Chapter 21: Trade-offs

Liu Bei was excited for a while, looking at the circle on the map that indicated Jiangxia County, and was quite reluctant: "Then... can Jiangxia be lost in vain?"

"Of course, you can't lose it. The lord should keep a general and stay in Jiangxia. After our army seizes the four counties in Jiangnan, if we advance, Jiangxia can be used as a springboard to attack Runan. If we retreat, the four counties can be used as bases, so that we will not have nowhere to go. Moreover, Jiangxia is between Nanjun and Chaisang. If we defend this place, we will defend the retreat path for Zhou Gongjin, so that he can go all out to compete for Jiangling and not return to the army to compete with the lord for the four counties."

Liu Bei smiled. He felt that it was not a matter of guarding the back road for Zhou Yu for nothing, but a matter of putting the initiative in his own hands. If Zhou Gongjin is polite to him, he would keep this road for him. If Zhou Gongjin is not polite, I'm sorry, this road will be stuck. You, Zhou Yu, will be alone in Jiangling, and it will be up to you. Then, once you grasp this section of the Yangtze River defense line, Sun Quan cannot be too contemptuous of himself. You can strive for some initiative and gain more benefits at the appropriate time.

"Yunchang has a naval army, so let him stay in Jiangxia, so that he can move forward and retreat freely." Liu Bei said without thinking. Zhuge Liang was stunned. He was about to persuade him, but he saw that Liu Bei looked gloomy and had to swallow his words.

"What should I do if I come there?" Liu Bei looked at Chen Dao's letter and frowned again. He felt that Chen Dao was not suitable to be stationed in Pingchun again. He even doubted whether Chen Dao had sympathy for Liu Qi because he had worked with Liu Qi for a while. If this is true, it would be obviously inappropriate to put the important task of enlisting Liu Qi's troops on Chen Dao.

"Chen Shuzhi gets along well with Liu Boyu and Liu Ziju. When he is transferred back to Shuzhi, he is afraid that it will cause them to be uneasy." Zhuge Liang shook his head and said, "I heard that Liu Boyu is in a serious condition, I am afraid that it will not last long. The lord should wait patiently. Although Pingchun and Xiyang may not be able to defend, those four thousand people are useful to the lord. Shuzhi is familiar with Liu Qi's troops and can be more convenient to act."

Liu Bei nodded. Pingchun and other cities were in the north of Jiangxia. It was very inconvenient to rescue. It would be enough to give up. It would be enough to guard Xiling. He thought for a while and said, "Why don't we reveal our meaning to Bo Yu to see if he is willing to return to Xiling? If he is willing to return to Xiling, it would be okay for Jiangxia to let him guard this. No matter what, he is still the prefect of Jiangxia now."

Zhuge Liang shook his head secretly. How could he not know Liu Bei’s idea? Liu Bei still wanted to test whether Liu Qi was suspicious of him, for fear of ruining his reputation. Since that was the case, why did he make such a bad decision at the beginning? Although the doctor was dead, Zhang Ji was in Xiangyang. If Liu Qi became suspicious and sent someone to contact Xiangyang, wouldn’t it be a lesson? It’s just that the matter has reached this point, and it will be a supplement. He shook his head and said, “No, Liu Boyu said last time that he wanted to guard Xiyang for his lord and was unwilling to return to Xiling. I am afraid that he might not be willing to come back at this time. The lord doesn’t have to force it, just wait.”

Liu Bei nodded awkwardly: "Then there will be a military advisor and Yun Chang in charge of Xiling, and I will go to Jiangling with Yide and Zilong. Once the time is right, the military advisor will go south immediately. Where should I and the military advisor meet?"

Zhuge Liang clicked on the map: "Chanling, the lord returned from Jiangling and took Chanling directly, and then left a general to guard Chanling and went south to take Wuling and Changsha, and took one of these two counties. All the four counties in the south of the Yangtze River are under control. The lord and the prefect of Cangwu Wu Ju have old friends, and they have sent Sun Gongyou to contact him before. This time, Sun Gongyou can be sent to him again and ask him to send troops to help at that time. I believe that Guiyang County can go down in one go."

