,,,,,,,,,,,,

After the New Year, Liu Jing also made a series of appointments, appointing Huang Zhonghe as the generals, Gan Ning, Wei Yan and Liu Hu as the generals of the Central Army.

The eight others including Liao Hua, Huo Jun, Wang Jun, Chen Shuo were promoted to serve as lieutenants, and the other generals and officials were rewarded, and there were slight changes in their official positions. The main reason was that Zhang Ji was appointed as the Bian Jia, Zhao Yan took over as the guard of Changsha, and Jia Xu was appointed as the military advisor and Sima Yi was appointed as the military officer.

But what Liu Jing was most looking forward to was Zhao Yun. He had reached an agreement with Cao Cao to replace Liu Bei's wife and children with Xiahou Yuan and Mao Jie. This was the last favor for Zhao Yun. Now Liu Bei's wife and children have set out from Yedu and are coming to Jiangxia. It is said that he has arrived in Anlu County, and Liu Jing has sent someone to greet him.

For Jia Xu, he finally accepted Liu Jing's appointment and took office as a military advisor, which was also the result of his repeated weighing. It also changed his will, or removed the last trace of worry deep in his heart, making him realize Liu Jing's future.

Liu Jing will not be Dong Zhuo, Li Kui, Zhang Xiu and others who he assisted. He will be the only hero who can compete for hegemony with Cao Cao. If he can assist him step by step, it will not be in vain for his life. Jia Xu is over 60 years old, and he knows very well that he has no choice. Assisting Liu Jing will be his last chance in his life.

It was also based on this consideration that Jia Xu finally accepted the appointment of Liu Jing and took up the position of military advisor, including Sima Yi. He also happily accepted the appointment of participating in the military, which was the second military aide after the military advisor.

Jia Xu frowned slightly and said, "Sun Quan reached an agreement with us a few months ago. Is he going to tear it up now?"

"I guess Sun Quan won't go back on his word so quickly, but he won't give up this opportunity. I think he will take a compromise, and Zhang Zhao and others will also add fuel to the fire and encourage Sun Quan to accept Cao Cao's plan."

Jia Xu nodded, "If Sun Quan had the ambition to unify the south, he would definitely seize this rare opportunity. He would probably send the navy to Jiangling in the name of attacking Cao's army, and then easily occupy Jiangling."

Liu Jing walked a few steps behind his back, and he was a little worried. Cao Cao's trick to drive away the tiger and swallow the wolf was very successful, and aroused Sun Quan's ambition. Of course, he could stop the Jiangdong navy from advancing westward, but what he was worried about was that Sun Quan's ambition box opened too early.

From the first negotiation with Sun Quan, Liu Jing knew that a large number of senior officials represented by Zhang Zhao strongly demanded the unification of the south. In fact, they also represented the other side of Sun Quan. It was only because Cao Cao went south that Sun Quan had to form an alliance with Jingzhou to resist Cao.

Now that Cao Cao is weak, will Sun Quan really be willing to be bound by a contract and give up Jiangdong's generational goal? Liu Jingyi's heart, if it were him, he would never be bound by a contract, so Sun Quan would definitely not be bound by a contract.

Thinking of this, Liu Jing slowly said to the two: "I think a battle with Jiangdong is inevitable. Only by slapping him hard can he be honest, but he still needs to ease his relationship with Liu Bei first."

"If the provincial governor wants to ease the relationship with Liu Bei, he might as well use Liu Bei's wife and children."

Liu Jing nodded, "I'm just thinking this way."

At this time, Sima Yi, who had not spoken next to him, smiled and said, "I suggest that before going to war with Jiangdong, we should take Jiangling first. I think there is an opportunity hidden in it."

...........

Jiangling City is the second largest city in Jingzhou and the economic center in southern Jingzhou. It not only plays an important role in the economy, but also has a more important strategic position.

The army that came from the east was unable to form a land threat because of Yunmengze's barrier, and could only attack from the water. The vast and vast Yangtze River undoubtedly added an insurmountable natural danger to Jiangling City.

Historically, Jiangdong finally crossed the river with Lu Meng's white clothes and used his strategy to seize Jiangling, guarded by Guan Yu. At this time, Jiangling City was still under the control of Cao's army.

More than two months have passed since Cao Cao led his army to the north. At the beginning of Cao Cao's departure, Cao Ren prepared for war every day, and the soldiers strengthened training from morning to night, and at the same time, he also arrested civilians everywhere to build the city. Even Cao Ren patrolled the city every day, and was worried that one day the Jiangxia army would suddenly arrive.

But more than two months have passed, and they and the Jiangxia army are in peace, which has gradually relaxed the tension of Cao army. The defense drills and the anti-landing drills on the riverside every day have been changed to once a day, and then once a day ten days. Now, half a month has passed since the latest drill.

He did not slacken with the commander Cao Ren, but his focus was shifted to Liu Bei's army on the other side. This was a task assigned to him by Cao Cao before leaving. It was necessary to wipe out Liu Bei's army in Jingnan. If he could complete this task, he would be appointed as the county marquis.

Although the title of the county marquis is very desirable, it is almost impossible to complete it. The main reason is that Cao's army lacks military strength. He only has 10,000 troops in Jiangling, while Liu Bei has more than 20,000 troops. It is obviously unrealistic to wipe out Liu Bei.

