Chapter 34: Lower your head

With a "swoosh", a crossbow arrow flew past Ding Feng's ear and instantly rushed to Zhao Yun. Zhao Yun could not avoid it, forcibly twisted his body, and moved away from the vital position. The crossbow arrow shot into his left arm with a "puff". At the same time, his long sword turned slightly and slashed Ding Feng's shield with a knife. The tip of the knife dragged past Ding Feng's left shoulder, cutting a deep bone-visible wound, and blood splattered.

Zhao Yun was furious and roared. He shook the spear in his left hand and killed the guard behind Ding Feng who had just shot a crossbow. He cut down the two guards of Ding Feng with a long knife with his right hand and looked for Ding Feng again. Ding Feng had already retreated five or six steps back under the escort of the guards of the two guards, with no one looking at him, and hissed: "Shoot the arrow and shoot him to death." The guards were shocked by Zhao Yun's courage. When they heard Ding Feng's roar, they raised their crossbows at the same time. More than a dozen crossbow arrows shot like locusts.

The distance was too short, and Zhao Yun did not bring a shield. In desperation, he had to raise his body and put his left arm in front of him. He whistled a few times, and more than a dozen crossbow arrows hid in his arms and chest almost at the same time. Fortunately, he wore iron armor. Although the crossbow arrows shot through iron armor, they did not cause fatal damage. Even so, Zhao Yun's left arm became like a hedgehog, and he stabbed several crossbow arrows, dripping blood, and soon turned into a bloody man.

When the guards saw Zhao Yun being injured, they shouted loudly. Some rushed forward to protect Zhao Yun with the shield in their hands, and some raised their crossbow and shot wildly. Ding Feng's guards had just shot the crossbow in the air and could not react. They were shot several times in a while. Fortunately, Zhao Yun's guards were worried about Zhao Yun's injuries and did not chase them closely, so the defensive formation was not broken.

At one meeting, Ding Feng, the deputy vanguard of the Jiangdong Army, was seriously injured, but he also caused Zhao Yun's serious injury. It was the Jiangdong Army who took advantage of it. Pan Zhang looked carefully and immediately ordered the archers to come forward to suppress him, and shot Zhao Yun wildly at Zhao Yun's position, trying to shoot Zhao Yun to death on the spot. Zhao Yun's personal guards were panicked, and several of them were immediately shot down when they were blocked from the periphery. Others protected Zhao Yun and retreated quickly.

As soon as Zhao Yun retreated, his soldiers lost their spirits and followed them down the mountain. Pan Zhang was overjoyed and immediately waved the flag to chase after him. The morale of the Jiangdong army was as strong as a tiger on the mountain, chasing the defeated Zhao Yun's troops.

Zhao Yun looked at the battlefield that had changed in a blink of an eye, sighed and ordered to retreat quickly. The soldiers spread their legs and ran back.

Lu Xun saw the changes in the front formation on the hillside. When he saw Pan Zhang chasing, he quickly notified Pan Zhang to stop chasing, so as not to fall into a trap. Pan Zhang was chasing happily, but hesitated that the drums he asked him to withdraw. After a little hesitation, the two or three thousand soldiers in the front had already chased to the flat ground at the foot of the mountain, waving their weapons and chasing them. Immediately afterwards, he saw a stream of smoke and dust soaring into the sky and surrounding Zhao Yun.

A thousand cavalry wielded long swords and rushed towards them like the wind, quickly breaking between Zhao Yun's troops and Pan Zhang's troops. They raised their swords and fell, and the horse's hooves flew. The Jiangdong Army, who was chasing them happily, didn't understand what was going on, just like falling leaves encountered the autumn wind, rolling up a blood mist.

"Caval" Pan Zhang was so scared that he turned his head and ran away.

Lu Xun was also surprised. When did Liu Bei's army actually have a thousand-man cavalry? Although he was surprised, he was not confused yet and ordered the archers to come forward to suppress and to retreat to the hillside. Mi Wei and Guan Xing led the cavalry to the bottom of the mountain. Seeing the rain of arrows shooting from the hillside, they had to stop and retreat beyond the range.

"Why did you come out so early?" Zhao Yun complained as he looked at the two young players.

