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

On the Sishui River

The enemy's bow was not even strung before they scattered.

The ripples on the water are as chaotic as words.

For some reason, Lu Wan suddenly felt like reciting haiku.

Running into a large enemy force while retreating, what kind of luck is that?

Lu Wan's sudden, relieved smile startled Chen Zi, who was waiting for orders. Had Mr. Lu suffered a shock and gone mad?

Lu Wan didn't care about what others thought right now; he was just lamenting how abstract his luck was.

Lu Wan dared not order the fleet to accelerate directly. If Yuan Shu's army fired fire arrows, everyone on board would be thrown into the water. Then Lu Wan would have no choice but to return to Xiapi on foot. Three hundred men running through enemy-occupied territory was still at a disadvantage compared to Yuan Shu's tens of thousands of men.

However, Lu Wan would never yield. The chance of death by resisting was 99%, while the chance of death by closing her eyes and waiting to die was 100%.

Hehe, I must survive!

The first thing is how to get out of this dangerous situation.

Lu Wan made a quick decision, arranging the fleet in a straight line to divide the Sishui River vertically.

Imitating Yuan Shao's formation at the Battle of Jieqiao, the fleet fired from left to right and right to left, forming a crossfire network.

Due to the limited battlefield width, many people will definitely be unable to deal damage, and Lu Wan cannot let them remain idle.

These people all helped load the crossbows and pass them to the people in front who were responsible for firing them.

A basic version of the three-hit combo is now complete.

Now is the time to deliver a crushing blow to Yuan Shu's army!

Two flowers bloom, one branch each.

On the other side, many of Yuan Shu's soldiers felt that their physical strength was almost at its limit, but they still dared not slow down.

Liu Bei is not far from here.

"Am I, Ji Ling, really going to die here?" Ji Ling thought with some despair.

"Look! General, there's a ship over there!"

Ji Ling's eyes lit up. More than ten warships were sailing on the river without any flags on them, which meant they were ships belonging to a passing merchant caravan.

Overjoyed, he shouted, "Great! Heaven has not forsaken Ji Ling!"

"Everyone, speed up! Prepare to cross the river!"

The will to survive drove everyone to squeeze out their last bit of potential and run desperately toward the Sishui River.

The soldiers who reached the riverbank first waved their hands and shouted towards the fleet:

"Hey! We are soldiers of Lord Yuan. Bring our boat closer. You helped us cross the river today, and we will repay you handsomely in the future!"

However, the people on the boat neither answered nor docked.

Just as Yuan Shu's army thought the people on the ship were still hesitating and wanted to promise more benefits, Liu Bei's soldiers, who had been lying on the deck to cover their bodies, sat up and fired fiercely at Yuan Shu's soldiers standing on the shore.

Caught off guard, dozens of Yuan Shu's soldiers were shot down.

"What?! What's going on?!" The sudden change startled Ji Ling so much that he almost fell off his horse.

"General, they are not a merchant caravan, they are Liu Bei's men!"

The cold rain of arrows lashed at the faces and bodies of Yuan Shu's soldiers, turning their hard-won hope into utter despair.

Yuan's vanguard could not withstand the pressure and scattered in all directions.

"General, our soldiers are fleeing in panic! They're like stray dogs!" Lieutenant General Le cried out to Ji Ling with a pained expression.

While ordering his personal guards to form a supervisory team to maintain order, Ji Ling shouted to his men, "Don't panic, follow me!"

However, before Ji Ling could regain control of the vanguard and sense the crowd surging forward again, he discovered that Yuan Shu's army in the rear was also in disarray.

He turned around abruptly and saw a cavalry charge toward the riverbank, led by Liu Bei, whom he had wanted to see for months.

"Liu Bei!!!"

Liu Bei was also somewhat surprised. How come you all scattered as soon as you arrived?

But Liu Bei quickly put his doubts aside and charged toward Yuan Shu's army.

Liu Bei's army charged forward and reached the center of Yuan Shu's army. Exhaustion and fear caused Yuan Shu's army to collapse immediately.

As a result, before Ji Ling could stabilize the vanguard, the rearguard collapsed due to Liu Bei's actions, which also led to the collapse of the central army.

Seeing Liu Bei's army completely crush his side, Ji Ling felt a wave of dizziness wash over him.

If the sudden arrival of the fleet hadn't decimated the vanguard, how could Liu Bei have so easily seized the opportunity?

Thinking of this, Ji Ling suddenly felt her mind clear.

The people on the ship must be Wu Jing's men, who knew their route and thus set up an ambush here beforehand.

"Despicable! Wu Jing, you have failed Lord Yuan!"

"Ji Ling, surrender now and you may still have a chance to live! I advise you not to make a mistake!" Just then, Ji Ling heard a majestic voice. Looking closely, he saw Liu Bei standing there with his face turned towards him.

That's it!

Ji Ling knew Liu Bei was a formidable warrior, but if he could defeat Liu Bei now, he could turn the tide of battle. So, he shouted, "A mere weaver of mats and sandals dares to challenge me?" With that, he drew his spear and charged.

Liu Bei, who had originally intended to let Ji Ling go, suddenly turned hostile. "You're not taking my word for it, are you?" he thought, and charged into battle with his twin swords.

However, a soldier from Liu Bei's army, Qu Junhou, who was half a body length ahead of Liu Bei, was engaged in battle with Ji Ling: "If you want to fight with my lord, you must first get past me, Chen!"

Chen Dao was not well-known at the time, but Liu Bei saw that he was good at martial arts and honest, so he promoted him to the rank of Qu Jun Hou, a member of the personal guard.

Ji Ling was already panicked because he hadn't expected that any random soldier from Liu Bei's army could fight him to a standstill. Seeing that Liu Bei had already scattered Yuan Shu's army and was now pursuing the fleeing enemy, he became even more disorganized.

Chen Dao had been calmly observing from the beginning. When he noticed that Ji Ling was distracted, he had a sudden idea and deliberately created an opening.

Ji Ling fell for the trap and eagerly thrust his lance forward. Chen Dao dodged to the side on horseback and then stabbed Ji Ling in the thigh with his spear. The intense pain caused Ji Ling to fall off his horse.

The soldiers of the same troupe immediately rushed up and tied Ji Ling up. Ji Ling was still unwilling to give up and struggled desperately. Seeing that the prisoner was still not obedient, Liu's soldiers reached out and pinched hard on the wound on his thigh. Ji Ling cried out in pain and went into shock.

Seeing that Ji Ling was already tightly bound, Chen Dao lifted Ji Ling's helmet and roared, "Ji Ling is dead! Those who surrender will not be killed!"

"Clang—!" As the first person laid down his weapon, more and more people gave up resistance.

This marathon had exhausted Yuan Shu's army, leaving them with no energy left to even flee.

Liu Bei felt as if the world had suddenly become unreal. Just a month ago, he was overwhelmed by the lack of troops, and now he had captured the entire army that had been suffocating him.

Only now did Liu Bei finally realize how valuable a good strategist could be.

Liu Bei also realized that if he wanted to restore the Han Dynasty, the more strategists he had, the better.

At this moment, Liu Bei made up his mind to invite Lu Wan to his side, but first he wanted to thank the fleet that had helped him.

Liu Bei arrived at the shore, cupped his hands and bowed deeply: "Thank you all for your help. I am deeply grateful. If I ever pass through Xuzhou in the future, I will certainly do my best to be a good host."

"Why is Lord Liu performing such a grand ceremony?" a young voice asked.

When Liu Bei looked up, the wise strategist he had been longing for was standing at the bow of the ship, waving at him.