Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

At the end of December in the 13th year of Jian'an, Nanyang County, Jingzhou.

When 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, dispatched a large 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 that time. After learning about this, he left Guan Yu and Xu Shu with about 3 people to continue to surround Xiangyang, and led 2 people to the north.

Cao Cao's troops were about 7, and he deployed about [-] to [-] in the south. This time, in addition to ordering Guo Jia to stay in Chendu to watch over Han Xiandi, he also asked Runan prefect Zhao Yan to supervise the transportation of grain and grass in the rear. Other than that, it's basically the best of the best.

The subordinate 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, Dong Zhao, Mao Jie, Hua Xin and other slightly inferior but capable men were also among the advisers. strategist.

It can be said that apart from Guo Jia, the Xuzhou Zang Ba tribe who was going to guard the southeast, and Chen Du who stayed behind to guard Liu Xie, he brought most of the troops in the south.

As for Liu Bei's 2 people, the only generals under his command are Zhang Fei and Wu Yi, and only Zhuge Liang can take on the big task in terms of counselors.

Because Zhao Yun and Tai Shici are now with Guan Yu and Xu Shu respectively, there are fewer generals.

There are some middle- and lower-level military 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.

But except for Wei Yan, the level here is basically at the level of a senior lieutenant general, and there is still a big gap with 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 situation for Cao Cao. is.

But Wenpin voted.

Liu Qi wrote to Wenpin, and Wenpin saw that Liu Cong was gone, so he immediately chose to vote for Liu Qi.

He has 2 people, plus Gan Ning's about 2000 or [-], and Huangmenting's [-] elites. In terms of total force, Liu Bei actually has [-] more people than Cao Cao.

It just seems that they have more troops than Cao Cao, but there are also many hidden dangers.

The first is ownership and scheduling issues.

More than 5 people are divided into three groups, one is Liu Bei with 2 people, then Wenpin with 2 people, and finally Gan Ning and Huang Menting with 1 people.

Fortunately, Gan Ning and the Huangmenting soldiers said that Shen Chen had greeted them earlier and asked them to obey Zhuge Liang's orders.

But Wenpin himself is a general under Liu Biao's command and has his own opinions. When Liu Cong and Liu Qi competed for Jingzhou, he remained neutral. Even Cai Mao and Kuai Yue's orders were obeyed, so they may not fully cooperate.

Fortunately, Liu Qi wrote him a letter, and persuaded Wenpin to obey Liu Bei's order.

Moreover, Wenpin fought side by side with Liu Bei in the early years. They attacked Cao Cao's Xudu together, and they had a certain understanding of each other, which barely solved the problem of leadership and scheduling.

Immediately afterwards, the issue of the situation of the enemy and the enemy.

Cao Cao was very cunning, went south secretly, and launched a sudden attack. Coupled with the strength of Nanyang at that time, Wenpin, Gan Ning and others were all in the Xinye area, and there was no defense in the north, so that Cao Cao occupied many counties north of Wancheng.

Wancheng is the administrative seat of Nanyang, with high walls and thick walls, easy to defend but difficult to attack, and it is not easy to attack directly.Therefore, Liu Bei could only station troops in Xinye, Yuyang, and Jiyang to confront Cao Jun.

It's just that Cao Cao will take some actions regardless of whether he can get Nanyang or not. So in the past month, he has forcibly relocated the people in the north of Wancheng and ordered them to move to Runan.

It's a pity that the two sides have equal forces, Cao Cao occupied the city and did not fight him in the wild, and Liu Bei did not dare to attack rashly, so he could only watch Cao Cao move a large number of people northward during this period.

He appeared in business with Zhuge several times, Zhuge Liang smiled and told him that the time had not come, and Zhuge Liang also said that it was easy to stop Cao Cao from relocating the people, and it was not difficult even to drive him back.

The problem is that it is only to beat him back, not to hurt him.If Cao Cao cut off his claws with a knife when he stretched out his claws to covet Nanyang, then he will send people over at any time in the future, and they will be exhausted and deploy heavy troops to defend Nanyang like Liu Biao.

So right now Zhuge Liang thinks that he should be patient for a while and wait until the time is right.

Liu Bei was very anxious about this.

But Zhuge Liang urged him to be patient, so Liu Bei could only put aside this anxiety and wait patiently for an opportunity.

If it was Liu Bei from Xuzhou, he would definitely not listen to persuasion like Chen Qun persuaded him.

