Chen Deng is dead.

On the second day of Zhao Feng's arrival in Shouchun, the former first wise man in Xuzhou died after being sick in bed for many years. Eating raw fish and turtles for many years has caused non-negligible damage to his body, coupled with the blow caused by his cousin's betrayal four years ago, Chen Deng's health has never been very good. With the death of Chen Deng and Zhao Yu, Mi Fang's betrayal, and Cao Bao, who had long been cleared by Liu Bei, there was not much left of the four major families in Xuzhou in the past. However, the Xuzhou faction did not lose too much because of this, and the new Xuzhou faction represented by Lu Su and Sun Qian, as well as Zhang Zhao and Bu Fei who were born in Huaisi in the original Jiangdong group, also have a sense of identity with them, so now the two factions are still in the stage of checks and balances, and at the same time, the Jingzhou faction has also begun to rise gradually.

Although Liu Bei was anxious to crusade against Jiangdong, he still had to wait for the soldiers and horses to gather. After receiving help from Ji Ling and Sun Fu, Zang Ba, who was in Shangyong, completely repelled Zhang Lu's Hanzhong army with sufficient troops. Not only that, Zang Ba also ordered Shen Tan to lead 500 people to take the path to the Hanzhong army's return to the army, cutting down trees and blocking the road. As a result, when the Hanzhong army broke and fled, the road was blocked and had to abandon the horse and walk. In the end, Zang Ba harvested thousands of Xiliang horses and made a lot of money. However, he was not happy for long, most of these horses were requisitioned by Guan Yu to pick peaches, plus Sun Fu and others shared some, and finally Zang Ba only returned to Nantong with more than 1,000 horses, for fear of being blackmailed again, he immediately asked Liu Bei to set up a cavalry team. Liu Bei also made a favor, promoted Zang Ba from Yamen general to Dangkou general, and formed a cavalry team modeled after the former Bingzhou Iron Cavalry, which was led by Zang Ba himself. It's just a few thousand good horses in exchange for such a promotion, and Zang Ba's deal is not cost-effective.

As for Sun Fu, after learning that Sun Quan had invaded again, he immediately bound himself to Shouchun to ask for guilt. Liu Bei looked at Sun Fu, who couldn't kneel down for a long time in front of him, and finally let out a long sigh to untie the rope he had bound himself. "One person does things and one person is responsible, Sun Quan is rebellious, what does it have to do with Guoyi." Liu Bei sighed, and Sun Fu was grateful.

By mid-September, Liu Bei had finally gathered people from all walks of life. During this period, although Sun Quan did not take the initiative to attack the Lujiang counties, the public opinion offensive never stopped. Sun Quan personally wrote an article announcing the counties of Jiangdong, claiming that all former ministers of Jiangdong would not be blamed for the past as long as they voted again now. However, due to Liu Bei's method of being an official in a different place, there are not many former ministers in Jiangdong who are still in Jiangdong. The highest position among the old ministers was Lujiang Taishou Buyu, and as Liu Bei's brother-in-law, he naturally would not surrender. The rest of the people weighed the weight of Liu Bei and Sun Quan, and most of them wisely chose to continue to rely on Liu Bei. In the end, that is, the school captain Pan Zhang and Poyang Taishou Tai Shi Ci, the two sworn friends of the Sun family, responded, and the rest were basically the children of the rest of the Sun family, such as Sun Jiao and Sun Kuang, the highest position of these people was only a county order, and their influence was limited.

Finally, on the 24th of September, all the horses had been assembled. Liu Bei chose this auspicious day and swore an oath for the army in Shouchun. Originally, he had to lead the army in person, but Lu Su, Chen Qun and others all thought that the current war in northern Xinjiang was not peaceful, and it was not appropriate to move lightly, and Liu Bei had better sit in Shouchun. The matter of the conquest was handed over to Zhao Feng and Zhang Fei. Liu Bei heard that there was nothing to do, and at the moment he took Zhendong General Zhang Fei as the main general, and the rebellious general Zhao Feng as the deputy general, and Pang Tong in the governance of the army participated in the military, in addition to Yuzhang Taishou Gao Lan and other generals with the army to fight, leading the army of 80,000 to conquer Jiangdong again.

