Xingyang.
In the more than ten days since arriving in Xingyang, Liu Bei has been actively preparing for war, hoping to give him a head-on blow when Dong Zhuo's army arrives.
But since Zhang Heng left, Liu Bei, in addition to mobilizing his army and preparing for war, has added another repertoire every day - nominally patrolling the city defense, but in fact he is looking in the direction of jujube from the top of the city, waiting for Zhang Heng's return.
Liu Bei tried to hide it at first, but four or five days after Zhang Heng left, he stopped pretending and started talking to himself directly at the top of the city.
"Why hasn't Ziyi come back yet..."
In the afternoon of this day, Liu Bei, accompanied by Cao Cao, inspected the city defense as usual, and began to talk like Xianglin's wife again.
Cao Cao, who was standing next to him, felt a little helpless. He couldn't help but droop his eyebrows and sighed: "Brother Xuande, today is only March 15th. Ziyi has only been gone for six days. How can he come back so soon?"
"That's true, I'm impatient..." Liu Bei shook his head and laughed at himself.
To be honest, when Zhang Heng is by his side, Liu Bei hardly needs to think when he encounters problems. He can get the answer by just asking, so his life should not be too comfortable. It's better now, he has to worry about all the big and small things by himself, which Liu Bei says is too much.
The most important thing is that he is really worried about Zhang Heng.
The world is full of chaos, and Zhang Heng has few people with him. If another group of robbers appears, Zhang Heng will be in trouble...
Liu Bei had already begun to regret not letting Zhang Heng bring more troops.
"According to me, Ziyi shouldn't go. The Suizao princes are all a bunch of drunkards and ricebags. Even if they come, I'm afraid they will only hold us back." Cao Cao sneered.
Regarding the jujube princes, Cao Cao has always had a mentality of whether he loves you or not. He will celebrate the New Year with or without you!
Liu Bei shook his head and said with a smile: "Brother Meng De has said it before. After all, the jujube princes have a large number of people. If they can come, it will be of great help to the cause of defeating thieves. We can't live up to Zi Yi's hard work."
"That's true. You need cannon fodder in a war. I think those people are just right." Cao Cao sneered again.
"Brother Meng De, why are you so extreme..."
Halfway through Liu Bei's words, he saw a man rushing up from the gate. It was Cao Hong, Cao Cao's younger brother.
"Brother, Duke Xuande, the enemy is coming!"
Cao Hong didn't even have time to salute, so he shouted breathlessly.
"What!"
Liu Bei and Cao Cao's expressions changed drastically at the same time.
"How far is it from here and how many people are here?" Liu Bei asked immediately.
Cao Hong took two deep breaths, then clasped his fists and said: "Mr. Xuande, just now the cavalry came to report that the enemy has arrived thirty miles outside the city. As for the number of people, it is not clear yet, but it should be no less than 20,000! "
Hearing this, Liu Bei breathed a sigh of relief, waved his sleeves and said, "Let's investigate again. If there is any movement, report it immediately!"
"As you command!"
Cao Hong responded with clasped fists, then turned around and left.
"Brother Xuande, Thief Dong has hundreds of thousands of troops. It is absolutely impossible to send only this few people to attack. I estimate that the 20,000 people should be just the vanguard."
"That's right." Liu Bei nodded and said, "The enemy is still thirty miles away. It is already afternoon, and they should not attack today. Brother Meng De, please go and inform the generals and ask them to come to the county government to discuss matters! "
"As you command!"
Cao Cao gave up and left.
Although he and Liu Bei were on equal terms, with the current war going on, he had the good sense to follow Liu Bei's lead.
Half an hour later, all the generals arrived at the county government office.
"Brother, I heard that Thief Dong is coming!"
As soon as Zhang Fei entered the door, his trademark loud voice immediately sounded, with a hint of excitement in his voice.
Liu Bei didn't speak, just nodded.
In front of him, there was a river terrain map, which Zhang Heng drew by himself before leaving.
Although a water attack plan had been planned, Zhang Heng was still afraid that Liu Bei would not understand such a high-end tactic, so he came up with a plan and the truth.
While waiting for the generals to arrive, Liu Bei stared at the picture in front of him and pondered it. Now that everyone was there, he hung the picture on the screen behind him.
"Please look at this picture."
Everyone present knew about the water attack plan. When Liu Bei took out the drawings, they understood what was going on.
