The beginning of the Three Kingdoms Cheng Yuanzhi

Chapter 211 Lu: This fight is just to prove that I might as well take the initiative
Liu Biao rejected the proposal without any hesitation, "I sit in the nine counties of Jingxiang, this life is enough, how can I have another plan?"

Liu Bei was silent.

When the incident was revealed, Liu Biao invited Liu Bei to drink in the back hall.

Although the two are brothers, they are 19 years apart in age, and there is an insurmountable gap. Liu Biao feels uncomfortable saying something to Liu Bei.

Let's just talk about this son. His eldest son Liu Qi is already in his 30s. For him, the most urgent task is to pass on the foundation steadily, rather than risking war with other princes.It is a waste of time and money to fight for an unknown outcome.

On the other hand, Liu Bei has no children so far, so he can't understand his state of mind at all.

Thinking of this, Liu Biao suddenly let out a long sigh.

Liu Bei stopped his cup and asked, "Why is your brother sighing?"

Liu Biao sighed again: "I have something on my mind, it's really not good for me to tell my virtuous brother clearly."

Liu Bei was about to ask again when he suddenly saw Mrs. Cai coming out of the inner room and standing behind the screen.

Liu Biao immediately bowed his head and remained silent.

After a while, the banquet was over, and Liu Bei returned to Xinye full of depression.

In the blink of an eye, in the winter of the year, I heard that Cheng Yuanzhi had wiped out Liaodong, and the teacher returned to Ye. Liu Bei sighed every day.

Ask Xu Shu for advice, but Xu Shu has no good idea.

There are fourteen prefectures in the world, the northern nine prefectures belong to Yuan, and the four southern prefectures have their own masters. The two Lius and one grandson both control the prefecture very firmly. Liu Bei has only a few thousand soldiers and horses, and two or three generals. With this meager force, suddenly It is too difficult to plan something in time.

For the present plan, we can only slowly wait for time to change.

On this day, Liu Biao sent an envoy to invite Liu Bei to meet him in Jingzhou, and Liu Bei happily went.Liu Biao caught it, and after the ceremony, the two walked into the back hall hand in hand to have a banquet.

Liu Biao sighed and said, "I recently heard that Yuan She (Cheng Yuanzhi) raised troops from Liaodong and returned to Ye. There is no future trouble in the north, and his power is getting stronger day by day. Next, he must have the intention of annexing Jingxiang. I haven't listened to the words of my virtuous brother in the past. , I missed this good opportunity, and I deeply regret it today.”

Liu Bei comforted: "Brother, don't worry, the world is divided today, and the war will start soon. There are many opportunities. It is not a pity to miss this one. If you can seize the good opportunities that will appear later, it is not too late."

Liu Biao nodded again and again: "This is a very kind word, and it comes to the heart of being a brother. Talking with a good brother is like drinking fine wine, and I don't feel that I am getting drunk."

The external worries were gone, and the conversation was speculative, so the two drank happily.

When the wine was half drunk, Liu Biao suddenly stopped drinking and sighed.

Liu Bei asked why.

Liu Biao said: "I have something on my mind. I wanted to sue my virtuous brother earlier, but it was not convenient."

"Qi, the eldest son of my ex-wife Chen, is a virtuous man, but not soft enough to stand up for affairs; Qiong, the youngest son of my second wife, Cai, is quite smart and decisive. If I want to abolish the elder and establish the young, I am afraid that it will hinder the etiquette; if I want to establish the eldest son, I am afraid that the Cai If the situation is great, there will be chaos in the future: therefore, we will never let go of the commission."

Liu Bei said without hesitation: "Since ancient times, the way to create chaos is to abolish the eldest son and establish a younger one. If the elder brother is worried about the power of the Cai family, he can slowly reduce it, but he cannot establish a younger one and abolish the eldest son because of doting."

Hearing this, Liu Biao pondered silently.

These words were originally whispered between the two brothers, but the third person listened to them.

Cai has always been suspicious of Liu Bei, and whenever Liu Biao invites Liu Bei, she will come to eavesdrop.At this time, he was quietly standing behind the screen, hearing Liu Bei's words, he secretly hated him.

After Liu Bei finished speaking, he realized that he had made a slip of the tongue, so he excused himself to go to the toilet for a while.

After returning to the table in a short time, Liu Biao saw Liu Bei's frowning, so he asked why.

Liu Bei sighed and said: "Seeing that the sun and the moon are passing by, the years are passing by, but my brother has no place to live, so my worries are hard to go away!"

Liu Biao said: "I heard that in Yecheng, the virtuous brother discussed heroes with the general, and the virtuous brother cited all the famous people in the world, but none of them recognized him. He only said that the virtuous brother was the only half of the heroes in the world. If you don't have the power to call yourself a hero, why should you worry about not building up your achievements in the future?"

Liu Bei loves to hear these words, and it has always been one of his sources of indomitable confidence.

Regardless of whether Cheng Yuanzhi was self-effacing or joking, at least it shows that in his eyes, Liu Bei is a hero.

