After hearing the shouts of killing behind him gradually subsided, Liu Bei took a moment of breath and ran for more than ten miles based on these time differences.

Because both sides have horses, the distance between the more than ten miles is no longer easy to be shortened.

Liu Bei's army was simply because the horses were more tired and were not physically strong and ran slowly - because a large number of horses were taken from the defeated soldiers when they defeated Hu Cheer in the afternoon. They were already running wildly throughout the morning and experienced battles in the middle.

Moreover, the generals of Liu Bei's army were even thicker. Liu Bei and others had already worn the chest plate armor produced by Pi County Hydraulic Forged Iron Pad. While the defense became stronger, the horses were heavy and they ran slowly. Zhang Xiu's cavalry was not that rich, most of them were leather armor. Although the combat power of individual soldiers was weaker, the crowd was enough to kill Liu Bei's hundreds of cavalry.

The distance between the two sides slowly approached, but after all, it was only a 20% or 30% shorter speed. Liu Bei ran to the west bank of Wugongshui and had not been caught up yet. The subsequent pursuit was still three or four miles away from him.

But the danger occurred when the time difference was waiting to cross the river on the west side of Wugong Water.

Because Liu Bei rushed in too fast and arrived after nightfall, Cheng Ji, who was staying in Wuzhangyuan camp, did not have much reaction time. He also needed to identify the enemy and us before he could dare to put the raft prepared in advance across the river to meet Liu Bei's ferry.

The raft is slow and the horse is fast, and the martial arts water is less than a hundred steps wide. The time it takes for the raft to cross the river is enough for the light cavalry to run for several miles.

While Liu Bei was waiting for the ship, Zhang Xiu had already brought his troops to kill him. Xu Huang hurriedly brought more than 100 cavalrymen to fight. Zhang Xiu's troops did not gather for a while, and the number of pioneers was not many times higher than that of Xu Huang, and he could be dragged down for half a stick of incense.

The main reason is that the terrain of Weinan is narrow, and it is an alluvial step landform, so the troops cannot unfold. The reason why the "Wuzhangyuan" is named Wuzhangyuan because the south bank of the Wei River is five meters wide, and there is a towering platform.

Of course, Liu Bei has not crossed the Wugong Water yet, so his position is not Wuzhangyuan, and the Weinan River Valley is more than ten meters wide. But Xu Huang wants to fight to withstand the front that is more than ten meters wide, so Zhang Xiu cannot invest too much military force, which really takes a lot of time.

Zhang Xiu was anxious and didn't care about rushing to Xu Huang, and immediately ordered: "The cavalry in the back row dismounted and shot arrows! Don't aim, shoot randomly at the riverside!"

If he could not enter the close combat, the soldiers would shoot arrows and firepower. It has to be said that Zhang Xiu's tactical command at the front was still very correct, and he really had the potential to be a famous general. So a large number of Xiliang Light Cavalry congested in Weinan began to shoot arrows, shooting randomly over a interval of one or two hundred steps, and the arrows fell like rain.

Dian Wei held the saddle removed from a dead horse, and supported Liu Bei's left and right to help Liu Bei block the arrow. After a while, several arrows were inserted into the saddle. Soon Liu Bei was also hit by an arrow on the back of his armor, but because he was blocked by the iron armor after more than a hundred steps, Liu Bei was hit by another arrow on the back of his thigh. The cavalry at this position did not have iron armor and immediately blood flowed.

When Dian Wei saw something was wrong, he immediately advised: "The lord quickly rode his horse down the river to welcome the raft! Go to the depths of the water to abandon the horse and pull it on the raft!"

Liu Bei gritted his teeth and decided to give up his war horse and rushed into the river to welcome the raft for twenty steps. But at this moment, the rain of arrows seemed to have found the correct head. Since they had already hit Liu Bei's thigh, they soon shot his war horse without iron armor. Liu Bei's war horse immediately neighed and fell to the ground.

Liu Bei was about to ride a horse and rushed down the river, but he fell into the water. Fortunately, Dian Wei caught it.

"Lord, ride my horse to rush to the raft!" Dian Wei picked up Liu Bei and said, throwing Liu Bei on the back of the horse, poked the horse's butt and let the horse rush down the river.

Liu Bei was dizzy and shouted subconsciously: "What do you do?"