"We saw the general retreating so quickly, and thought he was really defeated." Guan Xing touched his head awkwardly. Zhao Yun had agreed to them that he would rush for a while. If he could not break through the opponent's formation, he pretended to be defeated and led them down the mountain and the cavalry rushed. He did not expect that his luck was so declining, and the formation was about to break through, but he was almost shot to death. The feint failure that did not happen was really defeated. However, even so, he still felt that they had come out too early. If Pan Zhang's troops all went down the mountain and the cavalry came out again, it would be able to severely damage Pan Zhang.

"It's really defeated." Zhao Yun gritted his teeth and pulled out the arrow on his body, causing the doctors beside him to bandage it in a hurry. Fortunately, except for the deeper wounds on his arms, the chest was covered with skin trauma, which did not affect it. Guan Xing and Mi Wei looked at each other. They had never thought that the brave Zhao Yun would have such a messy day. They didn't know how to comfort him for a while, so they had to laugh dryly.

Liu Bei then arrived. When he heard that Zhao Yun was injured in the first round, he was a little stupid and rushed over to see Zhao Yun's injuries. Zhao Yun was ashamed and fell to Liu Bei to apologize repeatedly. Liu Bei sighed and helped him up. He went to the front line to observe the situation without saying a word. Zhao Yun did not dare to neglect and took his personal guards to protect him.

While Liu Bei's army was cleaning up, Lu Xun also reorganized his defensive formation and set up two lines of defense on the hillside with large trees for building camps. Liu Bei looked at Lu Xun on the hillside, shook his head with regret, and returned to the formation dejectedly.

"Zilong, I thought of taking action to swallow Lu Xun's ten thousand troops first and then attacking Panyu again. I didn't expect you to be injured in the first round. Am I destined to not be able to take all of Jiaozhou?" Liu Bei's face was a little dark, and he looked at Zhao Yun with a trace of confusion.

Zhao Yun was speechless and fell to the ground: "Yun was incompetent and failed the trust of his lord. He could not refuse the blame for his death. Please punish him."

"Zilong, I don't blame you." Liu Bei's voice was obviously weak. He helped Zhao Yun up, with a hint of confusion in his eyes, and his tone was as low as a dying old man: "I know you want to take Lu Xun as soon as possible to avoid getting news from the city and attacking our army from the front and back. Then he rushed forward with his life. God did not bless me, but he actually let you, the tiger general, almost die. What can I do?"

When Zhao Yun saw Liu Bei's sadness, he sighed.

"Xiaoshuang asked Gongyou to bring me a letter, saying that some things are destined, and there are destined, but there is no need to ask for them. There is no way to ask for them. I know what she wants to say, but I am unwilling to give up. Can I not be a complete one even if I fight for my whole life and become a Jiaozhou governor?" Liu Bei murmured at the lights, nagging like a broken-mouthed woman. The wrinkles on his face seemed to be much deeper. There was a kind of confusion in his eyes, some unwillingness, some loss. He turned his head to look at Zhao Yun: "Zilong, do you think my requirements are not high, right?"

"Lord..." Zhao Yun cried bitterly.

Liu Bei looked at Zhao Yun, sighed quietly, reached out to pat Zhao Yun on the shoulder, stopped his hand above his shoulder for a moment, and then gently fell down: "Zilong, don't think too much, I'm just annoyed for a moment, and it will be much more enjoyable to say it. Get up, tell me, how can I hit you below?"

Zhao Yun was deeply saddened. He had been following Liu Bei for more than 20 years. Have you ever seen Liu Bei be so depressed? Even when Lu Bu was robbed of Xuzhou by Lu Bu during the war in Guangling, and the military rations were completely forced to eat human flesh, he was not so depressed. He looked at Liu Bei's white hair and suddenly found that Liu Bei was old. Not only his hair, his beard was all white, and his face was wrinkles, but his heart was old. He was no longer ambitious and persevering when he was young. Now he really wanted to be a governor of Jiaozhou, but he wanted to get Nanhai County and be a complete governor of Jiaozhou. The reason why he did not let Cao Chong send troops to help was that on the one hand, he did not want Cao Chong to take the opportunity to insert a foot, and on the other hand, he also wanted to prove that he had the ability to take Jiaozhou. He wanted to prove that he did not accomplish anything for the last time.

