Chapter 296 Liu Biao’s plan (the extra update is coming again!)

Chapter 296 Liu Biao’s plan (the extra update is coming again!)

Liu Feng hurriedly comforted him and said: "Why did General Wenyuan say this? You are just checking and filling in the gaps. You have made merits and no faults. I hope the general can still give me more insights in the future, so as to help me."

Zhang Liao felt warm in his heart, he was very pleased that Liu Feng behaved like this and respected him.

Pan Zhang looked on with envy and wondered if he should read some books.

Then Zhou Yu spoke up and admonished: "General, now that Hefei is under my control and Jiujiang is stable, we can take a peek at the Lujiang River. In my opinion, I can ask the general to divide his troops and horses and set off naturally. , continue southward via Yingshui River, pass Xincai, and reach Liao County. In this way, the north of Lujiang River will surely fall."

Liu Ye agreed: "Gong Jin's plan is very clever. Lujiang County only has fourteen counties in total. This is enough to shake the eight counties in the north and central part."

"Yes!"

Liu Feng followed the good deeds and Guan Yu was stationed in Pingyu at this time. Just ask him to go south along the Ying River.

"Second uncle is in Pingyu at this time. Naturally, I will act as Feishu's father and ask him to send orders to my uncle to go south and arrive in Liao County."

Liu Feng continued to ask: "Gentlemen, But there are other suggestions.”

Seeing Liu Feng's constant stream of advice, everyone present could no longer bear it, and they began to give advice one after another.

There are not many useful ones, and there are even less eye-catching strategies, but the atmosphere is quite lively.

Even Pan Zhang suggested whether he could increase his troops to become a virtue first and put them on the front line in Hefei. He even received a compliment from Liu Feng, who was so happy that he beamed with joy.

Liu Feng responded by asking Xu Huang to lead his troops southward, and also mobilized Lei Bo, Mei Yu and Chen Lan's troops to go south together and stationed themselves in Chengde and Hefei respectively, in order to strengthen Chengde. and Hefei's troops can also be allocated and used at the same time.

In addition, the troops of Xu Sheng and Pan Zhang were expanded to 6,000, and the troops of Jia Kui were expanded to 4,000. The soldiers were all selected from the prisoners of Yuan Shu's army.

In this way, Yuan's army of 6,000 men can be digested immediately, and his own strength can also be enhanced.

The rest is to contact Liu Bei and inform him of the situation in Jiangbei.

After arranging everything, the generals dispersed.

Liu Feng was sitting alone in the hall, frowning in thought.

Liu Xun was rebellious and plotted to be independent. Liu Feng was well prepared.

After all, others don't know how bold this person is, how can he, Liu Feng, not know?

It is precisely for this reason that Liu Feng gave such generous treatment, hoping to convince the other party.

But now it seems that it has failed.

Failure is nothing, no one can succeed all the time.

Besides, sometimes failure can be a blessing in disguise.

Now there are two roads before Liu Biao.

One is to temporarily let go of Lujiang, and all Liu Xun will get is half of Lujiang in the south and six to eight counties. Liu Beijun's main goal is still to capture Jiangdong first.

With his righteous name, as soon as Liu Bei's army crosses the river, he will definitely be warmly welcomed by the powerful governors and nobles from all over the river.

After all, the Sun family's reputation in Jiangdong is extremely polarized, and the forces opposing him have always been strong.

In this way, Liu Bei was able to kill Sun Ce first and obtain Jiangdong, a prosperous land with fewer wars and lighter losses.

The advantage of this road is that it can be easier first and then more difficult. At the same time, it can maintain trade with Liu Biao and continue to import a large amount of grain.

This is a very valuable harvest at a time when drought is approaching in Jiangbei.

In addition, you will gain great strategic initiative. You can focus on sweeping Jiangdong first. After taking all Jiangdong, you can turn around and deal with Liu Xun, and even Liu Biao will be taught a lesson. In turn, There is also a lot to be done if you come over and enter Jingzhou.

But the price is that in the early stage, Liu Biao will be able to extend his tentacles into Jiangbei and spy on Jiangdong, which may lead to unpredictable subsequent changes.

At the same time, because of Liu Bei's concession, Liu Bei's prestige will be reduced, causing surrounding forces to have the idea of ​​​​scorning Liu Bei. This will increase the probability of provocation, disputes, and even war.

The second way is not to rush across the river, but to simply concentrate our troops, kill Liu Xun, and beat back Liu Biao's tentacles.

The advantage is that it can ensure the stability of Yangzhou and establish Liu Bei's prestige.

