C11

At the end of the morning, the sun had already risen very high, and the autumn mist that shrouded Ji County's County City was mostly dispersed, revealing the dark gray city walls and tall city buildings. On top of the city gate stood Gongsun Rui dressed in red and Liu Ninger dressed in green. Their gazes stopped at the city gate, and a team of two hundred elite cavalry s, dressed in black armor and wearing black helmets, came out from the city. Beside them was a heroic figure, the white horse silver gun, it was Zhao Yun.

After all of the troops had left the city gate, Gongsun Xu raised his head, and waved to Gongsun Rui and Liu Ninger, and took the reins to the official road in the northeast.

Liu Ninger's eyes were filled with tears as she sobbed softly, "Brother Xu, you have a safe journey."

"Aiya, what are you crying for!" Gongsun Rui was younger than Liu Ninger by two years, but she looked more like a sister now. She took out a handkerchief and wiped the tears off Liu Ninger's face.

"Oh, then I won't cry anymore." As expected, Liu Ninger stopped her tears as she watched Gongsun Xu's back with red eyes.

"Alright, alright, didn't Cui'er say last night that her father had come up with something new? "Go, let's go see that little girl." Gongsun Rui pulled Liu Ninger and skipped down the city walls.

Gongsun Xu spurred his horse to gallop, while Gu Panpan was in high spirits.

Gongsun Zan's entire family was present at the marquis' family banquet last night. Other than Guan Jing and his daughter, Le Hedang and his wife, there weren't many other officials who were invited to the banquet, but they were all people Gongsun Zan trusted the most.

After three rounds of drinking, Gongsun Xu stood out and requested to go to Changli to convince Liu He to come. At that time, Hou Yue had strongly opposed them and even Gongsun Rui and Liu Ninger had spoken out to help him. However, Liu Weitai and the others supported Gongsun Xu and thought that as long as Liu Yu was still alive, Liu He would definitely not dare to rebel. With their support and with what Liu Weitai had said that day, after considering it over and over again, Gongsun Zan agreed to Gongsun Xu's request.

Today, Gongsun Xu went to the army camp before dawn. Under his uncle Gongsun Fan's help, he chose two hundred elite cavalry s and left the city after the meal.

In Gongsun Xu's opinion, persuading Liu He to join wasn't difficult at all. To him, this was a perfect opportunity to boost his reputation and cultivate his trusted subordinates. Last night, when the father and son pair were having a private conversation in the study after the feast, Gongsun Zan promised to wait for Liu He to come and let Gongsun Xu choose his men to join the army. At this time, in Gongsun Xu's heart, Liu He and the tens of thousands of people had already become his.

The Ji County was only around two hundred li from the Changli. If the cavalry was fast enough, four hours would be enough for them to get there. However, Gongsun Xu did not want to spend too much energy on his horses, so the speed was not very fast.

There weren't many passersby on the way, and more than ninety percent of them were refugees heading towards Ji County. The closer they were to the Changli County City, the more refugees there were. Seeing a squadron of armored cavalry arriving, the refugees all hid from the side of the road, bowing their heads and not daring to look.

The city gates of Changli County were tightly shut, the city had a circumference of less than twenty miles, with many soldiers standing on top of the sixty to seventy feet tall city walls. Upon seeing the 'Gongsun banner' appearing, someone immediately ran down the city wall to report to Liu He.

When they arrived at the place outside of the city gate, Gongsun Xu raised his hand to stop the procession and let Gongsun Yi go in to shout.

Gongsun Yi ran to the city wall and shouted, "Listen up, the young duke has personally come to discuss some important matters with Liu He gongzi. Open the city gates quickly!"

The high-ranking officer on the city wall was a Hu man dressed in leather armor. Both of them had curly hair and tall noses, and their skin was as white as a woman's. The one on the left who was tall and fat was one of Liu Yu's subordinates,, and the one on the right who was thin and tall was a Lieutenant Xianyu Yin.

When the surrounding soldiers heard that Gongsun Xu had personally come, most of their expressions relaxed. Since the Little Marquis Lord had personally come, Marquis Jin was obviously not going to fight anymore. Many of their homes were in the Youzhou City and the Ji County, if not for the severe punishments Si Mi Yan Rou gave them, many of them would have escaped back home already.

Seeing that no one agreed, Gongsun Yi raised his voice and shouted: "Those at the top of the city, hurry up and open the city!"

At this time, dozens of cavalrymen came flying from the city. A handsome young man dressed in embroidered robes shouted, "Kai Cheng, I will go out of the city to receive you." He was Liu Yu's son, the nineteen year old Liu He.

Liu He was a valiant man with a height of almost nine feet. The thick black fish scales on his body gave him a chilling aura. This man was the Army's Sima Yan Rou, and was the number one general under Liu He's command.

The city gate slowly opened, and Liu He and his men rushed out.

Gongsun Xu also raised his reins lightly and led the team to run over.

When both sides reached a distance of fifty steps away from each other, they stopped at the same time and stared at each other warily. This distance was already very dangerous for the cavalrymen, but if someone suddenly launched an attack with ill intentions, it would be very difficult for the other party to react in time.

Gongsun Xu waved his hand to stop everyone at their original location, and slowly urged his horse forward, saying in a clear voice: "Young Master Liu, how have you been?"

