"Although the four counties in Jiangnan cannot be connected with Jiangbei, at least they are still in the court. If they have not settled for a day, Sun Quan and Liu Bei will not be at ease for a day. Liu Bei fled for half his life and urgently needed a place to gain a foothold. It can be seen from his tight grasp of Jiangxia. If the young master took Jiangxia, he would have to seize the four counties in Jiangnan as a place to settle down." Pang Tong also dipped his fingers in tea and expanded the sketch drawn by Cao Chong a little: "If Liu Bei seized the four counties in Jiangnan, then even if Sun Quan fought this battle, he would not be able to gain any benefits in the end. In the hopeless situation of capturing Jiangling, he would either be limited by the current situation, abandon the four counties in Jiangnan and Liu Bei to maintain an alliance, and work together to fight against the young master's army, or he would tear apart from Liu Bei and compete for the four counties. In either case, Jingzhou, which lacks enough naval army, can get a chance to breathe."

Cao Chong and others nodded repeatedly, and Pang Tong's few words suddenly opened up his thinking. He always focused on Jiangling, focusing on defense, protecting the three counties in Jiangbei, Jingzhou and Jiangbei, and preventing Zhou Yu from expanding the victory of the Battle of Chibi. Pang Tong's idea crossed the Yangtze River and turned the four counties in Jiangnan that he could not control for the time being, forcing Sun Quan and Liu Bei to turn against each other so that he could take advantage of the fisherman.

"Therefore, Jiangling is not the most important place, and Jiangxia is the place that needs to be captured most urgently. Tong thought that the young master should join forces with Runan Prefect Li Wenda as soon as possible to defeat Liu Qi's troops." Pang Tong looked at Cao Chong with a serious expression, without a smile at all. Cao Chong looked at the sketch on the table and nodded repeatedly. Taking Jiangxia has become the top priority. Only by taking Jiangxia can everything behind be implemented.

"Ziyi, when will Hansheng and Wenchang come back?" Cao Chong turned his head and crossed Jianggan Road.

"They agreed to have a month before going, and calculated the day, and it should be back in these two days." Jiang Gan calculated with his fingers: "The food that the wife sent last time can last until today and tomorrow. Since there is no one to send it again, we will naturally be back."

"Okay, then I want to see how sharp the sword they had sharpened for a month was." Cao Chong smiled. He said to Zhang Song again: "Yongnian, has Master Deng gone to pick people?"

Zhang Song bowed: "That's right, General Deng arranged his wife as soon as he came back yesterday and went out early this morning. He said he wanted to pick fifty people out of the 200 tiger soldiers first, and then those people chose them, hoping to pick twenty people in the end."

Cao Chong nodded and suddenly remembered something. He raised his head and looked outside: "Did Li Yuanji also run to participate in the selection? Why can't he hear his voice outside?"

Jiang Gan covered his mouth and smiled, "Young Master only remembered that he was a little late. But don't worry, he has finished the work you punished him for. There will be at least three days in the mansion. This little man started before dawn, and we didn't sleep well."

Cao Chong laughed loudly. He punished Li Wei to chop firewood, but he didn't give him a sharp axe, but only gave him a broken axe that was almost rusted. He originally wanted to torture him and let him practice his arm strength by the way, and consume his energy that he had nowhere to vent, but he didn't expect that this kid would be so powerful that he would chop all the firewood for three days before dawn. It turned out to be extremely energetic.

"He didn't look for another axe, right?" Cao Chong was still a little unbelievable. This kid has always been cheating. Could it be that he had secretly polished the axe, or simply changed it to the axe. Jiang Gan laughed so hard that he almost choked: "Don't worry, this guy is easy to make up, but he always says one or two to the young master, and he never gives a discount. The young master didn't know that he chopped firewood in the yard early in the morning, chopping and scolding, as if the firewood was the enemy of their father. He chopped and smashed it, and almost bit it with his teeth. The movement was so big. It was so cold that he was still wearing a sting and covered in bullock meat, which made the maid who got up early peek and kept peeking at it."

Jiang Gan's interesting words made Pang Tong laugh: "Is this Li Yuanji the Li Wei yesterday?"

"That's right, it was this lord who killed Shi Yuan's horse with one punch." Jiang Gan said with a smile: "So the young master wants to punish him."

