Chapter 238 If I meet Guan Yu, I will take someone else's head
Soon, the two armies rushed together outside the city.
Cries of killing, screams, and the sound of swords and halberds striking each other, accompanied by the sound of war drums, resounded through the sky.
Slowly, a smile appeared on Tian Yu's face, which was still a little nervous.
"I have long heard that General Guan is good at leading troops, and what I saw today is that he is indeed so!" Tian Yu said happily.
"There are no weak soldiers under a strong general! Look, General Guan has rushed to the front, and the enemy soldiers dare not get close." Liang Lu pointed to the outside of the city and replied.
Tian Yu nodded, stopped talking, and stared outside the city.
Guan Yu wielded the Qinglong Yanyue Sword, slashing left and right. There was a lot of blood on his body and beard.
When the enemy soldiers saw Guan Yu, they all retreated involuntarily, while the soldiers following Guan Yu advanced step by step.
Xia Houyuan found that his troops were at a disadvantage and slowly retreated. If he continued fighting like this, he would definitely lose. He had to find a way to turn defeat into victory.
The best way is to kill the enemy general.
He looked at Guan Yu, raised his sword and patted his horse away.
When Guan Yu saw Xia Houyuan rushing towards him, he was secretly happy and shouted softly: "Seeking death!"
After smoothly knocking down three approaching enemy soldiers, he mounted his horse to greet Xia Houyuan.
"Hahaha... the enemy general is seeking his own death!"
Liang Lu watched from the city and couldn't help laughing.
In Liang Lu's eyes, Guan Yu was invincible, perhaps only Zhang Fei could equal him.
Tian Yu also has a general understanding of Guan Yu's military power and has great confidence in him: "If Xiahou Yuan fights with General Guan, I'm afraid he won't survive. If this is the case, I'm afraid..."
Liang Lu felt that Tian Yu was worried and asked doubtfully: "What are you afraid of?"
"I'm just afraid that the people of Pengcheng will suffer!"
A worried look appeared on Tian Yu's face.
Liang Lu didn't quite understand Tian Yu's words and looked at him doubtfully, trying to make him explain more clearly.
"The relationship between Xiahou and Cao Cao is extraordinary. If he dies in battle and we retreat, Cao Cao will definitely massacre the people of Pengcheng to satisfy his hatred!"
"Then let's let all the people in Pengcheng leave." Liang Lu said.
"It's easier said than done for everyone to leave!"
Tian Yu is now worried that Xia Houyuan will die.
"They fought together."
Liang Lu looked outside the city. Guan Yu and Xia Houyuan had rushed together and were fighting.
However, Xia Houyuan was not an ordinary general. After fighting Guan Yu for more than ten rounds, he still showed no defeat. This surprised Liang Lu. He originally thought that Guan Yu could kill Xia Houyuan in just a few rounds.
While other soldiers and horses were still charging at each other at this time, Xia Houyuan's fight with Guan Yu also boosted the morale of his soldiers and withstood the opponent's offensive.
Watching Guan Yu and Xia Houyuan fight for more than thirty rounds, it was obvious that Guan Yu was gradually gaining the upper hand, while Xia Houyuan was increasingly struggling to parry.
"Xia Houyuan is about to be defeated." Liang Lu said.
"Liang Lieutenant, you immediately lead 3,000 people out of the city, advance from the side, and help General Guan. If you want to win, win completely. After Xia Houyuan is beheaded, you can lead your troops to pursue the enemy soldiers for thirty miles.
Cao Cao knows how powerful we are."
"promise."
Liang Lu accepted the promise, immediately climbed down the city wall, and led 3,000 people out of the city.
At this time, Guan Yu and Xia Houyuan fought for more than sixty rounds.
The more Xia Houyuan fought, the more frightened he became. It turned out that the legend of Guan Yu's bravery was not a lie. If he continued to fight, he would be defeated.
Xu Ding was killing the enemy soldiers. When he saw that Guan Yu was losing the battle with Xiahou Yuan for a long time, he quickly rushed over to help Guan Yu.
Guan Yu saw Xu Ding approaching and shouted: "Don't come near, his head is mine!"
