A mouthful of chicken soup was given to Liu Bei. Liu Bei was as excited as if he had received chicken blood. He excitedly raised his whip and gave the horse a whip, and then galloped in the wind.
Everyone says that "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" respects Liu and demotes Cao, but its description of Liu Bei is far inferior to "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms".
Whether it is the description of appearance or character, it is not clear who is praising and who is disparaging.
The most typical example is that "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" depicts Liu Bei's appearance as an uncivilized ape-man, with his hands above his knees and his eyes focused on his ears. Is this a human being?
He is also very contradictory in terms of personality. It is said that Liu Bei is taciturn and likes to make friends with heroes. How can a taciturn person go around and make friends with heroes? If two people stand face to face without talking, can they be considered friends?
The most outrageous thing is that Liu Bei was said to be inexpressible in his emotions and anger, and then he said in the book that he shed tears everywhere. When encountering difficulties, the first thing he thought of was crying. Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhuge Liang, Xu Shu, Zhao Yun and others all cried.
Such a contrast suddenly caused many people to regard Liu Bei as a hypocrite and believed that his crying was not sincere at all, so they were very disgusted.
On the other hand, Chen Shou was much more objective, "The forefather's fortitude and generosity, his understanding of people and his treatment of scholars, reflected the style of the great ancestor, and he was a hero. He entrusted the whole country to Zhuge Liang, but his mind was clear, he was sincere to the emperor and his ministers, and he was prosperous in ancient and modern times."
Rail."
It means that Liu Bei is strong and decisive, tolerant and kind, and can treat everyone according to their virtues and foolishness. He has the demeanor and heroic mind of Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty. He entrusts Ge Liang with all the major affairs of the country and the major affairs of assisting the prince.
, without any doubt, the emperor and his ministers are actually upright, selfless and confidant people, which can be said to be the best role model in the past and present.
One is the evaluation of Liu Bei by the people of the Ming Dynasty, and the other is the evaluation of him by those who experienced the Three Kingdoms. Sadly, most modern people actually regard "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" as historical facts, but they do not know that if you cry, you can cry out a country.
, if you can compete with someone like Cao Cao just by crying, then the troubled times of the Three Kingdoms would be a bit of a joke.
At least in Chen Mu's eyes, after becoming a sworn sworn brother to Liu Bei, he saw the most real Liu Bei.
Liu Bei in the first year of Zhongping was only twenty-four years old. He had his emotions, his joys, anger, sorrows, and worries. He would get angry when he was angry, and laugh when he was happy. When he encountered problems
Sometimes I will think of my own solution. When I am ambitious, I will be very excited. When I see the corpses of the people randomly discarded on the roadside without anyone to bury them, I will feel sad for them and shed tears.
He has his own opinion, but he is also good at following other people's suggestions. He has his own small thoughts, but he will try his best to accommodate those close to him. He met Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Chen Mu for only one day, and they cut off chicken heads and burned yellow paper to become brothers.
, never leave, 100% trust.
Liu Bei was not the best lord in the Three Kingdoms, because he did not have a starting point like Cao Cao, nor a father and brother like Sun Quan. He had no money and power, and could not give much to his subordinates.
But he is the most suitable lord.
Because you will be very comfortable under him. As long as you serve him sincerely, you will get 100% trust. You don't have to worry about suddenly dying because of the lord's suspicion, and you don't have to worry about him not using you. As long as you
If you have talent, he will definitely give you the corresponding position.
After Chen Mu became a sworn sworn kinsman to Liu Bei, he once regretted why he didn't dare to risk his life and walk the thousand-mile journey to Luoyang to find Cao Cao.
After all, if you follow Lao Cao, you may have a better life in the future.
But after spending some time together, Chen Mu already felt lucky that he didn't go to Luoyang.
I know my own character. The reason why I went to Zhuoxian to find Liu Bei was purely because I was afraid of death and did not dare to walk a long way. If I were to find someone similar to Chen Mu in the Three Kingdoms, only Jia Xu could be comparable.
The same greed for life, fear of death, and selfishness. In order to survive, they will do anything.
Under Liu Bei, he can still be a little careful and play some tricks.
