Chapter 271 Xiapi Falls, Chen Deng Evacuates Lu Bu left Wei Xu, Wei Yue and Chen Gong to guard Xia Pi, actually with the intention of restraining each other. Because he didn't like Chen Gong, a capable person, the military power was controlled by Wei Xu and Wei Yue. But in fact, Wei Xu was really incompetent. After leaving Chen Gong and Wei Yue, he had no opinion of his own. At this time, he was stumped by the situation created by Chen Gui. Seeing that Chen Gui had a plan, he hurriedly asked for advice: "I wonder what plan you have to resolve this situation, I would like to hear the details!" Upon seeing this, Chen Gui immediately gave Wei Xu a plan: "If you ask how to break the impasse, it's actually easy to say. Although Marquis Wen is away now, Xuzhou can still be controlled." "With Chen Gongtai stationed outside, Zang Ba could hardly advance, and was worried that if Xia Pi was lost, the family of Wenhou would fall into the hands of the enemy." "Now that Cao Cao has intervened, there must be many accomplices in the city." "It seems that all the rebellious generals of Xu Dan's faction are useless and should be eliminated first!"

"After we get rid of them, I will pretend to lure Xu Dan back, and then the general will be ambushed outside, and we can decide the outcome in one battle." "In this way, the general can eliminate the internal strife and calmly dispatch troops to reinforce." "When Marquis Wen returns to the army tomorrow, he will thank the general for protecting our home!" Upon hearing this, Wei Xu thought that Xu Dan's followers were all former generals from Xuzhou, and might indeed be colluding with Cao Cao. He simply followed Chen Gui's advice and ordered the arrest of Zhang Kuang and others in the city one by one. Then he asked Chen Gui to send a letter to Xu Dan, preparing to lure Xu Dan to come. But after Chen Gui received the order, he asked Xu Dan to go ahead for a few days and not return for the time being. After Xu Dan received the letter, he led his troops to stop at Xiaxiang City, south of Xia Pi. When Wei Xu saw that Xu Dan stopped moving, he knew that Xu Dan was probably planning to rebel. Seeing that he was not moving, he summoned Chen Gui again to question him. When Chen Gui heard this, he knew why Xu Dan didn't go in, but he pretended not to know: "Xu Dan must be worried about the general being here, so he doesn't dare to return to the army!" "Why don't you spread the news first, saying that Cao's army has marched south, and then pretend to lead the army out of the city to resist them." "Go north first, then go around and ambush north of Xia Pi!" "If Xu Dan sees that there is no one in charge of the city, he must come and destroy it in one fell swoop!" Upon hearing this, Wei Xu frowned again and asked: "But if I leave, there will be no one in charge in the city." "What if there is still Xu Dan's accomplice?" When Chen Gui saw this, he stroked his beard and smiled, saying: "General, don't worry. We are not going far out of the city this time!" "You can leave a trusted person to lead the troops in the city to provide support at all times."

"As for the rest, I will take care of it and make sure nothing goes wrong in the city!" "Now my son is still in the army of Marquis Wen, do you think I have any ulterior motives towards Marquis Wen?" Upon hearing this, Wei Xu laughed and said: "What are you saying, sir? Both your father and son are loyal and good people. How can I not believe it?" "But considering that the doctor is old, I dare not trouble you." "But since it is the doctor who has asked for my order, I should not worry!" If you ask him whether he trusts Chen Gui or not, then of course he does, after all, Chen Deng is now under Lu Bu's command. Even a tiger won't eat its own cubs, so naturally he wouldn't doubt it if his son was used as a hostage. After saying these words, he gave orders and prepared to lead his troops out of the city. In this way, Chen Gui planned everything and returned to the mansion to tell Chen Jiao the details. When Chen Jiao heard Chen Gui's operation, he actually pulled out all the generals in the city, and he was immediately overjoyed and said: "Luckily, Lord Chen is here, otherwise we would never be able to capture Xia Pi!" "Now that they are gone, what should we do?" Facing such praise, Chen Gui said calmly: "The incident hasn't even started yet, why are you so eager to show off? There are still Wei Xu's cronies in the city." "Order Xu Baojian to head north quickly and enter the city as soon as possible while the two generals are attacking each other!" Upon hearing this, Chen Jiao did not dare to delay and hurriedly urged Xu Xuan to go north. Even though they don't have a good relationship, they are extremely efficient when it comes to official business. After Xu Xuan received Chen Jiao's letter, he led more than 3,000 soldiers and horses north, hiding during the day and moving at night, passing through the Si River and finally arriving outside the city of Xia Pi. As soon as he arrived with his troops, Chen Gui received the news and sent messages to Wei Xu and Xu Dan respectively. The letter to Xu Dan was sent along the road northwards, and when they arrived at the north gate, they saw a fire as a signal and then marched into the city. The letter to Wei Xu stated that Xu Dan had arrived and would attack the city as soon as he saw the fire as a signal. When both sides received the news, they were overjoyed and immediately mobilized their troops. That night, Chen Gui ordered the two families to fight in the north, but opened the south gate to allow Xu Xuan to lead his troops into the city. Here, Xu Dan was still dreaming about the Spring and Autumn Period. He came to the city and prepared to lead his troops into the city. Unexpectedly, when he reached the outside of the city and shouted repeatedly, there was no movement inside the city. Suddenly, shouts of killing were heard from the rear, followed by the sight of Wei Xu leading his troops to charge out. When Xu Dan saw this, he thought the plan was exposed, and hurried back to attack. When Wei Xu saw this, he was furious that Xu Dan was collaborating with the enemy and he was determined to kill the enemy.

