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

Chapter 76: Chen Lan's plan defeated, Dangtu fell

Not to mention that Qin Zhen was planning to capture the city, after Chen Lan entered Dangtu, he sent people out every day to spy on the enemy's situation.

Because he knew that Liu Bei was quite capable in commanding troops and had an important responsibility on his shoulders, he did not dare to slack off.

But as the enemy made no moves every day, he became more and more panicked.

In addition, given the current situation of Yuan Shu's army, he was confused about the future and lamented every day.

When all the officers and soldiers under his command saw him, they did not know the reason. Only one fellow villager, also from Lujiang, named Xu Tuo, who had a acquaintance with him, saw his appearance and could not help asking:
"I see the general sighing every day, I wonder why?"

Chen Lan heard this and shook her head and sighed:
"Even if I tell you, you don't know. It's because my lord proclaimed himself emperor for no reason that he caused so many disasters!"

"I heard that Cao Cao raised an army of 80,000 and defeated our army in Runan."

"Now Liu Bei and his men have led their people to invade again. If this continues, I really don't know where our future lies!"

Actually, he was not a former general of Yuan Shu, but came to join him after Yuan Shu captured Yangzhou.

When he came to seek refuge, Yuan Shu was at the height of his power, and Sun Ce was fighting wars everywhere, so he truly had the potential to be a wise leader.

He joined Yuan Shu's army in order to pursue a better future.

Unexpectedly, just a few years later, Yuan Shu proclaimed himself emperor, which immediately attracted attacks from many heroes.

Although he was not very smart, he could see that Yuan Shu's empire was about to collapse and would not last long.

Now he is leading such a small number of troops to resist Liu Bei. Even if he succeeds, he will get no reward. If he fails, he will lose both his head and his body.

In this situation, it is difficult for him not to have some ulterior motives.

But as soon as he finished speaking, Xu Tuo stepped forward and whispered:

"General, don't think I am mean, I also know some common sense."

"As the saying goes: 'Birds choose trees, but trees cannot choose birds'. If Yuan Shu cannot be my assistant, I'd better find another way!"

"We followed the general from Lujiang, and we all obeyed his orders. Does the general have this intention?"

When Chen Lan heard this, she narrowed her eyes and said:

"Are you trying to persuade me to surrender to Liu Bei?"

Hearing this, Xu Tuo grinned and said:

"Who is Liu Bei? He is just a county, it is hard for him to accomplish anything great. If you want to surrender, you should surrender to Cao Gong!"

"But Lord Cao is far away in Runan, so it is difficult to deal with him."

"Even if the big things are not decided yet, why not get rid of Yuan Shu first and make your own decisions. When the overall situation is settled in the future, you can decide on the way forward or retreat."

After hearing this, Chen Lan couldn't help but think about it secretly.

What Xu Tuo said made sense. Although Yuan Shu was about to be destroyed, it was impossible for him to surrender to Liu Bei.

After all, Liu Bei himself was in danger of losing his throne, and he had his own troops and followers, so how could he possibly follow Liu Bei!
Now that Yuan Shu is no longer capable, he might as well do it on his own.

If there is an opportunity, recruit soldiers and dominate the area. If there is no opportunity, see who can surrender in the future, it will not be too late to surrender then.

After thinking about it, Chen Lan's worries disappeared, and she stood up and said:
"We will discuss this matter after we return to Shouchun!"

He thought it was not safe to do this alone, so he returned to Shouchun and brought his fellow villager Lei Bu to rebel against Yuan Shu.

When Xu Tuo saw this, he knew that Chen Lan was already moved, so he stopped trying to persuade her.

Unexpectedly, just as the two of them finished discussing the matter, they saw a scout coming to report:
"General, something terrible has happened. Our army investigated Liu Bei's camp today and found that the enemy had already withdrawn!"

"Liu Bei withdrew his camp?"

Chen Lan was shocked when she heard this:

"Where has Liu Bei gone?"

The scout shook his head and said hurriedly:

"I don't know either. I only know that Liu Bei's army was still outside the city last night!"

