Liu Bei was very surprised. Horses are precious strategic resources. There is only one possibility for horses to appear near Xiaopei, and that is that the local princes purchased them from the north.
Sure enough, Zhang Fei immediately said: "Robbing Lu Bu's fellow."
"real?"
Liu Bei was overjoyed and asked: "How many horses are there?"
Zhang Fei said: "One hundred and five horses."
"Well, it's not much, but it's enough."
"Brother, are you going to try horse racing?"
"There's no rush yet."
Liu Bei muttered: "Don't let the news leak out now. We need to train the cavalry secretly, otherwise Lu Bu will attack soon and these one hundred and fifty horses will be useless."
Zhang Fei patted his chest and said, "Brother, don't worry, leave everything to me."
"good."
Liu Bei readily agreed.
This year has been pretty good for him.
Shen Chen gave him a fortune and armor, and got a batch of war horses. His strength has also improved.
The later description of this incident in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is that Liu Bei severely scolded Zhang Fei and asked him to return the horse to Lu Bu, but Zhang Fei refused to return it, so Zhang Fei fought Lu Bu, and they fought for a hundred rounds without a winner. famous scene.
But in fact, Liu Bei's character is a relatively strong type. The image of Zhang Fei in the novel is actually the image of Liu Bei in real history. How could he be such a pedantic person?
Lu Bu was unkind and kindly took him in, but in the blink of an eye, the other party stole his hometown and sent Yang Feng and others to plunder his military supplies. Liu Bei hated this kind of white-eyed wolf, and there was no way he would do it because of Zhang. Fei robbed the opponent's horse and became angry.
It's just that Liu Bei's strength is indeed worse now.
According to the records of "Three Kingdoms" and "Book of the Later Han Dynasty", Lu Bu and Liu Bei were fighting in Xuzhou at that time. Lu Bu had about 10,000 troops coming from Yanzhou to Xuzhou, and Liu Bei's paper strength was about 10,000.
However, one of his subordinates, Cao Bao and Xu Dan, were both rebels. Without the support of the Danyang soldiers left by Tao Qian, Liu Bei could not fight alone. His real strength was only a few thousand men, and he was defeated by Lu Bu.
When he arrived in Guangling, he got help from Mi Zhu. Mi Zhu's family was extremely rich and had more than 10,000 slaves. With his help, Liu Bei not only reversed his decline, but also gathered more than 10,000 troops. He looked stronger than before. A lot.
However, these more than 10,000 troops are actually very weak. Most of them are servants of the Mi Zhu family, and the number of elites in hundreds of battles is very small. Therefore, in the battles with Lu Bu, they were often at a disadvantage.
However, Lu Bu was not much better. He did not have the support of the Xuzhou family, which resulted in a serious depletion of military resources and could not be replenished. Therefore, in 197 AD, according to the "Book of the Later Han", when the conflict broke out with Yuan Shu, he only had There are three to four thousand troops and several hundred cavalry.
But he didn't expect that Yuan Shu sent him a wave of warmth and sent general Zhang Xun and others with tens of thousands of horses to conquer. As a result, he was defeated by Lu Bu, captured a large number of soldiers, and expanded them to his own team, allowing Lu Bu to gain another one or two at once. An army of ten thousand people.
Therefore, in terms of strength, although Liu Bei is the Yuzhou Mu, there is still a big gap between him and Lu Bu.
At the beginning of the third year of Jian'an, Lu Bu was furious when he learned that Liu Bei had robbed his war horses. He ordered 10,000 horses and personally led generals Gao Shun and Zhang Liao to kill Xiaopei.
February 4th is already spring, in Xiaopei County, Peiguo, Yuzhou.
The population within a hundred miles radius is extremely sparse. To the north is the Surabaya River, which flows diagonally from northwest to southeast. To the south is the Fengshui River between Bianshui River and Surabaya River. The entire city of Xiaopei is surrounded by the angle formed by the two rivers.
between.
Only to the west is an endless plain.
Strictly speaking, this city is located in the northeast corner of Yuzhou, the easternmost part of Yingchuan, and the southeast of Yanzhou. It is the southeastern barrier for Cao Cao's territory.