That's why he wanted to conquer Jiaozhou with his own strength. He might have known for a long time that it was not easy to win Jiaozhou with his strength, but he still had to try it hard and must give it a try, otherwise, there might be no chance.

Zhao Yun slowly calmed down. He raised his hand to wipe his tears, and said firmly: "Lord, although our army was defeated in the first battle, Lu Xun's army did not gain any advantage. Pan Zhang, the former army, suffered a considerable loss from the cavalry, and the previous battles should be more than 2,000. I see his battle flag. He should have no more than 6,000 people on hand, and the others should be transported from behind to defend Boluo and Zengcheng. Before he had a firm foothold, he was forced to fight by our army. He saw that our army had cavalry, so he was afraid he would be more careful. Even if he challenged tomorrow, he would not be able to hold on."

Liu Bei listened quietly, with no expression on his face, but just nodded slightly, as if he had heard it, and seemed not to hear it, or he felt that something was left unrelated and he was hanging high.

Zhao Yun shook his head sadly and continued, "It is useless for our army to stay here. There are only 10,000 civilians under Panyu City. Once there is a loss, our army's baggage will be destroyed and we cannot fight again. Yun Zhuo's opinion is more appropriate to retreat to Panyu City and make plans."

"Yeah!" Liu Bei opened his eyes slightly, his lips raised, and his beard trembled, and his lips said, "You are right, it's useless to stay here. Our army has only brought dry food for three days. Since we can't get an ambush, we'd better retreat. It's safer to go back."

Seeing that he agreed, Zhao Yun felt less relaxed, his heart became heavier. He thought that Liu Bei's temper would definitely be dissatisfied, and he would fight Lu Xun for another battle, but he didn't expect that Liu Bei would agree so easily and retreat to the city, but he was completely out of anger.

I don’t know if it’s a good or a bad thing in this situation, but Zhao Yun was nervous.

Taking advantage of the night, Liu Bei quietly embarked on the return journey. Zhao Yun, despite his injuries, broke the rear with a thousand cavalry, for fear that Lu Xun would catch up after he found out. Liu Bei and his infantry were in front of him, and did not stop all night. At dawn, he rushed to the city of Panyu.

What surprised Liu Bei was that the city of Panyu was in chaos, with 4,000 Jiangdong troops besieging the camp where only civil servants were guarding. From afar, he saw Sun Ben's battle flag, and the figure of Sun Ben, who was sitting proudly on the battle horse commanding the attack. At the same time, he also saw the familiar Yin Guan's collar blue shirt in the camp on the gate tower.

"Damn it, I didn't hit him, he ran out." Liu Bei was furious and ordered an attack immediately. At the same time, he ordered people to summon Zhao Yun, five miles behind him, to bring cavalry to support him. Although Liu Bei's army had been on the road for a night, they did not walk fast and took two rests in the middle. More importantly, he learned a trick from Cao Chong to eat a dry food cake for eating on the road. Although there was no meat in it, there were pickles, which tasted good. These soldiers knew that they didn't have to eat this after returning to the camp, so they simply ate it clean on the road. Now they were in good physical strength. When they saw Sun Ben attacking the camp, they all knew that once the camp was broken, they would be hungry. Therefore, when they heard Liu Bei's order, they all killed them as if they saw the enemy who killed their father, and they opened their eyes and killed them.

There were more than 10,000 people, although there was no neat formation, so many people were running all over the mountains and fields, not to mention that Liu Bei could barely organize an attack formation with his bulging.

As soon as the drum sounded, the two sides who were fighting lively changed the situation. Yin Guan, who was struggling to support the camp, suddenly softened. God's will, even he himself did not expect Liu Bei to appear suddenly at this time. He didn't know that Liu Bei had failed to ambush Lu Xun, but he only knew that they were all peaceful yesterday. Before dawn this morning, Sun Ben, who had been in the city for several months, suddenly rushed out with four thousand men. Although he didn't know where Sun Ben saw the flaw, he knew that it was really whimsical to have ten thousand men in the camp to block the attack of four thousand men. Despite this, he still had to fight and had to organize the men and send weapons to the camp gate to defend.

