After Cao Cao captured Wancheng, he almost didn't stop and chased Liu Bei to Yuyang.

Because Liu Bei knew that Yuyang was alone and weak, he abandoned the city long ago and went to Xinye.

Cao Cao was puzzled and asked his advisers: "Shouldn't Liu Bei withdraw his troops towards Jiangxia? Why did he go to Xinye instead?"

Xun You said: "I heard from spies that Li Qi's troops went down the Tang River. If my estimate is correct, they should be heading towards Huyang or the Ping clan area. If the prime minister wants to capture Jiangxia County, he must capture Huyang first. And

Huyang is between Xinye and Pingshi, and is under attack by his two armies. If he sends Guan Yu northward again, our army will be attacked on the left, right and front."

Cheng Yu said: "Why doesn't Prime Minister take Xinye and approach Xiangyang?"

Comparing Xiangyang with Jiangxia, Xiangyang is just a city, while Jiangxia is a county, with a much larger area than Xiangyang. Moreover, Liu Bei is now in decline. If he captures Jiangxia County, Liu Bei will be completely done.

Therefore, Cao Cao's original intention was to destroy Liu Bei first and then confront Li Qi, so that Liu Bei would not always be around to cause trouble.

But now if we take Huyang and go to Jiangxia, we will be attacked by Liu Bei, Li Qi and Guan Yu as Xun You expected.

If Xinye is acquired, he can not only put pressure on Xiangyang, but also have an impact on the three eastern counties such as Fangling. He can attack wherever he wants, which makes Li Qi unable to develop in Jingzhou with peace of mind.

So Cao Cao decisively adopted Cheng Yu's suggestion and approached Xinye.

But Mi Zhu was appointed by Liu Bei to move to Jiangxia and invite Guan Yu to go north.

After explaining the plan to Guan Yu, Mi Zhu sighed: "My lord is too emotional, and I am afraid that others will not be as benevolent as my lord."

Guan Yu said: "When I was attacked by Zhou Yu in Jiangxia, I relied on Li Zhenghong to send troops to help. Zizhong has no need to worry."

Mi Zhu secretly sighed: "The three Taoyuan brothers are so emotional, how can they conquer the world?"

A confidant said to Mi Zhu: "When Mr. Liu Bei lost all his money and followed Liu Bei, didn't he value his charity and his love and righteousness?"

Mi Zhu nodded and said: "Emotionally speaking, it is my long-cherished wish to assist a benevolent gentleman like Liu Shijun. It's just..."

He didn't say the second half of the sentence, because by now, Mi Zhu had already seen that it would be difficult for Liu Bei to succeed.

Although Jiangxia County also has money and grain reserves, it is surrounded by strong men - Cao Cao, Li Qi, and Sun Quan.

No one can destroy them;

Liu Bei, on the other hand, cannot be destroyed by anyone.

But he said that Li Qi was marching towards the Ping clan, and when he heard that Cao Cao had given up the good opportunity to attack Jiangxia County and pursued Xinye, he was heartbroken at that time.

"True love!" Li Qi sighed.

Li Qi suddenly remembered a song from his previous life: I will chase you to the end of the world, to the ends of the earth...

Pang Tong said: "I'm afraid Cao Cao truly loves my lord. If he takes Xinye, won't he be close to our Xiangyang?"

If Cao Cao does not attack Huyang, and Li Qi wants to pass through Huyang to join Liu Bei in Xinye, he must report to Liu Bei.

Because the defenders of Huyang had to get Liu Bei's permission before they would let Li Qi pass. This was the responsibility of the defenders.

There was no other way, Li Qi had to make a "manual call" to Liu Bei again.

By the time Liu Bei answered Li Qi's "phone", Cao Cao had already arrived at Xinye City.

The world seems to be reincarnated. I recall that on the eve of Red Cliff, Cao Cao personally led an army to chase Liu Bei to Xinye.

Two years later, Cao Cao personally led an army to pursue Liu Bei to Xinye.

The difference is that Jingzhou is no longer owned by Liu Biao and Liu Cong, but basically belongs to Li Qi.

