Jingnan before Liu Biao's arrival was not a power vacuum.

On the contrary, the pattern here is more unprecedented than in other places, where the law of the jungle is predatory, and the cards are not played according to the rules of officialdom -

The reason is also very simple, because in the fourth or fifth year of Zhongping, the District Star Rebellion broke out in Changsha County, which affected the four counties of Jingnan. Although the imperial court appointed Sun Jian as the Taishou of Changsha to quell the rebellion, Sun Jian also crossed the border and killed the rebels in the other three counties, but the magistrates originally sent by the imperial court to these counties were also killed by the rebels.

Emperor Ling listened to He Jin's advice in the first year of Zhongping, when the Yellow Turban just broke out, and issued an edict of "ordering the localities to prepare their own imperial palaces", and those who know a little bit about the interpretation of this edict know that this means that the imperial court must acquiesce in the interests of all local self-defense forces that have grown up through the crusade against thieves.

This is the origin of the "sect thief" power in Jingnan.

The nine counties of Jingxiang, the four southern counties and the five northern counties have already entered two sets of logic at the moment when the district star was destroyed. The five northern counties are strong families, and the southern four counties are strong local tyrants.

As a result, in the other three counties of Jingnan except Changsha, almost all of the magistrates in the past three years have been locals of Jingzhou, and the imperial court can only admit the local self-expression.

Zhang Xian is the number one person in the Jingnan sect, and has served as the Taishou of Guiyang and Lingling. Although he is now nominally only in charge of Lingling, in fact, Guiyang County is also at his disposal.

When Guan Yu left the gorge and arrived in Xiling (Yichang), he was faced with the coalition of Zhang Xian and Jin Xuan, these two people seemed to have a cold consciousness, knowing that Guan Yu was not good and could not resist alone.

In addition to these two county-level resisters, the rest of the county-level thieves are more, mainly represented by the local Huarong thief Bei Yu and Baqiu thief Su Dai in Nanjun, all of whom knew that Guan Yu could not be allowed to rush out of the Three Gorges, and they all marched west from their respective base counties, first to resist danger and defend the city to block, waiting for Zhang Xian and Jin Xuan's reinforcements.

It can be said that in the whole of Jingnan, except for Changsha, the landlords' self-defense forces in the other three counties have been mobilized.

However, Guan Yu seems to think that this is not bad - if these two are "loyal ministers of the Han Dynasty", Guan Yu, as a partial general and a Hanzhong guard, is not too embarrassed to poison him. It is still the end of 190, and attacking the princes of Dong and the Han clan will fall into diplomacy, and it is easy to offend the anger of other princes.

After all, it is not yet a completely chaotic era in which the Dong Alliance is engaged in casual scuffles to grab territory and have no name. Liu Bei, the notoriety of "taking the lead in starting a civil war", must not be carried.

I'd rather expand slowly, and I want to throw this notoriety to Liu Daiqiaomao, Yuan Shaogong, Sun Zhan, and Yuan Shu Liu Biao to carry it first. After these people "initiated the civil war", Liu Bei went again, "We are forced to take up arms, and Dianxing is just defending."

And since Jin Xuan and Zhang Xian, one of them are "pro-Dong elements" and the other is a "thief who coerced the imperial court to admit the fact of secession", there is no psychological barrier for black to eat black.

Killed on Liu Biao's orders, and returned half of the territory to Liu Biao, which is already very worthy of Liu Biao.

……

On the second day of November, under Xiling City, Guan Yu's army camped.

Guan Yu coerced Yu Wei to surrender to Wu County, Zigui, Xinling and other counties, erected a banner here, recruited rebels, and prepared for the follow-up siege war.

Of course, in his camp, he not only had to set up his own banner, but also set up the banner of "Bajun guards Cai Yong". Although Cai Yong is a scholar and does not know how to fight, and not a single soldier was sent to this battle, Guan Yujun's grain and grass were taken from the official warehouse of Ba County.

The banner of Cai is also conducive to recruiting talents. This is the great Confucianism of the world who has been in charge of Taixue and Dongguan for many years, and the scholars are in this troubled world, who doesn't want to defect to Cai Yong.

Therefore, Guan Yu was not in a hurry to attack the city, and before sending troops, his eldest brother Liu Bei and military advisor Li Su took care of him: in addition to seizing a solid bridgehead stronghold at the exit of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, this battle was more important to spread the benevolent and righteous reputation of the general of Zhengxi and the image of seeking talent, so that the sages of Jingchu, who longed for the Ming Lord, discovered the existence of Liu Bei, the Ming Lord.

