In the tenth year of Jian'an, in September, Liu Cong was young and seriously ill and could not continue to serve as the pastor of Jingzhou, so he personally drafted a book to pass on the pastor of Jingzhou to Ma Hong.

Liu Pan led his army to Xiangyang to show his support for Ma Hong.

At the same time, Jingzhou officials led by Kuai Yue agreed that Ma Hong would take over Jingzhou, and Ma Hong took control of Nanjun.

After Ma Hong took control of Nanjun, the first news he got was that Huang Zu was defeated and died, and Huang Yan brought the remnants of his troops into Nanjun to ask Ma Hong for help. Liu Bei, under the instruction of Ma Hong, led the army to attack Jiangxia, Ma Hong ordered Li Yan to be the commander, Hu Du and Huang Yan to be the deputy generals, and Liu Ye led 20,000 troops to attack the Zhou Yu army in Jiangxia with Liu Bei.

At the same time, Ma Hong issued a notice to the four counties of Jingnan to make a stand and choose whether to support Ma Hong. Lingling County Taishou Liu Du expressed his support for Ma Hong, and took the initiative to send his son Liu Xian to Ma Hong's side, Changsha Taishou Han Xuan did not recognize Ma Hong's status, and the other two county Taishou did not express his position.

In the tenth year of Jian'an, in November, Zhou Yu was repelled by the combined forces of Liu Bei and Ma Hong in Jiangxia, and Ma Hong stationed Jiangxia with Liu Bei.

In the tenth year of Jian'an, in November, after Liu Bei took Jiangxia, under Zhuge Liang's strategy, he immediately sent troops to attack Changsha, Changsha Han Xuan was defeated, Changsha City was broken, and Liu Bei occupied Changsha County.

After Liu Bei occupied Changsha, Wuling County was too cowardly to surrender to Ma Hong and sent his son to Xiangyang, where Ma Hong occupied the three counties of Jingzhou.

Xiangyang.

"Brother, why did we stand by while Liu Bei attacked Changsha?" Fei Yi asked puzzled.

Ma Hong pulled the hook out of the river, looked at the bare hook, the bait was missing, and said: "Because Changsha borders Yangzhou, and because Liu Bei is an ambitious person, if you don't feed him, it will be very dangerous." ”

"Since he is a man who is not full of ambition, he is not fed, so why should we fatten him?" Fei Yi asked.

"Senior Brother Fei Yi is right! That Liu Bei is a very ambitious person, we can't keep him all the time. Yang Yi also said.

Liu Ye smiled slightly, stretched out his hand and took a branch on the ground to draw a map of Jingzhou, and then drew a map of Yangzhou and Yuzhou, and then said: "Liu Bei now occupies Nanyang, Jiangxia, Changsha, and the three counties. The land of the three counties is almost half of the land of Jingzhou, and he is also half of the lord of Jingzhou. It's just that these three counties are bordered by Cao Cao and Sun Quan, so it's not a safe place. ”

"It can't be a safe place, let's let him take Changsha!" Fei Yi said.

Liu Ye shook his head and said: "Nanyang County, Jiangxia County and Changsha County, of which Jiangxia County is sandwiched between Nanyang County and Changsha County, if Jiangxia County is lost, Liu Bei will be hit hard, we now have Liu Bei as a shield to defend against Cao Cao, and use him to defend against Sun Quan, as long as we want, it is not too difficult to let Jiangxia fall." ”

"But I don't want to start a war now, Liangzhou is unstable, Jingzhou is unstable, I need a period of recuperation, and I don't want to tear my face with Liu Bei, so I will give him some sweetness, after all, it is only the land of three counties, and there are strong enemies around, what kind of storm can he Liu Bei set off!"

Ma Hong set up the bait and threw it into the river.

"But with Liu Bei, it's better to get rid of it as soon as possible, to prevent accidents, when Liu Biao was alive, didn't he also watch out for Liu Bei, and only gave him Wancheng, now that Liu Bei has the land of three counties, shouldn't he be active?" Yang Yi said.

Ma Hong sighed and said: "How can I not know, but if I tear my face with Liu Bei now, I am afraid that there is no benefit, and I don't have 100% confidence to defeat him, if I have confidence, I will not negotiate peace with him, and I will give up Nanyang County and Jiangxia County." ”

"In a battle with Cao Cao Huayin, the losses were too great, and now if you gather troops to fight Liu Bei, it is really the next strategy." Liu Ye continued Ma Hong's words.

