Three Kingdoms: I rely on system loopholes to survive

"You're taking advantage of the rainstorm to steal my house, eh? I'll let you steal as much as you want!"

Zhong Ping stood on the city wall, his face as black as the bottom of a pot under his bamboo hat, cursing as he flipped through the map of Mengling. The county magistrate stood aside to accompany Zhong Ping in the rain and wind. Although he could not understand what this gentleman was saying, he thought it must be a strategy to deal with the enemy, right?
With someone in charge, the county magistrate felt a little relieved. He moved his hat upwards and squinted his eyes at the fire in the distance.

Zhong Ping was reviewing his plan when he heard a scout report: "Ten miles away from Xiqu, there is a group of people with a flag with the word 'Shi' on it. There are about tens of thousands of people!"

"Tens of thousands of people?!" The county magistrate's heart, which had just calmed down, was instantly lifted up again. The young and strong soldiers in the entire Mengling City might not even number tens of thousands!

"Brother, how is the water storage in the West Canal?"

Zhong Ping looked calm, as he was very experienced in using a small force against a large one. He was already full of evil intentions, and Shi Xie had put the right time and place in his hands. Even if he couldn't repel the enemy, wouldn't he be able to hold on to the city of Mengling?

"Since the gates were opened, the water in the canal has risen above the warning line set by Bo Heng."

There was a barely perceptible excitement in Li Meng's voice. He had followed Zhong Ping in defending Chang'an. Among all the people present, he believed even more than Zhong Ping that Shi Xie could not capture Mengling City.

At five o'clock in the morning, the warriors and cavalry broke through the morning mist, and the vanguard Li soldiers came in the mud. These Li people with long hair and tattoos spoke in barbarian language and pushed the battering rams. They were about to attack the city gate, but they saw that the torches on the top of the city were extinguished and the drawbridge fell to the ground with a loud bang.

Pingnan was captured too easily. Seeing this, Shi Wu thought that the magistrate of Mengling County was frightened and wanted to surrender. He could not help but wave his whip and laugh wildly: "Liu Bei is a rat! Mengling can be taken in half a day!"

After saying that, he ordered his Li soldiers to charge straight at the city gate. Unexpectedly, as soon as the vanguard stepped over the moat, there was a sudden rumble like thunder from underground - Zhong Ping had ordered people to divert water to the canal. The river channel was empty, and it was covered with straw mats and loose soil, which was wet into mud by the rain. The sky was dark and nothing unusual could be seen. The hundreds of Li soldiers were caught off guard and fell into the mud, crying out in pain. The army formation in the rear was immediately in chaos.

Zhong Ping calculated the time accurately, and the torches and flags on the top of the city walls were raised again. The soldiers at the head of the canal received the order, and the canal chief shouted to open the gate. The flood peak stored in the East Gate poured out with a roar, and the muddy waves rushed down with broken wood and rocks. Before the Li soldiers could scream, they were already sucked into the whirlpool. The elite soldiers of the Shijia who were supervising the battle in the rear were caught off guard, and the leather and grass armor on their bodies became a burden, and after being soaked in water, they all turned into death warrants.

If Shiwu had not been alert, and had not been at the rear, with the horse under his crotch running fast enough, he would have become a ghost in the water by now, accompanying those vulgar people.

Before the city sent out troops to fight, the soldiers had already suffered heavy losses. They fled dozens of miles in fear before they could barely squeeze out a voice to ask people to set up camp.

He just couldn't understand why, Mengling, Guangxin and Fengyang were plagued by floods every year, and every flood season, a large number of refugees from Cangwu poured into Hepu and Jiaozhi. Why was it that this year, as soon as Liu Bei came, the floods were controlled by others?
These tens of thousands of people came and went quickly. The county magistrate stroked his chest, touched his head, and let out a long sigh. The river water was surging and rushing down the river. The county magistrate had originally planned to order the county lieutenant to lead the defenders in the city to collect the weapons at the city gate after the water was drained. Now it seems that only some ironware can be found in the river, and the rest have been washed away to who knows where.

