Chapter Seventeen: The Eve of the Great War

  Zhuge Jian thought of the death of Mifu's wife and the fate of tens of thousands of civilians in Xinye, worried that such a situation would arise, and instructed Huang Yueying to inform Zhuge Liang to make early preparations.

  She said that when she saw Zhuge Liang, she would definitely pass on the message to him.

  Liu Bei was a bamboo weaver before he took to the path, making a living by weaving winnows and grass shoes with exceptional skill. On this day, his subordinates, trying to please him, brought some cow hair from the countryside, and Liu Bei personally wove a hat.

  "Sir, have you forgotten your lofty ambitions and are exhausting your energy on these trivial matters?"

  Liu Bei came to his senses, threw the hat in his hand on the ground and said: "No, I just used this to forget my troubles."

  Zhuge Liang asked again: "How do you think you compare with Cao Cao?"

  Liu Bei said: "I am inferior to Cao Cao."

  Zhuge Liang said: "According to intelligence from all sides, Cao Cao is about to attack Jingzhou, we must make early preparations."

  。”

  Liu Bei was startled and asked: "Is the news reliable?"

  Eight and nine are close to ten.

  Liu Bei immediately ordered the gathering of key personnel for discussion.

  Those who attended the meeting included Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Mi Zhu, Jian Yong and Sun Qian.

  Liu Bei briefed everyone on the situation and asked for their opinions.

  It's said that Cao Jun is coming, and Zhang Fei, who hasn't fought in years, got excited and said: "Great, old Zhang has been waiting for him for a long time, just thinking of finding him to kill him once and for all." Guan Yu also seemed eager to try.

  Many people expressed their opinions, most of which were to rely on Xinye and ask Liu Biao for help to resist the Cao army together. These suggestions conformed to Liu Bei's intentions. On the one hand, this was his only territory, where he had lived for 7 years and had feelings, and did not want to give up. On the other hand, Xinye was the gateway to Jingzhou, and Liu Biao would not sit idly by and would certainly send troops to support him.

  Finally, everyone turned their eyes to Zhuge Liang, looking for his opinion.

  Zhuge Liang said, "Xinye is too small and cannot withstand Cao's army. I have three plans: the first plan is that if Cao's army comes to attack, we will directly abandon Xinye, retreat to Jiangxia, and join forces with Liu Qi to make further plans."

  Before he had finished speaking, Zhang Fei was already shouting: "Is this the good idea you came up with? We haven't even fought yet and we're retreating, I think you're just afraid." The others also had some doubts.

  Zhuge Liang smiled calmly and said nothing, looking at Liu Bei.

  Liu Bei said: "Third brother, don't be impatient, let the military advisor finish speaking."

  Zhuge Liang continued: "The middle strategy is to defeat Cao's army again in Xinye, and then abandon Xinye. The worst strategy is to rely on Xinye and fight a decisive battle with Cao's army."

  Guan Yu could no longer bear it and said: "In short, you still want to abandon Xinye and flee to Jiangxia."

  Liu Bei was also not quite in favor of Zhuge Liang's opinion, but he trusted Zhuge Liang and thought that there must be a reason for what he said. He said: "Please, Military Advisor, explain the reason?"

  Zhuge Liang said: "Cao Cao has been planning to take Jingzhou for a long time, and this time he must have brought a large army. I estimate that there will be no less than 200,000 people. Xinye is the first to bear the brunt, and we only have 4,000 horses. How can we stop Cao Cao's great army?

  Jingzhou has an army of 300,000, but Liu Biao is seriously ill and Cai Mao and others have already had the intention to usurp the throne. We are close to Liu Qi, when a big war comes, they will not send troops to rescue us, and with the intelligence of Liu Cong and Cai Mao, they will inevitably choose to surrender to Cao. Our only reliance is Liu Qi.

  Everyone listened to his analysis and thought it made sense, so they all fell silent together.

  Liu Bei thought so, but he couldn't bear to give up Xinye either. With a lucky psychology, he said: "One war has not been fought and Xinye has been abandoned. It's afraid that it will be difficult to explain to Jing Sheng (Liu Biao's character), so take the middle strategy."

  Zhuge Liang continued, "Alright, since Cao Cao dares to come, let's give him a show of our strength and make him never dare to look down on us again. From now on, we must prepare for battle."

  Liu Bei said: "What specific ideas does the military advisor have?"

  Zhuge Liang said, "First of all, our troops are too few, we should immediately recruit young and strong men from the people of Xinye, I think we can recruit 4,000 people, I will train them personally."

  Jian Yong, who was in charge of the grain and fodder supply, said: "Recently, due to the resettlement of refugees, the remaining grain and fodder in XinYe are not many, and it is difficult to maintain so many people and horses."

  Liu Bei looked worried and stared at Zhuge Liang. Zhuge Liang smiled and said, "Yesterday, my wife sent 2,000 taels of gold and 200 stones of grain, enough for 8,000 people to use for three months."

  Liu Bei was so delighted that he didn't know what to say. After a while, he said: "Why is it good for the military advisor to be extravagant?"

  Everyone was speechless when they saw Zhuge Liang maintaining the interests of the group like this.

  "Next, even if we defeat the vanguard of Cao's army, when Cao Cao's main force arrives, we will still be unable to withstand it. We must make preparations for a possible retreat at any time, especially for the families of officials. As soon as there is news of Cao's army approaching, they should immediately move to Jiangxia."

  Everyone agreed with Zhuge Liang's opinion.

  Cao Cao appointed Sima Yi, Cui Yan and Mao Jie, etc., after arranging the civil officials. After hearing that Liu Bei was training his troops day and night in Xinye, he ordered Xiahou Shang to be the commander-in-chief, Yu Jin, Li Dian, Xiahou Lan and Han Hao as deputy generals, leading an army of 100,000 soldiers to Bofang City, preparing to attack Xinye, a great war broke out.

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