"Since this is the case, then we will lead the army to attack Liu Bei first and occupy Nanyang."

Cao Cao saw that no one else objected, so he decided to personally lead the army to Nanyang, this time in order to ensure a quick victory, Cao Cao took Guo Jia, Xu Chu, Xu Huang, Cao Hong, Li Dian, Le Jin, Xun You and others, led an army of 30,000 to conquer Liu Bei in Nanyang.

Zhuge Liang thought about it and felt that what Liu Bei did was indeed the best way at present, but he still advised Liu Bei to enter Guanzhong as soon as possible, on the one hand, to guard the anointed land in Guanzhong, and on the other hand, to watch the success or failure of the Central Plains, whether it was Cao Cao and Yuan Shao who lost the battle, or Liu Qi and Cao Cao who lost the battle, they could take advantage of the situation to lead the army into the Central Plains and reap the benefits.

Liu Bei nodded, deeply impressed by Zhuge Liang's construction, and then ordered the commanders of Xinye and Anzhong counties to move the people out, and then handed over these two counties to Liu Qi.

However, not long after the order was issued, he saw Xinye ordering Mi Fang and Fu Shiren, the chief of Anzhong, to inform him, saying that Liu Qi's generals Wang Wei and Zhang Xiu led the army to Xinye and Anzhong, and under the pretext of taking over the two counties on Liu Qi's order, and then couldn't help but say that the two of them were driven out of Xinye and Anzhong, except for the soldiers and family members with him, he did not take any supplies away, and the people did not take any of them.

As soon as Mi Fang and Fu Shiren's words landed, they saw a man with a height of nine feet and a face like a heavy jujube shouting: "You waste, it's really useless, the lord sent you to be the county magistrate, it is a trust in you, but what about you? How can it be that he was driven back like this? Liu Qi, this kid is really hateful, he dares to bully the lord like this, it is really unbearable, please ask the lord to give a certain 10,000 horses, and he will definitely capture Xinye and Anzhong, behead Wang Wei and Zhang Xiu and sacrifice them to the lord's account. ”

Seeing this, Liu Bei hurriedly shook his head and persuaded: "Yun Chang, forget it, anyway, we have already promised Liu Qi to return these two counties to him, since he is leaving, it will save us a lot of trouble, and now we have Nanyang, threatening Xuchang, Cao Cao's army is coming, and we still have to rely on him to help break Cao, so let's be patient for a while." ”

Although Guan Yu was still indignant, but because of Liu Bei's words, he could only forget it, so he had to sigh softly at the moment, and Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun and others were ready to deal with Cao Cao's strategy.

After less than two days, Liu Bei really heard that Cao Cao led the army to fight, and he couldn't help but be afraid, and said to a young man with a length of eight feet: "Mr. Kong Ming, now Cao Cao personally led an army of 30,000 to conquer, and there are wise men such as Guo Jia and Xun You under his command, Xu Chu, Xu Huang, Cao Hong, Li Dian, Le Jin and other generals, and although our army also has 30,000 troops, this combat effectiveness is really a little too reluctant, how can it be compared with Cao Cao's elite?" ”

But I heard Zhuge Liang say slowly: "The lord doesn't have to worry, although Cao Cao came bravely, but Yuan Shao in the north and Liu Qi in the south supported me, he will not dare to last, our army only needs to go deep and stronghold, stick to it without fighting, and Cao Cao has no choice but to retreat." Once Cao Cao retreats, the lord only needs to send a brave general to hold Nanyang, and our army can attack Guanzhong and achieve the cause of the king. ”

When Liu Bei heard this, he nodded, and then ordered: "No one can go out of the city to fight without authorization, otherwise, military law will definitely be involved." ”

In Liu Bei's army, Zhao Yun and Chen Zhi were mainly responsible for protecting Liu Bei, so they naturally would not fight lightly; Although Guan Yu despises Cao Cao as a thief, after all, he has received the favor of the other party before, and occupies Nanyang under the condition that the other party has abnormal trust in him, and he doesn't want to face the other party directly, so naturally he has nothing to say, only Zhang Fei saw that there was finally a big battle to fight, but he couldn't go out of the city to fight happily, and he was a little depressed in his heart, but seeing that even Guan Yu, who had always supported him the most, was careful to obey his fate, so he had to just give up.

A day later, Cao Cao led the army to arrive, and ordered Guan Yu to see him at the head of the city, and Liu Bei had already caught up with him, and said with a smile: "Prime Minister Cao, I haven't seen you for a long time, it's always good?" ”

Cao Cao snorted coldly: "Liu Bei, you are really a shameless person, you actually provoked Yun Chang to betray me, but Yun Chang came to the city to see me, hehe, I want to ask, he Guan Yun Chang claims to be a loyal and righteous person, can he be worthy of the trust of his true appearance?" ”

Liu Bei shook his hand at Guan Yu, who was hiding behind the female wall and looked ashamed, and said with a smile: "The prime minister's words are wrong, what Yun Chang is doing is great loyalty, not to your personal petty loyalty, Yun Chang's loyalty is my Han world, and your name is Han Xiang, you are actually a Han thief, Cao Cao, you bully the Son of Heaven, use power and bully, and be loyal to you, isn't it loyal to the country?" ”

Cao Cao was furious when he heard this, pointed at Liu Bei and said: "Liu Xuande, you don't want to take advantage of your tongue, and after my army breaks through the city, I will look at your wolf who fled in the wilderness." ”

So he ordered: "Attack the city with me." ”

As soon as the command flag was waved, the 30,000-strong army immediately roared and began to attack the city.

