Chapter 648: Good Times Come After Bad Times, and Life Will Come After Death

At the foot of Dingjun Mountain, a group of soldiers returned from hunting and caught some rabbits and pheasants, which was quite a harvest.

However, this is still not enough for the food and grass needed by the 200,000-strong army.

Zhao Yun is responsible for receiving these prey. In fact, Zhao Yun has completely taken over the current military rations under Liu Bei's instruction.

It is precisely because of this that Zhao Yun really discovered some surprises.

For example - Wang Ping!

This was one of the leaders Wang Ping, Pu Hu, and Du Yi who recruited the enemy generals to surrender during Zhang Fei's great victory at Bameng Mountain.

Because they were all Taoists and familiar with the terrain here, Wang Ping led not many people, but he captured a lot of prey, even a bear!

Of course, even if there are bears, this is only a drop in the bucket, but in the end, it can allow the soldiers of the three armies to persist a little longer, which can be regarded as providing a different plan to raise food.

Even in Zhao Yun's view, if the worst happens, perhaps... Wang Ping's ability to hunt and find prey will be the last straw for the entire army.

Looking at it this way, Wang Ping... is really crucial.

However, Zhao Yun can't care about so much now. He is more concerned about two other things. One is... there are only three days of food left in the army. Can the food and grass from Shu be delivered?

The second thing is that if it cannot be done, then in the last two days, that is, tomorrow...the army will inevitably withdraw.

Can two days of food support the army to withdraw to the nearest county?

In addition, if Xiahou Yuan sends troops to intercept at that time, it will be a devastating blow to the chance of retreat. The 200,000 soldiers will most likely suffer heavy losses.

These...are all things that Zhao Yun must think about.

He was already thinking about whether there was any way to evacuate all the troops without losing a single soldier.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but touch his chest with his hand. He had always carried the book called "Yun Bie Zhuan" sent by Guan Lin.

But... in this book, the entire Battle of Hanzhong started from Dingjun Mountain;

To be more detailed, it started by mobilizing the garrison of the Wei army, using sneak attacks to destroy the "antlers" of the Wei army, and taking advantage of Xiahou Yuan's poor background and unwillingness to part with these antlers, so he was bound to come to rescue him, so as to lure Xiahou Yuan and kill him on the battlefield.

But now... restricted by food and grass, their Shu army... actually dare not even go up to Dingjun Mountain. The subsequent stories in "Yunbie Biography", whether it is about attacking in the east or in the west, or luring snakes out of their holes, of course... cannot be put into practice.

"Alas... alas..."

Thinking of this, Zhao Yun couldn't help but sigh.

And just as Zhao Yun was thinking... Zhang Fei and Ma Chao arrived. The two of them took long strides and walked quickly, carrying the wind as they walked, passing through the main entrance like a bolt of lightning.

Zhao Yun was stunned when he saw the situation, knowing that something big was happening.

——'Is it true? Since Xia Houyuan has already moved, he won't send troops to cut off our army's retreat today, right? 』

With this in mind, he quickly caught up with Zhang Fei and Ma Chao.

"Yide? Meng Qi? Did something happen?"

The three of them kept walking. Zhang Fei and Ma Chao looked at Zhao Yun. Zhao Fei took out a letter from his arms and said, "Here is a letter from Jingzhou. Read it yourself!"

Zhao Yun stared at Zhang Fei, trying to get some clues from Zhang Fei's face, but Zhang Fei's face was full of eagerness, as if he couldn't wait to report the matter to his lord Liu Bei.

Zhao Yun's pace did not slow down, but the letter was unfolded, and it was this letter that made...him feel like he was about to start a fight.

"Is this letter serious?"

As soon as these words came out, Zhang Fei and Ma Chao paused, and Zhang Fei said with excitement: "True or not? Could it be that... Zilong can't see it? This mark belongs to that brat Yun Qi! It's definitely fake. Change!"

"Haha..." Ma Chao also laughed heartily and said, "God bless, this boy has once again saved a big man, and also saved the soldiers of our three armies!"

Speaking of this, Zhao Yun, Ma Chao, and Zhang Fei looked at each other.

Their hearts are excited.

This is a great achievement.

The entire 200,000-strong army was originally suffering from food problems.

But now, suddenly, fleets of food transporting ships were passing through the Han River, delivering bags of food.

