Cao Cao led his troops all the way north, straight to Xiangyang, and the road was indeed unimpeded. After all, this is what Sun Ce and Liu Bei have already agreed with, and they have already made arrangements, so even if Cao Cao took tens of thousands of Yanzhou soldiers, nothing unpleasant happened along the way.

Of course, Cao Cao didn't let his soldiers cause trouble, after all, now with Sun Ce and Liu Bei, they are still in a relatively friendly period for the time being, and at this time, if they really act rashly, then the consequences are really unimaginable. The most direct thing is that people don't give Xiangyang to themselves, and it is estimated that they will have to go to war with themselves, so it is really, the gains outweigh the losses, and the gains outweigh the losses.

Without saying a word all the way, Cao Cao and the generals directly took the Yanzhou soldiers and soldiers to their destination Xiangyang City at the fastest speed. Seeing Xiangyang City at hand, Cao Cao finally breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, not to mention that Liu Bei had already written a letter to Wen Ping, asking him to give Xiangyang to himself. Even if there is no such thing, with tens of thousands of horses on his side, can it be said that he can't take a Xiangyang City? Joke, when did the Yanzhou army become so cowardly.

It can be said that with the current state of his own soldiers, let alone a Xiangyang City, even if it is two or three, it is not a problem-

The lord of Xiangyang City hired Wen, and he had already received a letter from his lord. Originally, when he first received the letter, he was still puzzled. However, the messenger sent by Sun Ce explained to Wen Ping a little briefly, and he understood. Dare to love is that Cao Cao can't sit still anymore, so there is no way. It was reluctant to form an alliance with his own side, and after taking out a lot of benefits, and even Wuling was given out, his lord and Sun Ce agreed to give up Xiangyang City, so that Cao Cao's Yanzhou army could rest assured.

To be honest, Wen Ping didn't want to give up Xiangyang City at all, and this was not just because he had been the master of Xiangyang City since Liu Biao's time. More so. He knew in his heart that Xiangyang was of strategic significance to his side. Or not only for himself, Cao Cao, and Ma Chao, in fact, it is all the same. As for Sun Ce. For him, Xiangyang can't be useless, but now he really can't take care of it.

After all, for Sun Ce, the only places he is more concerned about now are Jiangxia, Changsha and Guiyang. At least in Jingzhou. These three counties are even more important to him.

Because the three counties of Jiangxia are the three counties next to Yangzhou, that is, the three counties adjacent to Jiangdong, so the significance of Sun Ce to the Jiangdong Army is self-evident.

Don't look at the fact that Sun Ce does occupy two states now, but compared to Jiaozhou, only Jiangdong is the place that Sun Ce values the most. After all, that is Sun Ce's base camp, and Jiaozhou. He doesn't value it so much, and Jiangdong is the foundation of his Sun Ce, or the basis of all the soldiers of his Jiangdong Army, which is not wrong at all.

And Xiangyang, including the entire southern county, is now less important to Sun Ce than those three counties. At least if Sun Ce wants to go north, then it is indeed possible to go from Jiangdong, and to the north of Jiangdong are Xuzhou and Yuzhou.

If it is not said that Xiangyang is important to Sun Ce, then it is only that he is connected to the land of Yizhou in the west, Hanzhong County, but from this point of view, Sun Ce obviously does not mean anything to Hanzhong. If we talk about Yizhou, then Jiaozhou and Yizhou are also adjacent, if it is to Nanyang, then Jiangxia and Nanyang are also next to each other. Therefore, if Sun Ce is really determined to occupy Xiangyang, then it means that he is going to make up his mind to go west to Hanzhong, that is, he is going to start a war with Ma Chao.

But at least from the current point of view, Sun Ce really has no idea about Hanzhong.

This has to be said to have something to do with Cao Cao, after all, Cao Cao led troops to Hanzhong before, and it was really good before, and he also occupied a county. But what about the final result, when Cao Cao's army withdrew from Hanzhong and returned to Xiangyang, didn't Fang Ling still lose it, this matter is not a secret, although the distance is not close, but Sun Ce and Liu Bei knew about it later. Therefore, Sun Ce really has no idea about Hanzhong, at least not for the time being, because he knows in his heart that such a strong Yanzhou army will not work, and it will be difficult for his own side.

At least Sun Ce did not arrogantly think that his Jiangdong army was stronger than Cao Cao's Yanzhou army. If you want to talk about the water army, of course he thinks he is strong, but for the rest, this is not as good as others. So even if Cao Cao's Yanzhou army is now in Jingzhou, there are only about 40,000 people left, but Sun Ce still doesn't have the heart to fight Cao Cao. Because he knew that if he really did that, then it could only be the result of losing both, even if he added Liu Bei, it would be the same.

