Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1288 Loss
When Yuan Xi arrived at Chaisang, the entire Chaisang city in the distance had almost been burned to a white ground. Fires were still coming out from the broken walls, and the overwhelming black smoke covered most of the sky.

Near the completely burned dock, the river was filled with broken ships and corpses, covering the entire river. From a distance, it seemed as if the land on both sides was connected together, and the river seemed to have completely disappeared.

The Jin army fleet cut through the water and slowly approached the dozens of Hannan warships anchored on the shore. The soldiers on the boats saw the corpses rolling past them as they were hit by the current, and they couldn't help feeling chest tightness and nausea.

Although the Jin army's navy had fought many major battles in recent years, even the one with the heaviest casualties seemed to be far less tragic than this one. Looking at it, it seemed as if both sides were completely wiped out.

When Yuan Xi's warship reached the shore, Liu Bei's generals had already come to greet him. When the two sides met, Yuan Xi realized that the person opposite him was Zhou Cang, so he asked, "What happened?"

"Where is King Hannan?"

Zhou Cang told what had happened. On that day, Zhou Cang brought his navy and happened to meet Zhou Tai who came to rescue Sun Quan. So the two sides fought a fierce battle on the river, and most of the soldiers on the warships were killed in the battle.

Yuan Xi was surprised and asked, "How many naval forces were deployed on both sides? There are so many corpses on the river. There must be at least 50,000 or 60,000 naval forces in total, right?"

Zhou Cang sighed deeply and explained a few more sentences. Only then did Yuan Xi understand that the corpses on the river were not all naval soldiers from the two countries, but soldiers and civilians who had no choice but to jump into the water when Chaisang City was burned.

At that time, the entire city of Chaisang was on fire. The fire caused by a large amount of firewood and kerosene even set fire to the top of the city and the woods outside the city. The smoke covered the sky and it was impossible to identify the direction. Many civilians and soldiers who did not have time to find an escape route had to instinctively flee to the river.

The docks were also burned, and the fleeing people had no choice but to jump into the water to escape. However, the two armies and their navy were fighting fiercely on the river at that time, and many people who fell into the water were affected and died in the water.

As the number of corpses and ship fragments increased, the flow of the river was affected, and many people who were still alive were swept away and drowned. The increasing death toll led to the current tragic situation.

Because Zhou Cang was entangled by Zhou Tai, he could not concentrate on saving people and could only watch more and more people die. The two sides fought for most of the day until Sun Quan's ships rushed into the mouth of the Chaisang River and fled south to Poyang Lake. Only then did Zhou Tai escape with the remaining dozens of warships and go to Nanchang.

Upon hearing this, Yuan Xi asked, "Where is the King of Hannan?"

Zhou Cang said in a hoarse voice: "The battle on the shore was even more tragic."

"Zhuge Jin and Zhu Ran blocked the king at the south gate of the city. Tens of thousands of soldiers from both sides fought in the fire for half the night. The dead were lying side by side, even blocking the city gate."

"After this battle, only a few thousand people were left on both sides, and the Wu army was almost wiped out, but Zhuge Jin is missing, Zhu Ran died in the battle, Feng Xi died here, and the King of Hannan was rescued by Fu Zhun who came over."

"King Hannan was already shot and wounded before, and he was further injured by the smoke and fire in this battle. He is still receiving treatment in the camp outside the South Gate. His condition is not optimistic."

"I was here with my remaining warships to prevent the Wu army from counterattacking, but I waited for the King of Jin to come to my aid."

The generals of the Jin army were horrified after hearing this. The brutality of this battle was simply unheard of!

Lu Xun's face changed drastically. Seeing this, Yuan Xi said, "Let's go and see King Hannan."

Zhou Cang became nervous and unconsciously tightened the hilt of his sword. All the generals of the Jin army noticed it immediately and all of them showed strange looks on their faces.

It is no wonder that Zhou Cang was alert. Now that the Wu Kingdom was about to be destroyed and Liu Bei was seriously injured, it was a perfect opportunity for the Jin army to enter the scene and reap the rewards. If Liu Bei could be killed, Jiangdong and Jingzhou would become Jin's territory, and almost the whole world would be in the hands of Jin.

When Yuan Xi saw this, he patted Zhou Cang on the shoulder and said, "General, you are truly loyal."

"I know you. Your name was Mi Cang before, and you came from the Mi family. You should also know that when Jiangling was attacked by Lu Meng, it was me who blocked the Wu army and held out until General Guan arrived."

"If Wu had occupied Jiangling at that time, the King of Hannan would have been cut off from retreating, and there would have been no future."

"Although I do have some competition with King Hannan, his adopted daughter is also my wife. If I really wanted to betray him, I wouldn't be so shameless as to come here in person, right?"

After hearing this, Zhou Cang bowed and said, "I am ashamed, but I am concerned about the king. Please forgive my rudeness."

Yuan Xi shook his head and sighed, "It doesn't matter. It's a blessing for both sides that King Hannan has people like you to pledge your loyalty."

"Let's go and check on King Hannan's injuries. Perhaps the doctors here can help."

The group passed through Chaisang City, looking for places along the way where the fire was smaller and they could pass through. They saw charred bodies all over the road. Huang Zhong sighed and said, "We just saw the fire in Ye City more than half a year ago. At that time, the lord had already prepared and put it out before it broke out. I didn't think it was a big deal at the time, but today I see how dangerous it was."

Lu Xun said in a deep voice: "Fire attack and water attack are both harmful to the harmony of nature. The scene is so tragic that it is really shocking."

