In the late summer and June of summer, the stalemate Xuzhou battle situation ushered in a decisive change!

Four months ago, Ji Ling claimed to be 200,000, but in fact there were 50,000 Jiujiang veterans and more than 20,000 recruits raised along the way.

In the face of the menacing Yuan Shu, Cao Cao also temporarily made peace with Liu Bei - after all, Yuan Shu not only had a dispute with Liu Bei in Xuzhou, but also a dispute with Cao Cao in Yuzhou.

If Xiaopei is taken, not only will there be a flat river in Xuzhou, but Yuan Shu will definitely take Peijun and enter Yingchuan!

"Xu", "Shu" is also - originally Xuzhou was mostly plains, there was no danger to defend, and it can be called a place of four battles that is easy to attack and difficult to defend.

During the Tao Qian period, the seemingly honest old Tao Qian took Xiaopei, as the west gate of Xuzhou, which gave Xuzhou a glimmer of life.

Therefore, Cao Cao's initial strategic policy has always been to take Donghai County, Pengcheng County, and Langxi County, that is, to divide Xuzhou with Yuan Shu with the Huai River as the boundary, and then compete with Yuan Shu.

However, now Lu Bu has actually cooperated with Liu Bei, and he has reached the present in Xuzhou, and at this time, in the face of Yuan Shu's northward journey, Cao Cao can only choose to cooperate.

Especially at this time, all parties in the world are not very peaceful, as Dong Zhuo's old department, once held the Son of Heaven hostage, at this time the four generals Li Dao, Guo Yan, Fan Chou, and Zhang Ji, who were dominant in Guanzhong, turned against each other because the grain production in Guanzhong that had been plagued was no longer enough to support their elite in Liangzhou.

Fan Chou was killed by Li Dao, while Zhang Ji left Guanzhong to "take" grain from Nanyang.

This forced Liu Biao, three months ago, to accept Yuan Shu's overtures, and the two sides temporarily withdrew, and this not only allowed Yuan Shu to concentrate on dealing with Cao Cao and Liu Bei in the north, but Liu Biao also killed Zhang Ji in a fierce wave!

You must know that these Xiliang generals, although their reputation is not as great as the fierce generals under the princes of all walks of life, but most of their commands are soldiers who have been baptized by the Huns and Zhuqiang for a long time, not only the elite of the army, but also the grassroots officers are very skilled in combat, and the generals also have the most basic military qualities, which are far from being matched by ordinary armies.

However, it was such a coincidence that Zhang Ji was defeated by the Jingzhou army in Yucheng, and even Zhang Ji himself died in the middle of the arrow!

Afterwards, Liu Biao also took the initiative to mourn and mourn for Zhang Ji, expressing his understanding of the behavior of the Xiliang Army when he had no way out to "take" food, and deeply regretted Zhang Ji's accidental death......

At the same time, he lured and inherited Zhang Xiu, the nephew of Zhang Ji's army, and Zhang Xiu was impressed by Liu Biao's sincerity, and more importantly, there was nowhere to go - although the Xiliang army was strong, it also had to eat!

Guanzhong can't go back again, and now almost all the places are occupied by these princes, and it is no longer the time when there were only some regular garrisons, and if you attack it, you are worried that you will not be able to take the city before the military rations are exhausted.

If it goes on like this, there is no need to fight, and the army will disperse little by little by itself, and even the Xiliang Army, which has always had poor military discipline, is likely to mutiny!

Therefore, Zhang Xiu accepted Liu Biao's proposal and settled in Wancheng, the northern gate of Jingzhou facing the Central Plains, at the northern end of Nanyang County.

Nanyang County, in the north of Jingzhou, is one of the richest counties in the world, and like Runan County, it has a population of more than 2 million, which is equivalent to half a state.

And the terrain conditions are superior, and the Central Plains, there is Funiu Mountain to block, the mountain is like its name, the shape is like a lying cow, and there are only two avenues that can use soldiers between the Central Plains.

One is from Wancheng, through Luyang, Ruzhou can reach the Tiger Pass, breaking through the pass is Luoyang - when the heroes invaded Dong, Nanyang County was based on Yuan Shu, at that time Yuan Shu and Sun Jian who took refuge in him, it was from this road to the north.

