After Liu Cong arrived in Xinye, he began to send troops to Huyang and other places one after another, preparing to form a siege of Wancheng after seizing the surrounding counties. In order to deal with Liu Cong's army, Sima Yi personally guarded Wancheng, and sent the general Xu Huang to annex Nieyang (now Zhenping). Wancheng garrison 40,000 soldiers, Xu Huang led 20,000 troops.

In order to adapt to the real-time changes, Liu Cong moved the battalion forward to Deng County, and at the same time ordered Guan Yu, who had originally attacked Wancheng, to take Nieyang, while he himself was ready to fight to the death with Sima Yi stationed in Wancheng. In Liu Cong's plan, now that Wei is in turmoil, Sima Yi is the pillar of the Great Wei State, if he can defeat Sima Yi, it will even have a deterrent effect than the occupation of Guanzhong, and can accelerate the collapse of the Wei State from within. Even if he can't completely annihilate the enemy army, if he can catch Sima Yi's blow to Cao Pi, it will be no less than the death of his father.

It's just that the difference is that Liu Cong wants to fight, and Sima Yi looks like he is defending with all his might, he is well versed in the way of using soldiers, and knows that time is the medicine to save Wei at this time. As long as the position is stabilized in Wancheng, Liu Cong's army in the middle road will not be able to approach Xuchang, then Yecheng will be safe and worry-free. Xu Chang is worry-free, then neither the western front nor the eastern front can threaten the capital for the time being. Wei could then use this time to mobilize troops and horses across the country to respond.

Although Wancheng belongs to Jingzhou, it has been under the control of Cao Cao since Zhang Xiu defected to Cao Cao, and has been on the front line all these years, so the generals stationed in Wancheng have all strengthened the city wall in their own positions. Now Sima Yi is hoarding heavy troops, and it is unrealistic to achieve results in a short period of time. But if Cao Pi is allowed to slow down, he may be caught in a more protracted war, so Liu Cong is now desperate to make a quick breakthrough.

In the face of Sima Yi's strict defense, Liu Cong, Fa Zheng and others were also at a loss, and carried out many tentative and all-out attacks, but they did not have much effect.

I have to say that in the face of Sima Yi, a commander-in-chief general, he can be independent in terms of operational command, planning and countermeasures, and strategic layout, even in defending the city, he is not much worse than the defending generals.

The more time passes, the more anxious Liu Cong becomes, not only the pressure brought to him by Sima Yi, but even Cao Zhang, who has disappeared for a long time, also makes it difficult for him to sleep, Cao Chang is the biggest variable in Liu Cong's three-way expedition to Wei, if Cao Chang returns quickly from Luo Sunshine with soldiers and horses, Zhang Ren will definitely be tight in Tongguan. If Sima Yi asked Cao Zhang to reinforce Wancheng in order to secure the middle lane, then Wancheng would be even stronger.

"My lord, the flag has been lost." Sima, the overseer of the army, walked into the hall with an urgent note that had just been sent from the front line, and said to Liu Cong, who was talking to Fa Zheng.

Liu Cong was discussing the next combat policy with Fa Zheng at the moment, and gathered on a drawing to keep circling and dotting, when he heard the news brought by the herald, Liu Cong's face changed suddenly, his eyebrows were locked together, and his eyes showed a trace of disbelief.

It seems that Sima Yi is more sophisticated than he imagined, and the social flag seems to be an inconsequential place on the surface, but now that Liu Cong is targeting Xu Huang in Nieyang, the role of the social flag is reflected, Sima Yi sent someone to seize the social flag at this time to ensure the safety of the left flank of Wancheng, even if one side is recaptured by Liu Cong again, as long as the momentum of the horns is still there, the power of the Wancheng defenders can be fully exerted.

"My lord, General Guan came to report that the attack on Nieyang was blocked......"

"Lord ......"

