Even if Liu Bei was helpless, he could only accept the fact that he had returned in vain. According to Liu Bei's original prediction, this sortie should be able to receive a Wancheng back anyway. If, according to Yuan Shao's envoy, the smooth progress is carried out, and Yanzhou, which has lost Cao Cao and Gao Ye, is attacked from the east, south, and north, victory will definitely be easy.

Yuan Shao's power is huge, and the defeat of Guandu alone is not enough to shake his foundation. Jiangdong has had few wars in recent years, and several battles with Jingzhou have been victorious, and the last time he killed Huang Zu and avenged Sun Jian, and now Jiangdong has no respect for Sun Quan. Xiliang Ma Teng and Han Sui have been divided for a long time, the soldiers are good and the food is sufficient, and the Qiang people help each other, and the combat power is not strong. Although he is the weakest of the various forces, Xinye is adjacent to Wancheng, as long as he takes Wancheng, he can drive straight into Yingdu and attack Yingdu. If he can take Yingdu and save the emperor, he will definitely be a high power by virtue of his identity as an imperial uncle. If you can't win Yingdu, as long as you can earn Wancheng and get out of the control of Liu Biao and the Jingzhou family, you can slowly develop and continue to compete with Yuan Shao.

No matter how this is calculated, Liu Bei felt that he couldn't afford to lose, so he grinded hard and pulled Liu Biao's Jingzhou soldiers and horses to pave the way for himself. But who would have thought that Cai Mao not only did not have much desire to attack the city and seize the land, but also was careful about himself everywhere, and he had to be careful about Cai Mao's calculations for himself everywhere. Don't look at the strength of the Jingzhou army on the surface, but in fact, its combat effectiveness has decreased a lot.

On the Yanzhou side, not only Gao Ye and Cao Cao were unscathed, but the response of the entire Yanzhou was so rapid. Cao Cao led his troops to the north, Gao Ye led his troops to the east, and the Jiangdong army in the south suffered defeat under Guangling City early. I wanted to take Wancheng by surprise, but who would have thought that Zhang Xiu had already taken precautions and made himself suffer a big loss. Waiting for Cai Mao's soldiers and horses to arrive, and when he regrouped, Gao Ye's army had already driven to Bowang.

Now that Cai Mao is hanging up the war-free card, it seems that he has a bigger intention of escaping. Gao Ye's army is all marching westward, and Ma Teng of Xiliang is afraid that he will also bear the pressure of Gao Ye, a victorious general. Jiangdong is completely out of hope, and as for Yuan Shao in the north, to be honest, Liu Bei is really not optimistic about him. Under such circumstances, if Liu Bei continued to stay and attack Wancheng, he would only lose his strength in vain, and the gains outweighed the losses. Therefore, after Liu Bei scolded and vented, he still ordered Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to prepare to withdraw to Xinye.

At the same time, Wancheng's Gao Ye was very uncalm in his heart. Cao Cao's military order had already reached Wancheng, and Gao Ye's order to take the merger of states made Gao Ye really tired. In the face of the siege of soldiers and horses on Jingzhou and Xiliang, Gao Ye is still frowning, and now he has to plan to take the state by himself! In Gao Ye's opinion, today's Cao Cao not only has a great appetite, but also doesn't regard himself as a human being! Dare to give any task to yourself.

But at the same time, Gao Ye understood Cao Cao's thoughts a little, maybe this time he had a head attack, and he slipped around before the ghost gate closed, which made him feel the preciousness of life and the sadness of running out of time, which made him have this idea of finishing his work in one battle. But then again, the senior cadres of Bingzhou took soldiers and horses to assist Yuan Shao to go south, and only Guo Yuan is guarding the entire Bingzhou now, and it is not completely impossible to really take the Bingzhou.

As for why Cao Cao's military order was directly issued to him, Gao Ye also understood. Although Lu Bu is nominally the commander of the army, in fact, he still has to obey his orders. What's more, Lu Bu's temper, Gao Ye knows. Once Cao Cao's military order is directly issued to Lu Bu, I am afraid that Lu Bu will only think about how to take and annex the state. He is a bit anxious for quick success, even if he has Xu Shu by his side, but Lu Bu does not listen to Xu Shu's advice on a whim, he is afraid that the whole situation will get out of control.

In fact, in Gao Ye's view, the state can be taken, but we must consider how to take it when the general trend is set. The state is vast, but it is vast and sparsely populated, and in addition to the Han people, there are many ethnic minorities living here. The more you go to Wuyuan, Yanmen and other places, the situation becomes more and more complicated, without a proper plan, it is difficult to take the entire state at once, even if Lu Bu has a reputation in the state! What's more, almost all the main forces of Bingzhou are now under the leadership of Guo Yuan, coercing Hanoi, so that the defenders of Hanoi do not dare to act rashly. If Guo Yuan could not be defeated, or if one of the northern and western roads was completely victorious, the army would not be able to enter the state with peace of mind.

If the order is given to himself, he will be able to control the battle situation on the Western Front better. Since Cao Cao came to the military order to take the state as much as possible, then the war of the state must be considered in the entire campaign. Now that the Xiliang army is menacing, Xiahou Yuan outside Chang'an City is quite difficult to block. In Chang'an City, people were also panicking, and Zhong Miao was even more sleepy in order to stabilize the situation, and did not dare to slack off. If he can't successfully retreat from Xiliang, he will start a war against the state, and under the two-front battle, Liu Bei, who is afraid of Xinye, will never settle down.

