After Liu Bei arrived in Runan, he did not contact Shen Chen immediately, but went to Pingyu County, the seat of Runan County, which is also called Runan County, that is, the ancient city of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

The reason why I came to Pingyu was to contact and coordinate the territory of Runan County and support Yuan Shao's forces.

As the ancestral land of the Yuan family, the Yuan family has a very high reputation in Runan County, and their protégés and former officials are distributed in various counties, and they support troops everywhere to defend themselves, harassing Cao Cao behind enemy lines.

Later generations looked at the battle of Guandu as if they simply thought that Yuan Shao's more than 100,000 horses were hoarded in Guandu, and then Cao Cao burned the grain and grass and was defeated.

In fact, Cao Cao's predicament was even more difficult than everyone imagined, at this time the Yingchuan was full of Yuan Shao's forces, and there were constantly harassment in the rear, and the Yuan Shao cavalry on the front line broke through the blockade, even to the vicinity of Xudu.

His grain route was attacked, and officials in Yanzhou, Xuzhou, Yuzhou and other counties responded to Yuan Shao's call, and basically all of Runan, except for Li Tong and Man Chong, had defected to Yuan.

At present, Cao Cao is not an exaggeration to say that he is embattled.

It's just that due to the lag of the news, Liu Bei came to Runan a little late, and only after he arrived did he know that Man Chong had already taken the lead and eliminated most of the Yuan's protégés who responded to the call.

Knowing this, Liu Bei had no choice but to recruit soldiers on the spot, he is still Yuzhou Mu, General Zuo, and Yicheng Tinghou, and it is reasonable to come to Yuzhou to recruit soldiers.

At that moment, many people came to defect, and with the remnants of Yuan's protégé, Liu Bei gathered tens of thousands of horses in a short period of time.

Soon, Cao Cao also heard about this matter, but he really couldn't spare manpower, so he sent Cai Yang to conquest.

It's just that before Cai Yang set off, Guan Yu also got the news that Liu Bei was in Runan at the same time, so he said goodbye to Cao Cao, went back to Xu Capital to pick up Mrs. Mi and Mrs. Gan, and went south to Runan to join Liu Bei.

At the end of June of the fifth year of Jian'an, in the county government of Kunyang County, Runan, Shen Chen sat cross-legged on the table of the mansion, holding a bamboo slip in his hand, which was a letter written by Liu Bei.

In addition to saying hello, the content of the letter also expressed his gratitude to Shen Chen, now that he has arrived in Runan Pingyu, he is currently recruiting people, and is preparing to take advantage of the current confrontation between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao in Guandu, and go north to attack Xudu, hoping that Shen Chen can give him some advice.

"When Xuande Gong first arrived in Runan, the hastily recruited soldiers were not trained, and their morale and morale were probably unstable, so I actually don't recommend him to send troops immediately."

Shen Chen put the letter on the table and said to Tai Shici, who was sitting on the side.

Tai Shici continued to work as a postman, who let him do this in his early years? So every time he came and went for a short distance, he came over to deliver a letter to Shen Chen.

Hearing Shen Chen's words, Tai Shici also smiled bitterly: "The lord has no choice, now that Duke Yuan is still in Yangwu, Cao Cao can't go down according to the guard, so he has to let the lord come to Runan to lead the troops to attack Xudu." ”

Shen Chen pondered: "Well, this is indeed a helpless move, Uncle Ziyi, please go back and inform Xuande Gong that if you want to attack Xu Du from the north and south of Ru, you must break Li Tong and Manchu, Li Tong has many soldiers and few favored soldiers, we can attack Dingying together first, and then break Xiping, so that we can go north and take Linying." ”

Tai Shi Ci was overjoyed and said: "Okay, I'll go back and tell the lord, Ah Chen, when will we agree to march together?" ”

Shen Chen said: "July 1st. ”

"Then I'll get back immediately."

Tai Shi Ci didn't want to delay, so he directly prepared to go back.

Shen Chen said: "Don't be in a hurry, Kunyang is still three hundred miles away from Pingyu, even if you ride a horse, it will take two days, let's go after eating." ”

Tai Shi Ci said: "It is precisely because the matter cannot be delayed that it is necessary to report to the Lord immediately." ”

"Okay."

Shen Chen nodded: "Please inform Xuande Gong, be careful." ”

"I see."

Tai Shici left in a hurry after saying goodbye.

Shen Chen sent him to the door all the way, and when he came back to the mansion, he fell into thought again.

Now Cao Cao's defense of him is actually very tight, and there are a large number of Cao troops deployed in the north, northeast, east, southeast, and south of Kunyang.

Xiahou Yuan was in Xiangcheng, Li Dian was in Linying, Li Tong was in Xiping, and Manzhong was in Dingying, almost blocking the exit of Nanyang.

So now it is almost impossible for Liu Bei to come over and join him, and the only way to break out of the encirclement is to break out.

And if you want to break out of the encirclement, you have to look for the weakest point.

