After receiving Liu Cong's letter of surrender, Cao Cao was overjoyed. In order not to make Liu Cong suddenly regret it, Cao Cao not only rewarded the envoys, but also replied to Liu Cong. After surrendering to the "Court", he made Liu Cong Yong the lord of Jingzhou to appease Liu Cong, Mrs. Cai, Cai Mao and others.

At the same time, Cao Cao ordered the army to accelerate its southward movement.

Liu Cong, Mrs. Cai, and Cai Mao received Cao Cao's promise, and he was not doubtful, and they all waited for Cao's army to arrive.

"What! Liu Cong presented the Jingxiang land to Cao Cao?" Liu Bei didn't know where to get the news, so he widened his eyes in shock.

Liu Bei was so angry that he gritted his teeth and felt heartbroken. He regretted his previous hesitation and did not quickly seize Jingzhou.

It's too late to regret now.

The vanguard of Cao's army had already arrived at Bowangpo at this time. In less than two days, hundreds of thousands of troops would be able to reach Xinye. Although Zhuge Liang had helped, Liu Bei would not be arrogant and thought that he could withstand Cao Cao's 400,000 heavy troops with just 30,000 troops.

Liu Bei asked Zhuge Liang, "Military advisor, Cao's army has arrived, what should we do?"

Zhuge Liang said, "Xinye cannot be defended. We should temporarily avoid Fancheng. I should set up another plan. When Cao's army enters Xinye, it will burn Xinye and defeat Cao's army again."

When Liu Bei heard that he could defeat Cao Cao again, he did not refuse, saying, "In this way, the people of Xinye should be moved to Fancheng together, and they would avoid the wars of Cao's army and not cause casualties."

Immediately, Liu Bei informed the people to leave Xinye on the grounds of hiding from Cao's army, first to Fancheng, and then to Xiangyang for refuge.

After the people left, Zhuge Liang ordered that a large amount of sulfur saltpeter be hidden in Xinye City as a way to attract fire.

On that day, the 80,000 Cao army vanguards led by Cao Ren arrived in Xinye. Seeing that Xinye was already an empty city, Cao Ren was not prepared and led a large army into Xinye, waiting for Cao Cao's main force to arrive.

That night, Zhuge Liang arranged a detailed work hidden in the cellar in advance to ignite Xinye City. For a moment, the fire in Xinye City soared into the sky, and Cao's army was in chaos and fled to the gate.

Zhuge Liang ordered Zhang Fei, Wei Yan and Guan Hai to lead three armies to ambush outside the city, killing the Cao army who escaped from the city, and defeating the corpses everywhere. If Cao Cao's main force was not far from Xinye, Zhang Fei and others would have killed each other for a while and then led their troops to retreat early. The 80,000 Cao troops would have been destroyed in Xinye. However, Cao's army also lost nearly 30,000, and the remaining more than 50,000 soldiers became defeated, and even Cao Ren was almost killed.

"Mr. Zhuge, how dare you set up this poisonous plan!" Cao Cao looked at his embarrassed face and had signs of burning on many sides of his clothes and armor. He slapped the table and was furious.

After gathering the defeated troops and re-establishing the army, Cao Cao ordered the army to quickly march towards Xinye and Fancheng.

Fancheng is located on the southwest side of Xinye, and the city is not big. Facing Cao Cao's hundreds of thousands of troops approaching, it has no defensive value. Besides, Liu Bei's strength cannot defend even if he wants to defend.

Zhuge Liang suggested that he abandon Fancheng and go to Xiangyang again.

When Liu Bei went to Xiangyang, he not only brought the people of Xinye, but also the people of Fancheng.

In fact, deep down, Liu Bei intended to use the people to enter Xiangyang, and then control Liu Cong, Mrs. Cai and Cai Mao, occupy Xiangyang, and then control Jingzhou, and resist Cao Cao with the power of Jingzhou.

Liu Bei's plan is excellent. The people of Xinye and Fancheng are both under the jurisdiction of Jingzhou, and they are all people of Jingzhou. Since Liu Cong is the lord of Jingzhou, he cannot ignore the lives and death of the people and prevent them from entering Xiangyang City to take refuge, otherwise Liu Cong would not be able to lose all his heart?

Unfortunately, Liu Bei thought too much. Liu Cong, Mrs. Cai, Cai Mao and others were waiting to surrender to Cao Cao, so what else should the people do? Besides, Liu Cong, Mrs. Cai, Cai Mao and others also heard that Liu Biao had said that he had given Jingzhou to Liu Bei at the time. Why didn’t they worry that Liu Bei would take the opportunity to seize Jingzhou after entering Xiangyang?

So, when Liu Bei really brought the people of Xinye and Fancheng to the city of Xiangyang, Cai Mao ordered him to be rejected outside the city.

Liu Bei hated him deeply, but he could not attack Xiangyang. He could not take Xiangyang, so he could only continue to go south with the intention of avoiding Jiangling City in Nanjun.

This led the people, together with more than 100,000 soldiers, many of them, including the elderly, weak, sick and disabled. How could Liu Bei walk fast? He only walked more than ten miles in a day, but after Cao's army occupied Fancheng, he quickly arrived in Xiangyang.

