Dragon of the Three Kingdoms

"Li Yi didn't kill today. He said it was because the three of us were brothers. At that time, all the Xuzhou officials were present, but now my brother let me and Yide run away. What's the reason? To be able to go with Yide is to be one step ahead for my elder brother!"

"You, you guys!"

Liu Bei turned his head, and couldn't help crying. In fact, he already knew the choice of Guan and Zhang, but he still couldn't help but want to persuade them to leave, so that they don't follow him to death.

As Liu Bei said just now, it is fine to take them to the future, but if Liu Bei is asked to take them to jump down the cliff, how can Liu Bei bear it?

After Liu Bei left Tan County, Li Yi stayed in Tan County for another two days before leaving.

In the past two days, Li Yi stayed with Tao Qian almost except for sleeping and convenience. Except for Mi's family, Li Yi did not visit any officials under Tao Qian's command, and the officials under Li Yi's command, except for normal Work connection, basically no other contact.

Although these performances may not necessarily make everyone think deeply, they can definitely give people a feeling that Li Yi has little interest in the people and places of Xuzhou.

Of course, this was on the surface. In private, Zhang Zhao sent a letter to Zhao Yu, to the effect that Li Yi came to Xuzhou with full of goodwill, but in order not to let Tao Shijun misunderstand, I have unnecessary thoughts about Li Yi and them, so they are a little cold to each other, and I hope Zhao Yu will not blame them.

This was said carefully and thoughtfully, but as the recipient, Zhao Yu's favorability towards Tao Qian would definitely drop by several points.

But in case Tao Qian found out the clues, Li Yi's small actions were limited to this. He focused more on Liu Bei and Cao Cao who were going to fight next, and persuaded Tao Qian to change his original attitude. Combat deployment.

Originally, Tao Qian had a thorough defensive thinking. He asked Liu Bei to guard Lanling, and Li Yi defended Xiangben for him. He didn't even think about counterattacks. The shock from the rear let Cao Cao know that Xuzhou is not a soft bone. Then with the consumption of food and grass, the long-term failure of the battle, and the pressure of various "public opinion" from the outside world, Cao Cao will definitely retreat, and the crisis in Xuzhou will naturally end by then.

In Li Yi's view, this plan is extremely aggrieved, even very inexplicable, because now Cao Cao leads the main force to open Yangzang Ba, and only Xiahouyuan is in Donghai County, and Xiahouyuan's strength is about [-]. Without Li Yi, Tao Qian only needed to integrate the troops of Donghai County, and with twice or even three times the superior force, it was very likely that Xia Houyuan would be eaten.

As long as Xia Houyuan is defeated, Cao Cao will be in a dilemma, and he may return directly to Yanzhou.

However, Tao Qian didn't take such a good opportunity. If he didn't want to take risks before, it's understandable, but after Li Yi arrived, he still thought so, which is really too timid.

Therefore, Li Yi proposed another plan.

Now that Cao Cao is attacking Kaiyang, although Zang Ba is not the enemy, he still fights bravely and dares to fight. Cao Cao has lost the momentum he had before, but as long as Cao Cao is given enough time, it will not be a problem to win Kaiyang.

Then, Donghai County must defeat Xia Houyuan and force Cao Cao to retreat before Cao Cao achieves results in Kaiyang.

If Li Yi had proposed this plan from the beginning, Tao Qian would have hesitated, but with Liu Bei's military order, Li Yi did not spend much effort to convince Tao Qian.

As a result, the original deployment of soldiers and horses in Donghai County naturally underwent some changes.

First of all, Li Yi no longer garrisoned Xiangben, which was stationed by three thousand troops led by Cao Bao. Lanling, where Liu Bei was originally located, was given to Li Yi around the corner. As for Liu Bei, the military order given to him was to let Liu Bei obey Li Yi's dispatch, For the time being, a small number of elites will harass Cheng County where Xiahouyuan is located. After Li Yi arrives in Lanling, Liu Bei's troops will be the vanguard.

If Liu Bei and Xia Houyuan had an advantage in the battle, Li Yi would lead his army to press down and take Xia Houyuan down in one go.

