Last time, Xu Shu left Xinye and went to Xuchang because of his mother's letter. Cao Cao's love was true. Although the letter was fake, the promise was not false. Cao Cao attached great importance to him and gave him very good treatment.

Who knew that when Xu's mother saw Xu Shu come to Xuchang, she loved her son very much and believed that her son was imprisoned here like herself.

Xu's mother was very guilty, thinking that she had implicated her son and made him restrained. She couldn't think about it for a moment and committed suicide by hanging herself.

When Xu Shu saw that his mother was dead, he cried and died on the ground, and Su had been in a long time.

Cao Cao sent someone to ask for advice, and went to pay tribute in person. Xu Shu buried his mother's coffin in Nanyuan, Xuchang, and lived in a mourning tomb. All the gifts from Cao Cao were not accepted.

After Xu's mother's death, Xu Shu was hit hard. He was taciturn since then and he never spoke at the military meeting held by Cao Cao. Even if Cao Cao asked for advice, he would have been perfunctory and said something perfunctory. It was reasonable for Cao Cao to have suspicion of him.

When he met Liu Bei this time, although Xu Shu did not reveal the truth and reality of Cao Cao's army, he still explained the situation of Cao Cao's attack this time. This is a need for Xiang and cannot be considered as revealing military aircraft.

Seeing that Zhuge Liang was too busy alone, Liu Bei knew that Xu Shu's mother was dead and wanted to recruit him again, but Xu Shu politely declined and once again stated to Liu Bei that he would never set up a plan for Cao Cao for his whole life.

Cao Cao knew that Liu Bei valued his reputation and was quite popular with the people. It was false to surrender Liu Bei. He just wanted to blame Liu Bei for his crime of losing his life, which ruined his reputation and made him lose the people's hearts.

This time, Liu Ye made a suggestion and helped Liu Bei without any trace. Cao Cao knew it very well, so he could delay it for some time.

Because Cao Cao also needed Liu Bei to retreat calmly so that Jia Xu had time to arrange things in Xiangyang. Before Jingzhou was obtained, Cao Cao could not be careless.

Jia Xu is known as a poisonous man. He has been operating in Jingzhou for more than half a year since last winter. This plan is very deep!

This time, he arranged several traps on Liu Bei's way back, trying to uproot Liu Bei to prevent future troubles.

Liu Bei learned about Cao Cao's attack plan from Xu Shu, and knew that the little Fancheng could no longer be defended, so he asked Kong Ming for advice.

Although Kong Ming was just starting out, he was very skilled in using military force and made two consecutive fires, which caused Cao Cao a lot of losses, but it was far from hurting his muscles and bones. It was not something that Liu Bei's more than 20,000 troops could compete with.

It turned out that Zhuge Liang's plan was to let Liu Bei take Jingzhou as his home and Xu Tu later plan.

But now it seems that he is really wishful thinking!

Xiangyang in front was occupied by Liu Cong and Cai Mao, and Cao Cao's army behind him was chasing him. The most urgent task now is to find a place to stay.

Zhuge Liang took a look at the nine counties of Jingzhou, which are only three places that can be defended in Xiangyang, Jiangling, Jiangxia. In other places, not only are the city defenses not strong, but also the storage of food, grass and military funds is not enough, so they cannot be defended for a long time.

Jiangxia is a good place to stick to, but it is already Liu Qi's territory. If Liu Bei joins forces with Liu Qi, Jiangxia will become an isolated city, and long-term defense will lead to a loss.

Kong Ming thought about it and felt that it was better to take Xiangyang as the best strategy, so he said to Liu Bei: "My lord can abandon Fancheng quickly and take Xiangyang for a while."

In Kong Ming's view, this was a chance for Liu Bei to obtain Jingzhou. Although Liu Cong had surrendered to Cao Cao in the name of the lord of Jingzhou, his reputation was not right, and there were many people in the city who were loyal to the Han Dynasty.