Liu Bei moved his gray beard and looked at the four counties in Jiangnan on the map and smiled: "Military advisor, with four counties, how many years will it take for us to move westward to Yizhou?"

"We can decide four counties in two years. Two years later, we can move westward to Yizhou and give us another three years. We can stabilize Yizhou and pacify Hanzhong. Then we can connect Ma Chao in the west, Sun Quan in the east, and fight against Cao Cao." Zhuge Liang looked at the soft rice paper and said confidently. But for some reason, there was a hint of hesitation in his heart. For the first time, he felt that he could not fully grasp the future. This feeling confused him.

A few days later, Liu Bei brought three thousand men and Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun to Jiangling to help. He told Zhou Yu that he had suffered heavy losses in Tiger Leaping Rifting. The veterans of Jiangxia County were not yet conquered for a while. They were afraid that the rebellion would miss the governor's major event, so they only brought 3,000 people. Although there were few people, they were sincere. He was willing to fight side by side with Zhou Yu, so that Zhang Fei could take 1,000 people to listen to Zhou Yu's dispatch. As a different army, he could retreat. Now that Man Chong has been transferred from Dangyang, Cao Ren's rear is empty, which is the opportunity to cut off his retreat. After a while of enthusiasm, he said with some embarrassment that his two thousand people were not enough, and he hoped that the governor could transfer 2,000 people to help him, and also provide some food, grass and weapons.

Zhou Yu despised Liu Bei very much, but he didn't say anything. His original intention also meant to separate Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. Now that Guan Yu is in Xiling and Zhang Fei is by his side, he has achieved his goal. The others are not very important. Let him go behind Cao Ren to make trouble. It is better to succeed, but not to succeed... It seems that it is also good.

So both sides completed the negotiation with satisfaction.

Tiele lay in the grass on the hillside, motionless. Even the two insects fought on his head for a long time, but he didn't move. After following Cao Chong, he took Deng Zhan's selection exam, and unfortunately he failed. However, Deng Zhan said that he could give him private advice. Anyway, his martial arts didn't need to start from scratch, but he didn't understand some tricks. As long as he thought more and practiced more, he would definitely pass the next selection.

Tiele was very happy. Didn’t this become General Deng’s personal disciple, just like the young master? The young master was also the one who gave in private guidance from General Deng. He and the young master were brothers. But he just thought about this idea secretly and never told others that he was afraid that others would laugh at him. The young master was a good man and had no intention of despising them from the mountains. Although the military equipment and food pay was not as rich as the tiger soldiers, it was also very generous. Moreover, the young master took good care of them. Last time a tiger soldier scolded him a barbarian, but the young master heard it. He whipped him twice and punished him to carry him around Xiangyang City for half a circle. While walking, he shouted: "There are all brothers in the military." Haha, that day was really majestic.

Tiele thought about it and wanted to laugh. He suppressed his heart's relief, raised his eyelids and looked at the sky. It was almost the sun was at that branch and he completed the task himself. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything today. Alas. When will I make a great contribution? The young master is so kind to him, but he has nothing to repay him. It's really embarrassing.

He glanced behind him, and less than ten steps behind him, two brothers were buried from the mountain together, one named Huayu and the other named Li Gui. They were both good at the younger generation. There were thousands of households who went out to settle down one after another, and many of them sent young people out to the mountain to join the army even though they did not leave the mountain to settle down. The young master did not accept all of them, and only one thousand of the nearly five thousand people were collected. He said that not everyone could join the army. Only the best young people were qualified to be soldiers. This sentence made all of them smile and hold their heads in front of those who failed to choose the land every day, and they would be even more proud. If they made contributions, they would be able to return to the mountain to become a small official in three years.

Hua Yu and Li Gui knew him before, and because they were hunting for many years and were good at lurking, they were sent to the scout team. There were two of them, one named Yushan and the other named Wang Xiaozhu, but they didn't know him before. They were from the mountain village near the Xicheng area. They had good martial arts skills. They fought in private on the day they were assigned to a troop. Although Tiele won, he did not gain much advantage. However, because he learned from General Deng for two days, they admired him very much, so he became the commander of the sergeant.

