Jianming Chaos

The next morning, people reported that Liu Qi and Liu Cong had come to see him.Liu Bei hurriedly adjusted his clothes and belts, and went out to greet him.

The two sides meet and salute.Liu Qi said: "I heard that my uncle arrived yesterday morning, and we only came to say hello today, so it's really disappointing!"

"Where, where, Liu didn't have time to visit the two of you. By the way, how is your father?"

Liu Cong said: "Father has suffered from asthma again these days. The day before yesterday, he invited a doctor to see him. After taking a few doses of traditional Chinese medicine, he improved slightly. He is recuperating in the mansion, so he couldn't come to see uncle."

"In that case, please send your regards. Liu will visit you another day."

"Thank you uncle for your concern." The two brothers said together.

Liu Qi said: "It's getting late, officials of all counties and counties have arrived, please uncle to accompany us to the banquet."

Liu Bei ordered someone to bring the horse, and borrowed a horse from the post minister for Zhiming.When everything was ready, the army set off.

On the way, Zhiming learned from Zhao Yun that there might be someone trying to kill Liu Bei at this banquet, and he thought to himself: "I didn't expect such a coincidence, just joined the emperor's army and encountered a situation."

When he came to the state capital, Liu Bei handed the horse over to the groom, and ordered three hundred soldiers to wait outside the mansion, and then entered the hall with Zhao Yun and Zhiming and the two young masters.

The banquet had already been prepared, and everyone was already seated. When they saw Liu Bei coming, they got up and saluted one after another.Although Liu Bei's official position in Jingzhou is not great, all the officials know that he is a descendant of Liu Sheng, King Jing of Zhongshan. Come and invite him.

Liu Bei returned the salute respectfully.The two sons invited him to be the chairman. He was embarrassed at first, but after repeated requests from everyone, he sat down shyly.

The two sons sat on both sides; Zhao Yun and Zhiming separated on both sides, ready to guard.

Liu Qi got up, raised his glass and said to everyone: "Everyone, I invite you to come to the party today. It's not for official business. I just want to catch up on the past. My father is ill and can't attend. I'm sorry. You don't have to stick to the etiquette. You can drink as much as you want and have fun with each other. Tell my heart."

When Liu Bei heard this, he thought: "The envoy clearly said that he had something important to discuss, but the young master said he was here to catch up on the old days. This is clearly contradictory. It seems that there is indeed a problem."

Later, when he saw the scene of drinking wine and chatting and laughing, and thought of the two young masters, Zhao Yun and Zhiming by his side, he felt more at ease.

At this time, a person came in and said to Zhao Yun and Zhiming: "There is a banquet outside the hall for generals, please come out with me."

This person is Liu Biao's subordinate Wang Wei, who was ordered to dismiss Liu Bei's guards.Zhao Yun and Zhiming looked at each other and said, "We are here only to protect the lord, not for wine or meat."

Seeing that they refused to leave, Wang Wei asked Liu Bei, "Master, what do you think?"

Liu Bei thought for a while, and felt that they were a bit too conspicuous standing next to him, and with the two young masters and so many officials around, there should be no accident for the time being, so he said to the two of them, "Go and eat, don't be greedy, pay attention Watch my gestures."

Zhao Yun and Zhiming understood, so they went out with Wang Wei.They were arranged to sit far away from the chairman, and Liu Bei could not be seen from here.Zhao Yun was apprehensive, but seeing that the seats were full, he was too embarrassed to ask to change seats, so he had to sit with Zhiming.Because there were people nearby, he signaled to Zhiming with his eyes that he should always pay attention to the surrounding situation and never be careless.Zhiming nodded knowingly.

At this time, Cai Mao was discussing with Kuai Yue, a counselor, in the backyard about the plan to kill Bei.Cai Mao said: "I have deployed everything. Liu Bei's army has been sent back to the post on the grounds that Liu Bei's army is "falsely preaching the imperial decree" in his name, and it is inconvenient because of the large number of people. Now I just wait to start."

Kuai Yue suddenly worried: "The plan is well thought out, but how will I treat my master after killing Liu Bei? They are brothers of the same blood. When the time comes, the master blames me, and we can't finish eating."

"This matter is easy. Let's say that Liu Bei uttered the truth after drinking at the banquet, exposing his rebellious intentions. To prevent future troubles, he was killed. By then, the raw rice will be ripe, and the lord will have nothing to do." Cai Mao had already thought out all the words. .

"But there are two sons here, how dare those swordsmen dare to attack? And they can also testify for Liu Bei."

"Don't worry, the two sons are not used to drinking, and it will not be too late to do it after they are drunk. At that time, no one can prove that Liu Bei didn't say this."

