,000 people around. Then those leaders of the old Yuan clan who didn't want to come were killed, and Liu Bei gathered some such soldiers on the way.

These soldiers themselves are not high in combat effectiveness, and they are the clan soldiers of the old Yuan clan, and their loyalty is also very poor, but now they have to rely on Liu Bei.

Therefore, his current more than 6,000 people, the only ones who are really useful may be those 2,000 or so elite soldiers.

The remaining 4,000 people, including the 1,000 men brought by Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao, may not be strong in combat effectiveness and military morale.

Therefore, Liu Bei is very sad now.

Even if Shen Chen's army is added, it is worth 10,000 people, half of which are still a rabble, and it is not easy to complete Yuan Shao's entrustment and attack Xu Du.

In the midst of his sorrow, Chen came in and reported, "Lord, General Shen asks to see you." ”

"Please!"

Liu Bei hurriedly stood up and walked out of the hall.

The years of displacement also made him understand that he was intellectually incompetent and urgently needed someone who could show him the way.

Shen Chen had given him advice back then, but unfortunately he was shackled everywhere in Xuzhou, and before he could follow Shen Chen's suggestion to deal with the local forces in Xuzhou one by one, he was beaten by Yuan Shu and Lu Bu in turn, pitiful.

Now that Shen Chen has finally arrived at his side, he naturally hopes to get his guidance.

Shen Chen did not wear a military uniform today, but an ordinary scholar's robe, without a crown and without a hat, tied up his hair with a cloth, accompanied by a scholar's sword around his waist, slowly walked into the hall, and arched his hand: "Xuande Gong." ”

"Little sir, it's been hard work lately."

Liu Bei had already walked to the door of the hall at this time, and originally wanted to go to the outer courtyard to greet him, but he didn't expect Shen Chen to walk in quickly, so he hurriedly took his hand and went to a seat next to him, and said happily: "Sit down." ”

Dealing with military affairs is a very troublesome matter, not only must the garrisons of each battalion be arranged, but also the food and grass materials must be provided, and even the tasks of each army must also be arranged.

So in the past few days, Shen Chen has been running around in Yexian, Wuyang, and Kunyang, and he has not had much time to meet Liu Bei.

He had just come back from Wuyang today, and after hearing Liu Bei's words, Shen Chen knelt down under Liu Bei's right hand and said, "Xuande Gong, I have been really busy with affairs recently, and I have not been able to talk about national affairs with Gong, so please ask Gong Haihan." ”

Liu Bei sat beside him, and the two of them sat on the same seat together, shook his head bitterly and said, "It's okay, what Mr. Xiao is doing now is a national event, so what is there to blame?" What's more, I am floating around, unable to serve the country's Son of Heaven, it is a great luck to be taken in by Mr. Xiao, how can I complain. ”

Shen Chen said: "Don't be sorry for yourself, I came to Xuande Gong today to discuss countermeasures with the public, how to help the Han family and save the people of the world." ”

Liu Bei perked up, and immediately sat down and said, "Little sir, please speak." ”

Shen Chen pointed to the north and said: "Now that the war in the Kwantung region is not repeated, the world is not full of disputes, today's Han Dynasty, Yuan Cao Guandu is competing for power, whoever can win this battle can get the entire north, then the public thinks, what kind of situation will it be?" ”

Liu Bei pondered: "The fourth and fifth dukes of the Yuan family, who returned to the sea, and served the emperor in the name of Kuangfu Han, the banner of righteousness, I am afraid that the north will return to Yuan Shao." ”

"Not bad."

Shen Chen sighed and said: "But in fact, has Xuande Gong ever thought that whether it is returned to Cao or Yuan, we can't ignore one thing. ”

"What?"

"The minister is strong and the lord is weak, no matter who controls the Son of Heaven, in the end he is just like a puppet at the funeral meeting, the north is powerful, and Liu Biao, Liu Zhang, Sun Quan and others in the south will never be the opponents of Yuan Cao and others, this big man may not still be a big man."

