When the smoke of Chibi receded slightly, and Cao Cao's three laughs and three defeats were staged with slight changes, Jiangling City, which had just been captured by Li Shengjun, also had a small man and horse galloping northward and disappeared into the vast night. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info It was the messenger sent by Zhao Yun, and he was carrying Xiangyang's talisman - how to capture Xiangyang City, Zhao Yun already had a plan in his heart, and the messenger sent at this moment was undoubtedly sent to realize this plan.

It is only less than 500 miles from Gangneung to Xiangyang, and all the way is flat, so it is very convenient to come and go. Zhao Yun's messengers, dressed in Cao Jun's uniforms, rode out on light horses, but after a day and night's effort, they caught up with Huang Zhong's military horse that was about to arrive at the city of Xiangyang. After revealing their identities and going through Li Shengjun's unique identity verification procedures, these people were brought to Huang Zhong, a veteran.

"General Zilong has already captured Gangneung? It's such a quick move. Hehe, I'm a veteran, but I'm going to have to work harder. When Huang Zhong heard the news that Zhao Yun had captured Jiangling City, he couldn't help but laugh happily, rejoicing at Zhao Yun's success while encouraging himself. After a brief understanding of the situation in the direction of Gangneung, he then asked about the business of several people who came here: "Is there anything General Zilong wants to entrust to me?" ”

"The general asked us to hand over this seal letter and this talisman to the old general, saying that this is the key to taking Xiangyang, and asking the old general to deal with it as appropriate." Without many words, the messenger took out the seal letter and talisman that still carried body temperature from his bosom and handed them directly to Huang Zhong's hand. Most of them are not people of many words, they come and go in the smoke of war, and they feel the urgency of time, so their words are straight and straight, and there is no turning point.

"Oh? Talismans and seals? Huang Zhong couldn't help but feel a little strange when he heard Zhao Yun's messenger say this. He weighed the talisman in his hand, which was completely different from the style of the previous party, and then untied the fire paint on the sealed letter, and took out the letter paper from it and looked at it. As his eyes continued to move less on the letter, he soon began to laugh, his gray beard shook under his chin, and a hearty laugh came out of his mouth: "Zilong has helped me a lot." Originally, I thought that it would take a lot of money to attack Xiangyang. Hehe, it turns out that it can be like this. ”

After laughing, he put away the letter that had already read the contents, and raised his head again to face several messengers in charge of delivering the message: "Listening to your accents, you all seem to be from Youyan's side?" ”

"Yes!" Although several messengers didn't know why Huang Zhong suddenly mentioned this matter, they still quickly answered when they saw the veteran general in the army ask him.

"Well, Cao Cao also has a lot of soldiers of the Youyan generation on his side, I think there will be no problem for you to disguise the past like this." Huang Zhong groaned slightly, as if asking them, and as if talking to himself.

"This ......" Because they had never read the contents of the sealed letter, several messengers naturally did not understand what Huang Zhong was talking about, and they suddenly heard the old general say that he wanted to let him go to Cao Jun's barracks, and they couldn't help but hesitate in astonishment.

"This is the key to capturing Xiangyang. If you can succeed, I don't think you can run away from this head, are you interested in giving it a go? Huang Zhong looked at the few people in front of him with a smile and reminded them slightly: "There are no people in our army who can speak northern dialect and wear Cao Jun's uniform!" All this, I think you General Zilong had already calculated when he sent you. He has a big heart, and wants you to share my military exploits. ”

"This ...... Where to start? In the face of Huang Zhong's words, the messenger was completely speechless. Although the difference in status makes them only slander in their hearts, and dare not refute anything, the depression in their hearts and their lack of understanding of things make them always so confused. They looked helplessly at the veteran's smiling face, and the doubts in them had turned into an almost substantial glow burning on the face full of furrows.

"Hehe, don't stare at me like that, I don't have any sugar for you." Because he was really happy in his heart, Huang Zhong rarely joked in front of everyone, regardless of whether the current occasion was or not. Facing everyone's inquiring eyes, he laughed happily for a while to satisfy their appetites before opening his mouth to explain the whole story: "Actually, this is how it ......."

After listening to Huang Zhong's relays about Zhao Yun's plan to capture Xiangyang City, everyone couldn't help but have a feeling of sudden enlightenment. "I see......!" They thought about it and turned their heads to look at several messengers dressed in Cao Jun's military uniforms: "I just wondered how General Zhao Yun could be so cautious and actually let his messengers wear Cao Jun's military uniforms after capturing Jiangling?" It turned out that he had already made up his mind to let them go to the city. Not! It's possible......"

