There are a total of nine military camps in Xiangyang, four of which are outside the city, distributed in the east, south, west and north directions of Xiangyang City, and are also the four largest military camps, stationed in the main forces such as the Guards Regiment and the Suzaku Legion.

The remaining five military camps are located in the city, of which one battalion is in the east, south, west and north of the outer city, and the Xiangyang City Guards are stationed, which is the special garrison of the capital of Xiangyang.

The last one is in the inner city, next to the palace of the king of Chu and the headquarters of the spy shadow, where the Praetorian Guards are stationed.

The venue of this big competition is the Nanying outside the city, which was originally the station of the Qinglong Legion, but the Qinglong Legion is still stationed in Jiaozhou, so it is an empty camp and is just right to use as a venue.

After many days of preparation, the army competition was held as scheduled, and all legions selected the best elite teams, ready to show their faces in front of Wang Xu, and the momentum of the scene surprised everyone!

No one could have imagined that there would be so many onlookers!

Countless people piled up in the huge open-air venue early, and they couldn't see the end at a glance, and even many people came here to occupy a place before dawn, and it seemed that in the stable and stable life of the people in Xiangyang and the surrounding areas, this public competition seemed to be an extremely important event!

When Wang Xu arrived at the venue with his daughters and children, he was slightly taken aback when he saw such a grand occasion, but he quickly calmed down, maintained a gentle smile, and slowly walked onto the high platform specially built for him and the civil and military officials in the earth-shattering cheers and greetings of the people.

The layout and arrangement of the venue was taken care of by Taichang Xianglang, and after welcoming Wang Xu and the women to sit down, he hesitated. Or bowed down and asked, "Lord! The queen, Concubine Yu, Concubine Xiang, and Concubine Rong have not yet arrived. Do you want to make room for them? ”

"No need! The queen occasionally contracted a minor illness. Concubine Yu and the others stayed in the palace to take care of it, so they didn't participate in this matter! Wang Xu waved his hand and said with a disapproving smile.

"Got it!" Xiang Lang didn't ask much, and returned with a smile: "Then the lord and the hostesses will sit down first, and tea will be served later!" ”

"Go ahead and get busy! Leave us alone! ”

Wang Xu's mood was obviously very good, quite excited, and his eyes were measuring around.

Xu Shu contracted the disease and was unable to attend the event. It didn't attract too much attention, after all, it was a very ordinary and ordinary thing, and the big competition still started in an extremely enthusiastic atmosphere.

It's just that Wang Xu didn't expect that this competition would give him a big enough surprise from the beginning, these elite soldiers selected from various legions, the combat effectiveness is really extraordinary, and there are many strange tricks, especially the matching skills of various weapons, which are eye-opening, and it must be the generals in each legion who think hard to come out. Just to show military might.

For example, one of the participating teams of the Suzaku Legion is a combination of spear, simple sword, and round shield. A group of five, a total of four groups, cooperated tacitly, brought the combat effectiveness of the soldiers to the limit, and even made Wang Xu rise up the idea of large-scale trial in the army. Of course, the level of the other armies is also very high, each with its own characteristics, and it makes use of its strengths and avoids its weaknesses, which makes people's eyes shine.

When it was confirmed that the generals in the army were still there, and the two main forces in Xiangyang did not have any abnormal movements, they all came to watch carefully, attracted by the fierce competition......

Yingchuan County is bordered by Luoyang in the west, Nanyang in Jingzhou in the southwest, and Runan in Yuzhou in the southeast, which is an important defense line for Cao Cao's forces to face Jingzhou today. For the sake of safety, Cao Cao not only stationed heavy troops here, but also dispatched a number of generals under his command to guard here, especially after he went north to conquer Youzhou, he also sent his henchman Xi Zhicai to take on the main role with Cheng Yu.

Xi Zhicai has a heavy responsibility, of course, he does not dare to slack off, connecting Luoyang, Yingchuan, and Runan into a solid line of defense, and the business place is like an iron bucket, but even so, he is still cautious every day, paying close attention to Jingzhou's every move, especially after Wang Xu returned to Xiangyang from Jiaozhou.

For so long, Ben had been uneventful, but recently, he had suddenly fallen into sorrow and unease.

When he got a secret report earlier, saying that Wang Xu suddenly engaged in a big competition of elite soldiers, he was vigilant, after all, Wang Xu played this kind of trick not once or twice. At the moment, not only did the garrisons everywhere immediately enter a state of alert, but also sent a large number of scouts to investigate everywhere, and paid close attention to the situation of the garrisons in Xiangyang and Nanyang.

But after ten days, there was no movement on the Jingzhou side, and Nanyang's spies reported that Nanyang's army was normal and completely unchanged from the past.

Xiangyang's return is more accurate, saying that the two main forces of the Vermilion Bird Legion and the Guards Legion have not moved, especially those generals in the army, who frequently appear in front of the public in Xiangyang, and what they do is also very easy to discern, it is completely a matter of preparing for the competition, and even it can be said that most of the energy is exhausted.

In this way, Xi Zhicai gradually put his mind at ease, and just told him to continue to investigate closely, and the high-level combat readiness state was also lifted, after all, long-term combat readiness is a matter of labor and money, and he also felt that he was too sensitive.

If Wang Xu has nothing to do, and every two or three months he conducts some large-scale military training and competition, he is also always on combat readiness and alert, closing the trade inside and outside the city, and the army is under high martial law every day, making him tired, wouldn't he be dragged to death.

