"My lord, although the trees and stones have been emptied, some traps can be set up in the suburbs." Jiang Wan on the side reminded.

"It's still early, wait until there is accurate news from Cao Jun, let's talk about it. Brother Gongyan, I'll leave this matter to you. If you need manpower and materials, communicate with Mr. Wen Chang and Mr. Kong Ming, and be sure to do a good job. ”

"In addition, some arrow towers can be set up at both ends of the city wall away from the city gate to prevent the enemy from attacking the defenders in the city directly! There are also more preparations in the city to reject horses and sharp wooden stakes, in short, the trees cut back cannot be wasted! ”

Fortunately, these civil and military officials who took on important responsibilities were either promoted by Liu Cong, or invited back by Liu Cong from thousands of miles away. has been following Liu Cong for more than three years, and every instruction of Liu Cong can be seriously implemented, and no one asks why.

And these soldiers work harder, and doing these jobs is much easier than going to the battlefield, or even training. As long as they ensure that they are well fed and drunk, and that military salaries are paid on time, they have no opinion. This also made Liu Cong realize the benefits of starting from scratch. Assuming that Liu Biao is still there at this time, or suppose that he simply takes over Liu Biao's position. The civil and military officials under his command may not be even, let alone take precautions and prevent accidents.

Just after June, news came from Xudu: Cao Cao, in order to strengthen his control over the government, ordered the abolition of the three dukes of Taiwei, Situ, and Sikong, and restored the system of prime ministers and imperial historians in the Western Han Dynasty. Cao Cao himself became prime minister and continued to serve as the pastor of Jizhou. In this way, Cao Cao is not only under one person in fact, but also above ten thousand people in name.

Jizhou is no longer Jizhou in the sense of the thirteen states of the Eastern Han Dynasty, but Jizhou of the ancient Kyushu, which actually includes most of Hebei. Cao Cao, the prime minister and the pastor of Jizhou, can really be described as a military and political power.

A few days later, another news came, which made the generals in Xiangyang suddenly feel the pressure.

It turned out that Cao Cao was preparing for a southern expedition. In order to prevent chaos in the rear, he ordered Lang Zhang to persuade Ma Teng to give up the army and join the court as an official. Ma Teng initially agreed, but then had doubts, and under the constant urging of Zhang Ji, Ma Teng handed over the army to his eldest son Ma Chaotong, and went to Beijing to Xu Du alone. Cao Cao took Ma Teng as his lieutenant, and moved all his family members to his base camp Yecheng as hostages, and only Ma Chao continued to stay in Guanzhong. In this way, Cao Cao was able to control the relatively powerful Ma Teng force in Guanzhong.

The end of what should come is still coming, it is a disaster that cannot be avoided, whether it is a blessing or a curse.

After arranging the defense, Liu Cong began to stay at home again and think about what else could be done in advance. At this time, the counties of Jingnan lost no time in expressing their loyalty to Liu Cong. Although it is only in name, it is important. He led his army to fight Cao Cao near Xiangyang. As long as the four counties of Jingnan remain neutral while watching the fire from the other side, Liu Cong can be regarded as worshipping the Bodhisattva.

Since the counties have shown their loyalty, Liu Cong did not forget to commend them.

On this day, Liu Cong was chatting with Mrs. Cai, Cai Lin and others, and Liu Yin came to report that someone outside the door asked to see him. When Liu Cong moved to the living room, Liu Yin brought people in, and Liu Cong's eyes lit up. This person is none other than Ma Liang, the elder brother of Ma Tan who Liu Cong inadvertently saved.

Ma Liang is twenty-three this year, and Liu Cong wanted to recruit Ma Liang into the mansion at the beginning. It's just that because Ma Liang is young, he doesn't have a suitable position arrangement. Unexpectedly, now that he has become a Jingzhou pastor, Ma Liang has not forgotten himself.

"Grass people and horses often see generals."

"Hurry up and excuse me, Brother Ji Chang has something to do with me today?"

"The grass people heard that the general was building fortifications in Fancheng and Xiangyang today to prepare for war. I also heard that Cao Cao in the north claimed to be the prime minister, and thought that the general was preparing to resist Cao. Although Liang is not talented, after consulting with your brothers, I feel that this time should be a modest effort. ”

"Haha, I wanted to recruit Brother Ji Chang for a long time, but I was afraid that you would refuse, so I never thought that you would recommend yourself today. God help me, God help me. Come, sit down, sit down! ”

"Thank you, lord!" The Ma Liang brothers received Liu Cong's small favor, and the family was in Xiangyang City. Liu Cong was so enthusiastic and ready to defend against the invasion of foreign enemies, and the Ma brothers naturally knew who Liu Cong was going to deal with. At this time, he rushed to take refuge with Liu Cong, which shows that this Ma Liang is really not an ordinary person. At least he is also optimistic about Liu Cong.

