Liu Bei met Guan Yu's gaze and swallowed back the words that were about to come out of his mouth: "A real man can bend and stretch as needed."
He could say this to Zhang Fei, but he couldn't say it to Guan Yu. Guan Yu was very smart and not easy to fool.
Liu Bei sighed and said, "Brother, if possible, I would also like to take Guangling back, but we can hardly protect ourselves now."
"Not to mention that we are now a defeated army with low morale, even the few thousand soldiers left are all from the Danyang faction."
"You also know that because of what happened to my third brother in Tancheng, the Danyang soldiers are already dissatisfied with you and me. If we start a war again, what should we do if they cause trouble?"
Guan Yu listened and said in a muffled voice: "Yuanlong is a local, why did you let him go to Jizhou as an envoy instead of letting him lead the army?"
"Are you afraid that the Chen family will become too powerful?"
Liu Bei's expression changed several times, "Don't mention this matter, anyway, my next step is to form an alliance with the Mi family, it's the same thing."
Guan Yu said in a deep voice: "Forgive me for being frank. Although Mi Zizhong has no problem with his character, his ability is far inferior to Chen Yuanlong's."
"Brother, I'm afraid it's because of the Mi family's property and the girl?"
Liu Bei was choked and could not speak for a long time before he said, "I know that my second brother and Mi Fang have some conflicts, but the Mi family is my only hope for recovery. I..."
At this time, Zhang Fei came in with a bowl of meat in one hand and a jar of wine in the other, and called out, "Brother, drink some wine and eat something!"
Guan Yu heard this and said, "I'm not hungry, you guys eat."
Zhang Fei stared at Guan Yu as he left, and asked Liu Bei, "What happened to my second brother recently?"
Seeing Zhang Fei's expression, Liu Bei felt even more troubled and said, "Third brother, drink less."
Zhang Fei glared at him and said, "Brother, why do you seem unhappy? Aren't you going to get married soon?"
"Brother, this is a good thing. I am also very happy!"
"Look, I'm almost 30 and still haven't found a wife, but my elder brother has fucked several girls!"
Liu Bei's face froze, and he stood up and said, "Third brother, drink slowly. I'll go out for a walk."
Seeing Liu Bei also leaving, Zhang Fei muttered, "Is this woman more interesting than drinking and eating meat? Wait two years, I will find a wife too and see what's so good about women."
Inside the Mi family mansion, servants carried large boxes and stacked them neatly in the hall. The dowry that the Mi family prepared for Mi Zhen's marriage was extremely generous, almost emptying the family's assets.
Mi Fang became more and more unhappy. He remembered that he had found Mi Zhu yesterday and asked him to go with him to find Liu Bei to seek an explanation about Mi Zhen's status.
Liu Bei's wife has been captured now, so it doesn't matter that Mi Zhen is not his wife for the time being. If he only has a concubine, the remaining illegitimate sons can still have the inheritance rights of the legitimate son if there is no competition from the legitimate son.
But Liu Bei happened to have a concubine.
Gan's.
This girl was born in poverty, but she was quite beautiful and was extremely favored by Liu Bei. Mi Fang was thinking at the time, would his sister have to be inferior to Gan if she married him?
As a result, when he saw Mi Zhu's hesitation, he immediately understood and yelled at Mi Zhu in anger: "Brother, is this how you treat your little sister?"
Mi Zhu was also a little annoyed after hearing this and said, "What can I do!"
"My lord, at least you are kind to others. Our Mi family has already boarded this ship. Can we turn back?"
"Even if we can turn back, can other princes treat our Mi family like you do?"
"If the Lord loses, and our Mi family falls into the hands of Cao Cao or Sun Ce, do you think we will be better off than we are now?"
Mi Fang was angry when she heard this: "I'm not talking about this, I'm saying that my younger sister could have been the legal wife!"
"Even if she is not the legal wife, she should not be below Gan!"
"brother"
At this time, Mi Zhen came over and said, "My two brothers, please stop arguing. Now that things have come to this, it is time for me to do something for the Mi family."
Mi Fang said angrily: "Will my younger sister be willing to accept this?"
"My lord is so old, and we, the Mi family, have lowered our status by becoming his concubine. If we had known that the Yuan family member would come to Xuzhou, we might as well have married my younger sister to him. After all, he is now the ruler of the same state as my lord."
Mi Zhen's face turned red and white after hearing this. "Brother, what are you talking about? I will be married in a few days. If this gets out to other people, how will the Mi family maintain its reputation?"
"Brother, stop talking!"
After she finished speaking, her eyes turned red, she covered her face with her sleeves, turned around and left.
She didn't know what her future would be like, but she had been numbing herself these days. After all, Liu Bei was a local lord, and as the daughter of a merchant, it wouldn't be shameful for her to be a concubine.
But she was afraid of being compared with others. She heard that Yuan Xi was already the governor of Youzhou, and his status was similar to that of Liu Bei. He was also young. For a girl from an aristocratic family, he could be said to be a perfect husband.
When it was late at night and everyone was asleep, Mi Zhen would inevitably have an idea in her mind: Would it be better if she could marry Yuan Xi instead of Liu Bei?
She felt extremely ashamed of such thoughts and had been trying to hold them back until Mi Fang casually brought up her worries just now, causing the scar in her heart to start bleeding again.
Mi Fang saw Mi Zhen running away in a hurry, as if she was crying, and he became very anxious and quickly followed her.
When Mi Zhu saw this, he sighed. There were not so many things in this world that could go as planned.
