The easiest way is naturally to hand over Fazheng to Ma Dai and others. Doing so will help bring the Ma brothers back to their hearts in a short period of time and quickly transform the remaining Ma family troops into our army's combat power. But in this way, Fazheng will inevitably be lost.

If it falls into the hands of the Ma brothers, Fa Zheng will have only one fate - death!

But in this way, not only will he lose a super talent, but he is also a little sorry for his "contribution".

Fa Zheng's military strategy was most fully verified whether it was assisting Ma Chao in sweeping the two prefectures of Yongsi and taking over Jingbei or in this "ghost plot".

It can be said that only in terms of talent, he is no less than our "dragon and phoenix combination".

Although he forced Ma Chao to death with intentional deception, his actions to this day have not caused any losses to us, and even made great contributions - "secretly offering" to Xiangyang, successfully solving the problem of the incorporation of the Ma family army and how to explain to the military and civilians of Jingzhou.

It can be said that Fa Zheng not only seeks real benefits for his elder brother, but also ensures his elder brother's reputation by "sacrificing" his reputation (even his life).

It is really a waste of talent to give up such a person who has outstanding talents and has made great contributions to our army!

But on the other hand, Fa Zheng deceived everyone this time and quietly forced the brave Ma Chao to commit suicide, which made people fear his scheming.

A person with too deep scheming makes people unable to guess what he really thinks...

If the Fa is upright, we have to face the problem of how to explain to the Ma brothers?

.

Just when my second brother, Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong were discussing urgently on this matter, Liu Pan led his army to arrive!

Obviously, they did not expect that before they arrived, the war had settled. Liu Pan, Wen Pin, Wang Wei and other Jingzhou generals were all surprised.

At this time, the remaining troops of the Ma family were slowly withdrawing from Xinling City and accepting enrollment.

.

Inside the Central Army Commander's tent

"Is Ma Chao dead?" Liu Pan and others were even more surprised when they heard the news that Ma Chao committed suicide, and they all exclaimed in surprise.

"About two hours ago, I committed suicide in front of the formation and apologized and died!" I nodded and said. The dead are gone, so there is no need to provoke any hatred. It is best to stop the hatred between the Ma family and the Jingzhou army and the local areas.

"This person has harmed my Jingzhou to such a situation, and he deserves to die!" Wen Pin said angrily.

"The war has subsided, and it is time to restore the government of Jingzhou as soon as possible!" Zhuge Liang knew my intention very well, and smiled and changed the topic and said, "After several months of war, the military and civilians in Jingzhou were exhausted, farming was blocked, and the fields were deserted.

Fortunately, the casualties were not very serious, which was a great blessing. It was only April now, and if farming could be restored, the grain harvest this year is still guaranteed!”

Liu Pan and others' attention was indeed diverted!

"Yes..." Liu Pan nodded and said, "Zhang Ling still has hundreds of thousands of suffering people. He can't always let the emperor come to provide relief. It's time for us to take over in Jingzhou.

I really didn't expect that when my uncle (Liu Biao) suddenly went, Jingzhou would become such a land."

Speaking of this, Liu Pan suddenly turned around and bowed to me and my second brother and said, "If it weren't for the help of the emperor, Junhou and the Hu Ben under Zhang Pingnan's command, I don't know how Jingzhou looks like now.

Liu Pan first served as the lord and the millions of soldiers and civilians of the nine counties of Jingxiang. He thanked the emperor, the lord and the marquis, Zhang Pingnan, and the soldiers of the entire army of his subordinates!”

"Uncle Xie, Junhou, Zhang Pingnan and his entire army!" Wen Pin, Wang Wei and other generals of Jingzhou also bowed and said.

"Liu Anyuan, please get up, generals!" My second brother and I went up to help Liu Pan, Wen Pin and others respectively, "There is no need to thank you for your affairs within the alliance!"

.

After sitting down, Liu Pan and others inevitably mentioned the issue of staying or leaving the Ma family's remaining troops.

"Ma Chao blinded his mind for his family's hatred and even committed unjust things that harmed the people of Jingzhou. Although his actions were hateful, his feelings were pitiful.

Now that Ma Chao is dead, my brother and his father Ma Teng have an old friend. Ma Chao's old relative Zhang and his brother should take care of him!" I also don't want to hide it from Liu Pan and others, "After discussing with my brother, I decided to remove his troops back to Shouchun first!"

Liu Pan frowned and thought for a moment, nodded and said, "It's good! Since the evil one passed away, the rest will be arranged by the Lord and Zhang Pingnan!"

"Liu Anyuan. You'd better pay attention to the defense in the north earlier!" Pang Tong grinned and said with a smile, "This time, Mr. Jingsheng's assassination and subsequent chaos in Jingbei.

Cao Cao's conspiracy is extremely suspicious, and Cao Cao is also very likely to take advantage of the current situation in Jingzhou that has not yet stabilized and lead his army to the south to invade!”

I don’t know if it was to confirm Pang Tong’s prediction or what happened. Suddenly, the captain of the first song of the wind cavalry, Zhao Ying, strode into the tent, his face seemed quite anxious, as if something important had happened.