The location where they transported them was not at the foot of Dingjun Mountain, but upstream of Mian River south of Dingjun Mountain, which was safer.

Of course, these are not the point.

The point is, after Zhang Fei and Ma Chao received the letter, they didn't believe it, so they rushed to the upper reaches of Mian River in person and saw it with their own eyes... It was absolutely true and they were convinced.

The most important thing is the amount of these grains, and from the merchants' words, and from this letter from Guan Lin, they got an extremely important piece of information.

That is, the grain road through "Shangyong" County has been completely opened, and Jingzhou and the Central Plains will continuously deliver grain from there.

Is this why Zhang Fei and Ma Chao are so excited? It feels like the wind is blowing when I walk.

It's really...is it really a good time!

It’s really a matter of putting oneself to death to survive!

…

In the Chinese army's tent, Liu Bei stared at this letter from Guan Lin in stunned silence.

At the same time...Zhang Fei and Ma Chao's vivid reports.

For a moment, Liu Bei felt... God has eyes!

Zhang Fei was impatient, "Brother, now that we have enough food and grass, we can finally go to Dingjun Mountain!"

"Good job! Yun Qi and Shiren did a good job this time..." Liu Bei walked back and forth in the tent excitedly, his clenched fists constantly rubbing. He never expected that the food would finally be delivered. It's not Zhuge Kongming, but...but Jingzhou Guanlin, but his fourth good brother-Fu Shiren!

They are all great, they are doing a great job!

At the end of the sentence, Liu Bei's lips were trembling, and his face was even red with excitement.

"It's not just Yunqi and Shiren..." Fazheng reminded: "There is also Adou. Although Yunqi arranged it in advance, Adou was able to quickly use the Commerce Department to cut off the northward transportation of Shu brocade and send this batch of Shu brocade to Jingzhou. In this way, we gained the support of these merchants, and even Shangyong County also secretly surrendered. Although Yun Qi and Shi Ren were the first to contribute, Master Adou also took the greatest credit!"

Liu Bei couldn't help laughing, "Yes, Adou has also grown up. It seems... I made the right move when I sent him to Jingzhou to worship Yunqi as his teacher. To be able to achieve such great achievements shows that he has been transformed. What a huge relief!

Liu Bei's mood was surging at the moment. He paced back and forth and continued, "God has treated me well, Yun Qi, Adou, Zhuge Yuanxun, haha... I also have successors, but on our side, more or less I’m ashamed of myself!”

Such a sentence came out of my mouth.

Ma Chao, Zhao Yun, Fazheng, Sun Qian, Mi Zhu, Jian Yong and others couldn't help but blush.

yes…

With so many people and so many soldiers, they were unable to solve the problem, but they solved it with a small piece of Shu Brocade. Not only did they raise food, but they also secretly recovered the strategic fortress "Shangyong". This... is too disappointing. People are inspired.

After a while, my mood palpitated.

Everyone sighed with emotion.

Fazheng pondered: "Actually, according to what those merchants said, it was not just because of Shu Brocade, but also because of the father and son Yun Chang and Yun Qi. Their consecutive battles and victories in the Central Plains also shook the will of General Shangyong. , otherwise...this batch of food transportation will be full of dangers!"

Fa Zheng's words made everyone nod in agreement.

Zhang Fei was still impatient, "Don't keep talking about this food. We...we are not short of food now. Should we attack Dingjun Mountain in one go, then swoop down from the mountain...and seize Hanzhong in one fell swoop? Otherwise, the second Brother is about to defeat Ni Wei, but we are still slowing down. Is it possible that we will wait until the second brother conquers Jizhou? By then, the day lilies will be cold."

Zhang Fei has a loud voice, but his words are rough, but his reasoning is not rough.

The food problem is solved, then... the next step is how to fight.

"What do you think of Takanao?"

Liu Bei turned his attention to Fazheng.

Fazheng thought for a moment, and then said: "As the three generals said, since...there is no shortage of food now, it is time to seize Dingjun Mountain in one go, and then hold a stalemate with Xiahouyuan's tribe at the foot of the mountain, but...there is one thing that three What the general was negligent about was that thanks to the cover of Shang Yong, the shipment of this batch of food was not leaked... That is to say, in Xia Houyuan's view, we are still short of food. "

Having said this, Fazheng paused for a moment, and then continued, "Recently, there have been many craftsmen who have paid close attention to our army's furnaces. I have seen all of this, and I can take advantage of this. My lord, as usual, pretended to retreat. ,Then…"

Fa Zheng Weiwei told all about his plan.

