Lan Tian and Zhuge Liang returned to Jiangxia and told Liu Bei and Xu Shu about Chai Sang and his party.

After hearing this, Liu Bei laughed and said: "You two are planning to hide the truth from the sky. If Zhou Lang finds out one day, you will be angry to death."

Xu Shu worriedly said: "The plan for now is to attack Jiangling after the war. Cao Cao has too many troops and horses in Jiangbei. Even if the water battle can be won, there will be no shortage of troops in such a big city. In addition, Jiangling city is strong and has sufficient food and grass."

, it’s really not easy to take it down by force.”

Zhuge Liang walked to the sand table, pointed to a place and said: "This is the key road to Shu. If you want to take Xichuan in the future, you must take it first."

Liu Bei stood up and took a look. The place Zhuge Liang was pointing to was Yiling.

"Lu Zijing is cautious and prudent, and Zhou Yu is very wise and resourceful. Before the war begins, he is looking for Kong Ming to borrow generals. There are not many people who can be transferred to Ziyu to capture Jiangling in the future..." Liu Bei sighed.

"There are Gao Boping and Gan Xingba over there at Ziyu. Do we need to send Yuan Zhi there? To defeat Jiangling, we need to use strategy..." Guan Yu suggested.

"Zijing met Yuan Zhi in Jiangxia before. It would be bad if Jiangdong's spies find out." Liu Bei shook his head.

"You guys don't understand Ziyu very well. He took Wuling and Changsha just talking and laughing. I think taking Jiangling is not a problem either." Zhuge Liang boasted.

After hearing this, Liu Bei looked at Lantian with joy, "Ziyu really has a plan to take Jiangling?"

Lan Tianxin said that we should not trade business with each other. Zhou Yu surrounded Cao Ren for a year and failed to capture Jiangling. How can I be stronger than Zhou Yu?

He shook his head and said: "I haven't thought about it yet. I can only make calculations based on the development of the war situation. If we really can't win Jiangling, we can capture Yiling before Jiangdong."

"This..." Liu Bei's heart was in doubt again.

"My lord, it's useless to talk more. It's better to let Ziyu go back and prepare as soon as possible. Everything will be discussed after defeating Cao Cao." Zhuge Liang reminded.

"The military advisor is right, Ziyu, please return to Lingling as soon as possible, and I'll leave it to you to plan for Jiangling," Liu Bei said, handing over his hand.

"Don't worry, brother-in-law, I will do my best." Lan Tian responded with clasped fists.

Liu Bei communicated frequently with Jiangdong, and Cao Cao, who was stationed in Jiangling, also received the news. He immediately summoned civil servants and generals to discuss countermeasures.

During the period of conquering the Yuan clan in Hebei, Xun You made the most achievements but was physically tired. Cao Cao was afraid that he would follow in the footsteps of Guo Jia, so he only took Cheng Yu, Jia Xu, Liu Ye, and Dong Zhao with him during the southern expedition.

Cao Cao easily captured Jingzhou, and when he was very satisfied, he looked at the civil and military officials and said with a smile: "Everyone said that Sun Zhongmou would kill Liu Bei, but they didn't expect that the two families were secretly working together. I recently heard that Zhou Yu was gathering in Chaisang.

The warship will soon go upstream to fight me, and Zhongde is still more skilled."

Cheng Yu was not complacent after being praised, but instead advised him: "Although Sun Quan is not as brave as his father and brother, he has his own understanding of the situation when employing people. My lord should make plans early."

Cao Cao nodded and said: "The so-called strike first and strike later are controlled by others. Now that there are hundreds of thousands of troops, I decided to take the initiative."

The counselor Jia Xu gave an advice: "My lord just defeated the Yuan family, and now he has conquered Jingxiang. Now the army is huge and famous. If we use this rich land to appease the gentry and appease the people, and make them live and work in peace and contentment, the people of Jiangdong will

It will surely fall by the wind.

Cai Mao's naval force was only 20,000, and his warships were only 2,000. In addition, the soldiers were exhausted after years of conquests, and many of his troops died due to acclimatization. At this time, fighting Sun and Liu may not be able to defeat him, so it is better to rest and recover for the time being to avoid his sharp edge.

.”

"Wen He asked me to send hundreds of thousands of tigers and wolves to evade Sun Quan and Liu Bei's tens of thousands of troops. We originally planned to send out troops after all the warships were ready, but since the other side was provoking, why should I be afraid? Besides, Liu Bei was falsifying his edict and slandering me.