But under Cao Cao, one could either protect oneself wisely like Jia Xu and try not to be on the wrong team. Or one could pray for luck and make small moves without being discovered.
For example, if the bribery of Director Zhao happened to Cao Cao this time, assuming that Cao Cao discovered it, with his suspicious character, he would suspect that Chen Mu had other ideas and kill him on the spot.
But it is impossible for Liu Bei to do this, because in Liu Bei's eyes, this kind of thing may be just a trivial matter.
Later, Zhang Fei made mistakes several times, causing Liu Bei to lose his foundation several times, but Liu Bei did not blame him, which is evident.
The seven or eight kilometers passed quickly, and the official road passed through a low hill in front. Through the branches and leaves of the trees on the roadside, one could already see the city of Yiyang under the moonlight.
"Where is Liu Zhonglang?"
Two people suddenly emerged from the bushes on the right side of the road and asked in Sili accent, startling the soldiers in front.
In the middle of the night, when you can't see the road clearly, it's easy to be frightened and make you sick.
"I'm here."
Liu Bei drove his horse and galloped to the front of the team.
The two men were pawns from Meng Zhen's tribe. They were arranged to wait for Liu Bei here. They saluted and said, "Zhonglang, Sima is already waiting in front. Let us lead you over."
"The way ahead."
Liu Bei had no doubt that he was there. Only the officers of the forward army and more than a dozen generals who were in the camp yesterday knew about his coming to Lu Zhi's army. Even the quartermaster in the rear did not know him. After all, there were more than 30,000 people in the army. Who knew he was here to lead the army?
Which troops are needed?
Therefore, unless Meng Zhen's troops were surrounded and annihilated by the Yellow Turban Army in just four hours, it could not be a trap set by the Yellow Turban Army.
Two soldiers led Liu Beijun to a mountain col about half a mile outside Yiyang City. It was a small hillside, surrounded by hills ranging from a few feet to more than ten feet high. It was sunken in the middle, a bit like
A reply word.
Meng Zhen and more than a hundred people were lying on the top of the mountain looking at the city not far away. At the level of a general like him, because he was rich, he often ate fish, shrimp, beef, sheep, and pork, and supplemented with vitamin A, so he rarely suffered from night blindness.
Seeing Liu Bei coming over, Meng Zhen tapped his chin: "Liu Zhonglang, is the matter settled?"
"The road has been cleared."
Liu Bei said again: "Sima, where is the forward army?"
"In the woods over there." Meng Zhen pointed to the small woods behind the mountain col and said, "You can lead your troops to the woods first and come over later to discuss matters."
"only."
Liu Bei took the order and went.
After a while, Liu Bei, who had settled his soldiers, came over with Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Chen Mu and more than a dozen personal guards.
Chen Mu looked around and found that the geographical conditions of this small mountain depression were very good. There was a slope angle of nearly 40 degrees from top to bottom. The enemy climbed very slowly. As long as he guarded the top of the mountain, it was easy to defend and difficult to attack from a high position.
The only bad thing is that the terrain is too small, and it can only accommodate a thousand people at most. If it were larger, it could be used as a garrison camp.
But now as the highest point outside the city, you can also peek into Yiyang City from here.
I saw a small county town standing half a mile away, that is, almost 200 meters away. The city gate was tightly closed, and the city wall was only about 2 feet, almost 4.6 meters high. You can easily go up with a ladder and start a siege.
It shouldn't be difficult to fight.
You should also know that Yiyang is just an ordinary small county town, not as good as Julu as a county town. It is even less likely to be compared with the five-foot-high giant city of Luoyang in Chang'an. It is normal for the city walls to be shorter.
"Sima." Liu Bei looked at the scattered lights on the city wall in the distance and said, "How are the thieves prepared? Are there any night guards?"
Meng Zhen said dumbfounded: "I have been observing for nearly two hours. What puzzles me is that the city gate is closed, but there is no one on the tower. Only a few old soldiers wearing yellow scarves lit the lamps.
So he went into the tower to sleep, almost without any precautions, it was so unreasonable."
"Is there an ambush in the city?"
