Gan Ning, who was leading troops to patrol the city, arrived soon, still wearing armor.
"Greetings, my lord! I wonder what Zhao Ning has to say?"
Gan Ning saluted Liu Bei.
"Sir, Xingba has arrived, you can say it now!"
Liu Bei nodded to Gan Ning, then turned to Zhou Ping and asked.
Zhou Ping smiled and asked Gan Ning: "Xingba, do you dare to lead only a hundred men out of the city to attack the enemy camp?"
Gan Ning was slightly startled, but he didn't seem surprised when he saw everyone's reaction. He immediately raised his hands and said, "Is there anything I wouldn't dare to do? I just don't know if it is during the day or at night?"
"Dongcheng at night." Zhou Ping replied.
"Can."
"You select a hundred men from the army, and start marching out of the city tonight to charge into the camp. But you have to remember that asking you to go out to charge into the camp is not asking you to go out to die, nor is it asking you to kill more enemy soldiers. What I want is
I want you to disturb the enemy camp so that they can't sleep at night. Therefore, after you leave the city and attack the enemy camp, if the enemy soldiers are awake, retreat immediately and do not stay in the battle for too long."
Zhou Ping thought of Taishi Ci's strategy of breaking out of the encirclement in Beihai. He first asked Gan Ning to lead his men out of the city to attack twice. When he left the city for the third time to break out, the enemy soldiers would think they were coming to disturb the camp again, which would make it easier for him to break out.
The reason why Gan Ning was chosen was because he was brave enough. Of course, the other generals also had the courage to go out of the city and charge into the camp. But if Guan Yu and Zhang Fei went out, they were afraid that they would be addicted to killing and would not leave early, so they would be surrounded by enemy soldiers.
risks of.
Xu Chu wanted to escort him to Yecheng again, and nothing could go wrong now, so Gan Ning was a more suitable candidate.
Gan Ning finally understood. It turned out that he was just allowed to disturb the camp. Although there were risks, it was nothing.
"Don't worry, sir, I'd rather disturb the enemy and keep them awake at night."
"My lord, do you think it's feasible?" Zhou Ping asked Liu Bei.
This matter still requires Liu Bei's consent.
Liu Bei could now understand what Zhou Ping meant, and felt that it would be much easier to break out of the encirclement in this way, so he told Gan Ning: "Xing Ba, as you wish, go ahead and prepare."
"promise."
Gan Ning took the order and left.
"Sir, do you want to use Ziyi's method of breaking out of Beihai?"
After Gan Ning left, Liu Bei asked Zhou Ping.
Taishi Ci broke through Beihai before, just to go to the plains to ask for help from him, so he also heard about this.
"Exactly, if we break through suddenly, the enemy soldiers must be well prepared, I'm afraid it won't be easy. If I disturb the camp a few times first, and then when I leave the city to break out, the enemy will think that I am coming to disturb the camp again, and they will not take it seriously.
Can't sleep."
"Hahaha... Sir, you are indeed very resourceful, Zhongkang, Ziwei."
"exist."
Xu Chu and Zhang Wu were outside the door. When they heard Liu Bei shouting, they immediately entered together and answered with their hands raised.
"The two of you are going to escort Mr. out of the city to Ye. The number of escorts should not be too many. Only a hundred people are required. You go and choose someone yourself. Zhongkang, please bring the brothers from Hushiying."
"promise."
Xu Chu and Zhang Wu agreed again and went out to select guards.
Liu Bei was willing to let people from the Hushi Camp follow him. It can be said that he gave all the elite around him to Zhou Ping.
But compared with the people in the city, these one hundred Hushi camp guards are really nothing.
Guan Yu and Zhang Fei went out to patrol the city. Mi Zhu and Zhuge Jin also went out to appease the people in the city. Zhuge Liang and others also left the meeting hall and went about their business.
At this time, only Liu Bei and Zhou Ping were left in the hall.
"Sir, if the imperial seal was given to Yuan Benchu, will he harm the emperor because of it?"
