As soon as the order arrived at Cai's mansion, the troops were also integrated, and they were all troops that Cai Mao trusted the captain and the marquis. Cai Mao had already been mentally prepared and after yesterday's incident, he no longer hesitated to lead his troops to Shaxian to replace Huang Zu.

Yi nationality was also promoted to Langzhong. One was killed, and two were promoted, in the eyes of outsiders, this was Liu Cong's attempt to appease the Xiangyang elders. The bitterness may only be understood by Cai Mao and Yi himself.

After Cai Mao left, Wei Yan and the others were immediately ordered to take over the troops left by Cai Mao. Most of these troops have no inclination, which is why Liu Cong is relieved to stay. Zhang Yun was appointed as a partial general, but he no longer had real power.

Three days later, Huang Zu led his troops to Xiangyang, and the first step of Liu Cong's plan was basically completed!

Punish Kuai Yue and exile Cai Mao. Xiangyang City suddenly had the upper hand with the main battle faction!

Liu Qi couldn't sit still when he heard that Kuai Yue had been copied and exterminated, he originally thought that at most, Kuai Jian would be imprisoned and Kuai Yue would go to office. I didn't expect my younger brother to be so ruthless, in Liu Qi's opinion, he and Kuai Jian were the masterminds in this matter, and Kuai Yue even dissuaded the two of them from coming.

Kuai Yue has been wiped out, what will happen if he is caught by Liu Cong? Liu Qi didn't want to think about it, and he didn't dare to think about it.

Liu Qi, who had nowhere to go, thought of mixing under Liu Bei's protection for the time being, for Liu Bei, such a big prince was not a bad thing on his own territory. Especially what Liu Qi said last time, although Liu Bei gave up after thinking about it.

But if one day Cao Cao marched south, Liu Cong fled in a hurry, or surrendered, wouldn't it be logical for him to support Liu Qi as the pastor of Jingzhou? Therefore, Liu Qi proposed to take refuge, and Liu Bei naturally agreed.

However, Cai and Cai Lin were frightened by Liu Cong's thunderous methods, although Cai usually hated Liu Qi, but when Liu Biao died and Liu Cong succeeded to the throne, Cai's various dislikes for Liu Qi disappeared. In turn, he also pulled Cai Lin to persuade Liu Cong.

"Cong'er, no matter what your past grievances were, he is your eldest brother after all......"

"Erniang, don't worry, my father has an explanation before he dies, as long as he doesn't offend me again in the future, I won't want his life."

"Then your father-in-law's ......"

"During this time, I really have to wronged my father-in-law, no matter Erniang and Lin'er, don't worry. In my father's name, I swear that I will treat the Cai clan well. At most one year, at least half a year, when the father-in-law wants to stay in Jiangxia or return to Xiangyang, he likes it! ”

In Liu Cong's plan, it is true that after Cao Cao's first southern expedition is repelled within half a year, he will vigorously build Jingzhou, focusing on Jiangxia County, and he is afraid that Cai Mao will not leave at that time. But it's useless to explain too much to a woman, so I can only coax this girl well in the future.

After Cai Mao arrived in Jiangxia, Huang Zu led his troops to Xiangyang, and according to Liu Cong's orders, Huang Zu's eldest son, Huang Shu, stayed in Shaxian and became the long history of Jiangxia County. Then Zhuge Liang, Jiang Wan and others also came to Xiangyang. The core members of Liu Congnan County were only garrisoned by Li Yan, and Gan Ning arrived a few days late because he needed to lead the naval army along the Yangtze River east and then into the Han River.

After the personnel were in place, Liu Cong held a new team meeting, and Xiang Lang, Han Song and Yi were invited to participate. Standing in front of a group of young students who were more than ten or twenty years younger than him, Yi Yuan couldn't help but sigh how ignorant he and Kuai Yue were.

The meeting, of course, was to counter the impending possible southern expedition of Cao Cao.

The main task of Wen Ping, Gan Ning and Huang Zu was to get a good grasp of the training of soldiers. Now he brought 35,000 soldiers from Jiangling, plus the 15,000 originally left behind in Xiangyang City and the more than 10,000 people that Huang Zu brought from Jiangxia. A total of 45,000 foot riders and more than 15,000 sailors. Li Yan did not disappoint Liu Cong, and was promoted to Nanjun Taipunctual to bring 2,000 soldiers from Zigui, so that in case of war, Jiangling could still support three to four thousand people on the front line!

Huang Quan's responsibility was to gather intelligence, mainly from all the movements of Cao Jun on the Xu Du side. Under the current circumstances, it is difficult for Sun Quan to organize his decent attack, not to mention that Cai Mao is not imaginary in Jiangxia.