Except for Li Qi, it seems that the other companies haven’t changed much.

Liu Bei wrote a letter to Li Qi, meaning: It is really difficult for the small town of Xinye to resist Cao Cao's army, but if I abandon Xinye, Cao Cao will directly face Xiangyang. In order to protect your rear, I want to fight to the death with Cao Cao in Xinye.

, please come quickly.

After Li Qi got the letter, he ordered Ma Chao to lead three thousand cavalry to advance first, and Huang Zhong of Xiangyang City to lead a team to support Xinye.

To be honest, this battle was a bit useless.

But after all, Cao Cao is not Liu Zhang or Zhang Lu, let alone Han Xuan, Liu Du, Zhao Fan, Jin Xuan and the like.

No matter how smooth the early stage was, Li Qi should wake up when facing a powerful enemy like Cao Cao.

At this time, Cao Cao led his army to arrive outside Xinye City and shouted to Liu Bei: "Liu Bei, if you surrender now, you will not lose your title of marquis. When the city is broken, the soldiers and civilians in the city will be crushed!"

It's not like Cao Cao has never done anything like massacre.

These words coming from Cao Cao's mouth are quite effective.

Cao Cao not only shouted from the city tower, but also sent a letter of persuasion to surrender into the city, saying that whoever could capture Liu Bei and surrender would be rewarded with thousands of gold and be granted the title of ten thousand marquises.

For a moment, people in Xinye City were panicked.

After all, most of the people in Xinye City fled with Liu Bei, and later Cao Cao moved away again. Now the people in Xinye City are basically new arrivals, and they have no revolutionary friendship with Liu Bei.

On one side is the massacre of the city, on the other side is the reward of thousands of gold and the title of marquis of ten thousand households.

But it is impossible for anyone who is timid to be without ideas.

Zhang Fei personally stayed in front of Liu Bei day and night, and many people persuaded Liu Bei to abandon the city and leave.

Liu Bei said: "If Xinye City is captured by Cao Cao, how can Li Zhenghong get back to Xiangyang?"

So he dismissed all opinions and stuck to the new field.

Cao Cao saw that attacking his heart was not enough, so he asked the overlord to use his bow.

Catapults, jinglan and other siege equipment were all ready. With an order, everyone attacked the city.

Liu Bei was defeated one after another and retreated to Xinye. The city was short of rolling stones and arrows, but he still went to the tower in person and commanded the soldiers to resist.

After repelling two rounds of Cao Cao's offensive, the soldiers were exhausted and their food supplies were at the bottom.

Even Sun Qian persuaded Liu Bei to give up Xinye.

Sun Qiandao: "My lord is now in a desperate situation. Even if he retreats, there is no reason for Li Zhenghong to blame him. If Li Zhenghong cannot return to Xiangyang from Xinye, the worst he can do is to make a detour from Jiangxia County back to Xiangyang. Besides, Li Zhenghong has been setting up defenses in Xiangyang for a long time, even if Cao Cao

If we attack Xiangyang immediately, we may not be able to defeat it. But Xinye City is really undefendable!"

At this point, Liu Bei also hesitated.

Once upon a time, he was also the Liu Paopao that everyone talked about. Now that he has tried his best, it seems it is time to run away.

Zhang Fei said: "Cao Cao intends to attack the city, but he also feels that our army is exhausted and weakened, so he will not take precautions. Why don't I lead a group of troops to attack Cao Cao's camp tonight. If it succeeds, Cao Cao can defeat it; if not, we can do it again tomorrow morning." How about evacuation?”

After Liu Bei thought about it again and again, he said, "I will go with my third brother."

Sun Qiandao: "No way. The people in Xinye City are very upset now. If the lord does not personally take charge of Xinye, I am afraid that once he leaves the city, Xinye City will no longer be owned by the lord."

Liu Bei thought about this and told Zhang Fei to be careful.

Zhang Fei also told Liu Feng, Fu Shiren and others to accompany Liu Bei. After everything was arranged, Zhang Fei said goodbye to Liu Bei and led his troops out of the city at the third watch with Zhang Da and Fan Qiang.
Chapter completed!