Dian Wei: "There is no Wei in the world, and no justice. I will swim on the raft of the water."

Seeing Liu Bei rushing into the river, Fa Zheng, who was hiding aside, gritted his teeth. Before his horse was shot, he rushed with Liu Bei.

The war horses were not far away, and the water had already submerged the horse's neck, but the rafted soldiers sent by Cheng Ji had already pulled Liu Bei and Fa Zheng onto the raft and returned immediately.

Dian Wei shouted loudly to ask Xu Huang to retreat, and then Xu Huang left the battle and retreated. Several people rushed to the riverside to ride horses and waded under the river. The abandoned horses were picked up by a raft and crossed the river. The two were injured by arrows. The remaining two hundred cavalrymen were charged behind their backs when they seized the boat. They could only surrender with their heads or jumped into the river to escape, and only dozens of cavalrymen returned to the east bank.

...

After Liu Bei arrived at the east bank, he was immediately carried to Chengji's camp and quickly treated the wound. The military doctor slightly cut the flesh along the direction of the arrow blade, and then pulled out the arrows on his thighs to avoid pulling the barbs directly and straining the flesh on a larger area. Finally, he applied the golden sore medicine to bandage it.

The whole process was as fast as possible. Liu Bei had just taken a breath and wanted to ask Cheng Ji if he had escaped from danger. But before he could speak, Cheng Ji had already taken the initiative to complain: "Lord, you have bandaged it, maybe you may ride a horse again? Or do you have to carry the soldiers? Retreat quickly! Go to the plank road immediately!"

Liu Bei was shocked and realized that the shouts of killing were gradually ringing. He asked in surprise: "Is the enemy's pursuers still coming from Weibei? Why do they shout to kill from three sides?"

Cheng Ji ordered someone to carry Liu Bei and retreat to the entrance of the plank road. While walking, he said, "I don't have time to explain! Less than half a day after our army established a camp, he should have been discovered by the Dong Yue thief army of Chen Cang. This is one hundred and twenty miles away from Luogushui and only ninety miles away from Chen Cang City!

It must have been this morning that Dong Yue sent troops from Chen Cang to attack our army. Not long before the lord arrived, there were already enemy troops shouting to kill the camp in the west of the camp. Fortunately, the camp was firm and not broken through for a while! The army quickly fled into the plank road and burned the plank road to prevent the pursuit of the soldiers!"

Soon, Liu Bei was protected and escaped onto the plank road, followed by Dian Wei and Xuhuang's escort retreating.

There were more than a thousand soldiers in the camp. If they had not ordered a retreat, they could have defended for half an hour based on fortifications. But the problem was that when Liu Bei and the two generals left, there were no other famous generals who knew the military discipline to supervise the formation. Cheng Ji immediately issued the order to "retreat in an orderly manner", and the troops were in chaos and wanted to seize the way and flee.

"Don't squeeze! The plank road is not strong and cannot be crowded with people. Retreat in an orderly manner! Retreat in an orderly manner!" Cheng Ji suddenly regretted it and was ashamed of his lack of ability to restrain the collapsed defeated soldiers.

After about a few hundred people escaped along the plank road, there were only a few hundred defensive troops left in the camp, and the loopholes were quickly rushed in by the Western Liang army. Zhang Xiujun, on the east bank of the Wugongshui, saw that Dong Yue's troops attacked in the west had broken the camp, and was not afraid of being attacked halfway, so he had time to cross the river and pursue it slowly.

"Cruff----" With a few loud noises, because the soldiers who were escaping the road were too chaotic, far exceeding the load on the plank road, a small section of the plank road finally collapsed. The horizontal mortise and wood wedged into the mountain wall under the plank road did not support the broken, and all the wooden boards on it fell into the deep valley. More than a dozen soldiers either fell off the cliff directly or were squeezed off the cliff.

"It's over! I can't go back!" Cheng Ji felt cold hands and feet, but at this point, he thought of a move, and decisively gritted his teeth and snatched the torch of the personal soldiers beside him, and threw it directly on the plank road.

If the plank road that was only broken a few feet away was easily repaired within a few days, but if it sets a fire and burns dozens of feet, it will not be repaired in a month or two, there is no need to worry that the rebels will soon attack Hanzhong, which is empty and void, along the Baoxie Road.

