Communication efficiency is too low these days.
The news of Cao Cao's army in early June was not sent to Jiangxia until the end of June to calculate the march time. By this time, Cao Cao might have already entered Wancheng.
The number of soldiers led by Cao Cao was somewhat reasonable to Zhang Xi.
A duel involving hundreds of thousands of armies like that in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is unrealistic in any era.
If Cao Cao really wanted to lead his 830,000-strong army southward, the logistical pressure would crush Cao Cao.
It's even more of a joke that Liu Bei led an army of 700,000 to attack Wu. Even if Liu Bei was sold, he wouldn't be able to raise such an army.
So Cao Cao raised troops from Xudu and set off with an army of 150,000. When they arrived at Wancheng, they joined the Wancheng defenders. The total number would be about 200,000.
Of these 200,000, Cao Cao would not lead all of them southward. He would always arrange for some people to secure the people and defend the place he conquered. It is estimated that only about 160,000 to 70,000 people actually reached Xiangyang.
And Jingzhou does not have an army of 300,000 people. As far as Zhang Xi knows, there will not be 100,000 people who can survive to death. Otherwise, Liu Biao can still take advantage of Huang Zu, who has 40,000 soldiers. What can he do? !
However, Zhang Xi still didn't quite understand how the Jingzhou family could choose to surrender without even fighting.
Even if you only have 70,000 or 80,000 people, the opponent only has hundreds of thousands, and you still have the fortified city of Xiangyang in hand, and you have Nanjun and Jiangxia as support behind you. There is no shortage of food, grass and soldiers, and the navy can move north along the Han River at any time. , why did Cao Jun surrender after cutting off his southward food supply line? !
The Southern Song Dynasty had never been so cowardly.
Not to mention Zhang Xi doesn't understand, Liu Bei doesn't understand either now. Liu Bei is indeed ready to abandon Xinye and retreat to Fancheng to fight, but he really feels that with the support of Fancheng's city defense and Xiangyang's support, he is sure that he can To block Cao Cao's army from attacking south.
Therefore, at this time, Liu Bei, on Zhuge Liang's suggestion, prepared to retreat to Fancheng.
But the people of Xinye County blocked Liu Bei's way at this time. They all knelt down and begged Liu Envoy to take them with him.
Chinese people have a strong sense of homeland and are reluctant to leave their homeland.
But who told Cao Jun to come this time?
In recent years, Cao Cao massacred Xuzhou and massacred Yecheng. The fact that these places were filled with empty houses has spread all over the world.
People in Xinye don’t want to give up their family fortune, but life is always more important than family fortune.
If your life is gone, where is the family fortune? !
Therefore, the people of Xinye naturally chose to follow Liu Bei and fled to Fancheng together.
Of course, this is just the common people, and local tycoons like the village elders of Dengjia Village will not leave. On the one hand, the clan ancestral hall is located and they cannot give up easily. On the other hand, they do not believe that Cao Cao has become the prime minister and can still do so. Face and reputation, so they will stay and choose to take a gamble.
Therefore, the number of people in Xinye who begged to retreat with Liu Bei's army was actually only more than 10,000.
This little burden on the people was not a burden. Liu Bei had always been very kind to the people, so he acquiesced in allowing these people to follow the army and deliberately slowed down the march so that the people could keep up.
Fortunately, we arrived at Fancheng without any danger along the way.
As soon as he arrived in Fancheng, Liu Bei began to organize and prepare for the defensive battle of Fancheng.
But at this moment, Zhang Xi's personal letter arrived.
After learning that Liu Qi had returned to Jiangxia without seeing Liu Biao, and receiving news that Cao Jun was heading south, Zhang Xi quickly wrote a letter to Liu Bei and sent his trusted guards to Fancheng to give it to Liu Bei.
There is only one thing to remind Liu Bei, beware of backstabbing from the Jingzhou family.
Historically, Liu Bei really didn't know that Liu Biao had passed away, let alone that the aristocratic families in Xiangyang made the decision to surrender without even notifying him.
Zhang Xi wrote the letter to remind Liu Bei to keep enough contact with Xiangyang and understand Xiangyang's trends. Don't stupidly stand in front of him and be cannon fodder. Run as soon as possible.
When Liu Bei saw Zhang Xi's letter, he didn't take it seriously and thought Zhang Xi's worries were unfounded.
After all, it is a family that inherits poems, books and etiquette. In recent years, although the family has controlled local government affairs, formed private armies, seriously annexed land, and oppressed the people...hiss, the more Liu Bei thought about it, the more he felt that the moral standards of these families were very low.
Quickly find Zhuge Liang and Xu Shu to discuss what to do if this situation really happens? !
How could Zhuge Liang, who had a solemn look on his face, really fall for that kid? !
Could it be that there are really such unpredictable people in this world? !
The current development of the situation is becoming more and more like the worst possibility when Zhuge Liang and Xu Shu were discussing with Zhang Xi in the thatched cottage.
Although Liu Biao is only seriously ill now and has not really died, who knows whether Liu Biao can survive this time? !
If Liu Biao dies at this time, and Cao Cao really takes advantage of the trend to go south, then Xiangyang behind him, and the aristocratic families in Xiangyang City, Zhuge Liang will have to prepare for the worst.
First of all, he must use his personal connections to inquire about the situation in Xiangyang City through the Huang family.
Secondly, prepare for the worst and be prepared to abandon Fancheng at any time and cross the river to the south bank of the Han River. Whether to go to Jiangling or Jiangxia will depend on the specific situation at that time.