But the disadvantage is that it will wake up the surrounding princes prematurely and increase their attention to Liu Bei's threat. At the same time, it is likely to cut off trade with Liu Biao, missing a huge food input, and even falling into peace. In the entanglement of the other party, a lot of military power and food were lost.

These two paths determine the next grand strategy of Liu Bei Group, and each has its own pros and cons, making it difficult to choose between them.

Therefore, Liu Feng cannot act arbitrarily in this matter. He must talk to Liu Bei face to face. It is best to try to bring Chen Deng, Xun You, Lu Su, Liu Ye, Guo Jia, Zhang Zhao, and Zhang Hong together as much as possible. Wait for the wise men to gather together to discuss.

Soon, the news about Shouchun went all the way north and reached Liu Bei, who was about to set off south to Shouchun.

Liu Bei was shocked when he received the document and immediately asked Xun You to come and negotiate.

After Xun You read Liu Bei's letter, he immediately suggested that Liu Bei fly to Guan Yu immediately and ask Guan Yu to make preparations and go south along the Ying River according to the plan to enter Liao County and control the counties north of Lujiang River first. .

There are as many as six counties here, accounting for nearly half of the entire Lujiang River.

There are a total of fourteen counties in Lujiang, but their distribution is extremely interesting, like a barbell placed in the north and south.

There are six counties and cities along the Huaihe River in the north, and five counties and cities along the Yangtze River in the south. However, there are only two cities in the middle, Yaxian County and Longshu, located in the middle of Lujiang County.

The last county, Xunyang County, is completely isolated, and is actually closer to Jiangxia County.

It was just that according to the geographical laws of the Eastern Han Dynasty, it had to be divided into Lujiang County. Therefore, the Xiashi Passage actually belonged to Lujiang.

According to Liu Feng's plan, at least six counties north of Lujiang River can be captured, which is almost half of Lujiang River.

Xun You then made another suggestion: "General, you can leave one to continue to guard Ruyin, but you have to speed up south and reach Shouchun."

As the leader of the faction, Liu Bei's role as the sea-fixing needle is undoubted. If it weren't for the existence of Liu Feng, then the words "irreplaceable" would have to be added.

When he arrived in Shouchun, it was tantamount to announcing the complete destruction of Yuan Shu. Except for Liu Xun, who had disloyal intentions, other counties would be inclined to surrender to Liu Bei.

In this case, unless Liu Xun sent troops to other counties, it would be difficult for him to control those counties with his own prestige.

After all, the magistrates, magistrates, and powerful people in these counties all have their own plans. Why should they work for your ambition, Liu Xun?

Of course, if Liu Xun dares to do this, he must think that he has a hardcore presence in Lujiang, and he is also sure that he can control some counties. Otherwise, what can a bare commander do in Shucheng? use.

So in this case, the sooner Liu Bei arrives in Shouchun, the better the effect will be, and conversely, the more Liu Xun will benefit.

This is why Xun You’s second thing was to persuade Liu Bei to set off south as soon as possible.

At this stage, the fight is for time.

The sooner Liu Bei arrives in Shouchun, the less support Liu Xun can get.

Liu Bei followed his good deeds and decided to leave Zhuoying in charge of Ruyin to keep it quiet. He himself personally led the troops of his personal guards, Liu Pi, He Man, Zhang Peng and Qiao Rui to the south, directly to Shouchun.

Liu Bei's side received the news and responded.

The Jingzhou Liu Biao Office also received news from Lujiang.

After Cai Mao left Shucheng, he immediately rushed to Songyang, then entered the river from Songyang Port, went upstream, and arrived in Xiangyang twelve days later.

While passing by Xiling, he also gave Huang Zu a letter and documents, which Liu Biao had given him before Liu Xun was sent as an envoy.

Once Liu Xun is willing to change his court, he can immediately ask Huang Zu to send troops to make it happen.

When Cai Mao informed Liu Biao of Liu Xun's willingness to serve in Jingzhou, Liu Biao was very happy.

Don't think Liu Biao was like a teddy, attacking from all sides, but there were no real results.

Liu Zhang in the west has become a mortal enemy. Nanyang in the north is full of ruins, and only a few counties still have people.

This is also one of the reasons why the powerful nobles in Jingzhou increasingly do not support Liu Biao's expansion.

I only saw you wasting money and food, but I didn’t see you reaping the benefits.

The powerful nobles felt that Liu Biao was wasting money and food and did not care about stability. Liu Biao felt that these powerful nobles were frogs in the well and did not want to make progress.

