Sun Ce still kept his word. After meeting with Deng Zhi, he ordered Sun Fu to release Xiangguan and allowed Deng Zhi, Han Xi, Liu Hu and others to float into Yunmengze. Then under the false flag of the Wu Army, he transferred from Jianli to Jiangxia County, then disembarked from Mianyang, changed to the land route, and entered Nanyang County via Anlu. As a condition, Liu Biao's remaining ships in Jingnan were all abandoned in Mianyang and were taken over by Gu Yong, the commander of Baqiu of the Wu army.
By this time, it was already the end of June, continuous rain had become rare, and autumn tigers had begun to wreak havoc in Jianghan again. The sun has been blazing for several days, drying up the puddles formed on the ground, but there is still an extremely humid steam in the air, which makes the Westerners who are accustomed to the dry wind in Guanlong feel even more uncomfortable. The soldiers were sweating all day long and tossing and turning at night, so that many of them fell ill with fever.
For this reason, someone among the staff once suggested to Chen Chong that since the soldiers were tired and they could not go south to Mianshui to recapture Xiangyang, it would be better to leave a small number of soldiers to guard here while most of them returned to Luoyang to rest. However, after careful consideration, Chen Chong decided to stay here until late autumn.
He did this mainly for two considerations: First, although Liu Fan's rule in Jingzhou is becoming increasingly stable, there are still mountains and rivers in Yidao and Linju in northern Jingzhou, as well as in Ruanling and Fuyi in southern Jingzhou. If barbarians or bandits make trouble, as long as he is still stationed in Mianbei, Liu Fan will not dare to use his army to quell the rebellion, which will be enough to delay the Shu people's digestion of Jingnan. Second, Chen Chong wanted to observe the water conditions of the Han River with his own eyes. He planned to wait until the autumn floods were over and see the Han River enter the dry season. At that time, how wide the river would be and how deep the water would be. How many knights could be waded across the river before being discovered by the Shu people on the other side? This is extremely important for the subsequent deployment of troops.
However, as the news of Hannan gradually spread across the river, Chen Chong's first idea was shattered. Around mid-June, Yiling where Liu Pan was stationed was breached, and a large number of Shu troops entered the Jianghan Plain. They then divided into two routes, one heading south to the border of Jiuyi Mountain, and one heading east to station on the Huarong Ancient Road. Directly passing famous water bandits such as Fei Yang and Chen Ai to the side, such a decisive method immediately made the gang surrender. Obviously, Liu Fan had made sufficient preparations this time before he moved with all his strength.
Moreover, in addition to military operations, Liu Fan also supplemented it with a considerable range of political offensives: after several years of accumulation in Shu, he not only built a large-scale navy, but also accumulated considerable materials and money, so he After mobilizing the whole country for the first time, the palace actually had the energy to announce that the three counties would be exempted from taxes for one year. At the same time, wise men in the county were recruited, such as the five Ma brothers in Yicheng, the brothers Huo Du and Huo Jun in Zhijiang, Lai Gong in Xiangyang, Pan Jun in Wuling, Xiong Shang in Lingling, etc., all of whom were highly valued. All these signs indicate that Liu Fan's rule in Western Hunan and Hannan has been completely established.
It was now August, the temperature dropped rapidly with the autumn wind, and the dry season came quietly. The water level of Mianshui River has indeed dropped significantly. Although it is impossible to wade across the river directly like the Yellow River, the water surface has also shrunk to within a mile, and the boats have to retreat back into the river with the current.
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Under this situation, Chen Chong ordered Wei Yan to lead 6,000 people to try to cross the Mian River upstream. As expected, they successfully crossed the river, and the defenders of Xiangyang were unable to stop it. Obviously, the idea of attacking Xiangyang in autumn and winter is completely feasible. . However, if the city cannot be captured before the spring tide comes, the situation will be reversed after the Shu army's ships re-enter the Han River. Chen Chong has no suitable solution for this.
But for now, the top priority of the national strategy is to pacify Hebei. At least within three to five years, it is impossible to launch a large-scale attack on Jingzhou, so Chen Chong is not entangled.
However, as the Nanyang Basin returned to the hands of the imperial court, the country's entire defense system also changed. Due to the existence of Wuguan, Luoyang, Weinan, and Nanyang are connected, and Nanxiang and Xinye have become the core of the country's southern defense. It would be inappropriate to place the Nanfu Army in Chencang.
Therefore, Chen Chong ordered the Southern Army Governor's Mansion to be moved to Wancheng and completely transferred the original Chencang defense line to Duan Xuan. Later, the 20,000 Jingnan troops invested in the future were merged into Wei Yan's command, forming a new defense system with Fancheng and Suixian as the front lines, Xinye and Nanxiang as the hubs, and Wancheng as the base camp. At the same time, Wei Yan was instructed to try to train his navy in the Huai River area.
After the explanation, Chen Chong learned that Liu Bei was on his way to Luoyang, so he asked Liu Biao and his staff to return to Chang'an first. He took only a dozen students with him, rode through Funiu Mountain, and waited for the Bafu army in Xingyang first.
Autumn frost has already formed in the fields of Henan at this time. Except for the sparrows' chirping which is still lively, things in the world always seem to be a bit decayed. This is a sign that the winter snow is coming. Fortunately, five days later, before the first snow fell, Liu Bei's army rushed back to Henan.
When Liu Bei heard that Chen Chong was waiting here, he immediately sent someone to pick him up. The two met in Aocang that day. After sitting down, they had a meal and discussed their respective progress.
