In a moment, Xu Shu's footsteps felt windy and he hurriedly walked into the tent.
Judging from the worried look on his face, it was obvious that he had been woken up from a dream and his head was not yet fully awake.
Yan Liang personally poured him a cup of hot tea, "You won't blame me for waking you up from your dream, Yuan Zhi, so late at night."
Xu Shu hurriedly smiled and said: "How could it be possible? My lord woke me up overnight. It must be something important."
"You should read this letter first."
Yan Liang handed him the letter of surrender from Kuai Yue, then sat down, poured himself a cup of hot tea, and sipped it leisurely.
The sleepiness on Xu Shu's face soon disappeared because of that letter, and excitement flashed in his bloodshot eyes.
"Lord, where did this letter come from?" Xu Shu asked excitedly.
Yan Liang then told Xu Shu about the man who claimed to be a slave of Kuai Yue's family and sneaked out of the city late at night to see him.
Xu Shu looked at the letter in his hand and murmured: "If this letter is really written by Kuai Yue, it would be interesting. However, I have never seen Kuai Yue's handwriting, so I can't confirm its authenticity."
"This is not easy." Yan Liang waved his hand and shouted: "Come here, bring that guy Liu Cong over."
Zhou Cang quickly conveyed the order, and not long after, Liu Cong was dragged in by several fierce and bear warriors.
At this time, Liu Cong was sleeping soundly, but he didn't want to be suddenly pulled out of bed by these vicious men. He was frightened and didn't know what happened, but his face turned pale in panic.
"You guys, why are you so rude to Liu Zhoumu?" Yan Liang scolded everyone, but there was no trace of blame on his face.
Then, he turned his attention to Liu Cong, who was frightened, and said with a smile: "Liu Zhoumu, I am really embarrassed to wake you up from bed so late."
Liu Cong hurriedly smiled and said: "General Yan is too polite. In fact, I haven't fallen asleep yet, so I can't be considered as being woken up."
"That's good. I invited Liu Zhoumu here overnight. Actually, I have a small matter that I want to help you with." Yan Liang was quite polite.
The more polite Yan Liang was, the more flustered Liu Cong became. He knew that Yan Liang's city was very deep and ever-changing, and there might be some sinister intention underneath this polite appearance.
Liu Cong didn't have time to speculate. He said hurriedly: "I must not take it seriously. If General Yan has any instructions, just tell him."
Yan Liang then winked at Xu Shu.
Xu Shu then stood up and walked forward. He handed part of the letter to Liu Cong and showed it to Liu Cong. He covered the words about "Kuai Yue" with his fingers.
"Liu Zhoumu, my lord would like to ask you to identify whose handwriting this letter is."
Liu Cong was confused for a moment, but he breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out that Yan Liang asked him to come here just to learn the words, and there was no evil intention.
Liu Cong didn't dare to be careless, so he quickly squinted his eyes and studied the words carefully.
After observing carefully for a long time, Liu Cong's face showed a strange look. "Isn't this Kuai Yidu's handwriting?"
Yan Liang and Xu Shu looked at each other, and Xu Shu asked again: "Liu Zhoumu, can you see it clearly? Is this really Kuai Yue's handwriting? If you admit it wrong, my lord will blame you, but it will be your own fault."
With such a threat, a few drops of sweat immediately appeared on Liu Cong's forehead. He quickly lowered his head, braced himself, and studied the handwriting carefully for a while.
Finally, Liu Cong gritted his teeth and cupped his hands and said: "General Huiyan, Xiaguan has been studying with Kuai Yidu since he was a child. Xiaguan has read his handwriting hundreds of times. This handwriting is indeed his, but the words in this letter are
The content..."
"Okay, it's none of your business. Send Liu Zhoumu to rest."
Yan Liang received the confirmation and waved Liu Congping away.
They escorted Liu Cong away, and only two of his principals and ministers were left in the tent.
Xu Shu said: "It seems that this letter was indeed written by Kuai Yue. If he is really willing to incite Liu Cong's old troops to attack the city gate as stated in the letter, with him as an internal response, it will be easy for us to attack Jiangling City."
Xu Shu's words are almost exactly the same as what Yan Liang thought when he first saw this letter.
However, Yan Liang could tell that Xu Shu's words were not full of confidence, and there seemed to be some suspicion.
"On the surface, this matter seems to be very beneficial to us, but Yuanzhi, do you have a feeling that something is not right about this?"
Yan Liang asked back, and this was exactly what he felt.
Xu Shu's expression was slightly shocked, as if Yan Liang's words had touched his mind.
After pondering for a moment, Xu Shu cupped his hands and said, "My lord has a sharp eye, and I can't hide anything from my lord. Yes, I do feel that there is something fishy about Kuai Yue's surrender."
"Although Kuai Yue had a grudge against me, he was desperate and didn't want to be buried with Liu Qi. In order to survive, it makes sense that he surrendered to me as a last resort, but what's suspicious about it?" Yan Liang asked.
Xu Shu stroked his beard and said: "The Kuai family has declined. Even if Kuai Yue surrenders to the general, it is impossible to restore the decline of the Kuai family. Therefore, whether Kuai Yue surrenders or not is completely related to his personal honor and disgrace. This point he
It should be clear."
Yan Liang nodded slightly and signaled Xu Shu to continue.
"Now our army has only surrounded the north and east gates. Jiangling City is not isolated from the outside world. If Kuai Yue really has that ability, he can choose to flee to the four counties of Jingnan, or Yizhou, or even Jiangdong.