Where?

Full of pampered Dingying.

These days, he also sent a large number of spies into Yingchuan to investigate the enemy's situation.

According to the feedback received, Xiahou Yuan and Li Dian had nearly 10,000 soldiers around Xudu, and in order to prevent Shen Chen from repeating his old tricks and feint to attack Xudu from the southwest, Cao Cao deliberately transferred two or three thousand elite backbones from the front line to come back to garrison.

Li Tong himself had nearly 10,000 horses, and although the previous battles were mainly due to his loss of troops, there were still five or six thousand troops entrenched in Xiping.

There are far fewer people who are full of favors.

In history, when Manzhong pacified Runan, he recruited 500 people, conquered more than 20 barriers, designed more than 10 traps for the leader, captured 2,000 soldiers, and now has a total strength of less than 3,000 people.

Therefore, it is obviously easier to find a breakthrough from him.

Didn't the great man ever say?

You have to learn to make it easy first and then make it difficult, don't gnaw the bones if they are hard to gnaw, eat the meat first and then gnaw the bones.

Coincidentally, Pingyu County, where Liu Bei is located, is located behind Dingying.

Shen Chen's troops came out of Kunyang, just in time to attack him front and back, attack Manzhong, who only had two or three thousand people, and then jump out of the encirclement and go north from Zhaoling to Xudu.

You, Cao Cao, only defend me on the southwest front, then I won't attack from the southwest, I will attack from the southeast.

Thinking of this, Shen Chen felt that it was generally fine, so he sent someone to find the generals to discuss the matter, July 1 would not be a few days, and the surrounding cities were observing his movements, so he had to make other preparations.

Soon, Gan Ning, Lou Fa, Shen Mi, Deng Zhao, Shen Zhen and other major generals in Shen Chen's army gathered in the hall.

Everyone entered in turn and saluted Shen Chen.

Only Shen Zhen didn't speak, secretly followed behind everyone, and found a place to sit at the back.

It's not that he doesn't like to talk, it's that when he meets Shen Chen on a formal occasion, he can't salute or greet him.

In a way, he was actually a little embarrassed.

The commander of the first army will be his own son, if he is not called a general in the army, he will lose the majesty of Shen Chen, and if he is called a general, he will lose the majesty of his father.

But the soldiers and horses of Huangmenting were brought out by him and Deng Zhao, and the two had a high prestige in the army, so they had to be Shen Zhen and Deng Zhao to lead them into battle.

So he simply didn't speak or salute, just commensurate father and son in private.

But these are all small things.

After everyone sat down, Deng Zhao first asked, "General, what is the matter with summoning us?" ”

Shen Chen said in a deep voice: "Xuande Gong has arrived in Runan, gathered men and horses, and prepared to attack Xudu, I plan to join him and attack Xudu for the second time, so I must make arrangements." ”

"General, please!"

Gan Ning Zhengse said: "Now that Cao Cao has arrived in Guandu and is fighting with Yuan Shao, it is a good opportunity for us to send troops." ”

He understands this too.

Shen Chen said: "The movements of our army are now closely monitored, and the surrounding counties are all Cao soldiers, and if there is a slight disturbance, they will inevitably be attacked by them, so we must not go east to join Xuande Gong at the first time." Instead, we should mobilize the enemy's forces so that they mistakenly believe that we will continue to move north, when in fact we are moving eastward. ”

Lou Fa wondered: "Is it another feint to attack Xu Du?" But Xudu is guarded by heavy troops along the line, and I am afraid that not long after the troops are dispatched, they will be surrounded. ”

"Not bad."

Shen Chen nodded and said, "So we can't go north, we can only go east." ”

"To the east?"

The crowd looked at each other, not knowing why.

Shen Chen beckoned everyone to come over, pointed to the map on the table and said, "Look, now the main force of the Cao army is distributed in the areas of Xiangcheng, Linying, Xiping, and Dingying, why is Dingling in the east undefended?" ”

Gan Ning is not an illiterate person, he read a lot of books in his early years, and immediately blurted out: "Because Dingling is in the center, isn't it surrounded by Dingling on all sides?" ”

"Exactly."

Shen Chen nodded: "Dingling is surrounded by these four places, and if we go over, we will be besieged by the Cao army from all directions, so they have not set up troops and horses in Dingling, but what if we go east to Yuncheng after we arrive in Dingling?" ”

Yuncheng?

Everyone hurriedly looked at it.

I saw that the location of Yuncheng is very special, in the east of Dingling, south of Linying, north of Dingying, northeast of Xiping, and southeast of Xiangcheng.

From here, go to the east to Zhaoling, and then go north from Zhaoling to Xuqiang, and north of Xuqiang is Xudu.

In other words, according to Shen Chen's statement, it is completely possible to bypass the northeast defense line of Xiangcheng and Linying from this route, and go around behind this defense line from the east to attack Xudu.

