Xiangyang is a large county in Nanjun, with a large population and sufficient wealth, so that Liu Biao was able to form a state division of 2,000 people in a short period of time. At the same time, the Cai clan, a powerful clan in Xiangyang City, was also sincerely invited by Liu Biao to express his willingness to support him in regaining the authority of Jingzhou Thorn History.

However, in the face of Yuan Shu, a behemoth with tens of thousands of people in the north, this bit of people is completely insufficient. Nephew Liu Pan was extremely anxious about this, and repeatedly asked Liu Biao for advice, but Liu Biao laughed and did not answer. However, Huang Zhong had no objection to this, and concentrated on rectifying the soldiers and horses, and training the crossbowmen.

Huang Zhong has been by Liu Biao's side for several years, and of course he knows that Liu Biao is definitely not a bold and adventurous person. In seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages, Ming Zhebao is very attractive. Since Liu Biao can be at ease in the current state, it fully shows that he must be prepared for the current predicament.

Sure enough, just patiently waited for a few more days, and the good news came.

Before Liu Biao left Luoyang to take up his post alone, he once visited a friend. This person is Huang Zu, who originally served as a "halberd squire" in the imperial court after the Huang family, a famous family in Anlu, Jiangxia County.

Huang Zu is the former generation of famous ministers after Huang Xiang. Huang Xiang is a cultural celebrity in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the historical records record that he was nine years old, the governor of the reason, whenever the summer is hot, then fan the parents' curtains, so that the pillow is cool, gnats are far away, in order to wait for the relatives to sleep; As for the severe cold in winter, he warmed his relatives with his body and waited for his relatives to lie warmly, so he was named Beijing Division, called "unparalleled in the world, Jiangxia and yellow fragrance". He is the protagonist of the story of "Huang Xiang Wen Xi" in "Twenty-four Filial Piety". In the "Three Character Classic" of later generations. There is also a saying that "fragrant nine years can warm the seat".

Huang Zu was over thirty years old at this time, and he was not willing to do anything in the court officialdom, and he had long had the idea of going home to be his overlord. The relationship between Liu Biao and Huang Zu was not too close, and it was only a general acquaintance. But after being appointed by Jingzhou Assassin Shi, Liu Biao quickly found Huang Zu and had a deep conversation with him.

Among the many officials in the imperial court, Huang Zu is certainly just an unknown person. can be entrusted with the blessing of his ancestor Huang Xiang, the Huang family is one of the best in Jiangxia. At this time, Huang Zu was in the prime of life. It's also a usable material. He has been a martial artist since he was a child. He couldn't learn the scriptures, but his martial arts were among the halberders in the capital, known as the first.

Liu Biao relied on luck to become the assassin of Jingzhou, but he is still in the stage of an empty commander. There is no one in the hands. And the Huang Zu clan is a first-class family in Jingzhou. He is also a qualified general. Naturally, Liu Biao, who had a good relationship, took a fancy to him.

In the face of Liu Biao, who was officially appointed by the imperial court, he personally came to the door to dismiss him with great sincerity, and Huang Zu, who had long been dissatisfied with the status quo, did not hesitate. I agreed in one bite. Subsequently, Huang Zu immediately resigned from his position as the Halberd Lang, returned to his hometown in Jingzhou, and actively recruited troops for the official position given by Liu Biao, so as to help Liu Biao so that he could gain a foothold in Jiangnan.

Just when Liu Biao had to take the small road and quietly lurk through Nanyang, Huang Zu swaggered with more than 20 servants, passed the main road of Nanyang County, and returned to Jiangxia Anlu. Relying on the reputation of the Jiangxia Huang family, along the way, Huang Zu not only did not suffer any trouble, but even had the leisure to go to the Hou General's Mansion to visit Yuan Shu.

It's just that Yuan Shu wasn't interested in seeing him at that time, and Huang Zu was just thinking about secretly communicating with Yuan Shu. Otherwise, Huang Zu didn't mind selling Liu Biao for a good price. Anyway, his relationship with Liu Biao is average, so don't worry about the saying of "betraying friends for glory".