When Xu Ding heard the shouts, he knew that Guan Yu was a man who wanted to save face, so he did not dare to step forward to attack Xia Houyuan, but stood behind him, resisting and killing the enemy soldiers.
Although Xu Ding did not attack Xia Houyuan, Xia Houyuan had to guard against him. When resisting Guan Yu, he often had to pay attention to Xu Ding behind him.
Liang Lu led his troops out of the city and rushed from the left. When the enemy soldiers saw reinforcements coming out of the city, they became even more frightened, and many people began to flee to the back.
At this moment, Guan Yu suddenly shouted: "Suffer death!"
He saw that Xia Houyuan had his head chopped off, and his body fell off the horse.
Tian Yu couldn't help but shout: "Okay!"
Although he shouted good things on his lips, he was still worried about the safety of the people in Pengcheng in his heart.
As soon as Xia Houyuan died, his troops no longer dared to fight anymore and fled behind him.
Xu Ding shouted: "Hurry up and chase them, don't let them escape."
Take your troops and horses and go to chase them.
Liang Lu led his soldiers and horses to pursue them all the way, even running ahead of Xu Ding and others.
Guan Yu didn't rest either, so he clapped his horse and led his troops to pursue him.
After chasing for more than ten miles, Guan Yu stopped, but Xu Ding and Liang Lu continued to chase with their troops. The two of them seemed to be competing to see who could pursue farther, and neither of them wanted to stop.
The enemy soldiers ran very fast. After running for more than 20 miles, they thought there would be no pursuers behind them. When they looked back, they were shocked to see that the enemy soldiers were still chasing after them.
Helpless, many people could no longer run and had no choice but to kneel down and beg to surrender.
Xu Ding and Liang Lu led their troops to pursue them for nearly thirty miles before stopping. At this time, very few enemy soldiers could escape.
Guan Yu returned to the city carrying Xia Houyuan's head, and Tian Yu greeted him in the city.
"Guorang, what do you think of us sending Xia Houyuan's head to Cao Cao?"
Guan Yu threw Xia Houyuan's head in front of Tian Yu and said.
Tian Yu was shocked: "No, if this is the case, it will anger Cao Cao even more, and he will definitely massacre my people in Pengcheng to satisfy his hatred."
"Huh, the enemy generals are nothing like this, but I want to stay in Pengcheng and wait for Cao Cao's army to arrive." Guan Yu said with his head held high.
"General Guan, although the enemy general is weak, there are many enemy soldiers. Our troops are too small and we are afraid of being outnumbered! We'd better follow the Lord's order and retreat to Xiapi." Tian Yu said hurriedly.
Guan Yu thought about it. Cao Cao came with an army of 100,000 people, and now he only has 20,000 people. His chances of winning are really slim.
"Then hang Xia Houyuan's head outside the gate of Pengcheng, so that Cao Cao can come and see with his own eyes what will happen to Xuzhou if he offends me."
"General Guan, in my opinion, it is better for us to bury Xia Houyuan's body. Maybe we can temporarily assuage Cao Cao's anger and avoid harming the people of Xuzhou," Tian Yu said.
"If Guorang says so, then it's up to you."
Tian Yu started following Liu Bei when he was still following Gongsun Zan, and he was quite familiar with Guan Yu, so Guan Yu was quite polite to him.
If it were anyone else, Guan Yu probably wouldn't be so polite.
After Xu Ding and Liang Lu returned with their troops, they counted their troops and found that they had suffered more than a thousand casualties, but they had killed more than 6,000 enemy soldiers and captured more than a thousand prisoners.
Most of these captives were from the Chen State, and they all expressed their willingness to surrender. Guan Yu dispersed them into the army.
Tian Yu and Guan Yu buried Xia Houyuan and began to prepare to leave with the people.
Cao Cao soon received the news that Xia Houyuan had been beheaded and his entire army was almost wiped out.
"What?!"
Cao Cao was riding on his horse. After hearing the report, his body shook a little and he was about to fall off the horse. Qu Wei, who was behind him, immediately jumped off the horse and ran to Cao Cao's horse in two steps to hug the fallen Cao Cao.
"Ming Gong!"
Guo Jia and others were shocked and quickly dismounted and gathered around.
