Chapter 311 Lian De Da Cai [Subscription Request]

The sky is scorching with rosy clouds.

Zhang Fei rode his horse all the way back to find Liu Bei and Guan Yu.

The three brothers reunited in the evening.

There is a kind of joy in being safe and sound.

After asking, Zhang Fei learned that Guan Yu's attack on Changsha County was unexpectedly successful.

The reason was that the troops of Zhang Xian, the prefect of Changsha, were missing.

Changsha was almost an empty city, and Guan Yu took it for nothing.

After he took Changsha County, he asked the people in the city and learned that after Liu Biao's death, the Jingzhou troops that had originally attacked Changsha retreated to Xiangyang and gathered, preparing to surrender to Cao Cao.

From that time on, the trusted followers of Changsha Prefect Zhang Xian began to withdraw from the main cities of Changsha County and disappeared.

Changsha County fell into a power vacuum.

Including Lingling and Guiyang counties, the team led by Zhang Xian also disappeared without a trace.

There is something strange about this matter.

Liu Bei was happy but also a little uneasy.

Because they didn't see the hidden reason.

The three brothers rushed south overnight to see what the situation was like in the newly occupied Changsha.

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei rode side by side.

"Yide, do you have something to say to me?" Guan Yu wanted to speak several times after seeing Zhang Fei coming back.

"I do have something to ask my second brother."

Zhang Fei said in a gruff voice: "Cao Mengde released me. I came back and thought about it, and I felt that some of his words were right."

Guan Yu stroked his beard and pondered as usual: "Today Zhao Zilong encountered me and my elder brother and asked why my elder brother did not surrender to the King of Wei..."

Zhang Fei interrupted, "I also want to ask, brother, there are many people who want to join you, why don't you want to join Cao Mengde?"

"Don't talk nonsense. How can we have surrendered to too many people?"

Guan Yu: "Brother, take us to Yuan Shao. Liu Biao and others are all guest generals. They are invited to help, not dependent."

Zhang Fei said bluntly: "That's just a nice thing to say, guest general..."

He stopped talking halfway when he felt it was inappropriate.

Guan Yu did not say anything. The two brothers stopped talking tacitly.

……

evening.

Cao's army retreated to the northern end of Jiangxia County.

Cao Cao asked for details and learned that Zhao Zilong had stopped Liu Bei and Guan Yu had come to help. He thought that he had underestimated Zhuge Liang.

His most amazing ability is to deduce the cause and effect based on the details and analyze the whole picture.

Zhuge Liang must have studied Cao Cao's past military operations and deduced early on that Cao Cao might move south to launch a surprise attack.

He also made targeted arrangements and sent a message to Guan Yu to protect Liu Bei.

From this, we can infer that even if Zhao Zilong tried his best, it would be difficult to keep Liu Bei.

Zhuge Liang was a cautious person throughout his life. He would not just rely on Guan Yu to control the power of Cao's camp. He should have other means to ensure that Liu Bei could escape from the predicament.

Cao Cao pondered the current situation and turned his thoughts to Jiangdong.

Zhou Yu, Lu Su.

These two men would never be fooled immediately and withdraw their troops from Jiangxia County in Jingzhou just because Cao's army was south of Yuzhou and was making moves to cross the river to the south.

Their previous withdrawal was a counter-attack.

Jiangdong withdrew part of its troops and stayed out of the incident, waiting and watching, ready to launch a counterattack at any time.

Zhou Yu, Lu Su, and Zhuge Liang are all tough opponents, each one more powerful than the other.

Anyone who despises them will suffer great loss.

However, these changes had been predicted in the pre-war deductions of Cao Cao, Jia Xu, Xun You, Guo Jia and others.

So Cao Cao said, there was a great fun in Jingzhou.

This is a game involving all three parties of the Three Kingdoms.

Zhou Yu is currently lurking on the sidelines, pretending to be frightened by Cao's army's southward advance, and withdrawing from the situation, hoping to reap the benefits.

Zhuge Liang mediated skillfully, planning territory for Liu Bei and saving him from trouble in the most unfavorable situation.

Fighting with others is endless fun… Cao Cao thought to himself.

He said he wanted to come back to snatch someone, but in fact he wanted to snatch more than one person.

First, grab Xu Shu, then grab the second, third, and even the fourth and fifth. The scope of grabbing people covers both Liu Bei and Jiangdong in history.

Xu Shu, whose courtesy name was Yuanzhi, was from Yingchuan, Yuzhou.

