However, Gan Ning's idea is very effective. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 Although his conjecture was very malicious, as far as the real situation is concerned, his conjecture is not 100% correct, but it is really not much worse. Because of Xiaoliuqiu's overseas relationship, the news that Gan Ning got has lagged behind a lot. In fact, at the same time that Zhang Song informed Yu what he knew, two groups of envoys had already arrived in CD City, which was the capital of Li Sheng, the envoy of Cao Wei in the north and the envoy of Jiangdong in the east, both of whom had come for Xiangyang, which Liu Feng had dedicated to Li Sheng.

Cao Cao's envoy was Yang Xiu Yang Zude, a slightly arrogant young man. And the messenger on Sun Quan's side is Yu Zhongxiang, a man who is weak in appearance, but has the strength of a peerless general. On the surface, the two sides of them are separated, but judging from the fact that they came so close at the same time, and the so-called purpose is the same, Li Sheng believes that the two sides are definitely connected.

"I just don't know, how deep is the connection? Xiangyang is now in my hands, and they want both, but in the end, only one can be obtained. Judging from the situation from Xiao County, the Jiangdong side and Cao Cao were definitely a short-lived alliance, and after taking the land of Huainan, this alliance seems to be showing signs of breaking. Cao Cao wanted to dominate the world, but Sun Quan was not willing to sit still. Although none of them have turned their faces at the moment, it is only a matter of time. Kong Ming, look...... How should we respond to the emissaries on both sides? "A low table, two group gardens, a pot of tea, three cups of tea, under the elegant plum fragrance, boiling steaming tea, Li Sheng, Zhuge Liang, Fa Zheng and the three of them did opposite each other, talking and laughing about this matter naturally.

"Divide, procrastination." Kong Ming gently took a sip of the fragrant tea in his hand and said.

"How to differentiate? How to procrastinate? Li Sheng asked.

"Divide with different treatments, use the idea that they all want to monopolize Xiangyang to divide them, and let them fight by themselves. At the same time, we must be vague about the transfer of Xiangyang, neither say it in one breath, nor make generous promises, and delay it as long as we can. Until our own preparations for war are ready. Zhuge Liang replied with a smile.

"Well, that's a good idea. …… So be it. Li Sheng groaned slightly and nodded in approval-Originally, he just didn't want to give up such a vital city as Xiangyang to Cao Cao, this was something Li Sheng had decided a long time ago. Since there was no way to avoid war in the end, Li Sheng naturally asked about the situation of armaments after determining the tactics of division and delay: "The responsibility of the Xiangyang side is Shiyuan, and the responsibility of the Xiaoliuqiu side is Xingba. As for us? Xiaozhi, how do you see the situation? Compared with Xiangyang and Xiaoliuqiu, our west road is full of variables. ”

"Please rest assured. According to the report of the Menxia Provincial Government, the momentum of development of our army in the past two years has been good. Without full mobilization, Yizhou alone is enough to mobilize 100,000 troops to fight for a year. Fa Zheng said very confidently: "As for the soldiers, in the past few years, we have strengthened the training of mountain warfare, long-distance running, and rapid formation. We can be completely proud to say that our army is completely an army that cannot be defeated or defeated. In terms of the marching ability of the infantry army itself, there is no second army in the world that can match us. ”

"Oh...... Xiaozhi is so confident? Hehe, that's good. Li Sheng laughed, and then said: "This time, I plan to deploy defenses in Hanzhong and Wudu: Hanzhong has Wei Yan as the general and Xu Shu as the military division, they are old partners, and with their 50,000 troops here, I naturally don't have any worries; As for Wudu, I plan to make Huang Zhong a general and lead 50,000 troops to defend. As for the military advisor who is with the army, I think it will be up to you to be filial piety. Once this is over, I will personally lead all the soldiers and horses to Yangping Pass to meet you. Li Sheng briefly talked about his arrangement, and at the same time told Fa Zheng: "This time we are playing defensive counterattacks. I won't say much about the specific arrangements on the battlefield, just look at it yourself and Hansheng and do it yourself. As for the rest, you just have to remember that what we need is patience until the negotiations finally break down. ”

"Understood!" Fa Zheng nodded heavily.

"That's about what the current arrangement looks like. In terms of grain, grass and weapons, Kong Ming, you can see how to hide from the other party. My request is to try not to alarm the people on both sides as much as possible. I don't want them to know that we're preparing for war. When it came to the problem of material transportation, Li Sheng didn't have a good way, so he directly pushed him to Zhuge Liang and asked him to find a way.

"It's unlikely." Kong Ming was slightly stunned when he heard Li Sheng's instructions, but he shook his head.

