As a general of Nanchen and the commander of Nanchen's army, Xiao Maha still wanted to take Xiangyang with his own hands. In any case, Xiangyang is the most important choke point between Jingzhou and the Central Plains, and putting Xiangyang into Li Xinchen's hands is, in Xiao Maha's view, of course, not as good as putting it in his own hands.

Even if the relationship between Xiao Maha and Li Xinchen is good and close, there is still a difference between his own and others'. Xiao Maha is very clear about this.

"Summoning all departments, enter the siege of Xiangyang, and at the same time order the rear baggage team to hurry up and transfer the siege equipment, and send scouts to investigate the movement of Fancheng on the north bank," Xiao Maha ordered in a deep voice, "The sailors quickly go north and block the water!" ”

"No!" Several of the entourages agreed at the same time.

And Xiao Maha looked at Chun Yuliang slightly: "What do you think the old general has a chance of winning this time?" ”

Chun Yuliang said lightly: "The victory is in hand." ”

"The old general is full of confidence." Xiao Maha couldn't help but smile.

Chun Yuliang also smiled in return: "Everything is ready, and the West is also swept by the wind, how can you not win?" ”

"The wind is blowing the ground, and the fallen leaves are scattered, and I hope our attack will be like the autumn wind sweeping the leaves." Xiao Maha laughed and said, "Old general, it's time for us to go to the battlefield." ”

"I want to follow the great general." Chun Yuliang solemnly bowed his hand.

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"Xiao Maha went out of Zhangshan County, with Chun Yuliang as the forward, pointing directly at Da Xian Mountain. Ren Zhong's troops went out of Zhangchuan County and swept west of Xiangyang. Pei Zilie stood in the camp tent and stretched out his hand to point on the map, "This attack of the hussar general is similar to the previous attacks, but this time it carries sufficient food and equipment, and at the same time, the Jingzhou sailors are also pouring out, and they have the momentum of not breaking the Xiangyang oath and not returning it." ”

Li Xinchen looked at the map quietly, and complained in his heart, Xiao Maha's momentum has never been small, but the attack on Xiangyang is still in accordance with the original method, and the fixed routine may be convenient for the transfer of grain, grass and equipment, but it will undoubtedly allow the opponent to adopt a fixed defensive method, which may not be a good thing.

But then again, Xiangyang is located between the mountains, guarding the water, and Fancheng is the horn of each other, there are not many roads connecting Xiangyang, and Xiao Maha has no problem choosing the two most spacious and most often taken roads as the direction of march.

After all, in Li Xinchen's heart, Xiao Maha's main role is still to contain the enemy and eliminate the enemy's living force, and this Xiangyang City is ultimately Li Xinchen's.

For Xiangyang, or the entire defense line of Shuishui, Li Xinchen can be said to be imperative, because only by taking Xiangyang, Li Xinchen can form a pincer offensive against the Central Plains, otherwise, whether it is out of the valley, Qishan or Yangping Pass, in the final analysis, they can only face the very limited target of Longyou and Guanzhong, and how to fight in this area, the predecessors have left too much experience, Li Xinchen can take a way to attack, and the enemy can also find a way to defend according to the gourd painting.

Especially in Guanzhong, Li Xinchen's most important opponent is Yang Jian, how powerful this person is, Li Xinchen knows how much in his heart.

There is no one who has the ability to be the founding emperor to mess with.

Therefore, Li Xinchen still plans to outflank the Central Plains and Guanzhong after taking Xiangyang, at least the two ways can make the already chaotic Northern Zhou overwhelmed.

Pei Zilie gave a rough introduction to the city defense layout of Xiangyang, and now the defenders of Xiangyang are Wei Chi Kuan's second son Yu Chi Kuan and the sixth son Wei Chi Shun, and Cao Xiaoda, who once followed Yu Chi Hui to fight in Bashu.

It can be said that there is no problem with this lineup, Wei Chi Kuan himself is a brave and good fighter, and Wei Chi Shun is also well trained by Yu Chi Yu's side, not to mention Cao Xiaoda, a notoriously stable person, the three of them are in Xiangyang, obviously Yu Chi Yu did not expect this to be able to make any great achievements with the remaining defenders of Xiangyang, as long as they can defend this city.

As long as Xiangyang is held, even if the situation deteriorates, there is room for recovery. At least the roots of the Wei Chi family are still there, and Yu Chi Hui himself has room for maneuver. In this era when the family is more important than the dynasty, the first thing Wei Chi Yu chooses to protect must be the family.

"Fangling, Shangyong and Xincheng form a passage connecting Xiangyang and Wuguan from south to north, and now Wuguan is still under the control of the Zhou army, we don't need to care, so Shangyong and Xincheng, two almost abandoned cities, can only send scouts to investigate for the time being," Li Xinchen said in a deep voice, "But Fangling is different, there are still more than 1,000 enemy defenders here, as an important barrier on the north side of Xiangyang, obviously Wei Xiaokuan is not stingy with Wei Chi." ”

The generals all smiled.

Hanzhong is Wei Xiaokuan's territory, and Xiangyang is Wei Chi's territory, and it is not a day or two that the two sides do not deal with each other, just like the contradiction between Yu Wenxian and Yang Jian has not only appeared in the past few months, and even as early as the Yuwen Yong period, the two sides have been wary of each other, otherwise after Yu Wenyong died, Yang Jian or Yu Wenxian would not have been able to pull out such a large lineup and find so many supporters in a short period of time.

After all, this kind of brutal political struggle requires trust between the two sides of the cooperation and layers of entanglement of interests, and even sometimes or most of the time the latter is much more important than the former, and if you know that the other party wants to deal with you and is not prepared at all, once the matter starts, then you can only be slaughtered by others.

Even if Yu Wenxian hadn't thought about being able to get to where he is today—maybe he didn't dare to think about it more—he had to consider whether he would be liquidated after he was disarmed and returned to the field or retreated to the second line, so at least during the Yuwen Yong period, he maintained a good relationship with Yu Wenchun and other imperial relatives and generals such as Wei Chi Yuan.

And Wei Xiaokuan and Wei Chi Hui also knew that the existence of the other party was a threat, but they also knew that it was not the time for infighting, so the two sides maintained a certain degree of restraint and concession in Fangling and other places at the junction of Hanzhong and Xiangyang, and Fangling, as a fortress connected to Xiangyang across the water, has been under Yu Chi Hui's control for a long time, and the last time Wei Chi Hui returned to rescue Xiangyang, Wei Xiaokuan couldn't help but say that he led the army to the rear of the palace.

Xiao Maha heard the wind at that time, turned around and withdrew, so the battle was not fought, and when Wei Chi Hui relieved himself and looked back, he found that the Fang Ling behind him had fallen into the hands of Wei Xiaokuan, although Wei Chi was very angry, but people came under the banner of support, and it was of course difficult to settle accounts at this time.

After the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Yu Wenxian and Yang Jian finally tore their faces, and Wei Chi Hui and Wei Xiaokuan had an additional identity of "political enemies" on top of their colleagues.

Capturing Fangling is equivalent to seizing the northern gateway of Xiangyang, and now that the east, south, and west sides of Xiangyang have been surrounded by the Nanchen army, once the connection between Fangling and Xiangyang is cut off, then Xiangyang will eventually become an isolated island.