If the most miserable person in the troubled times is the one who is sandwiched in the middle by a bunch of heroes, then Xun Gang's power is undoubtedly like this; But what is even more shocking is that the land of three counties alone has the highest commercial output in China, which is undoubtedly shocking.

The princes did not want to believe that this was Xun Gang's ability, and they preferred that this was Jingzhou's geographical advantage. However, they guessed half right, the thirteen states of China, Jingzhou, Xuzhou, Yanzhou, and Yuzhou are all strategically important existences, and Jingzhou is the largest of them.

What's more, the Central Plains has unlimited disputes, the chaos in Shu, and the Jiangdong Toshi clan have made Jingzhou the only pure land in the whole of China, and there has not been much war since the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

But before Sun Ce or Liu Bei occupied Jingzhou, Ma Chao, who mainly dealt with political affairs, was a little panicked; In order to consolidate his military power and prevent civilian officials from getting involved in the military, Ma Chao even took over the government affairs of Ma Liang, Li Yan and others, but he didn't expect it to make him extremely big.

"In the end, it is better to fight a war for me......" Ma Chao read a volume of appeals, and handed it to Pang De casually, but Pang De couldn't understand it, and threw it in the mountain of bamboo slips behind him, which had been government affairs for nearly a month.

"Meng Qi, it's good for us big bosses to take care of the war, why do you have to take care of everything?" Pound looked at the piles of bamboo slips and couldn't help but start complaining, "The officials do their own duties, and they don't interfere." It's good that you have taken over all the dirty work, and those civil officials have become idle eaters! ”

Ma Chao retorted: "Xun Hou said that Liu Bei would come, then he would come; In order to prevent these civilian officials from interfering in our affairs during war, it is better to seize their power as soon as possible. ”

"It's just that General Ma Chao's behavior is really despicable!"

Before the words fell, I saw a person walking far away outside the hall, it was Ma Liang. Ma Liang looked at Ma Chao with a disdainful face, and said in his heart: The lord is really like a god, this Ma Chao is really an idle lord, if he didn't plan to seize Jingzhou, I'm afraid that I would have arranged an ambush to clean you up! If it weren't for the lord's repeated insistence that you should not quarrel with you, I would ......

Pang De and Ma Dai saluted Ma Liang respectively, but Ma Chao just nodded lightly; Ma Liang was slightly annoyed and shouted: "I respect the prestige of General Ma Chao, so I have repeatedly tolerated it; It's also Jingzhou, don't drive, Your Excellency is so lazy, how can it be reasonable? ”

Ma Chao was sitting down and saluting Ma Liang at this time, but his eyes were still impatient, and he asked, "Why is Mr. Ma here?" ”

Ma Liang said lightly: "Captain Pang also said that it is important to perform their duties, since General Ma is a military general, this complicated political matter should naturally be handled by people we know, and the general only needs to be ready to deal with the incoming enemy at any time!" ”

Ma Chao shrugged his shoulders, not knowing if he listened or not.

Ma Liang was extremely annoyed, and immediately shouted and scolded: "Ma Chao, you are going too far!" You haven't been able to take care of Jingzhou's political affairs in January, won't Jingzhou be messed up in the long run? Isn't the country that the Lord has spent so much effort building worse than yours? ”

Pang De hurriedly persuaded: "Mr. Ma is angry, I am also talking to Meng Qi about this matter, but Liu Bei's army has not arrived, and Meng Qi is afraid of panicking......

"Where is that reasonable? Is it possible for a military general to do something that is still missing? Having said that, you are my Xiangyang general, but I didn't know that Liu Bei's army was already eighty miles away from the west of the city! With your appearance, how can you be worthy of Liu Bei's army? ”

Ma Chao was shocked, got up and asked, "Liu Bei's army has reached eighty miles west of the city?" Why haven't my scouts come to report? ”

Ma Liang smiled disdainfully: "Ma Chao, don't be too smart, I am naturally inferior to you in your battle, but if you want to talk about scheming, I don't know how many people in Xiangyang City can trample you under your feet!" Take care of one and make a big fuss! Do you want me to send troops on your behalf? ”

Ma Chao hurriedly apologized, returned the place to Ma Liang, and fled to the camp in the south of the city in a panic with only the talisman. Ma Liang looked at Ma Chao's back, snorted disdainfully, and then summoned the civil officials hiding outside the door to hurriedly deal with the government affairs that had fallen this month.