Liu Bei was worried that after Yuan Shao obtained the imperial seal, he would depose the emperor and establish himself as emperor.
After all, Yuan Shao's current power is really powerful and unmatched.
"No, if Yuan Benchu wants to destroy the emperor, neither the lord nor Cao Cao will agree. And Liu Jingzhou, unless... Cao Cao and the lord have no soldiers, otherwise even if he has this intention, he will not dare to act rashly."
"I gave the jade seal to Yuan Benchu, I'm afraid he won't return it to the emperor!" Liu Bei worried again.
Zhou Ping smiled and said: "Don't worry, my lord, Ping will let him return the jade seal to the emperor. He will also let the emperor and all the ministers in the court know that the jade seal passed down to the country was obtained by the lord from Yuan Shu, and it was the lord who gave it to General Yuan. Let him
He returns the favor on behalf of the Emperor."
Liu Bei said happily: "If this can be done, of course it will be good. But if this is the case, will Yuan Benchu still be willing to withdraw his troops?"
"I will wait until the Jizhou soldiers retreat before letting people spread the word in Yecheng."
"Hahaha... If this is the case, Yuxi's friendship will not be in vain."
Xu Chu selected a hundred people to report to Liu Bei.
Among the one hundred people, fifty were knights who had followed Xu Chu before, another thirty were selected by Zhang Wu who knew how to ride and shoot, and twenty were strong and brave men who missed the opportunity.
Liu Bei asked Xu Chu and Zhang Wu to train these 100 people, especially the 30 cavalry and archers. When breaking through, they would need to resist the enemy from a distance, and they would need to be better at riding and archery.
After arranging for Xu Chu and Zhang Wu to leave, Liu Bei returned to his room, put on his armor, and took Zhou Ping out to patrol the city.
The two of them took their guards and went directly to the east city gate.
Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Gan Ning were all here, observing the enemy camp outside the city.
"You are all here!" Liu Bei said.
"Lord!"
"Brother!"
"Brother!"
Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Gan Ning saluted.
"Xingba, where are you going to attack the camp from?"
Zhou Ping asked, looking at the enemy camp in the distance outside the city.
"Lord, sir, look," Gan Ning pointed to the enemy camp outside the city and said, "the enemy camp outside the city is divided into three camps: left, middle and right. Judging from the distribution of the camps, one of the camps should have ten thousand horses, and the left and right camps each have five
Thousand. I am preparing to attack the enemy's middle camp and rush straight to the enemy general's tent..."
"No." Before Gan Ning could finish speaking, Zhou Ping said.
"Why not? Sir, are you afraid that I won't be able to reach the enemy general's tent?" Gan Ning was puzzled.
Zhou Ping waved his hand: "No, of course Xingba dares to charge, and he can also rush to the enemy general's tent. But I also said that this time the purpose is to disturb the enemy, not to capture the enemy general, nor to kill the enemy general.
"
"Why?" Gan Ning was even more confused.
Zhou Ping looked around to make sure that no outsiders were present, and then said: "I didn't explain it to you just now, but I can tell you clearly now that I asked you to lead troops to disturb the enemy this time, in order to make the enemy paralyzed. You led troops to attack for two consecutive nights.
If we rush into the enemy camp and then quickly retreat, the enemy will think that we just don’t want them to sleep peacefully..."
"Sir, don't you think so?" Gan Ning asked hurriedly.
"Of course, the enemy troops are surrounding the city on all sides. It is useless to disturb the enemy in this way. After you attack the enemy camp for two consecutive nights, I will break out of the city with Zhongkang Ziwei on the third night and go to Yecheng to persuade General Yuan to retreat. At this time, the enemy is surrounded
I thought we were harassing and leaving, but I didn't expect that we really broke through. Therefore, you must not rush directly to the enemy general's camp, let alone hurt the enemy general. Otherwise, it will be difficult for me to persuade General Yuan to retreat.
"
Gan Ning suddenly said: "I understand, sir, you want to be false first and then true."
"Yes, but this matter must be kept secret and cannot be mentioned to the soldiers in the charge camp. If they are captured by the enemy generals, it will be difficult for me to leave the city. Just say that we are just disturbing the enemy so that they cannot sleep peacefully."
