In fact, there is no suspense in the outcome of the battle of Nanyang, don't look at the Jingzhou army operating on the Xinye defense line for many years, and has blocked the attacks of Cao Laoda, Da Yuan Sangong and Deputy Director Tao and other powerful forces in turn, in fact, this defense line is still a paper tiger, the reason why Cao Tao and Yuan Sanjia forces have not been able to take the Xinye area in previous years is because the strategic focus is not in Jingzhou and is too lazy to pay attention, and when Deputy Director Tao finally freed his hand, it is naturally easy to kick the Jingzhou soil fence of the new field defense line. It is also thanks to Liu Qi, Kuai Yue and Huang Zu that they retreated to the Xiangdeng area in time, otherwise, the main force of the Jingzhou Army in land warfare is likely to be wiped out in Nanyang.

After easily taking Nanyang, the deputy director of Tao, who was not a lot of grain and grass, immediately waved his army south, and in early November, the troops came to Deng County, arrogantly and arrogantly set up a large camp ten miles north of Deng County, Huang Zu, who was stationed in the defense line of Deng County, was already afraid of the Xuzhou army, and did not dare to send troops to meet the battle, and closed the city gate and did not come out, and the Jingzhou water division controlled by Cai Mao was also tightly defended on the Hanshui River, and did not dare to land to meet the battle, and the warring parties were temporarily safe.

At the same time, Deputy Director Tao made people investigate the cantonment of the Jingzhou army, and found that the Jingzhou army was so armed, Liu Qi led the garrison in Xiangyang, Huang Zu led the army of about 20,000, stationed in the city of Dengxian City, and there were two strong dock forts of about five or six thousand soldiers each, one dock was named Deng Sai, located at the mouth of the river where the water flows into the Han River, choking the road for the boats upstream of the river to go south, and the other dock fort is the famous Fancheng of later generations, facing Xiangyang across the water, the distance between the city and the dock is only a few miles away, and the horse is on the horse. It only takes a moment for the infantry to rescue, and Cai Mao's sailors are back and forth in the middle, and the two cities and two docks are horns of each other, and it is very difficult to attack the whole body.

Seeing that the Xiangdeng area of the Jingzhou Army was heavily defended, the decision-making level of the Xuzhou Army, which had never liked to attack the fortified positions head-on, inevitably immediately started to use their crooked brains to ponder all kinds of tricks to break the enemy with skill, Yang Changshi also ran to Deputy Director Tao and volunteered, willing to send an envoy to Dengcheng or Xiangyang, and bribed or instigated Huang Zu, Cai Mao and other important ministers of Jingzhou to mutiny for Deputy Director Tao. Destroy the Xiangdeng defense line of the Jingzhou Army from the inside.

It stands to reason. Yang Changshi, who has changed a lot of temperament, is very correct, and because Liu Biao has officially established Liu Qi as the heir, this moment is also a great opportunity to buy and win over the Cai family and Huang Zu, but Deputy Director Tao carefully and after careful consideration. unexpectedly rejected Yang Changshi's suggestion. Yang Changshi, who was already ready to send an envoy, was surprised when he heard this. Hurriedly asked, "Lord, isn't this method feasible?" Because of Jiangxia's affairs, Huang Zu and Liu Qi have always been at odds. The Cai Mao brothers are even more at odds with Liu Qi, and their subordinates came forward to persuade them to surrender, which should be very certain? ”

"It's not that it's not feasible, it's that the time is not yet ripe." Deputy Director Tao replied: "Judging from the detailed investigation report of our army, Liu Biao is only seriously ill and has not died of illness, as long as Liu Biao is still there, it will not be so easy for our army to recruit Huang Zu and Cai Mao." ”