The responsibility of Yi and Han Song and Jiang Wan was to appease the emotions of the people in Xiangyang City. To fight against Cao Cao, Xiangyang cannot be chaotic. Although Yi was pro-Liu Bei before, Liu Cong thought that as long as he was given the opportunity, he believed that smart people could see the situation clearly. Of course, Jiang Wan seems to be better at this work. With the addition of Han Song, who is about the same reputation as Iraq, Liu Cong doesn't have to worry about things being messed up.

Zhuge Liang was asked to speed up the production of weapons, especially mixed soft armor made from a mixture of leather armor and iron pieces. Before there is no way to implement the armor on a large scale, this is the transition, according to Liu Cong's idea, at least 4,000 cavalry members will make 2,000 sets. Then there were infantry phalanxes of at least two thousand sets. Of course, if you equip the crossbowman with a thousand sets, the combat power will be even stronger.

In order to ensure manpower, Pan Rui was also transferred to Xiangyang by Nanjun to subordinate Zhuge Liang.

After assigning the task, Liu Cong took Wen Ping, Wei Yan, Huang Zhong and others across the Han River to the north to check the terrain. The group set off early in the morning and continued until noon. Looking at the vast alluvial plain, Liu Cong was very depressed.

Because from Xuchang through Yexian through Wancheng all the way south to Xinye, to Xiangyang, except for two days of small rivers, there are no mountains and rivers to block. Liu Cong knew that Cao Cao personally led the tiger and leopard to chase Liu Bei to abandon his wife and children, and had no choice but to use the common people as a shield. Now Liu Bei in Xinye is definitely unreliable, and Cao Cao will definitely send cavalry first.

The alluvial plain, or the narrow strip of plains from Xuchang to Xiangyang, has only a few scattered lakes when it is close to Xiangyang. The two tributaries of the Han River to the west of the corridor merge into the Han River in Yangyang like a Y. But the river was too shallow to stop the cavalry!

What to do? Back then, the burning of Bowang had already made Cao Cao eat a trench and grow wise......

Liu Cong was in Jiangbei for several days to inspect the terrain, Wen Ping and Zhuge Liang also understood Liu Cong's good intentions, and finding a relatively favorable terrain to set up an ambush or set a trap was also a good way to hit the morale of the enemy. So much so that later, the team of people who checked the terrain became larger and larger, and Wen Ping, Zhuge Liang, Jiang Wan and others joined this team as long as they had free time.

In the blink of an eye, in the middle of May, Liu Cong made a bold decision, which was to divide his troops to defend Fancheng. Wei Yan and Huang Zhong each led 5,000 soldiers to settle in advance. The task of entering Fancheng was not training, and Wei Yanbu was responsible for cutting down all the Chengcai trees ten miles north of Fancheng and transporting them back to Fancheng. Timber is used for **** equipment and large catapults. Huang Zhong was responsible for transporting the stone back to Fancheng along the way for renovation and expansion of the Fancheng city walls.

Of course, Liu Cong also had a reason, that is, he didn't want to leave these trees to Cao Cao.

Between Guandu, Liu Ye's catapult shone brightly. Cao Cao's southern expedition must not have brought too many catapults, and he would not have been able to form a large-scale siege force without stones!

The garrison of Xiangyang City was almost also mobilized by Liu Cong. The city walls of Xiangyang City were strong enough, but Liu Cong still did not give up, firstly, he was a reassuring pill for the people of Xiangyang City. Second, it is also for Cao Cao to cross the river and besiege the city, and also hold on. The sailors of Gan Ning and Huang Zu also suspended their training, digging channels along the Han River for a few kilometers and building fortifications on the south bank.

If all this was impossible for Liu Biao to be carried out when he was alive, not to mention that Cao Cao had not been dispatched so far, even if he had really been dispatched, he would not be guilty of such a hard work and loss of money. But Liu Cong knew that the southern expedition was certain, and it was only a matter of time. Every time you make solid preparations now, you will have fewer casualties in future battles.

In this way, Fancheng and Xiangyang City, Liu Cong personally set up construction drawings. Almost overnight, the walls of Fancheng were widened by more than a zhang and raised by three or four feet. Of course, the most eye-catching thing is the wooden bumps on the city wall, all of which are covered with oilcloth. It's not that you can't see what it is at all.

In this way, although Liu Cong was the lord of a state, he put most of his energy on the defense of Fancheng and Xiangyang City.

On this day, Liu Cong and the generals climbed the city wall of Fancheng again, and when they looked up, the north of the city was in a mess, and some of the originally tall trees were cut down by Liu Cong, and the stumps left behind were also high and low. Liu Cong suddenly remembered something, and then said to the people next to him: "Post a notice, these stumps in the north of the city are strictly forbidden to be cut down, and a fine of 10,000 yuan will be imposed for cutting one tree." Those who have more than 10 trees will be directly imprisoned for the crime of collaborating with the enemy! ”