Chapter 164 Death of Liu Xun, Sun Ce's Attack It is said that Liu Xun fell into Qin Zhen's trap and intended to launch a surprise attack on Jundao, but was outmaneuvered by Lu Su and was defeated on both sides. Faced with the pincer attack from Qin Yi and Chen Zhang, he retreated in defeat. When he reached the edge of Chaohu Lake, he was ambushed by Lu Su. After a series of battles and walking for dozens of miles, he finally escaped from the battlefield in a disheveled and dishevelled state. As for the east bank of Chaohu Lake, there is another river blocking the road. The river is very wide and the waves are sparkling under the night sky. It turns out that this water is the mouth of Chaohu Lake where it flows into the river. Due to geographical changes in later generations, the waterway no longer exists. But in this era, the water is quite strong and the two banks are far apart. Seeing this, Liu Xun thought that his navy was coming up from here, but now there was nothing on the river. He was suddenly filled with grief and burst into tears: "We said we were here to rob Liu Bei of his money and food, and then we would leave by this river!" "If Geng Qi succeeds, his ships will surely meet us here. Now there is only this empty water and no ships. This shows that our navy has been ambushed by the enemy!" "It's a hundred miles from here to Lujiang, and there are no boats. The river is blocked here, and it's time for me to end my life here!"

When his subordinates saw him crying, they couldn't stop wiping away tears. However, Liu Xun was very popular because he nurtured scholars. Seeing him so depressed, a retainer stepped forward and said: "We still have thousands of soldiers and horses. How can we give up?" "This place leads to the river, the river is very wide, and we will go north to find a place with shallow water and narrow river, and then we can swim across!" As he spoke, Liu Xun shook his head and cried: "Not to mention that it's winter now, it's difficult to retreat even if we swim across, and there are pursuers behind us." "The enemy has lured us here this time, and I don't know how many soldiers are ambushed. If we advance north from here, how can we resist if we encounter the enemy again?" Seeing this, the retainer sighed again, and one of them stepped out and said: "My lord, you are only worried about the pursuers. We have received your kindness, and it is time to repay you!" "I think it's hard for a large army to cross this river, but it won't be hard if we just escort you across!" "My lord, you can go ahead and find a fisherman's house along the river, take a boat and cross the river. We will lead the troops north." "If you can swim across the river, we will lead the army to meet the lord in Xiang'an." "If we encounter an enemy ambush, we can also attract the enemy's pursuit to cover the lord's temporary departure!" When Liu Xun heard this, he thought about the pros and cons for a moment, and his face was in a dilemma: "Won't this put you in a dangerous position?" When the guests saw this, they stepped out and said: "We are willing to die for our lord!" Liu Xun was deeply moved when he saw this. Just as he was about to speak, he saw someone coming to report: "My lord, the enemy has already chased us to the rear, less than five miles away!" It turned out that Lu Su and his companions had been chasing all the way, but because they had not found Liu Xun's body and there was a river blocking their way, they chased all the way south, intending to keep Liu Xun in Jiujiang. At this time, the pursuers were still five miles behind, but they would arrive in just two quarters of an hour.