But now Liu Bei has calmed down a lot. Unless he encounters something like Guan Zhang being killed, he already has the ability to endure in other things.

And in this kind of forbearance and restraint, the 13th year of Jian'an came to an end, and the 14th year of Jian'an came.

But during the New Year, neither the generals nor the soldiers stayed at home with their families, but fought in Nanyang. There seemed to be no trace of New Year's celebration in the cruel war, only a feeling of homesickness spread in the army.

Wenpin and Gan Ning's armies were alright, they were basically recruited by Nanyang. Although they were all foreigners, after more than ten years, they fled from the north and Guanzhong, and gradually settled down in Nanyang.

Only at least half of Liu Bei's army was the Yizhou army captured at the beginning, even if most of them were Dongzhou soldiers, that is, Jiangxia soldiers, whose ancestral home was in Jiangxia, but after Liu Yan went to Yizhou, gradually Yizhou Become the homeland, and the family members are all in the land of Bashu.

Therefore, Liu Beijun's homesickness is particularly strong.

On New Year's Eve, Deng Mao, the magistrate of Xinye County, slaughtered pigs, cattle and sheep, plus some bacon made in previous years, and sent them to the army to serve the soldiers.

Although it was said that meat was indispensable in wars in the past, except for the [-] elite soldiers in Huangmenting, it was impossible to supply meat every now and then. Ordinary soldiers could only eat meat a few times a month.

At the same time, Liu Bei also told the soldiers of the three armies to make a promise that as long as Cao Cao was defeated, he would immediately take them to Bashu and bring them home, so the morale of the soldiers in Yizhou was high and the morale of the army was available.

Jiyang South is about twenty miles to the southeast, and in Liu Bei's barracks about ten miles to the north of Jiyang County, the whole army is beaming, immersed in the happiness of eating meat.

In the general's camp, at dusk, Liu Bei opened the curtain and walked in with a food box. There were two plates of meat, two portions of rice, and three plates of vegetables in the food box.

However, there are two plates of green vegetables that are pickled pickles, and only one plate is wild bracken that can grow in the south in winter, which is relatively cold-resistant, so it is not fresh.

Even so, this is a very good portion of food that only wealthy families can afford.

At this time, Zhuge Liang was sitting on the first seat on the right under the tent master's position to deal with official documents. The table was full of war reports from all over the world. stop.

Seeing that he was still buried in the table, Liu Bei happily put the food box on his table, took away the official document in his hand, and said with a smile: "Military Master, let's eat meat again at night, this time it's stewed meat." Meat."

Zhuge Liang glanced helplessly at the official document that had been taken away from Liu Bei's hand, and then suddenly smiled and said, "Xiaoqing is a big family now, rich and powerful, he should be eaten."

"Ha ha ha ha."

Liu Bei laughed loudly, sat at the same table with Zhuge Liang, opened the food box and took out the food, and said as he took it: "Military division, it's the end of the year again, and the morale of the generals of the three armies is now high. Many middle and lower rank officers came to ask me, When will we fight Cao Cao to the death?"

Zhuge Liang smiled and nodded, "The morale is good."

Liu Bei put the bowls and chopsticks in front of Zhuge Liang, and asked again: "It's just that the ancients said, "If you work hard at one stroke, you will decline again, and then you will be exhausted." I am afraid that morale will decline if you spend time like this every day."

"Thank you, my lord."

Zhuge Liang took the bowls and chopsticks, thanked Liu Bei first, and then said: "My lord, are the soldiers homesick?"

"Yes."

Liu Bei sighed and said, "Many of the soldiers in our army are Bashu and Yizhou soldiers who captured Liu Zhang in Zigui. I took them back once when I went to Bajun this year, and relieved the pain of lovesickness. But it's okay if I don't go back. I went back once. , don’t you miss me even more?”

Zhuge Liang said: "Yizhou soldiers miss their hometown, and the Lord promised to take them back, so they have hope in their hearts. But Cao Cao brought his soldiers out to fight at the end of the year, and he didn't know when the fight would be over. Without hope, my lord thinks their morale will be high?"

Liu Bei was pleasantly surprised: "Could it be that the military commander is waiting for the New Year's Pass to launch an attack when Cao's soldiers are homesick?"

Zhuge Liang smiled and shook his head: "Of course not. Although the soldiers of Cao Jun 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 be without fighting spirit. It's just that their Morale won't be as high as the Lord's army."

