,,,,,,,,,,,,

A gentle hill south of Xinye City is densely covered with jungle, with dense forests stretching for dozens of miles. On the edge of the forest are large farmland and a straight and wide official road. The water flows southward close to the official road.

As a large number of Xinye people fled with Liu Bei, the Xinye official road was deserted and it was rare to see people in the village.

At this time, a sound of horse hooves came from the distance of the official road. Soon, the famous Jiangxia army cavalry appeared on the official road. This was a scout who came to investigate the movements of the Xinye Cao army under the order of Gan Ning.

"Damn it, after walking dozens of miles, I couldn't see any ghost. Where did everyone die?" a soldier cursed.

Another soldier looked at both sides and said with some concern: "Captain of the Tun, let's leave the official road. This place is less than twenty miles away from Xinye City, and it is easy to be discovered by Cao's patrols."

The person who is a village chief, surnamed Yang, from Runan, is also a veteran, with rich experience. He also looked around for a while and pointed to a forest on the east side, "It's already noon, go to the woods for lunch."

The man turned his horse's head and ran towards the woods. Unexpectedly, they had just approached the woods and suddenly rushed out of the woods a cavalry patrol of Cao's army, about fifty people, quickly surrounded them.

The Mingjiangxia cavalry was shocked and turned their horses and fled, but it was too late. More than a dozen Cao army cavalrymen copied their retreat. Mingshou was surrounded by a group of scouts, and fifty military crossbows were aimed at them together.

The governor of the village quickly raised his hand and shouted to his two subordinates: "Don't resist, leave your weapons and surrender."

The people left their swords and spears, and Cao's army stepped forward one after another, grabbed the people off their horses and tied them up. Fifty patrol cavalry turned their horses and rushed towards Xinye City like lightning.

......

In the room, Cao Ren, Cao Hong and Mao Jie were discussing the deployment of the army. At this time, a soldier reported outside the door, "Report to the general, and arrested the famous Jiangxia army scout on the patrol."

Mao Jie smiled, "If the scout is caught by the enemy, it will be a troublesome thing. The general might as well ask these scouts, and they may gain something."

Cao Ren nodded and ordered, "Bring them up."

After a moment, the famous scout was tied up and brought into the room. Cao Hong shouted loudly: "How dare you come to investigate my military situation? Are you impatient to live?"

The famous scout knelt down and kowtowed, begging for mercy, and said to the chief of the Tun: "We were just ordered to investigate, but we were unable to help ourselves. Since we were captured, we only begged the general to beg us for mercy and spare our lives."

Cao Ren waved his hand, stopped Cao Hong's anger and said coldly to the person: "I will ask you a few questions and answer honestly. I will wait for my life. I dare to deceive you at all, so I will take your heads to sacrifice to the flag."

"The villain dares not"

Cao Ren nodded and looked at the person and asked, "Does Ben surrender to your lord Liu Jing?"

The two soldiers were speechless and could not answer. The governor hesitated and said, "Report to the general, whether the general surrendered or not, this is the above matter. We do not know, but on the day of Liu Biao's death, the general did lead people to Fancheng to meet him. This is what I saw with my own eyes."

Cao Ren and Mao Jie looked at each other. This person was quite honest, consistent with the information they had. He did not speak nonsense. Cao Ren pointed to the two soldiers and ordered them to "take them to the other account to interrogate them, and then give them a statement later."

The two soldiers were taken down, and only the treasury leader was left in the big tent. Cao Ren then asked him: "It looks like a soldier. What is your name, where is your person, and any position."

"The villain is named Yang Zheng, from Ancheng County, Runan. He was once a commander of the Yellow Turban Army. Later, the Yellow Turban Army was defeated. The villain fled to Jiangxia and signed up for the army. Because the villain had experience, he was assigned to be a scout, and later he slowly got into the scout headquarters."

Cao Ren looked at his eyes and saw fear in his eyes, so he asked again: "We found that there are troops leaving in Fancheng. Is there any number of troops left in Fancheng? Who will lead them?"

"There are indeed troops leaving, about half of them, and there are about five or six thousand people in Fancheng, all of whom follow General Gan's orders."

"Is Liu Jing gone?" Cao Hong asked viciously beside him.

The scout station chief was so scared that he said tremblingly: "I heard that he didn't leave, he was in the military yamen, but a brother saw his war horse on the boat again. He didn't know whether he left or not."

At this time, Mao Jie asked, "Then tell me the details and how the troops were withdrawn. You can say as much as you know."

The scout station chief lowered his head and pondered for a moment, "I remember it should be the early morning of the second day after Liu Biao passed away. At that time, the military yamen was under high alert. The senior officials above discussed all night. All the officers above the military marquis went there. Before dawn, our Yajiang suddenly ran back and shouted, asking everyone to get up and prepare to set off. He was very excited and patted my shoulder and said, "We will not be angry with Xiangyang anymore in the future. Everyone asked what was going on. Yajiang refused to say it, but it was said that it was a secret now. There will be major news in Jiangxia a few days later. Other villains will not know. 70% of our camp left, and I was left."

All those who should ask were asked. Cao Ren waved his hand and ordered someone to take Jiangxia scout down and detain him. At this time, the confessions of the other two were also sent. Cao Ren checked for a moment and there was no big gap. Then he said to Mao Jie: "It seems that Liu Jing deliberately released the wind and said that he did not leave. In fact, he had already left. The chief clerk thought."