In addition, setting fire can take advantage of human instinctive fear and force the soldiers who are in a panic and snatched away. Surrender is better than being pushed down the mountain road and thrown into meat paste.

Sure enough, as the flames rose, the subsequent soldiers stopped crowding in despair. The last seven or eight hundred people shouted that they were willing to surrender. Cheng Ji also spoke righteously and said: "I burned the plank road! They were willing to surrender! Don't kill innocent people in vain!"

Unfortunately, today, the general sent by Dong Yue to chase Liu Bei was Fan Chou. Fan Chou was known for his bravery and fierceness, and he was even more impatient than Zhang Xiu. Moreover, several of Fan Chou's friends with good relationships died at the hands of Zhao Yun and Guan Yu. They fought against Dong many times when they were fighting against Dong in Luoyang.

Seeing that Cheng Ji burned the plank road and wiped out his hope of capturing Liu Bei, Fan Chou was furious: "You corrupt scholar! You just made the fire ruin my good deeds and wanted to surrender?! There is no such cheap thing in the world! Can a soldier surrender you!"

The furious Fan Chou raised his sword and slashed Cheng Ji to death, and then he calmed down and took down the remaining minions.

Later generations wrote a poem to praise him: He generously offered wine in the middle of Shu, and left a sword to answer the King of Han. He did not change his life's ambition in the face of danger and gained fame forever.

After Fan Chou killed the general and forced the surrender, Zhang Xiu and Jia Xu arrived at the scene.

Jia Xu asked Cheng Ji about his actions before his death, his eyes turned and he quickly reacted: "What I expected is indeed not bad! Liu Bei's general who cut off the rear burned the plank road to stop the pursuit, it must be because Liu Bei's rescue of the horse brought out all the troops in Hanzhong!

Therefore, after being annihilated by us, Hanzhong was so empty that even we had to stop us from advancing on such a narrow plank road! General Fan and Zhang, the opportunity was not missed. He immediately informed General Dong who was staying in Chen Cang and immediately attacked from Chen Cang Road with all his might at any cost!

Don’t worry about military rations! It’s July now, and the autumn harvest season is half a month away. You can get the enemy because of the food, so you don’t worry about the difficulties of Shu Road! This is a god-given opportunity to destroy Liu Bei! Even if you can’t take Shu, at least you have the chance to take Hanzhong!"

Zhang Ji and Fan Chou thought it was true that it made sense. After the Baoxi Road was burned, he could only go to Chencang Road. He could not go to Ziwu Valley.

The rebels will withdraw their troops and return to the camp for the time being, and are preparing to go to Chencang to rectify for one or two days, and will not mention going south to attack.

...

Liu Bei was always in a confused state and was carried by Dian Wei until midnight. Finally, he walked along the plank road for more than twenty miles. The group was so tired that they saw a plank road that they arrived at the top of Taibai Mountain. There was a small flat land where they could rest.

Those who had been walking for almost a day and a night finally couldn't stand it anymore, so Liu Bei ordered a short sleep and rest on the top of Taibai Mountain.

After drinking the last few sips of water from the bamboo tube, Liu Bei rubbed his throat that seemed to be cracking, and remembered something: "We have less than a thousand people? There are only so many people left in Chengji's Wuzhangyuan Camp? What about Chengji, who organized the retreat of the rear army? How could he be so much behind us?"

Xu Huang then came over with an arrow wound and reported: "Lord, I was afraid that you would worry about it just now, so I didn't dare to tell you. When I first entered the mountain for five or six miles, I saw the plank road behind me caught fire. Then I slowed down for a while, but no one followed up. It should be Cheng Jiran setting fire to the plank road."

Liu Bei jumped up in shock when he heard this, then shivered a few times, and the wound bandaged on his thigh hurts again: "How can he burn the plank road? Isn't this a way out?"

Xu Huang: "It should be that the soldiers were crowded, and the plank road had collapsed. At that time, I heard screams from afar, echoing in the valley for several miles, as if many people fell off the cliff together."

Liu Bei twitched silently and said nothing for a long time, then he cried and sighed: "The soldiers lost 4,000 and the two generals were unyielding and died in battle. It is all my fault. Alas, I didn't expect that those civil and military officials under Liu Yan could be so loyal to the Han Dynasty after only three years. I regret not listening to Boya's words, and what would it be like to go back to Nanzheng?"

