…… Ah Cao was beaten a few times later, not very ruthlessly, but he still cried loudly, so Lu Bai was a little suspicious that this kid had already practiced the ability to fake crying.

In short, she brought out the dozen or so letters with tooth marks and put them in the luggage of the army, and the newly delivered letter should not be put in the box.

This is another kind of faith.

The person who wrote the letter was no longer her sister, but her commander.

Her commander told her that the main force had already moved south, and she no longer had to defend Cangtingjin, and crossed the river with Zhang Chao to shrink the defensive line.

But then another letter arrived.

This letter was not written by my sister, but by Liu Bei.

Xu You spread the news that the river was divided into two to Liu Bei, so he sent an envoy to inquire how Fancheng was, whether Cangtingjin could be held, and if so, he would hold on a little longer, so that Yuan Shao's soldiers and horses could not go south from Cangtingjin, and the ships of Qingzhou could not be sent in, and he would also send reinforcements north.

Of course, if you can't hold it, don't force it, cross the river and retreat as soon as possible.

Taking advantage of the fact that the Jizhou army still needed a few days to complete the deployment, Zang Ba asked her to cross the river to discuss this matter.

Although everyone's morale collapsed a little in the face of the behemoths of the Jizhou army, Zang Ba's Taishan army still seemed to be the most supportable.

This is not only because they are far away, not only because their soldiers have experienced more and weaker wars, but also because the camp of Zangba is very well built.

The camp is built in a valley surrounded by mountains and waters, surrounded by mountains on three sides, and there is water on one side, plus Taishan Kou himself is a bandit, and each is good at crossing mountains and mountains, and Zangba's camp is even easier to defend and difficult to attack.

Therefore, when he invited Lu Bai to come over to discuss whether to leave or stay, he was still in the mood to invite her to a meal.

…… The rice is eaten by the lake, with hot pheasant soup, tender roast mutton, shredded fresh fish, and fruit from the mountains, marinated in honey before serving.

"How's the view?"

"The empty water is clear, and the red dust is isolated," she said immediately, "the realm of immortals!" ”

Zang Ba laughed.

"This fish came up from the lake, and it's delicious," the big man said, "Captain Lu might as well try it." ”

She tasted a chopstick with kindness.

It chews fresh and sweet.

"All classes are good," she said with a smile, "and if you come to eat in a few days, it will be even fatter." ”

"This is easy," the bold Taishan Kou leader said immediately, "Since Captain Lu loves the scenery here, he will transfer the Healthy Women's Battalion here!" ”

Her bamboo chopsticks stopped, and then she slowly picked up another chopstick.

"You have a military order, you can't cross the river."

"The lord has never forced you to stay on the north shore," Zang Ba said, "Besides, Xiao Zhang's envoy led thousands of remnants, and he couldn't defeat the Jizhou army." ”

Lu Bai was still chewing the fish belly there carefully, without saying a word, looking hesitant.

She looks like a little girl who has never experienced any big battles, which makes Zang Ba's unconscious tone a little heavier.

"The army is pressing, General Lu has already gone south, we are enemies on all sides, and we should withdraw to Xu Zhou."

"We are enemies on all sides," Lu Bai said suddenly, "What about the others?" ”

When she was silent just now, she was still thinking about the people in the Jizhou military camp.

If you think about it from the perspective of "Dong Bai", she can't think of anything, but after changing to "Lu Bai", she quickly figured out the reason.

Many places in Jizhou have not had a war for more than ten years, but the reason why Qianshou has lived so hard is on the banner of "trial" in the camp.

There are many famous generals in Hebei, but she has never heard of a famous general with the surname of trial, only the high power of the driving trial in the middle of the government, but she has never led an army alone.

Therefore, the identity of the general is about to be revealed.

Those people who are wearing rotten straw sandals and are busy like ants are not weird.

- Yuan Shao was born in the third duke, and there is no decisive causal relationship between his attachment to the Hebei Shi clan.

