A worry flashed in Wen Yuan's eyes. What he was most worried about now was this matter...
However, what Wen Yuan was most worried about happened. Xiangdong sent him to contact Lu Meng. Zang Ba's flying cavalry came back less than three days after leaving. On the way, they were meeting the cavalry sent by Lu Meng to report the news.
The news they brought did shock Wen Yuan. According to the news sent by Lu Meng, the navy and Xuzhou army were ambushed by the Eastern Wu navy in Lujiang, with heavy casualties and nearly half of them were killed and damaged by Zhou Yu. Now he has retreated to Songz City, Lujiang County under Sun Quan, and was besieged by Jiangdong soldiers. Although it is not far from Huainan, with Wenyuan's current military deployment, the nearest reinforcements are three or four hundred miles away. Shouchun, Runan.
And this is the gift Liu Bei gave to Wen Yuan.
The movements of Jiangdong are obviously not limited to this. With Sun Quan's character in history, if he did not move, he would have done his best to mobilize all his subordinates. From Lu Meng's urgent report, he attacked Lu Meng and others. It was just the troops of Chaisang Zhou Yu's headquarters, and Sun Quan's main force in Jiangdong in Moling did not participate in the attack.
Wen Yuan was almost sure that Sun Quan would lead his troops to attack Huai Si, and even Xuzhou, which he had been coveting. The defense here was empty, and Sun Quan's sudden turn against him made Wen Yuan not fully prepared at all. At this moment, the nearly thousand miles long defense line was not In addition to the small number of auxiliary troops left behind in various places, only the 30,000 Cao's surrendered soldiers who had just been surrendered. Wen Yuan obviously couldn't rest assured that once Sun Quan led his army north, the threat he brought to him would definitely make Wen Yuan. Like a thorn in the throat.
Under such circumstances, Wen Yuan could no longer focus all his attention on Jingzhou, which he had originally been determined to win. Wen Yuan found that the move Liu Bei used was directly and useful. With Sun Quan's move, Wen Yuan had the greatest determination to destroy it. Liu Bei had to sit down and discuss with Liu Bei about the temporary suspension of the army...
then……
Three days later, Yiji returned to Jingzhou with glory. With him, he was ordered by Wen Yuan to go back to worship Liu Bei. Although Yiji did not sign a ceasefire agreement in the Jin army tent, he could Bringing back the envoy sent by the Divine Jin Gong is almost enough to show that he has completed his mission during this trip.
Man Chong came to Jingzhou, and Liu Bei personally led the officials of Jingzhou out of the city to greet him for ten miles. Outside the north gate of Xiangyang City, all the officials in Jingzhou stood off their horses and stood by the road. Only Liu Bei and Man Chong rode together, and met Man Chong. Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang, the envoy representing the court, showed the respect that local ministers should have. A joke, Zhang Liao had already assembled hundreds of thousands of troops in Jiangbei. Although the restraining of Sun Quan's troops in the east was difficult to deal with, Zhang Liao was unable to take care of the beginning and end. If he really annoyed Zhang Liao and made him attack Jingzhou regardless of the loss of Huai Si and Xuzhou, Liu Bei and the other two were really not sure that they could stop Zhang Liao's troops.
What's more, the 30,000 soldiers in Wancheng were still trapped in the tiger's mouth of the Jin army. It would be easy for Zhang Liao to swallow it in one bite.
So although the joint with Sun Quan brought back some situation, Liu Bei knew very well that his overall strength was far inferior to Zhang Liao, and according to the strategy agreed with Zhuge Liang before, it would be of other use to show kindness to Zhang Liao at this time.
Although he immediately laughed at Liu Bei, Man Chong secretly beat his little Jiujiu in his heart.
Man Chong was already familiar with the matter of negotiating missions. When he was under Cao Cao's account, he lobbied several major forces to form a powerful anti-Zhang Liao alliance. Man Chong also gained fame because of this matter , I immediately followed Wen Yuan's tent and entrusted him with the left and right to use it. Although the lord had already intentionally retreated, Man Chong secretly warned himself that he would never lose his reputation and even negotiated. Try your best to win more benefits and initiative for your own side.
Nanyang is the lord who is determined to win, so Man Chong made up his mind to cut off such a piece of fat from Liu Bei, and Jiangxia should also try to get it as much as possible. In this way, the confrontation between the river will be held in a better position next time the lord goes south. Guide Jingzhou.
