There are two acropolises outside Linxiang, one is Beijin Water City located in the northwest of Linxiang, and the other is the Three-Stone Garrison City on the west bank of the Xiang River.
After Jingzhou's army approached the city, Zhang Xian abandoned the three-stone garrison on the other side of the Xiangjiang River in order to concentrate his forces to fight the enemy. Beijin Water City was strengthened, forming a corner with Linxiang.
Beijin Water City, as its name suggests, was built along the Xiang River. Boats can reach the city directly. In addition to shouldering the important task of guarding the county town of Linxiang, Beijin Water City is also the most important port in Changsha and even the entire Jingnan region.
When Kuai Yue led an army to besiege Linxiang, Cai Mao also launched an attack on Beijin Water City. Beijin Water City was far inferior to Linxiang in terms of city defense and military strength. The soldiers in the city resisted Cai Mao's water infantry army for a whole day.
Three months later, it was declared lost.
Cai Mao was arrogant and proud. He conquered Beijin Water City and showed great satisfaction in front of Kuai Yue. He also saw that Linxiang was in a hurry and difficult to conquer, so he couldn't help but have the idea of going south.
Although he is the commander-in-chief of the Jingzhou Army, this matter cannot be decided by him alone. It must be approved by Kuai Yue.
Kuai Yue has not been in a very good mood recently. One of the reasons is that he cannot overcome the hard problem of Linxiang. The other is that the army has been going south for a long time, and diseases have begun to breed in the army.
Changsha was originally a humid and humid place, where miasma was rampant, and her husband died young. Most of the Jingzhou soldiers came from Jiangbei, Hanmi and other places, and were not accustomed to the soil and water of Jingnan. During the siege, the soldiers slept outdoors for a long time, making them prone to illness.
At present, there are hundreds of soldiers and sergeants in the army who are sick. The main symptoms include abdominal problems, coughing and wheezing, and diarrhea and swelling. Fortunately, it is winter now, and we are in the low-incidence period of the disease. By next spring and summer, the situation will be better.
Worse.
"Degui, do you want to lead the navy south?" Kuai Yue sat at the head of the military tent, frowning and looking down at Cai Hao.
"That's right." Cai Mao nodded slightly and said calmly: "You and I both know that it is difficult to capture Linxiang in a short time. Instead of being trapped under the city, it is better to find another shortcut.
In order to fight against us, Zhang Xian has depleted the troops of Lingling and Guiyang counties. Now that the two counties are empty, this is a rare opportunity for us. Chief Kuai, you will lead the infantry and cavalry to continue the siege of Linxiang, while I will lead the navy.
Going south, with the large number of our navy and warships, the two counties will definitely fall in the wind.
The two counties of Lingling and Guiyang are gone, which is equivalent to breaking off Zhang Xian's limbs. By then, only an isolated city in Linxiang will be left, with no help from outside and besieged inside. The city will be destroyed not far away."
Kuai Yue frowned. He knew what Cai Mao had in mind. He just wanted to make more achievements. However, he thought that there was something wrong with going south at this time. He shook his head and said:
"Lingling and Guiyang counties are of no concern to us. As long as Changsha is connected, the two counties will obey. On the contrary, now that Zhang Xian is still here, you will lead the navy south and you will be hostile to the soldiers and people of the two counties. Originally, I just stood aside and watched.
There will be wars in the two counties. When the time comes, we will be deeply mired in the quagmire and exhausted."
From Kuai Yue's point of view, this move was tantamount to asking for trouble. He only had to deal with an opponent like Zhang Xian, so why bother going south to provoke Lingling and Guiyang counties and cause trouble for himself.
Cai Mao felt a little unhappy after hearing this, and said in a deep voice: "There are advantages and disadvantages to this matter. I think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Besides, I want to lead the navy south, not only for Lingling, Guiyang County, but also for Linxian County."
Liu Zhongda."
"Liu Zhongda..." Kuai Yue had a thoughtful look on his face.
It was impossible for him not to have heard of the names of Liu Jing and Liu Zhongda. After all, this man was recognized by scholars from the north and south of Xiangyang as the crown prince among the young generation of scholars in Jingzhou.
He has extraordinary talents, superhuman intelligence, and a good understanding of the general trend of the world. Liu Biao said that he is a wise prophet, and he is like a ghost and a god helping him. Deng Xi believed that he had the "talent of a king's assistant", and his teacher Song Zhong also praised him as "the king's assistant".
National weapon."
At first, Liu Biao loved his talent so much that he went to great lengths to recruit him. The Prefectural Governor's Department and the Zhennan General's Mansion successively recruited him, and finally even made an exception and named him "Maocai".
Unfortunately, Zhang Xian beat him to the title of Xiaolian. For this reason, Liu Biao, who always showed himself to be elegant and gentle, could not help but get angry in front of others. This shows how much he valued Liu Jing.
