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

Chapter 60: The Enemy Arrives at the Gate of the City, Xiang County Falls

Xiang County is located within the county government.

At Mei Qian's call, all the generals from Xiang County came to discuss the matter.

The generals mentioned here are not high-ranking generals like Mei Qian and Qiao Rui, but generals of thousands of men.

According to the military system of the Han Dynasty, from bottom to top, there are squad leader, ten-man leader, dubo, general of a hundred men, guard general (cavalry commander, troop commander), separate department Sima (duwei), colonel, lieutenant general, deputy general, lieutenant general, and general.

Under the various princes, the ranks of senior generals had long been confused. Originally, a colonel was already a senior general, but now anyone can be called a general.

However, the lower-level officers were complete, with each of the thousand or so men having their own commander.

Mei Qian's army had 15,000 soldiers, and there were more than ten Simas and Yamen generals alone.

In addition to the soldiers guarding the city and patrolling, there were also several mid- and low-level guards.

At this time, everyone was sitting in the hall, Mei Qian sat in the main seat, and Qiao Rui sat beside him.

However, the meeting had not yet begun. Mei Qian just looked at the returning scouts and asked:
"So, only Liu Bei's troops are on the march this time, and we haven't seen Lu Bu coming?"

Upon hearing this, the scout hurriedly saluted and said:
"That's right, only Liu Bei's army has come here!"

When Mei Qian heard this, he looked at Qiao Rui and frowned:

"Didn't General Qiao say that Liu Bei and Lu Bu came together?"

"Why is it that only Liu Bei's family is left now?"

Qiao Rui listened and shook his head.

"I don't know either. The news I got originally was that the two families wanted to take Xiang County. As for why only Liu Bei was left, I don't know!"

Mei Qian saw this and glared at the sentry and said:
"Could it be that you and others didn't investigate carefully?"

"Is it Liu Bei's army or two different ones? How many troops are there in the enemy army?"

When the scout heard this, he immediately knelt down and shouted:
"General, we have investigated thoroughly!"

"It is indeed only Liu Bei's army!"

"The enemy has at least 14,000 troops, and they are coming with a large amount of baggage!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Qiao Rui frowned and said:

"You said the enemy had more than 14,000 troops?"

He was already filled with doubts, because when he left, they only had about 8,000 soldiers left.

It doesn't make sense that there are 6,000 more people here!
The scout heard him asking and quickly replied:
"Reporting to the general, the enemy has at least 14,000 men. We have discovered that the enemy has more than 1,400 stoves and their battle formation is no less than 10,000!"

"If we didn't have so many troops, this would never have happened!"

In ancient times, scouts had two bases for judging the number of enemy troops. The first was direct visual observation, which was applicable when the number of people was small. The second was to count the stoves. In this era, there was usually one stove for every ten people.

The number of troops is generally about ten times the number of stoves.

So when Mei Qian heard the scout's words, he was startled and said:

"I didn't expect Liu Bei to have so many troops!"

You know, just a month ago, even if Liu Bei increased his troops, they were only 14,000 to 15,000, and the number of troops he sent out was only 8,000.

But when they came back after a stroll, they found that there were thousands more troops.

Including the troops stationed in Pei County, there are more than 20,000 troops!

The speed of this strength expansion is really fast!
But he was so surprised that Mei Cheng sneered:

"Brother, why do you have to boost others' ambitions and destroy your own prestige!"

"Although the enemy has more than 10,000 troops, they are still less than our defenders in the city. Why should we be afraid?"

Hearing Mei Cheng's words, Mei Qian shook his head and said:
"How can you be so disrespectful to the enemy? Liu Bei is not an ordinary man!"

"He is a man of great military skill and should not be underestimated!"

At this point, he looked at Qiao Rui's expression and asked hurriedly:

"General Qiao, what's going on? Is there something unusual?"

Upon hearing this, Qiao Rui said seriously:
"Because I am thinking about Liu Bei's troops, there shouldn't be so many of them."

"Before I came, Liu Bei had no more than 10,000 men under his command. How could he suddenly gain so many soldiers and horses?"

"I guess it's probably because Liu Bei and Lu Bu had a rift, and the two families fought each other, and the victorious one came here!"

"Only this can explain why Liu Bei's troops suddenly increased!"

"So that's it, so that's it! I know now!"

Mei Qian heard this and suddenly burst into laughter:

"If that's the case, I know it!"

His sudden behavior shocked all the generals and made them confused.

Mei Cheng was surprised when he saw this:
"Brother, what do you know?"

"Now I know the whole story!"

