On the river outside Yidu County, 1,500 warships were densely laid on the river, like crucian carp crossing the river, with a huge scale.

This is the 70,000 Jingzhou army that is about to expedition to Bashu, and they have gathered in Yidu City for two days, waiting for the final order.

The so-called Battle of Jingnan was just an excuse for their army to assemble. Jingzhou made full preparations for several months, including 300,000 stones of grain, countless weapons and supplies, more than 10,000 mules, horses and livestock, and mobilized 20,000 boatmen and 30,000 logistics civilians.

Jingzhou almost threw almost all the spoils from the Battle of Red Cliff into this war.

The 70,000 troops were divided into two groups, one was made by veteran Huang Zhong as the main general and Liao Hua as the deputy general, leading 20,000 troops on land, and the other was Liu Jing personally led 50,000 troops on water, with water and land at the same time, and would seize Bashu in one fell swoop.

At the dock, Liu Jing was making the final mobilization before the expedition to hundreds of military marquis and above.

"Dear generals, Liu Zhang of Yizhou has passed away not long ago. His two sons broke out in civil war to fight for the position of inheritance. In Badong County, war broke out in Dongzhou soldiers and local troops of Bashu. This is our opportunity..."

Speaking of this, Liu Jing slowly looked at everyone, and saw that everyone looked solemn and their eyes were full of tension, as if they were going to participate in a battle of blood and fire. He smiled and said, "Don't be too nervous for you, you should seize Bashu. We have an absolute advantage in our strength. In addition, Liu Zhang's new death, people's hearts are in chaos, and there are still tens of thousands of troops trapped in Hanzhong. As long as we don't take risks and do stupid moves in this battle, we will be able to take Bashu within two months at most, and all the soldiers participating in the battle will be rewarded!"

The last sentence made the officers jubilant, and the atmosphere on the dock suddenly became warm. Liu Jing waved his hand again, and the officers on the dock calmed down again. Liu Jing then ordered: "Start in an hour, and now we will go back and prepare!"

The officers dispersed one after another. At this time, Sima Yi hurried up with a messenger and said, "Prince, there is news from Wucheng just sent."

The report soldier stepped forward and knelt down on one knee, raised a letter high, "This is my prefect's letter of help to the provincial governor!"

Liu Jing quickly took the letter, and he felt a little inexplicable worry. Before he went to war, he actually received a letter of help from Pang Xi, which gave Liu Jing an ominous premonition.

He looked at the letter and found that Pang Xi was defeated by Yan Yan. Now the soldiers are in small positions and are huddled in Wucheng County, begging Jingzhou to send troops to provide assistance.

"Is it the defeat of Badong or the defeat of Wucheng's army?" Pang Xi did not write it clearly in the letter, and Liu Jing asked the soldiers to report the letter again.

"The governor of Qibingzhou was defeated in Badong first, General Pang Jun was killed. Yan Yan's army chased and killed the remaining soldiers who had fled to Wucheng. He was very arrogant. Prefect Pang attacked angrily, but he was ambushed and killed and returned home.

"How many troops are there in Wucheng now?" Liu Jing asked again.

"Pang Prefect has transferred the defenders of Zigui County to Wucheng, with less than 3,000 troops."

"I see!"

Liu Jing asked his personal soldiers to take the newsman to go down. At this time, Sima Yi smiled and said, "It seems that Yan Yan is also quite good at using tricks, and it will be a stumbling block for us to move westward."

"Military advisors don't worry too much. Although Yan Yan is a little strategic, his mantis arm cannot stop the chariot. Our army advances westward and will definitely crush his 20,000 troops!"

Liu Jing stared at a green farmland in the distance, and he couldn't help but sigh softly, "I'm going to fight in spring, this is my fault!"

After saying that, he turned around and walked towards the big ship, shouting orders, "I'm ready to go!"

One hour later, with the sound of huge war drums, one thousand five hundred warships hung sails, thousands of sails were like clouds, extremely spectacular, and the fleet sailed towards Bashu, officially opening the curtain for the westward expansion of Jingzhou.

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This news shocked Xun You, "How could he die of illness?"

"I heard that he died suddenly during the inspection, and the cause of death is unknown, and it is very likely that he died of poisoning."

Cao Cao sighed and said, "Now Liu Zhang's two sons accused each other of poisoning each other and led their troops to conquer the war. The civil war was very fierce. Fierce battles broke out between the soldiers and the Bashu clans in the south. Yizhou is now in chaos."

Xun You snorted slightly and said, "Liu Zhang died suddenly. Who else would be the one whom Liu Jing did? It's a pity that Liu Zhang's two stupid sons fought for their own interests, but ignored the arrival of a great enemy."

