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In this battle against Cao's invasion, the forces of Jingzhou will inevitably move towards union. Pang Tong proposed two plans for this. The first plan is that Liu Bei should try his best to use his uncle's identity and world reputation to become the leader of this anti-Cao alliance, thereby laying the foundation for the final annexation of Jingzhou.

If the first plan cannot be successful due to boycott, then the second plan can be implemented, that is, to introduce Liu Qi, and call on all factions in Jingzhou to unite and resist Cao, and use Liu Qi's identity and influence to seek the greatest benefit.

Pang Tong's two plans were deeply agreed by Liu Bei. Today, Liu Bei came to Liu Jing to discuss the first plan.

Liu Bei pondered for a moment and said, "This time Cao's army had two obvious intentions to go south. One was to take the attack as a defense to prevent us from taking advantage of the opportunity of Cao's army's eastern expedition to the Central Plains. Therefore, Cao's army directly occupied Fancheng, threatened Xiangyang, and shocked Jingzhou. If we cannot organize effective defense, then Cao's army may cross the Han River and attack Xiangyang again. Once Xiangyang is occupied, Jingzhou will be in danger."

Liu Jing nodded, "We also think so. Cao's ambitions will not stop at Fancheng. We must counterattack Cao's army as soon as possible."

At this time, Pang Tong smiled and said, "Speaking of the power of Jingzhou is not weak. Nanjun has tens of elite troops, plus 7,000 Xinye Army, so there are nearly 40,000 people, and Jiangxia has nearly 10,000 people, and the troops are not weak. The key is Xiangyang. Xiangyang has nearly 60,000 troops in his hands, but they belong to a faction. In this way, Jingzhou's forces are complicated and each has their own interests, just like a piece of scattered sand. In such a posture, they will inevitably be defeated by Cao's army. Therefore, the key to fighting Cao's army is to work together and fight against Cao."

As soon as Pang Tong finished speaking, Xu Shu took over his words and continued: "Brother Shi Yuan said it well. Although the Cao army has not many troops, they are all veterans who have been through the battlefield for a long time. They are strong. In addition, the famous general Cao Ren is led by the army, and the counselor Jia Xu is resourceful. It is difficult for any side in Jingzhou to defeat Cao's army alone. It is inevitable to unite against Cao."

Xu Shu changed his tone and said, "In fact, it is not difficult to unite. The provincial governor is still alive. Although he is seriously ill, he will designate one person to lead the Jingzhou army to resist Cao's army. I don't know who the provincial governor will designate."

Xu Shu was reminding Liu Bei that it was not your turn to Liu Bei. If the governor of the state is alive, he would naturally designate the leader of the army.

And without saying this leader Xu Shu, everyone present understood that this leader was Cai Mao, he was a military advisor in Jingzhou, and Liu Biao was seriously ill, so he was in charge of military affairs.

Liu Bei's face changed and he sneered at Liu Jing and said, "Is it a virtuous nephew ready to accept the command of Military Advisor Cai?"

Liu Jing shook his head, "I have an agreement with Xiangyang. The command of the Jiangxia army will not be handed over to the prefecture. Cai Mao cannot command the Jiangxia army, and of course he cannot command the Xinye army. On the contrary, if the enemy is on the side of Qi Gong, if he does not accept the command of the military advisor Cai, it will not make sense or reason. I am afraid there will be criticism and will have a great impact on Qi Gong. I advise the emperor to solve this problem first."

Liu Jing's meaning is already very clear. Liu Bei's own internal crisis has not been resolved yet, so don't mention any alliance matters, let alone dream of being the leader of the alliance.

Speaking of this, there was no need to continue to discuss the Double Convenience. Liu Bei also realized that his top priority was not to strive for the dominance of the alliance, but to seize the Nanjun army as soon as possible. He was anxious and said goodbye first.

Liu Jing kept sending Liu Bei to the riverside, looking at Liu Bei and his party boarding the boat, Liu Jing then asked Xu Shu: "Yuan Zhi was still unsatisfied just now, do you have anything else to say?"

Xu Shu smiled slightly, "Jiangxia has the most powerful naval army in Jingzhou, but Cao's army does not have naval army. Don't you want to go to Fancheng to show off your power in person?"

Liu Jing narrowed his eyes when he smiled, "Yuan Zhi knew my heart."

............