The civil servant is the civil servant. Although it caused some minor trouble to Sun Ben, the Yingmen Gate soon had a dangerous situation under Sun Ben's attack. Just as the Yingmen Gate was about to be broken, Liu Bei actually appeared, which made Yin Guan even dare not express his information.

Yin Guan didn't believe it, and Sun Ben didn't believe it either.

Sun Ben knew that the camp was full of civil servants because he received the news from Lu Xun. After Lu Xun defeated Zhao Yun's attack, he heard that Pan Zhang said that Zhao Yun was seriously injured and that Liu Bei's battle flag also appeared at the foot of the mountain. He immediately knew that Liu Bei was coming for him. He sent someone to send a letter to Panyu City to remind Bu Zhi to be prepared and leave the city to meet him at any time. Unexpectedly, when Sun Ben heard that there were civil servants outside the city, he could not hold back and immediately did not sleep well overnight. He pulled the soldiers up before dawn.

After coming to have a meal, he rushed out of the city. He always felt that Liu Bei had only so many people. If he wanted to ambush Lu Xun, who had 10,000 people, he would definitely take away most of his troops. Even if there were soldiers in the camp, they were pitifully few and could not withstand his four thousand attacks. Taking the camp, Liu Bei became a dog of a family. Even if he wanted to fight, he had no food, so he could only return to Cangwu in shame. It was precisely based on this idea that although Bu Zhi was a little worried, he still did not stop Sun Ben.

They all calculated correctly. Once they fought, they knew that there were only civilians and soldiers in the camp, and no soldier could do it.

Now I'm getting a big shot.

So Sun Ben was very proud. He was not in a hurry to attack. He attacked the camp in an orderly manner and wanted to take down the camp completely.

No one expected that Liu Bei would come back at this time.

Yin Guan was overjoyed, but Sun Ben was shocked. He immediately ordered the formation to change and prepare to block it. However, Liu Bei came too fast. Before he could change the formation, Liu Bei had already reached his front. More than 10,000 people rushed forward and immediately surrounded Sun Ben's 4,000 people in the middle to fight. Sun Ben barely supported for half an hour. Zhao Yun came with a thousand cavalry and defeated Sun Ben's defense. Mi Wei rode his horse and took Sun Ben down with a spear.

In one hour, most of Sun Ben's four thousand people were killed or injured. The rest fell to his knees and surrendered, and none of them could escape back to Panyu City.

Everyone did not believe their eyes. Although Bu Zhi at the top of the city did not believe it, even Zhao Yun, Yin Guan and others did not believe it. As for Liu Bei, he was already confused by this sudden victory.

Can you win this way?

Bu Zhi did not dare to neglect, so he immediately sent someone to send the news to Lu Xun, and then closed the city gate and did not come out even if he was beaten to death. When Lu Xun learned that his victory had caused such a result, he was also amused and laughed. He made a quick decision and asked Pan Zhang to lead a front army of more than 3,000 people into the city. He set up camp in Luogang and guarded him to the death. He became a force of echoing Panyu City, and at the same time reported the military situation to Sun Quan of Luling.

After the great victory, Liu Bei was also powerless. Zhao Yun was seriously injured and could not fight again. So Liu Bei transferred Zhao Yun back to Cangwu to recuperate and asked Guan Yu to rush to Nanhai County to participate in the battle.

When Sun Quan received Lu Xun's war report, he was so angry that he was furious that Sun Ben deserved to die. He had been defending the city for several months, but why could not help it? As soon as he left the city, he was swallowed up by others and lost 4,000 troops in vain, destroying the good situation of Nanhai County. Now the total force of Jiaozhou is less than 10,000, and he still has to guard Boluo and Zengcheng. There are only seven or eight thousand people inside and outside Panyu City. How can he fight against Liu Bei's army of more than 10,000 troops?

Just when Sun Quan was furious, Hu Zong brought back another bad news. Cao Chong was very annoyed that he had not sent a hostage for a long time and did not want to continue to tangle. He decided to use force against Jiangdong. He had already returned to Changsha from Xiangyang. Wuling's Lejin troops had moved to Changsha, and Zhang Ren's troops also entered Guiyang from Quanling and returned to Zhou Yu's command. The target was approaching Ganzhou, Zhang He, and Wenpeng 10,000 troops to join the 20,000 navy troops down the river, and had already forced Chaisang.

