C323

At the end of the year, Gongsun Xu stood on top of the mountain with his hands behind his back, looking at the countless of torches, as though he was thinking about something. After a long while, he raised his head and looked at the position of the moon. Just as he was about to turn around and leave, Gao Shun walked over with a team of patrolling soldiers.

"Greetings, General!"

Gao Shun asked softly: What can I do for you, General?

Gongsun Xu stretched out his left hand and circled the torches at the bottom of the mountain, and asked: "General Gao, did you notice anything abnormal?"

Gao Shun pondered for a moment, then nodded his head: "Hearing General's question, something doesn't seem right!"

"Tell me about it!"

"Here!" The enemy army's attack today was still very fierce, but this general felt that they were somewhat powerless to continue, and although Liu Bei's banner was still there, he had not appeared for an entire day! Other than that, this general also realised that the majority of the enemies that were attacking today were Huainan Army. From this, it was possible that Liu Bei had left with Xuzhou Army. If General Mu's guess is correct, the reason why he left at this critical juncture is most likely because he received the news of army of Youzhou heading south, and thus brought his group to stop them! "

"What General Gao said is the same as what I was thinking!" Gongsun Xu nodded his head: "Just now, I observed carefully for a long time, the number of torches at the bottom of the mountain did not seem to have changed much, but the number of people around the torches clearly lessened by a lot. Liu Bei probably left last night!"

"If that's the case," Gao Shun suddenly exclaimed in shock, "If it's like what the general said, then wouldn't Yuan Shu and Liu Bei have already known that reinforcements would arrive?"

"I'm also worried about this!" Gongsun Xu sighed lightly, and said with a heavy tone: "If it's really like this, the only explanation would be that Zhao An had fallen into the enemy's hands, and even confessed everything!"

Gao Shun casually said: "That's impossible! Zhao An has already been gone for more than two days. If all goes well, he would have definitely returned with a letter from the Marquis Jin long ago. It looks like the General Gongsun's guess was quite reasonable.

"It's just that this one does not understand what methods the enemy use to turn Zhao An into a traitor. Let's not talk about this topic anymore, after all, this is just my guess! General Gao, I asked Mr. Gong Tai earlier, he said that food and water could only last for a day and a half, if Liu Bei paid a heavy price to stop the reinforcement, and if Yuan Shu attacked ferociously, we might not be able to hold on much longer! That's why I am preparing to retreat with Feng Xianxiong's family members and Mr. Gong Tai and find a way to reunite with the reinforcements. I will hand over the defenses here to the General Gao.

"This lowly general obeys your command!" Gao Shun replied without the slightest hesitation as he cupped his fists. "This lowly general will definitely defend with all his might, waiting for the arrival of the general and reinforcements!"

The current situation was extremely dangerous, and Gao Shun had already wanted to advise Gongsun Xu, Lv Bu and the others to leave first. Furthermore, he left with Lv Bu, Chen Gong and the others, no matter who it was, it was impossible for them to say that Gongsun Xu had fled before the battle.

Gongsun Xu cupped his fists, and said respectfully: "Then I'll be counting on General! I will go speak with Feng Xianxiong about this matter. "

Gao Shun cupped his hands and replied, "General, there is no need to be courteous, this is my duty!"

Gongsun Xu nodded, turned and left in big strides.

Gao Shun watched as Gongsun Xu disappeared into the darkness ahead, he then turned to look at the torchlight beneath the mountain, he tightly clenched his fists.

When Gongsun Xu found Lv Bu, he was squatting down on the ground, changing his medicine when he heard of Gongsun Xu's arrival. Diao Chan immediately stopped what he was doing, stood up, and curtsied while greeting him.

Gongsun Xu supported her and smiled: "Sister-in-law need not be so courteous, help Feng Xianxiong put the medicine on first!"

Diao Chan nodded his head and increased the speed of his movements. Very quickly, he healed the injuries and said goodbye to the sleeping Yan Shi and Lv Linger, then walked to the side.

"Brother Zimin, please sit down and speak!" Lv Bu pointed to the large piece of sackcloth in front of him, and asked softly after Gongsun Xu sat down: "What do you have to say for yourself?"

Gongsun Xu explained what he had said to Gao Shun just now, and said softly, "In order to ensure the safety of Feng Xianxiong and Ling'er, I suggest that we evacuate first tonight, and leave General Gao alone to lead the team to guard this place!"

"Um …" Lv Bu hesitated for a while, in his heart, he really didn't want to abandon the crowd and escape first, but he knew very well that if the reinforcements were to be blocked by Liu Bei's army, and Yuan Shu's fierce and desperate attack, these thousand plus people who were lacking food, water, and arrows would be hard to defend against.

Gongsun Xu urged in a low voice: "Feng Xianxiong, we are not afraid of death, we are just sneaking out to reunite with the reinforcements, at that time, there will be no worries for the reinforcements, and once Liu Bei and Yuan Shu know that we are leaving, they will definitely stop their attacks on this place, and rescue the others will be easier!"

