The loss of Runan, Ruyin, Chenjun, Xiangcheng, and Liang County was also the greatest loss Liu Bei had ever suffered. More than 60,000 sergeants died in the battle, and more than half of the land in Yuzhou was lost.

A few years ago, Zhao Feng and Guan Yu pacified Yuzhou, and after Guan Yu and Li Yan's governance in the past few years, Yuzhou finally gradually prospered. After several years of development, especially the plague to take in the victims, as well as the migration of the Shanyue tribes, Yuzhou now has a population of 1.3 million, but more than 800,000 of them are in the five counties lost. After several years of painstaking management, in the end, all of them were cheapened for nothing. After conquering Yuzhou, Cao Ying immediately sent Cao Ren to defend Ruyin and Chen County to resist Guan Yu, and to defend Runan and Xiangcheng. By the time Guan Yu and Zhao Feng's army turned around, the overall situation had already been decided.

Not only that, the loss of Runan made the passage between Yuzhou and Nanyang on land cut off. Although Liu Bei's road to the west was blocked, even Li Yan, who was in Nanyang, became an out-and-out lone army. Although Liu Biao has no intention of making enemies with Liu Bei now, Li Yan's situation is quite unoptimistic.

All of this was only caused by Mi Fang's rebellion. After learning that his brother had defected to the enemy, Mi Zhu vomited blood and fainted on the spot, and when he woke up, he bound himself and pleaded guilty. Although Liu Bei did not cure his crimes, it was absolutely impossible not to mind at all in his heart. As for the reason for Mi Fang's defection to the enemy, it was finally figured out. This guy was once found and severely punished by Guan Yu and Xu Shu for smuggling military rations, and he has held a grudge since then. In addition, Cao Ying sent people to lobby him and promised high-ranking officials. Under these temptations, Mi Fang did not hesitate for too long to betray Liu Bei.

"Big brother, I am willing to lead the troops to kill that Cao Ren Xiao'er and recapture the city!" Guan Yu returned to Shouchun almost non-stop and asked Liu Bei for help. Liu Bei looked at Guan Yu, and said helplessly for a long time: "This year's money and grain in Xuzhou have been spent on the construction of Jiangdong, and if you want to enter the army, you will have to wait until next year." ”

"Cheaper him!" Guan Yu was also a little helpless when he heard this, so he had to hate the authentic way. "If it weren't for Yuan Zhi and Youping to defend the county, we would have really suffered a heavy loss this time!" Liu Bei also sighed. Originally, Qian County was also relatively dangerous, but fortunately, the 20,000 Shanyue troops and Zhou Tai who had just been trained were there, and Xu Shu even used a clever plan to defeat Cao Ren and Xu Huang, so that Qian County was saved. At the same time, Wei Yan and Gao Shun took advantage of the emptiness behind Cao Ying, and suddenly attacked and took Shanyang County, and finally found some ground for Liu Bei. Of course, this is really a drop in the bucket compared to Liu Bei's loss.

"My lord, Cao Ying has taken a lot of trouble this time, and the purpose is to seize my Yuzhou. At present, the road to the west has been blocked, and the northward can only take the land of Qingzhou and Henan at best. Zhao Feng also sighed after carefully looking at the map.

"Bo Tao, what can I do?" Liu Bei was also a little anxious when he heard this. Zhao Feng looked at the map, and then could only say in an uncertain tone: "Now it seems that if you want to continue to march, you can only seek to seize Jingxiang." ”

"Jing Xiang?" Liu Bei was stunned when he heard this, and then said with a firm face: "Liu Jingsheng and I are both relatives of the Han family, and he has also been benevolent in Jingxiang for many years, and he has won the hearts of the people, how can I seek to seize his inheritance for no reason?" ”

"This?" Zhao Feng also smiled bitterly when he heard this, he knew that with Liu Bei's surname, unless Liu Biao took the initiative to provoke, it would be difficult to make up his mind to attack Jingzhou. It's just that Liu Xian is still in Jingzhou as always, and even Yangzhou Mu Cai Mao is honestly staying in Yuzhang County, and he has no intention of provoking at all, so that Zhao Feng wants to find an opportunity to clean him up.