As the plan was explained, the eyes of Liu Bei, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Ma Chao, Sun Qian, Jian Yong, and Mi Zhu couldn't help but widen.

Zhang Fei was still in his true temperament, "Hahahaha..." He immediately laughed and said: "Xiaozhi, your method is better. It leads the snake out of the hole. If it goes well, then all the actions in "The Legend of Yunbie" will be saved. Hahahaha, it's not in vain... Yun Qi tried his best to bring you back from the hell gate! Ah...hahahaha..."

For a moment, Zhang Fei laughed wantonly, and his laughter was extremely high-pitched.

Liu Bei glanced at Zhang Fei and did not stop this brother with a different surname from laughing.

He turned his eyes to Fazheng, as if because of Zhang Fei's words, because of the so-called "bringing him back from the gate of hell", for a moment, his memories of Fazheng were evoked, and in an instant, the eyes he looked at his good friend became filled with satisfaction. It is cherished and loved.

He said calmly, "Xiao Zhi is a military advisor. Now that the strategy has been decided, the generals should act according to the plan..."

"Here!"

Everyone bowed their hands.

Liu Bei then told Zhao Yun, "Zilong, there is no need to transport all the food into the army. It is enough to bring it here slowly, as long as it is enough for the soldiers of the three armies! As for the stoves, follow Xiaozhi's instructions and continue to reduce them slowly. You can also use them in the army." Make some remarks about running out of food! Tomorrow evening, I will order the withdrawal, and then... pay close attention to the movements of the Wei army. "

After hearing Liu Bei's words, Zhao Yun cupped his hands and replied solemnly:

"As commanded..."

At this time, Liu Bei clenched his fists and raised his fists to his chest. He was extremely excited, but he exercised great restraint. He lowered his voice and said, "As Yide said, if we win this battle, Yun All the actions in "The Legend of Yunbie" that Qi gave to Zilong were omitted, but it doesn't matter even if we can't win, we will have "The Legend of Yunbie" in the follow-up, as well as the ultimate move!"

It is different from Cao Cao's passionate, inspiring, or successful pre-war mobilization.

Liu Bei's words were like gentle breeze and drizzle, but inexplicably, when the words "Yunqi" were chanted, everyone here felt...

Full of faith, full of hope!

It's like double insurance -

This is also a sure win—

…

…

In Chang'an City, tens of thousands of Wei-character flags fluttered in the wind on the towering city walls, stretching their bodies wantonly.

A gust of wind blew by, and these flags covered the sky and the sun.

And in the palaces in this city, there are also large flags with the word "Wei" standing on the palace walls, fluttering in the wind.

Even if the Wei Dynasty suffered a brief defeat, these tens of thousands of banners seemed to declare to the world their master's power and unyielding power.

In this palace, a white-haired old man was lying on the couch and snoring slightly.

When he was sleeping, his face was as wrinkled as an old man's.

He seemed very tired, but even so, the rise and fall of his chest seemed to be constantly releasing his power...

This old man with gorgeous hair is Cao Cao.

He was having a dream at the moment.

In his dream, he saw a headless corpse. He was just surprised when he heard a voice coming from the corpse, a familiar voice.

"Brother, avenge me...Brother, avenge me -"

This voice shocked Cao Cao. It was the voice of his good brother and brother-in-law... Xia Houyuan.

"Wonderful talent...wonderful talent..."

Cao Cao hurriedly called, and just as he was calling, a rising sun suddenly rose in the dream, and the blazing sunshine almost melted everything in the dream.

Just when Cao Cao was eager to hear Xia Houyuan's response, he suddenly woke up from his dream, stood up from the bed suddenly, and glanced at the guards in the tent with a pair of calm eyes.

The guards were so frightened that they all fell to the ground, trembling all over.

According to legend...Cao Cao killed someone in his dream!

Xu Chu and Hu Ben's army were no longer around, and the newly promoted Su Wei were a little timid after all. They were frightened, worried that Cao Cao would not only kill people in his dreams, but also kill people when he woke up.

On the other hand, Cao Cao...

After returning from the dream to reality, he immediately subconsciously called out.

