Chapter 4: Trapped Again

  "How do you know I'm not the nephew of Emperor Wu?" Liu Xuan looked at Liu Bian fearlessly, staring into his eyes.

  Liu Bei had been fighting in the north and south for over a decade since he joined the Yellow Turban Rebellion in the first year of Zhongping, and had met countless people, with rich life experience. Although he didn't know if Liu Bei had any nephews, he could read people, and from Liu Xuan's eyes, he saw a kind of self-confidence, a calmness that was different from ordinary people, which was a composure that ordinary impersonators couldn't achieve.

  "What makes you think you're the nephew of the Emperor?"

  "Emperor Uncle followed Lu Zhi and became friends with Gongsun Zan. In the early years of Zhongping, Emperor Uncle and Guan Yu and Zhang Fei in Zhuo County raised troops to resist the Yellow Turbans, repeatedly establishing military achievements, but were hated by officials, resulting in no reward for their achievements, drifting without a fixed place, occupying Pingyuan, rescuing Xuzhou, resisting Cao's bandits, being appointed by the Great Han Emperor as Emperor Uncle and Left General, conspiring with Dong Cheng to eliminate national thieves, can these be used as evidence?"

  Liu Bi gazed at Liu Jing for a long time, slowly withdrew his knife and said coldly: "If you dare to impersonate, I will cut you into pieces!"

  Liu Jue smiled faintly, "The Emperor is being pressed by the Cao army, and all sides are in a precarious situation. What benefit would I gain from impersonating his nephew at this time?"

  "Of course there will be benefits!"

  Liu Bi saw that they were exhausted and ordered with a wave of his hand: "Prepare a small tent for them, and give them a serving of meat and rice!"

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  "Master, you're really something, managing to fool them. If they suspected you were a spy for Cao's army, you'd be in for a world of hurt. You wouldn't even have meat porridge to eat!" Wu Xiu was famished and cold, devouring the meat porridge with big mouthfuls, his words muffled as he praised Liu Xun.

  Liu Jue, however, seemed to be worried. He temporarily disguised himself as Liu Bei's nephew, on the one hand, he wanted to mix with them and get some food, on the other hand, he didn't want to be taken as a spy of Cao's army, tortured and finally tied up, he needed to keep his freedom and escape at any time.

  "He lowered his voice and said: 'We've eaten our fill, let's make a run for it under the cover of night!'"

  "Why?" Wu Xiuren asked solemnly.

  "We estimate that we have entered the battlefield, they are clearly defeated soldiers who were beaten, and it is likely that they will be surrounded by Cao's army again. It is extremely dangerous to be with them, we must escape as soon as possible."

  Wu Xiu nodded repeatedly, "Young master is indeed wise!"

  "Anyway, let's fill our stomachs first!"

  Liu Xuan was also extremely hungry, and he picked up his bowl to eat in big mouthfuls. This was the first meat meal he had eaten since coming to the Three Kingdoms era, but unexpectedly it was horse meat rice.

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  At the third watch, Liu Xuan tied a leather bag around his body and kicked Wu Xiou awake with one foot, "Let's go!"

  Wu Xiu had not yet come to, and in a daze followed him out of the tent. Liu Xuan poked his head out to look at the corner on the left, where the big man who was supposed to be keeping watch was sleeping under a tree.

  "Hurry up!"

  Liu Jiong beckoned with one hand, and led Wu Xiu, who had just come to his senses, in a swift dash towards the edge of the camp. He had noticed when he arrived that there was a weak point at the northeast corner of the camp, where the defensive forces seemed to be sparse.

  Two people rushed to the gap, and indeed the defense was slack. Dozens of guards were sleeping in the corner. The two were overjoyed and rushed towards the gap. Suddenly, Liu Jiong pressed down on Wu Xiou, pinning him under his body.

  "What's wrong?"

  Liu Xuan rubbed his eyes and stared out of the camp, under the dim moonlight, he saw a group of dark shadows slowly approaching the gap in the camp, already within tens of steps. Liu Xuan was shocked to the point where his heart almost jumped out of his chest. This was Cao's army attempting to launch a sneak attack on the camp.

  He pulled Wu Xiu and ran back, shouting: "Cao's army is coming! Cao's army is coming!"

