Kuai Yue, Liu Qi, everyone present, and even the long-time general Huang Zhong were shocked.

Everyone knows that under the current situation, Liu Biao's actions are clearly acting in an act of desperation, and he is destroying himself.

Before, they could not defend a Jiangling with tens of thousands of soldiers. At this time, the total number of soldiers was only tens of thousands, and they wanted to force the killing to go ashore. Isn’t it a pity?

However, Liu Biao was in anger and no one dared to persuade him, for fear that he would be angry by Liu Biao, and even Kuai Yue and Liu Qi did not dare to speak.

Only Huang Zhong could not bear it anymore and had to bow down, saying, "Don't worry, our army lost Jiangling, and the loss of troops was almost the same. Only by relying on the current few soldiers and horses, forcing a decisive battle with the pottery thieves can only seek death. Please think twice and don't act irritatedly."

Huang Zhong's words were like pouring a bucket of cold water on Liu Biao's burnt head, which made him feel a little more awake in an instant.

"Does this king just sit back and watch the queen be captured by the pottery thieves and humiliates me at will? As a minister of Great Chu, you are the main reason for the death of the ministers in humiliation? Don't you know?" Liu Biao stared at Huang Zhong and shouted, but his anger had disappeared a little, but he was still angry at Huang Zhong's persuasion.

The Lord was humiliated and died. Liu Biao was humiliated. It would be fine if Huang Zhong did not fight to the death to fight for Liu Biao's glory, but he dared to persuade him. How could he not anger Liu Biao?

Liu Biao's questioning shocked Huang Zhong's old body, and he felt a sense of grievance in his heart, so he had to sigh and dare not speak again.

However, after Liu Biao scolded Huang Zhong, his anger subsided a little. Instead, he calmed down and did not forcefully order the troops to advance to the North Bank.

Kuai Yue observed his expression and saw that Liu Biao's anger had disappeared, but he needed to step down. He then bowed and persuaded: "King, we must avenge the revenge of the Tao thief, and the queen must also save it. But now the enemy is strong and we are strong, so we can't fight because of anger. Follow Yue's plan, we should retreat to the south bank first, collect the defeated army, and then make a long-term plan."

Sure enough, Kuai Yue's words soon extinguished Liu Biao's anger.

After hesitating for a long time, Liu Biao gritted his teeth and said, "Forget it, according to your plan, the army retreated to the mouth of the south bank of Youjiangkou."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Tao thief, this hatred and hatred will be avenged ten times sooner or later. I will take back this Jiangling City and Xiangyang sooner or later!" Liu Biao gritted his teeth, hitting the wall of the ship with his fists, and swearing bitterly.

Liu Biaoniu was so bragging that the sky was shocking, but the civil and military officials, including Kuai Yue and Huang Zhong, all looked gloomy and no one responded generously.

Jiangling City, the second largest city in Jingzhou, has been lost. The pottery's iron hooves have reached the north shore. The Yangtze River, including the southern county, have been occupied by the pottery.

Now, in their Great Chu State, there is only one county in Jiangxia and four counties in Jingnan. With Huang Zu's Jiangxia army, the total number of troops is only more than 20,000.

With such a few troops, it is not easy to protect yourself. How about taking revenge and retake Jiangling Xiangyang?

In the despairing atmosphere, Kuai Yue suddenly had his eyes lit up and he said loudly: "You don't have to be discouraged. The reason why the Tao thieves were able to capture Jiangling was that his infantry was powerful. The previous battle in Fancheng was that our army underestimated the enemy, not how powerful the Tao thieves' naval army was. Now he has been led by us to the front line of the Yangtze River. Here, water battle is the key to determining the outcome. Although our army is small, the navy still has an advantage and may not be able to make a comeback."

"It's reasonable for the strange words to speak, but it's reasonable for the words to speak." Liu Biao's spirit suddenly became excited.

