"Tell the lord that the Pang De troops, the vanguard of Dong Zhuo's army on the south road, are less than a hundred miles away from Xiangyang, and the north road is only one hundred and fifty miles away from Xiangyang."

In the official hall of Xiangyang, the capital of Jingzhou, the scouts sent out to inquire about the news were covered in dust and reported to Liu Biao, and Liu Biao's face was pale, he sat on the main seat and trembled, and the faces of the civil and military officials of Jingzhou who were separated from each other were not much better than him, their expressions were complicated, and they each thought about their own thoughts, but no one spoke.

After a long time, the scout's legs were numb, Liu Biao remembered to wave his hand to let him go down to rest, after the scout left, Liu Biao said in a trembling voice: "Zhugong, the army of Dong thieves is advancing rapidly, our army has been defeated in successive battles, and the army has come to the city in just ten days. ”

Jingzhou's civil and military faces coveted each other, Gu Du opened his mouth, speechless, only the loyal veteran Wang Wei came out and said: "The lord is in a panic, and the last general is willing to lead three thousand troops and horses out of the city to defeat, first defeat Dong Thief's vanguard troops, frustrate Dong Thief's spirit, and then think about it in the long run." ”

Liu Biao was overjoyed, as if he had grabbed a life-saving straw, and said continuously: "Okay, good, just follow Qing's words, just follow Qing's words." Wang Wei solemnly hugged his fist at Liu Biao, turned around and was about to order the soldiers and horses, Ma Liang stopped him, "General Wang, stop." ”

Wang Wei turned around, Ma Liang took a few steps forward and grabbed his hand, and said in a low voice: "General Wang, Dong thief pioneer Pang De is a famous general in Xiliang, there are thousands of people who are brave, you go out of the city to fight him, you must be careful, whether you win or lose, you must come back, in the next step of our army's city defense battle, it is indispensable for a veteran like you." ”

Wang Wei nodded, "Thank you for your concern, the last general will definitely be careful." After that, Wang Wei strode out of the hall, Ma Liang looked at his back, and faintly felt that this might be the last time he saw Wang Wei.

After Wang Wei left, the hall became as quiet as a tomb again, and the Jingzhou Shilin led by Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue all pondered in their hearts the text written by Huang Chengyan himself, the signal implied by Dong Zhuo in the text, Kuai Liang, Kuai Yue and others of course understood, either follow Dong Zhuo's meaning to tell lies to save their lives, or tell the truth and lose their heads, if it is changed to usual, these Shilin will definitely treat Dong Zhuo's words as fart and ignore them at all, but now that Dong Zhuo's soldiers are in the city, Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue hate Dong Zhuo no matter how much they hate Dong Zhuo, and they have to consider their own net worth. Unconsciously, Jingzhou's hatred and resistance to Dong Zhuojun have cracked.

Three hours have passed in a blink of an eye, in these three hours, no one in the Jingzhou official hall spoke, all waiting for Wang Wei's news, but what they were waiting for was the bad news brought by the defeated soldiers, Wang Wei and Pang De fought less than ten rounds, and was beheaded by Pang De, three thousand Jingzhou troops were annihilated, or died or surrendered, only more than ten defeated soldiers fled back to Xiangyang.

Hearing the news, Liu Biao's eyes rolled and he almost fainted, completely paralyzed on the seat, his gray beard couldn't help but be blown by the rough breath when he was wheezing, and the servants hurriedly helped him up and rubbed his chest for him. The official class in Jingzhou emphasized literature over military force, military generals were already scarce, and Wang Wei died again, which was tantamount to adding insult to injury.

