On the morning of the same day, Liu Bei, Lei Yuan and others parted happily. In the afternoon, Lei Yuan invited Liu Bei to inspect various camps and encouraged the soldiers until the sky became dark and everyone returned to their headquarters camps one after another.

Lei Yuan led Liu Bei to the tent, first of all, he shut down his entourages and ordered them to guard the tent, and no one was allowed to wait within fifty steps. When Zhao Yun stood in front of the tent with his sword, Lei Yuan diligently lit the candle and formally discussed with Liu Bei where the people in Huainan would stay.

Such a major event could not be decided casually. Liu Bei personally spread a map and explained to Lei Yuan the changes in the situation in Jingzhou and the situation in various places in Jingnan so that Lei Yuan had some understanding of the overall trend.

At the end of the 13th year of Jian'an, the Sun and Liu coalition forces took advantage of the Battle of Chibi to go up the river and attacked Nanjun. The Sun and Liu coalition forces who participated in this offensive were led by Zhou Lang, assisted by Cheng Pu, commanding Huang Gai, Lu Meng, Gan Ning, Zhou Tai, Jiang Qin, Ling Tong and other units, with a total force of nearly 50,000; Xuande Gong, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei led troops to support. The only guards of Nanjun was the troops of Cao Ren, the general of the Southern Expedition. Judging from the advantages and disadvantages of the situation at that time, Zhou Lang should crush Cao Ren with a huge rock to crush eggs. However, this battle lasted for a whole year, and Cao Ren was able to leave the city, and Zhou Lang's reputation for using troops was frustrated here.

Lei Yuan also heard about this when he was in Huainan, and thus he had many doubts about the land combat ability of the Wuhou troops. However, was Cao Ren so powerful that he could really compete with the people of the six counties in Jiangdong with his mere headquarters?

"That's definitely not the case." Liu Bei shook his head: "After the Sun and Liu families besieged Cao Ren in Jiangling, according to the previous agreement, I sent Yun Chang to lead a side army of 3,000, cutting off the northern Jiangling Road, forcing the support of Cao's army in Xiangyang, and sent Yide to lead 1,000 troops to help the battle under Zhou Lang's tent. At that time, the two families worked together and planned to conquer Jiangling in one fell swoop, but they could do it. But..."

Before the Battle of Chibi, Liu Bei had 20,000 elite troops; after the Battle of Chibi, he was surrendered to Jingzhou, and his troops expanded more than a multiple. He claimed that the Sun and Liu families worked together, but in the end, only 4,000 troops were sent to help the battle. It is obvious that Xuandegong's wishes are unknown.

Lei Yuan almost laughed out loud, but fortunately he had a deep personality and covered up his smile well, and asked, "Is there something wrong with it?"

Liu Bei sighed deeply: "It cannot be said to be an obstacle. Just when the war in Jiangling was tense, the governor of Jingzhou Liu Qi asked me to restore the territory of Jingzhou as soon as possible. When I lived in Xinye in the past, Liu Jingsheng treated me very well. His heir was so pleaded with such a symptom when he was seriously ill, and I really couldn't ignore it. In desperation, he had to raise all the troops from Xiakou and quickly encircled the four counties in Jingnan, so that they could return them to the governor of Jingzhou as soon as possible. Continue, I think you can understand my difficulties?"

Of course I understand. Although Liu Qi is the son of Liu Biao, he does not naturally have the power of Jingzhou because of this identity. His position as governor of Jingzhou was completely elected by Duke Xuande and his subordinates, and he was just a cover.

Duke Xuande was unwilling to be easily involved in Jingzhou, so he treated the Sun and Liu families in confronting Jiangling and actively launched an army to seize the four counties in Jingnan. Liu Qi's instructions were the great righteousness of this move.

There is no doubt that Duke Xuande rose from the grassland, started from scratch until he could leverage the situation in the world, not the pedantic Duke Xiang of Song. Although he was kind and loved the people, what could he not know when he really needed power-making methods?

Such a plan is only suitable for the discussion occasions between Duke Xuande and his confidants, and must not be exposed. After leaving the tent, everyone knew that the Sun-Liu alliance was indestructible, and Duke Xuande was about to marry the sister of Duke Wu, which undoubtedly proved this.

Lei Yuan said seriously: "This is the kindness of giving me papaya and repaying me with Qiongju. The lord is truly a kind lord."