"What the lord said is very true." Liu Ye echoed: "As far as Ye knows, when Sun Jian crossed the river to attack Liu Biao, Huang Zu was captured alive by Sun Jian's team, and it was Liu Biao who exchanged Sun Jian's corpse for Huang Zu, and he had a life-saving grace for Huang Zu, although Huang Zu was impatient and fierce, he was also a righteous person, as long as Liu Biao was still there, it would be difficult for Huang Zu to betray Jingzhou." Cai Mao is the same, no matter what, Liu Biao is his own sister and father-in-law, and it will never be as easy as imagined for him to surrender to our army regardless of the affection of his sister and brother. The best time for our army to recruit Cai Mao and Huang Zu is not now, but after the death of Liu Biao in the future. ”

"So, your subordinates have to wait until Liu Biao dies of illness before they can do it?" Yang Changshi, who really wanted to leave the great work again, looked depressed and said: "But what if Liu Biao's old man is only seriously ill and can't die in three or two years?" Also, if Liu Qi takes the opportunity to ease the contradiction with Cai Mao and Huang Zu, won't we have no chance to surrender Cai Mao and Huang Zu? ”

"There are these possibilities, but they are not very likely." Deputy Director Tao smiled and said: "The cause of Liu Biao's illness, in addition to old age and frailty, is more important because of the pressure of our army's soldiers, and his condition suddenly worsened under worry and fear. As for Liu Qi to ease the contradictions between Cai Mao and Huang Zu, this problem is even less big, the root of the contradiction between Liu Qi and them is a conflict of interest, unless Liu Qi can tolerate them to continue to control the heavy army in Jingzhou, and can tolerate their interests to gain greater than the Kuai family, otherwise it will never be possible to truly eliminate the contradiction and work together. ”

"Although the lord's words are reasonable, Mr. Zhongming's worries are not unreasonable." Jia Lao Poison opened his mouth to defend his friend, and pointed out: "Whether our army can quickly take Jingzhou, the key to success or failure lies in Cai Mao and Huang Zu, if they really lead the Jingzhou army to fight to the death with our army to the end, then even if our army can finally succeed, it will inevitably pay a considerable price and consume a lot of time, and at the same time, the battle situation in Jingzhou is not very bad and dangerous, Liu Biao will not be so easy to fall seriously ill and die, so I think that our action against Huang Zu and Cai Mao must start now." ”

"Mr. Wenhe thinks that you should start recruiting Huang Zu and Cai Mao now?" Deputy Director Tao asked hurriedly.

"Of course not." Jia Lao Poison smiled and said: "Let's start to divide first, Huang Zu and Cai Mao have always been at odds with Liu Qi, Liu Qi is now in control of Jingzhou, how can he send someone to secretly keep an eye on them, first create some signs of Huang Zu Cai Mao's surrender to our army, don't be afraid that he Liu Qi will not be suspicious, and create better opportunities for us." ”

Deputy Director Tao laughed and applauded, and was busy asking Jia Lao Poison for the details of the divisive strategy, Jia Lao Poison replied with a smile: "This is easy, my lord, you come forward to send a letter to Huang Zu, describing the friendship of relatives, and send it to Deng County together with a gift, Mr. Zhong Ming and Cai Deqi have a good relationship, and they are also going to a letter and a valuable gift to narrate the old friendship, and then we can sit and watch the excitement." Deputy Director Tao and Yang Changshi applauded and laughed together, and hurriedly followed the plan.

In this way, the letter gifts of Deputy Director Tao and Yang Changshi were quickly sent out separately, and Deputy Director Tao sent a messenger to send the letter gifts to Huang Zu in Deng County, and the rest of the nonsense was not said, and he left after giving the gifts. Yang Changshi also sent Wang Wu to send the gift letter to the camp of the Jingzhou Military and Naval Division, and immediately left after handing it over to Cai Mao. As a result, after Liu Qi learned about this, he was really suspicious, and hurriedly sent someone to keep a close eye on Huang Zu and Cai Mao's brothers. - This is also the disgusting part of the discord scheme, which makes you know that the enemy is using the trick to discord, but you can't help but feel worried and suspicious.