The two men fought in one place, but saw no reaction from the city, so Xu Dan cursed: "Old Chen Gui is disloyal. He tricked me into coming here and then set an ambush for me!" "I have no grudge against you. If I see you in the future, I will chop off your head!" After cursing loudly, he saw that his troops were in chaos, so he had to lead his followers to escape. When Wei Xu saw this, he immediately led his troops in pursuit and killed him. They chased for more than ten miles before catching up with Xu Dan, and the two of them fought again. Although Xu Dan was the General of the Central Army, his martial arts skills were not as good as Wei Xu's. After fighting for more than ten rounds, the man was exhausted and begged for mercy. When Wei Xu saw this, he became even more angry and shouted: "You who betrayed my master, my master has treated you well, how dare you betray my master and join Cao!" Upon hearing this, Xu Dan cried out in pain and quickly shouted: "I didn't betray my master, I just believed the slander of old man Chen Gui!" "If you spare my life today, I will never rebel again in the future!" But when Wei Xu heard that he was still involving Chen Gui, he became angry and said: "If you still want to lie after all this, come and die with me!" He immediately slashed with his sword, killing Xu Dan on the spot. After the victory, Wei Xu gathered his troops and marched towards Xia Pi. But when they were knocking on the gate from below, they saw arrows being shot straight at them from above. When Wei Xu saw this, he was immediately shocked and hurried forward and shouted: "I am Wei Xu, and I am returning victoriously. Why are you guys closing the city gates?" Before he had finished speaking, a scribe came up to the city and laughed loudly; "You seized Liu Zhengdong's base in the past, and now you should return it and leave quickly!" Wei Xu was shocked when he heard this, wondering where this person came from? Could it be that there is someone supporting Liu Bei in the city? While thinking about it, he couldn't figure it out for a while, so he hurriedly asked where Chen Gui was. Then the scholar on the city wall raised a head and said loudly: "Chen Gui is dead, and I have killed all your trusted followers!" After saying this, he threw the head down into the city. This head is naturally not Chen Gui's, but the head of Wei Xu's confidant. When Wei Xu saw this, he became furious and ordered his troops to attack the city, but they saw arrows flying straight at them from the city and could not get close. Wei Xu lost Xia Pi, and the army only had a few days of food and grass, so he naturally did not dare to meet Lu Bu. He had to march north to Tan County. At this time, Chen Gong and Wei Yue were still in a stalemate with Zang Ba here. When they saw Wei Xu coming, they were all shocked and asked the reason. After hearing Wei Xu's detailed explanation, Chen Gong shouted:

"I have long said that Chen Gui and his son cannot be trusted. Why didn't you listen, General?" "This is Chen Gui's plan, which has caused us to lose our foundation." "Now the wives and children of the generals and soldiers are all in Xia Pi. If Marquis Wen asks for punishment, how will the general respond?" After being scolded by him, Wei Xu also came to his senses and said angrily: "I didn't expect that old man Chen Gui was so treacherous and actually plotted against me!" But after saying this, he remembered that Xia Pi had been lost and Lü Bu would surely blame him, so he said fearfully: "Now that the enemy has captured Pi, what should we do?" Although Chen Gong was slow in thinking, he had his own ideas when faced with a major event. Upon hearing this, he said: "We are already surrounded by enemies on all sides, and now it is difficult to defend an isolated city. If the soldiers knew that Xia Pi had fallen, there would be chaos." "We should march south quickly and persuade Marquis Wen to capture Chen Deng. This may force Chen Gui to surrender the city!" "If it doesn't work, persuade Wen Hou to go north and not go to Xia Pi again." "You should go to Pengcheng first, and then join us here to plan the big things." Upon hearing this, the two generals were helpless and had to obey. Then another urgent report came southward to Lu Bu. However, Chen Gong's proposal to capture Chen Deng was obviously unrealistic. Because long before they sent the letter, a military report reached Lu Bu. It is said that Lei Xu has led more than 10,000 soldiers and horses to the East City. At this time, Lü Bu had just withdrawn from Shouchun and had not yet joined forces with Qin Song and others. Upon hearing this letter, he was horrified and said: "As Yuanlong said, Qin Zhen can actually persuade Lei Xu to go north!" "We are running low on food and grass now. East City is our retreat route. We are blocked here. What should we do?" When Chen Deng saw this, he knew that it was time for him to leave, and he immediately said to Lu Bu: "Now that things have come to this, Qin Zhen's plan is clear. The reason why he has not mobilized his troops is that he must be waiting for Zang Ba and Lei Xu to send out their troops!" "Now Zang Ba has gone south, Lei Xu has gone north, and Zhongli is in Qin Zhen's hands again." "He followed us all the way here, he must want to surround Wen Hou's troops here!" "The best thing to do now is to break through the siege as quickly as possible to survive!" When Lu Bu heard this, he became even more anxious and asked for advice. Chen Deng said: "Marquis Wen still has nearly 10,000 soldiers and horses, and Dongcheng has another 3,000. Qin Zhen is nothing to be afraid of!" "The only thing we should worry about is that Lei Xu's followers are too numerous to be defeated!" "This person's base is far away in Guangling. Perhaps we can send an army to take a detour and use the momentum of a surprise attack on Guangling to force Lei Xu to retreat!" When Lu Bu heard this, he felt a headache for a moment, as he did not have many soldiers and horses now. Previously, three thousand soldiers were divided to stop the enemy, but now there are only five or six thousand left.

