At the same time that Liu Bei's army came to Sanguan, Cao Cao's army also began to be transferred to the front line one after another, Qingzhou Assassin Shi Zangba commander Manzhong, Lu Qian and other generals, and Cao Cao personally commanded an army of 50,000 troops stationed in Taishan County to attack Langya, Xuzhou Assassin Shi Wei Yan faced a lot of pressure, fortunately he had already begun to actively prepare for defense after occupying Xuzhou, and transferred 10,000 war horses from Zhang Xiu to form 20,000 cavalry, plus more than 50,000 soldiers were recruited in the East China Sea, Xiapi and other places to defend. This is so that the enemy will not have too much advantage in numbers.

In addition, Liu Qi appointed Pang Tong as the supervisor of Xuzhou, and concurrently served as the general and military division of Zhenbei, and ordered Wei Yan to just hold on, not to take the initiative to attack, and the enemy army naturally retreated after Liang exhausted.

In Yuzhou, the 50,000-strong army commanded by Cao Ren, Cao Hong and others launched a fierce attack on Nanyang, which was guarded by Zhou Yu, and the 70,000-strong army led by Xiahou Yuan and Xiahoudun was stationed in Shouchun to attack Xu Shu's army.

Now Cao Cao, after making sufficient preparations, decided to attack the three-way army at the same time, launching a full-scale attack on Liu Qi, preparing to capture Xuzhou, Huaiyang and Nanyang in one fell swoop.

At this time. Liu Qi's Juntian Order and the corresponding government soldier system played an important role, although the combat effectiveness of the government soldiers was not a little worse than those professional mercenaries, but because they were only responsible for defending the city, they were able to block Cao Cao's rounds of attacks.

Although this time he faced the attack of more than 300,000 troops from Cao Cao and Liu Bei's two groups, Liu Qi was very calm, because he knew that Cao Cao's edge was prosperous, but it was difficult to pose a threat to himself in a short period of time, Yangzhou Assassin Xu Shu was cautious, no matter how many Cao Cao's troops were, it was impossible to capture Hefei in Jiancheng Tangchi, not to mention Zhou Yu, his command concentrated the elite soldiers of Eastern Wu, plus Zhou Yu's wisdom was the top even in Cao Cao's camp, and there was no problem at all in holding Nanyang this time. Maybe you can take advantage of the victory to pursue and occupy Xuchang.

This time, it was Xuzhou that was most threatened, but as long as Wei Yan couldn't hold on, coupled with Pang Tong's tricks, Cao Cao must have the means to end up sighing.

Therefore, Liu Qi's overall strategy is to fully defend against the attack of Cao Cao's forces on the eastern front, and then concentrate the main force to deal with Liu Bei on the western front.

It is precisely because of this that Liu Qi will pay special attention to the smooth road between Jingyi, especially the most convenient water artery between Xiangyang and Hanzhong, which is the most important thing, so he has laid out a lot of eyeliner there, as early as the moment Jian Yong entered Shangyong City, there were more than a dozen spies from different channels to inquire about his identity and purpose, and almost at the same time that Jian Yong left Shangyong City, urgent information had already been sent to Liu Qi's account.

"Jian Yong, what is he doing in Shangyong City?" Chu Guoshangshu's left servant shot Wang Cang looked at the information presented by Liu Qi, couldn't help frowning, and muttered.

Jia Xu's face changed, and then he looked straight at Liu Qi.

Liu Qi saw that Jia Xu, who had always looked indifferent, was a little discolored, and his heart couldn't help moving, and he said in a deep voice: "Could it be that you want to persuade Shen Yan?" ”

Jia Xu sighed and said hurriedly: "Exactly, the lord's intelligence shows that Jian Yong only brought two entourages when he went to Shangyong, but when he left, there were hundreds of people, if the minister's expectations were good, it should be Shen Tan's family." ”

"But aren't Shen Tan's family members all in Xiangyang? Why are there so many? Could it be that Shen Tan deliberately hid his close family members in Shangyong, but moved those distant clansmen to our Xiangyang? Wang Cang couldn't help but be shocked when he heard this, and then suddenly said.

"It should be like this, Dasi Nong Liao Gongyuan has the household registration in his hands, he should be more clear." Jia Xu nodded and said.

Liu Qi ordered Liao Li to be passed on.

In just a moment, Liao Li rushed back, and after hearing what Jia Xu asked, he immediately said: "What Shang Shuling said is good, Shen Tan's family members are indeed far away, and there is only one cousin who is the most recently, named Shen Song, or the lower official will call him over?" ”

Jia Xu waved his hand and said, "No need, Lord Liao just needs to send someone to keep an eye on them, it's best not to let them escape." ”

Liao Li looked at Liu Qi again, and saw that Liu Qi nodded, so he agreed, and then left in a hurry.

As soon as Liao Li left, Jia Xu said in a deep voice: "Now our judgment should be correct, lord, it seems that Shen Tan has listened to Jian Yong's demagoguery and betrayed the lord, without further ado, we should take down Shangyong before Liu Bei's army arrives and quell Shen Tan's rebellion."

Liu Qi listened to Jia Xu's words, nodded slightly, and ordered the mobilization of 10,000 personal soldiers in Xiangyang City, the "Praetorian Guards" and Ganning's 20,000 sailors, as well as 10,000 well-trained siege troops, and ordered the army to bring enough rations for three days, take the light boat and fast boat in the Ganning Navy, assemble within an hour, and then immediately set off for Shangyong.

