Sun Quan's plan to lead the water to the east led to several strategies on Cao Cao's side to deal with it.

Han Hao, who returned to the city to ask for instructions, listened to the fog, but he quickly brought Zhang Liao and Cao Chun the order to 'pursue'.

Shucheng's army moved at the same time, and Xu Huang, Gao Lan and others led their troops and horses out of the city one after another, just like a plan to reinforce Zhang Liao.

In addition, many people who were conscripted as civil husbands also took advantage of the Shu County defenders' to 'relax their vigilance' and fled.

Guided by many 'inner ghosts', the fleeing people went in the direction of the water, planning to run to Liyang and settle down before turning to Jiangdong, they would most likely encounter Jiangdong patrol boats on the way, and the emptiness of Shuxian County naturally reached Zhou Yu's ears.

Not to mention that the property and grain were all collected, Cao Jun did not give food to the people in Lujiang, and let the people work hungry until they died.

The terrible thing about conscription in ancient times was that most of them not only did not pay wages, but also needed people to bring their own grain to participate in the construction, which not only missed the family's agricultural time but also consumed the stored grain.

Some people have concluded that today's peasant workers have many similarities with the ancient forced labor, doing all kinds of basic and hard-working work, not to mention that they cannot go home all year round, and in many cases they do not get paid.

Long Xiang was born in a construction site and knew that the efficiency of migrant workers mainly depended on the treatment of the problem, so in the years he had been in Hefei, he had implemented work for relief, or 'paid conscription', especially the craftsmen in the craftsman camp, which had become the core class of Hefei.

The people who stayed in the five counties of Lujiang had long heard that Hefei had low taxes and no forced labor, and that those who could run in several wars in the past few years had already dragged their families to Hefei, but there were always people who could not give up their homeland, or people who could never wake up.

At this time, in the face of Cao Jun's almost 'slow death' treatment, the people of the five counties only had one word of regret left in their hearts, but the instinct to survive finally made them take a step.

There was a war on the road to Hefei, and these fleeing refugees retreated to the next best thing, and at this time they could only choose to cross the river to join Jiangdong.

Knowing that there is no land and no food in Jiangdong, most people will become powerful tenant farmers, but they have no choice but to survive.

Zhou Yu personally led the army to lure the enemy, and he didn't know the situation of the displaced people at all.

At first, he was still walking and stopping, and finally saw a large number of troops in Shucheng, so he could only withdraw in the direction of Hefei, and he didn't expect Cao Cao to be so 'cooperative'.

Jiangdong soldiers and horses marched to the northwest of Chaohu Lake, Zhou Yu ordered Chen Wujing to continue to advance in Hefei, and he and Dong Xi quietly led the main force around the north side of Chaohu Lake to board the ship, preparing to implement the next plan.

After detouring Chaohu Lake to reach the boarding point, Dong Xi glanced at the direction of Hefei, and said to Zhou Yu with a worried face: "Governor Dadu, Zilie only has a thousand people left now, if Cao Chun chases with tigers and leopards, these sons are afraid that it will be difficult to survive."

"No way." Zhou Yu sighed, and said: "If Zilie doesn't continue to move forward, he won't be able to blame Hefei, and we have all lost our efforts these days, his Lujiang Shangjia is all elite, even if he goes north to find General Wu to meet, he will not be easily eliminated." ”

"The city of Hefei is strong, and the Cao army does not seem to have siege equipment, so it may not necessarily besiege the city." Dong Xi's face was still solemn.

Zhou Yu said solemnly: "Regardless of whether Cao Thief attacks the city or not, he mobilizes so many soldiers and horses, it seems that he is really angry, and we are now going to join the main force and lead troops to attack its rear, which is my real purpose." ”

"Well, it's just." Dong Xi was slightly entangled, and finally asked: "This time we blame Long Xiang, as long as Zhang Liao and the others arrive in Hefei, the previous misunderstanding may be solved, and the metropolitan governor is not afraid that Long Xiang and Jiangdong will turn against each other?" ”

"Flip-eye? Hmph."