The negotiation process was a bit unexpected. Perhaps it was Zhuge Liang's wisdom, or perhaps it was Liu Bei who was eager to rescue Pang Tong's more than 30,000 Jingzhou soldiers trapped in Wancheng. During the negotiation, Liu Bei decided not to hesitate for a long time to withdraw his power from Nanyang. He allowed the Duke of Jin to send troops to defend Xiangyang, but Liu Bei insisted on keeping Xinye and several counties in the north of the Yangtze River in Fancheng to defend.
This condition is not unacceptable. These small counties are isolated in the north of the river. All they can do is to guard against Xiangyang. Beware of the Lord's crossing the river and attacking Jingzhou. But on the day when hundreds of thousands of troops heading south, if Liu Bei doesn't want to regain his revenge. Due to the passive situation of Wancheng being surrounded, these small cities must be abandoned, and Liu Bei still has to rely on the river to compete with the lord.
There is no big difference between the two sides on the issue of Nanyang's ownership, so it will be much easier to deal with next, but some details need to be determined. Next, Liu Bei will also hand over the full rights to Zhuge Liang for handling the matters negotiated with Man Chong. After some bargaining, three days later, Man Chong finally returned to Wancheng with the peace agreement drafted by both parties. After all, although Wen Yuan had already handed over the negotiations to Man Chong, the final result was Wen Yuan's decision.
In the left general's mansion in Xiangyang City, Liu Bei was walking back and forth, looking out the door from time to time, when he suddenly saw Zhuge Liang strode into the yard.
Zhuge Liang bowed and said, "Lord, Man Chong has been sent across the river by me."
Liu Bei squeezed out a smile and said, "Oh... Thank you for your hard work in the military advisor. This time, the military advisor will make a great contribution. When the Jin army retreats, I will reward you with a thick reward in the future..." At that time, Liu Bei looked a little disappointed, and after speaking, he sighed a long sigh.
Zhuge Liang bowed and said, "The lord is ashamed of the lord and dare not accept it. He cannot share his worries for the lord. This is the crime of the minister."
A trace of loss flashed in Liu Bei's eyes and waved his hand and said, "What is the military advisor saying? How can I be the kind of person who doesn't understand right or wrong? I can get the result now. I know that the military advisor has done his best and is what I can do at this time. The best ending I got is ultimately... We are not strong enough... Zhang Liao, Zhang Liao, he is pressing on my head for a day, and I can't rest for a moment..."
Zhuge Liang advised: "The lord doesn't have to be so concerned. The so-called heroes create the times. In the past, Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang lived in a corner and even ruled the world. What's more, the lord's hero is not inferior to Emperor Gaozu in his lifetime."
Zhuge Liang glanced at Liu Bei and said, "When it comes to Emperor Gaozu, I was just thinking about something. Lord, the Jin army will withdraw soon, we must also make preparations for the next time. Time is tight, I don't know when Zhang Liao will return next time We will launch a large-scale invasion of the south. Within a year, we must plan everything well..."
"Yes," Liu Bei's expression was a little slow when he heard this, but he still lowered his head and pondered without saying anything.
Zhuge Liang's eyes flashed with a trace of worry and asked, "Master, do you still have any doubts about the planned plan that has been confirmed? Could it be that you still can't bear to turn against the brother of Liu Zhang? This is also forced by the situation. Lord, the wealthy man in Sichuan. Liu Zhang is weak, if the lord hesitates to take it, he will be occupied by Zhang Liao in the future."
Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong and others have already formulated the next strategic policy for Liu Bei, but Zhuge Liang proposed this plan several times but was not adopted by Liu Bei. The reason why Liu Bei gave was that Liu Zhang, the governor of Yizhou, and he were both Han Dynasty. The clan relatives and brothers were tragic, which made Liu Bei, who had always established himself as benevolent and righteous, hesitated.
Zhuge Liang had to persuade him again, Liu Bei shook his head and said, "The military advisor was worried too much. In fact, it was not because he was worried about this, but because of Sun Quan of the Eastern Wu... Sun Quan just formed an alliance with me, so we secretly reached a peace agreement with Zhang Liao to ced Nanyang, right? …”