Seeing that Liu Bei was trying hard, Jia Kui felt a little guilty. This was too dangerous, no difference between stretching his head and letting someone cut him off. If something happened to Liu Bei, he would be blamed. He thought for a while and added: "King, in fact... to go to Bingzhou, it is not just the Fenshui River Valley, but this road is the most convenient."

“What else is there?”

"From Jiangyi eastward, go up the river 80 miles up the river, there is Yicheng, which is the former Yiguo. It crosses Wushan, to Duanshi, and then follows Qinshui Valley. You can go south to Henoi, to Taiyuan, or to the east through Kongcangling to Shangdang. It's just that the road is difficult and dangerous, so it takes some effort."

"Is that right?" Liu Bei was puzzled and looked at Jia Kui, pondering. Since there was still a way out, why didn't Jia Kui mention it before?

Jia Kui knew what Liu Bei was thinking and admitted frankly that he only knew that there was a way to go there. Duan family was the easternmost county in Hedong County. Officials from Duan County had to take this road when they arrived at the county's Anyi office. On the way, they would go to Jiangyi and rest in Jiangyi. But he didn't know how to go. There was only one thing he could be sure of. This road was not easy to walk. Not only did it cross mountains and ridges, but there were no one who could raise military rations along the way. They had to bring their own food and grass. Only when they could get supplements, they had to prepare in advance. The Duan family had a limited population, and the county warehouse had not stored grain, and could not supply an army of tens of thousands of people.

Sima Yi also confirmed Jia Kui's inference. He had also heard of this road, but his understanding was limited. In short, this road was not suitable for large army operations and could only be used as a backup for the last resort. If it weren't for the urgent situation in front of him, no one would consider retreating from that road.

Liu Bei repeatedly weighed the pros and cons, but decided to attack Yong'an himself. However, in order to prevent it, he made two preparations and asked Sima Yi to inform Feng Ji that some of his troops and family would be withdrawn into Shangdang, and raise food and grass to Duan, and prepare for the support. Although there was no news from Hanoi for the time being, he probably wouldn't be too long. After the spring plowing ended, Sun Ce would either come in person or send a general to Henan to replace Lu Su's original mission, and would inevitably launch an attack on Hanoi.

Sima Yi was unable to persuade him, so he had to follow the order. He followed Liu Bei, and Jia Kui was the guide, and Zhang He led his troops to serve as Liu Bei's personal guard cavalry. Lu Meng had cavalry around him. No matter how difficult the road was, Liu Bei had to bring his personal guard cavalry to prevent accidents. Zhang Fei led the remaining cavalry to temporarily station in the south of Baibo Valley, and if necessary, forcibly crossed Baibo Valley to meet Liu Bei.

After making arrangements, Liu Bei wrote the order to Feng Ji in person, sent someone to Hanoi along the road Jia Kui said, and then set off.

Liu Fu, who had already arrived in Jia Kui's army, was a little anxious. He advised Jia Kui to give up Liu Bei and turn to Lu Su, but Jia Kui refused. This plan was proposed by him. Now Liu Bei has to implement it himself. He cannot give up halfway. Even if he bet on his life, he will accompany Liu Bei. Liu Fu wanted to rush to Baibo Valley to report the message, but Jia Kui was detained. Jia Kui forced him to accompany him, and did not kill him, nor allowed him to have a chance to escape, so as not to leak the news.

Liu Fu was so angry that he scolded Jia Kui for being a elm-headed person. He was born to be poor and even lost his pants this time. Jia Kui didn't care. He just let him scold him, but he just refused to let him go.

——

Pang De, Han Xian, and Li Le went north with more than 2,000 soldiers, in Pingyang and Yong'an.

Pingyang and Yong'an are both in the Fenshui Valley. The terrain is dangerous and not easy to attack, but the situation is developing too fast. No one expected that in less than a month, the front line would advance to the Linfen area. Whether it was Liu Bei, Pei Qian and others, they were not prepared. Pingyang and Yong'an had a good territorial territory, but they did not have enough troops to defend it.

More importantly, Liu Bei lost to Gao Shun with his superior forces and was defeated by Dongting. Lu Meng directly occupied Baibo Valley, with great momentum to attack Liu Bei from north to south, and encircle and annihilate Liu Bei in Linfen. Seeing this, the defenders of Pingyang and Yong'an had no intention of working for Liu Bei and surrendering the city one after another. The time was too short, and they had no favors from Liu Bei, and they had no confidence in the King of Zhongshan who had been defeated repeatedly. Naturally, their own wealth and life were still important.

Of course, this has something to do with Pang De's timely propaganda policies and appease the people. Inspired by Zhang Liao, Pang De brought a lot of printed announcements when he went north this time. Whenever he arrived at a place, he would send people to post to publicize and eliminate the people's doubts and fears. At the same time, he strictly controlled military discipline and did not allow soldiers to disturb the people. Sun Ce had always paid attention to military discipline and strictly prohibited soldiers from disturbing the people. Lu Meng was born in a poor family and agreed very much. After he led the army independently, he also cared about this. Pang De followed Sun Ce over the years and naturally knew Sun Ce's temper. Even if he led the troops alone, he would not dare to be arrogant. He also used his anger with Han Xian and Li Le early to let them manage their subordinates, otherwise he would delay his future because of a temporary greed for advantage.

Han and Li are new to each other, and their strength is limited, so they dare not cause trouble. They nodded and strictly prohibited their subordinates from plundering. Fortunately, most of these people are from local poor people. Now they don’t have to worry about food or drink, so naturally there is no need to test the law with their own body, and the execution is pretty good.