Zhou Yu snorted coldly, and said disdainfully: "Long Xiang is going to vote for Cao Thief, if he turns against us Jiangdong again, and he can't stay in Huainan, an important city like Hefei should be in our own hands." ”

Dong Xian said weakly: "I'm afraid that Long Xiang will hold a grudge and use this as an excuse to send troops to attack Zilie, and Xu Chu himself is in Hefei, so the consequences can be met."

"Don't worry, Long Xiang doesn't have that guts." Zhou Yu raised his hand and signaled Dong Xi not to continue, because the boat from Chaohu had already arrived.

Zhou Yu's assertion is not wrong at all, Long Xiang really didn't have the courage to attack at this time, because it was difficult for a good woman to cook without rice.

Knowing that Cao Cao personally sent his army to Huainan, he immediately adjusted the deployment of troops in the old and new cities.

Hefei New City is five times the size of the old city, and the defense requires more troops than the old city, Long Xiang transferred the craftsman battalion, cavalry battalion, city defense right battalion, and half of Lei Xu's subordinate troops to the new city, and the defenders of the new city exceeded 8,000, which was dispatched and commanded by Lu Su, the second person.

The old city has Tang Yu's city defense left battalion, Xu Chu's tiger guard battalion, and half of Lei Xu's troops, the total strength of the city is only 3,800, Hefei has returned to the overstretched years.

Fortunately, the combat effectiveness of the soldiers in the old city is not weak, and with the prestige of Long Xiang in Hefei, hundreds of people are willing to participate in the battle and defend the city.

The old and new cities are abundant in materials, and there is no problem in defending them for a year and a half, Long Xiang and Lu Su have defensive experience, but they have never thought of transferring troops out of the city to fight.

Long Xiang originally planned to go to guard the new city in person, but the new city was still being built on a large scale, and at present, except for a temporary yamen that became the new master of the house, there was no decent mansion left.

During this time, Ohashi was pregnant, and Xiaoqiao was on duty alone at night, and was confirmed to be pregnant in late April.

Long Xiang is now a big family, dragging his family with him, and before the Xincheng Mansion is not ready, it is really inconvenient for him to move over so hastily.

One day in mid-to-late May, Lu Su and Cao Xing hurried to the old city, they had important military information to discuss with Long Xiang, but they did not find anyone in the school captain's mansion, the city defense battalion, and the tiger guard battalion.

Finally, under the leadership of Lei Xu, Lu Su found Long Xiang in a workshop, only to see him holding a bamboo tube in front of him, standing on the haystack in the backyard of the workshop, swaying from side to side.

"Yunqi, what are you doing?"

Hearing Lu Su's call, Long Xiang adjusted the position of the bamboo tube, and a big face immediately appeared in the lens, and then quipped: "What has Zijing eaten recently?" It's growing pretty well. ”

When Lu Su had a question mark on his face, Long Xiang opened his right eye and put down the bamboo telescope, and asked with a smile while walking down the haystack: "We haven't seen each other for a few days, how is everything okay in Xincheng?" ”

Lu Su bowed slightly: "Hefei New City is no problem, but the Sun Cao family has been moving frequently in recent days, and I estimate that there will be military action soon." ”

"Oh? Wu Jing led hundreds of warships to the north, and his idea of hitting Cao's army's grain route has not been a day or two, and it seems that he is finally going to make a move? Let's talk as we go. ”

Long Xiang glanced at Cao Xing next to Lu Su, and said in his heart that now Chaohu Lake is occupied by Jiangdong soldiers and horses, and he can only transfer the reconnaissance ship belonging to the cavalry battalion back to monitor, and Cao Cao has launched a military operation in the Lujiang River, and now the range of activities in the south of the cavalry battalion is limited, and the main scouts in the battalion are now placed in the north.

Not only did Wu Jing stare at Cao Jun's grain road, but Long Xiang also stared at Cao Jun's grain road from the beginning.

(End of chapter)