Yan Liang and his counselors were discussing the war in the north with great interest.
Just as Yan Liang had predicted before, the cooperation between Yuan Tan and Liu Bei not only completely reversed the unfavorable situation, but also gained a clear military advantage.
Liu Bei's 30,000-strong army marched north from Xuzhou and conquered all the way. In less than ten days, they captured the Beihai Kingdom located in the heart of Qingzhou.
Once the Beihai fell, Chengyang County and Donglai County on the east coast of Qingzhou were cut off from Qingzhou, and they all surrendered to Liu Bei without fighting.
Liu Bei then led his army to march westward from the Beihai Kingdom, and marched directly into the Qi Kingdom. He even reached Keyidu and several cities in Nanfeng, and directed his troops towards Linzi City, where the Qingzhou Governor's Department was located.
Liu Bei's consecutive battles and victories shocked the Central Plains for a time.
Yan Liang had to sigh with emotion, Liu Bei was really a hero, he had not been able to achieve success before, all he lacked was the support of his family and the help of wise men.
This time he took Xuzhou again and married into the Chen family. He gained support from the largest family in Xuzhou and was assisted by resourceful people like Chen Deng.
In addition, the submission of Cao Cao's old troops such as Zhang Xiu, Zang Ba, Cheng Yu, etc. also greatly strengthened Liu Bei's strength.
It can be said that Liu Bei now wants to be civilized, military and famous, and now he has encountered such a God-given opportunity as the Yuan family's infighting. It's no wonder that he has good luck.
Liu Bei was invincible in Qingzhou, so Yuan Shang had to mobilize troops from the two rivers and the front line to send troops to aid Qingzhou.
As a result, the pressure on Yuan Tan's frontal battlefield in Henan suddenly dropped sharply. Ten days ago, Yuan Tan launched a surprise attack and successfully captured Liyang, an important town on the north bank of the Yellow River, and introduced his troops into Hebei.
.
Liyang is an important town on the Yellow River. Once the city falls, Yuan Shang's Wei capital Yecheng will be directly exposed to Yuan Tan's troops. Yuan Tan's light cavalry rushes forward and can reach the gate of Yecheng in less than a day.
If the city of Ye is lost, Yuan Shang's group will probably collapse people's hearts, and Yuan Shang will be destroyed.
"This Third Young Master Yuan has already reached this level. I don't believe he is still guarding his sister-in-law."
Yan Liang looked as if he was sitting back and watching a tiger fight, and his mind couldn't help but think of Cao Zhili's wonderful poem.
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Xu You rushing in with joy on his face.
Yan Liangliang suddenly had a premonition and asked with a smile: "Ziyuan, looking at you, there must be good news."
With that said, Yan Liang ordered people to come to Xu You to see tea.
Xu You swallowed it all in one gulp, moistened his throat, and said with a smile: "There is indeed good news, and there are two more."
really.
"Could it be that our Third Young Master Yuan, the dignified King of Wei, has finally bowed his head?" Yan Liang asked casually.
Xu You had a strange look on his face, obviously he had been guessed by Yan Liang.
"My lord, it is true that I know what is going on. Yes, Yuan Shang really can't hold on anymore, so he sent someone to deliver a message today, saying that he will send the Zhen family to Xiangyang within a month, and begging my lord to send troops as promised.
To resolve his current predicament."
Everyone's expressions were perked up, and they looked at each other a few times, with the same meaning in their eyes.
The time to march north to the Central Plains is finally coming.
Xu You, Xu Shu, Jia Xu...
Yan Liang's counselors may be on par with Sun Quan's counselors in terms of intelligence, but they are far superior in ambition.
The first thing Xu You and others thought about was to assist Yan Liang in conquering the Central Plains, conquering the world, and achieving hegemony.
As for Sun Quan's advisers, their first thought was to stand in the east of the Yangtze River, occupy the entire Yangtze River, watch the changes in the world, and then march to the Central Plains.
One puts the Central Plains in front, and the other puts the Central Plains in the back. Their visions are different, and their ambitions and courage are different.
Now that they saw Yuan Shang asking for help, and their lord had a legitimate opportunity to march north to the Central Plains, how could these ambitious counselors not be inspired by it.
"Zhongyuan, Luoshen, hum, I, Yan Liang, will not let anyone go..."
As he secretly thought in his heart, murderous aura gradually gathered in Yan Liang's knife-like eyes.
At this time, Xu Shu said: "It is inevitable to advance northward to the Central Plains, but we still have to wipe out Jingnan and avoid future troubles. But I don't know what Liu Qi's movements are?"
"Hey, this second piece of good news is about this guy Liu Qi." Xu You stroked his gray beard with a sly smile on his face.
Next, Xu You told Yan Liang and everyone the intelligence sent by Si Wencao from Jingnan.
It turns out that a few days ago, Liu Qi ordered veteran general Huang Zhong to lead 3,000 infantry troops and 2,000 naval troops to march south along the Xiang River and conquer Guiyang on the pretext of quelling Zhao Fan's rebellion.
In other words, the only soldiers and horses left in Changsha at this time were Huang Zu's 8,000 naval troops and less than 2,000 Changsha infantry.
After hearing this information, Yan Liang couldn't help but look strange, "Liu Qi is really brave. He even dared to send troops to conquer Guiyang."
"My lord transferred all his troops to the north, and repeatedly showed his friendship to Liu Qi. Liu Qi thought that he had fallen into the trap and thought that my lord was planning to march north to the Central Plains, so he wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to control the four counties in Jingnan."
Xu You stroked his beard and smiled.
Yan Liang nodded slightly, "This kid Liu Qi probably doesn't have the courage, let alone the knowledge. I guess this must be Kuai Yue's idea for him."
