By the time the sky brightened, the battle had already come to an end.
With Guan, Zhang, and Zhao blocking him, Yuan Yao could no longer catch up to Liu Bei.
However, the 10,000 men that the three of them had brought to cover the rear were all wiped out by Yuan Yao. Only a few hundred people escaped. It could be said that the battle results were quite fruitful.
"Returning to court, Liu Bei is already a stray dog, there is no need to pursue him.”
Yuan Yao immediately ordered the army to return, leaving the rest to Ji Ling.
Guangling's prefect, Wu Jing, had already run away. Ji Ling had taken over all of Guangling's affairs and taken over all of Guangling's defenders. Ji Ling now had fifty thousand soldiers.
In addition, Liu Bei had lost another 10,000 men, so they could stop Liu Bei outside of Xuzhou with their eyes closed.
"What's wrong with you guys? Why are you so skilled?"
Yuan Yao looked at the group of personal guards beside him, not knowing how to express himself. He gestured and said.
"Hah! Your Highness, please don't blame us. We're all old people who have followed His Majesty for many years. His Majesty has a bad temper when he was young and always likes to make us cross people. After so many years, we've become familiar with it.”
The captain explained awkwardly.
"Not bad! Very good! He would be heavily rewarded when he returned! In the future, you don't have to follow Old Yuan anymore. You wasted such a good soldier.”
"Here."
The captain agreed readily.
As people who were on duty in the palace all year round, they knew very well who was the real father and who was the fake son.
The reason why Yuan Yao kept these people was to train a strong army.
Although Yuan Shu had accidentally created the fork, Yuan Yao was keenly aware of its restraint on cavalry.
There were no warhorses in the south, and Yuan Yao was destined to have no chance with the strongest army type, the cavalry. Therefore, he wanted to create a type of army that could restrain the cavalry. The 500 soldiers undoubtedly gave Yuan Yao a lot of inspiration.
The good news quickly reached Shouchun. Yuan Shu was extremely happy and personally led the officials out of the city to welcome Yuan Yao.
"Old Yuan, what are you doing?"
Yuan Yao was also very surprised and somewhat flattered.
"Haha! My son is promising, I am happy! Happy!"
Yuan Shu laughed.
He was no longer young, but his son was now promising. He felt very gratified.
"Don't just say nice things, but don't you get any rewards?”
"Yes!"
"What?"
"Your father personally made this honey water for you. Drink it!”
Yuan Shu said unhappily.
Yuan Yao was already the Crown Prince, and the only Crown Prince. Now that Yuan Shu had already given him power, Yuan Yao was in a state of governing the country, yet he still wanted to reward him?
Yuan Shu: Should I abdicate? You?
......................
On the other side, Guan, Zhang, and Zhao led the remaining soldiers to catch up to Liu Bei.
"Big brother, fortunately we didn't fail our mission and have already repelled Yuan Shu's army. It's just that we lost too many troops this time, and basically all of them were wiped out.”
Guan Yu said guiltily. The three brothers did not have much to begin with. This time, they had lost ten thousand troops, especially Xu Prefecture. This made their families, who were not rich, even worse.
"It's fine, as long as you brothers are alright. Oh, and Zilong, as long as you're alright.”
Liu Bei forced out a smile.
"My lord, Xu Prefecture is now occupied by Lu Bu. Should we go to a peaceful place?”
Zhao Yun asked.
"Do you even need to say that? Of course, it was to find that servant with three surnames! Take back our Xuzhou."
Zhang Fei was furious when he heard Lu Bu's name.
"Shut up! If it weren't for you, there wouldn't be so much trouble!”
Guan Yu reprimanded Zhang Fei, causing him to become obedient.
"Previously, when we took Lu Bu in, we didn't do anything to let him down. Instead, we let him station Xiao Pei and even provided him with military rations.
Now that we have suffered heavy casualties, we will tolerate the matter of Xuzhou and not bicker with Lu Bu about it.”
Liu Bei said slowly.
It is great wisdom to endure what ordinary people cannot endure and accept what ordinary people cannot accept!
Liu Bei was definitely a ruthless character.
"Then what should we do?"
Guan Yu asked.
"I'll ask Lu Bu to lend Xiao Pei to us.”
"How can that do? Too cowardly!"
Zhang Fei could not help but speak up when he heard this.
"In the past, Han Xin was humiliated by his crotch, and Zhang Liang was humiliated by picking up his shoes. In order to help the Han Dynasty, I, Liu Bei, can endure any kind of humiliation!”
Liu Bei said firmly.
"Big brother!"
"My lord!"
Guan, Zhang, and Zhao were also influenced by Liu Bei's ambition, and their blood instantly boiled.
Liu Bei had spent half of his life in turmoil, claiming the title of emperor at the age of sixty and establishing the Ji Han regime. He had relied on his indomitable spiritual support.
Unfortunately, Liu Bei's plan fell through.
When he led the remnants of his army into the borders of Xu Prefecture, he met Ji Ling, who had been waiting for him there.
The 50,000 strong army formed a formation and blocked Liu Bei's path.
It is difficult to cross the mountains. Who will pity those who have lost their way?
Liu Bei looked at the endless army in front of him and almost thought of committing suicide. He shook his head fiercely and chased this thought out of his mind.
"Big brother, I'm willing to be the vanguard and lead the troops to charge over.”
Zhang Fei wanted to atone for his sins.
"No, we only have 20,000 men left. What can we do even if we charge over? In this chaotic world, one could live without a city, but they could not live without soldiers!
This is the last of our assets. We can't lose anything.”
Liu Bei took a deep breath and said.
"Then where should we go?"
Guan Yu frowned and asked.
"Surrender to Cao Cao!"
"Will this work? We had a grudge with Cao Cao because of the issue in Xu Prefecture.
Previously, we robbed Cao Cao's Xuzhou. Can he tolerate us?”
Zhao Yun said.
"This time, we are going to attack Yuan Shu according to the emperor's order. To put it bluntly, it is Cao Cao's order.
We fought for Cao Cao, and now that we've lost, it's only right for him to take us in. How can he add insult to injury? Unless Cao Mengde didn't want his reputation anymore! He has already suffered the consequences of massacring Xu Prefecture. He definitely won't make things difficult for us.”
Liu Bei analyzed the situation to reassure everyone.
"Let's go. We'll turn to Runan and head to Xudu.”
Liu Bei immediately ordered when he saw Ji Ling leading the army towards him.
"Here!"
The advantage of having fewer people and horses was that it was very convenient to run away.
Ji Ling led 50,000 men and chased after them at a steady pace. Only after Liu Bei and the others had escaped into Runan did they stop.
"Your Highness has completed the task. Return to Guangling prefecture immediately.”
Ji Ling knew that her brain wasn't working well, so she listened to Yuan Yao's instructions and didn't try to act smart.
................
................
................
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]