"However, Liu Bei brought two guards in. One of them is Zhao Yun. This man is very skilled in martial arts. Even if he is lured away, it may not be useful. What if Liu Bei escapes if he misses?"

Cai Hao said with a sly smile: "Those swordsmen are masters who have been carefully selected by me. No matter how good Zhao Yun's martial arts are, he will be outnumbered. I have set up ambushes outside the east, south and north gates. No matter which gate Liu Bei escapes from Going out is a dead end."

"What about Simon?"

Cai Mao laughed loudly and said, "You forgot, there is the Tanxi River outside the west gate, why ambushed soldiers! Even if he escapes from the west gate, he will be unable to fly!"

During the banquet, people kept coming to toast the two young masters and Liu Bei.Liu Beixu and Wei Snake only drink their cups every time, but the two young masters never see the bottom of their cups.

Not long after, the two young masters passed out drunk and were helped back to the dormitory by the servants.Liu Bei sat alone on the table, feeling uneasy, but he couldn't see where Zhao Yun and Zhiming were sitting, and couldn't make gestures, so he was in a dilemma for a while.

At this time, a person came to him with a wine glass, pretended to toast, and said in a low voice: "It's getting cold, please go to the back garden to 'change clothes'."

This person is Yiji, a minister of Jingzhou, with the word Jibo, and a good friend of Liu Bei.Liu Bei understood, got up and pretended to go to the toilet, and came to the back garden.

Yiji came later and said: "Cai Mao wanted to murder the emperor's uncle. He used the name of the emperor's uncle to lure the emperor's army back to the post on the grounds that there were too many people, and set up guardrails outside the east, south, and north gates. Ambushes, but there is no ambush outside the west gate. The emperor can quickly leave the city through the west gate to avoid harm!"

After hearing this, Liu Bei wanted to go back and call Zhao Yun and Zhiming.Yi Ji grabbed him by the corner of his clothes and said, "Uncle Huang, don't go back, there may be an ambush in the back hall, Uncle Huang will be intercepted and killed on the way, it's better to go first, I will find a chance to inform them to catch up. "

Liu Bei thought for a while and found it reasonable, so he hurried to the stable, took advantage of the groom's inattention, quickly untied his mount "De Lu Ma", and galloped out of the mansion.

When the horse arrived at the west gate, the gate officials set up a barrier to block it.Unexpectedly, the horse was so fierce that it jumped over the roadblock and galloped out of the city.

The gatekeeper couldn't catch up, and was about to leave to report to Cai Mao, but he saw that Cai Mao's army had arrived.The door official said that just as Liu Bei was not far away, Cai Mao led the crowd to catch up.It turned out that Cai Mao was afraid that the plan for the banquet would go wrong, so he brought several light cavalry out in advance. He wanted to stop Liu Bei at the west gate, but he didn't expect the other party to go one step faster.

Zhao Yun and Zhiming ate a few mouthfuls of food indiscriminately. After waiting for a while, there was no movement from Liu Bei's side. They were afraid that something would happen if the time was too long. They were about to get up to check the situation when Yi Ji came over and raised his glass and said in a low voice. : "When Shijun knew that someone was going to kill him, he didn't have time to call you, so he drove to the west gate by himself; I wanted to inform you immediately, but it was inconvenient for me to be targeted by Cai Mao's people just now."

Zhao Yun asked anxiously, "Where did Cai Mao go?"

"I must have gone to chase after the envoy, and your people have also been sent back to the post, so hurry up and save him."

Zhao Yun and Zhiming looked at each other, did not even answer, and galloped out of the house.They decided to split up. Zhiming went back to the station to gather soldiers, and Zhao Yun chased after them first.

Zhao Yun chased to the west gate, but the guards and guards stopped him.

Zhao Yun pointed his gun at it and shouted: "I want to go out of the city to find Uncle Liu Huang, get out of the way quickly, or don't blame me for being ruthless!"

The gatekeeper obviously didn't understand Zhao Yun's force, so he drew his saber.

Zhao Yun picked it up lightly with his spear, and the knife flew away.He struck his helmet with the point of his spear, and the doorkeeper fell to his knees.

Two soldiers drew their swords and stepped forward. Zhao Yun shot his bow left and right with the handle of the gun, and the soldiers fell to the ground one after another.

"I'm Zhao Zilong, get out of the way quickly, or you will be shot!" Zhao Yun raised his gun and shouted.

The rest of the soldiers hastily helped up the gatekeepers and the injured comrades and gave way one after another. At this time, Zhiming had also led the troops to arrive, and they all went straight out of the west gate.

Liu Bei rode five or six miles and stopped in front of a big stream.This big stream is fast-flowing and wide, making it difficult to cross it.