"Where is the Tiger Marquis?"

But...for decades, that rough and powerful echo, that "Your Majesty, I am here" has not been sent back.

This also made Cao Cao suddenly remember something, his expression became even more gloomy, and he weakly ordered: "Let Zhongde come...quickly..."

"Here..." A group of Suwei handed over their hands.

For a moment, in this large palace, there was only the sound of Su Wei's footsteps leaving quickly, no... there was another sound, which was Cao Cao's sigh.

"Zhongkang...Zhongkang——"

"Miaocai...Miaocai...Miaocai——"

…

The dawn is dim,

Chang'an City, inside a prison.

Ma Su was curled up. He was one of the few who was escorted and brought to Chang'an City by the Wei army as a prisoner.

However, obviously, here... no one would care about him. In this cold, dark, moss-stained prison, he didn't even have a quilt.

"Ahem..."

"Ahem..."

The coughing continued, and it seemed that the coldness from all directions was still eroding Ma Su's body. In fact, his hair had turned white inexplicably, and he didn't know whether it was from melancholy or from the cold.

suddenly…

With a creaking sound, the cell door opened, and a rather energetic middle-aged man walked in with his head held high.

However, this sound did not seem to make Ma Su raise his eyes. He seemed to be very stingy in observing his surroundings, or desperately accepted this fate, or...his almost frozen neck, every time he twisted, All very difficult.

But even with his head lowered, his low, weak voice came out especially.

"I, Ma Su, have been defeated, not rebelled. I... I have little talent and little knowledge, and I would not regret dying. But I, the Ma family in Xiangyang... are a loyal family and will never rebel against the Han, let alone the master! If you want to persuade me to surrender, hum , then let’s die with this heart!”

"hehe…"

After hearing Ma Su's words, the visitor waved his hand and signaled all the servants to leave. He walked step by step towards the prison where Ma Su was. Through the dim oil lamp, he saw Ma Su's pitiful face.

Yes, poor people must be hateful!

Taking a deep breath, the middle-aged man waited for the servants and jailers to retreat, then he took out a piece of cloth from his arms, filled it with stones, and threw it directly towards Ma Su.

This middle-aged man is Li Miao...

He said to Ma Su in a calm tone: "Take a look, look at the writing on it. If you still don't want to talk to me, then I will turn around and leave, and I will never come to persuade you again."

Uh...this...handwriting?

Ma Su finally twisted his stiff neck with difficulty. Inexplicably... the visitor's words cheered him up a bit.

He climbed to the cloth and slowly lifted it...

The eyes work hard to borrow the faint light.

That is when the dim light shines on the words above.

Ma Su's expression tightened, and he couldn't help but widen his eyes, and he was about to say something subconsciously, "It's... it's... it's my brother's..."

He wanted to say "It's my brother's handwriting"...

But when the words came to this, Li Miao outside the cell door interrupted first, "This is just a sentence I tore off... Now... Haha, I think we can have a good chat, right?"

At this moment, Ma Su couldn't help but raise his eyes, and couldn't help but focus his eyes tightly on the middle-aged man.

Inexplicably, he seemed to suddenly grab something, a beam of light, or... hope!

…

…

In the palace of Chang'an City.

Even though the morning light is dim, the voices here are loud and clear.

Cheng Yu was reporting something to Cao Cao.

"The king asks about General Xiahou's movements!"

"A recent letter came from General Xiahou, who found that the Shu army's stoves were reduced again. He was sure that the Shu army's food and grass would run out, and they would have to evacuate in the next few days... So General Xiahou has already selected soldiers and planned to cut off the Shu army's retreat routes, mainly harassing them, and delay the time for the Shu army to evacuate. As long as the Shu army can be completely depleted of food, the battle at the foot of Dingjun Mountain will be won!"

As Cheng Yu said...

Cao Cao signaled the maid to stop rubbing his temples, as if the nightmare last night made his head hurt again!

After a while, Cao Cao seemed to have been in a short silence, and he just opened his mouth:

"I met Miaocai in my dream last night. It was Miaocai with his head and body separated. He called me again and asked me to avenge him..."

At this point, Cao Cao's voice became more solemn.

"I suddenly have a bad premonition. Not only will Hanzhong be lost, but even Miaocai... I'm afraid Miaocai will not be able to escape this disaster-"

…

…