The news of Cao Cao's capture of Yecheng reached Changsha, Liu Ze was discussing with the ministers, and he couldn't help but be stunned when he heard the news, and sighed: "Cao Cao still captured the land of Hebei, and no one in the north can stop Cao Cao anymore. ”

Jia Xu said: "Cao Cao has the land of Hebei, and the next step will definitely be to plot Jing Xu, although the five-year contract between the lord and Cao Cao has not yet arrived, but it is still necessary to guard against it." ”

Liu Ze nodded and said, "The five-year contract is just an expedient measure, and it is completely impossible to restrain Cao Cao's ambition to be hospitalized with it, it seems that Jing Xu's entire defense plan will be reformulated." ”

After capturing the four counties of Jingnan, Liu Ze immediately began to make a large-scale adjustment of the personnel of the four counties of Jingnan, Gong Zhi was appointed as the Taishou of Wuling County, Liu Du was appointed as the Taishou of Lingling County, and the Taishou of Guiyang County was held by Fu Xun. Among the nine counties of Jingxiang, except for Nanyang County, eight counties have been under Liu Ze's command, and the Taishou of these eight counties have arranged proper candidates, as for the military of each county, it is naturally no longer under the jurisdiction of the Taishou, Liu Ze appointed eight other captains to take charge of the military of each county.

After the pacification of the nine counties of Jingxiang, the biggest problem in front of Liu Ze was how to settle the surrendered troops and generals, from Jiangxia to Xinye, from Xiangyang to Jiangling, until the four counties of Jingnan, this way down, countless surrenderers, in order not to affect the combat effectiveness of the Jing army, Liu Ze has always been a separate battalion for the surrender of troops and generals, but this can only be an expedient measure, and the unified establishment is the general trend. If the Jing Army wants to improve its combat effectiveness, it must reorganize the armed forces that have already been absorbed.

There were about 780,000 people in the Jingxiang army, with more than 100,000 infantry and cavalry, and most of them were reorganized into three corps, namely the sixth, seventh, and eighth legions, except for some of them who were reorganized into county soldiers.

The Sixth Army will merge and reorganize with Guan Yu's Second Army, and Guan Yu will still serve as the governor of the Second Army, promoted to five-star general, and hired as deputy governor. The rank of deputy general. Gao Shun served as the governor of the Sixth Army. Promoted to the rank of full general, Zang Ba served as deputy governor.

The Third Infantry Division and the Fourth Infantry Division, which originally belonged to the Second Infantry Division, were now assigned to the Sixth Army Corps, and the general soldier of the Third Infantry Division was served by Cheng Lian, the former deputy commander-in-chief, and the general soldier of the Fourth Infantry Division was still Xu Xuan. The Second Army Corps was under the jurisdiction of the original 2nd Cavalry Division, 5th Infantry Division, and 12th Infantry Division. The 15th and 16th Infantry Divisions were added. Xiang Lang and Huo Jun served as the chief soldiers.

The Sixth Army also added three new divisions. Two infantry divisions: the 17th Infantry Division and the 18th Infantry Division, with Wei Xu and Zhang Ji as the commanders-in-chief, respectively; One cavalry division: the 8th Cavalry Division, with Yin Lilai as the commander-in-chief.

Both the Second and Sixth Legions were adjusted to a full strength of 50,000 men. Chen Deng was transferred to the Sixth Army Corps, and the Second Army was appointed by Ma Liang, who was recommended by Zhuge Liang. Ma's five constants, white eyebrows are the best, Ma Liang is known as a virtuous person in Jingzhou, but he is not on good terms with Cai Mao, so he has not been reused.

The Seventh Army is the Navy, with Gan Ning as the Governor of the Navy, with the rank of general, Wang Wei as the Deputy Governor of the Navy, with the rank of deputy general, and Ma Jian as the Seventh Legion. The Seventh Army consisted of three fleets, the first fleet was Su Fei, the second fleet was Shen Mi, and the third fleet was Lou Fa. Liu Ze carried out a drastic reform of the Jingzhou Naval Army, abolished nearly half of the soldiers, and selected the best to eliminate the inferior, so that the naval army was more capable. Each fleet had a full strength of 10,000 men, and with the addition of the troops directly under the legions, the total strength of the Seventh Army was 35,000. In addition, Liu Ze plans to train a naval corps with a total strength of 10,000 and three marine brigades, but this unit has not yet taken shape and has not yet been included in the establishment of the Seventh Army Corps.

The Eighth Army Corps is a newly formed corps, which does not adopt the mixed formation method of the Second and Sixth Army Corps, and is completely newly formed as a corps. Although the soldiers at the bottom are all from the surrender of Jingbei and Jingnan, after the graduates of the recent batch of the East Point Military Academy have been enriched to the middle level of the Eighth Army, this regiment composed entirely of Jingzhou surrender troops has also radiated a new brilliance.