On the big ship, Liu Bei seemed worried. Liu Jing's words made him realize the crisis brought to Nanjun by this Cao army's invasion.

In the past year, no war occurred, and Jingzhou had no reason to mobilize the troops of Nanjun. This time, Cao's army went south, which gave Xiangyang an excellent excuse to mobilize the troops of Nanjun.

Whether it is a person, a minister, or a righteous person, Liu Qi could not refuse Xiangyang's order. However, what should I do for a while? Liu Bei was anxious.

At this time, Pang Tong smiled and said, "Don't worry, uncle, although Jiangxia does not have the intention of alliance, Liu Jing still wants to cooperate with uncle to fight Cao. From his willingness to accept the people of Xinye, he still has the sincerity to cooperate. In fact, this is not bad. The final result is that both parties can gain reputation, and the impact on our original plan is actually not great."

Liu Bei nodded silently. After a while, he sighed again: "I don't care about resisting Cao now. It is the most urgent thing to take over the military power of Nanjun first."

"You can make Qi Gong claim to be sick and entrust military power to the emperor's uncle. If Jingzhou dispatches troops and the emperor's uncle leads troops north, this will not only block everyone's mouth, but also get the military power of Nanjun. Wouldn't it be a killing two birds with one stone, and it is not difficult to do it."

Liu Bei nodded. He was really fascinated by the authorities. He could not even think of such a simple method, but he frowned again, "I'm afraid there is too much time to go up."

Pang Tong pondered for a while and said, "This is actually easy to deal with. Didn't the emperor have a red-blooded BMW? Can you entrust this horse to a confidant and run to Jiangling to deliver a letter. You can arrive at Jiangling in a day and a night, and ask Qi Gong to delay his illness for a few days. Then the emperor can take a boat to Jiangling directly, and the army can be handed over to General Zhang temporarily. Come to Jiangling later, so it should be too late."

Liu Bei agreed deeply and immediately said, "Sir, right, that's it."

.........

That night, Liu Jing issued an edict to fight against the Cao bandits in Jiangxia, angrily accusing Cao Cao of his name as a Han minister, but actually as a Han thief. The governor of Jingzhou was a direct royal family and an important minister of the court. He received the power of the heavenly rituals and pastors in Jingzhou.

In order to destroy the Han family, the Cao bandits brazenly invaded Jingzhou, and for their own selfishness, they dragged Jingzhou into the war, causing trouble to the people of Jingzhou. The people of Jingzhou were tragically ravaged by the cavalry of Cao's army. The tragedy in Hekou Town is the tomorrow of the people of Jingzhou.

Liu Jing called on the people of the world to condemn the Cao thief, and called on the people of Jingzhou to never surrender and resist Cao. He wrote at the end of the edict: "Liu Jing is not talented, and since he is a relative of the Han family, he should take it as his responsibility to support the Han family and the country. He is willing to conquer the troops of Jiangxia and lead the people of Jingzhou to fight against Cao's army. He is willing to hold the ruler Longquan, kill Cao's thieves on the neck of the neck, and return the bright blue sky of the Han family."

Liu Jing immediately sent several cavalry to various counties in Jingzhou, and the orders to fight against Cao's bandits spread throughout Jingzhou.

That night, Liu Jing personally led 20,000 elite troops of Jiangxia and five warships to the north against the Han River and rushed towards Fancheng.

.........

Caili, Xiangyang, Cai Mao and Cai He, under the escort of dozens of soldiers, ran toward the Cai family's old house with a dozen horses.

Cai Mao just got the news that his uncle Cai Xun was critically ill. Although the situation was turbulent, Cai Xun was the former head of the family and the only remaining elder of the Cai family. He had a great impact on the Cai family, forcing Cai Mao to put down the complicated chores and rushed back to Caili.

When they rushed to the front of the mansion, Cai Mao and Cai He turned over and got off the horse, rushed into the inner house, and met their clan brother Cai Yan at the entrance of the courtyard. Cai Yan was Cai Xunzhi and Cai Jin's father, who was the magistrate of Ba County at that time.

Cai Yan is steady and pragmatic and does not like to talk much. He was appointed as the governor of Ba County eight years ago. He was transferred from Ba County, but was resolutely retained by the elders of Ba County. The last time he was carried back to the county town by the elders of Ba County.

