Soon after Lejin and Xun Yu reinforced Luoyang, the warships built by Wancheng had begun to take shape.

Cao Cao saw that the weather was gradually warming up and the preparations for launching a big war were almost completed, so he took his confidant Mao Jue as the governor of the navy, commanded the tens of thousands of sailors trained in Xuanwuchi, and assisted him with Cai Mao as the deputy governor.

Most of the Xiangyang naval army defeated by the combined forces of Gan Ning and Guan Yu fled to Fancheng with Zhang Yun to join Cao Ren, and only a few hundred followed Cai Mao to Xudu.

Although Cai Mao has a close relationship with Cao Cao, he does not have much prestige in Cao Ying, and a few hundred parts are not enough to be around, so he can only succumb to Mao Jue.

Mao Jue was born as a county official, and he had no chance to command the army before this, if he hadn't been defeated and captured in the forbidden war, the naval army would not have been able to fall on him.

Fortunately, several major rivers in Nanyang are all tributaries of the Han River, and there is a big gap between them and the Han River regardless of the depth and width of the water, let alone compared with the Yellow River and the Yangtze River.

Mao Jue, a naval army that has not experienced actual combat, this time is mainly to accumulate experience to cooperate with the Cao army on land, although he is the commander of tens of thousands of naval troops, but all military operations must be ordered by Cao Cao.

Cai Mao is familiar with water warfare and more familiar with officialdom, he sees his position very clearly, and he is the nominal deputy governor at this stage.

No matter what Mao Jue's command level is, Cai Mao plans to learn from Sima Hui to be a good gentleman, and follow the gangsters to win directly.

Wancheng has 180,000 soldiers and horses, counting the tens of thousands of Cao troops trapped in Fancheng, the more than 10,000 defeated soldiers brought by Zhang Yun, and the more than 10,000 people supported by Li Tong from Runan, Cao Cao's total strength in Jingzhou exceeded 250,000.

And Guan Yu, Gan Ning, Wei Yan and others, together are less than 50,000 people.

The city of Xiangyang is not as strong as Xiangyang, the terrain is not as dangerous as Xiangyang, and there are still 20,000 or 30,000 forbidden prisoners to drag down, Cai Mao believes that as long as its waterway advantage is cut off, there is no suspense about the outcome of the war.

In March of the 14th year of Jian'an, Cao Cao ordered Mao Jue and Cai Mao to set up warships to go south, and ordered Li Tong to cooperate by land to clear the enemy in Shuishui, open up the life passage of Cao's army trapped in Fancheng, and also open up the main grain route of Cao's army in Jingzhou.

At that time, Cao Ren's troops were fully supplied, and they dispersed from Fancheng to cooperate with Cao Cao's main force to encircle, and then a battle could quell the chaos in Jingzhou.

Cao Cao led hundreds of thousands of horsemen, and almost simultaneously moved south with the naval army, moving in parallel like a huge wave.

Thousands of troops and horses trampled on the new green of the earth, and the rising and falling footsteps surging Judah turned over, just like the spring thunder and early earthquake made the winter insects wake up.

Cao Cao was in person, and the soldiers were mighty.

Guan Yu and Xu Shu's previous tossing and turning did not work at all in the face of absolute strength.

Fortunately, Liu Bei has already taken Hongnong, and Guan Yu has changed from the previous main attack to the strategy.

As long as he dragged the main force of Cao's army as much as possible, and let Liu Bei take Luoyang and peep into the Central Plains in one fell swoop, then it would be Cao Cao's turn to be passive.

The city of Yuxian was too small, and Guan Yu began to deal with it after the war, considering that tens of thousands of soldiers had a large burden and that staying on the front line was also a hidden danger.

Guan Yu did not learn from Cao Cao's official battle and killed Yuan Shao's tens of thousands of soldiers directly, but sent them to Juan County in batches and handed them over to Liu Ye.

Liu Bei went west to Liangzhou, Guan Yu resisted Cao Ren, and Gan Ning built ships to help in the war, spending countless money and food.

If it weren't for Zhang Lu leaving Hanzhong, which was full of treasury, Liu Bei's group would not have had the confidence to fight on multiple fronts.

After more than a year of war consumption, Zhang Lu has accumulated more than ten years of money and food, and there is not much left so far, but fortunately, Liangzhou has been initially pacified, and Jiang Qin helped Guan Ping to take Xiangyang, and injected materials into this war.

In those days, population was a 'strategic commodity'.

Guan Yu handed over the pawn to Liu Ye to bring labor to Hanzhong and contribute to Liu Bei's hegemony.

