At the end of December in the 13th year of Jian'an, Nanyang County, Jingzhou.
While Sun Quan and Lu Su were making new plans, Liu Bei was confronting Cao Cao in Xinye and Yuyang.
At the end of November, Cao Cao secretly went south to Chenliu, mobilized his army, and raided Nanyang in early December, occupying Kunyang, Yexian, Duyang, Wancheng and other important cities in Nanyang.
Liu Bei was attacking Zhang Yun at the time. After learning about this, he left Guan Yu and Xu Shu with about 30,000 people to continue besieging Xiangyang, while he led 20,000 people northward.
Cao Cao's troops were about 50,000, and he deployed about 60,000 to 70,000 in the south. This time, in addition to ordering Guo Jia to stay in Chendu to keep an eye on Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, he also asked Runan Governor Zhao Yan to supervise the transportation of grain and grass in the rear.
Other than that, they are basically the best.
His generals Cao Hong, Li Tong, Zhu Ling, Li Dian, Lu Zhao, Feng Kai and other troops gathered together. In addition to the mastermind Xun You, there were also Dong Zhao, Mao Jie, Hua Xin and other slightly inferior but capable counselors.
counselor.
It can be said that except for Guo Jia, the Zang Ba tribe in Xuzhou who wanted to guard the southeast, and the troops left behind in Chendu to guard Liu Xie, most of the remaining troops in the south were brought over by him.
As for Liu Bei's 20,000 people, his only generals were Zhang Fei and Wu Yi, and in terms of counselors, only Zhuge Liang could take on the important task.
Because Zhao Yun and Tai Shici are now on Guan Yu and Xu Shu's side respectively, there are fewer generals.
There are some middle and lower-level officers whose names have been left in history, such as Fei Guan, Zhang Yi, Deng Xian, Wu Lan, Wei Yan, Dong Jue, Feng Xi, Zhang Nan, Gao Xiang, Kou Feng, etc.
Zhuge Liang put down the bowls and chopsticks in his hands, stood up and saluted Liu Bei: "Our time has come to launch an attack on Cao Cao."
"Come in."
Zhuge Liang smiled and shook his head: "Of course not. Although Cao Jun's soldiers are homesick, most of them are from Henan. Nanyang is very close to Yuzhou, Yanzhou and other places. No matter how homesick they are, they will not lose their fighting spirit. It's just that their
The morale will not be as high as that of the Lord’s army.”
Some people thought that these three attacks on Xu were meaningless, but in fact they not only saved Yuan Shao's power, which was almost on the verge of collapse, but also contained Cao Cao.
Zhuge Liang said with a smile.
He discussed with Zhuge Liang several times, but Zhuge Liang smiled and told him that the time had not come yet, and Zhuge Liang also said that it would be easy to stop Cao Cao from relocating the people, and it would not be difficult to even repel him.
And amid this forbearance and restraint, the thirteenth year of Jian'an came to an end, and the fourteenth year of Jian'an arrived.
Zhuge Liang smiled and nodded: "Morale can be used."
At the same time, Liu Bei also told the soldiers of the three armies and made a promise that as long as Cao Cao was defeated, he would immediately take them to Bashu and take them home. Therefore, the morale of the Yizhou soldiers was high and their morale was available.
At this moment, someone outside the door suddenly shouted: "Report!"
The problem is that just repelling him cannot hurt him. If Cao Cao cuts off his claws when he stretches out his claws and covets Nanyang, then he will send people over at any time in the future, and they will
Tired of coping, like Liu Biao, he deployed heavy troops to defend Nanyang.
Wancheng is the seat of Nanyang. The city has high walls and thick walls, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack. It is not easy to attack directly. Therefore, Liu Bei could only station troops in the Xinye, Yuyang, and Jiyang areas to confront Cao Jun.
However, Wenpin himself was a general under Liu Biao and had his own opinions. When Liu Cong and Liu Qi were fighting for Jingzhou, he remained neutral. He even obeyed and disobeyed the orders of Cai Mao and Kuai Yue, so he did not necessarily cooperate fully.
But during the New Year, both generals and soldiers were not at home with their families, but fighting in Nanyang. There seemed to be no trace of New Year's joy in the cruel war, and only a feeling of homesickness spread among the troops.
Liu Bei greeted.
After reading the letter, Liu Bei's face became more and more surprised, and he said: "The military advisor really had a clever plan. Xiaoqing took advantage of the southeast wind to attack Hongkou with fire and defeated the Jiangdong Army. Even their chief general Zhou Yu and general Huang Gai were killed. He In the letter, he said that he would use a fleet of ships to sail northward from Mianshui River and arrive at Fancheng by tomorrow at the latest."
Only at least half of Liu Bei's army were captured by the Yizhou army. Even if most of them were Dongzhou soldiers, that is, Jiangxia soldiers, their ancestral home was in Jiangxia. After following Liu Yan to Yizhou, Yizhou gradually It became my hometown, and my family members were all in the land of Bashu.
