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On the south bank of the Yangtze River, 20,000 Jingnan troops were lined up in an orderly manner, waiting for the ships on the other side to come. More than an hour had passed, and there was no movement on the dark river surface. Liu Bei became a little anxious. He kept paced back and forth on the shore with his hands behind his back.

Next to him, Zhang Fei couldn't help asking: "Brother, will you encounter any accidents or be unable to cross the river?"

Liu Bei sighed, "I don't know either, but if I can't cross the river, someone will swim back, and it seems that I have crossed the river."

Just then, a slight commotion suddenly came from the shore, and someone shouted: "A boat is coming on the river."

Liu Bei was excited and walked forward quickly. He saw two ships appearing on the dark river. Zhang Fei shouted in surprise: "What's going on, there are only two ships."

Liu Bei was very puzzled, how could there be only two ships? "Brother, you can see clearly, there are indeed only two ships."

"I can see clearly that there are only two ships, as if there is no one on the ship. It is the river water who brings the ship. What's going on?" Zhang Fei's voice was very nervous, as if he saw a ghost ship.

Two ships were stranded by the water, and dozens of soldiers rushed up. After a moment, the soldiers carried two people over. A soldier reported nervously to Liu Bei: "Several brothers on the ship were killed by arrows, but only these two brothers seemed to have a breath."

Liu Bei felt as if he was sinking into the abyss. No matter what the reason was, the plan to cross the river tonight would not be successful. Pang Tong's face was also very pale, and he also realized that his plan had failed.

"Wake up"

The soldiers shouted, and Liu Bei rushed forward and saw a soldier with an arrow in the lower abdomen slowly awakening. Liu Bei asked quickly: "What happened?"

"Report to the emperor, when I came back... I met Cao Jun... the fleet, there were several ships..."

Before he finished speaking, the soldier fainted again. Liu Bei quickly ordered: "Let the military doctor come for treatment as soon as possible."

He sighed, walked slowly to the water with his hands behind his back, staring at the dark river surface, crossing the river without a boat. It seems that he really has no chance. This is God's will.

Pang Tong also slowly walked forward and said ashamedly: "Uncle Emperor, this is my responsibility."

Liu Bei shook his head, "This matter has nothing to do with you, and you wouldn't have thought that the Cao army brigade would come. This is God's will, but I'm a little surprised. The one who should have returned was an empty ship, so how could it be the Cao army?"

Liu Bei turned around and looked at Pang Tong, "What do you think about this?"

Pang Tong hesitated and said, "Can you let me speak my heart?"

"Of course, of course I want to hear your truth."

"I think it must be the result of the Red Cliff."

Liu Bei was surprised, "You mean, the Battle of Red Cliff is over."

Pang Tong nodded slightly, "It should be over. Only when the war ends will the Cao army return. But I don't know who wins and who loses. Cao army will return regardless of the victory or defeat. I can't judge this."

At this moment, the chief clerk Ma Su rushed over and shouted from afar: "Report to the Emperor, the military advisor is coming urgently."

Liu Bei stepped forward to take the letter. Under the illumination of the soldiers' torches, it was indeed a reddish-brown envelope that was urgent. Liu Bei opened the letter and read it, and was a little stunned, with a look of surprise and joy on his face.

"Lord, it's news about Red Cliff," Pang Tong asked.

Liu Bei nodded, "There is a flying pigeon sending a message on the Chibi side. The war is over. Cao Cao was defeated and more than 200,000 troops were wiped out."

Pang Tong was also stunned. He didn't know whether he was happy or sad. The Jiangxia army actually defeated the 200,000 Cao army, which meant that the world's power structure was about to change drastically.

Liu Bei was also panicked. Of course, he knew what the Jiangxia army defeated Cao army meant that his last little force would be saved first. This was his luck, and then, what should he do.

Zhang Fei next to him seemed to understand his brother's panic and reminded him: "Brother, look at the military advisor's letter again, what else has it said later?"

A sentence reminded Liu Bei, and he continued to read. After the letter, Zhuge Liang indeed made a suggestion that he could send 5,000 troops to reinforce Jianping County, and another 15,000 people were deployed at the mouth of Youjiang River to observe the changes in Jiangling. At the end of the letter, Zhuge Liang said that he was about to set off and came to meet with Liu Bei.

Liu Bei immediately felt relieved and smiled at everyone, "The military advisor is coming soon, don't worry."

Pang Tong felt a little uncomfortable. At this critical moment, the lord still listened to Zhuge Liang's arrangements and did not ask about his thoughts at all, which shows that the lord still did not take him seriously.

Pang Tong suddenly felt an indescribable loss in his heart, and thought to himself that it would be better to leave first so as not to see Kong Ming's expression.

Thinking of this, Pang Tong bowed to Liu Bei and said, "I am willing to lead 5,000 troops to Jianping County to assist the Chief Minister, and ask the Lord to be kind."

Liu Bei understood what Pang Tong meant, and he couldn't help but feel a little guilty, so he took out a command arrow and handed it to Pang Tong and said, "I will hand over the five thousand troops to Shi Yuan. I hope Shi Yuan can assist Feng'er. If he has any incompetence, you can report it to me secretly."

"I understand, thank you for your kindness"

That night, General Pang led 5,000 troops to leave the camp and headed west along the south bank of the Yangtze River.

...........

It was not until he returned to Jiangling City that Cao Cao finally let go. At this time, he thought of the destruction of more than 200,000 troops, and couldn't help but feel sad. He beat his chest and cried, "Sorry, the defeat of Red Cliff is my fault."