As the saying goes, one person counts the short, two people count the long, and the three stinkers can beat Zhuge Liang. How this battle can be fought now, and how it should be fought, is not something that only Gao Ye can consider. Sima Yi and Lu Xun have been helping Gao Ye to make suggestions and handling various government affairs in the army on the one hand, and they have made rapid progress. Especially after making up for the shortcomings of the army's grassroots construction, the two people's ability to lead the army now can be described as a rapid leap in a day, or it is estimated that the two of them will be able to take charge on their own in a few years. With such two good helpers by his side, Gao Ye didn't need to be entangled alone at all, just call the two of them over to discuss together.

Although Gao Ye's side is not anxious about the situation in front of him, it really makes Gao Ye feel a little hurried. In contrast, Lu Zhao and Chen Deng, who were far away in Guangling, had to face Sun Quan's main army at this moment. Jiang Qin and Zhou Tai, who were defeated and retreated, rested and recuperated, and with Sun Quan's brigade once again killing Guangling, Lu Zhao couldn't help but feel anxious again.

However, this time the road move was not as anxious as the last time. After all, the last time Jiang Qin and Zhou Tai's soldiers and horses arrived, they were the only ones in the entire Xuzhou who came to stop Sun Quan. The strength is not superior, and there are no reinforcements, and they can't retreat to give up Guangling, so they don't know what to do for a while. If it weren't for Chen Deng's proper design, he defeated Jiang and Zhou Erren, and Lu Zhao would have even had the heart to die at that time.

And this time, although the road moves were worried, they calmed down a lot. Internally, because of Chen Deng's talent, Lu Zhao felt that even if Sun Quan's brigade killed, Chen Deng could calmly design a response. Externally, it is because he has received Zhang Liao's military report, and his reinforcements have arrived near Xuzhou, counting the days, and he will be able to reach Guangling in three or five days! Now that there is enough food and grass in the city, as long as his command is not wrong, it is not a big problem to guard Guangling City for ten days and half a month! What's more, there is Chen Deng, and Lu Zhao feels that this time is foolproof.

It's just that it's been a whole day since I received the news of Sun Quan's army last night, and I haven't seen Chen Deng, and I don't know where he went. Although he has arranged the city defense, in the final analysis, he still wants to discuss it carefully with Chen Deng, so that he can have more confidence in his heart. But Chen Deng is not in the official office, nor is he in his own mansion, so he can't discuss it with Chen Deng, which is why Lu Zhao is a little panicked now.

This feeling tormented Lu Zhao for a whole night, until Chen Deng appeared in the county office again the next day. Chen Deng was leisurely, but when Lu Zhao saw Chen Deng, he didn't say a word, grabbed Chen Deng's arm and asked, "Brother Yuanlong, what did you do yesterday, tell me to find this meal!" ”

Chen Deng said with a smile: "I went out yesterday and made some arrangements, so that I could deal with the pressure of Sun Quan's army!" "Speaking of which, Lu Zhao is now the supreme military commander of Guangling City, but Chen Deng is a real Guangling Taishou, and when it comes to Lu Zhao, he must obey Chen Deng's orders. Therefore, Chen Deng did not follow the amount of investment in the road to make arrangements, and the road recruitment was nothing to say, after all, no matter how it was calculated, Chen Deng now has this qualification.

Therefore, although Lu Zhao was a little unhappy in his heart, he didn't say anything, but asked what Chen Deng had arranged. Chen Deng motioned for Lu Zhao to sit down first, and he himself sat down, and then said with a smile: "General Wenyuan's reinforcements are only five or six days away from Guangling, and it is naturally no problem for our army to just hold on, but if we can win again, it will be a great achievement!" Although Sun Quan didn't know when the reinforcements would arrive, I guess he should know that the reinforcements were coming. I ordered people to go to Xuzhou on several roads that must be passed, accumulate firewood and grass, pile up every ten steps, form rows vertically and horizontally, and arrange them neatly. After Sun Quan's soldiers came to the city, we lit it at night, thinking that it was a suspicious soldier. When Sun Quan heard the news, he would definitely panic, and when the time came, we would attack at night, and we would be defeated! ”

Lu Zhao's eyes lit up when he heard this, and his eyes were dangling in his sockets, thinking and digesting Chen Deng's plan. After a while, he raised his head and laughed and said, "Brother Yuanlong, this plan is wonderful!" How many battles can Sun Zhongmou and his son of Huangkou experience? Suddenly found that the reinforcements must be panicked! Wonderful, really wonderful! ”

Chen Deng shook his head and said, "No, then Sun Zhongmou was besieged by Huang Zu's loser son back then, and he didn't mess up at all. Don't look at him young, but he is a battle-hardened man. But because of this, once he found that a large number of reinforcements had arrived in the night, he would inevitably retreat in his heart. After all, there are not many soldiers and horses around him, and he is still an advantage over a Guangling, but after adding reinforcements, it is a big disadvantage. What's more, he has to retreat south and cross the Yangtze River, so he will inevitably prepare in advance. We only need to take advantage of his retreat to make a sudden attack, and then Sun Quan will inevitably be defeated! General Lu Zhao can lead all the men and horses, take advantage of the night to go to Tanglin Pavilion to ambush, just wait for Sun Quan's troops and horses to withdraw, and then attack. I will also send troops to pursue in Guangling, and it will be a great success when the time comes! ”