Needless to say, Chen Chong's arrangements in Nanyang have been described in the previous article, but on Liu Bei's side, the situation is quite strange and difficult to understand.
Liu Bei's siege progressed fairly smoothly this year. This year, five counties including Dongjun, Jibei, Shanyang, Rencheng, and Dongping have been captured. It can be said that except for Taishan County, which has the most complicated terrain, most of Yanzhou has returned to the hands of the imperial court. After counting the household registration, it was found that the country gained 180,000 new households and 940,000 people, which is enough to call it a great victory.
But what puzzled Liu Bei was that the Xindu court did not take any action from beginning to end. Cao Cao neither sent reinforcements across the river to support nor made preparations for large-scale relocation. We learned from the prisoners of the East that before the siege, the Marshal's Mansion of the East simply ordered the defenders to hold on to the walls and clear the country, saying that if they persisted until this winter, the situation might turn around.
Suspicious for a while, Liu Bei discussed with the Bafu's staff and concluded that with Cao Cao's wisdom, he would not understand the current situation where the west is strong and the east is weak, and it is almost impossible for the cities of Yanzhou to hold on for a year without reinforcements. It is completely a kind of political suicide to lose the foundation of China to the Westerners so easily.
There are only two explanations left: one is that Cao Cao has lost his ambition to fight the Westerners again, and the so-called turning point is just an excuse; the other is that Cao Cao has internal information unknown to the Western Dynasty, which allows him to launch a counterattack in winter and Retake lost ground. However, both explanations were extremely far-fetched, and Liu Bei had difficulty convincing himself.
Chen Chong said with a smile: "Once you come, take it easy. If one side has the advantage, the other side will inevitably behave in a panic. It is extremely natural. As long as you follow the steps and are not confused by the enemy, there will be nothing you can do if Cao Cao makes various plans."
Liu Bei nodded slightly. He turned to look out the window. The moonlight was slightly rippled, and the shadows of leaves were still swaying slightly in the wind. This made him suddenly fall into a brief silence. This also made Chen Chong feel something in his heart. He knew that Liu Bei was not worried about Cao Cao's movements, but that he had something that had been lingering on his mind for a long time and he was not happy about it.
Sure enough, when Liu Bei turned around, he solemnly said: "Ting Jian, do you know how old I am this year?"
Chen Chong did not answer. Because he and Liu Bei were the same age and were both born in the third year of Yanxi, but Liu Bei was born in March and Chen Chong was born in April, so he considered Liu Bei his brother. This is something everyone knows. Liu Bei asked clearly, so the next words were obviously more important.
Liu Bei did not wait for Chen Chong to answer, but drew out his sword, lowered his head to the sword's edge, stroked his gray temples, and then said: "This year, you and I are both forty-eight. In a few months, when the new year is over, you I will soon be at the age where I know my destiny. Time is like water. I remember when you and I first met, you and I were only nineteen years old. After that, we fought on the battlefield and traveled north and south. In the blink of an eye, it has been thirty years. Back then, we were in Zhuo The people who hunted in the county gradually disappeared like leaves falling in the wind.”
He put down the edge of his sword and looked at Chen Chong again. Chen Chong returned his gaze calmly, which made Liu Bei smile. He continued unhurriedly: "I often dream of them when I fall asleep, like Deran, Yisheng, and Shiping. They all still look like they were when they were young. Then I ride horses in the mountains with them, shoot geese and hunt rabbits. But when I woke up, I realized it was just a dream. Then I had a premonition that I would soon follow them."
When Chen Chong heard this, he found that he gave a rare sigh and said sadly: "Ting Jian, we are all old!" Liu Bei stood up slowly, with tears in his eyes, he said: "Brother Chang passed away. At that time, I was just sighing, but just this year, Xianhe also contracted the epidemic and couldn't get out of bed for two months. You didn't know, right? I asked someone to visit him, and he was told that he was as thin as a bone and was just waiting for his death. Got it!"
Chen Chong was very surprised. Xianhe was Jian Yong. He had been following them since the four brothers became sworn brothers. Chen Chong had always thought that Jian Yong would accompany everyone until they grew old, but unexpectedly he was walking in the front.
Liu Bei paused and suddenly recited: "The white rabbit is walking around. The clothes are not as good as new, and the people are not as good as before."
He turned to face Chen Chong directly and said in words: "Ting Jian, I don't want to wait any longer. I plan to order Gongda and others to come up and ask me to be crowned king after I return home."
The content of the words was information, but the tone was pleading. Chen Chong knew that Xuande might have reached the limit of his patience. He just knew that he hated fame and wealth, so he kept delaying the matter. But as he said, his age made him worry a lot, so before unification, he had to get this done no matter what. .
Chen Chong couldn't help but wonder, why did he hate this? Is it the teacher-student relationship between Gu Nian and Liu Xie? In fact, it is no longer there. Maybe I think that the throne or the throne is guilty of original sin, and I am trying to covet an illusory myth of personality! But it is difficult to be perfect in life. It is precisely because of this idea that I encountered many obstacles in my early years, and even now I am frustrated by Sun Ce.
Chen Chong suddenly understood that over the years, the reason why he chose Xuande was because Xuande always cared about his strange self-esteem. Others envy Xuande for having him to help him, but in fact only Xuande knows how difficult a person he is to get along with.
Thinking of this, Chen Chong smiled, stood up, and said to Liu Bei: "You and I have agreed to bring peace to the world. You will neither fail nor I will fail."
