Chapter 272: Consecutive attacks, Lü Bu faints To explain what Qin Song and Lu Bu realized, it is actually very simple. The reason why Chen Deng was able to gain Lu Bu’s trust before was largely because Chen Gui was in Xia Pi! In a sense, Chen Gui was the hostage used by Lu Bu to check and balance Chen Deng. Similarly, Chen Deng is now also a hostage that Chen Gui can use to gain the trust of the people in the city. The two are hostages to each other. As long as they are controlled separately, it can be guaranteed that Chen will not rebel. But now with Chen Deng's departure, there is no longer any restraint on Chen Gui, and they are stopped in Jiujiang. If the Chen family rebels, Xuzhou will be in big trouble! So even though Lu Bu was a little slow in wisdom, he realized that Chen Deng could not be let go. With his order, the army marched towards the east. But after Chen Deng received Lu Bu's military order, he dared not march slowly. As soon as he escaped, he ordered his troops to advance separately, and his thousands of soldiers were divided into three groups and rushed towards Guangling.

In addition to these three troops, he personally led a dozen personal guards towards the east city. At this time, Lei Xu, Zhao Yun, Gan Ning and others had already deployed their troops under the East City. On that day, Lei Xu was persuaded by Jiang Gan and led his troops to surrender to Liu Bei, and the flags of his troops were changed to the style of Liu Bei's army. Liu Bei received Qin Zhen's letter and ordered Gan Ning and Zhao Yun to march north. The three men led their troops all the way here, intending to capture East City first, but the terrain of East City was steep and difficult to attack. They discussed it and realized that they didn't know when Lu Bu would arrive and the city would be difficult to attack by force. They didn't have Qin Zhen's military order, so they could only camp outside the city first and then send people to ask Qin Zhen for strategy. Unexpectedly, before they could receive Qin Zhen's military order, they encountered Chen Deng who had escaped. In fact, Gan Ning, Zhao Yun and Lei Xu had never met Chen Deng. But even if you have never seen Chen Deng in person, you have heard of his name. So after seeing Chen Deng's seal, Zhao Yun hurriedly asked: "Your Excellency is currently serving under Lu Bu, why are you here?" After a period of running around, Chen Deng was no longer as carefree as before, and said directly to everyone: "Because I conspired with the Lord of Qin to seize Xuzhou, I asked my father to seize Xiapi!" "Now I heard that Zang Ba in the north has been persuaded to go south, and I know that Xia Pi will be taken, so I used an excuse to escape from Lu Bu's command!" "I wonder if you are here, have you heard any message from Xia Pi?" Everyone only knew that Qin Zhen asked them to capture East City, but they had no idea of ​​Qin Zhen's other plans. Upon hearing this, they hurriedly shook their heads. Chen Deng was worried when he saw this, fearing that something might happen in Xia Pi. He immediately said: "In this case, Lu Bu will arrive here. You can take this city first and then head north to block Lu Bu's way." "I will go to Xia Pi in person to discuss this matter. We cannot let Lu Bu ruin the whole thing!" But as soon as he said this, Gan Ning stepped forward and said hurriedly:

"Don't go yet, my lord. Since Xia Pi has already made arrangements, there will be news sooner or later. Why rush?" "We are blocked here, and there is no way to capture the city. I wonder if you have any good ideas?" When Chen Deng saw this, he knew that Qin Zhen had not yet made arrangements for the affairs of East City. Since they were doing this on impulse, many things were not finalized. Now all parties are moving together and the whole Xuzhou is in chaos. It was normal that Qin Zhen did not make any arrangements for taking the city in advance. Seeing Gan Ning asking for advice, he thought for a while and then said to everyone: "It is not difficult to take this city. You all wait outside the city and send a group of soldiers to follow me into the city." "I will lead an army into the city first. After we capture the enemy general, you can capture the city." When everyone heard this, they were all delighted, and Gan Ning immediately led more than a thousand soldiers and Chen Deng to go there. Because their camp was located in the west, Chen Deng went around and came to the city from the south. When Li Feng saw that it was Chen Deng who led the army, he went up to the city wall and asked: "Where are you from, sir? Where is the lord?" Chen Deng heard this from the city wall, rode forward and said loudly: "Marquis Wen heard that East City was under siege and is on his way here." "Because Qin Zhen was pursuing us, he ordered me to bring more than a thousand soldiers and horses to reinforce us." "We have not been discovered by the enemy yet. General, please open the city gate and let me in." "Lest the enemy discover the reinforcements and come and capture the city again!" Li Feng was not suspicious when he heard this. After all, in his opinion, Chen Deng was his own. Seeing that Chen Deng had only a thousand soldiers and horses behind him, he ordered his men to open the city gates and let Chen Deng enter the city. After Chen Deng's troops entered, he asked in surprise: "Since you are here to reinforce us, why don't you bring our flag with you?" "If you don't have a flag like this, I'm afraid you won't be allowed to enter the city unless I come in person!" When Chen Deng saw this, he smiled heartily, shook his head, and did not answer. Seeing this, Gan Ning behind him quietly approached Li Feng. His movements were unusual, and Li Feng naturally noticed it. He frowned and said: "This general looks unfamiliar, could he be from Guangling?" Before he finished speaking, Gan Ning grinned and said: "General, you don't recognize me. I am Gan Xingba, a subordinate of Liu Zhengdong!" After he finished speaking, his face suddenly turned ferocious, he drew out his knife and fiercely put it on Li Feng's head and said: "You idiot, why don't you open the gate and surrender? When will you?" Seeing Gan Ning suddenly turn hostile, Li Feng was stunned. The soldiers behind him noticed something was wrong and drew their swords one after another. The scene suddenly became extremely tense.

