Choose Liu Bei at the start, I am the only one who knows the plot of the Three Kingdoms.

Chapter 489: Conferring the title of King of Wei, ready for battle

"Hahaha, the one who understands me best is Zixiu. Since there is no way to uproot them, then just let them stay. As long as they can't play any role, it won't make any difference whether they are there or not."

Cao Cao laughed loudly. He and Sun Jian had the same idea. They both wanted to train their two sons, one civil and one military, with one in front and one behind. Therefore, he was very satisfied with Cao Ang's performance.

"Father, what you mean is that we just need to prevent them from having the chance to pass on the message?"

"No chance of delivering the message?"

Xiahou Yuan pondered upon hearing this.

"Is this why the Lord has not gathered us together to announce the attack on Jingzhou until now?"

Everyone present was a smart person and they guessed Cao Cao's plan in just a few words.

"OK OK."

Cao Cao smiled and waved his hand to interrupt the conversation, then spoke seriously.

"Tomorrow, take Nanyang County at all costs. You only have one day, and most of you will go to block the support of Liu Bei's army."

"My lord, we are trying to stop Liu Bei again. We have failed in the previous attempts to stop Liu Bei. Besides, no one among us can stop Guan Yu under Liu Bei's command."

Xiahou Dun had a solemn expression on his face. He always felt that something was not right. The previous battles with Liu Bei all ended with heavy losses for them. Only once, when they used the deceived Six-Jade Bodhisattva and the monks from Mount Nalanda in the Western Regions as cannon fodder, they managed to gain some advantage, but they still ended in failure in the end.

Not only did the generals of Jiangdong suffer under Gu Rubing's command, but the generals under Cao Cao as well.

Cao Cao just smiled slightly at this.

"As for Guan Yu, don't worry. Dian Wei is already waiting for Guan Yu in Yanzhou. You just need to stop the others and don't need to worry about Guan Yu."

"So, what about Zhang Fei?"

The last of the first-class generals, a young general who had just been promoted to the first-class general, suddenly asked.

Everyone present also remembered that Zhang Fei was also promoted to a legendary general. Guan Yu had Dian Wei to protect him, but what about Zhang Fei?
Having said that, Cao Cao curled up his lips into a smile.

"Hahaha, don't forget, we are not fighting alone. I can assure you that you will not face either Guan Yu or Zhang Fei. They have their own opponents. The ones you should really worry about are Zhao Yun, Zhang Liao, Zhang He and Taishi Ci."

Cao Cao's expression turned cold again.

"Wen Lie, Zi Dan, take over Nanyang in one day!"

Among the seats of first-class generals, two young generals stood up. They were Cao Xiu and Cao Zhen. They both clasped their fists and bowed to Cao Cao.

"Yes, my lord! We must take over Nanyang within one day. Otherwise, we will be punished by military law!"

"Everyone else, set up a battle line here tomorrow and keep Liu Bei's army out of Jingzhou. Don't let them take a single step beyond Jingzhou!"

"The last general takes command!"

Everyone in the tent stood up and saluted Cao Cao, their voices almost shaking the sky.

"Okay, everyone, cherish this last night of good sleep. You probably won't have a chance to sleep well in the next few days."

As everyone left the tent, Cao Cao sat down again, then slapped the feng shui map in front of him and grinned, revealing two rows of white teeth.

"Liu Bei, Liu Bei, I want to see how you can turn defeat into victory this time!"

The next morning at the court, Liu Xie personally announced the appointment of Cheng Yu as the governor of Jingzhou, and then announced another piece of news that could be described as earth-shattering.

Liu Xie sat high on the dragon throne. In today's court, Cao Cao was no longer the only one in power, and Cao Cao was no longer sitting below him to listen to government affairs. It seemed that this was the first time he had presided over a morning court like this since he ascended the throne.

Looking around the court, not all of them were under Cao Cao's command. Liu Xie couldn't help but think, it would be great if it could continue like this.

Since he agreed to Cao Cao's request, Cao Cao's control over him became much looser. Not only did he send him a lot of New Year gifts, he also rarely sent him some gold and silver, and allowed the old eunuchs under his command to leave the palace to buy some other things.

This also gave Liu Xie a lot of opportunities to contact some key ministers who were still loyal to the Han Dynasty and the Liu family. These key ministers, without exception, were all civil officials. There were no military generals, not even some of the lowest-ranking military generals such as colonels. All the military forces in Xu Du were firmly in Cao Cao's hands.