Zhou Ping was afraid that if any of the soldiers brought out by Gan Ning were captured, they would reveal under torture that he wanted to break out of the city.
"Ning understands, where does that gentleman think I should attack?"
Gan Ning said and looked outside the city.
Zhou Ping pointed to the enemy camp in the distance outside the city: "The enemy soldiers are divided into three camps, and there are two roads leading to the outside. I want to break through from the north road, so you must attack the enemy's north camp. If you attack the middle camp, the middle camp will be attacked."
If General Yan Liang is here, both the northern and southern battalions will send troops to rescue them. If we rush to the northern camp, there may be troops from the middle camp to rescue us on the first night, but after they see that we are just harassing and retreat, even if they still come to rescue the second night,
Three nights will never come."
"Haha, sir, that's exactly what you are thinking. I wonder how long you want me to harass you?"
"After the enemy soldiers wake up and are about to surround you, you should retreat immediately. Do not stay for a long time. When you retreat, you can shout loudly. Yi De will lead a hundred people to meet you outside the city gate."
"No." Gan Ning responded with his hands raised.
Zhang Fei, however, seemed unhappy: "Sir, why don't you let me go out of the city to rush to the camp, but only let me meet you at the city gate?"
Zhou Ping did not answer him, but looked at Liu Bei, because no matter how he explained, Zhang Fei and Gan Ning would be dissatisfied.
Liu Bei understood and glared at Zhang Fei: "Yide, this is a military order, just take it."
"Brother..."
"If you don't want to, just let Yun Chang go."
Zhang Fei said anxiously: "I am willing, can't I do it if I am willing?"
Zhou Ping followed Liu Bei on a tour of the city and returned home in the evening.
When he returned home, he saw his daughter Zhou Ning and Gan Qian Daqiao standing in the courtyard together, seemingly waiting for him to come home.
When Zhou Ning saw him, he called out "Daddy" and ran over, reaching out for him to hug him.
"It's cold outside, why don't you stay inside and what are you doing standing outside?"
Zhou Ping picked up Zhou Ning, looked at Gan Qian and asked.
Gan Qian and Da Qiao get along very well, and they call each other sisters.
In terms of appearance, Da Qiao is better than Gan Qian. In terms of talent, Da Qiao is also much better than Gan Qian.
But in terms of housekeeping, Da Qiao was far inferior to Gan Qian, and Zhou Ping did not neglect Gan Qian just because he had Da Qiao.
Normally, when dealing with the two of them, I still favor Gan Qian slightly. After all, Gan Qian is a wife, but Da Qiao is just a concubine.
Fortunately, Da Qiao didn't care too much and didn't complain in his pillow.
"Aning said he would wait for you to come home, so he forced us to wait outside." Gan Qian replied softly.
"Let's go inside."
Zhou Ping entered the room first, followed by Gan Qian and Da Qiao.
"Husband, the situation in the city is getting worse and worse. Doesn't my lord have a plan to retreat from the enemy?" Gan Qian asked after entering the house.
"Yes, don't worry, as long as I'm here, you will be fine."
Zhou Ping didn't want to tell them his plan to break out of the city now. Firstly, he wanted to keep it secret, and secondly, he didn't want them to worry too early. He had to wait until the night before he left.
Gan Qian was worried and asked more questions. After hearing what Zhou Ping said, she knew that he didn't want to talk too much, so she stopped asking.
Da Qiao would not ask more about these things. She believed in Zhou Ping's ability and knew that she would be safe with Zhou Ping around.
Even if he were to die, he would die with Zhou Ping.
This is a man who tells himself many strange stories, and many of the things he tells are things he cannot imagine at all.
Moreover, he also hums some strange tunes. Although he thought they were vulgar when he first heard them, the more he listened to them, the more he found them pleasant.
What's more, Zhou Ping would often recite poems to her. Well, this is a man who knows everything and is funny!