But this peace of mind did not last long, and it disappeared completely two days ago.

Because Zhang He led 60,000 troops from the Eastern Army and went straight to Pheasant County.

Pheasant County originally belonged to the Nanyang boundary, located in the northeast of the county capital Wancheng, and was also controlled by Jingzhou in the early years, but the Jingzhou forces were passive in several confrontations with the Cao army, which was gradually occupied by the Cao army, and together with the two counties of Duyang and Wuyin in the east of Wancheng, it became the first line of defense for the Cao army to contain Jingzhou.

After these years of operation, although the county seat of these three counties is not a steep pass, it also has a strong defense, and it is stationed with heavy troops all year round.

When he learned that Zhang He was marching in a big way, Xi Zhicai also immediately built a hundred thousand horse infantry led by Xiahou Yuan and personally rushed to Pheasant County to reinforce and join the original defenders. There were 20,000 people.

But. This is a deployment on the surface. He is not afraid at all, but what he is really worried about is the conspiracy in the dark.

He vaguely felt that the big competition in Xiangyang was a game, and Wang Xu didn't know what kind of surprise attack he was secretly doing.

However, judging from the intelligence, there are no flaws at all, the two main forces of Xiangyang have not moved at all, and there are many main generals, so there is no problem no matter how you look at it. It's just that the more this happens, the more worried he becomes, where did this soldier come from, and where will this come from?

Xi Zhicai looked at the map on the table from time to time, and looked at the Xiangyang information in his hand from time to time, and his brows furrowed closer and closer.

Cheng Yu next to him saw him like this, and he was relieved, and persuaded him loudly: "Zhicai, maybe Zhang He sent troops to Yingchuan, but under the idea of attacking and defending, he took the initiative to attack us." So that Jingzhou is as stable as Mount Tai, in order to weaken our power. Don't worry too much. ”

"Alas!" Xi Zhicai sighed and gently put the information in his hand on the table. "Zhongde, your intelligence is extraordinary, can't you see the strangeness in it? Don't comfort me anymore, now you still have to guess the deployment of Jingzhou as much as possible. ”

"Zhicai, Wang Xu is deep in the way of reality with soldiers, and there is a ghost talent Guo Fengxiao and others to help, he is as cunning as a fox, in my opinion, if you can't think it through, it's best not to continue to think about it, just remember a few points, and then deploy it yourself!"

"Oh?" Xi Zhicai was slightly surprised: "You mean, it may be a suspicious situation, which makes me think about it in every way, and the actual plan has nothing to do with it at all?" ”

"It's hard to say! But there is a possibility! Cheng Yu smiled slightly, and said calmly: "Zhicai had more confrontations with Yuan Shao, Lu Bu, Tao Qian and others in the early years, and had fewer confrontations with Jingzhou, so I may not know much about it. To guard against him, as long as you guard against a few of its cores, you can leave it alone at all, and you can fight how you want! ”

Although Xi Zhicai is one of Cao Cao's biggest contributors to the unification of the north, he does rarely have really close contact with Jingzhou, however, Cheng Yu is different, he has been guarding Jingzhou for many years, and he knows a lot about it openly and secretly, so he is more familiar with it.

The reason why Cao Cao put the two together is because Xi Zhi is more strategic, but Cheng Yu is more experienced, and cooperation with each other can play a great role.

Sure enough, after listening to Cheng Yu's words, Xi Zhicai gradually spread his brows, took a deep breath, first put aside everything he had thought about before in his mind, closed his eyes and stood quietly for a while, then opened his wise and bright eyes again, and asked: "Zhongde, then what do you think is the key point that Wang Xu needs to guard against in this layout?" ”

"If he really wants to surprise him, he has two things." Cheng Yu put his hands behind his back and said indifferently: "First, if there is a surprise attack, where will its soldiers come from?" Second, what is his purpose in this battle? As long as we keep an eye on these two points, we don't have to think about anything else, and don't speculate about what he will do, just deploy our own tactics! ”

"But defending is attacking? I hope Zhongde will advise! ”

Xi Zhicai did not have the slightest impatience in the face of Cheng Yu's somewhat pointing tone, but listened attentively and asked sincerely, not only because he was a very humble person, but also because Cheng Yu was old, knowledgeable, and deeply respected by him.

Cheng Yu is a straightforward person, seeing that he sincerely asked, he didn't hide it, and said bluntly: "When Wang Xu, Guo Jia and others are together, they can't prevent it, they can only take the initiative to attack, and they can't expect to meet with them, the best way is for us to formulate our own plans, and then fight over, and finally fight hard." ”

Xi Zhicai showed a slight surprise: "In this way, won't we have great losses in every battle?" ”

Cheng Yu's eyes narrowed slightly, as if he was used to it: "Fighting with Yuan Shao and others, you can speculate on their strategies, so as to plan and achieve a great victory at a very small cost, but in the face of Wang Xu and Guo Jia, Xu Shu, Chen Deng and other generations united, it is impossible not to lose. ”

Xi Zhicai was silent, thinking quietly for a long time, but suddenly smiled freely: "When the lord ordered me to come to Yingchuan, he once said a word, I didn't think that I was so stupid, and today I have Zhongde's prompt, so I really understand its meaning!" (To be continued......)