Traveling back in time to Liu Feng, starting with rescuing soldier Guan Yu.

"Damn it!"

Several guards carried Chen Yu to a seat inside the tavern. Chen Yu immediately felt a burning pain in his back and couldn't help but curse.

Everyone knew who he was cursing and couldn't help but cover their mouths and chuckle. After a while, another person shook his head and said, "General Man treats us far too harshly. Chief Chen has followed him for many years, and for such a trivial matter, he's beaten to death..."

To these valiant men, killing one or two people was nothing. The crowd then began to chatter amongst themselves.

"That's right. For months, we brothers risked our lives fighting against Guan Yu's army to save Fancheng."

"Yesterday I heard from Chief Wang under the North Gate that the soldiers under General Zheng Nan not only have rations to eat, but they even have meat to eat!"

"Absolutely! A fellow villager of mine said that when his group came to a house in the city, if they couldn't find any food, they would kill the man and order the woman to cook the meat. After they had eaten and drunk their fill, they would take the woman and have their fun... Unlike us, who are still here waiting to go hungry."

Just then, the door of the tavern was pushed open.

A thin, middle-aged man walked in, dressed in coarse cloth short brown clothes, with a gray satchel slung over his shoulder, looking like a street vendor.

But Chen Yu only glanced at him and immediately sensed something was off. His fingers were too clean. People who run small businesses usually have dirt and grime under their fingernails, but this man's hands were spotless, with only a thin callus on his right middle finger—a callus from holding a pen.

Chen Yu did not recognize the man, but in that instant he realized that the man was not a businessman.

"Gentlemen," Ma Liang bowed slightly, his voice neither loud nor soft, "I am a grain merchant, and I have a few sacks of rice and flour on my cart that I would like to exchange for some salt and cloth. Does anyone know where there is a market in this city?"

food.

The moment those two words were uttered, the eyes of several people in the tavern lit up. One of the guards abruptly stood up: "You have grain? How much?"

Ma Liang smiled, not answering directly, but instead taking a cloth bag from his satchel, untying the rope, and dumping it onto the table. Golden, wheat-like objects spilled out, piling up into a small mountain on the rough surface.

The eyes of several guards nearly popped out of their sockets.

Those weren't grains of wheat, but a pile of gold. Pure gold, made in the Han Dynasty style, gleamed a golden light under the dim oil lamp in the tavern.

"Who exactly are you?" Chen Yu asked. His voice was not loud, but the hand that was gripping the edge of the table had loosened and was hanging down to his waist, only three inches away from the hilt of the knife.

Ma Liang looked into his eyes.

"A person who runs errands for Liu Bei and Guan Yu."

The air in the tavern suddenly froze. Some of the guards had already placed their hands on the hilts of their swords. Ma Liang, however, did not move. He even laid his hands out on the table, appearing completely unguarded.

"Chen Tou'er," Ma Liang smiled slightly, "Uncle Liu has heard that General Man Chong has a group of brave warriors under his command who have been besieged for months, running out of food and reinforcements, yet still holding the city to the death. Uncle Liu said that such heroes should not starve to death in Fancheng."

He paused, then lowered his voice even further, so low that only Chen Yu could hear him.

"He shouldn't have been beaten to death with forty strokes of the military rod."

Chen Yu's finger stopped an inch from the hilt of the knife.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked.

"Simple," Ma Liang said. "Tonight, we'll tie Man Chong up and take him to the Han River ferry. The boats are ready; we'll leave as soon as we pick him up and arrive at General Guan's camp before dawn. Once there, Chen Tou'er and the other brothers will be honored guests of Liu Huangshu. There will be plenty of food, and this gold is just a small gift. We'll reward you according to your merits later, and you'll certainly not be treated unfairly."

"You want me to betray my master," Chen Yu said.

"You know how Man Chong has treated you." Ma Liang's voice remained calm, like an unsharpened knife, not sharp, but weighing heavily on people's hearts. "He may be a good official, but he is not a good ruler."

These words were like a needle, precisely piercing the festering wound in Chen Yufang's heart.

He remained silent for a long time, his face showing a struggle.

"The shift change will take place tonight at 7 PM."

Chen Yu suddenly gritted his teeth, reached out and grabbed a handful of gold, stuffing it into his pocket. His voice became as cold as when Man Chong had given the order to carry out the execution. "Man Chong lives in the south of the city, in a detached house with a courtyard wall no more than eight feet high. He returns home at 7:45 PM and goes to bed at 9:00 PM. There are two guards on night watch outside the courtyard gate. I can find a way to distract them."

Ma Liang nodded and pointed to the pile of gold. "Distribute it among the brothers."

That night at Hai hour.

South of Fancheng City, at the residence of Man Chong.

