The first one to run to Huailing City was Wu Junhou who was following Cai Hong.
Seeing Li Feng, Wu Junhou quickly said: "General Li, the grain and grass we were escorting were robbed by bandits on Hushan Mountain, and Captain Cai has died in the battle!"
Li Feng was shocked when he heard this and couldn't believe it: "How many soldiers do you have to escort the food and grass? How dare the bandits block the road and steal the food?"
"We have two thousand people to protect the food, but... there are five or six thousand bandits. We fought hard, but in the end we lost to the bandits, and the food and grass were robbed. Moreover, these bandits don't look like a mob, but they are
Like Liu Bei's soldiers."
"Nonsense, how could it be Liu Bei's soldiers? General Yuan is already in Xuyi, and I have been guarding Huailing. How could Liu Bei's soldiers go to Hu Mountain? I also heard that the bandits on Hu Mountain were killed three months ago
They are already on the mountain, they cannot be Liu Bei's soldiers."
"The weapons used by these bandits include spears, halberds, bows and crossbows. Generally bandits do not have halberds and crossbows. They seem to be well-trained and obey orders uniformly. I am sure that they are Liu Bei's soldiers."
Wu Junhou was very sure. According to his observations, the bandits fought bravely and cooperated with each other in attack and defense. Especially the weapons they used, in addition to knives and swords, also included spears, halberds and crossbows.
Most general bandits only use weapons such as swords, bows, spears, halberds and crossbows, which are rare among bandits.
Li Feng couldn't help but hesitate after hearing what Wu Junhou said so definitely. After a long time, he asked: "You mean... there are five or six thousand bandits?"
"Well……"
Wu Junhou was at a loss for words. He originally wanted to increase the number of bandits in order to justify his loss of food, but in this case, General Li Feng might not dare to send troops to rescue because of the large number of bandits.
But if the number of bandits was underestimated, now that Captain Cai is dead, General Yuan is likely to take action on himself.
"There may not be that many people. The bandits are attacking from three sides. There are about a thousand people on each side. There should only be three thousand people."
Three thousand is the most appropriate figure, neither more nor less.
But it was obvious that Li Feng didn't quite believe the data behind Wu Junhou. He pondered for a long time and then said: "This matter should not be rushed. I have to send someone to investigate first and see how the situation goes before making a decision."
Wu Junhou said anxiously: "General, there are not many bandits. It will take a long time to transport all the food back to the mountain. We must chase it early, or we can recover the food. If it is too late, let the bandits return to the mountain and try again."
It will be difficult to attack."
Li Feng asked: "Wu Junhou, you don't know something. There are more than 10,000 enemy soldiers guarding me on the other side of the Huai River. They are rushing to build boats day and night. As soon as I leave Huai Ling City, they will definitely cross the river to attack. If I
If Huailing City is lost, I’m afraid I won’t be able to save my head!”
What he said was true. There were numerous camps on the other side of the river, and soldiers were stationed in each camp. Smoke was rising from the cooking pots. Boats and bamboo rafts were being made by the river, and there was a strong possibility of crossing the river to attack the city.
For this reason, he sent three thousand soldiers and horses to take turns guarding the river day and night to prevent enemy soldiers from crossing the river. Now there are no soldiers and horses to rescue the food and grass.
All he can do now is to investigate the situation clearly and then report it to General Yuan.
Wu Junhou had no choice but to stay in Huailing and wait for information from Tanqi.
In the afternoon, the exploratory cavalry sent out came back.
The information brought back surprised both Li Feng and Wu Junhou.
Li Feng expressed his incomprehensibility, but Wu Junhou confirmed his suspicion.
"General Li, I just told you that these must be Liu Bei's soldiers and horses. If they were ordinary bandits, there would be no reason to burn the food if they robbed it. Only Liu Bei's soldiers would do this. The purpose is to make General Yuan die without food.
retreat."
Li Feng now agreed with Wu Junhou's guess, but he was still puzzled: "If it is really Liu Bei's troops, how did they hide in the mountain? These bandits were on Hushan three months ago.
ah!"
"Maybe they hid in the mountains in advance!" Wu Junhou guessed again.
Li Feng shook his head: "Impossible. Three months ago, how could Liu Bei know that General Yuan was going to lead troops to attack? This is absolutely impossible!"
Wu Junhou also felt that his guess was a bit incredible, but he couldn't think of the reason.
"Wu Junhou, for the current plan, I can only send someone to report to General Yuan with you. How to deal with it, just follow General Yuan's orders." Li Feng said to Wu Junhou again.
"That's all we can do. The grain and grass have been burned. If we want to raise more grain and grass to transport it, we don't know how long it will take. And if the bandits on Tiger Mountain are not destroyed, I'm afraid it will be difficult to transport the grain and grass to General Yuan's camp!" Wu Junhou sighed.
road.
