In Cao Cao's prime minister's mansion, a group of civil and military officials discussed one after another, each expressing their opinions.

However, Cao Cao always felt that everyone's strategies were unsatisfactory.

This battle must be fought, but how will it be fought?

Cao Cao was apprehensive about attacking the Tiger Prison Pass again, even when he attacked Dong Zhuo in the past, he did not take advantage of the slightest advantage, and when he attacked the New Han Dynasty later, he also lost his troops. For him, the Tiger Prison seems to be a pit in his heart that he can't get over.

Another premise is that Cao Cao must now strive to gain the initiative in this war. His spies are always paying attention to all the movements of the New Han Dynasty. Liu Yi returned to Luoyang and summoned his generals to return to Luoyang to discuss his plan, but he failed to hide Cao Cao's ears and eyes. Therefore, Cao Cao now has to come up with a response plan, a strategy that can better support the initiative.

All the strategists, each of them has their own strategies, and it seems that each strategy has its merits.

For example, Hua Xin also raised the question that now that the strength of the New Han Dynasty is too strong, should its own court avoid the real and take the lead in launching an offensive war against the New Han Army, concentrate superior forces, and attack the direction where the New Han Army is weak, as well as places that are easier to capture. For example, from the south bank of the Yellow River, in the form of a sneak attack, the army can quickly find a breakthrough from the long Yellow River defense line that can facilitate the army to cross the river to the north, break through the defense line, and the army enters the boundary of Jizhou.

Or, now, Jingzhou. Even the area around Jiangdong is a direction that can be attacked by troops. If you concentrate superior forces. An attack on these places would surely lead to the first victory in this great battle. At the very least, you can do it.

This plan is not bad, Cao Cao felt that in the early stage, with the strength of his current army, he would definitely be able to take the New Han Dynasty by surprise.

However, if you look at the whole picture, the whole war. This is not a wise strategy.

Because, the New Han Army has more troops than itself. Other than that. The main development area of the New Han Dynasty was Sili Prefecture. Once this battle started, the New Han Dynasty only needed to leave a small number of military horses to hold a few pass towns that entered Luoyang, and then it could mobilize more military horses and directly kill Xudu. When the time comes, how will he Cao Cao respond?

The war is mutual, and if you can concentrate superior forces to attack one place and one city of the New Han Dynasty, then the New Han Army can also use this method. Let alone. The New Han army could even take advantage of the fact that Cao Cao's military horses were transferred away from Xudu, and after leaving Yanzhou, they could contain them with a large army, and then send another army to attack their Xudu. Even so, the strength of the New Han Dynasty was more than enough.

Cao Cao also thought about it, even if he sent troops to Jizhou, Youzhou, Jingzhou and other places to occupy it? He simply didn't have that many troops after taking those places. Then you can send a large army to defend it. The more territory there is, the more dispersed his forces become. The easier it will be for the New Han Army to break through one by one. Such a tactic is tantamount to dispersing one's own forces in vain. Let the New Han Army eat away little by little.

Therefore, Cao Cao decisively vetoed such a strategy.

Cao Cao also tried to ask Cheng Yu and Xun Yu for advice, but both of them shook their heads with sad faces, and they didn't know if they were really helpless or unwilling to say.

At this time, Sima Hui, who had become Cao Cao's chatter, saw that Cao Cao seemed to be helpless, his eyebrows were raised, and he thought about it, and went out to make suggestions to Cao Cao.

Although Sima Hui failed to fully gain Cao Cao's trust, he failed to persuade Cao Cao to send troops to the New Han Dynasty early, and echoed with Liu Zhang, Liu Bei, and Zhang Lu of Hanzhong in Yizhou to contain the New Han army. However, Cao Cao still respected Sima Hui.

After all, Sima Hui and Zuo Ci are the same, they are both folk hermits, Zuo Ci is equal to the immortal-like figure, and Sima Hui is a great celebrity in the world, his protégés and disciples are all over the world, and many of Cao Cao's own advisers have a deep relationship with Sima Hui, and Sima Hui has the name of teacher and student. Therefore, it is not that Cao Cao is disrespectful.

What's more, Cao Cao originally wanted to recruit a large number of talented people in the world to help him, so even if he didn't agree with Sima Hui's earlier persuasion, he has always treated Sima Hui well.

