Chapter 196: Strong on the outside and strong on the inside

The reeds on the wall are top-heavy and shallow; Bamboo shoots in the mountains, with thick skin and hollow belly. ----------Ming dynasty. Xie Jin

It is said that Chen Long and Zhao Yun discussed it, thinking that Liu Cong is the future successor of Jingzhou, if Liu Biao, the second son, can be taken hostage, he is not afraid that Liu Biao and Cai's will not be obedient. The two worked out a strategy to outwit Liu Cong, using Zhang Xiu's invasion and Jia Long's cooperation to fish for Liu Cong's incense bait.

After the plan was drawn up, Chen Long and Zhao Yun still turned into guards and met Jia Long in the study. Jia Long saw that the two had important things to discuss, so he ordered Zhang Ren to be invited, and the four of them discussed in detail in the study alone.

Although Zhang Ren refused to surrender to Chen Long like this, he did not reject Chen Long's plan to help Jia Long seize Yizhou, so he had been quite cooperative. However, Zhang Ren was more curious about Zhao Yun's cultivation of the Hundred Birds Chaofeng Marksmanship, after all, for Zhang Ren, the pursuit of a higher realm of marksmanship never stopped. I am still a little worried about losing to Zhao Yun, a junior brother, as long as I practice diligently, I may be able to win back a city in the future.

But for Chen Long, the junior brother, Zhang Ren couldn't see through it at all, so he had to stay away. This time he listened to Chen Long's plan to arrest Liu Cong in the secret room, which was the first time he knew Chen Long. Without the mastermind by his side, it can be said that the plan that Chen Long came up with was quite good and very feasible.

Jia Long listened to Chen Long's strategy, but he stood up and paced left and right, and began to hesitate. Chen Long was not in a hurry or impatient, waiting for Jia Long to speak. Jia Long finally stopped and said, "General Chen, do you want me to go back to Yizhou to go undercover in the future?"

Chen Long nodded slightly, and said: "Jia Zhi, I know that you all have wives and children, as well as scholars, in Yizhou, so naturally I can't expose that you are helping me." Therefore, I asked you to ask Liu Qi's eldest son to cooperate in sending troops in advance, and when everyone objected, I proposed to let the second son lead the troops, so that everyone would not suspect that you were targeting the second son. ”

"Then, let's take a look at Liu Biao's side, there just happen to be no general who can protect Liu Cong closely, and the most powerful one is Su Fei. Su Fei, although we don't know enough about this person, we believe that his martial arts are under Zilong and General Zhang Ren. ”

"Liu Biao should be happy to see that Liu Cong is protected by the strong soldiers of Zhang Ren and Jia, so he should not refuse to take Jia's warship. Let's put on a good show on the boat. ”

"My plan is to kidnap Liu Cong on the ship. The boat is full of my soldiers, and it is easy to catch Liu Cong, but it is still a little difficult to make Liu Cong not suspect Jia Cong's involvement, and we need to act in another play. Why don't you let General Zhang Ren and Zhao Zilong fight again?" He laughed.

Jia Long understood and said: "Even if I acted in a good show, but my ship is all the servants I brought from Yizhou, how can there be a master who sneaks up on Liu Cong?" I'm afraid I'm not to blame. ”

Chen Long said: "Actually, you don't have to face Liu Biao's anger. After I kidnapped Liu Cong, of course I would go to Liu Biao to ask for conditions. My only request was for Liu Biao to dissolve the alliance with Yizhou and immediately order all Yizhou officials and troops to be driven out of Jingzhou. And Jia Zhan doesn't have to go back to Xiangyang at all, when I take Liu Cong to get off the boat from the north shore, you and General Zhang can directly find a way to return to Yizhou. I'm afraid I don't need to make up the rest of Liu Yan's rhetoric. ”

Jia Long was finally relieved and nodded in agreement, but finally said: "A gentleman's word, a quick horse." General Chen, Jingzhou is yours, Yizhou is mine, you have to keep your promise! ”

Chen Long said with a smile: "The whole world belongs to the people of China!" When Jia Longtou heard about the saying of Great China, he was stunned and said: "Great China? General Chen believes that there will be a great unification in the future? How can this world be people?" Chen Long didn't answer, and got up and left with Zhao Yun, leaving Jia Long with a stunned face, and Zhang Ren, who frowned slightly and thought about it.

