In the thirteenth year of Jian'an, in 208 AD, Cao Cao's southern expedition failed, and his troops were defeated in Chibi, coupled with the spread of plague in the army at that time, the soldiers were tired of war, and had to order the retreat. At the same time, he left Cao Ren, a beloved general, as the governor to command the Jingzhou armies to defend against the northern invasions of the Sun-Liu coalition army.

And where will Sun Liu's side give Cao Jun a chance to breathe? In order to seize Jingzhou, shortly after the Battle of Chibi, the Sun-Liu coalition army, under the unified command of Zhou Yu, marched into Jiangling, where Cao's army was heavily deployed, in order to occupy and seize Nanjun and other important military places in central Jingzhou.

Of course, this is just the strategic intention of Soochow.

East of Jiangling City, Liu Bei's camp.

"Military advisor, I think Cao Ren's guy is quite strong, Jiangling City is strong, the soldiers are good and the food is sufficient, I'm afraid it won't be an overnight thing to capture!" Liu Bei described him as tired and tired. This guy has been fighting Jiangling with Zhou Yu for almost half a month. But Gangneung Fortress is still impregnable. Liu Bei was a little deflated.

Father Zhuge sat at the bottom of Liu Bei, shook the feather fan lightly, and smiled silently. Young Master Zhuge who was sitting on the left side of Zhuge Father was struggling with the roast leg of lamb in his hand, and said in his heart, this cook is really irresponsible, he didn't bake for a while for Mao, and the young master couldn't chew this roast leg of lamb even after a long time. But he forgot that he himself said that he wanted to eat seven ripe roast lamb legs. It's not ripe, so it's naturally not chewy.

Liu Bei saw that Father Zhuge was pretending to be as in the past, so he turned his head to the other side and cast his expectant eyes on our Xu Junshi. That's right, it's our Xu Shu military division. Last time, Young Master Zhuge played a big game in Jiangxia City, and put Cao Zhen together, not only got Jiangxia City, but also brought back Liu Bei's first military advisor, Zhuge Daddy's predecessor, Xu Shu Xu Yuanzhi. Since Xu Yuanzhi's mother had passed away at that time, Xu Shu had no worries in his heart, so he was naturally happy to come back. After coming back, Liu Bei did not care about Xu Shu's intention of abandoning himself and defecting to Cao Cao, not only led his subordinates out of the city for ten miles to greet him, but also very generously continued to appoint him as his military advisor, and his status was on an equal footing with Zhuge Daddy. In this regard, Zhuge Dad did not care at all. In addition to the open-minded personality of Father Zhuge , the main thing is that the relationship between this guy and Xu Shu is completely good enough to wear a pair of pants. This guy ran back to be a military advisor, and he happened to be in cahoots with himself, so why didn't he rejoice in his heart.

Xu Shu saw Liu Bei looking at him, and turned his face to look at Zhuge Daddy's pretending to be cool, and it seemed that he didn't plan to say anything. I can't help it, so I have to say it myself. Otherwise, it would be too faceless for Liu Bei.

Xu Shu stroked his beard, smiled slightly, and asked without answering, "What can you do if you capture Jiangling?" ”

"Huh?" Xu Shu's words stopped Liu Bei, who had just meant that he was busy attacking Jiangling with Zhou Yu, but he had never thought about these questions properly. was asked coldly by Xu Shu, and he was also stunned. Yes! What about taking Gangneung? Jiangling is the important place of Jingzhou, and it took a lot of effort for Dongwu to defeat Cao Cao, attack Cao Ren, and get Jiangling. Could it be that you can still give Jiangling to me Liu Bei? The people of Soochow are not stupid, where is there such a cheap thing in the world? "What does Yuan Zhi mean?"