"Ji Chang, in your opinion, have there been any mistakes in some of my preparations inside and outside the city these days?" The so-called authorities are obsessed with bystanders, and Liu Cong also wants to hear Ma Liang's opinion.

"Although Liang knows a little about the art of war, the lord's concerns are almost perfect......"

"Oh, there's still a flaw over there, but you don't have to say it's okay."

"Lord, Sun Ziyun: 'Go to the army to fight, and then fight the enemy. The lord and Mr. Kong Ming and Jiang Gongyan sighed that their strategy was not as good. But did the lord ever think that Cao Cao now owns most of the Central Plains of Hebei and Henan, and has a large number of soldiers, even if the lord has the ability to fight to prevent Cao Cao from going south. If Cao Cao does not withdraw his army, but confronts the lord ......"

"Ji Chang, if you have something to say, just say it."

"The lord may have thought of sending people to Xishu and Jiangdong to ask for help?"

"Ji Chang is really intelligent!" Liu Cong didn't think about it, but Liu Cong is a traverser and half of the military experts of later generations. In today's era, under the current situation of Jingzhou, it is not easy to think of uniting Xishu and Jiangdong.

"Ji Chang, don't hide it, I have long shown favor to Jiangdong. It has been more than a year since he repelled Sun Quan last year, and this time he transferred General Huang Zu back to Xiangyang to let Sun Quan understand the good intentions of his own government. As you said, Cao Cao's strength is great, and it is by no means something that my Jingzhou state can resist for a long time, and the alliance is the best policy. It's a pity that all the work has to be done by people, and there is no suitable candidate for a while.

Now that Ji Chang has brought it up, this government wants to invite the lord to go to Jiangdong to explain the benefits and disadvantages, and win Sun Quan and me to resist Cao Cao together. What do you think? ”

"Thank you for your appreciation, Liang must live up to his mission!"

"With Ji Chang's talent, explain the benefits and disadvantages to Sun Quan, and presumably things will be done. However, you have to keep the following points in mind...... "Liu Cong analyzed Sun Quan's generals, strategists and Ma Liang again.

At this time, Ma Liang may not feel anything, and when he arrives in Jiangdong, he will definitely surprise Liu Cong as a celestial. Moreover, in history, after Cao Cao's southern expedition, Sun Quan also took the initiative to send an envoy Lu Su to Xiangyang to form an alliance, but met the defeated Liu Bei in Jiangling. In this way, there is no shortage of people of insight in Jiangdong. Now that he has taken the initiative to send Ma Liang as an envoy, coupled with Ma Liang's intelligence, it must not be difficult to form an alliance.

Of course, Ma Liang's entourage is also indispensable to Huang Quan's subordinate Jinyiwei, this is a good opportunity to contact the Jiangdong regime openly! Although Ma Liang is very confident, he is also grateful for Liu Cong's trust, originally thought that Liu Cong could adopt his own plan to cut off diplomatic relations, who would have thought that Liu Cong would send himself to Dongwu without saying a word, which may be a manifestation of no one in Jingzhou in the eyes of others, but in the eyes of the Ma brothers, this is a great trust. Even the youngest Ma Tan is eager to try it!

Liu Cong arranged for Ma Liang, and personally sent dozens of miles, instructed Ma Liang to be careful in everything, and quickly informed Cai Mao. Now that he is really going to ally with Sun Quan, presumably Cai Mao can understand some of Liu Cong's original plan. In any case, Cai Mao's change of defense to Huang Zu is also a move by Liu Cong to show favor to Jiangdong. At least Liu Cong's words to Cai Mao have begun to be fulfilled, and then Cai Mao will also learn about Cao Cao's proclamation and southern expedition.

Only as Liu Cong said at the beginning, Cai Mao could fully support his construction of Jingzhou after the war.

Ma Liang sent an envoy to Jiangdong, and Liu Cong was worried about the candidate to envoy Xichuan. Originally, Jiang Wan or Zhuge were good candidates, but at the moment, the two of them really had too many tasks. Yi and Han Song also have political talents in this area, but they are not as smart and clever as Ma Liang, and by the way, they make friends with Yizhou talents and understand the customs of Yizhou.

And the two of them are not firm main battle factions, just imagine, as the envoy of the alliance to resist Cao, his own position is not firm enough, how can he persuade the other party's monarchs and ministers to advance and retreat together with you. After thinking about it, Liu Cong had no choice but to give up for the time being. After all, Xichuan is too far away to help for the time being, and it is too late to send an envoy into Sichuan after the first battle. Of course, this also made Liu Cong feel the lack of talents, originally thought that only a few of these old ministers in Xiangyang could not be reused, but when he really took over the position, he found that the truth was far from the case.

Dong Yun and Fei Yi, it seems that I am going to pull out the seedlings to help them grow!