Soon after the army set off, Jia Xu offered advice to Liu Qi on the ship: "My lord, Shen Tan should not know that we have received the news of his betrayal, so we only need to go to Hanzhong to support, pass by Shangyong, let Shen Tan go out of the city to greet him, and then take advantage of the situation to capture and kill him. It's just that the management of Shangyong City is a problem, according to Weichen's opinion, we might as well move the wealthy families in Shangyong City to Jiaozhou, if there is resistance, kill them, in this way, the foundation of Shen Tan is eliminated, and Shangyong is completely controlled by us. ”

After listening to this, Liu Qi thought for a while, then made up his mind, and said slowly: "Wenhe is right, we will act according to the plan, alas, it was originally the tradition of my Han people to relocate to the land, but the Hao clan is too prosperous, and the strict zhòng affects the stability of the order, and Shangyong City is an important channel for us to connect with Hanzhong, and Gu also has to do this." ”

The army marched along the water, but it took only two days to reach the city of Shangyong.

After Liu Qi's army came to the city, he immediately ordered Liu Shi to call the door under the city.

"I am Liu Shi, the guard captain of the Chu State, and I followed the Duke of Chu to Hanzhong to resist the enemy, who is on duty in the city? Quickly let Shen Taishou go out of the city to greet him. ”

"No, the general waits, the last general will inform the Taishou immediately." Meng Qi, who was in charge of patrolling the city, saw that Liu Qi led the army to the city, panicked, and hurriedly went to the mansion to report to Shen Tan: "General, it's not good, Liu Qi led the army to the city, saying that he was going to Hanzhong to resist the enemy, passing through here, and letting the general go out of the city to greet him." General, what are we going to do? Will you defend directly behind closed doors, or will you go out of the city to greet you? Or did he take advantage of his unpreparedness and kill Liu Qi when he greeted him? ”

Shen Tan thought for a moment when he heard this, and suddenly asked, "Meng Qi, look at the situation under the city, does Liu Qi know that we have surrendered to the Duke of Qin?" ”

Meng Qi thought for a while and said: "Probably not, it is six hundred miles from Xiangyang to Shangyong, Liu Qi's army came by boat, and it would take at least three or five days to walk, and five days ago, Master Jian had just left Shangyong, how could Liu Qi get the news so quickly?" Even if he gets the news, he will definitely not reach us so quickly, according to the general's guess, it should be Liu Qi who has already set off from Xiangyang before Mr. Jian arrived, so the chance that he will know about our affairs can be said to be almost none. ”

Shen Tan nodded and said: "The general also thinks so, since this is the case, then we will go out of the city to greet us, as long as we deceive Liu Qi away, we will be safe here." ”

"Aren't we going to take the opportunity to capture Liu Qi?" Meng Qi couldn't help but be surprised, and then asked.

But seeing Shen Tan shook his head and said: "Liu Qi's command is full of elite battles, even Qin Gong's white-eared soldiers may not be opponents, if we sneak attack Liu Qi at all, even if we kill Liu Qi by luck, we will definitely die without a place to bury, so we must not take this risk, not to mention, as long as Liu Qi arrives in Hanzhong, it proves that Xiangyang's troops are empty, and when Qin Gong's army reaches Shangyong, we will build a yì army to attack Xiangyang, so that we can welcome back Xiangyang's family, You can also make great contributions because of the mention of yì. ”

Meng Qi couldn't help clapping his hands and praised: "My lord is really clever, if this is the case, then without further ado, let's go out of the city to welcome Liu Qi, as long as we deceive him away, my lord will be a great success, hehe, the last general will first congratulate your lord in advance on his appointment to the knighthood." ”

Shen Tan smiled faintly and said: "Liu Qi is extremely shrewd, we must be cautious and must not show our feet, otherwise, I am afraid that you and I will be destroyed." ”

Meng Qi couldn't help but be stunned when he heard this, and said respectfully: "No, I will obey the orders of my lord." ”

However, it was said that Shen Tan led the generals in the city to open the city gate to greet Liu Qi, and he bowed from afar: "The last general Shen Tan saw the lord, but I didn't know that the lord's army was coming, and I asked for forgiveness." ”

But I heard Liu Qi say: "It's okay, in fact, Lone didn't want to disturb the righteous act, but the righteous act should know that Liu Bei led an army of more than 100,000 to attack Hanzhong, and Lone knew that the soldiers in Hanzhong were small and outnumbered, and it was difficult to resist, so he raised troops to help. ”

"Oh? I don't know what the lord will send, but the last general will do everything in his power to help the lord. Shen Tan saw that Liu Qi was smiling and had no guard against himself, so he decided that the other party must not know about his secret negotiation with Jian Yong, so he couldn't help but put his mind at ease and patted his chest and promised.

But seeing Liu Qi laughing, and then said with praise: "Lone knows that the righteous act is loyal, and when I see it today, I really didn't disappoint Lone, yes, the righteous act has also been seen, the thief is strong, and it is difficult for us to win for a while, so Lone is ready to let the righteous act lead the army in the city, and go to Nanzheng with the lonely to meet the enemy, the military situation is urgent, and the rescue is like fighting fire, I don't know when the righteous act can leave?" ”

"Huh?" Shen Tan's heart couldn't help but sink when he heard this, and he secretly thought: "I'm going to agree to him, then won't I have no soldiers to defend?" But if you don't agree, it's no different from betrayal, this person will definitely lead the army to attack immediately, how can I stop this group of tigers and wolves? Could it be that Liu Qi actually knew about me and Mr. Jian, so he deliberately squeezed his words? ”