Fortunately, Liu Qi wrote to him, and with reason and emotion, he persuaded Wenpin to obey Liu Bei's orders.
Liu Bei was surprised and asked: "Is it possible that the military advisor is waiting for the end of the year to launch an attack while Cao's soldiers are homesick?"
Luckily for Gan Ning and the Huangmenting soldiers, Shen Chen had greeted them early and told them to follow Zhuge Liang's orders.
Liu Bei was a little confused for a moment.
Liu Bei was very anxious about this.
If it were Liu Bei of Xuzhou, he would definitely not listen to the advice like Chen Qun did when he advised him.
Liu Bei sighed: "There are many soldiers in our army from Zigui who captured Liu Zhang's Bashu Yizhou soldiers. I took them back once when I went to Bajun this year to relieve the pain of lovesickness. But if I don't go back, it's better to go back once." , wouldn’t you miss me even more?”
Zhuge Liang looked helplessly at the official document that had been taken away from Liu Bei's hand, then suddenly turned around and smiled and said: "Xiaoqing is a wealthy family now. He is rich and powerful, so he should eat his flesh."
The person who came in from the outside was Chen Dao, Liu Bei's chief of bodyguards. He came in and knelt down on one knee and said: "Report, my lord, military advisor, urgent news from Baqiu."
More than 50,000 people were divided into three groups, one was Liu Bei with 20,000 people, followed by Wenpin with 20,000 people, and finally Gan Ning and Huangmenting with 12,000 people.
Liu Qi wrote a letter to Wenpin. Seeing that Liu Cong was in trouble, Wenpin immediately chose to vote for Liu Qi.
In the past, although meat was necessary for war, except for the three thousand elites in Huangmenting, it was impossible to supply meat every day. Ordinary soldiers only had it a few times a month. Now they can eat enough meat, which can be regarded as a reward for the three armies.
But now Liu Bei has become much calmer. Unless he encounters something like Guan Zhang being killed, he already has the ability to endure in other matters.
Liu Bei put the bowls and chopsticks in front of Zhuge Liang and asked again: "It's just that the ancients said, "One burst of strength will weaken again, and three times it will be exhausted." I'm afraid that by killing time like this every day, my morale will decline."
So now Zhuge Liang thinks that he should be patient for the time being and wait until the time is right.
"oh?"
It is a pity that both sides have equal strength, and Cao Cao occupied the city and did not engage in a fierce battle with him in the wild. Liu Bei did not dare to attack rashly, so during this period he could only watch as Cao Cao moved a large number of people northward.
Cao Cao was very cunning. He secretly went south and launched a sudden attack. Coupled with Nanyang's military strength at that time, Wenpin, Gan Ning and others were all in the Xinye area. There was no one to defend the north, which allowed Cao Cao to occupy many counties north of Wancheng.
Then came the issue of the battle between ourselves and the enemy.
It's just that Cao Cao will take some actions regardless of whether he can get Nanyang or not. So in this month, he forcibly moved the people north of Wancheng and ordered the people to move to Runan. This caused complaints and the people were in dire straits, which made Liu Bei very angry.
Zhuge Liang smiled slightly, looked towards the south with a deep gaze, and said softly: "Xiaoqing told me that Zhou Yu will be defeated before the end of this year. Although I don't know what method he will use, but I believe Xiaoqing. As long as he thinks that he
Whatever you can do, you can definitely do, that’s all!”
"Congratulations, lord, congratulations, lord."
"Ha ha ha ha."
Wenpin and Gan Ning's armies were basically recruited from Nanyang. Although they were all outsiders, they had fled from the north and Guanzhong for more than ten years and gradually settled in Nanyang.
"The winner has already been decided on Xiaoqing's side."
Zhuge Liang took the bowl and chopsticks, thanked Liu Bei first, and then said: "My lord, are the soldiers homesick?"
Afterwards, Cao Cao moved his capital to Chenliu, and was almost defeated by Yuan Shao. After spending many years, he has only captured most of the territory in Jizhou. He has not even captured Youzhou and Bingzhou, which is enough to prove Shen Chen's power.
Every judgment is correct!
He has 20,000 men, plus about 8,000 or 9,000 under Gan Ning's command, and 3,000 elite soldiers from Huangmenting. In terms of total military strength, Liu Bei actually has one or two thousand more men than Cao Cao.
The two of them chatted about trivial matters while eating.
Zhuge Liang said: "The Yizhou soldiers missed their hometown, and their lord promised to take them back, so they had hope in their hearts. But at the end of the year, Cao Cao led his soldiers out to fight, and he didn't know when the battle would be finished.
Without hope, my lord, do you think their morale will be very high?"
Moreover, Wenpin fought side by side with Liu Bei in his early years. They attacked Cao Cao's Xudu together, and they had a certain understanding of each other, so they managed to solve the problem of leadership and dispatch.
In Liu Bei's military camp, which is about twenty miles southeast of Jiyang County and about ten miles due north of Jiyang County, the whole army was beaming with joy and immersed in the happiness of eating meat.
