Chapter 488 Changes in Xuzhou

When Mi Zhen and Lu Lingqi heard the soldiers' shouting, their first reaction was that a rebellion had broken out in the city!

Then they thought at the same time that Guan Yu had not appeared today, and a terrifying thought arose in their minds.

Is Guan Yu going to take action against Yuan Xi?

Yuan Xi subconsciously said, "Lingqi, you and Sun Li protect the cotton seed box."

Lu Lingqi didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "If the enemy really attacks, I'll be dead, so what's the point of having seeds?"

Yuan Xi laughed dumbly, "I am confused."

He then joked: "But even if I die, the girl from the Mi family will spread the seeds all over this land."

Mi Zhen's face turned slightly pale. "It's already this time, Sir, please don't joke around."

There was a noise and the door of the mansion was pushed open. Everyone looked and their hearts tightened. They saw Guan Yu holding the Green Dragon Crescent Blade and walking in with dozens of swordsmen and axemen.

As soon as Guan Yu entered the door, he saw Yuan Xi beside the carriage. He turned around and strode towards the crowd.

Yuan Xi swallowed his saliva and pulled out a ring-handled sword from the carriage. Seeing this, Sun Li and Lu Lingqi also drew their swords and spears and stood in front of Yuan Xi.

Mi Zhen was anxious, so he quickly took a few steps to block the crowd and asked Guan Yu, "General, what do you want to do?"

Guan Yu had already walked up to him. He was slightly startled when he heard the words. He first bowed to Yuan Xi and said, "Greetings, Your Excellency."

"I have something important to do today, so I was unable to come and meet you. I am sorry."

He then asked Mi Zhen, "Where is the governor?"

Only then did everyone realize that Guan Yu was not here to deal with Yuan Xi!

They all breathed a sigh of relief. Yuan Xi felt his vest was soaked. Guan Yu put too much pressure on him. If the other party was determined to kill him, all the people present would not be able to stop him!

It is no wonder that Yuan Xi was unsure. Although Liu Bei was one of the few benevolent and righteous people in this chaotic world, there were also people who stabbed Liu Zhang in the back in later generations. If it really came to a moment of life and death, who knew what the other side would do?

Mi Zhen saw Guan Yu asking questions and replied, "My brother is entertaining guests."

Footsteps were heard, and Mi Fang came out drunkenly with a wine cup in his hand. Seeing Guan Yu coming, he laughed and said, "General Guan, you have come just in time. Come and sit down and drink!"

Guan Yu's face was icy, "The war is urgent, and the governor is still in the mood to drink. When I see you, I will tell you what you did!"

Mi Fang shuddered and sobered up. His face was gloomy. "General Guan, how did I offend you that you are targeting me like this?"

"The patrols in the city are not delayed. Have I been slacking off?"

Guan Yu snorted coldly, "It's not Donghai, but Xiapi!"

"What!" Everyone was shocked, and Mi Fangjiu was completely sober. "What happened?"

After Guan Yu said a few words, everyone finally understood that Yuan Shu had actually raised an army of tens of thousands to attack Xia Pi!

Now Liu Bei and Zhang Fei tried their best to resist, but Yuan Shu's army was too powerful, and they were defeated step by step. They retreated into Xia Pi City and were surrounded by Yuan Shu's army!

Mi Fang was shocked and broke out in a cold sweat, and Yuan Xi was also extremely shocked and even felt a little guilty.

I still regard Yuan Shu as a fish on the chopping board, which is really too optimistic!

The other party owns several states, has dozens of generals under his command, and is one of the strongest princes who can lead an army of 300,000 to compete with Yuan Shao!

He has many talented people and counselors under his command. No matter how incompetent Yuan Shu is, he is still the second most powerful person in the world. Moreover, once the emperor issued an edict to punish Yuan Shu and ordered him to attack from five directions, how could the other side just sit there and wait for death?

From the perspective of Yuan Shu's advisers, of course they would take advantage of the fact that the five armies have not yet assembled and attack the weakest one!

