Three Kingdoms: I switched to Liu Bei, why are you crying, Cao Cao?

Chapter 41 Internal and external cooperation, and an ambush?
Let’s not talk about how Chen Gong was thinking hard in prison. After Wang Kaixing came out of prison, he headed all the way to the county government.

He wanted to find out Qin Zhen's background, but learned that Liu Bei and others had already left the city.

He couldn't confirm Qin Zhen's identity at the moment, and he had no way to reply to Chen Gong. He could only think secretly and try to find a way to confirm Qin Zhen's identity.

With all the action going on, it was already night before we knew it.

However, Yuan Shu's army had a total of more than 60,000 troops. After entering Xuzhou, Zhang Xun and others divided their troops and marched north from Shouchun, passing through Zhongli and entering Xia Pi.

He also divided his troops into different places, with Lei Bu, Chen Lan, Chen Ji and others heading south, with Ji Ling supporting them from behind. A total of seven routes attacked the territory of Xia Pi State.

They plundered counties and prefectures along the way, and countless families in Xuzhou were destroyed and people died.

Hearing that Liu Bei of Xiaopei was sending troops to help, Zhang Xun ordered troops from all over to gather together, and gathered nearly 40,000 troops including Qiao Rui, Han Xian, Yang Feng, etc. to march north together.

When he arrived outside the city of Xia Pi, he heard that Liu Bei and Lu Bu had joined forces. Fearing that he could not win the battle, he set up camp thirty miles outside the city.

At night, Zhang Xun sat in the main seat and asked the generals:

"We are here to attack Lu Bu on the orders of His Majesty, but we never expected Liu Bei to lead his troops to help us!"

"Now that the two armies have joined forces, they are forming a pincer attack on each other. How should our army attack them?"

Although Zhang Xun is not well-known in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, he was actually a general under Yuan Shu, and was even more valued than Ji Ling.

As soon as Yuan Shu proclaimed himself emperor, he entrusted him with important tasks.

Compared with other generals, his status is superior.

Hearing Zhang Xun's words, Qiao Rui hurriedly bowed and said:

"Liu Bei and Lu Bu are both good fighters. If they hold on, our army will have trouble attacking effectively!"

"For now, we can mobilize all the generals to go north and join forces with our army to attack them. We should be able to win!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Xun nodded in agreement. In fact, he had the same idea.

But even though he had this in mind, he still had to consider everyone's opinions. Seeing Han Xian and Yang Feng remained silent, he asked:
"Do the two generals have any good ideas?"

The two of them had already harbored rebellious thoughts in their hearts, so they immediately bowed and said:
"We have no good plan, we will obey the general's orders!"

Both of them had brought their own troops and horses to surrender, and both had their own troops and had their own plans. Zhang Xun saw this and did not doubt it, so he stood up and said:

"In that case, everyone go down and have a rest!"

"Our troops have come a long way and our soldiers are tired. We must guard against a night attack by the enemy. We must be alert and do not slack off!"

Qiao Rui and others all accepted the order and said yes!
Upon seeing this, Zhang Xun thought that since he had more soldiers than himself, as long as he was well prepared, the enemy's night attack would not have much impact, so he simply returned to the camp to rest and led the three men to take turns on duty.

The three of them walked out of the camp, and Qiao Rui said:
"You two go on guard duty, I will take over in the second half of the night!"

The two men had something on their minds, so they just agreed and left the tent.

As they walked out of the tent, Yang Feng said:

"This is God's help. Today, Zhang Xun asked us to guard the place where he will die!"

Both of them were born as thieves, so they are good at doing this kind of business!
However, Han Xian whispered:

"Don't make any noise. Wait until the generals are asleep before you act!"

Yang Feng knew that this was a serious matter and he did not dare to slack off, so he agreed and left.

While ordering the soldiers to guard the camp strictly, he also mobilized his own troops to take over the task of patrolling the camp.

At this time, the gate of Lu Bu's camp opened, and Lu Bu, dressed in armor and riding on his Red Hare, led his troops out.

In Liu Bei's camp, Zhang Fei also led his troops out of the camp with Fu Shiren and 6,000 soldiers.

Liu Bei secretly led Chen Dao straight eastward, leaving only a young general Xiahou Bo to guard the camp.

Speaking of Xiahou Bo, he is not famous, but he is also a veteran general under Liu Bei.

However, his rank was too low, making it difficult for him to be a commander, so his reputation was not well-known.

