Han Xi got up and said, "Mr. Zirou's words are wrong! Last year's incident finally started because of a private dispute, and if you send troops for this, it will be a personal vendetta for the communiqué and a laughing stock for the legacy. As the pastor of Jingzhou, the appointment and dismissal of the county guards is originally a matter of duty, and there is no need to find any reason at all, how can the teacher be nameless? In the past, the lord was afraid of hurting the innocent out of benevolence and righteousness, so he forbears it, but now the court has issued a strict order, if the lord still does his own thing, then the lord will be derelict in his duty, and I hope the lord will be aware of it. ”

Han Opera came prepared today, and his words were righteous and strict, and everyone nodded one after another, even Kuai Liang felt that he had nothing to say.

Liu Xin waited for everyone to calm down a little, and then said: "I invite you to come today, not to discuss whether to send troops, but to announce how to send troops. However, I will also say the ugly things first, I know that you also have many relatives and friends in the four counties of Jiangxia, Lingling, Wuling, and Guiyang, and I will not blame the past as long as the Taishou, county commanders, and other officials in these places take the initiative to submit. There are stubborn ones, and Bei Yu is their example! ”

When Kuai Liang heard these words, he felt the needle prick in his heart, and couldn't help but sigh secretly. Although the Kuai family and the Huang family have a close relationship, the relationship between the Cai family and the Huang family is not estranged, and Cai Mao is not a hostage in the hands of Huang Zu at the end of the day, and he still has a little idea, and then help Huang Zu say a few words to persuade Liu Xin to dispel the idea of using force, and now he does not dare to come forward. What's more, Han Opera's words are righteous and awe-inspiring, and if you persuade yourself, if you don't get the Kuai family in, the gains outweigh the losses.

Liu Xin stopped talking nonsense with them, and directly began to deploy troops, what should have been said has been said, and I believe that his subordinates know very well which side they should be on. This time, he was determined to completely solve the problem of Jiangxia and other four counties, and pressed almost all of his belongings. Now there should be no threat to Jingzhou's periphery, all uneasy factors come from within, and we must unify our thinking and work together to ensure the final victory.

He has never been worried about whether he can take Jiangxia, it is almost certain that after a year of hard training, his army is much stronger than Jiangxia in terms of both the total number of troops and the combat power of individual soldiers, if he can't even deal with a little Huang Zu, what is there to talk about dominating the world! All he had to think about was how to minimize casualties in the war and achieve the greatest victory at the lowest cost.

Liu Xin made a careful deployment this time, and his strategy was to take down Huang Zu first and kill the monkey and make an example, because Jiangxia's strength was the strongest among the four counties. Then he swung his army across the river and approached the other three counties, preferably to force the three counties to surrender voluntarily.

Except for Zhang He, who led the army to stay in Xiangyang, other civil and military forces have been dispatched. Xiangyang City, as Liu Xin's foundation, must not be lost, this time, even Ma Yun personally put on the battle, with the flying tiger guards in the city night patrol, to prevent the small people from taking the opportunity to make trouble.

Since his son was caught by Liu Xin, Huang Zu had never slept until he exchanged Cai Mao for his son, he still had palpitations, Jiangxia's defense suddenly tightened a lot, and often before the sun set, the city gates of each county were closed. This situation lasted for a long time, and even during the Spring Festival, it did not relax. Gradually, the fine work sent out sent back the news, there was no special action in the direction of Xiangyang, Liu Xin stayed in the mansion all day with his wife and children, and he didn't even go to the barracks, and Huang Zu's tense nerves were relaxed.

In fact, when exchanging yellow shots, Kuai Liang also asked people to quietly bring him a message, asking him to take the initiative to submit to Liu Xin. In Kuai Liang's mouth, Liu Xin treats the people benevolently and righteously, is deeply supported by the people, has many capable and wise men under him, treats his subordinates very generously, and never treats those who oppose him. With a person like Liu Xin, you'd better be friends with him and never become his enemy.

However, Huang Zu and Kuai Liang are in different positions, so their views are naturally very different. Kuai Liang was originally just a Xinye County Order, and there was also Taishou Bei Yu above, and he didn't have much power, so he joined Liu Xin later. Although Kuai Liang also became a taishou, Liu Xin practiced the separation of military and government, which was far from Huang Zu's integration of military and government. Huang Zu felt that Kuai Liang could not experience the pleasure of holding power in his hands, and he didn't take his words seriously, but he still put forward the condition that he would submit to Liu Xin, retain Jiang Xia's relative reading power, and a bit of a tune and not listen to Xuan, and the relationship between him and Liu Biao in history was positioned in this way.

Knowing Liu Xin's recent performance, Huang Zu's mind loosened again, Liu Xin, who was originally worshiped as a god in Kuai Liang's mouth, was no more than Erer, and he began to live a life of spending time and drinking again.

In the early morning of the fourth day of the second lunar month, Huang Zu was still lying in the county office, hangover and not waking up, and there was a sound of hurried footsteps outside the room. Jun Cheng Chen shouted outside the door: "Lord Qiqi, the big thing is not good! The army of Xiangyang is only five miles away from the city! ”

Huang Zu was taken aback when he heard the report in his drunken dream, and most of the wine was awake, so he hurriedly got up and ordered to convene all the civil and military front halls to discuss the matter. He was really drunk and confused, and at this time, was there still that poor effort? If Liu Xin's army was really only five miles away from the city, by the time he had a group of civil and military officers rushed to the hall of the county guard, I am afraid that he would have already entered Jiangxia City at this time.

