The struggle between the Huaisi Clan and the Jiangdong Clan has been going on for a long time. Sun Quan did not understand why the Jiangdong Clan disliked Li Qi, but one person found clues from it.

This person is Jia Xu, who has just taken refuge with Li Qi.

After Jia Xu took refuge with Li Qi, because he was nearly seventy years old and because the war was mainly against Cao Cao, Jia Xu took an evasive attitude and stayed at his base camp in Jiangling City instead of going out with the army.

During daily research, Jia Xu discovered a very strange thing.

Now, the long desk is piled with bamboo slips sent by Min Cao, and Jia Xu is reading them one by one.

When he put down the bamboo slips in his hand, he murmured: "I seem to understand what's going on."

Fei Shi asked: "If according to Wen He's speculation, this matter is of great importance, do we need to inform the lord in a timely letter?"

Jia Xu said: "Gongju (referring to Fei Shi) also knows that the stakes are very high, involving many powerful families in Jingzhou. I'm afraid we have to wait until the Lord comes back to deal with it. Before that, we need to strengthen the monitoring of these powerful families to avoid trouble.

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Fei Shi said: "What Wen He said is very true. We can order Dong Hui, Pang Lin and others to strengthen inspections in Jingzhou counties. But before the Lord comes back, we'd better come up with a way to deal with it."

Jia Xu said: "Well, don't worry, I've already thought about it."

Fei Shi: "..."

Jia Xu was only responsible for finding a solution, and Li Qi had to handle such offending things by himself.

Anyway, according to reliable information, Sun Quan is now adopting the Huaisi clique's suggestion, accepting Liu Bei's southern Jiangxia County and not sending troops to Liu Bei. Therefore, Jia Xu doesn't think it is very urgent to deal with Jingzhou. Besides, it is not possible for Sun Quan to covet Jingzhou now.

The powerful families in Jingzhou can no longer afford to make any waste after experiencing repeated blows from Li Qi and Cao Cao.

Outside Chang'an City, Li Qi's camp is located.

Yadan led 30,000 Qiang cavalry to come to support.

Li Qi personally came out of the camp to greet him, held Yadan's hand and said, "Prime Minister Yadan is here well. Thank you for your hard work to lead the troops in person."

Yadan said: "There is no way. If we want to join hands with Mr. Kong Ming to create an illusion, I have to do it myself."

Li Qi smiled and said: "I didn't expect Prime Minister Yadan to be the best actor."

Yadan asked curiously: "What is a movie king? By the way, Mr. Kong Ming said that I am here to help Li Yizhou. According to the terms of the contract, I will have to pay more."

Li Qi: "Stop talking about this, does Mr. Kong Ming have a letter here?"

Yadan took out the letter and dictated: "This time, Mr. Kong Ming said, let me lead 30,000 Qiang cavalry to support Li Yizhou, so that Li Yizhou can have more troops. We are responsible for taking Ba Ling, Mr. Kong Ming

He sent General Wei Yan to capture Changling and surrounded Cao Pi and others in Chang'an City."

Li Qi silently calculated that the main figures in Chang'an include Cao Pi, Sima Yi, Xia Houdun, Xia Houyuan, Zhang He, Gao Lan, Zhang Ji, Zhong Yao and others. It is impossible for these people to surrender. If they can really be killed

They were all trapped in Chang'an, and it was undoubtedly ten kilograms of raw meat cut from Cao Cao's body.

On the other hand, Cao Cao would never let these people be trapped and die in Chang'an. Even if he gave up the great opportunity to destroy Liu Bei, he would personally lead a large army to help.

"In the terms of the contract, it says that additional money will be added, right?" Yadan asked again.

"Don't worry, I won't treat you badly." Li Qi didn't know what Zhuge Liang said to Yadan. It seems that this special situation was not mentioned when he signed the contract.

Just as Yadan was about to ask about the money again, Meng Huo pulled him over: "Is it your Qiang style to raise money with your brothers?"

Yadan said: "We Qiang people have always respected contracts."

At this time, Li Qi had already read Zhuge Liang's handwritten letter, and at the end of the letter, he did mention the matter of "money".

Li Qi told Yadan: "Is Prime Minister Yadan coming to help this time on the orders of the Qiang King, or because of his personal relationship?"

Yadan said: "Both of them, mainly personal relationships."

Li Qidao: "That's right. If we act according to the contract, no matter how much money we give, it will be sent to King Qiang. I can't say how much money will fall into your hands in the end. It depends on King Qiang's mood.

.If Prime Minister Yadan is willing to help each other when it comes to personal relations, I, Li Qi, will naturally express my gratitude to Prime Minister Yadan."

Yadan's head turned and thought, haha, getting commissions is not as good as getting kickbacks.

Now, 30,000 Qiang cavalry have been added to Li Qi's camp, but this does not mean that the Qiang cavalry must appear as cavalry. They can also be used as infantry and siege troops by pulling down their horses.

What?

It's not easy to train a cavalry, but it would be a pity if you drag them to attack a city and die?

That is King Qiang's business, and it has nothing to do with me, Li Qi.

Li Qi first asked Prime Minister Yadan to lead the Qiang cavalry to set up camp near the camp, and then transferred 10,000 Qiang soldiers to Zhao Yun. Zhao Yun then led 5,000 troops from his own army, for a total of 15,000 people to attack Baling.

Zhao Yun had already attacked Ba Ling once, and that time he only led 3,000 troops.

After Xiahou Dun recaptured Ba Ling, he did not station there, but led his main force to garrison Chang'an, so Ba Ling was relatively empty.

Zhao Yun's mighty team quickly attracted the attention of Cao Jun's spies.

The spies quickly reported the news to Chang'an.