Runan, Ruyin and Liang County were lost, and Guan Yu's administrative seat became the first line of confrontation with Cao Ying. As a state pastor, it is naturally not suitable to personally defend the border, and at present, Guan Yusuo moved the governance office to Peiguo, which is only one step away from Shouchun. A few days later, there was a holy decree issued to Shouchun, but it was to reprimand Yuzhou Pastor Guan Yu for "dereliction of duty, abandonment of political affairs, removal of his post as Yuzhou Pastor, and relocation to the county guard." "This is simply a naked teasing. Yuzhou Mu was awarded by Cao Ying to his clan brother Cao Ren, who seemed to have become Guan Yu's top boss!

"Cao Ying is really amazing!" Afterwards, when Zhao Feng and Pang Tong analyzed, they also had to admit that Cao Ying's hand was indeed ruthless enough, first to find Mi Fang's soft bones, and then to attack Qingzhou at any cost to attract Liu Bei's main force to the north, and finally to draw the bottom of the kettle and even the five counties. Pang Tong has always been resourceful and conceited, but he can't be so ruthless when he asks himself, and he uses more than 60,000 lives to set up this game.

"Shi Yuan, do you think if our army takes Jingxiang, where should we start?" Looking at the map hanging on the wall, Zhao Feng groaned.

"Jiangxia, Jingnan." Pang Tong's words were concise and to the point, and then explained in detail: "The four counties of Jingnan border Jiangdong, although Liu Pan is in Luling, it is not difficult to take it; Jiang Xia is guarded by Huang Zu, and this person is a stupid pig. ”

"But even if you can lightly take down the four counties of Jingnan and Jiangxia, but you can't Jingbei, it's useless!" Zhao Feng sighed. Jingzhou has a population of 3 million, and the four counties of Jingnan + Jiangxia are only a little more than one million, and the rest are mainly concentrated in the four counties of Jingbei, namely Zhangling, Xiangyang, Nanyang and Nanjun. Historically, Liu Bei and Sun Quan have occupied Jingnan successively, but these vast and sparsely populated counties have really failed them to develop any fame.

"Li Zhengfang is in Fancheng, and there are still tens of thousands of soldiers under his command. As long as we take Jiangxia and control the Jingxiang Water Division, General Gan's Water Division can go to Xiangshui to support the front and attack Jingbei on both sides. Pang Tong said confidently. With Li Yan's talent and Fancheng Jiancheng, he would never believe that Li Yan would be played to death by the people of Jingzhou.

"The key is the people's heart!" Zhao Feng is the most bottomless in his heart. Historically, Liu Bei was quite popular in Jingzhou, but that was because he had been operating in Xinye for seven years before he created a connection. Even if the image of Jing Xiangshi is not bad now, it is estimated that it will not be too good. Especially the two wealthy families of the Kuai family and the Cai family, their attitude towards Liu Bei is obviously very unwelcome. But there is no way to do these now, so I can only make do with one step at a time.

When the time came to the middle of December, it was snowing in Lujiang on this day. Zhao Feng looked at the snowflakes falling in the sky in his home, recalling a cold and heavy snow in the spring of this year, which achieved Zhou Gongjin's last glory. Now it's snowing heavily, but I don't know what will happen to the battle between Runan and Ruyin after the beginning of spring.

"Brother-in-law, when will my sister come back?" A somewhat coquettish voice sounded behind Zhao Feng, and when he looked back, it was Zhen Mi, the little girl. "Soon, if you can still sail on the river, you can get home this afternoon!" Zhao Feng was a little spoiled. Looking at the little girl's thin clothes, Zhao Feng said again: "It's snowing, wear more clothes." ”

"It's okay, this snow is much smaller than Hebei!" Zhen Mi shook her head nonchalantly, but still pulled the fur coat she was wearing. After a pause, Zhen Mi actually smiled: "Brother-in-law, I really admire you, I actually expected Yuan Shao to lose so early, and now it is really a failure." ”

"yes!" Zhao Feng was also a little emotional, and then thought of something and hurriedly asked, "Then how is your grandfather and the Yuan family now?" ”

"It's not good, I heard my sister say that after Yuan Shao was defeated, he was busy recruiting troops and horses to take revenge, and he didn't look for his grandfather to find money, but he didn't force him to get married." Zhen Mi replied.

