In June of the same year, Lü Bu dismissed Yang Xiu from all his posts and ordered Zhang He to dispatch the elite of Yanzhou to the south, leaving only Wang Ling to control the chaos in Yanzhou, and quickly transferred Wang Ji to Dongjun to deal with the aftermath of the disaster and take charge of government affairs.

After Zhang Jaw went south, the front-line strength of Xiangyang soared unprecedentedly, with the main battle strength reaching 200,000, plus auxiliary troops and miscellaneous soldiers, the total strength was about 500,000. From this, the pressure on Nanjun can be imagined.

In July, Liu Bei sent Zhuge Liang across Jiangdong, and the two forces reached an alliance agreement and announced it to the world. It was announced that an anti-Lu coalition army would be formed, with Sun Quan sending 70,000 troops and Liu Bei sending 30,000 troops, a total of 100,000 elite sailors, stationed along the Yangtze River to prevent Lü Bu from raising troops to the south.

The coalition forces took Zhou Yu as the governor and Lu Su and Zhuge Liang as the deputy governors, and fortified them in Chaisang, Nanjun, Baling, Chibi, and Xiakou respectively to prevent the surprise attack of Lu Bu's army.

In August of the same year, Liu Bei attacked Chen Cang for a long time, and obeyed the strategy of the strategist Xu Yu to take the Meridian Valley to attack Chang'an, but not only did not succeed, but was ambushed by Gao Shun and the troops were defeated, and the troops around Tianshui in Liangzhou were empty, and Wei Yue saw the opportunity to sneak attack and succeed. Although Liu Bei sent Ma Chao to recapture Tianshui and Dingxi counties, the consumption of troops and manpower was really extraordinary, and Liu Bei's plan to take Guanzhong in one fell swoop was completely frustrated.

Besides, Lu Bu dispatched a large army and assembled in the Yangtze River eyeline, Jiangxia Cai Mao's naval warships after years of construction, enough to establish an army of hundreds of thousands to cross the river, the only regret is that Lu Bu's army is mostly northerners, eight or nine out of ten soldiers come from Jizhou, Yanzhou and other places, there is little water in the north, and there are very few soldiers who are good at water, so even if Cai Mao and Lu Bu refine the navy, the number of sailors is still only as many as 50,000.

Just when a group of generals were at a loss when they looked at the surging river, Lu Bu didn't seem to be in a hurry to cross the river, and even the military advisor Jia Xu and others couldn't figure it out for a while.

Jia Xu was originally in Chang'an to assist Gao Shun against Liu Bei's main army, but after Tian Feng died on the battlefield and Yang Xiu was punished and dismissed, Lu Bu urgently dispatched Jia Xu to Xiangyang Prime Minister Military. And the battle situation in Chang'an is on defense, with Gao Shun in charge, coupled with the dangerous pass Gao Pass strong crossbow and hard bow, it is not difficult to defend the land in Guanzhong. In order to prevent the meeting together, Lu Bu sent Li Ru and Chen Qunren to the military counselor of Chang'an, and made suggestions for the defense of Liu Bei, and the ambush in the Meridian Valley was from Li Ru's suggestion.

At the end of November of the month, a secret report came from the south bank that Zhou Yu, the governor of the province, scolded the veteran general Huang Gai in the army, which caused a huge controversy among the three armies.

Everyone knows that although Zhou Yu is young, he is really a great achievement, and he has a pivotal position in the Jiangdong Group, especially in the army, his prestige is by no means under the power of Wu Hou Sun, saying that Huang Gai does not obey Zhou Yu's military orders, and everyone knows that there must be a treacherous plan in this, even Ding Xu, who is brave and unscrupulous, also said: "Zhou Yu must be trying to use a trick to surrender, and this guy is too contemptuous of me and waiting!" ”

Lu Bu also felt incredible, thinking about how Zhou Yu made Cao Cao convinced of Huang Gai's surrender back then, these flaws are not a little bit, and the major military affairs are not the slightest certainty, how can they take risks? Or in the case of absolute superiority in strength.

Knowing that Zhou Yu still wanted to concoct a bitter meat plan, Lu Bu came up with a plan to make the army stand still and wait for the fish to take the bait. and sent Jiang Gan, who joined the army, to the enemy camp to set up a maze of formations, so that Zhou Yu and others thought they had a plan.

As expected, on the fourth day after the secret news came, Jiang Gan sent a letter to make an appointment for Huang Gai to come to take refuge.

Lu Bu knew that the fish was about to be baited, in order to convince Zhou Yu and the other gods, he asked the army to deliberately spread false news about the prevalence of plague in the army, and ordered the burial of the "soldiers" wearing military uniforms, even the defenders on the south bank can often see the grand scene of digging pits and burying people on the north bank. However, what they couldn't see clearly was that the so-called sick and dead soldiers were just some straw dummies.

In the middle of the wax moon, Huang Gai and Chibi came to vote, looking at the Jiangbei camp warships densely packed, and the military flags and camp flags were waving in the wind, but Huang Gai was infinitely confident, he was convinced of Zhou Yu's strategy, and he believed that this battle could be successful.