Although the sergeant was the smallest landlord, that was the head. Tiele was very satisfied and very attentive. He practiced these guys every day to complain. Of course, their sergeant soon attracted the attention of the young master.

That is, he just failed to make a great contribution, which made Tiele feel a little regretful.

The sun slowly shifted to the branches, and Tiele waited for a while. It was not until the next team came to change shifts that the black fish could not wait and had already touched him. He had no choice but to move away from his position and quietly moved backward. As soon as he moved to Huayu, Huayu suddenly raised his fingers to his lips, then pointed to his ears, and pointed to the valley in front of him.

Tiele turned his head to look at the valley, and at the same time put his ear on the rock and listened. A faint sound of clicking came from the rock warmed by the sun, and it became closer and closer, becoming clearer. Tiele suddenly became excited. It was the sound of horse hooves, and at least three fast horses were approaching quickly to pass here. He immediately raised his head and made a preparatory gesture to Li Gui and the others who were about to retreat in the distance. Regardless of the glaring eyes of the already lying black fish, he bent down and rushed down the hillside quickly.

At that moment, he had already seen clearly that the three horses who rushed into the mountain were the first person in the official uniform. This was a big fish and could not be let go. As for the black fish, I'm sorry, I've been waiting for this credit for several days.

Liu Zhi was anxious. He rushed from Xiling to Pingchun, fearing that if Liu Qi could not stand it, Chen Dao delayed the fighter's opportunity because he waited for news from Xiling. The lord had decided to withdraw them. Once Liu Qi died, he could take back Liu Pan's troops. Staying in Pingchun for one more day would be a danger for one more day. As an aide, Liu Zhi could not be anxious.

He rushed into the valley, ran wildly with his head down, and did not notice that someone was running down the hillside next to him. When he heard the roar of his followers behind him, he raised his head and saw a black shadow that was rushing towards him.

When Liu Zhidi's two followers saw that Liu Zhi was knocked down by Tiele, they yelled in a hurry. They pulled out the knife from their waists and rushed forward. A few rustling sounds, and several black shadows suddenly popped out of the grass beside them. They had no time to react and were knocked down from the horse. They were dizzy and dizzy before they could come back to their senses.

Liu Zhi shook his head in a daze, and looked at the soldiers in front of him with dark faces and quarreling, and felt completely cold. He knew that these were definitely not Chen Dao's troops. Since he had a strange army to Pingchun, the situation was afraid of being in danger.

Tiele finally convinced Heiyuer to share the credit equally, and then threw the three people tied into rice dumplings on the horse's back and took the horse back to the hidden camp in the mountains with satisfaction. Liu Zhi became more and more frightened as he looked at it. These people were clearly barbarians in the mountains. Why did they suddenly appear in Pingchun County? Who is the young master in their mouths? He endured the pain of his stomach being hurt by the saddle, and tried hard to analyze everything in front of him.

"Who are you?" Liu Zhi asked a follower, shouting, "Why do you want to sneak attack us?"

"Who are we?" Tiele looked at him with contempt: "We are the subordinates of Mr. Cao, who are here to capture you, and you General Chen and his land, you are really. Why are you three thousand people? You are not enough to have enough heads."

Liu Zhi's head buzzed, and he remembered it. He heard it when he was in Xiling. Cao Chong, who was guarding Xiangyang, led the mountain people from Fangling County out of the mountain to settle down, and recruited a thousand mountain people to serve as soldiers. At that time, they found it funny. The mountain people knew nothing, did not obey discipline, and did not understand etiquette. They were just barbarians, just a group of mobs. How could they join the army and catch rabbits? Unexpectedly, this matter became true, and he became a rabbit and was caught by these barbarians.

"Don't be afraid, our young master is very good. As long as you are honest, you won't kill you." Tiele saw a look of pain on Liu Zhi's face, patted him comfortably and said. Liu Zhi smiled bitterly, speechless.