The two of them had a touch of their eyes and felt a tacit understanding, so they continued.

"I led the troops south shortly after I led the troops south, and Zhou Lang knew that Zhou Lang did not want Jingzhou to return to the rule of Liu Jingsheng's son, so he urgently mobilized the navy to load troops, and used Huang Gai and Zhou Tai as generals to attack Jingnan with all their strength. In just half a year, the two families' forces expanded, and finally formed a situation of intertwined thorns in the four counties of Jingnan. It was precisely because of this period that the main forces of the Sun and Liu families were in Jingnan, which made Cao Ren survive for a year. Today, the four counties of Jingnan have naturally more, based on the cities and population they have led, but there are many people in the Eastern Wu."

"Suzhi, look." Liu Bei pointed on the map and said, "These are the four counties in Jingnan. The northern part of Changsha County is all under the hands of the Eastern Wu, especially Baqiu and Linxiang as important strongholds, and Wuling County... You see, the Eastern Wu used Huang Gai as the prefect of Wuling, occupied the Linyuan, Hanshou, Yiyang and other places in Wuling County, and also used Zhou Tai's troops to garrison in Li County, echoing Yiling to the north. Success, what do you think of this?"

When Liu Bei asked this, he had some idea of ​​getting the test.

Lei Yuan cheered up and looked at the map repeatedly. Such a map was extremely crude for him. Fortunately, he had traveled between Hunan and Hubei in his previous life. At this time, he focused his thoughts and what he saw in his previous life gradually emerged. Although the cities were different after more than a thousand years, the entire trend of mountains and rivers and river flow were generally maintained as the pattern of the past, which was enough to serve as a reference for Lei Yuan.

After a while, he slowly said: "Lord, I am not familiar with Jingzhou geography, so I can only use this map as a basis, let's talk about it for now."

"Please speak for the next sentence."

"Jingzhou is vast and watery, so the connection between cities and places depends on waterways. The four important waterways from north to south are Lishui, Yuanshui, Zishui and Xiangshui. The Eastern Wu seized the strongholds on these waterways with the strong naval army." He took a step forward and gave instructions and explained in sequence: "Master, please see, Li County blocked the Lishui River, Linyuan blocked the Yuanshui River, Yiyang blocked the Zishui River, and Linxiang blocked the Xiangshui River. Above these four waterways, Baqiu is also the garrison of the Eastern Wu naval army. Starting from Baqiu, patrolling the four waters, if there is something wrong, advance, retreat, attack and defense will be all satisfactory."

He covered the map with his hands and clasped his posture: "Compared with this, although the lord's territory is vast, the cities are numerous, and the people are numerous... It is like a snake in Bashan. Once it is controlled by people for seven inches, even if it is capable of eating and elephant, it is impossible to do anything."

Thinking of this situation of being subject to restraint everywhere, Liu Bei sighed again. But he looked at Lei Yuan and couldn't help laughing: "Xuzhi, how dare you say you are not familiar with Jingzhou geography?"

There are only a few people in General Zuo’s mansion. Since Lei Xuzhi Mingrui is like this, the subsequent arrangements will be easy to say.

At this time, the dusk was already vast. Liu Bei got up and took a copper lamp himself and placed it on the edge of the map to illuminate it.

The situation is so passive, why do I still use a powerful general like Zhao Yun and use hundreds of Baili elite soldiers who regard him as treasures to throw themselves into the vast mountain? That's because I need a new force and a powerful weight to smash into Jingnan!

"I want to break this situation!" Liu Bei shouted: "Super, look again!"

The old soldier with frosted temples stretched out his fingers to scratch the map: "The main purpose of the Sun-Liu alliance to fight against Cao must not be shaken, but this does not mean that we cannot do anything. I want to throw the people of Huainan into two places to restrict the Eastern Wu. In addition, you and the children of the Lei clan of Lujiang can choose one place to settle down, and the other place will be handed over to Qimin, a registered householder who belongs to the Zuo General's Mansion."

The two places pointed out by Liu Bei are Zhaoling County in the north of Lingling County; the other is a newly established county called Lexiang, west of Gong'an, east of Yidao, and west of Chanling County in the south.

Lei Yuan carefully looked at the map and figured out Xuandegong's intentions.

Since it can be selected by General Zuo as a place where tens of thousands of people have established their footholds, it is naturally a place where the rivers are vast and the land is rich, so there is no need to worry about this.