After going around in circles for many years, in the end, as Shen Chen said, the place he should go to most was Jingzhou in the south.
The first is the issue of ownership and scheduling.
Even so, this is a very good portion of food that only wealthy families can afford.
In the general's tent, in the evening, Liu Bei opened the curtain and walked in with a smile, carrying a food box. There were two plates of meat and vegetables, two portions of rice and three plates of vegetables.
But Wenpin applied.
On New Year's Eve, Xinye County Magistrate Deng Mao slaughtered pigs and cattle and sheep, plus part of the bacon made in previous years, and sent it to the army to eat meat for the soldiers.
Liu Bei's eyes suddenly lit up and he said, "Get it."
"yes."
Although he does not yet have a stable foundation, he at least has tens of thousands of troops under his command, and the prospects are extremely bright. Whether it is Jingnan or Bashu, it may become his foundation in the future. How can Liu Bei not be happy about this.
More than ten years ago, Shen Chen had told him that Xuzhou was a place of the Fourth War and he could not stay there for long.
At that time, he still didn't believe it, but what happened later was exactly as he expected, because Cao Cao, Lu Bu, Yuan Shu and others attacked in turn, and Xuzhou was finally lost.
Zhuge Liang comforted him.
Liu Bei said in surprise: "But Xiaoqing is clearly at a disadvantage. I'm still worried about whether he can deal with Zhou Yu. Why does the military advisor believe that Xiaoqing can defeat Zhou Yu and rush north to help us?"
"It turns out that the military advisor is waiting for Xiaoqing!"
Now the aroma of food spreads throughout the army, and everyone is eating.
Liu Bei had no choice but to pick up the bowl and ate a large bowl with tears in his eyes.
It would be best to go to the south in the future.
After many failures in the court, I once saw Cao Cao being arrogant and domineering, and even the emperor did not take him seriously, so he waited patiently and finally left.
Zhuge Liang was currently sitting on the first seat to the right of the camp leader's position, processing official documents. The desk was filled with battle reports from various places. Although the decisive battle between Cao and Liu had not yet begun, the war between the scouts of the two sides had never happened. stop.
In addition to some things that Shen Chen used to judge the situation in the world when he was a child, it became even more extraordinary when he grew up. Taking advantage of the confrontation between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao in Guandu, he visited Xudu three times and shocked the world.
It just seems that they have more troops than Cao Cao, but there are also many hidden dangers.
But except for Wei Yan, the people here are basically at the level of mid-to-high-level captains and generals. There is still a big gap between them and Cao Cao's subordinates. In addition, the number of soldiers and horses on both sides is not equal. Logically speaking, it should be a crushing victory for Cao Cao. That's it.
Liu Bei laughed loudly, sat at the same table as Zhuge Liang, opened the food box and took out the food, and said while taking it: "Military advisor, it is the end of the year again, and the morale of the officers and soldiers of the three armies is strong now. Many middle and lower-level officers came to ask me, When will we have a decisive battle with Cao Cao?"
Believe Xiaoqing?
"Thank you, lord."
However, two plates of green vegetables were pickled vegetables, and only one plate was wild bracken, which grows in the winter in the south and is relatively cold-resistant, so it cannot be said to be fresh.
But Zhuge Liang urged him to be patient, so Liu Bei could only put aside his anxiety and wait patiently for the opportunity.
Liu Bei was disappointed and said: "We have been confronting Cao Cao for nearly a month now, but we have been unable to fight decisively. Most of the people in Wancheng have been hijacked by Cao Cao. It is very painful to watch this."
Therefore, Liu Beijun's homesickness was particularly strong.
But in the blink of an eye, I suddenly thought of Shen Chen's magic countless times.
Seeing that Liu Bei was still burying his head in his desk, Liu Bei happily put the food box on his desk, took away the official document in his hand, and said with a smile: "Military advisor, let's eat meat again in the evening, this time it's stew." Meat."
Chen arrived and handed over the letter that the courier had just handed him. As expected, the letter was written on paper produced in Huangmenting, not a bamboo slip made of bamboo.
"Please, my lord, be patient and wait a little longer. The time should come soon."
Finally, he has made no mistakes in his several analyzes of Jiangdong. He also set up an ambush from all sides to easily defeat Cai Mao. There are all kinds of miraculous things, and there are almost no mistakes in the opinions he puts forward every time, which makes people convinced.
"Yes."
There was also a smile in Liu Bei's eyes, and he could still remember the eight-year-old gentleman talking in front of him.
He smiled and said: "That's what the little gentleman told me back then. I didn't believe it at the time. Now it seems that the military advisor is right. What the little gentleman said will definitely come true, because as long as he thinks he can do it, I will definitely be able to do it, and from then on, I will never distrust Mr.
The two people looked at each other and smiled, and an unconditional trust was extended between the three of them. Just like Liu Bei unconditionally trusted his two brothers after he became sworn friends with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei in Taoyuan, because they are both