Liu Bei also knew that the Shu Road was too difficult, even if the Central Plains was in turmoil, the north was in chaos, and the Central Plains scholars fled south, most of them would only be absorbed by Jingzhou, and Jingzhou would not be able to fit it, or if there was indeed a unique secret, the talents would travel thousands of miles up the river and cross the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River to join the princes of Shu.

Therefore, the strategic significance of setting up a bridgehead outside the Three Gorges is certainly one thing, but what is more important is to build a "repatriation and shelter station that is convenient for talented people to take refuge."

Let those who are not entangled and have no determination to go thousands of miles to Shu, or those who are worried about the insafety of the road, can get entangled funding, official escort, and fleet capacity support around Nanjun.

There are so many convenient conditions, are you afraid that you won't be able to attract talents?

Guan Yu was originally quite "arrogant and unbearable", and he was very uninterested in celebrities. But this time, for the earnest entrustment of his eldest brother and the military advisor, he still pinched his nose and posed as a corporal of Lixian.

Fortunately, in the first few days of the station, there have been some small fish and shrimp from several nearby counties who have come to vote, and what makes Guan Yu happy is that there are no "super V" celebrities here, they are all simple and practical talents.

For example, Cheng Donghe of Zhijiang County and Li Yan, the lieutenant of Sheshan County, took the initiative to lead the army and civilians to join Liu Bei a few days ago and accept Liu Bei's rule. (Note: Zhijiang is east of Xiling, Sheshan is south of Xiling, and Yishui is on the north bank, all of which are adjacent counties)

Since Dong He came, of course his son Dong Yun followed. But now Dong Yun is only a five-year-old child, and it is estimated that he will not have the opportunity to contribute to Liu Bei's great cause of supporting the Han family in this life.

These people, Guan Yu, were all appeased, saying that Liu Bei had just pacified Bashu, and many pseudo-officials appointed by Liu Yan would be replaced, and a large number of official positions would be vacant. Dong He and Li Yan have the reputation of being the first to vote, and in the future, they can serve as county magistrates in the newly split Yongan County in the eastern part of Ba County.

Li Yan is only in his early twenties, and Dong He is not yet thirty years old, and now they are all county lieutenants and county officials. What's more, Bajun is not far away, and it is separated from Yidu by the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River for hundreds of miles.

Dong He and Li Yan were naturally convinced, and soon entered the state, raising military supplies and counselors for Guan Yu on the spot.

In addition, Yicheng County of Xiangyang County is not far from here, in the northwest of Xiling, it is also a neighboring county, and today there are two scholars who have been county officials and have a little bit of practical talent, and they have abandoned their official posts to join Guan Yu.

Guan Yu also courteously greeted them, and learned that one of them was named Ma Liang, who was just over the age of the crown; The other is Xiang Lang, twenty-four years old.

These people are more familiar with the local situation in Jingzhou, as well as the nearby geography and people, Guan Yu came from afar, and it is not easy to rush into the army, so he needs to consult and learn from these locals to find out the local situation.

Guan Yu put Dong He in charge of collecting grain and grass on the spot, Xiang Lang in charge of settling the newly attached army and civilians, and Li Yan and Ma Liang served as operational staff officers with the army.

After the preliminary allocation, Guan Yu asked the newly attached Ma Liang: "Ji Chang, you have been in Xiangyang and Nanjun for a long time, do you know anything about the guards in Xiling, Yiling and other places?" Why did they temporarily raise the banner of resisting the passage of Dong Jun to obstruct us? Do they think they can stand up to my army? ”

Ma Liang introduced sincerely: "As far as I know, when the general forced Zigui to surrender, there were local bandit forces in Nanjun who sent troops to seize Xiling and Yiling, and they were not native to these two counties.

It was the Huarong thief Bei Yu who occupied Xiling, and the Baqiu thief Su Dai who occupied Yiling, all of whom were instructed by Zhang Xian and sponsored by Jin Xuan. These two people can be regarded as pawns of the sect thieves and pro-Dong forces, and now they have each pulled up thousands of soldiers and horses.

The general once broke Zhang Ju, Zhang Chun, and Bai Bo, and was powerful and secluded. I waited in Jingzhou, and I also heard a lot about the prestige of the general. I think that as long as Bei Yu and Su Dai are not deaf, they should not be so arrogant that they think they can stop the general.

