In Yingtian City, a group of scouts galloped in, holding high the token of clearance. No one dared to stop them.
The scouts galloped into the city and went straight to the palace of the King of Chu.
A quarter of an hour later, an urgent report came from Xu Shu, the governor of Yingchuan in the north, and was placed in front of Yan Liang's case.
It was an urgent document written by Xu Shu himself.
Cao and Liu took action first.
Not long ago, Liu Bei personally led an army of 140,000, starting from Yecheng and heading south to Liyang Ferry. The target would undoubtedly be Xudu and Suiyang.
At Guanzhong, Cao Cao also gathered an army of 70,000 troops, led by himself, and approached Wuguan to threaten Nanyang.
Cao Liu's alliance, with an army of more than 200,000, has begun to join forces to invade Yan Liang's territory.
When the civil and military officials in the palace heard the news, they immediately started talking.
Originally it was Yan Liang who planned the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains, but unexpectedly, Liu Bei and Cao Cao took the lead and joined forces to invade the south in advance, disrupting Yan Liang's plan in one fell swoop.
According to detailed intelligence, Liu Bei's army going south this time included at least nearly 20,000 Youyan cavalry, while Cao Cao also had about 10,000 Xiliang cavalry under his command.
The two enemy coalition forces have 30,000 cavalry, plus more than 200,000 troops. This is already a quite scary number.
"Although our army has nearly 300,000 Chinese and foreign troops, the foreign defense front is too wide. The number of troops that can be used on the Yingchuan and Nanyang front lines is only 78,000 or 80,000 at most. If the Chinese army is added, the strength will be no more than 10.
Sixty thousand. In terms of strength, it is inferior to the enemy. The key is that Cao and Liu have 30,000 cavalry, which is a bit difficult to deal with."
Tian Feng analyzed the situation between the enemy and ourselves and was somewhat unoptimistic about the situation of his own army.
What Tian Feng said is indeed correct.
When Yan Liang started his career, he relied on thousands of cavalry to play a significant role. However, in successive battles, the death of horses was not compensated. Even including the Hanzhong battle in the previous campaign, when more than 3,000 of Cao Cao's fine horses were captured, Yan Liang's cavalry could only
I can barely scrape together five or six thousand.
Six thousand cavalry, fighting against 30,000 enemy cavalry, were obviously at a disadvantage.
Although the individual strength of Cao and Liu was inferior to Yan Liang, their combined strength clearly surpassed Yan Liang.
After reading Xu Shu's urgent document, Pang Tong said: "This document from Yuan Zhi states that Zhuge Kongming facilitated Liu Bei's march south. It seems that he discovered our intention to connect with Gongsun Kang. So.
Only then did I persuade Liu Bei to take action first. Kong Ming's vision is indeed remarkable."
As a classmate of Jing Xiang, Pang Tong couldn't help but sigh.
Zhuge Liang, it's Zhuge Liang again, you are like a lonely ghost, you are still haunting me!
Snap!
Yan Liang slapped the case fiercely, his stern face filled with murderous intent.
Above the main hall, the officials were shocked and fell silent.
"It doesn't matter if Cao and Liu have more soldiers and horses. It doesn't matter if they have more cavalry. No matter how bad the situation is today, is it worse than when I used thousands of soldiers and horses to fight against an enemy dozens of times stronger?"
The sound was like a blade, and the extremely strong self-confidence spread like a tide, quickly infecting the ministers.
The ministers who were originally fearful gradually began to feel proud and proud.
Yan Liang looked around at the ministers and said proudly: "The two thieves Cao and Liu dare to challenge me, and I will accompany them to the end. I will pass the order and all the troops will be sent out tomorrow. I will personally lead the army north to fight to the death with those two thieves!"
The will to fight has been decided, so there is no doubt.
The thoughts of the ministers also condensed into a belief at that moment:
war!
…
The next day, at dawn, all 70,000 Chu troops came out of camp and marched towards the riverside dock.
Amid the banners that covered the sky, Yan Liang rode on horseback. Under the farewell of Wushuang's subjects in Yingtian City, he left the city with his head held high.