"Xiang, if you don't bind him and kill him, it will be difficult to relieve the hatred in your heart." Cao Cao said coldly.

Seeing Cao Cao's displeasure, Jia Xu quickly said: "It is a fact that there are many diseases in the camp..."

"Degui, I heard that there is a famous doctor Zhang Zhongjing in Nanyang. Can you bring him to share my worries?" Cao Cao asked Cai Mao.

Cai Mao cupped his fists and replied: "Prime Minister, Liu Bei's wife was ill a few years ago. Zhang Zhongjing was invited to Jingnan for treatment. He has never returned to Jiangbei..."

"Hmph, there is another reason to kill Liu Bei. Since there are many diseases in the camp now, we should defeat Sun Quan and Liu Bei in one go, and then rest and recuperate to our heart's content." Cao Cao said.

Seeing Cao Cao's determination, everyone knew that this battle must be fought.

Cheng Yu followed up and said: "There are 30,000 naval forces in Jiangdong, and Liu Bei has 10,000 naval forces, which is twice our navy. Why not, like Guandu, do you want to occupy a favorable terrain first?"

Cao Cao nodded and sighed: "It's a pity that Gongda is not here..."

Cheng Yu sat down immediately after hearing this. Jia Xu looked at him with a playful expression, "You are still much worse than Xun You and Guo Jia in my lord's heart."

Cheng Yu gathered his mood and continued: "I looked carefully at the map of Jingxiang just now. The terrain in the Wulin area is dangerous, and it is the pass that goes against the Yangtze River into Yunmeng. It is connected to the Huarong Road in the north and the Yangtze River Waterway in the south. The Prime Minister can lead troops to build water channels here.

The stronghold can be attacked, retreated or defended."

"Get the Jingxiang map quickly." Cao Cao was overjoyed when he heard this.

Cai Mao quickly asked someone to get a map. Cao Cao quickly found Wulin on the map. He pointed at the map and said: "Zhongde's plan is very clever. Zixiao, you will lead your troops to stay in Jiangling, and the other troops will go to Wulin by land and water."

Let's go."

"Only." All the generals responded in unison.

It was already late autumn in October, and the weather was getting cooler.

Cao Cao took a boat and walked on the waterway with Cai Mao. He had never experienced such a water battle. At this time, he saw the sparkling waves and the surging waves on the Yangtze River, and he was suddenly excited and worried.

"Degui, you have been in charge of the Xiangyang navy for many years. How much do you know about Sun Quan and Liu Bei's navy?" Cao Cao asked.

Cai Hao thought for a while and replied: "How can they compare with the Prime Minister's Heavenly Army? In the past, Huang Zu and Jiangdong fought with each other winning and losing. Now that Huang Zu is dead, the strength of Jiangdong's navy is unknown, but I know the Jiangxia navy very well.

"

"Huh? Let's talk about it."

"The 10,000 naval troops in Liu Bei's hands were originally the Xiangyang navy that I was in charge of. They were brought to Jingnan by Liu Qi. Later, Sun Quan and Huang Zu fought a decisive battle, and were taken to Jiangxia by Guan Yu. Its strength is hard to describe..."

Cao Cao looked puzzled when he heard this, "Degui has something to say clearly."

"Those are the old, weak, sick and disabled that I carefully selected. Their strength is only half that of the current navy..." Cai Mao said awkwardly.

"Hahaha, Degui's choice was brilliant. So Liu Bei only has 10,000 people? I have nothing to worry about..." Cao Cao laughed.

Cao Cao's army of 300,000 people on land and water was stationed in Wulin and built a water fortress to wait for work.

After Sun Quan had prepared money and food in the rear, he asked Zhou Yu to command the land and water army to march westward, and finally set up camp at Chibi on the other side of Wulin.

When the two armies fought for the first time, they both conducted exploratory attacks on the river. As a result, Cao's army was defeated and returned to the water village.

Zhou Yu saw on the warship that Cao Jun's water camp was well laid out, and that Wulin was a position that could be advanced, retreated and defended, so he knew that there must be an expert in Cao's camp to give guidance.

During the confrontation, Zhou Yu sent men out to fight several times, but unfortunately the Northern Army did not respond. There was an arrow tower built on the water stronghold, which was extremely difficult to break into.

When Zhou Yu was at a loss what to do, Huang Gai from Lingling walked into the commander's tent.
Chapter completed!