Zhao Yun reached out his hand and placed it on his bow, nervously staring at the group in front of him.

Yan Rou also held onto his bow and arrows, waiting patiently, afraid that Gongsun Xu and his men would suddenly attack Liu He.

Seeing Gongsun Xu walking forward alone, Liu He's tensed heart immediately relaxed. He also quickly rushed forward a few steps and cupped his hands: "This one is not too bad. "The young duke saved my father's life, and this one is eternally grateful. Please accept my bow!" As he spoke, he jumped down from his horse and bowed.

"Young Master Liu, please get up, how can I accept your respect?" Gongsun Xu immediately jumped down from the horse and helped Liu He up, then laughed: "Master Liu is someone I admire the most, how can I just watch him die like this? Furthermore, we can't blame Master Liu for this, but can only blame Yuan Shao for his flowery words, bewitching people's hearts! "

Liu He looked ashamed, "Young Marquis, you have repaid me with grievances, I am ashamed!"

Gongsun Xu smiled and said: "You're being too serious! Young Master is also worried about Lord Liu's safety, this is understandable. "

Liu He felt ashamed and extended his hand, "The banquet is ready, let the young duke and his entourage into the city."

"Please."

The two mounted their horses and rode into the city.

Zhao Yun waved his hands and brought the others to follow closely.

Gongsun Xu stopped when he was passing by Yan Rou, cupped his hands and asked: "How have you been?"

Yan Rou was brave and battling, he shook the people outside the city, he was extremely loyal to Liu Yu who had helped him. If not for Gongsun Xu saving Liu Yu, Yan Rou would have been chosen as Wu Huan Si, and he had teamed up with the Xianbei People to become enemies with Gongsun Zan at every corner. Since Liu Yu had not died, Yan Rou did not have any hatred towards the Gongsun family. Furthermore, he was grateful to Gongsun Xu, who had barged into the law field to save his benefactor Liu Yu.

"Thank you, young duke." Yan Rou cupped his hands respectfully: "I am eternally grateful to the young duke for saving Lord Liu!"

Liu He and the rest had rather awkward statuses, calling themselves the Youzhou Army. Yet, they were still resisting the Marquis Jin. The banner they had was for Liu Yu's revenge. Now that Liu Yu had not died, the banner of revenge was extremely awkward, so when facing Gongsun Xu, they called themselves' this humble one 'and did not use the official title.

"Officer Yan is too polite, I have always been very respectful to him." Gongsun Xu answered without thinking, and then rode the horse into the city with Liu He.

"Thank you for the young duke's care." Yan Rou bowed on his horse and thanked him. When he raised his head, Zhao Yun was already in front of him. The two of them looked at each other and subconsciously felt that the other was an expert, so they started to fight in their hearts.

On the way to the courthouse, Gongsun Xu saw many dying refugees. He could not help but frown and ask: "Young Master Liu, how many refugees are there in the city?"

"There are roughly twenty thousand people here." Liu He hesitated for a moment before saying with a sigh, "There is a serious shortage of food in the city. I have some spare energy, but it is not enough!"

Gongsun Xu sighed: "Since there is no more food here, why not let them go to Ji County or Youzhou City to look for a way out?"

"This …" Liu He looked ashamed, but he couldn't say a word.

"The young duke is quite scheming!" A person behind us shouted: "If all the refugees leave Changli County City, then Marquis Jin will suddenly send an army to attack us. Who will assist us in defending the city?"

Gongsun Xu suddenly turned his head, and coincidentally saw Xianyu Fu's vicious gaze, as he coldly said. "It's better than doing it, just because of a guess, do you think that you can disregard the lives of tens of thousands of people? Lord Liu has always been a compassionate and compassionate person. I'm afraid that he would also not agree to such actions. "

"Just a guess?" Xianyu Fu's face was filled with anger as he shouted, "If this guess is correct, then wouldn't we all die without a burial ground?"

"Unfortunately, your guess is not accurate!" Gongsun Xu scoffed at him in disdain, he turned around and said to Liu He: "Young Master Liu, your lives are in danger, make your decisions early on and many less people will die! I request Young Master Liu to grant these refugees permission to go out of the city and enter the Ji County.

"Young master, you can't! "Absolutely not!" Xianyu Fu shouted, "If all the refugees leave, the Little Marquis will leave quickly, and at that time, if Marquis Jin makes a move, what can we do?"

Liu He quickly shouted, "Stop spouting nonsense! Marquis Jin is definitely not a wicked person!"

"That makes sense." Gongsun Xu did not get angry, but instead nodded in agreement with Xianyu Fu's words. He looked at the surrounding refugees and sighed: "The heavens are kind, I swear to the Alliance, before everyone has settled down properly, I will never leave Changli County City! "Since you all have doubts, let me take the place of these pitiful people as hostages."

"About that," Liu He's expression turned even darker as he looked at Yan Rou hesitantly.

Yan Rou cupped his hands towards Gongsun Xu and said, "This humble one is extremely impressed with the benevolent love the young duke has for the commoners! In that case, Young Master, please open the gates of the city and let the people out. "

Liu He nodded in agreement and ordered his men to report to the city immediately. Before they even reached the county magistrate court, they heard intermittent cheers from the city.

When Xianyu Fu and Xianyu Yin heard the cheers, their faces turned black. They looked at each other quietly, with their eyes full of cunning.