"No wonder it's so brave." Pang Tong couldn't help laughing.

"The courage of an ordinary man. He is not afraid of letting him chop firewood. Letting him read some books is like killing him." Cao Chong deliberately said with a tiger face: "Ziyi, you must look at him well. You can't recognize three thousand words in three months. You can't memorize the Analects of Confucius. See how I deal with you."

The smile on Jiang Gan's face froze suddenly. He opened his mouth, and his face turned bitter and picked up the teacup without saying a word to drink tea.

"What? Do the guards under the young master also want to study?" Pang Tong asked curiously.

Zhang Songxing looked at Jiang Gan with joy, turned his head and said politely: "That's true. The young master said that only martial arts and courage are not good at writing, and he can't recognize documents in the future. How can he be a general? So he specially asked someone to teach them to recognize words and read. It used to be Zhou Yuanzhi, but since Yuanzhi went to the Qin Dynasty, Jiang Ziyi is now in charge."

Pang Tong nodded. He vaguely knew something about Zhou Buyi. Although he didn't know why Zhou Buyi was driven to the Qin Dynasty by Cao Chong, judging from the young talent like Cao Chong dared not to kill Zhou Buyi, this Cao Master was either nervous or confident enough. From all aspects of what he saw today, it was obviously more likely that the latter was.

He looked at Cao Chong again and couldn't help but be surprised. Cao Chong now has two hundred tiger soldiers, all of whom are skilled in martial arts. Even if only 10% of them can study and have the opportunity to become a general in the future, Cao Chong has prepared twenty reserve talents for himself. Whenever he has the opportunity to expand in the future, he will be a loyal army of at least 50,000 people. It seems to be a casual move, but it may become a strong backing at any time.

Pang Tong also changed his mind with Cao Chong. He was very satisfied with his approach to returning home early this morning. He did not hide at home as a famous scholar waiting for Cao Chong to come to invite him. This move seemed to be done right. Judging from the performance of this young man, Cao Zihuan in Yecheng might not have any advantage. If he added the strange strategy in his heart, he would have even fewer opportunities.

As the saying goes, Pang Tong and Cao Chong developed admiration for each other, and the conversation became even more speculative. Several people talked from early morning until almost noon. Cao Chong was about to ask Deng Ai, who had been listening, to arrange a banquet for Pang Tong, a servant in the mansion shook at the door. Deng Ai quickly got up and went to the door. The servant attached to his ear and said a few words. Deng Ai's face changed and he quickly walked in. He leaned into Cao Chong's ear and whispered: "Young Master, the Kuai family is here... people, there is something urgent to... find the young master."

Cao Chong felt a little surprised. Why did the Kuai family suddenly come to the door? He looked at Pang Tong in confusion, thinking that he couldn't come to ask for land like Pang Tong, right? He quickly stood up and said, "Please come in."

After a while, Kuai Yue's son Kuai Jing walked in quickly. He saw Pang Tong present at the moment, and couldn't help but be stunned for a moment. He bowed and smiled and said, "It turns out that Brother Shi Yuan is here too." Pang Tong nodded with a smile, but did not say anything. Kuai Jing didn't say much, dusted his body and bowed to Cao Chong: "Please save my brother."

"Get up quickly. Don't panic, tell me slowly, what happened?" Cao Chong quickly helped Kuai Jing up. Kuai Jing's face was a little pale, with a layer of fine beads of sweat on his forehead and blood in his eyes. It seemed that he was really anxious.

"My brother is in Fangling and has been surrounded by bandits for more than ten days. Now there is no news, and I don't know how to live or die." Kuai Jing was almost crying. He lay in front of Cao Chong and kowtowed repeatedly: "Please send troops to save my brother. My uncle died young, and now only my brother is one son. My sister-in-law has just been pregnant. My uncle has a family, and I hope it all depends on my brother. Now my brother is in danger and my father is not here, so I can only come and ask him to ask him. Please consider it for my Kuai family to be loyal to the country. Save my brother."

Cao Chong was confused when he heard this. It was not uncommon for Kuai Qi to be surrounded by bandits in Fangling. Fangling was remote, with the people's strength and the customs were fierce. Once there was something that the local officials were too tight, it was common for those mountain people to besiege the government. Is it worthy of your nervousness? Even the Kuai family's loyalty to the country was said. It made people feel that the government was killing people with a knife.

