after being kidnapped by the general

The next day, Yuanli sent more people to look for Chu Hechao and others.

Everyone in the city already knew the news of Chu Hechao's accident, and they expected that Chu Hechao and others would be fine, but half a month has passed, except for Yuanli, who still firmly believes that Chu Hechao is still alive, the hearts of the others are More or less felt that Chu Hechao might have been killed.

They shouldn't have poked at Yuanli's sad story, but the murder of Chu Hechao was extraordinary, and half a month of time to search was already the limit.After Yuanli wanted to go out of the city again, the counselors stayed together as never before, and advised Yuanli to leave Xuzhou by boat and return to the north as soon as possible.

Chen Wang has already attacked Chu Hechao, and the next person to attack must be Yuanli.The south is the stronghold of King Chen, and Yuanli will only fall into a trap if he stays here any longer.

Without Chu Hechao, there will definitely be turmoil in the north. No matter what, Yuanli must leave as soon as possible and go back to take charge of the overall situation.

Yuan Li rationally knew that he wanted to leave, but when he left at this time, he always had the feeling of abandoning Chu Hechao.

At the request of his subordinates, he raised his hand and rubbed the center of his brows, and his whole body lost a lot of weight.

Guo Mao was so anxious that his head was sweating, he persuaded him hard: "Master! Please return to the north quickly, Xuzhou is really not safe anymore. After you return to the north, you can send troops to Xuzhou. If the general escapes death , must still be somewhere in Xuzhou. Only enough troops are there to protect the general from King Chen's attack!"

Yuan Li finally spoke, with a hoarse voice, "You don't need to persuade me too much, I know the severity. I will leave, but not now."

His eyes were downcast, expressionless.The bloodless face looked more indifferent and rational than ever before, and there was suppressed anger hidden in the grief he tried to hide, "I want to see King Chen's reaction. If King Chen's soldiers catch Chu Hechao , he will not miss this opportunity, and will definitely tell me openly to use this to manipulate me or the Northern Xinjiang army. Even if he kills Chu Hechao, King Chen will tell the world to kill him. But if he does nothing, If he didn’t say anything, but directly attacked Xuzhou, it meant that Chu Hechao was not in his hands, and he thought that Chu Hechao was dead, so he couldn’t wait to take this opportunity to get rid of me.”

Inside and outside the words, Yuan Li was sure that Chu Hechao was still alive.

Yuanli is not a person who can't see the reality clearly. On the contrary, his courageous character is more able to accept all the difficulties that occur in reality.He may not be ignorant of Chu Hechao's fate, but he is unwilling to believe it.Several subordinates have never seen such a state of self-deception in Yuan Li.

To be honest, this state is not good. They worry that once the news of Chu Hechao's death is really confirmed, Yuanli will collapse because of it.

but……

The subordinates secretly exchanged a look and sighed in their hearts, but they couldn't say it out.

Because the person whose life or death is unknown is not only the ally and friend of the lord, but also the person whom the lord joins hands with.

They also took a step back in the end, Zhou Gongdan said in a low voice: "My lord, please promise me to wait. If King Chen really starts to attack Xuzhou, please leave Xuzhou by boat as soon as possible."

Yuan Li was silent for a moment, moved his fingers, and looked out the window.

There is a osmanthus tree planted outside the window, which has lost its leaves and only solitary branches remain.

The subordinate called him softly: "My lord?"

Yuan Li turned his head and nodded lightly: "I will."

In the following days, Yuanli always paid attention to Chen Wang's actions.

He hoped that King Chen would catch Chu Hechao, but he didn't want King Chen to really catch Chu Hechao.Amidst these complicated emotions, Yuanli's anger and hatred towards King Chen continued to rise, and every day he couldn't find Chu Hechao, the anger and hatred became stronger every day.

Such anger did not take away Yuanli's sanity, but made him more rational and dangerous.