It seems to be a strategic location, easy to defend but difficult to attack.
But actually climate impacts have to be taken into account.
The late Han Dynasty was in the Little Ice Age.
Future generations may not understand how cruel the Little Ice Age was.
Let's put it this way.
The summer of 2022 AD will continue to be hot, with temperatures reaching over 40 degrees in many places in my country, and lasting for a very long time.
But this is not the arrival of the Little Ice Age, it can only be regarded as a little embellishment of the greenhouse effect.
During the normal Little Ice Age, the average summer temperature in the south was over 40 degrees, and even in the Northeast it was common to stay above 30 degrees.
In winter, the coldest time in the Hebei region in the north is over minus 40 degrees Celsius on average, and in the Guangdong and Fujian areas in the south it snows heavily, with the average temperature being over minus 10 degrees Celsius, and all rivers and lakes are frozen.
From here you can see how serious the disaster caused by the Little Ice Age was.
The late Han Dynasty was also in the Little Ice Age. Last winter, almost all large lakes such as Poyang Lake, Taihu Lake, and Chaohu Lake in Jiangdong were frozen. Only Yunmengze, more than 10,000 square kilometers in Jingzhou, was not frozen.
In summer, the extremely high temperatures can burn people to death. For example, last year there was a drought in summer, which caused a severe drought and famine in the Huainan area, which is obviously rich in water resources, in winter, which made Yuan Shu's strength great.
Amplitude attenuation.
Therefore, although Xiaopei is located between the two rivers, due to the climate influence in recent years, the Surabaya River still has some water, while the Fengshui River has almost dried up. There is no need to cross the river on foot. Some places have directly turned into puddles, exposing the pavement.
A riverbed full of fine sand.
Liu Bei was standing on the city tower at this time, watching Lu Bu's dense army in the south slowly walking from the riverbed of Fengshui River.
He didn't send anyone to organize it. People said they would attack halfway across the river, but they were crossing the river on foot, which was no different from the river on the flat ground. There was no tactical significance in attacking halfway across the river, and it was better to defend the city.
only.
Looking at the dilapidated Xiaopei City, Liu Bei sighed in his heart.
Peixian County also has a certain meaning to him, that is, his ancestor Liu Bang once served as the pavilion chief of the Sishui Pavilion east of Xiaopei.
Liu Bang was not from Peixian County, but from Fengyi, 40 kilometers away from Xiaopei. At that time, it was just a town and was under Peixian County. After the Eastern Han Dynasty, Fengyi had been promoted to Fengxian County, so administratively it had nothing to do with Liu Bang.
.
But Surabaya Pavilion is just outside the city. Liu Bang started his career here and met Fan Kuai, Xiao He, Cao Shen, Xia Houying and others. He led them to revolt from Peixian County and eventually founded the Han Dynasty.
Therefore, Liu Bei had great affection for this place. Unfortunately, he did not have much property or strength to spend on repairing the city, which resulted in the city being in tatters and having to barely defend itself.
Lu Bu's army in the distance was getting closer and closer. Their numbers were so densely packed that they seemed to be endless. Under the scolding and organization of officers at all levels, they slowly moved closer to the south of Xiaopei City, and then stopped about one mile away from the city.
, began to reorganize the army.
Among the crowd, there was a middle-aged general in his forties, nine feet tall, with a face like a crown of jade, a halberd in his hand, and a bloody horse under his crotch. He was wearing armor. He was like a god who was not angry and powerful. He was the number one in the Three Kingdoms.
The fierce general Lu Bu.
He rode on the back of a red rabbit, with hundreds of cavalry beside him, and galloped to a hillside in the west of Xiaopei City. He looked at Liu Beijun on the tower of Xiaopei City in the distance, his eyes were extremely cold.
Liu Bei dared to rob my horse?
"kill!"
Almost immediately after Lu Bu's army was reorganized, he issued the order to attack.
There is no opening remarks on either side, and there is no scene of Liu Bei and Lu Bu having a conversation one on the tower and the other below.
