C276

Just then, on a slope in the middle of the river, Yuan Shu was in a rage, reprimanding his subordinate, the scout leader Yuan Fu.

"Is there still no trace of Lv Bu? How was this possible! A bunch of trash! That was close to ten thousand people, how could they just grow wings and fly? Keep looking! If there was still no news of Lv Bu within the next six hours, they had to go through with the military law! Get lost already! "

Last night, after Yuan Shu arrived outside the Xuzhou City, Liu Bei brought Zhang Fei, Chen Deng, Sun Qian, Sun Qian and the others out of the city to welcome them. Yuan Shu was worried that he would be ambushed after entering the city, so he politely rejected Liu Bei's invitation. After discussing it with him, they decided to set off early in the morning to hunt Lv Bu down.

Liu Bei had sent out dozens of scouts at night, allowing them to lurk on the path that Lv Bu had to take to return to the Xiao Pei, in order to confirm whether or not Lv Bu would return to the Xiao Pei in the middle of the night.

Early this morning, the scouts group had all returned, and all of them said that they did not see any trace of Lv Bu and Bingzhou Army. Liu Bei immediately ordered the citizens of the city to prepare a large amount of food. After a full meal, the two great army quickly set out, searching for traces of Lv Bu towards the west and north. It was a pity that they didn't find anything after a few hours.

After Yuan Shu heard Liu Bei's consoling words, he shook his head and sighed, "As long as Lv Bu doesn't die, we won't be able to rest easy! Xuan Dexiong, where do you think Lv Bu went? "

Liu Bei pondered for a while, and said in a deep voice, "I think that Lv Bu must have hidden somewhere last night, and only today will he look for an opportunity to return to Xiao Pei."

Yuan Shu did not wait for Liu Bei to finish speaking before he asked anxiously, "Then where is he hiding?"

Liu Bei sneered: "Lv Bu's subordinates are heavily injured, and he himself is severely injured, he definitely won't go far! They had not eaten anything since the night before yesterday, and would definitely find a place to hide while searching for food. Although that Lv Bu fellow was capricious, he was very kind to his subordinates and had never heard of him abandoning his subordinates! " After speaking to here, he paused, and carefully thought about the densely populated area within a radius of several tens of kilometers. His eyes suddenly lit up, and called out in a low voice: "Gong Luxiong, do you think Lv Bu went to the Qiao County?"

"Qiao County?" Yuan Shu was startled, then asked out of nowhere: "The Qiao County is to the west, the Xiao Pei is to the north, what is Lv Bu doing in the Qiao County?"

Liu Bei said with certainty: "To rest! And also something that can confuse us all! "

Yuan Shu thought about it carefully, clapped his hands, and said, "Xuan Dexiong's words are reasonable! It was impossible for Lv Bu to rush back to the Xiao Pei with a large group of wounded soldiers overnight, hence he chose a suitable place to hide! I think back a moment ago, there is indeed no place within a radius of fifty kilometers more suitable than Qiao County! "

Liu Bei sighed: "It's true! I actually wish that Lv Bu had not gone to the Qiao County, or else he could have taken the city away easily! "

Yuan Shu asked in surprise, "Could it be that there are no heavy soldiers guarding the Qiao County City?"

"Heavy soldier?" Liu Bei laughed bitterly and shook his head, his expression had a helpless look: "Qiao County is not a very important place, there are very few garrison troops, and I have been planning to head north to save Qing He, all this while, I just transferred a horse from Qiao County, now there are only a few hundred county soldier s guarding inside Qiao County, how can I stop Lv Bu who is like a tiger and wolf?"

Yuan Shu frowned, he wanted to laugh at Liu Bei at first, but after thinking about it, he decided against it. Now that both sides were sitting on the same boat, it was meaningless to talk about taking advantage of them. He said in a deep voice, "Since Xuan Dexiong has determined that Lv Bu is going to the Qiao County, why don't we lead the army there immediately?"

"No!" However, Liu Bei unexpectedly rejected it. Facing Yuan Shu's doubtful gaze, he quietly explained: "If Lv Bu really went to the Qiao County last night, he would have left by now and sneaked back to the Xiao Pei from a certain direction. Thus, I suggest sending a team of two to three thousand people to the Qiao County to check it out. Actually, all along, I have been thinking about one thing. When we searched all over for traces of Lv Bu, would we leave the basics behind? "

Yuan Shu nodded his head: "I agree with Xuan Dexiong's suggestion, there is no need to go to Qiao County! But what does Xuan Dexiong mean by abandoning all of their roots? "

Liu Bei flatly declared, "Lv Bu will definitely return to Xiao Pei! Since that's the case, we will immediately seize the Xiao Pei and wait for Lv Bu to lead the army back. At that time, we will just wait patiently, wouldn't we be stronger than our current painstaking search? "

Yuan Shu smacked his forehead and said with regret, "That's right! Xuan Dexiong was right! As long as we take over Xiao Pei, Lv Bu will once again become a stray dog, and defeat will be in front of us! Oh right, didn't Xuan Dexiong say that General Guan Yunchang had led a large army to attack Xiao Pei the day before yesterday and captured Gongsun Xu?

