Jingzhou, on a hill twenty miles south of Fancheng, Guan Yu was dressed in a green robe and gold armor, standing with his hands in the wind.

He was nine feet long, with a beard that reached his chest, and his face was like a heavy jujube, and his appearance was extraordinary. The autumn wind was cool, and he was blown into a robe and a hunting sound. Looking at it from afar, it is really like an abyss, like a god.

Behind him stood a middle-aged scribe, who had a delicate face, and strangely had a pair of white eyebrows. It is Jingzhou, known as the "Five Constants of the Ma Family, the Best of the White Eyebrows", who is engaged in Ma Liang.

He was left in Jingzhou by Liu Bei to assist Guan Yu. In this battle of Fancheng, Guan Yu met the enemy in the front, and Ma Liang dispatched grain and straw and transferred documents in the rear, which also made a lot of contributions, and won Guan Yu's trust.

Both of them were silent at the moment, just looking at the mound.

I saw that on the path under the hill, there were three or five people in a row, and more than ten columns in a group, densely packed with pedestrians, and there was no end in sight. These were all captives of the Wei army who surrendered after flooding the Seventh Army, and now they were all confiscated with weapons and armor, their hands tied, and they slowly marched south.

A young and strong general rode his horse back and forth, commanding more than 1,000 escorted Han troops to maintain order.

Ma Liang first broke the silence and said: "Dingguo is the first soldier in this battle, and the blocker is invincible, and he has become a famous general. ”

The Dingguo in his mouth refers to Guan Yu's eldest son Guan Ping, who was the general of the Dianjun Army at the time, and was the vanguard general of the Northern Expedition and made a lot of contributions. Guan Ping is loyal and filial, although his martial arts are slightly inferior to his brother Guan Xing, but he has already obtained the true inheritance of his father in marching and fighting.

Guan Yu was extremely satisfied with Aiko's performance this time, and he had already handed over the school knife camp to his most confidant. But he was self-conscious, and when he heard Ma Liang's praise, he just stroked his beard and said: "If you want to talk about being alone, Dingguo is still far away." ”

He turned to look at Ma Liang, his eyes burning: "Ji Chang has chased a certain person here, but is there anything important to report in the army?" ”

Ma Liang clenched his fists and said: "Jun Hou Rongyu, this time our army won a great victory, but suddenly 30,000 soldiers were surrendered, not only did they have to divide the troops to guard, but the grain and grass should also be extremely difficult. Please wait for a letter to be repaired, and ask the Nanjun Taishou and the public security Taishou to send the servant husband as soon as possible, and escort the grain and grass to the camp for use. ”

Guan Yu snorted coldly: "I have already ordered Mi Fang and Shiren to raise food and grass, and they must be delivered to the army within three days." Hmph, seven days have passed now, and there is not a single car or stone to be seen. These two useless wastes, when a certain class teacher returns to the city, will definitely punish them for disobeying military orders. ”

Ma Liang's face was worried, and he said: "I can't hide it, counting the consumption of 30,000 soldiers, I am afraid that the grain and grass in the army will not be enough for a month." If the grain and grass in the rear do not arrive, the lower officials....the lower officials ask the monarch to prepare for the withdrawal of the army. ”

"Retirement?" Guan Yu looked at Ma Liang with his eyes and said awe-inspiringly: "Our army has a new victory, it is when the morale is like a rainbow, how can we retreat lightly?" Now that Fancheng is flooded, collapsing everywhere, Cao Ren is terrified, not at this time, but when! ”

However, he knew that the supply of grain and grass was a big matter, and Ma Liang was also a clever woman, and it was difficult for him to cook without rice.

Therefore, after pondering for a while, he said categorically: "Right now, the rice east of Xiangshui should be almost ripe, Ji Chang, you immediately repair a book, stamp a certain seal, and order Lingling Haopu to gather the county soldiers, grab the rice from Xiangguan, and send it to the army as soon as possible." ”

Ma Liang was taken aback and hesitated: "That is the land of Dongwu, after all, Dongwu has an alliance with our country......"