Seeing this, Xu Tuo could not help but advise:
"General, maybe Liu Bei, seeing that he can't take Dangtu, will turn around and take other cities!"

"If they go, we don't have to worry!"

"How can such a good thing happen!"

When Chen Lan heard this, she said in a deep voice:

"Now Liu Bei is marching here, either west or south."

"Whether we take Xia Cai or Xiquyang, we can find out the situation of Shouchun!"

"If we don't find out where they are, we will be blamed if we return to Shouchun!"

He immediately cheered up and gave the order:

"Go and find out the enemy's movements quickly. Make sure you know when they will leave!"

After giving the order, Chen Lan sent his soldiers out to gather information while he personally led more than a thousand soldiers out of the city and went straight into Liu Bei's camp, only to find that the camp was empty.

After all, Chen Lan was a veteran with rich experience. He went straight to the earth pit where Liu Bei's army was cooking, touched the embers of the charcoal fire with his hand, and saw that the charcoal fire in the fire pit in the distance was still burning.

Upon seeing this, Chen Lan's face turned pale and he exclaimed:
"Not good, the enemy has made unusual movements!"

Xu Tuo saw this and said in surprise:
"General, why is this happening?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Lan turned around and cursed:
"How unwise! The enemy's stove fires were burning while they were extinguishing. This shows that the enemy had already divided up and did not just leave yesterday!"

The stove fire was extremely important to ancient generals. It was the key to judging the number of enemy troops. You could also judge the enemy's movements through the stove fires left by the enemy.

Now there are fires in some of the stoves in Liu Bei's army, which means that this part of the troops was here last night.

However, those stoves without fire indicated that part of Liu Bei's troops had already left the camp.

After realizing this, Chen Lan felt cold all over.

Because this part of Liu Bei's army might be going to launch a surprise attack on Xia Cai, or they might have known that they were moving the capital and followed them quietly!

If we launch a surprise attack on Cai, it will be fine. But if we go to Shouchun, then there will be big problems!
Regardless of whether he can escape or not, if he returns to Shouchun, he will definitely lose his head!

Even if he left now, according to Yuan Shu's character, his family would certainly be in danger. So after cursing, he turned around and said:
"Quickly mobilize the troops. If you find the enemy, follow me and chase them!"

The generals were also shocked when they heard this and hurried back to the city to prepare.

As soon as they entered the city, they saw the spies report back:

"General, something terrible has happened. We have been investigating outside and heard that there seemed to be enemy troops heading west on the Huai River last night!"

Hearing the word Huaihe, Chen Lan was shocked and shouted hurriedly:
"Chase, follow me!"

Huainan has numerous water veins. Although the flow of the Huaihe River has decreased due to drought, the water veins are still open.

If Liu Bei goes from the Huai River, he can directly launch a surprise attack on their capital moving team by water!
Just what you fear will come to you. Chen Lan was already in a panic at this time, and hurriedly led his troops all the way to the west to chase.

They chased for more than half a day, but there was no trace of Liu Bei's army.

Just when Chen Lan was worried, he suddenly heard a gust of wind and saw a long arrow coming out from nowhere and directly shot and killed the guard beside him.

The next second, a large number of arrows shot out from the forest.

I heard a loud shout from a distance:

"Where are the enemy going? The Yan man Zhang Yide is here!"

With a loud shout, thousands of soldiers emerged from the forest.

When Chen Lan saw this, she was horrified and exclaimed:

"The enemy is ambushing, retreat quickly, retreat quickly!"

The troops under his command were about to be in chaos and he was about to turn back when he saw another troop coming out from behind. It was Liu Bei himself who was leading the troops.

In a forest blocked at both ends, Chen Lan could only shout:

"Follow me into the woods!"

After he shouted, he was about to enter the forest, but he saw dust rising in the forest, as if there were countless soldiers and horses, and archers shooting, so he could not get out.

Chen Lan had no choice but to lead his troops towards the bank of the Huai River.