"The third brother must not be greedy for anything about the march, and discuss everything with Bo Tao Shiyuan, you know?" Liu Bei is most worried about his brother, so it is best to advise him. "I know, big brother!" Zhang Feiwen replied angrily, and the 80,000 army drove towards Jiangdong in Liu Bei's eyes that were not very reassured.

"Zhao boy, last time you fought Jiangdong, you brought an army of 100,000, why is it only 80,000 this time, it's really not fun!" Zhang Fei walked in the marching army and grinned at Zhao Feng.

"At this time, at that time, Sun Quan had more than 100,000 elites under his command, and Zhou Yu was also the governor, so naturally he could not be taken lightly. But now, when Sun Quan first won Jiangdong, the people's hearts are unstable, and the combat power of the army and horses under his command is not necessarily very strong. What's more, he just took advantage of the chaos to occupy a few counties, and then used an army of 100,000 to conquer him, which was too much to look up to him. Zhao Feng said with a smile.

"You have a point." Zhang Fei smacked his lips and said. The army went out of Shouchun, crossed the river by boat from the mouth of the water to the quarry, and Danyang Taishou Lu Jun and his son Lu Xun had been waiting for a long time.

"Third General, General Zhao, it's great that you're here!" After Lu Jun saw the army crossing the river, he was also slightly relieved. Lu Jun's words are not easy for a while, there are less than 10,000 defenders in Danyang, and it is really not easy to deal with Sun Quan if he sends troops to attack, but fortunately, this terrible thing did not happen.

"Lu Taishou, what is the current situation?" Zhao Feng still asked Lu Jun for the latest information first.

After the Sun rebels occupied Wu County, Sun Quan himself sat in Wu County, and ordered his younger brother Sun Yi to lead the Jiaozhou Navy to guard Poyang, and Sun Kuang to guard Luling, forming a situation of fighting each other. At present, Sun Wei has recruited ** 10,000 soldiers and horses, and his strength is not weak. Lu Jun replied.

"Ten thousand soldiers?" Zhao Feng said with some surprise. Even if Sun Quan still has to stay with tens of thousands of horses in Jiaozhou, now after occupying the four counties, there can be so many people after absorbing and surrendering soldiers, which is also something that Zhao Feng couldn't imagine for a while. What he didn't know was that in order to make up the numbers, in addition to recruiting soldiers, Sun Quan even released the prisoners in the cells of the cities he occupied, and gave them weapons to defend the city in cooperation with the temptation of forgiveness of their sins. In addition, when Yizhou was occupied, more than 10,000 local indigenous young people were forcibly recruited into the army, which brought together so many people.

"Sun Quan still has two sons." Zhang Fei also nodded when he heard this. To be able to pull up such a team in such a short period of time, Sun Quan is not simple. Zhao Feng suddenly remembered that when Liu Bei killed Che Zhou for the second time in history and occupied Xuzhou, although he also raised **10,000 people in a short period of time, but when Cao Ying's army was conscripted, this improvised patchwork army was still defeated. However, Sun Quan has been running Jiaozhou for many years, and there should still be tens of thousands of troops under his command.

"Shi Yuan, where do you think we should attack first?" Zhao Feng turned his head to Pang Tong and asked. The latter lowered his head and thought for a while, and finally clapped his head: "Let's attack Wu County first." ”

"The city wall of Wu County is dangerous, and it can't be captured in a hurry." When Lu Jun heard this, he immediately objected.

