The next morning, people reported that Liu Qi and Liu Cong came to see them. Liu Bei hurriedly dressed and tied, and went out to greet him.

The two sides met and saluted. Liu Qi said: "I heard that my uncle arrived yesterday morning, and we only came to greet today, which is really unwelcome!"

"Where, where, it's Liu who didn't have time to visit the two. By the way, how is Ling Zun's health?"

Liu Cong said: "My father has had asthma again in the past few days, and the day before yesterday he invited a doctor to come and see him, and after taking a few pieces of traditional Chinese medicine, he improved slightly, and he was recuperating in the house, so he couldn't come to see my uncle." ”

"In that case, please greet me. Liu will visit another day. ”

"Thank you uncle for your concern. The brothers said in unison.

Liu Qi said: "The hour is not early, the officials of all counties and counties have arrived, please ask my uncle to go to the banquet with us." ”

Liu Bei ordered someone to bring the mount, and borrowed a horse from the post minister for Zhiming. When everything was ready, the army set off.

On the way, Zhiming learned from Zhao Yun that someone might want to kill Liu Bei at this banquet, and thought: "I didn't expect such a coincidence, I just joined the emperor's army and encountered a situation." ”

When he came to the state capital, Liu Bei handed over the horse to the groom, and ordered three hundred soldiers to wait outside the mansion, so he and Zhao Yun and Zhiming entered the hall with the two sons.

The banquet had already been prepared, everyone had already taken their seats, and when they saw Liu Bei coming, they all got up and saluted. Although Liu Bei's official position in Jingzhou is not large, all officials know that he is a descendant of Liu Sheng, the king of Zhongshan Jing, and has participated in famous wars of all sizes before, not to mention Liu Biao's face, and even the two sons personally came to invite him.

Liu Bei respectfully returned the salute. The two sons invited him to be the chairman, and he was embarrassed at first, but after repeated requests from everyone, he sat down shyly.

The two sons sat on either side, and Zhao Yun and Zhiming stood on both sides, ready to guard.

Liu Qi got up, raised his glass and said to everyone: "Everyone, please come to the party today, not for official business, just want to catch up on the old days." I am deeply sorry that my father was unable to attend. You don't have to stick to etiquette, you can drink as much as you like and talk to each other. ”

When Liu Bei heard this, he thought: "The envoy clearly said that there was something important to discuss, and the current son said that he was here to reminisce about the past, which is obviously a contradiction, and it seems that there is indeed a problem." ”

Later, he saw the scene of staggered and laughing below, and thought of the two sons and Zhao Yun and Zhiming beside him, and his heart was much more steady, and Cai Mao would never dare to start at this time.

At this time, a person walked in and said to Zhao Yun and Zhiming: "There is a banquet outside the hall for military generals, please come out with me." ”

This person was Liu Biao's subordinate Wang Wei, who was instructed to support Liu Bei's escort. Zhao Yun and Zhiming glanced at each other and said, "We are only here to protect the lord, not to drink and meat." ”

Wang Wei saw that they refused to leave, so he asked Liu Bei: "Envoy, what do you think?"

Liu Bei thought about it for a while, and felt that they were indeed a little too conspicuous standing next to them, and with the two sons and so many officials here, there should be no accident for the time being, so he said to the two: "You go and eat a little, don't be greedy, pay attention to my gestures." ”

Zhao Yun and Zhiming understood, so they went out with Wang Wei. They were arranged to sit far away from the chairman, and Liu Bei was completely invisible from here. Zhao Yun was worried, but when he saw that the seats were full everywhere, he was embarrassed to propose to change seats, so he had to sit down with Zhiming. Because there was someone next to him, he signaled to Zhiming with his eyes, to pay attention to the surrounding situation at all times, and never be careless. Zhiming nodded knowingly.

At this time, Cai Mao was discussing the killing plan with the strategist Kuai Yue in the backyard. Cai Mao said: "I have deployed everything, Liu Bei's army has been sent back to the pavilion by me in his name to 'fake the holy decree', on the grounds of inconvenience of many people, and now I am just waiting to start." ”

Kuai Yue suddenly worried: "The plan is complete, but if you kill Liu Bei, how can you treat the lord bus?" They are brothers of the same clan, and when the lord blames him, we will neither of us finish eating and walking." ”

"This matter is easy to do, so it is said that Liu Bei spit out the truth after drinking at the banquet, exposing his anti-intentions, and killing him in order to prevent future troubles. By then, the raw rice has matured and the rice is ripe, and the lord can't help it. Cai Mao had already thought of all the words.