Cao Chong sat on the hillside and watched the scouts composed of mountain people rushing back into the camp, so he was very happy. Thousands of mountain people came out of the mountains to settle down, and nearly 5,000 young people asked to join the army. Day, are their conditions too generous? So attractive. If it weren't for the fear of causing dissatisfaction from my father and spending too much money, I really wanted to take all the five thousand people down. The barbarians were like monkeys. Although most of them were black and thin, they had very good physical fitness. They walked in on the mountain road with a relaxed and comfortable approach, and the short crossbow was also good. Then Deng Zhan and Huang Zhongyi were trained. They were simply special forces when fighting the mountain battle. Especially the scouts, I had just looked at the telescope for a long time, but I didn't find many of them. I don't know where these black monkeys were hidden. When I got to the mountains, I was like I was at home.

"Young master, Tiele and the others seem to have gained something." Dian Man leaned close to Cao Chong and laughed in a low voice. Cao Chong turned his head and looked along Dian Man's fingers, and couldn't help laughing: "This Tiele. He finally caught the person this time. He caught three at once, and there was a horse. He looked like an important person. Not bad!"

Tiele brought the people to Cao Chong's ground, so happy that he couldn't even close his mouth. He smiled and said, "Young Master, we have caught three people. They are riding on horseback. It seems that there is something important." Before he finished speaking, Heiyuer pulled him angrily, and he hurriedly said, "There are Heiyuer and the others, they have helped us a little."

Heiyuer was furious and was about to speak, Cao Chong smiled and said, "You are wrong, by time, you should have come back. Have you snatched Heiyuer's credit?"

Hei Yuer hurriedly said, "Young Master Mingjian, that's right. Tiele clearly has come, and he still refuses to leave. This person should be ours." Tiele heard it and was about to argue, when Cao Chong laughed and said, "Okay, okay, don't fight anymore. I don't know if you are catching a big fish or a small fish. Just fight like this. Have you forgotten the words of my son? The soldiers are all brothers, and it's not worth it."

Tiele and Heiyuer heard this, smiled and lowered their heads embarrassedly. Cao Chong walked to Liu Zhi, looked up and down for a while, and then smiled and said, "It seems that he is a scholar, tied so tightly, you are wronged. Cao Chong, I don't know what the sir is called, and where is it? "

Liu Zhi's face was pale and he didn't say a word. Dian Man walked up to him, searched him, and found the bamboo slip and handed it to Cao Chong. Cao Chong took the bamboo slip and looked at it, turned around and handed it to Pang Tong who followed him: "Shi Yuan, Liu Bei is going to run away."

"It's a pity that his luck is not good enough, Kong Ming's heart is too great." Pang Tong glanced at the bamboo slips and smiled relaxedly: "I miss the four counties in Jiangnan and Jiangxia again. Can he swallow it?" Liu Zhi immediately raised his heart when he heard Pang Tong's words. He had read this bamboo slip, but he did not mention the matter of the four counties in Jiangnan. He just asked Chen Dao to withdraw his time to Xiling immediately after the matter was completed. Why did Pang Shiyuan guess that his lord wanted to take the four counties in Jiangnan?

"It's great. Young Master, don't worry about reinforcements coming. You can calmly take down Chen Dao and then go south to compete for Xiling." Zhang Song took the bamboo slip and looked at it and said with a smile.

"That's true." Cao Chong smiled. He turned his head to Zhang Song and smiled: "Yongnian, the handwriting on it is quite similar to yours. You can rewrite a copy and send it to someone to."

Pang Tong shook his head and said, "No need to worry. Uncle Chen dared not move around if he couldn't receive the order. Let him be confused. Anyway, it will only take a few days. Young Master, since there are no reinforcements, let the thousand Jingshan troops retreat. It would be a bit difficult for Huang Hansheng to block Chen Shuzhi's three thousand troops. It would be much safer to have one thousand more people."

"Just listen to the sir." Cao Chong turned around and ordered Tiele: "Notify Xu Jiawei and Le Sima, the Jingshan army retreated to Xiaotuling, cooperate with General Huang's army to encircle Chen Dao, and go to Xu Jiawei to report his merits and see what official he is promoted to you."

"No!" When Tiele heard this, he saluted with excitement and turned around and left quickly. Heiyuer became anxious: "Young Master, what about me?"
Chapter completed!