Today's Zhang Xiu occupies Nanyang County, which has a population of hundreds of thousands, and its strength has increased a lot, and with Liu Biao's entire Jingzhou as the backing, although Cao Cao's strength is strong, the grain and grass are not abundant, and it is not so easy to win Zhang Xiu.

Whether it was the first two expeditions or the third expedition, the food Cao Cao brought was enough to eat for about a month, and as long as he couldn't get Zhang Xiu for a month, Cao Cao had to retreat again.

For Liu Yu, Cao Cao successively fought with Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao in Nanyang, which was quite beneficial to him.

Because the people of Nanyang County moved to the now relatively peaceful Hanzhong and Guanzhong places due to the war, this increased the total population in Liu Yu's ruling area.

Population is the source of productivity and soldiers, and only with a larger population can we have stronger strength.

Within a year, tens of thousands of people fled from Nanyang County to Hanzhong and Guanzhong.

Liu Yu personally led the soldiers, personally went to the ground to open up the wasteland with the fleeing people, built houses for resettlement, etc., which greatly won the hearts of these fleeing people, so that they could stay in Hanzhong and Guanzhong with peace of mind, and sincerely submit to Liu Yu's rule.

In one year, farming in Hanzhong, Guanzhong and other places continued to recover, plus the 200,000 Hu grain obtained from Yuan Shao last year, the granary in Guanzhong has slowly plumped up, enough to support Liu Yu's 100,000 army for a year.

At the same time, Liu Yu's army also expanded to 300,000 people, excluding the remaining counties, the army that could go out to fight reached 200,000 people, which was already on par with Cao Cao.

In the case of the decline of Yuan Shu, Liu Yu can be called the third most powerful force under Yuan Shao and Cao Cao.

With soldiers and food, Liu Yu's confidence is unprecedentedly sufficient, and he has already considered where to intervene, and even he is thinking about whether he can try to go to Yizhou and destroy Liu Zhang.

Guo Jia shook his head and objected: "Shu is difficult, Liu Zhangtun is heavily armed on the front line of Jianmen Pass, there is Jianmen Pass to block, it is difficult for a non-200,000 army to attack Shu to destroy Liu Zhang, and once the army enters Shu, it will not be able to return in a short time, and Chang'an City in Guanzhong is always facing the threat of Xiongnu, Qiang, and Di. Do not mention the threat of the Huns, Qiang, Di and other Hu people. There are also Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, and the army is not going well in attacking Shu, and the soldiers are lost in vain, which is useless. If the army attacks Shu smoothly, then Cao Cao and Yuan Shao must be frightened, after all, the eldest brother has won Guanzhong, Hanzhong, Liangzhou and other twenty-two counties, if Yizhou is obtained again, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao will be pressed by the eldest brother, and the eldest brother is a member of the Han family, without Cao Cao and Yuan Shao's fame in front of him, not only Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, but all the ambitious princes in the world will be afraid of the rebirth of Guangwu, and will be hostile to the eldest brother. Guanzhong is not guaranteed, or reliable Shu Road is dangerous and the newly obtained Yizhou is guaranteed, but it is like being trapped in a cage, no matter how big its ambition is, it may be difficult to fight for the world again, is the eldest brother sure that he wants to conquer Yizhou at this time? ”

Hearing Guo Jia's analysis, Liu Yu couldn't help but sweat coldly, it can really be said that he made a mistake, a wrong step, and the gun hit the first bird. Yuan Shao is the strongest, but Cao Cao can be contained, Cao Cao dominates the Central Plains, and Yuan Shao also has Yuan Shao to contain it, whether it is Cao Cao to destroy Yuan Shao, or Yuan Shao to destroy Cao Cao, once the two of them gain the momentum of overwhelming the world, they will immediately become the target of the public, and they must deal with the siege of the princes of the world.

Similarly, the union of Guanzhong, Hanzhong, and Yizhou, under the current situation, has the same power to dominate the world, and his identity as a clan of the Han family is easily reminiscent of Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty, and all the princes of the world will be afraid to attack it.

It's not proper, it's very inappropriate, it's not his way of unifying the world.

Liu Yu gave up his plan to attack Yizhou now, it seems that he wants to fight for the world, and the first step now is to try to sweep away the Xiongnu, Qiang, and Di people, and remove the threat of these Hu people to Guanzhong.

The Hu people graze and live, and they have no fixed residence, which does not mean that they can be swept away, but they need to be carefully planned and arranged.