A few days later, after some rigorous preparations, the Xuzhou army began to attack the city of Dengxian County, which was at the forefront. The most formal siege tactics were also adopted. While suppressing the enemy in the city with Xiangyang cannons and bows and arrows, he sent infantry to fill the moat of Dengxian County, and at the same time sent elite teams to closely monitor Fancheng and Dunsai, ready to intercept the reinforcements sent by the Jingzhou army to Dengcheng. methodically and patiently attacked the Xiangdeng defense line of the Jingzhou army.

This steady tactic of the Xuzhou army. It really didn't have much effect at first. But as the war dragged on, the Jingzhou army began to be unbearable, especially the Huangzu team, which was attacked by the main force of Xuzhou in turn, was even more miserable. Every day is the Xuzhou army bows and arrows flying stone under the threat of trembling, but also in the face of the Xuzhou army's fierce offensive in the face of huge casualties, the original in front of the Xuzhou army without a fight before the cowardice Huang Zu repeatedly asked Liu Qi for help, Liu Qi was forced to helpless, but also had to bite the bullet from Fancheng and Dunsai sent reinforcements to rescue Huang Zu who was attacked by the main force of Xuzhou.

Fancheng and Dunsai's army wanted to rescue Huang Zu, naturally had to leave the protection of the fortified castle and go to Deng County, during which the road was very short and only four or five miles, but it could not stand the strict monitoring of the Xuzhou army, almost every time the troops were sent out to be attacked by the Xuzhou elite team, and were forced to fight with the Xuzhou army in the open field, the result was of course that they were repelled every time, and they fled back to the departure castle in embarrassment and defended behind closed doors, and they lost their troops in vain without any rescue effect. However, soon, Liu Qi also learned to be obedient and began to mobilize troops and horses to rotate the defenders of Dengcheng at night, which helped Huang Zu regain his position.

Deputy Director Tao was waiting for Liu Qi to rotate the defenders of Deng County at night, and after discovering the action of the Jingzhou Army through scout reconnaissance, hundreds of Jingzhou troops who had not even changed their uniforms immediately attacked, under the cover of the offensive of the Xuzhou Army, along with the Jingzhou reinforcements attacked by the Xuzhou Army, they mixed into the city of Dengxian County, and pretended to bring Huang Zu some bows, arrows, grain and grass to defend the city, in exchange for the trust of the defenders in the city, and did not immediately carry out screening.

Then, when the main force of the Xuzhou army that was well prepared immediately launched an attack, Huang Zu also fell into bad luck, those troops took advantage of the opportunity of the Xuzhou army to attack the city suddenly got into trouble, opened the city gate from the inside to receive the Xuzhou army into the city, Deng County is a small city and there is no urn city can buffer, after the Xuzhou army commander drove straight into the city, the small city of Deng County immediately lost the value of sticking, Huang Zu was embarrassed to lead the army to abandon the city and leave, fled into Fancheng, which is across the water from Xiangyang, and scolded Liu Qi for killing thousands of troops on paper. And when Liu Biao learned the news of the fall of Deng County, his condition naturally worsened by three points.

After taking Deng County, the Xuzhou Army not only had a secure foothold and grain and grass hoarding on the Xiangyang battlefield, but also the two dock forts of Fancheng and Dunsai became the live targets of the Xuzhou Army's Xiangyang artillery.

Hearing that Deng Sai was in a hurry, Liu Qi hurriedly asked Cai Mao to lead the sailors to rescue Dunsai, but when the Jingzhou Army and Naval Divisions did not dare to land and fight, the Jingzhou Naval Division, which was already seriously injured, was bombarded by the Xiangyang artillery of the Xuzhou Army. However, the small boats could not carry many soldiers at one time, and every time they transported troops into the city, it was a drop in the bucket and did not play a role, and because many of the Dunse defenders fled in a hurry, they sank many small boats when they scrambled for small boats to escape back to the fleet, which not only increased unnecessary casualties, but also shook the morale of the army even more.