At that moment, everyone discussed it, made up their minds and went their own way.

It was twilight, and the cold winter sun had left his body that was not so dazzling to the southwest, leaving only that unusually bright red hanging in the sky like blood. Xiangyang is far enough away from the Chibi battlefield in Jiangxia that you can't see the fireworks on the battlefield. Although the fire in Chibi is very large, this fire does not seem to have anything to do with Xiangyang. The news of Cao Cao's defeat did not come, and the people in the city naturally did not know what the situation of the decisive battle in the south was. Their news was much slower than that of Gangneung, which was close to Chibi.

Of course, the comfort of the city did not affect General Xiahou Dun, the chief general of the Cao army, who was in charge of the security of Xiangyang City. As a relative general entrusted by Cao Cao, this brave general who swallowed his injured eye alive is now worried about the safety of his lord Cao Cao. The red color in the southeast last night was too obvious, although the Jingzhou officials in the city, large and small, didn't care about it, but thought that it might be the auspicious fortune that had been wishing Cao success for three days, but Xiahou Dun didn't think so, and a sudden heartbeat from the bottom of his heart made him frown tightly. The sensation was so obvious and so familiar to him that he had to face up to what others called an ethereal feeling. He had felt this feeling three times so far, and almost every time something bad had happened—the first time was when he attacked Lu Bu in Xiapi, and that time he lost his right eye; The second time was when Liu Bei was attacked at the beginning of this year, this time he came with 50,000 male soldiers, thousands of remnants returned, and he was seriously injured and recuperated for a long time.

“…… It's all a lesson. I have to be careful, if something goes wrong again, I'm afraid I'll ......" Xiahou Dun didn't dare to think about it anymore, he was really worried that something would go wrong in Xiangyang City he was guarding. Although this seems to outsiders to be a bit unbelievable and unfounded, as far as Xiahou Dun himself is concerned, this is something that cannot be ignored. "Xiangyang is not as stable as it seems......" he thinks.

"Mengde is so good to these people, and these people have betrayed Mengde's trust in them. Hmph, you still dare to associate with people from the south, do you really think I don't know anything? If it weren't for the lack of troops in my hands, I would have taken down you guys who eat inside and out. What kind of thing? It's just a bunch of soft eggs. Xiahou Dun was in a bad mood, and as soon as he thought about Xiangyang, he thought of those demoted officials who had just surrendered to Cao Cao for a few months, but they were arrogant and powerful in the city. He felt that they were too arrogant, whether it was talking or treating people, except for those people from the Kuai family, who were better, the others were all shit, and they all had their eyes to the sky, even Wen Ping, another guard in Xiangyang City.

Thinking of Wen Ping, Xiahou Dun became nervous again. There is no other reason, just because there are too many soldiers and horses in the hands of this Wen Ping - he fully controls 20,000 of the 30,000 defenders of Xiangyang City, which is far more than the 10,000 people in Xiahou Dun's own area. "If he makes a mess, then it's ......" Xiahou Dun didn't believe in these demoted generals. In his opinion, these people who surrendered without a fight, and gave away the inheritance of their former lord to others, were just a bunch of spineless cowards and scum, and they could not give them any trust at all.

"But...... Now it is necessary to find them, and the majority of the defenders in Xiangyang are surrendered, and Wen Ping is the leader of these guards. It's best not to let them get too far out of your sight in this troublesome time. The uneasiness in his heart made Xiahou Dun calculate, and he quickly made a decision: "Come here, go and invite General Wenpin and Kui Yue and Kui Liang to the city tower, and say that I have something important to discuss with them." ”

"Yes!" The soldiers accompanying him answered the call and quickly ran out of the door. Before he could run far, he saw the two legs under the shaking of his other comrade rushing towards him, and he couldn't stop shouting: "General Qiqi Jiangling has sent an urgent messenger to ask to see the general." ”

The voice of the entourage who rushed was loud enough, and the person had not yet reached Xiahou Dun, but his voice had already arrived. "The messenger from Gangneung?" Hearing the loud voice of his entourage, Xiahou Dun in the door looked very surprised. The uneasiness in his heart grew even stronger. He knew very well that this time it was not good news. Because the good news will never be so eager and nervous.

"Tell me what's going on?" Xiahou Dun's brows furrowed tightly, and the blindfold that covered a squint almost touched his nose under the tense muscles on his face.

"The general is very concerned about this matter, and he can already guess some things!" For Xia Houdun's expression, the relatives around him were no strangers, and they all knew that their general would show such a thing whenever he encountered any trouble. "Well, troublesome things? Could it be ......" Thinking of this, everyone's hearts suddenly lifted.