.With his status as a famous scholar, I don’t think any prince would accept him, but why would he take the risk and surrender to the lord who has a grudge against him?”
The rhetorical question played into Yan Liang's heart.
Xu Shu's suspicions were exactly where Yan Liang's suspicions lay. The reason why he called Xu Shu here was to confirm his guesses through another resourceful mind.
A sneer appeared at the corner of Yan Liang's lips, "It seems that what Yuan Zhi thinks coincides with what I think. Kuai Yue's surrender must be a fraud."
"It turns out that my lord has been suspicious for a long time." Xu Shu had a strange look on his face.
Yan Liang snorted coldly, "Of course I was very excited at first, but then I thought that there is still your scheming old friend in Jiangling City. It would be in vain if this person could allow the Kuai Yue rebellion to happen.
I will take him seriously."
The person Yan Liang was referring to was obviously Zhuge Liang.
Xu Shu's expression moved slightly, and he immediately understood what Yan Liang meant. He nodded and said, "Except for Kong Ming, there is no one else in Jiangling City who can think of using Kuai Yue to fake his surrender."
"It's a pity that your old friend's plan was discovered by you and me. Since he is so ignorant of current affairs and has repeatedly opposed me, I will definitely teach him a lesson this time."
Murderous aura was gathering on Yan Liang's stern face.
"Kong Ming, you keep going against General Yan because of your own personal grudges. It is really out of character. If so, don't blame me, an old friend, for being unkind..."
Xu Shu thought to himself, and a certain determination gradually emerged between his brows.
…
That night, Yan Liang and Xu Shu secretly decided on a countermeasure.
In the next three days, Kuai Yue's domestic slaves sneaked out of the city several times to meet in secret, repeatedly demonstrating Kuai Yue's sincerity in surrendering.
Yan Liang remained calm and pretended to be deceived. He was convinced of Kuai Yue's surrender. To show his sincerity, he wrote a handwritten letter to Kuai Yue, promising to forgive him.
After several exchanges, the two parties set a date. Kuai Yue said that he would raise his troops at night two days later to seize control of the North Gate. At that time, Yan Liang's army was secretly ambush outside, and once the matter was accomplished, he would quickly send troops to attack from the North Gate.
In the city, Jiangling was captured in one fell swoop.
######
Two days later, Jiangling East Gate.
The dark moon covered the moon, the night was quiet, and Jiangling City was quiet.
Five thousand well-fed Jingzhou troops lined up inside the east gate. Every soldier's face was filled with excitement. In the solemn atmosphere, the only thing that could be heard was the rising and falling of heavy breathing.
Veteran general Huang Zhong stood calmly among the troops with his sword drawn across his horse, his gray beard caressed by the night wind, and he looked as majestic as an iron tower.
Not long after, the sound of horse hoofbeats sounded, and Liu Qi rode up, followed by Zhuge Liang and others.
Liu Qi glanced at his soldiers, reined in his horse in front of Huang Zhong, and said with cupped hands: "Old General, the life and death of the soldiers and civilians in Jiangling City, and the foundation of my Liu family, all depend on this battle, Old General."
Liu Qi was in a generous mood and hoped that Huang Zhong would respond to him with high morale.
Unexpectedly, Huang Zhong's old face showed no signs of emotion, he just cupped his hands slightly and said calmly: "General, I will do my best, but before I leave, I want to ask one question, my lord, with this plan of attacking the enemy camp at night,
Are you really sure of winning?"
Huang Zhong's plainness made Liu Qi a little embarrassed, so he turned his attention to Zhuge Liang.
Zhuge Liang rode his horse forward, shook his feather fan lightly, and said calmly: "Old General, don't worry, Yan Liang has fallen into Liang's trick to surrender. At this moment, his main force must be gathered in the north camp, and the east camp will definitely be empty. The old general will definitely rob the camp this time."
Able to defeat in one battle."
Although his tone was indifferent, there was strong confidence hidden in that indifference.
Huang Zhong nodded and said: "If that's the case, then I'll go."
Although Zhuge Liang looked confident, Huang Zhong remained as calm as water. He only replied calmly and then rode away.
The city gate slowly opened, and Huang Zhong rode out, followed closely by the five thousand Jingzhou troops, who silently walked out of the east gate and soon disappeared into the night.
After seeing off Huang Zhong's night attack army, Liu Qi and Zhuge Liang turned around and headed straight for the north gate.
When they boarded the city gate, more than 7,000 soldiers had already been deployed. Along the semicircular wall of the urn city, 2,000 crossbowmen were in place, and their fierce arrows were aimed at the area between the urn city and the main gate.
Semicircular open space.
When the enemy attacks the Wengcheng, if the main city gate and the Wengcheng gate are closed, the enemy who attacks the Wengcheng will be trapped and die in the semicircular space.
Liu Qi stood at the top of the city, looking in the distance towards Yan Jun's North Camp, with a complicated look in his eyes, both excited and a little nervous.
After enduring Yan Liang's bombardment for so long, tonight, it was finally time to fight back. How could Liu Qi not be excited?
However, he was a little worried, fearing that this strategy might go wrong.
Excited and uneasy, Liu Qi turned back to look at Zhuge Liang, but Wolong was shaking his feather fan lightly, still calm and composed, as if everything was under his control.
Zhuge Liang also looked at the enemy camp in the distance, counted the time with his fingers, and said calmly: "My lord, the time is almost up. It's time for Yan Liang to catch the turtle in the jar."
Zhuge Liang's calmness made Liu Qi feel at ease. He took a deep breath and shouted loudly: "Light the fire!" To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation, monthly vote, and your support.