This battle is of great importance. Yan Liang will use most of the Chinese army, leaving only 10,000 troops to guard Yingtian.
Huang Zhong, Zhang Liao, Gan Ning, Wei Yan, Zhang Jia, Pang De, Ma Dai, Lu Lingqi and other fierce generals who are good at land warfare will all accompany the king on this expedition.
Yan Liang led an army of 70,000 people up the river to the west. He would first go to Xiangyang, and then move north to join up with Xu Shu, Wen Chou, Wenpin and other northern frontier troops.
While Yan Liang led the main force to the expedition, he also sent a royal order to Lu Meng who was in Shouchun, ordering him to lead Jiang Qin, Huang Gai, and Pan Zhang to lead the Huainan frontier army to launch a feint attack on the Xuzhou line controlled by Guan Yu.
To contain Liu Bei's flanks.
At the same time, another royal order was urgently sent to the center of Shu. Yan Liang ordered Lu Xun to command Yan Yan, Wu Lan, and Lei, together with other generals, to lead the Hanzhong army to launch a feint attack on Cao Tong's area in Guanlong, threatening Cao Cao's rear.
Suddenly, hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers and generals from Yizhou to Yangzhou, north and south of the Yangtze River, were all excited.
When Yan Liang led his elite troops to assemble on the front line of the Central Plains, Liu Bei's army was also rapidly moving south.
After capturing Youzhou, Liu Bei's troops had expanded to more than 200,000.
During this expedition, Liu Bei left 20,000 troops and horses in Youzhou to guard against the Wuhuan Hu tribe in the north, and Gongsun Kang in the east. On the Xuzhou front, he equipped Guan Yu with about 30,000 troops and horses to guard against Yan Liang.
Attack from Shouchun.
In addition, Liu Bei left another 10,000 troops and horses to guard Yecheng, while he personally led 140,000 infantry and cavalry southward.
The army was dispatched, and the fierce generals who accompanied Liu Bei on his southern expedition were all elites of Liu Bei's group.
Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Zhang Xiu, Tai Shi Ci, Zhang Yan, Han Meng, as well as Hebei general Gao Lan who surrendered after capturing Youzhou, Liu Bei's army's fierce generals have all come out.
Compared with Liu Bei's luxurious lineup, the strength of Cao Cao's army is much inferior.
After experiencing the defeat of Hanzhong, Cao Cao's strength was greatly damaged. Although he recruited sergeants from the 200,000 Hanzhong people who moved to Guanzhong and barely managed to make up 100,000 people, nearly one-third of them
Soldiers are all untrained recruits.
Therefore, among the 70,000 soldiers Cao Cao attacked Wuguan, only 40,000 to 50,000 soldiers were elite soldiers who had experienced battle formations.
The quality of the soldiers was poor, and in terms of the generals accompanying the army, Cao Cao was also inferior.
Xiahou Yuan was still injured and could not go into battle. Cao Ren was guarding Bingzhou and had no time to spare. Xiahou Dun wanted to guard Chang'an but was unable to join the expedition.
The only generals accompanying Cao Cao on this expedition were Le Jin, Xu Chu, Xu Huang, Li Tong, Cao Xiu, Cao Zhen and others.
However, when Cao and Liu allied forces attacked Yan Liang this time, Cao Cao was obviously on the side of the army. With such a lineup, it was basically more than enough for him to attack a mere Wuguan.
The three major princes in the world all led their elites and rushed to the front line of the Central Plains day and night. The dark clouds of war were quickly covering the Central Plains.
After a long march, Yan Liang's army arrived in Xudu ten days later.
The capital city of Xu was an important town in the Central Plains and had a complete imperial palace. Therefore, Yan Liang claimed to be the Queen of Chu and designated Yingtian as the capital and Xu Capital as the companion capital.
The army entered the city, and that night, Yan Liang stayed in his capital palace to rest.
According to intelligence, Liu Bei's main force has just crossed the Yellow River, and the army has entered Baima and is heading towards Chenliu.