"Tell me, even if it's a fart." Liu Biao's words already had a pleading voice, "Usually you write a thousand words, and your writing is graceful, there are few people in the world that you can see, but when it comes to a critical moment, why are you all dumb?" How to resist the Dong thief, you come up with an idea. ”

There was still silence, and after a long time, the last member of the civil official column came out of the ranks, hugged his fists at Liu Biao and said: "Lord, Xin has a word, I don't know if I should say it?" Although Hua Xin's official position is small, many people know his details, because he was an official in Luoyang, after the real Dong Boss controlled the imperial court, Hua Xin fled to Huainan because he was dissatisfied with Dong Boss's cruelty, and fled to Huainan because of his dissatisfaction with Dong Boss's cruelty, and fled to Huainan again, this time he fled to Jingzhou to seek officials, because he had two job-hopping experiences, Liu Biao was extremely distrustful of him, and only gave Hua Xin a position responsible for supervising and reporting the virtue of officials. Hua Xin, who is responsible for inspecting the discipline of officials, is honest and honest as an official, and does his best as an official, so naturally it is impossible to be promoted, and he has no popularity, but Hua Xin's hatred for Boss Dong is undoubtedly second to none in Jingzhou officialdom.

Of course, Liu Biao also knew Hua Xin's attitude towards Boss Dong, and said happily: "Mr. Hua, please have something to say." ”

"Since the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, after Shang Tang Zhou Wu, Qin Emperor Han Wu, there have also been the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion, Wang Mang chaotic government, people and monarchs, always the virtuous people live in the ......." Hua Xin first said a big truth as usual, and everyone dozed off when he heard it, Liu Biao was so anxious that he scratched his ears and cheeks, but Hua Xin suddenly changed his words, "Now the Han family is declining, the heroes are rising, the people are not living, and the Han family is dilapidated, only in the end." And Dong Taishi was given the god by God, and won the popularity of the official gentry, holding the land of the four states, with millions of soldiers under his command, and the fierce generals were like clouds, that is, the nine tins were lowered, and it was not enough to thank Dong Taishi for his kindness, and the lord should obey the will of heaven and respond to the people's wishes, and immediately open the city and surrender, so that the life of the lord's family can be protected, and the millions of people in Jingzhou can be protected, and the good is great. ”

Before Hua Xin finished speaking, Liu Biao was already so angry that his blood pressure was high, pointing at Hua Xin's whole body trembling, and the generals in Jingzhou had already pressed the hilt of their swords, just waiting for Liu Biao to give an order, and then went up to chop Hua Xin into meat puree. At this time, Kuai Liang, who usually scolded Boss Dong the most, came out and played: "Lord, although Hua Ziyu's words are aggressive, but Lao Cheng seeks the country, it is really a loyal word, even if the lord does not use it, he should not punish loyal ministers for his loyalty." ”

Kuai Liang's younger brother Kuai Yue was also not polite, and said: "Lord, Ziyu's words are reasonable, and the lord must not blame him." "The two brothers of the Kuai family are playing the same abacus, since Hua Xin dares to persuade Liu Biao to surrender in the official hall, then Hua Xin has colluded with Dong Zhuo, and now Bao Hua Xin is to support Dong Zhuo, and when the city is broken in the future, they can also say that they are Dong Zhuo's internal response. And what he persuaded to surrender just now was said by Hua Xin, their Kuai brothers didn't ask Liu Biao to surrender, and whether Liu Biao killed Hua Xin or not, it had nothing to do with their Kuai brothers.

The brothers of the Kuai family, the most powerful scholar clan in Jingzhou, spoke, and the other scholars naturally would not be polite, and one by one they came out to salute with their fists, and vigorously supported Hua Xin's words under the pretext of not blaming the public, and asked Liu Biao not to kill Hua Xin, and Hua Xin had expected what the scholars would say, and he was silent on the surface, but he was sneering in his heart. Only Liu Biao almost fainted, eager to call the warriors to kill these hypocrites in one go.

"Hua Ziyu, do you dare to say this without a king and a father?" Suddenly, there was a loud shout in the hall, Ma Liang strode out of the ranks, pointed his finger at Hua Xin and scolded: "Dong thief bullying the king, killing nature, heaven and earth are not tolerated, you are a Han Chen, you eat the king's Lu, you don't want to serve the country, and you oppose the thieves to praise it, you still remember Zhang Song and Yang Song, the two thieves?" If Xiangyang City is broken, you will be the next Yang Song! Ma Liang turned to Kuai Liang and the others and shouted: "You and others are greedy for life and afraid of death, you just need to say it clearly, why do you need to borrow the mouth of Hua Xin?" You have insulted Dong Thief many times over the years, and tortured Dong Thief in every way when you were in Huangjiazhuang, with Dong Thief's belly, even if you obey Dong Thief, you will die without a place to be buried! Do you understand? ”

