Li Su and his party received news of Zhu Jun's death in Nanhai County, which was on the 18th day of the first lunar month. When they set off, they set off north on the 20th day of the first lunar month, and when they arrived in Changsha County, it was the sixth day of the second lunar month.

After arriving in Changsha County, regardless of whether there was any war or not, he mobilized the troops first and prepared to set off at any time.

Many generals were surprised at that time, but seeing that the two most powerful defensive commanders in the Southern War Zone, Zhao Yun, the Jiaozhou defensive commander, and Gao Shun, the Dianzhou defensive commander, both strictly implemented the orders. No one questioned whether Li Su had other plans to mobilize troops privately, and there was nothing to say about other grassroots generals.

(Note: Dianzhou has been convinced by Gu Yong and Li Hui in recent years, so when encountering wars in the Central Plains, Gao Shun can be transferred to join the war together, and there is no need to waste talents to guard the border)

Yuan Shu's daughter Yuan Guiren and Cao Cao's daughter Cao Guiren suffered casualties on the seventh day of the second month. This change is serious enough. Based on the careful spy sent by Li Su to Wan and Luo areas before, they can judge it themselves. Everyone knows that at this time, "it should be "to be exposed and to pass the news back as soon as possible."

So no matter what, on the seventh day after the accident occurred in Liu Xie's harem, on February 14th, Li Su received the accurate letter and predicted that something would happen in the north, and immediately mobilized the troops to set off.

In fact, Yuan Shu had already sent troops from Wancheng to Luyang and Liang County on February 12th. By the time Li Su mobilized his troops north on the 14th, Yuan Shu's general Ji Ling had already arrived in Xincheng, and a regicide incident would occur in three days. However, these things did not have time to spread to the south.

On the day of the reign of the army, Li Su was outside Baqiu City, on the Baqiu Platform on the shore of Dongting Lake, and ordered the generals to divide the troops. Zhao Yun, Gao Shun, Gan Ning, Zhou Tai, Li Yan, Wei Yan and Huo Jun were all among them.

However, considering that the defense work in Jingnan region itself must be taken seriously, so as to avoid the Sun family, who have bad records in history, Huang Zu from Jiangxia, who came to cause trouble along the Yangtze River, the river defense in Baqiu and Yiling must be ensured.

If Zhou Taiganing and other generals could lead troops to the war, they would replace Li Yan and Huo Jun, two young local generals in Jingzhou, as the defense.

Li Su underestimated the list of left-behind commanders. Li Yan and Huo Jun knew that their status was low and their youth was low, so they had no objection. They were just surprised that Wei Yan, who had a less experienced experience than them, had gained the opportunity to be incorporated into the combat troops and headed north. They were very surprised.

Who made Li Su have the final say now? He can occasionally be a little willful and arrange tasks based on the "higher and lower commander value seen in playing games in his previous life."

Moreover, offense and defense are important responsibilities. It cannot be said that those who stay behind are not valued. This cannot be criticized for Li Su's employment decisions.

Wei Yan was Zhao Yun, who followed Li Jue the year before the Northern Expedition. He started as a seventeen-year-old grassroots officer. Now he has been 22 years old. He has been taking advantage of many tricks and taking risks to make contributions, and has won the Sima-level officer of the army, but he will become the Duwei lieutenant, which is difficult to be promoted.

This time, when Wei Yan heard that the Right General was willing to join him in the offensive army, he breathed a sigh of relief: after the leader changed from General Zhao to General Li, he seemed to have a chance to make contributions.

After arranging the remaining personnel, Li Su said in a summary: "When the general passed away, I expected that the princes who might be unjustly in chaos. Now that the concubines in the harem such as Yuan and Cao were killed, although they didn't know who did it, they would give Yuan and Cao an excuse to cause trouble to the world.

Our army went north this time, as long as we follow the route of Yun Chang and Sun Jian fighting against Dong Shi, from Changsha to Wan and Luo, we are currently mainly advancing by water. If we heard that Yuan Shu or Cao Cao had indeed acted rashly, we will go to Luoyang to protect our lords. If the person who caused the rebellion was Yuan Shu, it would be even simpler. We will directly attack Nanyang County from behind."

Li Su said that during this pre-war mobilization, the wording was still on the tone of "I don't know who would cause trouble in Cao Cao or Yuan Shu" so as not to seem too arbitrary.

Who made it true that Cao Cao and Yuan Shu’s daughters had an accident this time? They both had motives for committing the crime.

After Li Su finished speaking, all the generals looked at Zhao Yun, wanting to observe Zhao Yun's attitude.

Zhao Yun himself didn't want to ask too much, but after looking at his colleagues' gaze, he knew that his colleagues were timid and afraid of offending others, so he helped everyone ask a question:

"Boya, you must prepare for the future and prepare for the king. I do not object. Since the king has sent you to govern the military affairs of the three southern states, you can adapt to the situation.

However, if the army traveled to the Han River, such as Hanjin and Xiangyang, there was still no news that the princes took the opportunity to cause chaos? How should we deal with it? The princes in the world have been peaceful for more than two years, and the reputation of starting the war again is not small, and they cannot drag down the prestige of the king, benevolent and loving soldiers."

Li Su answered positively without hesitation: "Don't worry about this. If we still don't hear any abnormal movements when we travel to the Han River, we will stay there. When we set off, we will bring more food, so we will not be afraid of closing the docks along the way and not buying grain.

At that time, I will send a brisk ship to the Han River. At Shangyong, Hanzhong will ask Yide to send grain to the Han River, and transport it east along the Han River to support our army. Although this trip will pass through Liu Biao's jurisdiction, anyone can sail freely above the river and Han River.

