After reading this document, Liu Xin's face had regained calm, and he said in a deep voice: "It's all because Liu doesn't know what happened, in fact, he should have expected Yuan Shu to make a move." Yuan Shu began to recruit troops on a large scale last year, and now his army has reached more than 200,000. With so many troops, there is no way to maintain the three counties of Qianjun, Runan, and Lujiang alone, and his external expansion is inevitable, even if he doesn't know that I have taken Xuzhou, he will attack Jiujiang sooner or later. ”

Not to mention that Yuan Shu was originally an ambitious person, even if he didn't have much ambition, and his more than 200,000 men and horses had to eat and be paid, he had to expand outward. Fu Zhu is also a wise man, and he has long known the information of Yuan Shu's expansion of military strength, but he didn't expect this, his old face turned red, and he snorted: "Lord, all his subordinates failed to do their duty, but in this way, Yuan Shu took the lead, but hindered the lord's plan to attack Jiujiang......"

Guan Yu had been listening silently beside him, and finally understood what was going on, and couldn't help but be ambitious, and arched his hand and said: "If the lord can trust the last general, the last general is willing to lead an elite army and take Jiujiang in front of Yuan Shu!" ”

Liu Xin waved his hand and said, "Let him go, even if Yuan Shu takes Jiujiang and has one more county, he won't be able to support those many horses." Yuan Shu didn't dare to tear his face with me for the time being, and he didn't have a naval army in his hands, so if he wanted to maintain such a huge army, he had to look for Cao Cao's bad luck. ”

He suddenly realized, and said in a loud voice: "Hehe, in this way, isn't it similar to the strategy originally set by the lord?" ”

Liu Xin also laughed and said, "Strategy is dead, but people are alive." The so-called all roads lead to Rome, if you want to achieve a goal, there is more than one way, as long as it is done properly, bad things can become good things. ”

Seeing that Fu Zhu and Guan Yu were both at a loss, Liu Xin knew that he had missed his mouth again, so he had to cough dryly twice, and said: "Legend has it that there is a big city in the far west, called Rome, and roads have been built around this city in all directions, as long as you go down any avenue, you will eventually be able to reach Rome." If there is a chance in the future, Liu would like to take everyone all the way west to see what the legendary city of Rome looks like. ”

Fu Zhu nodded and said: "My subordinates understand, this is the same as what we often say that all rivers lead to the sea." ”

Guan Yu's eyes lit up, these word games didn't mean anything to him, what he cared about was whether a hero was useful! Liu Xin suddenly mentioned that strange western city, didn't he not only want to dominate the Han Dynasty, but also have the ambition to expand the territory? Soon, Liu Xin's next words confirmed Guan Yu's guess even more, and he couldn't help but get excited, and finally felt that he was with the right person this time.

Liu Xin put down the document in his hand and said lightly: "Pass my order, Zhang Liao and Gao Shun will lead the Fourth Army to stay in Xuzhou, and the rest will return to Jiangnan with me." ”

Regarding the current situation, Liu Xin sees it very clearly. Liu Miao's downfall was just an overnight thing, he had to take Danyang in front of Yuan Shu, and he must not let Liu Miao's Yangzhou naval army fall into Yuan Shu's hands. As long as Yuan Shu can't master the water army, he won't be able to cross the Yangtze River, and no matter how much his power expands, it won't affect the development of Jiangnan. Although the current Jiangnan is still a vast and sparsely populated backward scene, but the future generations are incomparably rich and prosperous, Liu Xin wants to give Jiangnan a stable development environment in this era of frequent wars, then we must firmly grasp the "water control right" on the Yangtze River.

Liu Miao has been busy lately. In his eyes, the biggest enemy is Liu Xin, because among these princes around him, Liu Xin's strength is the strongest, so Liu Xin is also the most concerned about Liu Xin's movements. When Liu Xin transferred the army to Jiangnan, Liu Xin also concentrated his main force in Danyang. And when Liu Xin's army crossed the Yangtze River and attacked Guangling, he followed closely and transferred the main force to Jiujiang. Anyway, Liu Miao is always on guard against Liu Xin. Liu Miao was able to transfer the army from north to south of the river so easily, relying on the Yangzhou naval army of nearly 10,000 people and hundreds of warships.

However, Liu Xin hadn't done anything to him yet, but Yuan Shu had the idea of Jiujiang first. Fortunately, at this time, Liu Miao had basically transferred the main force to Jiujiang, but in the face of the menacing Yuan Shu, Liu Miao still had some lack of confidence, so he ordered the naval fleet to return to Danyang to urge reinforcements.

As a result, as soon as this fleet left this time, it could never come back, because Liu Xin's Han naval army suddenly blocked the entire river. is also a naval army, the difference between the Yangzhou naval army and Liu Xin's naval army is more than a star and a half, whether it is the size of the fleet, the size of the ships, or the tactical literacy, the Yangzhou naval army is difficult to match. When Liu Xin's navy appeared on the river, the Yangzhou navy had to retreat into the water village in Danyang. Since then, the connection between Danyang and Jiujiang has been completely severed.