Mao Jie thought about it, and he pondered for a moment and said, "If I was not wrong, their so-called big thing is that Liu Jing wants to proclaim himself as the governor of Jingzhou. No need to look at Xiangyang's face anymore. Liu Jing summoned officers above General Ya to discuss it overnight, which must be for this matter. In fact, it can be seen from Liu Bei that Liu Qi will also be the governor of Jingzhou, so that a governor of Jingzhou will appear."

"What about hiring?"

Cao Hong next to him said anxiously: "Which side does he belong to, why don't he withdraw?"

"The recruitment should be loyal to Liu Jing. I think it was the recruitment loyalty that made Liu Jing determined to be independent. Otherwise, if the reputation is not right and the words are not right, how can the recruit who has always been loyal to him?"

Cao Ren stood up and walked quickly to the wall. There was a huge map hanging on the wall. At this time, the Liu Bei army stationed in Deng County had been erased. There was indeed no garrison there, only the Jiangxia army in Fancheng and the pirated army in Dengsaicheng were left.

Cao Ren's eyes were focused on recruiting the army. Dengsai was not like Fancheng. It was just a small castle that could only accommodate one thousand people at most. The remaining nine thousand troops were stationed in camps, suitable for cavalry raids. He knocked heavily on Dengsai City on the map.

At this time, Mao Jie slowly walked up and smiled and said, "The military strategy is that the truth is the way to use troops. Why don't the general make a seal on the truth?"

Cao Ren's hand stopped. He carefully savored the profound meaning of Mao Jie's words, and his eyes moved to Fancheng again, unable to help but think.

...........

After entering May, the weather gradually became hotter and the rain increased. After a heavy rain poured down for more than half an hour, it finally stopped at dusk.

The sun did not come out, the sky was still gloomy, with drizzle flying, and the branches were covered with crystal droplets of water. The grass was filled with water in the east and the west, and the official road was filled with muddy and difficult to walk.

After the rain, Dunsey City seemed to have become particularly clean and clear. Although it was already hazy dusk, the dark walls were still clearly visible for miles away.

Dengsai City is a castle that monitors the river surface. It is about four miles in circumference and can be stationed with 1,000 troops. It is less than fifty steps away from the Han River. Standing at the top of the city, you can see the river.

There is a small dock outside the south city, but there is no warship on the dock, including the entire river, and there is no ship.

To the north of the city wall is a large camp covering an area of ​​several acres, surrounded by high camp bars. There are trenches dug outside the camp bars and more than 100,000 spears were inserted. There is a circle of large chariots inside the camp bars. Inside is a neat camp tent. From the front, the edge of the camp bars is in a straight line.

At this time, more than 10,000 soldiers were gathering in the open space for dinner, chatting and laughing, and the bustling and noisy weather. Deng Sai's head was holding the hilt of the knife in his hand and staring at the distance with vigilant eyes.

On the right is the shimmering Bishui River surface, which is about to flow into the Han River. The river surface is particularly wide, and on the left is a large endless forest. In the drizzle, the narrow and long forest extends to the far north.

"General"

The leader Bo Denglin, who was standing beside him, whispered: "I think the Cao army may go south along the water. After all, they have more than two ferries, and they are likely to use the ferry to land and attack in the middle of the night."

Pin knew very well that Cao Jun would definitely come from the water surface, and his eyes turned to Bishui again. At this time, the twilight was even more vast, and the river flowed northward, so it was no longer so clear that it could be seen.

"Are you ready?" Pin asked back.

General Yao Meng replied: "Report to the general, you are ready."

"It's best to follow the original plan and leave the camp after dark."

.........

In Fancheng, a group of soldiers were lined up neatly on the empty streets. This army of 5,000 people was mainly composed of the crossbow army, led by Gan Ning.

Gan Ning wore armor and helmet, riding on a strong white horse. He looked up at the sky and smiled at Xu Shu and said, "Does Changshi think it will rain in the next few days?"

Xu Shu also smiled and said, "It is necessary for strategists to know the wind and identify the weather. I guess it will be difficult to get clear in the next few days, but there will be no more heavy rain like the afternoon. It should be similar to now, and maybe it will be better."

"That's the best"

Gan Ning smiled heartily and said, "I'm leaving, and Fancheng will be handed over to the Chief Secretary."

"A general's good luck will soon be heard"

The gate of Fancheng slowly opened, and Gan Ning led five thousand crossbow troops to leave Fancheng under the cover of night and ran northwest.

.........

The night covers the Han River. Looking from the north bank, your eyes can only go deeper, and then to the south, there is only endless darkness.

But in the endless darkness, a fleet of thousands of stone ships was coming from the east, quietly anchoring in the center of the Han River.

On the first large ship, Liu Jing was wearing iron armor, a golden helmet, and a Wenhou halberd in his hand. He stood on the bow of the ship like a god, staring at the north shore of the Han River with deep eyes.

He knew that tonight would be a crucial battle. After this battle, Cao's army would be completely quiet, so that he could have time to prepare for the battle calmly and wait for the real war to come.

"Shou, there is a fire on Fort Dunsey," a soldier shouted at the castle on the north shore.

Liu Jing also saw it, which was the signal of discovering the enemy. Everything was as expected by them. The captured scout grew into the most important bait, which eventually led to the Cao army sending troops.

Liu Jing immediately ordered, "The fleet enters the water comparison"
Chapter completed!