Fangling, Ma Hong military camp.

"Senior Brother Ziyang, do you think Cao Mengde will choose to fight Liu Bei?" Ma Hong asked Liu Ye.

Liu Ye shook his head and said, "I don't think so, with Cao Cao's trust in us, I'm afraid it will be delayed." ”

"The money and food are supplied by us, does Cao Mengde dare to delay?"

"The grain and grass we provide now, if Cao Cao saves it, he can last for two months, and when the crops in Xiangyang and Yicheng are ripe, it will be another batch of grain and grass."

Ma Hong nodded and said, "When my wife and father retired from the army, part of the crops in Xiangyang were burned, but those in Yicheng were not burned. In this way, the three parties are consuming money and food, and it depends on who consumes whom! ”

"Liu Bei is afraid that he is most afraid of exhaustion, Cao Cao's army continues to enter Nanyang County, if Liu Bei can't afford to spend it and chooses to withdraw his troops out of Nanyang, what should he do?" Liu Ye asked.

Ma Hong took a deep breath and said, "Then let's wait and see!" ”

Cao Cao obtained grain from Ma Hong, took some of it as seeds, and ordered his soldiers to prepare for a long battle in the wasteland near Xiangyang.

After Ma Hong personally led the army to accumulate troops in Fangling County, he twice asked Cao Cao to fight in Deng County, but Cao Cao refused to send troops on both occasions on the grounds that the soldiers needed to be rectified. Hu Du suggested to Ma Hong, suggesting that Ma Hong take Pang De and Hu Du as generals, lead the cavalry into Nanjun, divide the troops to attack Wuling County and Lingling County, take back Wuling and Lingling, and then take advantage of Liu Bei and Cao Cao's confrontation in Nanyang to regain the lost territory.

Ma Hong said to Hu Du: "Recapture Wuling County and Lingling County, now there are not enough troops to recapture them, Zhuge Liang must be on guard, now can only wait for the opportunity." ”

Jiangxia County, Jingling.

Jingling County is not far from Nanjun, and Liu Bei led a large army to hoard in Jingling. At this time, Liu Bei was thinking about how to break the situation after falling into this stalemate, when suddenly the soldiers came to report, and Cao Cao's envoy came to see Liu Bei.

Liu Bei invited the envoy into the hall to speak, the messenger was Xun You, Xun You saw Liu Bei, saluted Liu Bei and said, "Uncle Liuhuang, don't come unharmed." ”

"Oh! What did Cao Cao send you for? Bei asked.

"Negotiate a deal with Uncle Huang." Xun You replied.

"Tell me about it."

"Now the prime minister and the imperial uncle hold each other in Nanyang and Deng County, such a long hold, with the prime minister, and the imperial uncle is not beneficial, it is better for us to take a step back, the imperial uncle withdrew his troops out of Nanyang, and the prime minister will give Xiangyang and Yicheng to the imperial uncle, about Nanyang County, with Wancheng as the boundary, Wancheng including the north of Wancheng belongs to the prime minister, and the south of Wancheng belongs to the imperial uncle, so that the imperial uncle and the prime minister each hold half of the territory in Nanyang County, how about it?"

Liu Bei pondered for a while and said, "I know, let me think about it." ”

"Uncle Huang has anything to consider, if you continue to stay up, it won't do you any good? If Ma Hong launches an attack on Nanyang, or attacks Wuling County, you need to divide your troops and garrison them, and if Nanyang is taken by our army at that time......"

"Seven days, give me seven days to think about it, and I'll give you an answer when the time comes."

"Okay, then I'm waiting for Uncle Huang's good news in Xiangyang."

When Xun You retreated, Liu Bei showed a smile and said with a slow smile: "Sure enough, as expected by the military advisor, Cao Cao didn't trust Ma Hong. ”

Nanyang County, Chaoyang, after Zhuge Liang got the news from Liu Bei, he asked Xu Shu to discuss together, and after the two of them negotiated, asked Liu Bei to agree to negotiate peace with Cao Cao.

In the twelfth year of Jian'an, in April, Zhang Liao and Zhao Yun were released, and Zhao Yun led the army out of the city to Xinye. Zhuge Liang, Xu Shu, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and others collected troops to Huyang to make way for Cao Cao, and Cao Cao led the army back to Wancheng from Chaoyang.