When Mei Qian heard this, he stood up and said with a smile:
"Because I received a letter from Zhang Xun asking for help in my city, I wondered what the enemy was planning to do!"

"After hearing General Qiao's arrival, I was afraid that the enemy was planning something here!"

"But now it seems that this must be a conspiracy between the two families. Lu Bu and Liu Bei captured Zhang Xun and wanted to use his letter to transfer me there."

"Unexpectedly, before the trip was completed, the two families started to fight each other."

"So I just transferred my troops out, but never launched any troops. When General Houqiao arrived, I returned again, and the enemy's plan was foiled."

"It's a pity that Liu Bei came here, he must have thought that I haven't returned to the city yet, and he wanted to deceive the city. In fact, all his subordinates are prisoners, and they have no intention of fighting!"

Having said this, he thought he had a plan:
"If Liu Bei really had an army of more than 10,000, I might be a little afraid of him."

"Now you are just bringing a group of captives with you. Why should I be afraid of you?"

After listening to Mei Qian's analysis, all the generals were shocked. It turned out that this was the truth of the matter.

Qiao Rui even stood up and bowed, saying:
"General Mei is really quick-witted. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't know what this is all about!"

Mei Cheng saw this and quickly stood up and said:
"Brother, the enemy has no fighting power. Our army might as well go out of the city and fight. If we can defeat them, it will be a great achievement!"

When Mei Qian heard this, he shook his head and said:

"Although Liu Bei's army has no fighting power, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are brave. If our army fights, we may not be able to win. We might as well hold the city tightly and wait for Liu Bei to retreat!"

"General, this is absolutely true!"

Qiao Rui nodded in agreement:
"The enemy is cunning and may have some plans. Our army must hold our ground!"

Mei Qian saw Qiao Rui's advice and remonstrance, and he still had no doubts, so he nodded immediately and said:

"That's exactly what I meant. The enemy is cunning and they are bound to have some plans."

"I want you to stay for a few more days until our army has defeated Liu Bei, and then we can leave. What do you think?"

How could he know that Qiao Rui was waiting for this sentence, so he just bowed and said:
"As it should be!"

After they set the tone in this way, the meeting officially ended.

Qiao Rui has also passed Mei Qian's probation period.

That night, Qiao Rui returned to the camp, and Chen Dao came to ask him for details.

Qiao Rui stroked his beard and smiled:

"Thanks to the military advisor's plan, Mei Qian is now asking our army to help defend this city!"

Chen Dao was overjoyed when he heard this and said, "If that's the case, I'll let my lord know!"

"I will take care of this matter myself! Shuzhi just needs to wait for the military advisor's order!"

Qiao Rui agreed to this, and the next morning, taking advantage of the change of guard, he sent someone to quietly go out of the city.

After traveling for a whole day, the messenger finally encountered Liu Bei's troops.

After telling him the details, Liu Bei laughed heartily and said:
"The enemy has fallen into our trap, and our military advisor's plan has succeeded!"

After listening to the messenger's words about the city, Zhang Fei praised it repeatedly.

Only Qin Zhen said to Liu Bei after listening to it:
"Now our army has made a plan. Since Mei Qian has concluded that our army is bluffing, we can hurry up again and pretend that our army is rushing here and intends to attack the city!"

"When Mei Qian sees this, he will definitely think it is a good plan and will no longer be suspicious. Our army can tire out the enemy by doing this!"

"Wait until we reach the city before taking action!"

After hearing this, Liu Bei nodded in agreement and immediately sent Zhang Fei to lead 3,000 troops dressed in Yuan Shu’s military uniforms and head to the city of Xiang County.

When they got here, Zhang Fei shouted:
"Open the gate, General Zhang Xun. Please open the gate and let us in!"

As soon as he finished speaking, arrows rained down from the city and Zhang Fei hastily withdrew his troops.

The city gate guard saw the enemy retreat and told Mei Qian what had happened. When Mei Qian heard the actions of Liu Bei's army, he laughed and said:

"The enemy has run out of tricks. They have failed to capture the city and will retreat soon!"

He simply divided his soldiers into three shifts to prevent Liu Bei's army from launching a night attack.

In the second half of the night, Zhang Fei came again, but failed again.

Having successfully defended against Zhang Fei's night attacks twice in a row, Mei Qian was full of confidence.

The next day, he called everyone to discuss the matter and said with a smile:
"The enemy attacked the city twice last night, but was stopped by our army each time!"

"The enemy's cunningness is evident!"

Although this statement was meant to praise the enemy, it was actually praising oneself.

When all the generals heard this, they praised him endlessly.