Liu Bei took advantage of the wine and said casually: "If Bei has a foundation, the world's mediocre people will have nothing to worry about!"

These words were too loud, and the map guns swept across the area, even Liu Biao was affected.

Liu Biao was silent when he heard the words.

Liu Bei patted his forehead and realized that he had lost his words. He also felt that it was unwise for him to have lost his words twice in one day. He quickly got up from the drunkenness, said goodbye and went back to the library to rest.

Liu Biao didn't say anything, but he felt a little stingy in his heart. He went back to the inner room and was caught by Mrs. Cai, who said:
"Just then I heard Liu Bei's words behind the screen, and I looked down upon him arrogantly, which shows that he intends to annex Jingzhou. If it is not eliminated early, it will cause future troubles."

Liu Biao shook his head and remained silent, feeling that the "young man" Liu Bei's bragging after drinking was harmless and would not be serious, so he turned over and rested.

When Cai went out of the inner room, he secretly invited Cai Mao to come to see him and discuss how to get rid of Liu Bei.

Cai Mao said: "Then lead the troops in the building to kill him first, and then tell the lord."

Tsai nodded.Cai Mao resigned, and ordered troops to kill Liu Bei overnight.

After Liu Bei returned to the library building, he was restless, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt uneasy. As the saying goes, "we can't be close to each other". , really dizzy.

Thinking of this, Liu Bei immediately got up and summoned his followers, mounted their horses together, and ran back to Xinye overnight.

When Cai Mao led the army to the building, Liu Bei had already left for a long time.

Cai Mao secretly resented his late arrival, so he wrote a poem and engraved it on the wall, and went to the state pastoral mansion to meet Liu Biao.

"Liu Bei wrote an anti-poem on the wall, and left without saying goodbye."

Liu Biao didn't believe it, so he went to the building to check, and sure enough, he saw four lines of poems on the wall:

"Several years in vain, facing the old mountains and rivers in the air. The dragon is not a thing in the pond, and the thunder wants to go to the sky!"

Liu Biao was furious when he saw the poem, drew his sword and said, "I swear to kill this senseless person!"

After walking for a few steps, my heart suddenly moved: "The handwriting on this wall is very familiar, but it doesn't look like Xuande's writing, but it looks like Cai Mao's handwriting..."

Then he turned back to the building and looked it over carefully. Seeing that it was indeed Cai Mao's handwriting, he cut off the poem with the tip of his sword and left the posthouse.

Cai Mao clasped his fists and begged, "My lord, the sergeants have been ordered, and we can send troops to Xinye to capture Liu Bei and question him."

Liu Biao waved his hand and said, "Don't make mistakes. We will discuss this matter later."

Seeing that this plan failed, Cai Mao secretly discussed another plan with Cai.

The next day, Cai Mao came in and said, "My lord, Jingxiang is ripe this year. We should gather all the officials in Xiangyang to appease you. My lord, please go with me."

Liu Biao rubbed his forehead and said, "Yesterday I was hungover, and today I feel very unwell, so my second son is the host to treat guests, so I can go to Xinye and ask Liu Bei to treat guests for me."

Cai Mao was secretly happy that his words were in his plan, and immediately sent someone to Xinye to invite Liu Bei to Xiangyang.

Liu Bei ran back to Xinye, knowing that he was making a mistake and causing trouble, but he just felt that it was not easy for everyone to speak out.Suddenly see the messenger coming, please go to Xiangyang.

Suddenly in a dilemma.

Xu Shu asked: "Yesterday I saw my lord rushing back with a frown on his face. Today he is hesitant again. Could it be that an accident happened in Jingzhou? I just returned home and Liu Biao came to invite me again today. It's really strange."

Liu Bei had no choice but to tell everyone about the past.

Guan Yu said: "The preface is lost, and Xiangyang is not far from here. If we don't go now, Liu Biao will become suspicious."

Liu Bei glanced at Guan Yu approvingly, "What Yun Chang said is very true."

Zhang Fei said: "This must be a Hongmen banquet, it's better not to go."

Xu Shu was surprised and said: "Yide even knows about the Hongmen Banquet? Then do you know who invited whom for the Hongmen Banquet?"

Zhang Fei stared at each other: "Military commander, don't want to see me all over. The Hongmen Banquet is Xiang Yu's invitation to Liu Bang."

Xu Shu smiled slightly: "That Yide knows what happened to Xiang Yu later?"

"Death in Wujiang!"

"Where's Liu Bang?"

"Become the emperor!"

Hearing this, everyone was in a daze.

Liu Bei was overjoyed and said: "Military Master, in this way, can you go to Xiangyang this time?!"

Xu Shu nodded, "You should also order Yun Chang to go with 300 people, so that the Lord will be safe."

Liu Bei smiled and said, "That's very good."

So he and Guan Yu packed up and rushed to Xiangyang on the same day.