A few days later, at a military meeting, Liu Biaojun and Jia Longjun received a tip-off almost at the same time, which deeply disturbed Liu Biao. It turned out that Wancheng Zhang Xiu's soldiers and horses, who nominally belonged to Yuan Shu's party, actually appeared near Xinye and had crossed Bowangpo, and Fancheng was only within the itinerary of the other party's one-day rapid march.

Liu Biao was shocked, and at the same time very puzzled how Zhang Xiu's troops suddenly appeared in Xinye, could it be that Yuan Shu was behind it? This is not good news for Jingzhou, which is planning to seize Lingling.

Fancheng is the northern gateway of Xiangyang, and it is also one of the backup water villages of the naval army, which must not be missed. Liu Biao selected the troops, and Zhang Yun immediately said that the naval army could immediately cross the river and garrison Fancheng.

Liu Biao hesitated, after all, it was not enough for the navy to defend the city. Huo Jun's army was slightly insufficient to defend Xiangyang, but Liu Biao still allocated 10,000 people to Zhang Yun, and asked people to arrange various supplies.

The ministers began to panic, and some people had already proposed to transfer back Cai Mao's troops to defend Xiangyang. Liu Biao hesitated, and these people below were noisy and shouting, and the lobby was like a toad noisy pit, which made people upset.

Kuai Liang pondered for a long time, and finally spoke, and everyone knew that he was resourceful, and they all quieted down. Kuaizi said: "It is quite difficult to reach cooperation with Yizhou, and the Yizhou army is about to capture Lingling, which is like an arrow on the bow, if you withdraw your troops at this time, there will be no chance in the future." ”

"Now, Zhang Xiujun's movements are unknown, we have to use the troops at hand to fight, as long as we hold Fancheng, we can't take advantage of that Zhang Xiu. Moreover, maybe Zhang Xiu is just a small temptation, if he really attacks on a large scale, there will be no problem with Fancheng defending for more than a month, and it will not be too late to send rescue troops when the time comes. ”

Kuai Liang's opening temporarily suppressed the voice of opposition, Liu Biao was just about to say that Zhang Yun would lead the troops as the main general, Jia Long suddenly stood up and arched his hand and said: "What Zirou said is extremely reasonable. The cooperation between Yizhou and Jingzhou this time is not easy, and the soldiers come from thousands of miles away, waste money and food, if there is no harvest, the loss is too great. Now, Zhang Xiu's soldiers did not hurt Jingzhou's roots, and the number of troops is only tens of thousands, and the art of war says that the soldiers who are besieging the city must be several times more than the soldiers defending the city to be effective, and we still have tens of thousands of people defending the city, why be afraid of Zhang Xiu? ”

Liu Biao and Kuai Liang both nodded slightly, but they didn't expect this Jia Long to be not amazing, but quite strategic. I only heard Jia Long continue: "But Jingzhou's morale still needs a general to boost." He was willing to go to Fancheng with General Zhang Yun to show the determination of Jingyi and the two prefectures to jointly defend Xiangyang, so that other local forces did not dare to intervene. ”

Liu Biao thought to himself, it is useless to keep your hundreds of people in Xiangyang, so he nodded and said, "It's okay, just follow Jia's words." Where is Zhang Yun? ”