Cao Pi knew that the purpose of Zhao Yun's last attack on Baling was to prevent Xiahou Dun from returning to Chang'an. At the same time, Li Qi stormed Chang'an, forcing him to come from Xiwu for rescue. In other words, the last attack on Baling was to cooperate with Zhuge Liang's attack.

The strategy of Chencang Fortress.

This time, Zhao Yun directly led an army of 15,000, which meant that he planned to station in Baling permanently. His purpose was probably to block Sizhou's reinforcements and food routes.

However, transportation near Chang'an extends in all directions, and just occupying Baling is not enough to block Sizhou's reinforcements and grain routes. Unless Li Qi captures Changling again, he can form an encirclement of Chang'an.

It's too late to save Ba Ling now, but Chang Ling has to be saved, otherwise Chang'an will become an isolated island in the vast ocean.

Cao Pi was about to order Zhang He to lead an army to reinforce Changling. Suddenly another spy came to report that Ma Chao and Ma Dai were leading an army of 20,000 towards Changling.

Okay, now both sides are doing it at the same time. On one side is Zhao Yun, on the other side is Ma Chao, neither of them is easy to mess with.

The most important thing is that by taking the first step, they have already lost the opportunity.

Cao Pi looked at Sima Yi silently.

Because just the day before, Sima Yi had proposed dividing his troops to garrison Baling, Shanngling and other cities, but this was rejected by Xia Houyuan and others.

It was not unreasonable for Xia Houyuan to reject Sima Yi's suggestion. Because the combined strength of Li Qi and Zhuge Liang's troops was already greater than that of the Chang'an defenders, and their target was also Chang'an City. Even though the enemy was outnumbered, they still divided their troops outside.

It is against the law of war.

There is a saying in the Art of War: "If you are ten, you are to surround an enemy; if you are five, you are to attack it; if you are twice the enemy, you are to fight it; if you are twice as many, you are to fight it, and if you are to divide the enemy, divide it."

This means that when we are outnumbered, we can encircle or attack by force. But when both sides are evenly matched, we must find ways to disperse the enemy's forces and then find opportunities to defeat them one by one. If we follow Sima Yi's strategy,

That's fine. Even though we don't have as many troops as others, we still have to disperse our troops first. Isn't this looking for death?

As a result, Xia Houyuan stood still and defended the city. The consequence was that Li Qi blocked all the exits one by one.

If Sima Yi had followed Sima Yi's suggestion, he would have been able to secure at least one passage and capture at least two of the city's granaries.

It's better now, everyone is huddled in Chang'an City, and the grain route is cut off. If Cao Pi hadn't moved a large amount of grain and grass from Xiwu when he came to reinforce Chang'an, only the city of Chang'an would be the support.

It won't take a few days.

Therefore, Pang Tong once said to Meng Huo that soldiers have deceitful methods. The most important thing is "change". Who can't copy military books? But there are really not many people in the past who can be said to be good at fighting.

Xia Houyuan said: "I am willing to personally lead a division to recapture Baling and open the passage between Chang'an and the Central Plains."

Cao Pi frowned and said nothing.

Chang'an was under siege. If we follow common sense, the first task would be to reopen a passage.

Xia Houyuan thought of this, but Li Qi and his counselors would not have thought of it?

Maybe Li Qi had already set up an ambush on the way, waiting for Cao's army to be captured.

"Let's discuss it later." Cao Pi was undecided and planned to make a decision after careful consideration.

While Cao Pi was having doubts in the room, Sima Yi, who had always been conservative, came to say that he agreed with Xia Houyuan's proposal.

Sima Yi privately told Cao Pi: "We are trapped in Chang'an, and Wei Gong will definitely send troops to rescue him. But in this way, Liu Bei will be given a way to live. Sir, do you think how many years has Cao Cao wanted to remove Liu Bei's thorn in his side? If

Because he missed a great opportunity to destroy Liu Bei because he rescued us, shouldn't this responsibility be borne by the young master?"

What Cao Pi is most worried about now is that the war in Chang'an will be unfavorable and thus he will lose Cao Cao's favor. Hearing what Sima Yi said, he was even more frightened.

Sima Yi continued: "Zhao Yun has 15,000 troops stationed in Baling. It will not be easy for Xia Houyuan to capture it. The eldest son can inspire him to go all out."

Cao Pi nodded. He didn't want Cao Cao to be distracted by saving Chang'an, nor did he want to trap himself in Chang'an, so Xiahou Yuan must capture Ba Ling.

When discussing the matter again, Cao Pi said: "For the current plan, only General Xiahou's proposal is the most appropriate. However, Zhao Yun is brave and invincible. I think General Xiahou needs to bring more troops, otherwise he may not be Zhao Yun's opponent."

Xia Houyuan became angry when he heard this: "Master, what do you mean by this? To attack a mere Baling, you only need 10,000 soldiers and horses."

Sima Yi smiled and said with concern: "General, this matter is not a trivial matter. Zhao Yun is defending the city and has about 15,000 troops. Isn't it too risky for the general to only bring 10,000 troops?"

Xia Houyuan couldn't stand Sima Yi's fake smile. How long has it been since then? You must be laughing at labor, right?

Xia Houyuan replied sternly to Sima Yi: "There is no joke in the army. I am willing to issue a military order."

Xia Houdun wanted to persuade him, but Xia Houyuan was also a veteran who had experienced hundreds of battles. Because of several missteps, he was "cared for" by Sima Yi, a petty master, so he was still allowed to live?

Xia Houyuan could not help but issue a military order and insisted on taking only 10,000 troops to attack Ba Ling.

He wants to use this battle to open a passage for Chang'an;

He wanted to use this battle to revive his military power;

He wanted to use this battle to make Sima Yi look good.
To be continued...