Man Chong's residence was small, a two-courtyard house with rammed earth walls no more than eight feet high, covered with withered vines. Two lanterns hung at the entrance, their candlelight flickering in the wind, illuminating the two guards standing watch at the gate.

Two guards were summoned away at 1:15 PM. The person who summoned them said that the camp was distributing rations, half a bushel per person, and that they would not be served after that time.

The courtyard gate was empty.

Chen Yu led seven or eight people over the courtyard wall, landing as lightly as a cat. The wound on his back reopened while he was climbing, and blood streamed down his spine, dripping onto the rammed earth surface, but he didn't utter a sound. He walked at the front, through the courtyard, and pushed open the door of the main house.

Manchong is fast asleep.

After months of siege, Man Chong only slept for two hours a day. Tonight, he was truly exhausted and lay on the couch fully clothed, without even taking off his boots, with soft snoring coming from his nose.

Without hesitation, Chen Yu pulled a burlap sack from his waist and, along with another guard, each on one side, slung Man Chong, along with the bedding, over his head inside.

Man Chong was jolted awake in the sack. Just as he was about to speak, a large hand covered his mouth through the sack. He struggled violently for a few moments, and Chen Yu whispered, "General Man, it's me. Chen Yu! Don't move, or I'll strangle you."

The struggle inside the sack stopped.

Chen Yu tied the sack tightly and hoisted it onto his shoulder. Man Chong wasn't heavy; during the siege, he had also become so thin he was just skin and bones.

A group of people carried sacks out of the courtyard. A wheelbarrow was parked in the alley, piled with several sacks of chaff. Chen Yufang stuffed the sacks into the middle of the chaff sacks, covered them with two more layers of chaff, then pushed the wheelbarrow and walked along the alley in the south of the city toward the water gate.

Along the way, they encountered a patrol of soldiers. The squad leader, holding a torch, shone it on the sacks of chaff on the cart, then looked at Chen Yu, who was pushing it. Chen Yu was wearing the uniform of Man Chong's battalion, with a large bloodstain on his back, and his face was as white as paper.

The squad leader recognized him.

"Boss Chen, what are you transporting so late at night?"

"By order of General Man, these bags of moldy chaff must be taken outside the city and disposed of." Chen Yufang's voice was steady. "General Man said that moldy chaff can kill people if eaten, so it cannot be kept."

The squad leader nodded and waved for them to pass.

The guards at the water gate recognized Chen Yu. News of his being flogged that day had spread throughout the camp, and even the guards looked at him with pity, immediately opening the water gate to let him pass.

The wheelbarrow rolled over the damp stone slabs of the water gate, the sound of its wheels particularly clear in the night. A small boat was moored at the Han River ferry crossing.

Ma Liang stood at the bow of the boat and saw Chen Yu pushing a wheelbarrow over. He jumped off the boat and helped drag the sacks out of the chaff pile and carry them onto the boat.

The sack made a muffled thud when it fell into the cabin, and the person inside stirred and then woke up from his dizziness.

The group jumped onto the boat. The boatman untied the rope, the oar touched the shore, and the small boat left the bank, drifting south along the Han River.

Ma Liang sat at the stern of the boat, watching Fancheng gradually shrink in the night until it became a blurry line and melted into the darkness.

A rustling sound came from inside the cabin. Man Chong had somehow managed to free himself from the sack and crawl out. His hair was disheveled, and his face was covered in chaff; he looked rather disheveled. But he didn't shout or struggle; he simply sat in the cabin, leaning against the deck, looking up at Fancheng receding into the distance.

"Who is in charge of this matter? May we ask them to show themselves?" Man Chong ignored Chen Yu and asked loudly.

Ma Liang stood up, strolled over to Man Chong, and said with a smile, "Ma Liang of Jingzhou greets Prefect Man."

Man Chong was taken aback and asked in surprise, "Could it be Mr. White Eyebrows from the Five Constants of the Ma Family of Xiangyang?" Then he snorted coldly, "Since Guan Yu has already retreated, your retreat route is cut off. Even if you capture me, you will still face certain death and the destruction of your army."

Ma Liang smiled but remained silent. The stars and moon were in the south on the Han River. Man Chong tried to discern the direction but found that the boat was heading straight west, which aroused his suspicion.

"Military Advisor Ma, where do you intend to take this favor with you?"

As soon as he finished speaking, dozens of grain ships could be seen slowly approaching on the water ahead. On the lead ship, which was slightly larger, a flag was flying high, and the character "Cao" could be vaguely discerned!

Upon seeing this, Chen Yu and the others gasped in shock and stood up, their expressions filled with panic.

Ma Liang, however, remained unfazed and instead ordered the boatmen to move closer to the grain convoy. Man Chong frowned slightly, a sense of foreboding rising in his heart.