Then, Kuai Yue pointed to the east again and said proudly: "We not only have more than 10,000 naval troops, but hundreds of warships. Now Sun Ce has led the Wu navy to Jiangxia and joins the navy of Wu and Chu. As long as we can lure the pottery thieves down the Yangtze River, we can turn the world in one fell swoop. Then the army takes advantage of the situation to kill the north shore. Why worry about not driving the pottery thieves out of our great Chu, recapture Jiangling Xiangyang, and recovering my lost territory."

Suddenly, Liu Biao's figure shook violently, as if it was dark, and suddenly saw a glimmer of hope. His dim future suddenly became brighter.

Thoughts flew around, weighing the pros and cons. After a moment, Liu Biao's mouth finally raised a fierce sneer with murderous intent.

...

North bank, Jiangling City.

The Taoist merchant was not in a hurry to pursue Liu Biao, but instead sat in Jiangling to calm the people and rest the soldiers.

Tao Shang knew very well that the key to his ability to capture Jiangling was the strength of the infantry. With his current naval strength, he was still enough to chase the Yangtze River and destroy Liu Biao's remaining strength.

The next day, the scout soon sent back the information, claiming that Liu Biao sent his eldest son Liu Qi to Jingnan from the Xiang River to Changsha, and recruited soldiers from the four counties in Jingnan.

Liu Biao himself led the remaining seven or eight thousand troops and fled to Xiakou along the river to meet Huang Zu, and met with Sun Ce's army who was approaching the river.

Jiangling City, palace.

"After Jiangling's loss, Liu Biao only sent Liu Qi to Jingnan, but he went to Xiakou?" Hearing this news, all the civil and military officials were a little surprised.

Zhang Liang sneered, "The four counties in Jingnan are barren lands. Liu Biao, the old dog, knew very well that he had no chance of turning around with the four counties in Jingnan, so he retreated to Jiangxia and wanted to join forces with Sun Ce to seize his lost land."

The four counties in Jingnan are Wuling, Changsha, Lingling and Guiyang. These four counties are located south of the Yangtze River and have a vast area of ​​thousands of miles. In terms of area, they are only half as large as Jingzhou.

However, these four counties are vast and sparsely populated, most of them have not yet been developed, and their economy is relatively backward. Only Changsha County is slightly stronger in the four counties, and the other three counties have a relatively strong economic strength, and the combined economic strength of the other three counties is not as strong as Nanjun where Jiangling and Xiangyang are located.

If Liu Biao had that ability, with the four counties in Jingnan, he could resist the pottery merchants alone and reach a turnaround, then he would not have been killed by the pottery merchants so embarrassed.

"Liu Biao, do you really want to imitate your big-eared thief and treat me as Cao Cao..." Tao Shang's thoughts flew around, and he couldn't help but think of the past history in his mind.

In history, after Cao Cao unified the north, he led a large army southward and swept across Jingxiang. At that time, Liu Biao was dead, and his son Liu Cong surrendered without fighting. It can be said that Cao Cao took Jingzhou without any effort.

At that time, Liu Bei had no choice but to join forces with Sun Quan and start a decisive battle with Cao Cao. Finally, the Battle of Red Cliff, which determined the trend of the world, broke out.

The current situation is that things change, but the situation Liu Biao faces is the same as Liu Biao back then. Under the same dilemma, choosing to join forces with Sun Ce is also Liu Biao's only way out.

Of course, Liu's situation is much better than Liu Biao back then.

Liu Bei was less than ten thousand soldiers at that time and had no territory under his command. Now Liu Biao still has more than 20,000 troops, and the four counties of Jiangxia and Jingnan are still in his hands.

As for Sun Ce at this time, both his personal ability and military and economic strength were far superior to Sun Quan in history.

The enemy facing the pottery merchant is obviously much stronger than Cao Cao back then.

If this was placed on dry land, the pottery merchant would certainly not be afraid of the two thieves joining forces, but in this Yangtze River Basin, where water wars are the main force, he would not be afraid of it.