But Chen Deng, who had been silent the whole time, stepped forward to stop everyone and said: "Please don't resist. I don't want to commit murder again." "If you open the city and surrender now, you can be spared from death!" Li Feng woke up when he heard this, and looked at Chen Deng in shock: "Chen Yuanlong, how dare you betray Marquis Wen and join Liu Bei?" "Let me stop talking and kneel down with you!" As he shouted, Gan Ning stepped forward, grabbed his hair, and kicked his knee hard, making him kneel on the ground. When Chen Deng saw this, he lowered his head and looked at Li Feng and said: "I am a Han official, how can I ever be a rebel?" "Now that the general is in my hands, just tell me whether you are willing to surrender or not!" Li Feng was not a loyal minister or a good general. Looking at the gleaming blade on his neck, he could only hurriedly say: "Please don't kill me, my lord. I am not Lu Bu's trusted confidant. I surrendered voluntarily!" As soon as he surrendered, things became easier and the entire East City was captured again without bloodshed. After Zhao Yun and Lei Xu entered the city, Chen Deng ordered everyone to collect the prisoners' weapons and divide the troops to guard them. Then he said goodbye to everyone and headed towards Xia Pi. Unexpectedly, after leaving the city for only half a day, he saw a messenger coming from the east, saying that Xia Pi had been captured. Chen Deng was immediately surprised and thought: "Xia Pi has already changed hands. If we can keep Lü Bu here, Xuzhou can also change hands!" He made up his mind and returned to the East City, asking Zhao Yun and others to set up an ambush. Because there was no fighting in Dongcheng this time, there was no defeat of the soldiers. He thought that Lu Bu probably didn't know that East City had fallen, so he simply asked Zhao Yun and others to lead the troops outside the city and pretend that the city had not been captured yet. He also sent someone to deliver a false military report, urging Lu Bu to bring troops to reinforce. On the other side, after Lu Bu came to his senses, he accelerated his march and prepared to catch up with Chen Deng. However, Chen Deng divided his troops and fled, advancing with light cavalry. No matter how fast Lu Bu's army was, it was difficult to catch up with Chen Deng's troops. After chasing for a whole day, not only did he fail to catch Chen Deng, but he became more and more anxious. Because things became more and more complicated with Qin Zhen's sudden appearance. It was originally just a simple surprise attack and defensive battle, but Qin Zhen completely reversed the situation. Seeing that after Zang Ba went south and Dongcheng was besieged, Chen Deng led his troops away again, Lu Bu was extremely angry. I thought the fall of Dongcheng was inevitable, but unexpectedly I received a letter asking for help from Dongcheng halfway. The letter said that Lei Xu was attacking the city very quickly and asked Lu Bu to return as soon as possible to reinforce. Although this was a letter asking for help, it was the best news Lu Bu had received in recent times.

