Liu Biao was very helpless at this time, Jiangxia County could not afford to lose, even if Dong Zhuo was unfavorable to him, he had to rescue Xiling City first and expel the Yangzhou thieves, otherwise there would be no chance of winning if the two fronts were fighting.

Besides, the wealthy clans of Jingzhou are not with him at all, if Dong Zhuo attacks, it is good for these clans not to surrender for their own interests, even if they leave a large army in Xiangyang and Fancheng, it is not beneficial.

If that situation really arises, he can only quickly move to Jiangnan, use Changsha as a base, and confront Dong Zhuo across the river, so he arranged his two nephews in Jiangnan as a way back; Dong Zhuo is unrighteous, he has to guard against it.

It's not that he doesn't want to clean up these big clans, but he doesn't want the confrontation between the local clans and the Dongzhou forces like Yizhou, in that case, Jingzhou will be turbulent and easy to be taken advantage of by other forces, and Jingzhou is not as dangerous as Yizhou to defend.

If he can't do anything, Wen Ping will also ensure that he will go to Changsha by water, and he will not dare to go to Jiangling, the county governor of Nanjun.

Wen Ping's family has been secretly picked up by him from Nanyang County and settled in Changsha County, so that Wen Ping no longer has to worry about the future.

Huang Zu was very happy to invite reinforcements, and immediately sent six crossbowmen, divided into three batches, to secretly return to Xiling City, informing them that 40,000 reinforcements would arrive, increasing their confidence in defending the city, and they must hold on until the reinforcements arrive.

While waiting for the transfer of troops, the military advisor Cai Mao gave a detailed explanation to Huang Zu.

In five days, 40,000 troops converged in Xiakou by boat.

After logging in and resting for a while, Huang Zu led them on a journey to Xiling City, a hundred miles away.

Sun Jian's scouts learned the news and immediately reported back, Sun Jian was shocked, now his tens of thousands of people are exhausted except for casualties, if Jingzhou sends tens of thousands of troops, how can he resist? It will lead to the destruction of the whole army.

Sun Jian told him not to make a public statement, so as not to affect the morale of the army, and immediately summoned all his henchmen to come to discuss.

When everyone heard the news, they were all shocked and sat stunned.

Zu Mao said: "Lord, the reinforcements in Jingzhou have the help of the water army, and the situation is fierce, we must block the speed of their march, and send cavalry to constantly harass them, exhaust their morale, and then choose the opportunity to fight." ”

Sun Jian was afraid that no one would speak, as long as there was someone who spoke, it would be good to break the embarrassment, so he smiled and said: "What is the best way for Darong to stop his march?" ”

Zu Mao is a native of Fuchun, a fellow villager with Sun Jian, and is regarded as a confidant, who grew up in a water town and is familiar with water.

Hearing Sun Jian's question, he said bluntly: "My lord, we only need to cut down trees and cross the water, and we will be able to block the Jingzhou warships from patrolling back and forth, and if the opportunity is right, we can capture a few enemy ships. ”

Sun Jian was overjoyed and immediately ordered: "Okay, this matter will be handed over to Da Rong to be responsible for blocking the harassment of the enemy's warships, slowing down the march of the enemy's reinforcements, and taking charge of forming our naval army." ”

"Yes, my lord!" Zu Mao was overjoyed, and it was their honor to be able to share the worries of the Lord.

Sun Jian asked again: "Who can lead the cavalry to harass the enemy reinforcements and delay their arrival?" ”

Huang Gai and Xu Kun are willing to go.

Sun Jian said: "In this case, the two of you each bring two thousand cavalry, and take turns to harass them, so that the enemy will not be at peace!" ”

"Yes, my lord!" The two were overjoyed.

Sun Jian was afraid that they would not cooperate well and make mistakes, so he arranged: "The public will be the main one, and Boyang will cooperate!" If the enemy is well guarded and has no opportunity to take advantage of, be sure to return early and find another way. ”

"Yes, my lord!" The two immediately responded.

Sun Jian asked again: "If the enemy's reinforcements arrive, what are your best plans?" ”

Sun Ben said: "Lord, Jingzhou lacks cavalry, and the infantry is not strong, we only need to defeat it in the field, why wait until the soldiers come to the city?" ”

Everyone followed Sun Jian to be born and die in Liangzhou, and even the Liangzhou Iron Cavalry was not afraid, how could they be afraid of tens of thousands of Jingzhou infantry?