Liu Xin's army set out on the afternoon of the second day of the second month of February, and the road from Xiangyang to Jiangxia was wide and flat after nearly a year of repair, which was very suitable for the march of the brigade. This time, Liu Xin didn't want to expose his strength too early, so he didn't use the newly formed 3,000 cavalry, and still mainly infantry.

On the morning of the third day of the second lunar month, the army arrived at the city of Exian, which was closest to Xiangyang. Zheng Shuang, the county commander of Exian County, did not put up any resistance, and when he heard that it was Jingzhou Mu, he immediately opened the city gate and welcomed Liu Xin's army in. Liu Xin appeased him, and still appointed him as the county magistrate of Exian County, and he did not commit any offence against the people in the city.

The army entered Jiangxia territory almost without hindrance, and along the way it passed several county seats, and the defenders all surrendered. The defenders in these counties numbered no more than a thousand, and to ask them to deal with such a menacing army of more than 20,000 men was tantamount to hitting a stone with an egg. Who can be a county magistrate, and who will be a fool? Even if the county commander's brain is dull, he will have a few useful people to remind him.

The war went unusually smoothly, and it was not until the evening of that day that a nail was hit in Xiyang County. This is already the west gate of Jiangxia City, after here, it won't be long before you can see Xiangyang City.

The commander of Xiyang County is a distant nephew of Huang Zu, named Huang Jin, and the garrison of Xiyang County is also more than other places, with more than 2,000 people. When Huang Jin knew that Liu Xin's army was coming, he sent people to Jiangxia to ask for instructions, and on the other hand, he ordered the city gate to be closed, requisitioned people, and refused to defend the city.

The army surrounded the county town of Xiyang, and Xu Huang rode his horse to the city and shouted: "Listen to the people in the city, Jiangxia guards Huang Zu too much, does not obey the orders of the imperial court, does not pay a penny of taxes for two years, and withholds it for personal use. Today, Lord Mu Liu of Jingzhou has ordered him to be relieved of his post as Jiangxia Taishou, and personally led a large army to arrest him. ”

The soldiers at the head of the city saw that the three armies under the city were majestic and majestic, and their momentum was like a rainbow, and they were all frightened, and they couldn't help but make a shock. Seeing this, Huang Jin didn't talk to Xu Huang, Zhang Gong was an arrow, which was an answer. Xu Huang was not in a hurry, and with a slight swing of the big axe, the arrow spun around and fell into the dust.

Xu Huang turned his horse's head, returned to his own formation, bowed to Liu Xin and said, "Big brother, let's attack the city!" ”

Liu Xin also knew the truth of the speed of soldiers, he could have bypassed the county towns and attacked Jiangxia directly. But since watching the city's attack and defense drills in the training center, Liu Xin has a more intuitive impression of the siege, knowing that the besieging side will definitely have large casualties. In order to reduce casualties, this time he went to Jiangxia, he agreed with everyone to clear the counties first, isolate Jiangxia, and force Huang Zu out of the city for a decisive battle, so he did not block the news along the way, just to let Huang Zu know that he had come over, hoping that Huang Zu could take the initiative to attack.

Unexpectedly, on this road, it was smooth to Liu Xin's surprise, and those county orders all chose to surrender without exception, and it was not until Xiyang County that the way was blocked for the first time. The outpost sent by Liu Xin was fully capable of intercepting several envoys sent by Huang Jin to ask for help from Jiangxia, but they all deliberately let them go, hoping that they would be able to lure Huang Zu's army over.

Now, Huang Jin wants to defend Xiyang City, which is a great thing for Liu Xin, and he can finally stage a siege to help. Liu Xin looked back at the generals around him and said in a deep voice: "Siege!" ”

This was a pre-planned attack, and it was only a feint, so the charging team did not use any large siege engines. In fact, Liu Xin's army did not have too many large-scale siege equipment, only a few ladders and two rushing vehicles, which he had to keep for the attack on Jiangxia City. As for catapults and the like, although they have been handed over to the research institute for development, they have not yet been successfully developed.

With Liu Xin's order, the soldiers lifted the long bamboo ladder, held shields, brandished steel knives, shouted, and pressed towards the city wall in a neat queue. The city wall of Xiyang County is not high, it is two or three zhang in appearance, there is no moat under the city, the city wall does not look very strong, the surface is pitted, obviously built with rammed earth.

The city has already focused on many defenders and temporarily recruited people, the defenders are holding bows and arrows, and the people are busy carrying rolling logs and stones. Seeing the soldiers under the city rushing over, the city was suddenly in a panic. Amid Huang Jin's hoarse shouts, the defenders sparsely shot a flurry of arrows down the city.

This wave of arrows was fired too early, and the besieging soldiers were still an arrow away, which did not affect their march at all. Although it was only a feint, the soldiers did not relax at all, after all, this was not a training ground, but a real war, and no one would joke with their lives. When they advanced a few more steps, the sound of war drums "dong dong dong" came from behind them, and everyone let out an earth-shattering cry in unison, and the speed of the team suddenly increased several times, and the soldiers spread their feet and ran towards the city wall together. By this time, the ranks had completely dispersed, not as neatly arranged as before, but this momentum overwhelmed the defenders at the head of the city, and for a moment they forgot to shoot their arrows.