When passing through Wancheng a few days ago, Yan Liang had ordered Zhang Jiao and hired two generals to lead 40,000 troops to defend Wuguan, but he resisted the attack of Cao Cao's army on the western front.
Yan Liang's strategy was to lead 120,000 Chu troops to march north to Chenliu to confront Liu Bei's 140,000 Yan troops.
There was still time. After Yan Liang entered Xudu, he was not in a hurry to rush to Chenliu. Instead, he wanted to let his soldiers who had been traveling for days rest for a night to maintain their strength for the decisive battle with Liu Bei.
It was getting late, and the lanterns were hung high.
In the palace, Yan Liang sat cross-legged on the imperial couch that originally belonged to Emperor Liu Xie of the Han Dynasty. He stared at the map on the imperial desk and conceived the strategy for the decisive battle in his mind.
The sound of footsteps sounded, Zhou Cang came in from the outside, cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, the woman has been brought here."
"Bring her in." Yan Liang waved his hand.
Zhou Cang retreated, and within a few moments, accompanied by a faint fragrance, a young woman walked into the palace with an uneasy look on her face.
"Public woman Zhuge Ling, please pay homage to your Majesty." The young woman bowed and bowed, with a hint of fear in her respectful tone.
With his mind back from the war, Yan Liang raised his head and glanced at the woman in front of him with his razor-like eyes, whose appearance he had almost forgotten.
This young woman is Zhuge Liang's sister.
There are many beauties around Yan Liang. Although Zhuge Ling is somewhat beautiful, she cannot be ranked among the concubines in his Tongque Terrace.
Therefore, when Yan Liang saw him in Xiangyang, he forgot about Zhuge Ling.
Now, after hearing the information that Zhuge Liang had single-handedly facilitated Liu Bei's invasion of the south, Yan Liang's hatred for Zhuge Liang made him think of that nasty Wolong, who had a biological sister who fell into his hands.
Since this thing is available, there is no reason to use it, so before Yan Liang went on the expedition, he ordered Zhuge Ling to be sent to Xudu to wait for him to deal with it.
"Zhuge Ling, do you know your guilt?" Yan Liang asked coldly.
Zhuge Ling's delicate body trembled and she said in a trembling voice: "I'm sorry for the stupid girl of the people. I don't know what crime she has committed. Please make it clear to me, your Majesty."
"Your brother Zhuge Liang first instigated Liu Qi to fight against Gu, and then joined forces with your brother Zhuge Jin to instigate Sun Quan to attack my king without any reason. Now he has defected to Liu Bei, aiding Zhou in his crimes, and repeatedly instigating Liu Bei to invade our country of Chu. Zhuge Liang deserves death for your crime. You
The Zhuge family should be punished and the nine clans should be exterminated. As his sister, don't you still know the crime?"
The threats made Zhuge Ling turn pale and sweat profusely.
In fear, Zhuge Ling hurriedly knelt on the ground and said in a trembling voice: "What Kong Ming did was not known to the women of the country. Moreover, the women of the country were married to others and can no longer be considered as members of the Zhuge family. I beg your Majesty to tell you clearly."
A sneer rose at the corner of Yan Liang's mouth.
This woman from the Zhuge family was very aware of current affairs. She only threatened Zhuge Ling a few times, and Zhuge Ling quickly broke off the relationship with Zhuge Liang.
"If you want me to forgive you for your sins, you must do two things for me. The first thing is to write a letter to Zhuge Liang and persuade him to surrender to me." Yan Liang said in a commanding tone.
Although Zhuge Ling felt that writing this letter would insult the reputation of the Zhuge family, at this point, in order to save his life, he had to do this.
Therefore, Zhuge Ling could only put aside his reputation and was forced to write a letter to persuade his brother Zhuge Liang to surrender to Yan Liang.
After the letter was written, Zhuge Ling held it in both hands and said in a trembling voice: "The letter has been written. I don't know what the second thing the king wants the common woman to do?"
"The second thing, hehe." Yan Liang raised an evil smile in his eyes and patted the royal couch with his palm, "Sit here first, and I will slowly tell you what the second thing is."