Zhang Xiu stayed in his tent. Although he was holding a military book in his hand, Zhang Xiu didn't look at it because he had more things to think about. He didn't need to think less than Liu Bei because he had always been waiting for the right price. He wasn't as ambitious as Liu Bei and didn't want to conquer the world. He knew what kind of material he was. Although he inherited his uncle's legacy and obtained tens of thousands of elite Xiliang Cavalry and even expanded the army under his uncle's leadership, the Xiliang Army was much stronger than when his uncle was still alive. Both Liu Biao of Jingzhou and Cao Cao of Yanzhou were trying to woo him. However, Zhang Xiu didn't know how to govern. In other words, he didn't have the ability to be a Marquis. He was a general who could move unhindered on the battlefield. In terms of marching and fighting, Zhang Xiu wasn't bad. His Xiliang Cavalry could move unhindered, but he could only fight and couldn't rule at all.
However, Zhang Xiu was much better than Gongsun Zan, Guo Si, Li Jue, and the others. He also lived longer because Zhang Xiu knew himself well. He knew that he wasn't made for that kind of thing, so he wanted to join a Marquis and exchange his capital for wealth. Originally, he had his eyes on Lao Cao because Cao Cao was a wise choice in both military and political matters. Therefore, Zhang Xiu chose Cao Cao from the beginning. Cao Cao was also happy because he didn't need to use military force to get rid of Nanyang County, which was a thorn in his side in Yanzhou. He also obtained the loyalty of tens of thousands of heavy cavalry under Zhang Xiu. This kind of deal was not a loss at all. Both sides were originally in a win-win situation, but unfortunately, the incident with the Zou family happened!
As a result, Zhang Xiu killed Lao Cao's successor, Cao Ang, his most reliable general, Dian Wei, and his nephew, Cao Anmin.
It could be said that Zhang Xiu had cut off the path of surrendering to Cao Cao. Because surrendering to Lao Cao meant that Liu Biao was no longer in his honeymoon period with Jingzhou. Therefore, Zhang Xiu had to reconsider the choice of a wise leader. Liu Bei was also a good candidate, mainly because in this attack on Yangzhou, Liu Bei took Yangzhou and joined forces with Yuzhou. He had two provinces in his hands and three elite troops of the White Eared Army, Qingzhou Army, and Yuzhou Army. It could be said that Liu Bei was also a wise leader. However, not only did Liu Bei fail to take down Yangzhou, but he also lost his troops and armor. Even his most elite troops, the White Eared Army, died in battle. Although Zhang Xiu knew that Liu Bei was besieged by the Formation Breaker and Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry in order to save him, feelings were feelings. What Zhang Xiu wanted was to be a noble for generations to come. He wanted glory, splendor, wealth, and not feelings. He, Zhang Xiu, owed Liu Bei. He could use feelings to repay it, but he could not use the future of his Xiliang Army to exchange for it. This was why Liu Bei showed that he wanted Zhang Xiu to submit to him when he was negotiating with him, but he was rejected by Zhang Xiu. You, Liu Bei, only have a few tens of thousands of troops and Yuzhou is even more exhausted. Why should I, Zhang Xiu, submit to you? You don't have this ability!
After rejecting Liu Bei, Zhang Xiu did not feel good either! Because 20,000 Xiliang Cavalry were lost in the battle of Yangzhou, Zhang Xiu also offended someone, Lü Bu! There were only a few people in this world who could aspire for the throne! He had already seen through Liu Biao of Jingzhou. Although he had the title of Eight Generals, he did not live up to the name. Even if he had the ability, it was when Liu Biao was in his prime, not now in his twilight years! In Jingzhou, there were also noble families like the Cai Family and the Xue Family. Liu Biao's successor could not be determined. Zhang Xiu did not want to be a sacrifice.
Cao Cao was a wise lord, but he had already offended everyone. Now, Liu Bei, the backup, was also done. The only one left was Jiangdong's Sun Ce. Don't doubt that Zhang Xiu did not have such a high vision. He could not see through the foundation of the feudal lords. The only one who could give him this insight was Jia Xu, Jia Xu, who was in Nanyang Wancheng City. Jia Xu had been protecting himself since Dong Zhuo entered the capital. He was called the Poison Warrior because he was willing to sacrifice countless people for himself. Dong Zhuo recruited him and made him one of the Three Ministers and Nine Ministers. However, Jia Xu could see that Dong Zhuo was not a good lord, so he declined Dong Zhuo's generous gift. If Dong Zhuo did not ask, Jia Xu would not speak! He was afraid that Jia Xu would be punished after the eighteen feudal lords defeated Dong Zhuo.
