Just in the fire, Liu Bian looked at the black knife carefully. The knife was four feet long, with a less than three feet long, and was slightly curved, which was a little different from the common ring knife in the Han Dynasty. The blade was as dark as ink, and there was no pattern. I don’t know what material the rope wrapped around the hilt was, so I got a little cooler.

Liu Bian read it several times, but did not find any inscriptions or patterns. Apart from the strange color, this black knife was as plain as there was nothing surprising.

Xun You sat silently beside him, frowning his eyebrows, not knowing what he was thinking. Liu Bian blinked and called him over.

"Your Xun family and Chen family are very close, aren't you?"

Xun You thought briefly: "There are a lot of contacts, but you may not be close to each other."

Liu Bian was puzzled. Since he had been in contact with him a lot, how could he say that he might not be close? They were the four chiefs of Yingchuan, so they should have a common language. He couldn't remember which book mentioned it. Chen Qun seemed to have married Xun Yu's daughter and became Xun Yu's son-in-law. There was another saying that Chen Shi brought his two sons Chen Ji, Chen Chen and his grandson Chen Qun to visit Xun Shu. The two great sages met and even responded to the heavens, alarmed Tailing, and was recorded in history. He was called the real person going east and the virtue star gathered.

After hearing Liu Bian's doubts, Xun You smiled: "I have also heard of the story of the Three Lords visiting the Gods. However, as far as I know, it is fake."

"Fake?" Liu Bian became even more confused. Since Xun You had also heard of it, how could it be fake?

"The God Lord died in the third year of Jianhe, and forty-two years now, and I have never seen him. How could Uncle Wen Ruo have seen him?" Xun You chuckled, and his tense expression relaxed a little. "As for Chen Qun, that's even more impossible."

Liu Bian patted his forehead and was speechless. This lie was too outrageous. Anyone who knows Xun Shu's birth and death should know that this is a lie. Why did he deceive so many people and so many years? Confucianism likes to make fakes. It seems that it is not only likes to make fake books, but also most of the various celebrity ranks are unreliable.

"Then what do you think of Chen Taiqiu?"

"I don't have much contact with him." Xun You said carefully: "If Your Majesty wants to know him, you should still ask his descendants."

"The Chen family... did not rely on Yuan Shao?"

"So far, I haven't heard of it." Xun You suddenly raised his eyebrows and wanted to say something, but swallowed it back. Liu Bian saw it and smiled and said, "What? What do you want to say?"

"I thought of another story." Xun You glanced at the black knife in Liu Bian's hand: "I originally thought it might be a story made up by the Chen family themselves, but now it seems that it may not be all fake. Your Majesty, have you heard the allusion of the gentleman on Liang?"

Liu Bian had heard of it, but he was not very clear. He smiled and said, "I can't sleep anyway. Let's listen."

"A story circulated in the countryside. Chen Taiqiu was at home. He heard a sound on the beam at night and knew that a thief entered the house. He didn't say anything, and got up in his clothes and called his descendants to come in. He preached: People cannot help themselves. Bad people are not born bad people, but do not know how to temper themselves. This is why they develop bad habits, just like gentlemen on the beam. When the thief heard this, he knew that they had been discovered, so he had to go downstairs to beg for mercy. Chen gave him some money, encouraged him and let him go."

"Is there anything wrong with this?"

"I think that what the thief wants to steal may not be money, maybe it is the knife in His Majesty's hand." Xun You smiled and said, "If this knife was originally buried by the Chen family."

Liu Bian was stunned and immediately understood what Xun You meant. His eyes rolled, and then Xun You said, "If you say this, Chen Taiqiu called his children and grandchildren, probably not to scold them, but to summon them to protect this knife? That thief may not be a thief, or an assassin? Chen Taiqiu thought he was hard to take charge of, so he summoned his son to help?"

Liu Bian said several assumptions in a series, and Xun You smiled without saying a word, and finally made a comment: "Only only the Chen family knows the truth. In short, many things - even if they are recorded in history and passed down to future generations - may not be the truth."

Liu Bian couldn't help laughing. Although it was just a joke, he felt that there might be something in it. Of course, the Chen family, which made him more interested, has not yet relied on Yuan Shao. This is really good news. Among the four Yingchuan families, which are famous for their virtue, the Xun family bet on both sides, the Han family bet on Yuan, the Zhong family bet on Liu, and the Chen family do not vote. He and Yuan Shao are still equal.

"After this matter, I will send someone to invite Chen Ji to the court."

...

After dawn, he ate some dry food and had not yet set off. Zhang Xiu, who was the vanguard, came to report. The scout met the enemy scout forty miles ahead, captured a scout, and forced him to ask about the news: Liu Bei and Guan Yu led more than a thousand people to set up an ambush on the Jade Girl Platform.

Although Liu Bian was a little surprised, he was not panicked. The horror of the ambush was unexpected. Since he knew the other party's existence, the threat was much smaller. He called Xun You to inquire about the location and geographical situation of the Jade Girl Platform.

Xun You said that the Jade Girl Platform is only a part of Yangcheng Mountain. The terrain is low and can hide troops, but its advantages are limited. From the Jade Girl Platform to the northwest, it is easy to bypass the Jade Girl Platform. Liu Bei's Miscellaneous Hu Cavalry was slaughtered in the Battle of Xingyang, and now there are only a few hundred studs left. He could not stop the emperor's army at all, so it was not worth worrying.

