Let's say that after Zhang Xiu left Hu Zhen's army in Wancheng, he led the army to turn south and attack Deng County. Along the way, Zhang Xiu ordered the army to destroy all the ferries on the west bank of the river, and sent a small team of soldiers to the north to destroy the ferries on the west bank of the upper reaches of the river, so as to prevent Cai Mao's army from crossing the water here to support Wancheng.

Not long after the trip, Zhang Xiu saw a general come to report: "General, the scout has captured a scribe who claims to be the envoy of Yuan Shu." ”

After Zhang Xiu heard this, he and Jia Xu glanced at each other, everyone clearly saw the smile in each other's eyes, Zhang Xiu pretended to be arrogant, and said, "Let's bring it up and see it." ”

After the general received the order, he brought up a middle-aged man dressed as a scribe, Zhang Xiu saw that the scribe was covered with dust, and many places on his Confucian clothes were torn, knowing that he must have suffered a lot at the hands of his own soldiers, after laughing secretly, he still pretended to be arrogant, and said, "Who are you?" Dare to call yourself the messenger of Yuan Highway, you can know that I have a grudge against Yuan Highway. ”

Although the scribe saw Zhang Xiu's arrogant expression and his tone was obviously unkind, he still tidied up his clothes first, bowed his hand and said: "In Xia Yanxiang, Tian Wei is the main general of Zuo (Dong Zhuo wants to win over Yuan Shu, so he is named General Zuo), and I have seen General Hou. ”

Zhang Xiu let out a light "um" and did not speak, while Yan Xiang immediately said: "I am here to plot against Nanyang County for the Hou General." ”

After listening to Yan Xiang's words, Zhang Xiu remembered that the lobbyists of this era like to say what they like to say is to mourn you and plan for you, but in fact, the most fundamental thing is to serve the lobbyist's lord. Now that he knew Yan Xiang's tricks, Zhang Xiu showed a very interested look and said, "I don't know what Mr. has to teach embroidery." The tone and salutation changed as he spoke.

Yan Xiang saw the change in Zhang Xiu's attitude, and knew that there was a door, and said with a smile on his face: "Jingzhou is now occupied by Liu Biao, among which Liu Biao's hand in the four counties of Jingnan has not yet reached the past, and Huang Zu of Jiangxia County has to temporarily bend down because of Liu Biao's strength, so Liu Biao only has four places in Jingzhou Xiangyang County, Nan County, Nanyang County and Shangyong County. General Zuo wants to destroy Liu Biao for a long time, if he joins forces with General Hou this time, Liu Biao is bound to be unstoppable, and after the matter is completed, he will divide the four counties of Jingzhou occupied by Liu Biao equally, and the General Hou can not only get Nanyang County, but also get one more county, so isn't it wonderful. ”

After Yan Xiang finished speaking, Zhang Xiu immediately knew what Yuan Shu thought, but Zhang Xiu pretended to be angry and said, "Yuan Highway doesn't want to learn from his brother to Jizhou?" It must be known that General Ben is not Gongsun Zhan's unscrupulous generation. ”

Yan Xiang saw that Zhang Xiu was angry, and heard him talk about Yuan Shao's plot against Jizhou, and secretly scolded Yuan Shao, and then said: "General Zuo and Ben Chu Gong are not in harmony with the world, and General Zuo is above board, how can he act like this, please don't be suspicious." When General Zuo came, he had already instructed Xiang to discuss how to divide the four counties in Liu Biao's hands equally, so that the general could rest assured that he would join forces with General Zuo. ”

After hearing this, Yan Xiang said: "The generals are all northerners, and they are not good at water warfare, so it is not as good as the generals of Hou to get the two counties of Nanyang and Shangyong, and my lord takes Xiangyang and Nanjun, and everyone rows the Han River to govern, wouldn't it be wonderful." ”

After Zhang Xiu heard this, he said secretly: "There are also capable people under Yuan Shu, and they should not be underestimated." But he said: "Although what you said is reasonable, Shangyong County is mountainous, and Nanyang County has been war-torn for a long time, and the two counties together may not be as rich as one Nanjun......

