Han Xiang

Chapter 573: Changing Strategy and Going to Jingzhou

"Sir, you mean..."

Seeing Liu Qi's eyes widening, Zhuge Liang hurriedly waved his hand and explained:
"Master, don't be excited. Liang didn't say anything. The stars are illusory and cannot be accurately determined."

"uncle."

Liu Qi was helpless at this time, so he turned around and knelt at Liu Bei's feet, crying: "How can there be any reason why the father should not let his son go to the funeral after his death? Now Cai Mao, Chen Bing, and Han River are not letting my nephew return to Xiangyang. You have to make the decision for me."

"Eldest Young Master, please get up quickly. We are brothers in love with Jing Sheng. How can we just sit idly by and ignore it?"

Liu Bei lifted Liu Qi up with both hands, turned to look at Zhuge Liang solemnly, and said seriously: "Brother Jing Sheng passed away suddenly. The military advisor also felt it was strange. Cai Hao and others were even more rude. Now that the eldest son has come here to ask for help, I will do whatever it takes." They should all be taken care of.”

Zhuge Liang nodded and said: "Cai Mao and others have obvious intentions. They probably want to make Liu Cong the lord of Jingzhou, so they deliberately prevent the eldest son from returning to Xiangyang. Now he has mobilized his navy to cut off the Han River. If he wants to intervene, he must mobilize his troops."

"There are thousands of navy troops in Xicheng, but we must prevent Zhang Lu from taking advantage of the opportunity."

Liu Qi stopped abruptly mid-sentence.

Liu Bei nodded and continued, murmuring with a sullen face: "Liu Cong is too young to be in charge of the affairs. It is clear that Cai Mao and others want to gain power, and they want to abolish the elders and establish the younger ones. Jingzhou cannot fall into their hands."

"Cai Kuai and others have always been close to Cao Cao, and leaving them alone will be very harmful to the Han Dynasty. My lord, you might as well declare that the eldest son is the lord of Jingzhou, and then lead the troops south to raise troops to investigate the crime. I believe that all the officials in Jingzhou will not rebel. There are still many people Support the eldest son."

Hearing Zhuge Liang's suggestion, Liu Bei cast a surprised look.

It seems to be saying that according to our original plan, we should capture Hanzhong first and then Liangzhou. If we go south to help Liu Qi capture Jingzhou, won't Guanzhong become empty again?
The Liangzhou generals and Hongnong Cao's army have always been eyeing Guanzhong. Liu Bei was worried that if he led his troops to Jingzhou, he would lose Guanzhong, which he had finally won.

If Chang'an is not in our hands, how can we talk about 'welcoming the emperor and returning the old capital'?
Zhuge Liang saw Liu Bei's worries and quickly comforted him: "The eldest son does not have enough prestige. If he goes to raise an army to investigate, he will need to be accompanied by the lord himself. However, you can rest assured. Liang will stay in Chang'an to ensure that the pass is not lost." , you only need to leave more than ten thousand troops and one or two generals."

"Well, then I'll leave Yide and Zilong behind. As for the troops, I'd better keep more troops. I'll go south to Jingzhou mainly for deterrence. I may not actually fight Cai Mao."

Tongguan and Chencang are both Guanzhong fortresses, and the generals guarding the passes cannot be taken away at will. In addition, there are only 1 soldiers in Guanzhong, which is not too many if they are scattered everywhere. Liu Bei only plans to take away [-] soldiers.

After hearing this, Zhuge Liang shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Actually, Zilong is enough, not to mention Wen Chang, who can also be used. Yide has an impatient temper. Instead of waiting for him to ask for help, my lord, it is better to take him directly."

"Tongguan guards the central gate of Guanzhong. If Yide wants to go south with me, we can only transfer Junyi (Shiren) to go, but then there will be no one to guard Linjin." Liu Bei frowned and denied it.

Zhuge Liang was not optimistic about Shiren's ability. He guarded Linjin and guarded Pubanjin Ferry, mainly to help defend Zhang Fei. It is unlikely that he would be able to take on a big job if he was transferred to Tongguan.

At this moment, Zhuge Liang saw a bright light outside the palace gate, and quickly made suggestions to Liu Bei: "Liang thinks that the general is still guarding Linjin. Tongguan can be guarded by Chen Shuzhi. The lord has Yide to accompany him, so it shouldn't be I’m worried about the issue of dormitory guards.”

"Uncle? That's okay."