At this time, Lao Liu wanted to rush out in full force, but thinking that Qin Zhen was still in the camp, he left behind a thousand soldiers led by Xiahou Bo to guard Qin Zhen.

On the other side, after Zhang Fei left the camp, he walked all the way to the outside of Yuan Shu's camp without a torch and covering his horse's mouth.

At the second watch, Yang Feng and his confidants learned about the movements outside the camp and took immediate action.

The two men divided their forces and set fire everywhere, and then opened the camp gate.

Seeing this, Lu Bu was overjoyed. He immediately waved his halberd and shouted:
"All troops, listen up and follow me into the camp!"

As soon as the order was given, hundreds of his cavalrymen filed in, and thousands of elite soldiers poured directly into the camp.

In an instant, flames broke out in Yuan Shu’s camp and shouts of killing continued.

In Liu Bei's army in the rear camp, Fu Shiren saw this and hurriedly said to Zhang Fei:

"General, there is a fire in the camp. Our troops can be mobilized!"

But Zhang Fei heard this and shook his head:

"Why are you so impatient? Let's wait until Lu Bu has fought for a while before we move!"

Although Fu Shiren rebelled in the later period, he was actually loyal and hardworking in the early period.

Seeing Zhang Fei like this, he thought Zhang Fei was angry, so he hurriedly said:

"General Zhang, please don't be angry. The military advisor has ordered us to capture Zhang Xun."

"Now that rebellion has broken out, we can charge into the camp and confuse their minds!"

When Zhang Fei heard this, he smiled triumphantly and said:

"It is precisely because he asked me to capture Zhang Xun that you are not allowed to enter now!"

"Now our army is working together from the inside and outside, and Lu Bu has also attacked the front camp, Yuan Shu's troops are in chaos. If our army blocks the camp gate, the enemy will charge at all costs!"

"So if our army doesn't move, the enemy will think there's no one in the rear camp and will try to escape from here. We should wait for them to tire themselves out and then we can catch the big fish!"

At this point, he was already confident:
"Military Advisor, do you want to capture Zhang Xun? Today I will capture Zhang Xun and all the generals together. Let's see what he has to say!"

Although Zhang Fei is usually noisy, he actually understands military tactics and strategies.

It’s a pity that he has never liked to use his brain and doesn’t lead troops alone, resulting in no outstanding achievements.

Now that Qin Zhen has arrived, Zhang Fei is eager to show his talents, so he rarely uses his brain.

Fu Shiren had never seen Zhang Fei like this before, and he was secretly surprised, but he didn't say anything.

At this time, as Zhang Fei had expected, a fire broke out in Yuan Shu's army and Lu Bu broke into the camp, causing chaos in the entire camp.

Zhang Xun was in a panic, so he put on his armor and walked out of the tent. When he saw people, he asked:
"Where is the commotion? Why did the enemy break into the camp?"

A soldier was caught by him and said in panic:

"I really don't know. I only know that there was a fire in the camp and there was a commotion everywhere. I really don't know how the enemy entered the camp!"

"Waste!" Zhang Xun threw the soldier away, returned to the camp, took his sword and walked out, shouting:
"Don't be confused, follow me to meet the enemy!"

He immediately gathered soldiers from all directions, trying to reverse the situation.

But as soon as they left the central army, they saw Qiao Rui coming forward, covered in blood:
"General, hurry up. Han Xian and Yang Feng are causing chaos. Welcome Lu Bu into the camp!"

"We have now broken through our front camp!"

"How dare you two thieves do this!"

Zhang Xun heard this, his eyes widened, he raised his sword and said:

"Follow me to the front camp and make sure to drive away the enemy!"

When Qiao Rui heard this, he hurriedly advised:
"Our army is in disarray. How can we fight back? Lu Bu is approaching. Please retreat quickly!"

Although Zhang Xun was angry, he was still sober. When he heard the name Lu Bu, his heart sank. He looked around and said:
"There's a fire in the camp now, where can we retreat?"

Qiao Rui looked around and said hurriedly:

"There are no enemy troops in the rear camp, you can retreat from the rear camp!"

Zhang Xun frowned when he heard this:

"Liu Bei and Lu Bu are working together. Since there are soldiers in the front camp, how can there be no soldiers in the back camp?"

"If our army goes from the rear camp, we will be ambushed by the enemy!"

Qiao Rui heard this and pointed to the west again:
"Maybe we can escape from the west gate!"

Zhang Xun shook his head again and said:
"The west gate is close to our territory, the enemy must be ambushing here!"