And in the end, the one who got the cheapest could only be Ma Chaoliangzhou Army, so unless it was a last resort, Sun Ce would never do that-

But Wen Ping didn't want to do anything anymore, he didn't want to give Xiangyang to Cao Cao's Yanzhou army, but his lord's handwritten letter was there, and it was impossible for him not to follow it. Although it is said that "the general will be outside, the king's order will not be affected", but in this case, Wenpin will not do that. At least he also knew in his heart that now that Cao Cao's Yanzhou army and Sun Liu's coalition army are allied, it is actually beneficial to several parties, after all, the strongest opponent of the three parties is Ma Mengqi's Liangzhou army, so the alliance is due.

As for Xiangyang City, no matter how reluctant he is, Wen Ping also knows that it is time to let go, of course, he thinks that it is only temporary, and if there is a chance in the future, he will have to take the city back. After all, Xiangyang is not only important to him, Cao Mengde, and the Yanzhou army. It's just as important to you.

However, he, Cao Mengde, still understands things, and knows that he has used so many benefits. He just wanted to go back to Xiangyang City, so in Wen Ping's heart, he was actually quite balanced, at least he knew that he didn't suffer a loss, so it was enough. Anything else is not what he has to think about. That's not much use-

And in the letter written by his father-in-law, what he clearly said was to hand over Xiangyang with Cao Cao's Yanzhou army. But there is nothing to say, Wen Ping, as a more experienced general, of course he knows how to do it, at least he will not cheapen Cao Cao's Yanzhou army or anything.

When learned from the Tanma. When Cao Cao was already less than a mile away from Xiangyang. Wen Ping took some of his soldiers out of the city to meet him. But isn't it, even Sun Ce and Liu Bei, when they learned that Cao Cao was coming, they had to go out of the city to greet them in person, so let alone Wen Ping, they were just a general under Liu Bei, and what kind of identity and status Cao Cao was, basically few people don't know. Therefore, it is impossible for Wen Ping not to go out of the city to greet him in person.

Cao Cao saw the gate of Xiangyang open, and at the gate of the city. It was Wen Ping, with Liu Bei's soldiers, and the big and small officials in Xiangyang who were waiting for him, and he was in a good mood. Of course, this is not because Wen Ping came to greet him, he is in a good mood, but he is about to enter Xiangyang, so he is in a good mood-

After Wen Ping saw Cao Cao, he hurriedly bowed his hand and said: "Cao Sikong, Wen is polite!" ”

Cao Cao laughed when he heard this, "Hahaha, General Wen is polite, it's hard to defend the city!" ”

No matter who Cao Cao is with, as long as the other party is a talent, then even if it is an enemy of the other party, he can still say a few words to the other party. How to say it, as long as it is a talent, Cao Cao is more appreciative, although he doesn't think that everyone can work for himself, but it is definitely right to make friends.

Although Wen Ping is not a big talent, he is also famous, at least Cao Cao has heard of him. And Liu Bei can let his people be stationed in Xiangyang, then his skills will definitely not be bad, so Cao Cao will not underestimate him, and he will also have to be polite with others, maybe when they can meet again or something.

Then after saying a few words that were not nutritious, Wen Ping said directly to Cao Cao: "Cao Sikong came from afar, this is not a place to speak, please go into the city to talk about it!" ”

"Okay, guys, let's go into town!" ――

Cao Cao took a cadre of his subordinates, as well as 5,000 Yanzhou soldiers, and entered Xiangyang like this. As for the other Yanzhou soldiers, of course, they are temporarily stationed outside the city, so they can't all enter the city with more than 40,000 people at once, so they all have to be blocked.

As for the people of Xiangyang City, to be honest, they have long been accustomed to such things. Isn't it, since Liu Biao's place, how many times has this Xiangyang changed hands. At the beginning, it was Liu Biao, he was a pastor in Jingzhou, so it was his territory. After Liu Biao died of illness, Liu Bei took the opportunity to go south and seize Xiangyang. After that, Ma Chao came from Sili through Nanyang, and also took Xiangyang from Liu Bei, and then Cao Cao also came, Xiangyang changed hands, and finally Sun and Liu's coalition army occupied Xiangyang, until now Cao Cao wants to take over.

Therefore, in Jingzhou, Xiangyang is the county that changes hands the most and is the fastest frequency. It can be seen that the importance of this place is indeed telling.