Everyone was in doubt, but when they saw the pro-soldier with a sad face, he knelt down and said in a trembling voice: "The messenger from Jiangling has come to report: The lord Chibi has been defeated, and the enemy army has come towards Jiangling. Generals Cao Hong and Cao Ren sent troops to rescue them, but they were ambushed by the enemy at the Huarong Road crossing, and now they are being surrounded tightly. Chen Jiao, the acting guard of Jiangling City, sent several messengers to Xiangyang for help. ”

"What lord was defeated in Chibi? Cao Ren and Cao Hong were ambushed in Huarong Road again? How is this possible? The enemy shouldn't be so capable, have you confirmed their identity? Xia Houdun couldn't help but be shocked when he heard this tragic news. Knowing clearly how powerful his lord Cao Cao's army was, he couldn't believe that this news was true. Although the signs that had risen in his own heart had already given him a bad premonition, was this the bad premonition? He was skeptical.

"Indeed...... Confirmed...... He...... They have ...... Gangneung's Talisman! Yu Xiahou Dun's face was surprised but he could still keep his words coherent, after truly confirming that this thing was very likely to be true, the words of the pro-soldier suddenly trembled and stammered, but it matched his nervous appearance in a cold sweat now.

"What? There is still a soldier in Gangneung? So is all this true? Xiahou Duntie stood up with a blushing face, and the anger in his heart made him no longer able to maintain his apparent calm.

"Quickly send the envoys to me, I want to ask them what the situation is!" He yelled loudly, as if he couldn't vent his inner discomfort if he didn't do so. The Cao family was originally the son of Xiahou's family, so although Cao Cao and Xiahoudun belonged to two surnames, they were very close in blood relationship, and they were almost the same lineage. Therefore, the people of the Xiahou family were extremely loyal to Cao Cao, and this loyalty in turn made Cao Cao extremely caring and frank to the people of the Xiahou family. Not to mention anything else, just say that Cao Cao gave Qinghong, one of his two swords, directly to Xiahou En, who is only a child of the Xiahou family, and understands how much this Xiahou family is taken care of by Cao Cao.

"Yes......" The pro-soldier stood up and stumbled out under Xiahoudun's drinking. After a while, a few embarrassed men were brought in: these people were all wearing the clothes of ordinary people here in Jiangnan, and the slightly tight clothes firmly grasped their muscles, making them look like adults who had stolen the clothes of the imps. They are northerners, and that's not wrong given their size as large Gundams. After listening to them and verifying the talismans on their bodies, their identities were also recognized by Xiahoudun. Looking at their embarrassed appearance, Xiahoudun couldn't help but admire them a little - he had asked them, knowing that they had to rush from Jiangling in a day. Gangneung is four hundred and fifty miles away, and it is indeed not easy to travel for so long in one day. Xiahoudun was satisfied with their loyalty.

Regarding the affairs of Chibi and Jiangling, Xiahoudun did not know. Therefore, he just listened to them in detail, and then interrogated them little by little. Although the current situation is so bad that it can't be worse, Xiahoudun, who has always been said to be a reckless brave general, does not have a reckless and panicked appearance at the moment, on the contrary, he still shows a bit of calm bearing like his brother who is called a wise general.

The facts were exposed little by little, and Xiahoudun was only full of emotion and wry smile: in his opinion, the failure of the lord Cao Cao was undoubtedly a failure over the time of heaven. In winter, a southeast wind is blowing, isn't this God playing with people, what's going on? "It is up to man to plan things, and it is up to heaven to make things happen." After a long sigh, he quickly turned his mind to how to solve the current dilemma.

"How many enemies are there besieging Gangneung Castle?" Xiahoudun asked.

"There are more than 20,000 troops in Changsha. Because the two generals Cao Ren and Cao Hong led troops to rescue the lord and took away most of the soldiers and horses in Jiangling, General Chen Jiao only had 5,000 soldiers available, so he was in a hurry. Although the military envoy was nervous, he tried his best to control and explain the matter clearly.

"Five thousand against twenty thousand, relying on a fortified city like Gangneung should be able to hold it for a few days. Well, that's enough time. Xiahoudun pondered slightly, and made a decision in his heart: "The siege of Jiangling must not be solved, and the danger of the lord must be saved, I should personally lead 30,000 defenders of Xiangyang to annihilate the enemy in one fell swoop." ”

"Yes!" For Xiahou Dun's decision, everyone had no objections. As his own soldiers, they naturally followed his command.