"Why?" Li Sheng was puzzled by this.

"Because our layout on grain storage is still the same as the layout of the old Liu Zhang's era. That is, the CD is used as a storage center for food supplies, and all the materials are concentrated in the CD. 100,000 people of food and grass is not a small amount, and there is no way to send such a large thing outside the city without telling the eyes and ears of those people in the city. This can't be done, and there's no need to. Zhuge Liang shook his head and said bluntly. He is such a person, he speaks and does things more directly, and if he can do what he can do, he will work hard to do it, and if he can't do it, he will be unable to do it in advance. After Li Sheng obtained Yizhou and he was directly responsible for the government affairs of Yizhou, his plain style has been accepted by everyone in Yizhou.

"Why? Isn't it easier to surprise the enemy and suffer losses if preparations for war are made more secretive? The feeling of being rejected directly is not too good, although the look on Li Sheng's face has not changed much, but he is still slightly disgusted in his heart, but he still remembers what Kong Ming said "There is no need".

"Wudu and Hanzhong are very close to Yongzhou. Even if our side is doing it secretly, does the lord believe that with Jia Xu's ability, he will not be able to detect that we are quietly transporting supplies to Wudu and Hanzhong? It's simply not possible. If it's impossible, then why should we be sneaky? Why can't we be above board? I think with Cao Cao's suspicious personality, when we put everything on the table, Cao Cao will be suspicious. This is especially true after we have turned the original 100,000 people's grain and grass into 200,000 people. Regarding Li Sheng's question, Kong Ming's feather fan shook lightly and gave such an answer.

"The bread and grass of a hundred thousand people becomes the bread and grass of two hundred thousand? This is......? Hearing Kong Ming say this, Li Sheng's eyes widened suddenly, and he seemed to understand what Kong Ming meant: "What Kong Ming said is a suspicious plan." ”

"Fiction is real, reality is fiction. Only we know the truth and the truth in this, how can Cao Cao know so much. Kong Ming laughed wryly, his eyes drifting to the distant sky, as if Xiao was thinking about Cao Cao's helpless wry smile.

"It's doable." Li Sheng nodded, making sure to make this move. Of course, this is also an alkyne in general, as for the details, Li Sheng still said: "You are directly responsible for specific things." "That's it, everything is settled. Li Sheng recognized all these long-term things here, and then shifted the topic to the things he was facing at the moment: "By the way, who are you going to send to this negotiation with Cao Cao and Sun Quan?" ”

"Well, let Zhou Rui be the positive, Deng Ai, and Kong Shen as the deputies. The three of them formed a response team, and I think there would be no problem in dealing with Yang Xiu and Yu Tuo. Zhuge Liang thought about it and gave a candidate.

"Why them? Although Zhou Rui is my sworn brother, he is a military general, and it will be too difficult for him to let him, as a military general, do this kind of diplomatic thing. Li Sheng frowned at his brow and objected.

"Huh...... Lord, is General Zhou Rui a ruffian? Zhuge Liang heard Li Sheng say the worry in his heart, and couldn't help but smile and ask Li Sheng such a question.

"Well, he always likes to deal with those soldiers, he should be very ruffian. At least I've seen him curse and make people dizzy. I also saw him tidying up and making people cry and laugh. Li Sheng didn't know that Zhuge Liang suddenly asked him this question, but he still answered truthfully, and his words were full of all kinds of pity. In Li Sheng's view, this ruffian is undoubtedly a bad habit.

"Hehe, it's good to be a ruffian, it's good to be a ruffian." Zhuge Liang laughed strangely, and there was a rare inexplicable glint in his eyes. He looked at Li Sheng's puzzled gaze and said, "Although Cao Cao's envoy Yang Xiu and Sun Quan's envoy Yu Fu each have their own personalities, they are both shrewd and upright people. Against such people, we take the right path, but few people can overcome them. So we have to go down some crooked paths. Let Zhou Rui deal with them, use his ruffians and his evil to deal with their righteousness, so as to delay time. Of course, under the changes of the two of them, Zhou Rui couldn't bear it, so I matched them with a Kong ginseng and a Deng Ai. Kong Shen is a gentleman at the end of the square, and he is full of opportunities in words and things. Deng Ai is clumsy and talkative, but he is quick to think, and he is also a rare talent, and the two of them will cooperate in the back to give Zhou Rui ideas, and I think Yang Xiu and Yu Tuo, who deal with Zhou Rui, will have a headache. ”

"Oh? Is this possible? Listening to Zhuge Liang say it so wildly, Li Sheng still looked suspicious. It's not that he hasn't heard of such combinations, but most of them exist only in novels, and he can't imagine whether reality can be as hopeless as the novel describes. Because this matter is more important, Li Sheng can't help but be a little cautious.