Unfavorable news came one after another, and the obstruction of the attack on Nieyang was still expected by Liu Cong. Xu Huang, who was originally stationed in Nieyang, was Xu Huang, who had been guarding Wancheng for many years, and it was normal for Guan Yu not to take advantage of the situation when the soldiers and horses had an advantage. But in this way, it is equivalent to forcing Liu Cong to take the army to fight Sima Yi's turtle shell! Such casualties must have been large for the Han army, and progress must have been slow.

Liu Cong also knew that this was not the time to lose his temper, so he took a few deep breaths, tried to calm himself down, and then said: "We must not let the Wei army occupy Wancheng, Nieyang, and Sheqi, otherwise the blow to our army will be too great, and we can't afford it." ”

"But at this moment, Sima Yi has been stubborn, and we can't break the city in a short time."

Fa Zheng pondered for a moment, and asked Sima Qianjun, "How many soldiers and horses does Xu Huang have under his command?" ”

Sima replied: "There are 3,000 soldiers in Danyang Qingzhou, and there are 20,000 ordinary soldiers and horses. ”

"Qingzhou soldiers, there are a number of elite soldiers in the world, and their combat power is comparable to that of Jinyi Guard, but I didn't expect Xu Huang to have such a large number of Qingzhou elite soldiers in his hands." Liu Cong sighed.

Thinking that Cao Cao had a strong Qingzhou soldier in his hand in history, Liu Cong was envious, but it was only envy, Liu Cong thought that his trump card troops, Jinyiwei, could definitely defeat the so-called Qingzhou soldiers in the case of equal numbers. However, Jinyiwei has their division of labor, and it is a bit too wasteful to use it for frontal battlefield combat.

"Lord, I have a plan to repel Xu Huang." Fa Zheng's eyes moved, and he said slowly.

Liu Cong glanced at Fa Zheng, and was not happy that Fa Zheng had come up with a way to break the siege, but was even more worried, and said: "Xiaozhi, although I don't know what you can do, it must be quite risky." ”

Fa Zheng was stunned, he didn't expect Liu Cong to say this, but he still nodded, and said helplessly: "Winning in danger, nothing more than that, lord, we have missed a good opportunity here." ”

Everyone felt a little heavier because of Fa Zheng's words, yes, I don't know what the situation in Guanzhong and Yangzhou is now, Sima Yi insists on not fighting, Xu Huang is also sticking to Nieyang, and then the pressure on Liu Cong's side will gradually increase, if you don't want to solve it now, when the other party joins forces, Liu Cong will definitely have no chance of winning.

"What's the solution?" In the end, Liu Cong still asked.

Fa Zheng looked at the drawings full of Heluo's terrain, rivers, and cities, stretched out his hand and pointed to one place, and said: "My lord, please look, Xu Huang is here, Cao Zhang is wandering near Luoyang, if you want to reinforce Wancheng, you must also pass through this line, if we open up Nieyang and then march to Luyang, cut off Wancheng's logistics supply line ......."

Liu Cong and others looked at the drawings one after another, the line of the place pointed out by Fa Zheng was tortuous, and the terrain was extremely narrow, and the place name was also marked next to it.

"Shizigang?" Liu Cong said: "From the terrain, you can see that it is a mountain road full of rugged and treacherous, and Xiaozhi must want to ambush Xu Huang's army here.

"That's right." Fa Zheng nodded and said, "Of course, Zheng is confident that he will lure Xu Huang out of Nieyang City, of course, just an ambush is not enough, there must be absolute forces to defeat them." ”

"Absolute force." Liu Cong muttered, and then his eyes seemed to have made up some kind of determination, and said, "Xiaozhi, how many troops do you think it will take to completely defeat Xu Huang's army?" ”

Fa Zheng said confidently: "The more the better, at least 40,000"

"Forty thousand!" Liu Cong swallowed a mouthful of saliva, he had divided 20,000 troops before for Guan Yu to attack Nieyang, Yu Ban took 10,000 people to the east of Wancheng to prepare to recapture the Sheqi, if he took out another 40,000 to ambush Xu Huang, then the soldiers and horses in his hands were only 10,000 and 5,000 people, how could this soldiers and horses deal with Sima Yi!

