Chapter 19: The Heroes Are Old
In Hanzhong, Cao Cao finally couldn't withstand the hard work with Liu Bei, and planned to give up this chicken rib.
Just give up for now.
Before this, he did not hesitate to stir up public resentment and relocate a large number of people in Hanzhong, never giving Liu Bei the opportunity to attack Guanzhong in one go.
And the price of this is that now the logistics are tight, and the news of the rebellion everywhere is flying like snowflakes, making his already occasional headache more frequent.
The price, the price, it's all a price that can be afforded.
Sixty-four-year-old Cao Cao once recognized the reality,
In his lifetime, it is impossible for him to defeat this fateful opponent, and he can only weaken the combat power of this indomitable enemy as much as possible.
The rest, can only be left to time.
"King Wei, the army is ready."
Cao Zhen, the leader of the middle army with a full face and beard, knelt heavily on the ground, and his knees shook the ground slightly, which brought back Cao Cao, who was in a trance before.
"When you're ready, let's go."
"King Wei, I am willing to lead an army of 10,000 palaces,
If Liu Bei dares to come, I will personally take his head and sacrifice it to the King of Wei! β
From Cao Zhen's eyes, Cao Cao saw familiar blood.
This blood was also seen in the eyes of Xiahoudun, Xiahouyuan, and Cao Ren many years ago.
This brave and majestic son was a natural general, he ate and lived with the soldiers, and repeatedly repelled Liu Bei in the early stage of the Battle of Hanzhong, so he was promoted by Cao Cao to be the leader of the central army.
But in the battle that followed, Cao Zhen disappointed Cao Cao.
He could not attack the Han army that was defending the Jinniu Road in the Chen style, and he was never able to cut off the grain route of Dingjun Mountain from the west, so that the Han army could continuously transport grain and grass to the front line.
However, Zhao Yun, who was already in his fifties in the Han army, led the seventy-year-old Huang Zhong to almost destroy the logistics of the Cao army by the Han River.
This is a great shame for Cao Zhen.
Cao Cao knew that Cao Zhen needed a chance for revenge,
As long as he gave an order, even if Cao Zhen was left alone in Hanzhong, he would fight fiercely with Liu Bei until the last moment.
If it had been ten years ago, Cao Cao would have been touched.
His main force is still there, and his son Cao Zhang is also leading reinforcements to come day and night.
With his enthusiasm, he still has a chance to fight Liu Bei to the death.
But sixty-four-year-old Cao Cao knew he couldn't afford to gamble.
The battle of Hanzhong has reached this point, and he has completely fallen behind.
Liu Bei was defeated, but fled back to Yizhou in order to fight again.
And his own food and grass can no longer keep up, and there are more and more deserters,
If you lose again, you may lose all the games, or even leave disaster to your children and grandchildren.
Thinking of his sons, Cao Cao felt a headache that was a little more intense.
Speaking of which, Cao Pi, Cao Zhi, and Cao Zhang are not the most ideal successors in Cao Cao's heart.
But there are many things that people can't decide.
Even the King of Wei is the same.
"If Liu Bei is chasing, he is not allowed to attack, and he will cover the withdrawal of the armies from Hanzhong."
"King Wei ......"
"Okay," Cao Cao waved his hand tiredly and said, "Zidan, recuperate well, and then conquer Yizhou in the future, I still want you to be the general." β
Cao Zhen nodded helplessly, and weakly called "Wei", and then slowly withdrew from the tent.
After Cao Zhen left, only Cao Cao himself was left in the big tent,
The feeling of loneliness and coldness came from all directions, but it unexpectedly alleviated Cao Cao's headache a little.
He struggled to his feet, pacing back and forth in the tent,
His knee accidentally touched the long vermilion lacquer case in front of him, and the wine splashed on the desk on his feet, making the old man with snow-white hair blink his mind back to decades ago.
At that time, Liu Bei was taciturn, violent and true.
At that time, Cao Cao was hot-blooded and a little naΓ―ve.
If it weren't for the involvement of the surname Liu, maybe the two would have become lifelong friends, cooking wine with green plums together, and being heroes in the world in the best years.
It's a pity......
"King Wei, King Wei."
Gently calling to pull Cao Cao back to reality again,
He opened his confused eyes, and saw that Zhang Ji had boldly walked to Cao Cao's side at some point, and was standing quietly and solemnly not far away, with a slight compassion in his eyes.
"De Jong, what's the matter?" Cao Cao said in a hoarse voice.
"Yizhou came to report on the starry night, Zhuge Liang played with Liu Chan as the supervising army, and he will go to Jingzhou in the near future."
"Liu Chan, who is it?" Cao Cao didn't react for a while.
"It's Liu Bei's ......"
"Is it Adou?" Cao Cao suddenly came to his senses and said in surprise, "How old is Adou, what did Zhuge Liang let him do?" β
Zhang Ji gritted his teeth lightly and meditated bitterly:
"The minister is also puzzled, so what is the use of Liu Chan being twelve years old and weak in virtue, so what is the use of leading hundreds of people to Jingzhou?"