Now the Cao army has not had time to occupy Xiangyang. If Liu Bei goes to Xiangyang and shouts, there will definitely be many people in the military and civilians in Jingzhou. It is not difficult for Liu Bei to use thunder to gather the army of Jingzhou and control Xiangyang.

But Liu Bei was reluctant to do it forcibly obtaining Xiangyang from Liu Cong! But he couldn't reject Zhuge Liang's plan repeatedly, so he had to divert everyone's attention and said with tears:

"How can the people of the two counties accompany each other for a long time? How can you bear to abandon them?"

Kong Ming knew that Liu Bei was unwilling to take Xiangyang, but it was not easy for him to accumulate the reputation of "love the people as if they were sons". This was because Liu Bei relied on to compete with Cao Cao for "harmony" and could not leave the people alone, so he replied:

"Can people tell the people that those who are willing to follow will go with them, and those who are unwilling to stay."

Liu Bei was re-instant, and Zhuge Liang first sent Yunchang to the river bank to rectify the ships, and then ordered Sun Gan Jianyong to promote the city:

"Now that Cao's troops are coming, the lonely city cannot be guarded for a long time. People are willing to follow them, so they will cross the river together."

The people of the two counties shouted in unison: "Even though we die, I am willing to follow you!"

When Liu Bei saw this, he was very moved! Because of his lack of financial resources, he actually did very limited work for the people in Xinye, which means reducing rent and interest rates, so that the farmer can temporarily have their farmland, so that the people under his rule can enjoy peace and barely have enough food and clothing!

The people gave him a lot of rewards. They not only burdened Liu Bei's military rations and corvee labor, but also allowed the middle-aged family to join the army enthusiastically, and also followed him in life and death!

Even Zhuge Liang, who was very rational, was infected, his eyes were slightly red and covered with a layer of mist. He made up his mind to help Liu Bei obtain Jingzhou and guard the safety of the people.

After Liu Bei crossed the river, he led his troops along the main road. When he arrived at the east gate of Xiangyang, he saw flags everywhere in the city of Xiangyang and deer antlers were densely covered with moats. Obviously, Liu Cong was ready and refused to enter Liu Bei. It would be difficult to seize Xiangyang.

Liu Bei was about to walk around the city, and looked at Zhuge Liang not far away, with a little desire in his eyes. He remembered that he had proposed to take Xiangyang as a base several times, and he was now outside the city. If he had no idea what was wrong, he would snatch his horse and shout:

"Liu Cong's virtuous nephew, I just want to save the people, but I have no other thoughts. You can open the city gate quickly and let the people in for refuge."

When Liu Cong heard that Liu Bei had arrived, maybe it was because of guilt or something else, but he just didn't show up anyway.

Cai Mao and Zhang Yun showed their power, and led hundreds of people to the enemy building and commanded the soldiers to shoot down. The people outside the city all looked at the enemy building and cried and scolded Cai Mao and others for selling their owners for honor.

Suddenly, a general in the city led hundreds of people to the city tower and shouted: "Cai Mao and Zhang Yun are traitors who treason the country! Liu Envoy is a kind and kind person. Now he is here to save the people, so why should he refuse each other!"

Everyone regarded him as eight feet long and had a face like a heavy date; he was from Yiyang, with a surname of Wei, his name was Yan, and his courtesy name was Wenchang.

Wei Yan swung his sword to kill the guards, opened the city gate, lowered the suspension bridge, and shouted: "Uncle Liu, please lead the troops into the city and kill the traitors who treasoned the country together!"

Wei Yan just called Liu Bei's army into the city. Cai Mao and Zhang Yun, who were hiding on the city wall, was stunned when he saw Wei Yan coming out to disrupt the situation, and he was not sure what to do.

I saw a general in the city leading the army out and shouted: "Wei Yan's nameless little soldier, how dare you cause chaos? Do you recognize my general Wenpin!"

Wei Yan was furious and jumped into the horse, so he came to fight. The army soldiers were fighting each other on the edge of the city, and their shouts were shocked.
Chapter completed!