If Liu Bei and Xia Houyuan are frustrated in the battle, Li Yi can adapt to the situation, either to fight again, or to return to Lanling to defend, whichever is fine.

In short, Liu Bei will go first, and Li Yi will see the situation.

No matter how you look at this style of play, Xuzhou will not suffer, but Tao Qian has concerns about Liu Bei. He does not feel sorry for Liu Bei, but he is worried that Liu Bei will be forced to turn against him, or run away, which will affect Li Yi and lead to the defeat of the army. ,

However, Li Yi is not very worried about this, because Liu Bei is a non-staff person to Li Yi's army, and everyone is not in the same camp at all, so even if there is a problem with Liu Bei, it will not have a big impact on Li Yi .

At the same time, Li Yi asked Liu Bei to sign the military order before, although he dug a hole for Liu Bei, but it was also an opportunity for Li Yi to give Liu Bei.

If Liu Bei runs away after signing the military order, then Liu Bei's reputation will also be ruined. In the future, it will be difficult to do anything big other than spend his life in incognito. In this case, Li Yi is not You can't let him go and give Liu Bei a way out.

It’s just that Li Yi also understands that this possibility is very small. A person who abandons his reputation in the face of danger may still achieve great things, but Liu Bei is definitely not among them. Otherwise, why would Li Yi ruin Liu Bei’s reputation early?

Chapter 471 Letter from Xia Houyuan

Li Yi's vanguard marched very fast.

In just two days, [-] troops led by Huang Zhong and Wei Yan arrived in Lanling. Liu Bei had already obtained a military order before that, and after Huang Zhong showed the warrant, he left the young and strong guards temporarily organized by him. Wait for Li Yi, and then lead five thousand soldiers by himself, and follow Huang Zhong and the others to march towards Cheng County.

After another day or so, the main force of Li Yi's army arrived in Lanling.

After entering Lanling, Li Yi did not live in the county government office, because Liu Bei is still acting as the county magistrate of Lanling. Li Yi didn't want to be too ugly about these small things, so he used a courtyard of Mi's family in Lanling as an example. After leaving Xingyuan, settle down for one night, and wait until the next day to continue to march.

In a study room, Li Yi, Xu Huang, Kuai Yue, and the others sat around a small stove, warming the wine, and at the same time circulating a letter. When the letter went around and finally returned to Li Yi, Li Yi shook the letter and asked, "What do you guys think?"

Li Yi asked Huang Zhong and Wei Yan to march forward and approach Cheng County in order to prevent Xia Houyuan from withdrawing directly after learning of his movements. However, he did not expect that Xia Houyuan would send someone to Huang Zhong and the others when they were still a long way from Cheng County. He bought a batch of gifts, and presented a letter written by himself, and asked Huang Zhong to turn the corner to Li Yi.

Naturally, Huang Zhong would not be negligent. Li Yi had just settled in Lanling, and Huang Zhong sent the letter to him.

Li Yi was still very interested in Xia Houyuan's letter, and he opened it right away to read it. After reading it, he felt emotional. If he didn't know that Xia Houyuan was not a simple person, how could he be fooled by the other party.

Xia Houyuan was very polite to Li Yi in the letter, no, it can no longer be described as polite, and it is not an exaggeration to say that he is flattering.

First, he took the trouble to blow up all kinds of merits of Li Yi, saying how much he admired Li Yi, how much he admired him, and even said that he had always wanted to visit Li Yi in Jingzhou, but he kept his words light and worried that Li Yi would not like it. , That's why I didn't dare to move.

When Li Yi saw this, he was both funny and emotional. What he laughed was that Xia Houyuan could write such flattering words. After all, how many generals who can leave their names in history really grew their muscles into their brains?

Fighting against such people is absolutely not to be underestimated.

After saying all the good things he could say, and thanking Li Yi again and again for beheading Zhang Kai and giving away his head, Xia Houyuan slowly turned to the topic and talked about the Battle of Xuzhou this time.

Xia Houyuan said that Cao Cao attacked Xuzhou this time only to avenge his father and for the sake of filial piety. As long as Tao Qian is killed, he will withdraw from Xuzhou and will not occupy any land in Xuzhou. Although the people did suffer some damage during the process, it was not Cao Cao's original intention. After all, swords have no eyes in war, and accidental injuries are inevitable.