When Kuai Yue went south this time, when he was leaving, Liu Biao specifically told him not to harm Liu Jing's life. In Changsha, there are only one or two people who are treated like this.
In Kuai Yue's view, although Liu Jing was outstanding in intelligence, he was only the head of a county and could not affect the overall situation at all. If he was willing to stay out of the matter, he would not have to worry about his life.
However, Kuai Yue discovered that he underestimated Liu Jing. According to reports from Wu Ju and other people who surrendered in Changsha, after the Battle of Baqiu, some of the defeated troops in Changsha, including his clan brother Liu Zong and others, did not choose to return to Linxiang, but went south to Linxian County to defect.
He currently has at least three to four thousand men and dozens of ships under his command, and his power cannot be underestimated.
More importantly, Lingxian County is located at the junction of Changsha, Lingling, and Guiyang counties. Its geographical location is extremely important. In addition, Liu Jing has a high reputation and prestige in Jingnan. If left alone, it will definitely have a negative impact on them.
Negative Effects.
Seeing that Kuai Yue remained silent, Cai Mao continued: "You must know something about Liu Zhongda, Yidu, he is quite talented, and the Ling County where he is located is the northern barrier of Lingling and Guiyang counties.
Today, Liu Zhongda has a large number of troops and is charging ahead. He is dismissive of our recruitment, and his intentions are clear. Disasters like this must be eradicated as soon as possible."
There was a serious look on Kuai Yue's face. He was not blind. There was no way he could not see a real threat like Liu Jing's. It was just that they had been hampered by Linxiang and Beijin before and could not allocate troops for the time being.
response.
Kuai Yue still opposed the southward march to Lingling and Guiyang counties, but Liu Jing of Ling County had to kill him in advance.
Kuai Yue made a decision in his heart and said: "What De Gui said is not unreasonable. Liu Zhongda is indeed a threat to us."
Cai Mao was overjoyed when he heard this, and then asked: "What about Lingling and Guiyang counties..."
Kuai Yue decided to use the drag-character tactic and said with a smile: "We can only hope for Shu after we get Long. Why don't Degui wait until he captures Lingxian and captures Liu Jing? It won't be too late for you and me to discuss it again."
Cai Maohao laughed angrily and said: "The aliens are really too worried. We have hundreds of naval vessels and ten thousand soldiers. How can the small town of Lingxian County be regarded as my thunder blow? If Liu Zhongda considers himself a young man and dares to use his arm as a chariot,
Then don’t blame me for ignoring the general’s instructions.”
Seeing that Cai Mao was getting carried away, Kuai Yue couldn't help but remind him: "With Liu Zhongda's great reputation, how can there be no reason? De Gui must not be careless. If he is frustrated..."
"Frustrated? Do you think I will capsize?"
Cai Mao was quite dissatisfied. Liu Jing was just a twenty-year-old boy. Even if he had some talent, he could only sit and talk. What threat could he pose to him? Could he defeat him with just one mouth?
navy?
Kuai Yue couldn't help but frown, and he wanted to speak several times, but finally did not say anything. Cai Mao's character was like this, and other people's persuasion had no effect at all, but would annoy him.
However, Kuai Yue was not too worried. Cai Mao was arrogant and arrogant, but he was not an incompetent person. As long as he did not make mistakes and bully others, no matter how talented Liu Jing was, he would not be able to do anything.
He can only be captured without hesitation.
The two then discussed the time to send troops. Since the first day of August, Cai Mao's navy had completely defeated the Changsha navy in several battles, and then attacked Beijin Water City non-stop. After a few months, the soldiers were already at the end of their war effort. At this time, they went south.
It will inevitably lead to a great decline in morale, widespread complaints, and worrying about the combat effectiveness of the soldiers. Therefore, the two decided to rest for two months and then go south to Lingxian County in February next year.
…………
Ling County, Zhongshui Township.
Liu Jing stood on the shore, watching a brand new large stern ship being laboriously dragged into the water by many boatmen. He couldn't help but shake his head. This method was really inconvenient, so he decided to build a dry dock. This is what he
One of the purposes of coming to Zhongshui Township this time.
However, building a dry dock is not a small project, and it is estimated that it will not be put into use until next year. Moreover, because it is a new thing and the main purpose is to accumulate experience, the scale of the dry dock built is limited and cannot be expected in a short time.
Since dozens of shipyards in the south of Linxiang were moved to Zhongshui Township, scenes like this have happened countless times every day, with warships being launched into the water like dumplings.
This is by no means an exaggeration. What restricts the speed of shipbuilding has never been the shipbuilding itself, but the wood.
The wood used for shipbuilding needs to be sunk or dried in the shade, and the time is measured in years. Shipbuilding is much faster. As long as there is enough wood, a fleet can be built in ten and a half days.
For example, Xu Daofu, the prefect of Shixing in the Jin Dynasty, had a secret ambition. He wanted to build ships, sent people to the mountains to cut trees, and claimed that he would sell them downstream. Later, he lied that there was little labor and it would be difficult to transport them, so he sold them in the county at a low price, reducing the price.
