Jia Xu talked freely: "Prime Minister, we should first be easy and then difficult. We should first sweep Jingzhou and Jiangdong in the south, and finally join the world to attack Lu Bu. Otherwise, we will fight Lu Bu with all our might. If we win, our strength will be greatly damaged and we will need to rest for many years to recover our vitality. If we lose, we will suffer a disaster. At that time, not only will Lu Bu launch a large-scale counterattack on our six states, Yan, Yu, Qing, Xu, Ji and You. Sun Quan in Jiangdong and Liu Biao in Jingzhou will also inevitably come to take advantage of our territory and population."

"Wenhe is not sure what he said is lonely, but when my army goes south, Lu Bu can attack my rear from Bingzhou, Guanzhong and Nanyang. Especially in Nanyang, it is the place that must be passed to go south to attack Jingzhou. Lu Bu crosses the Han River east and cuts off my return journey to the south. How can this make people feel at ease with the southern expedition?" Cao Cao asked in confusion.

Jia Xu had a long plan for this and smiled and said, "This is easy to deal with. First, before we fight south, we must find a way to prevent Lu Bu Teng from taking action against us. We just need to send three envoys, one by one, one by the Xianbei in the northern part of Bingzhou, one by the Southern Xiongnu in Henghetao, one by the Secretly Entering Shu, and one by the Liu Zhang in Hengyizhou. When our army was fighting south, we asked them to attack Lu Bu's territory. Second, we summoned civilians and men to work hard, and built another Xiongguan foundation to block Lu Bu. Build a Gu Lu Bu at the exit of the Eight Passes of Taihang. These two measures were taken in two ways, so that during our army's southern expedition, Lu Bu could not attack our rear east."

After hearing this, Cao Cao nodded slightly to express his approval, and then added: "This plan is a bit good. I have to add one more way. Our army will attack his two counties in Nanyang. If we can take down these two counties and Fangling on the Zhushui River, then my Nanxing army with Nanyang as the base will rest assured and open the door to the east of Hanzhong."

At this time, Xun Yu came out and said, "Lord, I heard that Lu Bu's long walls have been working hard for more than ten years, and it is as solid as a golden soup. It is not as easy to attack than Tongguan and Taihangxing Road."

Cao Cao smiled and said, "When several armies attacked each other, Lu Bu must divide his troops to defend. At that time, the troops in Zhuchenggucheng will definitely be weak. Although they have Zhuguchenglong walls, as long as we take Xiangyang, we can set up an elite team of soldiers to bypass this long wall from the mountains in the southwest, attacking inside and outside, and not believing in attacking it." Xun Yu nodded convincingly after hearing this.

A few days later, three teams of fast cavalry rushed out of Xudu City and ran in three directions. This was the envoy from Lianheng, sent by Cao Cao in the name of the secret envoy of the Han court of Xudu. In addition, the troops of Yanqing, Xuyu and the four prefectures of Yanqing, Xuzhou and Yu began to gather at Yingcheng south of Xudu. Teams of Cao's army, which could not be seen at first sight, advanced southwest on the Huanghuai Plain.

...

Cao Cao's actions immediately caused Liu Biao's panic, and he immediately summoned his family and aides from Jingzhou and wealthy families to discuss countermeasures. Even Xinye's guest general Liu Bei was summoned to Xiangyang, and Zhuge Liang and Zhao Yun were accompanied by Liu Bei. In the hall, everyone quickly divided into two factions of opinions, one was the leader of the peace (submission), and the other was the leader of the battle.

The main people who were in charge were the wealthy and gentry in Jingzhou. It was their core interests to avoid Jingzhou from the war and protect the property and security of these wealthy and gentry. The main people were Liu Biao after he decided to Jingzhou and came to join forces with him, such as Huang Zu, Huang Zhong, Han Xuan and others, and of course, Liu Bei, a guest general stationed in Xinye.

Most of them defected to Liu Biao, who bet on his future on Liu Biao's future. If Liu Biao surrendered to Cao Cao, their status would definitely be lower than that of the generals of the same level of Cao's army. All of their previous qualifications were erased and they had to start from scratch. As for Liu Bei, it goes without saying that, an enemy who had a personal grudge with Cao Cao. When Liu Biao surrendered to Cao Cao, he didn't know where he would wander.

Both sides were verbally fighting back and forth, fighting in the hall with red faces. Liu Bei wanted to stand up and say a few words, but Zhuge Liang grabbed his sleeves, so he continued to "watch the battle" without expression. In the end, there was no result in the hall, but Liu Biao felt exhausted and waved his hand and said, "Let's discuss this first. Anyway, Cao Cao has not officially issued a letter to Jingzhou now, so let's make a long-term plan." After that, he returned to the back hall to rest, and everyone dispersed one after another.

On the way back to the inn, Liu Bei asked Zhuge Liang: "Why did the military advisor stop me from speaking in the hall just now?"

Zhuge Liang shook a big goose feather fan and said slowly: "Lord, this invasion of Cao Cao in the south is a crisis for Liu Biao, but an opportunity for you. So we don't have to express our attitude first, but should wait and see what changes."

Liu Bei asked in confusion: "What opportunity? Why did Kong Ming say this?"

Zhuge Liang showed a sly smile on his face: "Lord, isn't your greatest wish to have a solid foundation? The strategy I offered at the beginning also spans Jingyi, and now Jingzhou is within easy reach. This is the opportunity."

"Do you want me to attack Liu Biao?"

"That is, Cao Cao is about to invade south, and Jingzhou is already in panic, and everyone has their own ideas. Liu Biao can no longer unite people. The lord can take this opportunity to secretly join those warriors, and then take advantage of Liu Biao's unpreparedness to seize Jingzhou in one fell swoop." Zhuge Liang put away his smile and said to Liu Bei seriously.

Liu Bei frowned slightly and said, "No, I, Liu Bei, have been the foundation of my life for decades. When Liu Biao was desperate, he took me and was kind to me. How can I repay my grudges, put my grudges on the ground, and annexed the land? In that way, I will be treated by people in the world. This move will never work."

This is Liu Bei's verbal reason. In fact, there is another reason, which is that he believes that the risk of swallowing Jingzhou in this way is too high. Whether it can succeed is a question, and whether it can rule Jingzhou firmly after success is a bigger question.

When Zhuge Liang heard Liu Bei say this, he sighed secretly and had to give up.

...

Liu Biao returned to the back hall. He was sighing with sorrow. When he was not thinking about food and food, Kuai Liang came to ask for a meeting.

"Lord, why don't we ask for help from Lu Bu anymore?" Kuai Liang said to Liu Biao.

Liu Biao looked at Kuai Liang sadly and said, "Cao Cao is a wolf, but Lu Bu is also a tiger. If you ask for help, it is nothing more than the consequences of driving the wolf into the tiger."

Kuai Liang hurriedly replied: "Otherwise, you can drive away wolves, but tigers may not be able to enter. Please see the map. As long as Lu Bu attacks Cao Cao in Tongguan or Bingzhou, he can have the miraculous effect of besieging Wei and rescuing Zhao."

"But why did he, Lu Bu, help us?"

"He is not only helping us, but also helping himself. After Cao Cao captured Jingxiang, he would inevitably pose a serious threat to his valley and the three eastern counties in Hanzhong. As long as we understand it, we should be able to convince him." Kuai Liang replied.

Hearing this, Liu Biao felt better and said to Kuai Liang: "It's so good, I will entrust you to lobby Lu Bu."
Chapter completed!