Seeing Gao Shun's soldiers retreating south along the post road, Zhang Fei led his troops to leave the camp and followed slowly. The other party was fast, they were fast; the other party was slow, they were also slow. Even at noon, Gao Shun's camp stopped and drank water and ate dry food by a stream. Zhang Fei's soldiers followed suit, staying on the upper stream of the stream and drinking water and eating dry food.

Gao Shun was furious about Zhang Fei's behavior. Every time he turned around to attack, Zhang Fei's troops would immediately retreat and not have any contact with the Shanxing camp. But as long as the Shanxing camp continued to retreat south, they would catch up. In desperation, Gao Shun could only give the order to continue the march to the Shanxing camp. As long as Zhang Fei's troops did not get close, they could ignore it.

In the evening, Zhang Fei's troops suddenly stopped advancing. Seeing that the distance between the two armies was getting farther and farther, Gao Shun became uneasy, and he thought to himself: What's going on? Why didn't the Jizhou army follow? Could it be that they had any conspiracy?

In fact, Gao Shun's worries were unnecessary. The reason why Zhang Fei's troops stopped moving forward was because he received Han Zhan's general order, asking him to stop chasing Gao Shun and return to Licheng as soon as possible.

Gao Shun did not know the real reason why Zhang Fei retreated, so he quickly sent two confidants to follow him to find out whether the Jizhou army was engaged in any conspiracy? He led his troops to stay on the post road and waited.

After two incense sticks, the two confidants sent ran back panting and reported to Gao Shun in a daze: "General Qi, the young man has seen it clearly. The Jizhou army is heading towards Licheng along the post road."

"Did you confirm it was going back to Licheng, not ambushing somewhere?"

The confidant shook his head and continued, "The young man was worried that the Jizhou army was retreating openly, but secretly hid somewhere so that he could attack us after dark. Therefore, the young man walked forward two or three miles and saw another army coming to pick him up. He was afraid that they would find it, so he turned around and reported to the general."

When Gao Shun learned that the Jizhou army had really returned to Licheng, he felt a little relieved. He heard his confidant ask again: "General, what should we do next?"

"Since the Jizhou army has returned to Licheng, we will continue to rush forward." In order to catch up with Lu Bu and the others, Gao decided to take a risk and ordered: "Dissue the combat formation and change it to the marching formation. It is necessary to catch up with Wen Hou and the others as soon as possible."

The army led by Han Zhan arrived at Licheng at noon. When he saw Guan Yu and Taishi Ci came to greet him, he also asked Guan Yu specifically: "Brother Yun, don't know where Brother Yide is?"

Hearing Han Zhan’s inquiry, Guan Yu quickly replied respectfully: “Report to the Marquis of Anyang, today Lu Bu retreated his troops. Finally, he will ask his third brother to lead his troops to follow him and force them to leave here as soon as possible.”

After Han Zhan finished speaking, he asked him about the situation of yesterday's battle. After pondering for a moment, he turned his head to ask Guo Jia next to him: "Fengxiao, what do you think?"

When Guo Jia heard Han Zhan ask him, he just smiled faintly and did not answer Han Zhan's question. Instead, he asked: "Doesn't the development of everything coincide with the lord's idea?"

Seeing Guo Jia expose himself in public, Han Zhan laughed dryly, and then ordered Guan Yu: "Chang Yun, send someone to call Yide back immediately. Judging from all the signs, Lu Bu does not want to be an enemy of our army, so he does not have to force him too much, so as not to be anxious and forced to fight to the death with our army."

"Sir, obey the order!" Guan Yu agreed, and called a confidant and asked him to chase Zhang Fei, so that he would not have to continue chasing Gao Shun and others, and quickly withdraw his troops.

Taishi Ci, who was standing respectfully on the side, waited for Guan Yu's envoy to leave before he walked to Han Zhan and said in shame: "Lord, my subordinates are incompetent, and you still need to come and rescue you from afar."

Han Zhan dismounted and supported Taishi Ci, and said to him with a smile: "What are Ziyi saying? You are recruiting new recruits for me and being pursued by the enemy. How can I ignore you?"

After sighing for a while, Taishici asked Han Zhan: "Lord, I see that there are tens of thousands of soldiers you brought. I wonder if you are stationed outside the city or settled in the city?"

Han Zhan looked up at the city wall not far away for a moment, and then said, "The city cannot accommodate so many soldiers, so let's camp outside the city. General Zilong!"

When Zhao Yun heard Han Zhan calling him, he hurriedly urged him to come forward and asked respectfully: "What are the lord's instructions?"

"The army is camping outside the city." Han Zhan ordered Zhao Yun, "I and my military adviser first follow General Ziyi into the city. After setting up the camp, you can also come to the city."

Zhao Yun quickly replied, "Sir, obey the order!"

Zhao Yun stayed to command troops outside the city to set up camp, while Han Zhan followed Taishi Ci into the city. Halfway through, Taishi Ci asked Han Zhan curiously: "Lord, we have the strength to destroy Lu Bu, why do we want to let him go?"

When Han Zhan heard Taishi Ci's question, he couldn't help but turn his head to look at Guan Yu who was following behind, and then asked unexpectedly: "Why, Chang Yun hasn't analyzed this for you?"

"Analyze it." Taishici nodded and said, "But my subordinate still wants to hear what the lord said with his own ears."

Han Zhan looked around and saw that there were still many people on both sides of the street, looking at his group of people tremblingly. He coughed softly and said, "Ziyi, this is not where to speak. After arriving at the place, I will naturally tell you the reason."

When he arrived at the county government office, Han Zhan sat in the middle and saw that there were no outsiders present, then he spoke, "Ziyi, don't you want to know why this marquis let Lu Bu go?"

Taishici quickly stood up and bowed to Han Zhan: "I would like to hear about it!"

"There are two reasons." Han Zhan stretched out two fingers and said, "First, the current priority of this marquis is to unify Ji, Qing, You and the four states as soon as possible. Before achieving this goal, there is no need to create more powerful enemies; Second, since Lu Bu is called a slave of the three surnames, it means that he is not a person who is willing to live in a long time. Although he is under Yuan Shu at this time, he will have a different intention sooner or later. With his restraint, Yuan Shu will not be distracted from coming to deal with us. In this way, we can unify the north with peace of mind."

After listening to Han Zhan’s explanation, Taishi Ci finally realized it. He quickly flattered and said, “The lord is really far-sighted. I admire him very much!”
Chapter completed!