In the lobby, everyone was speechless, and Cheng Yu was even more ashamed. After all, he finally led to the Prime Minister's dispatch of troops. Although he thought at that time he was only 50% sure, in that case, even if he was only 4%, he advocated implementation.

The key was that he was too cater to the Prime Minister's idea of ​​sending troops at that time and did not tell all the dangers. At least he had already thought that the Jiangdong Army would likely attack from land.

But this difference in thought caused his lifelong regret, causing him to feel a sense of pain of losing his integrity in his later years. He stood by silently without saying a word.

At this time, Cao Cao returned to normal a little. He looked at Chen Qun and apologized: "Long, this time I am ashamed of you, I apologize to you."

Chen Qun hurriedly walked out of the line and bowed to him and said, "This is the situation, and the Prime Minister sometimes has no choice but to do so."

Cao Cao nodded, "You are right. I exhausted half of the country's strength, but in the end I retreated in a hurry without fighting. I don't need to mention my reputation. Just this huge waste will make it difficult for me to explain to the people of the world."

Everyone was silent. Although the Prime Minister was right, everyone had no intention of responding. At this time, Cao Cao looked at the general and had a position empty beside Xiahou Dun. He felt sad. Although he knew that there would be a general who would fall, he would never hope it was Xiahou Yuan.

It seems that we can only negotiate with Liu Jing in the future and find a way to exchange Xiahou Yuan back. At this time, footsteps came from outside, and a guard reported, "General Zhang is back."

This is Zhang Liao's return. Zhang Liao got off the boat halfway and collected Yunmengze's defeated soldiers. This is also something Cao Cao was concerned about. Cao Cao was immediately excited and said quickly: "Tell him to come in."

After a moment, Zhang Liao hurried in, bowed and said, "Meet the Prime Minister."

"Tell me quickly, how many defeated soldiers have been recruited?" Cao Cao asked impatiently.

"Reporting to the Prime Minister, he recruited more than 15,000 people in his humble position. I heard that Gongming also recruited thousands of people, about 20,000 people, which disappointed the Prime Minister."

"I was not disappointed, it's very good. Thank you for your hard work this time."

Although this comforted Zhang Liao, Cao Cao sighed in his heart. There were only more than 20,000 people. Although it was already very good, only 100,000 were recruited, so there were at least tens of them captured.

At this time, Cao Cao felt lost and felt bored, so he said to everyone: "Everyone, let's go and rest after working hard."

Everyone bowed and retreated, but Cao Cao secretly ordered the guards to keep Cao Ren, Cheng Yu and Chen Jiao, and he got up and went back to the back hall.

After changing his clothes, Cao Cao walked back to the back hall. Cao Ren, Cheng Yu and Chen Jiaoren were already waiting in the back hall.

"Please sit down"

Cao Cao asked someone to sit down, but he no longer mentioned the defeat and said to the people: "I want to discuss the future arrangements with you. I plan to set off north tomorrow and return to Yedu, so I will finalize some things tonight."

Cao Ren said with concern: "The Prime Minister just arrived tonight and left tomorrow. Are you a little anxious?"

Cao Cao sighed, "I want to take a few days off, but there is nothing I can do. The situation is forcing people."

Cao Cao just got a news that the commander of Youzhou Yan Rou led a 10,000 elite army to surrender to Yuan Mai, which greatly increased the strength of the Yuan family's remnants, which made him even more urgent to go back.

Cao Ren was speechless. He knew that the Prime Minister had kept him, and it was obvious that he wanted to entrust Jingzhou to himself, which made him feel an invisible pressure.

Cao Cao said to Cheng Yu again: "Tell me Zhongde, I want to listen to your opinion."

Cheng Yu didn't want to say much, but Cao Cao must say it, so he had to say: "Actually, I'm worried that the Jiangxia army will seize Xiangyang first and cut off the retreat of Jiangling's army. I suggest that it's better to give Jiangling to Liu Bei and let Liu Bei restrain Liu Jing."

As soon as he said this, Cao Ren immediately opposed it, "It is inappropriate that Nanjun is one of the major counties in Jingzhou. If Nanjun is lost, Xiangyang will not be protected. In short, I will never give it to Liu Bei for one day in Jiangling."

If it were before, Cheng Yu would have argued with Cao Ren, but now he has no desire to compete. Since Cao Ren firmly opposed it, he said lightly: "General Xiao said so, then just keep it."

Cao Cao was a little dissatisfied, but he couldn't say anything. It was estimated that Cheng Yu's depression was related to the defeat of Chibi, so he stopped asking Cheng Yu and instead asked Chen Jiao, "What about Ji Bi's opinion?"

Chen Jiao was the chief minister who stayed to assist Cao Ren. If Cao Ren was asked to guard Jingzhou, Chen Jiao would naturally stay. He knew this very well.

Chen Jiao bowed and said, "Weichen means to observe first. If Liu Jing attacks Jiangling in a large scale, then give Jiangling to Liu Bei, it doesn't matter if we can defend Xiangyang with all our might. If Liu Jing does not have the intention to move westward, then we will make arrangements calmly. Weichen means to say, don't rush to make decisions and consider them according to the actual situation."

Chen Jiao's plan reached Cao Cao's heart, and he nodded and said, "Ji Bi said it very well, and he really couldn't make a hasty decision. When the war ended, Jiangxia, Jiangdong and Jingnan families will inevitably have a struggle for interests. We must make full use of the conflicts in this family and strive to achieve the greatest benefits."

Cao Cao said to Cao Ren again: "At least you must destroy Liu Bei."

Cao Ren immediately stood up and knelt down, "I will never let down the prime minister's trust."

"good"
Chapter completed!