"Hmm"

Liu Bei said with a solemn face: "Yuan Gong. Duke Yuan is generous and wins the hearts of the people, and there is a corporal of Duke Zhou, if it is not like this, if he can defeat Cao Cao, he will definitely be able to help the world. ”

"Xuande Gong."

Shen Chen said seriously: "Today, the Han family is declining, and His Majesty is in prison, which is already known to everyone. Even if Yuan Shao has this intention, if he wins the world, will those civil and military generals under his command still be willing to watch him return the country to His Majesty? So sometimes, don't deceive yourself and face up to what might happen in the future. ”

At the end of the Han Dynasty, the chaos in the world had become an established fact, and there were many celebrities who directly said that the Han Dynasty was about to fall, such as Qiao Xuan, Yan Zhong, He Hao, Xu Shao, and other celebrities who said that the Han dynasty was exhausted.

And so far it is.

So as long as you are not blind and stupid, you know that Cao Cao coerced the Son of Heaven to order the princes, but the ministers were just preparing to control the general situation for themselves in the name of the emperor.

When one day in the future, he defeats Yuan Shao and equalizes Liu Cousin, Sun Quan, Liu Zhang, and others, I am afraid that it will not be long before he usurps the throne.

Even Xun Yu didn't know this, but what could he do? can only helplessly assist Cao Cao, barely reluctantly renewing his life for the Han family for several decades, and he can be regarded as worthy of his conscience.

And Liu Bei is not stupid, how can he not know?

But he couldn't help it.

At first, he was also naïve to believe that Cao Cao was a loyal minister, but he went to Xu Du to take a look, imprisoned the emperor, killed the minister, killed the uncle, killed the concubine, killed the prince, this is still it? So he hurriedly attacked and killed Che Zhou and went to Yuan Shao.

But Yuan Shao is not good at stubble, he had planned to make Liu Yu the emperor before, and now even if he defeats Cao Cao and gets the Son of Heaven, it is estimated that he will not be a great loyal minister such as Huo Guang, the Duke of Zhou, but will be a chaotic minister and thief who usurped the throne, as long as he dominates the world, the Yuan family is likely to be the emperor on behalf of the Han Dynasty.

After all, there is already a lesson from Yuan Shu, Yuan Shu even gave the emperor title to Yuan Shao before he died, and Yuan Shao's reaction was to accept, which shows that if Yuan Shao won the battle of Guandu and got the entire north, he probably would not be an honest Hanchen.

Therefore, Liu Bei went to Yuan Shao, which was a helpless move.

It was Cao Cao himself who forced Liu Xie too quickly, which led to the matter of the edict, otherwise, Liu Bei and Cao Cao had a good relationship before, why did they turn their faces after the edict?

Now Yuan Cao is worse than Liu Bei.

If Cao Cao wins, Liu Xie will not be better, and the Han family may not be guaranteed.

Yuan Shao won, and it was the same.

It's just that because of the edict, Liu Bei had no choice but to follow Yuan Shao, and he could only naively hope that Yuan Shao was really as he said, in order to help the Han family and attack Cao Cao.

Although children don't believe this kind of words, including people like Liu Bei Kongrong who have a Han family in mind, they can only deceive themselves like this.

But Shen Chen clearly realized that this kind of self-deceptive mentality was unacceptable, so he had to make Liu Bei dispel this idea, give up his illusions, and start working.

Hearing his words, Liu Bei pondered for a moment, and finally just sighed: "Alas, why don't I know? Cao Cao controlled the court and bullied the Son of Heaven. Yuan Shao even had the move of setting up a new emperor in the north, and such rebellious ministers could be outnumbered, and they couldn't do anything. ”

Shen Chen said with a smile: "If Xuande Gong has a heart, he is not unable to turn the tide. ”

"Oh?"

Liu Bei said happily: "Is there a way for Mr. Xiao to teach me?" ”

Shen Chen muttered: "I have three strategies, upper, middle, and lower, and it depends on the situation, each has its own detailed reasons, I don't know which one I want to hear." ”

(End of chapter)