I don’t know what time it was in the afternoon, but the clouds in the sky gradually increased, and when the sun disappeared and then reappeared, it seemed to be almost dusk.
The right army of the Western Dynasty was chased by the Easterners for a whole day. Many of them also lost their formations and could only walk towards Pingcheng in a daze. When the enemy came to rescue them, they mounted their horses to fight. Invincible would dismount and take a breather. Wait until the Eastern
The pursuit finally stopped, and they suddenly realized that they had been without food and water for a day. Many of them had cracked and swollen lips, and their throats were dry and hoarse.
In the Western Dynasty, Zhang Fei, the governor of Dingxiang, the general who conquered the north, and the Marquis of Zhending County, led his cavalry to fight back and forth among the defeated army. He did not know how many rounds they fought. There were only a dozen cavalry left, the flag was lost, and the water in the kettle was early.
They were exhausted, and the soldiers were hungry and thirsty. They saw that there was still some muddy water in the potholes on the ground. They stopped, untied the horses' face armor and chest armor, and let the horses lower their heads to drink water.
Congqi Wangru said: "Horses can drink, and so can people." He wanted to lie down on the ground to draw water. Jia Kui next to him grabbed him and said: "The muddy water is too dirty, so you can't drink it directly." He took off his turban.
, immersed the scarf in the dirty water, then lifted it up and twisted it, opened his mouth to catch the dripping water and drank. When everyone saw this, they all followed his example and used their scarf to twist the muddy water to quench their thirst.
At this moment, the dust was flying, and a group of cavalry without flags appeared beside them. When he saw them gathering in the puddle, they suddenly stopped. Zhang Fei didn't know whether they were enemies or friends, so he shouted to them:
"Who is coming?" At the same time, he grasped the long stick beside the saddle, planning to throw it out as soon as the other side showed hostility.
The people over there said: "I am Fa Xiaozhi! Is this General Zhang Yide?"
Zhang Fei couldn't help but be overjoyed when he heard that it was Fazheng, and immediately echoed: "It's Xiaozhi! I'm right here!"
The two groups of people quickly approached each other. When Zhang Fei and Fazheng saw each other's dusty and dusty appearance, they couldn't help but think of the hard battle just now, and felt quite lucky to have survived. But then, Fazheng spoke.
The first sentence made Zhang Fei change his face, and he asked: "Have you ever seen your envoy?"
As a general, Liu Bei's formation can be said to be full of powerful generals. Therefore, although the army was in chaos, Zhang Fei had not yet thought about Liu Bei's danger. At this time, when he heard Fazheng asking about Liu Bei's news, he couldn't help being frightened and immediately asked
: "Isn't Takanao in my brother's camp? How come I don't know the news?"
Fazheng shook his head and said: "The battle just now collapsed, and we were all in chaos! No one could be seen at all. Now the Dongren seemed to have been repelled by the dragon head, and I had to take a breath. As a result, the entire organization is now in chaos, and there is no trace of anyone at all."
I don’t know the situation.”
It turned out that the news was just lost. Zhang Fei breathed a sigh of relief. At this time, he heard Fazheng say: "I don't know where your envoy is now, but since the people in the East didn't make loud noises and cheers, he must be fine. The top priority is still
We need to gather the remaining soldiers and return to Pingcheng."
Zhang Fei nodded while thinking: "You are right. If we wait until dark, not to mention whether the East bandits will come after us, I am afraid that many people will become deserters."
He ordered the sergeant to pack up his things and continue to retreat. The two groups formed a group, and then shouted along the road to rest the confused soldiers on the ground. This process was very long, and their group also saw many flags and weapons thrown on the ground, as well as some spare weapons.
The horses lost their owners. They gathered all these things and raised the flags high. At this time, the rout was as smooth as a tributary flowing into a river. However, the organization of the entire team was very loose, and there was a lot of confusion among the soldiers along the way.
There was no order, and laggards and conflicts occurred from time to time. While Zhang Fei whipped the soldiers to urge them to return to the ranks, he also deeply felt how lucky he was to survive this battle.
But how did the left army in the north regain their morale after the formation was broken and quickly launch a counterattack? This question made them extremely puzzled. The answer is actually very simple, just because the military restructuring has not yet been extended to the Bafu Army.
, the Beifu Army under Zhang Fei is just in name only. And only time can slowly change this understanding.
Fortunately, on the way back, they met Liu Bao, Jian Yong, Chang Xi, Zhu Hao, Chen Dao and other Bafu generals one after another. Although everyone was exhausted, they felt a sense of disaster when they met each other.
If you don't die, you will have the comfort of a happy future. Only when they returned to Pingcheng did they realize that they still hadn't seen Liu Bei. They issued an order to inquire in the army, but no results were obtained for a while. At this time, Chen Chong had not returned, and everyone was pregnant.
Fortunately, I thought: "Did the general run into the left army?"
When dusk dissipated and night fell, Chen Chong led the Zuo Army belatedly arrived, but what he brought back was a silent answer: Zuo Jun had never seen it before. There was chaos in the camp, and many generals on the left were frightened.
Fortunately, Chen Chong immediately ordered to block the news among the armies, saying only that Liu Bei was indeed among the left army and was injured and recuperating. In addition, he agreed with Fazheng's judgment that the Eastern Army should not have captured Liu Bei, so he sent another
More than a thousand people returned to the battlefield, leaving Chen Dao in charge to conduct the search late at night.
