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  Several days later, Liu Feng and his troops entered Dongting Lake from the Yangtze River, passing through Bachu which had been occupied by Wu forces, deep into the Xiang River watershed, entering the heart of Changsha Commandery.

  Changsha Prefecture has jurisdiction over ten counties including Linxiang, Youxian, Chaling, Yiyang and Xiayuan, as well as the Marquisate of Xiangnan.

  Bazhou is a strategic location, controlling the mouth of the Xiang River to the south and the confluence of the Yangtze River and Dongting Lake to the north. It was originally part of Changsha Prefecture. However, Zhou Yu was very clever and after the Battle of Red Cliffs, he dispatched troops to capture Bazhou, along with Han and Xianning in the northern part of Changsha Prefecture.

  In this way, Wu people controlled the Yangtze River and even the entire Dongting Lake. Including Xiangjiang, many water systems that run through the four southern counties are connected to the Yangtze River through Dongting Lake. Perhaps this was also a defensive move made by Sun Quan in response to Liu Bei's request for the four southern counties.

  Sun Quan's precautions against Liu Bei were not what Liu Feng needed to worry about at the moment. The Wu people, who controlled the northern mouth of the Xiang River, helped Liu Feng to some extent. If he were to break with Liu Bei in the future and take control of the two eastern commanderies of Xiangdong, and if Liu Bei were to lead an army to punish him, then he would have to be subject to Wu's restraint, which was not a bad thing for Liu Feng either.

  After entering Xiangshui, Liu Feng did not rush to launch military action, but instead let Ma Chao's scouts investigate the actual situation of Changsha County.

  "According to the intelligence gathered by Zhai's scouts, there are approximately 4,000 to 5,000 troops in Changsha Prefecture under the command of Governor Han Xuan. However, these troops are scattered throughout the counties and it would be difficult to gather them together in a short period of time. Moreover, based on current intelligence, there is no sign of troop mobilization in the various counties. This is likely because Cao Pi's defeat at Red Cliff was sudden, and our army advanced southward rapidly, leaving Han Xuan with no time to react."

  Ma Su pointed to the map on the desk and shared his analysis of the intelligence reports.

  Liu Feng nodded slightly and pointed his finger at the two characters "Linxiang" on the map: "How many troops are there in the capital of Changsha Prefecture?"

  "There are less than seventeen hundred soldiers and horses." Ma Su replied succinctly.

  Liu Feng sank into thought for a moment, then slammed his fist on the map: "Since that's the case, we'll follow the river south and take Linxiang directly. As long as we capture the provincial capital and defeat Han Xuan, the other counties will surrender without a fight."

  Ma Chao's face showed a hint of a smile, and it was clear that Liu Feng's strategy also met with his approval. However, his eyes revealed a few hints of caution: "Han Xuan is not familiar with military affairs, and although the 1,700-strong army has more troops than ours, they are all inexperienced and undisciplined mobs. In this situation, taking down Linxiang should not be a problem, but..."

  "It's not Han Xuan who is insufficiently worried about, the truly troublesome character is that old general Huang Zhong, right?"

  Liu Feng expressed his concerns on behalf of Ma Su, and this was actually the only thing he dreaded about this expedition to conquer the two provinces.

  Ma Chao smiled: "So the young master had already considered this. Indeed, Huang Han Sheng is not an easy person to deal with."

  Liu Feng vaguely remembered that historically, Huang Zhong was a man who rose to fame only after following Liu Bei into Shu, and it wasn't until the Battle of Mount Dingjun where he beheaded Xiahou Yuan that his name shook the world. If one were to discuss reputation and prestige, then Huang Zhong, stuck in this remote place of Changsha, seemed far inferior to those famous generals of the time.

  However, Ma Chao, being so young and mostly staying in the north at Xiangyang, was quite wary of Huang Zhong. Moreover, even Mi Zhu, who was not a local, planned to harm himself through Huang Zhong's hands, which made Liu Feng somewhat puzzled.

  Liu Feng had his doubts, but he couldn't express them because he was a native of Jingzhou and was born in Changsha. If even he didn't know the truth about Huang Zhong, wouldn't that be strange?

  "This old general was appointed as Zhonglang General by Liu Jingyuan very early on and had been stationed in Changsha for over a decade. Over the years, whether it was the bandits from the neighboring Yuzhang County or Eastern Wu, they had all invaded Changsha multiple times, especially Eastern Wu, which had even sent out large numbers of elite troops several times, but were all repelled by this old general without exception. What's more remarkable is that this old general had not suffered a single defeat in over a decade. Such military achievements may not be as glorious as those from the wars in the north, but are actually quite rare."

  Ma Su spoke out of emotion, with a tone of reverence, about the ferocity of Huang Zhong. Liu Feng already had a deep understanding of Huang Zhong's ferocity, and now, upon hearing Ma Su's vivid description, he became even more certain that the enemy they were about to face would be a formidable foe.

  However, Liu Feng's ideological realm was already different from before. Strategically, he certainly valued Huang Zhong, but tactically, he had a disdainful confidence in Huang Zhong.

  He sneered: "No matter how formidable a person is, there must be weaknesses. This General Huang may be difficult to deal with, but there will always be ways to handle him. What, are you afraid?"

  Ma Chao burst out laughing: "General, there's no need to try to intimidate me. I wasn't afraid during the Battle of Red Cliffs, so why would I be now?"

  Ma Chao's confidence gave Liu Feng a sense of security, and he could hear that Ma Chao's laughter at this moment was not to boost his courage, but rather seemed to be already confident.

  "It seems you already have a plan in mind, go ahead and share it."

  Liu Feng saw through him, and Ma Ze also couldn't pretend anymore, so he said: "This General Huang is ruthless, if we clash head-on, we won't have the upper hand. Since we can't win by force, then we can only outsmart them."

  "Ah, the Art of War says that the best strategy is to capture by strategy. If we can take down Changsha without unnecessary losses, that would be for the best. And if we could even recruit General Huang Zhong into our ranks, just like in history, that would be even better."

  Liu Feng asked with a smile: "What's the clever way?"

  "Huang Zhong was originally under the command of Liu Jing's son, Liu Pan, and they were stationed together in You County. After Liu Cong surrendered to Cao Cao, Cao Cao appointed Han Xuan as the governor of Changsha, but Liu Pan refused to surrender to Cao and escaped from Changsha with no one knowing his whereabouts. It was at that time that Huang Zhong was transferred by Han Xuan to Linxiang. I reckon it's probably because Han Xuan had some reservations about him, so he brought Huang Zhong closer to keep an eye on him. Since Han Xuan and Huang Zhong were at odds with each other, they left us a big weakness. How could we not take advantage of this?"

  Ma Chao's words made Liu Feng's eyes suddenly bright, and the weakness he mentioned was actually consistent with his previous thoughts on breaking the enemy. He smiled slyly: "It seems we need to think carefully about how to use this clever trick of sowing discord."

  "Although that's the case, however before formally attacking Linxiang, we're afraid we still need to pull out another tough nail?"

  "The son of the iron nail is..." Liu Feng had a faint premonition, but did not speak clearly.

  Compared with Huang Zhong, this person is a truly unknown name, his surname is Wei, his name is Yan, and his style name is Wen Chang.

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