"You say I'm going to take care of your military? Lao Tzu can't handle so many political affairs, where do you have the leisure to deal with your affairs? ”

Ma Chao returned to the camp, and sure enough, he heard the news that Liu Bei's army had been eighty miles west of the city, and was about to sort out the soldiers and horses, but he heard Pang De puzzled: "No, Liu Bei is far away in Shu, and it is naturally impossible to take the waterway, and this land route is full of mountains and rivers, why did he come so quickly?" ”

Ma Dai said in one sentence: "I have heard that Liu Bei accepted Meng Shu, the thief king of Shu, and tens of thousands of thieves under his command were all used by him; There is no shortage of brute soldiers in these thieves, who are very good at mountain warfare, and they are like walking on the ground on the mountain rocks, so they must be the ones who came this time! ”

"It's just a bandit, why bother?" Ma Chao pursed his lips disdainfully, he thought that he could go head-to-head with Liu Bei, but he would have thought that he would just fight with a team of bandits!

"Meng Qi, the ancestor has asked you to stop underestimating the enemy many times, why can't you listen?"

Ma Chao ignored Pang De's advice, and was about to go to Ma to raise troops to fight, but Pang De stopped him again: "Meng Qi, are you crazy?" The thief army is still eighty miles away, and I don't know who he is, so why don't I make any more inquiries and wait for work in the city, so I have to go and ask for trouble? ”

Ma Dai also seems to feel that Ma Chao is wrong, although Ma Chao is reckless on weekdays, he still has a clear idea when he fights, when did he even forget such an easy-to-understand truth?

Seeing that Ma Chao threw down the reins and turned around and returned to the big tent, the two breathed a sigh of relief; Ma Chao is a person who is easily blinded by hatred, and he must have heard that Liu Bei's soldiers and horses were outside the city, and remembered the hatred of being killed by Liu Bei's father and losing all the territory in his hands......

Meng Huo's soldiers and horses advanced rapidly, and the long-distance attack of eighty miles was only half a day's journey in his eyes! However, Liu Bei only asked him to fight the vanguard this time, and Liu Bei's soldiers and horses would arrive ten days later.

"Brother, why do we want to work for that Liu Bei?" While on the way, Meng You suddenly asked, "I thought this was my brother's joke a while ago, but I never thought that my brother was really willing to become Liu Bei's sword!" Where did this march and battle come from, than drinking and enjoying himself in the village? ”

Meng Shu said indifferently: "Meng You, you don't know the general trend, I can't blame you; Although it is a troubled time, there are signs of unification, and if you are a thief at this moment, you will either be crusaded against or recruited in the future, and become an unknown person in history...... You're only in your twenties, so why not take this opportunity to do it? I'm not willing to be used by Liu Bei, it's that Liu Bei's requirements just meet my requirements! ”

"We were kicked out of Nanzhong by Liu Zhang's guy, why don't I want to kill that Liu Zhang? But without Liu Bei's help, this would undoubtedly be an empty dream. Liu Bei is using me, why am I not using Liu Bei? ”

Meng Shu talked to himself, as if the transaction between him and Liu Bei was harmonious and equal, but after all, he was just a barbarian, simple-minded, and completely unaware that everything about himself was under Liu Bei's control.

"The attack on Xiangyang ......"

Meng Shu replied: "Naturally, it is to consume the enemy as much as possible, Liu Bei said, there will be Sun Ce's reinforcements in Jiangxia and Jiangling, and Xiangyang is just a lonely city, even if we can't take it, we can still take it after Liu Bei's army comes!" ”

In the evening of the same day, Meng Shu came to the city of Xiangyang, but when he saw that the city was heavily guarded, he ordered the army to go underground and seek battle tomorrow.

In the early morning of the next day, with the sound of a gong, the enemy troops outside the city instantly mobilized, and shouted outside the city with the urine of their thief soldiers, asking the city guards to come out and fight them.

"In the end, they are just ordinary thieves, even if they have tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in their hands, under the iron hooves of my Xiliang army, they can only tremble if they are afraid!"

Ma Dai looked at the funny thief soldiers outside the city, and couldn't help laughing, this kind of almost untrained thief soldiers were not the opponents of the regular army at all, except for the advantage of strength and numbers; Although there are not many defenders in Xiangyang City, there is no problem in dealing with the bandits in this area.

"The question is when Liu Bei's reinforcements will arrive......" Pang De leaned on the gate post of the city tower, his eyes full of worry, "The scout has not received news of Liu Bei's army, it should not be around here...... There's no way he's going to let Meng Shu be used as bait, right? ”

"Liu Bei is cunning, it's hard to determine......" Ma Chao seemed to have calmed down, looking calmly out of the city, "I'll send troops out to try him first, and then decide on a strategy!" ”