Among them, the weakest was Liu Bei. Xia Pi where he was located was easy to attack but difficult to defend. It had changed hands several times and was much easier to attack than other directions. So of course Yuan Shu wanted to attack Liu Bei first!

Guan Yu said coldly: "As the governor of Xia Pi and the military commander of a separate army, I have the power to command the generals in wartime, except for you. I will now take all the soldiers in Qucheng away and rush to Xia Pi to help!"

Mi Fang was anxious, "What if the enemy comes? How to defend Qucheng?"

Guan Yu snorted coldly: "This is the rear, where do the enemies come from?"

"If Big Brother loses, where do you want to run to?"

"All the cities near the East China Sea have garrisons. The governor can mobilize the troops himself when the time comes!"

Mi Fang's face was uncertain, and finally he could only bow and say, "I will obey the general's order."

Guan Yu nodded, turned to Yuan Xi and said, "I want to go to Xia Pi by water. The Han River is much closer to the Yangtze River than the sea, but half of it is in Guangling County, so it requires a long way to go..."

Yuan Xi immediately pulled out a special token from his bosom and said, "This is mine. General, hold it as if I were here in person."

Seeing Yuan Xi being so straightforward, Guan Yu's eyes sparkled: "You are so righteous, I would like to thank you on behalf of my elder brother!"

Yuan Xi waved his hand and said, "General, you are too polite. Since we are allies, we should be of the same blood. General, you can go first. I will send a letter to Guangling now and ask Mr. Yuanlong to send troops to support Lord Xuande!"

Guan Yu clasped his fists fiercely and said: "My lord, your loyalty is unparalleled. I will now bid you farewell!"

He turned around, holding his sword, and strode out, shouting to his men, "All soldiers in Zhaoji City, set out from the dock and head south in half an hour!"

Seeing Guan Yu and his men disappear into the dark night, everyone looked at each other, feeling even more uneasy.

Yuan Shao launched a massive attack on Xuzhou. If Xia Pi was captured, the next target would definitely be Donghai and Guangling!

Yuan Xi was no longer interested, so he called Ju Shou and Lu Xun and prepared to take a boat back to Haixi overnight. Before leaving, Ju Shou thought for a moment and said to Mi Fang, "General, how many days will it take to go to the nearest city to mobilize troops?"

Mi Fang was startled, and thought for a moment, "At least five or six days?"

Ju Su nodded and said, "It would be best if the governor finds someone to go now."

Mi Fang immediately responded, "What do you mean, sir?"

Ju Su sighed and said, "In the past five or six days, Qucheng has been an empty city."

After hearing this, Mi Fang reacted immediately and quickly sent people with orders to various cities to mobilize troops.

Yuan Xi saw this and said, "Brother Mi, don't panic. As long as you control the dock, you can protect yourself even if the enemy comes."

"If the enemy is strong, you can take a boat to Haixi Wharf. We still have many soldiers in the city."

Mi Fang was delighted when he heard this and thanked him repeatedly.

Yuan Xi said to Mi Zhen: "I will go back to Haixi to deploy defenses now, take care, girl."

Mi Zhen listened, nodded, and whispered: "Take care, young master."

Under normal circumstances, Mi Fang might have made a few jokes, but he was not in the mood now. He sent Yuan Xi and others to the Qucheng Wharf and watched the Zhen family merchant ship leave before returning home with a heavy heart.

Seeing Mi Zhen still waiting in the hall, he said, "What Ju Su said is right. I have been feeling uneasy these past few days."

"I have arranged a boat. If there is any danger, you can take the boat to Haixi to seek refuge with Xionghu."

Mi Zhen asked anxiously, "What about my brother?"

Mi Fang gritted his teeth and said, "If Donghai is lost in my hands, the Mi family will never be able to hold their heads up again!"

"I thought about it and realized it's still too late to mobilize troops. I'll just go to the nearby city to gather troops!"

Mi Zhen said worriedly: "But my brother just promised to wait for reinforcements in the city..."

