Guan Yu had already led his troops back to the city and closed the gates, so Yuan Shu had no choice but to retreat back to the camp.
After counting, not only General Le was killed, but more than 1,600 soldiers were also lost.
Many of them were killed by enemy soldiers from behind after Lejiu was beheaded by Guan Yu and then fled.
However, neither General Lejiu nor the more than 1,600 soldiers were of any importance to Yuan Shu.
What concerned him was that Liu Bei had dampened his prestige and made him lose face.
Yuan Shu came with great power and was invincible. The defender of Huailing abandoned the city and fled at night. However, he did not expect that under Xuyi City, the first battle would be such a disastrous defeat.
Fortunately, this was not his first defeat, and his mental endurance had already improved, so although he was angry, he could still sleep peacefully.
At least he only suffered a small defeat and the overall situation was not lost. He did not have to be chased to the point of despair and almost destroyed by Cao Cao like he did in Chenliu.
And Guan Yu's name has become a term of fear in the hearts of Yuan Shu and his generals. Including the army sergeants, they always look left and right when talking about Guan Yu, for fear that Guan Yu is nearby.
But he was afraid of returning. After all, Yuan Shu had a large number of troops and it was impossible for him to retreat just because of a small victory.
He also saw that Liu Bei did not dare to lead all the troops in the city to fight, which also showed that Liu Bei was afraid of him and that he still had great hope of victory.
However, after this new defeat, the army needed time to rest and recuperate to boost morale, so the generals were ordered to stay in the camp and not rush to the city to call for battle again.
The generals were also very happy, and many of them even looked forward to retreating to Jiujiang as soon as possible to enjoy themselves, instead of having to worry about going into battle here.
In early June of the second year of Xingping, Zhou Ping and Zhang Fei led more than 7,000 troops to Xuyi.
"General Guan is so brave!" Zhou Ping couldn't help but admire when he heard about Guan Yu's charge out of the city to kill the enemy general. "In this way, we can weaken the enemy's strength and enhance my power. Yuan Shu will definitely be defeated.
"
"Hey, my second brother is certainly brave. If I were here, I would definitely be able to kill Yuan Shu and drive them all back to Jiujiang."
Zhang Fei praised himself, but unintentionally demoted Guan Yu.
Guan Yu glanced at him sideways and said nothing. Even if he felt unhappy, he never argued with Zhang Fei.
"My lord now has many powerful generals. It will not be difficult to defeat Yuan Shu. However, we must strive for a big victory and scare Yuan Shu so that he will not dare to covet Xuzhou again. This will save him once and for all. Although Huailing lost the city this time, lord
But you can win the general."
Zhou Ping turned around and pulled Li Jia in front of Liu Bei, and continued: "This is the military prince Li Jia and Li Gongliang, who is from Pengcheng. He used the strategy of emptying the city to delay the enemy soldiers, so that the enemy soldiers did not dare to pursue us. Our soldiers
Cross the river safely. A brave and wise man is a rare general!"
Li Jia quickly knelt down on one leg to Liu Bei, cupped his hands and said, "Li Jia pays homage to my lord!"
On the way to Xuyi, Zhou Ping persuaded Li Jia to worship Liu Bei as his master and help Liu Bei to pacify the world. Li Jia agreed.
Zhou Ping feels that the most important thing he can do for Liu Bei is to recruit talents. In addition to those talents who have left their names in history, there are also many talents that have been buried. If they are discovered, they should be recommended to Liu Bei in time.
Li Jia is one of the buried talents.
Troubled times are the easiest times to produce talents, but many people do not have the opportunity to show their talents.
Liu Bei had already heard about Li Jia's rearguard's resistance to the enemy. Now he saw that the man in front of him was about thirty years old and about seven feet five inches tall. He looked far less brave than Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Chen Dao and others, but his facial features were similar.
There is a hint of cunning in it.
"Hahaha... Gongliang, get up soon. I heard that you opened the city gate and independent of the city, but the enemy generals did not dare to enter the city. Such courage is admirable!"
Liu Bei helped Li Jia up, held his hand again, and said happily.
Li Jia didn't expect that he was just a military prince, but he could be touched by the envoy.
, I have no fear, the enemy will be suspicious and dare not advance. I know that the enemy general Ji Ling is not a reckless general, so I dare to do this. If the enemy general had less care and fear and sent his troops into the city, his subordinates would not be able to escape."
"The most difficult thing is to know people. If you know yourself, you can make good use of it. If you know your enemy, you can make plans. Mr. Wen'an knows the people of the world. With your help, the world can be settled!"