"But there are two sons here, where do those sword and axe men dare to do it? And they can also testify for Liu Bei. ”

"Don't worry, the two sons are not used to alcohol, and it's not too late to do it when they are drunk. At that time, no one can prove that Liu Bei did not say this. ”

"But Liu Bei brought two guards in, one of whom was Zhao Yun, this person was strong in martial arts, even if he was lured away, it might not be useful. In case of a miss, Liu Bei escapes, what will be good?"

Cai Mao said with a smile: "Those sword and axe hands are all masters carefully selected by me, no matter how high Zhao Yun's martial arts are, he will be outnumbered." I have set up ambushes outside the eastern, southern, and northern gates, and no matter which gate Liu Bei escapes from, it will be a dead end. ”

"What about Simon?"

Cai Mao laughed and said: "You forgot, there is a Tanxi outside the West Gate, why do you need to ambush soldiers! Even if he escapes from the West Gate, it will be difficult to fly!"

During the banquet, people kept coming to toast the two sons and Liu Bei. Liu Beixu and the snake only dip their cups every time, but the two sons see the bottom of the cups.

Not long after, the two sons fell drunk and were helped back to the bedroom by the servants. Liu Bei sat alone on the seat, feeling uneasy, but he couldn't see where Zhao Yun and Zhiming were sitting, and he couldn't gesticulate, so he was in a dilemma for a while.

At this time, a person came to him with a wine glass, pretended to toast, and whispered: "The weather is cold, please go to the back garden to 'change clothes'." ”

This person is a native of Jingzhou, a character machine, and a good friend of Liu Bei. Liu Bei understood, got up and pretended to go to the toilet, and came to the back garden.

Yi Ji then came and said: "Cai Mao wanted to murder the emperor's uncle, he pretended to be in the name of the emperor's uncle, on the grounds that there were many people and inconvenienced, deceived the emperor's army back to the pavilion, and set up ambushes outside the east, south, and north gates, but there were no ambushes outside the west gate. Uncle Huang can quickly leave the city from the west gate to avoid harm!"

Liu Bei heard this and wanted to go back and call Zhao Yun and Zhiming. Yi Yuan grabbed the corner of his clothes and said, "Uncle Huang, don't go back, I'm afraid there will be ambushes in the back hall, Uncle Huang will be intercepted and killed on the way, it's better to go first, I'll find a chance to inform them to catch up." ”

Liu Bei thought about it and felt reasonable, so he hurriedly came to the stable, took advantage of the horseman's inattention, quickly untied his mount "Lu Ma", and galloped away outside the house.

When the horse came to the west gate, the doorman put up a barrier to stop it. Unexpectedly, this horse was super fierce, and suddenly crossed the barricade and galloped out of the city.

The doorman couldn't catch up, and was about to leave to report Cai Mao, but saw that Cai Mao had arrived with the troops. The doorman said that as soon as Liu Bei walked not far, Cai Mao led the crowd to catch up. It turned out that Cai Mao was afraid that the plan at the banquet would be lost, so he brought a few light riders out in advance, and wanted to intercept Liu Bei at the West Gate, but he didn't expect the other party to be one step faster.

Zhao Yun and Zhiming ate a few bites of food indiscriminately, waited for a while, and did not see any movement on Liu Bei's side, afraid that there would be changes in the time, and they wanted to get up to see the situation, when Yi Yuan came over, raised his glass and whispered: "The envoy knows that someone is trying to harm him, so he has no time to call you, so he drove his horse to the west gate; ”

Zhao Yun asked anxiously, "Where did Cai Mao go?"

"I guess I've already gone after the envoy, and your people have also been sent back to the pavilion, so hurry up and save him. ”

Zhao Yun and Zhiming looked at each other for a while, didn't even answer, and galloped out of the house. They decided to split up, Zhiming returned to the pavilion to gather soldiers, and Zhao Yun chased after him first.

Zhao Yun chased him to the west gate, where the gatekeepers and the guards stopped him.

Zhao Yun pointed a gun at him and shouted: "I want to go out of the city to find Uncle Liu Huang, get out of the way quickly, otherwise Hugh blames me for being ruthless!"

The doorman obviously didn't understand Zhao Yun's force, and he pulled out his sword.

Zhao Yun gently picked it with his gun and picked it away. He slammed the tip of his gun on his helmet, and the doorman fell to his knees.

The two soldiers drew their swords and stepped forward, Zhao Yun used the hilt of the gun to open the bow left and right, and the soldiers fell to the ground one after another.

"I'm Zhao Zilong, you get out of the way quickly, otherwise you will be killed!" Zhao Yun raised his gun and shouted.

The rest of the soldiers hurriedly picked up the doorman and his wounded companions and gave way, and by this time, Zhiming had also led the troops to arrive, and everyone went straight out of the west gate.