He was thinking about how to get there, when suddenly there was a cloud of dust behind him, and a group of people rushed over.He looked back, and the leader was Cai Mao.

"There is a big stream in front, and there are pursuers behind; instead of waiting to die, it is better to give it a go!" Frowning, Liu Bei jumped his horse into the stream.

Before he could take a step, the horse's front hooves suddenly sank, and the stream splashed up and wet his robe.

Seeing the horse stumbled, he became anxious, lashed the horse's back with a whip, and shouted: "Dear Luma, you must save me, I can't die here!"

The Luma is a fierce horse. Once stimulated, it leaps upwards, and immediately the horse and man soar into the sky, and fly to the west bank like a dragon ascending to the sky!Liu Bei was still in shock and didn't know what happened.

Cai Mao had chased to the east bank, and shouted to the other bank: "Why did you leave without saying goodbye? Is there any negligence?"

Liu Bei pointed at him with a whip and said angrily, "Cai Mao, do you think I don't know that you want to kill me? You set up a Hongmen banquet to lure me in, but unfortunately you couldn't kill me; you also set up ambushes outside the east, south and north gates. , but Ximen was not set up, it turned out that there was a big stream blocking it! Fortunately, my horse is so good that I jumped over it. How is it, did you miscalculate?"

Cai Mao lied: "Please don't believe those rumors, it is clear that someone is sowing dissension and making you and I discord. Your lord and my lord are brothers and sisters, how dare I try to kill him?"

After all, he winked at the soldier next to him.The soldiers secretly picked up their bows and set up their arrows, ready to shoot cold arrows.

Sensing the danger, Liu Bei quickly turned his horse's head and fled southwest.

The Lumaqi is so fast that it rushes out of range at once, and the archer can't aim.Cai Mao watched his back disappear into the distance with blank eyes, regretting that he hadn't acted earlier, which led to the failure of the plan.In desperation, he had to withdraw his army and return to the city.

As soon as the army turned their horses around, there was a lot of dust in front of them, and Zhao Yun and his party rushed over.

When the two armies met, Zhao Yun pointed a gun at them and asked, "General Cai, where is my lord?"

Cai Mao hurriedly replied: "The envoy has already passed the west bank and is heading towards Nanzhang."

"How is this possible? There is clearly Daxi blocking here, how can he get there!" Zhao Yun didn't believe it.

"Just now the envoy said on the other side that his horse jumped over."

"You are still lying! How can a horse jump over such a long distance?"

"This is absolutely true! The horse must have got its front hooves sunk in the stream and jumped up to the opposite bank after being stimulated; just now I saw that his clothes were wet, so it must have been the spray from the horse kicking in the stream."

Zhao Yun thought, that horse has a strong temper and amazing jumping ability. It is not surprising that he jumped to the other side of the stream. Forgiving him, he would not dare to lie, so he said, "Let me trust you once. I heard that you want to murder my lord. no?"

Cai Mao quickly denied: "No, no, there is absolutely no such thing, the general should not be mistaken for rumors!"

"Then why did my lord escape from the state capital by himself, without even waiting for us?"

"I don't know about this either. Someone may have misled the envoy into thinking that someone was going to kill him."

"Why did General Cai bring so many people out to chase after my lord?"

"No, no,... I was afraid that something would happen to Shijun when he was alone, so I wanted to send someone to escort him back to the city. It had no other meaning." Cai Mao's brains turned quite quickly.

Zhao Yun also saw that he was making sophistry, but it was inconvenient to expose it, so he said, "General Cai, for Liu Jingzhou's sake, let's forget it this time. No matter what you have in mind, as long as my lord is fine; but if next time If you still dare to act recklessly, I am not polite. We are going to find the lord now. After you return to the city, tell the officials that my lord is in a hurry to take a step ahead, and there is no time to say goodbye to everyone. Please forgive me, understand?"

"Yes... yes..." Cai Mao dared not refuse.

So, Zhao Yun and others turned their horses around and took a small path to find Liu Bei.

Zhiming asked, "Brother Zilong, why did you let him go?"

Zhao Yun said: "As long as the lord is fine. Cai Mao is an important official in Jingzhou, I can't do anything else, lest I hurt my friendship."

Cai Mao returned to the state capital and told Kuai Yue about the past.Kuai Yue sighed: "Unexpectedly, this plan is so secret that even Daxi can't stop him in the end. It seems that God saved him. We really shouldn't go against the sky!"

Cai Mao suddenly came to his senses. After all, Liu Bei is a hero known to all women and children, and also Liu Biao's brother. Killing him will only make him a sinner through the ages.From then on, he never dared to take Liu Bei's idea lightly.