The order was handed down, and 60,000 Wei soldiers immediately pulled out the camp and headed south.

After arriving at Yuanling City, Su Zhe stayed for a while and praised Chen Zhen for holding the city, and then the army continued south.

Two days later, he joined Tai Shici and Zhu Huan's subordinates, gathered an army of 70,000, and marched towards Zhijiang City.

In Zhijiang City, Shamoke had bypassed Chenyang City from the mountain road and fled back to Zhijiang in embarrassment.

The more than 20,000 barbarian soldiers who were reduced to zero also escaped from the mountains and forests one after another, and gathered in Zhijiang City again.

Shamoko counted his troops and horses, barely gathered 17,000 men, and his momentum recovered slightly.

What made Shamoke feel gratifying was that Liu Du, the former Lingling Taishou, also led 3,000 private troops to Zhijiang to help in the battle

As early as the reign of Liu Biao, Liu Du had already served as the official Lingling Taishou, and because Lingling was located in the southernmost part of Jingzhou, the mountain was high and the emperor was far away, Liu Du was only nominally attached to Liu Biao, but in fact he was in a semi-secessed state.

It wasn't until Su Zhe ruled Jingzhou that he did not allow the four counties of Jingnan to be semi-divided, and used the means of both grace and power to settle the four counties of Jingnan.

After Liu Du was defeated by Su Zhe, he fled into the mountains around the border between Lingling and Wuling with thousands of guest tribes and hid them, and never refused to go out of the mountains and surrender.

In view of the mountainous terrain in the Lingling area, Su Zhe saw that Liu Du had no substantial threat, so he did not send troops to wipe it out, so Liu Du has been able to survive to this day.

When Shamoke rebelled the previous time, he sent someone to Lingling to contact Liu Du, asking him to raise troops to help, but Liu Du never replied.

Not long ago, Liu Ducai was persuaded by other Liu Xian to lead thousands of troops out of the mountain and go north to Wuling in an attempt to join the anti-army alliance with Shamoke.

But he didn't want to, Liu Du had just arrived in Zhijiang, and he happened to meet Shamoke's defeat and return.

The two armies met, and the rebel coalition added several thousand more troops, which slightly made up for the losses in the first battle of Chenyang, and made Shamoko regain his spirits.

A few days later, the scouts sent back information that Su Zhe led an army of 70,000 troops south along the Yuanshui River, and had approached thirty miles north of Zhijiang City.

Shamoke originally wanted to hold on to the city and wait for work, but Deng Zhi thought that most of the cities in Jingnan counties were short and old, and they could not withstand the trebuchet bombardment of the Wei army, so they could only wait for death to defend the city passively.

So Shamoke, at the suggestion of Deng Zhi, took the initiative to lead his army ten miles north and went down to the village at a narrow pass to prevent the Wei army from approaching Zhijiang City.

After Su Zhe led the army to approach, he really couldn't continue to advance, so it was convenient to set up camp several miles away, and formed a confrontation with the Wuxi camp.

At night, the camp of the Wuxi army, the king's tent.

Shamoke gnawed on a large piece of meat, drank wine in a large bowl, and listened to the scouts report the latest developments of the Wei army.

When he learned that the Wei army was standing still and there was no sign of a large-scale attack, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"Mr. Deng, you are still right, if this king sticks to Zhijiang, I am afraid that the Su thieves would have attacked the city long ago." Shamoke looked at Deng Zhi with admiration.

Deng Zhi said lightly: "Now is not the time to relax your vigilance, I expect that the Su thief will soon come to attack my camp, we must fight up the spirit, as long as we can drag the Su thief for ten days and a half months, my lord will be able to capture Yiling, and when the time comes, the Su thief will be defeated." ”

"Don't worry, the king of ten days and a half moon still has the confidence to stick to it." Shamoke patted his chest naturally, but said: "However, after the Su thief was driven out of Jingzhou, Liu Xuande's promise still counts." ”

Deng Zhi said: "My lord is the hero of the world, and he has always been a man of his word, after the matter is completed, my lord will divide the four counties of Jingzhou into Xiangzhou, and make you the pastor of Xiangzhou." ”

Shamoke is not a fool, just with a little money, he will contribute people and work hard for Liu Bei and Su Zhe.

He is also an ambitious man.

However, Liu Bei's ambition is to fight for the world, and his ambition is much smaller, it is nothing more than to divide the four counties of Jingnan and turn this vast piece of land into their territory in Wuxi.

In order to win Shamoke's troops, Liu Bei could only endure the pain of cutting his flesh, and did not hesitate to divide the four counties of Jingzhou into Xiangzhou and cede Shamoke to autonomy.

After getting Deng Zhi's assurance again, Shamoke was relieved, and said with a smile: "Liu Xuande is really a generous hero, with his words, I, Wuxi people, will definitely go to the soup for him." ”

Deng Zhi didn't speak, drinking a glass of wine low, but the corners of his mouth flashed a trace of subtlety that was not easy to detect.

The conversation between the two of them, Liu Du's father and son on the side heard it clearly, and they couldn't help but feel waves in their hearts.

"Father, it seems that Shamoke is very likely to be the pastor of Xiangzhou, we have to find a way to make some credit for him, and then we will get the benefits from him, and find a way to get back the position of my father Lingling Taishou." Liu Xian lowered his voice and said.

"Meritorious service, what kind of meritorious service?" Liu Du asked rhetorically.

Liu Xian whispered in his ear and offered Liu Du a plan.

"Is this plan feasible, the Su thief is treacherous, can he deceive him?" Liu Du hesitated.

Liu Xian sneered: "Although the Su thief is treacherous, now that he has destroyed the Jiangdong Sun clan, he must be empty-eyed, thinking that all of us are afraid of him, I don't expect him to see through it." ”

Liu Du was silent and thoughtful.

Liu Xian said in a deep voice: "Father, this is the only chance for our Liu family to recover, do you really want to take us to hide in the mountains for the rest of your life?" ”

Liu Du's body shook suddenly, and his son's words touched the sensitive nerves in his heart.

After a while, Liu Du took a deep breath, stood up, and arched his hand: "If the king wants to be the pastor of Xiangzhou, in addition to the support of Xuande Gong, he must also establish prestige, and those forces in the other three counties may not be convinced by the king." ”

Shamoke was stunned, and his mind immediately calmed down, pondering that what Liu Du said was not unreasonable.

After all, his sphere of influence as the King of Wuxi is limited to the first county of Wuling, and there are still many powerful indigenous forces in the other three counties of Changsha, Guiyang, and Lingling.

Once Su Zhe withdraws from Jingzhou, most of these forces will jump out to grab food with him, if he doesn't have enough prestige, how can he suppress these people and be his Xiangzhou pastor.

"Then in your opinion, how should this king establish his authority?" Shamoko asked.

"It's easy, defeat the Su Thief!" Liu Du's tone was awe-inspiring, "The Su thief is the number one prince in the world, invincible, almost invincible, if the king can defeat the Su thief, who else in the four counties of Jingnan dares to disagree." ”

Shamoke's eyes lit up, and he was suddenly aroused by Liu Du's ambition, and his blood couldn't help boiling.

The next moment, he calmed down suddenly, but he felt a little crying and laughing.

"What you said is light, this king also wants to defeat that Su Zhe, but how can he defeat it?" Shamoke's tone was helpless, obviously not confident in defeating Su Zhe.

The corners of Liu Du's mouth raised a sneer, and he arched his hand and said: "Don't worry about the king, I have a clever plan here to help the king hit the Su thief hard." ”