Just two days ago, a messenger sent by Cai Mao suddenly came to Pingyu, the county seat of Runan County, to see Yuan Jian by name.

The two armies fought, and if they didn't kill the envoy, Yuan Jian met with the envoy sent by Cai Mao, and after talking with him, he realized that Cai Mao had the intention of killing Liu Biao.

Liu Biao raised a large army, fought without declaring a war, and marched in three ways, one led by Zhang Xiu, one led by Liu Qi, and Liu Biao personally led the middle route army, which was also the most powerful army in combat effectiveness. There is only one purpose, that is, he is not satisfied with Zhang Yan's reforms, and he wants to attack Pengcheng to save the current Son of Heaven.

No matter what the reason, since Cai Mao wanted to kill Liu Biao, Yuan Jian naturally had no opinion. After all, Liu Biao is the commander of the Jingzhou army, and once the commander dies, the Jingzhou army will be leaderless and will retreat. Moreover, there is Cai Mao as an internal response, most of the Jingzhou troops who followed Liu Biao on the expedition this time are Cai Mao's subordinates, and they obey Cai Mao's words, as long as Cai Mao gives an order, they will retreat at any time.

Yuan Lian thought twice and thought that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so he agreed to cooperate with Cai Mao, and formulated a strategy of pretending to surrender, so that all counties along the way would surrender to Liu Biao, and he was no exception.

However, Yuan Jian also clearly realized the consequences of Cai Mao's murderous plan with a knife, so he took precautions against Cai Mao, and was afraid that Cai Mao would deceive him, so he not only became Cai Mao's murderous knife, but also became the soul of Cai Mao's knife.

However, Yuan Lian is not stupid, he naturally will not let Cai Mao kill two birds with one stone, but changed the plan he agreed with Cai Mao, the purpose is to divert Cai Mao's army, so as not to threaten Runan City.

Besides. Yuan Jian even sent people to various places to ask for rescuers. The closest to Pingyu should be Chenjun. Chen Wang Liu Pet has a private army of 5,000 people, and in terms of combat effectiveness, it is at least stronger than those militias. However, as far as Yuan Jian knew, Zhang Xiu led a large army to attack Yingchuan, and Yang Xiu, the Taishou of Yingchuan, had already sent a distress signal to Liu Chong, the king of Chen, and Liu Chong led the army to support Yingchuan.

Then the next best thing to do is to count the army stationed in Qian County. Qian County is the hometown of the current Wei General Xu Chu, and it is also the place where Chen Qi, the former minister of Peiguo, was buried. In order to commemorate the help of Chen Qi and Chen Deng's father and son, Zhang Yan sent an army of 500 people to guard Chen Qi's tomb, and the general who guarded the tomb was none other than He Yi.

He Yi has become Xu Huang's subordinate general since he surrendered to Zhang Yan with Liu Pi and others, but later he was demoted because he committed some crimes and was punished to guard Chen Qi's tomb in this place in Qian County.

However, because of the fierce general Xu Chu, the local people are very strong. It is even more famous for being brave and ruthless, and the county officials have not been able to restrain it. In desperation, he had to ask He Yi to come and deter him.

He Yi had a friendship with Xu Chu again, and after talking with these people in Qian County, he realized that they all had the desire to join the army and wanted to become a general like Xu Chu. Therefore, He Yi suggested to Zhang Yan on the grounds that the Huai and Ru areas were battlegrounds and could not be without garrisons, and recruited some young and middle-aged people in Qian County to enlist in the army, which on the one hand could strengthen the security and defense of Qian County and even the surrounding areas, and serve as a military force to defend Pengcheng, and on the other hand, it also reduced some public security problems for Qian County.

The lack of troops has always been a headache for Zhang Yan, so after Zhang Yan heard He Yi's suggestion, he immediately agreed, and let He Yi take full responsibility for this matter, recruit young and middle-aged people in the Huai and Ru areas, replenish the troops, strengthen training when the farm is slack, and help the surrounding people to harvest when the farm is busy.

At first, the number of soldiers in the army was only a few thousand, but then gradually expanded, until today's 20,000.

And He Yi was also reinstated because of this incident, and became a general again, specifically responsible for commanding this army, stationed in Qiaoxian County to protect the territory and the people, and also used it as a guard for Pengcheng.

The person who went to Qian County to be responsible for announcing the decree was Yuan Lian, so Yuan Lian knew the army of Qian County well.

Later, because Liu Pi and He Man were not very suitable for Xu Huang's strict military management methods, they begged for transfer.

So, after several considerations, Zhang Yan transferred Liu Pi and He Man to Qian County, and gathered together with He Yi again, and the three of them were in charge of the army of 20,000 people, and this army nominally belonged to the subordinates of the Wei general Xu Chu. In this way, this army is even more proud. And He Yi, Liu Pi, He Man and others also worked more hard for Zhang Yan, for fear that something would go wrong.

The rescuers that Yuan Jian invited this time were the army led by He Yi, Liu Pi, and He Man, as the garrison of Gongwei Pengcheng, this army was usually well-trained, and did not dare to slack off in the slightest.

