Chapter 474: Xiangyang’s trick
However, Liu Feng was like a towering rock, not moved by the words of the pleaders. His face was calm, his eyes were firm and calm, and he slowly gave out an indebted and convincing reason.
"The Yangzhou army came from east to west, and wherever it passed, the people ate pots of slurry to welcome the king's army. Since Qichun, to Jiangling, the Yangzhou army has strict discipline, which can be said to be a slight slightest. All the people can see it without any offense. The aristocratic families and powerful merchants in various places have maintained their due respect, which is obvious to everyone. But now, Jingling, Zhengguo and other places are brazenly raising troops to fight against the Heavenly Soldiers If it is not punished, then what should other cities follow suit in the future? Moreover, if these places that dare to resist cannot be severely punished, then how should we adapt to Zhouling, Echeng, Zhucheng and other places The destiny of heaven and the county that abandons darkness and turns to light? "
Liu Feng's words were clearly organized and well-founded, like a sharp sword, hitting the hearts of the pleaders. After hearing this, the pleaders were speechless. They knew in their hearts that Liu Feng had decided, just like the established trend of mountains and rivers, it was difficult to change at all.
After successfully conquering Junguocheng, the Yangzhou army quickly used this place as a crucial forward base. For a time, the city was busy, and the soldiers were hoarding various materials such as food, quilts, medicinal materials, weapons, wealth, etc., and each item was neatly arranged just to be able to calmly deal with the upcoming war.
However, compared with the smooth and unimpeded logistics line, the progress of the war on the front line was like a snail crawling, which slowed down with the naked eye.
Liu Feng's firm attitude did not cause the Xiangnan region to collapse quickly as he expected. On the contrary, resistance in Zhongxiang, Qiguo, Yicheng, Shanghong, Hannan and other places became increasingly fierce.
It is actually not complicated to explore the reasons carefully. First of all, this place is close to Xiangyang, and it is the core territory that Liu Biao spent many years of hard work and careful management. The people here have a very high sense of identity and loyalty to Liu Biao, and have a very deep public opinion foundation. This is far beyond the reach of Qichun, Echeng, and Zhucheng, and are governed by vassals like Huang Zu.
Secondly, it was Liu Feng's unswerving attitude towards punishment that played a counterproductive role.
Cao Cao is used to threatening the defenders by massacre cities, but there are still many cities that stick to it. The internal reasons are just a few reasons for hating Cao Cao and his loyal lord.
Now Liu Feng's attitude is not just aimed at Zhucheng in Xiangnan, but to make a systematic program for the entire Liu Feng army.
Cities such as Xiangnan are less than 100 miles away from Xiangyang, and are Liu Biao's core territory. Liu Bing has been in Jingzhou for almost ten years, and his political ability is quite skilled, so naturally there is no shortage of scholars and powerful people who are loyal to him.
For these people, Liu Feng's edict not only did not play a role in persuading surrender, but instead aroused their more resolute will to resist. The people and defenders in these places, with the determination to die, vowed to fight the Yangzhou army to the end. However, it is different for the remaining counties and towns in Nanjun and Jiangxia County.
Although these cities in Xiangnan are extremely firm in resisting, the gap in strength between the two sides is as huge as a natural barrier. If Liu Feng had not cherished the lives of the soldiers and was reluctant to let them suffer too many casualties, these counties would have been unable to resist for such a long time. What's more, although the progress is slow, it is progressing steadily everywhere. The chief officials of partial divisions in various places are all full of confidence and have issued military orders, swearing to say that they can roughly win their respective goals within ten days and a half months.
However, Liu Feng was not in a hurry at all. He was like a calm old hunter, quietly waiting for the best time. Not only did he urge the generals below to speed up the offensive rhythm, he suppressed the eager enthusiasm of the generals.
In Liu Feng's opinion, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to train troops. Most of the defenders in these cities are local powerful private soldiers and temporary recruitment young and strong men. They are not strong in combat, but they have strong city walls to support. For the Yangzhou Army, such an opponent is really a suitable "sandbag".
Besides, in this round of military expansion, Jia Kui and Zhao Yun's troops added a lot of new recruits. Especially for Jia Kui's troops, the proportion of new recruits is as high as more than half.
