Chapter 489 The Drunkard’s Intention

There were about dozens of generals from Cao's camp in front of Xiahou Yuan. All of them were from the Cao and Xiahou families and belonged to the direct lineage of Cao's camp.

Because this operation was extremely secretive, Cao Cao's most loyal followers were mobilized, and there was not even a single general from outside the Cao Cao group among them.

Previously, what Cao Cao said in front of Le Jin, Yu Jin and other foreign generals in Fenggao City actually concealed a lot of truth. Cao Cao did not actually want to negotiate with Liu Bei!

If they want to negotiate, they have to wait until Liu Bei is driven into a desperate situation, and then they can recruit him. In this way, the conditions that the other party can propose will be extremely limited, and they may even be able to recruit him!

So after everyone left that day, Cao Cao kept Cheng Yu and changed the plan after discussion.

In this plan, not only the route of action has changed, but even the ultimate goal has undergone tremendous changes!

Xiahou Yuan said to the generals: "Today's matter is very critical. It concerns the success or failure of Xuzhou, and even the future of the world."

"If successful, the Cao family will reverse the power balance with the Yuan family."

"But if this fails, the Cao family will be in danger of destruction, and you, the envoy, will not be an exception!"

"The envoy has entrusted his life to us. You must lead that man out at all costs!"

When Cao's generals heard this, they all shouted in unison: "We will die for you, my Lord!"

Mi Fang saw that more and more people were gathering at the north gate of the city and knew that the time had come. He immediately waved his hand and ordered the soldiers to open the gate. As soon as the gate was opened, the people immediately rushed out shouting, causing a large-scale riot among the crowd, and then, as expected, an accident happened.

Under the influence of uncontrollable forces, people finally couldn't stand and fell to the ground. The next moment, his body was trampled by countless feet. He only let out a faint scream and died instantly.

The people in the crowd had no time to care about what they were stepping on. They just rushed out of the city desperately. The corpses under their feet gradually lost their original shape and turned into flat sacks covered with blood.

People kept tripping and falling to the ground, repeating the fate of the previous person, and then more and more people, finally forming a crowd that was getting taller and taller, blocking the city gate.

When the people behind saw this, they desperately tried to pull the corpses apart, trying to squeeze out of the city through the gap. The old, the young, the women and the children were pushed to the ground by the strong men, and the cries of pain were deafening for a while.

A young child was sitting on the ground, desperately shaking the bodies of his parents in front of him. The panicked person behind him just raised his feet and was tripped by the child. They both fell to the ground and were run over by the person behind them. The two of them were mixed into a shapeless mass, and blood gradually covered the ground.

Mi Fang saw that people from all over the city began to flock to the north gate, so he returned to the Mi Mansion, took all the servants with him, let Mi Zhen get into the carriage, and they fled to the south gate.

Mi Fang was completely out of control on the street. He lifted the curtain and said, "Brother, this is too chaotic. Shouldn't we clear the four gates first and let the people go out separately before we leave?"

Mi Fang shook his head and said, "In this situation, we can only take care of ourselves. We may encounter danger outside the city. How can we have time to do these things?"

Mi Zhen frowned slightly, "Brother, you are the governor of Donghai. It is hard to explain to the envoy if we abandon the city. What if we also kill the people?"

Mi Fang became increasingly annoyed. "My little sister is too pedantic. Guan Yu has taken all the soldiers away. How can I defend the city?"

"I have done my best by persisting until now. Guan Yu relied on his relationship with the envoy to bully others. If I had soldiers, why would I do this?"

Mi Zhen whispered: "But after all, I have left my post without permission. What if the envoy blames me?"

Mi Fang's face was gloomy. "If you make me angry, the worst that can happen is that we will just break up!"

Seeing that she couldn't persuade him, Mi Zhen could only sigh and lower the curtain.

When the convoy arrived at the South Gate, there were indeed fewer people waiting. Mi Fang immediately ordered the city gate to be opened, but he did not leave the city immediately. Instead, he waited for the nearby people to run out of the city. After a full half minute, he took his servants and left the city among the crowd.

Because the North Gate opened first, most of the people were crowded at the North Gate, and there were far fewer people at the South Gate.

Mi Fang followed hundreds of fleeing civilians and successfully left the city. He couldn't help feeling quite proud of himself, thinking that he had a clear mind!

Aren't the common people, like the domestic slaves, to be used for one's own purposes?

While urging his servants to follow the fleeing people, he also watched the direction of their escape. From the south gate along the Huai River, if they walked another twenty or thirty miles southwest, there would be a pier for crossing the river.

After crossing the river from the pier, you will reach the territory of Guangling, and then you can get the protection of Yuan Xi!

He was calculating in his mind and had walked seven or eight miles without realizing it. As he was getting closer to the dock, a riot broke out in front of the team.

He suddenly felt something was wrong, and saw the scouts he had sent out in front of him riding back quickly, shouting, "General, the ferry has been occupied by a large group of thieves, and they are heading this way!"

Mi Fang was startled at first, but then he said nonchalantly: "What are you afraid of? They are just some bandits. Go over and kill them!"

The spy said hurriedly, "Sir, we can't do that. Those people are extremely brave and there are at least a thousand of them. We can't fight them head-on!"

Mi Fang said in disbelief: "How is it possible!"

"Where did all these people come from? Where did they appear?"

But he still had a glimmer of hope. He thought that his servants were no worse than ordinary soldiers. He should be able to defeat them, right?