Now, without Sima Hui's persuasion, Cao Cao has plans to send troops to the New Han Dynasty, so when he saw that Sima Hui seemed to have something to say, he was overjoyed, and bowed respectfully to Sima Hui and said, "Mr. Shuijing, do you have a good plan?" Earlier, it wasn't that Cao didn't take your advice, Mr. Shuijing, it's just that sharpening the knife is not wrong to chop wood, and if you want to fight with the New Han Dynasty, you have to be strong yourself, and some time ago, Cao's military horses have not yet made preparations for war, so they have to ......"

"Mengde, forget about the past, the fighter plane is fleeting, I believe you know better than me." Sima Hui shook his head with a look of pity and said: "It's a pity, Liu Zhang of Yizhou and Zhang Lu of Hanzhong have not been able to hold out for too long, and those small princes in Jiangdong have also announced their submission to the New Han Dynasty. Now, only Yuan Shang from Qingzhou, but he doesn't say it. Therefore, it is really difficult to do it now, the lone army is at war with the New Han Dynasty, and it is controlled everywhere. Now, there is a poisonous plan, it depends on whether you have the courage to carry it out. ”

"Oh? Poison scheme? Cao Cao's heart jumped.

"In today's situation, Meng De, you should indeed take the initiative as soon as possible, and take the initiative to attack while the New Han Army has not yet been fully assembled, and it is still on various battlefields." Sima Hui said.

"Mr. Shui Jing, it is necessary to take the initiative to attack, why don't you discuss now, how to fight this battle? The strategy of all of you, no matter where you fight, is a strategy to take the initiative. Cao Cao didn't quite understand the specific meaning of Sima Hui's initiative to attack, so what was so vicious.

"Hehe......" Sima Hui's dignified-looking, seemingly gentle face was twitched a few times, and he laughed slightly, but it made people feel a little chill in their hearts. It sounds a little eerie.

He said slowly: "This battle, no matter what. Mengde, your odds are not too great, so. The only way to do this is to fight and leave, and don't think about seizing the territory of the New Han Dynasty. Prime Minister, you concentrate your forces and deploy heavy troops in the area of Tiger Prison Pass to block the New Han army that may be killed directly from Tiger Prison Pass, so as to ensure that Xu is not lost. Then, form several elite military horses, such as one for 10,000 people or one for 20,000 or 30,000 people, and hand them over to a group of generals under Meng De, each leading an army. Attack the weak cities within the territory of the New Han Dynasty. ”

"Under Mengde's account, the available generals are not less than those of the New Han Dynasty, nor are they weak, such as the generals Xiahoudun, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Xu Huang, Zhang He, Zhang Liao, Yu Ban, Le Jin, Li Dian and other generals, they are all heavy generals, even if they are divided into twenty or thirty such military horses, each army has one or twenty thousand horses, so it is only four or five hundred thousand troops. Then the rest is for Meng De to guard the military horses of Xu Du. There are still 500,000 or 600,000 military horses, which is enough. ”

"Uh, wait......" Cao Cao interrupted Sima Hui's speech and asked suspiciously, "That." Mr. Shuijing, although Cao has more than one million military horses, but. Actually, it's impossible to gather them all. The Yellow River defense line does not need to be garrisoned? Do you want to defend Jingzhou? ”

"Prime Minister don't worry. Let's listen to a certain detail. Sima Hui said indifferently: "The enemy is strong and I am weak, and it is impossible for us to divide our troops to fight offensive and defensive battles with the New Han Dynasty everywhere." What's more, have you ever seen a city that the New Han Army couldn't capture? No matter how strong the defense line is, it will be lost for a long time, so what is the point of those defense lines being defended again? In that case, why not gather all the military horses? Concentrate half of the troops, defend the capital in the middle, and give up everything else. Only in this way can you have a glimmer of life, Prime Minister. ”

"No! It is impossible to give up, and once we give up, what will happen to the people under our rule? Also, our more than one million military horses also have to rely on the production and support of the vast number of people in the Central Plains, and Cao can raise so many military horses. This is a must-have. Cao Cao was a little dumbfounded when he heard this, if he gave up all his previous efforts according to Sima Hui's strategy and just held the Xuchang area, then what was the point of his efforts in the past ten years?

"What is a poison scheme? That is to put oneself to death and then to live. Besides, who said that if we give up all our territory of influence and tighten our forces, we will lose our provisions? Because according to a certain plan, it is to feed the war with war! Do you understand that war is fed by war? Sima Hui glanced at Cao Cao, and then asked the ministers in the meeting hall.

