Sima Yi's Three Kingdoms Collection Collection

Chapter 114 Snatching Xiakou (2)
Mao Jie saw all his ugliness in his eyes, and couldn't help feeling sick in his heart.At this moment, Xun You, who was sitting on his left, gave him a secret wink and shook his head slightly.When Mao Jie saw it, he understood what he meant.Cao Cao has praised Kuai Yue so much, how can he argue with him again?He couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart, so he calmed down and remained calm, and didn't say anything more about the people from Jingzhou.

"Yes! It's true that we have to prevent Liu Bei from rushing to Jiangling City to join Liu Pan and reject our Celestial Army." At this moment, Jia Xu, who had been silent all this time, suddenly said, "Here, Jia asks the lords of Jingzhou, What is Liu Qi in Jiangxia County doing now? Will he catch up from the lower reaches of the Han River..."

As he spoke slowly, he looked around the hall, but he saw Kuai Yue, Han Song, Wang Can and others all had strange indescribable expressions on their faces, as if he thought his problem was a problem. A big joke.Finally, it was Cai Mao who couldn't hold back his words, and said a few words in a stuttering voice: "Mr. Jia, Liu Qi's son...how did he catch up from the lower reaches of the Han River? Did he catch up and come to Xiangyang City to throw himself into a trap?"

Hearing Cai Mao's thorny words, Jia Xu's face turned red.He opened his mouth, and when the words came to his lips, he suddenly felt that his thoughts at this time were really not thorough enough, so he swallowed them back.

Han Song interjected a sentence from the side: "We really don't know what's going on at Liu Qi's side. But that Liu Pan in Changsha County and his county lieutenant Huang Zhong have already led eight thousand sailors from Dongting Lake. They are coming upstream to attack Jiangling City..."

Kuai Yue glanced at Mao Jie, and he was about to add that he had actually planted a hidden nail in Liu Pan's side long ago—Han Xuan, the prefect of Changsha County, was his own confidant and best friend, and he could use it latently.But when he thought of Mao Jie's contemptuous and harsh words to himself and Jingzhou people just now, he couldn't get angry from the bottom of his heart.Hmph, I have to keep this top-secret information for myself first, and I must not give it away until the right time——I will casually blow out all the good cards in my hand like a gust of wind. To be looked down upon by old men like Mao Jie.He thought for a while, echoed Han Song's words, stroked his goatee, nodded and said: "Oh! What Han Shizhong reminded is that Liu Pan's veteran Huang Zhong is very brave. General Zhang Yun of Jiangling may not be his opponent..."

When Cao Cao heard this, he groaned for a moment, glanced at Xun You, and saw that he was concentrating on him, so he asked him lightly: "Gongda (Xun You's word is Gongda), what do you think of this?" What about Liu Bei fleeing south?"

Hearing Cao Cao's question, Xun You quickly regained his composure, straightened his face, turned to Cao Cao and replied, "You were rude just now, please forgive me, Your Excellency. You were thinking just now that this Liu Xuande is indeed extremely cunning—he Dragging these more than [-] Jingzhou overseas Chinese to flee south with him is actually playing his trick of hiding soldiers among the people."

When Cao Cao heard this, he was taken aback for a moment, then understood immediately, and couldn't help nodding his head and smiling deeply.Yes, it is true that Liu Bei has a deep intention to escape southward with more than [-] Jingzhou overseas Chinese.If he just ran away with his thousands of soldiers, he was afraid that their whereabouts would be too obvious, and they would be easily chased by Cao Jun's tiger and leopard cavalry, and they would definitely end up with no armor left. However, if he mixed these thousands of soldiers with the more than [-] Jingzhou overseas Chinese who fled together, even if they were overtaken by Cao Jun's iron cavalry, they would not be wiped out.After all, today's Cao Cao, taking into account his status as a majestic prime minister, will naturally never do the stupid things that bloodbathed Xuzhou and slaughtered the people back then.

After laughing for a while, Cao Cao asked Kuai Yue again: "May I ask Mr. Kuai for the truth, if Liu Pan leads the navy from Dongting Lake and goes upstream, how many days will it take to reach the city of Jiangling?"

Kuai Yue listened to the question, thought for a while, bowed his head and counted with his fingers, and replied: "The waterway from Dongting Lake to Jiangling City is three to four hundred miles away. Liu Pan's navy can go up the river for more than [-] miles in a day and a night. Here, he had sailed on the river for more than a day—according to this calculation, he would be able to reach Jiangling City in three days at most, or two days at least."

"Hmm... 'as many as three days, as few as two days'?" Cao Cao thought for a moment in his heart, and said, "The tigers and leopards under my command are as fast as the wind and as fast as lightning. In just two days and two nights, we will be able to catch up with Liu Xuande and capture him in one fell swoop. At that time, even if Liu Pan took advantage of the opportunity to capture Jiangling City, he will have nothing to fear!"

After finishing speaking, with one move of his right hand, he stretched out to the lottery holder on the black lacquer desk, ready to catch the arrow.The two commanders of the tiger and leopard cavalry, Cao Chun and Cao Zhen, also held their breath suddenly and straightened their backs.

"Hold on, Prime Minister!" At this moment, Jia Xu's voice suddenly sounded.

"What's the matter?" Cao Cao's right hand stopped halfway, and he looked at Jia Xu in a blink of an eye.

"Prime Minister, according to Jia's humble opinion, you can take General Liu Cong, General Cai Mao and others to pursue Liu Xuande..."

