With a battle at Changbanpo.

Because Cao Ren and his main army were defeated and forced to retreat, it also indirectly caused the morale of the soldiers guarding various places in the Jingbei War Zone to be greatly affected.

In addition, the general was defeated and took the lead in retreating north to Fancheng to hold on, without personally staying at the front line.

This move undoubtedly caused the already unfavorable military morale of the guards under his command to become depressed again.

After the Jingzhou Army continued to advance north,

It was a series of battles and victories all the way, almost overwhelming them, and they advanced to the gates of Xiangyang City.

And successfully joined forces with the navy led by Zhao Lei.

Along with the surrounding Zhonglu, Yicheng, as well as Yuliangzhou, Luershan and other places that connected Fancheng on the north bank from the left and right sides, they were all successively captured by the Jingzhou Army sent out.

At this point, Xiangyang City has completely become an isolated city.

Fortunately, Xiangyang guard Lu Chang's on-the-spot reaction was indeed very good.

As early as when his main force was defeated in Nagasaka and the county was reorganized, the morale of the defenders at Lankouju was adversely affected. He keenly felt that these two places might not be able to defend for a long time!

He made a prompt decision and quietly gathered all the defense lines into the city, preparing to defend the city to the death.

Not to mention Xiangyang's strong city, the terrain is very favorable, with Jingshan Mountain to the northwest and west, Jingshan Mountain as a barrier, and Jianshan Mountain as a guard to the south.

As for the east, the Mian River flows endlessly and rushes through the middle.

Not only that, the three mountains surrounding Xiangyang are also intertwined with various small tributaries of Mian River.

To describe the terrain around Xiangyang in one sentence, there is water in the mountains, and the water connects the mountains.

This establishes the characteristics of Xiangyang City that is easy to defend but difficult to attack.

At this time, the commander-in-chief Lu Chang was still standing at the top of the city in his armor and armor. His eyes slowly glanced at the sergeants of the Jingzhou Army who were setting up camp about ten miles away from the city.

The blurry figures in his eyes seemed to be busy.

"The main troops under General Cao are all elite soldiers who followed him in sweeping the north. However, even such powerful soldiers were defeated by the Jingzhou army."

"Obviously, Guan Yunchang's military management ability is extraordinary!"

"If I hadn't transferred the garrison soldiers from various defense lines back to the city in time, there would probably be no troops left in Xiangyang City now, right?"

He stood quietly at the slightly blurry enemy camp below, muttering to himself, a somewhat sad look appeared on his face unconsciously.

Lu Chang could not imagine how powerful the Jingzhou Army was.

But based on just one thing, the enemy army was able to defeat Cao Ren's main force in the frontal wilderness.

It's not something that the people under his command can compete with!

If he had not retreated in time and was stuck by the enemy's soldiers, it would have been difficult to escape.

In fact, Xiangyang City will eventually face a situation where there are no troops to defend it.

"Simply, there is a strong city like Xiangyang that can be used as an important town to avoid its sharp edges."

As his thoughts gradually settled on this point, Lu Chang gently stretched out his hand and patted the thick stamp in front of him, and a trace of confidence gradually rose on his face.

The majesty of the city wall and the surrounding terrain make Xiangyang easy to defend but difficult to attack.

This may be the source of Lu Chang's confidence.

"Speaking of which, the city defense of Xiangyang must be thanked by Liu Biao, the shepherd of Jingzhou!"

For a moment, he also felt quite emotional.

At first, Liu Biao was granted the title of Governor of Jingzhou by the imperial court, but at that time, the political situation among the counties and counties in Jingzhou was almost dominated by clan traitors from all over the country.

Nanyang County, the only way to Jingzhou, was intercepted by Yuan Shu, who was at the peak of his power and was "the number one prince in the world".

But when Liu Biao was young, he was not as dim as he was in old age. He was still quite heroic.

He directly concealed his name and rode into Jingzhou alone.