"Are there any horses in the city? Bring a docile one here, and give me a few guards who are fluent in slang."

The county magistrate was uneasy when he heard Zhong Ping's request. He wanted to say something but stopped himself several times. Finally, he obeyed and personally picked the best horses and soldiers for Zhong Ping. He watched Zhong Ping leave the city with two hundred Bai Li soldiers and three defenders.

"This..." The county magistrate looked at Li Meng and Fan A, and seeing that they both had calm expressions, he could only keep all the words in his heart to himself, and thought to himself: At least that gentleman did not abandon the city and flee, he has done his utmost.

Although Zhong Ping was not good at archery, his eyesight was first-rate. Now that the rain was fading, Shi Wu was fleeing in a panic. The traces on the ground were in a mess, which clearly pointed out his escape route. Zhong Ping estimated in his mind that Shi Wu was not as dangerous as Guo Si.

He has always adhered to the idea of ​​"no matter whether there is a date or not, just give it a try first", and started with a plan to sow discord.

Morale has been lost, and it is impossible to attack the city tonight. Shi Wu roasted himself by the fire for a while, and the more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He didn't believe that the Mengling defenders could use water attack again. Without the help of the flood, no matter what the thousands of people in the city did, they could not compete with his elite troops!
It was a rare occasion for Shiwu to suffer such a big loss, and he felt very aggrieved. He had always looked down on the Li people, and now he glared at the few remaining Li leaders. He vented all his anger on the Li people before returning to the tent to rest.

The generals looked at each other, muttered a few words in slang, and finally swallowed their anger and squeezed into the same tent after being punished. Under the flood, who had time to care about military equipment and baggage? They even wished they had two more legs. Now they were lucky to have a tent to shelter from the rain and rest. The campfire flickered, and the night watchman wiped the mud and water on his body, and fiddled with the flames from time to time. Apart from the sound of rain and wind, the only sound in the camp was the sound of horses' nasal twitching.

Zhong lay flat on his horse, the rain flowing down the edge of his hat into a silver line. He observed the campfire swaying in the distance in the night, and suddenly pressed the ring-handled sword at his waist: "Stop!"

The Bai Li soldiers all stopped, and the three defenders came forward and heard Zhong Ping whispering, "Do you see the banyan tree that was struck by lightning? There are defeated soldiers gathering three miles to the southeast. Put on the loose hair of the Li people, take off all your clothes, and curse in the Li language. You can say anything, but your voice must be loud enough."

The three men nodded repeatedly. They were the Mengling defenders, and their families were all in the city, so they naturally obeyed orders. They took off their clothes and wrapped themselves in dead leaves and mud. They couldn't even see their faces, but they barely looked like human beings. They staggered to the outskirts of the camp, fell into the mud, and screamed in slang: "The general is going to fill the moat with us! Run away!"

The Li people who were on night watch were shocked all over. In the camp, Li people spoke in different languages. Some were confused; some were scared and kept shouting; some took the words from who knows where seriously and shouted that blood debt should be paid with blood... Someone suddenly pointed to the back and screamed: "Han army! It's the Han army!"

Dozens of torches suddenly lit up in the dark night. Zhong Ping was riding in the lead, slashing everyone he saw with his sword. The docile horse under Zhong Ping neighed and stamped its hooves like a madman, and the noise frightened the Li people, who were already confused, and made them even more confused.

"Rebellion! They're all rebelling!" Shi Wu drew his sword and chopped down two fleeing soldiers, blood mixed with rainwater flowing on his armor. He was about to call for his personal guards when he suddenly saw a man in a straw raincoat with an unclear face riding a crazy horse straight towards him, with blood dripping from his ring-handled sword. At first glance, he thought he had seen a ghost.