Several times, the scholars and the people were greedy for cheap, selling clothes and buying wood.
Later, Xu Daofu rebelled, so he asked the people for wood based on the sales coupons at that time, and then recruited shipwrights. In just ten days, a large-scale fleet was built.
The dozens of shipyards Liu Jing moved from Linxiang all had a lot of timber stocks. Therefore, in just a few months, various ships were launched one after another, greatly improving his fleet.
The cost of building such a batch of ships is astronomical. With Liu Jing's current financial resources, it is far from enough, so he can only pay a commission, and the other 80% is partly compensated with land and shipyards, and the rest is all IOUs.
.
In fact, given the current situation in Changsha, Liu Jing could have adopted the strategy of taking things by force like Xu Daofu. After all, we were in a cannibalistic world, so how could it be justified? But he really couldn't do this kind of thing.
After staying in Zhongshui Township for a few days, Liu Jing set out to return to Ling County. At this time, the third year of Jian'an (198 AD) was coming to an end. Although the world was in turmoil this year, it was nothing compared to the next year.
Already.
Next year, that is, the fourth year of Jian'an (199 AD), after Yuan Shao got rid of Gongsun Zan, his henchman in the north, he gathered the people from the four states and an army of 100,000, and marched south to the Central Plains. In this year, Cao Cao would also overthrow Lu Bu and recruit Zhang Xiu to surrender.
, relieve your worries and have a go with Yuan Shao.
This is one of the most famous battles in the Three Kingdoms, the Battle of Guandu.
This was a battle that would determine the future pattern of the north. As a modern man, Liu Jing certainly knew that Cao Cao would have the last laugh.
However, Yuan Shao was so skinny that a camel was bigger than a horse. Even though he was defeated in Guandu and died of illness, Cao Cao still spent eight years to completely eliminate the Yuan family.
This means that Liu Jing still has enough time. In 1989, he will own at least the four counties of Jingnan. He is convinced of this.
As soon as the first day of the fourth year of Jian'an passed, Liu Jing focused his attention on the north.
Last year, Liu Zhu was assigned by him to lead the fleet to station and take over Hengshan Township. The biggest reason why Liu Jing chose Liu Zhu was that he controlled Linxiang's intelligence network.
Liu Zhu was born in the city, had made a living by stealing, and was quite familiar with intelligence and other matters. Liu Jing had been deliberately cultivating him in this field from a very early age, especially after Liu Jing left Linxiang and went to Lingxian County.
Liu Jing once sent him to Xiangyang to find out the information. That time, he happened to catch up with the Deng family of his wife's family who moved south, so he returned together.
Not long after, Liu Jing sent him to Linxiang to take charge of the relocation of soldiers, families and shipyards. He did not return to his side until the Jingzhou army came to the city.
Hengshan Township is closer to Linxiang, making it easier to get information, so Liu Zhu is the perfect choice.
Liu Zhu did not disappoint him. After the first month, news came back one after another. At first it was just a few words, but slowly, the news became more and more detailed, which attracted Liu Jing's great attention.
There have been rumors recently in Linxiang that Cai Mao will lead the Jingzhou Navy southward to attack Ling County and Lingling and Guiyang counties in the near future. Liu Zhu has already found out about this matter. It was first reported from the Jingzhou Army camp. Liu Zhu speculated that
This news is nine times out of ten true.
The two had similar views, so Liu Jing did not dare to neglect and immediately summoned everyone to discuss countermeasures.
Liu Jing originally had a water infantry of more than 7,000 people. Later, he was joined by the remaining navy in Changsha. In recent months, he has built a large number of ships and recruited soldiers, so the number is close to the 10,000 mark.
If Liu Jing hadn't tried his best to persuade Lingling and Guiyang counties to obtain the scarce food, it would have been a fool's errand for him to rely on Ling County to support so many people.
The power under Liu Jing's command has grown extremely fast. An ordinary person would definitely suffer from indigestion.
Fortunately, he started laying out the plan a few years ago. Brother Liu Xiu is good at running the army. Over the years, he has trained an elite army of 1,500 people. To be honest, a hundred-man camp can be used to support a battalion.
shelf.
Liu Jing has no shortage of low-level Jiangling for the time being, but he is very short of senior generals who can lead a battalion alone.
Counting around him, there were only Liu Zong, Liu Xiu, Cai Sheng, Ma Zhou, and Wang Qiang. For this reason, Liu Jing had to encourage others and put his younger brother Liu Liang in charge of the first battalion. He was already eighteen years old this year.
, barely able to use it.
Although Han Guang and Liu Jing had some scruples in their hearts, their military talents were absolutely outstanding, so they still awarded him a battalion.
As for Zheng Zheng, Zheng Zheng has basically taken over the government affairs of Ling County, and Yu Zheng has almost become his bodyguard. He has no one to use him now.