The defenders of Xiangyang City were awakened by the loud noise and fighting outside the city, and they thought that the Yizhou army was coming, and they all poured onto the city wall. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

In the distance, the camp of the Yizhou army was hidden in the darkness, and nothing could be seen, and it was not known what was going on in the enemy camp with a murderous voice.

Xu Maogong smiled, he shook his head vigorously, pointed in the direction of the enemy camp, and said to Xie Xuan beside him: "We are looking for him everywhere, but he is here." That's the lord. Liu Bei suffered. ”

Xie Xuan was in a good mood, and opened his mouth to boast: "The lord is the lord, the elusive and powerful." It's a pity that it's too dark to see the situation on the other side. ”

Yang Ye stood on the west city gate, raised his hand and shouted wildly. The soldiers defending the city were also thunderous with joy when they were infected by him. Everyone shouted in unison: "Long live the lord, long live the lord......"

………………

In the anxious waiting of everyone, the sky finally dawned.

The entire western battalion of the Yizhou Army has been wiped out, except for the dead bodies everywhere, the collapsed gates, the fence that fell to the ground, and not a single tent can be seen, all of which have been razed to the ground by the cavalry.

From the western camp to the vicinity of the southern camp, there were corpses of enemy soldiers everywhere.

Liu Bowen and Jia Xu accompanied Xu Maogong to the West Gate Tower. Xie Xuan and Yang Ye followed behind them.

The three of them saw that the Yizhou Junxi Battalion, which was still flying with flags fluttering and tents lined up yesterday, was now in a mess, like a slaughterhouse with blurred flesh and blood. They were stunned.

Xu Maogong took a look, probably couldn't stand the smell of blood and the disgusting battlefield in the air, and retreated several steps in a row.

He looked at Xie Xuan beside him, shook his head, and said with emotion: "The power of the iron horse is indeed not something that flesh and blood can resist. The main public soldier is unpredictable and very human. ”

Jia Xu next to him said with a smile: "With the strength of Liaodong Zhuhu, Xiongnu, Wuhuan, and Xianbei, and the strength of Zhang Jiao, Yuan Shao, Gongsun Zhan, Cao Cao, Han Sui and others, they were all killed by the lord and wiped out, and Liu Bei was the opponent." ”

"Everyone knows that the lord is good at night attacks, but they can't stop him. The rebellion was hit hard at this time, and tens of thousands of people died in one night, and it is estimated that Liu Bei will not be able to attack the city for the time being. Liu Bowen walked over and said with a smile.

"Now he is not thinking about whether he can attack the city, but whether he can escape from Jingzhou?" Xie Xuan said exaggeratedly.

………………

Liu Bei sat on the grass with a lonely expression.

Pang Tong looked depressed, staring at the treetops blankly, not knowing what he was thinking, he had long lost the vigor he had when he defeated Li Yi in Yiling City and chased hundreds of miles.

"It would be nice if you didn't adjust your defense at night, and you wouldn't have suffered such a big loss." Pang Tong muttered to himself.

Liu Bei stood up, patted Pang Tong with a heavy heart, and comforted: "The West Camp will still be swept away by him." What is the difference between 80,000 dead and 50,000? Since he is targeted, there will always be losses. On the battlefield of Jingzhou, we still have a clear advantage. Although there are temporary difficulties in attacking the city, as long as Xiaozhi's 100,000 horses arrive, any problem can be solved, including Li Yi. ”

The two of them glanced at each other, and both of them had some apprehensions.

………………

The cavalry of the northern frontier galloped across the empty plain, and the huge roar of the galloping horses was deafening.

Li Yi and his attendants stopped on the side of the road, chatting and laughing. In the distance, the generals of the various departments came like flying horses.

Seeing the excited faces of his subordinates, Li Yi said with a smile: "We won a complete victory in this night attack, and it is a miracle that we did not lose a single soldier." ”

"Lord, who will we fight in the next battle?" Yuwen Chengdu shouted, "This battle is too enjoyable. ”

"Liu Bei suffered serious damage this time, and the siege of the city will probably be delayed." Xu Shu said with a smile, "Lord, are we going to fight Wu Lan again?" ”

Li Yi shook his head.

"Why? Now that the Yizhou army has suffered heavy losses, it is time for us to launch a counteroffensive. Lu Wenlong asked with a strange expression.

Li Yi explained with a smile: "The Yizhou army has been hit hard, and the defense will be tighter, and it will not give us another chance at all." Let's go back to the mountains for a while. ”

"Lord, will you go back in just a few days?" Lu Bu asked in surprise.

Li Yi nodded and said, "Yes." We've basically achieved our goal, and there's no better opportunity now. The troops had just recovered from the recent difficulties in the soil and water, and now they were marching and fighting continuously, and the soldiers had a great physical exertion and needed to rest, and the supply was now difficult and needed to be replenished. ”

"The Yizhou army suffered a series of blows in just a few days, and suffered serious losses. Although Liu Bei's troops now have a great advantage, they no longer have the ability to decide in a battle. In order to take Xiangyang City as soon as possible, they must increase their forces. So I guess their reinforcements are coming soon. ”

Li Yi lightly patted the horsewhip in his hand a few times, and said worriedly: "Wu Lan stayed at the Yicheng ferry and didn't leave, it is estimated that it has something to do with this batch of reinforcements." If the reinforcements arrived, and Wu Lan's convoy rushed to Xiangyang City, we would not have a chance to attack on the way. Let's go back to the mountains and wait for the change. Gao Xianzhi was ordered to watch carefully near the ferry and cross the river as much as possible to probe for news of enemy reinforcements. ”

………………

Liu Bei's troops only had 180,000 people left, and he no longer wanted to encircle and annihilate the Northern Xinjiang Army in Xiangyang City, so he gave up the siege on all sides, concentrated the army in the southern camp, and stopped the siege.

