Things are divided into internal and external causes, and there is also a difference between internal and external affairs in governing the country, and after raising the butcher's knife against the ministers of the court and temporarily stabilizing the interior, it is time to start thinking about the use of troops abroad. In late March, before the spring ploughing was over, Chen Cheng summoned the principal officials of the three provinces and six ministries to discuss how to deal with external matters.

The big goal is very clear, that is, to reunify the whole world, but the specific stage goals can be different.

Chen Cheng first set the tone, "We have to deal with the enemies one by one, and we can't deal with two enemies at the same time. Now General Zhao Yun is attacking Bingzhou, and before the fighting in Bingzhou stops, all the resources of the imperial court will be tilted towards General Zhao's side. The soldiers and horses near Chang'an should not be moved lightly to prevent any changes in the battle situation in the annexed state. However, although it is not enough to use troops for other defensive lines, it is necessary to prepare in advance. As soon as the battle of the isosceles merge states is over, an attack can be launched in another direction. You are all important officials of the provincial ministry, let's talk about it, what should be the next goal? ”

Yang Qiu is the secretary of the military department, in charge of all military forces except for the tooth soldiers, he was the first to say: "When the battle of Bingzhou is over, of course, the next step is to attack Hanzhong, and then enter Yizhou!" ”

Now Chen Cheng has two territories in Liangzhou and Guanzhong, and after the annexation of the state is also defeated, the direction of the troops that can be used is only three, Hanzhong, the Central Plains, and Hebei. Among these three places, the Central Plains is ruined, although Huangfu Song has recovered Luoyang, but there is no way to support the army, whether it is to attack Yanzhou, or to attack Nanyang, if Luoyang is the base, it will take at least two years to provide sufficient supplies.

If you want to use troops against Hebei from Bingzhou, you must first deal with Zhang Yan's Montenegrin army. Moreover, Yuan Shao has integrated the powerful family in Hebei, and there are many soldiers and horses under his command, which cannot be pacified in a while. In the past, Emperor Guangwu possessed Hebei, and then leveled the world's heroes.

The current Yuan Shao is regarded by many people as Liu Xiu's second, and Yuan Shao himself thinks so.

In addition to the Central Plains and Hebei, the only direction that the current imperial court can use is Hanzhong. It just so happened that Zhang Lu in Hanzhong and Liu Zhang in Yizhou pinched each other, and in the eyes of the Minister of Civil and Military Affairs under Chen Cheng, this was the best opportunity to collect Hanzhong and Yizhou.

After Yang Qiu spoke, everyone else agreed to take Hanzhong first, and then depending on the situation. Even a clever person like Yan Zhong also thinks that such a strategy is excellent. Only Dong Zhao, the waiter of the Ministry of Works, expressed a different opinion when everyone unanimously agreed.

Dong Zhao said: "The terrain in Hanzhong is dangerous, and the few soldiers are not enough to win, and the grain and grass are difficult to sustain if there are many soldiers. Although Liu Zhang is fighting with Zhang Lu now, once our army has the intention of invading Hanzhong, do you know that Liu Zhang will not turn his head to support Zhang Lu? Guangwu Youyun: Vested Long, recovering Shu. The truth of cold lips and teeth, will Liu Zhang not understand? ”

Yan Zhong was very unimpressed by what Dong Zhao said, and said: "Although the road in Shuzhong is difficult, can it be left alone because of this?" If there is a big chaos today, if you don't rely on soldiers and horses to fight down everywhere, can those chaotic ministers and thieves still surrender by themselves? ”

Dong Zhao said: "I don't agree with the current use of troops in Hanzhong, what I just said is just one of the reasons. ”

Chen Cheng smiled: "Since it is one, then there must be two, Gongren, please speak clearly." ”

"Yes," Dong Zhao stood up, saluted Chen Cheng, and then said, "There are difficulties and easy things, and there are also priorities. The use of troops in Hanzhong seems to be the easiest, but it is not the most urgent. Zhang Lu in Hanzhong, the dog ear of the household. The imperial court has named him the Taishou of Hanzhong, and with Liu Zhang on his side, Zhang Lu can't do any damage to me. As long as Zhang Lu is here, the flanks of Guanzhong and Liangzhou will be guaranteed, and our army will have no worries. ”

Yan Zhong frowned and asked, "Are you saying that the affairs of Hanzhong are not in a hurry for the time being, so after we seize the annexed state, should we take advantage of the situation to attack Yuan Shao in Hebei?" ”

Dong Zhao was originally a member of the army under Yuan Shao's account, and he was very familiar with the geography and customs of Hebei. If he attacked Hebei, he would be able to make a lot of contributions in the war. But he shook his head and said: "Although Yuan Shao is the fourth and third dukes, he is resourceful and indecisive, and he is not a true hero. Hebei's affairs are not urgent. ”

"Jingzhou Liu Biao is contained by Yuzhou and Yangzhou, and he can also be backward, that is, he is going to send troops to attack Cao Cao?"

Dong Zhao said categorically: "Exactly! I look at the Kwantung princes, only Cao Mengde can be regarded as a hero! ”

"Hmph, I've heard the prince say that there are only two heroes in the world, Cao Cao and Liu Bei. But Cao Cao is in the land of four wars, what can he do? ”

"Otherwise", Dong Zhao said: "Cao Cao implemented an unprecedentedly severe land breaking law in Yanzhou, swept away the situation of the family becoming strong and big since Huan Ling, and controlled the land and population of Yanzhou in his hands. It was by virtue of this practice that Cao Cao was able to break the Yellow Turban repeatedly, easily defeated Yuan Shu, and now he is still pressing Xuzhou to fight. If it is not restricted, after Cao Cao captures Xuzhou and his power crosses the state and county, I am afraid that he will become a fierce enemy of the lord! ”

Chen Cheng implemented many new systems in Liangzhou and Guanzhong, and came up with a lot of new things. One of the most important was the re-measurement of land, the severe crackdown on scholars and heroes, and the distribution of land to the poor people free of charge. In the process, it also caused several unrests, killing more than 200 people and exiling thousands of people, and then carried it out.

