" I replied: I have arranged for Cao Ren, Xu Huang, Yue Jin, and the other six people to form a total of six armies to guard against Jiang Dong and Liu Bei. Even if the two sides join forces, they will not be able to take down Jingzhou.
Reality proved that my plan was not wrong. Jiangdong retreated because of Zhou Yu's death. How could Liu Bei take Jiangling alone?”
"But Liu Bei is a cunning and fickle person, and I'm afraid that something will happen in Jiangling.”Cao Cao stroked his beard and said.
Jia Xu raised his head and said," Don't underestimate Liu Bei. His wings are growing, and he has the Crouching Dragon Zhuge Liang. He has the possibility of taking Jiangling. My lord, you can't take him lightly."”
"What should I do?"
"My lord, send your troops south and destroy Liu Bei.”Jia Xu said.
Cao Cao was a little hesitant. Right now, his biggest threat was not Liu Bei, but Jiang Dong.
In terms of the order of destroying the world, Liu Bei was not in the top three. The main reason was that Liu Bei posed too little of a threat to Cao Cao. Furthermore, it was not worth it to go south to conquer the four barren counties of Jingnan.
There were still Guanzhong and Yizhou in the world. If they wanted to attack, they should first pacify Guanzhong and Yizhou.
Cao Cao then looked at Xun You. Xun You looked down and did not immediately answer Cao Cao.
However, Dong Zhao stepped forward and said,""My lord, the army has been conquering for years, and the treasury is empty. Red Cliff has just been defeated, and we don't have enough food and supplies. The soldiers are tired, and I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to send an army south to destroy Liu Bei.
It would be better to wait for the autumn tax to come, when there was sufficient food and grass, and when the soldiers wanted to fight, then it would not be too late to raise an army.”
Without money or food, the soldiers had been fighting for many years and were already exhausted. This time, they had gone south on a large scale and the country was empty. They were afraid that other factions would attack them.
Dong Zhao's words were very clear.
……
This was also the reason why Cao Cao had hesitated and why Xun You knew what Cao Cao was thinking.
"Ever since the decisive battle between Guandu and Yuan Shao, I have been on expeditions for many years.
I don't think I'll be conscripted this year.
He ordered Yue Jin and Xu Huang to defend Xiangfan and secretly ordered Cao Ren to abandon Jiangling if he could not defend it.
The war in Jiangling has been going on for nearly a year and has cost me a lot of money and food. If this continues, my foundation will be shaken.
Liu Bei is just a small problem, not worth worrying about."
Jia Xu wanted to say something but hesitated. In the end, he still decided not to say anything more. Jia Xu still understood the principle of saying too much and making mistakes.
"My lord, we cannot let Liu Bei take Jiangling."
We must not let General Cao Ren abandon Jiangling.”
"What does Gongda mean?"
"Liu Bei is a fierce and ambitious man. He can fight against tens of thousands of people in Guanzhang and has Zhuge Liang to feed him. His wings are already formed and he has people to make peace with.
At this time, he can attack Xiangyang and Yizhou, and retreat to resist Jingnan. This person will definitely become a great disaster. If he can't get Nanjun and Jiangling, he will be like a rootless duckweed. Only then will Liu Bei not be a threat to the Lord.”
Cao Cao looked at the map of Jingzhou and stared at Jiangling for a long time before nodding,""Gongda is right."
It had been five days since the last time the corpses and feces were thrown into the city, and the public toilets in the camp had accumulated enough feces. With an order, the wooden barrels made by the carpenters in the camp were moved to the public toilets and began to be filled with feces. Then, the barrels were covered and sealed with wax.
In addition, Liu Bei had sent out many people to hunt animals in the past five days. There was already enough.
Cao Ren stood on the city wall and looked at Liu Bei's army outside the city. Then, he saw the dozens of catapults and guessed that Liu Bei was going to throw corpses into the city.
There was a strong rotting smell on the city walls, which made people nauseous. This was because the soldiers had thrown the corpses that Liu Bei had thrown into the city a few days ago off the city walls for convenience. Now, the corpses were piled up on the city walls and were being burned by the sun, emitting a stench.
The soldiers had gotten used to the stench after standing there for a long time. However, Chen Jiao was pitiful. He had followed Cao Ren up the city wall and was now lying on the ground vomiting.
Cao Ren could endure it. After so many years of fighting, he could eat in a pile of rotting people. This scene was just child's play.
"General, look at the barrels and corpses they brought over." Niu Jin said with a green face.”
Sure enough, Cao Ren saw Liu Bei's soldiers split up and form a path. Behind them were donkey carts that were transporting wooden barrels and corpses. They filed out and lined up in front of the various thunderbolt carts.
Seeing this, Cao Ren's face darkened.""Let's go down.
Liu Bei will not attack the city today."
……
In the blink of an eye, it was the end of September. The weather was getting colder and autumn was beginning to show on Xian Mountain. Guan Yu was sitting on a stone stool in a pavilion at the foot of Xian Mountain. The yellow maple leaves beside him were falling continuously, and the ground was covered in a golden color.
Six thousand soldiers were stationed outside Xiangyang City. In the past month, the general in the city, Le Jin, had ignored them and did not send a single soldier out of the city to harass Guan Yu's camp. Guan Yu was only stationed outside the city to stop the reinforcements from going south to Jiangling. However, he did not see any reinforcements going south. At first, Guan Yu did not believe it. He sent Zhao Yun's cavalry to patrol day and night. There was no sign of Cao Cao's troops from all over Jiangling.
The Han River was also calm. After the navy intercepted the grain and materials that were transported from Fancheng to Xiangyang several times, Le Jin and Xu Huang simply built a pontoon bridge on the Han River, which had fallen sharply in autumn, to transport the grain and materials.
Seeing this, Guan Yu did not let the navy harass them. Instead, he let them patrol along the Han River to prevent the Cao army from heading south.
Liao Hua walked over quickly and said to Guan Yu,""General, they are all here. Should we ask them to come up immediately?”
"Let them come up."
"Then, this subordinate only asked them not to bring any soldiers up?”
"No need. If I don't let them bring their soldiers to meet me, they won't be at ease.”Guan Yu opened his eyes.
These people were not willing to meet Guan Yu in the military camp. They were afraid that Guan Yu would kill them all in the camp. Guan Yu thought that if he could get the help of these people, Liu Bei's strength would increase greatly. Therefore, he chose to take a step back and meet these people alone on Xian Mountain. He did not deploy any troops.
Half a day ago, Guan Yu suddenly received a bamboo slip that stated that the soldiers of the South County were willing to attack Xiangyang for General Guan.
The South County bandits suddenly surrendered when Guan Yu was attacking Xiangyang. This was a bit strange. After Guan Yu sent people to contact them, he found out that these bandits had no choice but to surrender.
The war in South County had lasted for a year. The people in all parts of the country were in dire straits. They couldn't bear to live and fled. Seeing that the mountain bandits couldn't get any food for the winter, the mountain bandits thought of many ways and finally chose to rely on one of the vassals.
Liao Hua understood and turned to leave.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。