Zhang Liang, Li Shanchang, and Xiao He all focused their eyes on Jia Xu.

Jia Xu sorted out the thoughts in his mind and said, "I'll analyze the strength of Yuan Shao and Cao Cao for you first. Yuan Shao has four prefectures, Hebei, Qinghai, and Youzhou, with abundant money and food, with a population of more than 10 million, and a regular army, county and county soldiers, totaling about 1 million. Over the years, he has fought with Zhang Yan, Gongsun Zhan, and the northern alien races of the Montenegrin Army, and there are few defeats, and most of the soldiers and horses under his command are veterans who have experienced a hundred battles, and the most important thing is that the northern aliens are all afraid of Yuan Shao and dare not betray easily, so Yuan Shao has a stable rear, and his strength is not weaker than ours. ”

Cao Cao is not, Cao Cao's Yu, Yan, Sili, Xiliang, the population of the people is less than 10 million, the money and food are negative, there are regular troops, county soldiers, 450,000 or so, due to years of conquest, there are many defeats, resulting in the loss of all the elite, especially the tiger and leopard cavalry, Qingzhou army, and tiger guards, almost all of them were annihilated, and now the so-called elite are also recruited later, far less powerful than in the past. The most important thing is that the young and middle-aged people in Cao Cao's territory have almost been conscripted, and it is impossible to form a strong army. On the border of Xiliang, there are the Dayue Guishan Empire, the Qiang people, the Di people, the Turks, and the Xiongnu, these foreign tribes, who are waiting for invasion from time to time. led to Cao Cao's internal and external troubles. ”

"From this, we can conclude that Cao Cao is not terrible, and sooner or later he will be annexed by us. And Yuan Shao, Hebei, is the fierce enemy! ”

Jia Xu's analysis is very accurate, and everyone agrees.

Jia Xu continued: "I advocate helping Cao attack Yuan for four reasons. ”

"First, Cao Cao was frightened by us and was anxious for a truce, even if our army could not defeat Yuan Shao and defeat Hebei, he would not invade Yangzhou again. Without Cao Cao's support, Liu Bei and Sun Ce did not dare to move. In this way, a stable rear was created for us. ”

"Second, Cao Cao still owes us a lot of money, food, and war horses, which can provide us with war resources, which are enough to eliminate Yuan Shao. At the same time, weakening Cao Cao is conducive to a decisive battle with Cao in the future. ”

"Third, Yuan Shao is very jealous of us and does not want to see us grow stronger and threaten his position. If we attack Cao, Yuan Shao will attack him. If you don't believe it, you can send 200,000 troops to Yuzhou, and I dare to guarantee that within two months, Yuan Shao will attack Xuzhou. ”

"Fourth, war depends on national and popular strength. What is National Strength? What is Minli? It is the economy, the soldiers, the politics and the source of the troops. I won't say much about Yuan Shao's economy, soldiers and horses, and the source of soldiers, as you all know, are several times stronger than us. All I'm going to say is politics. From the current point of view, even if our army occupies Yuzhou, Sili, and Xiliang, it will not be able to prevent Yuan Shao from occupying Yanzhou. Because of the Yanzhou garrison, they can't resist Yuan Shao no matter what. This means that Yuan Shao's forces, in the entire war situation, have exhausted the advantages of the terrain... ”

Speaking of this, Xu Shu got up and pointed to the map and said, "Everyone, please see, Yuan Shao's Qingzhou army and Yanzhou's soldiers and horses can be attacked from both sides and annex Xuzhou." If our army comes to the rescue, we will transfer the troops in Yangzhou. If he did not come to the rescue, Yuan Shao would connect Yanzhou, Xuzhou, and Qingzhou to enhance his ability to fight in the Central Plains. If Yuan Shao captures Yingchuan, our Yuzhou and Yangzhou will be separated and isolated. If he captures Sili, our territory will be divided into pieces, and we won't even be able to go through the grain route, so how can we fight? ”

As for Yuan Shao, he has the support of the three major northern states and Qingzhou as a countermeasure. Soldiers, horses, money and food, a steady stream, can be attacked, retreat can be defended. No matter where you attack, you have a great advantage. ”

"In short, Yanzhou can't give it to Yuan Shao, it's better to give it to Cao Cao than to give it to Yuan Shao. Since you can't attack Cao for the time being, why don't you help Cao attack Yuan and weaken Yuan Shao's strength? This was asked to Chen Gong.