The army as a war machine quickly became running, and everyone was busy. However, as the owner of all the military forces in Xiangyang City, Xiahou Dun had a rare leisure. The organization of the army to prepare for the appropriation was to be completed by the people below for him one by one. In Cao Jun, an army that has been tightly organized, there are many things that do not need to be done by the master himself.

Of course, such idleness does not mean that it is boring to do nothing. In fact, at this moment of idleness, Xiahou Dun, who had put on his cloak, was sitting alone in the hall of the Taishou Mansion, silently thinking about this question: "How many Xiangyang troops are you going to send?" This is a difficult question to decide.

In Xiahou Dun's heart, he silently separated the Cao army that originally belonged to his side and the newly surrendered troops in Jingzhou, although on the surface he warmly called these two Wang Shi, but he upheld Cao Cao's consistent concept of doubting everything and the importance of guarding Xiangyang at the moment, so he had to secretly think about the distinction. This distinction has caused the tangled problem that is causing him headaches right now, and it has become his biggest problem right now.

"It is a fact that the strength of our army in Xiangyang is only 10,000. Although these 10,000 people are definitely the elite of the elite, the number is too small to compete with the enemy army. If you only lead this 10,000 troops south to break the siege, it will not be possible, and it is really unreassuring to completely hand over Xiangyang to the army of Xiangyang. Well, whether it's Kuai Yue or Wenpin, these two people always have to take one with them. Xiahou Dun thought about it, and it was quite difficult to decide in his heart, "Should you take Wenpin or Kuaiyue?" ”

Wen Ping is the commander of the army in Xiangyang City, and has many years of experience in defending Xiangyang, and no one is more experienced than him in the defense of Xiangyang. Thinking that he should be the best candidate to stay in the current round, but Xiahou Dun was not very willing to keep him. Because, he has some "criminal records": on the Changsaka slope where Liu Beijun was chasing, Wen Ping encountered the enemy, but it seemed that he didn't do his best to let the enemy go. Although this has been understood by Cao Cao, in the eyes of Xiahou Dun, who has always regarded Cao Cao's interests as the highest interest, this is unacceptable and worth guarding against, especially at such a troublesome moment.

"Wen Ping has a bit of a problem, will he directly dedicate the city to the other party? In the past, he seemed to be the most loyal general under Liu Biao, so in terms of consistent cases, it is very likely that he will vote this loyalty to Liu Biao's son after Liu Biao's death. If Liu Bei's side uses the eldest son Liu Qi as the call to attack here, I'm afraid ...... "Thinking of this, Xiahou Dun shrank his head in fear, and it is almost certain that Wen Ping will take refuge in the enemy again with normal reasoning. Although Xiahou Dun didn't believe that the enemy would have a force that would directly penetrate into this Xiangyang City and cause a crisis in Xiangyang, even if this might be one in 10,000, he would not put the lowest "loyalty" Wen Ping here. In his opinion, that would undoubtedly send Xiangyang directly into the hands of the enemy.

"Wen Ping can't stay, then take him with him, and by the way, bring the most elite 10,000 horses under him, so that there will be 20,000 people." Xiahou Dun said to himself: "It should still be possible to hand over the defense of Xiangyang City to Kuaiyue. Although he is also a native of Xiangyang and a demote in Jingzhou, he is the mastermind of the demotion and a literati. "The literati have not been able to rebel for ten years, and there may not be such an incisive summary now, but Xiahou Dun's suspicions are still more trusting than those of Wen Ping. He knew that this was Liu Biao's former mastermind, although he had never done anything earth-shattering, but Liu Biao was able to keep Xiangyang safe for decades, and his Kuai Yue's credit was indelible, which was naturally his ability. And this time Jingzhou surrendered, he was the mastermind and planner like Cai Mao, so he was definitely a thorn in the eye and a thorn in the flesh for Liu Bei and Liu Qi opposite, and he couldn't wait to destroy. , naturally, it was impossible for him to surrender to Liu Bei and them.

"If it's someone from Jiangdong who attacks, I'm afraid I'm going to leave Wen Ping behind, but right now it's an enemy dominated by Liu Bei......" Xiahou Dun smiled bitterly, and quickly summoned the soldiers who were standing outside the door and waited, so that they could quickly convey the order: "Wen Ping went out with the army as the deputy general of the southbound army, and Kuai Yue was in charge of the defense of Xiangyang as the acting city guard." ”

"Southward Army" This is Xiahou Dun's name for rescuing Cao Cao's military horses. Originally, it should have been more appropriate to call it the "Rescue Army", but Xiahou Dun took into account the problem of the new annex of Xiangyang and the instability of the military and the people in Xiangyang City, so he had to hide the news of "Cao Cao's defeat and the Jiangling crisis", and organized this "rescue army" called the "Southbound Army" under the pretext that "the lord is newly victorious in Chibi and is about to gather troops to enter the south of the Yangtze River".

