At the beginning of May of the thirteenth year of Jian'an, the situation in Jingzhou changed again.

In the direction of Nanyang, Gan Ning retreated to Huangmen Pavilion, Cai Mao ordered Wen Ping to attack, and he led the main army south to Jiangling.

Although Wen Ping surrendered to Xiangyang, he actually didn't want to fight a civil war, not to mention that he also fought side by side with Gan Ning and Shen Chen in Yingchuan, so he basically didn't work.

He led an army of 20,000 troops to be stationed in the area of Pingshi and Yiqiu, just to confront Gan Ning, everyone knows what Wen Ping thinks, but Xiangyang can't help him, after all, Wen Ping also has a reason.

As Liu Biao's general who was stationed in Nanyang to guard against Cao Cao in the north, Wen Ping's status was second only to Cai Mao, Huang Zu and Zhang Yun, so as long as he said on the surface that he had to guard against Cao Cao, Cai Mao and Zhang Yun actually had nothing to do with him.

However, Cai Mao and Kuai Yue did not fall and were annoyed by Wen Ping's perfunctory, as long as Nanyang was still in his hands, Zhang Yun's main army was still in Xiangyang, and there was only a Huangmen Pavilion, and there would be no wind and waves.

The most important thing now is Jingnan.

So after Wen Ping went south to besiege Huangmen Pavilion, Cai Mao immediately led his troops to Jiangling.

At this moment, in Jiangling City, Cai Mao held Liu Bei's letter in his hand, sneered, and said to Hu Zheng beside him: "Liu Bei still wants to reconcile in the middle, the first emperor asked him to go to Xichuan, but he has been stationed in Zigui, don't I know what he means?" ”

"Liu Bei has been writing to Xiangyang since the beginning of this year to transfer grain and grass, Situ originally wanted to hide the death of the first emperor and send him away as soon as possible, so he allocated a lot of grain and grass equipment to the past."

Hu Zheng said: "I didn't expect him to stop, he came to Xiangyang to meet the first emperor, and he was quite friendly with the eldest son, and now he is afraid of such a posture."

Liu Bei has not actually turned his face with Xiangyang, Cai Mao and Kuai Yue have always attached great importance to this force, since Liu Biao's death at the beginning of the year, they have tried their best to urge Liu Bei to enter Sichuan as soon as possible, including using Liu Biao's edict and allocating grain and grass so that Liu Bei has no excuse to stay.

But Liu Bei has been relying on it, and now it is a critical period for Liu Cong and Liu Qi to fight, although Liu Bei's troops are not much, only more than 40,000 people, but the combat effectiveness should not be underestimated, so it also makes Cai Mao and Kuai Yue worried.

And the most important thing is that Liu Bei has been reconciled as an intermediary person, neither turning his face with Liu Cong, nor making it clear that he wants to support Liu Qi, which makes it difficult for them to turn their faces with Liu Bei.

So the situation is very awkward now.

Liu Bei stayed in Zigui and did not leave, Liu Qi still had 30,000 or 40,000 people in Jiangxia, and Liu Pan had more than 20,000 people in Jingnan.

"What can I do then?"

Cai Mao said in a deep voice: "Is it possible to tear your face with Liu Bei?" ”

Hu Zheng smiled bitterly: "But he has been returning to Zigui, we can't let go of attacking Jingnan and Jiangxia, what if he raids us from the side?" ”

"This"

Cai Mao's face changed for a while, and the current situation is that Jingnan is occupied by Liu Pan, Jiangxia has Liu Qi, and Liu Bei is in Zigui.

Zigui is in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and they belong to the lower reaches of Jiangling, if they attack Jingnan in the south or attack Jiangxia down the river, Zigui may attack Jiangling at any time, threatening the safety of Xiangyang.

So for now, at least, the situation is actually very bad for them. Although there were more than 100,000 soldiers and horses, due to the terrain, it was difficult for them to fight no matter which side they attacked.

"Uncle."