"Don't worry. If it doesn't work, I'll do it too. After all, you and I understand the importance of this delay. Zhuge Liang was very confident in playing the package ticket.

"Okay then." Li Sheng nodded and finally agreed.

Negotiations ensued. It was only because of the different methods of negotiation at the beginning that no one realized the start of the negotiations: the negotiations began with two envoys from the Jiangdong side and the Cao Wei side meeting with Zhou Rui respectively. As Li Sheng and Kong Ming said, there is only one Xiangyang City, and Sun Quan's side and Cao Cao's side both want to get the psychology of Xiangyang City, so they don't dare to go to Zhou Rui so openly. They all met with Zhou Rui quietly, and then quietly held talks with Zhou Rui to test whether Li Sheng's side really had the determination to surrender Xiangyang City. Because they want to keep it secret, they choose the time at night, and because they don't want the other party to know, the number of days they choose is always staggered with each other. In fact, they all knew that the other party was discussing this with Zhou Rui, and their secretive behavior was just covering up their ears and stealing the bell. But they are unwilling to expose this behavior of covering their ears and stealing the bell, after all, under the atmosphere of "benevolence and righteousness", such a naked condition is always easy to be despised.

Since they are willing to cover their ears and steal the bell, Zhou Rui is also happy not to expose them. Although there are no explicit regulations, Zhou Rui set a three-day cycle for himself: that is, on the first day, Yang Xiu came to visit Zhou Rui, and on the second day, Yu turned to visit, and on the third day, he did not accept anyone's visit at the same time, and Zhou Rui and the three of them discussed the methods in the negotiation together, and reported the situation and problems of the negotiation to Li Sheng.

"Looks like they have the same thoughts as we do." Faced with the situation reported by Zhou Rui, Li Sheng and Zhuge Liang, who was standing beside him, looked at each other and smiled, and they all came to such a conclusion. At the same time, they realized that in fact, neither Cao Cao nor Sun Quan expected to use negotiations to get Xiangyang City. After all, they are not fools, and they naturally understand that for such a strategic location, Li Sheng cannot give it up casually, and the result of the negotiation will definitely be a one-shot ending. But that's how it ended, and they still sent someone to talk about it. It wasn't for anything else, but to stall for time - they had to remobilize the army that had just been ordered to repair.

"None of them are fools, it seems." Li Sheng said leisurely.

"Of course they won't be fools. Who in the world can take them as fools? Zhuge Liang glanced at Li Sheng in surprise, and felt that his brother Sheng'er seemed to be a little stupid when he said this.

"I didn't mean this ......" Kong Ming said this, Li Sheng touched his nose somewhat embarrassedly and whispered.

"I know." Kong Ming nodded understandingly, but he sensed Li Sheng's discomfort: "Actually, isn't this better for us?" They love to procrastinate, so they have to procrastinate, so let Zhou Rui have a fight with them. We're here to prepare for war. ”

"That's right, then it's up to someone to move faster. I hope we can move faster than theirs. Li Sheng nodded, but it was a little praying, in fact, he also knew that it was unlikely: Cao Cao's army and Sun Quan's army were just re-recruited by the army that was ready to rest, and they had to do the general mobilization of the war from scratch. Alas, maybe it was a mistake for me to say that I wanted to take Liu Feng and them in. Thinking that all this was caused by taking in Liu Bei's descendants and getting Xiangyang, Li Sheng couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.

"Oh...... If you were given a repentant experience, would you still do the same? Hearing Li Sheng's whisper, Zhuge Liang asked so bluntly.

"Still." Li Sheng did not hesitate about this: "Uncle Liu Huang has helped us a lot, and he has a good reputation in the world, and he is also a person who can be respected by others." I have nothing to regret and hesitate to help his descendants. ”

"Hehe, the lord is still not mature enough." Zhuge Liang laughed, and finally said the appeal of criticism, but his eyes were full of admiration: "But I just like the immaturity of the lord." Even though I know how to do things, there are times when I can't help it. I think in some ways the lord and Uncle Liu Huang are very similar, they seem to be the same people. ”

"Do you think so?" A smile appeared on Li Sheng's face, "Actually, I think so too!" As a superior, so many years. Although I also know that there are times when you need to be cold-blooded and you need to sacrifice innocent people, when it comes to making the final decision, I still can't bear it. I can't be absolutely cold-blooded, because I often wonder what would happen to me if I were the innocent who was sacrificed. The helplessness of the innocent, the pain of the innocent, in the past in Xuzhou, I have already endured once. I don't want this to happen anymore, especially with people I know well. ”

"Hehe, having a clear conscience is one aspect. In fact, it is not without benefit that we have taken in Liu Bei's descendants. In my opinion, there are at least three good things that we have achieved with this one move. Zhuge Liang smiled and stretched out three fingers.

