Jingzhou, Xiangyang.

The court was still arguing about whether to send troops to attack Jiangxia and go to rescue the eldest son who fell into the hands of the Sun family.

Before there was a conclusion, Sun Quan's army was defeated in Hefei, and the news that swept the people of Jiangxia to Jiangdong came back.

There was no need to face the Jiangdong Army that occupied Jiangxia like a divine soldier descending from the sky, which naturally relieved the Jingzhou officials.

At the same time, they learned that the combat strength of the Qingzhou Army was far above their estimates, but it made them a little uncomfortable.

On this day, Liu Cong found Cai Mao and Kuai Yue.

Liu Cong was able to take power at the beginning, thanks to the two and their families who contributed to it.

Now Liu Cong is in power and has entrusted the two with important tasks, and their families have monopolized many official positions in the state.

In the conference hall, the young man who has now got his wish and sat in the position of Jingzhou pastor frowned.

He first took a sip of the hot soup on the table, and then looked at the first two of them, "Presumably you all know about Sun Quan's defeat in Hefei. According to the battle report from Jiangxia before, Jiangdong's military horses were already extremely strong. I don't want to be tens of thousands of people now, but they are defeated in the hands of the 800 Qingzhou army. If the Qingzhou army goes south next in the name of crusading against Jiangdong, how should we in Jingzhou respond?"

Cai Mao and Kuai Yue glanced at each other, each thinking in their hearts.

The reason why Liu Cong was supported to take the position at the beginning was naturally because Liu Cong had an excellent relationship with Cai Mao and Kuai Yue.

Liu Cong is in power, so he will naturally reuse the two.

In addition, it is also because Liu Cong has a compromise with Liu Bei in the Central Plains, if he can sacrifice Jingzhou in the future, it can also save their family from the war.

It's just that after Liu Cong really took the position, he never mentioned the matter, and the two of them naturally didn't dare to mention it first.

didn't want to lose now, but scared Liu Cong a little.

Cai Mao knew that this was a good opportunity, so he naturally refused to let it go, and stepped forward, "The lord is very worried. Now that Liu Bei sits on several states in the world, it is only a matter of time before he pours the power of the Central Plains southward in the future. How is the lord boasting of being compared to Liu Bei, the Qingzhou Mu?"

Liu Cong was silent for a moment, and finally said truthfully, "It's far inferior."

Cai Mao nodded, "Since the lord also knows about this, instead of waiting for the Qingzhou army to come to the door, it is better to take advantage of the fact that he still has the land of Jingzhou and talk to the Qingzhou pastor, saying that he will not be able to protect Jingzhou."

Liu Cong naturally understood what he meant, and he just wanted him to ask for a reward for guarding Jingzhou while he still had chips in his hand.

He pondered for a moment, although he knew that it was not easy for Liu Biao to start a business, but he also knew that with the strength of the Jingzhou army, it was far from comparable to Liu Bei, who was sitting in the Central Plains.

Once the Qingzhou army really comes south, he can only wait to be killed.

And Cai and Kuai in front of them, although they seem to be loyal now, they are afraid that they will be the first to turn against the water.

After a long time, Liu Cong spoke, "I want to send an envoy to Qingzhou, I don't know who you think can be the envoy?"

Cai Mao glanced at Kuai Yue, and Kuai Yue took a step forward, "The minister is willing to go."

Seeing this, Liu Cong breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

In terms of wisdom, no one under him can be above Kuaiyue. This person is willing to go on an envoy, which is naturally the best.

Liu Cong suddenly remembered something and sighed with emotion, "In this battle of Hefei, Liu Bei has Zhang Liao under him, and Sun Quan has Gan Ning under him, both of whom are rare generals in the world. The land of my Jingxiang Nine Counties is not comparable to the Central Plains, but it is not even comparable to Jiangdong. Now that Kuai Jun is traveling, there is no one who can walk with Kuai Jun and protect Kuai Jun's safety, which is really regrettable."

After a moment of silence, Cai Mao spoke: "Actually, there is no one in the state, there is a general in Changsha County, surnamed Huang Mingzhong, who is good at martial arts. Presumably, it's not much compared to that Zhang Liao and Gan Ning."

Liu Cong frowned slightly, although he is now a pastor in Jingzhou, the time he has been in charge of the house is not long, and these days just adjusting the relationship between the officials in Jingzhou have made him a little anxious, and he has no time or energy to look at the details of the state.

"Since there are such heroes, why don't you promote one or two?"

Cai Mao also sighed, "

It's not that he doesn't want to be promoted, it's just that when your father pacified Jingzhou, Huang Zhong's age was already past his prime, and after so many years, this person is even more old now. On the battlefield, I am afraid that I can't compare to those young people."

Liu Cong nodded, "Haojie is late, it's really a pity. Repair a letter and summon Huang Zhong, and this time he will accompany Kuai Jun as an envoy."

Cai Mao responded, "Yes."