When Liu Bei entered the Guanzhong, the Shen family moved tens of thousands of people from Shangyong, and tens of thousands of soldiers surrendered to Guan Yu in the ban, which just filled the gap of the Shen family's relocation and injected fresh blood into Handong, which was in short supply of young and strong.

As the saying goes, a snake can't be without a head, Liu Ye first stripped off the officers, and then smashed the original structure of the soldiers, and then placed them in batches in Shangyong, Xicheng and other places.

Hundreds of officers, led by Yu Ban, were sent to Xiangyang to be held by Guan Ping.

Liu Ye suggested that Guan Yu should be used to ban the fuss and delay the offensive of the Cao army to the greatest extent.

After Guan Yu consulted with Xu Shu, he immediately sent an envoy to Cao Cao to try to use it as a bargaining chip to negotiate.

Cao Cao advanced by land and water, and when the main force of the foot rode to Nieyang, Guan Yu's handwritten letter arrived.

"After Lu Bu's death, Guan Yun looked at the martial artists in the world for a long time, and they all said that they would be proud of this person's life, and they didn't want to bow their heads today."

Cao Cao held the silk book in his right hand, leaned on his waist and held his beard with his left hand, the corners of his mouth were slightly raised, and he was in a comfortable mood.

The people in the tent heard it in a fog, and after some eye contact, Xiahou Yuan stood up.

"Prime Minister, could it be that Guan Yu sent a letter to beg for surrender?"

"Definitely."

Cao Cao grabbed the silk book on his chest, frowned and shook his head to explain: "Yun Chang's letter, I want to use it to discuss the conditions of Wen Ze, saying that Cai Deqi's abolition of Chang Liyu is the scourge of infighting in Jingzhou, as long as Liu Qi is recognized as the lord of Jingzhou, and I am asked to use Deqi to ask for guilt, he is willing to release Wen Ze and take the initiative to open the Fancheng encirclement." ”

"Can he still negotiate conditions? The prime minister has 300,000 soldiers in Jingzhou, and he can relieve the siege of Fancheng by stepping on the county, and this red-faced thief really dares to speak. ”

Xiahou Yuan snorted disdainfully, and then heard Cao Cao add: "The person who came said that Yun Chang is full of sincerity, if we are not satisfied with the conditions offered, the two sides can continue to negotiate." ”

"I remember that Guan Yu once sold dates for a living, he actually did the war as a business, since his words are full of sincerity and can be negotiated, it is better to let him immediately lead his troops to surrender, and the prime minister promised to treat him with the old courtesy, then he can break Liu Bei's arm."

"Miaocai, Miaocai, others bargain and cut it in half, you are cutting the bones with a knife, how can Yun Chang agree."

Cao Cao smiled and didn't finish his words, Jia Xu, who has always liked to touch fish, took the initiative to give advice unusually.

"Guan Yu is Liu Bei's confidant, his loyalty is the world's table, and the prime minister's former gifts can't be kept, how can he bend his knees because of the strength of the army at this time? It must be Xu Shu's plan to delay, and the prime minister must not be fooled, but the urgent troops can go to the county first. ”

"What Wen He said is very true."

Cao Cao bowed slightly, and added: "Yun Chang values his name and ignores life and death, Xu Shu is in vain to buy time for Liu Bei, Luoyang has Hangu Xiongguan to block it, Zilian, Wen Lie and Gongda and Wen Qian help each other, and Liu Bei can't do it if he is high-spirited, but if he refuses to negotiate this time, he is worried that Wen Ze's life will not be guaranteed, after all, he will follow me to the east and west, and he can't bear to abandon it."

Yu Ban is Cao Cao's favorite general, and his prestige in the army is second only to that of clan generals, but unfortunately he has shortcomings in interpersonal communication, and no one stood up to help him speak after he was captured.

Jia Xu saw that all the generals were silent, and he was worried that Cao Cao would affect the future war because of the ban on one person, so he risked offending people and admonished:

"General Yu was defeated and captured, he must be humiliated and want to be happy, even if Guan Yu only needs General Cai to exchange, it will be difficult for the prime minister, it is better to treat his family well"

"Makes sense"

Although Cao Cao likes to ban, as Jia Xu said just now, the defeated army will be redeemed if it is captured, and it is also a shame in the army, so it is better to be killed by Guan Yu.

But in order to maintain his own image, Cao Cao could not say this kind of cruel words of abandoning his subordinates.

Now that there is a reason given by Jia Xu, Cao Cao immediately got off the donkey.

"Since Yun Chang is using a plan, I want to plan it, and I pretend to negotiate with him, but in fact, I hurriedly marched to Yuxian County, and caught him off guard."

"I'll reply to the letter in person right away, and I will definitely make Yun Chang take it lightly."

(End of chapter)