"King, now we have captured Jiangling and our strategic goals have been basically achieved. There is no need to rush to start a war with Sun Ce at this time. It is better to temporarily stop the troops and build a naval army in Jiangling to calm the people's hearts. When the time is ripe, then go east and completely defeat Liu Biao." Zhang Liang made a suggestion to the pottery merchant.

What Zhang Liang said is exactly the same as the wishes of the Tao merchant.

In history, Cao Cao was so arrogant that he was arrogant and stood firm in Jingxiang without waiting for the rest of his soldiers to settle down, and then advanced eastward and rashly fought a decisive battle with the Sun and Liu coalition forces.

As a result, in the battle of Chibi, Cao Cao was defeated by Zhou Yu and forced to retreat to the north. Even Jiangling was lost and completely lost his dream of unifying the world in his lifetime.

The pottery merchant is familiar with history, so he naturally has to learn from history and cannot learn from Cao Cao as arrogant as he is. Zhang Liang's proposal is naturally in line with his wishes.

After weighing the pros and cons, Tao Shang said happily: "Okay, follow the Zifang plan, let Liu Biao survive for a few days. When our Great Wei naval army is complete, it will not be too late to destroy him."

So the Tao merchant immediately ordered that all the troops and horses stopped attacking, and all the troops of Wu Zixu who were feinted to attack Xiakou also retreated because Xiangfan, and the attack stopped.

When Liu Biao retreated to Xiakou in a hurry and tried to join forces with Sun Ce to lure the Tao merchants into a decisive battle on the water, the Tao merchants were not deceived and chose to stop the battle.

The Tao merchant did not go to Yejing, but chose to temporarily place the palace in Jiangling to facilitate him to soothe people's hearts and sit firmly on Jingxiang.

On the one hand, of course, it was because of the bloody battles of the whole month, and the soldiers were exhausted and needed time to digest the victory. As expected, the soldiers were rested and recuperated. The navy was not strong enough to fight against Sun Ce's Wu navy.

On the other hand, the pottery merchant also deliberately kept his troops in order to disintegrate Liu and Sun's alliance.

Tao Shang knew very well that there was a grudge between Liu Biao and Sun Ce after all, a grudge against his father. If he attacked too quickly, it would prompt them to let go of their old grudges and join forces to fight against themselves.

If the pottery merchant wants to defeat them on the Yangtze River, he must have a strong enough naval army. It is obviously far from enough to rely on Wu Zixu's five thousand naval army.

Even if Wu Zixu was the pioneer of the navy, it was obviously not reliable to ask him to use only five thousand navy troops to deal with the Wu navy, which was a good general, who was a good player in the navy.

On the other hand, if you keep your troops in motion, you will be suspicious again.

Sun Ce will definitely not forget the revenge of killing his father. Now that Sun Ce's army is on Liu Biao's territory, Liu Biao naturally cannot be unprepared. The Taoist merchant stayed in his arms, which gave them the opportunity to aggravate their suspicion.

As it turns out, the potter's prediction was correct.

The Tao merchant did not move his troops. Within a month of departure, he sent back the information. Sun Ce led the Wu army to withdraw from Jiangxia and retreated to the line of Chaisang to watch.

As soon as Sun Ce's army retreated, Tao Shang rested more and did not have to worry that Jiangling would be threatened by the enemy's naval forces. He could build warships with great fanfare and train naval forces.

At the same time, the Tao merchant ordered Xu Sheng to lead the second batch of 5,000 Xu Yang Navy to arrive in Jingzhou as soon as possible to meet him in order to strengthen the strength of the Yangtze River Navy.

Of course, the pottery merchants would not wait too long, because according to the information, Liu Bei in the north had formed an alliance with the Hu tribes such as the Xianbei and Wuhuan, and it was very likely that they would go south to attack Jizhou.

Therefore, the pottery merchants plan to spend this summer, wait until the water level of the Yangtze River drops and the navy is initially expanded, and then advance east along the river to completely eliminate Liu Biao. Mobile phone users should visit http://m.piaotian.net
Chapter completed!