In the twenty-third year of Jian'an, on the fifteenth day of the first month, Liu Bei and Jiangdong were intensively preparing for the Northern Expedition, and Liu Bei also specially transferred 5,000 soldiers and horses from Lingling, Wuling, and the public security to come over as the defensive army of Xiangyang, preparing to attack Nanyang, when a news came from the north, so that all actions came to a standstill.

Shaofu Geng Ji, Taiyi Ling Yoshimoto, and Wei Huang, the secretary Wei Huang and other twenty-three ministers intended to gather people to rebel and kidnap the Son of Heaven, and the incident occurred and was suppressed by the Xuchang guard general Xiahou Shang with troops, and Geng Ji and other twenty-three ministers were wiped out of the three clans!

This news is not so much a careful investigation, but rather a deliberate release by Cao Cao to shake the hearts of Liu Bei and Sun Quanjun.

"Cao Cao's methods are decisive enough." Xiangyang, the government office, Liu Yi put down the information, and said helplessly.

Liu Bei's face was not very good-looking, and Pang Tong smacked his lips and said: "Bo Yuan is right, although he already knew that these people would not be able to become a climate, but he never thought that he was so incompetent, and there were twenty-three people involved in such a confidential matter!" ”

This kind of thing, your affairs are chaotic, as long as it succeeds, there will naturally be courtiers who support the Son of Heaven in the court to respond, and it is more likely to drive the wall grass to rebel together, and when the time comes, cooperate with Liu Bei and Sun Quan's actions, so that the entire Central Plains is likely to be chaotic.

Now that I have contacted so many people, it looks like a safe move, but in fact, it is to take off my pants and fart, and this is a big move, but I missed the line, after all, there are many people who talk and know secrets, so can it still be called a secret? Pang Tong really didn't understand what was going on in these people's heads? A great opportunity, half of which was wasted by these people.

Liu Bei was a little worried, this matter was troublesome, and he looked at everyone: "Princess, what should I do for today's plan?" ”

If this happens, can you still fight?

Fa Zheng said with a smile: "Don't worry, in fact, now that there is righteousness, the lord only needs to change his name and say that Cao Cao killed the minister without permission, and he was cruel and unkind." ”

There are not too many excuses for sending troops, and the most important thing is that now there is an opportunity to cooperate with Soochow, as for the opportunity itself...... In fact, it is not so important after reaching a cooperation between the two parties.

"There is no turning back from the bow." Liu Yi also nodded, he didn't believe in these people too much before, but now that they are dead, Liu Yi is in favor of sending troops, otherwise, at the level of these people, Liu Yi is really worried about being pitted by them, but now there is no need to worry about this, just send troops directly, Cao Cao is in Nanyang, and the generals of the Cao army are also mostly restrained by this side, if in this case, Sun Quan can't capture Jianghuai, then it really can't be said that they don't do their best.

Pang Tong also agreed: "Yes, at this time, our army can no longer retreat!" ”

Sun Quan agreed to do it, at this time they retreated, no matter what Sun Quan's reaction was, they could use this as a reason to blame Liu Bei afterwards, politically it would put Liu Bei in a disadvantageous position, but instead sent troops, Sun Quan's side saw that there were benefits to be gained, and the probability of sending troops was very high.

Liu Bei saw that the three main advisers around him all supported the dispatch of troops, and he felt a little more confident in his heart, and immediately said: "Since this is the case, then send troops according to the previous plan?" ”

"No!" Liu Yi, Pang Tong, and Fa Zheng spoke out almost at the same time to stop them.

Belch......

Liu Bei's face was a little embarrassed.

Liu Yi scratched his head, looked at Fa Zheng and said, "Let's talk about filial piety first." ”

"My lord." Fa Zheng didn't refuse, nodded with Liu Yi and said: "At this time and that time, Cao Cao had worries about the future before, if we send troops, we will definitely be able to make Cao Thief mess up, but now, Cao Thief has no worries, if he sends troops according to the previous strategy, it will be unfavorable." ”

According to the previous decision, it is to take the initiative to attack, and Cao Cao is hard, the difference in strength between the two sides is not too great, and Cao Cao is worried about the rear, and he will definitely not be able to do it with all his might, but now that the worries have been eliminated, use this style of play again...... Liu Bei could not mobilize the rear troops and horses, and Guan Ping's soldiers and horses would take a few days to arrive, and they had to send troops now to seize the opportunity.

Although the lineup on his side is not weak, Cao Cao is not bad or even stronger.

Liu Bei nodded silently, and looked at his three major strategists humbly, or two and a half?

"Before, we had to take the initiative to attack and seek a decisive battle, but now, we can take it step by step, focusing on attacking the city and conquering the territory, and start the attack from Huyang, Caiyang, Dengxian, Zhangling and other places around Xiangyang." Pang Tong smiled and pointed to the huge sand table made by Liu Yi.

"Although the Nanyang area is all plains, there are rivers between each other, and they don't want to be connected." Pang Tong looked at the sand table, groped his chin and said with a smile: "Therefore, in this battle, the cavalry advantage of the Cao army cannot be fully brought into play, and our army has excellent armor, so it does not suffer a loss, and it can open the battle line." ”

"But in this way......" Liu Yi looked at those cities, and said with some distress: "This battle will be very chaotic." ”

Isn't it, the topography of Nanyang basically belongs to the basin, and the middle piece is a large plain, but the waterway is vertical and horizontal, not as suitable for cavalry galloping as the Central Plains, but it really opens up and fights...... Liu Yi just thinks about it, and he feels that his head is big.

