In the twenty-two years of Jian'an, overall, it was peaceful, although the three princes were tense, but they always maintained restraint, and there was no major war, until the end of the year when Xiangyang City was completed, Jingzhou was responsible for Cui Zhouping, Ma Liang, and Yi when the settlement was in charge, Jingzhou was obviously another bumper harvest this year, and a large amount of grain was transported to Xiangyang.

According to Liu Yi's plan, as the central city of Liu Bei's forces in Jingzhou in the future, Xiangyang City not only has a strong defense capability, but also one of the economic centers, but at present, Xiangyang City may face war at any time, so naturally it cannot open commerce, so the shops established in the city are only open to the people of Xiangyang who live in the city for the time being.

I couldn't spend this year with my wife and children, and the atmosphere of the year made Liu Yi feel a little lonely, even if Guan Yu invited Liu Yi to his home for the New Year, but after all, he was a guest, and he couldn't find the warm and comfortable feeling at home.

"What do you say......" Walking side by side with Pang Tong on the somewhat bleak street, Liu Yi frowned and said: "When will this battle be over?" ”

"It shouldn't be too long." Pang Tong pondered: "At present, the Cao army has actually increased a lot of troops in Nanyang, according to the intention of Lord Wu, it is hoped that our army can start a war with the Cao army first, so that they can take advantage of the situation to attack Hefei." ”

"Here's the point." Liu Yi sighed, this negotiation has been a special girl for almost a year, and Dongwu is urging Liu Bei to hurry up, but the problem is that if Liu Bei makes a move, Dongwu did not attack Hefei, but ran to stab him in the back, it is really an enemy in the back.

A negotiation between the two sides took a year to grind, this trust issue is the key, after all, after the last incident, Liu Bei's credibility of Jiangdong may be discounted, even if both sides now have the intention of re-building the alliance, but this trust problem has a gap, and it is not easy to build it again, now Liu Bei has 30,000 troops in Xiangyang, but Jiangxia, Jiangling, Yueyang, and Changsha have as many as 50,000 soldiers and horses, and they are worried that Dongwu will stab him in the back again.

After all, as soon as Lu Su died and Lu Meng took the throne, his attitude towards Liu Bei Group was completely different from Lu Su.

If Lu Su was still there, the problem would be much simpler.

Pang Tong nodded, Fa Zheng has been busy for the past year, in order to persuade Sun Quan to resist Cao with all his might, but until now, Fa Zheng has never suggested Liu Bei to attack, obviously Fa Zheng also feels that Jiangdong is still not too reliable now, and does not want to take risks, for Fa Zheng's judgment, Pang Tong can still trust.

"Bo Yuan, Shi Yuan!" Sun Gan took two guards to find Liu Yi and Pang Tong, and hurriedly stepped forward and said to the two: "Come with me." ”

"What's the matter? We just ate it. Liu Yi looked at Sun Gan who was in a hurry, and said suspiciously, this year has just passed, and it is normal for everyone to walk around each other, but they really can't eat, Liu Yi feels that he has gained a lot of weight during this time.

“？” Sun Qian glanced at Liu Yi blankly and said, "The lord is in a hurry, what is Bo Yuan talking about?" ”

What does it have to do with me that you've just eaten?

"Ah...... Haha, it's okay, let's go. Liu Yi smiled a little embarrassedly, and then urged Sun Qian to leave quickly.

In the government office, Guan Yu has arrived, and there are also Zhang Ren and Yang Ren who were transferred from Shuzhong, as the top generals in Shu, Liu Bei attaches great importance to these two people, after all, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun are not young, and although Ma Chao surrendered, he was poor to vote, Liu Bei did not dare to let go of it, and the most important thing is that these two people are young, like Wei Yan, Guan Ping, and Liu Feng, they are trained by Liu Bei as the backbone of the Liu Group in the future. Liu Bei specially transferred the two.

There is the meaning of cultivation, and there is also the idea of continuing to wrap up, in short, the status of these two people under Liu Bei will not be too low in the future.

"Lord!" Liu Yi and Pang Tong saluted Liu Bei.

"Bo Yuan, Shi Yuan, and take a seat first!" Liu Bei nodded and motioned for the two to take their seats.

Liu Yi found that Fa Zheng was also back, the two have not had many opportunities to meet, and the friendship is not very deep, Liu Yi bowed slightly to Fa Zheng, it can be regarded as a hello, Fa Zheng this person, he heard Pang Tong say, if you have a temper, it is okay, but if you don't like it or want to calculate him, it is really a good retribution, Fa Zheng has been in Shu for the past two years, but he has cleaned up a lot of people who ridiculed or belittled him when he was under Liu Zhang's command in the past, and in the past two years, many families have been destroyed, at least half of which are from Fa Zheng's hands.

Of course, there are also factors in this where these scholars themselves have unclean hands and feet, and they want to take advantage of Liu Bei's unstable foothold and secretly use some means.

For such a person, Liu Yi doesn't want to make enemies, and he is a troublesome opponent for himself, but he doesn't want to get too close, and the ghost knows that the sentence is not right.

"Lord, I don't know what happened?" Pang Tong looked at Liu Bei and asked.

Liu Bei gestured to the waiter beside him, and the waiter handed a leather scroll to Liu Yi and Pang Tong to look at, and said with a smile: "This is a secret letter from Xuchang, Shaofu Geng Ji, Taiyi Ling Jiben, Si Zhi Wei Huang and other loyal people risked their lives to send it, saying that Cao Cao is now in Nanyang, they want to plot to rescue His Majesty in Xuchang, and ask us to raise troops together to help the Han family!" ”

"Opportunity!" Liu Yi and Pang Tong's eyes lit up when they heard this, this is a good opportunity.

