Although the Cao army was numerous, Kuai Yue was not afraid, he originally planned to rely on the strong city defense of Wanxian County to hold back the Cao army, and then wait for reinforcements from Chang'an.

Unexpectedly, Cao Jun used a secret weapon in the battle against Wancheng, and they even secretly copied gunpowder, although it was not black powder, but it could also be made into explosives to use.

They used explosives to blow open the gates of the city in the middle of the night and blew down the walls.

The Cao army swarmed into the city, and the Jingzhou army was also considered elite, and engaged in street battles with the Cao army, while Kuai Yue, under the protection of the elite guards led by Li Yan, escaped from Wanxian and fled to the champion.

The loss of Wanxian County led to the barrier to the north of Xiangyang, and only Xinye remained.

But how could Liu Bei obediently go to the mantis arm to block the car? Before Cao's soldiers could come to the city, Liu Bei had already led his subordinates to abandon Xinye and flee to Caiyang.

On February 12, Zhou Yu defeated Liu Qi's Jingzhou naval army on the Yangtze River with a fire attack strategy, and burned hundreds of large and small warships.

The Eastern Wu army took advantage of the situation to easily conquer Xiling City, and Liu Qi and Wei Yan led the remnants of the army to retreat to Shaxian.

On 14 February, Zhang Liao was ordered by Lü Bu to lead the Rong 1st Division and the 3rd Division into Jingzhou.

The people from the Ministry of Intelligence stopped Zhang Liao on the way, and they brought a letter of help from Kuai Yue, but gave Zhang Liao a high-sounding excuse to send troops.

On February 16, Liu Biao, who had been seriously ill for a long time, received bad news about the loss of the city and land one after another, and heard that Liu Bei, who was in charge of guarding Xinye, fled without a fight, and the door to Xiangyang was wide open!

was so angry that he vomited three liters of blood, kicked his legs, and drove the crane west.

Soon, the vanguard of the Rong 1st Division of the Central Army had an encounter with a flank unit of Cao's army in Qixian, and the two sides clashed fiercely, and the Central Army, which was inferior in numbers, suffered a loss.

Zhang Liao did not go to storm the county, but occupied the county farther west, and held his troops back.

Cao Cao heard that the Central Army had entered Jingzhou, which made it clear that he wanted to meddle in Jingzhou affairs, and he also claimed that he had a letter of help from Kuai Yue, which was even more justified from a moral point of view.

However, because he did not have an advantage in troops, Zhang Liao did not rush to attack, but temporarily adopted a defensive posture.

Cao Cao, who was very familiar with the combat effectiveness of the Central Army, hurriedly transferred 30,000 reinforcements from Yuzhou that had been prepared for a long time, and then slowly advanced to the city of Xiangyang.

He wanted to take Xiangyang City as soon as possible and create a fait accompli.

On the one hand, Cao Cao actively prepared for the siege of the city, and on the other hand, he sent people to secretly enter the city to win over Cai Mao, Zhang Yun and others.

The Dongwu naval army continued to swim against the current, conquering all the counties along the river, and the Jingzhou army was unstoppable.

Liu Qi and Wei Yan led the remnants of the army to retreat to Jiangling City, the county of Nanjun, and joined Liu Bei, Chen Gong and others, who had already retreated here.

Cai, Cai Mao, Zhang Yun and others in Xiangyang City took out their forged suicide note of Liu Biao, announcing Liu Cong as Liu Biao's heir and taking over as the pastor of Jingzhou.

Liu Qi, who was far away in Jiangling, listened to the advice of Wei Yan, Liu Bei and others, and refused to admit the edict, saying that it was forged.

He set up another banner in Nanjun and also called himself Jingzhou Mu, Nanjun, Wuling, Changsha and other counties all recognized Liu Qi's identity as Jingzhou Mu, but Cai Mao, Liu Cong and others did not expect it.

On the third day of the first month of March, the naval army of Eastern Wu marched north along the Han River and arrived outside Xiangyang City, and the Cao-Wu coalition army really surrounded Xiangyang City, and 40,000 reinforcements from Eastern Wu were also on the way to Xiangyang.

Although the Jingzhou army in Xiangyang City had 70,000 people, they were not subordinate to each other.

Kuai Liang, Yi and others supported Lu Bu and the Chang'an Imperial Court, and thought that they should surrender to Lu Bu in exchange for the support of Zhang Liao's army, after all, Zhang Liao's central army was in Yuxian County, close at hand.