When Kuai Jing saw Cao Chong wondering, he quickly told the situation. It turned out that Kuai Qi was surrounded by mountain people half a month ago. As soon as the Kuai family got the news, they immediately went to find Le Jin, who was guarding Xiangyang. However, Le Jin heard that Kuai Qi was surrounded by people in Fangling, so he immediately frowned and said that he was not familiar with Fangling, and that Fangling was not in Xiangyang territory and was not in his jurisdiction. Besides, hundreds of mountain people besieged Fangling City, and the defenders in Fangling should not break the city. He mobilized a large army to send him, but he was afraid that it might not be appropriate.

Kuai Jing couldn't figure out the intention of Le Jin. He thought it was because there was no gift, so he hurried home to collect a big gift, but he didn't expect Le Jin to blast it out. Le Jin finally lowered his face and said, "He can take care of Xiangyang affairs, but he can't take care of Xiangyang." If he wants to send troops, either he can get the order of Li Li, the governor of Jingzhou, or the order of General Zhengnan and the prefect of Nan County Cao Ren. Of course, it would be better if you have the instructions of Prince Cangshu, who was ordered by the Prime Minister to guard Xiangyang. Without saying a word, Le Jin personally took people to kill Fangling to rescue Kuai Qi.

Li Li, the governor of Jingzhou, took his people out for inspection. Now he was afraid that he had arrived in Jiangnan, so Kuai Jing naturally could not find him. Cao Ren was fighting in Jiangling, where he was fighting. It was probably Cao Ren had no intention of caring about his idiots. Death of a county magistrate these days is not a big deal. As for Cao Chong, he has not been in Xiangyang these days. He stayed in Xiangyang for one night more than ten days ago, and went to Nanyang County again the next morning. When Kuai Jing got the news, Cao Chong's shadow was gone. These days, he was so anxious that he went to the Cai family manor to ask for Kuai Ying several times. Unfortunately, although Kuai Ying found Cai Ji and pleaded with Cai Mao, Cai Mao had no soldiers to send and could not help him. I heard that Cao Chong had returned to Xiangyang early this morning, and Kuai Jing came immediately.

"So that's it." Cao Chong nodded and said, "Don't blame General Le, his scope of responsibility cannot be exported to Xiangyang."

Fangling belongs to Hanzhong County, and Hanzhong is now Zhang Lu's sphere of influence. Kuai Qi was appointed by the court to Fangling as the county magistrate. Zhang Lu was polite to him even if Zhang Lu was not sent to drive him out. Maybe he was besieged by mountain people, and there would be a shadow of Zhang Lu. Le Jin was ordered to guard Xiangyang, so naturally there would be no conflict with Zhang Lu at this time. Not to mention Le Jin, even Cao Ren or Li Li, they would not move troops easily, and the reasons were very sufficient. Fangling belongs to Hanzhong County. If you have any questions, you should ask Hanzhong County to send troops to help solve it. What's the matter of running to Xiangyang to bring reinforcements? This cross-border attack on thieves is not allowed. It really doesn't work. Isn't your Kuai Yidu Guangluxun? If you ask him to invite an imperial edict, everything will be easy.

When Kuai Jing heard Cao Chong say this, his heart suddenly became cold. He felt his bones soft. He was not right to get up on the ground, nor was he not right to get up. He stared at Cao Chong in a daze and said in a muttering manner: "Please save my brother, please save my brother..."

"At you get up, I'm not saying I won't save him." Cao Chong pulled Kuai Jing up, "Let me think about it."

Kuai Jing was overjoyed when he heard this. He quickly kowtowed twice: "Thank you, thank you, thank you." Then he got up, sat aside, bent his body, supported his hands on his thighs, looked at Cao Chong nervously, and followed Cao Chong's walk back and forth.

Cao Chong walked back and forth twice, suddenly stopped. He turned around and looked at Kuai Jing, then looked at Pang Tong and said, "Shi Yuan, you are a native of Xiangyang and are familiar with the situation here. Do you think Kuai Yuanji (Kuai Qi) was surrounded, was Zhang Lu causing trouble in the ground or was he really besieged by mountain people?"