As they were walking along the road, they saw another general chasing them. It was Xu Sheng who was ambushing them. Chen Lan gritted his teeth and went forward to fight.

After fighting for less than three rounds, he felt his hands and feet go numb and it was difficult to fight, so he made a feint and rode away.

After finally escaping from the battle, he saw that there were only a few hundred people left behind him, and the five thousand soldiers were almost wiped out.

He wanted to go back and reorganize the army, but when he thought of Zhang Fei's dark face, he was frightened and gave up the idea.

In desperation, Chen Lan had to lead the remaining troops back to Dangtu.

Along the way, I thought about the past and felt a chill on my back.

The enemy's actions showed that they had already discovered what happened in Shouchun.

But after finding out about this, they did not move. They seemed to be leaving, but in fact they were setting an ambush. It was really confusing and people did not realize they had fallen into the enemy's trap.

"But I don't know who planned this to be so great?"

As he said this, he felt that the road ahead was becoming increasingly bleak. He had never seen Liu Bei's army fight so well before!
Now that Liu Bei’s army is like this, what can Yuan Shu use to resist so many?
If he had known this would happen, he would have simply taken his troops and escaped from Yuan Shu. But now he has no troops left, so how can he escape?
Thinking of this, he felt so regretful that his intestines turned green. While he was thinking, he saw dozens of remnants of the army coming from a distance.

After seeing everyone's appearance clearly, Chen Lan was shocked and said:

"Why are you here?"

It turned out that these people were the garrison troops in Dangtu City, and the person in front of them was the garrison commander.

As soon as he asked, the guard burst into tears:

"After the general left today, within two hours, a group of soldiers returned, saying that the general was worried about the defense of Dangtu, so he asked them to come to assist in the defense."

"I thought the general was cautious and there must be nothing wrong, so I opened the door and welcomed him in."

"I didn't expect that this army was actually the enemy in disguise, and took advantage of the situation to rush into the city. I was defeated and Dangtu has fallen into the hands of the enemy!"

Chen Lan heard this and couldn't help but slap her thigh and said:

"The big-eared thief is so cunning! He is truly unkind!"

Not only did he plot to defeat his army, but he also used it to capture the city?

Now, not only did he lose his soldiers, but he also lost the city. How could he defend it?
When the general guarding the city saw Chen Lan like this, he knew that Chen Lan would definitely be defeated, so he had to ask:

"General, where are we going this time?"

Chen Lan was annoyed when she heard this:
"Where else can we go? Let's go back to Shouchun first!"

If he had soldiers and horses, he would naturally be able to escape from Yuan Shu. Now that he has no soldiers and horses, is he going to take these hundreds of people into the mountains to become bandits?
At this point, he had no choice but to lead the remaining troops back towards Shouchun.

As for Liu Bei, as soon as Chen Lan left, his troops began to flee. Liu Bei had been in battle for a long time, so he saw the opportunity and began to persuade them to surrender.

More than 3,000 troops were persuaded to surrender, but only more than 1,000 of them fled.

In this battle, they only lost a few hundred people, so it was naturally another great victory.

Just as the prisoners were gathered, news came that Chen Dao had captured Dangtu.

When Liu Bei heard this, he was overjoyed and said:
"Thanks to the military advisor's plan, our army has won another great victory in this battle!"

Zhang Fei, Xu Sheng and others were also leading their troops back at this time. Upon hearing this, they naturally praised Qin Zhen's ability.

But Qin Zhen just smiled and said:

"My Lord, you must be happy. Now that Dangtu has fallen, our army can take advantage of the situation to seize Shangcai and completely control the water veins of the Huai River!"

When Liu Bei heard this, his eyes lit up and he said in surprise:
"Military Advisor, do you have any plans to capture Xia Cai?"

"I couldn't take it before, but now I can!"

Qin Zhen smiled, walked up to Liu Bei and whispered a few words.

After Liu Bei heard this, he laughed and said:
"One strategy for three things. Today I finally understand the wisdom of the military advisor in using troops!"

At that moment, he ordered his troops to march towards Xiacai.

(End of this chapter)