"The danger is not in the Jade Girl Platform." Xun You said with a serious expression: "The danger is in the Twenty-Bao Pu northwest of the Jade Girl Platform."

Liu Bian agreed with Xun You. He heard Xun You talk about Twenty-Eight Pu. Twenty-Eight Pu refers to a mountainous land on the southern foot of Taishi Mountain. The terrain is complex. It is said that there are twenty-eight stone ponds distributed in spring, like Twenty-Eight Constellations. In winter, the water is shallow, and many rivers are cut off. Twenty-Eight Pu is no exception. The water level is not high, but the stone ponds are connected to each other and disturb a pond water, and other pond waters will also react. In other words, once they enter the range of Twenty-Eight Pu, their whereabouts cannot be concealed.

What's even more strange is that Twenty-Bao Pu is a little weird. It is said that when pedestrians arrive at Twenty-Bao, they can only scoop water from the pond to drink, and cannot go into the pond to wash their hands, otherwise they will get sick, and haunted things will happen in a few miles around. When the army passes Twenty-Bao, not only do people need to drink water, but also horses need to drink water. If this makes a ghost, it will be a lot of trouble.

Liu Bian himself did not believe these rumors very much, but he could not forbid other soldiers to believe it. He ordered everyone to bring enough drinking water before leaving, and try not to drink horses when passing through Twenty-Bao Pu, and do not do anything randomly if they need to replenish water.

Xun You smiled bitterly and said, "Your Majesty, you can't hide your whereabouts, that's not the most important thing. What's important is that although there are many pools here, there is very little water. Once you are blocked here, you will inevitably have a risk of lack of water. Then you are in a dilemma, I'm afraid..."

Liu Bian smiled. Since it was a surprise attack, of course he had to take risks, not to mention that he was considered a direct person.

"It's okay, as long as you don't go into the mountains, no one can stop my iron cavalry." Liu Bian smiled relaxedly: "If Cao Cao wants to trap me, he will definitely mobilize the main force. In this way, Jia Xu can successfully rescue Lu Bu. At that time, whoever traps him may be. Gongda, think about it, besides Twenty-Baopu, there are other dangers nearby, we should be as close as possible. He has thousands of tricks, and I have a force to kill people, and God blocks killing gods. If you can fight, you will fight, and if you can't fight, you will leave."

Xun You nodded. This was the only way to this point.

Liu Bian immediately ordered to set off and five thousand elite cavalry went to the Jade Girl Platform.

...

Looking at the straight smoke and dust in the distance, Liu Bei's face looked ugly.

He had just received a report from the scout that Liu Bian was leading five thousand elite cavalry toward this place, and his heart sank.

I was really afraid of anything. Liu Bian actually came from this road. He claimed to have a thousand people, but in fact he knew that he was less than eight hundred. Without the concealment of ambush, it was tantamount to relying on less than eight hundred stairs to block five thousand elite cavalry. This was like a fool. After this battle, even if he could escape alive, his family's fortune would be lost.

"Brother, I'm right, I'm right, the foolish lord has indeed come from this road." Guan Yu rushed over with a gloomy face.

"Chang Yun, do you think we can block him?" Liu Bei pointed to the smoke and dust in the distance, "Do you want to destroy all these hundreds of people here?"

Only then did Guan Yu realize the cruel truth, his face darkened, and he closed his mouth awkwardly.

Zhang Fei ran over and shouted: "Brother, what should I do? Should I fight?"

"We still have to fight for a while." Liu Bei said helplessly: "If you flee without fighting, what kind of face will my brother have to meet people in the future."

"That's true." After Zhang Fei finished speaking, he glanced at Liu Bei and Guan Yu's faces. He knew that the topic was wrong, so he turned around and ran away. While running, he shouted: "Two brothers, I'll take the lead."

Guan Yu bowed: "Brother, you are in charge of command. I'll go and see my third brother, don't be injured."

"Go, you have to be careful."

"Here." Guan Yu responded and walked down the hill with great strides.

Zhang Fei turned over and galloped back and forth in front of the formation, shouting: "Range, array! When you cheer up, what are you afraid of? We have the benefits of the terrain, and we are brothers. We are not afraid of anyone coming. Stop the emperor, everyone will be rewarded..."

Before Zhang Fei finished speaking, Guan Yu urged Jueying to pass by him, rushed down the hillside, and pinned Jueying in the middle of the avenue. He held a knife in one hand and held the reins in the other hand, glanced at the cavalry that was getting closer and closer, with a arrogant expression, as if he was speeding up and rushing over to a group of ants. Zhang Fei and those hundreds of sprinters were not needed at all. He could kill these cavalry alone.

When the soldiers who set up an ambush on the hillside saw it, they couldn't help but straighten their bodies. The shaking hands gradually stabilized, the bow that could not be pulled open could be pulled open, and the legs that were originally weak were also strong.

Guan Yu didn't need to say a word, just standing in the middle of the road made people feel confident in him.

Looking at Guan Yu's tall and majestic figure, Zhang Fei swallowed enviously, raised the snake spear in his hand, and shouted loudly: "Bound Bowman, prepare--"
Chapter completed!