Ma Liang's words made the brothers of the Kuai family and others full of shame, and Hua Xin's purpose had been achieved, so he silently followed everyone back to class, leaving only Ma Liang standing in front of the hall and saying: "Lord, although the Dong thief is powerful, our army has nothing to resist the general of the Dong thief, but in order to seek speed, the Dong thief abandoned the grain road and harvested the wild valley for military supplies, and the ordnance is far from enough, which is difficult to last. Ma Liang suggested that since the Dong thief lacked siege equipment, it was not difficult for our army to fortify the city and defend it, and then send the Jiangdong army that connected with the Dong thief who had a grudge against his father. ”

Ma Liang's words made Liu Biao's blood surging, and he secretly regretted that he had not used Ma Liang before, Liu Biao shouted: "According to the words of the military advisor, from today on, close the four gates and stick to the help!" If there is another person who speaks, cut it! ”

Ma Liang admonished again: "My lord, the envoy to Jiangdong recommended Cai Mao, the younger brother of Cai Mao, the governor of the navy. "Cai Gong is Cai Mao's second brother, Cai Zhong's brother Cai He, also serves in the water army, usually the Cai family brothers are rampant and domineering in Xiangyang, attracting scolding, and the most greedy for money and lustful, but Cai Zhong Cai He died in the hands of Dong Zhuojun, and has formed an indissoluble feud, Kang Peng in order to please his wife Wen Lu, but also threatened to kill Cai Mao and Cai Gong with his own hands, so among the people in the Jingzhou army, Liu Biao is the most trustworthy Cai family brother who is usually the most untrustworthy.

Liu Biao, of course, understood why Ma Liang recommended his second brother-in-law, and immediately nodded and agreed, and ordered Cai Gong to bring more gold and jade, immediately cross the Xiangjiang River, which was still in Jingzhou's control, and go to Jiangdong for help. He also ordered Huang Zu and Ma Liang to lead the 100,000 troops in the city, hold the four gates, and not allow them to fight, and Cai Mao led the naval army to hold the water village on the east bank of Xiangyang, waiting for Dong Zhuo's army to run out of food.

As Ma Liang expected, Kang Peng was worried about the lack of armament in Dong Zhuo's army, and after joining forces with Wu Ban's troops, although Dong Zhuo's army had 100,000 horses, only 20 catapults and 300 bows and arrows brought by Wei Yan from Yong'an, which was naturally far from enough to capture the thick wall of Xiangyang City. But it is another thing that makes Kang Peng have a headache, it is ridiculous, Dong Zhuojun's 100,000 army, the cavalry alone accounts for 70,000, and the naval army accounts for 20,000, only 10,000 can attack the Flying Bear Army, even if the naval army is converted into an army, it is only 30,000, in the era of cold weapons, if you want to break through the city, you must at least double the strength of the defenders, even if the combat effectiveness of Dong Zhuojun's soldiers is much stronger than that of ordinary soldiers, but at least there are equal strength, to break through Xiangyang, which has 100,000 defenders, 30,000 infantry is of course not enough.

The stingy ghost Kang Peng was naturally reluctant to take the precious Xiliang Iron to ride under the fortified city to consume, thinking about it, Kang Peng could only lure the Jingzhou army out of the city to fight in the field, "Come on, write a letter for the prime minister, and ask Liu Biao to fight a decisive battle with our army." Kang Peng shouted.

The letter of appointment was quickly sent into Xiangyang City by Dong Zhuojun's envoy, Liu Biao wanted to kill the envoy to show his determination to defend the city, but Ma Liang persuaded him and whispered in his ear: "My lord, take this opportunity to delay time." Liu Biao suddenly realized, and hurriedly said to Dong Zhuojun's envoy: "In this case, our army will fight a decisive battle at the south gate of Xiangyang tomorrow, but I just hope that Dong Taishi will not escape from the battle." ”

Dong Zhuojun's envoy was overjoyed: "In this case, the villain will definitely return the words of the assassination history to the Taishi, and our army will fight to the death with your army tomorrow." Liu Biao also sent someone to entertain Dong Zhuojun's envoy with wine and meat, and sent him out of the city.

