Hefei City.

Nearly a month and a half has passed since it was surrounded by the Wu army.

Zhou Yu's "rat" battle plan did not play a decisive role as previously expected.

Although a lot of food in Hefei City was consumed by these tens of thousands of rats, because Zhang Liao and others organized the military and civilians of the city in time to carry out the activity of "stressing hygiene and eliminating the four pests", most of the rats were extinguished in time, and the remaining food was still enough for the people of the city to support for half a year.

It seems that Cao Jun in Hefei has successfully escaped the catastrophe again.

But just when Zhang Liao and the others were just relieved and planned to laugh at Zhou Yu's absurd tricks, the real catastrophe followed.

At the turn of late summer and early autumn, when plagues were common, the rats in the city were extinguished, but the corpses of dead rats were everywhere, and the plague soon began to break out in the city.

Zhou Yu calculated very accurately, he was waiting for this moment.

After hearing that the plague was beginning to occur in the city, Zhou Yu decisively took advantage of the last wave of precipitation at the end of summer to dig up the water and irrigate the city of Hefei.

At that time, Liu Fu built Hefei City very strong, and the location of the city is not a low-lying area, although the Wu people dug up the fertilizer water, but it was not enough to wash away the city, the city water was watered, but just did not reach the foot of the foot.

In normal times, this fertilizer digging water would not have played a crucial role in flooding Hefei, but at such a moment of plague outbreak in the city, the effect is fatal.

The carcasses of rats carrying the plague were soaked in dirty water, and quickly spread to the whole city, and the drinking water in the city was soon completely polluted, and as soon as the water was contaminated, the plague naturally spread rapidly.

In just half a month, one-third of the soldiers and civilians in the city were infected with various epidemics, and the heavy ones died after not being able to support them for a few days, and the light ones vomited and leaked, and they were seriously dehydrated.

In January, the city of Hefei has become a plague-ridden dead city.

This is Zhou Yu's plan.

As long as you can break through this important military town leading to the north, even if you kill all the people in the city, you will not hesitate to get an empty city.

When Hefei City was suffering from purgatory-like torture, in terms of Shouchun, Cao Ying was still working overtime to build the Shaobi Dam.

Because the last wave of precipitation at the end of summer was more violent than in previous years, and the flood surged down, the originally repaired embankments were washed down in several places, and the date of Cao Ying's army to aid Hefei in the south had to be postponed again.

Just when Cao Ying was rushing to work at night and rushing to repair the embankment, the news from Hefei was getting worse and worse every time.

The latest emergency report was sent by the protector Xue Yi, saying that Zhang Liao and Le Jin were all infected with illness and could not see things, and the defenders in the city had become trapped by the disease, basically losing their combat effectiveness, and Hefei City was already in danger.

The snowflakes of distress made Cao Ying's mood even heavier, he really didn't expect Zhou Yu to be so ruthless, and he did not hesitate to use such vicious means in order to get Hefei City.

The situation in Hefei is far worse than Cao Ying's imagination, and the illness of Zhang Le and the others made him realize that he may not be able to wait for the moment when the embankment is repaired on his side and the army rushes to the rescue.

After repeated trade-offs, Cao Ying had to make a difficult decision and ordered the defenders of Hefei to abandon the city and retreat to Shouchun.

Zhou Yu, who was besieging the city, seemed to have calculated that Cao Ying would make this decision, so not long ago, he ordered the siege of the north of the city to be withdrawn, and took the initiative to make way for the enemy.

A few days later, Xue Yi in the city received a secret order from Cao Ying, which made everyone breathe a sigh of relief.

That night, Xue Yi took the sick and weak General Zhang Le, led 2,000 troops who were still capable of fighting, and quietly went out of the north gate under the cover of night, and withdrew by land to Shouchun, which was 300 miles away.

The next day, when the remaining civil and military officials in the city learned that the main generals, assassins and other high-ranking officials had abandoned the city, they decisively opened the city gate and surrendered to the Wu people.

After besieging the city for more than two months, Zhou Yu finally planted his banner at the head of Hefei.

The residents of Hefei City, ten out of ten are infected by the epidemic, and Zhou Yu made a decision on how to deal with people suffering from the plague.

He first ordered that another isolation camp be set up ten miles outside the city, and that those civilians who had not been infected with the disease should be moved to the isolation camp to prevent them from spreading to the outside world.

For those civilians who had contracted the disease, Zhou Yu allocated them several rations, and gave them some old and dying boats, and drove them north along the Feishui to the Cao Zhan area on their own.