Although many of these new recruits have served as soldiers under Yuan Shu, Huang Turban, Sun Ce, Wang Lang and others, and are so-called old soldiers, the training methods of the Yangzhou army are the best in the world, and they have accepted them Compared with the rigorous training of the Yangzhou Army, the training is a world of difference. Moreover, the integration between new recruits and veterans is also urgently needed to complete the running-in.
In this way, these opponents who are not strong in combat power, have qualified fighting will, will not collapse easily, and have a city wall to support them, are simply perfect targets for training.
Another reason is that logistics supplies are still being transported in a tight manner. Even if the Yangzhou army attacked the city of Xiangyang in a short time, facing the extremely strong fortifications of Xiangyang City, they could only helpless.
After all, Xiangyang City is not comparable to these small cities. Strictly speaking, Xiangyang City spans both sides of the Han River and is closely connected with Fancheng in the north of the Han River. Not counting the garrison in the city, relying solely on the huge population in Xiangyang City, one army of 20,000 to 30,000 people can be mobilized at any time.
If such an army is fighting in the field, it is naturally not an opponent of the Yangzhou army, but if it is used to defend the city, it is more than enough. If there are two or three thousand elite troops as the core force at the same time, their combat power can be even more doubled.
The last reason is that Liu Feng doesn't want to force Liu Biao too quickly.
He knew in his heart that once Liu Biao was forced into a desperate situation, Liu Biao would be likely to surrender directly to Cao Cao in the north. To be fair, the relationship between Liu Bei and his son and Liu Biao is much deeper than that between Liu Biao and Cao Cao. After all, both sides have brought huge benefits to each other in their past cooperation.
Relying on the grain sales in Jingzhou, Liu Bei and his son not only successfully completed the military farming industry in Xuzhou, but also successfully stabilized the two counties in Jiangbei in Yangzhou. This prevented Lujiang and Jiujiang from collapsing due to severe drought, and preserved their precious vitality and laid a solid foundation for future development.
Liu Biao also did not suffer any loss. From Liu Feng, he continuously obtained a lot of frosted sugar, snow salt and various advanced iron farm tools, especially the Naqushan plow, which made him gain a lot. These materials not only made him a fortune, but also greatly increased Jingzhou's annual grain output.
Just relying on the curved plow alone, Jingzhou's annual output has increased by at least 30% in the past two years. Precious materials such as frosting sugar and snow salt also brought Liu Biao a huge amount of wealth, which gave him enough financial resources and confidence to start expanding the Liu family army of his direct line.
Among the 140,000 troops in Jingzhou, Liu Biao's direct troops now account for more than two-fifths of the troops. You know, it turns out that it is less than one-fifth, which is almost doubled. But it is precisely because of this win-win situation brought by trade that the two vassals who had been in charge of Liu Xun continued to maintain superficial harmony.
However, Liu Feng's "back stab" move this time is really quite a hurtful person. But who made this opportunity so good, it was just once in a thousand years. And once you miss it, you will never have such an excellent opportunity again after waiting for another twenty years.
Even if Sun Shiwan stabbed Guan Erye behind his back, he was far from comparable to Liu Feng's actions this time. After all, the reputation and character price that Sun Shiwan paid was several times or even ten times greater than that of Liu Feng at this moment, and the benefits he received were only one quarter of Jingzhou, and he was beaten by the war. Jingzhou is full of holes and ruins.
From this we can see that the current opportunity is precious.
The battle situation in Xiangnan is still under Liu Feng's control, and everything continues to advance step by step.
And to the south, Zhou Yu had already rushed to Jiangling City without stopping. As soon as he arrived, he immediately took over all the affairs of Nanjun. At the same time, Liu Feng also added the title of Jiangling Governor and solemnly appointed him to be responsible for the military affairs of the Jiangling War Zone. Zhou Yu knew that he had a great responsibility. He worked day and night, carefully deployed various defense and combat plans, striving to build Jiangling into an indestructible fortress.
During this, news of He Qi and Gao Shun's progress in the south came from time to time. The two worked together and carefully set up a plan, successfully leading the main force to go down the mountain during the summer harvest. Afterwards, they fought fiercely with the Shanyue army, winning three battles and over ten thousand enemies killed and captured. Now, the leaders of several major Shanyue in Kuaiji County have been so scared that they are hugged and huddled to resist.