…………

More than a month later, the envoys led by Kuai Yue came to Linzi City, Qingzhou.

When the envoy came to the city, Xun or personally went out of the city to greet him.

The purpose of Jingzhou's envoy this time is well known to both sides.

Kuai Yue naturally had heard of Xun He's name, and knew that this person was an important adviser under Liu Bei, and he didn't want this person to come out to greet him in person, so he was a little flattered.

But what he didn't know was that when they were greeting Xun or in front of the city gate, on the city tower, Qingzhou Mu Liu Bei was looking down.

And Liu Bei was not looking at Kuai Yue as a messenger, but at the old general who was riding on horseback, holding a sword and a bow, and already had most of the white hair on his head.

He smiled softly at Guan Yu behind him, "Yun Chang, you have always been proud, and you also have the ability to be proud. It's just that being rigid and self-contained is not a good thing after all, and sooner or later you will have to suffer in the future."

Guan Yu twisted his beard, and his brother's words were just listening.

But if someone else dared to say this, he would have been beaten up at this time.

Liu Bei saw that he was silent, and he also knew that he didn't take these words to heart.

For so many years, Guan Yu has really had no opponent for too long.

Liu Bei chuckled, raised his hand and pointed at the veteran general under the city, "Why don't you and me make a bet, if you can defeat the veteran under the city, he will go out of Jiangdong every day, and I will ask you to be the vanguard, how about it?"

Guan Yu raised his eyebrows slightly, looking at the white-haired veteran under the city, and the man also happened to look up.

The eyes are facing each other.

Guan Yu nodded, "Okay, brother, this bet, Yu took it."

------

After living in Linzi for a few days, Kuai Yue and his entourage finally met Liu Bei, a Qingzhou pastor who had "hurriedly returned" from other counties in Qingzhou.

Kuai Yue's intention for this trip is clear, and it is to surrender to Qingzhou.

Therefore, after getting Liu Bei's promise to Liu Cong and Jingzhou, the purpose of his trip has been achieved.

As for Liu Bei's deliberate envelopment of the veteran who came with him during this period, Kuai Yue only thought that he had never seen it.

In the meantime, Kuai Yue and the others said goodbye and left.

At the same time as Kuai Yue and his entourage returned to Jingzhou, Liu Bei had already begun to order Guan Yu to reorganize the military horses of several states, preparing to pour the strength of the Central Plains and move south.

As for being a pioneer, Guan Yu has never heard him mention it since he had a private competition with Huang Zhong that day.

As for the result of the competition between the two sides, Guan Yu once mentioned it when he was drunk, and he couldn't win, but he couldn't lose either.

…………

Jizhou, Yecheng.

Zhang Fei has been serving as the pastor of Jizhou for some time.

He also knows that drinking alcohol is easy to make mistakes, so he rarely drinks alcohol nowadays.

Sometimes, I can't help it, so I fill the jar with some plum juice and take a sip when I want to drink.

In the words of his brother, this is called Wangmei quenching thirst.

It's just that today he held a banquet in the mansion, and prepared a lot of wine.

Today, he was also ordered to drink, and the two brothers naturally couldn't find fault with him.

Soon after, the people he invited arrived.

Bingzhou Mu Lu Bu, Youzhou Mu Gong Sun Zhan, and Shangdang Taishou Zhang Yan are all big names in the north today.

When the distinguished guests came to the door, Zhang Fei never went out to greet him, but just drank the wine in advance.

The three of them didn't care, and entered the lobby under the guidance of the servants in the house, sat down at random, and began to eat and drink.

Among the three, only Zhang Yan was a little restrained at the beginning, but

In the end, it was the leader of the Black Mountain Army, and he was used to being a strong beam on the mountain, and when he saw that the other two were completely fine, he soon began to look calm.

After eating and drinking, all four began to burp.

Lu Bu patted his belly and asked with a smile: "Huanyan, I heard that you were warned by Xuande not to drink alcohol before, but today you were able to make an exception, it seems that the Central Plains is about to make waves again."

Zhang Fei took a sip of wine and smacked his lips a little reluctantly, "Wine is really a good thing, drinking makes people forget their worries, and all kinds of pleasures are not as good as the pleasure of a big drunk." You are very happy in Bingzhou now, Lao Tzu is not good, this Jizhou is very chaotic all day long, and you have to think about which family can't be offended, which family wants to win over one or two, it's very annoying."

Lu Bu smiled. knew that most of what Zhang Fei said was sincere.

Jizhou is a family of families, even the fourth and third princes of the year, Yuan Benchu, had to be careful to balance it, and if he was not careful, he would get into a lot of trouble.

Zhang Fei continued: "Everyone here is from their own family, and there are some things that we can just talk about. Before, the envoy of Jingzhou went to Qingzhou and found my brother, and said that Liu Cong, the pastor of Jingzhou, wanted to surrender."