At this time, Cai Mao's nephew Cai Du stood up and said, "The little nephew has an idea, I don't know what my uncle thinks. ”

"Oh?"

Cai Mao looked at Cai Du and hurriedly said, "Say it quickly." ”

Cai Du thought for a while and said: "Liu Bei is now in the middle on the surface, but I expect him to want to help the eldest prince, but after all, this is an internal affair in Jingzhou, and there is no excuse to interfere, so we are waiting for the opportunity, so why don't we stay in the middle and keep working with him?" ”

"Drain it?"

Cai Mao asked puzzledly, "What do you mean by my nephew?" ”

Cai Du said: "What my uncle is worried about is just Jingnan, Jiangxia, and Zigui. But this situation will only happen when we take the initiative to attack Jingnan. Because most of the soldiers and horses in Jingzhou are in our hands. ”

"Hmm."

Cai Mao nodded slightly in agreement: "Yes, if I don't go south, Nanjun will have a herd of soldiers and horses, Liu Qi and Liu Pan, where will they dare to take the initiative to attack us?" But what does this have to do with Liu Bei? Are you trying to exhaust his food? ”

Cai Du said with a smile: "Over the years, the first emperor has allocated an unknown amount of grain and grass to Liu Bei, and also gave him several county towns in Jingnan, and the grain and grass have also belonged to them. But we and Liu Bei can afford it, but Liu Zhang can't afford it. ”

"Liu Zhang?"

Cai Mao only felt confused, what does this have to do with Liu Zhang.

Cai Du continued: "Back then, the first emperor was ambitious and wanted to take Yizhou in the west and Yangzhou in the east, but the first emperor was too anxious and kept urging the decisive battle, so that my uncle and Huang Zu failed. Liu Bei, the hero of the clan, what he lacks is just a foundation. Now Xichuan Zhang Lu after repelling his uncle, the army is in Chengdu, Liu Zhang is in danger, once Liu Zhang is destroyed, Yizhou will be all to Zhang Lu, how can Liu Bei not be in a hurry? ”

"You mean Liu Bei wants Yizhou?"

Cai Mao stroked her beard.

Cai Du said: "Exactly, Bashu is a heaven-sent land, Liu Bei must think that he has a close relationship with the eldest prince, and naturally hopes that the lord of Jingzhou is a person who has a deep friendship with him, so Liu Bei must want to help the eldest prince inherit the throne of Jingzhou, and then gain Yizhou in the west, so as to echo with the eldest prince." If Liu Zhang is destroyed and Zhang Lu gets it, there will be no place for Liu Bei in the world, and he will inevitably go to Xichuan first. ”

"Is there news from the state now?"

Cai Mao turned her head to look at Hu Zheng.

Hu Zheng rummaged through the official documents on the table for a while, and after a while, he took out a roll of bamboo slips and said: "The latest news is two months ago, Zhang Lubing divided into two routes, one way from Jiameng Pass south to Fuxian, and the other way along the river north to attack Niuqiao. ”

"Huh?"

Cai Mao was very surprised: "This Liu Zhang is too careless, it has only been four months since I retired from Ba County, and I was beaten to the gate of Chengdu so quickly?" Isn't that Chengdu already falling? ”

"Probably not."

Cai Du analyzed: "Uncle think about it, after Zhang Lu went south from Ba County, there was almost no danger to defend along the line from Maoshui and Guanghan, wouldn't he be defeated faster when he sent troops outside?" Therefore, it was wise to shrink the forces to Chengdu and divide the Dongling Mountains as the boundary to stop Zhang Lu's army from Chengdu. ”

Fendongling is the Longquan Mountain Range in the east of Chengdu in later generations, this mountain range is like a moat that embraces the Chengdu Plain and separates it from the outside world.

Therefore, Liu Zhang chose to shrink his forces to Chengdu, which was to use the Longquan Mountains as the center of gravity for defense.

This is obviously much better than dividing troops to garrison various cities outside.