The only unlucky ones who were schemed against by Jia Xu were Wang Yun and Lü Bu. Jia Xu wanted to protect himself. Wang Yun wanted to punish Jia Xu after he killed Dong Zhuo. Although Jia Xu was not so conspicuous, he was regarded as a person who must be killed by Wang Yun. Jia Xu saw that Wang Yun wanted to kill him. There were only two ways to do so. One was to be killed peacefully, and the other was to kill Wang Yun first. Therefore, Jia Xu chose to kill Wang Yun first.
Guo Si and Li Jue chose to re-assemble the army to attack Chang 'an after being plotted against by Jia Xu. Otherwise, the two of them would have hidden in the marketplace. How could there be such a chaos in Chang 'an? Wang Yun was a person Jia Xu must kill because Wang Yun wanted Jia Xu dead.
However, Lü Bu was not on Jia Xu's kill list. Moreover, Jia Xu did not want to offend too many people. Or rather, Jia Xu did not have the confidence to kill Lü Bu. Therefore, before Li Jue and Guo Si attacked Chang 'an, he sent a message to Lü Bu. Otherwise, without Chen Gong, Lü Bu would have been a brainless person. It was possible that the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry and the Formation Breaker had already fallen into Chang 'an.
Now, only Sun Ce was left. Zhang Xiu composed himself. He planned to lead the army after returning to Nanyang Wancheng. He did not want the 20,000 Xiliang Cavalry that Liu Bei said he would give up. This was because he knew that Liu Bei could not even protect himself. How much money could Yuzhou take out? Rather than making everyone unhappy, it was better not to think about it.
Zhang Xiu had accumulated a lot of resources in Nanyang Prefecture over the years. Liu Biao of Jingzhou gave him, his uncle Zhang Xiu left behind, and he also robbed and sold horses over the years. To be honest, building another 10,000 cavalry was not a problem. He could just go to Xiliang to buy the horses. Hanzhong and Zhang Lu would not stop Zhang Xiu from buying horses. They could also go to Xiliang to gather the troops. Or, they could simply train the 30,000 infantrymen to become cavalry. With tens of thousands of heavy cavalry, they could directly stop the army from contacting Sun Ce of Jiangdong. They could attack Jingzhou from both sides and use Jingzhou as a gift to join Sun Cejun of Jiangdong. Thinking of this, Zhang Xiu could not help but reveal a trace of a smile.
"Reporting to Milord, General Zhang Fei, a subordinate of the Left General, is outside the tent!" Just as Zhang Xiu was thinking, a Xiliang Cavalry soldier came in and reported. This person's clothes were tattered and he was not young. There was no trace of the original elite of the Xiliang Cavalry. Zhang Xiu's personal guards were originally formed by the elite of the Xiliang Cavalry. However, they had all died in the decisive battle with the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry. Now, he could only rely on these remaining soldiers.
"Zhang Fei? What's he doing here? " Zhang Xiu was stunned. One had to know that Zhang Xiu and Liu Bei had some friendship. However, he did not have any feelings for Zhang Fei. This was because Zhang Fei's mouth could not be controlled. Once he was unhappy, he would immediately speak. Only a few people could withstand Zhang Fei's mouth.
"This subordinate does not know!" The messenger shook his head. This was because Zhang Fei did not say what he wanted to do when he came.
"Let him in!" Zhang Xiu waved his hand and said. He did not know why Zhang Fei was looking for him. In any case, Zhang Fei was still Liu Bei's third brother. This time, he was also saved by Zhang Fei.
"Yes!" The soldier obeyed and left.
"General Zhang Fei, Milord wants you to go in and see him!" The messenger said to Zhang Fei.
"Ah! This Old Zhang understands! " Zhang Fei nodded and said. Just as he was about to walk into the tent, he suddenly said to the two Xiliang soldiers guarding outside the tent, "Let's go to my big brother's camp. I heard that they caught a wild boar. Although it's not much, if we go now, we can drink a mouthful of hot soup!"
