,,,,,,,,,,,,

As time gradually came to midnight, Liu Zheng slept for a while. He was worried, so he walked to the entrance of the cave and sat side by side with Ren Ping, pulled half of his blanket to cover himself, and smiled and said, "You sleep for a while, I'll take over."

Ren Ping shook his head, "I'm not sleepy yet."

Liu Zheng smiled, "It seems that you are more effective than I thought and have not been left behind at all."

"We are all from poverty and have experienced a lot of training. For example, I followed my father up the mountain to collect herbs since I was a child, and climbed over any cliff. This marching is nothing to me."

Speaking of this, Ren Ping asked curiously again: "Where is Master Liu from? What did he do before?"

Liu Zheng sighed a little, "I am an orphan. I have been wandering since I was eight years old. I have been following the Yellow Turban Army. I have never even had a name. Everyone called me Hou Wu. That year, I met my lord and was caught by him. Later, I followed Liao to surrender to him. The governor named me Liu Zheng, hoping that I could become an upright person. He is my eldest brother and my reborn parents. After so many years, I have married a wife, become a father, and have accumulated merits and promoted to the lieutenant. Every time I think of this, my old nose feels sore."

Ren Ping nodded silently, and he whispered in a low voice: "Does the captain think the provincial governor can take over the world?"

"Of course it can"

Liu Zheng looked at him seriously, "All our brothers think that he is the true destiny and the revitalizer of the Han Dynasty. Only by following him to conquer the world can we have a future, glory and wealth, and you will also call him the lord in the future."

"I remember the humble job."

At this time, a soldier quickly walked into the cave and whispered to Ren Ping and Liu Zheng: "Qi reported to the military marquis and the captain, we discovered the situation."

Liu Zheng quickly sat upright and asked, "What did you find out?"

"We found a grain delivery team with about four deer cars and escorted by Yu soldiers, about a miles away from us."

Ren Ping next to him said with an excuse: "It's the first update now, and they are still rushing, and they probably want to go into the cave to rest."

Liu Zheng sneered, "Then let them go into the hole."

............

On the narrow and rugged mountain road, a convoy of four deer cars was driving eastwards. The so-called deer car is a human-powered wheelbarrow. It is the most common rickshaw on Yiling Road. One truck can transport two stones of grain. This time, a total of 1,000 stones of grain was transported, and more than one soldier was escorted.

They were ordered to transport food and grass to Zigui County. This was not an isolated team, but also a link in the entire Liu Bei's order. Liu Bei ordered the defense to be moved from Wucheng County to Zigui County, so the food must be transported in time, otherwise it would not be able to support Liu Bei's army in Zigui County.

The line was very long, stretching for about five or six miles. Soon, the ox carts began to arrive in front of Laojun Cave one after another. The soldiers were exhausted and ordered the deer cart to rest on the spot. They set off early tomorrow morning, but they themselves ran into the cave.

The coachmen cursed in a low voice, but they had no choice but to do anything. These coachmen were all forced to recruit from Zigui County and Wucheng. They had a low status and were not their turn to go to the cave to rest. The coachmen put the deer cart close to the mountain wall, and leaned against the wheels to drink water and eat dry food. There were a group of people and a group of five people gathered together to chat and spend the long night.

At the beginning of the day, many coachmen fell asleep. At this time, a large group of black shadows suddenly appeared on the mountain road to the east. They moved quickly and blocked Laojun Cave. Several soldiers rushed in.

The other soldiers rushed to the sleeping coachman. Several coachmen suddenly woke up from their sleep, but found a sharp sword on their necks. The coachmen were so scared that they were scattered.

Screams kept coming from the cave, but a quarter of an hour later, Laojun's cave became as quiet as death. The Eagle Strike Army made a fierce move. Except for two living mouths, the rest of the soldiers were massacred. They stripped off the soldiers' clothes and armor, threw the bodies into the Yangtze River, and threw all the food into the river. Only then did all the deer carts turn around and return to Wucheng.

...........

On the other side of Zigui County, Liu Bei's 12,000 troops also set up a camp in a flat area. Although he failed to cross the river by the Jingzhou army, Zigui County was still in his hands, so he certainly would not withdraw easily.

Moreover, the reinforcements from Wushan arrived in Zigui. With the tall and sturdy nature of Zigui County, the advantageous defense and unfavorable attack, and the defense of thousands of people, it would be difficult to capture even if there were many troops in Jingzhou.

However, Liu Bei also had a big concern, that is, the food problem in Zigui County. Since Liu Biao captured Yidu and Jianye counties many years ago, the relationship between Bashu and Jingzhou was in a bad state. Liu Zhang ordered the cessation of Jingshu trade. Although the relationship eased slightly later, strategic materials such as pig iron and grain were still not allowed to be transported out of Bashu.

As a result, almost no grain was stored in each county. Apart from the 50,000 stones of grain specially hoarded in Wucheng in order to obtain Bashu, the grain of each county could not support much army at all.

If the food from Wucheng cannot be transported to Zigui County in time, what makes Liu Bei even more upset is that he cannot contact Zigui County, which is near the other side of the shore, and his carrier pigeons can only be sent to Wucheng and then transferred from Wucheng to Zigui County.

But the problem is that he could only send a letter, but he couldn't come back. He had no idea what happened on the other side. He only realized that the reinforcements were erected at the head of Zigui County. He realized that Wucheng reinforcements rushed to Zigui County.

But he didn't know how many reinforcements came, whether Liu Feng was the chief general was. He was even more worried that Wucheng would transport food to Zigui County in time according to his request.

