Cao Ying took Liu Cong's hand, just like leading his son, and led a large team of people into Xiangyang City.

After entering the city, Cao Ying appointed Liu Cong as the assassin of Qingzhou and the marquis in the name of the Han Emperor that night, and at the same time, he heard that Kuai Yue and other fifteen people were named the marquis because of their meritorious efforts to persuade them to surrender, and Liu Cong and others were all overjoyed.

At the same time, Xiahoudun and Cao Ren entered the city one after another, taking over the defense of Xiangyang, pacifying the people's hearts, and quickly reorganizing the Jingzhou army.

The next day, before dawn, Cao Ying only slept for less than two hours before getting up and went straight to Cai Mao's mansion.

That Cai Mao was happy because of the reward of the marquis, and he was excited that he hadn't slept all night, the sky was bright, and when he was a little sleepy, he suddenly heard that Cao Cheng had come to visit the house on a blind date, and he was anxious to dress up to greet him.

Just when Cai Mao came out of the front hall and didn't get down the steps, Cao Ying had already strode over, and before Cai Mao bowed, he held him and said with a smile: "De Qi, you and I had a relationship with Liang Meng back then, which can be regarded as old friends. ”

Cao Ying's courtesy really made Cai Mao feel flattered, and she was a little speechless with excitement for a while.

"I'm here just to catch up with Dejue, let's go, let's talk inside." Cao Ying didn't wait to speak, and pulled him into the hall.

After the ministers sat down, Cai Mao came back to his senses and hurriedly ordered his subordinates to serve tea.

Cao Ying didn't care about his demeanor, he sat there with his hands on his legs, very casually, reminiscing about his old days while drinking, and when he talked about happiness, he couldn't help but laugh.

The atmosphere of the conversation was quite relaxed by Cao Ying, and Cai Mao gradually relaxed her nervousness, and secretly praised in her heart: "People say that Cao Cheng is a corporal of Lixian, and when I see it today, it really deserves its reputation, it seems that my strategy of returning to obedience is really right." ”

After chatting about some old things, Cao Ying changed the topic and said: "De Qi can persuade Liu Cong to return to the imperial court, this merit and virtue are really not comparable to others. ”

These two positions are important members of the central court of the imperial court, even Liu Cong is only awarded a magistrate who has a history of assassination in the state, Cai Mao heard this, and couldn't help but be very grateful, and hurriedly got up to give a salute, and said movingly: "Thank you for the prime minister's appreciation, the prime minister's kindness, Mao will be repaid for going to the soup and fire!" ”

"Okay, good, Deju, please get up." Cao Ying was very pleased, and hurriedly got up again to help him up.

After the reward was favored, Cao Ying's expression became serious, but he said: "Lone went south this time, in order to destroy Liu Bei first, and then destroy the Sun family, and dominate the world." Liu Bei, in terms of destroying himself, and then sweeping away the Sun family, there must be a strong naval army, De Jue has led the Jingzhou Navy for many years, and must have his own opinions. ”

Cai Mao heard the real purpose of Cao Ying's visit to the house this time, it turned out to be the Jingzhou navy, but he didn't dare to hide it a little, and he was busy with the pan: "The Sun family and the Liu family have been competing for power in the Yangtze River for many years, and there is an elite navy, looking at the Yangtze River, only the Jingzhou navy can compete with it." Now there are four naval armies in Jingzhou, one in Xiangyang, about 30,000 people, Liu Qi has thousands of naval troops, Liu Beizhi's Guan Yu also has 5,000 naval divisions, and the remaining 30,000 or 40,000 naval troops are all stationed in Jiangling. Since Jingzhou has been subordinated to the prime minister, the total of more than 70,000 naval troops in Xiangyang and Jiangling are naturally under the command of Prime Minister Cao Cheng, and it is not a problem to compete with Sun's naval army. ”

After listening to Cai Mao's analysis, Cao Ying already had an opinion, and stroked his back and said: "De Qi has been governing the water army for a long time, and when he said that when he went down to the east of the Gushun River to destroy Wu, he still had to rely on you more." ”

The surrendered disciples, what they are most afraid of is that they look useless in the eyes of the new master, Cao Ying's words, naturally he is making a draft for the future reuse, Cai Mao is overjoyed when he hears this, and is busy expressing his heart: "It is a great honor to be able to serve the prime minister." ”

After Cao Ying had shown kindness to Cai Mao, he rode straight to the camp outside the city, entered the Chinese military tent, and summoned the generals to listen to the order, Xiahou Xuan, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Chun, Xu Yu, Cao Ren, Li Dian and the general Wen Ping.

