Sun Quan was defeated by Cao Zhang for a while, losing tens of thousands of troops, and he was frightened, so he wanted to collect his troops and return. At this time, Lu Meng spoke out to stop Sun Quan.

Lü Meng said to Sun Quan and the generals in the tent: "The lord sent troops this time to rebel for the righteousness, if he is defeated for a while, how can he see the determination to rebel?" This is one of them. Second, the lord has already made an appointment with Guanghua Guoshi and the king of Guanzhong, if the appointment does not come, will he not lose his trust? Third, if the lord returns, we will gain nothing in this battle. If it is not returned, the lord of Xuchang City can be equal to the national teacher and the king of Hanzhong. Therefore, at this time, returning to the soldiers makes people laugh, and not returning is the best policy. ”

Sun Quan wanted to return to the army, first, to see that Cao Bing was powerful, and secondly, he was afraid that he would lose face in front of Nan Ye and Liu Bei. But at this time, when he heard what Lu Meng said, he found that it was even more embarrassing to lead the troops back than to go to the alliance, so he refused the idea of returning to the army and asked Lu Meng: "What Ziming said is extremely true!" But I agreed with the national teacher and Xuande to bring 100,000 soldiers each, but now there are only 40,000 left, if those two ask how to answer? ”

Lu Meng smiled and asked, "Why is the lord here?" ”

Sun Quan was stunned and said: "Naturally, I came to ask for the traitor Cao Pi." ”

Lu Meng said: "That's it! The lord came to ask for Cao Pi, and because of the battle with him, he lost his troops and generals, how could the national teacher and the king of Guanzhong complain that the lord had not contributed? What's more, not a single Cao army was undamaged in this battle. The lord said that he also killed tens of thousands of Cao's troops and weakened the soldiers and horses in the city, so let's see what the two have to say. ”

Sun Quan was stunned when he heard this, and then laughed and said, "Yes! Yes also! This battle is the first battle of the three military horses to attack Xuchang! I'm a pioneer of the three companies! ”

Sometimes that's how it is, and when you look at it from different angles, you come to different conclusions. Before Sun Quan counted this battle as an alliance, he felt that the other two families each brought 100,000 soldiers and horses to Xuchang City, and he lost face by bringing 40,000. However, Lü Meng counted this battle in the siege battle after the alliance, believing that the three families each sent 100,000 soldiers and horses to attack Cao, and Cao Pi attacked Sun Quan first, which made Sun Quan lose his troops and lose his generals, not soldiers and horses. The difference between a single thought and a thousand miles is probably like this.

After listening to Lü Meng, Sun Quan also felt that the casualties in this battle were no different from the casualties that occurred during the siege of the city, and there was nothing to be ashamed of. So he ordered to continue the march, and ordered someone to inform Nan Ye, Liu Bei and Zhou Yu of the battle.

Nan Ye chose the road of entering Xuchang through Yuzhou, so he had already joined forces with Liu Bei. As soon as Sun Quan's messenger arrived, Nan Ye and Liu Bei were all taken aback. Unexpectedly, Li Ru, who was passively defending in the face of the army, could still take the initiative to attack.

Liu Bei sent the messenger away, frowning and saying to Nan Ye: "I don't want Cao Zhang to be so brave, but he actually made Sun Zhong plot to lose his troops and lose his generals." ”

Without waiting for Nan Ye to speak, Zhang Fei said on the side: "Brother, don't worry too much, Cao Zhangyi is just a yellow-mouthed child, I am willing to go into battle to capture my brother." ”

Nan Ye said with a smile: "Cao Zhang is naturally not Yide's opponent, but if you go out, wouldn't you bully the small with the big?" How could Li Ru let Cao Zhang come to fight you? ”

Zhuge Liang shook his feather fan and said: "What the national teacher said is not bad, then Cao Zhangzai Yong is not the opponent of the generals, but that Li Ru has been in Xuchang for many years and has never lost, and it is really not easy to deal with." I don't know if the national teacher has a clever plan to break the city? ”

Nan Ye's least favorite thing is to fight siege warfare. If it is a field battle, Nan Ye's skills can detect and ambush the enemy in advance, and can also prevent being ambushed by the enemy, but in the siege war, he can't use skills to trick him, and he is still waiting for Zhuge Liang to find a way. So he said to Zhuge Liang: "I don't have a plan to break the city, if Mr. Kong Ming has a clever plan in mind, I should follow the plan." ”