But......

Liu Yi looked at Liu Bei: "Cao Cao is in Nanyang?" The lord may be sure? ”

Pang Tong on the side said with a smile: "Although it may not be possible to believe it all, but since last year, Nanyang has suddenly been under martial law, and almost all the fine works sent by our army have gone and never returned, and now it seems that what this letter says is true!" ”

"It's just...... What can these people accomplish? Guan Yu frowned.

Shaofu Geng Ji, Imperial Physician Ling Yoshimoto, Si Zhi Wei Huang, listen to these leaders, is one of them related to leading the troops? When these several people got together, it felt like they were delivering food to Cao Cao.

"It doesn't matter if they succeed or not, the point is, Cao Cao is in Nanyang!" Liu Yi said with a smile.

"Not bad." Pang Tong echoed: "Besides, although these people have no military power, they are all wang clans, it is not difficult for them to gather some people, and they have a wide range of connections, if they really do it, it will definitely have a great impact, Cao Cao has started to move the capital this year, and he is obviously worried about this." ”

Moving the capital is a big deal, although Cao Cao has decided to move the capital as early as Jian'an 20 years, but the progress is quite slow, the Son of Heaven is still in Xuchang, obviously these people in the court also see that once the Son of Heaven is moved to Yecheng, they will have no chance, so after finding out that Cao Cao went to Nanyang, there was this incident.

Although Cao Cao foresaw that something would go wrong, he obviously didn't expect that these people would hold him back at this time.

Liu Yi squinted in the direction of Nanyang on the map, and suddenly raised his head and said, "My lord, the minister thinks that now is a good time to occupy Nanyang!" ”

Once there is a problem in the rear, Cao Cao must have no intention of fighting, at this time, if Liu Bei sent troops from Hanzhong and Xiangyang, a big war is inevitable, although it is impossible for Cao Cao to give up Nanyang to ensure the stability of the rear, but there must be containment, at this time, if Dongwu can see the opportunity to attack Hefei, Liu Bei is standing here with enough soldiers and food, can afford it, has high combat power, and it is very likely to eat Nanyang.

After all, the topography of Nanyang is relatively independent, but in terms of logistics supply, Cao Cao is definitely inferior to Liu Bei, if it takes a long time, the cost of Cao Cao's logistics transportation must be several times higher than Liu Bei, even if Cao Cao sits on Kyushu, but if you want to transfer grain from farther away, the transportation cost is a geometric increasing trend, but if it is nearby, Xuchang is in chaos, Luoyang does not have much ability to support, and the south direction of Runan has to deal with Jiangdong, which is really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Pang Tong nodded and said: "Yes, since Cao Cao won Nanyang, the people of Nanyang have been suffering from forced labor, as long as our army occupies two or three cities and practices benevolent government, why worry that the people of Nanyang will not help the lord?" ”

In fact, Cao Cao imposed heavy taxes on Nanyang, personal emotional factors are not the main thing, the most important thing is that this Nanyang is an enclave for Cao Cao, and Nanyang must be stationed in heavy troops to guard against Liu Bei and Sun Quan's attack, and most of the grain and grass required must be requisitioned from Nanyang, which can reduce the demand for logistics, plus Cao Ren and other generals have always been haunted by the death of Cao Ang, Dian Wei and others, and the people of Nanyang are suffering from forced labor, and their perception of Cao Jun is naturally not strong. The rift between the two sides is also deepening under this situation, and it can be said that under Cao Cao's rule, the people's hearts in Nanyang are the lowest, and the resistance is also the most fierce.

When Guan Yu attacked Xiangyang in the north, there were a large number of scholars and heroes in Nanyang who gathered militia to revolt in response to Guan Yu, but unfortunately after Guan Yu captured Xiangyang, he was unable to go north again, and these uprisings were quickly extinguished by the Cao army, but there were also many people who took advantage of the war to flee south to Xiangyang to seek refuge.

And today's Liu Bei, the most important thing is money and food, and he is most qualified to implement benevolent government in Nanyang.

Before, it was because of the treacherous relationship between the three parties, coupled with the fact that Nanyang Cao's army had many generals and strong strength, so it was not easy to go up and die, but now that there is this opportunity, it is really appropriate to move troops at this moment.

"The eighteenth ...... of the first lunar month" Liu Bei thought of the time that Geng Ji and others had agreed with him, and watched Liu Yi and others arrive: "Jiangdong is ...... over there"

"You can only transfer Xiangyang soldiers and horses, and order Guan Ping to lead the army from Shangyong, go to Zhuyang to attack Nanyang, and the troops of Jingzhou should not be moved lightly." Fa Zheng said with a smile: "I went down to lobby Sun Quan, and Sun Quan saw that our army was cautious, so he naturally didn't dare to attack rashly." ”

Today's Jingzhou, Jiangxia, Wen Ping is guarding all the ports, it is not easy for the Jiangdong Navy to come over, on land, Zhao Yun is guarding Changsha, land war, even if there are few soldiers, I am afraid that there are few people in the Jiangdong Army who are Zhao Yun's opponents, and Sun Quan can only go north!

"Good!" Liu Bei patted the table, the clapper was set, there is not much time left for them at the moment, they must prepare before the agreed date and then send troops north, if Nanyang can also be in the bag, Xuchang, Luoyang and then Guanzhong are all within the scope of Liu Bei's attack, and most importantly, Nanyang is easy to defend!

At that moment, Liu Bei ordered people to rush to Jiang Shangyong and ordered Guan Ping to send troops, and at the same time, Fa Zheng sent an envoy to Eastern Wu again, preparing to facilitate a joint effort to deal with Cao Cao.