Fangling, after Ma Hong heard the news, ordered the whole army to reorganize and march towards Xiangyang, wanting to take the opportunity to take Xiangyang. Liu Ye strongly dissuaded Ma Hong and suggested that Ma Hong withdraw his troops and negotiate peace with Liu Bei. At Liu Ye's insistence, Ma Hong carefully considered and decided to follow Liu Ye's suggestion and negotiate peace with Liu Bei. At the same time that Ma Hong chose to negotiate peace with Liu Bei, he raised militia from Hanzhong and marched to Nanjun, ready to go to war with Liu Bei at any time.

After Liu Bei led his army into Xiangyang, according to Zhuge Liang's suggestion, he took the initiative to cede Yicheng to Ma Hong, and offered to negotiate peace with Ma Hong. Under the negotiation between the two sides, Ma Hong and Liu Bei finally chose Shuijing Villa in Nanzhang County, south of Xiangyang, as the place for peace talks. Sima Wei, the owner of Shuijing Villa, set up a banquet in Shuijing Villa, and Liu Bei and Ma Hong will meet at Shuijing Villa on the fifth day of the fifth month of May.

The two sides decided on the names of those who would participate in the peace talks.

Liu Bei is on the side, and the participants are Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Sun Qian, Mi Zhu, and Chen Dao.

On Ma Hong's side, the participants are Ma Hong, Liu Ye, Yang Yi, Huang Zhong, Li Yan, and Hu Du.

On the fourth day of the fifth month, it was almost dusk, and the sun slowly burrowed into the thin clouds and turned into a red ball. The western horizon appeared a pink that was redder and more delicate than the face of a fat doll. Ma Hong, Liu Ye and other six people took the Guards bloodline battle group to Shuijing Villa.

Zhuge Liang stood on the wooden bridge of the water mirror villa and waited for Ma Hong, under the wooden bridge is a pond full of lotus leaves, the big ones are like millstones, some stretch like umbrellas, the water droplets on the lotus leaves, some are like lover's tears, some are scattered into small broken beads, rolling around on the lotus leaves, flashing with colorful brilliance, looking from afar, under the background of the surrounding emerald green mountains, under the reflection of the red sunset, the clusters of lotus flowers, like clusters of red clouds, layers of Danxia.

Zhuge Liang shook the feather fan, and there were some beads of sweat on his face. Ma Hong and Liu Ye dismounted and walked in front of Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Liang saluted Ma Hong and the others, and then said to Ma Hong, Liu Ye and Yang Yi: "Senior Brother Ma, Senior Brother Liu, Senior Brother Yang, you are back." ”

Ma Hong nodded lightly, saluted Zhuge Liang back, and then walked on the wooden bridge without saying much, Liu Ye walked on the wooden bridge without speaking, Yang Yi glanced at Zhuge Liang, wanted to open his mouth to say something, but finally did not speak, and followed Liu Ye onto the wooden bridge.

Under the sunset, Zhuge Liang turned around and looked at Ma Hong and the three, the three of them left him with their backs, once upon a time, everyone was studying, drinking, talking and laughing in Shuijing Villa, but now they see each other like strangers.

"I don't live up to Qing, but Qing doesn't live up to me. I didn't expect the junior brother to join forces with Xu Shu. ”

Ma Hong suddenly looked back at Zhuge Liang on the wooden bridge, his eyes were cold, as if he was looking at a stranger.

Zhuge Liang's heart trembled, his face did not change, he just looked directly into Ma Hong's eyes and did not speak. Ma Hong turned his head and walked towards Shuijing Villa with the sword at his waist.

Twelve years ago, the shepherd boy of Shuijing Villa had grown up, had married and had children, and he carried the newborn child on his back to drive the buffalo, and the buffalo went to the pond, and his whole body was buried in the water, only one head was exposed to breathe on the water.

Beads of sweat flowed down Ma Hong's forehead, the peach trees he had planted on both sides of the path had grown, and Ma Hong's six people led the bloodline escort through the woods, walked through the stone forest, passed by the grinding stone platform where Pang Tong and Zhu Ran had sharpened stones, and slowly walked towards the village.

Li Ru and Sima Wei stood at the intersection and watched the group, and as soon as Ma Hong, Liu Ye and Yang Yi saw Sima Wei, they saluted him.

"Kid, you're back."

Mr. Shui Jing's voice was the same as usual, and it had not changed much from many years ago, but Li Ru on the side had a lot more gray hair on his head.

(To be continued.) )