Liu Biao began to try to expand his own military force, such as Liu Biao's own bodyguards, the armies of his nephews Liu Pan and Liu Hu, the armies of Wenpin, a wealthy family in Xiangbei, and the armies of his nephew Zhang Yun And the tribe of Han Xi, a wealthy family in Nanyang.

The force of these relatives and cronies belongs directly to Liu Biao himself, and it is also one of the biggest achievements in Jingzhou over the years.

Although the entire Jingzhou army has 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers, the only one who can actually command Liu Biao is this trusted army of more than 10,000 people.

Liu Biao has always wanted to expand them, but he has always been opposed by the powerful gentry in Jingzhou. Take our money, expand your own army, and then threaten us with more money.

Do you, Liu Biao, think we are stupid?

Liu Biao had long ago stopped delivering food to Liu Bei, but why couldn't he do so?

It is because he needs the huge wealth brought by trade with Xuzhou to expand the scale of the independent armed forces.

Snow salt and frosting sugar are really expensive.

This allowed him to expand the size of his tribe, equip it with better weapons and weapons, and give them better treatment and food in exchange for their undying loyalty.

These all cost money, and they are expensive.

Liu Biao originally didn’t have much hope for Liu Xun’s matter this time. It's not that he is afraid of Yuan Shu or Liu Bei, but that he has long seen through Liu Xun's desire to have both sides, riding on the wall.

Liu Xian made it clear that Liu Xun would never have defected to him neatly if he had not been forced to do so.

This cannot be changed by giving many benefits. Even if Liu Biao swears that he will do good things and help for free, Liu Xun must be willing to believe it.

So Liu Biao originally planned to take his time, but he didn't expect that a God-given opportunity would suddenly come to him.

Yes, in Liu Biao's opinion, it was a God-given opportunity.

From Liu Biao's perspective, Liu Bei just took a big advantage to take control of the dilapidated Xuzhou. Although there was some expansion later, most of it was Tao Qian's original territory.

For example, Langya, such as Guangling, this was originally the territory of Xuzhou. Rather than expansion, it was better to say that it was regaining lost ground.

I have already unified the six counties of Jingzhou, and the remaining Nanyang County has been working hard to recover.

Within two years, Liu Bei regained two counties in this state, occupied another one and a half counties in Yuzhou, and also took away one of Cao Cao's counties in Yanzhou.

In Liu Biao's view, Liu Bei is only strong on the outside and weak on the inside, relying entirely on his weak fire. The opponents he encountered along the way were too weak, either thieves or yellow turbans, or weak chickens like Guo Gong, who have weight. There are almost no opponents.

The strongest Yuan Shu only used the geographical advantage to slightly defeat his opponent and captured Guangling, but he deeply offended Yuan Shu.

Liu Biao has seen many people like this. Aren’t the Xiliang Army and Sun Jiajun typical examples?

When the virtual fire is in full swing, the gods block the killing gods and are as powerful as the gods. However, once they are defeated, they immediately fall apart and lose their majesty.

In Liu Biao's eyes, Liu Beijun should be the next Xiliang Army.

Moreover, the diplomatic status of Liu Bei's army is similar to that of the Xiliang army. They robbed Cao Cao's Rencheng in the north and sent Lu Bu to Donglai. How could this not offend Cao Cao and Yuan Shao to death?

The south competes with Yuan Shu for Guangling, and Runan is naturally a mortal enemy.

What shocked Liu Biao even more was that Liu Bei actually dared to reach out to Jiangdong. Even if Liu Yao endured it, could he feel comfortable?

How could he be like himself? He gathered heroes from all over the world and sent 50,000 shi of food, as well as various equipment and wood to Luozhong controlled by Cao Cao for the emperor to repair the palace.

At the same time, he is a die-hard ally with Yuan Shao.

Of all the heroes in the world today, the strongest and second strongest are our allies, and I am still the third strongest. Why should I be afraid of Liu Bei who is not in the top three?

This is a different personal perspective. Liu Biao, who thought Liu Bei was puffy and fat, naturally felt that Cao Cao was stronger than Liu Bei.

After all, what level of opponents did Cao Cao fight?

He drove Yuan Shao crazy, dominated Hebei, and even attacked the Black Mountain Army in Yecheng.

The Qingzhou governor was frightened to death, and the Qingzhou million yellow scarf army swept across the entire territory of Qingzhou and attacked from all sides.

After Dong Zhuo was executed, the world-famous Marquis of Wen Lu Bu joined the rebellion in Yanzhou.

Isn’t this record as valuable as Liu Bei’s victory over thieves and bandits?

Liu Biao thought it would be difficult to solve any problem.

But Cao Cao settled everything as usual, and even went to Hedong to welcome Feng Sheng's return eastward.