Li Feng sent people to Xuyi to report to Yuan Shu together with Wu Junhou, and also sent people to the foot of Hushan Mountain to explore the traces of "mountain bandits" on the mountain. At the same time, he strengthened the defense along the Huaihe River to prevent the enemy soldiers on the other side of the river from suddenly crossing the river to attack the city.
…………
Yuan Shu now finally understood what it felt like to be exposed to a leaky house due to continuous rain.
They had just been attacked by Guan Yu for a while, and lost their troops and generals, and the morale of the army was already very low.
Now the army's rations were looted and burned halfway through the road, and there is not much food and grass left in the army. If the army's lieutenants and officers are informed, let alone the morale, the morale of the army may be unstable.
However, Yuan Shu did not believe that the "bandits" on Tiger Mountain were Liu Bei's troops.
"You mean, those bandits on Tiger Mountain are Liu Bei's soldiers?"
"Exactly." Wu Junhou replied firmly.
"When did they hide in the mountains?"
"Three months ago."
"Haha, three months ago, did you know that I was going to send troops here?" Yuan Shu asked with a sneer.
The military prince hesitated for a moment and replied: "I don't know."
"Then how could Liu Bei know?"
Wu Junhou couldn't answer. He only believed that those "bandits" on Hu Mountain were Liu Bei's people.
Yuan Shu looked at the generals Zhang Xun and Qiao Rui next to him. They were both lowering their heads in deep thought. It was obvious that they couldn't think of anything.
"Burning the food and grass does not seem to be the work of bandits, and the bandits would not dare to rob our army of food. If the bandits on the mountain are really Liu Bei's soldiers, could it be..."
Yuan Shu was pacing back and forth, talking to himself and analyzing, but suddenly thought of something and stopped for a moment.
After thinking for a long time, Yuan Shu spit out a sentence: "I didn't expect Liu Bei to be so cunning!"
When Zhang Xun and Qiao Rui heard Yuan Shu's words, they suddenly raised their heads and looked at Yuan Shu.
They knew that General Yuan must have guessed who the "bandits" on Hushan Mountain were.
"In this case, Liu Bei must have sent troops disguised as bandits and hid in Hushan in advance, and then ordered Guan Yu to lead troops to Xuyi. He deliberately sent scouts to Shouchun to investigate, lure me to send troops, and then cut off my food routes in order to
Destroy me! Such a treacherous trick, I...I...actually fell into Liu Bei's trick!"
Yuan Shu analyzed it carefully, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that he had fallen into Liu Bei's trap.
But now that the matter has come to this, there is no point in regretting anymore. All we can do is gnash our teeth and look angry with hatred.
"General, I'm afraid Liu Bei is not so wise. My subordinates heard that when Liu Bei was serving as the governor of Yuzhou in Xiaopei, he personally went to Feng County to pay homage to a man named Zhou Wen'an. I heard that this man knew things like a god and had predicted them in advance.
Dong Zhuo is about to die, and it is expected that Cao Cao will take over as the governor of Yanzhou and massacre the people of Xuzhou. If the bandits on Tiger Mountain are really arranged by Liu Bei in advance, I am afraid it must be Zhou Wen'an's plan." General Qiao Rui said.
Qiao Rui is a member of the Qiao Xuan tribe and a native of Liang State in Yuzhou. She has heard about Liu Bei personally going to invite Zhou Ping, and also heard about Zhou Ping's predictions.
"Zhou Wen'an! Hmm, let me tell you, how could Liu Bei, a mat weaver and shoe seller, be so smart? It turns out that he was helped by resourceful people. Who is Zhou Wen'an from the human race? Why haven't I heard about it?"
Yuan Shu believed that a wise man must be a member of the noble clan.
Qiao Rui replied: "I heard that Zhou Wen'an's family only had thousands of acres of farmland. It was just a wealthy family, not a member of a wealthy family."
"Hmph, don't blame me for being ruthless. When Xuyi is defeated and this person is captured, I will kill him with my own hands."
"General, the food and grass have been destroyed. We don't have much food in the army. We can't stay here for a long time. The current urgent need is to defeat the enemy as soon as possible and capture Xuyi so that we can have food to eat!" As a general, Zhang Xun thought of the key to the problem.
.
Yuan Shu nodded and said: "Well, we can't wait any longer. It's time for us to fight Liu Bei. I want to win or lose in one battle! Send an order to go out to war in two days. The robbery of food and grass is strictly a secret and is not allowed to be leaked. Wu Junhou failed to protect the food. Come here
People, pull him out and behead him."
Wu Junhou was shocked and knelt down to beg for mercy, but it was in vain. The guards pulled him out and beheaded him.