The three defenders opened their throats again and cursed in the most vicious slang: "The Shi family is going to sell our wives and daughters as slaves!"

The Li people leader who was about to suppress the riot suddenly froze, seeing Shi Wu being chased by a creature that was neither human nor ghost. It was unknown who threw the rattan shield first, and hundreds of Li people howled and rushed towards the central army tent. Shi Wu's personal guards drew their bows and arrows, trying to shout and force these rebellious Li people to retreat, but they also forced those Li people who were still wandering over.

Shi Wu was defeated like a landslide. No matter how calm he was in the face of the Li people in the past, he was now in a miserable state after being driven away by Zhong Ping. No matter how fast Shi Wu could run, he could not outrun a mad horse. In confusion and fear, he was knocked to the ground by the horse. The stressed horse, caused by Zhong Ping, neighed and trampled back and forth. When Zhong Ping finally got the horse under control again, only scattered fragments of Shi Wu were left on the ground.

Not to mention the Li people, even the Bai Li soldiers had never seen such a brutal fighting style as Zhong Ping. First they had to face the flood, and then they had to deal with Zhong Ping, the living devil. The Li people and the remaining Shijia army completely lost their spirit. Except for a few thousand people who were scared away in the middle of the battle, the rest stayed where they were and surrendered.

The magistrate of Mengling County saw two hundred people leaving the city and three thousand people returning. His first reaction was that the soldiers had fought back, but when he looked closely, it was not the case. When Zhong Ping ordered Li Meng to cooperate with the county lieutenant to resettle the three thousand captives, the county magistrate vaguely realized that the crisis of Mengling had been resolved.

Although Shi Xie also anticipated that his younger brother would suffer when Guan Yu and Zhang Fei arrived as reinforcements from Guangxin, in his imagination, it would be easy for Shi Wu to capture Mengling, and it would take at least a day for Liu Bei to get the news. However, his army would reunite with his brother, and the Li people from Nanhai would attack Gaoyao. Liu Bei would be unable to take care of both ends, and he only had these two powerful generals under his command, so he could outlast them even if they were exhausted.

Who would have thought that Shi Wu would be defeated in this unknown city of Mengling?

Sixty thousand people went out, but only eight thousand came back.

Shi Xie couldn't figure out how the people guarding the city did it. Was there a man-eating monster in Mengling?
These eight thousand people talked at once and added fuel to the fire. Shi Xie only knew that his brother had fallen into a water attack plan, and it was his fault that he failed to find out in advance that Liu Bei had a capable flood control expert. However, a strategist who could come up with such a strategy was not an unknown person. How come he hadn't heard any news about it?
Shi Xie was puzzled, but now Mengling was right in front of him and his brother's body was still warm. It was impossible for him to give up attacking Liu Bei. With a plan in mind, Shi Xie asked his soldiers to cook while he went to Xu Jing for divination.

"Wen Xiu, isn't it said that the fifth hour is an auspicious time to send troops? You also read my brother's face before he left for the battle, and it didn't look like he would die!"

Xu Jing was also surprised to hear that Shi Wu was dead. He doubted himself secretly, but did not show it on his face: "Before Wei Yan raised the army, I divined at night, and it was the general star that fell in the wilderness of Cangwu. It is unlucky for a general star to meet death and destruction. It is the fate of robbery of wealth, and it will be very bad if it is broken! Unfortunately, it has been cloudy and rainy these nights, and the stars are not visible. I am afraid that the second general has violated the taboo in Pingnan, so I mistakenly put the general star's prophecy under Liu Bei."

Shi Xie was a great admirer of metaphysics. He couldn't help but regret not restraining his brother in time and preventing him from robbing property. He rarely smiled again: "The star of general is in harmony with the star of official and the star of rabbit, which are auspicious stars. Please help me find a few women with compatible stars to accompany me. On the day of triumph, I will offer Liu Bei's head as a sacrifice!"

(End of this chapter)