Cao Cao nodded, and he paced back and forth in the tent for a while, and suddenly raised his head sharply, and said:
"Is it Zhuge Liang's trick?"
Zhang Ji nodded and said:
"It is not impossible that Zhuge Liang may think that our army will mobilize troops to attack Jingxiang when they find out that Liu Chan has gone to Jingzhou.
Maybe...... Maybe Liu Bei will take the opportunity to plot against Guanzhong? β
Thinking about it, there is only this reliable answer,
Cao Cao and Zhang were silent for a while, and after a long time, they raised their heads at the same time and saw the same answer in each other's eyes.
"What does De Jong think?"
"If Liu Chan really goes to Jingzhou, our army should go south with all its strength and swear to kill this person to disturb Liu Beijun's heart.
As soon as Liu Chan dies, Liu Beijun will inevitably be in chaos, even if Zhuge Liang is resourceful, Guan Zhang is brave, and it is useless. β
Β·
"Nonsense!"
In Jiangling City, I heard a Malay report that Zhuge Liang took Liu Chan as the supervisor and led more than 200 people to Jingzhou to fight.
Guan Yu was anxious and angry, slapped his palm on the table in front of him, and scolded:
"The military advisor is just messing around, Adou is young and doesn't know martial arts, what's the use of coming here?"
Guan Yu's main bookkeeper, Liao Hua, also looked melancholy, and said helplessly:
"Our army is the time to use force, but first the millet is useless, and now the eldest prince is here to add to the chaos.
That's a good thing. β
Guan Yu is over sixty years old, but he is still in good spirits and has a majestic physique, which makes people dare not look at him head-on.
He waved his broad palm angrily and slapped it on the table, and finally slapped the long hardwood table to pieces.
Rao was like this, he was still unwilling, stood up and scolded angrily:
"Nonsense, it's nonsense."
Guan Yu's eldest son, Guan Ping, saw that Guan Yu became more and more angry the more he talked, and hurriedly persuaded:
"Father, it's a good thing that Adou is here.
That Mizi Fang misbehaved, and he was not on good terms with his father,
If Adou sees it, he will report it to his uncle, and his uncle will decide. β
Guan Yu glared at Guan Ping and said:
"The eldest brother is old, and he works so hard in Hanzhong,
If you know Mi Fang's nest, I don't know what kind of anger you want to become.
Listen to me, Adou Ruo came, only said that Mi Fang had a fire and burned the military quartermasters, and he couldn't say much, did he hear it! β
Guan Ping and Liao Hua said "only" dejectedly, and no one dared to talk back to Guan Yu at this time.
Speaking of Mi Fang, Guan Yu's entire army has a belly of evil spirit.
This Nanjun Taishou and Liu Bei's legitimate brother-in-law has followed Liu Bei for many years, fleeing all the way from Xuzhou to Jingzhou, and Changbanpo has not defected in this crisis, and his loyalty has also been tested.
But since he became the Taishou of Shangnan County and was responsible for handling military supplies, he began to use his crooked brains, and he frequently sold military rations, weapons, and armor in generals, which made Guan Yu very angry-
At the beginning, Mi Fang only sold stale grain and dilapidated swords, and the objects of sale were also the people of Jingzhou, Shanyeyi and ordinary people, so that they could buy back the shabby swords and go back to melt them to make some pots and stoves, and Guan Yu turned a blind eye and treated them as if they didn't see them.
After all, Mi Fang is a businessman.
But later Guan Yu found that Mi Fang's appetite was getting bigger and bigger, and he actually began to secretly resell military horses, well salt, and brand-new swords.
And it was actually sold to the Soochow side!
Isn't that?
Although after the demarcation of Xiangshui, Sun Quan and Liu Bei no longer have a territorial problem in legal theory.
But under the impetus of the main battle faction Lu Meng, the two sides have already turned their faces, and they almost fought directly.
Mi Fang sold an inch to Dongwu, which was to weaken Liu Beijun by one foot, which was no different from a traitor.
Just when Guan Yu took his subordinates and generals to find trouble with Mi Fang with a big knife, the arsenal and grain depot of Jingzhou City actually caught fire at the same time.
Mi Fang spread her hands and told Guan Yu that everything you wanted was burned, what does it have to do with me?
Okay, I'm a high-spirited person, admitting that I didn't keep it properly,
This little thing, you General Guan won't cut me with a knife, right?
Guan Yu is very good at military strategy, but most of his subordinates are straight with a intestine leading to the end.
There's really nothing too good about this kind of brazen person.
So Guan Yu could only stare at Mi Fang with big eyes, and told Mi Fang that Lao Tzu was not stupid,
When Lao Tzu finishes the battle and frees his hands, he has to sue you in front of the eldest brother and see what the eldest brother will do with you at that time.
Liu Bei's character Guan Yu knows very well, this big brother is usually calm, but he is very bloody and violent at critical moments.
Thinking about it with his toes, he also knows what Mi Fang has done, and he will definitely do it when the time comes.
But now that the eldest brother has a lot of things, this kind of thing is better to talk less,
I hope that Mi Fang's guy knows that he is afraid, and he can conscientiously engage in logistics in the future.