As long as we do not take other hostile actions, Liu Biao has no excuse to pull the back of our King's army. You don't have to worry about damaging the king's prestige. If I go for a free trip this time, I will explain to the king that at most I will hold me accountable for the loss of military rations that I am not allowed to be held accountable for."

In fact, even if Li Su said, "If there was no war this time, the military rations for everyone who traveled to the Han River for half a month would be paid for by my Li family", he could actually afford it.

But that kind of words are too arrogant and not suitable for the imperial era. It is like Shen Wansan over the office to repair the Jinling city walls. He often violates taboos? Generals are incompetent in dispatching and waste military supplies, and they should be demoted. Those are the court's established laws and the system is very mature.

When Zhao Yun saw that he said this, he immediately shut up. He also asked on behalf of others, and naturally there was no doubt about the rest.

Li Su began to divide his troops into specific divisions: "This time we went north, our army divided into two groups, one from Baqiu to the river, and went to Jiangjin near Jiangling in Nanjun, from Xia River to Xiaze, then through Hanjinkou, and then from Jingling County to Han River, passing through Jingmen, Xiangyang, entering the Jingshui River, and heading to Xinye and Rangcheng.

When you reach the territory of Rangcheng, it is considered that Yuan Shu is under the rule of the country. You must be cautious at that time. If Yuan Shu changes, you can naturally attack Rangcheng by force, otherwise you cannot act rashly.

The other route goes downstream from Baqiu, goes downstream from Dajiang to Xiakou and then goes to Han River, and goes back to Jiangjin and Jingling. The route behind is the same."

Li Su said while roughly drawing two routes on the map. Simply put, the left road goes through Jiangling to Xiangyang, the right road goes through Jiangxia to Xiangyang, and the two routes will reunite on the section after Jingling.

This route planning may be strange for future Hubei readers: Shouldn’t the intersection of the Yangtze River and the Han River be near Xiakou (Hankou)? Why is there a way from Jiangling to Xia River through Xia River and Xiaze to Han River?

This involves an important geographical feature of the Jingbei region in the late Han Dynasty: Yunmengze was still a very large lake during the Western Han Dynasty. Even after three hundred years of reclamation and decline, Yunmengze still had a swamp lake east of Jiangling, named Xiaze.

This lake no longer existed in the 21st century. Its ruins roughly cover most of the Qianjiang County in later generations, as well as part of Shashi and Xiantao. There are tributary estuaries connecting rivers at both ends of Xiaze. The Yangtze River is Jiangjin (Shashi), and the Han River is Hanjin (Jingling).

This is why in history, Liu Bei was defeated by Cao's army while fleeing south to Jiangling, and could only rely on Guan Yu's navy to "defeat Hanjin" and then go to Xiakou to meet Liu Qi. If there was no Xia Ze connecting the river between Jiangjin and Hanjin in the late Han Dynasty, Liu Bei might have been surrounded after the Battle of Changbanpo.

After the route is determined, it is the distribution of the generals. Li Su also paid great attention to using water and land generals to avoid any of the people who are too skewed. If they encounter wary princes intercepting them on the road, they will cause bad results.

He then distributed it: "This time our army went north and mobilized a total of 50,000 troops, including 30,000 Jingnan soldiers, 5,000 Jiaozhou soldiers, and 15,000 soldiers brought by General Gao from Yunnan and Yi, and 15,000 infantry soldiers.

The Western Route Army had 30,000, and 15,000 had gathered in Yidu. Another 15,000 was sent from Baqiu to enter the Xiashui River after gathering in Jiangjin. The people were led by me personally, Gao Shun was the deputy, and Zhou Tai was the deputy general of the navy, responsible for the response to the enemy on the river.

The Eastern Route Army had 20,000, all set out from Baqiu, with Zhao Yun as the main general, Gan Ning was responsible for dealing with the water war, and Wei Yan as the vanguard.

The journey from West Road to Jingling is 600 miles, and the journey from East Road is 800 miles. Today is February 14th. As long as there is no war, the Jianghan River will be able to reach Jingling on February 20th. The East Road Army must not reach Jingling at the latest no later than 22nd, and we will also meet at Jingling.

If you encounter bad intentions along the way, you can divide your troops to stay at the key ferry at your discretion. If you have any princes resisting the king with force, you can also adapt to the situation by yourself, so it will not be considered a delay."

When Li Su said this, he couldn't help but make some more thorny generals eager to try and afraid of causing trouble. Gan Ning, who was the most warlike, couldn't help asking:

"When a prince is unwilling to cooperate with the king, you can adapt to the situation? Didn't you just say... you are afraid that the king will be in harmony with the princes, and it is difficult for his subordinates to understand the standards."

However, before Li Su answered this question, Zhao Yun, who was in charge of directly leading Gan Ning, answered first: "What the Right General said is not the same as what he said now. We are good under the command of the king, but first of all, we are the ministers of the Han Dynasty. When the emperor is in dust and needs to be responsive to the king, we spontaneously responsive to the king. What does it have to do with the king?"

Zhao Yun's words are more politically correct: Although the world has actually been divided into vassals, in theory, everyone is first of all Han ministers! It is not Liu Bei's instructor to save the emperor, but we are spontaneous! If you get into trouble, you have to take the blame. How can you blame the king?

I have to say that these words are just suitable for Zhao Yun, a person who is impartial and loyal to the Han Dynasty. Others, Gan Ning, have long felt that he was Liu Bei's retainer and private minister.

If Zhao Yun takes the blame for this risk, Gan Ning and Wei Yan don’t have to complain anymore.
Chapter completed!