In this way, under the clever and flexible tactics of the Xuzhou army and the trebuchet attack that led the millennium, only one day's work, the Jingzhou army spent countless money and grain to build the Dunsai city dock was easily taken by the Xuzhou army, Cai Mao rescued some of the defenders and withdrew to Xiangyang, and the Xuzhou army immediately turned the blade and set up Xiangyang artillery to prepare to attack Fancheng with the same tactics. Liu Qi, who jumped over the wall in a hurry, ordered Huang Zu to defend with all his might, but Huang Zu knew that he was not the opponent of the Xuzhou army. Fancheng, which is less than three miles long and wide, could not withstand the full bombardment of the Xiangyang artillery of the Xuzhou army, and desperately asked Liu Qi to send a sailor to meet him across the Han River, Liu Qi refused to accept the request, Huang Zu was furious, and sent an envoy to send a book directly to Liu Biao's sickbed, and asked Liu Biao and his son in person whether they wanted to send themselves to death in vain, or did they want to force themselves to surrender to the Xuzhou army?

Seeing Huang Zu's letter, the sick Liu Biao was naturally much worse in addition to the old tears, so he had no choice but to send someone to call Liu Qi. In person, Liu Qi was asked to allow Huang Zu to withdraw from the Han River. Work together to defend the defense line of Xiangyang City and Hanshui. Liu Qi, who hadn't slept well for a day since the start of the war, couldn't bear the pressure, and cried loudly in front of Liu Biao, saying, "Father, Fancheng can't be abandoned." The Han River is no better than the Yangtze River. If the child gives up on Fancheng. The Xuzhou thief army can cross the river with only a small boat, and Tao Ying traitors have been surveying the hydrology in the upper reaches of the Han River these days, and it is clear that they want to build a pontoon bridge and a water fence. If we can't hold Fancheng, it means that we can't hold Hanshui! ”

"But what about Huang Zu?" Liu Biao said with a dying breath: "I heard that the stone machine of the Xuzhou thief army can hit boulders, fire bombs, and the center of the Hanshui River, our sailors can't effectively reinforce Fancheng, and they can't quickly transfer the defenders of Fancheng, if Fancheng is broken by the pottery thieves again, then Huang Zu will not die?" ”

"Let him die if he dies!" Liu Qi was also angry, and said angrily: "This horseman, since you entrusted him with a heavy responsibility to beat his father, has he fought a decent victory?" If you can't defeat the pottery thief, you can't even beat Sun Jian and Chen Fen, what is the use of leaving him except for wasting food?! ”

Hearing Liu Qi's words, Liu Biao, who had a deep friendship with Huang Zu, inevitably burst into tears, so he could only persuade his son to treat Huang Zu well, to envelop the Huang family with deep roots in Jingzhou, and to be sympathetic to the Jingzhou soldiers in Fanchengwu, so that Liu Qi reluctantly agreed to allow Huang Zu to withdraw across the south bank of the Han River and work together to defend the important town of Xiangyang. But what Liu Biao and Liu Qi didn't expect together was that outside the window of Liu Biao's ward, Liu Biao's step-room, Cai's, had a very vicious smile on his face............

Relying on Liu Biao's personal persuasion, Liu Qi finally allowed Huang Zu to withdraw across the Han River, and sent Cai Mao to lead the fleet of sailors, and transferred Huang Zu's team across the Han River under the cover of night, but because of the rampant scout activities of the Xuzhou army, the retreat of the Huang Zu army was still discovered by the Xuzhou army, Deputy Director Tao urgently sent troops to attack Fancheng overnight, and the Jingzhou army that held the city wall was afraid that they would not be able to get on the ship and withdraw, Huang Zu was the first to get on the ship and retreat to the south bank, and the Jingzhou defenders rushed into the city to flee for their lives, and the Xuzhou army took the opportunity to attack the city. opened the city gate to welcome the main force into the city to chase and kill, and as a result, it was naturally another fiasco to welcome the Jingzhou army.

