Wandering the Heavens

Chapter 384 New 3 Kingdoms 24

If Cao's army was burned in Xinye, they could still take advantage of the situation, but now it is raining heavily and there is nothing they can do to fight. It would be safer to quickly run to Jiangxia.

After Liu Bei spoke, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei obediently carried out his orders, which shows that Zhang Fei's unreasonable behavior and Guan Yu's arrogant look in the sky were all intentional indulgences by him and had nothing to do with their personalities.

After the order was passed down, everyone acted separately according to their own tasks, vowing to go as far as they could before Cao's army reacted.

Cao Ren in Xinye County was in a different mood. His command style was steady and he was good at playing defense. He was now in the government office in Xinye, thanking God for the rain, otherwise the kerosene and flammable materials in the city would have killed many soldiers. He was also shocked by Liu Bei's madness.

After confirming that the entire county of Xinye was an empty city, scouts were immediately sent out to look for Liu Bei's traces. The time for this expedition was too tight, and Guo Jia could not bear such a high-intensity march because he often committed suicide. Xun You and Man Chong were in Xiangyang with Xiahou Dun at this time, and there was no one to make decisions at the critical moment.

"Report, General, scouts have reported that they have found traces of Liu Bei's army and civilians in the south."

While Cao Ren was walking around the room, he finally received the news.

"General, I will fight and pursue Liu Bei!"

Cao Chun felt that since he had escaped death this time, he needed to teach Liu Bei a lesson. Cao Ren was his own brother, and he would definitely take the credit.

"No!" Cao Ren looked at the map for a while and rejected Cao Chun's request to fight.

"This... General!" Cao Chun became anxious.

"Now most of Jingzhou is in our hands. There is no need to take risks under such circumstances. We have worked with Liu Bei before. He always pretends to be innocent and lets his two sworn brothers take the lead. He must have a backup plan for this escape. The cavalry you brought with you this time only have 2,000 people. Due to the terrain, you cannot form a formation to charge. Instead, you will be targeted by the enemy. This pursuit is meaningless."

Cao Ren explained seriously why he couldn't pursue them. Liu Bei, the old shady guy, was willing to burn down a county town under Zhuge Liang's advice. Who knew what his backup plan would be? If they were not careful, their entire army might be wiped out.

Cao Cao was drooling over Yuan Shao's cavalry during the Battle of Guandu. After the battle, he also wanted to get a cavalry unit for fun. Taking advantage of the internal fighting among the three Yuan brothers, he poached Yuan Shao's men and formed a 5,000-man Tiger and Leopard Cavalry.

Although the quality was average, there was no decent cavalry team south of Yanzhou, which naturally became a shadow in everyone's mind.

In fact, cavalry is powerful, but it depends on how and where it is used.

As for how to use it, the word "ride" should be paired with shooting. High mobility plus long-range attack, this is the scary part of cavalry. Unfortunately, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry can only ride and have not learned how to shoot.

As for where to use it? Cavalry has a low adaptability to combat environments and is suitable for open field battles. Once it reaches mountainous areas or siege warfare, its combat effectiveness will be reduced.

Just look at the Mongolian cavalry, they could have marched through Asia with 100,000 men heading west, but they spent decades in the Central Plains, and even lost the life of a Khan.

Jingzhou's water network is full of mountains and the terrain is narrow, which is not conducive to the deployment of cavalry. If the enemy is prepared, it would be extremely risky for Cao Chun to pursue alone.

Cao Chun could only be angry in secret as his request for battle was rejected. Cao Ren was too lazy to care about him. As long as he didn't take the troops out to do anything, it would be fine. The thing that needed to be confirmed now was where Liu Bei would go.

People's joys and sorrows are not the same. When Cao Ren was eating hot pot and singing in Xinye, Liu Bei was on his way. Then the people were not happy. They came to a beautiful place and decided not to leave and settle down there.

No matter how Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang tried to persuade them, it was useless. They said that they didn't know which big family the land belonged to and the owner would not allow them to settle here.

However, the people ignored it and said that the origin of this place was a chicken that Liu Bei killed when he entered Jingzhou alone. The family had died out and their property was divided up by other big families. This place was too far away and remote and no one wanted it, so it was taken over by the Jingzhou Governor's Office.

After persuasion failed, Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang could only set off with the families of a group of high-ranking officials. Without the civilians, they could march much faster.

After Yu Xian instigated the people to stay, he quickly changed into a Taoist priest and led them to plan the village, build houses and reclaim wasteland, and also set up a school. While the infrastructure construction here was peaceful, the war outside was fierce.

After Cao's army entered Jingzhou, the nobles who wanted to become the county magistrate's wife surrendered; then the nobles who wanted to find a county magistrate themselves went to Jiangxia with their army. By the time Cao Cao arrived in Xiangyang, a standoff between the two sides had already formed.

The problem now is that Cao Cao's army is limited and not well adapted to the local climate and environment, so he relies heavily on the Jingzhou navy led by Cai. This gives Liu Qi and Liu Bei time, but they also have many problems on their side, the first of which is the lack of troops, especially the navy.

For this reason, both sides wanted to bring a force into this war and turn their attention to Jiangdong together.

At this time in Jiangdong, Sun Ce was not dead yet. He had been assassinated by Xu Gong's followers when he went out hunting. Before his wounds healed, he met Yu Ji who was pretending to be a ghost. Even though even his own mother opposed, he still killed the old Taoist priest.

After killing someone, Sun Ce should have died, but he could not die after leaving his last words. So Sun Quan was in an awkward situation, because his brother Sun Ce was in poor health and could not handle things, so he had to do it, but everyone only recognized him as the boss.

Sun Quan had thought of some means and ideas to send the person to reunite with his biological father. After all, it was he who used himself as a hostage to Yuan Shu to borrow troops, so don't expect the relationship between the two brothers to be very good.

But Sun Ce's life is really tough. No matter how badly someone attacks him, he can't die. What's more important is that people like Zhou Yu and Zhang Zhao support Sun Ce. He is just an employee.

Although Sun Ce was unable to handle the situation at this time, he was sober. With the help of the assassination of Xu Gong's followers and Yu Ji, he massacred all the aristocratic families in Jiangdong who refused to surrender. In the future, the Lu family of the four major surnames fled to Xuzhou, and the Zhu family was exterminated. Sun Quan was the one who took the blame...

Under such circumstances, some local natives became increasingly dissatisfied with Sun Ce. As long as someone took the lead in igniting the fire, they would definitely rush forward. However, Sun Ce had the support of the army, and even his own brother could only pretend to be his grandson, let alone others.

When the Jiangdong nobles were pushing the limit of their tolerance day by day, a letter from Cao Cao was delivered to Jingkou. The content was simple: he wanted to take Liu Bei's life while he was ill, and the two sides should join forces to besiege Jiangxia.

This letter was very refreshing, and it made everyone stop making trouble and start thinking about how to respond.

Judging from the situation, it is only a matter of time before Liu Bei and Liu Qi are finished. Cao Cao will definitely turn his attention to Jiangdong, and the question will be whether to be the county magistrate or the county magistrate's wife.

The military commanders all advocated war, and they did not want to be the wife of the county magistrate. The counselors advocated peace, and they were basically local tyrants. The money and food for the war were all paid by their land. As long as there was no war, or the war did not require them to pay, they did not care who was the county magistrate.