"Why do you say that?" Liu Zhang asked quietly.

Fa Zheng pondered for a while: "Lord, today I realized that on the way back from Hanzhong, we decided to follow Han Xin's name to take Jingzhou, and you have already prepared, and the wedding is just a pretext, the reason why the lord insists on marrying is just to better paralyze Liu Biao, and attacking Liu Biao is not after the Shangyuan Festival, but on November 20, right?" ”

Liu Zhang stopped, his eyes fixed on the ground: "Xiaozhi, the official doesn't like you to talk like this, it's true to attack Liu Biao, and it's true to marry a relative, I won't joke about Miss Xiao's life's events, but." Liu Zhang sighed and said: "This is also the best way I can think of, Jingzhou has strong troops, and there is the support of the clan, a head-on duel, it is difficult for us to win, we can only win by surprise, since ancient times, the soldiers are virtual and orderly, the soldiers are more real, and the soldiers are less than the virtual, and the official does the opposite." ”

On November 15, Liu Zhang sent an envoy to Jingzhou, requesting to attack Xuchang by the road, Liu Biao naturally pushed many obstacles, Liu Zhang immediately declared war on Jingzhou, and the two sides each stationed more than 100,000 troops on the front line of the fish belly Zigui, and went down to the village along the road, and the camp tents were lined up, with a tense momentum.

At the same time, in order to marry Xiao Furong, a barbarian girl from Wuxi, Liu Zhang actually took civil and military officials and countless gold and silver treasures to Wuxi to propose marriage in person, and became the laughing stock of the world.

Xiangyang Liu Biao touched his beard and said with a long smile: "I said what kind of person my brother is, the shepherd of a state of the dignified Han Dynasty, the war is coming, and he is so enthusiastic that he marries a barbarian girl, it really loses my royal face, it is ridiculous, ridiculous." ”

General Cai Mao said: "What the lord said is that although Liu Zhang has 80,000 soldiers in Yubei Pass, half of them are recruits, we have more than 400,000 troops, and the lord can sit back and relax, not to mention that Liu Zhang's perverse actions have made the Yizhou people's grievances boiling. ”

"The Admiral has a point." The retainers chimed in.

Liu Zhang took 3,000 soldiers and horses, escorted dozens of floats into Wuxi, Ye Wutie took the barbarians down the mountain to greet him personally, the barbarian girl can marry the Han official, in the eyes of the barbarians, it is a great thing in itself, not to mention that the marriage is so grand, Ye Wutie is proud, and the other barbarian women are jealous and hateful to Xiao Furong, and the barbarian men are sad and inexplicable when they see the first beauty of Wuxi marrying.

The wedding ceremony was held in the barbarian area, Wuxi gathered more than a dozen ethnic minorities, the barbarians of all ethnic groups gathered in the earthen village, singing and dancing, all kinds of dances were chaotic, happily enjoying the bonfire festival, and Liu Zhang called Ye Wutie alone to the quiet woods and told his plan.

"The king, this official acts like this, I hope the king can understand."

Ye Wutie waved his hand and said: "Where is Lord Liu, my daughter belongs to the adult's heart, and the adult has the grace to save his life in Ye Wutie, you are the Yizhou Mu, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, and the emperor of the Han Dynasty, can treat each other like this, which has made Ye Wutie Lao Huai very relieved, but the adult wants to recruit barbarian soldiers, if I give me half a year and August, I can recruit tens of thousands of warriors, and in such a hurry, I am afraid that the number is at most two thousand." ”

Liu Zhang waved his hand and said: "This official only needs 3,000 barbarian soldiers under Miss Xiao's account to accompany the expedition, just ask the lords of Wuxi of the Dawang Ward to let them go, and send people who are familiar with the geography of Wuxi to take us out of this inaccessible wasteland secretly." ”

Ye Wutie groaned: "This is easy to do, but the king of Wuling City has also been there, although there are not many defenders, but it is difficult to overcome, there are only 3,000 Han troops under the command of the adult, and together with 3,000 warriors under the little girl's tent, there are only 6,000 troops, thousands of miles of expedition, how can you go down to Wuling?" ”

Liu Zhang lowered his head and chuckled: "The king is too worried. ”

Ye Wutie smiled awkwardly, and said loudly: "My lord is strategizing and winning a thousand miles, I won't ask Ye Wutie, in this way, in addition to the three thousand warriors of the little girl, I will urgently gather two thousand barbarian troops for the adults to strengthen the army." ”

"So, thank you, King."