Guan Yu smiled: "Don't worry about Ji Chang. As allies, they should watch and help each other. A certain person is doing something to help right now, but with some grain and grass, can he still say a 'no'? ”

Ma Liang raised his finger and pointed to the east, and said, "I'm afraid that Wu Hou in the east has bad intentions." ”

Guan Yu said coldly: "If Lu Meng is still here, he will still be afraid of him." However, Wu Di made a report that he returned to Jianye to recuperate due to illness last month, and now the governor of Eastern Wu is vacant, and Hugh said that he is just taking Xiangguan rice, that is, requisitioning some ships to come, but I am afraid that no one dares to come to beak. ”

Ma Liang was a little worried. In fact, in this Northern Expedition, he was worried about a lot. For example, while the flooded Seventh Army won a great victory this time, it also found out that Cao Wei had sent Pingkou general Xu Huang to help.

I think that Xu Huang is also a veteran of a hundred battles, and according to Ma Liang's opinion, this matter also needs to be reported to Shuzhong.

But Guan Yu thinks that Xu Huang and Yu Ban are not strong opponents, and it is not too late to report when they break through the enemy formation.

Thinking that the war dragged on, Cao Wei's reinforcements were constantly rushing to the battlefield, and the capture of Fancheng was far from being as easy as it seemed. Ma Liang couldn't help but shake his head. But he was quite confident in Guan Yu's command, and now that he saw that Guan Yu had made up his mind and knew that there was no possibility of change, he hugged his fists and left the camp to deal with it.

After Guan Yu saw him leave, he squinted his eyes and looked into the east.

Of course, he knew that Sun Quan had bad intentions. A few months ago, Sun Quan sent an envoy to ask for his son's marriage, wanting to marry his little daughter Guan Yinping.

According to the principle of etiquette, the marriage between the two countries must be reported to the monarch for decision, and Sun Quan bypassed his brother and went directly to his head, how could this kind of carving insect trick to sow discord be hidden from his eyes? If you patronize the overall situation and agree to this family affair without authorization, wouldn't you ignore the majesty of your brother?

What's more, after the Battle of Chibi, Sun Quan married his sister to his brother not long after, and immediately sent Lü Meng to invade the three counties of Jiangxia, Guiyang and Changsha in Jingzhou under the pretext of using Jingzhou's old affairs back then.

Sun Quan is the most untrustworthy person, and his heart can be punished. Guan Yu has always looked down on him, so he scolded the envoy and expelled him from the house.

Guan Yu secretly thought that he had been in Jingzhou for eight years, and he had trained 60,000 elite soldiers in painstaking solitude, and the Northern Expedition had brought out 30,000, and there were still 30,000 left behind in Jiangling, the public security and along the border between Shu and Wu, and it was Sun Quan who was on guard.

When Dongwu forced his family to divide Jingzhou, Guan Yu was often haunted. In the twentieth year of Jian'an (215 AD), Shuzhong was initially decided, and the elder brother wanted to conquer Wu in the east, recapture the three counties in the south of the Yangtze River that had lost land in Jingzhou, and then heard that Cao Cao's soldiers were in Hanzhong, so he shook hands with Sun Quan and made peace, and returned to Shuzhong.

Now that Hanzhong has been decided, Xiangfan is also just around the corner, if Sun Quan dares to come, he will fall into his arms. At that time, he will also be considered a famous teacher, and he will make Sun Quan suffer some hardships.

Guan Yu's thoughts gradually rose, from Sun Quan's courtship for his son, to his youngest daughter.

His daughter Guan Yinping is in double eight years old this year, and she is slim and well-known. She has been lively and lovely since she was a child, and she is old-hearted, she is very much like her father, and she has the heart of Guan Yu the most. In the past two years, the people who have come to ask for relatives are about to break the threshold in front of the former general's mansion, but Guan Yu has never let go.

As a father, how can anyone not care about the lifelong affairs of his children? In fact, in Guan Yu's heart, the best destination for her daughter is to marry her brother's sister-in-law Liu Chan.

It's just that Liu Chan is at the age of now, and he is not in a hurry to talk about marriage, so his daughter's family affairs have been delayed.

"When Fancheng is captured, a certain person will go to CD in person to meet with his brother and third brother. The three brothers and I have been separated for several years, and we miss it very much, and I also mentioned the matter of the silver screen by the way. ”

Guan Yu already had a plan in his heart. Immediately turned over and rode back to the camp.

******

Wu Guo Jianye, in the study of Wu Houfu, Sun Quan and Lu Meng sat opposite each other, plotting state affairs.

Lu Meng had short hair and sword eyebrows, and his voice was heroic and calm:

"The matter of the attack on Jingzhou proposed by the minister before, can the lord have a decision?"

