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

Chapter 54: 2nd Line Operation, Watch Me Defeat the Enemy

Chapter 54: Two-front operation, watch me defeat the enemy

Pei State, Xiang County.

Just as Lu Bu and Liu Bei were plotting against each other outside Xia Pi City, a messenger arrived outside Xiang County City and was successfully summoned by the defending general Mei Qian.

The name Mei Gan may sound funny to modern people because it sounds like “no money”.

However, the ancient pronunciation is different from the current one. The name Mei Gan did not have this pronunciation in the Han Dynasty.

He was a native of Lujiang, and his family had been poor for generations, with no given name.

Later he joined Yuan Shu's army. As he had no given name, he was afraid of being looked down upon by others, so he took the original meaning of "Qian" and took the sentence "Heaven moves with vigor, the gentleman should constantly strive for self-improvement" from "The Book of Changes" and took "Xingjian" as his given name.

Unexpectedly, after taking this character, his career was indeed prosperous.

Following Yuan Shu, his official position became higher and higher, and he even managed to get a position to guard a region.

Because he was wary of Liu Bei in Pei County, Yuan Shu sent more troops several times and added a large amount of food and supplies, so the city had well-trained soldiers and sufficient food.

Mei Qian just drinks a little wine every day and squeezes some money out of the people, so his life is pretty comfortable.

But since Qin Zhen took office, Mei Qian's good days are over.

Because Liu Bei's army was becoming more and more aggressive, recruiting soldiers and training them.

There are even rumors that in order to enforce military law, Liu Bei set an example himself, which made all the soldiers convinced.

How could Mei Qian feel at ease when seeing the army preparing for battle so vigorously?

So they simply sent out a large number of spies and stationed them in the northern counties, hoping to receive news from Liu Bei's army as soon as possible.

But he waited and waited, but saw no movement from Liu Bei.

Suddenly, he heard that Lü Bu had rejected the marriage proposal of Yuan Shu's children, so Yuan Shu sent Zhang Xun to attack Lü Bu.

Then I heard that Liu Bei was heading east to reinforce Lü Bu.

After hearing these two pieces of news, Mei Qian finally felt relieved!
It doesn’t matter who Liu Bei fights, as long as they are not fighting him.

As for Zhang Xun, it is none of his business to care whether my friend dies or not!
But now, you tell me that Lu Bu and Liu Bei have defeated Zhang Xun and are about to attack us?

Mei Qian had a yellow face, short beard, and a raised mustache. He was stroking his beard and looking at the soldiers in front of him. He said:
"What you just said is true? Has General Zhang really been defeated by Lu Bu and Liu Bei?"

Upon hearing this, the soldier nodded hurriedly and said:
"General, what I said is absolutely true!"

"We had already arrived outside Xia Pi City, but Lu Bu persuaded Yang Feng and Han Xian to set fire to our camp at night!"

"Our army was hastily defeated and was attacked from both sides by the enemy, so we were defeated and retreated!"

"General Zhang heard that Liu Bei wanted to join forces with Lu Bu to march south to Jiujiang, so he wanted to take his defeated troops back to garrison in the south. However, he was caught up by the enemy in Quliu, and now he is surrounded in Quliu. He specially sent me to ask for help!"

"I hope the general will quickly send troops to reinforce you!"

Quliu is a city south of Xia Pi, located at the border between Pengcheng State and Xia Pi State, not far from Xiang County.

When Mei Qian heard the news, he looked at the person next to him and said:
"Yuli, what do you think about this?"

The person next to him was his cousin, named Mei Cheng, also known by the courtesy name Yuli.

Just like the name suggests, the man has a handsome appearance. Unlike Mei Gan's rough appearance, he has a naturally fair complexion.

Seeing Mei Qian asking about this, Mei Cheng thought for a moment and then looked at the soldier and said:

"You come here to ask for help, do you have any proof?"

Upon hearing this, the soldier took out a piece of silk book and said:

"This is written by General Zhang himself!"

Seeing this, Mei Cheng stood up, took the letter, took a look at it, and said to Mei Qian:
"Brother, this is Zhang Xun's handwriting, and there is also a seal on it!"

This letter was naturally not written by Zhang Xun, but was imitated by Qin Zhen.

As a disciple of the great calligrapher Cai Yong, Qin Zhen had excellent handwriting and it was easy for him to imitate other people's handwriting.