After the news was brought back, Kang Peng was not only unhappy, but became suspicious, Kang Peng originally did not have much confidence in this idea, Dong Zhuojun's field battle is famous all over the world, if Liu Biao hesitated again and again, and agreed under the provocation of the messenger, then Kang Peng also believed in Liu Biao's determination to fight, and now Liu Biao agreed, then there must be a famous hall in the middle.

"Liu Biao'er, carving insects, dare to get an axe?" Kang Peng suddenly laughed, everyone was busy asking why, Kang Peng laughed and said: "Our army is currently the weakest is the navy, Jingzhou promised to fight a decisive battle with our army, it must have induced our army to pay attention to the land, and his navy army was exhausted, and the water army of our army was caught off guard." Kang Peng's analysis is not unreasonable, and everyone is convinced, "The master is clever and clever, and the ghosts and gods are beyond their reach." ”

At the moment, Kang Peng ordered Ma Chao to ride 30,000 iron horses to his own water village to ambush, since he led an army to make five more meals, Tianming will go to the south gate of Xiangyang to set up a formation, and wait for the Jingzhou army to fight, but Xiangyang City is silent, not half a figure is seen, Kang Peng looked carefully with a monocular, and saw that although the city was quiet, but there were figures flickering from time to time behind the battlements, and you could also see all kinds of defense materials in the city piled up, obviously the city was full of killing machines, and the water army Dazhai did not see the slightest movement, Kang Peng was suspicious in his heart, so that people stepped forward to ask, and there was still no echo in the city, From dawn to evening, not a single soldier was dispatched in the city, and Kang Peng had to collect his troops and return to the camp.

That night, Kang Peng sent an envoy into the city to ask Liu Biao for the crime of breaking the contract, facing the menacing Dong Zhuojun envoy, Liu Biao covered his head and gasped, while apologizing, "Please return to the Taishi, the villain suddenly contracted a vicious disease last night and could not act, tomorrow, tomorrow our army will fight a decisive battle with your army." Liu Biao said again: "Come on, set up a banquet to entertain the waiter, and then send the father's favorite jade Ruyi to the messenger." ”

"Okay, tomorrow is tomorrow." Dong Zhuojun's envoy said viciously: "If Liu Envoy Jun misses the appointment again tomorrow, the Taishi will be very unhappy, and the Envoy's reputation will plummet." Liu Biao naturally nodded in agreement, indicating that he remembered it.

The next day, Kang Peng laid an ambush again, the fierce leader came to fight, but Xiangyang closed the city gate, held out, until dusk, Liu Biao did not wait for Kang Peng to send a messenger to question, then in Ma Liang and Huang Zu under the support of the sick and majestic step up to the city, ** said: "The master sees the sin, the villain's evil disease has not been cured, and it is still difficult to move, and please ask the master to give another day of grace, tomorrow the villain will be carried into battle, and the Taishi will fight a decisive battle." Liu Biao's acting skills are good, and he really looks like he is riddled with evil diseases, plus he is in front of the two armies, Kang Peng is embarrassed to be too pressing, so he retreats and returns to the camp under Liu Biao's gambling curse.

On the third day, it was already afternoon, and the city of Xiangyang was still silent, and when things came to this point, could Kang Peng still understand that he had fallen into the enemy's delaying tactics? At the moment, Kang Peng was furious, and ordered the army to attack the city, only 10,000 flying bear troops carried the ladder and made a noise, and twenty catapults also began to throw stones to cover the defenders of the city, but the troops that could be put into the siege were too few, Huang Zu concentrated several times the defenders of Dong Zhuo's army to defend the south gate, the arrows and stones on the city were like rain, Dong Zhuo's army suffered huge losses, Kang Peng was afraid of consuming this batch of infantry troops that were currently more precious than the Xiliang Iron Cavalry, so he had to Mingjin to withdraw his troops and make another plan. However, the Jingzhou army also succeeded in making Dong Zhuojun waste three days, making Dong Zhuojun's already insufficient grain and grass even tighter.