Cao Cao nodded, "It is obvious that Liu Zhang's death is the biggest benefit. As long as Liu Zhang is eliminated, Yizhou will become a land without a border. Liu Jing can seize Bashu before the imperial court appointed the governor of Xinzhou, in the name of quelling the Bashu rebellion and protecting the people. He will morally stand firm. At this time, he will force me to admit his control over Bashu."

Speaking of this, Cao Cao's eyes showed an unconcealed worry and said to Xun You: "Liu Jing occupied Jingzhou and Bashu, and the world's wealthy land was second, and Bashu was more advantageous. If his Shangyong strategy was successful, it would be a one-stop bass in the Hanzhong, and then the troops were targeted at Guanzhong, which would occupy half of the Han Dynasty. Gongda, what should we do now?"

Xun You sighed in his heart, Liu Zhang died suddenly, Liu Jing's general situation was ready to seize Yizhou, and there was still some way to stop it, but he had to share the worries for Cao Cao. After pondering for a while, Xun You said slowly: "I have three strategies, which may slow down Liu Jing's progress in the west."

Of course, Cao Cao knew that this matter was extremely difficult. If it were easy, he would have decided by himself. It was because he had no choice but to invite Xun You. It was indeed not simple. He quickly smiled and said, "Please tell me if Gongda!"

"The first plan can be called an urgent plan, and you must do it immediately. The first is that the court immediately recognizes Liu Xun or Liu Wei as the governor of Yizhou Prefecture, and then sends people to Yizhou to persuade their brothers to stop internal strife and keeps on the outside. It can also make Liu Jing untenable in morality. At the same time, it is also recommended to immediately station troops in Nanyang or Runan, and take advantage of Liu Jing's approaching westward and Jingzhou is empty, and the troops will be suppressed by Liu Jingzhou and force Liu Jing to withdraw his troops."

Cao Cao nodded silently. He could admit that Liu Wei was the governor of Yizhou and that Huang Quan could reconcile the civil war. There was no problem with this, but he thought it was inappropriate to attack Jingzhou. Xun You proposed this plan last time, but he did not adopt it.

It was not because he and Liu Jing signed a contract that was not attacking each other. That kind of contract was meaningless to him. The key was that it was blocked by the Han River and the Yangtze River, and Jiangxia had a strong naval army. He had little effect on attacking Jingzhou, but instead tore up and broke the contract, giving Liu Jing the opportunity to attack Nanyang. Therefore, Cao Cao weighed the pros and consequently did not adopt the plan to station troops in Runan.

But Cao Cao didn't want to explain too much, so he asked, "Please tell me the second plan!"

Xun You felt that Cao Cao was not very surprised, and probably he would not adopt the policy of force Jingzhou. Helplessly, he had to say again: "If Liu Jing occupied Bashu, the Prime Minister could secretly support the local Bashu faction and at the same time allocated the conflict between the local Bashu faction and the Dongzhou faction, making it difficult for Liu Jing to gain a foothold in Yizhou and was forced to give up Yizhou. This plan takes a certain amount of time, but the effect will be very good, so it is also called delaying the plan."

"Not bad!" Cao Cao praised: "This is a plan to remove firewood from the cauldron. Without the support of the people of Bashu, Liu Jing could not swallow it even if he swallowed Bashu. More importantly, it could buy me time. I have adopted this plan. I will ask Gongda's third plan."

Xun You thought for a while and said, "The third plan, let's call it a supplementary plan. What I mean is that we did not seize the initiative in Bashu and Hanzhong, and formed today's passiveness. Then we will seize Liu Jing and block his next path before him."

"Does Gongda refer to Guanzhong?" Cao Cao asked.

Xun You nodded, "It's Guanzhong!"

Cao Cao walked slowly with his hands behind his back. He understood Xun You's meaning. The key to Guanzhong was Ma Chao. If Ma Chao was not eliminated, Liu Jing would most likely use his alliance with Ma Chao to seek Guanzhong.

For Ma Chao, Liu Jing's entry into Guanzhong means that he has completely controlled Longyou, and no longer has to worry about the support of the Cao army in Guanzhong for Han Sui, and even asks Liu Jing to help him destroy Han Sui together.

However, if he conquered Guanzhong, it would mean that he surrounded the Central Plains from the south and west directions, and completely formed a strategic advantage for himself, making him lose sight of one thing and the other, and in the end he would inevitably be eroded by Liu Jing step by step. Only by taking the lead in controlling Guanzhong, destroying Ma Chao, and blocking Liu Jing in Hanzhong is the correct strategy.

Thinking of this, Cao Cao turned around and asked, "If we want to destroy Ma Chao, what should we do?"

Xun You stroked his beard and smiled and said, "Ma Chao has the advantage of cavalry, and most of the soldiers in the army are Qiang people. Longyou is his foundation. If it is difficult to destroy him in Longyou, it is better to lure him to Guanzhong and destroy him in Guanzhong."

Cao Cao was overjoyed and asked quickly: "Will the plan come out?"
Chapter completed!