While Zhou Yu was besieging Jiangling, Liu Bei adopted the opinions of Zhuge Liang, Zhao Yi and others, divided his troops into two groups, and took the four southern counties of Jingzhou directly.
In fact, Liu Bei did not have many troops under his command at the moment, and the four counties of Wuling, Changsha, Lingling, and Guiyang were originally owned by Liu Biao. They were frightened by Cao Cao's power before the Battle of Chibi and surrendered to the imperial court.
However, Cao Cao was severely defeated by the coalition forces of Sun and Liu in the Battle of Chibi, and Zhou Yu also began to lead troops to storm Jiangling. This resulted in the four southern counties of Jingzhou being completely separated from the area occupied by Cao Cao, forming a trusteeship situation.
In this way, Liu Bei took advantage of the remaining power of the victory at Chibi and pulled the banner of the Sun-Liu coalition. Although he was still at a disadvantage in terms of military strength, it put great psychological pressure on the four counties.
The one standing behind Liu Bei is Liu Qi. He petitioned the court to appoint Liu Qi as the governor of Jingzhou. There are also many Liu Biao's old subordinates in the four counties of Jingnan. Now that the son of his former boss is here, it is possible for him to resist stubbornly in a situation where he is stronger than others. Sex is reduced to a minimum.
At this time, Liu Bei's army was divided into two groups. Zhang Fei and Zhao Yi led 3,000 troops and immediately went south. The first target was Wuling County, which was closest to them.
On the other hand, Liu Bei personally led the troops, carrying Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu, and Zhao Yun, down the river and took Changsha directly.
Liu Qi, who was apparently the general, stayed behind in Jiangxia. Moreover, he seemed to have been infected with the disease a while ago and his health has been poor. Liu Bei even visited him once before leaving, but he could not say a few words before Liu Qi coughed violently. Interrupted, he had no choice but to pray for his nephew in his heart.
But it was said that Zhang Fei and Zhao Yi led three thousand troops and went straight to Wuling with great joy.
The prefect of Wuling is named Jin Xuan. In Zhao Yi's impression, this person has mediocre qualifications and a very low sense of presence. He doesn't have many capable generals at his disposal. This battle should be easy to win.
"Haha~ Hongfei, I heard that you made a big splash in Soochow this time and took all the credit for the military advisor. I will definitely reward you for taking over the four counties in Jingnan this time."
Zhang Fei was riding on a black horse and seemed to be in a good mood.
Zhao Yi also rode a war horse and walked beside Zhang Fei and said with a smile: "It's all luck, and there is also a military advisor behind me to give me advice. By the way, Third Master, I don't know how you want to fight Wu Ling?"
Zhang Fei scratched his rough tandem hair and said: "How to fight? It's just Wuling, they are like chickens and dogs. Let's go directly to the city and force the prefect Kaicheng to surrender."
Zhao Yi nodded, but he didn't feel inappropriate about Zhang Fei's simple and crude method, because he himself felt that although they did not have an advantage in numbers in the fight against Wuling, the advantages other than numbers were all on their side.
Wuling is completely isolated and helpless, and with low morale, there is no backbone that can be used. Kaicheng surrender is indeed their best choice.
As long as they successfully capture Wuling, they can use it as a center to radiate their power to the surrounding places such as Yiyang, Liandao, and Xiaoling. Among them, Yiyang can connect to Changsha, and Xiaoling Port can lead to the Yangtze River and Dongting Lake. Liandao can connect to Changsha. Going south, you can reach Chengyang and Lingling directly.
It can be said that the four counties in Jingnan are connected to each other, surrounding Hengshan Mountain and forming a self-contained whole. In layman's terms, it is the best place for farming and training troops in the rear area.
In fact, Zhuge Liang had this intention when he initially decided to take over the four southern counties. Liu Bei had been living in exile for half his life, so how could he just let it pass when he had such a good opportunity now?
While Liu Bei's troops were attacking the four southern counties in two groups, the prefect Jin Xuanzheng was sweating profusely and worried in Wuling City, which was the first to bear the brunt.
"Then Liu Bei has sent troops south, and our Wuling County will bear the brunt of his target. Do you have any good strategies to retreat from the enemy?"