"Kuai Yue is good at playing power, but when it comes to military strategy, he is just a mediocre person. He ruined Liu Biao back then, and now he wants to ruin Liu Qi again."
Xu Shu's words were full of contempt, and he confidently made a conclusion about Kuai Yue's military planning ability.
Come to think of it, Liu Biao had more than 100,000 soldiers in his army back then. If it weren't for Kuai Yue's so-called "ingenious plan", which was repeatedly broken by Yan Liang, Yan Liang would not have the momentum he has today, and the Liu family would not have fallen to such an extent.
This Kuai Yue destroyed Liu Biao, destroyed Liu Cong, and now wanted to destroy Liu Qi. Yan Liang suddenly felt that he was not the biggest enemy of his old Liu family. This Kuai Yue and Kuai's great counselor was the real Liu family.
The biggest enemy.
What makes Yan Liang feel funny is that Kuai Yue has repeatedly ruined the foundation of the Liu family, but from Liu Biao to Liu Qi, he has been repeatedly re-employed. The employment principles of the Liu family and his son cannot be speculated with common sense.
Snapped!
Suddenly snapping the case, Yan Liang stood up and said, "In the four counties of Jingnan, the only one I care about is Huang Zhong'er. Now Liu Qi is sending Huang Zhong south to Guiyang. It is a God-given opportunity. Now that the autumn harvest has finished, I have decided.
We will soon send troops southward to pacify Jingnan—"
Liexun's murderous aura flowed through Yan Liang's body, and that aura of power shocked everyone present.
The war is about to begin, and the time for meritorious service has arrived. Everyone's faces are soon filled with excitement.
The strong fighting spirit caused everyone's blood, which had been dormant for a long time, to boil again in the blink of an eye.
…
Now that the plan for the southern expedition was decided, Yan Liang and his subordinate Wen Wu immediately began to secretly prepare troops.
In order to further confuse Liu Qi, Yan Liang instead of adding troops to Baqiu weakened Lü Meng's navy and transferred Lü Meng and part of his troops to Xiangyang.
At the same time, Yan Liang deliberately spread the news, claiming that he would soon launch a northern expedition to the Central Plains.
In order to create the illusion of the Northern Expedition, Yan Liang mobilized Jiangling with great fanfare, and troops from Xiakou gathered in Xiangyang.
Five days later, 30,000 troops had gathered in Xiangyang, including 7,000 naval troops.
Because Yan Liang maintained 100% confidentiality, except for a few confidential advisers and Lu Meng who originally proposed the plan, even close generals such as Wen Chou did not know.
In order to deceive others, Yan Liang even distributed a large number of winter clothes to the soldiers of the three armies in advance to protect them from the cold autumn and winter in the north.
All kinds of illusions made the soldiers of the three armies gathered in Xiangyang think that their lord was really going to go north to the Central Plains this time. In the letters to his wife and children at home, he revealed the information that he was going north.
Naturally, Liu Qi also placed many secretaries in Xiangyang. Even among Yan Liang's officials, there were still many former Liu family officials who secretly flirted with Liu Qi and acted as his eyes and ears.
Yan Liang's false impression was naturally spread back to Linxiang very quickly, making everyone in Liu Qi's group believe that Yan Liang's Northern Expedition was true.
Confused by this, Liu Qi transferred another two thousand naval troops to Huang Zhong, hoping to pacify Guiyang as soon as possible with his superior strength.
The news that Liu Qi was once again deploying troops and horses quickly spread back to Xiangyang. When Yan Liang learned that Huang Zu's navy only had about 6,000 soldiers left, he immediately decided to raise troops overnight.
The sun is setting in the west, and night is approaching.
In the Xiangyang water camp, the navy soldiers who had just had a full meal and were about to go back to their tents to rest were startled by the sound of the gong for an urgent gathering. The seven thousand navy soldiers put on their armor as quickly as possible.
Grab your weapons and rush to the school grounds to assemble.
When the troops arrived, they found that their lord Yan Liang was already standing on the general platform. His towering body, like an iron tower, exuded a strong sense of oppression, making people afraid to look up.
His eyes were dark and cold as a blade.
Behind Yan Liang, the three generals Wei Yan, Zhang He and Lu Meng stood on the left and right respectively, with equally cold and solemn expressions.
On the campus of Nuo Nuo University, there were countless soldiers lined up in the dark forest, but no one dared to take a breath.
The seven thousand soldiers were silent, as if they were the same person.
Glancing at the soldiers, Yan Liang took a deep breath and said loudly: "You have been gathering in Xiangyang for a long time. Tonight, I will order you to go to the battlefield again to wipe out a powerful enemy for me. I will still say the same thing
If you have merit, you will be rewarded, and if you are guilty, you will be punished. Do you have confidence?"
He shouted sharply, causing all the soldiers to look shocked.
Then, the eight thousand soldiers roared in unison:
"I am willing to fight to the death for my lord——"
Yan Liang nodded to show his satisfaction, looked around the soldiers again, then raised his whip, "The whole army will set off immediately, take Changsha south, and wipe out Liu Qi——"
As soon as these words came out, everyone's faces showed surprise. Even generals like Wei Yan also showed surprise.
Only Lu Meng, who had known about it for a long time, had a calm expression on his face, with a slight smile on his lips.
Wei Yan and Zhang He looked at each other, and their surprised expressions turned into realization. It was only then that they suddenly realized that the person their lord wanted to fight was not the Central Plains at all, but Liu Qi.
It turns out that all the previous events were just illusions to confuse the enemy, and even they, who boasted of their own ingenuity, were deceived.
Under the sudden realization, the two generals couldn't help but look at Yan Liang. Their eyes revealed their admiration and admiration for Yan Liang.