"Which three?" Li Sheng asked puzzled. To be honest, he made such an action mainly on the spur of the moment, and he didn't expect that this move would bring him much benefit. Therefore, when he heard Zhuge Liang do this, he couldn't help but be a little curious.

"First of all, we obtained Xiangyang City, which undoubtedly improved our strategic situation in the north of Jingzhou; Secondly, we have further established the reputation of the lord and the benevolent, which is very good for the lord to dominate the world in the future; Again, the lord doesn't think that Liu Beijun's remaining people are very good and have great potential for training, they can be regarded as talents. Zhuge Liang smiled and said three points. It's simple, but it's very clear.

"That's right." Li Sheng smiled, but suddenly remembered something, "You said that we treated Liu Bei like this, are we three points?" Cao Cao got Wancheng and Runan, Sun Quan got Shouchun and Hefei, and we got Xiangyang. Liu Bei's territory can be said to have been divided by us. ”

"Oh, that's fine. We have three points Liu Bei, and three points of the world, but I don't know how much blood there is. Zhuge Liang said and smiled slightly, but his voice became lonely. Because he also felt the heaviness of the subject.

The matter can't go on here, Li Sheng just told Zhou Rui to delay the matter for as long as he could, in short, just deal with everything in one slow word. Anyway, at the moment, whether it is Cao Cao's side or Sun Quan's side, they will not do it like themselves, so they can drag it out. Li Sheng estimated the beginning of this war, I am afraid that it will not be until the end of the year, after all, the first battle has just been fought, and Cao Cao's grain and grass have already been used, how can they also remobilize, as for Sun Quan's side, it seems that he has not yet settled the affairs of Huainan.

Time passed in such a row, but in a blink of an eye, it was February of the twenty-second year, and Yang Xiu and Yu Fu spent a year here because of negotiations. Because Zhou Rui has always dragged it, and they have never been anxious, and they are not too coercive, so they just dragged it steadily.

On February 14, a flying horse came from the north and entered Yang Xiu's post house, but Cao Cao ordered someone to bring the news. Yang Xiu had a secret conversation with that person, but as for what he talked about secretly, Yang Xiu didn't say it, and Zhou Rui didn't ask. It's just that in the later talks, he obviously felt that Yang Xiu's tone of speech was getting tougher little by little.

Then, on February 20, the people of Koto also came. After also having a secret conversation with Yu Fan. Originally, it was an intrigue, but Yang Xiu and Yu Tuo, who had no contact between the two, had a rare meeting, discussed a lot, and put pressure on Zhou Rui at the same time in the next few negotiations.

For their pressure, Zhou Rui clearly felt it. He had already heard too much about Li Sheng and Zhuge Liang's analysis of this matter, and he understood that the reason why they would have such a change at the moment: "It's just that Cao Cao and Sun Quan's war preparations have been prepared to fight us." Fight and fight, what do we have to be afraid of. With such a thought, and understanding that this battle was inevitable, Zhou Rui naturally let go of his mind and became tough.

Faced with Yang Xiu's excessive request to his family to ask for Liu Bei's descendants, Zhou Rui vetoed: "May I ask your envoy, has Your Majesty declared Uncle Liu Huang a rebel?" If so, please show the decree, and if not, please ask your envoy to mention this matter again. ”

"General Zhou, don't you think about it anymore? Although this matter is not His Majesty's order, it is just His Majesty's mercy, and he is unwilling to kill Uncle Huang. In fact, with the things that Uncle Huang did, couldn't he still deserve the crime of killing the nine clans? Their existence is a great misfortune for this world. I also asked General Zhou to inform Ling Shuhou to think about it, if it is because of this, it is not a good thing to let your two families fight each other. Yang Xiu persuaded Zhou Ruilai, although his tone was tactful, the threat in it was clearly tight. If you don't agree, you will go to war.

"Hehe, trusted by loyalty, how can there be a reason that changes overnight. My lord doesn't want to be the one who doesn't believe in him. Besides, Uncle Liu Huang is still the father-in-law of the lord. No matter how you say it, it can be regarded as a kinship. is a relative of a person, but he can't keep his family, and it's not interesting for such a person to do more. Zhou Rui shook his head affirmatively.

"Aren't you afraid that my lord will send troops to punish you?" Yang Xiu's tone of voice became stern.

