Xu Shu shook his head and said: "It's not proper, if our army goes deep alone, and the Yangtze River waterway is cut off by the Jiangdong Navy, how can the supply of logistics grain and grass continue, is it difficult to feed the enemy?" If the defenders of Jiangdong wait for work, hold on tightly without fighting, and clear the wilderness, our army will have no way to advance and retreat, and there is a risk that the whole army will be annihilated. According to a certain opinion, if you want to take Jiangdong, you must first get the Yangtze River, and if you want to get the Yangtze River, you must first defeat the Jiangdong naval army. If our army does not have the certainty of defeating the Jiangdong naval army for the time being, then the land of Jiangdong can only be postponed. ”

Everyone nodded yes, Jia Xu said: "The people of Jiangdong are strong and the country is dangerous, if the lord gets Jiangdong, he and Xu Huai are one, and they are mutually reasonable, they can attack and retreat, and this sincerity can be the foundation of hegemony." However, Jiangdong Sun Ce is brave and resolute, and his subordinates are like clouds, and he also has the world's first naval army, so it is difficult to compete with him for the time being. Jingzhou north according to the Han Dynasty, east of Wuhui, west of Bashu, is the thoroughfare of the world, now the lord of Jingzhou Liu Biao only knows the elegance, the name is not real, good and evil do not distinguish, the lord can first map Jingxiang, if the Han nine counties, then you can share the risk of the Yangtze River with Jiangdong, then then the Jiangdong map, it is easy to get the ear. ”

Liu Ze smiled slightly and said: "Wenhe's meaning is very much in line with my heart, I have made up my mind, take Jingxiang first, and then seek Jiangdong." In fact, in Liu Ze's own considerations, he also gave priority to capturing Jingxiang, compared to the strong Sun Ce, Liu Biao is much easier to deal with, not to mention that he has no naval army now, and if he wants to cross the river to fight, the difficulty is better than climbing to the sky.

Now that Liu Ze has decided to take Jingzhou in the west, the central topic of this discussion has shifted to how to capture Jingzhou.

Jingzhou was formerly governed by Hanshou, and has seven counties under its jurisdiction: Nanyang, Nanjun, Jiangxia, Wuling, Guiyang, Changsha and Lingling. At the end of the Han Dynasty, a part of the area was divided from Nanyang and Nanjun to set up two counties, Xiangyang and Zhangwu, which were known as "Jingxiang Nine Counties". In the first year of Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, Sun Jian, the Taishou of Changsha, raised troops against Dong and forced Wang Rui, the assassin of Jingzhou, to death. Under the strong recommendation of Dong Zhuo, after King Hanlu Gong, Liu Biao, known as one of the Eight Juns, appeared on the stage and served as the assassin of Jingzhou.

At that time, the situation in Jingzhou was chaotic, Yuan Shu occupied Nanyang, Jiangnan sect thieves were rampant, and Wu people Su were the Taishou of Changsha. Bei Yu is the magistrate of Huarong County. Each according to the militia and dominates the area. No one is optimistic about Liu Biao, who looks like a Confucian student, and some people even say that Liu Ze will not be able to take over from Hanshou at all, but at this time, Liu Biao's appearance is beyond everyone's expectations. Ride into Yicheng alone. It has the full support of the local wealthy clans Kuai and Cai. In one fell swoop, he put down the Jiangnan sect thieves, and later moved the state from Hanshou to Xiangyang.

After entering Jingzhou, Liu Biao was greedy for pleasure. Dote on his stepwife Cai, who is better than sitting and talking, guarding one acre and three points of land in Jingzhou, and has no ambition in all directions. When Dong Zhuo was strong, he welcomed Dong Zhuo, and when Yuan Shao gained power, he befriended Yuan Shao, although he was neutral and did not participate in the battle against Dong, but he carried out Yuan Shao's order to intercept and kill Sun Jian, and finally led Sun Jian to die in battle, and formed an indissoluble grudge with Jiangdong.