The good military discipline has won praise from the people along the way and made Pang De's march extremely smooth. Some people have taken the initiative to join in. Liang Qi from Pingyang and Rao Zhu from Yong'an are typical examples.

Liang Qi was born in the Liang family of Pingyang and was considered a representative of the local tyrants. His grandfather Liang Yu became Situ and was a rare high-ranking official in Hedong. However, it was a flash in the pan. Liang's career was not going well afterwards, and most of them were wandering below Thousand Stones. Liang Qi himself served as the chief of Wei County. Last year, Yuan Tan was defeated by Liu Bei, and he was unwilling to serve Liu Bei, so he abandoned his post and returned home. Unexpectedly, Liu Bei came to Hedong again this year, which made him hold his breath for a long time. Pang De led his troops to Pingyang, but he was reluctant to go out to welcome the troops and gave advice for Pang De.

With the cooperation of locals, Pang De naturally had a smooth journey.

Shortly after taking Yong'an, Pang De received news from Liang Qi that Liu Bei led three or four thousand infantry and cavalry from the small path and was approaching Pingyang.

Pang De was surprised, but not panicked, but was a little excited. Liu Bei gave up his army and came from a small path, which showed the importance of Yong'an. He seized the opportunity and defended Yong'an was victory. He had just come from Pingyang and knew that the river valley near Pingyang was very wide. Liang Qi could defend Pingyang, but could not stop Liu Bei. Yong'an was the key. He immediately ordered someone to quickly reply to Liang Qi, asking him to try his best to defend Pingyang and not attack, and then inquire about the nearby terrain from Rao Zhu to find a suitable place for combat.

Rao Zhu was very active and told Pang De that there were three small cities near Yong'an, not far apart. There was Tangcheng in the northwest, which was the capital of Emperor Yao and Huo City in the south. Therefore, the capital of Huo State was on the west bank of the Fen River. There was Tangcheng in the northeast, which was the old county seat - Yong'an was originally the capital of Yuru, which was renamed Yong'an when Emperor Xiaoshun. Tangcheng was a long time ago and had been abandoned, so you can ignore it. Huo City was on the west bank of the Fen River. Liu Bei came from Pingyang and went along the river valley on the east bank. He wanted to go to Huo City and come to Yong'an again. It was not easy to cross the Fen River twice.

The rest is Yucheng. Yucheng is north of Yushui, and looks across Yushui from Yong'an County. Yushui is a small river. Now the water is shallow, so there is no need to build a bridge and you can pass by. Liu Bei came from afar. If he wanted to rest and then attack the city, he would probably rest in Yushui.

Pang De looked carefully on the map drawn by Rao Zhu and felt that it was inappropriate. His purpose in coming to Yong'an was not only to intercept Liu Bei's army, but also to intercept Liu Bei himself. If Liu Bei passed by the city and waited for Liu Bei to attack the city, if Liu Bei did not attack the city and fled directly, wouldn't it be a waste of time?

"I don't care where Liu Bei might rest, because I don't plan to give him time to rest. If you have any help, Rao Jun told me where is suitable for cavalry assault? When Liu Bei was defeated, where would he escape?"

Rao Zhu was shocked. "The general is going to go out of the city to fight?"

"certainly."

Rao Zhu shouted loudly. "General, you only have one thousand cavalry and one thousand two hundred infantrymen, and a total of only two thousand four hundred. Although Liu Bei has fewer cavalry, the total force is your two units, and you have no advantage. Why not defend the city and wait for Liu Bei to collapse?"

Pang De smiled. "My cavalry in Dawu is one to serve ten. Infantry guards the city, and the cavalry attacks, but they can win in one battle. Just to prevent Liu Bei from escaping from the small path, I also need to arrange some ambushers in advance. Mr. Rao may not be very clear. This Zhongshan King has other abilities and his ability to escape is the best in the world. If you wait for him to attack the city, you may fail."

Rao Zhu stared at Pang De for a long time, and confirmed that Pang De was not a joke, and gritted his teeth. "If the general can defeat Liu Bei, there is only one place where Liu Bei can escape: Huo Dashan. There is Feilian Temple on Huo Dashan. Often people have sacrifices and sacrificial temples and small paths to access. Liu Bei can escape from there."

"Can you work hard and bring some people there to set up an ambush?"

Rao Zhu was overjoyed. "Dare not to obey orders."

Pang De immediately invited Han Xian and Li Le to inform him of his plan. He planned to let Han Xian defend the city. Li Le led his men to ambush him and led his cavalry to fight against Liu Bei. After Liu Bei was defeated, he might escape from the path on Huo Dashan or slip away from the city of Yong'an from adventure, so they all had to be prepared for interception and arrest. Of course, if the war was not going well, Liu Bei would not suffer much loss, so they did not need to take risks and just defend Yong'an.

I heard that it is possible to capture Liu Bei, Han Xian and Li Le, who are in a good mood, and readily obey the order.

After making arrangements, Pang De immediately led his cavalry out of the city and set up a formation five miles south of the city. On the left is Huo Dashan and on the right are Fen River. On the other side of the Fen River is the Huo City mentioned by Rao Zhu. The distance between Huo Dashan and Fen River is only more than a hundred steps away, and it is the narrowest section of road nearby. If Liu Bei wants to go to Yong'an, he will pass from now on.

When they learned that they were going to fight against Liu Bei, the cavalry of the 1,000 Central Army was quite excited. They came from Jianye thousands of miles away and finally could take the battle today. Some of the cavalry had seen Liu Bei and had no respect for the big ears and long arms. They told their companions about the story of Liu Bei being teased by Sun Ce, and they joked and went all out, and they laughed and joking for a moment.
Chapter completed!