Huang Zhong was appointed by Liu Ze as the governor of the Eighth Army, with the rank of general, more or less than expected, Huang Zhong is both old and a new person, and he has not made an inch, this time it is a step to the sky, and Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhang Liao, Tai Shici and many peerless famous generals who have made great achievements stand side by side, which is indeed very surprising. The deputy governor of the Eighth Army was Wei Yan, a native of Yiyang, who, like Huang Zhong, was also a junior general, whose only exploits came from the battle in Xiangyang to quell the Kuai rebellion. Liu Ze put this new legion in the hands of the two generals, and many people felt that Liu Ze was taking a risk. However, Liu Ze has always been known for his unique vision, and he is stubborn in his own opinion on this appointment, Jia Xu and other veteran-level important ministers cautiously raised objections, and Liu Ze did not adopt them, so many people still have some expectations for the Eighth Army.

The Eighth Army consisted of the 19th, 20th, and 21st Infantry Divisions and the 9th Cavalry Division, with a total strength of 50,000 troops. Mu Shun served as the commander-in-chief of the 19th Infantry Division, Song Xian served as the commander-in-chief of the 20th Infantry Division, Lei Xu served as the commander-in-chief of the 21st Infantry Division, and Mao Hui served as the commander-in-chief of the 9th Cavalry Division. Lei Xu is Lei Bo's younger brother, who was a general under Yuan Shu, Yuan Shu was defeated and followed Lei Bo Chen Lan to surrender to Liu Ze, and served as a brigade lieutenant and deputy commander-in-chief.

The Eighth Army was joined by Yin Guan. Yin Guan is a native of Nanjun County, Jingzhou, Liu Biao was not reused when he was in power, only Caiyang County Order, after Liu Ze was in charge of Jingzhou, he was quickly promoted, and he was strategically outstanding and had unique insights.

After the army completed the reorganization, Liu Ze, who had already sat firmly in Jingxiang, could not wait to embark on a new journey, Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao and occupied Jizhou, for Liu Ze, there was a huge pressure invisibly, and if he wanted to confront Cao Cao, he had to become stronger.

With Jia Xu's Jianyì, the target of the next attack should be Jiangdong. The battle of Chibi, Liu Shengsun defeated, undoubtedly laid a solid foundation for the unification of Jiangnan, the people who Dongwu relied on, but the powerful naval army and the Yangtze River natural risk, now Liu Ze has obtained the whole territory of Jingzhou, and Dongwu shares the risk of the Yangtze River, from Jingzhou to the east of Wuhui, there are several dry roads to go, relying on the strong infantry and cavalry strength of the Jing army, long drive eastward, enough to level Dongwu, sit on half of the south of the Yangtze River, with Xu Huai Jingxiang strategic depth, in the future and Cao Cao to compete for the world, but also completely have a solid backing, enough to be invincible.

And Zhuge Liang's construction yì is to go west to Bashu. Although Sun Quan in Jiangdong experienced the defeat of Chibi and suffered heavy losses, the Sun family has been running Jiangdong for several years, the tree has deep roots, and the defeat of Chibi is only to hurt its muscles and not move its bones, not to mention that the water network in the south of the Yangtze River is dense, especially Wuhui and other places, which are called water towns, if there is no strong water army, the Jing army is almost impossible to move an inch, and it will take at least two to three years or even longer to completely defeat Sun Quan, and the longer the war drags on, the more unfavorable it is to the Jing army. And the land of Bashu, known as the country of abundance, fertile fields for thousands of miles, the country is rich and the people are rich, its lord Liu Zhang is weak and can not defend himself, at this time to take Yizhou, it can be said to be a godsend. With Sichuan and Shu as the foundation, with Hanzhong as the gateway, you can take the road of Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, to take the world, take the letter valley in the pass, and the world is in its hands.

The strategists under the account were divided into two factions, one supported Jia Xu's eastward expansion strategy, and the other supported Zhuge Liang's westward expansion plan.

Whether it is eastward or westward into Yizhou, an important issue is overlooked, that is, Yizhou has the danger of mountains and rivers, and Jiangdong has water towns and geographical advantages, and it seems that it is not easy to take Yizhou and Jiangdong in a short period of time, and a protracted war is also unbearable for the Jing army. Cao Cao's eyeing made Liu Ze realize that it was necessary to establish a large depth in order to ensure that there could be a steady stream of follow-up forces in the future contest with Cao Cao, and the decisive battle with Cao Cao was the most important thing in the future, and the manpower, material and financial resources required for this decisive battle were undoubtedly an astronomical amount, and in order to ensure the final victory of this war, Liu Ze must rely on some unconventional means.

So, Liu Ze threw out another plan, and the sword went sideways and pointed directly at Jiaozhou. (To be continued......)