He originally intended to surrender to Wei, so why did he end up restoring Han?

Seeing that the first step of the plan had succeeded, Guan Yu, standing at the bow of the ship, ordered a retreat, and Liu Bei's army, which had surged in like a tide, retreated like a tide.

Looking at the firelight on the horizon, Liu Bei also prepared to stop. Every old brother who dies is one less to lose; he couldn't let his blood run dry in a place like this.

At a shout, Liu Bei's cavalry from Youzhou turned their horses around and galloped away.

Ji Ling in the main camp was also completely confused. "You beat me up, and before I even started to fight back, you left?"

Undeterred, he deliberately ordered his infantry to chase Liu Bei at full speed. If Liu Bei were to become greedy at this moment and see the infantry being separated from him due to the full-speed pursuit, thinking that he had already come all this way to make a quick buck, Ji Ling was confident that his cavalry would take a big bite out of Liu Bei.

But no matter how much trouble Ji Ling caused, Liu Bei just kept rushing towards Huaiyin, completely in a posture of fleeing from him. Anyone who didn't know the situation would think that Liu Bei had been defeated again.

Ji Ling was now at a loss. He could only order the cavalry to continue tracking Liu Bei's army to see if there were any opportunities to take advantage of the situation, while the other infantrymen cleaned up the battlefield, treated the wounded, and so on. At the same time, he ordered each unit to begin taking stock of the losses. He managed to find a clean cloth, sat down on the ground, and began to think about what had happened that night.

The events of tonight were filled with an eerie atmosphere. Ji Ling truly couldn't understand what Liu Bei was trying to do. He was acting haphazardly, failing to attack the water fortress and the main camp. All this effort was just to burn a few dozen of his own grain transport ships. Didn't Liu Bei know that there were plenty of supplies in Xuyi? As long as Ji Ling gave the order, dozens more ships would be sent over.

Ji Ling thought and thought but couldn't figure it out. He propped his head up with his sword and dozed off. After an unknown amount of time, a violent shaking woke him up.

"General! Something terrible has happened! Wake up!"

Ji Ling suddenly opened her bloodshot eyes and asked sharply, "What terrible thing has happened? Liu Bei is here again?!"

"No, it's Liu Bei's navy. They didn't return to the city; they headed towards the canal!" It turned out that the speaker was Le Jiu, who had been running around all night. He tried his best to widen his eyes to make himself look more energetic, but his swaying figure still gave him away.

Online trolls? Facing the canal water?

Ji Ling suddenly realized a terrifying possibility: everything tonight was just a smokescreen, and Liu Bei had come for the ship.

The warship could be used not only to transport grain, but also to transport troops.

Liu Bei attacked the camp tonight and burned the ships. He immediately turned south to attack Wu Jing. Wu Jing would be caught off guard in the rush. Not to mention that Ji Ling had written a letter to Wu Jing in the evening urging him to hurry up. Wu Jing's troops were already at a disadvantage in terms of numbers. If Liu Bei cut off Wu Jing's retreat route...

Ji Ling dared not think any further; the more he thought about it, the colder his neck felt. He wrote several more letters and sent messengers overnight to warn Wu Jing. He also ordered everyone to rest, except for necessary guard duty, in preparation for a strong attack on Huaiyin the next day to force Liu Bei to withdraw his troops.

At dawn, after working tirelessly for most of the night, Yuan's army was exhausted and went back to rest. The soldiers on guard duty also slumped against the wall, heads drooping, completely unaware that Liu Bei's fleet had quietly slipped past.

The fleet was not large, consisting of only about twenty small boats, with a total of just over four hundred people, led by Chen Zi of the Chen family. These four hundred men formed the vanguard, while the remaining two thousand men, a mix of infantry and cavalry, took a detour from the south bank of the Huai River towards Xuyi.

The soldiers on the ship were mostly private soldiers from powerful families, well-equipped and dutiful, staring intently out of the ship without moving. Several dozen of Yuan Shu's soldiers had been captured by Liu Bei's army and, having defected, were preparing to cooperate in the bluff to capture the city.

Chen Deng suggested having the captured Yuan Shu troops cooperate in the surprise attack. Furthermore, he specifically selected those with few ties to the enemy, promising them gold, silver, and military positions, feeding them well to prevent them from turning against him again.

It was Lu Wan's first time sailing at night, and she was quite excited, constantly looking to both sides. But all she could see was darkness, and she eventually lost interest and went back inside to rest.

The October breeze was neither too cold nor too hot, and soon Lu Wan in the cabin drifted off to sleep.

When I came to my senses, it was already morning.

The white reeds covered both banks, and the surroundings were deserted, as if only the Huai River remained in the world.

After washing up in the river by the side of the boat, Lu Wan sat blankly in the cabin. The fleet didn't need his command at all, and there was nothing to pass the time. They marched until dark, then Lu Wan went back to rest.

For several days in a row, the days passed peacefully like this. The few occasional checks were easily fooled by Yuan Shu's army's armor and banners.

Lu Wan originally thought the journey would end peacefully, but the fleet was attacked when they were still a day away from Xuyi.

That evening, Liu Bei's army prepared to rest as usual, and set up night watchmen.

However, just as the soldiers lay down to relax, a battle cry suddenly rang out from both banks.

"Kill them!"

With a roar in the darkness, countless arrows shot out from the reeds.

Liu Bei's army was well-trained and concealed themselves upon hearing the battle cries. These crudely made arrows did not cause significant casualties.

"What happened?" Lu Wan shouted loudly from inside the cabin, huddled up in a ball.