The real cause and effect was that he was willing to hand over the Hebei states to the nobles, who gained wealth and power, so they rewarded him with loyalty.

In this win-win model, only the fate of the peasants at the bottom is the most tragic.

Their fields, their houses, and even themselves were all looted by the scholars with impunity, which became the price Yuan Shao paid.

But even for Yuan Shao, this is not a good sign - if Lu Lian is here, he will tell Ah Bai that if a certain person, or a certain group, wants to establish a new dynasty, he must not give too much power to the family at the beginning, because in the process of his continuous unification of the world, the power of the family will only increase, and the burden on the people at the bottom will become heavier and heavier, until it collapses.

So this is a force that has not yet been born, but has decayed.

Yuan Shao was still the most powerful prince in the Central Plains at this time, and the Hebei family was also working hard to win this battle for him, like a bow, slowly tightening, revealing his terrifying strength.

With such an enemy in front of you, it is natural to feel that you are facing enemies on all sides.

But such an enemy is not invulnerable, Lu Bai vaguely thought, if it is a sister, there will definitely be a way.

Moreover......

"General Xuangao is stationed on the south bank, so can you see that there is any change in the Yanzhou army?"

Zang Ba was stunned, "Yanzhou Army? The Wuhuan people went south, and Xiahoudun never came out of Juancheng. ”

"But this camp has been erected for a long time."

When she said her doubts softly like this, Zang Ba suddenly understood what she was talking about.

- When they faced the Jizhou army, they did have a lot of pressure in their hearts, but after all, they were fighting this battle in Dongjun, not in front of their own house, and they had not yet started this cruel battle.

- So, what about Cao Cao, who has been caught in the middle of a war for a long time?

Lu Hangyu has heard of a very simple "theory of relativity" explanation.

to the effect that if a young lad sat next to a lovely maiden, he would feel that time flew by, and hours were like minutes;

But if the young lad sat by the fire in his leather jacket on a hot summer day, he would feel that time passed very slowly, and that a few minutes were as tormented as hours.

She felt that every day associated with the war was extraordinarily long.

After every battle, she would see the young soldier killed, his comrades in tears as they buried him in a land that did not belong to his homeland, and saw someone talking about what the lovely young man had said and done, and that he might have some good deeds, or he might be just a taciturn ordinary man, or he might be a fool who was not very popular, occasionally quarrelling, occasionally stealing chickens and dogs, occasionally being knocked a few sticks by the military judge, and coming back to be laughed at by everyone.

The death of even such a person is sad, because he has a family that he is looking forward to, and an old mother who wants him to come back quickly, so that he can pick up a rattan and pump him a few times to relieve his anger.

As a result, the land hanging fish lives like a year.

But she didn't think that on this continent of this era, she was already the world's most famous general, and her soldiers were already the most enviable soldiers in this troubled era. There was always a reward for their struggles, and the generals they followed were so famous that they and their relatives were looked down upon by outsiders, so they could always encourage each other to keep up with her after wiping away their tears.

But for those Yanzhou people, what does this war look like?

They are about to forget what their hometown looks like, the joy of digging bamboo shoots in the bamboo forest outside the village in spring, the joy of catching shrimp and crabs in the stream in summer, the joy of holding their son on their shoulders in autumn and letting the children reach for the heavy fruit on the branches, and the joy of sitting on their warm mat in winter and concentrating on ironing a bowl of turbid wine for their old father.

Their memories were filled with blood, death, the stench of corpses, and the plague.

Because that's what they see when they wake up every morning, and that's what they sleep on their pillows every night.

They can't remember the big men they once had.

Even if their commander was such a tenacious and resolute hero, even if his heart was forged of gold and stone, they were still mortal in flesh and body.

For those Yanzhou people, the war has been too long, so long that it seems that there is no deadline, and their spirit and soul are about to be unable to hold on.

Chapter 436

All kinds of clues of the Yanzhou army, Cao Cao could not be unnoticed.