"Pulling apart, in addition to the merits of the soldiers and horses, it is the ability of the generals, which is actually not difficult." Pang Tong looked at Liu Yi with a smile, he knew Liu Yi's weakness, he wanted Liu Yi to attack the city, city by city, even if Liu Yi's ability to command the army was not good, but with some strange siege equipment, Liu Yi could also fight very beautifully, but this kind of flowering style of play, Liu Yi could not control it, or in other words, the entire Liu Bei group and even the whole world, there are very few people who can command this kind of battle.

"There is a theory of reality in the art of war, we only need to determine our main goal and attack it with the main force, as for the rest, it is all false!" Pang Tong explained to Liu Yi seriously.

"It's easy to say, but how?" Liu Yi looked at the sand table, took out a bunch of clay figures from the basket under the sand table and put them on the sand table, these clay figures can be divided into Jingzhou Army and Cao Army according to different costumes, which are very easy to identify.

Pang Tong picked up a piece of clay of the Jingzhou army: "The main force is divided into three routes, respectively take Xinye, Huyang, Pingshi, as long as these three are in hand, then Xiangxiang, Caiyang, and Zhangling south of Xinye can be under the rule of our army, and Deng County will be occupied as soon as possible." ”

"These three main forces, led by Bo Yuan, Yang Ren, and Zhang Ren respectively, Bo Yuan invaded Xinye, don't worry about other things after entering the city, and strengthen the city defense as soon as possible!"

"Huh?" Liu Yi frowned and said, "Why me?" What about the prince? ”

Liu Bei should be the most powerful person in the army now, shouldn't Guan Yu be the most important thing?

"The prince is now powerful in China, as soon as he appears, he will inevitably attract the main force of the Cao army to attack, if the prince comes to attack Xinye, I am afraid it will immediately become a head-to-head showdown." Pang Tong shook his head and said: "I intend to use the five generals Junhou, Wu Lan, Wu Ban, Huo Jun, and Zhang Yi to each lead a partial division as a virtual army to lead the main force of the Cao army. ”

"As for why you let Bo Yuan come to take Xinye ......" Pang Tong glanced at Liu Yi and smiled at Liu Bei: "The lord said, this siege and defense of the city, but there are other people who are more suitable than Bo Yuan?" ”

When Liu Bei heard this, he nodded approvingly: "Yes, if you talk about attacking and defending the city, there seems to be no one in our army who can compare with Bo Yuan." ”

It's not that Liu Yi is so powerful, in fact, a person like Guan Yu can convince the opponent, even if he loses, it makes the opponent feel convinced, and it is not unjust to lose to this person, but the opponent who fights with Liu Yi may only have one feeling: grievance.

Looking at the wars that Liu Yi has participated in over the years, although he has been able to turn danger into a disaster, he has basically nothing to say brilliantly, except for the four counties of Jingnan that year, he basically defended and did not counterattack...... Whatever you like, wherever you like, but his most powerful thing is to make all kinds of powerful weapons to defend the city, if you want to attack, it is difficult.

It's basically consumption, and then it's relying on Liu Yi to make powerful weapons or equipment that others don't have, so the enemy who fights against Liu Yi basically won't have a hearty combat experience, and he can hold back his illness when he writes about his temper.

As for the siege, then it is certain that the siege weapons made by Liu Yi can level the battle damage ratio between the two sides, so I ask you if you are afraid?

As for the field battle, it does not exist, if Liu Yi is allowed to fight, he can turn the field battle into a defensive battle, and the three armies will camp together, and the speed is still very fast, and when the camp is set up, and then you want him to come out, then wait for the war to end.

Of course, if he attacked before setting up the camp, although he hadn't done it, it was estimated that Liu Yi wouldn't have much to do.

Therefore, Pang Tong's arrangement this time is still very accurate.

"As for the two generals Zhang Ren and Yang Ren, Cao Jun probably doesn't know that the two generals are powerful, they will only focus on Yun Chang, but they can buy more time for the two generals to capture the city." Pang Tong looked at Zhang Ren and Yang Ren and smiled.

Although Liu Bei wanted to stay and guard Xiangyang, Pang Tong's reason made him unable to refute it, as for guarding Xiangyang...... The ten-zhang high city wall, Cao Cao still thinks about how to do a good job of the ladder, as long as he does not go out of the city, even if the troops are insufficient, it is no problem to guard until the soldiers and horses from all walks of life come.

"I want Liaohua!" Seeing that he could only go on, Liu Yi didn't shirk hypocritically, and directly made a request, by his side, there had to be a figure who knew the soldier to follow, and Liao Hua was quite easy to use, so he decided to ask him.

For Liu Yi's request, Liu Bei directly agreed.

The next step is the distribution of troops.

Coupled with Liu Bei's men and horses transferred from Gong'an, Lingling, and Wuling, plus the county soldiers of Xiangyang itself, not counting the soldiers and horses of Fancheng, there are about 37,000 people in Xiangyang, Liu Bei is ready to mobilize 30,000 main forces to put into the battlefield, and the 7,000 miscellaneous soldiers gathered from all over the country are responsible for defending the city, led by Zhou Cang.

The remaining 30,000 soldiers and horses, Liu Yi, Zhang Ren, and Yang Ren each led 5,000, and the five divisions were divided into five routes, each with 3,000, to open the entire battlefield and seize the opportunity first.