Zhuge Liang saw that Nan Ye was willing to listen to his own plan, so he couldn't help but smile slightly: "The national teacher still has no plan, what can I do." It is better to go to Xuchang first to meet the soldiers and horses of Eastern Wu, and then it is not too late to make a plan. ”

Nan Ye and Liu Bei had no plan for the time being, so they could only go to Xuchang first. In this way, 200,000 soldiers and horses marched to the city of Xuchang and set up camp. On the same day, Sun Quan's soldiers and horses also arrived, and the three soldiers and horses were dispatched, Nanye camped in the south of the city, Liu Bei was in the east of the city, Sun Quan was in the west of the city, and the north gate was left alone.

Cao Zhang saw the three families of soldiers and horses surrounding three sides in the city, so he said to Li Ru: "I see Nanye and others as just like this, if the three families and horses join forces together, we are not opponents." Now they are on guard, divided their troops into three sides, and just broke them one by one. I am willing to take advantage of the fact that the other army is still unstable and go down to the city tonight to fight. ”

Li Ru looked at it for a while and said with a smile: "Your Highness, don't worry, this is Nan Ye and the others' plan to lure the enemy!" ”

Xia Houde was puzzled: "Three soldiers and horses, three and one, decent, how to plan?" ”

Li Ru said: "Sun Quan was defeated by us before, but now he is alone with Nan Ye and Liu Bei, and the two of them do not send troops to help, what do you think?" ”

Xiahou Shang said: "It must be that the three families are not in harmony and cannot be united." Sun Quan has few soldiers, and we can go out of the city to attack him. ”

Li Ru smiled: "In my opinion, this is Nan Ye showing weakness to the enemy, using Sun Quan as bait to lure me out of the city." Presumably, there was an ambush in Sun Quan's camp. ”

Cao Zhangdao: "Since Wen Xiansheng has seen through Nanye's plan, then we can abandon Sun Quan to attack Liu Bei." ”

Li Ru shook his head and said: "Nan Ye is in the middle of the strategy, if you attack the east and west camps, Nan Ye can be rescued." If you attack the middle camp of Nanye, the left and right can also echo. I can't wait to do that. ”

The soldiers in the city did not move, but it hurt Sun Quan, who was carefully guarded all night under the city. It is indeed Zhuge Liang's plan to guard one door for each of the three people, and there is great unfairness hidden in the seemingly fair distribution method, in order to lure the enemy out of the city. Unexpectedly, he was seen through by Li Ru.

Sun Quan stayed up all night with red eyes, and came to Nanye's tent early the next morning to have a meeting with Liu Bei and Nanye. As soon as he saw Zhuge Liang, he complained: "Mr. Kong Ming's plan is useless to Cao Jun, what should we do?" ”

Zhuge Liang's first plan seems to be intentional, it seems to be unintentional, like an antelope hanging its horns without a trace, Nan Ye still admires it very much, or he will not follow the plan. The fact that Cao Jun in the city did not fall for the plan can only show that Li Ru is cautious and has outstanding strategies, and it cannot be said that Zhuge Liang's strategy is not good.

Nan Ye heard Sun Quan complain and spoke for Zhuge Liang: "It is up to people to plan things, and it is up to heaven to make things happen." Mr. Kong Ming's plan was approved by us yesterday, and the guards in the city were not successful, so why should Zhongmou blame one person. I'll think about it later. ”

Zhuge Liang nodded slightly towards Nan Ye, thanking Nan Ye for relieving the siege. Sun Quan also understood that he couldn't blame Zhuge Liang for this matter, so he said to the generals in the account: "Who else has a plan, just say it bluntly." ”

When Lu Meng heard Sun Quan's question, he preemptively said: "But send a soldier to build a mountain and attack the city. ”

Wei Yan said: "You can erect a cloud ladder, build a rainbow bridge, and attack it from a high position." ”

Zhang Fei said: "Why bother? When our army first arrived, its morale was sharp, and it was ready to attack with all its might. I am willing to lead the troops to charge and kill the city, and break it in one day. ”