And everybody spent the night in trepidation.

The next day, when the sun was on the third pole, a fast horse suddenly galloped outside the city of Xuzhou.

Although the city gate was still under strict inspection, the soldiers guarding the city gate did not dare to stop the fast horse, because it was a messenger who delivered urgent military information.

The messenger did not stop, and galloped directly to Liu Bei's official office.

"Newspaper—

A few days ago, Cao Cao personally led an army of 50,000 and marched to Yanjin. ”

"Yanjin? Got it! ”

Liu Bei, who was reviewing the official documents, was slightly condensed after hearing the report.

He stood up, looked back at the map hanging on the wall, and tapped his finger in the direction of Yeonjin and the white horse.

After a while, he said to himself: "This is the strategy of attacking the east and the west, encircling Wei to save Zhao, and Cao Cao's real intention is to relieve the siege of the White Horse." ”

Now that the white horse was attacked by Yan Liang in a hurry, it was about to be lost, but the Cao army did not save the white horse, but instead made a detour to Yanjin behind Yan Liang, and Cao Cao's strategic intentions were clear at a glance.

Liu Bei is also a person who has been in battle for a long time, and he is outside the matter, and it is easy to understand this layer when he refers to the map.

"Quickly go and report to Yuan Benchu, let him not withdraw to Yan Liang, he should send another army to resist Cao Cao, I will personally lead the troops of Xuzhou to attack Xudu, then the Cao clan will be destroyed."

Yuan's army is several times larger than Cao's army, and there is no need to be afraid of Cao's army robbing Yanliang's back road, only need to mobilize another army to fight a decisive battle with Cao's army.

Liu Bei has a good relationship with Yuan Shao, as long as Yuan Shao can eliminate the main force of Cao's army, Liu Bei is naturally willing to help.

"No!"

After the herald left, Liu Bei showed a smug smile on his face.

Cao Cao took away all the main forces, and at this time Xu Du's defense must be empty, this is really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and he can also avenge the revenge of Dongguan Pengcheng.

He had already expected that it would be effortless to attack Xudu, and then the Son of Heaven and the Manchu Dynasty would be in his hands.

"Newspaper—"

At this time, another herald came in and reported: "Cao Ren led an army of 40,000 and has left Yanzhou and is coming to kill me in Xuzhou!" ”

"What?"

The smile on Liu Bei's face suddenly froze, he never expected that Cao Ren would give up defending Yanzhou and lead the army to find him desperately.

What he didn't expect was that Cao Ren had 40,000 troops under his command.

"Is the news true?"

"It's true, the little one saw with his own eyes, 40,000 horses, only a little more," the herald said firmly.

I have to say that in this era, it is very difficult to spy on the number of enemy troops, and the only way is to ambush on the side of the road from a distance, look at the size of the enemy army, and count the approximately.

Otherwise, there would not have been an imaginary number like "known as xx thousand" before the war.

In fact, Cao Ren's subordinates only guarded Yanzhou with the 20,000 newly recruited recruits, but Liu Ping had already made arrangements before he came, and ordered the miners of Yueshan to change into military clothes and come as suspicious soldiers.

Later, Cao Cao ordered Cao Ren to lead all the troops into Pengcheng, so Cao Ren's army and the Yueshan miners gathered together and explored in detail, that is, the real army of 40,000.

It's just that the "40,000 army" is mostly a scare factor, of which 20,000 are new troops that have just been recruited for a short time, and the remaining 20,000 are miners who have no combat ability, and their combat effectiveness is not worth mentioning at all.

"It's not good that Cao Ren has so many military horses under his command."

Liu Bei's face was clouded, he suddenly remembered something, and ordered his attendants: "Go to Mi Zizhong Mansion quickly, and let him not do anything to the Danyang general."

Just go! ”

He previously felt that there was enough time to install his cronies into the Danyang Army, so he was relieved to execute Cao Bao and others.

But now that Cao Ren is about to be killed, and the war is about to break out, it would be too unwise for him to execute all the generals of the Danyang Army at this time.

If the Danyang army is in turmoil, not only does not make any efforts, but also pulls back his legs behind his back, how can he fight a decisive battle with Cao Ren's 40,000 army?

Not long after, Guan Yu, Mi Zhu, Sun Qian and others rushed to Liu Bei's official office.

Zhang Fei was still arranging a search in the south of the city, the scope of the south of the city was too large, and he searched carefully from house to house, even if it took a night, but only half of the search was completed.

"Lord, I don't know what happened, why did you stop interrogating Cao Bao and the others?"

Mi Zhu asked puzzled, but fortunately, the Danyang generals were very hard mouthed and did not spit out, so he didn't dare to execute.

"According to reliable reports, Cao Ren led an army of 40,000 and killed him," Liu Bei sighed.

"Forty thousand?" Everyone present was shocked.

They all judged that the news leaked by Han Song's letter was fake, and the Cao family had no spare strength to attack Xuzhou, but they didn't expect the news to be true, but the one who sent the troops was replaced by Yanzhou Cao Ren.

"But the lord wants to fight to the death with Cao Renjun?" Sun Qian asked tentatively.

If you just want to defend the city, you don't need the Danyang army, only the remaining 20,000 Xuzhou troops are enough, and Cao Ren's 40,000 troops will definitely not be able to break through Xuzhou.

But Liu Bei obviously does not want to do this, Xu Du is empty at this time, it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and if he misses this opportunity, there will be no more.

"Exactly, I need the Xuzhou army to work together to defeat Cao Ren in order to save the Son of Heaven from danger," Liu Bei looked at Mi Zhu with flickering eyes and said: "Therefore, the Danyang army general can't be used." ”

Mi Zhu was furious when he saw it, and suddenly there was a feeling of cold sweat on his back.

Now that Cao Bao and the others are suddenly needed, the lord will not let himself carry this black cauldron and relieve the anger of the Danyang generals, right?

After all, it was he Mi Zhu who arrested people, and it was he Mi Zhu who interrogated him, Liu Bei could completely push it clean on the grounds of ignorance.

When Liu Bei "releases" Cao Bao and other Danyang generals, and then disposes of the guilty Mi Zhu, he can naturally get the gratitude of Cao Bao and others.

"In order to take care of the overall situation, I can only be wronged first," Sure enough, Liu Bei said to Mi Zhu with a little guilt.

"It's okay," although Mi Zhu felt helpless, he didn't dare to disobey Liu Bei's order, he said with a bitter face: "However, Cao Bao and the others have already been punished, even if they take all the blame at this time, can they still be sincerely loyal to the lord?" ”

"Well, there needs to be someone who can be trusted by the Danyang army to come and make peace," Liu Bei said after a moment's silence.

"I don't know who it is?" In fact, Mi Zhu had already guessed a person in his heart.

"The son of the pottery merchant," Liu Bei said: "I will go to the imperial court, worship the pottery merchant as the governor of Xuzhou, and jointly deal with the state politics of Xuzhou." ”

At the moment of the great enemy, Liu Bei's only way is to reach a compromise with the Danyang faction, greatly improve the status of the Danyang people, fool them first, and get through the immediate crisis.

Among them, the only one who can make Cao Bao and others trust is the potter.

"To prepare a generous gift, I personally went to visit the pottery merchant and persuaded him to come forward to persuade the Danyang general.

When a strong enemy is coming, we need to share the same hatred of the enemy, put the righteousness first, and jointly defend Xuzhou," Liu Bei said awe-inspiringly.

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