Back in his hometown, Huang Zu immediately mobilized the manpower he could muster, and recruited his clan friends to organize a private army of no less than 3,000 people. When Liu Biao officially erected the banner of Jingzhou's assassination in Xiangyang, Huang Zu immediately led his troops to Xiangyang, joined Liu Biaojun, and by the way, passed by the manor of the Zhonglu Kuai clan in Nanjun, who had been friends with the Huang family of Jiangxia for generations, and persuaded the Kuai clan to support Liu Biao as well.

The Kuai clan is said to have come from Kuaitong in the late Qin and early Han dynasties. Kuaitong's original name was Kuaiche, because of the suspicion of the martial emperor Liu Che, and later changed its name in history. His ability can be regarded as the first-class vertical and horizontal family in the world at that time, and his strategy is no less than that of Li Shiqi under the Han Emperor Liu Bang. It's just that the owner is not a person, and Kuaitong has not been able to become famous.

With such strategist-savvy ancestors, the children of the Kuai clan also take strategists as the direction of their own development. The current Kuai Liang, the current head of the Kuai clan, is a famous man in Nanjun, and he has always been cautious and self-controlled, but if he plots, he will not be successful. His younger brother Kuai Yue, enterprising is stronger, famous in the world for his wisdom and strategy, once admired by the late general He Jin, and expelled as the shogunate's Dong Cao Peng, and the people in Luoyang City at that time Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Cao Cao and others have some friendships.

Later, Kuai Yue's plan was not adopted by He Jin, so he was dissatisfied, and a few months before He Jin's death, he thought of going out to become the county commander. When He Jin died, the Beijing division was in chaos, and Kuai Yue escaped the next chaos by leaving Luoyang in advance, and his reputation as a "good strategy" became more and more high.

Speaking of which, Kuai Yue and Liu Biao also knew each other in the old days, and the two also worked as colleagues for a short time. However, Kuai Yue belongs to the Zongheng family, while Liu Biao is an authentic Confucian scholar, and the two have learned differently, which can be described as "different ways do not conspire with each other". Therefore, the relationship between the two belongs to the kind of lukewarm nod exchange.

The arrival of Liu Biao once made Kuai Yue excited, but it was only tempting. Regarding Liu Biao's letter invitation, Kuai Yue replied politely and declined. But Huang Zu's visit made Kuai Yue's brother Kuai Liang really feel Liu Biao's sincerity.

This sincerity is not enough to impress Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue, but it has already made the two of them include the matter of joining Liu Biao's command into the scope of their thinking. However, when half a month after Huang Zu left, Liu Biao personally took Huang Zu and Cai Mao, the leader of the Xiangyang clan, to Zhonglu to visit, even Kuai Liang could no longer refuse Liu Biao's expulsion. Not for anything else, just because the conditions given by Liu Biao are indeed extremely tempting. As long as they agree to join Liu Biao's camp, the Kuai clan will definitely have huge benefits in the future.

Both brothers are extremely clever strategists. However, the elder brother Kuai Liang is good at conspiracy, and the brother Kuai Yue is proficient in conspiracy. Under the planning and operation of the Kuai brothers, Liu Biaoping made a decisive killing for the first time in his life. As the assassin of Jingzhou, he invited the leaders of the thieves who were all over the counties of Jingzhou at that time to come to Xiangyang City to gather to discuss how to govern Jingzhou and divide the scope of their respective governance.

The so-called "sect thief" was a kind of civilian military organization at that time, also known as "sect department" and "sect army". They are an armed group formed by clan and township relations. Because they sometimes plunder counties, they are called "thieves". During the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty, this kind of "sectarian" organization was distributed in Hubei, Jiangxi, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangzhou, and Southeast Asia.