There are also Sun Qian, Wu Ju, Han Song and others who support Liu Qi, believing that they should not abolish the elders and establish the young, and mess up the Gangchang.

Cai Mao and Zhang Yun accepted Cao Cao's bribes, and obtained Cao Cao's promise for their future positions, instigating Cai and Liu Cong to surrender to Cao Cao and keep their wealth and peace.

With the explosives of Cao's army, the city wall could not be stopped at all, and the two armies of Cao and Wu had as many as 200,000 people, and the city was only broken overnight to intimidate Liu Cong and other ministers.

In the middle of the night on March 10, riots broke out in the city of Xiangyang, someone assassinated and assassinated Liu Cong, Liu Cong was wounded but not killed, Cai Mao and Zhang Yun took the opportunity to command their troops to massacre dissidents.

The ministers in the city formed a faction to protect themselves, and all forces mobilized their own armies and the private soldiers of the ministers and wealthy families, and the melee became a mess.

The shadow of the Ministry of Intelligence is also secretly attacking, and they first took advantage of the chaos to rescue Kuai Liang from the city and send him to Yuxian.

Subsequently, Cai Mao, Zhang Yun and their subordinates were assassinated, but many Jingzhou generals were killed.

The Jingzhou army, which was loyal to Kuai Liang and Yi nationality, united with Wu Ju, Sun Gan and others who supported Liu Qi, and engaged in street battles with the armies of Cai Mao and Zhang Yun.

Hearing the riots in the city, Cao Cao and Zhou Yu were not in a hurry to send troops to participate in the attack, but sat on the mountain and watched the tiger fight.

Although Cai Mao and Zhang Yun have already said that they want to take refuge in themselves, they still let them kill each other, and the less Jingzhou troops are left, the better!

The civil strife lasted all night, and it was not until dawn that Cao's army, under the repeated pleas of Cai Mao and Zhang Yun, marched into Xiangyang City and slaughtered the troops and officials who resisted Liu Cong.

Yi and Han Song both died in the rebellion, Sun Qian and Wu Ju fled to Jiangling with a small number of troops, and some troops loyal to Kuailiang fled to Yuxian.

In the end, Cai Mao and Zhang Yun surrendered to Cao Cao with 30,000 Jingzhou troops, including the Jingzhou naval army, and the Cao-Wu coalition army successfully occupied Xiangyang.

However, the situation in Jingzhou was still very complicated, Liu Cong and Cai Mao surrendered to Cao Cao, but Cao Cao only controlled most of Nanyang County, and the surrender of Cai Mao and others did not bring more benefits.

The army of Eastern Wu controlled the entire Jiangxia County, while the smaller half of Nanyang County was controlled by Zhang Liao's Central Army, and was supported by Jingzhou officials and generals such as the Kuai brothers and Li Yan.

Liu Qi inherited Jingzhou Mu as Liu Biao's heir and occupied the land of Nanjun, Liu Bei, Wei Yan, Sun Qian and others all served him as the lord, and the four counties of Wuling, Changsha, Guiyang and Lingling in the south of Jingzhou also regarded Liu Qi as the lord of Jingzhou to fight against the Cao-Wu coalition army.

Liu Qi is a cowardly and incompetent person, so he relies on Liu Bei, who is also a clansman, he recognizes Liu Bei as his uncle, and named Liu Bei as the Taishou of Nanjun, and all matters big and small are decided by Liu Bei.

He also took Pang Tong as the ruler and Chen Gong as the other to do it, giving advice for himself, and Wei Yan, Sun Qian and others also had their own promotions and rewards.

However, although it occupies a vast area, Liu Qi's military strength is the weakest.

Pang Tong proposed that an alliance should be formed with Zhang Liao's Central Army to resist the combined forces of Cao Cao and Sun Quan.

As soon as this proposal came out, it was opposed by Guan Yu and Wei Yan.

Guan Yu is because of Zhang Fei's death, and the revenge has not been avenged, but now he wants to form an alliance with the enemy in turn, and he can't accept it emotionally.

Wei Yan, on the other hand, felt that this was suspected of luring wolves into the house, and the front door refused to attract tigers, but the back door led wolves.

Liu Bei is a hero, he can afford to take it and put it down, which is more important, he is very clear.

(End of chapter)