The team marched out of the south gate of Xiangyang and headed towards Jiangling. Saving soldiers is like fighting fire, but Xiahoudun doesn't dare to delay even a little time. Although he did not lose his mind in a hurry and just rushed forward vigorously and forgot to send out the marching marquis, he still tried to speed things up as much as possible in order to rush to the south as soon as possible. There was no ceremony to send troops, there was no farewell from everyone, and even the notice to Wen Ping and Kuai Yue was directly sent to them by the soldiers in the form of orders. At this time, hurrying is the most important thing, in order to be able to do it as soon as possible, Xiahoudun did not even raise the military tent.

The reconnaissance area of the rear repulsion was within 15 miles of the Chinese army as the origin. Of course, sometimes it is impossible to really search for the "limit" of fifteen miles because of the terrain and other reasons, but at the moment, on this vast Jingxiang Plain, fifteen miles of repulsion is naturally an easy thing to do. Nearly 500 Hou Scouts rode up and down the plain, constantly gathering all kinds of information on Xiahoudun's side, which made Xiahoudun feel at ease—at least until now, he had never encountered the enemy's military horses, and he had never heard the news that frightened him. To be honest, at such a moment, he was already a little afraid of this. Although he himself understood that it was basically impossible for the enemy's ambush to exist in the vast land of Jingzhou, he was still a little afraid of what happened. He sent all his rebukes out, completely trying to use their efforts to buy this peace in his heart.

The team marched very fast in the dark, and it had only been three hours, and the front and rear had already included Dangyang City in the scope of their inspection. Everything seems to be quietly moving in a good direction. No one, including Xiahou Dun himself, noticed that somewhere to the west of their army was being held in the direction of Xiangyang, where they had just left, another team was heading towards Xiangyang, where they had just left—they were also trotting all the way.

Huang Zhong rode his horse ahead of the group, and behind him was a group of soldiers wearing Cao Jun's uniforms. Go to Xiangyang to deceive the city, this is their task. Because of the urgency of time, Huang Zhong's march was launched almost at the same time as Xiahoudun's rescue army. However, in order to avoid the two encountering, Huang Zhong calculated the distance between the two sides, first walked thirty miles to the west, and then went north again, heading in the direction of Xiangyang.

The operation undoubtedly needs to be kept secret. There were no torches, no sounds, not even a reprimand for his safety. They were trotting lightly and rapidly in the darkness. This was a gamble, and although Zhao Yun did not say what the probability of success of this deception operation was, Huang Zhong himself could estimate the low probability of it. "If you succeed, Xiangyang is in hand, and if you lose, the whole army will be in danger!" To be honest, Huang Zhong didn't like to do such a risky thing, but in order to achieve such a strategic goal of being able to quickly capture Xiangyang, he still had to reluctantly make it difficult. There is no way to do this, in fact, Huang Zhong has long realized that the series of strategies issued by his lord to "attack Jiangling and seize Xiangyang" is a big adventure in itself.

In the middle of the night, when he couldn't even see a single star on the black night, Huang Zhong finally led the team to the city gate of Xiangyang. Facing this city that once belonged to Liu Biao, but was given to Cao Cao by the wealthy clan in the city without a single shot after Liu Biao's death, Huang Zhong did not sigh extraneously, but just glanced coldly at the city head that seemed a little quiet because of the emptiness of the army, and then gave the soldiers around him an ordered look.

"Open the city gate quickly, General Xiahou Zhong of Jiangling has returned to the city! Quickly open the gates of the city. The soldiers who received the order wore Cao Jun's military uniforms and rode forward a few steps forward and shouted loudly.

“……？ General Xiahou Zhong? I haven't heard of this name, but the surname Xiahou should be from Cao Cao's side. "Naturally, the people of the city will not fail to hear such a loud shout under the city gates. Although they didn't know who the so-called General Xiahou Zhong was and what his official position was, as soon as they heard that it was surnamed Xiahou, they didn't dare to slack off at the moment. They didn't suspect anything, the long-term peace, and the departure of Wenpin, a cautious boss, made them slack off like never before. They only felt troubled by the sudden appearance of the situation, without any suspicion.