Liu Biao's name has always been preached for his outstanding virtue and persuasion of goodness. Since he wrote a letter to assure that he wanted to share the authority of Jingzhou's governance with all the local heroes, there are not many scholars and heroes in Jingzhou who will not believe it. What's more, the people who sent the letter to Liu Biao were all members of the Huang family, the Cai family, the Kuai family and other well-known county wang clans in Jingzhou, and the strength of these big clans alone was enough to suppress the impatience of most of the thieves, so that they could honestly sit down and negotiate terms with Liu Biao.

The leaders of the thieves who were deceived by Liu Biao's letter to Xiangyang have a total of fifty-two. The total number of troops these people brought outside Xiangyang City reached more than 20,000, far exceeding Liu Biao's direct troops. However, just when the leaders of the sect and thieves thought that they could rely on their own forces to suppress Liu Biao and treat Liu Biao as a puppet, Liu Biao's forces were brazenly launched!

In that battle, the fifty-two leaders of the sect and thieves, as well as hundreds of their own soldiers, were besieged at the banquet by Liu Pan and Huang Zhong led by five hundred elite soldiers.

Faced with such a shameless trap, the leaders of the sect and thieves must struggle with all their might. As a result, under the leadership of the three strongest "Thousand Broken Warriors" samurai, the sect thieves launched an all-out counterattack against the enemy with a comparable number of people.

Liu Biao's strength is limited, as long as someone can successfully break through and spread the news outside the city, the thieves can mobilize the tens of thousands of militia gathered near Xiangyang City to counterattack. At that time, even if Liu Biao had thousands of soldiers supported by Huang Zu, Cai Mao, Kuai Yue, etc., the best result would be to be able to hold Xiangyang City. And if Liu Biao still wants to mix in Jingzhou afterwards, he must obediently accept the conditions given by everyone.

However, the ironclad facts taught the thieves a lesson. As long as Huang Zhong is there, as long as the five-stone bow in Huang Zhong's hand is there, no one will want to escape.

Liu Pan held a long knife in his hand, charging forward, invincible. However, he was not the most dazzling one in this battle. If the warriors among the thieves are too prominent in the counterattack, they will often be killed by a sudden long arrow. Even if the thieves learned a lesson later and began to guard against Huang Zhong's arrows, Huang Zhong was always able to take the life of an enemy every time he fired his bow.

Among the leaders of the sect and thieves, the three "Thousand Enemies" with the strongest force became the first targets to be shot by Huang Zhong. Without armor and shield, no one could stop Huang Zhong's arrow!

After the end of this battle, more than 460 people were killed on the side of the sect and thieves, but Liu Biao's side only lost 23 people. Among them, Huang Zhong alone shot and killed sixty-seven warriors among the thieves in the sect. Since then, in Liu Biao's army, Huang Zhong's title of "God of Arrows" began to spread and became the most famous general under Liu Biao. And Liu Biao also appointed Huang Zhong as a Zhonglang general based on Huang Zhong's exploits in this battle, with a rank of "more than 2,000 stones".

Relying on Kuai Yue's strategy, after Huang Zhong and Liu Pan's brave martial arts eliminated the leader of the sect and thieves, Liu Biao's development was extremely rapid. He divided, adapted, and absorbed the tribes of the thieves, and in a very short period of time, he successfully became a powerful prince with more than 30,000 soldiers and actually controlled the two counties of Nanjun and Jiangxia.

While expanding his own power, Liu Biao, according to Kuai Liang's suggestion, submitted a table to the imperial court, changed the administrative office of Jingzhou to Xiangyang, and elected the later general Yuan Shu as the Taishou of Nanyang, so as to ease the tension with Yuan Shu.

Of course, Wuling, Changsha, Guiyang, Lingling and other four counties in Jingnan, Liu Biao was unable to take care of it for the time being, so he had to wait for it to be subdued later. But the essence of Jingzhou in the Han Dynasty was on the north bank of the Yangtze River. Although the four counties of Jingnan seem to be huge in area, and one county can even be worth a state in the Central Plains, in fact, the population is sparse, and most of them are Shanyue, Wulingman and other foreign races, and the actual value is not high. (To be continued......)