Sun Jian said dissatisfiedly: "We only have 7,000 cavalry, this is our reliance, if the cavalry is lost, how to return to Yangzhou?" That's why I'm asking you if there's any way to repel enemy reinforcements. ”

Sun Ben asked rhetorically: "Does the lord hope to occupy Xiling City, or do you want to retreat back to Yangzhou after defeating the enemy's reinforcements?" ”

Sun Jian said: "At present, it seems that we must repel the reinforcements first, otherwise they will follow and surround us with the 30,000 enemy troops in Qichun City, we can't even if we want to, and if we don't occupy Xiling City, we will run out of food and grass, how to retreat?" ”

Jun Sima Zhu Ran smiled and said: "My lord, if the reinforcements are repulsed, and the enemy defenders can't see hope, Xiling City will be within reach." ”

The core of the problem is still how to repel the Jingzhou reinforcements.

Seeing that Zhu Ran was so relaxed and not nervous at all, Sun Jian knew that he had an idea and asked, "What is Junli's good plan?" ”

Zhu Ran saluted Sun Jian and said: "My lord, this matter is easy, the public does not need to do his best when harassing the enemy's reinforcements, let him easily reach the water, this is to show the enemy to be weak; When the cavalry returns, we will destroy the stone bridge in the west of the city, and lose the assistance of the warships, the enemy reinforcements will not be able to cross the river smoothly, if they force the river to cross, we can choose to attack half-crossing, we will be able to break the enemy's reinforcements, and Xiling City can also be obtained with their hands. ”

Yu He took a step forward and said: "No, if this is the case, the enemy will be suspicious; Although Huang Zu has a rude personality, he is very cunning, how can he not see the flaws? Therefore, the public was determined to strike hard, Huang Zufang did not doubt, and shook the morale of the enemy, killing multiple birds with one stone. ”

Yu He (Sun He), the word Bohai, the son of Sun Jian, and later inherited the family business to the Gu Yu family; River quality is loyal, sensitive, dry, and diligent; When he was young, he was Sun Jian's confidant and begged for the Quartet, and he was often the forerunner.

Everyone thought deeply of Yu He's words, if Huang Zu was a straw bag, Xiling City would not have been defended so tightly, they had already conquered it, how could there be such a big casualty?

Sun Jian approved of Yu He's suggestion.

Yu He said again: "My lord, since you have defeated the enemy's reinforcements, you can break the will of the defenders and force them to surrender, now you can stop the siege and prepare for the battle against the enemy's reinforcements." ”

Sun Jian thought about it for a while, and felt that the suggestion was very good, and now that the soldiers were tired of attacking the city to the limit, stop the siege, rest well, recuperate, and fight against the enemy's reinforcements, so he agreed to Yu He's suggestion.

Subsequently, the group discussed some details, such as how to prevent the defenders in the city from going to war and avoid fighting on two fronts.

Zhu Ran also put forward a new suggestion, opposing the complete cessation of the siege of the city, and the need to send a small number of officers and soldiers to feint, so that the defenders in the city could not relax at any time, and the suggestion was adopted by Sun Jian.

In the end, Sun Jian ordered everyone to act according to the plan.

At this time, everyone realized that the Jingzhou reinforcements were not terrible, and they were full of confidence in the victory of the war, and they were all happy to get busy according to the plan just now, and the soldiers also got a short rest.

The defenders in the city, after learning that Huang Zu had quietly left, were all shocked, and even the Taishou fled, how did they defend the city? Fortunately, the head of the Huang family stood up and explained that Huang Zu was going to move the rescue troops, and the Huang family would be with the city and personally supervise the battle on the city wall, so as to stabilize the riot situation in the city.

Later, when Sun Jian fiercely attacked the city, the old patriarch decisively sent 2,000 Danyang soldiers to the city to defend, reducing the pressure on the defenders and giving everyone hope.

Five days later, Huang Zu sent someone back to inform him that 40,000 reinforcements would arrive immediately, which stabilized the morale of the army, including the major families, and their confidence increased greatly, and they all vowed to live and die with the city.