cite Han

Chapter 364 Messenger

At the end of August in Baqiu, the autumn air was crisp and comfortable. Liu Jing stood on the parade tower, admiring the beautiful scenery of Dongting Lake, while chatting with Xu Shu, Jiang Wan, and Deng Zhi.

Liu Jingjun Camp is located in the western suburbs of Baqiu City, on the east bank of Dongting Lake, and the Parade Tower is the west camp building of Liu Jingjun Camp. When you climb up this building, you can see the formation of cavalry inside and the naval drills outside. Named "parade army building".It was built last year by Wang Qiang recruiting Baqiu Minfu and spending several months.

"General, good news from Wuling..."

While Liu Jing was talking and laughing, Yu Zheng walked upstairs quickly and said.Liu Jing couldn't help being startled when he heard the words, Xuan Er smiled to the left and right: "Brother Cong led his army to defeat the Wuxi barbarians a few days ago, today's good news is here again, it must have conquered Linyuan."

Liu Jing took the letterhead from Zhengzheng and opened it. As he said, Liu Zong had successfully captured Linyuan, the governor of Wuling County, and captured the prefect Liu Rui alive.

In his letter, Liu Zong focused on describing Linchong, that is, the power of the siege tower, which made it only take Liu Jingjun more than an hour to capture Linyuan.

This is also expected by Liu Jing. As a composite siege weapon, the siege tower is a master of classical mechanical weapons. In the age without gunpowder, it is definitely a nightmare for the defenders.

"Wuling is settled..." Liu Jing read the letter, handed it to Xu Shu who was beside him, and said with a smile, "From now on, the land south of the great river, north of Wuling, and the four counties are all mine."

"Congratulations, General..." Xu Shu, Jiang Wan, Deng Zhi, Yu Zheng and others all congratulated.

Liu Jing nodded with a smile. Compared with the Wuling battlefield where good news was frequently reported, his place seemed much quieter.In fact, Cai Mao and Huang Zu's reinforcements arrived in Baqiu half a month ago, but they were attacked head-on by Liu Jingjun when they launched a tentative attack on Baqiu for the first time.

In this battle, Gan Ning served as the vanguard. After the battle, he led seven ships to ride the wind, invincible, defeated Cai Mao's troops in World War I, and beheaded the enemy's general, the captain of the bandit, Cai He.

After a year of recuperation, Cai Mao has just recovered his strength, and after this defeat, it can be said that all previous efforts have been wasted.

Since Liu Jing's army focused on Cai Mao's attack, although Huang Zu's army also lost more than ten large ships, it did not hurt its vitality.

This was Liu Jing's intention. Compared with Huang Zu, weakening Cai Mao was more in his interest.

Deng Zhi said: "Since the defeat of the war, Cai Mao has lost all courage and closed his camp. If he hears that Wuling has fallen, he will definitely flee."

Liu Jing currently has no plans to take advantage of the victory to attack the enemy camp. His primary strategic goal is to capture Wuling County, and his second goal is to weaken Cai Mao's navy. Now both of these strategic goals have been achieved.Therefore, there is no need to storm the enemy's strong camp and add unnecessary casualties.

Of course, Liu Jing would not just let the Jingzhou army leave like this. He would send people to closely monitor the enemy camp. Once Cai Mao abandoned the camp and fled, he would send troops to pursue and expand the victory.

For three consecutive days thereafter, there was no movement at the Jingzhou military camp on the north bank of the Yangtze River. Liu Jing knew that Cai Mao's move was to make his side relax, and he did it deliberately, and he had to leave soon.

Sure enough, at Pingdan on the fourth day, before dawn, the gates of the Jingzhou army barracks suddenly opened wide, and Cai Mao and Huang Zu fled separately, one heading east and the other heading west.

Liu Jing had already prepared for this, and immediately dispatched warships to pursue it.

Against Huang Zu's troops, Liu Jing's army only chased them for dozens of miles, and returned to Baqiu on the same day.As for Cai Mao, he pursued and beat him fiercely all the way, biting hard, Cai Mao finally abandoned the ship and landed, only to recover his life, the embarrassment can be imagined.

Just as Cai Mao led the rest of the troops back to Jiangling by land, Liu Biao, who was far away in Xiangyang, also received news of the fall of Wuling.

No matter how reluctant Liu Biao was, he had to admit that it was the general trend for Liu Jing to unify Jingnan. With his current strength, he was powerless to change this result, so he didn't get too angry.

But a few days later, when he learned that Cai Mao's entire army had been wiped out again, he was immediately furious, and while calling Cai Mao "incompetent", he couldn't help but feel chilled.

Although Liu Jing wiped out tens of thousands of elites under his command last year, natural disasters were the main cause. Liu Jing was successful in his youth, but after all, his foundation was a little shallow. He might be able to rule the south of Jing, but he would never have the strength to cross the river to the north in a short period of time.