Under the cover of the night, the Xuzhou army slashed and killed more than in the back, the defenders of Fancheng were unintentional to fight, scrambling to just flee to the dock to get on the ship, pushing and trampling on each other, there were many dead, and the ships were seriously overloaded after getting on the ship, and the ships were slow to retreat in an orderly manner, and the Xuzhou army seized the Nancheng Heights of Fancheng, and shot the Jingzhou team crowded on the dock with bows and arrows, which increased the chaotic casualties of the Jingzhou team, as a result, less than half of the 10,000 defenders of Fancheng escaped the Han River, and the rest either surrendered or were annihilated, Liu Qi, who was so angry that he was watching the battle on the south bank, drew his sword and cut stones, and scolded Huang Zu and Cai Mao for their incompetence again.

Liu Qi jumped like thunder, but he didn't know that Huang Zu on the warship was even more thunderous at this moment, and he took his son and his own soldiers to escape on the warship very unjustly, as soon as Huang Zu and Cai Mao met, Cai Mao told Huang Zu what his sister overheard Liu Qi's words, Huang Zu was furious, and he also drew his sword and slashed the side, scolding: "Huangkou Xiaoer! Lao Tzu gave your father so many years of birth and death, you dare to be so abusive and mean to me! Your father is still alive, you dare to do this, when your father is dead, you won't peel Lao Tzu's skin? ”

"The old general will not be angry." Cai Mao kindly persuaded: "Maybe the eldest prince is just unintentional, and after the eldest prince succeeds to the throne, maybe he will be more kind to and reuse the old general than his sister-in-law, and the old general doesn't have to care." ”

"Do you believe that in that case?" Although the old general Huang Zu's ability to fight is indeed a little lacking, he is not a stupid person in terms of interpersonal relationships, after slanting a glance at Cai Mao and asking a rhetorical question, Huang Zu lowered his voice again and asked: "De Qi, the lord Liu Qi is the heir, aren't you afraid that he will find you to settle new accounts and old accounts after he succeeds to the throne?" The relationship between you and Liu Qi seems to be a hundred times worse than the relationship between me and Liu Qi? ”

"I'm afraid, of course I'm afraid." Cai Mao admitted it calmly, and then sighed: "But what can I do? My sister-in-law has already designated Liu Qi to succeed him, what's the use of me being scared? ”

"You really can't help it?" Huang Zu laughed and said in a low voice: "As far as I know, the relationship between you and Yang Hong and Yang Zhongming, the celebrities in front of Ming Wugong, is not ordinary. Also, I also heard that Yang Huaiqing, a young newcomer in the Tao Gong Army, is also a junior courtesy to you, with them, do you still need to be afraid of Liu Qi? ”

"Each other, each other." Cai Mao also smiled and said in a low voice: "General Huang, among the juniors of your clan, isn't there a daughter who married Ming Wugong directly?" With this relationship, old general, do you need to be afraid of the eldest prince? ”

Huang Zu smiled knowingly, and after thinking about it for a long time, Huang Zu suddenly asked, "How is the lord's illness?" Are you getting better? ”

"It's more serious." Cai Mao replied: "I heard from the medical officer, my brother-in-law is worried about becoming ill, if the war situation can improve, my brother-in-law's condition may also improve, but if the war situation continues to deteriorate like this, my brother-in-law's illness may be ......." ”

Huang Zu was silent, and after thinking for a while, Huang Zu said slowly: "De Jue, sometimes the eldest prince may hide the war situation from the lord for personal gain, but we, the loyal ministers of Jingzhou, can't just think about ourselves, the lord's stepfamily is your sister, should you remind the lord to report the battle situation in Jingzhou to the lord from time to time, don't let the eldest prince deceive the lord?" ”

Cai Mao's eyes lit up, and he smiled knowingly: "Don't worry, the old general, the eldest son can't hide it from his sister-in-law." (To be continued......)