Xuchang, Cao Cao's official residence.

Cao Cao was discussing with the chief strategist Xun Yu.

Xun Yu said: "Lord, although it is the agricultural season now, but in the past few years, there have been frequent wars in various counties in Yanzhou, so that the farmland is barren and the ditches are destroyed, and the Yellow River is flooding, and it is urgent to build embankments, and there are too many debts. ”

When Cao Cao heard this, a pair of thick eyebrows frowned unconsciously.

Yuan Shao won victories on the battlefield in Hebei, Gongsun Chan was already in the waning days, but there was not much time left for him Cao Cao, if he couldn't take advantage of Yuan Shao's lack of southern Gu this year to destroy Lu Bu, wait until next year, Gongsun Zhan was completely defeated, and when Yuan Shao had the spare strength to go south, it would be extremely difficult to destroy Lu Bu.

However, it was not an easy task to destroy Lu Bu.

There is a way that the army has not moved, and the grain and grass go first, because Xun Yu is a capable official, and Xuzhou and Yanzhou are close at hand, the consumption of military grain transfer is not large, so the problem is not big.

However, the problem of military rations was finally solved, but the replenishment of ordnance became a problem.

Cao Cao controlled the Son of Heaven with Tianxian in his mouth, and seemed to be majestic, but in fact, in the melee with the princes of the Central Plains, the consumption of Cao's army was huge, not only the consumption of troops, but also the consumption of grain, grass and ordnance was greater!

In terms of troops, five years ago, Cao Cao conquered Qingzhou, and had to surrender three ∈ more than 100,000, after years of conquest, Cao Cao still has more than 150,000 troops, and these 150,000 troops are basically veterans of a hundred battles, and their combat effectiveness can be described as extremely strong, looking at the entire Han world. Now only Yuan Shao has more troops than him Cao Cao.

So. Strength for Cao Cao. Not a problem.

However, the replenishment of ordnance is a hurdle that Cao Jun cannot overcome!

Without armament, you can't let the elite soldiers wear cloth armor and hold burning sticks to fight Lu Bu's tiger and wolf army, right? But if you want to build enough ordnance, you must have enough craftsmen.

Xun Yu now told him that he couldn't draw too many people to open mines.

At that moment, Cao Cao frowned and said: "Wen Ruo, can't the affairs of river embankments and ditches be reclaimed slowly?" ”

Xun Yu sighed and said helplessly: "The drought in Chen Guo this year is not the most serious in the past. But it almost led to the failure of tens of thousands of hectares of fertile land, and even more almost caused the lord's army of tens of thousands of people to have no food to eat, which is because the ditch was destroyed and the water conservancy collapsed, and in the coming year, if the lord does not want to repeat the mistakes of the past, the river embankment and ditch and the water conservancy of the counties and counties must be repaired, and the priority must be given to repairing. ”

Cao Cao also knew that what Xun Yu said made sense. At the moment, he said, "Then, when will the ordnance be replenished?" ”

Xun Yu counted his fingers. He said truthfully: "At the earliest, we will not be able to recruit people to open mines until the autumn grain is laid in October, and in this way, it will not be until early November at the earliest. ”

"November?" Cao Cao nodded, thinking that at the beginning of November, the armament would be replenished neatly, and at the end of the month, he would send troops to plunder the counties on the periphery of Xuzhou, and finally gather a large army to fight a decisive battle with Lü Bu in Xiapi, if everything went well, it would not be a problem to destroy Lü Bu before the arrival of the rainy season next year.

As for Gongsun Zhan, with Guo Jia's conservative estimate, it will at least last until the end of next year.

Therefore, as long as he can defeat Lu Bu before the arrival of the rainy season next year, it means that he still has at least half a year to prepare for the decisive battle with Yuan Shao.

Although half a year is very rushed, it is not easy.

Thinking of this, Cao Cao said again: "Okay, then November!" ”

Cao Cao's voice fell, but a rush of footsteps suddenly sounded outside the conference hall.

When Cao Cao Xunyu looked back, he saw Cheng Yu walking in in a hurry, and when he saw Cheng Yu's expression, Cao Cao immediately chuckled in his heart, it was bad, I am afraid that something bad will happen again!

Sure enough, Cheng Yu brought Cao Cao an incredible news: Liu Bei was defeated!

"What, Liu Bei was defeated?" Cao Cao's little eyes suddenly showed a terrifying essence, staring at Cheng Yu deadly, as if he wanted to eat Cheng Yu, if he was not familiar with Cao Cao's temperament, he was afraid that he would fall to the ground in fright and beg for mercy, but Cheng Yu was familiar with Cao Cao's personality and knew that this was just Cao Cao's expression when he was surprised.

At that moment, Cheng Yu said again: "Yes, Liu Bei was defeated, the eight thousand elite soldiers borrowed by the lord have been wiped out, and the two generals of Wang Zhong and Liu Dai have also been captured by Yuan No, and now Yuan No has captured 33 of the 34 counties in Runan, and Liu Bei has less than 1,000 people left to retreat to Zhaoling County, and the urgent document to the lord is only afraid that it will soon arrive in Xudu." ”

Cheng Yu is worthy of engaging in intelligence, and his news is even faster than Liu Bei's messenger.