"But in fact, before my lord, these strategies were the norm. There were countless cities burned and flooded. The Sun family was in Jiangdong, and the Cao family was in the Central Plains. In the past ten years, at least dozens of cities were attacked by water and fire. Everyone is used to it."

"That is to say, when the lord attacks a city, he will try his best to avoid this kind of situation. This is why the people of the country have been united in recent years." Lu Su and Jiang Qin, who were following behind, felt embarrassed after hearing this. They had always wanted the Jin and Wu countries to reconcile, but the burning of Chaisang City today was really too much. How could they beg for mercy after such a perverse act?
When they arrived at the camp, Chen Shi, with his arm bandaged, came out to greet them together with Fu Rong. After listening to their conversation, Yuan Xi realized that apart from Zhou Cang, they were the only generals left in this battle. He could not help but sigh. The price Liu Bei paid for revenge for Zhang Fei was too high!

As he walked and asked, he found out that Pang Tong was also injured. He was shot in the face. His injury was more serious than Liu Bei's. The arrow head had penetrated into the bone and he had been unconscious ever since.

Yuan Xi entered the tent and saw Liu Bei lying on the couch. When he saw Yuan Xi coming, he bowed and said, "I thank the King of Jin for coming to help me. I am just physically disabled and cannot get up. Please forgive me."

Yuan Xi hurriedly stepped forward and bowed to Liu Bei, saying, "King Hannan is too polite. It's my fault that I came too late and caused King Hannan to suffer such a loss."

Liu Bei shook his head and said, "This is not the King of Jin's fault. It was because I was eager for revenge that I fell into Sun Quan's evil scheme."

"I never thought that he would not care about the people of Chaisang. He is truly heartless!"

Yuan Xi consoled him, "Now that Sun Quan's entire army has been annihilated by the King of Hannan, the fall of Wu is imminent. General Zhang can finally rest in peace in peace."

Liu Bei was about to say that he would skin and pull out Sun Quan's tendons, but suddenly he remembered that Sun Quan was half-adopted by Yuan Xi, and he could not help but say with a dull look, "Forget it, Zhu Ran died at my hands, and my third brother's revenge has been avenged."

"When he died, I felt really bad too. He and Sun Quan were as close as brothers, and he was willing to die for Sun Quan. I admired his ambition very much."

Yuan Xi said, "Now that Sun Quan has fled to Nanchang, I have already sent people to intercept him. I wonder what the King of Hannan is going to do next?"

Just as Liu Bei was about to speak, a soldier rushed in and said, "My lord, this is bad. Military Advisor Pang is convulsing and foaming at the mouth. I'm afraid he can't hold on any longer!"

Liu Bei was shocked and struggled to get up despite others trying to stop him. He took everyone to the next tent and saw Pang Tong shaking on the bed with several soldiers holding down his limbs.

Yuan Xi saw that the arrow in Pang Tong's face had not been removed yet. The arrow pierced his cheek, but it had obviously passed through his brain. He was probably very lucky to be alive until now.

Liu Bei asked the doctor, "How is the military advisor?"

"Still no solution?"

The doctor at the side replied: "Your Majesty, the arrow has penetrated the skull, there is nothing I can do."

Liu Bei angrily said: "The person is still alive, how can you say that he can't be saved?"

The doctor was speechless, he just bowed his head. Liu Bei sighed and said, "I was too impatient. If I had brought Governor Zhang with me, it wouldn't have come to this!"

Yuan Xi turned to Hua Tuo behind him and said, "Mr. Yuan Hua, can Advisor Pang be saved?"

This time when he went south, he specially brought Hua Tuo with him. Hua Tuo had made some progress in medical skills in the past few years and wanted to discuss the Dao with Zhang Zhongjing, so he followed him. When he saw Yuan Xi asking questions, he looked at the wound and said, "There is hope, but it's not great."

"This injury is quite serious and requires a craniotomy."

After listening to Hua Tuo's explanation of the treatment, everyone was stunned. Open the skull?

Can people survive if they do this?
After listening to Hua Tuo's explanation, Yuan Xi knew that Pang Tong should not have suffered any injuries to important parts of the brain, but the wound caused by the arrow allowed blood to flow into the brain, increasing the pressure on the skull. What Hua Tuo had to do was to open an opening in the skull to allow the blood clots to flow out and relieve the pressure on the brain.

It looked very simple, but Yuan Xi knew that with modern medicine, this operation was considered dangerous, not to mention that its greatest risk was post-operative bacterial infection. He and Hua Tuo had explained these things before, and Hua Tuo naturally knew that the key here was not the craniotomy, but the infection after the operation, which could be said to be a life-or-death situation.

After Yuan Xi turned around and explained a few words to Liu Bei, Liu Bei said decisively: "Please ask Mr. Yuan Hua to help."

"Shi Yuan was killed because of my recklessness. I must find a way to save him."

Yuan Xi said: "But King Hannan is also injured."

Liu Bei said firmly: "Save Shi Yuan first."

When Yuan Xi heard Liu Bei say this, he ordered everyone to leave and asked people to help Yuan Hua clean up the surroundings and prepare for the operation.

Liu Bei and Yuan Xi walked out. Liu Bei looked at Pang Tong's tent from afar, sighed, and a look of loneliness appeared on his face.

Seeing this, Yuan Xi spoke to comfort Liu Bei, but Liu Bei looked at Yuan Xi and Lu Xun with a complicated expression. After hesitating for a moment, he turned to Yuan Xi and said, "I want to talk to the King of Jin in private."

(End of this chapter)