"Put me down." Cao Cao said softly as he was unable to move in Dian Wei's arms.
Dian Wei let Cao Cao stand on the ground.
"Ming Gong, be careful with your health!" Guo Jia advised.
"Wonderful talent, if this revenge is not avenged, I, Cao Cao... I, Cao Cao... swear to destroy Liu Bei and kill Guan Yu's head to sacrifice you!"
Cao Cao burst into tears and gritted his teeth.
Xiahou Dun also shed tears at this time and cried: "Ming Gong, we must avenge Miaocai! Give me 10,000 horses, and I will immediately kill Guan Yu and avenge Miaocai!"
Cao Cao shook his head: "Don't worry, Guan Yu can't run away. Send an order to the whole army to speed up."
"Ming Gong, even if Guan Yu wins, he will definitely retreat. We have too many people and horses, and the march is a little slow. It is better to let Xiahou Yuanrang and Xu Gongming lead 10,000 horses together, and rush to Pengcheng with Cao Zixiao to hold Guan Yu off. In this way, perhaps
You can hold Liu Bei back and prevent him from escaping."
Guo Jia believed that Liu Bei would definitely give up Xuzhou and retreat to Guangling or Jiangdong. If he could hold back Liu Bei's most trusted confidant, Guan Yu, he would not run too fast.
As long as Liu Bei is held back, he can be completely defeated and no big trouble will be left in the future.
Cao Cao believed that Xiahou Dun was definitely no match for Guan Yu, but if Cao Ren and Xu Huang were together, they might be able to defeat Guan Yu.
Xu Huang, in particular, was not easily defeated in a fight with Guan Yu.
"That's fine, Yuan Rang and Gong Ming, you take 10,000 troops and go with Zi Xiao to Pengcheng. No matter what, just hold Guan Yu back." Cao Cao agreed with Guo Jia's suggestion.
"promise."
Xiahou Dun and Xu Huang agreed in unison and led their troops forward in a hurry.
"Guan Yu's fierceness is beyond my expectation!"
Cao Cao remounted his horse and whispered to Guo Jia.
"Ming Gong, although Liu Bei has strong generals, we have a large number of soldiers. Even if Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are against ten thousand enemies, they will be defeated this time! Moreover, General Yuan's two generals, Yan Liang, Wen Chou, are very brave and may be able to compete with them.
Behead Guan Yu." Guo Jia said.
"I hope so!"
Cao Cao felt that the only person who could defeat Guan Yu now, except Xu Huang, could only place his hope on Yan Liang and Wen Chou.
Moreover, I brought so many troops and horses this time, even if no one can defeat Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, I can still win as long as I kill all Liu Bei's troops.
At that time, no matter how fierce Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are, how many soldiers can he defeat with one person?
In the rear army, Ju Shou and Yan Liang heard the news that Guan Yu had killed Xia Houyuan.
The army has not yet arrived, but our own generals have been beheaded and almost the entire army has been wiped out. This is a big blow to the morale of the army.
"I didn't expect Liu Bei to have such a fierce general. No wonder Yuan Jiujiao was defeated repeatedly!"
Jushou sighed slightly.
"Why does General Ju have such power over his enemies?"
Yan Liang said disdainfully, seeming to be a little dissatisfied with Ju Shou's words.
"I am not a powerful enemy. General Yan and Liu Bei have won many times. Yuan Jiujiu, Lu Bu, and Sun Ce all died at his hands. Cao Yanzhou, who is such a good soldier, was also defeated by Liu Bei. We must not underestimate the enemy!"
"So what, we have hundreds of thousands of people, can't we defeat Liu Bei? If I meet Guan Yu, I will kill him and go back to ask for credit from the general, hahaha..."
Yan Liang led the troops and defeated Gongsun Zan together with Cao Ren. He had defeated the Black Mountain bandits with Lu Bu before, so he was very confident in his own force.
Jushou shook his head secretly, feeling that Yan Liang still underestimated the enemy too much.
How can people like the Black Mountain Bandits and Gongsun Zan compare with Liu Bei now!
In terms of military bravery, Liu Bei now has generals such as Guan Yu Zhang Fei and Gan Ning Tai Shi Ci; in terms of resourcefulness, he has the help of Zhou Wen'an; in terms of power, he has the support of Chen Deng, Zang Ba and others.