After listening to Cheng Yu's detailed information, Cao Cao Xun Yu glanced at each other and couldn't believe it.

At that moment, Cao Cao summoned Xu Chu to enter and instructed Xu Chu to urgently send someone to invite Xun Yu Guo Jiajia Xu.

Xun You, Guo Jia, and Jia Xu are Cao Cao's think tanks, and their duty is to be Cao Cao's advisers, as consultants, they must be on call, but it is impossible to make Cao Cao wait for half a day like Xun Yu.

Soon, Xun You, Guo Jiajia, and Jia Xu arrived one after another, and they were seated separately.

Cao Cao asked Cheng Yu to tell the news he had just gotten, and Xun You Guo Jiajia was also shocked when he heard this.

There's no way not to be surprised, how can Liu Bei say that he is also a veteran general on the battlefield who has been fighting for many years, and he has a peerless fierce general like Zhang Fei under his command, and the lord specially borrowed him 8,000 elite soldiers, but it has been less than half a month since he entered Runan, so he let Yuan Wei fight without leaving a piece of armor, but this result is really beyond everyone's expectations.

"I didn't expect it, I didn't expect it." Xun You said, "Liu Bei was defeated so quickly, and he was defeated so completely. ”

Guo Jia also said: "I originally thought that there would be a tragic fight between Liu Bei and Yuan Nu, but I never expected that Liu Bei, the tiger, was driven away so easily by Yuan No, a tiger cub, and was bitten all over the body, I really don't know if Liu Bei is too weak, or Yuan is too strong?" ”

Cao Cao shook his head and said: "Liu Bei is still the same Liu Bei, Liu Bei who is defeated but not discouraged, even if he is broken!" It's just that Yuan No, but we underestimate him a little. ”

Cao Cao finally realized the gold content of the fact that Yuan had defeated Sun Ce and Zhou Yu successively.

In Cao Cao's view, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu are just two sons, because there are no heroes in Jiangdong, so the two vertical sons became famous, and Cao Cao praised Sun Ce as a lion in front of the people It is difficult to check and balance, but it is just a casual remark.

To paraphrase Guo Jia's words, Sun Ce is light and unprepared, and sooner or later he will die!

What is there to worry about such a person? Jiangdong rat ears!

However, now, Cao Cao suddenly realized from the fact that Liu Bei was defeated by Yuan No that he had not only underestimated Sun Ce and Zhou Yu before, but also seriously underestimated Yuan No!

At that moment, Cao Cao said again: "The defeat in this battle is my fault." ”

Xun Yu frowned and said: "Lord, now let's discuss whose responsibility is for the defeat of Runan, but it is useless, Liu Bei was defeated by Yuan Wei so easily, but it gave us a problem, is it to let Yuan Nuo ignore Runan?" Or do you mobilize an army to break it with a thunderbolt? But it needs to be carefully considered. ”

As soon as these words came out, the hall immediately fell silent.

Because this involves the adjustment of the grand strategy, no one dares to rashly express their opinions.

Cao Cao was also full of bitterness, originally hoping to use Liu Bei's hand to drive Yuan No into Xuzhou, and no matter how bad it was, he would drive Yuan No's remnants of the defeated army to the border between the two states of Henan Yanzhou and Xuzhou, so that he could take advantage of the opportunity to send troops to Xuzhou and easily destroy Yuan No's remnants.

But now Liu Bei is defeated, but Cao Cao has a problem.

If you let it go, if Yuan Wei gains a firm foothold in Runan, the harm will be much greater than Zhang Xiu, and it took so much effort to conquer Zhang Xiu, and he used troops three times to force Zhang Xiu, if Yuan Wei really becomes the second Zhang Xiu, it will be even more tricky to kill Yuan Xiu.

Cao Cao was even more worried that if Yuan took advantage of the battle between him and Lu Bu to send troops to attack Xudu, it would be a big deal!

Although Yuan No is not as brave and good at fighting as Lu Bu, but if you want to talk about the use of soldiers, Lu Bu can't beat the horse and can't match Yuan No, in case Yuan Bu attacks his Yanzhou lair, thinking of this, Cao Cao shuddered coldly, and didn't dare to think about it anymore, such a result is simply terrible, it must not appear!

Therefore, it is absolutely impossible to let Yuan develop in Runan!

So, is it feasible to send troops to Runan to destroy Yuan?

This is not necessarily, if you still only send partial teachers, it is inevitable that you will repeat Liu Bei's mistakes, Cao Cao's own family knows his own affairs, although there are many generals under him, the generals of the clan alone have Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Cao Chun, Cao Xiu, etc., and all of them are brave and good at fighting, but compared with Liu Bei, there are still some gaps.

A general with a foreign surname, Li Dianle has the talent of a general in the ban, but he has never stood alone.

Therefore, if you send a partial division to go, no matter who goes, I am afraid that it will be difficult to get a little bargain under Yuan Wei.

If Cao Cao personally went out to conquer the whole division, it would inevitably affect the next decisive battle with Lu Bu's army, once the decisive battle with Lu Bu's army was delayed, and then when the decisive battle with Yuan Shao was next, Cao's army would lose the opportunity, Cao Cao's strength was originally weaker than Yuan Shao, if the preparation was insufficient, the result was only difficult to be optimistic.

This is called pulling a hair and moving the whole body. (To be continued......)