And now it is already the third year of Jian'an, in this year Cao Cao will destroy Lu Bu one after another, surrender Zhang Xiu, and truly unify the Central Plains south of the Yellow River and north of the Yangtze River, Yuan Shao will also completely destroy Gongsun Zhan, and at the same time take Hedong and Hanoi counties, unify the four states of Hebei, and the battle of Guandu will also break out.

Hebei Yuan Shao's affairs, Liu Yu doesn't want to care, there is no interest. But if Cao Cao wants to destroy Lu Bu and surrender Zhang Xiu, he can't sit idly by, no matter how he has to intervene, he can't let Cao Cao go too well.

Liu Yu is preparing to be a-stirring stick to muddy the waters.

In order to ensure that Zhang Xiu could withstand Cao Cao's attack, Liu Yu secretly gave Zhang Xiu 50,000 grains and grass and 20,000 ordnance, that is, in order to enhance Zhang Xiu's strength, but also to befriend Zhang Xiu, and pave the way for Zhang Xiu's plot in the future.

……

Under the city of Nanyang.

Zhang Xiu and Cao Cao routinely scolded each other again.

Cao Cao accused Zhang Xiu and said: "Zhang Xiu, the Son of Heaven ordered you to go to Xudu, but if you dare not obey, you are a traitor!" I'm here to slay you traitor again. ”

Zhang Xiu was angry, who doesn't know that the Son of Heaven is his puppet of Cao Cao, and he still has the face to talk about the Son of Heaven and call him a traitor? Then he angrily pointed at Cao Cao and scolded: "Cao Cao, you are a person who is hypocritical and unashamed, like a beast!" ”

Cao Cao was furious, said no more, and ordered the siege to begin.

Cao's army is strong, but Zhang Xiu can't hold out, the Nanyang city wall is high and thick, and the moat is also deep, Cao's soldiers can only transport soil to fill the river first, and they were shot and killed by Zhang Xiujun's archers on the Nanyang city wall during the period.

After the moat was filled, the soldiers rushed towards Nanyang City with siege equipment.

After attacking for three days in a row, Cao's army failed to attack Nanyang City, and if it continues like this, I am afraid that it will be as fruitless as the previous two expeditions.

If he wants to break Nanyang City, Cao Cao can only use a plan.

After consulting with Cheng Yu, Xun Yu and other strategists, Cao Cao personally rode around the city to investigate, which lasted for three days. Then he ordered the soldiers to pile up firewood on the corner of the west gate, gather all the generals, and attack the city wall from here.

Cao Cao was scheming, but Zhang Xiu was assisted by Jia Xu, and Jia Xu saw through Cao Cao's plan at a glance.

Jia Xu said to Zhang Xiu: "Cao Cao is bluffing, diverting the tiger from the mountain, leading our army to defend the west gate, and he will take advantage of the night to climb in from the east gate, can be calculated, teach the people to pretend to be soldiers, guard the west gate, and the heavy troops ambush at the east gate, let the Cao army steal the east gate and enter, at that time the cannon sounded, the ambush soldiers rose together, and the Cao army will be defeated." ”

Zhang Xiu was overjoyed, so he set up an ambush according to Jia Xu's plan.

In the dark night, Cao Cao saw the figures at the west gate of Nanyang City, shouting and guarding the city, but the east gate was slightly empty, Cao Cao said happily: "Zhang Xiuzhong is also planning, Nanyang can be broken tonight!" ”

Cao Cao ordered elite troops to raid the east gate, and they broke into the gate in one fell swoop.

When all the troops of Cao's army entered, only the sound of cannons was heard, and the city was ambushed everywhere, Zhang Xiu personally led an army to cut off the back, Cao's army was in chaos, and people were killed on their backs, and they were defeated out of the city.

Zhang Xiu chased out of the city, chased for dozens of miles, and only retreated into the city until dawn.

Cao Cao counted the defeated troops, but lost tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, and lost countless heavy grain and grass.

At this time, Cao Cao realized that Zhang Xiu must be assisted by top strategists, and he quickly agreed with Cheng Yu and Xun Yu on a new plan

On Zhang Xiu's side, after the defeat of Cao Cao, Jia Xu persuaded Zhang Xiu to take advantage of Cao Cao's new defeat and write to Liu Biao, asking Liu Biao to send troops to block Cao Cao's back road and defeat Cao Cao again.

Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao united, a total of thirteen soldiers, intercepted Cao Cao in Anzhong County, and fought with Cao Cao, but Cao Cao made a surprise attack, broke the combined army of Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao, beheaded 30,000, captured more than 10,000, and Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao lost nearly 50,000 soldiers.

Although the combined forces of Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao were defeated, Cao Cao's remaining grain and grass were finally exhausted, and he was unable to fight again. And heard the news from Xu Du, Yuan Shao wanted to take advantage of his re-expedition to Zhang Xiu, and raised troops to attack Xu Du, Cao Cao had to withdraw his troops and return to Xu Du in a hurry.

When Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao heard the news, they wanted to take the opportunity to chase Cao Cao again.

Jia Xu persuaded: "Don't chase it, you will lose if you chase it." ”

However, Jia Xu's previous estimate was poor, resulting in a big defeat and loss of nearly 50,000 soldiers, Liu Biao had some doubts about Jia Xu's ability, so he persuaded Zhang Xiu and said: "If you don't chase it, you miss the opportunity, and Cao Cao's soldiers will come back in the future, when will you rest?" ”

Zhang Xiu was moved, so he and Liu Biao led the army to chase and kill.

However, this time, as Jia Xu expected, Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao were ambushed by Cao's rear army and returned defeated, losing nearly 20,000 soldiers again.

Zhang Xiu regretted it and said to Jia Xu: "Don't say it, if you fail." ”

Jia Xu nodded with satisfaction, smiled and said again: "The general can organize his troops and chase him again, and he can win!" ”

Zhang Xiu and Liu looked at each other on the surface, the previous pursuit was defeated, and the soldiers were lost, so they chased again?

Jia Xu said: "If the general believes the words, he will win this time, if he doesn't believe it, just don't chase it." ”

Zhang Xiu gritted his teeth, since Jia Xu said so, then chase it, but he will lose again, and lose some soldiers and horses, it is nothing great.

Liu Biao still had doubts and did not dare to give an order, but Zhang Xiu firmly believed in Jia Xu's words and led an army to pursue him. Sure enough, the rear army of the Cao army was defeated, causing the Cao army to lose more than 10,000 again, and capturing countless baggage.

Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao were completely convinced by Jia Xu at this time.

Cao Cao was also convinced, master, his resourcefulness is unparalleled, I am afraid that he is not inferior to Guo Fengxiao beside Liu Shimin, why is he not such a strong strategist, sigh, hate!

Faced with Yuan Shao's threat, Cao Cao withdrew to Xudu.

Yuan Shao had not completely destroyed Gongsun Zhan, and he was only planning to take advantage of it, but seeing that Cao Cao had withdrawn his troops back to Xudu, he turned to stop raising troops again, and sent someone to explain to Cao Cao, and only said that he was attacking Gongsun Zhan, and the grain and grass were insufficient, so he borrowed grain from Cao Cao.

Cao Cao laughed angrily, Nima's excuse is not believed by fools.

Cao Cao said angrily: "Yuan Shao is so formless, I want to ask for it, how about it?" ”

Cheng Yu, Xun Yu and other strategists pondered for a long time, Xun Yu said: "The prime minister and Yuan Shao will have a battle sooner or later, this time Yuan Shao has not killed Gongsun Zhan, so he has no words like this, and he did not dare to really raise troops." Lu Bu in Xuzhou, southeast China, is a villain repeatedly, and he is a big trouble. The prime minister can befriend Yuan Shao first, so that he can exert his strength to destroy Gongsun Zhan, and the prime minister can take this opportunity to sweep away Lu Bu first, stabilize the rear, and then move troops with Yuan Shao again in the next year, so that he has a great chance of winning. ”

Cao Cao nodded, and on the one hand, he played Liu Xie, the son of heaven, and asked him to canonize Yuan Shao as a general, a lieutenant, and a governor of Ji, You, and Qingsizhou, and befriend Yuan Shao, and persuade Yuan Shao to destroy Gongsun Zan quickly. On the one hand, he also planned to destroy Lu Bu.

Yuan Shao's concentration is still a little worse in the end, the general, the captain, and the governor of Ji, You, and Qingsizhou's titles make his blood boil, and Yuan Shao can no longer tolerate Gongsun Zhan still occupying Youzhou. Then he poured all his troops into the fierce attack on Gongsun Zhan, intending to destroy Gongsun Chan in the shortest possible time, occupy Youzhou, and truly realize the land of Ji, You, and Qing.

Knowing that Yuan Shao was in the trap, Cao Cao also began to prepare grain and grass, preparing to destroy Lu Bu with all his might.

……