Chapter 644

"Understood!"

Liu Bei called everyone to discuss matters.

"Gentlemen, we must face the reality that if we do not break Xiapi City, Cao Cao's reinforcements will arrive."

Guo Jia cupped his hands.

"My lord, our army has already secured Guangling Commandery and half of Xiapi Commandery. As long as we protect the supply lines, it will not be difficult to hold a stalemate with the Cao army in Xiapi."

Pang Tong also spoke,

"My lord, of the three factors—timing, terrain, and human unity—we have human unity, but Zhong Yao forcibly relocated all the people around Xiapi, and the Xuzhou rainy season arrived too quickly. These were things we did not anticipate."

Liu Bei nodded.

"Scorched earth tactics. This Zhong Yao is a talent; our army can't even buy grain from the local clans."

He looked toward the west.

"Now our army can only pin our hopes on Lu Xun gaining an advantage, or Kongming breaking through Xuxian. Only then will Cao Cao be forced to retreat and give up Xuzhou."

Many netizens from other countries flooded into the live broadcast room, mocking him crazily.

"Big-eared thief, I didn't expect you to have a day like this!"

"You've hooked up with so many girls, now you're suffering divine retribution. Even Heaven won't help you!"

"Seeing the big-eared thief get thwarted makes me so happy!"

"What's the big deal? It's just a stalemate. My Brother Bei has already occupied southern Xuzhou, what are you all getting excited about? Are you all collectively losing your minds?" Xia country netizens began to defend Liu Bei.

"Exactly, anyone who didn't know better would think Cao Cao had already defeated Brother Bei and unified the Han!"

Shouchun City,

Liu Fu, the Inspector of Yangzhou appointed by Cao Cao, was deeply worried at this moment.

Lu Xun had led troops to occupy the county seat of Xiacai along the Huaihe, cutting off the connection between Shouchun and the north.

He only knew now that Liu Bei occupied Guangling Commandery and was heading toward the Xiapi State.

Cao Cao's instruction to him was to guard Shouchun well and think of nothing else.

He felt depressed; for such a large city as Shouchun, he only had five thousand soldiers!

Yue Jin had eight thousand men guarding the Hefei fortress!

Originally, their plan was for Yue Jin to be Liu Bei's main target, while Shouchun only needed to guard against sneak attacks.

Who knew that Liu Bei would disregard martial virtue, strike from the Huaihe, and occupy the north instead, making Shouchun the main target.

Fortunately, Lu Xun did not seem to care much about Shouchun City and wanted to take the Ying River to strike at Xiangxian.

Liu Fu hurriedly asked Yue Jin to bring troops back to reinforce Shouchun, leaving Zhang Xi with three thousand men to guard Hefei. With ten thousand troops, Shouchun would be secure.

Liu Fu was portrayed quite poorly in the Romance.

Boss Cao held his spear and composed the famous poem "Short Song Style."

There is a line: "The moon is bright, the stars are sparse, the crows fly south, circling the tree three times, which branch can they rely on?"

Liu Fu muttered that these words were inauspicious, and Boss Cao casually stabbed him to death with his spear.

In reality, he was quite a good official. He came to Jiujiang alone, built the new city of Hefei, and gathered the people, bringing Shouchun's population to tens of thousands.

Yue Jin was also depressed. He had originally intended to rely on the Hefei fortress to block Liu Bei and make a name for himself.

Unexpectedly, Liu Bei didn't come at all!

Liu Fu asked him to reinforce Shouchun, and after thinking about it, he decided to go.

Yue Jin led five thousand elites along the Fei River toward Shouchun.

Yue Jin was a veteran general; he sent out scouts far and wide to guard against sneak attacks by Liu Bei's forces, and he was cautious all the way, fortunately avoiding any ambushes.

Unfortunately, before he reached Shouchun, more than two hundred warships sailed up the Fei River, and Gan Ning and Xu Sheng led fifteen thousand troops to block Yue Jin's path!

Yue Jin could not reach Shouchun. He only had a few days of grain and did not dare to hold a stalemate with Gan Ning and the others. He sent men to cover the rear and led his troops toward Hefei.

There was nearly a year's worth of grain there, so he wasn't panicked at all!

Just on the way back,

Suddenly, ten thousand arrows were fired simultaneously from the forest by the river, falling like rain!

Yue Jin's soldiers were caught off guard and were mowed down in an instant!

"Kill!"

"Kill Yue Jin!"

"Lord Xuande has great rewards!"

It was Chen Lan and Lei Bo, the old subordinates of Yuan Shu who had turned to banditry in Jiujiang!

Persuaded by their old friends, Liu Bei's generals Le Jiu and Qiao Rui, they raised troops to ambush Yue Jin!

Liu Bei had taken in the Yuan clan, so he had some connections with them.

Le Jiu and the others were living much better than Chen Lan, and they very successfully persuaded them to defect to Liu Bei.

Yue Jin was ambushed and then relentlessly pursued by Gan Ning and Xu Sheng from behind. He was instantly crippled and led his remaining two thousand soldiers to hold a mountain.

However, there were no reinforcements on the mountain, nor were there any supplies. After three or five days, he ran out of food.

Yue Jin was loyal and brave, swearing never to surrender, but his soldiers could not endure hunger as well as he could. They bound Yue Jin together and sent him down the mountain.

Gan Ning had already had people cook a meal, letting them have a good feast.

Afterward, Gan Ning selected several hundred men, plus his thousand-strong Jinfan Guard.

Disguised as Yue Jin's routed soldiers, and with the cooperation of two surrendered Cao army captains, they tricked their way into Hefei City.

Gan Ning shot Zhang Xi with an arrow, and the surprise attack on Hefei City succeeded!

Liu Fu never expected that the Hefei fortress he had worked so hard to build would not encounter a single enemy from the south, but would be stolen by enemies from the north!

Yue Jin swore never to surrender and was beheaded by Lu Xun's order, his head sent to Shouchun.

The soldiers of Shouchun were shocked!

Liu Fu looked at the dense mass of troops outside the city—Lu Xun, plus Chen Lan and Lei Bo, totaling ninety thousand troops—and he felt fear, let alone the soldiers.

He had no choice but to surrender. Now that Hefei City had fallen, Liu Bei's army could send reinforcements from Jiangdong endlessly.

The Huaihe was controlled by Lu Xun, there were no reinforcements from outside, and the people in the city remembered Liu Bei's kindness and had no will to resist.

Under the persuasion of his officers, Liu Fu opened the gates of Shouchun and surrendered!

Lu Xun's front had made breakthrough progress. Everything south of the Huaihe was controlled by Liu Bei. In the future, launching a northern expedition from Shouchun to Xuxian would be as easy as turning over one's hand!

Lu Xun sent men to report the victory to Liu Bei while leaving Le Jiu to guard Shouchun.

He himself led the naval forces along the Ying River toward Xiangxian.