"Okay, just according to the meaning of filial piety, it's just who will deal with Xu Huang!" After Liu Cong weighed it, his eyes flashed with firmness, and he still agreed with Fa Zheng's suggestion.

Fa Zheng took the lead in saying, "I'll go there in person. ”

Liu Cong seemed to have expected that Fa Zheng would take the initiative to stand up, and when he heard this, he just nodded deeply and said: "You Xiaozhi personally went to the town, I expect that Xu Huang's army will definitely not be his opponent, but this time to ambush Xu Huang, it is inevitable that there will be a big battle, so I will let Liao Hua go with you." ”

"Thank you, Lord." A touch flashed in Fa Zheng's eyes, he knew that Liu Cong asked Liao Hua to follow, in fact, to protect himself. Although Liao Hua is young, he is long and strong, and he has followed Zhao Yun to practice martial arts for many years, and he has the true biography of Zhao Yun, but he is a personal bodyguard with a good mission.

"Lord, if 40,000 soldiers and horses are transferred from the army, the troops in the city will definitely be empty, and Sima Yi must not find out about this." After thinking about it, Fa Zheng reminded cautiously.

Liu Cong also knew the seriousness of the matter, but in order not to worry Fa Zheng, he patted his chest and said, "Rest assured, filial piety, I have my own clever plan to deal with Sima Yi." ”

Fa Zheng still wanted to say something, but when the words came to his lips, he saw Liu Cong's indifferent gaze, and finally shook his head and said, "Since that's the case, Jia will go and prepare." ”

Fa Zheng bowed his hand slightly towards Liu Cong, then walked outside, walked a few steps and stopped, as if he was a little hesitant, and then walked to Zhao Yun and said: "General Zilong, in just three days, I can repel Xu Huang's army...... In the meantime, the Lord's comfort will be handed over to you. Take care, lord. ”

For some reason, hearing some serious words from Fa Zheng, Liu Cong's heart jumped, and a bad premonition rushed to his heart, and he looked at Fa Zheng's thin back that was gradually moving away, and he was a little dazed. However, Zhao Yun looked very calm, not to mention that there were still 10,000 elite soldiers in the city, even if he and Liu Cong were two horses, it was only a few dozen miles from Deng County to Xinye, Zhao Yun was confident that with his own bravery and the skills of the lord Liu Cong, he should be able to easily kill and return to Xinye smoothly.

So Zhao Yun looked at Liu Cong's preoccupied appearance, and said: "Don't worry, the lord has filial piety and goes out in person, and I believe that it will be successful." ”

Liu Cong retracted his gaze and nodded slowly: "I hope so!" "With Zhao Yun here, Liu Cong is still more at ease with the senior comfort, but this Sima Yi is not so easy to deceive, I don't know if this guy will be moved by the wind, if Fa Zheng will come as soon as he leaves, then he really has to be careful to take precautions.

Soon, an hour later, Fa Zheng led the army of Dead Ten Thousand to quietly set off from Niyang and rushed to Shizigang.

On the city gate, Liu Cong looked at the back of Fa Zheng who didn't even say hello, his eyes revealed indescribable complexity, from Fa Zheng's helpless eyes before leaving, he knew that Fa Zheng was going to be more than lucky. But Fa Zheng and Pang Tong are this kind of people, good at using tricks, and they have completely different styles from Zhuge Liang. However, it was the conspiracy of Fa Zheng and Pang Tong and others that helped Liu Cong quickly lay the foundation and gave him the capital to confront Cao Cao. If you follow Zhuge Liang's cautious character, I am afraid that he is still on the way to attack Sichuan.