Liu Bei couldn't help but look out the door, thinking that Chen Dao had a calm personality and good martial arts skills, and was a good candidate for guarding the gate, so he nodded and agreed.

Regarding the issue of how many troops to lead, Zhuge Liang did not worry too much. After all, in addition to Liu Bei's troops in Guanzhong, Nanyang also had Guan Yu's garrison.

After trading Chen Dao for Zhang Fei, Liu Bei immediately crossed the Qinling Mountains to the south and left Wuguan.

Before leaving, Liu Bei reported that Zhuge Liang was the military advisor, Zhonglang Jiang, Jing Zhaoyin, and the governor of all important military and political affairs in Guanzhong.

In early March, Liu Bei and Zhang Fei's army arrived at Fuxian County and joined forces with Liu Qi and Liu Ye.Liu Qi left 3000 troops from Ganning and Ning to guard Xicheng, and brought all the remaining [-] troops from Handong. If he wanted to conquer Jingzhou, he couldn't just rely on his words.

In addition to these two groups of troops, Liu Bei also asked Wancheng to send troops in advance, and based on Zhuge Liang's advice, ordered Guan Yu to attack Fancheng directly.

As long as Fancheng is captured across the river, enough pressure can be put on Xiangyang, and Cai Kuai may be able to surrender quickly.

Cai Mao has been preventing Liu Qi from returning to seize power, and his navy has been monitoring activities in the upper reaches of the Han River.

When he learned that Liu Bei had joined forces with Liu Qi in Fuxian County, Cai Mao urgently ordered Zhang Yun to lead his troops to reinforce him in an attempt to force Liu Bei back in Zhuyang and Shandu. However, he did not know that Guan Yu led [-] troops out of Wancheng.

Wancheng is three hundred miles away from Fancheng. Guan Ping led 2000 pioneers to appear under Fancheng in less than five days.

Fancheng, as a subsidiary of Xiangyang, originally stationed many soldiers and horses for defense. However, after Liu Bei defected to Jingzhou, Guan Yu guarded Wancheng to block the threat from Cao Cao. Fancheng garrison was mostly transferred to Jiangling and other places.

When Guan Ping arrived with his vanguard army, Fancheng only had [-] soldiers.

At that time, Zhang Yun had led his navy to resist Liu Bei. Only then did Cai Mao remember the murderer in Wancheng, so he hurriedly sent Cai Zhong and Cai He to rescue Fancheng.

Cai Zhong and Cai He were mediocre in martial arts, and Cai Mao asked them to defeat Guan Yu. It was like a nine-headed insect talking to Ba Ba to get rid of Tang Monk's master and apprentice.

According to the intelligence coming from Fancheng, the general who attacked Fancheng was the son of Guan Yu, a young man in his infancy. Cai Zhong and Cai He then plucked up the courage to cross the river.

Xiangyang had the naval advantage. Guan Ping knew that the warships from the other side were approaching, but he had no way to effectively block them. He just lined up outside the city and waited.

Thinking that Guan Yu's rear army was coming soon, if Fancheng's defenders attacked the city and attacked together, Guan Ping thought that he could seize the city through counterattack. Maybe he could take advantage of the chaos to complete the first advance, so as to surprise his father.

The Xiangyang reinforcements successfully landed. Seeing that Guan Ping was so cowardly and only had two thousand soldiers, Cai Zhong sneered disdainfully:
"A young boy who dares to lead an army alone to fight is not afraid of losing his reputation as Guan Yu? He is really the father of a tiger and the son of a dog."

"Brother, what should we do? Go directly to the city or"

After listening to Cai He's request, Cai Zhong showed a surprised expression: "Go directly to the city? What do you think? Guan Yu gave my brother his military exploits, and you want to share them with outsiders?"

"Ok?"

"Guan Yu has bravery that no man can match. This man will definitely leave his name in history. If our brothers kill his son, will we also leave his name? We must take the opportunity given by Degui."

"It really is"

"Hurry and prepare your troops. Follow me and kill him later, and use Guan Ping's head to make your name famous."

"it is good."

Cai Zhong and Cai He took advantage of Guan Ping's young age and few troops. After completing the assembly, they skipped the steps of shouting and went straight to Guan Ping's military formation.

Although Guan Ping was young at this time, he had been influenced by Guan Yu for a long time, and the two thousand soldiers were also elite. Therefore, facing two and a half times the enemy, the whole army had nothing to fear.

"Ready to fight!"

(End of this chapter)