He still seemed very calm and calm, and the people around him couldn't detect his mood, but in the eyes of everyone, the feeling that this commander gave them was still gradually changing.

Although he is not tall, he used to be a vigorous and powerful general, walking with the wind, anyone who sees his posture can feel the vigorous vitality contained in his body;

He was fond of literature, and even in war, he was interested in talking to his advisers, and even writing a beautiful rhetoric;

He would also walk around the camp, often chatting and laughing with the soldiers;

He is different from Liu Bei, who likes Chinese clothes, he is a very strict person with himself, he lives a simple life, and the oil lamps in the tent will be used up before he can refill a little new oil.

And now Cao Mengde, although he continues to command the war, has become a different picture.

The amount of food he ate did not decrease at all, but the whole person was still rapidly emaciating, and the eyes of the two falcons-like eyes gradually sunken, and the flying look became another cold and gloomy gaze;

He no longer talked about resignation, but stayed in his Chinese military tent day by day, staring at the defense map;

He patrolled the camp more often than before, and he still smiled at the minions, but his hand rested on the hilt of his sword more and more often, and gradually this gesture became his habit;

He still lives a simple life, no matter what food and clothing he has, he doesn't have any requirements, except that he asks to fetch a lantern for him, and on the lamp of the Lianzhi Palace like a hill, dozens of lamps are full of lamp oil, and it shines from night to dawn.

He sat in the bright light, leaning against the desk, holding his head in his hand and taking a nap.

His mind seemed to leave the tent in the middle of the camp and walk into the camp with a dream, and he saw his soldiers become terracotta figurines.

The terracotta figurines in the first row had a look of hope on their faces, they were the soldiers who had followed him at the beginning, and he remembered that these soldiers had been recruited with the belongings of his brothers in his hometown, and they had gone with him to fight everywhere, and most of them had already died in battle, so the number of terracotta figurines in the first row was small, and they followed him out of affection;

The terracotta figurines in the second row had a solemn look on their faces, they were the Yanzhou soldiers he got in Bao Xin's hands, they were all Han troops, so their combat effectiveness was particularly strong, he took them to set up a strange ambush, fought day and night, and finally defeated the Yellow Turban, he was in this basic land in Yanzhou that they fought for him, and they followed him because of honor;

The terracotta figurines in the third row had a greedy look on their faces, that was the Qingzhou soldiers who got after defeating the Yellow Turbans, this army of soldiers and horses had very poor military discipline and was not strong in combat effectiveness, but they were victorious in numbers, so he drove them to slaughter Xu Zhou, and fed them with the blood of hundreds of thousands of people in Xuzhou, in exchange for their loyalty, they followed him because of interests;

The terracotta figurines in the fourth row had an angry expression on their faces, that was the Yanzhou army that they got later, and every year when the wheat was ripe, his officers would go to the township to select the twenty-year-old sons one by one, first recruited, and then conscripted, as long as they reached the age where they could be taken away, they would be taken away with ropes, leaving behind the women and children who were crying and screaming.

He looked at them in silence, and they looked at it in silence.

They will fight for him until now because they have to defend their homeland.

- And he, he is an excellent commander, he is different from Lu Lian, he is not the kind of person who only relies on the craft of war to survive, he not only understands war, but also knows conspiracy.

- He will cut off the news of Yanzhou and Xiangcheng, will continue to boost the morale of his soldiers, and will purge the disobedient Yanzhou family again and again, and clear out a stable rear for himself.

He did everything he could, to the extreme.

He's not alone! He also has an incomparably powerful ally behind him!

Therefore, how could he lose to Liu Bei?

This middle-aged man's heart stirred up a surging and strong pride, he wanted to wave his hand and order this army to open and have a final decisive battle with Liu Bei!

He did seem to have done so, but the terracotta figurines didn't move.

They weren't unresponsive, their expressions changed.

The furrowed brows, wide-eyed eyes, and grinning mouths of the terracotta figurines were all gone.

A look appeared on their faces that they should not have.