But now, the generals under Cao Cao were gone, and almost all of the army had been taken away. Only some imperial guards were left in the palace. Cao Cao himself was no longer in Xu Du. It could be said that this was the first time in history that Liu Xie was so close to freedom.

Therefore, when Liu Xie sat on the dragon throne, a bold idea suddenly popped up in his mind.

Then he carried it out.

"Lord Cao, you have devoted your life to the Han Dynasty and died for it, but you are only a prime minister. If other foreign countries knew about this, they would think that I am afraid that Prime Minister Cao will become more powerful than me. Since my uncle has been canonized as King Lie, Prime Minister Cao should also be canonized as a king."

Liu Xie's words made all the civil and military officials in an uproar. They didn't even care about Liu Xie sitting on the dragon chair, and began to whisper to each other. After Liu Xie coughed a few times, the court finally quieted down. "Since none of you have any objection, then it is settled. Prime Minister Cao will be canonized as the King of Wei, and the position of Prime Minister will be removed. Wang Situ will succeed to the position of Prime Minister Cao!"

Liu Xie did not inform anyone in advance of this move. Even Wang Yun, who was appointed as the new prime minister, was not aware of it beforehand. Wang Yun was still confused until Liu Xie issued the appointment. At this time, no matter who succeeded Cao Cao's position, it would incur Cao Cao's malice.

But Liu Xie had no intention of giving Wang Yun a chance to refuse, and just stood up.

"Well, my dear ministers, since there is nothing else to do, then let's leave the court!"

However, Cao Cao in the northern part of Nanyang County was still unaware of all this. As soon as the noon hour arrived, hundreds of thousands of troops under his command immediately moved out without waiting for Cao Cao's orders.

Cao Xiu and Cao Zhen led 50,000 infantrymen and marched towards a military town in the northernmost part of Nanyang County. This military town was the only one in the entire Nanyang County that was garrisoned by troops except for the county seat.

In other words, in the entire Nanyang County, only the county town and this military town were guarded by troops. Taking down these two cities meant taking down the entire Nanyang County.

For Cao Xiu, Cao Zhen, and the 50,000 infantrymen under their command, this was not a problem, as Nanyang County did not have many troops to begin with.

At the same time, in Jiangxia County, Sun Jian's troops also began to advance. Sun Quan led an army and rushed straight to the northern part of Yuzhang County, ready to support or attack at any time.

In Yuzhang County, Lujiang County, Jiangxia County and Changsha County, it was not only Sun Quan himself who was roaming around, but also the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry led by Cao Zhang. They had the same goal as Sun Quan, which was to cut off the output of troops between the counties and their mutual support.

Gan Ning, Zhou Yu, Huang Gai, Zhou Tai, Han Dang, Jiang Qin, Chen Wu, Dong Xi, Xu Sheng, Pan Zhang, Ding Feng, these eleven people are the generals under Sun Jian's command today. All the well-known generals are here. Gan Ning, Zhou Yu and Huang Gai are all famous generals, and the other eight are all top-notch generals. All of them have full experience points and can be promoted to top-notch generals with just some famous general points.

They have not been able to accumulate enough famous general points, and the biggest reason is because of Gu Rubing. The successive failures in the battles with Gu Rubing's subordinates have caused many of their famous general points to decrease instead of increase. If there were no other Japanese pirates and foreign races, they might not even have so many first-class generals now, let alone three famous generals.

Among these eight people, Cheng Pu and Zhou Tai are only a few points away from becoming famous generals. Victory in a big battle will be enough to make them promoted to famous generals. At that time, Sun Jian's subordinates will usher in another huge improvement.

These eleven people, led by three generals, Zhou Yu, Gan Ning and Huang Gai, divided into three directions, north, middle and south, and headed towards the capital of Jiangxia County. The eight first-class generals led eight equally large troops, as the left and right wings and vanguards of the three armies, and attacked Xiling City with a sweeping offensive.

On the routes of each of the three famous generals' armies, there was a large military town blocking them. Xiling City was originally close to the eastern border of Jiangxia County, and there were three military towns stationed among them, which could effectively hinder Sun Jian's large-scale attack.

The last time Sun Jian and his men attacked Xiling City easily, it was mainly because Changsha County in the south was lost. The two sides jointly attacked Jiangxia County, so they were able to reach Xiling City so quickly.