If he divides his troops and sends them forward, what should he do if Lei Xu refuses to retreat? "We don't have enough troops right now, how can we send them forward?" Chen Deng had already anticipated this step, and immediately bowed and said: "If Marquis Wen doesn't give up, I am willing to lead the army forward and make Lei Xu retreat!" When Lu Bu saw him asking for orders, he was naturally happy at first, but then he became a little hesitant. Because Qin Song had told him before that he would keep Chen Deng by his side. Now Chen Deng asked for permission to lead the troops forward again, and he was a little unsure of Chen Deng's intentions. But Chen Deng, seeing this, pretended to be angry and said with a red face: "My father and brothers are all in Xia Pi now. Does Lord Wen still not trust me?" "If that's the case, please kill him quickly, Marquis Wen, to avoid this kind of trouble!" Seeing that he was trying to commit suicide again, Lü Bu thought that Chen Gui and the Chen brothers were indeed in Xia Pi, so he stopped hesitating and said with a smile: "Why must Yuanlong be so stubborn? It's not that I don't believe in Yuanlong!" "It is because we invited Yuanlong here this time that we suffered heavy casualties and gained nothing. We are sorry for the trouble!" "Well, since Yuanlong has this intention, why shouldn't I respond?" After saying this, he ordered Chen Deng to lead more than 3,000 soldiers and horses to leave first. After Chen Deng left, Lu Bu thought that there was an interception in the east, so he might as well defeat Qin Zhen's troops first! After making up his mind, he led his troops directly back to the rear. When they were halfway there, they saw Qin Song and Hou Cheng leading their troops heading towards the east. Seeing the two men returning, Lu Bu hurriedly asked them the reason, and learned that Qin Zhen's troops stopped halfway after chasing. It turned out that Qin Zhen sent troops this time just to delay Lu Bu's advance. Seeing that Lu Bu divided his troops to intercept and abandoned his baggage, he knew he could not catch up and simply rested where he was. Since he stopped like this, Qin Song and Hou Cheng naturally didn't dare to attack. After waiting for a whole day and seeing that Qin Zhen had no intention of attacking, they had to turn around and rush towards Lu Bu. Unexpectedly, as soon as they returned to the army, they saw Lu Bu also rushing over. Qin Song saw this and realized that most of Lu Bu's troops had been reduced, so he hurriedly asked the reason. Lu Bu then told Chen Deng that the East City had been surrounded by Lei Xu and requested a detour to launch a surprise attack. When Qin Song heard this, he was immediately shocked and said: "I have long told you that Chen Deng should not leave Marquis Wen lightly. How can Marquis Wen let him go?" "Now that East City has been surrounded, if Chen Deng turns against us, won't East City fall into his hands?" Seeing him like this, Lu Bu was naturally dissatisfied and said:

"Now that brothers Chen Gui and Chen Deng are both in Xia Pi, how dare Chen Deng rebel against me?" "What Wenbiao said is truly alarmist!" "How can you say that, General? He has his father as a hostage." Qin Song was about to persuade him again, but suddenly, his words stopped and he stared at her: "Not good. The father and son are each other's hostages. If one of them is taken away, Xia Pi will be in danger!" Upon hearing this, Lu Bu was stunned, and then his expression changed. He hurriedly shouted: "I am afraid that I have fallen into the trap of the traitors. Pass on my military order and drive Chen Deng away immediately!" After saying this, he led his troops to chase after Chen Deng. (End of this chapter)