In the big tent, Liu Bei was dictating the order. Ma Su, the military officer in the recording room, wrote a pen and recorded Liu Bei's order, "Wucheng must transport food to Zigui at all costs. Within ten days, there must be 10,000 stones of food. Liu Feng was ordered to strengthen his defense against Badong County to prevent the Shu army from sneak attacking Wucheng from the west. This battle to defend Zigui will not be resolved in the near future. The two cities need to be prepared for a protracted war. In addition, pay attention to internal security, especially Pang..."

Speaking of this, Liu Bei changed his words: "All suspicious people, no matter what position they hold, must be closely monitored and beware of betrayal."

After Liu Bei finished his oral statement, Ma Su also wrote and handed over the letter to Liu Bei. Liu Bei looked at it and ordered, "Just like this and let the letter go out immediately."

Ma Su hurried away, Liu Bei walked a few more steps behind his back, and asked his guards: "How many pigeons are there?"

The personal soldier clasped his fists and said, "Uncle Qi, except today, there are two pairs of carrier pigeons left."

Liu Bei couldn't help but feel upset. He could only send two more letters. If he had known that he would have brought more carrier pigeons from Yidu. Thinking of Yidu, Liu Bei suddenly remembered something, that is, how was Guan Yu's capture of ships in Jiangling? If he could capture all the warships in Jiangling, in addition to not having to worry about Liu Jing's army crossing the river and heading south, they would have the capital to seize Nanjun at any time.

But seven days have passed, and there is no news from my second brother, which makes Liu Bei feel a little worried. Seeing that the reinforcements in Jingzhou have arrived, Jiangling's defense will inevitably be strengthened. Will there be any problems with my second brother.

Liu Bei felt a little inexplicable trouble, and all kinds of uneasiness and worries intertwined, making him worried and paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back. Now he really had the idea that he didn't want to continue. As long as Liu Jing returned all the troops to him, he would give up Bashu.

At this moment, a personal guard reported at the door of the tent: "Report to the emperor, Gong'an County urgent report"

Liu Bei quickly walked out of the tent, and a report soldier rushed over and knelt down on one knee to report: "Reported to the Emperor's uncle, General Guan failed to capture Jiangling warships, General Guan and the young general were unfortunately captured."

"ah"

The sudden news exploded like a thunderous sound above Liu Bei's head. He took two steps back and stared at the newsman in amazement, as if he had said the wrong name. The newsman bowed his head and repeated: "The Second General and General Xiao Guan were unfortunately captured."

Liu Bei felt a cramp in his heart, his eyes turned dark, and he fell to the ground on his back, scaring his personal soldiers to come up one after another, "Imperial Uncle, wake up."

...........

According to Liu Bei's deployment, 6,000 troops were stationed in Wucheng, with his Yi Liu Feng as the head commander and deputy military advisor Pang Tong assisted. The military power was jointly controlled by Liu Feng and Pang Tong. Since Liu Feng personally led 4,000 people to Zigui County, Pang Tong should be in charge of Wucheng.

But in fact, Liu Feng did not hand over the military power to Pang Tong, but to his deputy general Fu Shiren.

Of course, Liu Feng used a good excuse. Pang Gong was a counselor and military advisor. He was not familiar with marching and fighting, and could be supplemented with strategies. This actually excluded Pang Tong from his scope of power.

As Liu Bei's righteousness, Liu Feng knew his father's thoughts very well. Pang Tong was suspected by his father because his uncle Pang Ji betrayed Nanjun. However, there was no evidence that Pang Tong also participated in the accomplice, so he put Pang Tong in Wucheng, which was actually to let himself monitor him.

Since he understood his father's thoughts, how could Liu Feng hand over military power to Pang Tong? Even if he proposed various strategies, he was perfunctory on the surface, but in fact he did not take any action. Pang Tong suffered repeated setbacks, which made him a little disheartened.

In the room, Pang Tong was writing and writing a long letter to Liu Bei. He believed that the Bashu faction and the Dongzhou scholars had deep conflicts, and Pang Xi and Yan Yan were in disagreement. They could use their conflicts to hand over Wucheng County to Yan Yan, which would definitely trigger internal conflicts between Yan Yan and Pang Xi.

Pang Tong couldn't remember which proposal he wrote to Liu Bei, including a series of strategies to enrich the people and strengthen the army, including his suggestion that Liu Bei encourage trade, mine mining and minting, develop military camps, reward military merits, and other strategies to enrich the people and strengthen the army.

But Liu Bei did not give him any reply, which made him feel extremely disappointed. If Liu Bei ignored him in this proposal, he decided to return to Longzhong to live in seclusion and no longer ask about the world.

At this time, his little book boy pushed the door and walked in with a cup of tea. Pang Tong pointed to the table with the end of his pen, "Let's put it next to it."

The little Shutong put the teacup on the table, but stood there and did not walk away. Pang Tong looked at him and asked strangely: "Is there anything else?"

Xiao Shutong hesitated and said, "I just went to the kitchen to cook tea and found that Uncle Zhang had disappeared and became a stranger. I asked him who he was. He said he was a new person to serve the public. I also found that there were a few knives outside the yard. They said they were here to protect the public safety, and there were all in the front yard and the back yard."

Pang Tong was stunned and then furious. Who in the world would harm him? It was clearly to monitor him. He slapped his pen on the table, opened the door and walked out, shouting loudly: "Come out for me, those hiding in the dark."
Chapter completed!