Liu Bei was slightly startled, "Now that Cao's army is about to attack, I need Yuan Zhi's advice, so Yuan Zhi doesn't need to go out on patrol."
Obviously, Liu Bei has not understood the true meaning of the word "farewell" in Xu Shu's mouth.
Xu Shu smiled bitterly and said helplessly: "My lord has misunderstood. I am not out on inspection. I want to leave Hanzhong and go back to Jingzhou."
As soon as these words came out, Liu Bei was shocked: "Yuanzhi, youare you going to abandon me?"
Jingzhou is Liu Feng¡¯s territory. When Xu Shu goes to Jingzhou, it¡¯s nothing but abandoning him.
"This is a letter written by my mother to me. Please read it, my lord."
Xu Shu handed over the silk letter stained with tears.
That letter was indeed written by Xu's mother, but the content in the letter was not a summons to Xu Shu to return to Jing. It was just some simple greetings.
This letter was what Liu Feng specifically asked Zhao Yun to deliver to Xu Shu.
There is nothing in the letter itself, but Liu Feng's behavior is clearly a hint to Xu Shu.
Xu Shu knew that Liu Feng would not harm his mother, but he was a filial man. Since he had received his mother's letter, how could he ignore it.
After all kinds of difficult trade-offs, Xu Shu could only make this difficult decision.
After Liu Bei read the letter, he immediately understood everything.
When he was in Changbanpo, Xu Shu had to leave him because his mother was captured by Cao's army. If his mother had not been rescued by Liu Feng and Zhao Yun on the way, Xu Shu would have been serving in Cao's camp at this moment.
At that time, Liu Bei felt so painful about Xu Shu's departure.
And now, the pain is getting worse.
Because Xu Shu is going to join this man now, who he hates even more than Cao Cao.
If he had a choice, Liu Bei would rather Xu Shu defected to Cao Cao, so that he would suffer less humiliation and pain.
"How did Yuan Zhi get this letter?" Liu Bei's tone began to become serious.
Xu Shu was confused and without thinking much, he immediately told the letter that Zhao Yun had met Liu Feng on his own and had handed this letter to him.
Liu Bei's face suddenly became extremely gloomy, and he said displeasedly: "Why didn't Zilong tell me about such a thing before?"
There was a hint of complaint in his tone.
Only then did Xu Shu realize that his truthful telling had brought unnecessary trouble to Zhao Yun, so he hurriedly said: "Zilong wanted to inform the lord, but I said that this is just my family matter and there is no need to bother the lord, so Zilong Long Cai didn¡¯t tell the lord.¡±
Liu Bei shook his head and said: "Yuan Zhi is my right-hand man, how can your affairs be just family affairs?"
Xu Shu sighed softly and remained silent.
"Yuan Zhi, this letter was probably written by Liu Feng, the beast who forced the old lady to do it. His purpose is to lure you back to Jingzhou. You can't easily fall into his scheme."
How could Liu Bei let Xu Shu go so easily? He quickly tried his best to persuade Xu Shu to change his mind.
Xu Shu looked sluggish and said: "How can I not see Liu Feng's intention? But when I think of my mother being trapped in Jingzhou, my heart is in chaos. I will return to Jingzhou to fulfill my filial piety."
Speaking of this, Xu Shu seems to have decided to leave.
Although Liu Bei prides himself on benevolence and righteousness, in recent years he attacked Liu Zhang, captured Hanzhong, and did several disgraceful things in succession, which damaged his reputation of benevolence and righteousness a lot.
Despite this, the Han Dynasty ruled the world with filial piety, and if the dignified Emperor Liu openly prevented his ministers from practicing filial piety and spreading the word just because of his own selfishness, his reputation for benevolence and righteousness would be wiped out.
Although it hurt Liu Bei deeply to let Xu Shu go, he could only swallow the bitter fruit alive.
Sighing, tears welled up in his eyes. Liu Bei held onto Xu Shu's hand and choked with pain: "Yuan Zhi wants to perform filial piety. This is a natural principle. How can you stop him? It's just that I share life and death with you. Although I am called a minister, But we are brothers and sisters. Now that Yuan Zhi has left me like this, my heart"
Liu Bei burst into tears. He was so emotional that it was difficult for him to speak again.
Xu Shu was filled with tears at this moment. He pointed his finger to the sky and said solemnly: "My lord has been as kind as a mountain to me, and I will remember it in my heart. I swear to God, even if I return to Jingzhou, I will never do anything for Liu Feng in this life." A plan to deal with the lord."
Liu Bei didn't want to let Xu Shu return to Jingzhou. Firstly, he regretted that he was missing a top adviser. Secondly, Xu Shu knew him well. If he worked for Liu Feng, wouldn't he be serving him in the future?Added a big problem.
Now that Xu Shu swore to heaven that he would not deal with himself for Liu Feng, Liu Bei's worries suddenly became less worried.
Liu Bei still firmly believed that Xu Shu valued righteousness and meant what he said.
"I don't know when Yuan Zhi will set off. I might as well have a banquet to see Yuan Zhi off with my officials." Liu Bei asked after wiping away tears.
Xu Shu shook his head repeatedly: "I abandoned my lord and left, feeling extremely ashamed. How could I have the dignity to say goodbye to my colleagues again? Besides, I miss my mother in my heart right now, and I don't dare to delay for a moment, so I want to say goodbye to my lord today immediately." Set off eastward."