Therefore, after receiving the letter, this man felt a glimmer of hope and ordered his men to speed up their advance again. After walking for more than a day, they finally arrived outside the East City. Seeing that the East City had not fallen yet, Lu Bu said happily: "I'm afraid Chen Deng has not betrayed me, otherwise this place would not have fallen yet." "Now that the city is in my hands, we can take the food and fodder, defeat the enemy, and then head east!" When Qin Song heard this, he shook his head and thought that whether Dongcheng fell or not had nothing to do with Chen Deng. After all, if Chen Deng goes east, he may be able to go straight to Xia Pi! However, it was a blessing in disguise that Dongcheng did not fall. He didn't know that the East City had already fallen into Chen Deng's hands. Seeing that the enemy was still outside the city, he offered a plan: "Even if the East City has not fallen, the enemy may not know what we know." "Send someone into the city to inform Li Feng that we can attack the enemy camp tonight." "We will join forces with the enemy from outside and we will surely be able to destroy the enemy camp." Upon hearing this, Lu Bu happily followed his advice and ordered his soldiers into the city to meet Li Feng. However, before Li Feng could see Chen Deng, he was captured by Chen Deng. Upon hearing that Lü Bu was preparing to attack the camp, Chen Deng called Gan Ning and said: "Tonight, Lu Bu will attack the camp. We can take advantage of his trick and defeat him in one fell swoop." Upon hearing this, Gan Ning hurriedly sent someone out to deliver the message. When Zhao Yun and Lei Xu saw it, they immediately ordered a trap to be set. Time passed quickly, and another night came. When the appointed time came, Lu Bu arrived outside the city with his troops. Suddenly, the city gate opened, and a group of soldiers rushed out towards the camp, and shouts of killing were heard everywhere. Upon seeing this, Lu Bu thought he had a good plan and immediately led his troops into the camp. Unexpectedly, as soon as they entered the camp, they saw that there was no one in the camp. After hearing a shout, they saw the soldiers rushing out of the camp. When Lu Bu saw this, he knew he had fallen into a trap and hurriedly led his troops to retreat. Just as he left the camp, he saw another group of people rushing out to intercept him. The one in the lead was wearing a white robe and holding a silver spear, and he shouted: "Zhao Zilong of Changshan is here, who dares to fight me?" When Lu Bu heard this, he became furious. He thought to himself that he was famous all over the world, so how could this unknown general dare to stop him! "How dare you, a nameless person, stop me? Go and die!" With a loud shout, he spurred his horse to fight with Zhao Yun. But at this moment, his previous power to kill anyone he met instantly suddenly lost its effect. When fighting with Zhao Yun, he felt that the other party's spear skills were very skillful and far beyond the reach of ordinary generals. As soon as the battle started, his spear entangled his halberd, making it difficult to determine the winner. Lü Bu was entangled by Zhao Yun and was greatly alarmed. While he was in wonder, he suddenly saw the gate of the city open again, and a general rushed out and said: "Don't run, Lu Bu. Gan Xingba of Shu is here!"

Then he led his troops forward and joined the siege of Lu Bu. Lu Bu was already panicking because he was ambushed, and he became more and more annoyed because he could not kill Zhao Yun for a while. When he saw Gan Ning coming, he quickly dodged and joined the battle. Faced with the siege of the two generals, he no longer had the heart to fight, and took advantage of the fact that Song Xian, the rear army leader, led his troops to support him and quickly withdrew from the battle group. He had few soldiers left to begin with, and after this battle, he lost another two to three thousand. When Qin Song saw him retreating in defeat, he was shocked and asked quickly. It would have been better if he hadn't come. As soon as he came to ask questions, Lu Bu complained: "Sir, you have offered a good plan, but you don't know that this city has been captured by the enemy." "We led our troops to charge in, and the enemy led their troops to charge out. We almost died here!" When Qin Song heard the enemy's deployment, he was shocked and said: "Such an arrangement is not something that ordinary people can do. It must be Chen Deng who is here!" When Lü Bu heard that Chen Deng was the culprit again, he became furious and said: "Chen Yuanlong is such a hateful villain. I will kill him sooner or later!" This lasted all night, and at daybreak he led his troops to the city walls and cursed Chen Deng. Upon hearing this, Chen Deng climbed up the city wall and pointed at Lü Bu and cursed: "You traitor, you have harmed my Xuzhou. I wish I could eat your flesh alive!" "Now I am able to expel you from the country, which is my lifelong wish!" After saying this, he ordered the archers to shoot arrows, and asked Zhao Yun and Gan Ning to lead the army to the battle. Seeing this, Lu Bu led his men forward to fight again. The two sides fought a fierce battle, but there was no winner, so Lu Bu had to lead his troops to retreat. Upon seeing this, Qin Song hurriedly advised Lu Bu to withdraw his troops, but Lu Bu refused. Unexpectedly, news came from the east again at this time. When Lü Bu heard that Xia Pi had been taken by Chen Gui, he immediately started cursing: "I regret not listening to Gongtai's advice and killing Chen's father and son, which led to the disaster today!" "That father and son have hurt me so much, I must eat your flesh to vent my hatred!" After he finished speaking, he felt suffocated for a moment, and suddenly he felt a black screen before his eyes and fell off his horse. Upon seeing this, everyone rushed forward to support him, but when they saw that he had fainted from anger, they had no choice but to take him away to the north. (End of this chapter)