Seeing Huang Zhong personally requesting to attack Hepu, Liu Bei shook his head repeatedly and said, "Don't be anxious for the Han Dynasty to be promoted to the old general. Everyone in the world knows that Gu is based on benevolence and righteousness. Sun Ce is still a Han minister, and now he is an ally of the Feng Thief with our Linjiang Kingdom. How can Gu attack him? And it is a sneak attack that fights undeclaredly?"

Huang Zhong responded, "It turns out that the king still hasn't made up his mind to attack Hepu. In this way, we will concentrate our troops to Hutou Pass and meet Wei Yan to fight Feng's army."

Liu Bei smiled and explained: "The meaning of Gu is not to not capture Hepu. On the contrary, Gu is determined to win against Hepu. If we can occupy Hepu in Linjiang, we can cut off the Liang army's maritime trade route at sea and attack Jiaozhi, Jiuzhen and Rinan from sea, but more importantly, we can also obtain a large amount of tax inflow from this seaway to enhance our troops."

Huang Zhong was really puzzled at this time. Not to mention Huang Zhong, Zhang Fei, who had already known about this, also said anxiously: "Oh, I said, brother, King, you are not this, and that is not that. Old Zhang, the minister, was also confused, and he didn't know what the king intended."

Liu Bei stroked his beard and explained: "It's not that we won't capture Hepu County, but when the Liang army attacked Hepu, we will attack Hepu again, so that we will be much more legitimate."

Huang Zhong nodded in approval and said, "So that's it, but how did the king decide that the Liang army would put Jiaozhi, Rinan and Jiuzhen counties without fighting, but instead went to attack Hepu first. Aren't they afraid that the Wu army in Jiaozhi had cut off their retreat?"

Liu Bei smiled slightly and pointed to the map on the table and said, "Look, the three counties of Jiaozhi are narrow and long, north-south. If the Liang army captured Hepu, it would cut off the connection between the three counties of Jiaozhi and the Wu Kingdom on land. The mountains are connected to mountains and water and water are extremely dangerous. Moreover, after the defeat of Taishi Ci of the Wu army, there will definitely be few soldiers available in the three counties of Jiaozhi, so as long as a unit that is good at mountain combat and wandering here can block the Wu army within these three counties with a narrow terrain. Then the Liang army has no worries."

Liu Bei said something and Zhang Fei and Huang Zhong nodded repeatedly.

In fact, Liu Bei was indeed counted as the next move of the Liang army. At present, the Ganning Army and the Dianwei Army stationed in Mantan Port were in accordance with the instructions sent by Feng Yuyao to jump over Jiaozhi and attack Hepu directly. As long as the Liang army captured Hepu, the remaining Wu army in the three counties of Jiaozhi would not be able to defend alone. They would either surrender or flee from the sea to the South China Sea, Jian'an and other coastal counties.

What Liu Bei didn't know was that the general of Liang State, Lin Tao, was taking a huge naval fleet around the Malajia Strait, and now he has arrived in Zhulu County, Zhuya County, which has long been a place outside the Huanhua area. He used this as a stronghold to face Hepu across the sea, waiting for the fighter plane.

At this time, Sun Ce and Taishici, who had retreated to the Dragon City, were also nervously strengthening the city defense. Taishici advised Sun Ce several times to return to Jianye, the capital of Wu, at least to Panyu in the South China Sea. However, they were both rejected by Sun Ce.

What surprised Taishici and Sun Ce was that the Liang army in Manfangang had not acted for a long time, which made them think that the Liang army had drawn at least one of the two legions of Gan Ning and Dian Wei because of the tightening of the northern line.

However, the Liang army was slow to move, and it was exactly what Sun Ce thought. He was gathering new troops from Jian'an, Chengdi and other places, advancing from sea, land, water and land, and reinforcements in Jiaozhi. All of these took a lot of time. If Liang army gave him this time, why would he not do it? Therefore, Sun Ce was not in a hurry and was also working on Longcheng to patiently wait for his reinforcements.

What they didn't know was that Gan Ning and Dian Wei were actually waiting for the arrival of Meng Huo's army. The Meng Huo's army was originally stationed in central Myanmar south of Yongchang. Even if they had a large number of war elephants who were good at walking in the mountains and forests, it would take a long time to come.

Fortunately, Meng Huo finally arrived at Manfeng Port as scheduled and met with Ganning Dianwei. The Liang army immediately launched a new offensive.

Hundreds of ships and Viking warships were loaded with soldiers, horses and war supplies from Ganning Dianwei, and down the water. The war elephants of Meng Huo on the shore lined up in several rows, and the end was endless.

Ganning's legion was originally a naval army, and the soldiers brought out were all naval warriors. In addition to the captured Wu army sailors, it was more than enough to drive the captured warships.

Sun Ce and Taishici, who were involved in the Dragon City, soon received news of the exploration of horses in front of them. But what surprised them was that after the Liang army entered Jiaozhi County along the Pushui River, they did not continue to march southeast. Instead, after occupying a small county with a population of only two or three thousand, they immediately divided into two groups. A small group was stationed here, while another large brigade turned around and marched eastward.

Sun Ce used a branch to draw a horizontal line slightly northward from Anding County on the sand table. Taishi Ci said silently: "They are going to attack our Hepu County."

"Yes. They entered Anding, first, to monitor and prevent the movements of our troops in Jiaozhi and even the two counties south of Jiaozhi. Second, to use this as a base and use the Pushui River as a place for food and grass supply to transport."

Taishici said flatly: "Master, since this is the case, it is better for us to send troops to calm down."

Sun Ce shook his head and said, "We can't underestimate the Liang army anymore. Even if they only leave a small amount of troops, we have to investigate and make plans. What's more, our troops in Jiaozhi are very weak. The reinforcements just assembled not long ago and are still on the road."

At this time, another army was ordered to run into the mansion and submitted a military report. Sun Ce opened it for a while, and then handed it to Taishici without saying a word. After reading it, Taishici exclaimed: "They left a brigade with the main force of the war elephant cavalry in Anding. There were 1,500 war elephants alone. And before they divided the troops, they strengthened the city defense fortifications day and night in Anding, building the city like a bronze wall."

"Not bad, and as far as Gu knows, the Liang army's elephant is more elite than the barbarian and common war elephants, and is far from comparable to the latter. Gu had dealt with Feng Yu in his early years and knew that he had this ability. If the Liang army defended the city and then hid these fierce war elephants in the surrounding mountains and fields, it would be great if we could protect ourselves from stability, not to mention the number of troops and horses we have," he said.

Taishici asked, "What are the plans for the king now?"

Sun Ce closed his eyes for a moment, opened his eyes and said, "Now, we can only arrive in Hepu with all the troops in the Marshalling City before the Liang army to build defense with the Hepu garrison. So Xin, we should be faster than them in the sea."

"But the troops in Jielong City occupy most of the available soldiers in Jiaozhi County, and even Jiuzhen, and Rinan. If we leave, these three Jiaozhi counties."

Sun Ce replied decisively: "We can only do this. If Hepu is lost, not only will the land traffic be cut off, but the sea access will also be harassed by enemy forces along the coast. At that time, the three counties will definitely be out of order. On the contrary, if we can defeat the enemy forces in Hepu, the three counties will definitely not be lost."
Chapter completed!