He poured another bowl of wine to himself, "People want to surrender, but my brother has no reason to stop him. It's just that in this way, there are no more separatist princes in the Central Plains, and my brother has always taken it as his responsibility to support the Han family and reorganize the mountains and rivers. So now he wants to take Jingzhou and directly lead his troops south to cut off the traitors in Jiangdong."

The expressions of the three people present remained unchanged when they heard this, and what Zhang Fei said was expected.

Put yourself in your shoes, if they are Liu Bei, as the general trend is today, as long as Jiangdong is pacified, who in the world will dare to compete with him, the biggest prince in the Central Plains?

Zhang Lu of five buckets of rice thieves? Or is it Liu Zhang, the dog of the household?

Zhang Fei glanced at the expressions of several people, and said with a smile: "Now that my brother is about to go south, we are in the north and cannot accompany us. Brother is thoughtful, we are all martial artists in the battle array, and now that the war is raging in the south, I am afraid that I will be very envious of others who have made meritorious contributions, so he has also specially arranged something for us to do, so as not to be really boring at that time."

Lu Bu frowned when he heard this, and Zhang Fei's mouth was about finding something to do, which naturally meant to move troops.

It's just that now the leaders of several states north of the Yellow River are here, and there are only two places where they want to mobilize troops and can do so.

He glanced at Gongsun Chan on the side, and saw that Gongsun Chan was all right, presumably he had received the news in advance.

But it's right to think about it, Liu Bei and Gongsun Chan are friends of life and death, and it is naturally not difficult to convince Gongsun Chan in private.

He glanced at Zhang Yan on the side again, and shook his head gently, it seemed to be three to one, but it was actually two to two.

But now that he is sitting in the state, he has wealth, beauty, and prestige, and he has long lost his original intention to compete for the world.

He was a man who could easily sit back and enjoy wealth.

Lu Bu opened his mouth and smiled, "So you're going to use troops against Wu Huan?"

Now, although the Wuhuan outside the fortress is suppressed by them to the north of the Great Wall, they still often cross the Great Wall.

The leader of Wuhuan, Tatun, is not a simple person, there is a faint bit of the power of Tanshi Huai back then, and most of the Wuhuan tribes obey his orders.

In addition, the Yuan brothers are still in the north, and there are often old officials of the Yuan family in Jizhou to contact them, although they can't do anything big, but the small things are constant.

Zhang Fei glanced at him and said with a smile, "Yes, I really plan to do something to Wu Huan. After all, it's not been a day or two since I was disgusted with you. I invite you here today to discuss the matter of sending troops, after all, the place outside the fortress is too wide, and since you want to do it, it is natural to finish the battle. Let's talk about what each of us is responsible for."

Zhang Fei didn't ask the three of them if they agreed to send troops, it seemed that the matter had been decided, and now he was just discussing with them.

Zhang Yan peeked at the other two.

Even if Lu Bu is greedy for money and lustful, he is from a poor background on the border of Bingzhou, and the hatred of people on the border for foreign races has never been fake.

So even if you go north this time, even if you will lose some of the soldiers and horses of the merged states, presumably

He will answer as well.

As for Gongsun Zhan, this person is originally a person who likes to hear war, and he has always hated foreign races, so he will never oppose sending troops.

He was thinking about it when he noticed that Zhang Fei's words suddenly stopped.

He turned his head to look and saw Zhang Fei looking at him with a smile on his face, looking playful.

"Zhang Jun, my brother and Zilong also asked me to say hello to you, I heard that when you first met, you were very heroic, and you were able to fight against Zilong."

Zhang Yan was stunned, and then remembered that what Zhang Fei said should be an old thing many years ago.

That was Liu Bei's first time going to Changshan, and he happened to see him playing with Zhao Yun and others.

He said in a deep voice, "I would like to listen to the orders of the Qingzhou pastor."

Zhang Fei smiled and nodded, "That's fine."

…………

In Liangzhou, Ma Chao, who had led troops to the west of Liangzhou several times, had just returned to Huaili, and before he had time to unload his armor, he rushed to Chang'an.

When he came to the garrison barracks outside Chang'an City, he saw that the army and horses were being cleaned up, and it seemed that there was going to be a big battle.

Ma Chao hurriedly walked towards the big tent in the army.

In the big tent, Zhao Yun was looking at a map spread out on the table.

"Meng is up." Zhao Yun saw Ma Chao enter and turned his head.

Ma Chao and Zhao Yun didn't get along badly, so he took a few steps forward and glanced at the map on the table.

It is the topography of Hanzhong.

Ma Chao rubbed his hands, "Finally ready to do it?"

Since Zhao Yun was stationed in Chang'an, he had already begun to secretly explore the situation in Hanzhong, and he had never concealed it from Ma Chao.

Zhao Yun smiled and nodded, "It's indeed faster than the previous calculation."

He immediately looked at Ma Chao and said with a smile: "This is the first time I am in charge of the army, Meng Qi, this time I will take you as the vanguard, don't let me down."

Ma Chao's face was high-spirited, and he hugged his fists and said, "Take the order."