The amount of movement caused by this incident is similar to the cutting off of the heads of more than a dozen court ministers before. Therefore, as soon as Dong Zhao said that Cao Cao implemented the "law of soil breaking" in Yanzhou, everyone present understood it. After the "clearing of the fields and picking up the land", the government's income increased a lot, and its control over the local area became much stronger.

Cao Cao implemented a similar policy in Yanzhou as in Xiliang Guanzhong, which is already very revealing.

Yan Zhong knew more about Xiliang, Guanzhong, and even the things near Luoyang, and he also knew a lot about the ministers in the court, but Cao Cao was only a junior to him, so he didn't know that much. When he was in the Huangfu Song Shogunate, Cao Cao was just one of the many generals, and it didn't seem to be anything special. Now that Dong Zhao put it forward so solemnly, it made Yan Zhong re-examine the information he had seen.

He pondered for a while and asked, "Cao Cao is only attached to Yuan Shao now, so he can quickly control Yanzhou and the surrounding places, can he really be such a big threat?" ”

Dong Zhao looks white and chubby, but his expression is very serious now, "My subordinates think that Cao Mengde is the only one who can compete with the lord." Yuan Shao, Liu Zhang and others are not enough! ”

Yan Zhong is a Zhongshu Order, and he also has a Shangshu Order, and Dong Zhao, as a waiter in the Ministry of Works, happens to be a subordinate of Yan Zhong's subordinates.

Yan Zhong looked at the main hall, and seeing that everyone had different expressions, he pondered for a while, turned his head sideways, and asked Jia Xu, who had been silent on the side, "Wen He thinks, should you take Hanzhong first, or should you capture Yanzhou first?" ”

Jia Xu bowed slightly, then straightened up and said: "Take the benefits of Hanzhong and Hanzhong, if you seize Hanzhong and then take Shuzhong, then you can reproduce the situation of Qin annihilating the Six Kingdoms in the past." Emperor Gaozu also had Yizhou and Guanzhong, so he sent troops to eliminate Xiang Yu. However, the capture of Yanzhou also had the advantage of capturing Yanzhou, which would cut off the connection between Yuan Shao in Hebei and Runan. From then on, the princes of the Quartet can only fight on their own, and the world is not enough! ”

Yan Zhong was a little dissatisfied, "Are you in favor of attacking Yanzhou first?" ”

Jia Xu shook his head with a smile and said, "The minister thinks that whether it is to take Hanzhong or attack Yanzhou, there are pros and cons to each other, and it is better to ask the lord to decide." ”

Yan Zhongxin said: After all, Jia Wenhe can't have the same heart as me, and he is too slippery, and I have to do it myself in the future!

Yang Qiu and the others listened to Dong Zhao and Jia Xu's words, and saw that Chen Cheng had not expressed his position, and they couldn't help but be shaken at this time. Everyone looked at each other, and then said together, "Please also ask the Lord to decide!" ”

Decisive? Chen Cheng stood up and walked a few steps back and forth on the main hall, but he still couldn't make up his mind.

Of course, he knew what a hero Cao Cao was, not only with first-class military ability, but also with great talent and means to win people's hearts. If it is developed for Cao Mengde, it will be a very troublesome thing. That's why he sent Liu Bei to Xuzhou after knowing that Liu Bei also had ambitions that ordinary people couldn't reach, just to cause Cao Cao some trouble.

But most of the time of the war is to fight for resources, fight for consumption, now Hanzhong and Yizhou have sufficient manpower and material resources, if you can eat, the strength of the imperial court can be pressed to any way of the princes. Although Hebei has a large population, it is not comparable to the sum of Guanzhong and Yizhou.

At that time, even Cao Mengde should have no way to compete with the general trend of the world, right?

Thinking of this, Chen Cheng was already a little inclined to take Hanzhong first, but he was always a little unwilling in his heart. While he was thinking about it, Liu Qian, who was sitting next to him, said loudly: "What else is there to think about?" Of course, defeat Cao Cao first! ”

Princess Wannian heard Chen Cheng say some things that had happened in history, and knew that Cao Cao would become Emperor Wu of Wei who dominated the north in the future. Zhang Lu and Liu Zhang? It's just a supporting role in soy sauce.

Chen Cheng stopped, turned his head, and asked Liu Qian, "Why?" ”

Liu Qian replied crisply: "Master, didn't you say that the strong will only swing their fists at the stronger!" Zhang Lu and Liu Zhang, how can they be compared with Cao Cao? ”

Chen Cheng couldn't laugh or cry, he said those words, but he mentioned it in passing when he was talking about Hong Kong Manga.

This kind of reason is not enough to convince me. National events, how can they be such a child's play? ”

Seeing that Chen Cheng was still opposed, Liu Qian said another reason, "Hanzhong and Yizhou are full of mountains, our cavalry can't give full play to their advantages, and the Central Plains is the place where iron hooves are crisscrossed!" Wasn't it because we had more and stronger cavalry to defeat Lu Bu and Dong Zhuo before? Although Cao Cao is good at using soldiers, can he have 40,000 elite cavalry? In a flat place, let alone Cao Cao, even if Yuan Shao and Cao Cao go together, we are not afraid! ”

Yang Qiu and the others were enthusiastic when they heard this, and immediately fell to Liu Qian's side, and shouted loudly: "What the princess said is right, on the plain, our Xiliang Iron Cavalry is enough to crush all enemies!" ”