Cao Ying looked around at the generals and said in a deep voice: "Lone is going south this time, no one else is enough, only Liu Bei is afraid, Lone has heard that Liu Bei fled south, so Lone decided to leave Li Dian and Cao Ren to lead the army to temporarily stationed in Xiangyang, deal with the surrender, and wait for the rest of the armies to meet, Lone led five thousand tigers and leopards to pursue Liu Bei from the dry road. ”

The generals had followed Cao Ying all the way from Xinye to Xiangyang, but now that they had not taken a breath, Cao Ying was about to march again to chase Liu Bei, and the generals couldn't help but look tired.

Cao Ren said: "Liu Bei has become a lost dog, why be afraid." Now that Yu Ban, Zhang Liao, Zhang He, Zhu Ling, Lu Zhao, Feng Kai and other six-way armies have not yet been gathered, why don't the prime minister take a little rest, and after the whole army meets, he will raise troops to the south and wipe out Liu Bei's remnants in one fell swoop. ”

Cao Ying's face was solemn, and he shook his head and said: "Liu Bei has been fighting with Gu for more than ten years, Gu knows him too well, this person is well versed in the way of soldiers, and he will definitely go to seize Jiangling." That Jiangling has hoarded countless grains and grass, and tens of thousands of Jingzhou sailors have not yet been attached to it, if it is adopted by his Liu Bei, it will be like a tiger with wings, so this time he must exterminate it before he seizes Jiangling, so as not to have endless troubles in the future. ”

Cao Ying was determined to do this, and the generals did not dare to speak again, Cao Ying glanced around at the generals, and stayed on Wen Ping, the last general in the list, his face was slightly displeased, and said: "Is it Wen Zhongye in front of the account?" You are guarding Jingbei, you should have come to see Gu a long time ago, why did you come at this time. ”

Wen Ping didn't look up, but replied dejectedly: "Ping originally wanted to defend Hanchuan and protect Jingzhou, so as to live up to Liu Jingzhou's trust, who would have thought that now that it has reached this point, he is ashamed in his heart, so he didn't have the face to come to see Ming Gong early." After that, he was embarrassed and weeping.

Cao Ying was stunned and sighed: "Zhongye is really a loyal minister, Lone likes a loyal minister like you, okay, Lone will make you Jiangxia Taishou now, and allow you to continue to command the troops and horses of the headquarters." You are familiar with the terrain of Jingzhou, so let's lead a total of 5,000 iron horsemen with Zihe this time, and go with Gu to pursue Liu Bei. ”

Wen Ping originally thought that Cao Ying would blame him, but he didn't expect that Cao Ying was not only not strange, but also allowed him to continue to lead the soldiers and horses of the headquarters in addition to praise, this kind of trust was enough to move him, and he immediately said: "I am willing to serve the Ming Gong for the work of dogs and horses." ”

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When the 5,000 iron horsemen came out of the dust and headed south from Xiangyang like a torrent, Liu Bei and his more than 100,000 followers were still advancing at a rapid pace halfway to Jiangling.

It was overcast and cloudy, it was already noon, Fang Shao rode a horse and walked in the mixed ranks of soldiers and civilians, from morning to now, the huge team only walked less than ten miles, Fang Shao was about to fall asleep on the horse.

Looking up at the front, the terrain gradually turned into an undulating hilly area, Fang Shao asked a Jingzhou veteran beside him: "Brother, where is the front?" ”

The old soldier glanced at it and replied weakly, "Ahead is Dangyang Changban Slope." ”

"Nagasaka Slope!" Hearing this unfamiliar place name, Fang Shao's face changed slightly, and he subconsciously looked back to the north and glanced at it, as far as his eyes could see, it was still just a team of refugees who were out of sight.

But for some reason, in my heart, the ominous premonition is getting heavier and heavier.

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