On the other side of Sun Jian, Gan Ning, Xu Rong, Pang De and others led their troops to Changsha to stop them, but Liu Qi was unsure of whether they could not defend against Sun Jian.

It is true that when the princes attacked Dong Zhuo, Xu Rong did defeat Sun Jian, but the situation at that time was that Sun Jian was almost like a single army attacking Luoyang. Behind Xu Rong, Dong Zhuo's support, the number of Xiliang soldiers and Luoyang's northern and southern troops was quite considerable. In that case, Sun Jian and Xu Rong were not considered a fair showdown.

Now that Dong Zhuo is destroyed, the generals of Xiliang go their separate ways. As a native of Youzhou, Xu Rong has not had many soldiers directly under his command. Now he has only a few thousand soldiers, while Sun Jian has tens of thousands of elite soldiers.

In addition, over the years, Sun Jian swept across Jiangdong and his power has increased greatly, and he has long since disappeared from his original momentum.

In addition to the strong army that followed him in the past, Sun Jian has also recruited many heroes in Jiangdong over the years.

In terms of the generals alone, he now has more than just Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, Han Dang, Zu Mao, Sun Ben, Sun Jing, Wu Jing and the newly-rise Sun Ce. Many other figures such as Jiang Qin and Zhou Tai who have joined him, as well as Dong Xi of Kuaiji County, Ling Cao of Wu County, etc.

Under such circumstances, Liu Qi was worried that even Xu Rong could not protect Jingzhou.

Fortunately, Niu Fu has retreated, and Xinye's troops can be drawn out and distributed to the south.

After careful consideration, Liu Qi sent people to Xinye and transferred Zhang Ren to lead 10,000 people to Changsha to fight against Sun Jianjun with Xu Rong and others.

As for Xinye, Li Dian, Yan Yan and others were still guarded.

In addition, Cai Mao, Huang Xu, Xing Daorong and others were summoned by Liu Qi to his army, join forces with his own side, and fight with Cao Cao together.

After this arrangement continued, Liu Qi felt a little relieved.

Two more days later, Liu Qi's troops arrived in Lexiang, which was close to the border of Runan, and the troops of Cao Cao, Huang Zhong, Taishi Ci and others were fighting here.

When Liu Qi arrived, Cai Mao and Huang Xu and Xing Daorong had already arrived.

After everyone met, Huang Zhong and Taishi Ci began to introduce the battle between the two sides to Liu Qi.

In terms of combat power, Cao Cao's army was indeed incomparable to those days. The Yellow Turbans of Qingzhou were incorporated by Cao Cao and he was selected to form the Qingzhou army with strong combat power. Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Cao Chun, Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan and others were Cao Cao's wings. Huang Zhong and Taishi Ci fought against each other several times, but they were unable to win.

Liu Qi did not blame them, but just asked, "How did Cao Cao defeat you?"

Huang Zhong sighed, "Cao Cao did not use tricks, but just used troops to arrange troops to fight us. Cao Ren, Cao Chun and others under his command were good at controlling cavalry, Xiahou Yuan was good at moving quickly, and Yu Jin and others from Taishan County were proficient in dispatching troops and formations, which was quite difficult to rival."

Liu Qi nodded slowly and said, "Cao Cao's use of troops is different from others. He has a good sense of selection of materials. The people he uses are all those who are used to fighting. It will not be a moment to defeat Cao Cao."

Taishici said: "What should we do now?"

Liu Qi rubbed his eyebrows, thought seriously for a moment, and said, "Han Sheng and Ziyi are still setting up villages in their original place. I will go east and Degui go west. We will set up three camps, and we will form a horn. It will not be too late to see how Cao Cao acts, and then make a mistake... We must not be anxious when fighting with Cao Cao, so we should use calmness to control it first."

Everyone bowed and agreed.

At the same time, Cao Cao naturally knew that Liu Qi had arrived in the camp.