In front of Jin Xuan were his only two confidants, Gong Zhi and Jin Yi. The latter was also his son. This shows that the lack of talents in Wuling was not groundless.
Gong Zhi took a step forward, frowned and said: "Sir, Liu Bei and Sun Quan have just defeated Cao Cao in Wulin, their morale is strong, and Liu Bei has Guan Yu and Zhang Fei who are enemies of ten thousand people. I have heard from the lower officials that Chang In the battle at Banpo, a young general named Zhao Yi was able to do sorcery and even injured several of Cao Cao's generals. Even Gao Lan, one of the four powerful pillars in Hebei, was beheaded by him with just one move. Death! According to the report from the detective horse, it is Zhang Fei and Zhao Yi who are approaching my city this time. These two people are brave enough to be worthy of any man, so sir, we should open the city and surrender."
"What? Surrender? Gong Zhi, who do you belong to? You are a weakling and a loser! We in Wuling have all the troops and supplies, and the city is strong. So what if he sends Zhang Fei and that Zhao Yi? We already have an advantage in defending the city. , and has much more troops than the other side, how can we surrender without a fight?"
"Sir, if the four southern counties can be united and support each other, they can still fight. But now we are fighting separately, and Prime Minister Cao was defeated by Wulin, so there is no way to help us. Liu Bei is here Using the name of Liu Qi to conquer the four counties in the south, we have one side, both legally and morally, and our army has no chance of winning."
"Shut up! Gong Zhi, before I even hit you, you let someone else's ambition destroy your prestige. What's your intention? No need to say any more, I will chop off the head of anyone who says he surrenders without fighting!"
"this......"
When Gong Zhi saw that Jin Xuan was determined to have his own way, he didn't say anything more. However, he knew better than anyone how many kilograms there were in Wuling City, and he didn't want to die inexplicably following Jin Xuan.
After chasing away everyone, Jin Xuan only left his son Jin Yi, who said with a bitter face: "Father, I think what Gong Zhi said is true. We don't need to fight Liu Bei head-on. It's better to open the city." Door, maybe we can keep our current position.”
Jin Xuan rubbed his forehead and whispered: "How can I not see through the current situation? But don't forget, we betrayed the old master and surrendered to Cao Cao first, and now we have to surrender to Liu Bei from Cao Cao. How can we be taken seriously by others if we do this repeatedly? If word gets out, wouldn’t the heroes of the world laugh at our father and son as domestic slaves of the third surname?"
"But...Father, the soldiers in my city lack training, and the ones Zhang Fei brought are all veterans of many battles. Even if they are small in number, they are not something we can compete with."
Jin Xuan brushed his beard from his forehead and said thoughtfully, "My son, come here, my father will give you a task."
Jin Yi didn't know why, so he had to get closer.
"This is what my father thinks. Even if we want to surrender, we cannot surrender without a fight. We must let Liu Bei know that we in Wuling are still capable of fighting and are not left to anyone's control. Now, you take my token with you. As well as some gold, silver, grain and grass, I went to see a person and asked him to assist our army from the flanks when Zhang Fei attacked the city.
We have no choice but to fight this battle, and we cannot fight too hard. If Zhang Fei is filled with hatred and comes to massacre the city, then my father and son will be self-defeating. They allow that man to make a bigger name for himself, but in reality he is only wandering around the periphery. Just go ahead and harass me, do you understand me? "
Jin Yi originally thought that his father was an old stubborn and wanted to defend Wuling, but now he realized that Jiang was still stubborn. Even though his father was in Wuling, he had not made any military exploits, but he still had a lot of research on the art of maneuvering in the officialdom.
"Okay father, let's go now. Is the person you are talking about the king of the barbarians entrenched in the mountains?"
Jin Xuan nodded and said: "It can only be him. I heard that the Barbarian King Samoko was recently defeated by a group of bandits who fell into disgrace. The entire barbarian tribe became his subordinates. Although that group of people is powerful, But they will definitely be in urgent need of money and food after being turned into bandits. We are sending them there now to solve their urgent needs. There is definitely no reason to refuse. You can set off now without further delay."
"It's the father, let's do it now, kid!"
