Stuck in the quagmire, Yuan Yun is now this helpless feeling, the gunpowder army has been stationed in Xiangyang for half a month, according to the strategy formulated before, some people were stayed, and then most of the gunpowder army went out again.

The first goal was to take Gangneung County, and the battle situation was quite ideal, the army passed all the way, there was no resistance along the way, Gangneung County almost surrendered without a fight, and the city commander and some soldiers immediately abandoned the city and fled after holding out for less than a day.

Then the Gunpowder Army sent a team to Nanjun again, the results were still very gratifying, Nanjun did not have any resistance, and the city guard withdrew from the post with the troops while the Gunpowder Army was still on the road, and then headed towards Wuling County in the south.

It was also at this time that troublesome things came, first of all, there were constant riots around Yangyang, and then the gunpowder soldiers of Gangneung County were often attacked by small forces, so that the battle losses even exceeded those of the siege.

Nanjun is even more dangerous, the Nanjun city guard that was withdrawn before, in less than half a month, once again united with the defenders of Wuling County to return, and then continued to harass around Nanjun, because of the support of the local people, they almost came and went without a trace, making it difficult for the gunpowder army to surround and intercept.

After these incidents, Zhuge Liang decisively issued an order that the gunpowder troops everywhere must stay in the city, reduce the number of patrols, and be on alert at all times.

This order will not last long, everyone knows very well that if it is on alert for a long time, even a professional army like the Gunpowder Army cannot adhere to it all year round, but at this moment there is no way to do it.

Yuan Yun was sitting in the lobby of the main entrance at the moment, looking at the ceiling and not knowing what he was thinking, but just looking at his frowning brows, he knew that he must be very troubled, and Xiao Liu was carefully waiting on the side, because the lord in this state was definitely not good-tempered.

When Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong approached the lobby, they immediately saw Yuan Yun leaning on the main seat, without any seriousness at all, but the two just glanced at each other and didn't say anything, after all, the current predicament is really unsolvable.

"General Cao Hong's new army will soon be drawn from the Great Wall, this time there are at least 50,000 of them, and because Liu Bei withdrew from Hanzhong, Yang Aruo will also lead 30,000 troops into the Jingzhou territory to come to support, and when they all come, we can slow down the decline a little." After Zhuge Liang finished speaking, he was already sitting on Yuan Yun's left hand side, and Pang Tong sat on his right side.

Yuan Yun listened to Zhuge Liang's words, only then raised his head slightly, and then said with a wry smile: "Liu Bei's move is good, now our force is completely trapped in Jingzhou, how can we not move, Cao Ang Shizi is also because of the guard, so he is firmly trapped in Chang'an, now we have won the battle, but we have lost the initiative, this time the first to laugh must be the Sun family in Yangzhou, and then Liu Bei will also hide in Mianzhu Pass to wait for work, this time we can be regarded as a loss-making deal." ”

When Pang Tong heard Yuan Yun say this, he could only sigh slightly, and said, "It's not a loss, at least Jingzhou is about to be taken by us." ”

Yuan Yun sat up straight in an instant when he heard Pang Tong say this, and then shook his head and said angrily: "Shiyuan, let's watch, if these rebel forces in Jingzhou are to be uprooted, it will take a few years to say the least, and it must be done with all our strength, so to occupy the entire territory of Jingzhou in a short period of time is simply a fool's dream." ”

Of course, Pang Tong knew that this was the truth, so he didn't even bother to talk back, just smiled bitterly, and then looked at Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Liang is helpless at the moment, after all, the current situation is very contradictory, if you continue to send troops to attack everywhere, it will inevitably be gradually divided by these local forces, and then slowly eaten, but if you join forces to attack in one place, then it will only become, you fight and I retreat, and you retreat and I occupy the situation.

"Cao Hong's 50,000 soldiers, plus Yang Aruo's 30,000, we only have more than 100,000 horses, and the boundary of Jingzhou is too big, it's a drop in the bucket." After Yuan Yun complained about this, he ordered Xiao Liu to hurry up and prepare tea, after all, complaining is worthless, it is better to sit down and chat with the two ancient military advisors in front of him, and maybe he can come up with a way to deal with it.

After Xiao Liu retreated, Yuan Yuncai stretched out his hand and pointed in the direction of the east, and then said: "Han Xuan of Changsha County is actually starting to retreat now, he found that we were trapped in Jingzhou, so the previous plan to cooperate with us to fight was delayed again and again, and now there is no news directly, and the envoy we sent can't even enter the city gate now."