The other is also from Wancheng, passing through Bowang, Fangcheng, and Yexian, and reaching Xudu, which is the road that Cao Cao took when he went south in the future.

Once Wancheng is lost, the Jingzhou soldiers can only retreat south to Xinye and give up the northern part of Nanyang, on the contrary, as long as Wancheng is not lost, it will be difficult for the troops of the Central Plains to enter Nanyang, and if they do not enter Nanyang, they will naturally not be able to threaten Jingzhou.

The topography of Wancheng is very important to Jingzhou, which can also be seen.

And Zhang Xiutun's soldiers in Wancheng, just like Huang Zuzhi to Liu Biao, belong to "listening to the tune and not listening to the announcement", anyway, Liu Biao gave food, and he was here to "watch the door".

However, when Zhang Xiu came, Cao Cao was uncomfortable.

Liu Biao's previous arrangement in Nanyang County has always been weak and weak, and nominally he and Cao Cao are in alliance to fight against Yuan Shu, so Cao Cao doesn't feel anything.

But now that Zhang Xiu is in Wancheng, Cao Cao always feels that there is a knife aimed at his chrysanthemum......

In this case, Cao Cao could only make a truce with Liu Bei first, and on the one hand, he fought with Yuan Shu in Yingchuan, and on the other hand, he had to be restrained by Zhang Xiu with a lot of energy.

Even so, Liu Bei and Zhang Liao were not easy in Xuzhou.

Fortunately, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are both fierce generals of Jinyu, Zhang Liao is even more brave and strategic, and Gao Shun's 800 camps are known as invincible.

The two sides worked together, in the area of Xiaopei and Pengcheng, each other was horns, and fought fiercely with the Huainan army led by Ji Ling for several months, and both sides had their own victories and defeats.

Now it is June, when the weather is still hot, Xuzhou is still barely defending, and is unable to break the enemy, so he can only wait for Ji Ling's food to retreat.

It's just that after the loss of Shucheng, Lujiang County completely fell into the hands of Yuan Shu, the grain road in the rear was much smoother, and the grain storage of Shucheng was obtained, Zhang Fei led people to intercept the grain road a month ago, and lost a small defeat, although Huainan food is tight, but now, I am afraid that before winter, Ji Ling will not be short of food!

At this moment, Peng Cheng and Xiao Peizhong were brewing changes that were enough to decide the situation of the battle......

On this day, the Cheng family and the Xu family in the Xuzhou scholar clan offered a batch of beef and wine, and took the initiative to treat the army, Liu Bei was very pleased, and instructed Zhang Fei not to drink too much, and the soldiers in the army were not allowed to drink more than one liter (about 250ml in later generations), and at the same time, naturally we could not forget Xiaopei's friendly army.

Taking advantage of the truce, Cheng Jie and Xu Tong brought people to Xiao Pei to also bring cattle wine, and Wei Xu welcomed them as a representative.

Under the persuasion of Xu Tong and Cheng Jie, Wei Xu was drunk, and Xu Tong secretly handed over a message to Wei Xu at this time, luring the Marquis and separating Lu Bu Nan on the grounds that Xiao Pei and several Lu Bu generals were temperamental, Xu Tong had also investigated before, and when he saw that it was Wei Xu who greeted them, he had already begun to celebrate in his heart.

Wei Xu was really secretly moved, although Xu Tong didn't admit it at all after sobering up, but after returning to the city, Wei Xu was reprimanded by Zhang Liao for alcoholism, which made him more and more dissatisfied in his heart.

Zhang Liao and Gao Shun have always been Lu Bu's henchmen, but in terms of seniority, when they were under Ding Yuan, Wei Xu and others were above the two.

Before leaving, Lu Bu handed over Xiao Pei to Zhang Liao, which had already made Wei Xu and the others dissatisfied, but they were just ...... Some were convinced after seeing Zhang Liao and Gao Shun's abilities, while others were always obsessed, and Wei Xu was undoubtedly the latter.

So he began to take the initiative to contact the Xu family in secret, and the Xu family and the Cheng family had already secretly colluded with Yuan Shu......