Individualized design, prescribe the right medicine.

Jiang Gan slammed Liu Bei and crushed his self-confidence, making him feel hopeless to win, but the ultimate goal was to provoke Guan Yu to fight. Sun Ce said that Guan Yu's martial arts are good, but he is too proud and thinks highly of himself, which leads to his psychological dislocation. In his mind, his treatment of Liu Bei was not so much loyalty between monarchs and ministers, but as righteousness between brothers. Loyalty first talks about respect, and righteousness cares more about whether it should be done, and what should be done is done, and it doesn't matter whether Liu Bei likes it or not.

The righteous should also be.

Jiang Gan didn't believe it at first, but after seeing Guan Yu, he believed it after saying a few words. Guan Yu stood behind Liu Bei, like a personal guard, but his demeanor lacked due respect, he was more like a strong man protecting the weak, rather than a courtier guarding the king. Dian Wei and Xu Chu are rare powerhouses, but when they stand behind Sun Ce, they will never talk to each other.

Guan Yu didn't respond to the battle immediately, but Jiang Gan could see that he was moved. Being able to fight with Sun Ce, save Liu Bei from fire and water, and win Yuzhou for him, it is impossible for him not to be tempted by such the best of both worlds.

Jiang Gan temporarily retired and let Liu Bei and others discuss. As soon as he came out of the account, Liu Bei and others argued.

Liu Bei was worried that it would rain, and there would be a lot of water around Mangdan, which would make it difficult to march. Xiangxian is the county of Peiguo, although the city is small, but it is very strong, and it is difficult to conquer. Once the troops are under the city, the back road is cut off, and Xiao County will be in danger.

Jiang Gan just said that Tao Ying commanded 10,000 troops to help Sun Ce fight, but he didn't say where Tao Ying was, he could be in Xiangxian or Pengcheng. Xiao County belongs to Peiguo, but Sun Ce and Tao Qian have formed an alliance, and it is not impossible to fight across the border. He abducted Tao Qian's 4,000 Danyang soldiers, and it was too normal for Tao Qian to take revenge on him. It is imperative that retreating to Xiao County is the safest choice. After the autumn harvest, there will be plenty of food, and it will not be too late to fight again.

Jian Yong agreed with Liu Bei's suggestion, but Guan Yu objected.

Guan Yu said that although Xiangxian is strong, it is a small city after all, and there are not too many people to live in, and it is the field battle that ultimately determines the victory. Sun Ce is now stationed outside the city, as evidenced by this. Qian County is the state governance of the Yuzhou Thorn History Department, since you are the pastor of Yuzhou, you can't always be stationed in Xiao County, right? Conquer Xiangxian County and enter Qianxian County to prove that we have the ability to defeat Sun Ce, and Yuzhou will respond to us, so that we can get more soldiers and money and food to strengthen ourselves.

Moreover, Xiao County and Xiang County are less than two hundred miles apart, so in case the attack does not go well, it is also very convenient to retreat. If there is a change in Xiao County, reinforcements will arrive in a day. As for the rain, then there is no need to worry, it is raining, Tao Qian can't march, how can he attack Xiao County?

The two insisted on their own words, and neither could convince anyone, so they had to compromise in the end. Liu Bei and Guan Yu led the main force to Xiangxian, and Zhang Fei led 2,000 people back to Xiao County, not only to guard against Tao Qian's sneak attack, but also to prevent Liu Dai from taking the opportunity to copy his back road. Yuan Shao asked him to be the pastor of Yuzhou with the purpose of transferring him from Pingyuan County, Pingyuan County could not go back, Xiao County could not miss again, otherwise once defeated, he would really have nowhere to go.

The plan has been decided, and Liu Bei informed Jiang Gan that in three days, our army will rush to Xiangxian and ask General Sun to get ready.

Jiang Gan arched his hand and walked away.

Liu Bei immediately sent someone to inform Yuan Yi and Yuan Xu, asking them to pull out the camp together and rush to Xiangxian. At the same time, he sent someone to send a letter to Liu Dai, saying that I was about to go south to fight Sun Ce, and asked Liu Zhijun to come as soon as possible, and allocate military rations for me to ensure the supply of rations for the army.

A day later, Liu Bei received news from Liu Dai that the grain had been prepared and would arrive soon, but I could not personally come to the battlefield to cheer for the general. The Qingzhou Yellow Turban is about to make a move, and it is likely to invade Yanzhou. Spring ploughing is coming, I can't let them destroy the agricultural time, delay the harvest of the year, and rush to Jibei to stop it. Of course, Shanyang Taishou Yuan will also withdraw to Shanyang in case of safety.

