Because the danger of Chengdu came too suddenly. Moreover, it is also the kind of unstoppable huge threat, which caused Sima Fang to urgently mobilize the Yizhou East Route Army led by Zhang Ren to return to Chengdu to help Chengdu, and he did not have time to inform Cao Cao's army that attacked the northern part of Jingzhou.

As a result, Cao Cao, who had already besieged Xiangyang City, did not know that the Yizhou army had retreated, and he was still worried that if Zhang Renjun acted too quickly, he would not violate the agreement made by the two sides and seize more territory in Jingzhou.

Because he was worried that Yizhou would occupy more territory, Cao Cao's troops besieged Xiangyang City not long after, and when he sent a final persuasion to Liu Biao in the city to pass through to no avail, he immediately commanded a large army to attack Xiangyang City.

Liu Biao, who had already learned that the Tianyi army had come to rescue Xiangyang, was not as nervous as before at this time, and Changsha Huo Jun was also leading the army to Xiangyang, so he felt that he could wait for the moment when the dawn came.

There are 20,000 regular troops in Xiangyang City, as well as 2,000 iron guards similar to the trapped camp, who are responsible for protecting the safety of the Prefecture Pastoral Mansion and Liu Biao, Liu Qi and others. The 100,000-strong army defending Cao Cao with 20,000 men seems to be a bit of a disparity, but as long as you think about the fact that Xiangyang City was called the "Crouching Tiger City" in the south by the common people a long time ago, you can know how strong this city was in the hands of Liu Biao.

Although Cao Cao had a large amount of gunpowder in his hands to use, and even Huang Yueying had developed a rocket launcher similar to the "flamingo" of the Jin Kingdom for the imperial army, it was still a little insufficient in front of Xiangyang, which was surrounded by water on three sides and built with an urn city on one side.

Since Lü Meng secretly arrived in Xiangyang for more than a year, the Jin State has provided Xiangyang with a lot of very powerful defensive equipment through the transmission line from Gaoping to Hanzhong, and then from Hanzhong to Fangling to Xiangyang. These large defensive equipment are all detachable standard components, and when they are transported, they are not really used at all, but when they are assembled at the head of Xiangyang City, they become sharp weapons for killing.

Since Cao Cao had already used gunpowder in Deng County, when it came to the critical moment, Liu Biao no longer hid and pinched it, he asked the soldiers to move all the thunderbolts purchased from the Jin State out of the armory, and threw them at the city every day as if they didn't need money, which really hurt Cao's army outside the city. Although the thunderbolt was only the most basic firearm variety of the Jin Kingdom, it was at least at the same level as the firearms used by Cao Jun.

Once this kind of explosive iron ball that can be thrown falls to the ground and explodes, it may not directly kill many soldiers, but it will injure many people, and the psychological deterrence of soldiers is very huge. The best way to deal with this kind of firearm is to also use a thunderbolt to launch a thunderbolt at the head of the city, use the advantage of firepower to suppress it, and then quickly enter the city to fight, and find a way to open the gate of Xiangyang City.

The heroic sacrifices of Wang Wei and Xiang Zhong touched the Jingzhou soldiers a lot; after Huang Zhong's deeds of fighting to the death in Huya Mountain were passed back, they greatly encouraged the soldiers who defended the city; the most exciting thing for everyone was that the governor personally told everyone that the king of Pingxi had sent a large army to approach Xiangyang, and at the same time, Huo Jun, who was defending Changsha, was also on the way back to Xiangyang, as long as these two armies arrived in Xiangyang, it would not be as simple as lifting the siege of Xiangyang, but trying to find a way to leave the Cao thief behind.

After besieging Xiangyang City for five days in succession, Cao Cao finally ordered his troops to suspend the attack after suffering 20,000 casualties and still making no progress.

The 120,000-strong army when he went south had already lost one-third of it, and if he lost another 20,000 or 30,000 people, Cao Cao would have to consider retreating.

Not long after Cao Cao stopped attacking Xiangyang, an urgent report suddenly came back from the side of Long'a Mountain in the west of Xiangyang, saying that an army of tens of thousands of people was rapidly approaching Xiangyang, and that the style of the banner should belong to a certain army under the command of King Pingxi.

Cao Cao hurriedly sent his advisor Cheng Yu to the west of Xiangyang to observe and lookout, and sure enough, he found that the Tianyi army had marched into a place less than twenty miles west of Xiangyang City!

Although Cao Cao knew that sooner or later he would fight the Jin army, with his knowledge of Zhao Xing, over the years, the Jin forces would look for a high-sounding reason before launching a war, sometimes for passive defense, such as the Battle of Bingzhou, and sometimes for revenge, such as attacking Yizhou.

Obviously, this time the arrival of the Tianyi army did not follow the rules, and drove into the outskirts of Xiangyang twenty miles without reason or excuse, could it be that the Jin State was really ready to launch a full-scale war?

Cao Cao really guessed correctly this time, Zhao Xing had already made up his mind to solve the problem of Yizhou and the Central Plains at one time, and completely unify the states of the Han Dynasty through a decisive battle in which all the legions participated. This time, the Tianyi army suddenly appeared in Jingzhou, firstly to rescue Xiangyang, and secondly, to train troops.

The question is, what excuse did the Tianyi army use to attack the Cao army?

Zhao Gang, the commander of the Tianyi Army, said to Cheng Yu, who was angry: "Well, I'm really sorry, I came in too much of a hurry, so I didn't have time to think of a reason, do you have to have a reason to fight?"

Military advisor Lu Xun said very politely to Cheng Yu, who was already so angry that his face turned green: "Don't listen to Commander Zhao's nonsense there, we came to Xiangyang this time, mainly at the invitation of Liu Jingsheng, the pastor of Jingzhou, hoping to mediate the misunderstanding between the imperial court and Jingzhou." ”

Cheng Yu's face was black, and he asked Lu Xun angrily: "What the army division said is really beautiful, what misunderstanding can there be between the imperial court and Jingzhou? If Liu Jingsheng let the king of Xiangyang stay in Xiangyang City, naturally there would not be such an extra disaster of swords and soldiers in the sky, but until now, Liu Jingsheng has been disrespectful to the order! I don't know how the Tianyi army is going to mediate the matter of Xiangyang?"

Lu Xun replied with a relaxed face: "It is very easy to do! As long as the general leads the army back to Luoyang, we will not pursue the case, and everyone will live in harmony." ”

Cheng Yu thought that Lu Xun could say something good at first, but when he heard this, his lungs were about to be blown up. Cao Cao, the emotional lord, led an army of 120,000 to attack Xiangyang, and after losing 40,000 soldiers and horses, a Tianyi army sent by Zhao Xing was so frightened that he rolled back to Luoyang?

Cheng Yu didn't need to ask Cao Cao's opinion at all, he brushed his sleeves away angrily, and left a hard sentence when he left: "The general is ordered by the son of today to come to Xiangyang to crusade against the thief Liu Biao, if the Jin State does not want to start a war with the imperial court, I advise your army to withdraw from Jingzhou as soon as possible!"

Zhao Gang, who had been waiting impatiently for a long time, said with a nonchalant face: "Are you still a three-year-old child? It is only a matter of time before the war starts, and this time the affairs of Xiangyang are still under the control of our Tianyi army." If Cao Heizi doesn't seem to be wiped out of the whole army, let's get out of here before we officially start it!"