Cao Chong asked Hu Zong to bring back a sentence, "If you don't send the protons within a month, don't do it, you, the governor of Yangzhou. My 50,000 army will chase you until you have no way to escape. If you have the ability, you can cross the sea and flee to Fusang. I can't make any moves for the time being, you can live a stable life there for two years.

Sun Quan was stunned. He didn't expect Cao Chong to suddenly turn his face at this time. Although his sister gave birth to a daughter, didn't Cao Chong like his daughter very much? Isn't this guy deliberately pretending to show him to reassure him?

Hu Zong was stunned when he saw Sun Quan, and hesitated to tell Sun Quan something. Sun Shangxiang suggested to Cao Chong that he would introduce Sun Shao, who had been studying in Xiangyang Academy, to the General's Mansion. Sun Shao is fourteen years old this year and looks very similar to Sun Ce. He has studied in Xiangyang Academy for five years and has completed his studies and has excellent grades. As soon as he came out of the Xiangyang Academy, he entered the General's Mansion to be a calligraphy assistant.

Sun Quan suddenly knew the pros and cons. Cao Chong did not play with him this time, but was preparing to kill him. Sun Shao had grown up and could accept the Sun family's foundation on his behalf. Jiangdong was originally conquered by Sun Ce, so it was natural for Sun Shao to accept it. Since Sun Shao had Sun Shao, then he should have retired. Sun Shao had no credit and could only rely on Cao Chong's wings. He would not have thought of a puppet of Yangzhou. He would be satisfied with the title of Guanneihou at that time. The efforts of the two generations of the Sun family will be wasted from then on.

Sun Quan took a few steps back in a daze, sat on the table but couldn't sit well. He just sat there, spreading his legs wide, looking at Hu Zong who was kneeling in front of him, laughed inexplicably twice, and then burst into laughter. He raised his head and trembled all over. After a while, the laughter gradually disappeared. Although he still laughed, he didn't sound at all, and looked very strange.

Hu Zong was a little stupid. He stretched out his hand to scream, but he didn't know what to say, so he had to stretch out his hand, open his mouth, and look at Sun Quan who was laughing silently and frantically. Sun Quan laughed for a long time, slowly bursting with tears.

"Are you particularly disappointed with me?" Sun Quan said in a hoarse voice.

"Miss... I didn't mention the envoy." Hu Zong felt his throat very dry and swallowed.

"Hmph..." Sun Quan laughed twice, but there was no smile on his face: "Then she is too lazy to mention me, it's not just disappointment."

"Miss... told a story." Hu Zong stammered.

"Story? What story?" Sun Quan supported the mat with both hands, retracted his legs and sat down, tidied up his clothes, and returned to his usual calmness.

"Miss said that General Zhennan had told a fable, and maybe he would have some insights after hearing it." Hu Zong looked at Sun Quan carefully, and saw that he was indifferent, so he slowly said: "When two rabbits picked up a cake, they were afraid that they would not evenly divide it, so he went to find the fox to be a staple. The fox divided the cake into two halves, but one was big and the other was small. The rabbit who got the cake was very dissatisfied, so the fox took the big cake and bit it a big bite, and then it turned into a small one. The fox bit a big bite on the other cake, which became smaller. Then he bit it bit one bite at a time, and when it was evenly divided into the hands of the two rabbits, only the fingers were left."

"We are the rabbit, and her husband is the fox, right?" Sun Quan curled his lips and said disdainfully.

"Miss... I didn't say that."

Sun Quan thought about it and laughed helplessly: "We are stupid, so stupid that we are not even as good as rabbits. The two families have fought until now, and they can't beat him even if they want to join forces. Whether they can save the big cake with a big finger is a question." He looked at Hu Zong again: "Weize, you said, how can I keep this big cake with a big finger?"

Hu Zong did not answer immediately, but raised his head and looked directly at Sun Quan. Sun Quan had never been seen by him like this. He was very unhappy for a moment, and felt as if he had become a pitiful person in his eyes. He narrowed his eyes, snorted in his nose, and his cheeks twitched twice, but immediately calmed down and replaced it with a very gentle smile.

Hu Zong's eyes were very calm. He looked at Sun Quan and said two words for a long time: "Give me a gift."
Chapter completed!