First of all, the two sides were already mortal enemies. As Lu Bu took the initiative to attack Liu Bei several times, captured his Xuzhou, and dispersed his army, the conflict between the two became irreconcilable.
Secondly, no one would foolishly run down to the enemy's tower alone. Even Lu Bu, who was invincible in the world and was very capable in a fierce battle, could still turn into a hedgehog if hundreds of archers fired a volley.
Therefore, when fighting, when facing the enemy head-on, there will be no warning. Even like a dark forest, whoever discovers the enemy first will choose to strike first.
The horn sounded "woo woo woo woo" for a long time.
There was a thin-faced general in front of the formation, and behind him were 800 soldiers standing majestically. They were all wearing pitch-black armor and stood motionless like sculptures. Everyone had stern eyes, and they could be said to be elite soldiers who have fought in hundreds of battles.
This general is Lu Bu's general Gao Shun, and the eight hundred soldiers are the famous trap camp.
The trapped troops are heavy armored infantry, so of course they cannot be used to attack cities.
So at this moment Gao Shun is serving as the temporary commander in front of the formation.
Gao Shun is actually a very regrettable famous general. If he had not followed Lu Bu, but followed Cao Cao and Liu Bei, even Sun Quan, his achievements would not be lower than Zhang Liao or even Guan Yu.
Falling into camp is secondary.
What's really great about him is his excellent command on the battlefield. When Lu Bu's subordinate Hao Meng rebelled last year, Gao Shun calmly commanded. He raided Hao Meng in the middle of the night, killed Hao Meng, and put down the rebellion at dawn, which shows his ability.
Unfortunately, precisely because of his excellence, Lu Bu did not dare to reuse him. When he was not fighting, he would take away Gao Shun's military talisman, take away all military power including the trapped camp, and hand it over to his close confidant Wei Xu.
Only when there is a battle, will the soldier talisman be given to him again, and he will have to watch it all the time, so he is very guarded against him.
But even so, Gao Shun had no resentment in his heart and was extremely loyal to Lu Bu.
At this moment, the sound of the trumpet resounded throughout the world. Gao Shun waved his hand, and immediately a messenger came to convey his order, indicating that he was ready to attack.
At the beginning of the Doomsday School in Yuzhong, following Gao Shun's order, two groups of about a thousand people on his left and right sides began to take action. They carried the stairs and marched toward Xiaopei City in a mighty manner.
As a city located at the angle between two rivers, Xiaopei naturally has a moat, and the river can still flow because the source of the moat's water is not taken from Fengshui River, but from Surabaya River. The flow of water in Surabaya River is large, and it can barely
The moat is full.
It was precisely because of the protection of the moat that Liu Bei persisted in Xiaopei for nearly a year in history. From the third year of Jian'an, which was the beginning of 198 AD, he fought until the ninth month of autumn before Gao Shun and Zhang Liao finally broke through the city.
Now that Gao Shun launched a strong attack, the first thing he had to consider was the moat. Therefore, these two groups of men and horses were not used for attacking, but for carrying the trench bridge and rushing to the moat to pave the way for the army behind.
The two sides were less than a crossbow apart, and the two groups of men and horses carried the ladders and ran in formation. The distance of four to five hundred steps was reached in an instant. When they approached the city, they all raised their shields.
Liu Bei was watching with Tai Shici on the tower in the distance. Lu Bu's army was more numerous than them. Since the last defeat of Xiaopei, he only had two or three thousand troops and one or two thousand old troops given by Cao Cao. The enemy surrounded the city, so Zhang Fei
At the north gate, Guan Yu was at the west gate, and he and Taishi Ci were at the south gate.
Seeing that the enemy had already rushed towards him and started to raise his shields to cover the trench, Liu Bei did not immediately order the arrows to be fired. Because the arrows were too precious and he didn't have many, he had to save some.
use.
On the contrary, Taishi Ci bent his bow and nocked an arrow, and suddenly shot out an arrow. The arrow cut through the void like a meteor, and quietly shot into the neck of an enemy soldier with a hint of icy chill.
"good!"
Liu Bei cheered loudly.