"Brother Xuande, although Ziyi's plan is wonderful, the current problem is that if the enemy does not camp downstream of the Bian River, how can we carry out a water attack?" Cao Cao was the first to express his opinion.
"Ziyi is such a great talent. Naturally, he has predicted it and left a way to solve the problem. If the enemy does not camp downstream of the Bian River, then we will force him to camp downstream of the Bian River!"
"How to force the law?" Cao Cao continued to ask.
Liu Bei pointed to the location on the map and said, "The key is right here!"
Everyone hurriedly looked to where Liu Bei pointed, but it was Guo Pavilion outside Xingyang City.
"Can Mr. Xuande explain it more clearly? General I still don't understand."
Cao Hong, a subordinate of Cao Cao, cupped his fists.
"Guoting is more than ten miles away from Xingyang. The enemy troops come from afar, so this is the best place to stay, so the enemy troops will definitely be stationed in Guoting."
Cao Cao nodded, "Yes, this is what I was worried about just now. No matter how stupid the enemy is, there is no reason to abandon the city and camp in the wild."
"So, we have to lead our troops out of the city and attack the enemy outside Guoting. In this way, the enemy will have to camp downstream of the Bian River!"
While you are staying in Xingyang City, the enemy may be camping in Bianshui, or they may be camping in Guoting, or they may even be stationed elsewhere. There are too many uncertainties. But if you repulse the enemy's first wave of attack outside Guoting, then he will have to camp downstream of the Bian River.
Because it is the most suitable place to attack Guoting nearby, it is also the only water point, and the surrounding area is extremely open, so there is no fear of fire attack.
Hearing this, Xiahou Dun's face was full of shock.
"Gong Xuande wants to fight the enemy in the field!"
"Why, Yuan Rang thinks it's impossible?" Liu Bei asked.
Xiahou Dun explained: "It's necessary, but we have less than 20,000 people in total, not even as many as the enemy's vanguard. If we go out of the city to fight in the field, how many troops should we send?"
This question stumped Liu Bei. If you want to win in a field battle, you must have a small number of troops, but he doesn't have that many troops at all.
At this time, Guan Yu, who had been silent until now, suddenly stood up, with a flash of light in his eyes.
"Then the whole army will attack!"
Hearing this, not only Cao Cao's generals were shocked, but even Liu Bei was stunned.
"No, no, absolutely no! Once we are all sent out, Xingyang will be empty. If the war goes against us and the enemy forces cut off our return, we may annihilate the entire army. Such an action is against the law of war!"
The speaker was Cao Ren, the youngest general in Cao Cao's camp.
"Zi Yi's water attack plan is really ingenious. Once launched, we will be able to defeat tens of thousands of enemy troops. I think it's worth a gamble." Guan Yu said coldly, "Besides, even if we go out to fight in the city, we can't. You may not lose!”
It's not that Guan Yu's skill in using troops is higher than that of the generals in Cao Cao's camp, it's just that he had won consecutive battles before, which gave Guan Yu the confidence to confront the Xiliang army head-on.
On the other hand, Cao Cao's previous defeat at Bianshui was a disastrous one. They have not yet recovered, and their mentality is naturally inclined to defend the city.
As soon as Guan Yu spoke, Zhang Fei immediately echoed excitedly: "Second brother is right, Tan Qi said that the enemy has more than 20,000 people, and we also have 18,000 people, why can't we fight with them!"
It's a pity that his statement was ignored. Liu Bei looked past Zhang Fei and set his sights on Zhang Liao.
"The last general agrees with what General Guan said. If you want to go out of the city to fight in the field, the last general please be the vanguard!"
The honest man Zhang Liao was very clever this time and was ready to take credit as soon as he opened his mouth.
Seeing that all his generals had expressed their stance, Liu Bei finally set his sights on Cao Cao.
"What do you think, Brother Meng De?"
In fact, Cao Cao was not in favor of the whole army attacking, but he knew that he had too few soldiers and horses and did not have much say, so he handed over his hand and said: "Brother Xuande is the commander-in-chief of the army. Whenever there is an order, he will obey everything!"
"Okay!" Liu Bei slapped the table and said, "Send my order to the general to leave the city in the afternoon and march to Guoting. Tomorrow, we will severely defeat the enemy!"
"As you command!"
Everyone hurriedly clasped their fists in response.
Looking at Liu Bei giving orders from the main seat, Cao Cao sighed in his heart.
If you don't want to be inferior to others, you still have to be strong yourself.