The year Dong Zhuo entered Luoyang, he violated the law in order to avenge his friend, so he changed his name to Xu Shu and took refuge in Jingzhou.

Historically, during this period, he had contacts with Sima Hui, Zhuge Liang, Cui Zhouping and others.

When Liu Bei was stationed in Xinye, Xu Shu went to join him.

But in this world, Cao's army had already occupied Nanyang County.

Zhuge Liang never settled in Nanyang, and Liu Bei had no chance to station in Xinye.

So Xu Shu is still a commoner at present.

Cao Cao's reputation in the world has always been very good.

Xu Shu is about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old this year, and is quite handsome and elegant.

From a historical perspective, he is actually a reduced version of Zhuge Liang.

This included fighting formations, breaking the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation set up by Cao Ren, guessing Cao Ren's night attack and counterattacking it, and then attacking Fancheng from the opposite side.

These styles are similar to Zhuge Liang's.

The reason why two people in history can become good friends is probably that they have similar ways of thinking and doing things.

What’s interesting is that Xu Shu was originally hesitating whether to surrender to Cao.

He was in Jingzhou, and when Cao Cao's men came to him, Xu Shu was very happy.

The King of Wei took the initiative to send people to recruit me.

He had previously violated the law in order to avenge his friend, and was extremely disappointed with the world at the end of the Han Dynasty. He had no psychological barriers to switching to Cao Wei.

When Xu Shu was brought here, Cao Cao was on his way back to Xiangyang.

The two met and talked, and they got along quite well.

Xu Shu entered Cao's camp easily.

He also brought another person, his good friend Shi Tao, who was also a famous scholar at the time, and they both surrendered to Cao.

It was not difficult for this person to rob.

I didn’t recruit Zhuge Liang before, but now I have two, and I’m about to get the third one.

The next day, Cao Cao came to a county town near Xiangyang.

afternoon.

In a yard in the corner of the county town, a young man was sitting on a wooden stool.

He was about twenty years old, with a plain face and looked unprepossessing at first glance.

[Pang Tong, courtesy name Shiyuan, nicknamed Fengchu, was from Xiangyang. He was foolish on the outside but wise on the inside, with amazing military strategies. He was good at strategic expediency and well-versed in ancient and modern times.]

Pang Tong and Xun You are somewhat similar, seemingly foolish but actually wise.

In history, he was known as the Phoenix Cub, and was called the Crouching Dragon together with Zhuge Liang. He was two years older than Zhuge Liang, but unlike Zhuge Liang, he was very smart and gifted when he was young.

He is a typical late bloomer.

It was not until he was twenty years old that he met Sima Hui, also known as Mr. Shuijing, and was appreciated by Sima Hui, and his fame gradually rose.

Sima Hui was extremely amazed at Pang Tong's insight, knowledge, and hidden talents. He praised him as a genius and said that no scholar in Nanzhou could compare with Pang Tong.

You should know that Sima Hui was a very humble person and had never given such a high evaluation to anyone before.

With Sima Hui's recognition, Pang Tong gradually became known to the public.

"Pang Shiyuan?"

Pang Tong stared blankly at Cao Cao, who was dressed in a royal robe and looked majestic, as he walked into the courtyard surrounded by his entourage.

Not only was he unknown at that time, but the only outsider who knew of his talent was his new wife and a few close friends, and Cao Cao was the first outsider.

"you…"

Pang Tong was full of doubts.

He doesn't look impressive, but his thoughts are actually a bit extreme.

He is inherently conceited, arrogant, and stubborn, far beyond the average person.

When he learned that it was Cao Cao who came to recruit him, Pang Tong was dumbfounded and flattered.

He was proud of his talent, so there was no reason for him to refuse.

Cao Cao thought that Xu Shu and Pang Tong were easy to come by, but the third person might be a bit difficult.

In the future, it will be very interesting to see the battle between Pang Tong and Zhuge Liang, and the confrontation between Crouching Dragon and Phoenix.

According to history, Cao Cao planned to push Pang Tong to Mr. Shuijing.

He estimated that the middle-aged man next to Zhuge Liang when he met him before was most likely Pang Degong.

Mr. Shui Jing should still be in seclusion.

The third thing Cao Cao wanted to steal was Mr. Shuijing.

He has made arrangements.

When Cao Cao returned to Xiangyang, he looked towards the northeast and thought: It has probably already begun.

----

Sima Hui, whose courtesy name was Decao.

He was proficient in Qimen and Confucian classics, and was known as "Mr. Shuijing".

