In October, it was early winter, and the weather in the south felt colder than in the north, and that feeling of wet and cold made Chen Mo, who was already accustomed to the northern climate, a little uncomfortable.

From the speculation that Liu Bei might enter Sichuan, to the gathering of soldiers and horses from all walks of life to go south, it was only three months in total, which can be regarded as a god speed.

"Your Majesty, the last general is incompetent, and he has lost the spirit of the three armies." Xinye, in the established camp, Zhang Liao saluted Chen Mo with a ashamed face.

"Wen Yuan doesn't have to be like this, this victory or defeat is a common thing in soldiers, I have also seen things, this Zhuge Liang suddenly made a move, although the strategy is not very profound, but it is interlocking, ordinary soldiers do not check, it is easy to take advantage of it, it has nothing to do with you, hurry up." Chen Mo helped Zhang Liao up.

"Thank you, the king!" After Zhang Liao saluted again, he knelt down and sat down with Chen Mo's hands.

"What's the situation like now?" Chen Mo asked.

"The Xiangfan defense line built by the Jingzhou army is quite tricky, the other side set up more ballistas on the other side of the Han River, and the last general sent people to try to cross the river, but they were all repelled by the other party with artillery, the king, the opponent's ballista has a very long range, and can attack our army across the river, and now to attack Xiangyang, it is difficult to cross the river, let alone attack the city." Zhang Liao told Chen Mo about the recent information, even Zhang Liao, who had experienced a hundred battles, was helpless about the defense of Xiangyang: "According to the foolish opinion of the last general, Xiangfan is one, now since it is difficult to cross the Han River, it is better to focus on Fancheng, as long as Fancheng is broken, then Xiangyang is isolated, and our army can besiege Xiangyang, and then slowly figure it out." ”

Chen Mo nodded, before he came, he had already made a sand table according to the terrain near Xiangfan, Chen Mo's judgment was similar to Zhang Liao, first take Fancheng, and then go down to Xiangyang, then Jingzhou can be mapped.

"I heard that Jiangdong reinforcements have arrived?" Chen Mo frowned and asked.

"Yes, this time Jiangdong aid soldiers and horses have not yet been explored, the other party is stationed in Liqiu, not far from Fancheng, can support at any time, Xiangyang, Liqiu can support Fancheng at any time, before our army has not arrived, the thief army is very numerous, and the end will not dare to try it easily." Zhang Liao nodded, Fan Cheng seemed to be a flaw, but in fact it was also not good.

Chen Mo thought for a while and said, "Let's tell me to take a look at this Xiangyang defense first." ”

Zhang Liao nodded, and at that moment, Chen Mo ordered Xu Huang to be responsible for the placement of the army, and brought Ma Chao, Pang De, Zhang He and others to leave Xinye with Zhang Liao and go to Deng County to watch the enemy's situation.

Deng County is in the north of the Han River, across the Han River can see the opposite mountains, Chen Mo and others under the leadership of Zhang Liao went to the outside of Deng County, when they wanted to get closer, they were stopped by Zhang Liao.

"Your Majesty, don't go any further, set up more ballistae on the other side, once you get close to the enemy and are noticed, there will be ballista guns coming at you immediately, the ballista has a very long range, two hundred paces away, and it can still hurt people with crossbow stones." Zhang Liao stopped Chen Mo and persuaded.

"If you don't look at this, how can you know the enemy's situation?" On the side, Dian Wei frowned.

"Everyone, please come with me!" Zhang Liao led everyone to the north for a few miles, and saw an arrow tower outside the riverbank, which was three zhang high and built quite solidly.

"This is the watchtower set up by the last general, the river is quite wide here, and the enemy's ballista is also difficult to touch, the last general once wanted to set up a ferry here and wanted to cross the river by boat, but under this river, I don't know when a lot of hidden piles were drilled, the boat was halfway crossed, and was trapped in the middle of the river, and the soldiers on the boat were shot by the enemy a lot, so the last general set up a watchtower here to watch the enemy's situation." Zhang Liao explained while asking Silent Silence and the others to go up to the arrow tower to watch.

Said to be the arrow tower, but to the near only found that this arrow tower is like a small walled, three zhang high, two zhang long and wide, people enter it, do not feel crowded at all, and go to the top of the arrow tower, there is a watchtower about two zhang wide, can be raised one zhang high, people are on it, the field of vision is extremely far.

Looking across the river, at such a long distance, you can vaguely see that there are many dock forts and stone platforms built on the opposite bank, which is not too clear.

"Your Majesty, with such a long defensive line, how many people does he have to put to defend, so is there anyone else in Xiangyang City?" Dian Wei looked at the river bank in the distance and asked with a frown.

"Naturally, there is." Chen Mo looked at the other side, then looked at the distance and said: "It seems that there are many, but in fact, there are only a few places suitable for landing, as long as these places are guarded, a maximum of two or three thousand people is enough, and one more army can be left to assist the Quartet, with the beacon fire as the number!" It's a pity that the guard is too tight, and I would like to see how he is deployed in the rear. ”

These riverbank stone platforms and dock forts should only be the outermost line of defense, and further on, there must be other defenses, but unfortunately they can't be seen here.

"The king is right, the last general once sent people to the west to cross the river fifty miles away, trying to penetrate deep into the rear from there, but sent a hundred people, only two came back, there is a rocky hill over there, I don't know how big, people enter it, it is difficult to find the direction." Zhang Liao frowned.

"And this?" Chen Mo was a little surprised when he heard this.