Mei Qian became a general only because of his bravery and his low level of education.

Seeing Mei Cheng's approval, he stood up and paced without even looking at it, saying:
"If it's true, what should we do?"

"Now we are responsible for defending the land. Although Zhang Xun's troops are surrounded, our army cannot move lightly!"

Of course he knew that Zhang Xun's status was higher than theirs and that he was more valued by Yuan Shu.

But sending troops out is not something you can do just by saying it. If he sends troops out, what if Xiang County is lost?
Yuan Shu will not spare your life just because you go to rescue him.

When Mei Cheng saw Mei Qian like this, he looked at the soldier and said:

"May I ask how many troops General Zhang has now? How many troops does the enemy have?"

The soldier replied hastily:

"We still have 7,000 to 8,000 soldiers, and the enemy has nearly 30,000 soldiers!"

"However, General Zhang has already sent messengers to various places, ordering Ji Ling, Chen Ji and others to rush north overnight to meet them!"

"It's just that the enemy's attack is so fierce that the general is afraid that he can't resist it, so he came to Xiang County to ask for help!"

Hearing this, Mei Cheng stroked his short beard, pondered for a while, and smiled at the soldier:

"You go down first, our army will send reinforcements tomorrow!"

When the soldier heard this, he hurriedly thanked him and left.

Mei Qian saw this and glared:

"Brother, what do you mean? I haven't agreed yet, so why did you agree?"

Although he had not received much education, he was a very opinionated person and was quite dissatisfied with Mei Cheng's presumptuous behavior.

But when Mei Cheng saw this, he just shook his head and laughed:
"Brother, how unwise! If our army sends out troops, it will only benefit our army, not harm it!"

Mei Qian knew that his brother was thinking too much, so he simply turned around and said:

"Tell me, what good can our army gain from sending out troops?"

Mei Cheng walked towards him step by step and said with a smile:

"I know what my brother is worried about. He is simply afraid that if our army leaves, we will lose the city and Your Majesty will blame us!"

"But brother, why don't you think about it, where are the enemies around our army now?"

"There was originally a Liu Bei in the north, and now he is heading east. His Xiaopei has only a few thousand troops. What threat can they pose to our army?"

"On the contrary, if our army does not march out now, and if the city of Lu is destroyed and Zhang Xun dies, and we stand by and watch, we will surely be punished by His Majesty!"

"Our army can avoid disaster by sending troops. This is one of them!"

"Besides, the combined forces of Lu Bu and Liu Bei only have 30,000 men, and Zhang Xun still has 7,000 to 8,000 men. If he holds on to the city, it shouldn't be a problem for him to hold on for a month or two."

"Although Zhang Xun was defeated, he still has Ji Ling, Chen Ji and others to support him. It won't be long before they come to his aid!"

"If our army goes there, we can serve as a surprise force if there is an opportunity. If there is no opportunity, we can provide support from the sidelines without having to lead the battle!"

"If we can defeat the enemy, our army will have made a great contribution." "If we cannot defeat the enemy, even if Zhang Xun dies, it will have nothing to do with our army."

"If we send out troops now, we can gain benefits. This is the second reason!"

"As for the third point, Zhang Xun has always been arrogant. This time he is asking for help, he must be at his wit's end. Our army will help him, regardless of victory or defeat. As long as we can save Zhang Xun, it will be considered a favor to him."

"Your Majesty has ascended the throne, and Zhang Xun is highly valued by Your Majesty. When the day comes to appoint officials, if Zhang Xun says a few good words, won't you and I rise to high positions?"

Mei Cheng is a very ambitious person. When he sees an opportunity to curry favor with nobles, he will naturally not give up.

Mei Qian listened to this and thought about it for a while, and suddenly felt that there was some truth in it!
In the current situation, it would be bad if they did nothing.

Thinking of this, he looked up:
"Then according to your opinion, how should our army act?"

Mei Cheng smiled and said when he heard this:

"If you trust me, brother, then lead me out of the city with 10,000 soldiers!"

"I will definitely rescue Zhang Xun!"

But as soon as he finished speaking, Mei Qian frowned and said:
"You have never led a large army, how can you rescue them?"

"I have to go for you. I will leave 5,000 soldiers to guard the city with you. You must be careful and don't let anyone in easily!"

"We will make plans after our army comes back to rescue us!"