"Come on, then. I'm afraid of you. Zhou Rui said ruffianly, with a mocking smile floating on his lips.

"You ......" Looking at Zhou Rui's indifferent appearance, Yang Xiu couldn't say it anymore, he swallowed his saliva, forced himself to suppress the anger in his heart, but said: "Your Majesty's birthday is approaching, please order the lord to return Xiangyang City to Your Majesty." ”

"Return? Isn't Xiangyang City in the hands of His Majesty? Or does His Majesty not consider us his courtiers? Zhou Rui is also a person with a keen heart, but he grasped the flaw in Yang Xiu's words.

"What is the situation in the world, General Zhou should also understand, do you think such a reason is reasonable? Your lord is a Shu Hou, how can you manage the affairs of Jingzhou? Yang Xiuyu argued to himself. He probably sensed that what he said was wrong.

"My family Shu Hou can't be managed, but General Liu Feng's identity as Xiangyang Hou can't be managed? The noble envoy should know that in the past, the position of Xiangyang Hou was assigned to Lord Liu Biao by His Majesty, and later Lord Liu Biao was gone, and this son was handed over to Prince Liu Qi, and after the death of Prince Liu Qi, the title was inherited by Uncle Liu Huang. Now that Uncle Liu Huang is gone, General Liu Feng, as the eldest son of Uncle Liu Huang, naturally inherited this position. As Xiangyang Hou, in charge of Xiangyang City, there is nothing more reasonable in this world than this. Zhou Rui said with a smile. How many cards he has in his hand, how to say it, and how to use it, these things are all things that he discussed with Kong Shen and Deng Ai in advance. Regarding the question asked by Yang Xiu, the three of them had made a guess in advance. At this moment, although Yang Xiu asked a more biased question, he did not expect it at all.

"General Liu Feng's position in Xiangyang Hou has not been obtained, His Majesty's approval, he has not been canonized!" Yang Xiuyi said sternly.

"Come on! Yang Zude, now the court is surnamed Liu on the surface, but in fact it is already surnamed Chaoyou, don't I know? Forcing the queen and the princess to death, killing the prince, and killing the uncle and the father-in-law, is this the work of a country's ministers? We don't need to say anything more about it now? I was ordered by the lord to tell you only one thing, since Cao Cao has done these things, then don't stand the chastity archway as a **. Does he want Xiangyang? Yes, please bring his own troops to fetch it. We're all waiting here. Feeling that the words were almost finished, Zhou Rui simply picked out the matter to understand. He knew that the preparations for war here were complete, and there was no need to delay any longer.

"You ......" Hearing Zhou Rui's words so clearly, Yang Xiu couldn't hold it even if he had a tempered face. He waved his sleeves heavily, but left Zhou Rui's mansion without looking back, and turned back to his post house to pack and tidy up, but he planned to put down the matter here and return to Xuchang.

Because he and Cao Cao will be enemies in the future, and they fell out with Yang Xiu not long ago, so when Yang Xiu left, Zhou Rui did not send someone to see him off. But after he was angry and left, he sent someone to find Yu Xuan, the envoy of Eastern Wu, and said in a slightly heavy tone that he didn't want to give up Xiangyang: "...... The location of Xiangyang is too important, if it has not fallen into our hands, it is good to say, but since it has fallen into our hands, we can't give up this good place, so ...... I can't help it. ”

"Oh......" Hearing Zhou Rui say to himself so symmetrically, Yu Xuan understood that this battle was inevitable. Although he himself knew that there was no way to do it, he was still a little disappointed that this day had really come. Fighting this battle with Li Sheng was completely an accident, originally Jiangdong planned to quickly repair after taking Huainan, if it wasn't for the incident in Xiangyang, their repair would have started soon, where is it like now. Alas, this is not a difficult thing to say. Li Sheng is not Liu Bei, even if Lu Meng has pulled his army back now, Yu Fu still does not have a certain number of whether his side can achieve this victory.

"There's no way around it. Who makes us all want Xiangyang City......" Knowing how Zhou Rui dealt with Yang Xiu, Yu Fu was naturally unwilling to put on an arrogant stand like Yang Xiu, and finally ended up with a thankless evaluation. In terms of fighting Li Sheng, Jiangdong's goal was different from Cao Cao's: Cao Cao had now acquired Xiangyang and Hanzhong at the same time, while Jiangdong only wanted the land of Xiangyang. Jiangdong fought this battle for the sake of face, and they really knew that their strength was not good, so they did not have much combat experience. Of course, this experience is only relative, if Li Sheng's side can't even stop Cao Cao's charge, then Jiangdong doesn't mind turning this world that has just become three points into two points further.