That night, the Westerners sent out searched back and forth along the battlefield during the day. However, the battlefield was so large and deep in the dark night. People only felt a deep sense of terror, along with the rotten stench and odor all around them.
The smell of blood slowly descended in the silent night.
The partial general Chen Dao, like Fazheng, was originally in Liu Bei's formation and was responsible for guarding the commander. However, faced with the continuous charge of the Eastern Army, the men in the formation lost their commander's flag and the command was in chaos.
He was also dispersed immediately. After learning about the disappearance of his master after the war, Chen Dao felt deeply derelict in his duty, so he took the initiative to search for him.
But after searching for more than an hour, the Western Army found about two hundred wounded people who were dying, but there was still no news about Liu Bei. This really made people anxious and anxious. Chen Dao stopped in a wormwood bush and looked around, and saw the sky above
The crows were flying and croaking, and they couldn't help but say to the servants: "As a general, as long as he is still alive, he will never make a sound. Could it be that he fell into the enemy's formation and was killed? It's just that the thieves couldn't recognize him, and that's why he is now
Just silence."
A follower said: "The general is simply dressed and wears ordinary armor. It is very possible!"
Chen Dao was affirmed and felt even more depressed, but thinking of Liu Bei's kindness to him in the past, he immediately said: "I am just a Henan ranger with a despicable status, but I am appreciated by the general and even risk my life. If I can't save him today,
If you take it back, how can I face the shame of living in this world? Even if it is a corpse, I will take it back!"
At this point, he was choked with sobs. After he made up his mind, he guessed Liu Bei's possible escape route, thinking: "The Easterners are attacking from the side of Cetian Lake. With the personality of the general, will he do the opposite?"
Let’s go, how about breaking out by Cetian Lake? I really haven’t found it there yet.”
After discussing with his subordinates, they all felt that it was very possible. So he gathered nearly a hundred people. In order to prevent the Eastern scouts from discovering anything unusual, they wrapped themselves in black cloth, leaned on their horses and ran towards Cetian Lake.
.
The closer they got to Cetian Lake, the stronger they could smell the smell of blood and corpses. When they arrived at the lake, they saw piles of corpses, many of them headless, and the blood on the ground also accumulated in pools.
Some flowed into the lake, and the blood was diluted into pink. Under the moonlight, the lake water was as dense as peach.
But the Westerners had no intention of watching. They just looked up at the sky and looked at the dim stars and moon in the night. After estimating the time, they carefully took out the fire sickle from the bag, started a fire, and searched on the ground based on their memory.
Holding the light like a firefly, he searched the ground where he had lost his way during the day, turning over the bodies that were pungent with blood and smelling of feces and urine, and identifying them one by one. Finally, Chen Dae fell to the ground exhausted. He had not had a good rest for the whole day.
At this time, the whole body was soaked with sweat, and tears fell down along with the sweat beads.
Chen Dao cried and said: "The ancestors of the Han Dynasty, please protect him. We have lost our ambition and fought hard for the country. We dare not slack off in fighting. Why? If you really still care about future generations, lead us
I found the general, and he nearly killed me afterwards, so why should I hate him?" He sat to catch his breath, his face covered with tears and sweat, and coupled with extreme fatigue, he staggered and was about to fall asleep.
At this time, Chen Dao saw a person walking slowly in the distance, but because he was too tired, he couldn't see the person's appearance clearly. He could only vaguely hear the person asking him, as if he was asking about his identity, and he became confused.
Huhudi replied: "I am Chen Dao from Jinyang Bafu." The man gave him something and left quickly.
Chen Dao felt that what he got was very cold, and he suddenly woke up. He quickly wiped away his tears and opened it, and found that what he got was a short-sheath hidden sword. When he pulled it open, he found that "Siqi" was engraved on both sides of the sword.
, the word "shaking light". Chen Daoyi was stunned. Isn't this the congratulatory gift that former Shangshu Lu Zhi gave to the general when he got married? Looking at the scabbard again, there was a piece of cloth inside, which said: "Three feet by the lake."
Under the black stone."
He quickly called for someone to come and search along the lake shore. After walking for half a mile, he found a three-foot-large stone on the shore. It was completely black and there was no trace of light. Under the stone was a steep slope, almost perpendicular to the lake surface.
Chen Dao stretched out his upper body and looked down, and found a cave inside! He got into it and raised a fire, and saw a person passed out in it, it was Liu Bei!
He was covered in blood, his face was stained with mud and blood, and his body exuded the unpleasant smell of rotting corpses. However, he was still breathing and moaning, clearly still alive. Chen Dao hurriedly took him out for examination.
As for the injury, it was discovered that two arrows had been hit in the back, but the arrows were pulled out, and herbs were wrapped in a towel to stop the bleeding.
Chen Dao hurriedly kowtowed and prayed to the sky, thinking: "It's so pitiful that the general survived like this. Is the man who just gave me instructions the spirit of his ancestors?" When he asked the followers around him, they all said that.
The man was wearing a gauze-free Guangli, so he couldn't see clearly. No one knew how he came, and no one knew how he left.
Since he couldn't figure it out, Chen Dao stopped thinking about it. Instead, he helped Liu Bei onto the horse's back, slowly slapped him awake, and secretly headed to Pingcheng.