In the following ten days, Dong Zhuojun used all means to lure the Jingzhou army to fight, from insulting Liu Biao's wife to Huang Zu's grandmother, from a sneak attack in the middle of the night to ordering the Dark Moon troops lurking in the city to incite the poor people to join forces, but they were all seen through by Ma Liang one by one, Xiangyang City still stood still, and also lost the lives of several Dark Moon troops.

When Dong Zhuojun attacked the city for several days, Cai Gong also arrived at Jianye all the way, and saw Sun Quan and Sun Jing and others, Cai Gong handed Liu Biao's letters and gifts, crying about the crisis in Jingzhou, and asked the Jiangdong Army to send troops to rescue, Sun Quan did not dare to slack off, and was busy recruiting the generals to discuss.

That night, Sun Quan summoned all the civil and military officers and said: "Zhugong, Dong Thief and our army have a grudge against their father, and now Dong Thief is alone in Jingzhou, Ben Hou (PS: Sun Quan inherited Sun Jian's Wucheng Marquis) wants to take this opportunity to unite Jingzhou to attack Dong Thief, I don't know what Zhu Gong's opinion is?" ”

"My lord, no." Zhang Zhao came out and said: "Our army has been fighting again and again, the soldiers are tired, and the people are overwhelmed, it is the time to recuperate, not to mention that Dong Thief Iron Riding on land is the nemesis of our naval army, and there is no chance of victory." ”

Sun Quan has never liked Zhang Zhao, who is too steady, and he expected Zhang Zhao to say this, so he turned to Zhou Yu, who had a handle in his hands, and Zhou Yu had already been confident, and said: "Lord, our army can fight, and the battle will be won!" ”

Sun Quanqi said: "The battle must be won? Dare to guarantee the ticket? ”

Zhou Yulang said: "Dong thief has three defeats, Dong thief in order to fight quickly, abandon the grain supply in disregard, hold each other for a long time, lack of military food and grass, defeat without a fight, this is Dong thief's defeat; Dong thieves are mostly cavalry, they can only fight in the field, not attack the city, let alone water battles, this is the defeat of Dong thieves; Jingzhou Shilin hated Dong thief to the bone, Dong thief's army did not accept the water and soil, and the disease was bound to be epidemic in the army for a long time, and when it was autumn and winter, the wind direction was mostly the north wind, and the Dong thief was located downstream against the wind, and the time and place were not in the hands of Dong thief, which was the defeat of Dong thief. When our army arrived in Xiangyang, these three defeats were enough to drag Dong Thief to exhaustion, and our army could win a battle. ”

"See?" Sun Quan said lightly to the civil and military forces: "You are still not satisfied with the public to serve as the governor of the navy, who of you can have such a strategic strategy and win a thousand miles?" Everyone in the Jiangdong army was ashamed and bowed their heads one after another, and Sun Quan ordered again: "Gongjin, this marquis orders you to lead 50,000 sailors to the north on the same day and attack Dong Thief with the Jingzhou army." ”

The movements of the Jiangdong army have already been reported to Dong Zhuo's army, Dong Zhuo's army and strategists are all shocked, the capital of Xiangyang has been attacked for a long time, and now the enemy has come to reinforce, and the army is not good, and some people persuade Kang Peng to withdraw the army, and attack Jingzhou again in the next day, so as not to be attacked by the enemy on both sides.

"What are you anxious about?" Kang Peng said quietly: "I expected that Jiangdong would rescue Jingzhou, and I have ordered Zhang Xiu to set up an ambush in Shiyang, Hanyang, and wait for the Jiangdong army to arrive and give them a head-on attack, we don't need to consider the threat of the Jiangdong army." ”

"Taishi, the Jiangdong Army is a naval army, so naturally it is a boat ride from the Xiangjiang River." Jia Xu was puzzled: "Zhang Xiu led all the cavalry, how can he stop the navy on the river?" ”

"Heaven must not be divulged." Kang Peng smirked: "This prime minister has his own clever plan, let the cavalry stop the naval army on the river." ”

How did Zhang Xiu stop Zhou Yu's army on the river? What was Kang Peng's ghost idea? See the next chapter breakdown.