At this time, Zhuge Liang was not in a hurry.
Now Cao Cao is still preparing to go south in Wancheng and has not gone south directly, so Zhuge Liang is not worried about Liu Bei's safety.
And until there is no clear news from Xiangyang, Liu Bei really can't abandon Fancheng and leave immediately. Otherwise, the Jingzhou family can blame Liu Bei, saying that Liu Bei abandoned Fancheng and left Xiangyang empty and unprepared. Surrender. This was a big blow to Liu Bei's reputation.
Therefore, those who should prepare to defend the city should still prepare to defend the city, and those who should prepare for a retreat should also prepare for a retreat. Both possibilities must be considered.
Fortunately, Zhuge Liang now has helpers. Xu Shu can help him share half of the responsibilities. When something happens, Zhuge Liang doesn't have to work hard by himself. He can also discuss it with Xu Shu.
Therefore, preparations for Fancheng are still proceeding in an orderly manner.
Until early August, Cao Cao's army officially led his army southward, but there was still no news from Xiangyang City behind him.
Zhuge Liang was very nervous because this situation was rare.
The Huang family in Jingzhou only gave Zhuge Liang the news that Liu Biao was still alive, and did not mention anything else.
This thing itself is weird.
Zhuge Liang is the son-in-law of the Huang family, and the Huang family has agreed to cooperate with Liu Bei. Why did he give such news now? !
In addition, the news that Liu Qi personally visited Xiangyang in June, but did not even enter the gate, reached Fancheng, which made Zhuge Liang judge that even if Liu Biao was not dead, he was definitely no longer able to govern.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang decisively focused on retreat arrangements.
Once Liu Biao dies, based on Huang's current attitude, Zhuge Liang knows with all his heart that he and Liu Bei will definitely be thrown out as a surrender certificate for the Jingzhou family.
After all, one of Cao Cao's banners when he went south was to deal with Liu Bei who "disrespected the king's orders".
In late August, Zhuge Liang finally learned from his own news channels that Liu Biao, the shepherd of Jingzhou, had passed away. The Cai family did not announce the funeral secretly, and at the same time supported Liu Cong as his successor.
Liu Cong is now only a boy in his mid-teens, and the real power in Jingzhou has fallen into the hands of the Cai family in Jingzhou.
The first thing Cai Mao did when he took power was to discuss the surrender of Jingzhou to Cao Cao.
In fact, it was just a formality. The Jingzhou family had already reached a consensus, and Liu Cong was unable to stop it.
Zhuge Liang immediately found Liu Bei and explained all the situation. Then Liu Bei decisively ordered the entire army to clean up, search for ships, prepare to evacuate Fancheng, and cross south to Xiangyang to get an explanation.
As soon as Liu Bei made such a move, it didn't take long for the people in Fancheng to know that Liu Bei was preparing to retreat, and they also became commotion at that time.
Especially the people who had followed Liu Bei all the way to Fancheng from Xinye were continuing to pack up their gifts and belongings to continue southward with Liu Bei.
Although there were not many local people in Fancheng, they could not bear to listen to the people from Xinye who said that Cao Cao liked to massacre the city. However, they followed Liu Bei all the way and were able to reach Fancheng safely from Xinye. Then they continued to go south and took refuge in Xiangyang. It shouldn't be difficult.
Then the people in Fancheng also started to move.
When Liu Bei prepared everything and prepared to lead his army to retreat, he found that another "big army" was already following behind his own army.
An army of people fleeing for their lives.
But fortunately, the number of people is still small. After all, Fancheng is an important military town and there are not many people, only a few thousand people. Including the people who came from Xinye before and the people from surrounding counties who came to seek refuge one after another, there are about 20,000 people.
Liu Bei could not leave these people alone, so he had to stop temporarily and use the boats he collected to help the following people cross the river to the south bank of the Han River, and then his own army crossed the river again.
At this time, Yi Ji from Xiangyang City suddenly came to find Liu Bei and gave Liu Bei bad news.
Liu Biao died of illness, and Liu Cong, who succeeded him, agreed to surrender to Cao Cao under the pressure of Cai and Kuai. He had already sent people north to deliver the letter of surrender.
In other words, Liu Bei may be attacked from two sides at any time.
At this time, Liu Beijun's scouting horses also came to report that Cao Jun set off from Wancheng and should be almost at Xinye by now.
Liu Bei suddenly became anxious, but he still insisted on his original plan and arranged for the people to cross the river to escape first.
In Liu Bei's view, these people should disperse on their own after crossing the river. Whether they go to Xiangyang or Jiangling, they have somewhere to go. There is no need to follow his army anymore.
But Liu Bei miscalculated. After he led his army across the river, he discovered that the people had not left at all, but were waiting for Liu Bei on the south bank. They were still following Liu Bei's army and slowly headed towards Xiangyang.
Liu Bei was helpless. He could not abandon these people and he could understand why the people must follow him.
In these days, even the hinterland of Jingzhou cannot be said to be at peace. There are many bandits and bandits. How can a group of unarmed people rush on their own, as safe as following the army.
Liu Bei thought that there were not many people anyway and would not slow down the marching speed, so he asked these people to follow him and headed for Xiangyang together.
On the way to Xiangyang, Liu Bei received the best news in these days.
Zhang Xi sent a letter saying that he had set out from Xiakou and sailed up the Han River in a warship. He hoped that Liu Bei would quickly withdraw his troops to Hanjinkou, where he would meet Liu Bei.
(End of chapter)