After all, once Yizhou is broken into the Sichuan Basin, then there is almost no danger to defend, and the various cities are very scattered, and the troops are scattered, they will be broken one by one, so he did not dare to take the initiative to attack when Zhang Lu and Cai Mao were fighting, and chose passive defense, Liu Zhang's choice was actually right.

Cai Du continued: "We haven't paid attention to Yizhou these days because of the matter with the eldest prince, but Liu Bei will definitely send people to find out the news from time to time. He can still sit safely now, which means that at least Zhang Lu has not threatened Liu Zhang, after all, from the end of last year to now, it has only been half a year, and Zhang Lu has not eliminated Liu Zhang so quickly. ”

"Hmm."

Cai Mao nodded and said, "Zimu's words are very reasonable. ”

Hu Zheng also said: "Then should we immediately send someone to Xichuan to inquire about the situation, if Liu Zhang changes, Liu Bei will immediately enter Yizhou." Liu Qi has no foreign aid, we can recapture Jingnan first, and then attack Jiangxia. Sun Quan can't wait for Huang Zu to die, and he won't help him, and then Taiwei will be able to recover Jingzhou for His Majesty. ”

"Actually, we don't have to go through such trouble."

Cai Du said: "If there is a change in Xichuan, Liu Bei will immediately send troops forward, there are so many Yizhou soldiers under his hands, I am afraid that he has long thought about it and wants to leave all the time, so what we have to do is to garrison Jiangling, Jingling and other places, just watch the eldest prince and Liu Pan, and slowly wait for the time to come." ”

"Okay."

Cai Mao laughed and said: "I have a unicorn at home, so why don't the Cai family worry." ”

"It's all my uncle's support."

Cai Du smiled slightly, he is actually a very smart descendant of the Cai family, otherwise Cai Mao would not have cultivated him like this in the past two years.

It's just that the world doesn't know that Cai Du is Cai Zhan's son, and Deng Hong is his brother-in-law.

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In May, Cai Mao garrisoned Jiangling and Jingling, and did not move.

First, he is building the Yangtze River Naval Division, since the First Battle of Badong, the Yangtze River Naval Division is considered to be half-disabled, although the Jiangxia Naval Division is also half-disabled, but the actual combat experience of the people is much stronger than that of the Yangtze River Naval Division, so it is difficult for the Yangtze River Naval Division to compete with the Jiangxia Naval Division.

Second, he also needs to wait for the opportunity, Liu Bei is now relying on Zigui and may be in alliance with Liu Qi at any time, which has to be guarded against, so the two sides have been so consumed.

Anyway, Nanyang, the grain production base of Jingzhou, is still in the hands of Xiangyang, even if there are only Nanjun and Nanyang Second County, Liu Cong's background is actually more sufficient.

You must know that at that time, the population that flowed into Jingzhou from the north was basically in Nanyang and Nanjun, and the population of Jiangxia was only more than 200,000 at that time, and it was very difficult for Jiangxia sailors to even be self-sufficient.

Historically, due to Cao Cao's southward movement, Liu Biao focused most of his energy on the north and had no time to support Huang Zu, which led to Huang Zu's extreme poverty, and the army was impoverished, and he had to do business on the river to barely survive, and was finally broken by Sun Quan, which shows the ruins of Jiangxia.

So it's not a bad thing for Cai Mao and them.

After Liu Pan occupied Changsha County, he was immediately stationed in Luo County, that is, Miluo City and Xiangyin County in Hunan Province in later generations. At that time, the Dongting Lake area here was called Qingcao Lake, which can be described as a vast flood of water.

Dongting Lake in the Han Dynasty was different from dozens of large and small lakes that were cut into East Dongting Lake, South Dongting Lake, Muping Lake, Southeast Lake, Wanzi Lake and Qili Lake in later generations.

At that time, Dongting Lake had an area of more than 6,000 square kilometers, about twice and more than half of the size of later generations, and the water area was very large.

