It didn't matter if Huang Shilang's physical body was dead or not, the moment Huang Shilang's stand-in was beheaded in public as himself, he was already dead in the hearts of his minions.

It doesn't matter whether Zhang Xian's body is dead or not, when he was shot by Gan Ning with an arrow and fell, in the hearts of the soldiers of the Jingnan Coalition Army, the sky in Jingzhou was already Liu Jingsheng and Liu Zhijun.

Of course, it also includes Guan Yu, who is currently nominally in the posture of "seeing the injustice of the road, drawing a knife to help, and helping Liu Jingzhou".

This is the reason why Liu Bei and Guan Yu had to make friends with Liu Biao when they went out of the gorge. The righteous title appointed by the imperial court is now easy to use, and with this title, combined with a small number of troops, it can multiply the effect of force value with obedience and rebellion.

In a year at most, there will be no more good things in this world that "a holy decree from the imperial court can let a person with no local roots ride into the state to seize power", and this window will be completely closed soon.

(Note: I know some people will cite the example of Liu Xuan, who was indeed able to ride into the state three years later by Li Wei's appointment, but he was quickly killed by Sun Ce, a disobedient Yuan Shu faction.) Therefore, attempted cases cannot be counted. The last window period is Liu Biao, Yuan Shao, and Gongsun Du. ）

With the fall of Zhang Xian, groups of ordinary soldiers of the Jingnan Coalition Army fled like headless flies, or surrendered directly on their knees. The resistance of the outer camp directly collapsed and blew up the pot.

The soldiers of the inner camp who were protected by the chariot battle, as well as a small number of clan thieves, saw it clearly from the closer, knowing that Zhang Xian had just fallen from the platform, and wanted to resist to the death.

But this is nothing more than Guan Yu's arms - there are a total of 25,000 people in the Sheshan camp, including the wounded soldiers. There were about 20,000 men in the outer camp, and the wounded soldiers were also in the outer camp. There are only 5,000 people in the inner camp who are the most die-hard in Zhang Xian's lineage.

Guan Yu wished that the leaders of those sects and thieves would be stubborn to the end, so that he could kill them all, and beat the rabbits with all his might, and killed him in Lingling, Guiyang and other places, so as to save him from going on an expedition of thousands of miles to southern Hunan and even Wuling in the future.

The 20,000 people in the outer camp either fled or surrendered, and the soldiers who surrendered in the line of fire were immediately driven to the inner camp, and Guan Yu didn't even have to pay much for the casualties of his own descendants, so he let the new annexed army and the die-hard sect thieves suffer from internal friction.

The bloody battle lasted until the beginning of the morning, the sky was completely bright, the inner camp was killed like a river of blood, Zhang Xian and a group of bandit leaders were all killed in the chaos, and at least five or six thousand people were killed and wounded in the night battle, of which the cannibalism in the chaos accounted for the vast majority.

The total casualties of Guan Yu's Danyang soldiers were less than 1,000, and there were only more than 200 killed in the battle, and more than 100 were seriously injured, and it is estimated that there is no way to treat them, and the rest are minor injuries that can be saved. After all, these Danyang soldiers are also wearing leather armor, and their survivability is still much stronger than that of the enemy army without armor.

Of the more than 20,000 people of the Jingnan coalition army, in addition to the dead and wounded, a small half escaped, and nearly 10,000 surrendered and were captured.

Guan Yu was also afraid that it would be difficult to control the large number of people, so he first collected the weapons, and then divided them into several batches and conquered them.

He first singled out the Wuling Man under the Golden Spiral Tent, and there were about 2,000 people in this part.

Because according to the conditions negotiated with Liu Biao before, Wuling County was originally going to be ceded to Liu Bei's camp, and the troops could naturally be absorbed. Jin Xuan also died in the chaos, and it should not be difficult for Guan Yu to control Wuling County again.

Guan Yu picked and chosen, and captured a barbarian chief officer from the captives, surnamed Sha, and his name Guan Yu couldn't read clearly, so he asked him to temporarily lead these Wuling barbarians.

Of the remaining seven or eight thousand captives, the vast majority of them were county soldiers and powerful forces from Lingling and Guiyang Counties, and a few were the subordinates of Huarong thief Bei Yu who escaped and defected to friendly forces when Xiling City was broken before.