From Xu Huai to Jingzhou, in front of Liu Ze was Jiangxia County. Jiangxia County and across the Han River Yangtze River, is the east gate of Jingzhou, since the grudge with Jiangdong, Liu Biao did not dare to neglect Jiangxia's defense, appointed Huang Zu as Jiangxia Taishou, sitting in Xiling, strictly guarding the east gate of Jingzhou. If the Xuzhou army wants to capture Jingxiang, it must first defeat Huang Zu in Jiangxia and open up the road to the west.

At the end of last year, Liu Ze had already ordered Meng Tan's Second Infantry Division to move from Xiaopei to Lu'an, and collect grain and grass in Lu'antun, so as to have a plan for Jiangxia's Xiyang.

Obviously, the news of Liu Ze's intention to get involved in Jingzhou stimulated Sun Ce, and Sun Ce soon sent troops to Jiangxia. The news soon came to Xuzhou, including Liu Ze, all the subordinates of Xuzhou were slightly surprised, some time ago just came the news that Sun Ce was injured by an assassin while hunting outside, and the injury was not light, it stands to reason that Sun Ce should still be recuperating at this time, but he didn't expect Sun Ce to send troops to attack Jiangxia.

The current Jingzhou seems to be a piece of fat, Xuzhou and Jiangdong are eyeing it, and everyone wants to get started first. Sun Ce's dispatch of troops to Jiangxia made Liu Ze suddenly nervous, if Sun Ce won Jingzhou, then Sun Ce would have a complete Yangtze River defense line, and Liu Ze would want to seize Jingzhou or even Jiangdong, which can be described as overwhelming. So Liu Ze made a move when it was time to make a move, and quickly formulated a plan to send troops.

At present, the Xuzhou Army has expanded three infantry divisions and one cavalry division, namely the 12th Infantry Division and the general Wu Dun; 13th Infantry Division, General Soldier Xu Xi; 14th Infantry Division, General Soldier Xu Wei; The Seventh Cavalry Division, General Soldier Yu She. Liu Ze did not add a new corps establishment, but incorporated the four new divisions into four corps, the 7th Cavalry Division was assigned to the 1st Army Corps, the 12th Infantry Division was assigned to the 2nd Army Corps, the 13th Infantry Division was assigned to the 4th Army Corps, and the 14th Infantry Division was assigned to the 5th Army Corps.

Due to the non-aggression pact signed with Cao Cao, and Yuan Cao had fallen into a stalemate positional battle in Guandu, neither Cao Cao nor Yuan Shao had the possibility of plotting Xuzhou now, so Liu Ze was very calm in dealing with the defense of the northern front. Liu Ze ordered the Eighth Infantry Division of the Fifth Army Corps, which was originally stationed in Huaibei and Runan, to be stationed in Xuzhou, and the Sixth Cavalry Division to be stationed in Xiaopei, under the command of Chen Zhi, the deputy governor of the Fifth Army, and Tai Shici still commanded the 15th and 11th Infantry Divisions to garrison Huaibei and Runan.

But for the defense of the southern front Liu Ze did not dare to take it lightly, Zhang Liao's Fourth Army Corps stationed in Huainan, especially the defense of Hefei, is the top priority, Guangling, Liu Ze arranged the Fourth Infantry Division of Xu Xuan of the Second Army to garrison, from Huainan to Guangling line, Xuzhou Army invested five divisions of 50,000 horses, plus the city defense troops of various counties and counties, a total of more than 60,000 people, Liu Ze is very confident, even if the Jiangdong Army pours over, it may not be able to take Hefei Guangling.

After the deployment of garrison troops was completed, the army of the Western Expedition was also determined, the troops of the Western Expedition were the First, Second and Third Army Corps, except for the Fourth Division of the Second Army Corps stationed in Guangling, the three Army Corps were almost all dispatched as a whole corps, in addition Liu Ze transferred the Seventh Infantry Division from the Fourth Army Corps, and the Tenth Infantry Division from the Fifth Army Corps to participate in the Western Expedition, which was temporarily under the command of the First Army Corps, so that the strength of the expedition was 60,000 people in the six divisions of the First Army Corps, 50,000 people in the five divisions of the Second Army Corps, and 15,000 people in the two divisions of the Third Army Corps, with a total strength of 125,000 men.

