Since Dong Zhao took office, he has quickly counted the storage of military materials in arsenals throughout the country, and dispatched officials within the military department to check and count the lists from place to place, to draw the most accurate conclusions, and to check and fill in the gaps.

If there is a problem, it is necessary to find out the problem.

Guo Peng admires his way of doing things very much.

Guo Peng's opinion was noncommittal, but Wang Cang, the secretary of the Ministry of Finance, raised an opposing opinion.

After Wang Cang founded the country, he was summoned back from Jiangdong by Guo Peng and took up the post of secretary of the Ministry of Finance, becoming the chief steward of the entire imperial court.

Since taking office, Wang Cang has also been trembling and sleeping, and it took a lot of effort to pull up the team of the Ministry of Finance that was established.

Wang Cang was well aware that the current financial revenue and expenditure of the Guo Wei regime were not enough to support the two sides of the army's operations at the same time, so he strongly opposed Dong Zhao's proposal to start a war on two fronts.

"Although my Wei's current financial revenue is very large, although it is enough to spend military spending, more money must be put into construction, road construction costs, city construction costs money, the reconstruction of Kansai has not yet ended, Jiangdong is about to start reconstruction, money must be used everywhere, the treasury has spent a lot of money, and now we must not put all the money on fighting a war."

In the face of Wang Can's strong resistance, Dong Zhao was very dissatisfied and debated fiercely with Wang Can.

The two of them said a word, and by the way, they led to a quarrel between several servants of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Finance, and the two sides spat on the stars, and the Ministry of War accused the Ministry of Finance of being incompetent, and the Ministry of Finance accused the Ministry of War of being reckless and disregarding the overall situation.

They are not for selfish reasons, Dong Zhao especially wants to end the split situation as soon as possible, and cannot tolerate other separatist regimes besides the Wei regime, while Wang Cang is worried about the overall situation and worries about the country's financial problems.

A sense of belonging and responsibility pushes them to do so.

Cheng Yu and Tian Feng could not stop the quarrel between the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Finance, and in the end it was Guo Hong who stepped in to stop their quarrel.

"Lost in front of the palace! You will be fined for a month! ”

Guo Hong sacrificed the big stick of fine, which stopped the dispute between the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of War.

But the concrete debate is far from over.

There are not a few people who support sending troops to fight for Yizhou and Jingzhou in one go, but there are many opponents, and the two sides have a five-to-five posture.

After some discussion, Guo Peng made a decision.

He took into account that many places still need money for construction, although Guo Wei's financial income is acceptable at present, but it is not the time to squander, construction is the mainstream, and the most important thing is to feed the people.

So Guo Peng personally vetoed Dong Zhao's two-way strategy of going hand in hand, believing that this would be too costly, and once the war dragged on for a long time, in case of a disaster somewhere in the rear, the imperial court would have no money to provide disaster relief, and it would shake the foundation of Guo Wei's rule at that time.

Guo Wei has not yet gained a firm foothold in the world, and the most important thing is to rule.

Then the object of the debate became whether to attack Yizhou or Jingzhou first.

Some people supported the attack on Yizhou, because Liu Zhang was called the emperor and the founding name of the country was Han, and Guo Peng was in opposition to Guo Peng, and he wanted to call on the Han people in Wei to rebel, which was even worse in nature.

Some people support the attack on Jingzhou, because the roads in Jingzhou are relatively easy to walk and the logistical pressure is small.

The two parties argued, seeing that his Qinzheng Hall was about to become a vegetable market again, Guo Pengqing coughed, and Su Yuan, who was waiting beside him, immediately took a step forward, Guo Hong saw it, and immediately stood up and shouted "Silence", and the court debate quieted down.

Guo Peng saw that the court was quiet, so he unhurriedly stated his opinion.

"Liu Zhang called the emperor, it is indeed a bad nature, but the Shu road is difficult to travel, and Jingzhou Nanyang area is different from a horse Pingchuan, Yingchuan County and Runan County have not been at war for many years, the grain can be used by the army for five years, the people of the two counties have rested and recuperated for many years, and the people's strength has recovered, which can be used.

If you want to use force in Yizhou, the civil power of Hanzhong and Shangyong has not been fully recovered, and the land of Guanxi has not been rebuilt for a long time, and the war in Liangzhou has not been long after, and the civil power has not been restored, and the grain storage is not much, and the army is unfavorable, so Gu decided to start the war this time with the goal of attacking Jingzhou and destroying Liu Biao. ”

Guo Peng stood up and made a decision, so the ministers no longer argued.