Chen Gong was stunned by Jia Xu, and couldn't answer for a while.

Zhang Liang, Li Shanchang, and Xiao He are also entangled in their hearts.

After a while...

Zhang Liang sighed: "According to the text and what he said, we really can't attack Cao now, and attacking Cao is tantamount to declaring war on Cao Yuan." We are not ready to fight Yuan Shao now, and we are afraid that it will be disadvantageous to me in a hurry. ”

Jia Xu sat back in his seat and chuckled: "Actually, the current battle situation is very easy to analyze. It's like three brothers fighting. The eldest is the strongest, the second is the second, and the third is the weakest. The second child wants to eliminate the eldest and the third, what should he do? If you kill the third child with the boss, can the second child beat the boss in the end? The only way is to unite with the third child, kill the boss first, and then turn back and clean up the third child, which is as easy as a snap. ”

Li Shanchang asked, "You mean to start a war with Yuan Shao now?" ”

"We can't make an easy decision on such a big matter, right?" Xiao He finally spoke. felt that Jia Xu's plan was too widely implicated, and it was beyond the scope of their decision-making.

Jia Xu said: "It depends on your guts. If it were me, I would raise 200,000 troops, enter Yanzhou, and face Yuan Shao. Let Fan Lihua raise 100,000 troops and attack Qingzhou. Yuan Shao will definitely lose if he loses one or the other. And we joined forces with Cao Cao, even if we occupied Qingzhou, Yuan Shao would not dare to retaliate. From now on, he will lose his foothold in the Central Plains, and it will be difficult for him to gain a foothold. When our naval army becomes strong and blockades the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, it will be difficult for Yuan Shao to do anything.... ”

Li Shanchang smiled bitterly and said, "I was persuaded by you, I support the fight against Yuan Shao!" ”

"I support it too!" Zhang Liangdao.

Xiao He and Chen Gong were left, still hesitating.

Jia Xu said excitedly: "According to the rules set by the lord, as long as there are three people who agree, a decision can be made. Gongtai and Lord Xiao were the first to follow the lord, shouldn't they go against the lord's will? ”

Chen Gong said: "You have analyzed the situation so thoroughly, and you are reasonable, advantageous and powerful, I can't support it." ”

Xiao He was very knowledgeable, and said: "I will send an order to the household department to prepare 500,000 stone military rations for the soldiers who go on the expedition." ”

"Well, with your support, I have the bottom in my heart. It's not in vain for me to bother with this talk. Jia Xu was very pleased, looked at Chen Gong and said: "Gongtai is the head of the Military Aircraft Department, the Minister of Military Aircraft, so you will give the battle order." ”

"Okay."

After careful consideration, Chen Gong came up with a perfect battle plan.

Mid-July.

Yuan Shao's army fought successive battles and occupied Puyang and Dingtao, crushing Xun Yu's defense line in one fell swoop. The 300,000 army is like a fierce tiger, and the soldiers are approaching Xudu.

At the same time, Fan Lihua received an order from the Military Aircraft Department to personally lead an army of 100,000 to attack Qingzhou.

Zhang Liang, Jia Xu, Luo Cheng, Huang Zhong, Bai Qi, and Liang Hongyu led an army of 200,000 to go out of Huainan, pass Yuzhang, and go straight to Yuan Shao's flank.

A big battle to help Cao attack Yuan is about to break out...

(End of chapter)