"It is precisely because Wu County is difficult to capture in a hurry, so as long as Wu County can be captured quickly, it will be a great blow to the morale of the Sun rebels." Pang Tong said with a smile. Turning his head to look at Zhao Feng, Pang Tong said again: "I heard that General Zhao has recently developed a siege weapon, called an incendiary bomb, and I have been looking forward to it for a long time!" ”

"Shi Yuan is really far-sighted!" Zhao Feng shook his head and smiled. The incendiary bomb was made up by himself and Lu Hao a long time ago, but he has been busy in Jingnan for more than a year, but he has not taken care of the large-scale production and use of this incendiary bomb. It wasn't until Jiangdong was about to be fought that he ordered Lu Hao to lead his people to make more than 1,000 pills to carry with the army every night within a month. In fact, it is very simple, it is modeled on the movie "Red Cliff", fill the clay pot with grease, then plug the mouth of the jar, use a trebuchet to cast it to the predetermined position, and after the crockpot is broken, the grease overflows, and then ignite it with a rocket.

Not to mention that Zhang Fei and others in Danyang City worked together to discuss Sun Quan again, at this time, under the city of Yecheng, Hebei, Yuan Tan was also at a loss in the camp formed by Yuan Tan's army of more than 100,000 troops. It has been more than a month since he led the army back to Yecheng, but Cao Ying's army, which occupied Yecheng for more than a month, has never fought with him. Once they waved their troops to attack the city, the defenders would take themselves and the generals to the city with their families in Yecheng, so that everyone was a rat trap. Not only that, Cao Jun also used his family members in the city as bait to coerce the generals to betray Yuan Tan. Under such a heart-to-heart battle, people secretly defected almost every day, and Yuan Tan was also anxious.

"Mr. Gonghe, can you evacuate to the Bohai Sea first and then make plans?" Yuan Tan now regrets not listening to his frustration, and as a result, he can't get so advanced or retreated. I didn't want to be frustrated, but I shook my head with a wry smile and said: "Right now, most of the generals' families are in Yecheng, and Cao Ying's reputation for killing is known to the world. If you leave like this, it will be difficult to protect the general's heart. ”

"This Cao dog thief is shameless." Zhang Jaw on the side said angrily.

"Cao Ying has always done things by unscrupulous means, he didn't say that he would rather be responsible for the people of the world, and stop teaching the people of the world to bear me." Guo Tu shook his head and said, his tone full of helplessness. This is not a conspiracy at all, but a naked conspiracy. Even if Guo Tu and Fu are wise, there is no way.

"Report to the lord, the third prince surrendered at the head of Yecheng City, and the two generals Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang led their troops to Cao Ying!" Just then, the sentry brought another piece of bad news. Yuan Tan didn't have the strength to go crazy anymore, so he could only smile bitterly.

In the general's mansion in Yecheng that night, Yuan Shang, who had just been praised as a general by the imperial court, held a grand banquet to entertain Cao Ying, who had "quelled the chaos" for him, and by the way, he received the arrival of Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang. For a while, Yuan Shang seemed to be the master of this room, and he regarded himself as a general and entertained everyone. He didn't see that there was a trace of disdain in Cao Ying's eyes when he looked at him.

"Prime Minister, I don't know when I will be able to break through Yuan Tan's army outside the city?" Yuan Shang drank a glass of wine and asked Cao Ying with a spring breeze on his face.

"Soon, immediately the soldiers and horses of the state can go south through Sizhou to help, I will wait for the two ways to attack, Yuan Tan will definitely be defeated!" Cao Ying said with a smile. Yuan Shang laughed even more wildly when he heard this, and he repeatedly called people to add wine without mentioning it. All the ministers and generals are happy, only there is a trace of melancholy between the eyebrows.

"Third son, I'm afraid that Cao Ying's dispatch of troops this time is not for the third prince to quell the chaos, but to take the opportunity to occupy Hebei!" After the banquet was dispersed, the judge looked for an opportunity to secretly say to Yuan Shangdao.

"Don't I know Cao Ying's ambition. Sir, rest assured, when Yuan Tan is defeated, I will set up a Hongmen banquet, and I can easily get rid of Cao Ying, and then return to the army to the south to unify the Central Plains! When the time comes, who will be able to compete with me? Yuan Shang said proudly, completely ignoring the judge in front of him, looking at him as if he was looking at an idiot.

(To be continued)