"Sir, quickly hide!" Captain Chen Zi, who was in charge, hurriedly took a shield and covered Lu Wan with it.

"It's rioters who came to seize the grain."

"Rampage?" Lu Wan quickly realized what was going on.

During Yuan Shu's rule over Huainan, he levied exorbitant taxes and levies. The phrase "draining the pond to catch all the fish" doesn't even begin to describe his actions. It seems that Yuan Shu didn't consider these people, who looked much like him, to be the same species as him.

Amidst endless taxation, brutal natural disasters, years of war, military plunder, and a completely collapsed social order, the core region of its rule, the Jianghuai region, was transformed from a once prosperous land into a living hell.

Lu Wan's team disguised themselves so well that they perfectly portrayed the exhaustion of someone who had just suffered a defeat and was retreating to regroup, to the point that the refugees felt they could also come and pick up some ready-made food.

However, this is a high-risk job, and it seems that he really couldn't survive, otherwise he wouldn't have pulled out a knife at the army.

Although Lu Wan didn't consider himself a good person, and that he could be ruthless enough to kill others for his own future, he still felt uncomfortable seeing these skinny, bony figures charging at fully armed soldiers with hoes and sticks.

They are people who have received compulsory education, so it's normal for them to have compassion.

Lu Wan immediately ordered his troops to attack. He thought that as long as they took out the few who could run fast and jump high, the rest would behave themselves.

Liu Bei's soldiers changed their spears from thrusting to striking, beating the refugees until they screamed in pain. Realizing they were being attacked, the refugees quickly considered retreating, but they no longer had the strength to run away. In the end, they could only kneel on the ground and cover their heads with their hands.

Under the protection of Captain Chen and several soldiers, Lu Wan emerged from the cabin and quietly observed the group of refugees: her limbs were frighteningly thin, her cheekbones were high, and her slightly hunched body struggled to breathe like a broken bellows.

The refugees sensed that a big shot had emerged, but they were already trapped like turtles in a jar, so most of them just hung their heads and waited to die. Only a few brave ones still tried to raise their heads and stare at Lu Wan.

Lu Wan instructed his soldiers to take a few bags of millet from their rations and then took out a jar of cheap wine, placing it in front of the refugees. The refugees' eyes almost lit up when they saw the grain, but due to the intimidation of Lu Wan's forces, they could only swallow hard and keep drooling.

"Take this grain and eat it. After you've eaten your fill, head in that direction. That's under the jurisdiction of Magistrate Liu. There will be plenty of grain for you to eat there."

I've been hungry before, I know what that feels like. Here's some wine, mix it with your food, don't choke.

Lu Wan didn't dwell on it, gave a few brief instructions, and then led the group onward to find another place to stop and rest. She completely failed to notice that one of the refugees was staring at her with bright eyes.

--------

three days later

A fleet of ships slowly sailed toward Xuyi. The soldiers guarding the water gate lost interest after just one glance: tattered flags and haphazardly put-on armor. They knew these were the navy that had been badly beaten earlier.

The garrison only conducted a brief check before letting them in. After all, with only a few dozen small, dilapidated boats and about four hundred people, how could they possibly threaten the three thousand garrison troops in the city? Not to mention, there were some familiar faces among them.

Lu Wan was speechless. Why did the inspection efforts become weaker the closer they got to Yuan Shu's territory? At first, they checked carefully from top to bottom, but later they just glanced at it and that was it.

Lu Wan also planned to use up a wave of private soldiers from the aristocratic families!

While small skirmishes can be deadly, they don't cause too many casualties. For Lu Wan, this is a good option to slowly bleed out her private soldiers.

It's alright! Lu Wan comforted herself, knowing that when it came time to capture the city, these private soldiers would be ready to risk their lives.

Lu Wan would certainly not enter the city. If she got trapped inside, she wouldn't even have a place to cry. The reed marshes outside the city became Lu Wan's first choice for hiding place.

If anything unexpected happens, Lu Wan can simply drift away and escape.

Here, Lu Wan finally re-established contact with Guan Yu, who was leading the main force. Guan Yu had now led his troops on a long detour and was lying in ambush southwest of Xuyi City.

During the preparation period, Lu Wan and Guan Yu also made a lot of plans.

In Lu Wan's plan, the role of these private soldiers was to attract the attention of the defending troops inside the city, thus creating an opportunity for the main force behind them. At that time, these private soldiers would be allowed to act freely, while the main force outside would simply choose a weak point in the defenses to scale the city walls.

Next came the great loss of power to the aristocratic families and the superficial estrangement between Liu Bei and Liu Huangshu, while I successfully attracted the attention of the prison warden due to my military achievements.

Perfect! Now all that's left is for the elite family to lose.

Lu Wan couldn't help but force a smile when she thought about what was about to happen.

However, as soon as she turned her head, Lu Wan's mood soured again. Although most of the refugees who had given her food earlier had dispersed, a small group was still following Lu Wan at a distance, neither getting close nor far away.

Damn it, I've run into a leech.

If these people hadn't done nothing too outrageous, Lu Wan would have already taken drastic measures. Now, all Lu Wan could do was pray that her plan would go smoothly.

Unexpectedly, after watching Lu Wan's troops for a while, the group of refugees ran towards Xuyi City without looking back.

The guards nearby immediately prepared to lead their men to rush up and scatter the group of refugees, but Lu Wan quickly grabbed one of them: "It's alright, even if these people go to inform on us now, it's too late. Besides, it's another matter whether anyone is willing to listen."

Good riddance! Lu Wan couldn't be happier if these people betrayed her. Her private soldiers would surely suffer further casualties, since they didn't know that her backup plan was actually Guan Yu outside.