At noon, the bells were ringing over Jiangling City, and teams of Cao soldiers rushed to the top of the city. Another fleet appeared on the river. This time, the scale was huge, consisting of hundreds of warships.

Not long after, Cao Ren also received a report and quickly arrived at the top of the city. A soldier had already reported to him: "General, it seems to be a warship in Jiangdong!"

Cao Ren was shocked. Did the Jiangdong warship finally arrive? He walked quickly to the battlements and looked into the distance. He saw a fleet of more than ten miles on the river not far away, showing a fleet of more than ten miles in front of him.

The leader was a large ship of 3,000 stones. A triangular flag of black and red fluttered on the ship, which was the battle flag of the Jiangdong Army. The soldiers on the side of the ship could vaguely see them wearing black and red Jiangdong Army uniforms.

The fleet slowly stopped on the river surface, and dozens of Jiangxia army's vanguard ships arrived from the west, lined up on the river surface, confronting Jiangdong ships.

Judging from the situation in front of you, there is no doubt that it was indeed the arrival of Jiangdong's fleet, but it was difficult for it to hide the doubts in Cao Ren's heart.

If it was really the Jiangdong fleet, how did they pass through Jiangxia? Did the Jiangxia army really allow them to transit?

At this time, Chen Jiao hurried to the top of the city. He stared at the river for a moment and frowned and said, "Is it not that the Jiangxia army wants to get the arms of Jiangdong?"

Cao Ren shook his head, "Changshi, I'm a little worried!"

"What are the general worried about?" Chen Jiao asked with a look at him.

"I'm worried that this is not a Jiangdong army warship, but a Jiangxia army disguised itself as a disguise to deceive my Jiangling City. Because I feel that Liu Jing will not allow the Jiangdong army fleet to cross Jiangxia."

"This is not necessarily the case. Perhaps the Jiangdong Army is an excuse to attack Wuling, and Liu Jing will be willing to use their hands to wipe out Liu Bei."

Cao Ren nodded. He had heard Cheng Yu's analysis that the final alliance reached by Liu Jing and Sun Quan was to give up the four counties of Jingnan to Jiangdong. If so, it would be reasonable for the Jiangdong army to attack Wuling.

"But no matter what, we should be cautious."

Chen Jiao stroked his beard and smiled slightly, "If the Jiangdong Army really came for Jiangling, I think there will definitely be an envoy to come to Jiangdong Army tonight."

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As expected, as Chen Jiao expected, just as the sky was getting dark, a small boat quietly left the Jiangdong Army fleet and leaned on the north shore. On the boat was a young officer with thick eyebrows and big eyes, a burly figure, and a somewhat family style.

As soon as the young general came ashore, he was immediately surrounded by dozens of Cao's soldiers. Dozens of crossbows pointed at him. A village chief shouted sternly: "Who are you!"

The young general bowed and said, "I am the Jiangdong Army general Cheng Yi. At the order of the chief general, I came to see General Cao Ren!"

The head of the village waved his hand and said, "Take him into the city!"

Soon, the young Jiangdong general Cheng Yi was taken into the city by Cao's army and came to the lobby of the military yamen. Cao Ren had been waiting here for a long time. Cheng Yi stepped forward and bowed calmly and said, "In the East East of the Yangtze River, General Cheng Yi, please see General Zhennan!"

Cao Ren looked up and down at him and asked, "Who are you Cheng Pu?"

"He is the father of the last general."

Cao Ren knew that Cheng Pu had two sons, the eldest son Cheng Zi and the second son Cheng Yi. It turned out that he was this person. He also received Cao Cao's quick letter. The court had already appointed Cheng Pu as the prefect of Nanjun, so the possibility of Cheng Pu coming to take over Jiangling was the greatest.

Cao Ren nodded and asked again: "Who is the chief general of the Jiangdong Army?"

"Report to General Zhennan, he is his father!"

Cheng Yi took out a letter and presented it to Cao Ren with both hands, "This is my father's handwritten letter, please check it out."

Cao Ren took the letter and looked at it. The signature was indeed Cheng Demou of Jiangdong, but no one saw Cheng Pu's letter. It was impossible to judge whether it was true or false. Cao Ren handed the letter to Chen Jiao again. Chen Jiao read it again. The letter was consistent with the Prime Minister's letter. Cheng Pu was the prefect of Nanjun, so he led his army to accept it. Judging from the letter itself, there was no falsehood, so just consider it true. Chen Jiao smiled and asked, "How did you explain to Liu Jing? The army actually passed through Jiangxia."

Cheng Yi said calmly: "Last year in Qichun County, Wu Hou and Liu Jing reached an alliance agreement. The most important one is that the Jiangxia army acquiesced us to take the four counties in Jingnan. This time, we successfully passed Jiangxia by sending troops to attack Wuling. Moreover, in this battle of Red Cliff, Liu Jing took over the spoils, which made Jiangdong generally dissatisfied. Liu Jing was also ashamed of Wu Hou for this, so Liu Jing gave in to the matter of Jingnan."

Cheng Yi's statement was reasonable and convincing. Cao Ren and Chen Jiao looked at each other, and Cao Ren asked again: "I wonder how many troops Lingzun brought, how to accept Jiangling City?"

"We brought 12,000 troops to defend Jiangling. In addition, the governor of Zhou is preparing to attack Lingling first from land, and then attack Wuling north, and will meet on the south bank of the Yangtze River. Even if the Jiangxia army sends a large army, we are not afraid. As for how to accept Jiangling City, we hope that according to Prime Minister Cao's promise, your army will withdraw from Jiangling City as soon as possible, and we will naturally accept it."