Cao Ren learned the news and said, "Brother, Liu Boyu's ability is unusual. Yuan Shu was defeated and Niu Fu withdrew his troops. Now even Liu Yan is dead. He gathered tens of thousands of soldiers here to fight us. If he fought with him, it may be too much of a loss and will be unfavorable to our army."

Cao Cao stroked his beard and said, "After that being said, if he retreats, it may be difficult for Benchu ​​to explain."

Xiahou Yuan said, "Since this is the case, will he be exhausted from his loyalty? How about it?"

Cao Cao looked at Xiahou Yuan and said, "How can he exhaust his people?"

Xiahou Yuan strode to Pitu in the commander's tent and pointed out the terrain on Pitu for Cao Cao: "The last official heard that Liu Qi had set up three camps and fought against our army with the force of siege. Although his method is in line with the common sense of military law, it is not impossible to crack. Our army should use its strengths to attack it and continue to harass the three camps of the other army, making them exhausted. If the other party reveals a flaw in the middle, they can take advantage of the map."

There are certain risks in Xiahou Yuan’s advice.

To be honest, his strategy of constantly harassing the enemy is the quality of the army and the ability of the general to command. Once there is one thing that is worse than the other, the person who is countered will most likely become his own side.

Cao Cao stood up and began to circle around the coach's tent, carefully considering the pros and cons of this.

When I was young, I heard him say two words slowly.

“Try it.”

After saying that, Cao Cao began to assign tasks to the military officers present.

When he was young, when all the generals left, Cao Cao found the wine show Zhong over.

"How do you think of this battle?" Cao Cao asked after roughly talking about the matter to Xi Zhong.

Xi Zhong stroked his short beard and thought carefully for a long time. Fang said, "Liu Boyu is indeed different from ordinary people. Fang defeated Yuan Shu as soon as he went out, and negotiated with Niu Fu, so that all the strong soldiers from both sides could retreat. The last official heard from the spy that Liu Junlang died of illness on the other side of Jiangguan, and was afraid that the west would not be able to accomplish anything. Shi Xie was not a man who was strong and tit-for-tat. Now it seems that the only ones who could fight Jingzhou were the general and Sun Jian."

Cao Cao sighed, "To be honest, there are only two armies now, and they are fighting against Jingzhou. Even if they can win, they will definitely win. Cao also wants to retreat, but one is a failure to return, which will hurt the face. The other is not very good-looking at Benchu."

Xi Zhong understood what Cao Cao meant. Although Cao Cao was now a general of the cavalry and his power increased greatly, he had developed too quickly in the past two years, and he did not have a good foundation for many things in his jurisdiction, especially the land of Yanzhou. It was originally under the jurisdiction of several vassals of Yuan Shao, including Liu Dai, Zhang Miao, Bao Xin, Cao Cao, Yuan Yi, etc., but after the Yellow Turban Rebellion in Qingzhou and the dispute between the two Yuans, the situation has changed. Now, Cao Cao's dominance in Yanzhou is the general trend.

But this general trend involves the interests of many people, especially Cao Cao's employment standards are different from normal scholars and family officials.

Therefore, there have always been cancers in Yanzhou... Cao Cao and Xi Zhong had discussed this matter carefully.

But he could not easily remove this cancer because there was a powerful gentry group in the rear to support him. Moreover, like Cao Cao, this man was a vassal of Yuan Shao. If he attacked him without Yuan Shao's consent, he would probably anger Yuan Shao.

Xi Zhong turned these complicated things into a line, and finally said to Cao Cao: "Ming Gong, you can fight Liu Boyu first according to the plan. It would be best if we can form a stalemate... In this way, we can design to eliminate the troubles in Yanzhou and leave Yuan Shao speechless."

Cao Cao was not surprised when he heard this. It was obvious that he had thought about it.

“Just when how to design?”

"We have to fight Liu Boyu and have to negotiate secretly with him. We can't make a fuss. Sun Jian, who is redirecting to attack Changsha, must also give him certain support. Only in this way can Liu Qi act as we want. Whether for Liu Qi, Sun Jian, or for us, this matter is an opportunity... Of course, the result of everything must be based on the battle first."
Chapter completed!