At that time, the defenders of Xiangcheng Linying will inevitably go to Xudu or Yuqiang to garrison, and Li Tong of Xiping will also have a high probability of going north, and at this time, they will go south and attack Dingying in the north and south with Liu Bei, and they can complete the convergence in Dingying.

But Gan Ning still disagreed: "But the enemy will not just look at us, if we immediately set off to the Ten Thousand Dingling, I am afraid that we will be surrounded by them before we reach Yuncheng." ”

Shen Chen nodded and said, "Therefore, I plan to divide my troops again, all the way north to my father's city, feint to attack Yang Zhai, and wait for Xiahou Yuan to be mobilized all the way, and then immediately go east." Because we can go directly to Xudu from our father's city, Yangzhai, and Yingyin, Li Dian and Xiahou Yuan will definitely not go south, and we will only face Man Zhong and Li Tong at that time. ”

"Divide the troops again? In the previous pursuit of Cao's army, our army lost thousands of men and horses. ”

Gan Ning frowned, the previous battle had already caused them to lose a large number of men and horses, and now they only had less than seven thousand troops on hand, and if they divided the troops, the strength was too weak.

Shen Chen sighed and said: "There is no way, each of these soldiers and horses under my hands is extremely precious in my eyes, and it was also a last resort to pursue Cao Cao before." If we don't fight to the death with Cao Cao, then the defense force on the southern front will be more sufficient, and we will be more passive. ”

Through the operation of the previous battles, the battle loss ratio between them and the Cao army reached one to three, and one Shen Chen army replaced three Cao soldiers. There are some elites among them, but most of them are second-line troops, which is not worth it for Shen Chen.

But it is no longer worth it and can only fight such a war of attrition, if they don't fight, they will face an extra 10,000 Cao troops, and when the time comes, 30,000 or 40,000 Cao troops will guard Xu Du, which is too difficult.

Now there are only more than 20,000 people, and after joining Liu Bei, at least their strength can reach 17,800, which is not much less than Cao's army in terms of strength.

"Okay."

In the end, Gan Ning could only reluctantly compromise and agreed to Shen Chen's strategy.

At the moment, Shen Chen ordered his father Shen Zhen to lead a thousand people to garrison Kunyang, most of their supplies, grain and grass were here, and Kunyang could not afford to lose.

He also ordered Lou Fa to lead 1,500 people to the north to attack Yangzhai from the north of his father's city, and this route was actually from Yexian to the north to attack Pingdingshan and then pass through Jiaxian to Yuzhou, all of which were flat.

Because the Father City and Xiangcheng are separated by the Ziyun Mountain Mountains, and there is no Cao Jun in the Father City, by the time Xiahou Yuan and Li Dian get the news, Lou Fa has already arrived in Yangzhai, and Yang Zhai is too close to Xu Duke, and they will definitely not slack off.

Therefore, when Xiahou Yuan and Li Dian sent people, Lou Fa could also return to Kunyang along the way he came, so that the strategic purpose of attracting Cao Jun was achieved, and Shen Chen and Gan Ning would be able to go east to Dingling and hunt with Liu Bei!

"Brother Shen!"

"Hmm!"

Shen Changqing walked on the road, and when he met someone he knew well, he would say hello to each other or nod his head.

But it doesn't matter who it is.

There was no superfluous expression on everyone's face, as if they were very indifferent to everything.

on this.

Shen Changqing is used to it.

Because this is the Demon Suppression Division, it is an institution that maintains the stability of Great Qin, and its main responsibility is to kill demons and monsters, and of course there are some other side jobs.

Arguably.

In the Demon Suppression Division, everyone has a lot of blood on their hands.

When a person is accustomed to seeing life and death, then he will become indifferent to many things.

When he first came to this world, Shen Changqing was a little uncomfortable, but over time he got used to it.

The Demon Suppression Division is huge.

The people who can stay in the Demon Suppression Division are all powerful masters, or people who have the potential to become masters.

Shen Changqing belongs to the latter.

Among them, the Demon Suppression Division is divided into two professions, one is the town guard and the other is the demon exterminator.

Anyone who enters the Demon Suppression Division starts with the lowest level of demon slayer.

Then step by step, he is expected to become a town guard.

Shen Changqing's predecessor was a trainee demon slayer in the Demon Suppression Division, and he was also the lowest level of the demon slayer envoys.

Have memories of the predecessor.

He is also very familiar with the environment of the Demon Suppression Division.

It didn't take long for Shen Changqing to stop in front of an attic.

Unlike other places full of slaughter, the attic here seems to stand out from the crowd, and in the bloody Demon Suppression Division, it presents a different tranquility.

At this time, the attic door is open, and there are occasional people entering and exiting.

Shen Changqing only hesitated for a moment, and then stepped in.

Access to the attic.

The environment has changed in vain.

A burst of ink fragrance mixed with the faint smell of blood came to his face, making his brow furrow instinctively, but quickly stretched.

The smell of blood on everyone's body in the Demon Suppression Division is almost impossible to clean.