But the loss of Xindu undoubtedly poured a basin of cold water on the head of the ambitious Sima Shi, and his heart was instantly cold.

The good plan of internal and external cooperation went bankrupt before it could be implemented, and then Sima Shi had to change the previous plan and re-plan the Jizhou campaign.

To tell the truth, Sima Shi really didn't make full preparations for the loss of Xindu, all his previous deployments were formulated around Xindu, and now that Xindu was suddenly lost, it is strange that the deployment is not disrupted.

Although the heart is extremely angry, but Sima Shi still patiently listened to the details of the loss of the letter, after all these years of precipitation, Sima Shi's temperament has changed dramatically, joy and anger are invisible, even if the heart is already angry waves, but the surface is still calm and waveless.

Sima Yi repeatedly warned him before his death that those who achieve great things must have extraordinary courage and mind, the prime minister can support the boat in his belly, and the general can run a horse on his forehead, even if he is in a predicament, he must be in danger.

Standing at thirty, forty and not confused, Sima Shi, who has passed the age of not being confused, is indeed a lot more mature than before, especially after Sima Yi passed away, Sima Shi became the first person in the Cao Wei Dynasty, and his heart naturally changed a lot.

Water attack? Cao Liang's means of breaking through Xindu was actually water, although the means of water attack and fire attack emerged in an endless stream in the war, but after all, it was not the mainstream of war, whether it was water attack or fire attack, it was necessary to grasp a suitable time, and it must be under the conditions of time and place before it could be implemented.

Xindu City is located in the Jizhong Plain, low-lying, it is indeed possible to be affected by floods, but the Zhanghe River north of Xindu and the Qinghe River south of Xindu, in fact, in terms of water volume, are not big rivers, if in normal times, even if it is to dig the embankment of the Qinghe River of the Zhanghe River, it may not be able to flood Xindu.

But a heavy snowfall last winter made this year's peach blossom flood fierce, and what was worse was the sudden rainstorm in the Xindu area, which caused the water level of the Zhanghe Qinghe River, which was already high, to soar, and indeed had certain conditions for the water attack.

But this opportunity is completely fleeting, if ordinary people do not think of the method of water attack, when the rainstorm comes, and realize that they can use the water attack strategy, I am afraid that the water level of the Zhanghe River and the Qinghe River has fallen, and it will not pose a threat to Xindu City.

But Cao Liang keenly seized the opportunity, and at the same time dug up the Zhanghe River and the Qinghe River, allowing the overflowing flood to flood the Xindu City.

Water and fire are ruthless, in the face of this huge force of nature, any resistance is futile, so Lu Zhao's defeat is inevitable, but it is better to lose to Cao Liang's calculations than to defeat the flood, and to be able to use the flood so skillfully to conquer the fortified city, so that Sima Shi's understanding of Cao Liang has risen to a new level.

This is definitely a terrible opponent, Sima Shi and Cao Liang have been dealing with each other for more than ten years, almost every time they have been defeated to the point of incompleteness, Sima Shi was repeatedly defeated by Cao Liang, and he hated it to the extreme, and he couldn't wait to break Cao Liang's body into ten thousand pieces, so as to vent his hatred.

But now Sima Shi treats failure more calmly, hatred can only blind people and suffer greater failures, but calmness can make people have more opportunities to think and make the most correct judgments and decisions.

Originally, according to Sima Division's plan, the 170,000 army was directly attacking Xindu, so the Bingzhou army would definitely not retreat easily, let alone sit still, and the most likely strategy they would adopt would be to besiege the city and send reinforcements, while besieging Xindu, concentrate the main force and Sima Division's reinforcements to fight a decisive battle on the periphery.

This kind of battle is in the arms of Sima Division, today's Sima Army cavalry, after being equipped with a high bridge saddle and bilateral stirrups, the combat effectiveness has been infinitely close to the Bingzhou cavalry, coupled with the numerical superiority of the Sima cavalry, frontal combat, Sima Jun is not afraid of the Zhou army at all.

In addition to the cavalry, the Sima army also has 100,000 infantry, plus 70,000 defenders of Xindu, and they will definitely be able to fight a beautiful turnaround battle.

But now with the fall of Xindu, Sima Shi's plan to cooperate with the outside is completely bankrupt, and according to the report of Tanma, the area of Xindu has been reduced to a water town, although the water level has receded, but it will take a long time to really restore the original appearance, during this period, the area of Xindu will be a swamp, and it will not be possible to carry out large-scale operations at all.

Therefore, after arriving at Yecheng, Sima Shi urgently ordered the army to stop advancing, camp in place, and wait for the next order.

Zhong Hui said to Sima Shi with guilt: "General, the letter is lost, and there is an unshirkable responsibility for the lowly position, please punish the general." ”

Zhong Hui, as the governor of Hebei, is responsible for the defense of the entire Jizhou, and the entire Jizhou defense system was also established by him, although the specific defense matters of Xindu are in charge of Lu Zhao, but Zhong Hui has no reason to stay out of the matter, so as soon as he saw Sima Shi, Zhong Hui first asked for guilt, took the initiative to assume his due responsibility, and asked Sima Shi to punish him.

In fact, many people's accusations against Zhong Hui are that Zhong Hui, as the governor of Hebei, sat in Yecheng and held heavy troops, but he turned a blind eye to Xindu and did not send a single soldier to the rescue, which eventually led to the loss of Xindu.

But for Zhong Huilai, there is suffering, although he holds 200,000 heavy troops in his hands, which looks fierce on the surface, but the real content is a sparse dip in water, among the 200,000 troops, the 20,000 old troops that have a little combat effectiveness are the 20,000 old troops separated from Lu Zhao's hands, and the remaining 180,000 troops are all newly recruited troops in the past two years.

It's not that Zhong Hui hasn't paid close attention to the drills of the new army in the past two years, but the key is that the quality of the new army's troops is very poor.

At the beginning, 300,000 soldiers were recruited in Jizhou, almost all the young and strong people in Jizhou were snared, except for those who were disabled and sick, the rest of the young and strong men, whether good or bad, were forcibly conscripted into the army.

Zhong Hui quickly realized his mistake, such a rabble really didn't have much combat effectiveness, but it was Sima Shi's idea that all the people were soldiers, how could Zhong Hui easily deny it, he could only do it hard.

After two years of training, he was barely able to take on the task of defending the city, and as for the field battle, Zhong Hui did not have any hope at all, so he worked out a defensive strategy for the north and south to fight separately.