Therefore, in Liu Biao's eyes, it was Cao Cao who took Liu Bei to Hedong, not Liu Bei who took Cao Cao.

At the same time, Liu Biao also felt that Cao Cao was short of food, but he had food. Although it was indeed a bit troublesome to transport it, it did not affect the complementary strength of both parties.

All in all, for Liu Biao, this is a very obvious advantage over me.

"Come, please quickly invite all gentlemen and generals to come to the state capital to discuss matters."

After Liu Biao made up his mind, he confidently initiated a summons and sent a message to Jingzhou's senior officials to come for a meeting.

At the same time, Liu Biao did not forget to comfort Cai Mao and said: "Degui, although you have worked hard all the way, you can't go back home to rest for the time being. Now I can only wrong you first."

Cai Hao naturally does not appreciate praise. Refuting Liu Mian Mian's pretense, he immediately burst into tears of gratitude and said: "Ming Gong, I am very grateful for the kindness. A little hard work is not worth mentioning. Please don't worry about it."

Soon. , a group of Liu Biao's advisers, scribes, and generals gathered together.

The leader on the left is naturally Kuai Liang, followed by Kuai Yue, Han Song, Fu Xun, Deng Xi, Pang Ji, Liu Xian and others.

The one on the right is headed by his nephew Liu Pan, followed by Cai Mao, Wenpin, Zhang Yun, Liu Hu, Huang Zhong and other generals.

Different from the novel, Wenpin and Huang Zhong's status under Liu Biao was not low. Wenpin was a Xiangyang native strongman promoted by Liu Biao, and Huang Zhong had already reached the rank of Zhonglang General at this time.

Although he was only a local lieutenant general whom Liu Biao played, it shows that Liu Biao affirmed his ability and promoted him to important use.

So if you want to poach Huang Zhong like Gan Ning at this time, it is impossible not to say that it is also a wishful thinking.

"Gentlemen, I have summoned you all today to discuss something important."

After Liu Biao opened his mouth, he looked at Cai Mao and said, "Degui, I need to trouble you to explain the cause and effect. , inform you.”

"Here!"

Cai Mao answered the order, and then laid out what happened in the past month. Only then did everyone know that he had actually gone to Yangzhou.

Listening, when Cai Mao said that Shouchun had been defeated by Liu Feng and Yuan Shu was actually captured alive, there was a big uproar in the hall.

A trace of envy flashed across Liu Biao's face. He already had three sons at this time. All three sons were born to him and his ex-wife, but none of them were talented.

The eldest son Liu Qi used to look pretty good, quite talented, and he looked exactly like himself, so he was very popular with Liu Biao.

But after hearing about Liu Feng's achievements, Liu Biao suddenly felt that Liu Qi was no longer popular.

Liu Feng is only thirteen years old now, and he is already able to lead an army on his own to attack Shouchun.

If Liu Qi had half the ability of Liu Feng, would he be so restricted by the Jingzhou nobles?

Liu Biao was full of dissatisfaction. Liu Xuande was just a mat weaver and shoe seller. How could he give birth to such a unicorn?

After all, he is also a famous person, and his talents and knowledge are far beyond what Liu Bei can match.

But why is his son not as good as Liu Bei's son?

Liu Biao cursed in his heart, and the hall was also in an uproar.

"This Liu Feng seems to be under sixteen years old, right?"

Kuai Liang frowned and turned to ask Liu Xianlai, who was below.

Liu Xian was on a previous mission to Xuzhou and obviously became the object of everyone's attention.

Hearing Kuai Liang's question, Liu nodded first, and then continued to drop a new bomb in the eyes of everyone's shock.

“As I know before, Liu Zisheng should have just turned thirteen.”

“Thirteen years old!?”

“How is this possible?”

"Is it just a false commander? The actual commander is someone else?"

Liu Xian smiled. He knew that everyone would be shocked when these words came out.

In fact, although he had known that Liu Feng was talented as a young man, he was also surprised by his achievements.

Just seeing his colleagues being inexplicably surprised, he felt sour in his heart, as if he had drank sour plum soup in the dog days of summer.

While enjoying the attention of everyone, Liu Xian continued: "It's not a false commander. Liu Zisheng had led the army independently as early as when he was eleven years old. In his first battle, he defeated the troops of Chang Xi of Mount Tai. , captured more than 2,000 people, and captured Chang Xi himself alive."

"Later, Liu Bei's army went south to Guangling, and Liu Feng was the vanguard. He arrived at Guangling first and defeated Sun Ce. It was Liu Bei who took Guangling County. The most outstanding minister.”

(End of this chapter)