The soldiers of Huarong thief Bei Yu, and the soldiers of Baqiu thief Su Dai in Yiling City that have not yet been taken, these two parts may add up to three or five thousand people - the total number is not known yet, because it depends on how many people will die in the process of breaking Yiling City in the future, and how many people will vote directly. If the soldiers do not go down to the tomb without blood, then the total number of captives of these two sect thieves can be 5,000.

These people are all from Nanjun, so there is no doubt that they will be handed over to Liu Biao's subordinates, Wen Ping and Wang Wei. Guan Yu is not uncommon with this kind of degrading, and for the sake of Liu Bei's camp's external image and diplomatic reputation, he will not detain it.

And the remaining soldiers of Lingling County and Guiyang County can be discussed. Guan Yu can claim to the outside world that the military rations are insufficient, and after being caught, the weapons were confiscated and dismissed on the spot, and Liu Biao could not investigate.

If Liu Biao wants to, then he can also exchange some more conditions, and everything can be discussed.

……

After breaking through the camp of Sheshan, Guan Yu was not in a hurry to negotiate with Liu Biao, he was ready to spend a few more days to capture Yiling first.

After Guan Yu's army arrived at the foot of Yiling City, he did not plan to attack, but first surrounded the west of the city, and then let the troops gradually extend the camp to the north and south sides of the city.

Then let Su Dai in the city know that Zhang Xian was dead, and also carried Zhang Xian's head with a pole in public for the soldiers in the city to look around, breaking the morale of the defenders.

Su Dai knew that there were no reinforcements from outside, so he really had no desire to fight, so he hurriedly took advantage of the fact that Guan Yu's army had just completed the posture of "encircling three and missing one" and was about to close the last side of the siege, and grabbed a time difference with one or two thousand descendant troops and more than 100 cavalry officers and henchmen to break through.

Sudai's troops did not run away much, and most of those who broke through on foot were intercepted by pursuit, and only the men on horseback fled. Su Dai ran to the area of Xiaoling, grabbed some civilian boats and went straight down the river to Baqiu, Guan Yu did not chase after him, and it was estimated that the total number of people who followed Su Dai would not exceed five hundred.

The abandoned troops in Yiling City also had no desire to fight, and Guan Yu commanded the flying ladder to attack the city after only two charges before landing the city, and the soldiers surrendered one after another.

After all the prisoners were put in order, Guan Yu called Liu Biao's other Yi nationality.

Guan Yu: "Mr. Jibo, there are 4,000 prisoners of war here, all of whom are subordinates of Huarong thief Bei Yu and Baqiu thief Su Dai, since they are from Nanjun, they should return to Zhao, our army will send a boat to send them across the river on the same day, and Mr. Lao and Liu Jingzhou will return to their lives, and ask the two generals Wen and Wang to receive them." ”

Yi Yuan thanked him: "General Zhengxi and General Guan are really righteous men in the world, and they are true to their words, and the prisoners of war captured by your army in the process of leveling the thieves can be returned in full, Liu Jingzhou will be satisfied, and is willing to maintain a long-term alliance with your army." ”

Guan Yu: "In this case, I will go to Jiangling with my husband, so that I can meet Liu Jingzhou in person and settle the settlement." It is also convenient for our army to transit Jiangling and Xiangyang to the north to discuss Dong in the future. ”

The Iraqi said there was no problem.

Liu Biao is also in a state of no heirs, and because of Liu Bei Guan Yu, an ally who is willing to help him kill the thieves, Liu Biao has not even done anything about marrying the Cai family, and has not been held hostage by Cai Mao so far.

Maybe he doesn't feel the need to marry Cai Mao's sister anymore, and he doesn't have to condone Cai Mao's family. Only Kuai Liang Kuai Yue, who is a strategist, is still valued by Liu Biao, and he has officially formed a knot, anyway, these two people will not rebel if they have no military power.

And Wang Wei is Liu Biao's fellow villager, and he is an outsider like Iraq, and he took office with Liu Biao, and his loyalty is no problem; Although Wen Ping is a native of Nanyang County and is a native of Jingzhou, he is willing to be loyal to Liu Biao. Give these two people 4,000 descendants, and then cooperate with the name of Jingzhou's assassin history, it can completely support the scene.