The matter has come to this, and it is useless to linger any longer. It is better to have a happy time and leave good thoughts between the king and his ministers.
Liu Bei said no more and ordered people to bring good wine.
"Yuan Zhi, with this glass of wine, I wish you a safe journey, and I hope that if we are destined to have a chance to drink together again in the future."
"Um."
Xu Shu didn¡¯t know what to say, so he could only drink the wine in tears.
Although the wine was good, when Xu Shu drank it, it tasted bitter.
"Yuan Zhi, let's go, I'll see you off for a while out of the city."
Liu Bei was "reluctant to leave" Xu Shu, and it seemed that he would be satisfied if he could spend another quarter of an hour with him.
Xu Shu was also reluctant to give up on Liu Bei, so how could he refuse.
So, the two principal ministers pretended to leave the palace and headed west to Nanzheng. Liu Bei sent Xu Shu along the way for more than ten miles.
At this time, the setting sun was like blood, and the afterglow of the setting sun was like a lonely pen, drawing a long shadow behind the two of them.
Xu Shu reined in his mount, raised his hands towards Liu Bei and said: "After seeing you for thousands of miles, we will have to say goodbye. Lord, let's say goodbye."
When the moment of separation came, Liu Bei felt so sad in his heart. Although he was reluctant to part with him, he could only reluctantly hand over his hand and said: "Well, Yuan Zhi, take care of yourself all the way."
"My lord, please take care of me and let me go."
With a forced smile and a word of cherishment, Xu Shu no longer held back, reined up his horse and ran along the road towards Yangpingguan.
Liu Bei stood on his horse and looked from afar, watching the noble blue shirt disappear into the distance until it turned into a black dot at the end of the sky.
"Yuan Zhi, Yuan Zhi"
¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡
Under the setting sun, thousands of miles away in the Central Plains, a mighty army is slowly heading west.
The bright armor reflects the light of the sunset, and the dazzling golden light only makes the snake-like army look even more terrifying.
Not far ahead, the outline of a small town is vaguely visible.
"Where is the front?"
In the carriage, Cao Cao suddenly asked.
"Prime Minister, we are almost arriving at Yangren City." Xu Chu, who was walking with the car, replied.
That city is called Yangren, which belongs to Henan County and is the only way to Luoyang.
Luoyang Eight Pass, Yangren City Road is not the main road, this city was originally an inconspicuous small town.
However, when the eighteen princes attacked Dong, Dong Zhuo's famous general Hua Xiong was beheaded by Sun Jian in this city. It was because of this battle that Yangren City became known to the world.
"Yangren City"
Cao Cao narrowed his eyes slightly, and many old things suddenly came to mind.
Even though more than ten years have passed, Cao Cao seems to remember every incident vividly in that era of turbulent times and great heroes.
While he was sighing with emotion, suddenly a horse came from behind and approached the chariot. A young general lowered his voice but said excitedly: "Prime Minister, there is information coming from Jingzhou."
The general who came was none other than Cao Xiu, one of the outstanding generals of the younger generation of the Cao family and one of the commanders of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry.
Cao Cao took out the information hidden in the sealed bamboo tube and opened it, a strange sneer flashed across his expression.
"The army has been ordered to set up camp outside Yangren City today."
"Here."
At nightfall, nearly 50,000 Chinese troops set up camp outside Yangren City.
In the large tent of the Chinese army, Cao Cao was wrapped in a red robe, with a somewhat proud smile on his face.
"Wenhe, the intelligence from Jingzhou has arrived. The intelligence says that Liu Feng has transferred all the troops from Jingzhou to Yizhou. It seems it's time for us to take action."
Cao Cao showed the piece of information to Jia Xu.
Jia Xu looked at it for a while, then stroked his beard and said calmly: "If Liu Feng really planned to cooperate with us in attacking Liu Bei, he should quietly lead his army into Sichuan. With such a big fanfare, I think most of the so-called warships loaded with troops entering Sichuan are just The bluff is an empty ship, Prime Minister, Liu Feng, our strategy has worked."
Cao Cao hahaSmiling, his expression was very proud.
"Wen He, your serial plan is really brilliant. This time, I can finally avenge my shame."
Facing Cao Cao's confidence, Jia Xu was very calm and said calmly: "The Prime Minister should not be too confident. The opponent also has experts under his command, so he may not be able to see through our strategy."
Cao Cao sneered and said proudly: "This plan of yours is magical. I predict it will succeed. Wen He, you have to have confidence in yourself."
Jia Xu smiled and said nothing.
Cao Cao was so proud that he stood up and loudly said: "Quickly send a secret order to Zilian of Wancheng, instructing him to immediately march into Xinye according to the original plan, and join Zhongye's army to attack Fancheng."
Jia Xu nodded in agreement.
Cao Cao then said: "Send an order to Wen Ze's rear army and order his 50,000-strong army to immediately change their route and march south to Xiangyang for me at starry night."
As soon as the order was given, Cao Cao felt indescribably happy and his whole body was in high spirits. It seemed that at this moment, he had found the confidence that he had once again been invincible in the world.
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Five days later, Fancheng.
Under the morning light, this only city north of the Han River seems to be covered with a light veil, sleeping quietly like a shy girl.
On the northern road, the raging sandstorm is approaching rapidly, like countless hungry beasts, eager to tear this delicious prey into pieces.
On the top of the city, Wei Yan stood like an iron tower, his stern gaze directed at the surging sandstorm, and a sneer flashed at the corner of his mouth. .