The battle of Guandu was only a touch, and in the case of not being able to take Guandu by surprise, a direct attack on Guandu would be flanked from the direction of Zhongmu and Yangwu, and it was not wise for Cao's army to directly attack Guandu.

And once Cao Cao attacked with all his might, it must be the main force on Chen Mo's side to deal with it, so what really caused the battle was in the plains, Cao Cao ordered the general Zang Ba to lead the Qingzhou soldiers to cooperate with Lu Qian to march westward and enter the Qinghe area, if Jizhou is the battlefield, Cao Cao's goal is obviously to cut Chen Mo's territory into two sections, just like when Chen Mo occupied Yecheng and cut Yuan Cao.

And Chen Mo's garrison was Wuyi and Xu Huang, Wuyi did not move, he had to be stationed in Dongjun to guard against the attack that might come from Yanzhou after the river was frozen.

Xu Huang led Gao Ran to fight with Zang Ba and Lu Qian in the Qinghe area, and the war spread to almost the entire Qinghe County, with nearly 70,000 troops on both sides, and the Qinghe area was full of blood.

At the same time, there was also Nanyang, Cao's general Cao Ren personally led the troops to fight with Zhang Liao in the Luyang area, but after all, this side was only containment, intended to unite Liu Biao, so that Liu Biao would attack Nanyang, but the fight was not as fierce as it was.

But the war between Chen Cao and Chen Cao was a full-scale outbreak so far, a war that affected the entire Central Plains and determined the direction of the world, and finally broke out in the winter of the seventh year of the Han Dynasty.

Jingzhou, Xiangyang.

"Duke Xuande, the king of Chu is ill and it is inconvenient to see guests, Duke Xuande, please go back." Wang Wei came out of the palace, looked at Liu Bei and the others waiting outside the door, and saluted with a fist.

"General Wang, have you ever told the Central Plains that the war has started?" Liu Bei frowned and asked.

"I have been told, but it is really inconvenient for the King of Chu to see guests now, please forgive Xuandegong." Wang Wei shook his head and said solemnly.

"Alas~" Liu Bei sighed lightly, turned around and left with everyone, and followed Yi to Yi Mansion.

"Brother, how can this be good?" Zhang Fei looked at Liu Bei and frowned, in order to take this opportunity to send troops to Nanyang, they had been preparing for several months under Zhuge Liang's suggestion, just waiting for the outbreak of the Chen Cao War, and taking the opportunity to capture Nanyang Thinking that Liu Bei was where Liu Bei would stand, everything was as Zhuge Liang expected, and even the time when the war broke out between the two sides was similar to Zhuge Liang's speculation, who knew that at this time, Liu Biao fell ill.

What a time!

Liu Bei sighed helplessly when he heard this, according to Zhuge Liang's plan, first capture Nanyang, and then borrow troops from Liu Biao, take advantage of the momentum of Jingzhou to seize Guanzhong, and completely trap Chen Mo in Bingzhou, this is the strategy planned by Zhuge Liang for Liu Bei, if it succeeds, no matter who wins or loses between Chen Mo and Cao Cao in the end, the real winner is Liu Bei.

For this reason, Zhuge Liang also made a lot of plans to break the city, go to Wuguan to enter Guanzhong, block Hangu Pass, and cut off Chen Mo's connection with Guanzhong.

Who knows this first step, it encountered a problem, if Liu Biao is unwilling to send troops, only with Liu Bei's less than 10,000 soldiers and horses, it is okay to hold the gate of Jingzhou, but if you want to enter Nanyang, you can't do it without Liu Biao's support, Zhang Liao is not given for nothing, not to mention that although the generals under Zhang Liao are not very brilliant, but there is no kind of too bad, the command is even more handy, there are not enough troops, and it is impossible to attack Nanyang in a tricky way.

Now that Cao Ren is attacking, it is the weakest time for Nanyang, according to Zhuge Liang's calculations, as long as Liu Biao can support 50,000 soldiers and horses, plus these elite soldiers and fierce generals under Liu Bei, it is not a problem to take Nanyang by taking advantage of the situation.

But now it seems that these 50,000 soldiers and horses may not be able to borrow.

The first step is to be frustrated on my own side, which is really disturbing.

"Does Uncle Ji have a high opinion?" Liu Bei looked at Yi and asked.

"Xuande Gong doesn't know, today's matter, I'm afraid it's not that the King of Chu is missing, but someone is making an obstacle from it!" Izu sighed.

As for who it was, Yi didn't say, and Liu Bei didn't ask.

There is only one person who can control the palace at this time and let Wang Wei come forward, except for Liu Biao, and that is Mrs. Cai.

"My brother and the king of Chu are both relatives of the Han family, and now that the king of Chu is seriously ill, can't he even see each other?" Guan Yu frowned.

"Xuande Gong don't be in a hurry." Yi Ji sighed when he heard this, looked at Liu Bei and persuaded gently: "At present, this Chen Cao battle has affected the entire Central Plains, I am afraid that this battle will have to be fought for a long time, maybe the condition of the king of Chu has improved, and he can be re-elected, and it is not too late to ask for troops at that time." ”

Liu Bei nodded when he heard this, he couldn't even enter the door at this time, and he could only hope that Liu Biao would recover as soon as possible.

After everyone discussed it again, Liu Bei bid farewell to his Yi nationality, left Xiangyang with Guan Zhang's second general, crossed the river and returned to Fancheng, and went directly to see Zhuge Liang.

"Kong Ming, Brother Wang is seriously ill now, but we can't see it, what can I do?" After seeing Zhuge Liang, Liu Bei sighed helplessly.