Mi Fang waved his hand and said, "Don't say anything. If we always rely on the fierce tiger, where will the face of our Mi family be?"

"If you can't even handle this, even if I marry him, people will still look down on me!"

Mi Zhen wanted to speak more, but was interrupted by Mi Fang, "Don't worry, little sister, I know what to do, and I will do this beautifully!"

"Guan Yu has mobilized all the soldiers. I still have 500 servants here. I will take 300 people to mobilize the soldiers and leave 200 guards for you. You just wait for my news in the city!"

Mi Zhen shook his head and said, "What if we encounter an enemy?"

"Brother, you'd better take all the servants with you. If something happens to me, I can just flee to the sea!"

Mi Fang hesitated again and again, and said: "I will leave early tomorrow morning. I will think about it carefully and make a decision then!"

The noise in Qucheng lasted until midnight. Guan Yu mobilized soldiers and sailed south from the Han River overnight, but the aftermath of the commotion in the city did not stop and rumors spread quickly.

There are already countless enemy troops attacking near Qucheng. They must be the Taishan bandits from Langya heading south!

Seeing that the situation was not good, the defender of Qucheng led his troops to abandon the city and flee!

In panic, the rumor quickly spread to the city with a population of tens of thousands. Because the city gates were closed, many people fled by water. Those who had boats used small boats, and those who didn't simply jumped into the water and crossed the river.

When Mi Fang was awakened by the soldiers in a daze, he saw that it was still dark outside and was about to curse, but when the soldiers told him that there was a riot in the city, he jumped up in shock.

He rode out of the house and found that the city was in chaos, with fleeing people everywhere, blocking the streets.

The city gate had not yet been opened, but tens of thousands of people had already crowded at the gate, begging the soldiers to open the gate early. Some people could not hold back and began to instigate others to attack the gate.

When Mi Fang saw this, he was about to send people to disperse the crowd, but several more soldiers rushed over and said that something had happened at Qucheng Wharf!

Mi Fang turned his horse around and headed straight for the Qucheng Wharf. He saw that the merchant ships of the Mi family caravan were docked at the shore and the sailors were in chaos. Mi Fang went over to take a look and started cursing.

Some smaller ships had their bottoms pierced and were almost capsized, while the steering rudders on the decks of the larger ships were all chopped off!

It would take at least three to five days to repair this kind of rudder. Mi Fang felt cold all over. He didn't know who the enemy was, but the other party had obviously started to act!

If the enemy can achieve this, they must know everything about the city and must know that there are no soldiers in the city!

Thinking that the other party could attack at any time, Mi Fang panicked. Now he had two choices, one was to defend the city, the other was to abandon the city and leave.

The first one is almost equivalent to waiting for death. Who can they defeat with only a few hundred slaves?

If you choose the second one now, there are also two options. One is to mobilize troops from other cities, but there is a high possibility that you will be ambushed by the enemy halfway.

The second option is to flee to Haixi, across the river, and seek asylum from Yuan Xi!

Originally, the sea route was the fastest, but the Mi family's merchant ships were all destroyed, and all the small boats escaped last night, so they can only take the land route.

As long as you travel west along the Huai River from Qucheng for half a day and cross the river from the ferry, you will reach Haixi!

Mi Fang led his men away from the dock and saw that the people in the city were becoming increasingly anxious. Some people saw the team and rushed up to ask where the soldiers had gone.

Mi Fang kept a sullen face and did not answer. He looked at this group of people who were causing trouble, and suddenly a plan came to his mind.

Don't you want to run?

I will grant your wishes!

In the woods about ten miles outside Qucheng, a group of elite soldiers dressed as Taishan bandits were hiding fully armed.

The leader was none other than Xiahou Yuan, the general of Cao's camp!

When he learned that the gates of Qucheng were wide open and the people were fleeing in droves, he smiled and said to the generals in Cao's camp around him: "Your Excellency is really a genius. This plan of beating the mountain to scare the tiger is really effective."

"Next, we have to follow the Lord's plan and catch bigger fish!"