Liu Bei looked at the brave generals and wise men in front of him, and thought of Tian Yu, Xu Chu, Chen Deng, Zang Ba and others. With so many people helping him, let alone defending Xuzhou, it would be much easier to pacify the world.
Li Jia was appointed Sima of another department by Liu Bei.
Guan Yu went into battle this time and was happy to kill the enemy general with one sword, which made his reputation even more prosperous in Xuyi City.
The Danyang soldiers who originally came with him to Xuyi and now went out to fight with him were even more intimidated by him, which affected the nine thousand Danyang soldiers who were newly arrived from Xiapi and commanded by Cao Cheng.
These Danyang soldiers heard that Guan Yu beheaded Sima Xiaobao in only three turns. They didn't believe it at first, but now that Guan Yu killed the enemy general with one sword outside the city, many people saw it with their own eyes.
They couldn't help but not believe it.
In the army, these soldiers who are in battle to kill the enemy may not pay much attention to those who are resourceful, but they are in awe and convinced of those who are brave.
Only the captain Cao Cheng was quite jealous and afraid of Guan Yu.
When leaving Xiapi, Cao Bao told him that although he had to obey Liu Bei's orders on this expedition with Liu Bei, he must first listen to Cao Bao's orders at all times. Cao Bao was the real master of this Danyang army.
Now all the sergeants and soldiers in the army are talking about Guan Yu, with admiration beyond words. There are even many people talking about Liu Bei, who are also full of admiration.
This made Cao Cheng feel very uneasy.
Zhou Ping saw Cao Cheng's uneasiness, which also made him feel uneasy, but he couldn't touch Cao Cheng yet.
Cao Cheng is Cao Bao's clan brother. It is impossible to conquer him, let alone kill him without reason. If he is killed now, the Danyang soldiers will rebel, and Cao Bao is still there, so killing him is useless.
For this reason, Zhou Ping thought of a way to break up the Danyang soldiers he commanded. After telling Liu Bei, Liu Bei happily agreed.
"Captain Cao, Chen Yuanlong only has four thousand soldiers to garrison Dongyang. I'm afraid Yuan Shu will divide his troops to attack. Now there are many soldiers in Xuyi City. I want you to lead three thousand soldiers to garrison Dongyang with Chen Yuanlong. How about that?"
Liu Bei called Cao Cheng over and said to him.
Although Cao Cheng wanted to obey Liu Bei's orders, Liu Bei would not give them directly, but would give them in a soliciting tone.
No matter how stupid Cao Cheng was, he could have known that if he only left Xuyi with 3,000 men, the remaining 6,000 men might be subdued by Liu Bei.
But he couldn't bring all 9,000 people to Dongyang, not even 6,000. Dongyang didn't need so many people and horses to garrison.
"I followed General Cao's order to guard Xuyi. Now that Yuan Shu's army has not retreated, how can I abandon Xuyi and leave?"
Cao Cheng spoke with great righteousness, as if he wanted to live and die with Xu Yi.
Zhou Ping, who was next to him, smiled on his face and said: "General Guan Yunchang led the Danyang soldiers to the battle this time, which showed the power of the Danyang soldiers. Dongyang also needs Danyang soldiers to defend it, which can suppress Yuan's army and prevent them from attacking. The school captain is
General Pi Xinzhong under Cao Cao should not leave Xuyi lightly. I think it is better to order Sima Li Jia from another department to lead three thousand Danyang soldiers to Dongyang to guard with Chen Yuanlong. My lord, Captain Cao, what do you think?"
After such a comparison, Cao Chengcheng would feel that the conditions proposed by Zhou Ping are much better.
Liu Bei hurriedly said: "What Mr. said is absolutely true, so appropriate!"
At this time, both Liu Bei and Zhou Ping looked at Cao Cheng, waiting for his answer.
Cao Cheng thought for a long time, couldn't find an excuse to refuse, and couldn't openly resist the order, so he nodded and agreed: "Since I think it's appropriate for you and your husband, Cheng also thinks it's appropriate."
Zhou Ping smiled and said: "Captain Cao, if you defeat Yuan Shu this time, you will have great achievements, and I will be rewarded heavily."
Cao Cheng helplessly replied: "Cheng must do his best to attack the enemy."
Liu Bei ordered Sima Li Jia from another department to lead three thousand Danyang soldiers to leave Xuyi and go to Dongyang to defend with Chen Deng.
Now there are more than 26,000 soldiers in Xuyi City, and they have been victorious for a while, so they are not afraid of Yuan Shu's attack at all.
If Yuan Shu did not come to call for war, Liu Bei and Zhou Ping were not in a hurry, because they were waiting for Tian Yu and Xu Chu to cut off Yuan Shu's food supply.