Lv Bu nodded his head, what he said was true, now that everyone was trapped here, even if the reinforcements were to arrive, they would most likely be bound by Gongsun Xu's safety, and might even give Liu Bei and Yuan Shu the opportunity to strike. Rather than leave quietly like this, the chance of the soldiers surviving was much greater.

Seeing that Lv Bu did not answer, Gongsun Xu frowned, and said solemnly: "If Feng Xianxiong has any concerns, feel free to speak out!"

Lv Bu sighed and said softly: "Brother Zimin, I do not have any concerns, and also agree to retreat, but I have heavy injuries, and the mountain behind is extremely steep, so I am afraid it will be very difficult to climb, so I would ask Brother Zimin to bring Ling'er and Gong Tai to evacuate, and I will stay here with Gao Shun to fend off the enemy!" Although he said that he agreed with Gongsun Xu, he did not want to leave first. After all, he already had a guilty conscience and he was an extremely proud person, so he did not want to ruin his reputation and be scolded as a runaway general in the future.

Gongsun Xu did not force him, he would advise you before he leaves, and immediately stood up: "Feng Xianxiong, we can talk about this later, I am going to personally bring some people to inspect the terrain of the rear mountains."

Lv Bu cupped his fists with difficulty: "Thank you brother! The back of the mountain is steep. I hope that you can pay attention to your own safety! "

"Feng Xianxiong, don't worry, I will be back soon!" Gongsun Xu cupped his fists in return, and brought along the guards with him as he walked into the forest.

After Gongsun Xu left, Diao Chan walked over, went close to Lv Bu's ear and whispered: "Husband, is General Gongsun preparing to evacuate?"

"That's right!" Lv Bu nodded his head: "He also advised me to retreat first, and to leave Brother Gao Shun alone to guard here, and only come to save them after we regroup with the reinforcements! What do you think? "

Diao Chan sighed: "There isn't much food and water left, and there is less than twenty percent of the arrows left. In the past two days, there have been over six to seven hundred casualties, and most of them are young and strong men. "But … I'm very worried about one thing …"

Lv Bu frowned and asked: What's the matter?

"What should I do if the reinforcements don't arrive?"

Lv Bu's body trembled, he saw that Gongsun Xu was extremely confident, so he did not think about it at all, if the reinforcements really had not arrived, then there was only one way for them to escape from the rear mountains, and that was to quickly head north to the Jizhou. In this way, those who remained to defend this place would not have much luck!

He looked in the direction that Gongsun Xu disappeared in and muttered, "The Brother Zimin is full of confidence, there's no way reinforcements didn't come right?"

Gongsun Xu and his bodyguards spent less than an hour before they finally climbed to the top of the mountain from the steep and difficult forest. Looking down from the top of the mountain, the light from the torches looked like fireflies in the sky. He estimated the height of the mountain to be around 400 m, which was equivalent to around 100 m in the future. The problem was that even though the back of the mountain was filled with trees and vines, it was almost all cliffs and it was very difficult to climb down. He guessed that Chen Gong and himself would not have any problems, but Lv Bu's family would not be able to climb down on their own.

Gongsun Xu casually picked a guard and ordered: "Try going down and take a look, be careful!"

The guard nodded, grabbed a branch and some vines, and carefully climbed down.

Gongsun Xu and the others kept their eyes firmly on the ground, afraid that the pathfinder would accidentally fall down.

Fortunately, this person's skill was not bad, and he smoothly climbed a few hundred meters before arriving at a rocky outcropping. At this time, he discovered that the number of branches and vines below him had greatly decreased. Wanting to climb down by himself in the middle of the night was extremely dangerous. He did not dare act without thinking and turned, climbing to the top of the mountain to report to Gongsun Xu about the situation below.

"In other words …" Gongsun Xu calculated for a bit, and then said in a low voice: "We still need to use ropes for about sixty meters, it looks like there won't be a big problem!"

The man who had climbed down laughed: "General is right, we can connect the rope of the flying claw. 200 feet is easy!"

Gongsun Xu's bodyguards brought along some equipment that he had specially instructed the Trades and Crafts Camp to forge, among them were flying claws used to climb, the ropes used by the flying claws were mixed with fine steel wire, it was not a problem to hoist two strong men.

To ensure that nothing was amiss, Gongsun Xu was prepared to personally go down and take a look. He ordered in a low voice: "You all wait here, I will personally go down to take a look!"

"General!" The guards turned pale with fright and hurriedly tried to stop him.

"Enough!" Gongsun Xu said in a low voice: "Get out of the way! Do you still not believe in my abilities? "

The guards looked at each other and reluctantly stepped aside.

Gongsun Xu tied the lapel of his clothes around his waist, grabbed hold of a tree branch and slowly slipped down.