"Exactly, around this Xiangyang, there are no people, and it seems that it is difficult to get through." Zhang Liao nodded affirmatively.

"Let's go back." Chen Mo went down the watchtower road.

Now it seems that it is impossible to cross the river and take Xiangyang directly, Zhang Liao's strategy of going to Fancheng first can be tried, but before that, Chen Mo still needs to prepare.

"Lord, when are we going to send troops?" After returning to Xinye, Ma Chao couldn't help but ask.

"Don't worry, make some preparations first, in case Zhuge Liang cuts off my back road." Chen Mo knelt down and sat down, asked people to finish the sand table, looked at Ma Chao and said, "You go and call Ma Jun." ”

"Whoa!" Ma Chao nodded in agreement and left.

After a while, Ma Jun was brought by Ma Chao.

"See the king." Ma Jun bowed.

"Excuse me." Chen Mo waved his hand and said, "There is something you need to do." ”

"Command the king." Ma Jun hurriedly bowed and said.

Chen Mo looked at the sand table in front of him, pointed to a few places and said: "Zhuge Liang's Xiangyang defense is not short, I don't have so much time to defend against him, these places, you do your best to make a few dock forts, a total of nineteen, each can accommodate a hundred people, how many days can be completed?" ”

Ma Jun looked at the sand table, thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, the ministers need to go to investigate to know. ”

"Exactly." Chen Mo nodded: "Take the craftsman directly, every time you survey and make drawings, let the craftsman start the work, and the manpower and material resources required will be raised and completed in the shortest possible time at all costs." ”

Xiangfan's fortifications are obviously not built in one day, and Chen Mo doesn't have so much time to operate fortifications here, the nineteen places he pointed out are nineteen nodes, which are not dangerous, but they can count all possible attacks from all directions.

"Whoa!" Ma Jun agreed, and after receiving Chen Mo's military order, he said goodbye and left, took a few apprentices, and gathered a large number of craftsmen to start surveying the terrain.

Chen Mo began to send a large number of scouts to spy on the situation in the area from Jiangxia to Fancheng.

"Lord, most of the cities in Jiangxia are already empty cities, if you want to think about it, it is not difficult, but it seems to be useless." Three days later, Zhang Liao came to return to his life and bowed down.

Chen Mo looked at the map of Jiangxia, was silent, and after a while, he shook his head and smiled: "This Jiangdong is forcing us to wait for a decisive battle with them in Xiangfan, but this day and location are occupied by them. ”

The time and place are favorable, if you count it now, Chen Mo has a strong army, but he can barely make personal peace, and other than that, the others are not superior.

Zhang Liao nodded, the geographical advantage is naturally the advantage of the Sun-Liu coalition army that occupies Xiangfan, the time of day, these days can obviously detect that the northern soldiers are a little uncomfortable after arriving here, many people even appear to be sluggish, signs of poor appetite, the climate of Xiangfan is very different from the Central Plains, the north, this day, the geography is favorable, the Ming army really can not take advantage.

"Let's find a place to build a village first, no matter what, this battle still has to be fought!" Chen Mo smiled.

"Whoa!" Zhang Liao bowed down and retreated.

It was January again, and in November, the weather in the south was colder, and the feeling of clammy and cold was unpleasant.

Chen Mo ordered people to bring carbon stone from the north to provide heating for the lieutenant generals and soldiers of the army, and there was no other way to think of it.

Ma Jun has also surveyed the terrain, and the construction of nineteen dock forts has begun, Chen Mo does not seem to be in a hurry to fight, and has been dealing with some trivial matters in the army during this time.

Chen Mo is not in a hurry here, but here in Xiangyang, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are a little anxious.

"Kong Ming, what do you say Chen Mo is doing? So many people and horses brought over, but they didn't fight, how much grain and grass was consumed this day, what do you think of him? "Zhang Fei found Zhuge Liang, he has been a little irritable recently, since Chen Mo went south, the army has issued a ban on alcohol, and Zhang Fei has not drunk alcohol for two months.

"He's waiting!" Zhuge Liang looked at the account book and sighed.

"What are you waiting for?" Zhang Fei frowned.

"Wait for spring to come!" When Zhuge Liang said this, his face was also a little unpleasant, Chen Mo clearly knew that the situation was unfavorable to him, and he did not blindly rely on the number of soldiers to come up with a lot of pressure, a calm and unhurried enemy was the most uncomfortable for Zhuge Liang.

Chen Mo has the Central Plains, he can afford it, and he can choose to start a spring war, but Jingzhou is such a big place, once he chooses to start a spring war, it will inevitably affect spring ploughing.

And after spring comes, the gap between heaven and time will be smaller, and when the time comes, it will be the most beneficial for Chen Mo, he can see his biggest advantage clearly and make good use of it.

An enemy who is calm and rational and not blindly arrogant, such an enemy is not easy to deal with!

Zhuge Liang has a headache, Xiangfan's defense is solid, but Xiangfan's heritage is not as thick as Chen Mo's, if it is consumed, even if Jiangdong helps him survive for one year, what about the second year? You know, Jingzhou still needs to supply Liu Bei for the expedition to Xichuan.

"What then?" Zhang Fei frowned.

"I should go to Liqiu and meet Zhou Dudu, this matter needs to discuss a strategy!" Zhuge Liang got up, looked outside the door and shouted, "Prepare the boat!" ”

"I'll go with you!" Zhang Fei hurriedly followed.

Zhuge Liang looked at Zhang Fei, nodded after a moment of silence, and the two walked out of the city together.