Unlike Liu Yao, when Taishi Ci defected to his fellow countryman Liu Yao, Liu Yao looked down upon him, so he just appointed him as a scout captain.
But Liu Bei knew Taishi Ci's ability. He fought his way out of tens of thousands of yellow scarves alone and was extremely brave. Therefore, after Taishi Ci defected to him, he appointed him as a subordinate governor, that is, the commander of his personal guards.
Then he traveled around with Liu Bei for the past two years, and now he has become Qu Junhou.
Even though he was just a Qujunhou, he was already the second-largest general under Liu Bei after Guan and Zhang. Because Liu Bei's military strength was too small, although as the shepherd of Yuzhou, he was qualified to appoint Guan and Zhang to official positions such as Zhonglang General.
But you don't have that many troops. If you dare to call yourself General Zhonglang with a few hundred people, the court will lose face.
So up to now, Guan and Zhang are just military commanders, each leading about a thousand people. Taishi Ci's tribe has five hundred people, and Liu Bei personally leads about fifteen hundred people. About four thousand people are now Liu Bei's
All strengths.
The state pastor has only so few manpower, which is sad.
But there was nothing he could do about it. Apart from the names of Yuzhou Mu and Huang Shu, he had nothing else to offer.
Taishi Ci shot the arrow, which immediately boosted the morale of Liu Bei's army on the city tower. They started shouting and making noises, causing Lu Bu's army who was attacking below the city to be confused for a moment and the offensive stalled.
Seeing this, Gao Shun immediately ordered the drums to be beaten.
"Dong dong dong dong!"
The war drums thundered, and the officers accompanying Lu Bu's army heard the order and once again shouted at the soldiers to move forward.
Soon they came to the city and began to lay a trench bridge.
The trench bridge is not a ladder, but looks like a long wooden board to facilitate people crossing the river.
But then Liu Bei shouted: "Smash it!"
"Smash!"
At the command, the rolling stones and wood began to be thrown down one after another.
Lu Bujun's shield is actually a small round shield. It can only protect the upper body and can be shot with a bow and arrow.
But when being besieged, bows and arrows are non-renewable resources, while rolling stones and wood can be used to demolish buildings in the city or dig them from the nearby river.
Therefore, using rolling stone wood first is the best way.
Suddenly, countless heavy objects fell from the top of the city, and the shields could not withstand it at all. Moat bridges were smashed one after another, and a large number of Lu Bu army's wailers fell into the moat. In an instant, nearly a hundred people were killed or injured.
Many soldiers in the back instinctively started to look towards the main formation, expecting the sound of Ming Jin withdrawing his troops, but unfortunately Gao Shun never stopped his troops, so they could only continue to rush forward, constantly laying trenches and bridges, and they were constantly being smashed.
Smashed to death.
This process lasted for nearly two quarters of an hour, until Liu Bei realized that the opponent's number of trenches and bridges was insufficient, and then he roared: "Open the city gate and fight out!"
"kill!"
Taishi Ci was the first to respond.
"Kill!"
"The city gate is open!"
"Kill out."
Suddenly, there were shouts of killing all around, and the people on the tower began to make noises.
In fact, Liu Bei's army had been prepared under the city tower for a long time. After the order was issued, the city gate was opened as soon as possible.
The reason why Liu Bei chose to open the city gate for close combat was because he had too few supplies, including bows, arrows, rolling stones, and wood, so he had to use them sparingly.
Therefore, when we saw that the opponent's trenches and bridges were insufficient and unable to attack in large numbers, we immediately chose to go to Kaicheng to fight.
The city gate opened, and the two sides quickly engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Taishi Ci had also come down, but he did not ride a horse, because the open space between the city and the moat was less than ten meters wide, and there was not that much space to ride a horse.
When he came down, Liu Bei's army had already killed them. The crowd was crowded, shouting and roaring continuously, and weapons were clashing. Taishi Ci rushed into the crowd and cut down two people in an instant.
The sound of "dong dong dong" drums continued in the distance. Gao Shun noticed that although their trench bridges had been destroyed a lot, there were still opportunities, so he continued to increase his troops and sent two more troops to fight.
test.