Because, He Yi, Liu Bi, He Man and others are unwilling to embarrass Xu Chu, and more than half of the army are young and middle-aged people in Qian County, they are neither willing to embarrass Xu Chu, nor to embarrass the people in their hometown, they believe that the people of Qian County will definitely be famous all over the world.

Yuan Jian ostensibly asked Cai Mao to attack this army, but in fact, this army was already on its way to Pingyu, and if nothing else, it would arrive tomorrow.

Cai Mao wanted to use Yuan Mao to borrow a knife to kill people, but Yuan Mao was not stupid, he wanted to use this time to get rid of Liu Biao, and to strike a counterattack on Cai Mao, so that Cai Mao knew how powerful he was.

Liu Biao followed Yuan Jian and soon came to Pingyu City, the city gate was lit up, as if it was about to be the New Year, on both sides of the road at the city gate, the people were even more welcome, which satisfied Liu Biao's vanity.

This time, Liu Biao went on an expedition, with Kuai Liang as his military advisor, and Kuai Yue was responsible for guarding Xiangyang City, but when all the counties he passed through were looking at the wind and descending, Liu Biao gradually lost his sense of prevention, and he was determined to win Runan County.

And Cai Mao was worried that Kuai Liang would get in the way by Liu Biao's side, so he made a suggestion to Liu Biao and asked Kuai Liang to assist Liu Bei in escorting the grain and grass, and completely broke Kuai Liang.

In this way, Liu Biao's people who have always surrounded Cai Mao are more conducive to Cai Mao's actions.

Liu Biao happily followed Yuan Jian to Pingyu City, seeing this scene in front of him, as if he was like a victorious army returning triumphantly, the smooth progress on the way also made him gradually lose his defense, and followed Yuan Jian straight to Pingyu City.

Yuan Jian warmly entertained Liu Biao with wine and delicacies, and during the banquet, Cai Mao, Zhang Yun and others walked away with their strength to drink, or the military camp had something to do, and only Liu Biao and Liu Biao's henchmen were left in the city, and the rest of the army was stationed in the military camp outside the city.

After Cai Mao and Zhang Yun returned to the barracks, they immediately pretended to pass on Liu Biao's order, and the 50,000 troops they brought were all taken away, and they were called to attack the enemy army, but in fact, the 50,000 troops stopped after leaving Pingyu City and walking less than 20 miles to the east.

This army of 50,000 people, of which 40,000 are Cai Mao's subordinates, Cai's power is all over the army, it can be said that Cai Mao gave an order, and these 50,000 people let him do whatever they wanted, even more effective than Liu Biao's words.

However, there are 10,000 people, who are subordinates of Wang Wei, another general in Jingzhou.

When the army stopped advancing, Wang Wei rushed over from the rear army, and after seeing Cai Mao, he asked: "Dudu, didn't you say that you rushed to Qian County in the starry night and attacked it unprepared, why did you stop after walking for so long?" ”

Cai Mao said: "I just received a message from the scout, the army in Qian County is already on the way to Pingyu, if we go forward, we will meet it, our army is coming from afar, the soldiers are tired, how can they be the opponent of the new army." It is better to stay here, lie in ambush on the road that must be passed, recuperate, and when the enemy army comes, launch a fierce attack, and will definitely be able to attack the enemy army by surprise. ”

Wang Wei tasted Cai Mao's words, and felt that what Cai Mao said was also very reasonable, and Liu Biao was not there, Cai Mao was the supreme commander, and if he didn't listen to him, he would be disobedient, not to mention that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, an ambush was much better than an encounter, right?

As a result, Wang Wei no longer had any doubts, and all the 50,000 troops dispersed to both sides of the road to ambush according to Cai Mao's orders.

At the same time, in Pingyu County, Yuan Jian had already drunk Liu Biao, and when he saw that Liu Biao was unconscious, he immediately asked Liu Biao to be sent back to the guest room, and then sent someone out of the city to investigate and see where Cai Mao's army went.

More than half an hour later, the scout returned, and told Yuan Jian that all the enemy troops outside the city had withdrawn, leaving only 500 men to guard the camp, while Cai Mao led the army to the east, and where it was not found out.

After hearing this, Yuan Lian nodded, but he was not at ease with Cai Mao, because Cai Mao even dared to kill Liu Biao, what else could not be done?

So, Yuan Jian sent a number of scouts again to investigate overnight, and he must find out the movements of Cai Mao's army, so as to know what kind of heart Cai Mao has in the end.

An hour and a half later, the scouts who had been sent out finally arrived, and this time, the scouts found out the location of Cai Mao's army, about twenty-five miles east of Pingyu City.

After hearing this, Yuan Lian looked nervous, and said: "Sure enough, as I expected, Cai Mao stationed the army here to ask for guilt tomorrow." If I really killed Liu Biao, I would really fall for Cai Mao's tricks. ”

In Yuan Lian's opinion, Liu Biao is already in the bag anyway, whether to kill or not, and when to kill, it is up to him to decide. At such a critical moment, Yuan Jian naturally would not risk Liu Biao's life, at least at this juncture, he couldn't kill Liu Biao.

Yuan Jian frowned, pondered for a while, and finally let him come up with a plan to deal with Cai Mao. (To be continued......)