  The shouting awakened the sleeping garrison, who also discovered that there was a commotion outside and immediately sounded the drums.

  "Bang! Bang! Bang!" The loud sound of the bronze drum echoed inside the camp, and the Yellow Turban Army was thrown into chaos. Outside, Cao's army shouted and charged in, while the defenders fought back with arrows flying like rain and rolling logs and rocks crashing down.

  Liu Bei rushed out of the tent with a knife, shouting loudly: "All brothers get up and fight, if the camp is broken by Cao's army, no one will survive!"

  More than 4,000 Yellow Turban soldiers rushed to the front of the camp. The camp was built on a mountain, with a treacherous terrain, and as long as it was defended properly, Cao's army could not break in for the time being.

  At this time, the Yellow Turbans had no way to retreat and could only fight with their backs against the water. Their morale was gradually boosted, they fought desperately, and the sneak-attacking Cao army suffered heavy casualties, leaving behind more than 200 corpses, and retreated down the mountain in disarray.

  At this time, the drums sounded loudly at the foot of the mountain, and flames shot up to the sky on all sides. A branch of Cao's army with thousands of people rushed over from the north, which was the army of General Gao Lan, and another branch of the army came from the south, led by General Yu Jin, who was the commander-in-chief of this branch of Cao's army with more than 10,000 soldiers.

  Yu Jin heard that he had been ambushed and defeated, and was so enraged that he shouted, "The Yellow Turban rebels dare to deceive me! I'll attack them on three sides!"

  The drums of Cao's army sounded loudly, and 10,000 Cao soldiers launched a simultaneous attack on the camp from three directions: south, north, and center. The soldiers rushed towards the camp like a tidal wave, and fire arrows rained down on the camp from all sides.

  "Let's flee from the rear mountain, young master!" Wu Xiu had never experienced such a massive battle before and was frightened to the point of trembling in his legs, tightly grasping onto Liu Xuan, fearing he would abandon him and run away.

  Liu Jiong did not have the intention of running away from the back mountain at this time, he had just experienced a high-speed escape two days ago and didn't expect to fall into another melee.

  Although he also had no experience in battle, his mind was clear that Cao's army must have already sealed off the rear mountain, and escaping would be a dead end.

  "Except for hoping that the Yellow Turbans can hold on, we have no way out."

  Liu Jue let out a bitter laugh, realizing the situation was more severe than he had thought. In the chaos of battle, even if he were to impersonate Cao Cao's father, it would be useless, not to mention Liu Bei's nephew.

  "What are we going to do? Are we going to die here?" Wu Xiu said with a sorrowful tone, almost crying out loud.

  Liu Xuan looked at him with disdain, originally thinking that this book assistant was not bad, knowledgeable and reasonable, daring to let himself pretend to be Liu Biao's nephew, and having some courage to do great things.

  When death came, his cowardly side was exposed. Liu Jue saw through him and let himself pretend to be Liu Bei's nephew just to give Liu Bei an explanation, fearing that Liu Bei would blame him. In fact, he had no great courage and was a weak-minded person at heart.

  Liu Xuan was indeed annoyed in his heart, he struggled free from Wu Xi's hand and said coldly: "Now no one wants to die, but if they really have to die, it is the will of heaven, what is there to be afraid of!"

  He no longer paid attention to Wu Xiu, and strode towards the front of the camp. The battle in front of the camp was extremely fierce. The Yellow Turbans occupied the advantageous terrain, and wooden logs and stones rained down like hail, repeatedly repelling Cao's army. Hundreds of soldiers held wet cloth balls, and when Cao's fire arrows shot in, they immediately rushed up to extinguish them.

  Although the Yellow Turbans fought bravely and their morale was high, Liu Pei was worried and stood under a tree, staring blankly into the distance.

  "What's worrying you, General?" Liu Jiong walked forward and asked with a smile.

  Liu Bei sighed, "I'm afraid that Cao's army will besiege us, and our food supplies have been cut off. We can only slaughter horses to fill our bellies. If Cao's army besieges us for five days, we'll be completely finished."

  "Has the general ever thought of surrendering?"

  Liu Bei shook his head, "I heard that Cao Cao has issued a kill order this time. All the Yellow Turbans in Runan will be killed, and those who surrender will also die."