Pang Tong thought for a while and said, "Although Zhang Lu was in Hanzhong, he had no idea of ​​fighting for hegemony, and devoted himself to the Tao, and he was all focused on the Mi Cult. His sphere of influence has always been in Hanzhong. He has never heard of the Xicheng area, and of course he would not be interested in a remote small county in Fangling. I think about Fangling's affairs, either the mountain people were causing trouble, or the local wealthy families in Fangling had a conflict with the county magistrate Kuai, and secretly encouraged the mountain people to cause trouble."

"Local tyrants?" Cao Chong was a little surprised. He only knew that there were many large clans in Xiangyang, so why did there be tyrants in the mountains?

"That is, Fangling and Xicheng area. The Shen family is the strongest. The Shen Yiju (Shen Dan) and Shen Yixing (Shen Yi) brothers occupied Xicheng for many years and have many industries in Fangling area. Could this be..." He said, looking at Kuai Jing with some doubts.

Kuai Jing's face suddenly turned red. In the past six months since Kuai Qi arrived in Fangling, he did get a lot of money back from Fangling. I think he has been very exploited by the local tribes in Fangling, but of course he can't say these words to Cao Chong.

Cao Chong saw Kuai Jing's face in his eyes and sighed secretly. Then he said, "I can go and save Kuai Yuanji. But you also know that Le Wenqian has many new recruits and is not familiar with mountain combat. I only have two hundred tiger soldiers in my hands now. If Huang Hansheng and others can come back tomorrow, there will be nothing to say. If they can't come back, this little force is a bit tight. Your Kuai family has many private soldiers, right?"

Kuai Jing was sweating on his forehead. He said aiqi: "Young Master doesn't know. My family was originally a private soldier. Now many of them followed their father to Xu County, and some were taken away by their brothers. Now there are only a hundred people in the family, I don't know..."

Cao Chong smiled bitterly. These families really want to save people, but don’t want to expose their strength. I really don’t know what they are thinking. He thought for a while and said, “Since that’s the case, then you go back and gather people together. Let’s set off today and send someone to notify Huang Hansheng and the others to rush to Fangling together. Rescue soldiers is like putting out fires, so you can’t delay.”

Kuai Jing was overjoyed. He didn't expect Cao Chong to agree so easily, so he quickly got up to prepare the manpower. Cao Chong and Pang Tong looked at each other and smiled bitterly, shook their heads, and said to Deng Ai: "Shizai, go and call your uncle and the others back, and wait for the selection. We must set off immediately, and one more person is better at this time."

Deng Ai responded with some excitement and quickly walked out of the door. As soon as he went out, he saw Li Weijing rushing in quickly with her upper body naked, holding her top in her hand. As soon as he entered the door, he shouted at Deng Ai: "Ai Ai Ai, are you here?"

Deng Ai blushed at his joke and nodded, "Young Master is inside, and I'm about to ask me to find...you Yuan...ji has picked it up through the selection?"

Li Wei laughed, he touched Deng Ai's head and said, "Nonsense, can I, Li Yuanji, pass the selection? Am I the number one, okay?"

"Young Master... is waiting to ask... what you are reading... books, hurry up... go in." Deng Ai said with a smile.

"Ah..." Li Wei suddenly became weak, his head was so high that he drooped. He looked around and approached Deng Ai and whispered: "Ai Ai Ai, are you angry?"

"Ai...Ai...Ai...I don't know." Deng Ai smiled hurriedly, and a happy smile rippled on his little face.

"Little Master, beg for a blow." Li Wei clenched his fists in protest and was threatening Deng Ai, but Deng Zhan's figure flashed in from outside. He quickly changed his fists to his palms and touched Deng Ai's head affectionately, looking very loving. Deng Zhan walked closer and glanced at him, pulled Deng Ai and said, "Shi Zai, is this Master bullying you again?"

"No...yes." Deng Ai shook his head and said, "Uncle, come in quickly, young master... are looking for you."

Deng Zhan nodded, looked at Li Wei again, left several guards outside the door, and stepped into the yard. A tiger soldier looked at Li Wei and smiled and said, "Li Yuanji, you are just bullying the weak and afraid of the strong. Why do you become weak when you see General Deng?"
Chapter completed!