However, the central army surrounding him outside Jiangling City was as many as more than 100,000 people, and all of them were musketeers equipped with flintlock muskets, and the two armies were not products of the same era at all.

Liu Bei summoned the civil and military ministers in his Chu palace to discuss countermeasures, Chen Gong went to Wei to find reinforcements, not in Jiangling, and the rest of Pang Tong, Guan Yu, Wei Yan, Yan Yan, and Jian Yong all sat together.

But they can only stare at each other with big eyes, and they can't discuss any countermeasures at all.

Pang Tong couldn't solve this deadlock even with all his wit, and the only hope now was that Cao Cao would send reinforcements as soon as possible to harass Lu Bu's rear and distract Lu Bu's forces and attention.

Cao Cao is actually really like helping Liu Bei, after all, one more ally means one more strength to share the huge pressure brought by Lu Bu and his central army.

As time dragged on, Cao Cao only felt that the gap between himself and Lu Bu was getting bigger and bigger.

Although his ruling area has been smooth in recent years, the country and the people have been safe, and the economy, population, and military strength have all increased, but he knows that Lu Bu has grown faster.

In particular, the Central Army has been constantly fighting foreign wars over the years, and has been constantly fighting with the steppe peoples, with the countries of the Western Regions, and even with the powerful empires of Central Asia, and all of them have won victories.

Many units of the Central Army have undergone actual combat training, and all kinds of new weapons have emerged one after another, especially firearms, which have developed by leaps and bounds.

Although in recent years, the scholars of Wei have obtained the original goods of grenades and mortars from Lu Bu through various channels, but their own level is limited, and so far they have only copied the recipes for grenades and black powder.

As he received more and more information from Chang'an, he became more and more convinced that the gap between the strength of the two countries was widening.

The current Lu Bu does not have the pressure of foreign wars, and he can attack two princes at the same time, so even if he attacks Liu Bei, Cao Cao thinks that he still has the strength to prevent or even attack himself.

But the current situation is that the arrow has to be sent, even if Chen Gong does not come to ask for help a second time, he will definitely support Liu Bei, even if there will be some losses.

Cao Cao thought that only when he was alive, Wei would still be able to fight against Lü Bu, and once he died, Lü Bu would easily defeat Wei and defeat his heir.

Wei still takes himself as the core, and Cao Cao has to do many things himself, and his sons have not yet shown the ability to replace themselves, maybe the eldest son Cao Ang can, but unfortunately he also died young.

The Central Army, on the side of the Chang'an Imperial Court, has already formed its own system.

In particular, their military academy education system has given their army a constant supply of blood.

I heard that Lu Bu's eldest son is also studying at the military academy, and like everyone else, he will start as a low-level officer in the future.

So even if they don't have Lu Bu, with a mature system, they will still maintain normal and healthy operation.

What's more, the Central Army's Fa Zheng, Zhuge Liang, and Sima Yi are still very young, and their days are still long!

Cao Cao had already seen the not-too-distant future, and his Wei state would be a flash in the pan.

But no matter what the future holds, he still has to fight for every opportunity in front of him.

He sent a mobile corps under the command of Guo Jia to attack in the direction of Nanyang, and he heard that Lu Bu was in Wan County.

This Lu Bu is still so belligerent, he must go to the front line in every battle, and when he recovered Yizhou, he personally went out to the horse, and this time he went to the front line again when he fought Jingzhou.

Although he didn't deal with Liu Bei in person, he was sitting in Wancheng, and it seemed that he still attached more importance to his old opponent.

However, Cao Cao is still very relieved of Guo Jia, for so many years, Cao Cao has fully affirmed Guo Jia's military talent, especially above himself, especially as he grows older, becoming more mature and steady.

Guo Jia led his army from Tongbai Dafu Mountain into Nanyang County, and he had already reached an agreement with Cao Cao before setting out, and he went to Nanyang, not to fight a decisive battle with Lü Bu's Central Army, but to disturb the rear of the Central Army.

He wanted to follow the example of Zhang Liao back then, so that the Central Army had to withdraw troops from Jingzhou in order to achieve the goal of reinforcing Liu Bei.

Lu Bu is indeed in Wanxian County, and he is indeed like Cao Cao thinks, he attaches far more importance to Cao Cao than he attaches to Liu Bei.

Through the big net of the Ministry of Intelligence, he is closely following every move of the Wei State.

In the Wei army, there are many eyes of the central army, and any wind and grass in the Wei State cannot be hidden from Lu Bu.

On several roads into Nanyang, there are disguised intelligence department personnel, monitoring day and night.

Therefore, when Guo Jia's army entered Nanyang County through the road of Tongbai Dafu Mountain, his whereabouts were placed on Lu Bu's desk.

Lu Bu must not have been surprised by Guo Jia's arrival, as expected, as the only mobile force in the Wei State, who else could he mobilize if he didn't mobilize?

And it was their arrival that Lu Bu was waiting for, and after receiving Guo Jia's exact whereabouts, Lu Bu's secret order flew to Jizhou and Qingzhou respectively.

Lu Bu knew that Cao Cao would definitely help Liu Bei, but Cao Cao forgot that his own backyard may not be impregnable!

According to Sima Yi's plan, next, Xu Huang of Jizhou took the lead in sending troops, and with the help of the Yellow River fleet, the Central Army easily crossed the Yellow River.

The 1st Division, which had been gaining momentum for a long time, descended like a tiger and captured Dong'e in only one day.

Subsequently, the Cangting Ferry and the surrounding beachhead were consolidated, and the 8th Division and the 2nd Cavalry Division also crossed the Yellow River in close proximity, and the troops pointed directly at Linyi and Gucheng.

Cao Cao couldn't figure out what the Central Army wanted to do, was it to involve his own troops? Or do you really want to take the opportunity to capture Yanzhou?

He also knew that Guo Jia had just arrived in Nanyang, and the road was far away, and he couldn't move back and forth, so he had to first transfer 20,000 soldiers and horses to Yanzhou from the defensive direction of Qingzhou.

Cao Cao demanded that the garrisons everywhere should hold the city tightly and not fight the enemy at will.

In fact, there is no need for him to tell him, and the garrisons in various places on the border of Wei will not act rashly, let alone go out of the city to fight, because the most fundamental reason is the lack of troops.

Especially the Jibei Kingdom, Taishan County, and Langxi County, which are defending in the direction of Qingzhou.

For example, after Cao Cao transferred 10,000 infantry from him, how could his remaining 20,000 troops defend the long border and coastline.

Especially in the coastal areas, since the Central Army established a naval army in Jiaozhou Bay and established a central navy.

He often used warships to carry some infantry to land on the coast of Langxi County, sabotage and plunder, and bypassed the defense of Zhuxian and Tobu.

He could not let it plunder, and every time he got the news, he had to work hard to lead his army to the coast to expel the Central Army that had come ashore.

can only expel the other party, and if you want to keep others, you can't keep them.

(End of chapter)