Cai Mao went out of the city to meet the two, and then went to the gate of the city, and saw Liu Qi and Liu Cong leading a group of civil and military bureaucrats to pick them up. Please go to the post to rest.

Seeing that the two young masters were there, Liu Bei felt a little relieved.

Within two days, all officials from the nine counties have arrived, and the grand meeting will begin.

Cai Mao discussed with Kuai Yue and said: "Liu Beishi's hero will stay here for a long time, and he will do harm later, but we can get rid of him today."

Kuai Yue said: "Liu Bei has a great reputation, so if he is killed, he may lose the hope of the people."

Cai Mao said confidently, "I have my lord's secret order here."

Kuai Yue said: "Since this is the case, we can make preparations in advance."

Cai Mao said: "My brother Cai He has led troops to guard the Xianshan Road at the east gate; Cai Zhong is guarding outside the south gate; Cai Xun is guarding outside the north gate. Only the west gate does not need to be guarded: there is a Tanxi River outside the west gate, making it difficult to pass. There are also five hundred swordsmen and axemen hiding in the city. This time I will tell him whether he will come back or not!"

Kuai Yue said: "Then Guan Yu can't sit close to Liu Bei, so I'm afraid it will be difficult to make a move."

Cai Mao was startled, and said worriedly, "What should I do?"

Kuai Yue said: "Wen Pin and Wang Wei can be ordered to set up another seat in the outer hall to receive the generals. Please first invite Guan Yu to live, and then we can do things."

Cai Mao was overjoyed and started to arrange immediately.

The next day, cattle and sheep were slaughtered in Xiangyang City, and a feast was held, and the participants enjoyed it happily.

Liu Bei led all the officials to the hall, and he sat on the chairman, the two young masters sat on both sides, and the rest sat in turn.

Guan Yu stood beside Liu Bei with his sword.Wenpin and Wang Weijin invited Guan Yu to the banquet, Guan Yu snorted coldly, refused to go, and the scene froze for a moment.

Liu Bei then ordered Guan Yu to sit at the table, and Guan Yu just came out as ordered.

Cai Mao sent all the three hundred sergeants brought by Liu Bei back to the hall, and guarded the meeting place by himself, only waiting for a while, and under the sign of throwing cups, five hundred knives and axes came out together, chopping Liu Bei into meat paste with random knives .

After drinking for a while, Yi Ji brought the wine glass to Liu Bei, looked at the latter, and said in a low voice, "Please change your clothes."

Liu Bei understood, and got up to go to the toilet. Yi Ji quickly followed to the backyard, and reported in his ear: "Cai Mao planned to kill the envoy, and the east, south, and north outside the city are guarded by soldiers and horses. Only the west gate can go, and you should run away quickly!" "

Liu Bei was shocked. Lu Ma, who was in a hurry, opened the backyard door and led him out. He jumped on his horse and walked away looking at Ximen alone.

The city gate officials were about to ask, but they saw Liu Bei whipped his horse and rushed out quickly.The door officials couldn't stop them, so they had to fly to Cai Mao.

Cai Mao was shocked, and immediately got on his horse, leading five hundred troops to give chase.

Liu Bei rushed out of the west gate and walked for more than ten miles. Suddenly he saw a large stream blocking his way in front of him. The stream was several feet wide and the current was very fast.

Seeing the impossibility of crossing, Liu Bei reined in his horse and wanted to go back, but in the distance he saw dust rising from the east and pursuers approaching.

Liu Bei had no choice but to return his horse to the stream, trying to cross the stream, but in the middle of the journey, the water had submerged the horse's neck, and the horses and men were all swaying with the waves, unable to go any further.

Looking back, as the pursuers got closer, hundreds of bright axes gleamed coldly, which was really frightening.

Liu Bei panicked, and shouted to the sky: "Delu, Delu, you really hinder the Lord! I regret not listening to Yuan Zhi's words!"

Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, Luma took a step forward, as if his hooves were on the ground, he jumped up from the water and landed on the west bank three feet away.

Liu Bei calmed down a little, and looked at the east bank.Seeing that Cai Mao had led the army to the stream, he shouted, "Why did Duke Xuande escape? Come back quickly."

Liu Bei looked at the hundreds of shining axes, and suddenly became angry. He raised his whip and said angrily, "Cai Mao! I have no grievances or enmities with you, why did you harm me?"

Cai Mao argued: "I don't have this intention, so that you don't want to listen to people's nonsense and blame good people."

As he said, he secretly drew a bow and arrow, intending to shoot Liu Bei to death on the other side.

Liu Bei hurriedly steered his horse to look southwest, and disappeared after a while.

Cai Mao asked left and right: "Have you seen clearly, who is helping, and he can fly a horse across the stream?"

All the soldiers had never seen such strange power and chaos, they were already frightened and worried, and dared not answer.

Cai Mao was helpless, and was about to withdraw his troops back to the city, but saw Guan Yu, holding a knife, leading three hundred soldiers from outside the west gate, rushing aggressively.


(End of this chapter)