As soon as you enter the county guard hall, there is a huge sand table. Now that the prelude to the decisive battle in the world has begun, it is naturally indispensable to use this as the most indispensable tool for formulating strategies.

It's just that Ma Chao suddenly found that the Ma family's sand table was already three zhang long and two zhang wide. At the beginning, his vision was only limited to Fufeng, but now, on this sand table, there are already all the terrain of the entire fourteen states of the Han Dynasty.

The bigger the horizon, the more things you need to ignore. However, even though the unnecessary terrain of one county and one county has been abandoned, this sand table is still dense, and the important mountains and rivers of the states, as well as the roads of the cities, are clearly visible.

Ma Chao stepped forward to take a closer look, and other civil and military officers stood in a circle around the sand table, just overlooking the overall situation of the world. Xu Ronggang next to him wanted to explain, but Ma Chao signaled that he didn't have to - before he had a comprehensive initial impression, as a leader, he couldn't let the opinions of others be preconceived.

The small flags and wooden figurines on the sand table are full, and the most dense one is naturally the county of Lujiang. The small flag is marked with numbers, which are the number of each unit, and the wooden figurines are divided into infantry, cavalry, crossbowmen and sailors, as well as the names of the leading generals. The illustration is very detailed, and at a glance, Ma Chao has a perceptual understanding of the situation in Lujiang and the world.

"Where has Liu Bei's army gone?" Sweeping the terrain of Xichuan at a glance, Ma Chao did not see the banner representing Liu Bei's army, and asked Xu Rong.

"Here." Xu Rong pointed at it, and his face was very ugly.

"Liu Bei's 80,000 main battle troops have been decided, and our army only got the information today?!" Ma Chao did have reason to be angry, Yingding was only a six-day trip from Shangyong County in Jingzhou, and the eastward entry into Jiangling, the important place of Jingzhou, was also all the way to Pingchuan, and the enemy army would soon be able to attack the boundary of Jingzhou, but the army only learned at this time that such a serious delay in the military plane would not be an exaggeration to behead the shadow who was responsible for monitoring Xichuan's movements.

However, after Xu Rong's explanation, Ma Chao knew that this matter turned out to be no wonder the shadow. There was information earlier that after Liu Bei's army was assembled in Chengdu, it had been dormant in Guanghan. And Guanghan is only three days away from Yingding, and counting the time for intelligence transmission, the efficiency of the Ma family's shadow can only reach such a level. What's more, even in the era of radio, the battlefield will always be unpredictable and ever-changing.

"Did Wei Yan in the Han Dynasty make any moves?"

Xu Rong couldn't answer this question, but Xun Yu on the side was already prepared, and replied with three locks of long beard: "Wei Wenchang is good at fighting, and he used Chen Bingcheng to defend Liu Bei earlier. This time, Liu Bei made a move to march eastward, and Wei Wenchang had sent a letter to ask the lord if he could start a little war and shake Liu Bei. ”

"Don't reply to his letter for the time being, Wei Yan is bold, Chen Gong is cautious, if the two of them can't reply to the letter, they will naturally take advantage of the situation and provoke some conflicts and disputes to test Liu Bei, and they will also be extremely measured. If the reply is not in time, Liu Bei's army will move quickly, and it will disrupt Wei Yan's deployment in Hanzhong. Ma Chao said, his eyes turned to the Lujiang battlefield, and he asked again: "Cao Cao has already joined forces with Sun Ce?" ”

"No," Xun You's expression also became solemn, his fingers twisted on his beard and he didn't move, and said: "However, the cooperation between the two families is indeed very tacit, Cao Cao from the north, Sun Ce from the south, under the joint attack of the two families, Gan Xingba and Wen Zhongye are overstretched, and they have already lost the army. ”

Ma Chao nodded, he also got some information from Diao Chan about the situation here, Cao Cao used the guise of an alliance, and the army easily drove into the Lujiang territory, and skillfully avoided the three major directions of Yingchuan, Luoyang, and Jizhou, which were heavily defended by the Ma family. And Sun Ce also played a trick to hide from the world: Sun Ce and Sun Quan were not brothers, and the Jiangdong rumors disappeared immediately after Cao Cao began to turn his face and attack the Ganning camp, and Sun Quan took the opportunity to sweep away those unscrupulous people in Jiangdong again. The seed that Ma Chao planted in Sun Quan's heart seems to have only sprouted, and has not yet grown to the point of a towering tree.

However, Ma Chao never thought that anyone could not be greedy for power, especially Sun Quan, who was extremely good at power. He believed that this time he was just in a hurry, and once Sun Ce's army was defeated, Sun Quan would definitely not support Sun Ce like this. Even if he wanted to, the henchmen he supported during this period probably wouldn't let Sun Quan retire from his high position like that.

It can be expected that this time is the last trust given by Sun Quan of Wu County to his respected brother.