When Cao Cao first heard it, he couldn't help being startled for a moment, and after a little thought in his heart, he soon understood the meaning of Jia Xu's words.Although Jingzhou has surrendered now, the hearts of the counties have been divided in a hurry, and they are suspicious and fearful, and it is difficult to appease them. If you take Liu Cong to lead the way, you will not have to worry about Xiangyang's generals chasing your life. Then tigers and leopards will ride in Hanshui The risk of being accidentally attacked or ambushed in the south has also been greatly reduced.Besides, Liu Cong is still the young master of Jingzhou in name for the time being. If he catches up with Liu Bei and the more than [-] overseas Chinese in Jingzhou, he can show up in front of the battle to persuade them to surrender, so as to disturb Liu Bei's army and people's morale...

Thinking of this, Cao Cao secretly nodded in approval, and looked at the head of the row of seats on his right that had always been empty, his expression became a little complicated again.This Liu Cong has been claiming to be ill and bedridden since he entered Xiangyang City, and it is not known whether he is really sick or pretending to be sick.

Seeing that Cao Cao's eyes seemed to be a bit unfriendly, Cai Hao also secretly sweated for his nephew Liu Cong, so he plucked up his courage and said cautiously: "Mr. His body is being recuperated in the mansion. If you want to use him, I'm afraid...I'm afraid that you will have to move him personally to invite Mr. Prime Minister..."

He was muttering to himself when he was suddenly interrupted by Cao Chun, the commander of the Tiger Cavalry Battalion, who yelled, "Wu Na Cai Mao! What an important nobleman my Prime Minister Cao is, how could he go for Liu Cong, a mere Jingzhou shepherd? ? If he pretends to be sick and refuses to come, don’t blame Cao Mou for taking a few brothers to the Liu Mansion and dragging him over..."

"Cao Chun! Shut up!" Cao Cao raised his eyebrows, his beard and beard stretched, and shouted at Cao Chun, "You ignorant barbarian! Don't be rude! As long as it is a military and national event that is beneficial to Kuang Han's chaos, don't say that the truth cannot If you don’t condescend to be courteous to the virtuous, even His Majesty has to ‘go out of the Nine Layers in person, and ask for advice on the bank of the Weihe River’——Okay, all attendants, let’s set out, the real minister will leave for the Liu residence immediately!”

"Wait a minute!" Xun You said suddenly, "Prime Minister, you are condescending to the virtuous and respectful, and you will be respectful and humble. This hard work will naturally empathize with the subordinates. However, Yi You said bluntly, you should go to the Liu Manor to meet General Liu Cong in person right now. , I’m afraid it’s too late. If General Liu Cong is really seriously ill, he won’t be able to bear the burden! What’s more, we don’t know the way to Liu’s residence very well…”

Cao Cao's mind is so perceptive and sensitive, he understood the implication of Xun You's words as soon as he heard it.Yes, although it seems that Xiangyang City has been basically controlled on the surface, it does not mean that his power has penetrated into every corner of this city, and it does not mean that every citizen in this city has a chest. No different thoughts... what if Liu Cong is deliberately pretending to be ill and setting a trap to assassinate himself?Or, he personally moved to the Liu Mansion, but was suddenly attacked by an assassin somewhere along the way?Master Xun was right - "We are not very familiar with the way to Liu's Mansion"!What a cunning character Zhao Gao, the treacherous eunuch of the generation, wasn't he also thrown into death after being lured into the fasting palace by Ying Ziying?
While he was thinking secretly, he heard Cai Mao say again: "Mr. Xun, you are too worried. It doesn't matter if you are not familiar with the way to General Liu's Mansion. Cai is willing to be a guide and lead you to Liu's Mansion..."

"Well... let's see, Gongda's words are reasonable—if Liu Congjun is really ill, it's really not easy to bother him with his true nature." Cao Cao stroked his beard and smiled, turning his face, looking very kind to him. Cai Hao said, "Now Liu Bei is fleeing to Jiangling quickly—the situation is critical, and it is not too late. How about asking General Cai and General Wenpin to be the guides of our Celestial Army and lead us to pursue it?"

tacit
The first group of tigers and leopards who went to chase Liu Bei were led by Cao Chun and Cao Zhen, and guided by Wenpin, they went straight out of the south gate of Xiangyang City at the fastest speed after the meeting in the meeting hall of the Mufu Mansion.

Cao Cao and his other generals and staff members set off with the second group of tiger and leopard cavalry.Before departure, according to the usual practice, civil servants like Jia Xu, Xun You, and Sima Yi had to go to the locker room to change into armor and then ride out on horseback.

At the meeting in the council hall of the Mu Mansion just now, Sima Yi was silent all the time, listening quietly to all the words of the people at the meeting.He also had doubts in his heart.Liu Bei fled to Jiangling so slowly with more than [-] scholars and households. Didn't he know that he would be overtaken eventually?The marching speed of tiger and leopard cavalry is the best in the world.If he was caught up by the tiger and leopard cavalry, no matter how Liu Xuande used these more than [-] overseas Chinese people to build a defensive line of meat, he would still be unable to withstand the powerful and incomparable impact of those cavalry soldiers of the Cao army!At that time, wouldn't he have to be swallowed whole by Cao Cao? ... He shouldn't be so confused! — But, is Liu Bei such a confused person?He never will be.Thinking of this, Sima Yi suddenly had a flash of inspiration.Could it be... Could it be that he was making a fuss?No, no, no, it's running around!Could it be that he pretended to be fleeing to Jiangling on the surface, but in fact he was building plank roads openly and keeping secrets——his real destination was to escape to somewhere else? ... Sima Yi followed this line of thinking and understood a lot...

After his thoughts were settled, he saw an opportunity and followed Xun You into the locker room. Taking advantage of the gap when no one was looking around, he suddenly said: "Mr. Xun, Yi has something unclear, and I hope to enlighten you."

(End of this chapter)