"Lord, Cao's thief retreats, and we are the best opportunity to pursue him." Zhuge Liang climbed onto Xinye City Wall, slowly came to Liu Bei's side, and said to him.
"Chasing?" Liu Bei was quite confused.
"The lord should take advantage of the Cao bandits' return to rescue Chang'an and Hefei to lead their troops to raid Wancheng. If we can conquer Wancheng, our army can echo Ma Teng and Sun Jian from afar, and the three sides are forcing Xuchang together, so it is not difficult to destroy Cao bandits." Zhuge Liang said slowly, with a confident expression on his face.
"It would be great if we could really destroy the Cao thief. But our army defended the city for days and suffered heavy casualties. Now there are less than 20,000 soldiers who can fight, so how can we capture Wancheng?" While speaking, Liu Bei also showed a hint of sadness on his face. He had been in charge of many years and finally accumulated some wealth, but in front of Cao Cao's army, he lost more than half of it in just a few days.
After years of hard work, half of it was easily destroyed, which made Liu Bei feel an indescribable sense of frustration.
"Don't worry, lord, although lord himself is unable to attack Wancheng, he can borrow troops from Liu Jingsheng." Zhuge Liang shook his feather fan and continued.
"Brother Jingsheng borrows troops, will Brother Jingsheng lend me?" Liu Bei's words were obviously not confident enough. Since he entered Jingzhou, Liu Biao has been very cautious about himself. Although he lends troops to himself this time to help him defend Xinye City, it was because Cao Cao had already reached the doorstep of his home. If Cao Cao's army had not been on the verge of the border, he would never have sent another soldier to him. Now that the danger in Jingzhou has been resolved, would he agree to lend troops to him and let him take the initiative to go out to conquer the city?
"Liu Jingsheng is still a little ambitious. In the past few years, because of the continuous battles with Sun Jian and the powerful force of Cao thieves, Liu Jingsheng never dared to turn his attention to the north. Now that Sun Jian has raised his troops to attack Hefei, there is no threat in Jiangdong. Cao Cao is also in danger in the face of the two-line offensives between Ma Teng and Sun Jian. This is a great opportunity for the Northern Expedition. The lord of the lord mentioned the Northern Expedition to Liu Jingsheng, and he must be interested." Zhuge Liang's eyes showed a light of confidence and wisdom, and analyzed to Liu Bei, "The only thing Liu Jingsheng may be worried about is that after capturing Wancheng, the lord of the lord took this opportunity to break away from his control and become independent in Wancheng. The lord can tell Liu Jingsheng that he is willing to be a deputy general, and the candidate for the head coach can be decided by Liu Jingsheng himself. In this way, his concerns can be eliminated."
Liu Bei could naturally understand what Zhuge Liang said. As long as he got his troops, he would have no matter whether his identity was a commander or a deputy general. If he could capture Wancheng, then Xuchang was close at hand. Once he took the lead in occupying Xuchang, he could become a major force in the Central Plains. At that time, all the troops sent by Liu Biao would be called his own name. The main general sent by Liu Biao was to kill or imprison, but it was just a matter of his own thoughts.
The next day, Liu Bei advised Liu Biao, asking him to send troops to attack Wancheng, and said that he could only be a deputy general. Liu Biao did not want to agree, but after Liu Bei persuaded him repeatedly, he finally made some move and ordered Cai Mao as the main general, Liu Bei as the deputy general, Kuai Yue as the counselor, and Prince Liu Qi as the military supervisor, raised 70,000 troops to attack Wancheng.
Although Liu Biao had made up his mind to send troops, he did not want to appoint Liu Bei as his deputy general. But then he thought that Liu Bei had a peerless general named Zhang Fei, a wise general, and Chen Gong, and Xu Shu assisted him (Zhuge Liang was still not famous at this time). If he abandoned Liu Bei, it would be like giving up such an outstanding civil and military general, which would be too a pity.
With Cai Mao, Kuai Yue and Liu Qi insulted, Liu Bei must not be able to stir up any turmoil, and Liu Biao thought so.
But in the end, Liu Biao officially issued an order to fight. Cai Mao and Liu Bei led an army of 70,000 to attack Wancheng in a mighty manner.
However, when the army marched to the gate of Wancheng City, both Cai Mao, Kuai Yue, Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang and others frowned.
The city of Wancheng is strong and the guards on the city are in a neat manner. It is obvious that they have been prepared for a long time.
Since Cao Cao was already wary of Liu Biao's possible offensive against Wancheng, the number of defenders in Wancheng was naturally impossible to have a small number of them. It was difficult to conquer Wancheng suddenly.
"General Cai, you must not do anything, withdraw your troops." Kuai Yue rode his horse to Cai Mao and said to him.
Cai Mao's expression changed and hesitated.
Siege? Wancheng looks difficult to conquer. If the city is not captured by then, all his 70,000 people will be lost, and that will be a real loss.
Withdrawal? I came with a strong army with great enthusiasm, ran back in shame without doing anything. Where did I put my face in the future?