But he soon discovered that it might not work, because the open space was too narrow, and soldiers from both sides of the enemy and ours were crowded together. Adding more troops would make it impossible for the rear to kill them immediately, and those who passed by could not hit the other side, falling into the water and screaming.
The noise is endless, and some of it has turned into a fueling tactic.
After thinking for a while, Gao Shun decided to attack from the side and sent people to use all the remaining trench bridges in order to open a gap from the southeast corner of the city.
However, Liu Bei was very good at small-scale warfare. He also noticed this keenly, so he personally led his people to the southeast corner of the city wall and was forced to use some rolling stones and a few bows and arrows to block Lu Bu's army's surprise attack.
The sound of horns, the roar of war drums resounded throughout the battlefield, the sounds of fighting, the banging of weapons, the groans and hisses of people as swords and guns penetrated flesh, and various other sounds.
"At the right side of the village wall, go to two people and suppress them with bows and arrows! Quick!"
With a wave of Liu Bei's hand, the archers immediately went to mend the hole. Under the city wall and several hundred meters away from the moat section, densely packed Lu Bu troops swarmed towards this side. A trench bridge covered the entire river.
, constantly flowing down the city wall.
It's not that Gaoshun doesn't have archers available, but they are located in a condescending position and have a longer range. If they use bows and arrows, they will most likely kill their own teammates, so they can't use long-range weapons.
The war soon lasted for more than an hour. There were corpses everywhere near the city gate, and countless people fell into the water in the moat. It was not until the afternoon, when the blazing sunshine shone on people, making them feel warm and hot, that Gao Shun gave the order to withdraw the troops.
The tinkling sound of gold resounded throughout the battlefield, and the attacking soldiers of Lu Bu's army seemed to be relieved and began to retreat one after another. However, in the process of being pursued, some troops were inevitably lost.
Liu Bei's army also retreated into the city after destroying the remaining trench bridges. Every soldier looked exhausted, some were covered in blood, some were seriously injured, and some fell in a pool of blood and had no breath.
Taishi Ci has completely turned into a bloody man. From head to toe, almost no part of his body can show its original color - some blood stains have dried completely and turned into jet black, and the blood in some places is still wet. Reflecting deep light in the sunlight.
But he was not injured. On the contrary, Liu Bei was injured. When the battle was the fiercest, Liu Bei had to personally lead his men down the city wall to kill him. Since he had the chain armor given by Shen Chen, he was fine, but in the chaos of the battle, he was killed by someone. I made a sneak attack from behind and hit the chainmail with a knife. There was no wound, but the impact made my chest feel tight.
He was carried back by Taishi Ci. After all Liu Bei's soldiers returned to the city, the injured ones were carried away and sent for treatment, while the uninjured ones sat under the city wall and took the time to rest.
Taishi Ci and Liu Bei also struggled to climb to the top of the city tower. They watched Lu Bu's army retreat before they became weak and sat down under the female wall, gasping for air.
Lu Bu's army in the distance retreated like a tide.
But they did not go far, but set up camp a few miles west of the city, apparently preparing to besiege the city for a long time.
The golden sunshine of the afternoon shone into Xiaopei, shining warmly on Liu Bei and Tai Shici.
At this moment, the two of them had the joy of surviving a disaster, the joy of defeating a powerful enemy, and most importantly, the caution of knowing that the enemy would come again.
they know.
The enemy will not give up and will come to kill you sooner or later!
I was so confused when I watched the Taobao competition today that I didn’t even have the idea to code it. I only coded it now. It’s really outrageous.
The next chapter will come later.
In addition, some people are concerned about whether this book is an auxiliary or a self-reliant work. I don’t want to spoil it, but let me say it. It is semi-independent and semi-auxiliary. The protagonist is obviously not trying to create a pure feudal dynasty. There will be no more in another two or three hundred years. Any change in the history of reincarnation.
However, there is no problem that Liu Bei and the protagonist are indeed in the same camp. They both have the same ideals. According to the old saying, they are called comrades. So their people-oriented thinking is definitely correct. At most, they can add the Han Dynasty royal family. Just a flag.