Therefore, Xia Houyuan hoped that Li Yi, for the sake of the relationship between the two families and the people of Xuzhou, could consider the overall situation and join forces with him to capture Tao Qian. As long as Tao Qian died, the people of Xuzhou would naturally be at peace, and Cao Cao would definitely treat him Li Yi burst into tears.

What Xia Houyuan said was quite disgusting, maybe he also knew that it was impossible for Li Yi to agree, so Xia Houyuan said later that if Li Yi didn't want to beat Tao Qian, he couldn't help it, although Cao Cao really wanted to kill Tao Qian , but Cao Cao doesn't want to turn against Li Yi for the sake of an enemy, so it doesn't matter if Li Yi is unwilling to cooperate, as long as he writes to let him know, Xia Houyuan will take the initiative to withdraw his troops, and at the same time inform Cao Cao that Cao Cao is there After the arrangement is made, the troops will also retreat.

Xia Houyuan's attitude can be said to be extremely low, but Li Yi only believes him a little, because Xia Houyuan said later that it is a big matter to retreat, and Cao Cao is still on Langya's side, so I hope Li Yi You can give him half a month to arrange.

At the end of the letter, Xia Houyuan greeted Li Yi's body again, saying that he was waiting for Li Yi's reply, and then it was gone. From the beginning to the end, Xia Houyuan did not mention a word about Mi Heng and Mao Jie, as if those unpleasant things had no roots at all. It just never happened.

Li Yi thought about it, but he didn't speak in a hurry, but looked at the left and right Wenwu, wanting to hear everyone's ideas first.

Now that Huang Zhong, Wei Yan, and Xun You are not here, they have all gone to the front line. Among the civil servants, Kuai Yue is the best at military affairs. Therefore, Kuai Yue thought about it for a while, and he was the first to speak: "My lord, in Xiahou Yuan's letter What is said is half true and half false. Now the lord's military strength is far superior to Xia Houyuan's, and the lord's reputation and prestige are beyond Xia Houyuan's. Therefore, if the two armies are fighting head-on, if nothing happens, Xia Houyuan will definitely lose. It is reasonable to have the intention of retreating."

Li Yi nodded, motioning for Kuai Yue to continue.

Kuai Yue continued: "However, Cao Cao is still fighting Zang Ba in Langya. If Xia Houyuan retreats, he must coordinate with Cao Cao. It will indeed take a long time. It is true that he asked the Lord to give him time, but"

Kuai Yue sneered, and said: "However, Cao Cao was able to plot against my lord back then and wanted to murder my lord. Today, when the two armies confront each other, Xia Houyuan certainly intends to retreat. The subordinates assert that Xia Houyuan will definitely attack with all his troops."

Li Yi said with a smile: "Sir, what I said is very suitable for me. Xia Houyuan is definitely not an ordinary person. You must not underestimate the enemy's carelessness. Yuan Zhi, you will write a letter of divorce for me later and give it to General Huang to make him be careful." Xia Houyuan's trick."

"Here!"

Xu Shu first bowed to accept the order, but then said: "My lord, my subordinates think that General Huang needs to be cautious, but since Xia Houyuan shows weakness, General Huang and the others may be arrogant."

"Ok?"

Everyone present was stunned, unable to understand Xu Shu's meaning immediately.

Xu Shu is also a bit sad to say, although Li Yi has high expectations for Xu Shu and has always focused on cultivating Xu Shu, but Xu Shu is young after all, compared to when Xu Shu met Liu Bei in history, Xu Shu has already learned something. Although Xu Shu is smart and has a quick reaction, both Huang Chengyan and Cai Yong spoke highly of him, but Xu Shu has too little accumulation and lack of experience, so his overall strategy is still a long way from the frontline personnel. gap.

Coupled with the fact that newcomers are constantly joining Li Yi's side, especially after winning Xiangyang, there are a lot of available people at once, which makes it difficult for Xu Shu to have a chance to perform.

In this expedition, it is said that Xu Shu is not ranked well, but Li Yi chose him deliberately because of personal preference, otherwise Xu Shu would probably stay in Jingzhou to deal with sundries.