"The lord is silently worried." Zhuge Liang handed a letter to Liu Bei and said with a smile: "Let's look at this!" ”

When Liu Bei heard this, he took the bamboo paper and looked at it, and his brows furrowed even tighter.

Sun Ce is in Chaisang, shouldn't he join hands to conquer the Central Plains at this time? What does Sun Ce mean by this?

"Why is Sun Lang so short-sighted!?" Liu Bei put down the bamboo slip and frowned.

"It's not short-sighted." Zhuge Liang shook his head and said: "Jiangdong is the best at water warfare, there is the Yangtze River moat here, Cao Jun is difficult to hurt him, but before the Sun family crossed the river several times in vain, although the Jiangdong Navy can cross the Jianghuai, but this Jiangbei land is not as waterway as Jiangdong after all, and the Jiangbei land, more plains, less hills and ravines, even though the Jiangdong army is good at fighting, but it lacks cavalry, after landing on the shore, it is difficult to fight with the Cao army, and seek to seize Jingzhou, and then take Jingzhou as the base to take Nanyang and Luoyang, which is the current policy of the Sun family. ”

Liu Bei frowned when he heard this: "The national thief has not been eliminated, and there has been another accident, alas~"

"Don't worry about the lord, for the lord, the attack on Jiangdong is not a bad thing, maybe it is more beneficial to the lord." Zhuge Liang smiled.

"What do you mean by that?" Liu Bei said in surprise when he heard this.

"That Sun Ce is known for his bravery, although he was defeated by Lu Bu, but Liangguan Jingzhou, if the lord does not come out, the rest of the generals are not his enemies, if Sun Ce comes to attack, Cai Mao will not want the lord to interfere in military affairs, no matter who leads the troops at that time, he will be defeated!" Zhuge Liang said firmly.

It's not that there are no good generals in Jingzhou, but that the good generals in Jingzhou are not in charge of the army, and the generals who are in charge of the army are not Sun Ce's opponents, and Sun Ce has obviously been planning for this battle for a long time, and the battle between the two sides is giving Liu Bei an opportunity to take advantage of.

"Kong Ming wants to prepare for the seizure of military power after his defeat?" Liu Bei said with a smile.

"It's better not to, then Cai Mao is quite wary of the lord, the lord can contact the eldest prince first, and seize the military power in the name of the eldest prince when Cai Mao is defeated, but don't go to war, just ask your uncle to accompany the eldest prince to guard Jiangxia, and the lord will lead his troops to Jiangling." Zhuge Liang said with a smile.

Jiangxia is the only way for the Jiangdong Navy to advance westward, and Jiangling is the place where the entire Jingxiang soldiers and horses hoard grain and grass, as long as they occupy these two places, it is equivalent to holding the lifeline of the army, and then take the opportunity to seize Cai Mao's military power, when the time comes, don't say 50,000, 100,000 horses can be taken out.

"At that time, you only need to send one general to defend Jiangling, and the lord can lead the army north and take Nanyang directly!"

"Kong Ming!" Zhang Fei suddenly interjected: "Why don't you take this opportunity to destroy that Sun Ce in one fell swoop?" ”

When Zhuge Liang heard this, he glanced at Zhang Fei faintly, and really dared to say that if Sun Ce was so easy to destroy, Liu Biao would have occupied Jiangdong a long time ago, so why wait until now?

Of course, you can't say that, it's easy to destroy your own prestige.

"Now that our army is victorious, it is difficult to take advantage of the situation to annex Jiangdong, and the most important thing at the moment is the Northern Expedition, it is not good to form a deep enmity with Jiangdong, it is better to stabilize the situation first, the Northern Expedition to Nanyang, and after capturing Nanyang, wait for the opportunity to form an alliance with the Sun family." Zhuge Liang explained unhurriedly.

"That Sun Ce is just a junior, I heard that he was almost killed by Lu Bu in Jiangxia back then, what is there to be afraid of such juniors?" Zhang Fei said disdainfully.

Sun Ce was almost killed by Lu Bu in Jiangxia back then, and now everyone in Jingzhou knows about it, and Liu Bei and others have never fought with Sun Ce later, but Lu Bu's words, although powerful, are not so powerful, so instinctively, Zhang Fei feels that Sun Ce is not good, and he is somewhat contemptuous.

After thinking for a moment, Liu Bei shook his head and said: "Yi Dexiu wants to talk nonsense, now he should focus on the overall situation, take Nanyang first, and then talk about others." ”

In fact, Zhuge Liang's meaning is already very clear, what they want to take is not just Nanyang, taking this opportunity to win the real power of Jingzhou is Zhuge Liang's real purpose, but these words are not easy to say, but Liu Bei heard it, although he hesitated, but now it is really a golden opportunity, and it is also the most critical step to determine the situation in the world, Liu Bei's future fortunes, Liu Bei does not want to miss it.

"喏~"

Zhang Fei saw that his brother was a little unhappy, so he could only nod stupidly, feeling that since this Zhuge Liang came, his brother had taken this Kong Ming too seriously, and he felt better than Chen Gong, which made Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, who were more emotional, feel a little upset about Chen Gong.

"Kong Ming, what should I do now?" Liu Bei looked at Zhuge Liang again and asked.

Looking at Zhang Fei's unhappy gaze, Zhuge Liang was also a little helpless, and said with a smile: "The lord only needs to continue to train the soldiers and horses, and wait for the opportunity. ”

"Okay, according to Kong Ming's words!"