Speaking of this, Zhang Xiu didn't say any more, but Yan Xiang had already understood, and secretly scolded Zhang Xiu for being insatiable, and then said with a smile: "In this way, the general can get another 20% of the taxes paid by Xiangyang County, how about it?" ”

Zhang Xiu pretended to ponder for a moment and said, "Since that's the case, okay." But Mr. thinks you and I, how do you and I join forces to break Liu Biao? ”

Yan Xiang smiled: "If it is not bad as expected, General Hou should be ready to take Deng County." ”

Zhang Xiu didn't deny it, just nodded.

Yan Xiang heard it and said: "Now the army of 30,000 people led by Cai Mao is stationed near Xinye, and Deng County and Xinye are only separated by Shuishui, so General Zuo's army surrounds Cai Mao's department on the east bank of Weishui, and then the general crosses the river from the upper reaches of Weishui, supports our army with elite cavalry, and leaves a group of men and horses on the west bank of Weishui, if Cai Mao's army wants to cross the river, it will be half crossed and attacked." In this way, the general and General Zuo joined forces with more than 100,000 troops, and it was easy to annihilate Cai Mao's 30,000 people. ”

After Zhang Xiu listened, he looked at Jia Xu with his eyes, and when he saw him nodding lightly, he said, "So, okay." However, an appointment is still required. ”

After hearing this, Yan Xiang smiled and said, "This is natural, wait for the elephant to report to General Zuo and then make an appointment with General Hou." ”

Zhang Xiu nodded and said, "That's very good." ”

Seeing that the goal had been achieved, Yan Xiang retreated, and Pegasus went to report back to Yuan Shu.

After Yan Xiang left, Zhang Xiu asked Jia Xu, "What does Mr. think?" ”

Jia Xu smiled coldly and said, "Yan Xiang has a good plan, but it's a pity......"

Zhang Xiu heard it and said curiously: "What do you mean by what Mr. said?" ”

Jia Xu explained: "If Xu is not bad, Yuan Shu and the others should have received the news that the lord's army is still in Wuguan, so Yan Xiang persuaded Yuan Shu to contact the lord to discuss Liu Biao, and the matter of dividing the four counties equally should have been decided at that time. However, what Yan Xiang didn't expect was that the army of the lord would march so godly, and when Yan Xiang came to the lord's camp, he should have guessed that our army was going to attack Deng County, thinking that there were only 1,000 old and weak people in Deng County, how could it be the opponent of our army. Once Deng County falls into the hands of our army, Nanyang County can be said to be half of it, and if the lord takes Fancheng again, then neither Liu Biao nor Yuan Shu can be recaptured in the hands of the lord. Only after taking Nanyang County, it is only a matter of time before the soldiers left behind in Shangyong County are taken down. In this way, our army is sure that it can take the two counties, so why do we need to join forces with Yuan Shu again, Yan Xiang must have seen this. ”

Zhang Xiu listened to Jia Xu's words, nodded, and sighed secretly: "It's all the intelligence that is causing the trouble." Then he motioned for Jia Xu to continue.

I only heard Jia Xu continue: "In this way, Yan Xiang wants to divert the lord's attention by annihilating Cai Mao's army. If the lord really fights like Cai Mao as Yan Xiang designed, his so-called encirclement will definitely let Cai Mao have a way out and let Cai Mao lead the army to leave. Once Cai Mao escaped, he must have fled south, and in Cai Mao's vision, he must have known that Yuan Shu joined forces with our army, Xiangyang was in danger, and the northern barrier of Xiangyang was Fancheng, Cai Mao could not escape when he returned to the division, so he would naturally flee to Fancheng to garrison, so the lord could not quickly take Nanyang County. At that time, Yan Xiang will ask the two sides to attack Fancheng together, Liu Biao knows that Fancheng is in danger, and Xiangyang will not be guaranteed, so he will naturally send troops to Fancheng, so Fancheng will become the venue of the tripartite war. In the tripartite war, as long as Liu Biaojun was severely damaged, with the background of Yuan Shu Yuzhou, it would be easy to send troops to take Xiangyang and Nanjun. ”