Cao Ren pondered for a moment and said, "Of course we will keep our promises. Please tell General Cheng that we will definitely give a clear reply tomorrow at the latest!"

Cheng Yi left and said goodbye. Cao Ren pondered for a moment, then asked Chen Jiao: "Does the chief secretary think we should really give up Jiangling City?"

Chen Jiao smiled slightly, "The general thinks why should the Prime Minister give Jiangling to Jiangdong?"

"I naturally understand this. I provoke internal strife in the south, causing the Jiangxia army and the Jiangdong army to fight each other, and both sides suffer losses. I heard that there are also anti-Jiangxia forces within Jiangdong. If Jiangling is used as bait, Jiangdong will inevitably take the bait, and Jiangxia will never tolerate it. In this way, the conflict between the two families will intensify. This is actually a battle between them in which the uneven distribution of spoils."

Chen Jiao nodded, "The general is right, but this is just one of them. The more important reason is that the Prime Minister knows that we cannot defend Jiangling."

"Wait!" Cao Ren interrupted Chen Jiao's words, "I don't agree with this. If the Prime Minister thinks that we can't defend Jiangling, why do you still want me to wipe out Liu Bei?"

Chen Jiao couldn't help but smile bitterly. Cao Ren had a view of the overall situation, had a strong commanding ability, and could lead troops to fight, but he still had a slight lack of power and strategy, especially in some subtle details, which he still could not understand.

The Prime Minister asked him to wipe out Liu Bei, which was just a kind of morale encouragement. In fact, with the 10,000 garrisons in Jiangling, they had to guard the city and defend the Jiangxia army, and cross the river to attack Liu Bei's nearly 30,000 troops. How could it be done? Will the Prime Minister not know?

But Cao Ren did not react, and Chen Jiao had to explain: "At the beginning, the Prime Minister wanted to give up Jiangling and give it to Liu Bei. Do the general remember it?"

Cao Ren nodded, "I remember!"

"It was because the Prime Minister knew that it was difficult for us to defend Jiangling that he planned to give up. It was just that using Liu Bei was too weak and using him to suppress Jiangxia's army was not the best choice. So the Prime Minister finally decided to support Jiangdong to deal with Jiangxia and give Jiangling to Jiangdong's army. This was undoubtedly a violation of Liu Jing's vital interests. Unless the Jiangdong army honestly gave up Jiangling, a war would inevitably break out between them."

Speaking of this, Chen Jiao had a hint of worry in his eyes, and he continued: "Actually, what I am most worried about is Xiangyang. If General Xu Huang cannot defend Xiangyang and is occupied by Jiangxia's army, then we will have no way out. Even if the Jiangxia naval army blocked the Han River, we will have to retreat in the end. General, what we have learned from before!"

Chen Jiao's words "learning from the past" hit Cao Ren's heart. It was his most embarrassing retreat, crossing mountains and ridges, and fleeing to Shangyong. He vowed not to experience it again in his life, but now, if he does not retreat in time, even losing to Shangyong is a luxury.

Cao Ren was finally told, "Since it was the Prime Minister's arrangement, I will naturally obey the order and give Jiangling City to Jiangdong."

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That night, ten thousand Cao troops evacuated Jiangling City and headed north to Xiangyang. Just as Cao's army withdrew, a small boat carried a Cao Ren's envoy to the main ship of the Jiangdong Army moored in the middle of the river. Before we could approach, we patrol the small boat intercepted. The envoy hurriedly said, "I am here to see Gong Cheng at the order of General Cao!"

The patrol took the envoy onto a large ship and walked into a cabin. The cabin was brightly lit. Just an hour ago, Cheng Yi, who had just returned from Jiangling City, sat behind the small table. He said coldly: "If you have anything, please tell me directly!"

The envoy quickly bowed, "Report to General Cheng that General Cao has withdrawn his troops, and now the city is empty, and the Jiangdong Army can enter the city at any time."

At this time, a hearty laugh suddenly came from the cabin, "Is Cao Cao so willing to give Jiangling to Jiangdong?"

I saw a man walking out of the inner cabin, wearing a golden helmet, iron armor, and a blue light sword. This person was no one else, but Liu Jing, the governor of Jingzhou.

The envoy knew Liu Jing and was shocked and fell on the deck all at once. The young general "Cheng Yi" also stood up and saluted: "See the governor of the state!"

Of course, this young young player is not Cheng Yi. Deng Ai, who is only sixteen years old this year, is still studying in Jiangxia Academy, but Liu Jing hopes that he can be a general who is both civil and military, so he brought him out of the academy at the end of last year, followed him for a year, and served as the head of the treasury.

Deng Ai was a mature young man, smart and capable, pretending to be a mission to Jiangling, and successfully deceived Cao Ren, which made Liu Jing very satisfied. He patted Deng Ai on the shoulder and praised: "Good job!"

Deng Ai bowed his fists and slowly retreated. Liu Jing said to the messenger who was so scared that he was trembling: "Don't worry, I won't kill you. Please give me a word to Cao Ren. If he knows the truth, he will immediately evacuate Xiangyang, otherwise his 20,000 troops will become slaves to Jingzhou!"

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In the night, the gate of Jiangling City was wide open, and teams of Jiangxia troops walked into Jiangling City. Liu Jing rode on a war horse and slowly entered the city, but looked up at the second largest city in Jingzhou. This was his first time to come to Jiangling City.

Unfortunately, although the city is large, most of the population follows Liu Bei across the river and heads south.
Chapter completed!