After Cao's army arrived in Xiangyang, Liu Cong, Mrs. Cai, Cai Mao and others went out of the city to kneel down to welcome Cao Cao into the city according to the agreement with Cao Cao.

If the soldiers are not bloody, they will get Xiangyang

Cao Cao was extremely happy and full of energy. He believed that he would soon be able to control Jingzhou, and then wipe out Liu Bei, and then move eastward to force Sun Quan to surrender. As long as he took Jingzhou and Jiangdong, he would win most of the world. With this strength, he would wipe out Liu Yu from Guanzhong and Liu Zhang from Yizhou, and unification of the world is in sight.

Looking at Liu Cong, Mrs. Cai, Cai Mao and many Jingzhou generals kneeling in front of him.

Cao Cao asked Cai Mao, "After you surrender, I will not treat you badly. How much does it cost to do with military, horse, money and food in Jingzhou now?"

Cai Mao looked flattering and replied, "Return to the Prime Minister, Jingzhou has 50,000 horse troops, 150,000 infantry troops, and 80,000 naval troops, a total of 280,000 troops, and most of the money and food are in Jiangling. In addition, the rest are enough for the Prime Minister's hundreds of thousands of troops to use for more than a year."

Cao Cao asked again, "How many warships?"

Cai Mao replied, "More than 7,000 warships were originally in charge of Mao and Zhang Yun."

The army of 280,000, more than 7,000 warships, and the food and grass that can be consumed by nearly 700,000 troops for a year, was greatly surprised by Cao Cao's strong strength.

At the same time, Cao Cao was extremely disdainful. With such strength, Liu Cong surrendered without fighting. It was indeed a mediocre master. He took over Jingzhou without any effort, and it was indeed God's will.

Cao Cao highly rewarded the civil and military officials of Jingzhou, among which Cai Mao was the Marquis of Zhennan and Zhang Yun was the Marquis of Shun. He also ordered the two to be the chief commander-in-chief of the navy and deputy governors, which can be said to be highly used.

However, Cao Cao broke his promise to Liu Cong and his son, and did not keep his promise and made Liu Cong Yong the lord of Jingzhou. Instead, he changed his order to Liu Cong as the governor of Qingzhou and ordered Liu Cong and Mrs. Cai to set off for Qingzhou immediately.

The arm could not twist the thigh. Although Liu Cong and Mrs. Cai were unwilling to resist Cao Cao, they could not resist Cao Cao. They had no choice but to go to Qingzhou to take office under Cao Cao's forced.

How could Cao Cao really let such an incompetent mother and son go to Qingzhou? Cao Cao ordered the escorts to kill Liu Cong and Mrs. Cai halfway to prevent future troubles.

Most of the money and food in Jingzhou were in Jiangling. In order not to allow Liu Bei to occupy Jiangling, he obtained a large amount of money and food in Jiangling to resist him. After Cao Cao occupied Xiangyang, he ordered the army to chase Liu Bei.

Liu Bei and his party walked very slowly with the people, and Cao's army chased them very quickly.

Seeing that Cao's army was approaching, Jian Yong, Mi Zhu, Sun Qian and others all advised Liu Bei to give up the people and move forward with a light army.

Of course, Liu Bei also wanted to give up the people and move forward with a light army. He was afraid that he would not be able to escape after being caught up by Cao's army. However, Liu Bei had created the name of benevolence for decades, and this abandonment of the people to Cao Cao, wouldn't his name of benevolence be lost in one day?

Therefore, it is difficult to get rid of the tiger, and he muster it and refuses to give up the people's light army in any case.

Zhuge Liang knew Liu Bei's virtues. As early as in Fancheng, he proposed not to take Xinye and move forward with the people of Fancheng. However, Liu Bei did not obey. Now he was too lazy to persuade him. He only told Liu Bei that he went to Jiangxia, the nearest, for help from his son Liu Qi.

One day later, Cao's army chased after him, and the people were in chaos, which dispersed Liu Bei's soldiers.

"Kill!" Cao's army did not have Liu Bei's 'benevolence'. Since the people of Fancheng followed Liu Bei, they were the enemy. The people blocking the road were killed by Cao's soldiers without hesitation.

Not only were the people killed and injured countless people, but Liu Bei's army was also scattered. If it weren't for Zhang Fei, Guan Hai, and Wei Yan, and fought desperately to protect Liu Bei and broke through the encirclement, Liu Bei would have been trapped inside and captured by Cao's army.

Liu Bei broke through the siege, but Jian Yong, Mi Zhu, Mrs. Gan, Mrs. Mi and his son Liu Chan were not so lucky.

Without Zhao Yunqi in and out, naturally no one could save Jian Yong, Mi Zhu, Mrs. Gan, Mrs. Mi, and Liu Chan.

Jian Yong, Mrs. Mi, and Liu Chan were all killed by the rioters, and Mi Zhu and Mrs. Gan were also captured to see Cao Cao.

Liu Bei not only compensated his wife and son, but also Jian Yong and Mi Zhu, two loyal right-hand assistants, plus more than 20,000 soldiers, suffered heavy losses.

Nowadays, there are less than 10,000 remaining soldiers left in Liu Bei.
Chapter completed!