Jingzhou has 50,000 horse troops, 150,000 infantry troops, 80,000 naval troops, and more than 7,000 large and small warships, with a total strength of 280,000. But Liu Ze didn't think so, the Jingzhou soldiers were stronger than the Xuzhou soldiers in the water army, and the Xuzhou army did not have a formed water army so far, but compared to the combat power of the army, Liu Ze did not think that the 200,000 horses of the Jingzhou army could compete with his own 100,000 army, not to mention that the third army of the thunder cavalry had completed the whole training, and this mysterious journey built with a lot of money set foot on the battlefield for the first time, and it was time for the thunder cavalry to become famous in the world.

From Lu'an to the west over the Dabie Mountain, it enters the Jianghan Plain of Pingchuan, Jiangxia County Xiakou has the Yangtze River as a barrier to the south, and to the north is unobstructed, there is no danger to follow, it is the place where Xuzhou soldiers and cavalry play their strengths. Even if it crosses the Han River to attack Xiangyang, Jingzhou's naval army has no place to borrow, as long as Liu Ze is not ready to cross the river to attack the four counties of Jingnan, although the Jingzhou naval army is powerful, it has no use.

Since the Jiangdong Army was already out of Chaisang by water and Anhui by land, and the two armies were rushing straight to Jiangxia with great momentum, Liu Ze did not dare to delay at all, and immediately dispatched troops after the troops were ordered.

In King Jing's Mansion, Liu Ze and his three ladies and three children said goodbye. Cai Yan was already pregnant, and her body was already slightly bloated, Liu Ze held her soft twing, and said slightly apologetically: "Yan'er, when I gave birth to Wei'er, I didn't be able to be by your side, I just thought that I must guard you this time, but unfortunately the military affairs are urgent, and I am afraid that I will lose my words again this time." ”

Cai Yan smiled lightly and said: "The husband is a person who does great things, why do you care about the small sections, you can go with confidence, when the child is born, I will report safety in front of the army." ”

Liu Ze nodded and said, "Yan'er, take care." Liu Ze said goodbye to Gan Ping, Mi Lan and the children, and when they left, Cai Yan suddenly said: "Husband, I don't know when the date of return is, it's better to give the child a name first." ”

Liu Ze pondered for a moment and said, "This expedition is imminent, if it is a boy, how about calling him Liu Zheng?" ”

Cai Yan smiled and said, "What if it's a girl?" ”

"If it's a girl, just follow her sister's name, cast it with a peach, repay it with Qiong Yao, vote for papaya, repay it with Qiongju, just call her Liu Ju."

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Sun Ce led 30,000 infantry troops, and connected with Zhou Yu's 50,000 naval army, advancing by land and water, looking at Xiakou to kill. Since his father Sun Jian died in the battle of Da Xian Mountain, Sun Ce vowed to sacrifice his father's spirit in the sky with the heads of Liu Biao and Huang Zu, although eight years have passed, but the seed of hatred has already taken root in Sun Ce's heart, and in the past eight years, he has not forgotten for a moment to take revenge. At the age of seventeen, in order to find an opportunity for revenge, he threw himself into Yuan Shu's account, wanting to use Yuan Shu's power to avenge his father, but Yuan Shu was insatiable and capricious, and Sun Ce could only leave disappointed in the end, and with his own efforts, he finally created a foundation in Jiangdong.

Occupied Anhui City, conquered Yuzhang, and opened a road for Sun Ce to enter Jingzhou in the west, from that moment on, Sun Ce began to shoot horses on Poyang Lake, always ready to shoot the arrow of revenge to Jingzhou, and today, looking at the city of Xiakou from afar, Sun Ce can finally relax his throat and vent the fire of hatred that has been held in his heart for eight years:

"Liu Biao! Huang Zu! Today is the day to pay you the blood debt! (To be continued......)