Mei Cheng was angry when he saw that he did not agree to his request, but he was still young and did not need Mei Qian, so he could only bow his head and say:
"Just follow my brother's orders!"

After such discussion, the next day, Mei Qian led an army of more than 10,000 troops towards Quliu.

At this time, it was on the west side of Xia Pi and the southeast side of Lu County.

An army is on the march.

I saw that the soldiers were quite tired and were urging their horses to move forward.

This army was none other than Liu Bei's army that came from Xia Pi.

Since setting out on the night before yesterday, Liu Bei's army marched for two days, covering nearly a hundred miles, and finally left Xia Pi State and arrived at the territory of Pengcheng State!
Fortunately, Xia Pi goes northwest and the road along the river is flat, and there are enough carriages and horses.

If it weren't for carrying so much baggage, walking nearly a hundred miles would be exhausting.

However, even if they were more than a hundred miles away, they were still within the range of Lu Bu's surprise attack.
Therefore, Liu Bei looked at the army's slow progress and felt worried. He rode his horse to Qin Zhen's side and said:
"Military Advisor, if this continues, I'm afraid our army will not be able to reach Xiang County even if it takes another seven or eight days!"

He was really worried. Xiang County was just a few hundred miles ahead, but he was unable to move forward because of the heavy baggage and supplies.

If he wasn't really short of money, he really wouldn't want to take such a big risk in transporting grain.

But compared to him, Qin Zhen was much more relaxed.

At this time, he was riding on a horse, leisurely saying:

"Don't worry, my lord. Even if our army arrives in Xiang County in ten days, it won't be too late!"

"According to the time, Mei Qian from Xiang County should have sent out his troops!"

"It will take several days for General Qiao and his men to arrive in Xiang County, and it will also take time for Mei Qian to return!"

"It seems that our army's current march has no impact!"

Seeing Qin Zhen's expression, Liu Bei smiled bitterly and said:
"I'm not worried about Xiang County, I'm just worried about Lu Bu's pursuit!"

"Military advisor, please know that our army is carrying food and supplies and cannot withstand a surprise attack from the enemy!"

Seeing that Liu Bei was worried about this, Qin Zhen asked:
"I wonder if our spies have sent us any news?"

"Has the enemy left the city now?"

"There is no news yet, so I am worried!"

Liu Bei shook his head. This was also what he was worried about at the moment.

Normally, once the enemy troops leave the city, the spies would immediately report back once they had discovered their movements.

But they had already left Xia Pi for two nights.

If Lu Bu wanted to send troops, he would have done so long ago. There should be no news about it!

Seeing Liu Bei like this, Qin Zhen couldn't help but sigh. This was how wars were fought in ancient times, there would always be delays in news.

It would be great if we could invent a telegraph. Even if we don’t have one, sending messages via carrier pigeons will do!
It’s a pity that he can’t make this!

It is impossible to do this with the industrial level of this era!
Even if he starts to popularize education from now on, it will take at least one or two hundred years.

However, he had already gotten used to this level of information, and when he saw Lao Liu sighing again, he smiled and said:

"The news is due, it's probably because of the enemy's unusual movements that delayed the process!"

Seeing this, Liu Bei was impressed by Qin Zhen's good attitude. Just as he was about to speak, Zhang Fei rode up from a distance and said:
"Brother, our spies have a message to report!"

When Liu Bei heard this, he stepped forward and said:

"Why are you so late?"

Zhang Fei heard this and said solemnly:

"It's not that they are late, but our spies discovered that after more than 8,000 enemy troops left the city, they headed north!"

"Now it has bypassed our army and is heading towards Lu County. Our spies have been chasing them for a whole day, but they are afraid that the enemy will find them, so they report back now!"

"Has the enemy arrived at the front?"

When Liu Bei heard this, he was startled and said:

"Why did the enemy do this?"

His eyes swept over Qin Zhen.

When Qin Zhen heard this, he smiled and said:

"The enemy is doing this because they are afraid of our army's preparedness and want to set an ambush ahead!"

Hearing this, Liu Bei looked back and saw that the road ahead was hundreds of miles long and filled with dangers and obstacles.

In such a large territory, Lu Bu’s army found a place to hide, what could they use to explore!

Liu Bei turned his head again and said:

"If the enemy is like this, what should our army do?"

Zhang Fei also frowned and said nothing.

Qin Zhen said to the two of them: