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Longzhong is located in the branch of Jingshan. There are undulating mountains and many hills, and the transportation is inconvenient. However, it is also a must-pass for Xiangyang to lead to Fangling County. A winding official road passes through many mountain hills in Longzhong, along the faulty valley between the two mountain ranges, leading to Fangling County to the west.

Longzhong was on this important transportation route, giving it a prominent strategic position. However, before Cao's army headed south, Longzhong did not have garrisons, but was a gathering place for the northern aristocrats.

But at this time, almost all the northern gentry fled to Jiangxia and Nanjun, and Longzhong became very deserted. A month ago, a thousand-strong Cao army stationed in Longzhong under the leadership of General Zhu Ling, and guarded the westward journey.

Zhu Ling was originally a general under Yuan Shao. He surrendered to Cao Cao when attacking Tao Qian in Xuzhou and has always been highly valued. This time, Cao Ren guarded Xiangyang, and he and Xu Huang were appointed as Cao Ren's left-right deputy general.

The Cao army camp was stationed on an open space west of Longzhong Town, close to the official road to Fangling. A few steps westward were dense forests, and to the west were two mountains. The dense forest was like a green robe covered in the mountains, covering the ground from the mountain to the ground, and the official road passed through the valley between the two mountains.

The military camp covers an area of ​​about a mu. Cao's army demolished a large number of houses in Longzhong Town and built the walls of the camp with the demolished materials. It was very strong. A sentry tower was built in each corner of the military camp. The sentry could discover situations several miles away at any time.

In the camp, Zhu Ling was listening to the inquisition's report. He had already received the news that Jiangxia warships had been killed in Xiangyang, which made him very worried because Longzhong was once the garrison of the Jiangxia army.

It was dusk, and Zhu Ling became more and more anxious. He received the latest news that Jiangxia warships had been moored on Longzhong Wharf, and all the soldiers Yu stationed on the Wharf fled back. They brought more accurate news that a total of nearly warships were moored near Longzhong Wharf.

This place is only twenty miles away from Longzhong Wharf, and Jiangxia's army will be able to come soon. Just when Zhu Ling was restless in the tent, a soldier rushed to report, "General Xu Huang is here."

Zhu Ling was overjoyed and hurriedly came out of the tent. Xu Huang and an army rushed towards the camp quickly. There were about two thousand people. He hurriedly greeted him and saluted, "Why is General Xu so anxious?"

Xu Huang turned over and dismounted and handed him an arrow, "According to General Cao's order, I will take over Longzhong defense, General Zhu will be the deputy."

Zhu Ling was stunned. Xu Huang was the deputy general and he was also the deputy general. Why did he let him obey Xu Huang's orders

But the military orders were like mountains, and he didn't dare to refuse to obey, so he had to hesitate and asked: "What happened?"

"Tell me when you enter the camp"

Seeing Xu Huang's face serious, Zhu Ling couldn't help but feel a little worried. He took Xu Huang into the tent. Before he could ask, Xu Huang sighed and said, "General Cao received the Prime Minister's pigeon letter handwritten orders and ordered the Cao army in Xiangyang to immediately withdraw Fangling."

Zhu Ling was shocked, "What should we do if the army is gone?"

"The Xiangyang defense was handed over to Cai Mao, and he led 20,000 Jingzhou troops to garrison. If he didn't want to become a prisoner of Liu Jing, he would naturally defend the city to the death."

Zhu Ling was still a little confused, "I don't understand why the Prime Minister gave up Xiangyang."

"The Jiangxia army blocked the Han River and made us retreat and cut off. Once the Jiangxia army launched a large-scale attack on Xiangyang, our situation would be in danger."

Zhu Ling was even more confused, "But we have tens of thousands of troops in Xiangyang, can't we still defend one Xiangyang?"

"But the Prime Minister believes that Xiangyang City cannot be defended."

Xu Huang sat down with some fatigue, and he couldn't accept Cao Cao's decision. For this reason, he and Cao Ren had a dispute with him for a long time, hoping that Cao Ren could convince the Prime Minister, but Cao Ren insisted on implementing the Prime Minister's order, which left him helpless.

Xu Huang is also a veteran, nearly forty years old. He was just a minor official when he was young. Fifteen years ago, he followed Yang Feng to participate in the fight against Li Kui and Guo Si Rebellion to protect the emperor and made achievements. Later, he surrendered to Cao Cao and has followed him to this day and made numerous military achievements.

Xu Huang has a strong personality and is unwilling to give up Xiangyang, but he is the deputy general after all, and he still has to accept the decision of the main general in the end. However, under his struggle, Cao Ren also made a little concession.

"General Cao and I discussed for a long time, and finally decided to take a compromise strategy, first withdraw our troops to Longzhong, and use Longzhong to support Xiangyang. If the Jiangxia army's offensive is unfavorable, then we will attack from Longzhong. If the Jiangxia army is sharp and Xiangyang is really difficult to defend, then we will retreat directly to Fangling."

When Xu Huang said this, he saw that Zhu Ling was a little absent-minded and seemed to have not listened to his strategy. He felt a little unhappy and asked, "What are General Zhu thinking?"

Zhu Ling was indeed thinking about an important thing. He walked a few steps behind his back, then suddenly slapped his forehead and suddenly realized: "I understand."

"General Zhu knows what he wants to say," Xu Huang asked in confusion.

"I have understood Liu Jing's strategic intention. The Jiangxia navy has already docked in Longzhong. It is obvious that their intention is to attack Longzhong first and cut off our retreat."

Xu Huang was surprised that the Jiangxia naval army was docking in Longzhong. If so, the problem would be serious. Cao Ren must be asked to reinforce Longzhong immediately. He immediately asked: "There are carrier pigeons in the military camp."

Zhu Ling shook her head, "Not yet"

Xu Huang immediately called a personal soldier and told him a few words. The personal soldier immediately ran out of the camp and rode his horse towards Xiangyang.

When the personal soldiers walked away, Xu Huang stood up and said to Zhu Ling: "Let's hurry up and deploy and prepare to fight against the Jiangxia army."

.........

Starting from the evening, the Jiangxia army landed in Longzhong one after another, landing in 10,000 troops, and was commanded by Liu Jing himself.

As night fell, Liu Jing immediately stood on a hill, looking at Longzhong shrouded in the night, but his thoughts flew to Xiangyang. There is no doubt that the purpose of attacking Longzhong was to shut down Cao's army and flee westward, and wiped out 10,000 Cao's army and 20,000 surrendered Jingzhou army under Xiangyang city.

This was actually a strategic mistake by Cao Cao. He led thousands of troops south, which should only be inspecting the battle situation and appeaseing the Nanyang army. However, Cao Cao couldn't help but lead the army south and forced his way to surrender to Xiangyang.

However, Cao's army was not prepared for war, the army was not transferred, the warships were not caused, the food was not transported, and the people's hearts were not fought. It can be said that they went on a hasty battle. Although they forced a substitute to Xiangyang, they formed a situation where they could not lose their tails.

His navy can divide Fancheng and Xiangyang with the smallest force, making Cao's army unable to support Xiangyang and Xiangyang fell into an isolated situation. If Liu Jing did not capture this once-in-a-lifetime fighter, he would definitely regret it.

"Prince's Governor"

Someone called him behind him, interrupting Liu Jing's thoughts. Liu Jing turned around and saw Deputy General Li Jun galloping on a horse, "What's the matter?" Liu Jing asked.

Deputy General Li Jun stepped forward and bowed and said, "You are the governor of the state, the army has been reorganized and you can set off."

"Wait a minute" Liu Jing stared at the dark night in the south.

"The governor of the state is very fast, and you can attack Cao's army while it is unprepared."

