C259

At that moment, a few merchants were driving their packhorses southeast on the broken road, facing the sun. Just as they were about to pass through a patch of forest, Leader suddenly waved his hand and stopped the group.

After a while, a large group of people appeared in front of the forest. Almost all of them were covered in dust, and many of them were wounded. The cavalry at the front carried the word 'Liu' and 'Zhang' in their large flags, with Liu Bei, Zhang Fei and Chen Deng being surrounded in the middle. Zhang Fei and Chen Deng's expressions were extremely ugly, but Liu Bei's expression was extremely calm, and he had his head lowered, as if he was thinking about something.

Liu Bei remained silent and raised his head to look at the sun, then asked: "Yuan Long, where are we?"

Chen Deng pointed to the mountain ridge ahead and answered: "Reporting to my lord, this place is called Fierce Tiger Ridge."

"Fierce Tiger Ridge? The name was not bad! How far is this place from Xuzhou City? "

"About fifty or sixty miles."

Liu Bei nodded: "Alright! Just as Yuan Long said, let the warriors rest on the spot and use some dry food and water. " After saying that, he turned around to look at the line that was obviously lacking a lot of people, and said dejectedly: "Line up another group of people to go back to collect the fallen soldiers. If you meet Lv Bu's men, quickly come back to report."

After the order was passed down, the Xuzhou Army soldiers sat down on the ground and stopped moving. After they had escaped from the camp, they hurried on their way, almost non-stop for six hours, completely exhausted of energy. If not for the fear of Lv Bu's men catching up, they would have already laid on the ground and stopped to rest, disregarding everything else.

Liu Bei jumped down from the horse first and turned to help him.

"I'm fine, brother, don't worry!" Zhang Fei didn't wait for Liu Bei to support him and jumped down the horse first. His voice was hoarse.

Liu Bei casually took out his water bag from Zhang Fei's war horse and handed it over to him with a smile: "Third brother, drink some water to moisturize your throat first."

"Thank you, brother!" Zhang Fei took the water bag, raised his head and started pouring.

Liu Bei then took a few mouthfuls of water from his horse's back and ordered Chen Deng who was about to get off: "Yuan Long, go and roughly count the number of people."

Chen Deng was slightly startled, after giving his agreement, he turned his horse around and left.

Zhang Fei asked in a low voice: "Brother, you can just randomly send someone as small as counting people, why do you need Yuan Long to do it?"

Liu Bei stroked his beard, his eyes flickering non-stop. After a while, he softly said after: "Last night's matter is too strange. Lv Fengxian seems to be very clear on our plans, I suspect that someone leaked the news!"

"What?" Zhang Fei cried out, attracting the gazes of the surrounding people.

"Lower your voice!" Liu Bei bellowed.

Zhang Fei lowered his voice, gritted his teeth, and said: "Big brother, you mean to say that Chen Yuanlong and Lv Fengxian have a secret relationship? Brother was extremely kind to Chen Yuanlong, but this fellow actually betrayed him, and now, he has truly committed a heinous crime! "

Liu Bei said in a low voice: "I only have my suspicions, Third Brother definitely cannot reveal the slightest bit of suspicion in front of Chen Yuanlong!"

"Why do you need to cover up for him, brother?" Zhang Fei said angrily: "Only brother, little brother and Chen Yuanlong know about's plan, and his family members know about it. The two of us will never reveal the secret, who else could it be?"

Liu Bei said coldly, "Let's put this matter aside for now. I will make a decision after I thoroughly investigate it! "I have something more important to tell third brother, come over here!"

Zhang Fei was surprised. What was more important now? But he did not inquire any further, and obediently moved his ear closer to Liu Bei.

"Actually, in order to deal with Lv Fengxian this time, I had prepared a few things. This was the first plan that Lv Fengxian had come up with, but I didn't expect it to fail, so I chose the second one …" Liu Bei waved his hand and ordered the people around him to retreat a bit, lowering his voice to explain.

Zhang Fei's expression changed dramatically. Shock, disbelief, ecstasy, relief, and more appeared alternately on his face. It could be seen how much of a shock Liu Bei's words had brought to him. After hearing this, he asked in a trembling voice, "Brother, where should we start?"

Liu Bei pointed to the forest in front of them and laughed coldly: "In the past, High Ancestor was hunting tigers here, so this place is called Fierce Tiger Ridge. Lv Bu is also known as the Tiger Rhino, if he perishes here, it would be worth it!"

Zhang Fei said with dissatisfaction: "At first, Brother knew that this place was called Tiger Mountain Range, and it was even set as a place by our allies.

Liu Bei patted Zhang Fei's shoulder, and laughed: "Yi De, don't blame this brother. You never like moving your heart, and you like to drink alcohol.

Zhang Fei's face was filled with shame as he turned his head away in embarrassment. After getting drunk, he had revealed some of his secrets.

Liu Bei pointed at the mountain forest ahead again, and said in a low voice: "Third brother, Lv Fengxian will definitely not let this go easily. Later on, you will bring two thousand people to ambush us here, and after discovering Lv Bu's men, you will rush out to slaughter them.

