Chapter 623

These three, like Feng Ji, did not rush to the front lines, but stayed in the base camp in the rear to guard it.

But nowadays.

Feng Ji was dead, but the remaining three had all lost their traces.

It was hard to guarantee whether these three were the masterminds.

However.

Instead of dwelling on Feng Ji's death, the most urgent matter now was the heavy casualties of the soldiers and the grain and supplies that had been burned to ashes.

"Gongyu, think of a way, how should we retreat back to Jizhou?"

Yuan Shao racked his brains but couldn't think of a way to retreat safely.

Simply put, he handed the burden to Ju Shou.

Although less than half a day had passed since the Yellow River water rushed over.

But it was hard to guarantee when Gu Yi would lead troops to launch a pursuit of the remaining coalition army.

Facing the threat of life and death.

Yuan Shao and Ju Shou could only abandon their previous unpleasantness and stand together to escape.

"My lord, just leave this matter to your subordinate to handle."

"I ask my lord to wait a moment."

A fierce light flashed in Ju Shou's eyes.

The reason he could become the spokesperson for the Jizhou aristocracy was that he possessed a great "Celestial Dragon" status and background.

But he himself was also a ruthless character.

Decisive when necessary.

What Ju Shou wanted to do now was to make these remaining 50,000 soldiers stabilize quickly and unify them under his control.

Yes, these 50,000 soldiers were not all from the Yuan camp.

Among them, about 20,000 were remnants from Ta Dun and Zhang Yan's command.

As for Zhang Yan and Ta Dun, they had lost their traces, and whether they were dead or alive was temporarily unknown.

Soon.

Ju Shou gathered everyone with a rank of "Shizhang" (leader of ten) or higher together.

He was seen taking out the sword hanging at his waist, and in front of everyone, he cut off a strand of hair and said sternly:

"Everyone, we are currently encountering unprecedented difficulties."

"Today, I cut off this strand of hair to guarantee to everyone."

"As long as you are willing to listen to me, I will definitely lead you back to Ye City safe and sound!"

Once these words were spoken, everyone was silent.

Including the portion of Wuhuan people who couldn't understand Chinese, seeing Ju Shou's act of cutting off his hair, they also felt shocked.

Hair was not something that could be discarded casually during the Han Dynasty.

In the late Han and Three Kingdoms period, there were two famous events related to cutting off hair.

The first was Cao Cao trampling on farmland.

Because Yanzhou had suffered from severe drought for many consecutive years, Cao Cao stipulated that no one could destroy farmland.

Otherwise, they would be subject to beheading.

But what was unexpected was.

One day, Cao Cao's mount, Jueying, suddenly became uncontrollable.

In heat, it rushed into the farmland.

This led to Cao Cao himself violating the rules he had set in front of everyone.

According to the regulations, Cao Cao needed to have his head cut off as punishment.

But as the saying goes.

So-called rules are often specifically formulated by the upper class for the lower class.

With Cao Cao's status and position, he couldn't really cut off his own head, right?

So, at this time, Guo Jia stood out and suggested that Cao Cao use cutting off a strand of hair to replace beheading.

This matter won the cheers of a group of soldiers.

Uh, although there is an element of artistic processing in this.

But from this matter, one can also see the importance of hair to people of the Han Dynasty.

The other event was related to the Eastern Wu side.

As everyone knows.

Under Sun Shiwan's leadership, in order to win the war, Eastern Wu's various means were often endless.

Sneak attacks, deception, these were all common routines.

Especially after Sun Shiwan became the "Great Wei Wu King," he went even further down this path.

After Sun Shiwan's "Great Daddy" Zhang Babai passed away, the new commander of the Eastern Front under the Cao Wei regime became Cao Xiu.

Cao Xiu was also a capable person.

Sun Shiwan had wanted to take advantage of the gap left by Zhang Liao's death to lead troops to sneak attack Chaohu.

But unexpectedly, Cao Xiu took the initiative to lead troops to rush into the hinterland of Jiangdong and even snatched more than a thousand warships from Sun Shiwan.

This made Sun Shiwan furious!

He was originally a person with a narrow mind who could barely fit an egg.

Regarding Cao Xiu snatching the ships, he naturally harbored resentment.

So, after a "two-and-a-half-year practice" and planning.

Sun Shiwan sent the Prefect of Poyang, Zhou Fang, to present a fake surrender letter to Cao Xiu.

But Cao Xiu was not a fool.

It was hard to guarantee that this Zhou Fang wasn't pretending to surrender.

However, in order to make Cao Xiu believe him, Zhou Fang actually cut off his own hair and sent people to give it to Cao Xiu.

Although Cao Xiu's ability was good.

But how could he have imagined that there were so many schemes and tricks on Sun Shiwan's side!

(PS: In the relevant records about Zhou Fang, it was clearly recorded that before the hair-cutting incident happened, Sun Quan had written two personal letters to Zhou Fang.)

(From this, it can be seen that the strategy of cutting hair to fake surrender might have come from Sun Shiwan himself and not Zhou Fang.)

(Of course, it's also possible that Zhou Fang thought of it himself.)

Before cutting his hair, Cao Xiu didn't believe Zhou Fang was truly surrendering.

After cutting his hair, Cao Xiu didn't stop, immediately leading his main army south in a hurry, saying he was going to welcome Zhou Fang back north.

From this, it can be seen that hair can also be seen as a symbol of credibility for the ancients.

But... Zhou Fang deceived Cao Xiu, ultimately leading to Cao Xiu's defeat at the Battle of Shi Ting.

Borrowing the east wind of the victory at the Battle of Shi Ting.

Sun Shiwan successfully ascended the throne as emperor, became the Great Emperor of Eastern Wu, and got rid of the glorious title of "Great Wei Wu King."

But... compared to the Great Emperor of Eastern Wu.

Perhaps "Great Wei Wu King" sounds more catchy? (Dog head funny)

Nowadays.

Ju Shou, in front of the remaining Shizhangs, camp leaders, colonels, and generals, cutting his hair to show his ambition gave everyone quite a shock.

Plus, among this group of officers, a considerable portion originally belonged to the Jizhou aristocracy.

The face of Ju Shou, the spokesperson for the Jizhou aristocracy, naturally had to be given.

So.

This group of officers soon chose to listen to all of Ju Shou's arrangements.

Immediately after, Ju Shou began to arrange the retreat matters calmly and unhurriedly.

After the army retreated for forty li.

Everyone felt exhausted.

All grain and supplies were destroyed, and everyone had reached the point of being at the end of their rope.