"We should leave from the east gate!"

Thinking of this, he immediately jumped on his horse and rode out.

Seeing this, Qiao Rui hurriedly followed behind.

The two men escaped, gathering soldiers along the way, and finally gathered two to three thousand people, and fought their way out of the east gate.

As they moved, Zhang Fei heard the noise from the east gate from a distance and was startled:

"Oh no, the enemy is trying to escape!"

He thought to himself that he was facing the south gate of the rear camp, why didn't the enemy escape yet? He didn't expect the enemy to attack from the east gate. Zhang Fei shouted hurriedly:
"All the generals, listen to my orders and follow me to chase the enemy!"

He hurriedly rode out on his horse and chased after Zhang Xun and others.

The men under his command were well-rested and strong, and were no match for Yuan Shu's army. After a short while, they caught up with Yuan Shu's army.

Hearing the noise behind him, Qiao Rui said:
"General, go ahead. We will stop the enemy!"

Without waiting for Zhang Xun's reply, he turned his horse around and rushed towards Zhang Fei.

"General Qiao, be careful!"

Zhang Xun gave a warning, but knowing the urgency of the situation, he rode away.

Zhang Fei was so intent on catching Zhang Xun that he bumped into Qiao Rui and the others head-on. He heard a voice saying:

"Enemy general, stop being crazy. Qiao Rui is here!"

When Zhang Fei heard this and saw the man, he became angry and rushed out with his spear in hand:

"Don't try to stop me!"

As for Qiao Rui, he suddenly thrust out a spear.

Qiao Rui quickly dodged.

But Zhang Fei retracted his spear, swept it violently, and with a clang, it hit his sword directly.

Seeing the fire from the weapon burst, Qiao Rui felt a huge force coming at him, and his tiger's mouth suddenly exploded. He couldn't help but think in his heart:
"This guy is so strong!"

Just as he was about to fight again, he saw Zhang Fei approaching, grabbing his belt, lifting him up and saying:
"Enemy generals will be captured, and those who surrender will not be killed!"

After that, he threw him to the ground like a chicken.

Zhang Fei's followers all exclaimed when they saw this:
"General Kamui!"

Only Fu Shiren hurriedly shouted:
"Enemy generals will be captured, and those who surrender will not be killed!"

When Liu Bei's soldiers heard this, they shouted loudly.

The soldiers of Yuan Shu's army had long lost their will to fight, and their commander had been captured. They threw away their armor and surrendered on the spot.

When Zhang Fei gathered his soldiers and prepared to pursue again, Fu Shiren said:
"General, now that Zhang Xun has gone far away, our army will definitely not be able to catch up. It is better to return and gather the surrendered soldiers, so as to atone for the crime!"

Although Zhang Fei was reckless, he knew that it was impossible to capture Zhang Xun, so he had to return to the camp.

But at this time the camp had already been occupied by Lu Bu, and a large amount of baggage was under guard. Zhang Fei had no choice but to look everywhere for deserters and surrendered soldiers. Needless to say, he did not say much.

At this time, Zhang Xun fled all the way out of the camp and reached a fork in the road outside the city.

Seeing this, the accompanying guards couldn't help but ask:
"General, which way should we take?"

Zhang Xun heard this and sighed:

"Now that we have been defeated, if we return to Shouchun, we will be punished. We should first gather the troops from all the divisions, then return to the army and head south!"

As the commander-in-chief, he naturally could not return alone.

The best way is to go south and gather all the troops first, and then see if there is any chance to atone for the crime.

So Zhang Xun led everyone south again.

The breeze blew along the way, but he was in a very bad mood. Thinking that his tens of thousands of troops were wiped out and he only escaped with his own life, he felt even more sad.

As I was walking, I suddenly saw sparkling waves in the distance and realized that I had arrived at the bank of the Si River.

Seeing this, the guard hurriedly said:
"General, this river blocks our way. How can we cross it?"

Zhang Xun looked back and saw only a few dozen riders following him. He shook his head and sighed:

"Just swim across!"

Hearing this, everyone hurriedly took off their armor.

But at this moment, a laugh was heard from afar:
"Where is General Zhang going?"

Hearing the sound, Zhang Xun looked up and saw a man standing on the river bank. At the same time, thousands of soldiers and horses poured out from the woods on both sides.

Seeing this, Zhang Xun was horrified and thought to himself:

"My life is over!"

He thought he was about to escape, but he didn't expect there was an ambush!
(End of this chapter)