Liu Bei's face showed worry, and he said with a frown: "So far, there has been no news from Yun Chang, and some sort of unexpected situation might have occurred! I hope Gongsun Xu does not run away! "

Yuan Shu sighed: "Gongsun Xu is extremely useful to us, a hundred times better than him! I am starting to regret my decision. I should have directly gone to the Xiao Pei this morning, I shouldn't have wasted so much time! "

Liu Bei nodded in agreement, but he did not mind in his heart. After all, when he left the Xuzhou City this morning, he did not think that Guan Yu would be able to successfully seize the Xiao Pei. It was only until he had guessed that Lv Bu had possibly taken over the Qiao County last night that he suddenly realized that the Qiao County's defense could not be compared to that of the Xiao Pei's. The famous xianzhen camp did not follow Lv Bu this time, but stayed behind with the help of Gongsun Xu's group of elite cavalry.

Just then, Yuan Fu galloped over and when he was close by he shouted loudly, "Reporting to the Lord, there are a lot of footprints in front near the ferry!"

"Oh?" Yuan Shu and Liu Bei looked at each other and extended their hands at the same time.

The two of them then laughed and jumped onto the back of their horses, galloping forward.

After a while, Liu Bei and Yuan Shu arrived near the ferry in front of them.

Yuan Shu used the whip to point at the wooden bridge below and asked: "What is the name of this place?"

Yuan Fu replied respectfully: Master, just now, my brothers in Xuzhou Army said that this place is called the Willow Ferry, and there are a lot of footprints by the river in front, and a lot of broken clothes was found, so my Bingzhou Army must have stopped here yesterday!

Liu Bei also pointed to the wooden bridge and asked, "Did they ever cross that bridge?"

Yuan Fu shook his head: "There's no trace of them crossing the bridge. From the footprints, it seems like they are heading west!"

Yuan Shu cupped his hands towards Liu Bei: "Looks like Xuan Dexiong's deduction is correct! "I'm impressed!"

Liu Bei returned the greeting with his hands cupped in front of him, and laughed modestly: "Gong Luxiong is too kind, a trifling matter is not worth mentioning! I suggest for the army to immediately head north, and for scouts to be sent out fifteen kilometers, who knows if they might be able to find Lv Bu's whereabouts. What does Gong Luxiong think? "

"We'll do it that way!" Yuan Shu nodded his head in agreement, then asked: "Xuan Dexiong is definitely well aware of the situation here, do you think we should cross the wooden bridge and head north, or go along the river bank here?"

Liu Bei replied instantly: "I think it's best to go north after crossing that wooden bridge! We don't know where Lv Bu is right now, but he will definitely cross the river from another place, maybe by then, they will already be at the other side, if we follow along the river bank, we might miss this chance! If we reach the other side of the river, the chances of stopping him will be much higher! "

"Then give the order to cross the river!" Yuan Shu moved like the flowing water. He estimated the width of the wooden bridge and frowned, "Xuan Dexiong, the wooden bridge is not wide enough. Your subordinates are few in number, so I'll let you guys cross the river first!"

"Alright! Someone come! "

"What orders do you have, sir?"

Liu Bei pointed to the wooden bridge: Leave a thousand men behind, the rest quickly cross the river!

"Here!"

Liu Bei cupped his hands at Yuan Shu and smiled: "Gong Luxiong, I will be commanding the people to cross the river. We will meet on the other side of the river later!"

Yuan Shu cupped his hands and laughed: "Xuan Dexiong, do as you please!"

Liu Bei ordered one of the Academy Officer s to bring his thousand men to rush to Qiao County, while he himself sprinted to the wooden bridge while being escorted by a large group of people.

Yuan Shu waited until Liu Bei was far away before calling out solemnly, "Yuan Fu!"

Yuan Fu hurriedly bowed and said, "Your subordinate is here! "What orders do you have, sir?"

Yuan Shu stared at Liu Bei who was about to step on the wooden bridge, and said softly: "After crossing the river later, with the excuse of not being familiar with the road, let Xuzhou Army lead the way, remember to open up a distance!"

"Here!" Yuan Fu replied respectfully, but he did not know why Yuan Shu acted that way.

Yuan Shu saw the doubt on Yuan Fu's face and laughed coldly: "It is very possible that I will meet Lv Bu later. As the saying goes, a trapped beast must fight with one another, if I want to kill him, I will have to pay a large price.

Yuan Fu realised and praised: "Master is wise! Your subordinate will pass down the order. "

Yuan Shu waved his hand and laughed coldly. He was very clear in his heart that his alliance with Liu Bei was only temporary and it was simply impossible for both sides to be honest with each other. Once the Jizhou's situation stabilized, it would be the time for both sides to rebel. Since that was the case, he might as well make use of Lv Bu's help to make the Xuzhou Army pay a little more!

After an hour, Liu Bei's fifteen thousand men successfully crossed the wooden bridge and began to rapidly gather at the other side of the river.

Yuan Shu waved his hand, and the forty thousand strong army of the Huainan Army began to cross the river.