Especially the people in Xuzhou now only know that there is Liu Mu but not the emperor. Almost all their hearts are devoted to Liu Bei. They would rather tighten their belts and not have enough food for two meals a day than hand over the food to Liu Bei.
As military rations.
This is just what Jushou heard. In fact, although Xuzhou now uses more troops, with soldiers and civilians stationed in the fields, there is not much shortage of food and grass, and the land tax collected by Liu Bei from the people is not excessive.
"Once Xiahou dies, I'm afraid the people of Pengcheng will suffer again!"
Jushou knew that Cao Cao's soldiers and horses were in front, and he would definitely attack the people when they arrived in Pengcheng. This happened to Cao Cao in his previous attacks on Xu.
"General Ju, if Liu Bei is destroyed and Xuzhou is captured, the general may regard you as the shepherd of Xuzhou. If the people of Xuzhou are slaughtered, it is indeed inappropriate. Should we advise Cao Mengde and ask him not to kill too many people?" Yan Liang said.
Jushou also believed that after winning Xuzhou, Yuan Shao should let him serve as the shepherd of Xuzhou, so he was even more worried that all the people in Pengcheng would be killed by Cao Cao.
Moreover, he originally cared about the people and could not bear to see the people being slaughtered.
"We can wait until we get to Pengcheng to discuss how to dissuade the incident before it happens!"
Jushou didn't want to disagree with Cao Cao now. When he got to Pengcheng, if Cao Cao really killed people indiscriminately, he would try to dissuade him and tell him not to kill people indiscriminately again.
Cao Cao and Jushu each led their troops and continued to move forward.
Liu Bei and Zhou Ping also received news that Guan Yu had killed Xia Houyuan.
Regarding this news, the two of them, like Tian Yu, were both overjoyed and worried.
What worries us is also the people of Pengcheng.
"Lord, please quickly order Yunchang and Guorang to protect the people in Pengcheng and leave and avoid Guangling."
Zhou Ping remembered that Cao Cao was angry with Xiapi because of the death of his father, so most of the people he slaughtered were the people of Xiapi.
Liu Bei said worriedly: "Cao Cao's troops are approaching. I'm afraid that Yun Chang and others will not be able to escort the people away in time."
"Yun Chang's new victory has also killed a general like Xia Houyuan. With his power, he will be able to temporarily block Cao Cao's enemies. We can order Tian Guorang to lead the people to go first, while Yun Chang leads the troops to the rear to stop the enemy troops."
Liu Bei thought for a while, nodded and said: "This is the only way. Let Gan Xingba lead an army to respond."
Zhou Ping said: "It's better this way."
Liu Bei asked Gan Ning to lead 5,000 people and rush to Pengcheng to meet Guan Yu, jointly resist the pursuing enemies and escort the people of Pengcheng to leave.
Gan Ning took the order and rushed to Pengcheng with 5,000 men.
Liu Bei led his troops and horses and continued to rush back to Xiapi.
At this time in Pengcheng, Tian Yu posted a notice saying that Cao Cao's troops were coming, but Cao Cao was cruel and tyrannical, even worse than Dong Zhuo, and he liked to kill. The people in Pengcheng should leave immediately and temporarily avoid Guangling or Yangzhou Jiangdong to wait for Liu Zhoumu.
After defeating Cao Cao, he returned home.
The people in Pengcheng know Cao Cao well. He massacred Lucheng last time, and massacred the five counties of Xiapi the other time. He killed hundreds of thousands of people, and their bodies were buried in the Surabaya River, which was blocked and couldn't flow. It was too horrible to watch.
.
Therefore, many people in Pengcheng packed up their belongings, took their young and old with them, left Pengcheng, and fled to Guangling.
There are also some people who cannot bear to leave their hometown and are unwilling to leave.
Tian Yu sent people to persuade them to no avail, so he had to ask them to hide when the enemy soldiers came, and then escorted more than 100,000 people away with 5,000 troops.
Guan Yu, on the other hand, took more than 10,000 people and stayed behind to prevent the enemy from pursuing him.