Cao Ying's anger moved everyone left and right.

Jia Xu said: "Prime Minister is angry, now that Sun Liu has been allied, his strength should not be underestimated. Fang is getting cold today, the forage is getting thinner, and the main force of our army is all northerners, I heard that some people in the army have begun to disobey the water and soil, infected with diseases, this time may not be conducive to continuing the march, it is better to follow the previous plan, first retreat to the north to rest and then make plans. ”

Cao Ying's anger could not be extinguished, he waved his hand violently, and said categorically: "Even if our army is a little inconvenient, it is expected that there will be no obstacle in the general situation. Now that hundreds of thousands of troops are heading south, there is no reason to retreat without a fight. Wen He didn't need to persuade again, he was resolute, and ordered the whole army to speed up and take the heads of Liu Bei and Sun Quan. ”

――――――

In a blink of an eye, it was the middle of October, autumn had become thicker, on the bank of the river at dusk, the river wind was very urgent, Liu Bei stood on the dock in the wind, and looked eastward, until it was said that the west was sinking, and still did not sail to come, I couldn't help but sigh slightly, and there was a look of disappointment.

"Lord, it's not early, let's go back to the camp." Xu Shu beside him persuaded.

"It's early, let's wait a little longer." Liu Bei was still unwilling, holding on to a little hope, and continued to mess in the wind.

This is the fifth day that Zhuge Liang has gone, and in the past few days, his heart has not been in decline, and he is restless at night, and every day when he has nothing to do, he will come to the riverside, hoping that Zhuge Liang can bring back good news, and even directly see the fleet of Dongwu coming down the river.

It's just that I look forward to people being haggard every day, but I don't even look forward to a ghost.

At this moment, a horse galloped over and sent an urgent report from Xiakou Guan Yu, Liu Bei had a premonition that something was wrong, and when he opened the letter and looked at it, he couldn't help but change his expression.

"Lord, what did General Guan say?" Xu Shu's expression on the side was also alert.

"Cao Ying's land and water army has passed the mouth of Dongting Lake, Yuan Zhi will see for himself." Liu Bei handed over a letter to Xu Shu, and the expression on his face became more and more worried.

Xu Shu took it and took a closer look, and said, "It's so slow, but it seems that Cao Ying has accelerated the speed of the march." ”

The Yangtze River is in the shape of a "V" in the section between Jiangling and Xiakou, and the mouth of Dongting Lake is located at the lower tip of this V, that is to say, Cao Jun set off from Jiangling for less than half a month, has walked half of the distance, and it is also advancing by land and water.

Cao Jun's speed is almost catching up with Liu Bei's current heartbeat, but Xu Shu is still too slow, Liu Bei is puzzled: "Cao Jun is less than five hundred miles away from Xiakou, how can Yuan Zhi still say that it is slow." ”

Xu Shu only smiled faintly, and said: "According to Shu's opinion, Cao Ying has three strategies, and this best strategy is to take advantage of the fact that my alliance with the Sun family has not been completed, and the internal war of Eastern Wu has not yet been decided, and the light army will go down and storm Xiakou, and after destroying me, he will further threaten Sun Quan and force him to surrender." This middle strategy is to retreat to the north, leave the civil and military ministers in Jingzhou to pacify the people, train the navy, and then go south after pacifying Guanzhong, and then have enough confidence to pacify the south of the Yangtze River. ”

Liu Bei felt justified when he heard this, and joked: "Yuan Zhi is a good plan for Cao Ying, but it seems that Cao Ying didn't choose the two strategies, I don't know what this strategy is." ”

Xu Shu said: "The next strategy is naturally the current situation, Cao Ying can come early, or late, but he chose this time that is not too late or too early, just to promote the alliance between our two families, if this battle is lost, then its encroachment on the world will be gone." ”

Liu Bei sighed: "What Yuan Zhi said is good, I have dealt with Cao Mengde all my life, he has never had such an easy but huge victory in Jingzhou, I think he must be complacent now, thinking that I have become a lost dog, even if I sit in a boat and fish to the east, I can easily eliminate me, don't you know that the art of war is arrogant and the army will be defeated, this is the biggest taboo of Meng De." ”

"It's just...... Although Lu Zijing swore that he wanted an alliance, but the military adviser went to this for many days but there was no news, I am only afraid that the Jiangdong monarchs and ministers will not be in harmony, and it is still unknown whether they will eventually ally with us. After Liu Bei counted Cao Ying, he immediately worried about himself again.

Suddenly, a trace of horror flashed in Liu Bei's eyes, as if he had thought of something extremely bad for a moment.

Xu Shu's insight was subtle, how could Liu Bei's slight change escape his eyes, so he turned around and put the left and right screens away, and laughed in a low voice: "Is the lord worried, in case Sun Quan is also a thirsty lord, Kong Ming Ruoxu will not be able to stop his hospitality, and he will simply not go back." ”

Seeing through the thoughts in his heart, Liu Bei was stunned at first, and then felt a little embarrassed, smiled reluctantly, and laughed at himself: "I can't hide anything from Yuan Zhi, I really don't want to hide it, I did have such a worry just now." To be honest, the military advisor is a genius in the sky, and my Liu Bei is even more dilapidated than when he was in Longzhong, and even precarious, the so-called good birds choose trees to perch, even if the military advisor really has this heart, I Liu Bei can also understand his difficulties. ”

After listening to Liu Bei's heart-to-heart words, Xu Shu laughed and said, "Lord, it seems that you still have to spend some time trying to understand your Zhuge military master." ”

Liu Bei was stunned and said, "Why did Yuan Zhi say this?" ”

Xu Shu said: "Kong Ming is not an ordinary strategist, what he wants to do is Lu Wang and Xiao He, he is the same as Shu, the reason why he follows the lord is not only to show his talents, but also to help the lord achieve a hegemony!" If Kong Ming votes for Sun Quan, he is nothing more than a strategist, and with Kong Ming's ambition, the surname Suo is not as leisurely as lying in Longzhong. ”

Xu Shu's words made Liu Bei very embarrassed, and he hurriedly said: "Bei is really stupid, and it is difficult to comprehend even the intentions of the military advisor and Yuan Zhi." ”

Xu Shu hurriedly returned the salute and said: "In fact, it is not only the military advisor and me, such as Yun Chang, Yide, Zilong and other generations, who have followed the lord for more than ten years, and have never abandoned it regardless of success or failure, in fact, everyone's ambitions are the same as ours. ”

When Liu Bei heard this, he was extremely moved, and said: "Yuan Zhi's teachings should be remembered in my heart, and I dare not forget it." ”

Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly heard a soldier shouting on the other end: "Look, there is a ship coming from the east, and the military division has returned." ”

Liu Bei's spirit was lifted again, and he looked forward to it, and sure enough, he saw a boat going up the river, and it didn't take long to sail into the dock. But it was not Kong Ming who got down from the boat, but Fang Shao.

Liu Bei stepped forward a few steps forward and asked eagerly, "Why are you the only one who comes back, the military advisor?" How's the alliance going? ”

Fang Shao said with a smile: "Don't worry, the lord has already said that Sun Quan has moved for the military division, and he will send troops to the west before he does it, and the military division will arrive with the army later, he asked Shao to report to the lord first, please prepare the wine and meat, and prepare to treat Zhou Lang's army." ”

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