Liu Bei thought: "Our division's soldiers were sharp and defeated the Yellow Turban bandits in Dangyin, Anyang, Yexian and Linshui, forcing Zhangjiao to retreat into Guangping. Yiyang Quliang dismissed Zhang's three counties as Guangping's barrier and conquered them.
After these three counties, Guangping, Mapingchuan and Yiyang are so geographically important, how could the enemy relax their defenses?"
"That's what I thought. Before Zhang Jiao withdrew from Linshui, General Lu sent cavalry to follow him. The cavalry reported back two days later. Zhang Jiao fled into Guangping and stayed in Quliang and Zhangsan counties in Yiyang.
It's heavily guarded, but it doesn't really look like it's heavily guarded like this."
Meng Zhen thought for a while and said: "The forward army still has the task of spying on the enemy's strength. Now the enemy's strength is unknown, and we don't know how many ambushes are in the city. I want to get close to the city and do a test. Can Zhonglang be willing to follow me?
Go?"
"Be prepared to go."
Liu Bei agreed without hesitation.
The role of the forward army is actually to detect mines for the rear army. It is also their task to detect the enemy's reality. Now that the main generals of the forward army have gone, of course Liu Bei, who is the subordinate, has to follow.
Meng Zhen was also decisive. He ordered more than a hundred soldiers without night blindness, plus the six-part commander and village commander and other elite grassroots officers, and headed towards the edge of the city in the dark.
There is no moat in Yiyang, and there are weeds and grass everywhere outside the city, making it easy to hide. But the further in, the more frightened Meng Zhen became.
All the way here, there was no obstruction. Not only did the enemy have no guards at the city gate, but they also did not arrange hidden sentries to guard the high grassland in the wild. The defense was so lax that it is unimaginable.
Seeing this scene, Wang Zhong, the commander of Qu, said: "Sima, the enemy is so lazy, why not just order an attack on the city."
"No."
Meng Zhen said suspiciously: "When the spies came to report, Zhang Jiao left 20,000 thieves in Yiyang. It was impossible to guard against such omissions and be careful of fraud. Moreover, our army is lightly armed and has no siege equipment. We still need a large army to come over."
"
"Maybe the enemy doesn't have the awareness to defend the city at all?" Zhao Yi, another song leader, raised doubts.
"But in the previous attacks in Dangyin Anyang and other places, although the Yellow Turban thieves were not strong, their defense was still very tight. They wouldn't have become so unbearable in just a few days."
Meng Zhen analyzed based on his previous experience in fighting the Yellow Turbans, hesitated for a moment, and said: "Keep moving forward and take a look under the city wall."
Using the cover of weeds, the group quickly reached the base of the city wall.
Didi!
The sound of water falling from the top of the head poured on Meng Zhen's head.
Meng Zhen quickly took two steps back and saw someone on the city wall hissing outside. He couldn't help but change his face in shock and couldn't help but said: "There is indeed an ambush."
"who!"
The people on the city wall heard the movement and looked down.
Meng Zhen instinctively wanted to shout "Retreat", but Chen Mu, who was not far away, couldn't bear this guy's series of wits and courageous maneuvers with the air, and raised his voice: "We are the Wu'an Taiping Army. We were attacked by Han thieves and fled here. Please
Open the door and let us in."
Chen Mu had previously asked about the Yellow Turban thieves who were defeated by them. The Yellow Turban Thief was the name given to them by the Han court because they wore yellow cloth scarves on their heads as a mark, and they themselves were called the Taiping Army internally.
The people on the city wall peered down and saw the darkness under the city gate. Affected by night blindness, they could only see the figures of a hundred or so people, but could not see their faces clearly.
Thinking that if they were the enemy, they would not send just this few people to die. Because there were 20,000 troops in the city, so the people on the city wall said "Oh" and went down to the city gate, opening the door and talking to themselves.
He said: "It's your luck. If it's two days later, we will leave. By then, the government troops will be in this city, and you will become stupid fish in the swamp of the mainland, running headlong into the government army's net."
inside."
Well, it seems that this man used to be a fisherman from Dalu Ze. Although he doesn't know the idiom of throwing oneself into a trap, he still understands some of the principles in this aspect.
When the city gate opened, the fisherman suddenly took a breath of cold air.
A cold sword has been placed on his neck, showing a bone-chilling coldness.