Especially in today's chaotic times, it is extremely difficult to save one's life and have a good end. No one knows what will happen to the Mi family in the future.
While the people in Haixi City were troubled by all kinds of worries, they did not know that on the sea dozens of miles away from the Haixi City dock, a fleet was sailing southward in the cover of night.
Now Yuan Xi's fleet, after sailing from Youzhou to Qingzhou for three days and three nights, has arrived at the territory of Xuzhou.
In order to save time, the fleet traveled day and night. Even if there were passing ships, it would not be possible to guess their destination for a while.
However, not everyone could endure the bumpy ride on the sea. Not to mention that nearly half of the horses were listless, many soldiers also began to feel seasick.
Yuan Xi, Guo Jia and others discussed countermeasures and decided to let the cavalry go ashore in advance to adapt to the land when they reached the mouth of the Yangtze River, and then rush to an ambush outside the city of Guangling.
At the same time, the fleet went up the river, turned into the sad Han River from the Yangtze River, and arrived at the dock south of Guangling City. If the timing was calculated well, they could take action at the same time as the cavalry.
But in this case, the time requirement is very strict. If there is any mistake, the sneak attack on Guangling will be in vain.
Everyone was unsure, but as things had come to this point, they could only take things one step at a time.
It was just getting dark, and Yuan Xi was preoccupied and had no appetite. He drank only half a bowl of the porridge that Zhen Mi brought him and then put it down.
Seeing this, Zhen Mi took the bowl and drank the porridge, saying, "Is the porridge I cooked not tasty?"
Yuan Xi was surprised and asked, "You did it?"
Zhen Mi said angrily, "Sister Zhaoji taught me, but I didn't expect that my husband didn't finish drinking it the first time."
Yuan Xi smiled and said, "The porridge tastes good, but I just don't have an appetite."
Zhen Mi smiled and said, "My husband is worried."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi stood up and said, "Accompany me to walk on the deck."
Holding hands, they walked to the bow and saw a bright moon rising from the sea, surrounded by stars and reflected on the sea. It seemed that countless fireflies were dancing.
When Yuan Xi saw this, he couldn't help but say: "The bright moon rises over the sea, and the world is sharing this moment."
Zhen Mi's eyes lit up, "My husband's poem is very meaningful."
Yuan Xi smiled and said, "This was made by a very famous poet in my hometown."
Zhen Mi thought to herself, that's strange, there were only a few poets at that time, and she had read many famous poems, so how come she had never heard of these two lines?
She said, "Is there anything else below?"
Yuan Xi was about to say yes, but then he realized that the next two lines, "The lover complains about the long night, and misses his lover all night long," were not appropriate. With Zhen Mi next to him, who was he missing?
He quickly said, "There's nothing below."
Zhen Mi looked at Yuan Xi carefully and half-doubtfully, thinking that her husband had a lot of thoughts in mind.
Now that she had been with Yuan Xi for a long time, she could guess what Yuan Xi was thinking, but she didn't say it out loud. She just stared at the bright moon in the sea, and after a while she said, "When I miss you, I am always worried."
Yuan Xi thought to himself, wow, this all fits the bill, and these two sentences are quite similar to Zhen Mi's "Singing on the Pond" in later generations, except that the artistic conception is less sad and resentful, and more calm and indifferent.
He gently held Zhen Mi in his arms and said, "We got married, but I let you see the blood and fire of the battlefield. You won't blame me, right?"
The night wind blew, and Zhen Mi seemed to feel a little cold. She shrank into Yuan Xi's arms and said softly, "I understand why my husband wants to share the joys and sorrows with the soldiers and the people."
"My husband has walked a very difficult road, a very long and far road. I am very glad to have followed him out and to have seen a different scenery than before."
"Otherwise, I won't be able to keep up with my husband."
She suddenly smiled: "I envy Zhao Ji and Cao Xian. I can't always follow my husband, but they can."
Yuan Xi smiled and said, "I can faintly smell a hint of jealousy. Don't worry, I won't be running around all the time. It's just that the next step is quite critical, so I have to personally take charge of the front line."
"If Xuzhou is successfully pacified by then, we will return to Youzhou and spend a few years of peaceful farming."
After hearing this, Zhen Mi nodded slightly.
Yuan Xi hugged Zhen Mi and looked towards the direction of the mainland, which should be Haixi City.
When he left, Chen Deng once said that he had asked Hua Tuo to treat his illness. After Tancheng was captured, Hua Tuo fled to Haixi.
Yuan Xi wondered if he could go to Haixi to meet Hua Tuo if he could capture Guangling this time. After all, Hua Tuo's medical skills were still very important in this era.
Over the past two years, Qu Yi's injuries have not improved, and his physical condition has even deteriorated significantly. It is obvious that his illness is difficult to cure.
Therefore, the tasks Yuan Xi arranged for Qu Yi in the past two years were mainly about defending the city, because he was afraid that he would be too tired and his injuries would worsen.
He had always wanted to find a skilled doctor to see Qu Yi, so he could only wait until the matter was settled before thinking of a way to ask Hua Tuo for help.
The sound of waves came, and the two of them unconsciously clenched their hands a little tighter. Yuan Xi felt the warmth coming from Zhen Mi's smooth palms, and a few drops of sweat seeped out.
Yuan Xi couldn't help but think of Zhen Mi's perfect and flawless body on their wedding night, and he couldn't help but feel a little dry in the mouth.
He said aloud: "It's windy outside, let's go back."
Zhen Mi blushed slightly and nodded gently.
After another whole day, the fleet finally arrived at the mouth of the Yangtze River.