three kings

Chapter 372
Under Xiangping City, Liaodong County.

Liu Bei looked up at the tall Xiangping City with his hands tied behind his back, and listened to the battle report from the soldiers. Behind him were three fighters, namely his confidant Guan Yu, Zhang Yan, and his adviser Jushou.

In the distance, Qu Yi walked over with a helmet in his hands and a gloomy face, until he knelt down on one knee in front of Liu Bei and said: "My lord, the last general is incompetent and has lost more than [-] soldiers. He still can't break through the gate of Xiangping. I am ashamed of my lord's expectations." .”

Liu Bei lifted Qu Yi with a smile, took the helmet from his hand, put it on Qu Yi seriously, and then said: "General Qu, don't blame yourself, Xiangping has been managed by Gongsun Du for several years, and the city wall is as strong as Luoyang. , Ye and other strong cities. In addition to Gongsundu's steadfast defense, Xiangping will not be captured in one or two days. General Qu must have been tired after fighting for three hours. , the general can eat by himself."

Qu Yi stood up and thanked En with warmth in his heart. If he was still working under Yuan Shao's command at this moment, he might not be able to escape punishment today, let alone Liu Bei who treated him like a guest without any consideration.

Liu Bei looked at Qu Yi's disappearing figure and sighed, "Oh! Another three thousand soldiers have been lost. Our army's resources are not abundant. How can we afford such consumption? You guys have a wonderful way to break the city, which can help our army break through Xiangyang immediately. flat."

Ju Shou said helplessly: "My subordinates are dull. The terrain of Xiangping City is peculiar. Water attack, fire attack, and soil attack cannot be effective. To reduce casualties, the strategy of cutting off food and water cannot be effective."

Liu Bei looked at the south intently, thinking of the powerful enemy there, and said with a frown, "Although the strategy of cutting off food and water is good, it is too slow. Now Sun Can is advancing rapidly, and his strength is rapidly expanding. If he can't get his hands on the Northland, We simply don’t have the strength to fight against Sun Can to dominate the North.”

"Having said that, but Gongsundu is not destroyed, we can't go south at all. Yuan Shao's strength is not as good as before, but he is still above our army. Our army is not sure to win the battle against him. If the rear is unstable, I am afraid that we will eventually We will be the ones who will suffer. If we want to defeat Yuan Shao, we must go all out without getting distracted. Therefore, Gongsun Du must be destroyed." Although Ju Shou understood Liu Bei's meaning, he was helpless in the face of the immediate situation.

"Brother, if you can't do it, let Yan lead the soldiers to take turns to attack without sleep, and see how long Gongsun Du can last." Zhang Yan looked at Xiangping with murderous intent in his eyes.

Guan Yu said coldly: "No, a strong attack will only bring casualties. Excessive casualties will also be detrimental to our army going south."

Zhang Yan's temper was very irritable, and he said angrily: "It's not right to fight, and it's not good not to fight, so it's impossible to just sit and wait."

At this time, suddenly a soldier came to report that there were three people outside the stronghold asking to see him, and the leader claimed to be able to help Liu Bei defeat Yuan Shao and capture Gongsun to rule the North.

Liu Bei was taken aback when he heard this, but then he came to his senses and immediately said: "Come on, prepare the guard of honor and go out to greet him in person."

Guan Yu frowned slightly, and said: "Brother is a man of gold, and I don't know who he is outside, why should he be treated so solemnly?"

Liu Bei laughed and said, "If the person who came was a genius, wouldn't it be too late to treat him solemnly? Even if the person who comes is mediocre, treating him grandly can show our army's desire for talents. This decision will benefit our army without any harm. Yes We must not be negligent in this regard. Besides, the other party must be a strange person for boasting so much."

The drums were beating, and three thousand well-trained soldiers ran out of the village gate and stood on both sides to greet them.

Liu Bei personally led Guan Yu and Zhang Yan to the gate of the village. From a distance, they could be seen standing outside the range of their bows and arrows.

Liu Bei accelerated his pace and came to the three of them, and said politely: "Liu Bei has met all the sages."

Those three people are two Wu and one Wen respectively.One of the fighters has a rigorous complexion and his eyes are like lightning; On such a young man.

Seeing that Liu Bei came to greet him in person, the warrior with a serious face immediately knelt down and said: "Li Yan pays homage to Mr. Liu. I have heard for a long time that Mr. Liu loves talents. Today, seeing him is as expected. I am willing to join Mr. Liu, In order to make the emperor do the work of a dog and a horse."

The other two were not as excited as Li Yan, they just greeted indifferently and said: "Pang Tong, Jiang Qin pays his respects to the envoy."

"Pang Tong..." Liu Bei's eyes lit up, and he said excitedly, "You are Pang Tong... Pang Shiyuan, the crowned scholar of Nanzhou?"