There are no generals under Liu Xuan, and there is only one Tai Shici who can be counted, and now Liu Xin has been surrendered. Because Tai Shici was not reused by Liu Miao in the first place, his departure actually did not have much impact on Liu Miao's strength, and Liu Miao's main reliance was on Zhang Ying and Yu Lu. He had 60,000 troops under his command, and 35,000 men were stationed throughout Jiujiang, led by him and Zhang Ying himself. And Yu Lu stayed in Danyang with 10,000 sailors and 15,000 infantry troops.

Because the fleet sent to Danyang to transport reinforcements never returned, Liu Miao was a little overstretched in terms of troops, but he did not lose heart. Jiujiang County has been in the center of Yangzhou in the whole city, and the counties of Liyang, Shouchun, Hefei and other counties within its jurisdiction have been the state city of Yangzhou, especially the current state city of Shouchun is the city is high and deep, and it is extremely solid. With these fortified cities and sufficient reserves of grain and grass, Liu Miao was able to block the attack of Yuan Shu's army.

Liu Xin's actions in Danyang were much more rapid. Danyang is also located in the sparsely populated south of the Yangtze River, the scale of the city here is generally not large, the city walls are not too high, and even Wanling, as the county seat, can only compare to an ordinary county town in Jingzhou. Such a city is like paper paste in front of the powerful Third Army, in just a few days, Danyang belongs to Moling, Chungu, Wuhu and other counties have been conquered one after another, Yu Lu led more than 10,000 remnants of the army to hide in the lonely city of Wanling.

With the command of such a famous general as Zhang He, it is only a matter of time before Wanling is conquered. At this time, Liu Xin was no longer in a hurry, he took Minchan and others back to the villa on the shore of Taihu Lake, and at the same time ordered Wanling to be surrounded without fighting. After all, there are still more than 10,000 remnants in the city, and the troops besieging the city do not have an advantage in terms of geographical advantages, and the overall situation has been decided, Liu Xin feels that there is no need for the soldiers to make senseless sacrifices. As long as the news of the fall of Jiujiang comes, there is no worry about the elk not falling.

However, half a month has passed, and Liu Xin still did not wait for the news that Jiujiang had fallen and Liu Miao had been killed or captured.

Yuan Shu's soldiers were divided into three ways and entered Jiujiang together, and they really caught Liu Miao off guard, and conquered Xiacai, Ping'a, and Yicheng counties one after another. However, Liu Miao quickly came to his senses and shrank his forces into several four cities: Yinling, Hefei, Liyang and Shouchun. The common feature of these four cities is that they are easy to defend and difficult to attack, and they are horns of each other, echoing each other from afar, and there is plenty of food and grass in the city, even if it is defended for a year and a half, there is no problem. Among these four cities, the first to bear the brunt is the Yin Tomb.

Although Yinling is not as tall as the other three cities, it is the county seat of Jiujiang, and the city has a large population. Zhang Ying, who is responsible for guarding the Yin Tomb, is the first general under Liu Xuan, although his martial arts are average, but he can still hold on to the city. In his hands, Yinling City had already blocked the fierce attack of Yuan Shu's army for seven consecutive days, and it was still impregnable.

As the sun set, Zhang Ying stood on the city tower, watching the pile of dead bodies left by Yuan Jun under the city, retreating like a tide, and couldn't help frowning. There are 10,000 soldiers in his city and more than 30,000 Ding Zhuang forcibly recruited, but there are three armies led by Ji Ling, Lei Bo, and Chen Lan under Yuan Shu, nearly 80,000 people, who surrounded the entire Yinling City like an iron bucket.

But after seven days, the soldiers and civilians defending the city have paid more than 8,000 casualties, although the casualties of the Yuan army will definitely exceed twice as many as theirs, but the offensive of the Yuan army has not weakened in the slightest, and if this continues, the city will always be breached one day, which is also what Zhang Ying is most worried about.

Suddenly, a personal entourage came over and whispered: "General Qiqi, there are not many rolling logs and stones left in the city, please make an idea as soon as possible." ”

Zhang Ying saw a hint of hesitation in the eyes of the entourage. The attack and defense of the city is the most tragic battle, not to mention the comrades and relatives around him fell one after another, the piles of corpses under the city alone are shocking. The meaning of this personal entourage is obvious, now that there are not many equipment to defend the city, he wants to ask Zhang Ying to abandon the city and break through.

But Zhang Ying knew that his men and horses had been able to hold on until now, relying on this fortified city, and if they left the city, they would die faster.

Zhang Ying waved his hand and coldly squeezed out three words from between his teeth: "Demolish the house!" ”

With his order, many people in the city will be homeless from now on, but Zhang Ying has no other way, rolling wood and rocks are sharp weapons to defend the city, without these things, it is impossible to stop the effective attack of Yuan Shu's army, once they climb to the top of the city, the people in the city will also suffer from their scourge.

In the Yuanshu military camp under the city, Lei Bo and Chen Lan gathered together in Ji Ling's big tent, they were originally divided into three ways to attack Jiujiang, but they were all blocked under the city of Yinling, in the past seven days, this is the third time they have gathered together to discuss countermeasures.

Ji Ling took out a letter, handed it to Lei Bo and Chen Lan, and said in a deep voice: "If you can't attack Yinling City again, it will be difficult for the lord to explain, I don't know what the two generals can do?" ”

Lei Bo and Chen Lan glanced at each other and shook their heads together. Suddenly, a personal soldier walked into the big tent and said, "The three generals of Qiqi, the reinforcements sent by the lord have arrived." ”