Liu Bei rode five or six miles and stopped in front of a big stream. This large stream is turbulent and wide, making it difficult to cross.

He was thinking about how to get over, when suddenly there was a lot of dust behind him, and a group of people rushed over. He looked back, and the first person was Cai Mao.

"There is a big stream in front and a chasing soldier behind, rather than waiting for death, it is better to give it a go!" Liu Bei frowned, and jumped down the stream.

Before he could take a step, the horse's front hooves suddenly sank, and the stream splashed up, wetting his robe.

When he saw that the horse had stumbled, he became anxious, whipped the horse on the back, and shouted: "Luma, you must save me, I can't die here!"

Lu Ma was a fierce horse, and when he was stimulated, he jumped upwards violently, and suddenly the men and horses soared into the air, and the dragon ascended to the west bank like a divine dragon! Liu Bei was shocked and did not know what had happened.

Cai Mao had already chased to the east bank and shouted at the other side: "Why don't you say goodbye?

Liu Bei pointed at him with a whip and said angrily: "Cai Mao, do you want to kill me, do you think I don't know? You set up a Hongmen banquet to lure me into the banquet, but unfortunately you can't kill me; and you set up ambushes outside the eastern, southern, and northern city gates, but the west gate is not set up, it turns out that there is a big stream to block it! Fortunately, my horse is very strong and jumped over. How's it going, miscalculated?"

Cai Mao lied: "Don't misbelieve those gossips, it's clear that someone is sowing discord and making you and me discordant." If you and my lord are brothers, how dare I kill them?"

With that, he glanced at the soldier next to him. The soldier secretly drew his bow and arrows, ready to release cold arrows.

Liu Bei sensed the danger, quickly turned his horse's head, and fled quickly to the southwest.

Lumachi was so fast that he rushed out of range so quickly that the archers could not aim. Cai Mao watched his back disappear into the distance in vain, regretting that he didn't act earlier, which led to the failure of the plan. In desperation, he had no choice but to collect his army and return to the city.

As soon as the army turned its horse's head, the dust rose in front of it, and Zhao Yun and his party arrived.

When the two armies met, Zhao Yun pointed a gun at him and asked, "General Cai, where is my lord?"

Cai Mao hurriedly replied: "The envoy has already crossed the west bank and headed for Nanzhang. ”

"How is this possible? There is obviously a big stream blocking it here, how can he get there!" Zhao Yun didn't believe it.

"Just now the envoy said on the other side that his horse jumped over. ”

"You're still lying! How could a horse be able to jump over such a distance?"

The horse must have sunk into the stream with its front hooves and jumped on the other side, and I saw that his robe was wet, and it must have been the splash of the horse in the stream. ”

Zhao Yun thought that the horse had a strong temperament and amazing jumping power, and it was not surprising that he jumped from the stream to the other bank, and he didn't dare to lie, so he said, "I'll believe you once." I heard that you want to murder my lord, haven't you?"

Cai Mao hurriedly denied: "No, no, no, there is no such thing, the general Hugh must mistakenly believe the rumors!"

"Then why did my lord escape from the state capital by himself, not even us?"

"I don't know about this, maybe someone misled the envoy and made him think that someone was trying to harm him. ”

"Why did General Cai bring so many men and horses out to chase my lord?"

"No, no,... I was afraid that something would happen to the envoy if he was alone, so I wanted to send someone to escort him back to the city, and I had no other meaning. Cai Mao's brain is spinning quite fast.

Zhao Yun also saw that he was quibbling, but it was inconvenient to debunk it, so he said: "General Cai, for Liu Jingzhou's sake, forget it this time." No matter what calculations you have in mind, as long as my lord is fine, but if you dare to come nonsense next time, I'm not welcome. We are going to go to the lord now, and when you return to the city, you will tell those officials that my lord is in a hurry to take a step in advance, and it is too late to say goodbye to you, please forgive me, understand?"

"It's... It's..."Cai Mao didn't dare to disobey.

So, Zhao Yun and the others turned their horses' heads and took a small road to find Liu Bei.

Zhiming asked, "Brother Zilong, why did you want to let him go?"

Zhao Yun said: "As long as the lord is fine, it's okay." Cai Mao is an important official in Jingzhou, I can't come nonsense, so as not to hurt and be angry. ”

Cai Mao returned to the state capital and told Kuai Yue about the past. Kuai Yue sighed: "I can't imagine that this plan is a hundred secrets, and in the end, even Daxi can't stop him, it seems that God saved him, we really shouldn't go against the sky!"

Cai Mao suddenly woke up, after all, Liu Bei is a great hero known to women and children, and he is Liu Biao's brother of the same clan, killing him will only make him a sinner through the ages. Since then, he no longer dares to easily fight Liu Bei's idea.