Just as he was wondering and uncertain, he heard the sound of horse hooves and saw dozens of cavalry dressed as bandits rushing towards him from afar.

Mi Fang saw that his number was small, so he didn't take it seriously. He called over his lieutenant and said, "Take a hundred or so men and go up and kill him!"

After hearing this, the lieutenant general rushed forward with more than a hundred servants.

Mi Fang thought that his general was quite skilled in martial arts, and seven or eight ordinary people would not be his match. He should be able to defeat the enemy in an instant, right?

Suddenly he heard a shout and opened his eyes wide in disbelief. His general was stabbed to death by the enemy leader's spear within three rounds!

The leader shouted, "Hold them back, the army will be here in a moment, and then none of them will be able to escape!"

Mi Fang was panicked and shouted, "Hurry up, everyone go north!"

There is definitely something wrong with this bandit leader!

How could ordinary bandits have such high martial arts skills?

He looked at the other person's attire and said through gritted teeth, "Taishan thief!"

It must be Yuan Tan, who wanted to take advantage of Yuan Shu's attack on Xia Pi and occupy the East China Sea!

Mi Fang instantly felt that he had guessed the truth. Now the other party wanted to block the dock and prevent him from escaping south!

Now he can only escape in another direction. Although there may be ambushes in other directions, it is better than dying in the hands of the enemy now!

It is no longer possible to go to Haixi, and now the only options are to go to Houqiu in the west or Juxian in the northwest!

Mi Fang fled in a panic and ordered his servants to block the enemy army behind him. Dozens of enemy cavalry chased him all the way, and more than half of the 500 servants were defeated. Only Mi Fang and more than 200 people managed to escape desperately.

When the leader of the pursuit saw the direction in which Mi Fang and his men fled, he sneered and followed slowly behind them, thinking that this prefect was such a waste that he couldn't even stop such a small number of people like him!

But it's also good this way, as it saves a lot of trouble. Now we just have to drive them to the target town and surround it like driving rabbits, and we can achieve General Xiahou's goal!

There were the sounds of horse hooves from behind, and hundreds of people came rushing over. The leading general carried a sword on his back and said with a smile: "Mancheng is really powerful. I didn't even have a chance to attack him."

It was several hours later that Yuan Xi received the news of the incident in Qucheng.

After he came back overnight, he excitedly distributed the seeds that he regarded as treasures, packed them into small iron boxes, and then put them into heavy wooden boxes, and sent them to Youzhou and Guangling by boat overnight.

Now was the time to plant cotton seeds. If one was slow, one would miss out on a whole year. He wrote letters to Chen Gui in Jicheng and Chen Deng in Guangling respectively, asking them to be responsible for cotton planting and instructing them that this was the most important matter and that no mistakes should be made.

After working for most of the night, he fell into a deep sleep. When he woke up in the morning, he received news that there was chaos in Qucheng and many ships had escaped from its docks.

At first, Yuan Xi did not take it seriously, thinking that the enemy would not come so quickly. It was probably Guan Yu's mobilization of troops that caused the people in the city to become uneasy.

Guan Yu was indeed too tough in doing things sometimes. For example, he made a big fuss about mobilizing troops. Yuan Xi certainly would not have done that.

Until this moment, Yuan Xi had not realized how things would develop. After all, in his opinion, Mi Fang simply could not control the situation in the city. Even if he was really beaten into the city, he could take a boat south and ask him for help.

There's only a river between the two sides, so isn't it easy to get over there?

But when the news came that Mi Fang had actually escaped directly from the city to the west, Yuan Xi sensed something wrong.

Mi Fang definitely couldn't be so stupid as to not come to me for help but run away in another direction. There must be something hidden!

He called Jushou and Lu Xun and asked, "What do you two think about this matter?"

Ju Su said: "This matter is not that simple."

"Lord Mi didn't take the water route, which means he was forced to do so. It's likely that something happened at the dock."

"To be able to control so many ships at the dock, I'm afraid Qucheng has already been infiltrated."

"I guess that the other party might have expected Governor Mi to escape."

"Anyone who can come up with such a plan must have made a very careful plan. I'm afraid that no matter where Lord Mi runs to, he will not be able to escape the other party's clutches."

Yuan Xi's face turned a little ugly after hearing this. Qucheng, which was so close to Haixi, had been infiltrated like this, which made Yuan Xi start to be alert. Thinking that Mi Fang might be in danger, he said, "We are both on the same side. I want to send troops to rescue him. What do you think?"

Ju Su and Lu Xun said at the same time: "Your Excellency, please think twice."

Seeing Ju Shou signaling him to speak, Lu Xun said, "Although you have soldiers now, you don't have a general."

"Besides, this move by the other party may not be a trap. I suggest you wait and see."

Yuan Xi sighed: "Even if they are all killed?"

Lu Xun hesitated for a moment, "The other party will not kill before achieving his goal."

"After all, no matter how you look at it, Lord Mi is not an opponent worth putting so much effort into dealing with."

"Now please calm down and dispatch your generals to avoid confusion."

Yuan Xi was shocked when he heard this: "Could it be that General Guan's departure last night was also a trick to lure the tiger away from the mountain?"

Ju Su sighed: "That may not be the case."

"Even if Yuan Shu's attack is real, Xia Pi cannot escape, and Guangling may also be targeted."

"Sir, do you want to recruit generals from Youzhou?"