Because of repeated setbacks, the morale of the Yizhou army suffered a fatal blow and collapsed.

Liu Bei wrote three books a day, urging Fa Zheng to lead the army north quickly.

Wu Lan was stunned when she received the news from Xiangyang City.

120,000 people, in order to attack Xiangyang City, the Yizhou army lost 120,000 people in a few days, and they were all the main force, which is really incredible.

Fa Zheng and Zhang Song were also shocked when they received Liu Bei's news.

So far, more than half of the 300,000 troops in Izukawa have been lost, and it is difficult to continue this battle.

The two immediately had a fierce dispute over whether to increase the troops in Xiangyang City.

Zhang Song, of course, asked Fa Zheng to lead the army to continue advancing, but Fa Zheng was unwilling.

Before sending troops to Jingzhou, he was opposed to Liu Bei sending troops to attack Jingzhou. He thought that Liu Bei was too anxious, and there was no need to risk attacking Jingzhou when the foundation was not stable.

Fa Zheng believed that Liu Bei had overestimated his own strength and did not correctly understand the real strength of the current Yizhou Army and the problems that needed to be solved. He believes that this year, when the Yizhou Army is still laying the foundation, its strength is fragile, and it is not appropriate to expend troops on an expedition. Although the number of troops is large, there are few elite soldiers who can actually fight.

This year's grain is all grabbed, what will happen next year? Next year's grain must be solved by itself, and if we grab it again, the people in the territory will rebel against the state army.

Therefore, Fa Zheng insisted that in the next few years, the Yizhou Army will still rely on Yizhou strategically, rely on the dangerous terrain to block the attack of the Northern Xinjiang Army externally, appease the people in the territory internally, restore agricultural and manual production, improve the combat effectiveness of the army, accumulate sufficient strength, lay a solid foundation, and then do other things.

With the current strength of the Yizhou Army, even if it can't defeat the Northern Xinjiang Army, it can still retreat to Yizhou and preserve its strength. On the expedition to Jingzhou, once the troops were trapped on the battlefield in Jingzhou and could not achieve victory for a long time, a large number of troops had to be continuously invested. In this way, Hanzhong, Guanghan and other places as the rear did not have enough defensive strength. If the northern Xinjiang army takes the opportunity to attack, the troops will fall into the dilemma of fighting on two sides, and defeat will be an inevitable thing. But the consequence is that not only will Jingzhou not be able to be defeated, but several counties in the rear will also be lost, and with the sharp reduction in the number of troops, it may fail again.

If everything is as Liu Bei thinks, the troops will be invincible all the way, from the south of Jingzhou to Nanyang County in the north, and the problem that will arise is that because of the long distance, it is difficult to keep up with the supply of grain and grass; The cities that have been conquered along the way will also be garrisoned by troops, and the number of troops attacking will become smaller and smaller, and the resistance will be greater and greater.

When the Yizhou army arrived in Jingzhou, which was completely unfamiliar, could it stand still? How to stand on your feet? If these questions are not considered clearly, is it appropriate to blindly go to Jingzhou?

Liu Bei and a group of strategists and generals who strongly advocated the attack on Jingzhou disagreed with him, believing that the Yizhou army should actively move to seize the rich Jingzhou. In this way, not only can they open up living space, but they can also connect with Jiangdong Sun Quan and Zhou Yu, and the two sides will help each other and resist the Northern Xinjiang Army together.

If you have been in Yizhou and watch Jingzhou fall into the hands of the Northern Xinjiang Army, then once the Northern Xinjiang Army occupies Jingzhou, then Yizhou will lose contact with Jiangdong, and will eventually be broken by the Northern Xinjiang Army, and the world of the Han Dynasty will also be seized by the rebellious Li Yi.

Conquer Jingzhou and divide one side first, Liu Bei believes that this goal can be achieved with the strength of the Yizhou army. Moreover, once this goal is achieved, it will be of decisive significance to the development and future of the Yizhou Army.

Liu Bei, as the lord, his opinion was supported by the majority of the people.

If Jingzhou can really be conquered and the turf problem is solved first, it will indeed be an opportunity for the Yizhou Army to develop steadily.

Seeing that Liu Bei could not be convinced, Fa Zheng and his group had to hold the idea that the lord would definitely succeed and actively assist him in the preparations for the expedition to Jingzhou.

As soon as Liu Bei led his troops into Jingzhou, Fa Zheng secretly led his troops to leave Hanzhong and rushed to Ba County, ready to give Liu Bei backup. But he has always been very concerned about the movements of the army in northern Xinjiang, and he has been in contact with Yang Huai who stayed in Hanzhong almost every day.

Now there are only 30,000 troops of Yang Huai and Gao Pei in Hanzhong, and only 30,000 troops of Deng Xian and Peng Yi in Guanghan, and they are not the main force, and most of the soldiers are displaced people recruited in the second half of last year. If this kind of force fights against the main force of the Northern Xinjiang Army, it will be a miracle if it does not lose.

Fa Zheng's greatest concern was that the Northern Frontier Army in Guanzhong and Xiliang would launch an attack on Hanzhong and Guanghan. When the main force of the Yizhou army accompanied Liu Bei on an expedition to Jingzhou, Yue Fei led the army to attack, which was a fatal blow to the Yizhou army. With the strength of the Yizhou army, it is impossible to deal with two battlefields at the same time, it is purely self-defeating.