Therefore, when the Yi arrived in Jiangling with the prisoners of war returned by Guan Yu according to the agreement, Liu Biao received them in person with great generosity, mentioning his friendship with Liu Bei from time to time, acknowledging all the existing exchange conditions, and leaving Guan Yu to drink and feast together.

However, Liu Biao is also a human spirit, so he naturally has other information channels, knowing that Guan Yu has also captured more prisoners of Zhang Xian's subordinates.

While drinking, Liu Biao knocked on the side: "General Guan, I heard that Zhang Xian's department and many soldiers were captured, I don't know how to deal with it?" ”

Guan Yu put down the cup and stroked his beard: "I see that most of those soldiers are Lingling people, many of them are just villagers, they were violently recruited by Zhang Xian as pawns, they are not very worthy of war, and some of them have their own entanglement, so let them return to Lingling Township, after all, our army came from Wuxian County out of the gorge and thousands of miles, and there was not enough food and grass, so we could not raise so many prisoners who ate idle meals for a long time. ”

Liu Biao secretly regretted it in his heart, but he was very deep in the city, and there was no expression on the surface, and there was no intention of blaming: "So, it's a pity." Most of the counties and counties occupied by your army after leaving the gorge were mountainous, and the grain production was insufficient, so it could not supply the army.

But the land of Jingxiang is actually fertile and abundant, and now it is the time to use soldiers, how can it not be raised. In this way, when your two armies divided the boundary between Yidu County and Nanjun before, Yiling County was used as the boundary, and it was indeed something I did not consider.

I would like to assign the two counties of Xiaoling and Lexiang, which originally belonged to Nanjun and are located south of the Yangtze River, to Yidu County and under the jurisdiction of your army. These two counties are located between Yidu and Wuling, on both sides of the Youjiang River, and are the plains formed by the siltation of Yunmengze, with fertile fields and enough food to feed the soldiers.

And the prisoners of Zhang Xian's department, which your army can't afford at present, can be handed over to Wang Wei to command, and maybe our army will follow to fight Dong in the spring of next year. ”

The two counties mentioned by Liu Biao were located on both sides of the Youjiang River, and across the Yangtze River from the mouth of the Youjiang River were the later public security counties. Because the ancient Yunmengze was many times larger than the Dongting Lake in later generations, these two counties can be regarded as the alluvial plains left after the degradation of the ancient Yunmengze, and the land is very fertile.

Liu Biao's suggestion was obviously to directly abandon the two counties of Nanjun on the south bank of the Yangtze River in the area of the mouth of the Yangtze River, and to rule the river with Liu Bei here.

Of course, Lingling and Guiyang, the southernmost areas of Jingnan, are still nominally led by Liu Biaoyao. After all, it was two counties, and it was too reluctant to give up, and his psychological price could only be exchanged for one or two counties at most.

It's just that after ceding the surrounding area of Xiaoling to Yidu County, Liu Biao temporarily lost the passage to Lingling and Guiyang in the south. Because the land on the south bank of the Yangtze River west of Dongting Lake basically belongs to Liu Bei, and the land along the Yangtze River east of Dongting Lake belongs to Sun Jian, the Taishou of Changsha. In the future, Liu Biao must tear a hole in the Dongting Lake in order to control Lingling and Guiyang along the Dongting Lake-Xiangjiang River.

Guan Yu didn't expect Liu Biao to be quite generous, and he actually cut two counties at one time - counties and counties are not the same, the counties in the Dongting Lake Plain are much more fertile than the mountainous counties in the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River.

Guan Yu: "In this case, our army still has six or seven thousand prisoners under Zhang Xian who have not had time to release, so they will be handed over to the envoy to dispose of." In addition, I also asked the envoy to write a letter to Yuan Highway, which can be regarded as a witness, saying that our army has cleared the obstacles along the way of the Northern Expedition to fight Dong, so that Jun will also support us to cross the border to fight Dong, so that Yuan Highway can rest assured. ”

Liu Biao: "These are all trivial matters, come, drink." ”