The Sun family in Yangzhou has now divided into a force, led by Sun Quan himself to Paxia, and it seems that he has already been in contact with Han Xuan, so he forced Han Xuan, the old fox, to stand in line again. ”

Zhuge Liang frowned slightly when he heard this, and said: "In this way, it seems that the Sun family in Yangzhou has been corrected after Sun Ce was assassinated, and Zhou Yu must be in command on the Chibi side, and Sun Quan will enter Jingzhou, on the one hand, to prevent us from advancing eastward, and on the other hand, it can also suppress those Jingzhou forces who are ready to take refuge in us, so that even if General Cao Hong's 50,000 soldiers come, they can only be sent to the direction of Paxia as a precaution, and I am afraid that they will not be able to pay attention to the affairs in Jingzhou." ”

Yuan Yun nodded and said: "Originally, we thought that occupying Jingzhou was equivalent to separating Liu Bei from the Sun family, but now we are divided into three parts, and we can't think of it at all, so it's unlucky." ”

Pang Tong pondered for a moment, and finally suggested: "It is better for me to lead 10,000 gunpowder soldiers to rush to Paxia, and then uproot Sun Quan's forces, so that we can concentrate on dealing with these opposition forces in Jingzhou." ”

Yuan Yun smiled slightly, and said: "Shi Yuan's method is indeed the best choice, but we don't have to worry about dealing with Sun Quan now, some people have already started to secretly prepare for this matter, and it may be impossible to say if they have already done it now." ”

Pang Tongyi was stunned and muttered, "Are there still forces in Jingzhou that are willing to lean on us?" ”

Yuan Yun said with a smile: "You have also seen it before, it is Wei Yan who saw me in Old Luoyang, after the messenger I sent was blocked by Han Xuan outside the city gate, Wei Yan got in touch privately, and personally sent me a letter, only saying that he had persuaded Huang Zhong on this matter, and he would definitely send their letters of surrender in the near future, it seems that Han Xuan must be very sad in the next days." ”

Pang Tong was overjoyed when he heard this, and was about to answer but was continued by Yuan Yun and said: "It's just that relying on the strength of Changsha, it is still a little insufficient to deal with Sun Quan, so Wei Yan asked us to send troops to deal with Sun Quan's troops, and this matter requires Shi Yuan to go out, as soon as Cao Hong's 50,000 soldiers arrive, you will immediately go as a leader." ”

After Pang Tong happily accepted the order, his face sank in an instant, and then he shook his head and said: "In this way, we can only be trapped in Jingzhou, which will not help the war in Chibi, and we must always guard against the attack on the Yizhou side, which is equivalent to having no effect." ”

Yuan Yun sighed and said, "At present, we can only arrange it like this, first block Sun Quan's troops, if they unite these defense forces in Jingzhou, and then attack the hinterland of Jingzhou, I am afraid that we will really have a headache at that time." ”

Zhuge Liang agreed at this time: "Liu Bei Xing may have planned this before, once we enter Jingzhou, we will be dragged by local forces, and then Sun Quan will lead the troops to kill, and after uniting these local resistance forces, it will make us even more stale, maybe at this time, Liu Bei will really start to send troops to Hanzhong."

If anything happens in the war in Chibi at that time, I am afraid that this southern expedition will be completely lost, and we have to withdraw from Jingzhou in order to support Prime Minister Cao Cheng in case Zhou Yu crosses the river and goes straight to the hinterland of the Central Plains......"

Yuan Yun listened to Zhuge Liang's words, and his brows furrowed more and more, because even if they knew Liu Bei's plan at this moment, there was still no good way to deal with it, and the strategy of the entire southern expedition, at least on the side of the gunpowder army, had completely fallen into a dilemma at this moment.

"If I knew this, it would be better to return Xiangyang, and then the old men would go home, unlucky." Yuan Yun complained again helplessly.

Until he finished complaining, the three of them suddenly fell silent inexplicably, Zhuge Liang's shaking feather fan was already still, Pang Tong frowned and fell into deep thought, and Yuan Yun opened his mouth to speak, as if he had forgotten to close his mouth.

"Xiao Liu, Xiao Liu, hurry up and send someone to send a letter to Yang Aruo, let him stay in Hanzhong Xia Village, don't send any reinforcements over, and also send a letter to Cao Hong, so that he will let 50,000 soldiers stay on the Great Wall and not move." Yuan Yun suddenly shouted.

Xiao Liu just put down the tea, his face was full of doubts, and he muttered: "The boundary of Jingzhou is too big, these reinforcements can't come, and our military resources are even less enough, how can we still occupy such a big place?" ”

Yuan Yun laughed and said, "Occupy a fart, we will withdraw from Xiangyang now, and then pack up the whole army and go directly to beat that bastard of Sun Quan." ”

Zhuge Liang finally laughed at this time, and said: "If we abandon all the places in Jingzhou and take the army directly to Sun Quan, it will inevitably make the other party start to retreat." ”

Pang Tong continued: "Not only that, but also to unite Changsha, and then make a posture of attacking Yangzhou in Paxia, if Zhou Yu, who thinks about Chibi, receives this news, it will definitely not be better." ”

Xiao Liu still didn't understand much, just scratched the back of his head and said, "What about Liu Bei in Yizhou?" ”

Yuan Yun sneered and said: "Liu Bei doesn't like to shrink in Yizhou, now Yang Aruo doesn't move, Cao Ang Shizi doesn't move, he is willing to hide as long as he wants, wait for Lao Tzu to clean up Yangzhou first, and then turn around and deal with his only lone army." ”