As night fell, Mi Zhu and Liu Bei were sitting in the room of the governor's mansion. Mi Zhu called all the servants out.
"Xuande, do you really want Zhou Wen'an to take the imperial seal to Yecheng?" Mi Zhu asked in a low voice.
"Of course, what's wrong?"
Liu Bei asked in confusion, feeling that Mi Zhu's behavior was a bit strange.
"Do you think Yuan Benchu will retreat just because he got the imperial seal?" Mi Zhu asked again.
Liu Bei did not answer immediately and fell into deep thought.
After a while, he shook his head: "If we have to pass on the imperial seal, it may be difficult to get him to retreat, but Wen An will convince him. I have confidence in you, sir."
"Now that Cao Cao's army is besieging the city, Xuzhou is in danger. What if...if Zhou Wen'an brought the imperial seal to Yecheng and handed it over to General Yuan, what if he never came back? If this is true, no matter what happened during the siege of Xiapi
Whether the enemy will retreat or not, Zhou Wen'an will definitely be put into great use by General Yuan. I'm worried... that he will never return!"
Liu Bei said sternly: "Impossible, sir, he is not like that! Besides, his family members are all in Xiapi, how could he never come back?"
"My lord, people's hearts are unpredictable! If Zhou Wen'an can't persuade Yuan Benchu to retreat, he will never return to Xiapi. He only has one daughter. If he is favored by General Yuan, will he still have no wives?" Mi Zhu said in a low voice again.
.
"Then what do you want? Don't you want him to go to Yecheng?" Liu Bei asked softly.
"Of course I want to go. If he can persuade General Yuan to retreat, that would be great. However, I can ask Yide to go with him and protect him on the way."
Liu Bei hesitated.
Of course I believed that Zhou Ping would not betray, but he asked him to take the imperial seal to Yecheng and hand it over to Yuan Shao. If, as Mi Zhu said, Yuan Shao could not be persuaded to retreat, then he would most likely stay with Yuan Shao.
If this is really the case... Liu Bei quickly shook his head, how could Zhou Wen'an be such a person? He was overthinking it!
However, Mi Zhu also reminded himself that asking Zhang Fei to follow him and protect him with Xu Chu and Zhang Wu would better ensure his safety and protect him to Yecheng.
Only when Zhou Wen'an arrived in Yecheng and met Yuan Shao could the siege of Xiapi be easily broken.
"Zizhong, Wen'an has been with me for many years since Yuzhou. Along the way, he has worked for me through life and death. He is definitely not a traitor seeking glory. You think too much and look down upon me! Yunchang, Yide,
And you and Wen An are the people I trust most, and there is no doubt about it. This matter cannot be discussed anymore. As for letting Yide go to Ye with him, I think it is feasible. With Yide protecting each other, it will be easier for him to break out.
.”
Mi Zhu didn't know what Liu Bei was thinking, thinking that he agreed to let Zhang Fei go with him because he was as wary of Zhou Ping as he was, so he hurriedly responded: "No."
After sending Mi Zhu away, Liu Bei sat alone in his room, thinking of Zhou Ping who had followed him for all these years.
Starting from the state of Pei, Zhou Ping had already recruited Xu Chu brothers and the group of knights for himself. When he arrived in Xuzhou, he stabilized Xuzhou forces such as Xiapi Chen family and Zangba Cao Bao for himself, and defeated Yuan Shu for himself in Xuyi.
Pi She ambushed Lu Bu and saved Xuzhou.
Later, he recruited Tai Shici and Lu Su, as well as Zhuge Jin, Xu Sheng, Gan Ning and Gao Shun, all of whom he recruited for himself.
Now that he was able to capture the three counties of Yangzhou, Zhou Wen'an also made great contributions.
How could such a person betray himself?
Although Xiapi is now surrounded by Cao Cao's soldiers, they are not ready to break the city immediately. As long as they hold on to the city, I believe they can hold it.
The Imperial Seal... It is useless to keep this thing by myself now. The only thing that should be done is to return it to the Emperor.
Zhou Ping took the risk to break out of the city just to save the entire city of Pi.