Zhaoling is a military town in the north of Lingling County. It is located in Dongting in the east and Wuling in the west, connecting with Jiuyi situation, controlling the upper reaches of the Three Hunan and Changsha with lip and teeth. If tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians are stationed here, it can prevent the infiltration of the Eastern Wu power to the south and ensure the two counties of Lingling and Guiyang.

And Lexiang... Lei Yuan only knows that this place is connected to the Xiajiang River Road in the west and the sandy moraine in the north, which is a key pass between Jiangjin. As for the others... Lei Yuan stared at the map for a long time and gradually understood that by cutting off the channel for the development of the Eastern Wu forces to the north, the security of the flanks of the Gong'an City, the left General's Mansion's garrison can ensure the safety of the flanks of the Gong'an City, the base of Lexiang, and develop to the southwest, so as to penetrate the Wuxi River, suppress the Jingman, and to the northwest, it can directly enter the Three Gorges and open up the only channel of "crossing the Youjingyi"!

These two places are the key points to suppress the expansion of the Eastern Wu power. More than 20,000 people were invested in these two places, just like building a high wall and huge dam out of thin air at the edge of the Eastern Wu power. The Eastern Wu cut off the Jingnan territory with the advantage of the waterway, while Xuandegong relied on the land city stronghold to limit the people to the narrow range of the waterway and could no longer move. In this way, the power of General Zuo's Mansion could be easily drawn to seize the initiative.

This is a side of the Eastern Wu. This arrangement of Duke Xuande also responds to Lei Yuan's request in the mountains: by dividing the part of the Huainan people, Qimin, who belonged to the Zuo General's Mansion, and the children of the Lujiang Lei family, were placed in two places, so as to ensure that the Zuo General's Mansion could effectively recruit the people, and also blocked the Lujiang Lei family's use of its influence and continue to control all possibilities for the Huainan people.

This is not a conspiracy, but a calm governance method; everything is placed on the table, and the pros and cons are spread out. There are gains and losses, so you can choose.

Liu Bei said in a deep voice: "Xuzhi, I have issued an order in the Left General's Mansion, and promoted him to a general with his merits. He will be given a gift from the seal, ribbon, official uniforms, etc., and the day after the order is here. Now that the illness has not recovered, you can take it on your behalf. And the appointment of your own depends on where the Lei family in Lujiang wants to establish. If you are in Zhaoling, I will re-establish the position of the Northern Commander of Lingling; if you are in Lexiang, I will temporarily become the head of Lexiang, and in the future, I can serve as the captain of the Southern Barbarians of Jingzhou."

He supported the ground with his hands, stood up and stretched his waist: "Of course, this decision is so important, so there is no need to rush for a moment. Three days, five days, I think I can still wait."

Before he finished speaking, Lei Yuan poked his arm out and pointed in the small circle representing Le Township: "Why should I hesitate? Lord, I am willing to be the head of Le Township."

Liu Bei turned around and looked at Lei Yuan's expression and said strangely: "The geographical environments of these two places may have advantages and disadvantages, and the positions they are related to have. Is it necessary to discuss and weigh carefully?"

Lei Yuan shook his head repeatedly: "Everyone is working for the lord, why should we care about official positions? I only thought that the Lei family in Lujiang was originally a local tyrant in the mountains and wilderness. Since we came to Jingzhou, we hope to be closer to the center and be better in front of the lord, so that we can have the opportunity to make achievements. If we go to Zhaoling and are too far from Gong'an City, we will still be a local tyrant in the mountains and wilderness. Wouldn't I have been in vain?"

Liu Bei laughed.

Since the negotiation between the two parties was smooth, Liu Bei felt very happy. Seeing that the night was getting deep, he simply refused to return to Xiakou and proposed to sleep with Lei Yuan on the big tent, which was enough to talk at night. According to contemporary customs, men sleeping on the same bed together shows deep friendship.

Although Lei Yuan was not used to it, Xuande Gong Shengyi was unable to find a suitable reason to refuse. In desperation, he had no choice but to follow.

That night, the two talked about other things, some of the sufferings of people's livelihood, some of the mountains, rivers and geography, and occasionally mentioned the rise and fall of the Qin and Han Dynasties. Liu Bei had rich experiences and extensive knowledge; while Lei Yuan, based on his memories of his previous life, even though he paid attention to hiding his shortcomings, he often had unique insights.

The two talked until it was dawn before they could stop.
Chapter completed!