At that time, there was no enclosing the lake to make fields, in history in the period of the East and West Jin Dynasty and the Northern and Southern Dynasties, it was expanded once, and it was recorded in the Tang and Song dynasties that it was already called the Dongting Lake of 800 miles, so it can be said that this lake separated the entire Jingnan and Jingbei.

Liu Pan was stationed here, which was to hold the port leading from Dongting Lake to the Xiangjiang River, so that if Cai Mao took the initiative to attack Changsha County, he would have to take a boat, and naturally he would have to pass through here.

The two sides were at a stalemate across Dongting Lake, although they didn't see each other's soldiers and horses, but on the vast Dongting Lake, there were scout ships every moment to inquire about the news.

Jiangxia is still standing still, after the lack of grain and grass from Xiangyang, Jiangxia actually fell into a grain and grass crisis, but although Jingzhou's grain and grass are mainly supplied by the Nanyang Basin, Jingnan is also prosperous at this time, after taking Jingnan, Liu Pan can transport grain and grass to Jiangxia.

Huang Zu sent Jiangxia sailors to cruise along the Yangtze River from Dongting Lake to Xiling to protect the safety of the grain route. In this way, Liu Pan and Liu Qi were connected, and the soldiers and horses of the two sides, one south and one east, plus Liu Bei's army, clamped down on Cai Mao in the middle.

Time passed quietly in this confrontation between the two sides, and Jingzhou seemed to become peaceful overnight, no one went to war, there was no place to fight, everything seemed to happen, and nothing seemed to have happened.

It is only between the families that countless letters are secretly exchanged with each other that the undercurrent is surging.

And when Jingzhou briefly struck the army, Zhang Lu of Yizhou was storming Niuyang and Fucheng, Fucheng had few soldiers, and finally Zhang Lu was keke, Zhang Ren, Liu Xun, Liu Xuan, Leng Bao and others had to retreat to Mianzhu, Luocheng and other places to continue to hold on.

Pang Xi garrisoned Niuyang, this place is Jianyang City in the later generations, located on the right bank of the Tuojiang River, surrounded by countless hills, easy to defend and difficult to attack, Zhang Lu can not attack for a long time, and the two sides have not divided the results.

Liu Zhang and Zhang Lu held each other, and Cao Cao in the north was relatively smooth.

Before he designed to defeat Yuan Shang, he was about to take advantage of the victory to pursue, but when he surrounded Yecheng, Yuan Tan took advantage of the situation and occupied most of the territory of Jizhou, and when Yuan Shang was beaten to the north, except for Wei County, the rest of the place was basically occupied by Yuan Tan.

This made Cao Cao very angry, and sent troops to defeat Yuan Tan and retreat, and when he was about to eliminate Yuan Tan, he had to retreat back to Chenliu because of a head wind, so that most of the land in Jizhou was acquired by Yuan Tan.

At the beginning of this year, Cao Cao sent troops north again, and Yuan Tan fought around Wei County, Yuan Tan defended Yecheng, the two sides fought for half a year, and the surrounding area of Yecheng withered and shattered.

The originally prosperous Wei County became barren in just half a year, and there were no people for hundreds of miles.

In history, Cao Cao flooded Yecheng, and this time he also planned to do so, but at this time it was Tian Feng who was defending the city, and he saw through this strategy, and suddenly attacked when Cao Cao's soldiers were digging a canal, but defeated Cao Cao, so Cao Cao has not been able to conquer it.

But in August of the thirteenth year of Jian'an, after attacking Yecheng for more than half a year, Yuan Tan outside the city was defeated by Cao Cao first, causing Yecheng to be isolated all of a sudden, and the grain and grass could not enter.

At that time, Tian Feng's strategy was that Yuan Tan led the army to camp outside the city, and he held the city, and the two sides would be able to defeat Cao Cao's attack with the momentum of the horns.

But Yuan Tan's strength was not good, and when his strength was similar to Cao Cao's, he was actually defeated by Cao Cao in a head-on battle, which made Yecheng's situation very embarrassing all of a sudden.

(End of chapter)