Upon hearing this, all the guests' faces changed drastically, and they knelt down to ask Liu Xun to mount his horse. Seeing this, Liu Xun also realized that the situation was urgent. In desperation, he got on his horse and told everyone: "I'm leaving now. Take care, everyone!" After saying this, he headed south with more than a hundred personal guards. When the retainers saw this, they looked at each other and ordered the troops to march north. Only three quarters of an hour had passed when the pursuing troops arrived from behind. The two sides fought for a while, and a large number of soldiers were stopped on the east bank. Only a small number of soldiers crossed the river. As a result, when these people crossed the river, they saw a large number of soldiers and horses rushing out of the forest in the west. This army was led by Zhao Yun and numbered tens of thousands of people. Seeing that there was an ambush here, all the retainers raised their troops and fought to the death, engaging the troops led by Zhao Yun. The fighting did not stop until the last man was killed. After Zhao Yun won the victory, he saw no trace of Liu Xun, so he hurriedly ordered his men to look for him. Finally, he found a soldier and asked him, only to find out that Liu Xun had already fled south. Zhao Yun thought that along the river bank, there were only a few people with Liu Xun along the way for hundreds of miles, so where could he find him? He simply stopped pursuing the enemy and led his troops south to take the city of Xiang'an. As for Liu Xun, after leading a hundred cavalrymen southward, he searched for boats along the way. He finally found a fisherman's home and got a small boat. He was also afraid that the fisherman would inform the police, so he ordered his men to kill the fisherman's entire family. After entering his house, he had a full meal with fish soup and millet rice. Just as day broke, he thought that if he continued like this he would be hunted down, so he simply ordered his men to disperse and find their own boats. In this way, at ten o'clock in the evening, he heard a report from his subordinates that a fierce battle had taken place between the two armies last night. His troops were ambushed on two fronts and were completely wiped out. Liu Xun was greatly distressed upon hearing this, burst into tears, and said to his attendants: "This time I led 20,000 troops here, and they have been completely annihilated. There is an ambush in the east, and there is another ambush in the west." "It seems that I have fallen into Qin Zhen's trap of luring the tiger away from the mountain!" "This man is so cunning, how can Lujiang be protected?" Upon hearing this, everyone around burst into tears. If they had been defeated, they could still accept it, but now their hometown had been destroyed and their family members had fallen into the hands of the enemy, so they were naturally heartbroken. Only one of the lonely men who had nothing to worry about saw this and said hurriedly: "Now Liu Bei has a strong army, and Qin Zhen is a great commander. We have nowhere to go back. Why not go south and join Sun Ce!" "Now Sun Ce is at odds with Liu Bei, but he is also an old friend of the general, so he will definitely protect him." "When we are under Sun Ce's command, we can ask him to send people north to bring our families back, which will be very convenient." "Otherwise, if we are discovered by those eager to gain credit, we will be dead without a burial place!"

Liu Xun listened, thought for a moment, and nodded in agreement. In fact, he wanted to go north to join Cao Cao. After all, he and Cao Cao were old friends, and if he surrendered to Cao Cao, he would be valued. But now Liu Bei's troops are everywhere in the north, so relatively speaking, it is safer to go south to join Sun Ce. Having thus agreed, he waited till night, and gathering his men, he sailed his fishing boats southward along the road, across the river, and reached the Spring Valley. After meeting the city gate commander, he introduced himself and asked the man to go ahead and report. But Liu Xun had no idea that Chungu had already been occupied by Taishi Ci. Because after Taishi Ci captured Wanling and Jingxian that day, he immediately recruited soldiers and horses, and later received an order from Liu Bei, asking him to form a alliance with Zu Lang. Taishi Ci was worried that he had no strategists under his command, so he asked Jiang Gan, his liaison, to go on the mission. He himself continued to train his troops and prepare for war. Later, he received a letter from Qin Zhen, asking him to cooperate in blocking Liu Xun's retreat. Taishi Ci knew that Qin Zhen was Liu Bei's military advisor and could not be neglected, so he personally led 2,000 soldiers and horses to capture Chungu County. But when he took Chungu and entered the city, he realized that he would not be able to gain any credit this time, because Qin Zhen was planning to kill Liu Xun, and he must have started in Jiangbei. The only purpose of letting him occupy this place is to prevent Liu Xun from going south. But the way he thought about it, Qin Zhen was surrounding the north and blocking the east and west, so who knows where Liu Xun would escape to. Even if he went south to join Sun Ce, he might not go straight to Chungu. Others are flexible. How can he get any credit if he just sits here and does nothing? Thinking of this, he felt a little bored. But having said that, in order to repay Liu Bei's kindness, he still waited here with peace of mind. As a result, as soon as I fell asleep that night, I heard a report from my subordinates: "There is a man outside the city, claiming to be Liu Xun, who wants to see the general!" Taishi Ci was stunned when he heard this, and he quickly turned over and said: "Who do you think is coming to surrender? Liu Xun?" The soldier saw it and nodded quickly: "It's Liu Xun outside!" Taishi Ci listened, suddenly jumped off the couch, and said excitedly: "How many troops does Liu Xun have with him?" But when the soldier heard this, he said something strange: "Only a hundred riders!" Seeing this, Taishi Ci waved his fist fiercely and said with a smile:

"If it's Liu Xun himself, he's courting death!" "Pass on my order and let you enter the city immediately so that I can see it with my own eyes!" After saying this, he ordered the soldiers to pass on the message, and without even having time to put on his armor, he walked out of the mansion holding a spear and bow and arrow. As soon as I reached the middle courtyard, I saw Taishi Xiang coming over with a delighted look on his face and said: "Father, I heard that Liu Xun led his troops here. Is this true?" "You are well-informed!" Seeing this, Taishi Ci stroked his beard and smiled: "I heard earlier that Qin Zhen asked me to wait for the troops here. I thought he was too worried and Liu Xun might not go south." "Now it seems that this person's ability to plan is really amazing!" "I told Liu Xun to come here, and Liu Xun came here, which is a great achievement for me!" Taishi Xiang had been listening to Jiang Gan's bragging about Qin Zhen for a long time, and now he laughed and said: "It turns out that Brother Ziyi is not talking nonsense. This military advisor is truly a man of great foresight!" After the father and son discussed it, they walked out of the house and headed towards the city gate. At this time, Liu Xun had been frozen outside for a long time. He thought that the defenders in the city were rude. When he saw Sun Ce the next day, he would order them to be punished. After finally being let into the city, he saw that the guard had not arrived yet, so he couldn't help but ask: "Who are your guards? Why haven't you come here yet?" But when he asked, the gatekeeper turned his head away and ignored him. Seeing the soldiers like this, Liu Xun once again said inwardly: "Sun Ce's subordinates shouldn't be like this!" "Even if they are new recruits, they should know my name and respect me when they see me coming to join them." "Why don't you say anything? Is this a trick?" Thinking of this, he was secretly shocked. He also saw that the soldiers around him were all holding swords and had fierce eyes. He was terrified for a moment and hurriedly said: "Open the gate, I want to leave the city!" Facing his words, the city gate commander sneered; "Now that we are in the city, why don't you meet the general before leaving?" Seeing his unhappy expression, Liu Xun hurriedly said: "Who are you, General?" When the city gate commander saw him like this, he knew that he was awake, and he immediately grinned and said: "So that you can die knowingly, my general is Taishi Ziyi, General Taishi!" He stopped talking here and shouted coldly: "Catch this man with me!" When Liu Xun saw this, his face changed drastically and he immediately drew his sword to fight with everyone. At this time, Taishi Ci rode up on his horse and upon seeing this, he laughed and said: "Where are you going, little Liu Xun?"

Amidst the laughter, he rode his horse forward, thrust his spear straight at Liu Xun. Liu Xun's martial arts skills were not very good, so he was no match for Taishi Ci. He was unable to dodge and was stabbed in the chest by Taishi Ci, dying on the spot! With the death of Liu Xun, his subordinates no longer had the will to fight and immediately surrendered to Taishi Ci. Seeing that there were only a few dozen of his men, Taishi Ci did not want to kill more people, so he simply ordered them to lay down their weapons and tied them up one by one. Afterwards, he ordered someone to chop off Liu Xun's head, prepare it with saltpeter, and then send it to Liu Bei. But when the envoy was sent the next day, Taishi Xiang asked for permission: "Father, I have never achieved any merit since I followed you to fight in the battlefield." "Besides, I have now entered the envoy's service, but I have not yet gone to pay my respects to him." "Father, you cannot leave here without permission. It would be better for me to go and offer Liu Xun's head." "This way, I can fulfill my father's duty and let my child see what the envoy looks like!" Taishi Ci was delighted to hear this and said: "My son is like this, he is young and wise, how can I not allow it as a father?" "I am afraid that you have lived in the mountains for many years and do not know the etiquette. If you go north to see the envoy, you will be ridiculed by everyone!" When Taishi Xiang heard this, he immediately promised: "I will go and see Mr. Qin first. I heard that he is kind to others and will not let me make a fool of myself!" After he said this, Taishi Ci thought that he would have to deal with Qin Zhen sooner or later anyway, so it would be better to go early than late. Sending his son out to see the world now will prevent him from feeling embarrassed when he sees it later. After thinking for a while, he nodded in agreement, and asked his trusted people to take Taishi Xiang and Liu Xun's head across the river to the north. Unexpectedly, not long after Taishi Xiang left, someone came to report: "General, something terrible has happened. Sun Ce led an army of more than 10,000 soldiers back a few days ago, arriving from Wuhu via the waterway, and is fiercely attacking our army in Wanling!" "General, please return to the army as soon as possible, otherwise our army will lose Wanling!" Hearing this, Taishi Ci slammed the table and said angrily: "How dare you, little Sun Ce, bully me! "Pass on my order, send out troops immediately, and don't let Sun Ce take back Wanling!" He had no time to think about it and led his troops to rescue Wanling. (End of this chapter)