Sun Quan replied: "The matter is big, and I don't dare to judge lightly." ”

When Lu Meng heard this, he took out a letter from his bosom and presented it to Sun Quan. Sun Quan took it and unfolded it, and looked at it carefully, this Jane was reported by the Hunan Guan guard, and it mentioned that Guan Yu sent someone to take Xiangguan rice without permission.

After reading it, he threw the book on the ground, slapped the table again, and said with anger on his face: "The red-faced thief is really too deceitful! "He was born with a big mouth, blue eyes and purple hair, and at this moment his hair was made up, and his beard stood on end, straight like an angry lion.

Lu Meng took advantage of the situation to persuade: "Here in Jingzhou, one is the mouth of the gorge, and the other is the Han River. Shu can get it from the upstream downstream, and the Yangtze River in China is no longer dangerous. The key to choking the Han River lies in Xiangfan, our army's naval division is stationed in Xiakou, but retreat to seek the next best choice, in the opinion of the minister, it must be based on the entire territory of Jingzhou, and our country can sit back and relax. ”

Sun Quan suddenly sighed, quite discouraged: "What Ziming said, how can I not know Lonely? It's just that Guan Yu is brave, but I'm afraid that our army will be invincible. ”

Seeing this, Lu Meng stepped forward sideways and said: "Guan Yu is invincible in the world, but he goes to the army to fight, and the heart is the best, and the minister has a plan, he can take Jingzhou, capture Guan Yu, and is willing to dedicate himself to the lord." ”

Sun Quan's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly asked, "Will the plan be released?" ”

Lu Meng said: "Guan Yu only led an army of 30,000 to attack Fancheng, and left half of it for garrisoning. At present, the news of the minister's return to the capital to recuperate has spread. The lord may send another member to declare that he is not obvious and should be of great use to take over the position of the governor.

The new governor only needs to keep his head in obscurity and paralyze his arrogance with humble gifts, and Guan Yu will definitely send garrisons to the front line. When the time comes, the minister should personally lead the strange soldiers all the way, take a boat against the current, take advantage of his unpreparedness, and attack the emptiness, so that Nanjun is at his fingertips, and it is easy to capture Guan Yu. ”

When Sun Quan heard this, he was excited, and he got up and paced back and forth. After a long time, Fang stopped, looked back and asked, "Regarding the successor of the Grand Governor, is there a candidate in Ziming's mind?" ”

Lu Meng knew that he was moved, and hurriedly hugged his fists and said: "The minister recommends a person, surnamed Lu Mingxun, the word Boyan, and a person from Wu County." This man is thoughtful, and he will be able to take on this important task. ”

Lu Xun is a member of the Wujun clan, who entered the office in the eighth year of Jian'an (203 AD), and successively served as the captain of Haichang Tuntian and the captain of Dingwei, and has made great achievements in the relief of the victims and the conquest of Shanyue. Sun Quan was already very important, and he also married the daughter of his late brother Sun Ce to him.

At present, he has been recommended by Lu Meng, and he nodded at the moment.

Lu Meng said again: "This matter still needs to be contained by the Wei State as much as possible. ”

Sun Quan was stunned for a moment, and Lu Meng explained: "Only when the Wei State firmly holds Guan Yu on the front line of Xiangfan, and the other Yu army cannot advance an inch, will he transfer the rear garrison troops, so that our army can take advantage of it." ”

Sun Quan asked: "Our country and Wei have always been hostile, and I don't know if Cao Cao wants to see our envoys. ”

Lu Meng said: "Guan Yu is menacing, and after he conquers Fancheng, the soldiers will definitely go straight to the hinterland of the Central Plains in the area of Daoyang." This is something that Wei cannot see. The minister thought that with the decisiveness of King Wei's killing, it would be compatible. ”

Sun Quan nodded silently.

Lu Meng got up, bowed to the ground, supported his face with his hands, and said sincerely: "Lord, the fighter plane is fleeting, and this matter should be decided as soon as possible!" ”

Sun Quan helped Lu Meng up and said in a deep voice: "Determination has been made!" ”

PS: Guan Ping did not leave a word in the history books, but the people have two names: "Dingguo" and "Tanzhi". Considering that Guan Xing's character Anguo, in order for the two brothers' characters to be unified, this article will always cite "Dingguo" as the word for Guan Ping.