  Liu Bei patted Liu Xuan's shoulder heavily and smiled: "No matter if you are the nephew of the emperor or not, I still want to thank you tonight. If it wasn't for your timely discovery of Cao's army, we would have been finished."

  Liu Jue's face grew hot as he realized that Liu Bei had actually seen through him. If he were really Liu Bei's nephew, he wouldn't have thought of running away in the middle of the night.

  "What does the general plan to do?"

  "I want to break through, first return to Ancheng County, if it's really impossible then head south."

  Liu Jue shook his head, "Ancheng County has been breached by Xiahou Yuan's iron cavalry, and General Gong's entire army has been defeated. I met him on the road, and it is no longer possible for the general to go south. I advise the general to defend the camp firmly and wait for Liu Xianzong to come and rescue."

  Liu Bi heard that Ancheng County had been breached, and Gong Du's entire army had been defeated. His face turned deathly pale, this was his last line of hope, and it too had been shattered.

  "Liu Xianggong is busy with his own affairs, how can he still take care of me?"

  Liu Bei's thoughts were all in vain, and he turned to walk towards his tent in exhaustion. Liu Qi followed behind him, saying: "General, surely Liu Xuan will come to rescue us!"

  Liu Bi's mouth corner revealed a hint of mockery, "Is it just because his nephew is here?"

  "No!"

  "Liu Jue hastily said: 'If he doesn't come to rescue us, then he's not Liu Xuanzhang. General, defending the camp is our only way out.'"

  Liu Bei stopped in his tracks, pondered for a moment and said: "Perhaps you are right, Liu Xianggong's benevolence and integrity have spread throughout the world. If he does not come to rescue me, he will lose the trust of the world."

  Liu Bi's spirit was lifted once again, and he gratefully bowed to Liu Xuan, "Thank you, young master, for clearing up my confusion. I almost made a big mistake."

  "He let out a loud roar, 'Hold the camp for me! If the camp is broken, no one will survive!'"

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  Cao Jun's five attacks were all repelled by the Yellow Turbans, who took advantage of the terrain and weather to inflict over a thousand casualties. Yu Jin was furious, his eyes blazing with anger, but he could do nothing about it. He had no choice but to order his troops to withdraw from the assault and attack the enemy's camp at night, which would be very disadvantageous for them.

  At this time, Gao Lan led two captured Yellow Turban soldiers hastily to the scene, "General, these are the enemy scouts we caught. There's good news!"

  "What good news?" Yu Jin asked with an angry gaze at the two captives.

  Gao Gan kicked two Yellow Turban prisoners to their knees on the ground, "Speak quickly!"

  A Yellow Turban prisoner of war said: "The grain in the camp has been cut off, and we can only survive by killing horses. At most, we can hold on for five more days."

  Yu Jin's eyes narrowed at this news. He pondered for a moment, then looked up and said: "Since the enemy's food supply has been cut off, why not just besiege them?"

  Yu Jin shook his head, "Liu Bei has already fled westward, the Prime Minister only gave us two days' time, I don't want to wait any longer."

  He resolutely issued the order, "Pass on my command, the entire army will immediately withdraw!"

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  At dawn, the Yellow Turbans unexpectedly discovered that Cao's army had withdrawn. The camp was filled with cheers, and Liu Bei was overjoyed. He immediately gave the order: "The main force will descend the mountain and retreat to the east!"

  Liu Jue heard the order to come down the mountain, and his heart was greatly alarmed. He rushed to Liu Bei's side and shouted loudly: "General, this is Cao Jun's stratagem of deception! If we come down the mountain, our entire army will be annihilated! We cannot withdraw! We should send someone to send a letter to Emperor Xian to ask for reinforcements!"

  Liu Bian's food supply had been cut off, and he didn't want to kill any more horses. At this time, he couldn't listen to Liu Xuan's advice. His face sank in anger, and he said: "What kind of person are you? How dare you confuse my army's mind? If you say one more word, I'll behead you."

  Liu Jiong did not expect him to turn his face so quickly, after a while, he could only sigh and say: "Okay! General Zhu wishes you a smooth journey."

  Liu Bi sneered, "You pretended to be the nephew of the imperial uncle, now you want to run? Dream on!"

  He ordered his men on both sides, "Tie these two up and take them to the Emperor for punishment!"

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