After receiving the order, Yuan Yilai bid farewell to Liu Bei and returned with the five thousand soldiers of Shanyang County.

Liu Bei looked up to the sky and sighed, but he was helpless. He also knew that Liu Dai's task was more to spy on him than to assist him. Although everyone's surname is Liu, Liu Dai is a serious family, with an orderly inheritance, and he is a celebrity, and he is not Liu Bei in his eyes. If it weren't for Yuan Shao's order, Liu Dai wouldn't have bothered him at all.

Liu Dai couldn't count on it, Yuan Yu left again, only Jiyin Taishou Yuan Xu and his five thousand county soldiers remained, Liu Bei's total strength was only a little more than 10,000 people, but Sun Ce had 20,000 or 30,000 people, the more he thought about it, the more he felt that he was not an opponent, and despite Guan Yu's strong opposition, he decided to retreat to Xiao County.

——

After receiving the news of Liu Bei's retreat, Sun Ce was somewhat disappointed, but he immediately adjusted his plan and entered Xiao County.

The army advanced forward, and Zhu Zhi rushed to Mangdang Mountain as soon as possible, led out the men and horses hiding in the mountain, and joined Sun Ce. Tao Ying also sent a letter to Tao Qian, asking him to lead his men and horses into Xiao County, cooperate with Sun Ce, and expel Liu Bei.

Five days later, Sun Ce rushed to Xiao County. A day later, Tao Qian also personally led 10,000 Danyang soldiers to Xiao County to meet Sun Ce.

Tao Qian is sixty-one years old this year, his figure is still very tough, he walks with the wind, his waist is straight, and he looks more energetic than Tao Ying, but his hair is a lot grayer. Listening to Tao Ying, this was all caused by Xuzhou celebrities in the past two days. Internal and external troubles, Tao Qian has aged a lot all of a sudden, and two years ago he looked like a fifty-year-old person.

Tao Qian used to be a colleague of Sun Jian and was Sun Ce's elder. Sun Ce was very polite and personally went out of the camp to greet him. Tao Qian was very satisfied, stroked his beard, looked at Sun Ce for a while, and praised: "Wentai has Jia'er, and my two sons together are not as good as you." ”

Sun Ce said modestly: "Tao Gong praised falsely, and he didn't dare to be ashamed. Ling Lang is successful in studying, both civil and military, I am just a martial artist, how can I compare with him. ”

The two touted each other for a while and returned to the camp. Sun Ce set up a banquet for Tao Qian, and explained his plan in detail, explaining that he had planned to let Zhu Zhi settle in Pengcheng only for the sake of war, not to seek to seize Xuzhou, but now that he has seen Tao Ying, he feels that Tao Ying is completely competent, so there is no need to do more. He explained the matter of the Elk brothers again. Originally, I wanted to ask Lu Zhu to run the logistics for me, but Lu Zhu was loyal to you and refused to take office, so I recommended his younger brother to work under my account. The responsibility for this matter lies with me, don't be angry with the elk brothers.

Tao Qian was relieved, and the pimple in his heart disappeared. Lu Zhu saw that Sun Ce specially explained to him, and he was also very moved, and felt that Sun Ce was really intimate. In contrast, although Tao Qian is over the age of sixteen and has been an official for many years, he is still like a hairy boy, and he is not as thoughtful as Sun Ce. Therefore, Sun Ce's situation in Yuzhou is far better than Tao Qian's in Xuzhou.

Dissolving the possible internal estrangement, Sun Ce began to arrange the war. After politely soliciting Tao Qian's opinion, Sun Ce decided to besiege Xiao County instead of attacking, first taking Zhuqiu in the west of Xiao County and Pei County and Feng County in the north of Xiao County, cutting off the support in the direction of Yanzhou, forming an encirclement of Xiao County, and striving to annihilate Liu Bei in the territory of Peiguo.

Sun Ce took the initiative to undertake the most arduous siege task, facing the main force led by Liu Bei, Zhu Zhi led the Yellow Turban Army to attack Zhuqiu, and Tao Qian led the Xuzhou Army to the north to attack Pei County and Feng County.

With Guo Jia, an intelligence master, as a backup, Sun Ce's plan is detailed and reasonable, and he has prepared multiple sets of plans for everyone to choose from, Tao Qian listened to it, praised it, patted Tao Ying's head and said, boy, follow Bo Fuxue well. Don't look at you older than him, in terms of using soldiers, even Lao Tzu and I are not as good as him.

Tao Ying smiled and nodded again and again.