Zhang Fei frowned, and nodded: "Don't worry brother, after killing Lv Fengxian, little brother will know what to do!"

Liu Bei said coldly, "Lv Fengxian will definitely not have any good fortune this time. Once the Bingzhou Army is defeated, third brother must not chase after him and let our new allies chase after them!"

"Why is that?" Zhang Fei was confused.

Just as Liu Bei was about to explain, Chen Deng spurred his horse over, and immediately asked with a smile: "Yuan Long, have you finished counting?"

"That's right!" Chen Deng jumped down from his horse and said dejectedly: "Reporting to my lord, there are still around 13,000 people, but there must be a lot of people who have left the team, this subordinate thinks that I can find one to two thousand people."

Liu Bei looked ashamed as she sighed softly, "The losses are actually this heavy, it's all my fault!"

Chen Deng said in a deep voice: "Master, no need to blame yourself. The defeat in this battle is not at all your fault, I only hate that Lv Fengxian actually found out about our scheme in advance!" He bowed: "My lord, I dare to guarantee with my life that my family will not divulge this secret!"

"Yuanlong, what are you saying?" Liu Bei looked stunned, he anxiously extended his hand to help Chen Deng up, and pretended to be angry: "Yuan Long, oh Yuan Long, I have always treated you as my brother, and never once have I thought of suspecting your family! "Your words really make me sad!"

Chen Deng's expression was filled with gratitude: "This subordinate made a slip of the tongue, my lord, please calm your anger! The stratagem of the flooded Bingzhou Army was contributed by this subordinate, and I never thought that it would actually fail. In order to atone for my sins, this subordinate is willing to lead people to cut off the back! "

"Absolutely not!" Liu Bei decisively shook his head, "Primordial dragons are my backbone. Naturally, you will follow me and go first.

Chen Deng cupped his hands and said: "Master's kindness is heavy, this subordinate has no way to repay it! After returning to the Xuzhou, this subordinate promises to convince my father to give all of his family's private troops to Master! "

The Chen Family only had a little more than a thousand private troops, but their equipment and manpower were far superior to the ordinary Xuzhou Army soldiers, including the six hundred cavalry. Originally, Liu Bei only had 1200 cavalry soldiers, but he had lost 300-400 last night. The Chen Family's 1,000 cavalry soldiers were like a huge gift to Liu Bei.

Liu Bei patted Chen Deng's arm and sighed: "I am beyond thankful for such assistance from Yuanlong! As long as I am still in Xuzhou, I will never mistreat the Chen Family! "

Chen Deng smiled: "This is my duty, my father and my subordinates are all hoping that Master will be able to spread his grand plans and help the Han Dynasty!"

"I will not disappoint the Old Master and Yuan Long!" Liu Bei solemnly promised, but in his heart he couldn't help but mutter to himself, Could it be that he guessed wrong, Chen Yuanlong did not collude with Lv Fengxian in the dark?

At this time, the few remaining fast horses galloped over, and when they arrived, the leading Zhang Ping loudly reported: "Reporting to the Lord, Lv Bu's men are already more than fifteen kilometers away!"

The soldiers who were resting on the ground heard the commotion and stood up with a panicked expression. If Lv Bu caught up, they would be defeated miserably again!

Liu Bei got on his horse and waved his hand: "Yi De will lead two thousand men to the back, the rest will follow me!"

Zhang Fei promised loudly. He then ordered the two thousand elite disciples of the headquarters to rush to the forest in front of them.

After Chen Deng jumped onto the horse, he hesitated for a moment while looking at Zhang Fei's back, and then cupped his fists: "Master, this subordinate requests that you stay behind to assist General Zhang!"

"No need! I have other plans! "Let's go!" Liu Bei waved his hands and spurred his horse forward.

Chen Deng shook his head in doubt, then raised his reins and chased after her.

After more than an hour, Lv Bu led the group of people to the main road of the Fierce Tiger Ridge. He looked at the forest in front of him, and continued to advance without stopping at all.

"My lord, please wait!" Chen Gong quickly stopped Lv Bu, pointed ahead and said, "The forest is very lush, and there are traces of a large group of people stopping, you have to be wary of Liu Xuande setting up an ambush!"

"How worrying is Gong Tai!" Lv Bu chuckled: "Liu Xuande has already become a bird of prey. How can he have the guts to ambush us?"

Chen Gong shook his head: "My lord, please don't forget yourself! We should first send someone to scout out the area before we continue moving forward! "

Lv Bu frowned, his expression was displeased, he had just won a great victory last night, and now was the time for him to be complacent, so of course he would not like to hear those words.

Zhang Liao cupped his fists: "Master, Mister Gong Tai is right, it is better to be cautious. Let this general lead the way!"

"Whatever!" Seeing that Zhang Liao had also stood up, Lv Bu had no choice but to give him face, and stopped in her tracks.

Zhang Liao summoned his five hundred cavalrymen, lined them up, and rushed towards the forest in front.