He also used a series of political means to make friends with the Cai family and the Kuai family, who were well-known in the state, and combined their hands to summon all the clan thieves and capture them in one fell swoop.

Then he used Cai's daughter to marry her.

Then step by step, he secured his position as the governor of Jingzhou and gained control of power.

He moved the then state government from Jiangling to Xiangyang and built the city extensively.

More than ten years later,

Under Liu Biao's management, Xiangyang not only became a large city with prosperous commerce and wealthy people, with a population of more than 100,000.

The city's defenses have also been repaired extremely firmly!

Since the Battle of Chibi, Prime Minister Cao Cao's southern expedition ended in failure.

Later, along with the Nanjun Jiangling line, they were captured by the Sun and Liu coalition forces.

Xiangyang became the primary frontier in the Jingzhou War Zone.

In order to further protect the safety of Xudu, Wan, Luo and other hinterlands of the Central Plains.

On the one hand, Cao Cao moved the population around Xiangyang to the north, and on the other hand, he also began to further strengthen the city.

From then on, Xiang and Fan became Cao's key towns in the Jingzhou War Zone to counteract the southern forces.

Xiangyang City was reinforced again on Liu Biao's original basis, and now the city defense is completely impregnable.

However, because the Cao family completely turned Xiangyang into a military fortress and moved the surrounding population north, the area around Xiangyang, which was originally prosperous in the past, gradually became deserted.

Today, Xiangyang City becomes increasingly depressed.

The prosperity of the past has disappeared,

Looking at it now, it looks like an out-and-out military town.

Lu Chang stood on the top of the towering city. His worried expression gradually calmed down, and he calmed down and said:

"As long as Xiangyang City's defense is strong, I think the problem is not big!"

Apart from a brief moment of worry, his mind gradually relaxed.

So what if the Jingzhou army is powerful?

Due to Xiangyang's city defense and the terrain characteristics of "there is water in the mountains and mountains in the water", it is not that easy to break through the city.

Lu Chang thought to himself.

The confidence emerging deep in my heart also increased slightly.

…

on the other hand,

As the cities around Xiangyang were captured one after another, the two armies of Shuibu joined forces to surround Xiangyang.

The various tributaries of the Mian River and the crossings across the river were all completely under the control of the Jingzhou Army.

Xiang and Fan, two important Cao towns that straddled the south and north sides, were completely cut off from each other.

Especially for Cao Ren, the navy and boats were its own weakness.

Now the front line of Mianshui is basically surrendered.

I saw that on the entire river, at regular intervals, there would be Jingzhou Navy patrol boats cruising back and forth in the river, exploring the surroundings.

In case Cao Ren and Lu Chang's troops secretly sent ships to infiltrate and pass information to each other.

And isolating Xiangyang City also cuts off the connection with Fancheng.

Inside the Jingzhou Army camp at this moment.

Naturally, all the generals and academies gathered together and had various heated discussions.

The military discussion was in full swing.

The generals talked to each other about various plans on how to defeat Xiangyang.

The commander-in-chief, Guan Yu, was sitting on top of the throne, his face was very solemn and expressionless.

After listening to the generals' discussion for a long time, I didn't hear any great plan to attack Xiangyang.

No one came up with a brilliant strategy.

However, this is indeed common sense!

With Xiangyang's city defense and the city surrounded by mountains and rivers inside and outside, it is not unusually difficult to attack by force.

If the defenders do not take the initiative to surrender the city, it will be too difficult to rely solely on a strong attack.

Guan Yu also knew this.

Once again, after waiting for a long time, seeing that everyone still had no targeted strategy for the time being, Guan Yu's red face seemed to become heavier and heavier. Danfeng opened his eyes slightly and said seriously:

"It is already the season of mid-August. We will continue to garrison troops and besiege Xiangyang for more than ten days. If there is no turning point, all the troops will retreat one after another and return to Jiangling."

As soon as this statement came out, all the generals in the tent couldn't help but look at each other in shock.

"what's the situation?"
To be continued...