After the discussion of this matter was completed, the officials of the staff station stayed, the first assistant of the cabinet stayed, and the rest of the people all left the Qinzheng Hall and did not participate in the subsequent discussions.

Guo Peng's rules, the country's military affairs, the ministers discuss together, everyone has the right and qualification to express their opinions, but once the matter is confirmed, how to do it is the matter of the emperor and the specific department, and the officials of the rest of the ministries all leave and do not participate.

The war was discussed with the staff station, and the Shangshutai and the Yushitai all left, leaving only the first assistant of the cabinet to participate in the record, and the order was issued to the department for implementation at any time.

"In the past, we were a small group, and the division of responsibilities between each other was not clear, you have me, I have you, but now we have built a new country, everything must be about the rules, according to the rules, there are no rules, there is no circle, what should be done and what should not be done, everyone must figure it out in the future."

This is what Guo Peng said to the old ministers who followed all the way after the founding ceremony, and it was understood and supported by the old ministers.

So the staff officer ordered Xi Zhong and the staff servant Guo Jia and a group of young staff officers from the staff station to stay in the Qinzheng Palace, unfolded the map of the Jingxiang area, and began to discuss military aircraft with Guo Peng, while Cao Cao followed Guo Peng and was responsible for recording the main points.

Guo Jia was transferred back from Jiangdong a month after Guo Peng became emperor and came to Luoyang to work in the new official office, and from then on began to discuss with Xi Zhong the tactics of advancing Jingzhou and Yizhou.

For the Jingzhou raiders, the two suggested a three-way march.

"Jingzhou war, Nanyang County is the focus, Nanyang County is the gateway to Jingbei, there are many households, Liu Biao is stationed here 10,000 troops, the main force of our army is going south, it is bound to attack from the direction of Nanyang County, this is one of them.

Second, in the direction of Shangyong County, the commander of the garrison of Shangyong County can make Zhu Ling lead his troops directly into Xiangyang, cut off the retreat of Jingzhou soldiers on the Nanyang side, destroy Xiangyang, and assist our main force to capture Nanyang County.

Third, it can make the commander of the garrison of Lujiang County Xu Huang lead his troops to attack Jiangxia Huangzu, and the troops are not much, only need to clamp down on the Jiangxia side of the water army and foot cavalry, so that it cannot support the other two sides. ”

Xi Zhong deduced the situation of this battle on the sand table, and no matter what the situation, the defense line of Jingbei Liubiao, including Nanyang County and Xiangyang City, would be quickly destroyed.

Huang Zu Jiangxia's troops were unable to support the battle between Nanyang and Xiangyang, and Liu Biao would soon be forced to flee to Jingnan, if he still had his life.

"For the time being, the minister does not see any possibility that Liu Biao can defeat, whether it is troops, financial resources, grain storage, ordnance storage, etc., Jingzhou is lagging behind me in all aspects, and it cannot be compared with me at all, and it is precisely ourselves who are currently restricting our army's progress."

Xi Zhong smiled bitterly when he said this: "If Your Majesty can slow down the construction of roads and cities in Kansai or Jiangdong, maybe you can really march in two ways." ”

"Fight to fight, construction to build, construction is not good, what to fight?"

Guo Peng shook his head and said with a smile: "The soldiers who fight in the war need to eat, dress, and use weapons, these can only be obtained by construction, Zhicai, your thoughts are the same as Dong Qing's."

But for now, it is still out of place for the time being, the cost is too great, and the treasury can't support it, so I'd rather fight Jingzhou and Yizhou later, rather than let the local displaced people starve and freeze for one more day. ”

"Your Majesty is merciful."

Drama Zhong Guo Jia and Cao Cao took the lead, and a group of officials patted Guo Peng comfortably and comfortably, because I did this.

"Don't talk about whether you are merciful or not, Liu Biao and Liu Zhang must be solved, but this is also similar to what we expected, Liu Zhang is the emperor, Liu Biao can't do it."

Guo Peng shook his head: "Meng De, tell Zhicai and Fengxiao about the preparations we have made for Jingzhou." ”

"Yes."

Cao Cao nodded, looked at Xi Zhong and Guo Jia, and said, "Xi Lingjun, Guo Servant, in fact, we have already won this battle before the start of the battle."

And from Nanyang to Xiangyang, there will be no resistance from Jingzhou soldiers, as long as our army arrives, Zhang Yun and Cai Mao will definitely surrender, and all the military supplies of Liu Biao are ours. ”