"I'm going to give up Guiyang County to Liu Bei as well, anyway, Zhao Fan doesn't have the heart to take refuge in me, so it's better to let Liu Bei get rid of him, and then Liu Bei will become our barrier against Sun Quan." Ma Hong said slowly.

"Liu Bei is a smart person, and Senior Brother Zhuge is by his side, he will cooperate with us, even if we only have the three counties of Jingzhou now, it doesn't matter, Nanjun is the richest place." Liu Ye continued Ma Hong's words.

"After the battle of Huayin, although our army suffered heavy losses, at least Cao Cao will not fight with me again in the short term, we must make good use of this time to recuperate and prepare for another army." Ma Hong said.

Liu Ye smiled slightly, and after drawing Yizhou on the ground with a tree branch, he pointed in the direction of Chengdu and said, "Rich Yizhou, it's time to get it." ”

Fei Yi and Yang Yi understood that Ma Hong gave Liu Bei so much territory just to seek Yizhou.

"Yizhou is easy to defend and difficult to attack, but it is a rich land, and it would be great if it could be taken."

Fei Yi's eyes lit up and he spoke.

"Cousin, Yang Yi, both of you are from Jingzhou, I asked the two of you to guard the three counties of Jingzhou with my wife's father Kuai Yue and Li Yan, during which you must live in harmony with Liu Bei, and at the same time set aside the rights of Jin Xuan and Liu Du in Wuling and Lingling counties, and then cousin, you will be the Taishou of Wuling County, and Yang Yi will be the Taishou of Lingling County."

Ma Hong said to Yang Yi and Fei Yi.

Yang Yi and Fei Yi nodded yes.

11th year of Jian'an, January.

Ma Hong returned to Zhengcheng in the south of Hanzhong, took Liu Ye as the Taishou of Hanzhong, and transferred Huang Zhong and Wei Yan to lead the army into Hanzhong. with Kuai Yue as the governor of the three counties of Jingzhou, supplemented by Li Yan; With Pang Tong as the governor of Liangzhou, supplemented by Ma Xiu; Gan Ning Du Yongzhou, supplemented by Ma Liang; Ma Hong personally led troops to garrison Hanzhong.

Later, the decree that was implemented in Yizhou Hanzhong was implemented in the three prefectures of Yongliang and Jing, and military academies were built in Chang'an City in Yongzhou, Xiangyang City in Jingzhou, and Jicheng in Liangzhou to train military talents.

The territory under Ma Hong's command continued to expand, and slowly Ma Hong also realized that the people under his command began to slowly divide into two factions, the Jingzhou faction centered on Pang Tong, Liu Ye, Gan Ning, Kuai Yue, Li Yan and others [Although Liu Ye and Gan Ning were not from Jingzhou, they followed Ma Honggan from the beginning and had too many contacts with Jingzhou people, and belonged to the Jingzhou faction], the Liangzhou faction centered on Yang Fu, Ma Xiu, Ma Tie, Jiang Xu, Zhao Ang and others, although there was no contradiction between the two factions on the surface, but the positions held by people in Liangzhou were lower than those in Jingzhou, After all, Liangzhou was forcibly taken by Ma Hong. Therefore, Ma Hong knew that with the passage of time, the contradictions between the two regions would inevitably deepen, especially the contradictions between Pang Tong and Ganning in Yongliang and the local Liangzhou scholars would deepen.

After Zhang He was imprisoned in Chang'an for a year, under the tireless persuasion of Ma Liang, he expressed his willingness to submit to Ma Hong, and Ma Hong transferred him to Hanzhong, while another big man, Zhong Xuan, always refused to surrender to Ma Hong, and practiced calligraphy every day in addition to practicing calligraphy. Ma Hong can see from the letter written to him by Ma Liang that Ma Liang's words are constantly improving, it seems that Ma Liang and Zhong Xuan have more contact, and the words are getting better and better, which makes him a little ashamed to be a brother, so many years, Ma Hong's words are still as bad as ever.

As for Ma Hong's often complained about swordsmanship, he didn't make much progress. (To be continued.) )