Xu Huang didn't know how to persuade him at this time, but Fa Zheng, who had fallen so tired that he fell asleep as soon as he fell down, woke up by Liu Bei's cry and said quickly:

"The ordinary soldiers lost 4,000, and perhaps half of the casualties, and the rest must have surrendered. Although the Western Liang army was beastly, they would not kill ordinary prisoners. This is not the time to be sad.

What's more, the rescue is the righteousness. The lord knew that he could not do it and did it. Even if he failed, he would not change his moral character. If you want to blame Wang Yun, he could not control his traitor's heart and deeds. He quickly rested for an hour or two, and it was dawn again, and there were still two hundred miles to go back to Nanzheng."

Liu Bei felt a little better, after all, his motive for sending troops was just. He sat there for a while and fell asleep directly. The next day, he rushed back to Baozhong County just at dawn, and two days later.

Liu Bei went straight to the city and asked the county government to collapse and recuperate. Even Nan Zheng had no energy to go back. He just asked someone to go to Nan Zheng to pass an order, asking Lu Su and Li Su to praise Zhong to discuss military and political affairs.

After waiting for a long time, some staff members rushed to Baozhong and headed straight to the place where Liu Bei stayed in the county government office.

Liu Bei covered his forehead with a wet wipe. When he was sleeping and recuperating, he heard the noise outside, so he quickly opened his eyes and asked the maid to put a pillow on it. But when he looked closely, he found that only Li Su had come in, and Lu Su didn't come.

This is the situation that Liu Bei felt the most embarrassing. He couldn't help but talk about him: "Where is Zijing? He has indeed neglected his duties. Have you let you out in advance?"

Li Su: "Zijing was in Sanguan County, and the lord took Xiaozhi away. He wanted to guard Sanguan instead of Xiaozhi. I have heard Xiaozhi say that when the lord was defeated, he burned the plank road to block the pursuers.

If there are any strategists in the rebels, they will definitely know that Hanzhong has empty soldiers and may take the opportunity to attack Hanzhong. If Sanguan is not defended, all the places outside Yangping Pass will be put to an end. Our army is in Sanguan, Hechi has been operating for several years, and the preparations for the Northern Expedition will probably be burned."

Liu Bei was poured a basin of cold water again, and then he realized that there were so many disadvantages of chain reactions in his defeat this time.

"Oh... I'm wrong with you and I. Even if it's over, Zi Jingshi hurriedly let you go and don't care. What about it?" After a while of pain, Liu Bei put forward this compromise suggestion. After all, if he didn't make this clear, he didn't know how to face Li Su.

Li Su did not answer the conversation and waited for Liu Bei to explain himself.

Before Liu Bei finished speaking, he sighed and continued to laugh at himself: "My fault is to underestimate the enemy and advance, your fault is to be careless about Your Majesty and the court--although there are no outsiders here, some words are boring, so let's do it."

The sentence that Liu Bei did not say obviously means, "I am afraid that Emperor Xian of Han really suffered an unexpected accident, and Li Su may have also thought about how to continue to support the Han Dynasty, so the life and death of Emperor Xian of Han alone is not important to the survival of the Han Dynasty."

Strictly speaking, this is not a big deal. After all, it is right for the emperor to keep a backup plan at any time when he is a thief. Yu Qian of the Ming Dynasty also thought so when Emperor Yingzong of Ming was captured by Tatars. He was still a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty.

Although Yu Qian had a bad ending, it was because Emperor Yingzong of Ming was later restored. If the Ming Daizong was able to continue to be able to do it, Yu Qian would definitely be able to continue to be prosperous and wealthy. If Emperor Xian of Han died, it would be impossible for him to be restored again.

The country is second, and the king is inferior. The emperor cannot become a hostage to rebels and threaten the country. There is nothing to be embarrassed to say about this.

Before Liu Bei sent troops to rescue the enemy, he had not figured it out because of his passion. But this time he was beaten so badly, he was injured by two arrows and was so embarrassed by water and fire. He finally realized that he had a great enlightenment.

After Li Su confirmed this, he finally responded: "That's the best, just treat it as 'the argument of the ruler and the ministers lose both the ruler and the ministers'."
Chapter completed!