"Hehe, it looks like none of you have thought about this." Sima Hui smiled again and said coldly: "To put it more clearly, it is to imitate the actions of those nomadic aliens on the desert steppe to invade our Han in the past. Our military horses, except for the accumulation of a large amount of military rations in Xudu, the remaining dozens of military horses sent out will not have supplies, and they are required to fight wherever they go, plundering the city when they encounter the city, and robbing the village when they encounter the village. In this way, isn't there a food supply for them to fight abroad? As for the people under our rule...... Hehe, do we need to take care of them anymore? ”

"This, this ......" Cao Cao was a little stammered, and he didn't know how to respond to Sima Hui's real poisonous plan for a while.

All the civil and military officers were also a little shocked, really no one thought that Mr. Shuijing, who founded Yingchuan Academy and cultivated countless disciples, would be able to plan such a poisonous plan for Cao Cao.

"Let's not forget that since the day the New Han Dynasty was founded, it has developed in the name of relieving the people of the Han Dynasty. The people under our rule, even if they are not defended by our military horses, even if the cities fall into the hands of the New Han army, they will not do anything to those people. So, we don't have to worry about the people at all. We only seek the final victory. Sima Hui still said very calmly: "Think about it, dozens of our military horses have gone deep into the realm of the New Han Dynasty, constantly looting and destroying, and at the same time, they are also constantly consuming the strength of the New Han Army. When the time comes, they will have to shrink their defensive line, divide their troops to guard every important city, and beware of our military horses. In other words, as long as we do that, we will have the initiative completely. In the end, even if the New Han Dynasty cannot be destroyed, it will also make the New Han Dynasty dare not easily send troops to us, and it can still be ruled by demarcating the border with the New Han Dynasty and sharing the world equally. ”

I have to say that although Sima Hui's strategy is indeed a bit vicious, it has indeed aroused the resonance of many civil and military people, and aroused their sympathy. I feel that if Sima Hui's strategy is followed, then they can at least be invincible.

Cao Cao was also in turmoil, feeling that Sima Hui's plan was indeed his best strategy now. As long as this plan is implemented, no matter how strong the New Han Army is, I am afraid that it will not be able to do it without dripping, and there will definitely be a gap for his own military horses to drill. At least, the New Han Army is the least likely to have a strong army to guard itself out of the long line of defense, right? Only by breaking through and entering the territory of the New Han Dynasty will be frantically destroyed and plundered, in this way, it will also teach the New Han Dynasty a headache.

"My lord! Mr. Shuijing's plan is very good! ”

"My lord! The last general is willing to lead an army and horses into the territory of the New Han Dynasty, and he will teach the New Han Dynasty to be rumored, and the people of the New Han Dynasty will be terrified when they hear the name of our army! ”

"The last general is also willing to lead a military horse to go!"

"Lord, what are you hesitating about? For us now, this is the best option. ”

……

In addition to Cheng Yu, Xun You, Zhang Liao, Zhang He, Cao Ren and other generals who had a pivotal position in Cao Cao's army, they did not speak, and some civil and military officers all spoke out to agree to adopt Sima Hui's plan.

However, Cao Cao's face became more and more gloomy, making people unable to understand Cao Cao's thoughts.

For a long time, when the people in the meeting hall who agreed became more and more excited, Cao Cao suddenly shouted: "Shut up Prime Minister Ben!" ”

Everyone trembled, and the entire council hall fell silent for a moment.

"Mr. Shuijing, Cao respects you as a famous man in the world, but you can't harm Cao so much!" Cao Cao stared at Sima Hui with a cloudy face and said: "This plan came from the mouth of Mr., which really made Cao a little unbelievable, so if this is your heart, then please go back, sir." ”

"Oh? What did Meng De say about this? Mr. Shui Jing also replied with a blank face.

"Humph!" Cao Cao said to Sima Hui unceremoniously: "I think that my Cao A is upright, the banner he raises, and the soldiers he raises are the army of the king, how can I, Cao Cao, do that evil and vicious act?" That's right, Cao did say that he would rather teach me to bear the world than teach the world to bear me. However, Cao couldn't be so frustrated, and set up troops to attack the Han people. Cao asked himself if he couldn't do it, so, Mr. Shui Jing, please go back. (To be continued.) )