"In this way, the situation is worrying." Ma Chao rubbed his brows, and the dense banner wooden figurines on the sand table gave him a headache: "Now, there is an army of 100,000 troops of my Ma family outside Xiangyang City, do you think I should put it into Liu Bei's side, or Lujiang's side?" ”

"It depends on how big the lord's plan is." Sima Yi opened his mouth on the side, as if the world was already in his chest.

"Annexation of the world, once and for all!" Ma Chao immediately spoke, faintly annoyed: "You already know this in your heart, why bother asking." ”

Sima Yi didn't care at all, but smiled: "The lord also has a strategy in his belly, why is it not clear at this moment?" ”

Ma Chao glanced at Sima Yi, then picked up the sand table and set the pole, starting from Liangzhou, and pushed Xu Huang, Zhao Yun, and Wei Yan into the Xichuan area; Then in Youzhou, Tian Yu's army was directly pressed in Liaodong; Subsequently, the three banners of Jizhou Pang De, Yingchuan Gaoshun and Luoyang Huangzhong were all moved to Yanzhou, Xuzhou and Yuzhou......

Seeing Ma Chao move like this, everyone couldn't help but take a breath of cool air, even though Sima Yi had expected it in his heart, but seeing that Ma Chao really made a full-scale war move, he couldn't help but be secretly shocked in his heart: "The lord has been planning for many years, I'm afraid it's just for this moment, right?" ”

Ma Chao nodded: "Yes, this troubled world has been long enough, so long that I can't bear it anymore." ”

Sima Yi's eyes flashed, and then he was also full of pride, pointing to the country and saying: "In this case, the 100,000 army in the hands of the lord is very important, if the three armies of Cao Cao, Sun Ce, and Liu Bei can be introduced into our battlefield and fight a decisive battle with them, then the world can be decided!" ”

Ma Chao smiled and didn't answer, he didn't have Sima Yi's optimism at all, but his expression was still a little dignified: he didn't think of this. It's just that in the current situation, although Cao Cao and Sun Ce joined forces to attack Jiangxia, Liu Bei's army was still only wandering outside Jingzhou, and he didn't know what his intentions were. If the three families want to smoothly converge and then fight with them, the Ma family will have to make some sacrifices. And the more likely result is that the Ma family was defeated in the final battle, and since then they have lost all the games, and they have suffered heavy losses for several years. Then the chaos in the world is still there, but it is becoming more and more vague and long from the great unification.

Sima Yi's suggestion was more of a gamble than a proposal. The chips in Ma Chao's hands are everything in the Ma family, and the bet is that the world will be unified under the Ma family. However, such a gamble is too heavy for Ma Chao, and there are too many unpredictable factors, and Ma Chao, who has never considered himself a qualified gambler, has been entangled in this for several months.

"But the lord doesn't want to gamble?" When Pang Tong heard Ma Chao express these concerns, he actually grinned: "Lord, I'm afraid this matter can't be blamed on you, you don't want to gamble." But at present, these three are clearly three gamblers who have already gambled red, and they have thrown out all the chips in their hands, and they want to settle the country with the master. If you want to run at this time, I'm afraid you won't be able to run away. ”

"Why?"

"Lord, you see, the Cao and Sun families joined forces in Jiangxia, and then they can go all the way to Xiangyang. And although Liu Bei held back, the purpose would obviously be Xiangyang. The importance of the land of Jingzhou, Wei Chen doesn't need to say much, the lord thinks that the three families will make a roundabout attack on the Ma family in front of the fat of Xiangyang? Pang Tong's stubby fingers circled back and forth in the sand table, and finally stopped the end of the three families in Xiangyang, and then asked treacherously: "The three families are all heroes with the ambition to annex the world, and after they get Xiangyang, they will definitely not stop like short-sighted people, so where does the lord think they will march later?" ”

Ma Chao looked at the direction Pang Tong was pointing, his body was suddenly shocked, and he blurted out: "It's Chang'an!" They will go north to Nanyang, and then attack Chang'an in three ways! ”

"Not bad!" Pang Tong clapped his hands, and jumped up directly: "They all made it clear that they wanted to compete with the lord, so the lord's hesitation, wouldn't it make the world look down on you, the general of the splendid sky?!" ”

Ma Chao was silent, he agreed with Pang Tong's analysis, and knew that Pang Tong also used the radical method against himself. However, there is still a bit of sycophancy in this agitation method, which makes Ma Chao feel an alternative comfort, even if he wants to open his mouth to express his ambitions. But at this moment, a guard outside the door quickly stepped forward and excitedly said, "Lord, good news!" General Gan has won the Lujiang River! ”

Ma Chao was first happy, and then bitter: This Gan Ning, can you not work so hard? Just as I was about to return to the army to gather strength for a decisive battle, you laid down the meat of Lujiang again. It's really distressing to throw it down at this time!