However, they had a strong city to rely on, and this place had just left the mouth of the Yangtze River Gorge, so it was not easy for the army to deploy, and it was difficult to raise food on the spot. Perhaps they are trying to raise grain from the source of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, thousands of miles away, because they want to stubbornly consume the general's morale. When there is a slight shortage of food and grass, they can count on Zhang Xian and Jin Xuan to lead the main force of the thief army to attack and defeat the general with outnumbering. ”

Guan Yu listened to Ma Liang's analysis, twisted his beard and smiled, very proud: "I thought that the two thieves had some clever plan, but it was such a pedantic opinion-Ji Chang, you look at my military appearance, do you think it is possible for them to think like this?" ”

Ma Liang also complimented: "Of course it is impossible, the general only led 5,000 elite troops out of the gorge, and all of them were infantry and sailors, and the food consumption was slow, even though they thought that Ba County was only newly established a few months ago, and there were not many grain stocks and ships, and there was no reason to supply only 5,000 people." It doesn't take ten days for them to find out the general's military situation, and they will no longer think that they can dismiss the general. ”

Li Yan also echoed: "Moreover, Su, Bei and other thieves have a little less conditions, they think that the counties around Xiling will follow them to fight against the general." However, Dong County and I will vote wholeheartedly in the two counties, and the people of the two counties will work a little harder, and we can still subsidize a lot of people to supply the general. It only depends on whether Dong County Cheng is effective in raising grain. ”

Guan Yu couldn't help nodding when he heard this: "Thousands of miles out of the gorge, military needs are indeed the top priority, if you can gain a firm foothold in this battle, you should be the first to work." ”

(Note: Youzai is the word of Dong He)

Ma Liang also followed Guan Yu's words and deduced and suggested: "General Guan, since our army has few soldiers and is not afraid of consuming food, it is better to do the opposite and deliberately reveal the truth of our army to Zhang Xian and Jin Xuan."

In this way, it is also possible to lure the enemy to fight a quick battle, and no longer play with us the protracted tactic of 'consuming the enemy under a fortified city'. However, this is also a bit dangerous, if we really lure tens of thousands of enemy troops over, with General Guan's 5,000 soldiers and horses, I don't know if we can defeat the main force of the enemy army head-on......"

Guan Yu laughed: "Ji Chang is afraid that he still doesn't know Guan Mou's ability, just wait and see!" There are tens of thousands of thieves, but there are not enough to worry about! However, there is no need for us to rush to tell them that we have few troops - this is still near the mouth of the gorge, and if Zhang Xian is menacing, he is not afraid that after a small defeat of me, I will immediately retreat back into the gorge and not come out?

Since we want to lure the enemy, we will be more thorough, in the past few days, we have tried to attack Xiling in a hurry, and after breaking Xiling, we will enter and force Yiling. Yiling is some distance from the mouth of the gorge, if Zhang Xian has ambition and wants to annihilate me completely, at least I have to attack Yiling, and he will try to surround our army with blood, isn't it? ”

In Xiling, there is the Three Gorges behind it, and the enemy has no room to surround the rear if he wants to.

Go out to Yiling and deliberately give the enemy space to go around the rear!

It's like playing a moba game, how do you seduce the enemy to cross the tower and pack you when you shrink under the highland tower? Why do you have to go forward to the waves near a tower, so as to seduce the enemy to cross the tower.

Han Xin's battle of Jingcheng ended in the backwater, and Lu Xun's put Liu Bei in Yiling and then went around Liu Bei, all of which are the same reason.

After Guan Yu learned a little about the surrounding situation and geography, he would naturally make a similar decision.

There is no right or wrong in decision-making, and the key lies in combat effectiveness and execution. The same is the same tower three packs of one, the operation is not good, the tower is unevenly distributed, it is possible to be killed by the side of the package.

What's more, in history, Lu Xun's crossing of the tower and Liu Bei was actually not a complete victory, but only a three-for-one gain. Because Fu Tong sold himself and broke off, he ran away in exchange for Liu Bei; Huang Quan can only be regarded as having no way out, so he goes directly to the side to find an NPC to send the tower. Unless Fu Tong sells himself and wraps Liu Bei up, then it can be regarded as a zero-for-five ACE group.

Guan Yu thought that his combat power was far superior to that of Jin Xuan Zhang Xian, so he dared to seduce the enemy like this.