Even Liu Biao praised him for his official position several times and benefiting the people. This time he came to Xiangyang to visit Liu Biao, the governor of the state, but unexpectedly he happened to encounter the invasion of Cao's army.

Cai Mao didn't care about saying hello to Cai Yan and asked anxiously: "How is the second uncle now?"

Cai Yan glanced at Cai He behind him, nodded and said, "He brother waited for a while, my father asked the eldest brother to enter alone."

Cai Mao quickly walked into the yard and walked directly into the quiet room where Cai Xun was recuperating. As soon as he entered the room, he was stunned. There was a large table in the room, with a few spirit signs on the table, and there were incense tables and cigarettes were curling.

On the cushion next to the table, the second uncle Cai Xun was sitting in meditation with a rosy complexion and a good spirit, so he was not as critically ill as if he was a little bit sick.

Cai Xun half opened his eyes and pointed to the spiritual card on the table, "This is the spiritual position of my father, grandfather and great-grandfather, you kneel down."

Cai Mao was shocked and knelt down slowly and kowtowed to the spirit card. Cai Xun then asked coldly: "In front of your father's spiritual plane, tell me whether you have surrendered to Cao Cao?"

Cai Mao had already understood that his second uncle was pretending to be sick and tricked him back. He was silent for a while and had to nod and admit Cai Xun's questioning.

"Surrendering Cao Cao is not a shameful thing. It is difficult to distinguish Cao and Han now. From the long-term perspective of the family, you are not wrong. I can understand this matter, but I want to ask you, now that Cao's army has gone south and captured Fancheng, how are you going to deal with it?"

Seeing that his uncle had no intention of blaming him, Cai Mao suddenly felt relieved, but when he remembered the Cao army's capture of Fancheng, his brows frowned again.

"Reporting to my uncle, Cao Ren ordered someone to send me a secret letter yesterday, asking me to raise five ferries to send them to the north shore. I was very distressed about this and I don't know what to do."

"This is the problem of your surrender to Cao Cao too early. If you wait for Cao Cao to lead the army south and then you surrender again, you can protect the country and the people, and you will not lose your glory and wealth. If you surrender too early, you will become a chess for Cao Cao. If you do it, you will betray Jingzhou. If you don't, you will betray Cao Cao, your virtuous nephew, you are in a dilemma."

Cai Mao lowered his head in shame, "My nephew knew he was wrong. I had known to discuss it with my second uncle, but it was too late for me to regret it. Now I am in a dilemma. My nephew really doesn't know what to do. I beg my second uncle to point out a clarity to my nephew."

“It’s really hard to deal with”

Cai Xun pondered for a moment and asked again: "How many ferries are there in Xiangyang now?"

"There are more than eight ships in total, including Fancheng ferry in the hands of my nephew Cai Jin. He refused to hand over the ferry to Xiangyang. There are more than five Xiangyang ferries under my control. Now Cao Ren wants these five ferries. For some reason, he is very clear about the situation in Xiangyang."

"This is not surprising. How could Cao's army not have any probes in Xiangyang?"

After a pause, Cai Xun asked again: "What's the movement of the Jiangxia navy?"

"My nephew has received emergency information. The Jiangxia navy has set off last night and arrives in Xiangyang as early as tomorrow morning."

Cai Xun nodded and said slowly: "You should know your identity. You are a military advisor in Jingzhou, not a low-level officer who wants to spend a few taels of gold. You surrendered is Cao Cao, not Cao Ren, so you don't have to pay attention to Cao Ren's request. If you agree to his request, you are belittling yourself. Remember my words. You surrender to Jingzhou, not as an internal supporter of Cao's army. What you want is to succeed as the governor of Jingzhou, rather than being a bullshit captain like Huang Shoo."

Cai Xun's words were like a wake-up call, which immediately woke Cai Mao up. He was sweating profusely, feeling grateful and ashamed in his heart, and kowtowed repeatedly, "My nephew understands, thank you for the warning."

"Do you know what to do?" Cai Xun asked with a squinted smile.

"My nephew understands that my nephew will ask Liu Biao to appoint me as the governor of Bu, Ma, naval army, and governor of Jingzhou to fight against Cao, laying the foundation for his future succession as the governor of Jingzhou."

"It's not so confused, go ahead."

Cai Mao kowtowed, got up and left. After a moment, Cai Yan walked in and asked, "Does my father have anything else to tell the child?"
Chapter completed!