The source of Chu Hechao's disappearance and injury lies in King Chen. Yuan Li firmly remembers that he will seek revenge from King Chen thousands of times.

While waiting anxiously and looking for people, soon, King Chen began to send troops to attack Xuzhou.

At the moment of waiting for the news, Yuan Li's face suddenly sank, and anger rolled in his eyes.He slowly closed his eyes, knowing that he could not stay in Xuzhou any longer.

Just like Guo Mao and others said, Xuzhou must not be taken by Chen Wang, and he must not have an accident.

For the country, for the common people, for Chu Hechao who is still somewhere in Xuzhou.

Yuan Li's heart seemed to have been hit hard, and after being sour, he tried to calm down.

He opened his eyes and said decisively: "Go prepare the ship and retreat with me."

The subordinates immediately breathed a sigh of relief, and said ecstatically, "Yes!"

The retreating team had already been prepared, and five thousand sailors were going to escort Yuanli away that day.

Yuan Li originally planned to take Ouyang Ting away, but Ouyang Ting was unwilling to leave, "It took us a long time to govern Xuzhou together. Now that King Chen is attacking, how can I, a governor, leave alone? Yuan Li, You can leave at ease, and send troops to help me as soon as possible. I will stay in Xuzhou to advance and retreat with the people, and I will also look for Chu Ciye and the others."

He sighed, patted Yuanli on the shoulder, and comforted him in a low voice: "Don't worry, Chuci's wild life is in danger, and it won't just disappear like this. The teacher will find someone for you, and when you come back with troops, the teacher I will definitely find someone for you."

Yuan Li forced a smile, "Okay."

Afterwards, Yuan Li looked at Wu Kai, who cupped his hands and said, "Master."

Yuanli nodded, "Zuo Sheng, I will hand over Xuzhou to you. You must protect Xuzhou until I bring my troops back."

Wu Kai said solemnly: "Yes."

He will protect Xuzhou with death.

Xiang Hongyun also asked himself to stay in Xuzhou to help Wu Kai defend the rear, and Yuanli agreed.

After everything was ordered, Yuanli should also leave.

Before getting into the carriage, Yuan Li stopped suddenly, turned his head and called out, "Chu Hechao?"

It was quiet all around, only my own people were waiting around.After all, he didn't see another familiar figure, Yuan Li sighed softly, opened the curtain and got into the carriage.

Because there is no team to deliver food, the speed of going back is faster than when we came.Two days later, Yuan Li boarded the ship on the east coast of Xuzhou.

The boats lined up, guarding Yuanli's boat in the center, and sailed all the way north.But not long after walking, someone came to report, "Mr. Wen, a warship marked with the word 'Chen' is catching up behind me!"

Yuan Li frowned, and went to the deck to look behind.On the far sea level, there are hundreds of warships chasing majesticly.The flag on the ship was blown up by the sea wind, and the word "Chen" could be vaguely seen.

Yuan Li sneered and said: "It seems that King Chen really wants to kill the grass and roots, and he doesn't worry about the infamy he bears. Also, as long as he becomes the final victor, his ungrateful behavior at this moment will also be praised as courageous and resourceful." , An informal move, with such a good opportunity to get rid of me, how could King Chen give up."

Jia Qing, who had rich combat experience, followed Yuan Li to protect him. When he saw King Chen chasing him, he frowned and said, "Mr. Wen, can you speed up the boat?"

Jia Qing was also a little apprehensive, because he had never guided a navy to fight on the sea.

Yuan Li said with a blank expression: "No, stop. Let our boat be a distance away from King Chen's boat, and I want to talk to the people on their boat."

Zhou Gongdan asked in surprise, "Master?"

Yuanli raised his hand and stopped their words, "The ship we are on is an improved warship. There are trebuchets and three-bow bed crossbows on board. The bow and stern are reinforced, and there are propellers on both sides. A collision can also smash the opposite ship to pieces. I brought five thousand sailors out, not just letting them go back and forth on the sea. King Chen has laid hands on my people, and I always give him Some payback."