Xu Shu smiled slightly, "The lord is a person with great ambitions, where can he live under the people for a long time?" At the beginning, Cao Cao's high-ranking officials and lords called them brothers, but the lords still refused to be attached. Sun Zhongmou, Zhou Gongjin, Huangkou Xiaoer! Now they are all commanding the lord, and they are pretending to be officials, is the lord really willing? ”

"This ...... How can a person not bow his head under the eaves? Now we will have few soldiers, a shortage of food, grass, and weapons, and we have no place to base and nowhere to stay. Liu Bei sighed.

"Ha Lu haha, it seems that the lord has not lost his ambition of Kunpeng, since the lord has few soldiers, there is a shortage of grain, grass and weapons, and there is no place to have a foundation, and there is nowhere to live, then Yuan Zhi will send the lord to the land of the four counties, is the lord willing to laugh?"

"What?" Liu Bei stood up in surprise, "The land of the four counties? Yuan Nao can't be a joke, right? ”

Xu Shu also stood up, and walked to the map hanging high in the hall with a smile, and pointed with his hand, "This is the place where Xu wants to give it to his foothold!" ”

"The four counties of Jingnan?"

"Yes!"

"What does Yuan Zhi mean?"

"Hahaha, lord, do you remember "Longzhong Pair"?" Father Zhuge asked with a smile.

""Longzhong Pair"? Of course, that was the plan made by the military advisor before he left the mountain to prepare for how to revive the Han Dynasty, every word was fine, and every sentence was kept in mind! ”

"At that time, he had said to the lord that if he wanted to take the world, he must first take Jingzhou, and now Cao Cao Chibi lost to the north, and he was unable to go south in a short time. Although Sun Quan won, the remaining Cao Ren troops in Jingzhou were still very strong, and it was not so easy to defeat Cao Ren in a short period of time. This is exactly what God has given to the Lord. Father Zhuge stood up, pointed to the map with a feather fan and said: "After the Red Cliff War, the strength of the three families of Cao, Sun and Liu has begun to appear, but among the three parties, the power of the lord is still the weakest. At this time, the most important thing we need to do is to find a place to live! ”

"What the military advisor said is extremely true!"

"Look, my lord, now the northern part of Jingzhou has been occupied by the Cao army, and we are powerless to compete with it. The eastern part of Jingzhou is Sun Quan's territory, and now Jiangxia has also fallen into the hands of Sun Quan, and we are no enemy. The western part of Jingzhou is Bashu, surrounded by mountains, the roads are dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack. Only ......"

"Only Jingnan is weak and can be attacked!" Liu Bei had an epiphany.

Father Zhuge smiled and nodded, "Besides......"

"In addition, most of the four counties of Jingnan are Liu Biao's old department, the lord can erect the banner of Liu Qi's son, and the uncle assists the nephew to protect the foundation of the old master, with this banner in hand, won't Jingnan have it at your fingertips?" Xu Shu decisively cut off the beard.

"Hahaha, good, good, good, after listening to the words of the two gentlemen, it really made Beimao suddenly open, and the sorrow in my heart was gone! I have two gentlemen, why worry about big things! Liu Bei's heart fell to the ground, thinking about the beautiful blueprint that Xu Shu and Zhuge Father had drawn for him, and suddenly he was full of pride, as if he was much more hardened when he even spoke.

In the afternoon of the same day, Liu Bei asked Zhou Yu for orders to go south to attack the four counties of Jingnan that were still dependent on Cao Cao on the grounds of cutting off Cao Ren's grain route. Hearing that Liu Bei was going to cut off Cao Ren's grain route, he also felt that this plan was feasible. Coupled with the vigorous advocacy of Liu Pai Lu Su in the army, he readily agreed. At the same time, Zhou Yu felt that Liu Bei had few soldiers, and was afraid that he would not have enough troops to go south, so he ordered Lu Su to send Liu Bei 1,000 foot soldiers and 1,000 sets of armor and weapons to increase his army. With Zhou Yu's support, Liu Bei was naturally happy, and set off with his subordinates before dawn the next day, and crossed the Yangtze River non-stop.