However, Liu Bei did not panic like the last Xuzhou City Battle this time, but calmly issued orders one after another, although the 30,000 troops were mixed, but under Liu Bei's encouragement, they still fought bravely against the enemy, and methodically attacked the enemy soldiers who climbed the city wall.

Of course, this is mainly because there is a young scribe standing next to Liu Bei, although this person is only twenty years old, but he seems to be mature and steady, writing instructions to Liu Bei, and then issuing them through Liu Bei's mouth.

When to shoot arrows, when to roll wooden stones, and how to destroy the enemy's various siege equipment, all seemed to him to be like a bamboo in his chest, and the enemy army besieging the city suffered quite heavy losses.

Although Cao Cao, who was watching the army attacking the city under the city, couldn't see Zhuge Liang, he slowly felt that something was wrong, because his army attacked for half an hour, but no one was able to gain a foothold in the city, but lost two or three thousand men and horses.

"It's not good, it seems that there are masters in this city, and it is not a way for us to forcibly attack the city like this." Cao Cao had no choice but to order Mingjin to withdraw his troops.

In the following time, Cao Cao tried all kinds of ways to attack the city, first of all, he sent people to dig tunnels, but it didn't take long to be discovered, Liu Bei ordered the army to dig a deep trench outside the city, and when the sergeants who dug the tunnels dug near the trench, they immediately exposed their whereabouts, and Liu Bei's general Zhao Yun dragged all these soldiers out and killed them, and this time they lost two or three hundred people.

Next, Cao Cao built an earth mountain in the south of the city, wanting to attack the city condescendingly, while Zhuge Liang raised the city tower-for-tat, and let the city tower always be higher than Cao Jun's earth mountain, and shot the other party with a bow and arrow, Cao Cao lost hundreds of people, so angry that Cao Cao shouted: "Zong Er bound the tower to the sky, I will wear the city to take Er." ”

Cao Cao also ordered people to create "attack vehicles", hit the city wall, and destroyed everywhere they went. Seeing this, Zhuge Liang ordered people to make a curtain with cloth, and then open it in its direction, after the attack car hit, the cloth curtain was suspended in the air, and the impact force was immediately dissipated, and the city wall was unharmed.

Cao Cao also ordered the army to tie dry pine branches and hemp stalks to long poles, pour anointing oil, and set them on fire before burning the tent curtains, and even the city towers were burned together. Zhuge Liang ordered the sergeant to tie the sharp hook knife to the long pole, and when the fire pole attacked, he raised the hook knife to cut it, and cut off all the pine branches and hemp stalks that were being ignited.

Seeing that the other party was always able to crack his siege methods, Cao Cao and all the strategists were shocked, knowing that this time there was a good defender in Liu Bei's camp, and he would not be able to break through Wancheng in a short time, so he had no choice but to order the withdrawal of the army.

"Hmph, I really didn't expect Liu Bei, a salted fish, to turn over, and he actually invited a clever man to block the offensive of our army, alas, now we have lost a good opportunity to break Liu Bei, and it will be difficult to break the enemy in the future. After the New Year, I am afraid that Yuan Shao should send troops at that time, and our army will fall into a two-front battle, then Liu Bei will no longer be a weak brigade, but a strong enemy who threatens us at any time. On the way back to Xuchang, Cao Cao looked at the slowly retreating army, sighed unwillingly, and said with concern.

"According to the lower officials, the relationship between Liu Bei and Liu Qi is not like the original Liu Biao and Zhang Xiu, these two are extremely cunning, and although they are united with each other on the surface, they are secretly intriguing, so even if we go to war with Yuan Shao, neither of them will let each other attack our Xu Capital. If Liu Bei doesn't attack Xu with all his strength, he won't be able to attack it at all, if he attacks Xu with all his strength, he will definitely worry that his back road will be outflanked by Liu Qi, and once Liu Qi gets Xudu, Liu Bei will fall into Liu Qi's encirclement, so he won't allow such a thing to happen, not to mention that Liu Qi is busy dealing with Sun Quan, and he can't attack my Xu Du at all, so even if we start a war with Yuan Shao, the prime minister doesn't have to worry too much, as long as he sends a wise man to stick to Xudu. ”

Guo Jia's eyes were full of wisdom, and he carefully analyzed the pros and cons for Cao Cao.

Cao Cao nodded frequently when he heard this, and said with a smile: "In this case, the prime minister will rest assured, after Yuan Shao is broken, the prime minister will break Liu Bei again, but he hates that Guan Yu, I wanted to trust him so much, and he would betray the prime minister, and if I catch him next time, I will definitely not forgive him lightly." ”

In the end, Cao Cao's face couldn't help but show a trace of gloom.

And Guo Jia on the side also sighed softly: "So the lower official said that this Liu Bei is definitely not an ordinary person, and his means of controlling people are extremely clever, and the lower official is afraid that Guan Yu will not betray Liu Bei in his life, so if he captures Guan Yu next time, he will definitely not be able to forgive." ”

Cao Cao nodded approvingly, and said, "Be filial and rest assured, Benxiang will never bother with the same mistake again." Okay, that's the end of the matter about Liu Bei, let's think about how to deal with Yuan Shao. Although this person is not very good, after all, he is a strong soldier, and I am afraid that we will not be able to fight this battle. ”

Guo Jia smiled and said: "Don't worry, my army has ten victories, Yuan Shao has ten invincibles, as long as we don't lose confidence, the final victory must belong to us, and the lower officials have this confidence." ”