This time, they only launched an attack in the east. When they reached the three major military towns, they were shocked to find that the city gates of the three military towns were wide open and there were no defenders inside. Even when they came to only a hundred meters away from the city gates, no troops in the military town responded.

Only those civilians who were running wildly in the city, in order to avoid the disaster brought by the war, closed the doors and windows after fleeing back to the military town. Even the city gates of the military town were not closed.

Zhou Yu looked at the military town with confusion on his face. This was really unreasonable. If Liu Bei did not send anyone back, then there should be at least some defenders in the military town. There couldn't be no defenders at all. If this was Liu Bei's trap, it would be even more unreasonable. These three military towns were the key to whether they could hold on.

If they rely on the three major military towns to slow down their offensive and the four cities support each other, they will still have a chance to win. But now the military town in front of them is actually a military town without any defenders. Could it be that they want to gather all their forces in Xiling City and prepare to fight them head-on?

As soon as this idea came to his mind, Zhou Yu immediately denied it, because for Jiangxia County, they simply did not have the strength to fight head-on. Even if Liu Bei sent a large army to support them, how many could he send? They now had nearly 300,000 troops.

The cavalry, who were recognized as the gold among soldiers, numbered as many as 150,000. In addition to the 50,000 who followed Sun Quan and the 50,000 who remained in Wujun, these were all the cavalry that Sun Jian could muster. As for the other cavalry, he could train them, but he had no way of getting more horses.

Therefore, he can only switch to infantry or navy. It can be said without exaggeration that his naval force is now the most powerful, without a doubt.

Together with the tens of thousands of infantrymen who arrived yesterday, the total infantry strength has reached a terrifying 130,000. It can be said that in addition to guarding against a sneak attack on Xuzhou and Lu Xun's 200,000 troops in Wujun, all of Jiangdong's troops are here.

Even though Zhou Yu was unsure, he had no objection to Sun Jian's decision, because he really couldn't think of any way that Liu Bei could withstand the attack of their 280,000-strong army.

"Pass on my order. No innocent people are allowed to be harmed. Send a team of elite cavalry to the city to see if there are any ambushed defenders. If there are, do not hesitate to fight and come out to report first. Even if there is only one person, you must tell me first and I will make the decision. This is a military order. If anyone dares to disobey, he will be executed immediately!"

Zhou Yu gritted his teeth and said that although he didn't know what Liu Bei or Huang Zu were up to, he was still wary of the military town in front of him that didn't seem to have any defensive forces. It was not the first time that they suffered losses from this kind of strategy.

Lu Meng, a military general with potential, no, it should be said that if he had not died, he would have been a famous general by now. But didn't he die because of such a clumsy strategy in Nanchang City? Zhou Yu didn't want to follow in Lu Meng's footsteps.

After about half a quarter of an hour, the cavalry team returned. After all, this city was just a military town. Even if it was a large military town, half a quarter of an hour was enough for them to search the city roughly.

"General, there are no guards from Liu Bei or Huang Zu in the city. Even the county magistrate's mansion is empty."

The leading cavalry captain came to Zhou Yu and said, Zhou Yu couldn't help but frowned. Could it be that he was really overthinking it, Huang Zu was really still in Linzi and had not returned, and Liu Bei had not sent any reinforcements.

"Okay, pass on my order. Advance at full speed and rush to Xiling City. Attack Xiling City with all your might. Two days! Take down Xiling within two days!"

The deputy general at the side was a little confused after hearing Zhou Yu's words. After all, Sun Jian's order was for three days, and they all felt that three days was a bit tight. However, Zhou Yu directly shortened the time to only two days, which made them very puzzled. Why would he rush to do this?
"But, Grand Commander, didn't the Lord say that we could capture Jiangxia County in three days? How come..."

"There is no but. On the battlefield, every minute and every second can decide the outcome of a war, let alone a day. The entire army must advance at the fastest speed!"

The distance from the military town to Xiling City was only a few dozen kilometers. They advanced at full speed and it took them just over half an hour to arrive outside Xiling City.

The scene outside Xiling City completely shocked Zhou Yu. The moment he saw it, he finally understood why there was not a single soldier in the military town.

Outside Xiling City, the endless Liu army was ready for battle. In front of the army were Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong, Huang Zu, Wei Yan,

(End of this chapter)