Liu Bei was disappointed and said: "Now we have been confronting Cao Cao for nearly a month, but we can't fight decisively all day long. Most of the people in the Wancheng area have been kidnapped by Cao Cao. It is very painful to see this."

"Please wait patiently, my lord, the time should come soon."

Zhuge Liang gave a word of comfort.

Liu Bei had no choice but to pick up the bowl and ate a large bowl with tears in his eyes.

The two chatted about trivial matters while eating.

Now the whole army is filled with the smell of food, and everyone is eating.

At this time, someone outside the door suddenly shouted: "Report!"

"Come in."

Liu Bei greeted.

The person who came in was Liu Bei's chief guard, Chen Dao, who knelt down on one knee and said, "Report, my lord, military advisor, Baqiu has an urgent message."

"Oh?"

Liu Bei's eyes lit up immediately, and he said, "Bring it."

Chen Dao handed over the letter given to him by the messenger just now. The letter was indeed written on the paper produced by Huangmenting, not the bamboo slips made of bamboo.

"Xiaoqing's side has already decided the winner."

Zhuge Liang said with a smile.

After Liu Bei read the letter, his face became more and more surprised, and he said: "The military master really has a clever plan. Taking advantage of the southeast wind, Xiaoqing attacked Hongkou with fire and defeated the Jiangdong army. Even their chief general Zhou Yu and general Huang Gai died. In the letter, he said that he would use the fleet to go northward from Mianshui, and he would be able to reach Fancheng by tomorrow at the latest."

"Congratulations, lord, congratulations, lord."

Zhuge Liang put down the bowls and chopsticks in his hands, stood up and bowed his hands to Liu Bei and said: "Our time has come, we can attack Cao Cao."

"It turns out that the military advisor is waiting for Xiaoqing!"

Liu Bei said in surprise, "But Xiaoqing is obviously at a disadvantage. I'm still worried about whether he can handle Zhou Yu. Why do the military advisers believe so much that Xiaoqing can defeat Zhou Yu and go north to help us?"

Zhuge Liang smiled slightly, looked to the south with deep eyes, and said softly: "Xiaoqing told me that before the end of this year, Zhou Yu will definitely be defeated. Although I don't know what method he will use, I believe in Xiaoqing. As long as he thinks he will If you can do it, you can do it, that's all!"

Do you believe Xiaoqing?

Liu Bei was at a loss for a while.

But in the blink of an eye, he suddenly thought of Shen Chen's countless miracles.

More than ten years ago, Shen Chen had told him that Xuzhou was the site of the Fourth World War, and he could not stay for long.

In the future, it is best to go to the south.

At that time, I still didn't believe it, but what happened later was as he expected. Because Cao Cao, Lu Bu, Yuan Shu and others attacked in turn, Xuzhou finally fell.

After falling in the court several times, I also saw Cao Cao's arrogance and domineering, even the emperor didn't pay attention to him, so he waited for the time and finally left.

After wandering around for many years, in the end, as Shen Chen said, the place he should go the most is Jingzhou in the south.

Although there is no stable foundation yet, at least there are 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 this not make Liu Bei happy.

Except for some things that Shen Chen used to judge the situation of the world when he was a child, it was even more unbelievable when he grew up. Taking advantage of Cao Cao's confrontation with Yuan Shao at Guandu, he came to Xudu for the third time and shocked the world.

Some people felt that these three attacks on Xu were meaningless, but in fact, this not only saved Yuan Shao's forces that were on the verge of collapse, but also contained Cao Cao.

Afterwards, Cao Cao moved his capital to Chenliu, and was almost defeated by Yuan Shao again. After spending many years, he has only captured most of Jizhou, not even Youzhou and Bingzhou, which is enough to prove Shen Chen's Every judgment is right!

In the end, he has made no mistakes in his analysis of Jiang Dong several times now.He also set up an ambush on all sides to take Cai Mao lightly.There are all kinds of magic, and there are almost no mistakes in the insights that are put forward every time, which is unbelievable.

"Yes."

There was also a hint of a smile in Liu Bei's eyes, and the appearance of that eight-year-old little gentleman talking in front of him seemed to be vivid in his memory.

He smiled and said: "Mr. Xiao told me this way back then. I didn't believe it at the time. Now it seems that the military adviser is also right. What Mr. Xiao 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. Xiao."

The two looked at each other and smiled, and an unconditional trust spread between the three of them.It's as if Liu Bei trusted his two brothers unconditionally after he became sworn brothers with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei in Taoyuan, because they are his most important people!