"Ah, really?!" The Xiliang Iron Cavalrymen by the side started drooling. Their escape for the past few days had been torturous. They had to live in fear every day and endure the bites of mosquitoes. Even their food was a mess. They could only eat dry rations with mountain spring water. Now that they heard that there was meat, they naturally started drooling. Even if they couldn't eat meat, drinking a mouthful of soup would be good too!
"Eh? General Zhang Fei? Didn't the Left General not allow us to light a fire? Why would there be meat soup? " Another Xiliang Cavalry soldier became suspicious. He was afraid that the smoke from the fire would expose the movement of the entire army. Thus, Liu Bei gave the order that no fire was to be lit and the food was to be eaten raw.
"This, this …" Zhang Fei wanted to explain because he really did not know how to make up excuses.
Fortunately, the Xiliang soldier who passed the order explained, "Why are there so many whys? The Left General did not allow us to light a fire because he was afraid that the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry would catch up to us. Now that we are in this dense forest, even if the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry discovered us, they would not dare to come in!" This Xiliang soldier had long been unhappy with the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry. They were the Xiliang Cavalry, heavy cavalry. It was fine if they could not defeat the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry, but now, they were afraid of being chased and even lost their war horses! How could these heavy-armored cavalrymen swallow this anger? Their war horses were their second life. "Go quickly. If you are late, you might not even be able to drink the soup." Just one wild boar and Liu Bei's Army had a few thousand soldiers! Even if Liu Bei treated the Xiliang Cavalry well and let them have a good impression of Liu Bei, they would not even be able to drink the soup if they were late.
"No, we are the Lord's personal guards. We should protect the Lord!" The Xiliang soldier shook his head. Although he was not Zhang Xiu's personal guard, he was once a personal guard of a thousand Xiliang Cavalry soldiers. Therefore, he knew how to be loyal to his duty.
"The Lord needs your protection?" The other Xiliang soldier showed a look of disdain. His Lord's martial arts were so high that he only had personal guards to promote his subordinates. Furthermore, they were in the dense forest now. How could there be any danger? Could it be the Left General?
"If you want to go, then go! I will stay here and guard! " He frowned. He could not stop his fellow soldiers from eating hot food. However, it was not good to leave his Lord here for hot food. He could not do it.
"If you don't want to go, then I will go myself!" The Xiliang soldier showed a trace of disdain. "You can stay here and enjoy the wind! General Zhang Fei, thank you very much! "
As he spoke, he cupped his fist towards Zhang Fei.
"No need to thank me, no need to thank me!" Zhang Fei's mouth twitched and revealed a smile. He looked down on this soldier who abandoned his Lord to eat hot food. If it was any other time, Zhang Fei would have already scolded him. However, for the sake of the Military Advisor's mission and his Big Brother's great cause, he forced a smile.
He only allowed one of them to leave Zhang Xiu's tent. Zhang Fei looked at the departing figure for a long time.
"General Zhang Fei, why are you still not entering the Lord's tent? Don't make the Lord wait!" The Xiliang soldier kindly reminded him.
"En, this Old Zhang knows!" Zhang Fei nodded. Suddenly, Zhang Fei's eyes widened as he looked behind the Xiliang Cavalry. "There, there!"
"What?!" Seeing Zhang Fei's exaggerated expression, the Xiliang soldier thought that Zhang Fei had seen something and quickly turned his head around. After he turned his head around, he would never be able to turn his head back again. With a cracking sound, the sound of a neck breaking could be heard.
Zhang Fei held the Xiliang Cavalryman's head with one hand and carefully put him down. The Xiliang Cavalryman was no longer breathing. His eyes were wide open as he looked at Zhang Fei, as if he was asking why.
"I am sorry, brother. This Old Zhang did not want to do this!" Zhang Fei spoke his heartfelt words. Compared to the Xiliang Cavalryman who had just left, he admired the man in front of him more because he was loyal to his duty. However, it was also because of his loyalty that he lost his life. "When this matter is over, I, Old Zhang, will definitely bury you!"
After dragging the Xiliang Cavalry soldier into the dense forest, Zhang Fei patted his body and walked towards Zhang Xiu's tent.
Similar scenes appeared in every corner of Zhang Xiu's camp. Some left for the hot food while some stayed loyal to their duty. However, due to the large number of people, Zhang Fei could not deal with them directly. Even so, nearly half of Zhang Xiu's men left the camp.
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