He was about to report, but when he saw Liu Pan and others in the tent, Zhao Ying hesitated immediately.

"Ziqing (Zhao Ying)! Liu Anyuan and the others are not outsiders. Is there anything important?" I saw that the situation was wrong and asked.

"Yes!" Zhao Ying responded and reported quickly, "Report to the Lord, General, Zhang Lu from Hanzhong sent 30,000 troops to invade Shangyong, General Li Tong rushed to seek help for 300 miles!"

"What?" The news immediately shocked everyone in the account.

After more than a month of war, I thought that the war in Jingbei was about to come to an end. Who would have thought that at this moment, it would change and regenerate. Zhang Ludi's sudden invasion will cause another stir in Jingzhou.

Moreover, I don’t know if there is a bigger black hand hidden behind Zhang Lu…

"Wenda only has 7,000 troops and horses in his hands, and he is also stationed in Shangyong and Nanxiang. There are only less than 4,000 defenders in Shangyong City!" The second brother said with a deep face as deep as water, stroking his long beard lightly.

The second brother's words made the atmosphere in the tent even more solemn. Nanxiang is adjacent to Wancheng, and it is leading the Cao army to attack Shangyong County in the south. The location of this place is extremely critical. Once Nanxiang is abandoned, Cao's army can easily enter Shangyong County.

With Li Tong's eyes, it is impossible to see the importance of Nanxiang, so he is likely not to recruit Nanxiang garrisons to reinforce. This means that Li Tong must resist 30,000 Hanzhong Army with less than 4,000 people.

Almost ten times the enemy has an overwhelming advantage, and the critical situation can be imagined.

"The invasion of the Hanzhong army will never be that simple!" Pang Tong's eyes turned and he immediately analyzed, "Although the military strength of Zhishangyong was empty due to the war in Jingbei, Zhang Lu was not so decisive and had the will to do so.

He could not have grasped such a clever fighter so accurately. He himself did not have such courage, and Liu Zhang from Yizhou has always been in a bad mood. Based on all this, the general thought that Zhang Lu dared to dispatch 30,000 troops to invade this time, and others would have pushed him behind him."

After a pause, Pang Tong said with extraordinary certainty: "And this person is probably Cao Cao!"

"Shi Yuan said it well!" Zhuge Liang nodded calmly and said, "If Cao Cao really instigated Zhang Lu's invasion, it was definitely not intended to stir up the dispute between our two families and Zhang Lu, and naturally it was impossible to let Zhang Lu seize Shangyong.

He has only one purpose…”

"Watch the fire across the river, and then take advantage of the fire to rob!" Pang Tong smiled and continued Zhuge Liang's words.

Under Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong and the others' analysis, a dark curtain of Cao Cao's layout gradually appeared.

"If the planner behind Zhang Lu's invasion was really Cao Cao, it can be seen how well he knew the progress of the situation in Jingbei, and how strong his covetousness of Jingzhou is!" I nodded and said in a deep voice.

"The rescue will be fast in this battle, but if it is too late, it will change!" The second brother didn't say much, but simply expressed his attitude.

For Liu Pan, Wen Pin and others who were born and raised in Jingzhou, there is no need for us to say more about the importance of the status of Shangyu.

"June said it's good!" Liu Pan nodded heavily and said with an extremely serious expression. "It seems that it is not appropriate to delay here. We must go north quickly to rescue..."

After a pause, Liu Pan was embarrassed and looked ashamed, and hesitated: "June, Zhang Pingnan, this time, I'm afraid I have to ask the two Tiger Ben to help our army..." After all, whether it was Li Tong guarding Shangyong, or my second brother's army and I besieged and recruited the Ma family army, it was actually our army who was fulfilling the agreement as an allies.

In other words, this is to protect the interests of Jingzhou with the blood and lives of our soldiers. Therefore, Liu Pan has no right to "order" us to rescue, so he can only ask politely.

First, we invited our army to help quell the Jingbei Rebellion, and now we have to use our army to resist Zhang Lu and even Cao Cao. It is no wonder that Liu Pan seemed a little embarrassed and ashamed.

"The lips are gone and the teeth are cold, what is the matter!" I smiled and answered in only eight words.

.

Immediately, we had an emergency discussion with Liu Pan and other Jingzhou generals on how to go north to rescue. All aspects of the issues involved here!

The first thing that needs to be solved is the inclusion of the Ma family army. Without leaving the corresponding forces, it is impossible to guarantee whether these newly surrendered Ma soldiers will take the opportunity to cause trouble.

Secondly, it is the issue of food and grass.

If nothing unexpected happens, this Shangyong offensive and defensive battle may be another protracted war involving three or four sides (our army, Jingzhou army, Zhang Lu army, Cao army). The food and grass for tens of thousands of troops in a month or even a few months is not a small amount.

At least, the food and grass in my second brother’s army have not lasted for half a month.

In addition, there are a series of issues such as how to rescue them.
Chapter completed!