As early as when he defected to Liu Biao, he went to Sima Hui, Mr. Shui Jing, and asked him to help him by becoming an official.Sima Hui has long been accustomed to the life of a virtuous cloud and a wild crane, and he does not want to enter the world again. Seeing that Liu Bei has the air of a king, he introduced Pang Tong to him, and called him "the crown of scholars in Nanzhou", the number one genius in Jingxiang , and boasted that as long as it is used properly, those who win Pang Tong are equivalent to winning half of the country.Liu Bei was very happy when he got the news, but when he went to Pang Tong's house to seek talents, Pang Tong had already gone south to Jiangdong three days ago.Liu Bei missed him.A few years later, he heard about Pang Tong again, but at that time Pang Tong was already the mastermind of the Sun family, and he helped Sun Ce rule Jiangdong in just two years.At that time, he was filled with remorse and blamed himself for not going to Jiangdong to seek talent.Later, Sun Can broke Jiangdong Pang Tong and disappeared, but he never thought that he would appear in front of him.

Before Pang Tong could answer, Liu Bei excitedly said again: "Mister's name is like thunder. Bei had wanted to see Mr. several years ago, but Mr. He had already left Xiangyang and missed the chance. For many years, Bei had always regretted being able to meet Mr. It is really a blessing for Sansheng to meet Mr. here today."

Pang Tong had never been treated like this before, and said with shame: "Pang Tong is only a minister of the dead master, how dare he be treated like this by the envoy."

Liu Bei said: "Sun Ce's mistake is not the fault of Mr. Lu Xun. It's all due to Lu Xun's child collaborating with the enemy secretly. Mr. Yu has nothing to do with it. Otherwise, with Mr. Sun Can's talent, Sun Can and others may not get the benefits. Moreover, the strength of the two armies is very different. Failure is not a result of fighting. too."

Pang Tong still had a sad expression on his face. Sun Ce held him in high esteem before he was alive, but now that he was forced to die in Shenting Ridge by Sun Can, he has always been worried about him. Before Jiangdong, he made countless preparations, even using Sun Ce's beloved sister as an undercover agent to set up layers of traps.

However, they were all cracked and failed to meet the ideal requirements. In the end, they suffered a big loss at the hands of a young man like Lu Xun, resulting in a complete defeat.

Sun Can seized the opportunity and the whole army was on standby, like a hungry wolf biting its prey, not giving him a chance to catch his breath and fight back.

The only thing he could do was to follow the troops to transfer. Because of his high status, Sun Ce specially sent Jiang Qin, who is highly skilled in martial arts, to protect him along the way.

When he arrived at the appointed place in Wujun, he found that Sun Can's banner was already flying in Wujun.

Pang Tong knew at that time that everything was over, that he had failed, and the defeat was so complete that he didn't even have a chance to fight back.He was really unwilling and unconvinced to lose, because his intelligence has not been fully utilized, and he still has useless strategies, but all this is over.

At that time, he looked at the towering Wu County, and he knew that if he went to join Sun Can, he would definitely be reused, but he was not convinced, he didn't want to just lose without knowing why.

There are only two roads before him.

[-]. Leave Jiangdong and seek the Ming Lord.Second, go to Sun Can.

The first road has a long way to go and is very difficult.Because, according to the current situation, there is no prince in the world whose strength can be compared with Sun Can.The second road, on the contrary, is a bright road, and the reason is the same. There is no prince in the world whose strength can be compared with Sun Can.With his talent, it can be said that success and fame are close at hand, but in this way, he himself will always lose for no reason.It will also be recorded in the history that he failed and surrendered because of Lu Xun's strategy. How could the proud Pang Tong bear this?

After thinking about it again and again, he finally chose his own path, left Jiangdong, and defeated Sun Can and Lu Xun for real with what he had learned.

After comparing the vertical princes, he chose Liu Bei, because only Liu Bei can fully cooperate with his strategy.

So, he persuaded Jiang Qin, who planned to die with Sun Can, to join Liu Bei. Coincidentally, he met Li Yan while passing through Nanyang.

Li Yan was originally Liu Biao's subordinate. He participated in several battles against Sun Can, but ended in failure every time.Discovering his own shortcomings, he resigned and moved to Shangyong to devote himself to studying the art of war and strategy. He realized that he had gained a little before leaving the mountain. On the way, he met Pang Tong and was persuaded by him to join Liu Bei.

Pang Tong expressed congeniality.

Liu Bei was overjoyed and enthusiastically pulled Pang Tong's hand and asked for a long time, Nuan was so enthusiastic that he almost didn't hug him and kiss him on the cheek.

Liu Bei invited him to talk inside, and took Pang Tong to sit beside him.

The guard offers tea, tea is over.

Liu Bei went straight to the point and asked: "Nowadays, the power of the world belongs to Sun Can, can you find a way to turn things around?"

Pang Tong replied casually: "It's not difficult to turn the world around. As long as the lord can take all the northern land, rely on geographical advantages, train elite soldiers, and develop agriculture, you may not be unable to fight. If you can unite with Cao Cao, Sun Can will face enemies on both sides and lose his advantages."

Jushou is not a person who is jealous of virtuous people, but it is inevitable for a newcomer to be treated like this by Liu Bei. He asked: "My lord already knew this, but the problem is how to capture the North and destroy Yuan Shao? As we all know, to capture the North and destroy Yuan Shao Two things need to be done. First, if Gongsun is not eliminated, it will be difficult to go south safely. Second, everyone knows that Sun Can will rule the world, and he will never sit back and watch our army seize the northern land. If our army worked hard to destroy Yuan Shao, and Sun Can immediately sent his army northward, how could we be able to fight against Sun Can?" , support the author, support genuine reading!)
(End of this chapter)