Zhang Yun had just stood up and hugged his fists, when Jia Long raised his hand and stopped: "Liu is slow." I think that if the sergeants don't have the confidence to win now, their morale will be low. And now that the heavy troops are in Gangneung, the sergeants will inevitably lack confidence. Liu Tingshi is the lord of Jingzhou, and it is not appropriate to move lightly, but I heard that Liu Tingshi's two sons are both civil and military all-rounders and talented and intelligent, why not invite the eldest son, General Liu Qi, to be the main general? It's good to have experience in the military. ”

As soon as these words came out, the hall was silent. Before Liu Biao could speak, Zhang Yun couldn't help but object: "Mr. Jia, Mr. Liu, the eldest prince has never led a leader, this is not appropriate, right?" Liu Qi had already stood up at this time, and when he saw Zhang Yun say this, he looked at Zhang Yun hatefully, and Zhang Yun turned his head and pretended not to see it.

As soon as Zhang Yun's words came out, his subordinates spoke one after another, most of them were against Liu Qi's voices, and they all said that Liu Qi was still inexperienced, overwhelmed by heavy responsibilities, and so on. Liu Biaoben didn't like Liu Qi very much, and said immediately: "Qi'er, don't be impatient." This is a major matter, so let's listen to everyone's opinions. Liu Qi had no choice but to nod yes, so he had to sit down sullenly.

Seeing that Liu Biao did not agree with Liu Qi to go on the expedition, Jia Long was secretly happy in his heart, and said again: "I heard that the second son, Liu Cong, has become a general and has the talent to lead troops. Why don't you invite the second son out of the mountain? When Liu Cong heard this, he immediately stood up and motioned to Zhang Yun with his eyes.

The sycophants of the subordinates immediately spread around, and even covered up Zhang Yun's voice of praising Liu Cong. Liu Qi was angry, he didn't expect it to be so difficult to fight for a military merit.

In the midst of the noise, Liu Biao said: "What Jia Zhi said is reasonable, my two sons can indeed boost the morale of Jingzhou soldiers on my behalf, and also let them gain military experience." ”

"However, the eldest prince is biased, it's okay to write an article, is it better to lead the troops, it's not as good as the second son to lead the troops for many years, and his subordinates are all using their lives." Liu Qi's face was extremely bad, and he lowered his head angrily.

The ministers echoed one after another, and Liu Cong was very proud, and gestured to everyone in a high-profile manner, showing a straw bag style. This Liu Cong is more handsome than Liu Qigao, but in fact he is still just a strong outsider, a complete gentleman, who only knows how to look for beautiful women to practice in bed. He was favored by the Cai family, and he was lawless in Jingzhou, but where did he have any real talent to learn. Liu Biao also regards Liu Cong as the natural successor, but there are always opposing voices, saying that since ancient times, Liu Biao is upset.

In the midst of everyone's clamoring, Liu Biao waved his hand and announced loudly: "I have made up my mind, so let Liu Cong be the chief general of the Fancheng guard this time, and I must not say more." Everyone shut up one after another, and all the ministers who supported Liu Cong were all proud.

Liu Cong was extremely excited, glanced at his brother with disdain, and knelt down to thank his father for his appointment. Liu Biao said again: "Cong'er, although you are the main general, but the sword has no eyes, I asked Su Fei to lead people to follow you to keep you safe." ”

Liu Qi objected loudly: "Su Fei is the only general who protects his father, how can he let his father risk being left unprotected?" Jia Long also took the opportunity to say: "My family general Zhang Ren is the eldest disciple of the spear Tong Yuan, and he has the courage of ten thousand people, if Liu Tingshi does not dislike it, he can hand over the safety of the second son to me." ”

Liu Biao began to hesitate again, thinking about it or not at ease, and finally announced: "Thank you Jia for your kindness." However, Liu Cong still asked Su Fei to bring people to protect him, and Jia Cheng was able to help guard Fancheng, I was already very happy. With a wave of his hand, Jia Long and the others had no choice but to retreat, most of the plan was successful, except for the unknown factor of Su Fei, everything was already going according to Chen Long's plan.