Flames ignited in his eyes, and there was killing intent in his words.Guo Mao narrowed his eyes and looked at King Chen's navy for a long time, hesitatingly said: "My lord, it seems that King Chen's warships are hundreds of ships, and the number of them should be tens of thousands. Are you going to meet him head-on?"

Yuan Li laughed, "Water is not land. It doesn't matter who has many ships or people. Once their warship is damaged, the entire navy of the ship will fall into the deep sea, unable to climb up." Even if you come up, you won’t be able to touch the shore, you’ll just freeze to death and drown in the sea.”

In the era without gunpowder and guns, Yuanli dared to use less to more.

"Chen Wang is getting more and more rampant," Yuan Li's smile slowly disappeared from his face, and he looked at the opposite side coldly, "If I just leave like this, I'm afraid he will think I'm easy to bully."

Finally, their ship came to a halt slowly.

King Chen's ship got closer and closer, fearing that he saw them stop and thought there was a trick in it, so he also stopped the warship hundreds of meters away, not daring to approach it vigilantly.

This distance is beyond the range of the three-bow bed crossbow.

I am afraid that King Chen has already found out that Yuanli has a weapon with an extremely long range.

Yuan Li's eyes were cold, and he held the hand stove that the disease doctor gave him in both hands.Wearing a gray wide-sleeved gown and a wolf-fur cloak given to him by Chu Hechao, he stood tall and straight on the bow of the boat, with awe-inspiring and powerful aura.

The enemy seemed to have seen him too, and a man stood on the bow of the protected warship in the middle, looking across the sea from Yuanli.

Seeing the other party's figure and swift movements, Yuan Li knew that the other party was not Chen Wang.

He frowned.

King Chen didn't come in person?

"Ask him," Yuanli called for a loud commander, and said, "Tell him that this is Duke Wen's warship, and the man from King Chen is on the opposite side. Why did you come after him for no reason?"

The commander coughed and shouted Yuan Li's words in one breath.

His voice was indeed so loud that Zhou Gongdan and others around him couldn't help but show toothache expressions, and it successfully reached the enemy's ears.

After a while, the other party also shouted: "I am Chen Xi, son of King Chen, and I would like to invite Duke Wen back to Yangzhou as a guest!"

Oh, it turned out to be Chen Xi.

Yuan Li remembered that he had met King Chen's son when he entered the palace in Luoyang to meet the emperor.

I still remember that Prince Chen's heir is weak, and he has high hopes for this son, but Chen Xi is an ordinary person, which makes Chen Wang very disappointed.

Yuan Li smiled slowly, but there was not much smile in his eyes, "I see."

Guo Mao asked curiously, "My lord, what did you notice?"

"King Chen sent hundreds of warships and tens of thousands of sailors to encircle and suppress me. It can be seen that I am also a thorn in the side and a thorn in the flesh to King Chen. He is determined and eager to get rid of me," Yuan Li said, "But you Look, he didn't come to such an important matter of besieging me, such a huge battle, but handed it over to his son who has always hated iron and iron, isn't he afraid that Chen Xi can't beat me?"

Guo Mao vaguely sensed something, he took a breath, "It's not that King Chen doesn't want to come, but he has no way to come, so he has to leave such an important matter to his heirs!"

"That's right," Yuan Li sneered, "King Chen is either injured or seriously ill. No wonder his recent methods have become more and more violent each time. First, he took down Yuzhou and Yizhou by tearing his face, and then destroyed them with unconscionable methods. Xuzhou was flooded with the method of the river embankment, and finally Chu Hechao was ambushed secretly, and tens of thousands of troops were sent to surround and suppress me... He should be on the verge of death, so he wanted to get rid of us who blocked the way one by one, so as to give him paving the way for future generations.”