Wen Ping took everyone and Cao Cao into Xiangyang, and now Cao Cao is in a different mood than when he first entered Xiangyang. At least he was happy when he captured Xiangyang from the Liangzhou army, but he was not as excited as he is now, after all, this is now about his own retreat, so it is impossible for him not to worry about this-

After coming to Wenpin's mansion, Wenpin directly set up a banquet to entertain Cao Cao, although Cao Cao was not in a hurry to drink the banquet, but was in a hurry to change the guard, but seeing that Wenpin was so enthusiastic, he was not very easy to refuse, after all, Huaxia. It's all gracious, and you have to give people some face. What's more, Cao Cao is indeed trying to make friends with Wenpin. So I had to drink the feast first, and then talk about something else.

So at a banquet, everyone drank happily, and finally after the banquet was withdrawn, Cao Cao said to Wen Ping: "General Wen, now that the banquet is over, it should be time for you and me to hand over the defense of Xiangyang, right?" ”

What else can Wen Ping say at this time. can only agree, he didn't dare to say a word, so he was full of smiles. said to Cao Cao: "That's natural, Cao Sikong will ask for it, and our army will withdraw from Xiangyang immediately!" ”

Cao Cao nodded with satisfaction, and then waved his hand at several generals under his hand. Let them take over the defense of Xiangyang. And of course, Wen hired him also had his own arrangements. After all, if you don't say something good, it is likely to cause some misunderstanding among your own soldiers, even if it has been said before, but Wen Ping has to send a confidant to report it to his own soldiers.

In this way, Cao Cao's Yanzhou army took over Xiangyang smoothly. It can be said that it was not until this time that the Yanzhou army was really relieved, after all, it was even a lot easier before. However, there are still some worries. But now it's different, after all, Xiangyang is in his own hands. This is not fake.

However, Wen Ping did enough to do things, in Xiangyang, except for the people who left a city for Cao Cao's Yanzhou army, other things, it was really not even a hair. That's really it, even the things in the city defense, what kind of rolling logs, hot oil, etc., there is nothing, that's called a clean. Of course, this is definitely not Wen Ping's time to ask the soldiers to move out, but after he received his lord's handwritten letter, he has already begun to act.

For something as important as city defense, could Wen Ping be left behind by Cao Cao's Yanzhou army. Even if the two sides have formed an alliance now, yes, yes, but Wen Ping knows the character of his lord and Sun Ce, so it is impossible to be an "enemy".

And when Wen Ping took his soldiers out of Xiangyang City and walked for a while, he couldn't help it anymore and laughed a few times. He could imagine what kind of wonderful expressions Cao Cao and the soldiers of the Yanzhou Army would have when they saw that there was no longer even a city defense-

However, at this time, Wen Ping had already left Xiangyang with his soldiers and went south to Wuling. He said that he was leading troops to withdraw from Xiangyang, but in fact he was leading troops to leave Xiangyang and go to Wuling, but he didn't tell Cao Cao the truth. For this, he thinks it's not necessary, now that Cao Cao and they occupy Xiangyang, it can be said that they are very happy and excited, as for themselves, as long as they don't fight with them, they won't care about themselves or anything, so Wen Ping didn't say anything to Cao Cao, and left directly.

Wen Ping marched overnight and ran all the way to Wuling. And after Cao Cao heard the report from Tanma, he sighed to everyone and said: "Wen Ping Wen Zhongye, after all, he doesn't have much good impression of our army!" ”

Among the generals, Xu Chu said at this time, "Lord, that Wen Ping is just a general under Liu Xuande, so why do you value him so much?" ”

This is also what many people want to ask, although they also know that their lord is a talent, which is true. But that Wenpin, although it is not a waste, but it is not a great talent, at least in his own army, a talent who is stronger than his Wenpin, can be said to be a big grasp, but his own lord, everyone can see that he really values his people-

Cao Cao smiled, but then shook his head, "Zhongkang, everyone, don't underestimate anyone, especially Wenpin, who is still a talent. Although I befriended him today, you don't understand it, but one day, you will understand! ”

Cao Cao didn't say anything, but everyone knew at least one thing, that is, his lord would never do that useless thing. At least so many facts have already told everyone about this, so although their lord did not say the most fundamental purpose, it does not mean that everyone will definitely go to the bottom of the matter or something, after all, they also know that their lord does not want to say more, so if you ask it many times, it will be useless. What kind of character his lord is, everyone still knows more or less.

The valued person stopped talking, and Cao Cao said again: "Our army will rest here for three days, and then go to Dangyang!" ”

"No!"

Everyone is in unison, as for going to Dangyang, don't look at this as the place of Nanjun, but it is his own side, Sun Ce and Liu Bei, they have long discussed each other-

That is, after Sun Ce and Liu Bei solved the matter of Wuling, the two sides met in Dangyang, and then jointly sent troops to Jiangxia to fight against Ma Chaoliangzhou army! (To be continued......)