They were beaten up by He Qi and Gao Shun in unstoppable power to fight back. They were completely disappointed and could only place their hopes after the beginning of winter. They naively thought that at that time, the Han army would automatically retreat due to cold weather and other reasons. Overall, the situation is still very good, and everything is moving in the direction Liu Feng expected.
However, when Liu Feng saw Xi Lu, his good mood finally came to an abrupt end.
In early August, Xi Lu followed Danshui all the way south, and after five days of hard work, he finally arrived in Xiangyang.
There are two people in Jingzhou who are the most dissatisfied with Xi Lu's visit to Jingzhou.
One is naturally Liu Feng, and the other is Liu Biao.
Out of helplessness, Liu Biao agreed to bow to Cao Cao, trying to use Cao Cao's reinforcements to check and balance and repel Liu Feng's Yangzhou army, but this does not mean that he is truly willing to surrender to Cao Cao.
After all, Liu Biao has been operating in Jingzhou for many years and has his own ambitions and ambitions. How could he easily surrender to others?
However, things have gradually developed to such an irreversible situation today. The most critical reason is that Liu Biao's basic base suffered a heavy blow.
His direct army is currently suffering heavy losses. Zhang Yun was afraid of Hanchuan and was careless. He even sent 30,000 troops in one night, making Liu Biao's efforts in selling grain in recent years go to waste. .
Immediately afterwards, Liu Hu from Jingnan lost another 10,000 yuan in Baqiu, which made it even worse.
Now the remaining troops in Xiangyang City are also firmly controlled by Cai Mao.
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In the huge Xiangyang City, there are probably less than a thousand soldiers who can command as much as possible.
In fact, at this critical moment, even those loyal cousin Liu's personal guards who were usually loyal to each other, could not help but waver in their hearts when they looked at the current situation.
Liu Biao lost the support of his direct troops, and his body was so angry that he couldn't stand up because of this series of tragic battle reports.
At this time, the gentry in Jingzhou changed their minds and secretly colluded and colluded in an attempt to seek their best interests in this chaotic situation. And at this critical moment that concerns the fate of Jingzhou, there is a person's attitude that largely determines the final direction.
This person is Cai Mao.
As a famous family in Nanyang, the Cai family is like a local snake in Xiangyang, with a deep foundation and huge power.
Cai Mao is not only Liu Biao's in-laws, but also the commander of the remaining troops in Xiangyang City today. He held the key military power in his hands, and his every move was closely watched by all parties, becoming a key figure in controlling the situation.
This series of complex factors intertwined each other, making the situation in Jingzhou more confusing. A bigger storm seems to be brewing quietly in the darkness and may erupt at any time.
On the third day when Xi Lu arrived in Xiangyang, the night was as bright as ink and everything was silent.
Cai Mao took advantage of the night, wearing a black cloak and quietly entered the state capital through the back door.
Liu Biao's wife is Cai Mao's second sister. Cai Mao naturally knows the layout of the prefecture and is no stranger to it. After entering the backyard, Cai Mao saw his second sister head-on.
Under the dim light, the second sister's eyes revealed a complicated emotion. She did not talk to Cai Mao, but gave the other party a meaningful look that seemed to the opportunity, and turned around and left in a hurry.
Cai Mao didn't chase him either. He knew in his heart that it was a good sign that the second sister could appear here, at least she didn't have to worry about her own safety issues.
Soon, under the guidance of the attendant, Cai Mao came to Liu Biao's bedroom. The room was brightly lit. The lamp oil purchased from Yangzhou was lit without hesitation. Dozens of oil lamps shone together, illuminating the whole room like Daylight is average.
"Master."
After entering the house, Cai Mao walked around the gorgeous screen and saw the weak Liu Biao on the couch at a glance. He hurried forward quickly with a concerned face on his face. He greeted with a look of expression, "Is your health awesome?"
The voice was filled with respect and worry.
Hearing Cai Mao's voice, Liu Biao slowly opened his eyes. At this time, Liu Biao showed his old look, his face pale as paper, and wrinkles were carved on his face like gullies. If the situation had not reached such a critical moment, he would have really not want to summon Cai Mao with such a embarrassed look.
"Degui is here, sit up."
Liu Biao raised his hand with difficulty and waved it slightly, as if the movement had exhausted all his strength. Seeing this, the servants on the side immediately understood and brought Hu bed for Cai Mao.
(This chapter ends)