In the eyes of later generations, Sima Hui was the most famous extraordinary person in the late Han Dynasty and a man of extraordinary talent.

He was from Yingchuan, but he lived in seclusion in the wild, picking mulberry leaves and farming, and was self-sufficient.

That afternoon, Sima Hui sat idly in a small courtyard surrounded by a fence, watching the chicks pecking at insects in the yard, and was in a daze for a long time.

"I'm afraid my leisurely days are coming to an end." Sima Hui muttered softly.

"Decao, how are you these days?"

A voice suddenly came from outside the yard.

Zheng Xuan stood outside the fence with a smiling face.

Sima Hui liked to study Confucian classics, and Zheng Xuan was a famous Confucian scholar in history.

The two have always had contact with each other and are old friends.

Cao Cao said he wanted to recruit Sima Hui.

Zhuge Liang was unwilling to surrender, so he first poached his master to his side.

When Zheng Xuan heard the news, he immediately volunteered to be the vanguard.

Others could not find the place where Sima Hui retreated from the world, but Zheng Xuanmen was.

Sima Hui was the ancestor of the contemporary strategists, and was very good at calculating. "Is Zheng Sinong here to be a lobbyist?"

Zheng Xuan laughed loudly: "Wrong, wrong, I am not a lobbyist, I am a kidnapper."

Sima Hui smiled and said, "Are you going to force me to go to Cao's camp?

Although you, Zheng Sinong, have some tricks, if I don't want to, can you still force me?"

Zheng Xuan rolled up his sleeves, ready to fight:
"I didn't come here alone. I surrendered to the King of Wei and have his back. Today I will let you know what power is."

"Come on, Sima Decao doesn't want to go, please show up and make him give up."

Several figures came in from outside the door one after another.

The Spear Saint Tong Yuan.

Zhang Huai with the Heavenly Halberd.

There were also a few other people who were all extraordinary people who joined Cao's camp and had great reputations in the world.

Sima Hui was stunned: "I felt uneasy when I woke up early in the morning, and it turned out that I fell into your trap, Zheng Sinong.

I am an idle person, why does the King of Wei force me to go to Cao's camp? "

"Why, the King of Wei wants to reward you with great wealth."

Zheng Xuan shook his head and said: "The King of Wei is a rare talent in my opinion. I guarantee you will not regret it if you go there.

Once you have come into contact with him, I am afraid you will not want to leave. "

Sima Hui was speechless and said, "You are shameless, fawning and flattering like this."

Zheng Xuan retorted, "You are also a flatterer if you go, go now."

----

That night, Cao Cao received the news that Sima Hui had been kidnapped.

Seizing Zhuge Liang's master is a strategy to wipe out the family and cut off the source of the trouble.

And the battle for talent that he had arranged had just begun.

Next is Jiangdong.

That same evening, he received another message.

Jiangdong, which had previously pretended to have fallen into Cao Cao's trap and retreated, sent out troops again to attack.

Cao Cao's previous attack on Jiangxia and fight against Liu Qi was mainly to alert the enemy, send a signal to all parties that he had already taken action, and lure all parties into the game.

Therefore, Cao's army fled as soon as they approached Jiangxia and did not occupy it.

And now Zhou Yu has no choice but to join the game.

He had previously planned to retreat in order to advance, hoping to use the withdrawal as bait to lure Cao Cao's army into the heart of Jingzhou and drag it there while making other plans for himself.

As a result, Cao Cao disappeared as soon as he appeared, stationed his troops in Xiangyang, and sat back on the Diaoyutai.

After weighing the situation, Zhou Yu had no choice but to send his troops in to try to quickly capture Jiangxia.

He retreated before because he didn't want to be the first to face Cao's army, so he took a step back and avoided their sharp edge.

If he advanced at this moment, he realized that Cao Cao had seen through his plan and there was no point in hiding any longer, so he decided to occupy Jiangxia, the bridgehead of Jingzhou, as his forward position.

The three parties advanced and retreated, and played several games, each with its own considerations.

"It's a good opportunity. Jiangdong will come out and defeat them. Only then can we create enough pressure to push Jiangdong and Da'er to unite against Cao Wei as soon as possible, start the Battle of Chibi in advance, and lay the foundation for unification."

In Xiangyang City, Cao Cao was in his study, staring at the map.

Yao Jing was wearing an apricot-colored Han-style skirt and was sorting out the scrolls left behind by Cao Cao when he finished a meeting with his ministers.

"Jingzhi, come here." Cao Cao said.

Yao Jing hesitated for a moment, then walked closer gracefully.

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(End of this chapter)