On the other hand, more than 70% of the people in Nanjun followed Liu Bei south or fled east to Jiangxia, causing the population of Nanjun to plummet, and there was no military force to be conquered. Even the civilians arrested to repair the city walls often used women and elderly people to make up for their numbers.

This made Cao Ren very upset. He knew that Liu Bei built a city in the mouth of Youjiang River and changed the county to the police, but he was unable to go and clear it out. On the one hand, although there were insufficient troops, there were few ships, all of which were small boats, and there were almost no warships of more than a thousand stones. How could he cross the river and fight?

Early in the morning, Cao Ren led dozens of people to the shipbuilding station on the west side of the wharf. This was a newly built shipbuilding station he had a month ago and recruited Yu Ming craftsmen. He planned to build several thousand-stone warships in half a year.

In fact, this is also Cao Ren's slickness. He dared not disobey the order and refused to attack Liu Bei, but on the surface he had to prepare for war, so he built a shipyard to show Cao Cao his serious preparation. But in fact, the cargo ships in his hand were enough to carry the crossing of the river, and there was no need to build a thousand stone warship.

Two warehouses have been repaired in the shipbuilding station, and more than 2,000 soldiers are building a dock, picking up soil and moving stones. The construction site is busy. Cao Ren held his horse and shouted, "Come a few generals and officials."

Not long after, Mingya General stepped forward to salute, "See the General"

Cao Ren pointed to the dock with a horse whip and said, "Stop construction immediately and take the soldiers back to the camp."

The famous general looked at each other, not knowing what had happened, but he didn't dare to refuse. He immediately rushed back to greet the soldiers and prepared to return to the camp. Seeing that most of the dock had been repaired, Cao Ren couldn't help but sigh, which was a pity.

He received an order from the Prime Minister in the early morning, asking him to hand over Jiangling City to the Jiangdong Army. Although Cao Ren was a little reluctant, he was more grateful, which meant that the Prime Minister gave up his plan to wipe out Liu Bei.

Cao Ren came to the shipbuilding station again. Two warehouses for storing shipbuilding materials have been built. A famous craftsman is busy dismantling more than a dozen five-stone cargo ships, preparing to use the materials of the cargo ship to build ships.

The shipbuilding office manager immediately came up and bowed and said, "Report to General, we have obtained the materials for making keels and are ready to start construction tomorrow."

Cao Ren nodded and smiled bitterly, "I'm here to tell you to stop building ships for the time being."

The manager was stunned and asked carefully: "The general means to stop for the time being, or give up on building a ship."

Cao Ren sighed, "It must be a quit shipbuilding."

"Then are all these boatmen disbanded?" the manager looked back at Yu, who was busy, and asked.

"It's not necessary. The north is very scarce. These shipwrecks should be comforted and taken to the north in the future."

As soon as Cao Ren finished speaking, a riot broke out outside, and someone shouted: "Jiangxia army, Jiangxia army is here."

Cao Ren was shocked and rushed out of the shipbuilding station. He saw a fleet of ships on the river that were coming quickly, all of which were medium-sized warships of about five stones. The sails were bulging and sailing like flying on the river. About fifty warships were about 10 warships, and the battle flags of the Jiangxia army were hung on the masts.

Cao Ren then breathed a little relieved. There were only more than fifty small warships, which was not enough to threaten the safety of Jiangling City. However, Cao Ren was worried that the Jiangxia army was behind. He immediately rode his horse into the city and ordered again: "Speedly adjust thousands of crossbowmen to defend on the shore."

Soon, General Niu Jin led a thousand crossbowmen to the dock quickly and quickly formed an arrow formation and was ready for the formation.

Cao Ren ran into the city in one breath and ran to the city again. At this time, the chief Chen Jiao and more than a dozen generals had already arrived at the top of the city and looked at the Jiangxia warship on the river.

Chen Jiao was about forty years old and followed Cao Cao for many years. He was pragmatic and capable, and was deeply trusted by Cao Cao. He was also a resourceful person. It was precisely because of this that Cao Cao kept him to assist Cao Ren.

Seeing Cao Ren in a hurry, Chen Jiao smiled and said, "General Zhennan, don't worry, Jiangling is fine."

Cao Ren was worried that Jiangxia's army would be behind him. He heard him say this, so he hurriedly asked: "How do you know sir?"

"Because the wind direction was changed to the southeast wind in the sky, even if the Jingzhou army came, it did not come so quickly. Looking at the more than 50 warships, they were all five stone oars, which shows that this was just the outpost of the Jiangxia army, just to control the river surface."

Cao Ren frowned slightly, "Sir, they said they were trying to control the river surface."

Chen Jiao nodded, "Liu Jing's real purpose is to prevent us from handing over Jiangling City to Liu Bei, so they have to control the river surface and prevent Liu Bei's army from crossing the river."

Speaking of this, Chen Jiao also sighed slightly: "I'm afraid our ship can't be saved."

Cao Ren's heart sank and raised his eyes toward the pier. He saw that Jiangxia warships indeed launched an attack on the ships anchored at the pier.

On the dock, thousands of Cao's crossbowmen fired arrows at the fleet in full swing, and arrows were shot at the fleet in the river, but there was no effect. The Jiangxia army warships were a little far apart, making Cao's arrows unable to be shot.

The Jiangxia army fleet on the river did not dock, but was moored outside the range of Cao's crossbowmen, and used stone cannons and rockets to attack several ferries anchored on the dock.
Chapter completed!