Zhou Yu's move is another ruthless move, which clearly has the meaning of chasing trouble and going north.

These tens of thousands of epidemic victims, once they go north to the Shouchun line and enter the densely populated Cao Zhan area, will inevitably cause considerable panic, and once the epidemic disease they carry spreads, the consequences will be very serious.

And these people are the people under Cao Ying's rule, if you Cao Ying don't save them when they die, and refuse to accept them, you will definitely lose people's hearts.

If you take in these epidemic people, but you don't handle them well, causing the epidemic to spread in the Huaibei area, it will also cause resentment.

No matter how Cao Ying responds, in the face of Zhou Yu's ruthless move, Cao Ying will always have to pay the price.

Cao Ying, who was stationed in Shouchun, planned to repair the embankment of Shaobi, and the army swung south, recovered the fertilizer in one fell swoop, and avenged the Wu people for blood feud.

However, the tens of thousands of refugees who fled from Hefei one after another became a thorny problem for Cao Ying, forcing him to give up the idea of going south.

Of course, Cao Ying knew Zhou Yu's "insidious" intentions in doing this, and in the face of these tens of thousands of refugees like a time bomb, Cao Ying did not hesitate for too long, and he quickly made a cruel decision.

All the refugees were driven into quarantine camps in the wilderness far from the cities, where they were provided with limited food rations and left to fend for themselves.

In order to prevent these refugees from escaping, Cao Ying ordered several deep trenches to be dug near the isolation camps, and the large army that had originally planned to go south to fight the Wu people was tightly garrisoned around the isolation camps, and if anyone dared to escape, they would be shot to death.

Of course, Cao Ying knew that his actions would inevitably cause complaints from the people, and even those opponents of him would use those words of benevolence and morality to use public opinion to attack him.

But Cao Ying also knows that those ignorant people are the best at "healing the scars and forgetting the pain".

Today, they can complain about their cruel practices, and after complaining, as long as they give a little sweetness, they will be grateful to themselves again in the blink of an eye.

So, based on this consideration, Cao Ying ordered in the name of the imperial court to reduce 30% of the taxes paid by the people in the war-torn areas of Huainan.

Sure enough, after the tax reduction order, the people of Huainan were happy, and the originally drowning public opinion gradually depressed because of this.

However, Huainan suffered a series of disasters, and the Tuntian District, which Cao Ying had painstakingly managed, suffered heavy losses, and under this unfavorable factor, Cao Ying could only temporarily give up his plan to go south to Hefei and focus on restoring Huainan's economy.

…………………… Chengdu City.

In the state pastor's mansion, Liu Feng looked at the information that had just arrived from the southeast on the case, and there was a feeling of emotion between his eyebrows.

He really didn't expect that as soon as Zhou Yufang came out of the mountain, he staged such a big show, giving Cao Ying, the defeated general a few years ago, another head-on blow.

"I didn't expect Zhou Lang's methods to be so ruthless, our Cao Gong lost miserably now, and Hefei lost a loss, which was no less than the defeat of Chibi back then."

Liu Feng shook his head and sighed, and faintly felt in his heart that this "resurrected" Zhou Yu seemed to be more terrifying than the previous Mei Zhou Lang.

Liu Feng thinks that he is also "unscrupulous", but compared with Zhou Yu's trick of flooding Huainan and breaking the epidemic in Hefei, he Liu Feng is already very kind.

"Lord, Hefei is lost, Huainan is shaking, this time Cao Ying will be dragged to the southeast line and can't get away. I believe that we are unable to threaten Jingzhou for a while, so we will take the opportunity to march north, sweep away Liu Bei and Zhang Lu, and take Bashu completely, and then attack Longxi in the north and dominate the world. ”

The person who spoke at the bottom of the ladder was none other than Meng Da.

As one of the Dongzhou scholars, Meng Da and Fa Zheng both belong to the Guanzhong Fufeng scholars, and what they think about every night is to return to their hometown in Guanzhong.

Even though Meng Da has now surrendered to Liu Feng, and his original comrade-in-arms Fa Zheng has become an enemy, Meng Da's original political intentions have never changed.