Liu Jing shook his head, "Our military ship docked, and Cao's army guarding the wharf retreated. How could Zhu Ling not know? We need to be more cautious."

As soon as he finished speaking, a scout cavalry rushed from the south. Liu Jing was waiting for his news. He immediately urged the horse to meet him. The scout cavalry rushed to the front and saluted on the horse and said, "I found a Cao army entering the Longzhong Army Camp, with about two thousand people."

Liu Jing frowned, who could this be? Is Cao Ren who has seen through his strategy and is going to withdraw his troops to Fangling?

Sima Zhou, a member of the army next to him, said without a doubt, "If Cao Ren retreated west, there would definitely be no only two thousand people. This should be the strength to strengthen the defense of Longzhong Town. Individually, it may be the deputy general Xu Huang."

Liu Jing nodded, Zhou Buyi made sense. There were 10,000 Cao troops in Xiangyang City, of which Zhu Ling led a thousand troops to guard Longzhong, and there were 7,000 Cao troops in Xiangyang City. If Cao Ren retreated, there would not be only 2,000 people.

He asked the scout again, "Did these two thousand people continue to travel west after they arrived in Longzhong?"

"Reported to the provincial governor, he did not go west and entered the military camp directly."

Liu Jing pondered for a moment, then turned to Li Jun and said, "If you send more scouts to explore along the way, the army can go south and keep a medium-speed march."

"Abide by the order"

Li Jun turned his horse and ran towards the army. In the dark night, a group of soldiers set out. Ten thousand troops marched along the valley in the north of Longzhong and marched towards Longzhong twenty miles away.

Longzhong Town is located in a narrow basin, surrounded by mountains and has a complex terrain. There is a rare open area in the north of the basin, covering an area of ​​thousands of acres. It is called Longbeiyuan, and it is a place where grain fields are concentrated in Longzhong.

Due to the influence of the war, more than half of the rice fields were deserted. After the summer harvest, no wheat was planted. Only a few acres of rice fields in the northwest corner were planted with rice. The rice had ears and the wind blew the rice waves. In another ten days, it could be harvested.

But at this time the fields were filled with murderous aura. Xu Huang led a thousand troops to temporarily station in the southern part of Longbeiyuan, close to a small river about a meter wide. Xu Huang originally planned to ambush the Jiangxia army, but because he was discovered by the enemy scouts, he was forced to change his strategy and wait for the arrival of the Jiangxia army.

Xu Huang sat on a big rock, chewing a grass root in his mouth, and next to him was his mountain-piercing axe weighing about 80 kilograms. His BMW was snow-strawn and a snow-white war horse. This was one of Yuan Shao's five BMWs. Cao Cao rewarded Xu Huang with military merits.

Xu Huang has experienced warfare and has a lot of combat experience. He knew that night battles are beneficial to those with few soldiers. Although the other party has ten thousand troops, it is more than his own, at night, as long as the army's morale, morale, terrain and other factors are fully utilized, it is still unknown who will win.

But Xu Huang also knew that he was taking risks because he didn't know who the Jiangxia army was. He didn't know who the chief general of the Jiangxia army was. He didn't know whether the army was strong in combat power or whether he had experienced night combat training.

So Xu Huang felt very confused. Is he really going to take this risk, but Xu Huang also hopes that there will be no night battle, which will buy time for the arrival of Cao Ren's army.

"General Xu"

An Investigator rushed over, Xu Huang stood up and asked nervously: "What's going on?"

"General Qi reported to him that he discovered the Jiangxia army seven or eight miles away, with about 10,000 people. He did not continue to go south, but rested on the spot."

Xu Huang frowned. It seemed that the enemy was also cautious and refused to fight at night easily. This was beyond his expectations. He asked again: "Who is the chief general of the enemy?"

The Investigation hesitated and said, "It seems that it is Liu Jing."

"ah"
Chapter completed!