Facts have proved that he underestimated Liu Jing. In just one year, Liu Jing was strong enough to support two-line battles, and he won all of them strongly.

what does that mean?This means that Liu Jing already has the strength to compete with him for Jingzhou. How can Liu Biao not feel chilled?

"Liu Jing..." Liu Biao paced back and forth in the hall, quietly thinking about countermeasures.

"General..." Chief Secretary Kuai Liang walked into the room slowly and called softly.

"What's the matter?" Liu Biao frowned.

Kuai Liang replied: "The envoy of General Zuo Liu Xuande has come and wants to see the general..."

"Liu Xuande?" Liu Biao was taken aback for a moment, then his brows were filled with joy, and he said again and again: "Please quickly, please quickly..."

Last year, Liu Bei was defeated by Cao Cao, and he fled to Xuzhou and defected to Hebei.After Yuan Shao and Cao Cao rejected each other at Guandu, Liu Bei was ordered by Yuan Shao to go south to Runan, and joined forces with Huangjin Liu Pi, Gong Du and others to harass Cao Cao's rear.

During this period, Liu Bei wrote to Liu Biao, inviting him to send troops north to crusade against the "national traitor" Cao Cao.

Although Liu Biao did not agree to Liu Bei's request, the two sides have maintained correspondence.Liu Biao intends to take Liu Bei for his own use, and Liu Bei also regards Jingzhou as a retreat, and both sides have their own needs.Since Yuan Shao's defeat at Guandu in October last year, the relationship between the two sides has become closer.Now Liu Bei sent an envoy to Xiangyang, and he must want to vote for Jingzhou.

After a while, two elegant and elegant scribes with high crowns came in with Kuai Liang, and they all bowed to Liu Biao: "General Zuo is in charge of Zhonglang Sun Qian (Mi Zhu), and I pay my respects to Liu Jingzhou."

"You don't need to be too polite." Liu Biao was smiling and no longer gloomy. He went straight to Sun Qian and said, "Your step is Beihai Sun Gongyou? I have heard of your great name for a long time."

Sun Qian is a well-known scholar in the Beihai Kingdom of Qingzhou, appreciated by the great Confucian Zheng Xuan, and respected by Yuan Shao. Liu Biao was in Xiangyang, so he also heard about it.

Sun Qian bowed and said, "Unexpectedly, Liu Jingzhou knew that his name was not good..."

"Gongyou, why bother to be modest." Liu Biao laughed, and then turned his gaze to Mi Zhu, who was outstanding in appearance, graceful in demeanor, and had better manners than Sun Qian.However, Liu Biao's attitude towards him was far less enthusiastic than Sun Qian's.

Liu Biao is the elder of the clan, a well-known person in the country, and he doesn't look down on Mi Zhu, who was born in a wealthy family and was bred by his ancestors.

Liu Biao invited Sun Qian and Mi Zhu to be seated, and asked the chief bookkeeper Kuai Liang, Biejia Liu Xian, Zhizhong Pang Ji and others to accompany him.

Sun Qian was solemn and solemn, and said: "In the past year, General Zuo fought Cao Ren and killed Cai Yang between Runan and Yingchuan, and repeatedly defeated Cao Jun. However, after General Yuan's defeat, General Zuo was alone. Tens of thousands of troops came to attack, the left general's troops were only a few thousand, and half of them were yellow scarves, they were defeated in battle, and had to retreat into Nanyang to avoid the sharp edge."

"Oh?" Liu Biao said, "Liu Xuande has arrived in Nanyang? Gu Dangjiao welcomes..." Since the north of Wancheng in Nanyang was already occupied by Cao Cao, he didn't know it.Last year Liu Bei fled to Hebei, and Yuan Shao came out of Yecheng to meet him two hundred miles away, so Liu Biao naturally couldn't lag behind others.

Then Liu Biao and Sun Qianyan and Yuan Shao were defeated, and Cao Cao sighed unceasingly.

Sun Qiandao: "Nowadays, the Han Dynasty is late, Cao Cao is despotic, and the power is his own. Looking at historical records, anyone like Cao Cao is a great disaster for the country. General Zuo and Jingzhou are both the hearts of the clan. We should work together to fight against the country's thieves. Sheji."

Liu Biao patted the table and sighed: "Gu failed to notice Cao Cao's jackal ambitions in the past, so that the country fell into his hands and was held hostage by him. I regret it! I hate Jingnan Zhang Xian first, and then Liu Jing. He ignored the country and rebelled repeatedly. If you are restricted inside, it will be difficult for Gu to raise his troops to the north. Otherwise, Gu, together with Yuan Benchu ​​and Liu Xuande, will fight against the thieves, so why worry about Cao Cao not getting rid of, and the country will not prosper?"

(End of this chapter)