"Liu Bei is already a lost dog, there is no need to worry, Zhang Lu is a guard, even if the two of them are in the same stream, they can't set off any storms. At present, the battle in Yizhou is resting, full of sores, I think that the lord should be a drum, first rest and recuperate, accumulate strength, and then send troops to capture Hanzhong, and then it will be a success. ”

Unlike Meng Da, Huang Quan did not support the immediate northward march, as a pure-bred Yizhou scholar, after his hometown was traumatized by the war, he acted as the representative of the Yizhou scholars, and naturally stood up to defend the interests of the Yizhou people.

In fact, Liu Feng was originally inclined to recuperate, which was certainly the reason why Yuzhou was plagued by war, but it was not enough to support him to launch a war to wipe out Liu Bei and Zhang Lu, and on the other hand, it was also considering that after the Battle of Hefei, Jingzhou could suffer the pressure of Cao's army.

But now the unexpected loss of Hefei has made Liu Feng see the opportunity again, at this time, Liu Feng is indeed a little uncertain about whether to start a war against Zhang Lu.

Just as he was weighing, the guards hurriedly entered and presented a silk book with a solemn expression.

"Lord, the urgent report that Jingzhou has just arrived."

Liu Feng opened the silk book and looked at it, his expression was flat, and it instantly solidified into ice.

Liu Qi is dead.

I thought it was as hard as an iron heart, but at this moment, it was an uncontrollable pain.

The person who had the same unfortunate background as himself, the brother who once sacrificed his life and forgot to die to block a fatal arrow for himself, and the friend who fought side by side and fought a way out of life, just like that.

Long before Liu Feng left Jingzhou, Liu Qi was already dying, and at that time, Liu Feng was mentally prepared, and he had a premonition that Liu Qi would not be able to survive until the day he returned.

However, now when the expected facts happened, Liu Feng still felt extremely uncomfortable.

"Brother, brother......"

Reciting this title silently in his heart, he was silent for a long time before Liu Feng put down the silk book and said to Meng Da under the steps: "Zidu, it seems that your plan to take Hanzhong from the north is going to be temporarily separated, and I must go back to Jingzhou immediately." ”

Meng Da asked with an uneasy expression: "Lord, what happened in Jingzhou?" ”

Liu Feng sighed lightly and said silently: "Brother Zide has passed away. ”

This sentence made everyone present fall silent.

Meng Da, who was eager to try, had to give up his previous proposition at this time.

Jingzhou is the foundation of Liu Feng, and it is in the name of restoring the foundation for Liu Qi that he raised troops to seize Jingzhou.

In order to ensure the stability of Jingzhou, Liu Feng must return to Jingzhou and properly deal with the negative impact of Liu Qi's death.

As soon as Liu Feng returned to Jingzhou, the plan to attack Hanzhong in the north naturally had to be temporarily shelved.

Liu Feng had to go back to Jingzhou, but Yizhou Fangde, before he returned to the east, he also had to make corresponding arrangements.

The counties of Yizhou are too guarded, and even the governors of the state capital, Liu Feng basically adopted the policy of Shu people governing Shu, and most of them were local scholars in Yizhou such as Huang Quan.

In this way, although it is conducive to winning over the Yizhou scholars, in order to ensure his control over Yizhou, Liu Feng has to take corresponding preventive measures.

Liu Fengxian appointed Huang Zhong as the Taishou of Zilu in the name of Yizhou Mu, commanding 10,000 troops to guard the north gate of Yizhou, and at the same time, he appointed Ma Jian as the Taishou of Ba County, commanding 10,000 troops to guard the important land of Jiangzhou.

These two counties are all at a critical point, and Liu Feng guards them with trusted Jingzhou people, which can ensure that the Shu people govern Shu without worrying about their bad intentions.

………………………… When Liu Fengdong returned to Jingzhou, a team of more than 100 riders marched on the mountain road north to Hanzhong.

Riding tall and tall, Liu Bei's gray face swelled with an imperceptible uneasiness.

It wasn't the first time he had such an expression.

defected to Lu Bu, Cao Ying, and Yuan Shao...... Liu Bei is already familiar with the road, but for some reason, he still has apprehension every time.

"Don't worry, my lord, we have everything under control."

Fa Zheng beside him understood Liu Bei's thoughts, and said in a low voice of relief.

At the beginning, the three-person team that conspired to welcome himself into Shu, Zhang Song was killed by Liu Zhang due to an incident, and Meng Da surrendered to Liu Feng and attacked himself, leaving only Fa Zheng, who still followed him in adversity.

All kinds of changes made Liu Bei not fully believe in the arrogant Fufeng man in front of him, but in such a predicament in front of him, he could only choose to believe in Fazheng.