"That's nature, it's up to people." Zhao Feng was noncommittal, and looked at his sister-in-law by the way. It is said that the eighteenth change of the female university, and this little girl is indeed getting more and more beautiful. She will be eighteen years old after the New Year, and now she is becoming more and more upside down, but Zhao Feng subconsciously still habitually treats her as that little Lori, and he just loves her. This situation is somewhat similar to Da Qiao and Sun Quan. It's just that this time it was Zhao Feng who was ignorant. And Zhen Mi is not as terrifying as Sun Quan.

"General!" Feng Xi, who had already been promoted to military commander, hurried over. "What's the matter?" Zhao Feng asked in some surprise.

"Just visited the Malay newspaper, Yangzhou Mu Cai Mao suddenly returned to Jingzhou, and now Yuzhang and Luling are taken over by Liu Pan!" Feng Xi replied. Zhao Feng was a little stunned when he heard this: This Cai Mao and Liu Pan have always been at odds, how could he let him come to take over Luling and Yuzhang?

To say that Jingzhou has not had any major events recently, there are many small things. Last month, Jiangxia Taishou Huang Zu died of a sudden illness, and Liu Biao sent his eldest son Liu Qi to take over. Half a month ago, as Pang Tong expected, Kuai Liang, the patriarch of the Kuai clan, died of hemoptysis at home, but Cai Mao is now returning to Jingzhou, if it is obviously too late to mourn, what is he going to do?

"Probably going home for the New Year!" Zhao Feng speculated, and when the order was issued, all departments should be careful about precautions. Although Liu Qi and Liu Pan are Liu Biao's descendants, their relationship with the Xuzhou Army is quite acceptable, but they must also be guarded against.

Zhao Feng definitely didn't expect that Cai Mao would suddenly return to Jingzhou this time. On the night of returning to Jingzhou, Cai Mao secretly conspired with Kuai Yue for most of the night under the pretext of going to Kuai's house to mourn.

"Xeno, do you really want to do this?" Cai Mao asked with some hesitation, this plan was really a little too crazy, and he had to think about it carefully.

"I'm afraid I have to do this!" Kuai Yue said with a gloomy face: "Don't think that Liu Biao is really old and confused, this time Huang Zu died too strangely, and Huang Zu's successor turned out to be Liu Qi, a waste, it seems that he is also wary of us and is cultivating his own forces." ”

"That being the case, why don't you just kill it and save trouble?" Cai Mao said again.

"This is not appropriate, after all, this person has been in Jingzhou for many years, and he still has some reputation. If you kill them rashly, it will be bad if you provoke a civil uprising. What's more, Liu Pan and Liu Qi still have tens of thousands of horses in their hands, and once they are killed, they will meet our swordsmen. It doesn't matter to Liu Qi, but Liu Pan has been running Jingnan for many years, and he is really not an idle person. We only need to control Liu Biao, use his order to let Liu Pan march into Jiangdong, and compete with the two tigers of the Xuzhou army, and then we will reap the benefits of the fisherman. Then go north to sweep Li Yan, and go east to level Yangzhou, when the time comes, Brother Deju, you are sitting in Jingyang Erzhou, how can Prime Minister Cao treat you badly? Kuai Yue said eloquently. opened his mouth and closed his mouth to ask for his surname to call Liu Biao directly, Kuai Yue is indeed arrogant enough.

"That's it!" Cai Mao was also ruthless. Half a month later, an astonishing news spread throughout Jingyang Erzhou and even the world, Jingzhou Bei Jie Yue and Yangzhou Mu Cai Mao suddenly launched a coup d'état at the New Year's banquet, put Jingzhou Mu Liu Biao under house arrest in the mansion, and at the same time ordered Liu Qi of Jiangxia and Liu Pan of Yuzhang to march into Jiangdong.

Jiangxia City, "Ji Chang, what do you think I should do?" A young man in his twenties, who looked a little cowardly, asked a Confucian student next to him who was younger than him for advice. This Confucian scholar, known as Ji Chang, looks to be sixteen or seventeen years old, but the most striking thing is his pair of eyebrows, which are actually white.

The man pondered for a long time before he sighed: "Eldest son, I can't get an idea about this matter for a while. However, my senior brother Zhuge Kongming is now in Jiangxia, and this person is ten times more knowledgeable than me, why not ask him for advice? ”

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