Only Mei Cheng curled his lips when he saw this, and said nothing.

Another day passed like this, and suddenly a scout came to report:

"General, Liu Bei's army has arrived at the city!"

When Mei Qian heard this, he secretly thought that Liu Bei was still harboring evil intentions. He was in such a bad state, yet he still didn't withdraw his troops!

Thinking about this, he simply summoned all the generals and said:

"Everyone, follow me up to the city and watch how Liu Bei sets up camp!"

Upon hearing this, all the generals followed, except Qiao Rui, who said a few words to Chen Dao beside him before following.

Mei Qian saw this and pointed at Chen Dao and asked Qiao Rui:
"This warrior is quite unfamiliar to me, why did he leave?"

Qiao Rui heard this and smiled slightly:

"Because we are afraid of the enemy's attack, we ask him to prepare!"

"Why is the general so cautious?"

Mei Qian smiled and didn't suspect anything. He led everyone to the top of the city wall.

But in the distance, a group of people were seen approaching from afar. When they arrived outside the city, they split into two groups and marched to the foot of the city.

Mei Qian saw this and shouted:

"We have never had any grudge against Envoy Liu, so why did you lead your troops here?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Bei rode out and said:
"Yuan Shu usurped the throne and rebelled. Everyone in the world has the right to kill him. I think you are a man of high ideals. Why did you help Zhou to commit atrocities?"

"Why don't you open the city gates and join forces with our army, marching south together to defeat the traitors?"

Hearing this, everyone on the city wall lowered their heads and remained silent.

Mei Qian also didn't know how to respond.

Mei Cheng took a step forward, pointed at Liu Bei and said:
"Big-eared thief, stop trying to deceive people here. It is destiny that made Emperor Dazhong ascend the throne!"

"You are asking for trouble by disobeying the emperor like this!"

"Our army knows that you have no intention of fighting. If you are sensible, withdraw your troops immediately. Otherwise, our army will rush out of the city and capture you and present you to the emperor."

He is good at scheming and will not miss such an opportunity to show off.

Mei Qian was more experienced than him, and not wanting to anger Liu Bei, he stepped forward and said:
"General Liu, your plan has been known to our army. Please retreat quickly and do not cause trouble for our army!"

Liu Bei was listening at the foot of the city and couldn't help but sigh.

Qin Zhen rode out on his horse, laughing loudly;
"General on the city wall, don't say I didn't warn you!"

"You must know that if you do this, you may be punished by God!"

Before Mei Qian could say anything, Mei Cheng sneered:
"Who are you? You are not allowed to speak here. We are on the city wall. If you want to go down, don't bother with your words!"

"It seems the general doesn't believe it!"

Qin Zhen looked at the troops being mobilized on the city wall and said with a smile:
"If the general doesn't believe it, you can turn around and take a look!"

Mei Cheng heard this and burst into laughter:

"What am I looking back at? Could it be that the punishment from heaven is behind me?"

But before he could finish his words, a long sword was quietly placed on his neck. Before he could react, he heard Qiao Rui sneer;

"You are right, God's punishment is behind us!"

When this voice was heard, Mei Cheng was so frightened that his whole body went cold.

Mei Qian saw this and his eyes widened, exclaiming in horror:
"Qiao Rui, how dare you betray your master and surrender to the enemy?"

The sudden change happened so fast that he didn't even have time to be surprised. Just as he was about to draw his sword, with a clang, he saw that Qiao Rui's personal guard had knocked his sword down and placed the sword against his chest.

"Open the door!"

Chen Dao's words were much colder than Qiao Rui's.

As soon as he finished speaking, a large number of soldiers rushed up the stairs to the city wall.

When Mei Qian saw this, his heart was already in turmoil. He never thought that his initial intuition was actually correct!
"Let me open the door! Why don't you move?"

At this time, Chen Dao spoke again, his sword already against Mei Qian's neck, and his voice became colder.

Mei Qian was extremely regretful, but seeing that the other party had already taken control of the situation, he could only grit his teeth and shout:
"Pass on my military order and open the city gates!"

After this order was given, the soldiers under the city had to open the city gate for some unknown reason.

As soon as the city gate opened, Zhang Fei was overjoyed and laughed:

"Brother, the door is open!"

Liu Bei also smiled, and Qin Zhen rode forward and said:

"Xiang County has been taken, please enter the city!"

Liu Bei nodded, took Qin Zhen and said:

"Military advisor, come into the city with me!"

Without waiting for Qin Zhen to refuse, he pulled Qin Zhen and led his troops into the city.

(End of this chapter)