"With filial piety, I will naturally put a hundred hearts." Liu Bei smiled, and his expression became much more relaxed.

As he spoke, a scout in front of him galloped over, reporting that Zhang Lu's men and horses had left Yangping Pass, and the distance was less than twenty miles.

"How many soldiers and horses did Zhang Lu bring?"

"About three thousand paces."

"Three Thousand ......"

Liu Bei silently read this number, and his expression became solemn again.

Fa Zheng smiled faintly: "I said, everything is under our control, even if Zhang Lu brings 10,000 people, what is there to fear." ”

It was obvious that he was in danger, but the Fa Zheng in front of him was so confident that he didn't seem to have any worries.

This man is a natural gambler.

Liu Bei smiled, his expression returned to normal, and said happily: "I haven't seen what kind of hero Liu Bei, so why am I afraid of a mere Zhang Lu, let's go, let's go meet him for a while." ”

Liu Bei slapped his horse and walked quickly, and the team of more than 100 people accelerated the march and hurried in the direction of Yangping Pass.

At this moment, twenty miles away, 3,000 Han Chinese troops were already camped in the wilderness.

In order to show his attention to Liu Bei, Zhang Lu deliberately came out of Yangping Pass to greet him, but in case of accidents, at the suggestion of Ma Chao, Zhang Lu also made corresponding arrangements.

The garrison on Yangping Pass had increased to 10,000 at this time, and was led by his close confidant Yang Bai. With him, in addition to Ma Chao, there was also his younger brother Zhang Wei, and these 3,000 soldiers and horses were all elite athletes in Hanzhong.

Despite this, Zhang Lu did not dare to go too far out of the pass, and only camped thirty miles south of Yangping Pass, waiting for Liu Bei's arrival, and at the same time sent scouts into Yizhou to reconnoitre.

At dusk, Zhang Lu received the news that Liu Feng was about to arrive, and the scouts reported that Liu Bei had only brought more than 100 people as agreed.

Zhang Lu finally completely relaxed, so he ordered a banquet to be prepared in the big tent, preparing to wash the dust for Liu Bei.

Before dark, the team of more than 100 people finally arrived at the camp.

Zhang Lu, under the protection of Ma Chao and Zhang Wei, as well as a group of athletes, personally greeted the door.

"I have heard the name of Xuande Gong for a long time, and now I can see it, which is really a blessing for three lives." Zhang Lu greeted him with a smile.

Liu Bei, who rolled the saddle and dismounted, stepped forward and arched his hand: "The name of Zhang Shijun's benevolence and righteousness is spread far and wide all over the world. ”

Knowing that this was a polite remark, Zhang Lu was still very useful when he heard it, and said with a smile: "Xuande has won the award, if you talk about benevolence and righteousness, how can I be as good as Xuande." ”

"How dare you." Liu Bei behaved quite respectfully.

Zhang Lu became more and more proud in his heart, and now he entered hand in hand with Liu Bei.

Entering the big tent of the Chinese army, the banquet has been prepared, the guest of honor is seated, Zhang Lu is on the top seat, Ma Chao and Zhang Wei are separated, and more than ten fully armed armor soldiers are around the tent.

Zhang Lu made such an arrangement, obviously not at ease with Liu Bei.

Liu Bei glanced at Ma Chao on Zhang Lu's right, and asked, "I see that the general next to Shijun is very extraordinary, I don't know the name of the honorable person?" ”

"I'm Xiliang Ma Chao."

Ma Chao replied coldly, and his tone seemed to be full of hostility towards Liu Bei.

As soon as he heard that it was Ma Chao, Liu Bei was shocked, and hurriedly said: "It turned out to be General Mengqi of Xiliang Ma, disrespectful and disrespectful." ”

Seeing Liu Bei's shocked face, Zhang Lu couldn't help but look proud.

The world-famous Jin Ma Chao has become my Zhang Lu's general, and the famous Uncle Liu Huang is also about to join my command, so it's no wonder.

Liu Bei seemed to appreciate Ma Chao very much, and immediately raised his glass and said with a smile: "Bei Jiu heard the name of the general, it is really an honor to be able to see the general's demeanor today, come, prepare a glass of General Meng Qi." ”

Liu Bei was extremely polite, but Ma Chao snorted coldly, "Chao is ordered to protect my master, and I have a duty to do it, so I can't drink." ”

With some kindness, he touched the ash of his nose, and Liu Bei's face was suddenly embarrassed.

(To be continued)