On the night of the wedding, Liu Zhang led 3,000 elite Dongzhou soldiers, 3,000 barbarian troops carried dry food through the Wuxi jungle, the army was all equipped with bows and arrows and white pole guns, bows and arrows were tied to the rope ladder, and the white pole guns were hung off the cliff, the mountains and rivers were dangerous, such as walking on the ground, along the way, the lord of Wuxi sent warriors to help the battle under the order of Ye Wutie, and gave food supplies, and arrived at the border of Wuxi ten days later, Liu Zhang's army reached 8,000,

The waist of the high mountain, in the clouds and mist, Liu Zhang and the generals look at the city of Wuling, Wuling is surrounded by mountains on three sides facing the water, although it is a small city, in order to prevent the invasion of barbarians, it is also very solid, on three sides of the mountain, the trees are all cut down, even if it is tens of thousands of siege troops, it is extremely difficult to overcome, not to mention that Liu Zhang's men are a group of barbarians without siege equipment.

After a few days of bumpy mountain roads, Fa Zheng was already tired and scattered, dragging his tired body, looking at Wuling City and said: "Lord, my subordinates heard that Liu Pan in Changsha besieged Zhang Yi, and he was about to win, and we must take Wuling before Zhang Yi was defeated, so as to make a profit." ”

Liu Zhang said lightly: "This official has never thought of profiting from the fisherman, has Xiaozhi forgotten Yang Song in Hanzhong?" As long as our troops arrive, Liu Pan and Zhang Yi will definitely strike and unite to resist me, and this official has long planned to cut them off in one fell swoop, but there are still three days to go before the Chinese New Year's Eve, the mountain wind is cold, and this official will rush to Wuling City for the New Year. ”

"Wuling Chengjian, how can you go down in three days?" All the generals were shocked, and they always thought that they would have to sleep in the mountains during the Chinese New Year this year.

"Shamoko." Liu Zhang ordered in a cold voice.

"The end will be."

"Do you want to make a big contribution?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to spend the New Year in Wuling City?"

Shamoke was stunned for a moment, and replied loudly, "Yes." ”

"That's good." Liu Zhangyao pointed to the northwest of Wuling: "Do you see that village?" I want you to take 300 barbarians down the mountain and loot. ”

"Yes."

Shamoko answered loudly, carrying two bows and thistles in his hand, and led three hundred barbarians to rush down the mountain as if they were daily raids.

"Lord, those are innocent civilians, isn't that right?" Fa Zheng couldn't bear to say.

"In extraordinary times, do extraordinary things."

Liu Zhang didn't say much, let Zhang Ren take the army to the mountain pass, hide the tracks, avoid the cold, and lead 3,000 people to follow Shamoke, ambush around the village, Shamoke led 300 barbarians to rush into the village, burning and looting all the way, the villagers ran and shouted, but they did not wait for the result that Liu Zhang wanted.

In the afternoon, Shamoke again led people to loot another village, Liu Zhang sent 3,000 people to ambush from the new, still as usual, and saw that on the 29th, Shamoke began to loot the eighth village.

In Wuling City, the soldiers urgently reported to the old lady of Wuling guarding the Liang Bridge: "My lord, it's not good, the barbarians have plundered the eastern village again, killed the villagers' cattle and sheep, burned the houses, and robbed the winter rice grain, and the village elders came to ask for help." ”

Gong Zhi stepped forward and said: "My lord, I haven't heard of any disasters in the Wuxi barbarian area this year, why is the barbarian looting so crazy, and now the local elders who ask for help from all over the country are crowded outside the Taishou Mansion, and the Taishou should make a decision as soon as possible." ”

Liang Qiao is already in his fifties, even if he is old and serious, he can't help but be angry at this time: "How can this be reasonable, this official is about to leave office, I didn't plan to deal with this group of barbarians, but I didn't expect these barbarians to be too ignorant of the height of the sky, robbed one after another, hundreds of barbarians are so rampant, if it goes on like this, isn't it that the official has not been quiet for many years, and he has given an order to go down, gather a thousand soldiers and horses, and before nightfall, be sure to defeat the barbarians and kill them all." ”

"Yes."