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Years of war, the common people have suffered a lot. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoThis year, God has finally opened his eyes. Jingzhou, Yizhou, Yangzhou and Yuzhou all had bumper harvests, and the people of the Han Dynasty were able to breathe a little breather.

Hebei is no exception, after a rare bumper harvest, Cao Ying was also overjoyed and began a new round of hoarding grain and grass and an arms race. And Sima Yi, who occupies the rich Guanzhong, is also a strong soldier, ready to collect grain and grass and start fighting. All three sides are amassing heavy forces on the border in preparation for war. But this battle was not fought in the end.

There is no other reason, in the battle of the previous year, both Cao and Liu suffered heavy losses, and the short year really made them a little powerless. At this time, rest and recuperation is the wisest choice. Since last year, Liu Bei has recruited 50,000 recruits in Jingyang and Xuzhou. Yangzhou, which has the least number of people in these three states, has nearly 2 million, which is really easy. After Cao Ying lost more than 2 million people in Guanzhong, the number of household registrations was already worse than Liu Bei's, so while recruiting new soldiers, he also used Jiao Shao to recruit some small nomadic tribes outside the Sai to fill the military registration and reduce the pressure on the states. And now that Liu Bei didn't take the initiative to attack, Cao Ying was also a little relieved.

But it's also a recuperation, and the difference is still obvious. From the current point of view, the population ratio of Cao, Liu, Sima and Yi is about 3:4:1, and Liu Bei, who occupies the entire Central Plains and the south, basically occupies the most fertile land in the Han Dynasty. Moreover, in terms of climate, the south realizes the rotation of rice and wheat planting, and the annual yield of the south is significantly higher than that of the north with the same acre of land.

Although Hebei is also a famous rich land, Hebei, which can only grow one crop of wheat every year, is really not as good as the south, which can have several crops per year. After the grain harvest came up, Cao Ying and Xun Yu calculated, but the final result almost did not make them lose the confidence to continue fighting.

The combined grain output of Jizhou, Youzhou, and Liaodong last year was basically barely equal to that of Jingzhou under Liu Bei's rule. This can only illustrate one point: fighting logistics, Cao Ying was defeated. As a result, Cao Ying was forced to do everything possible to plunder food.

So in September, Cao Ying again sent Xiahoudun to send troops to Goguryeo, Buyeo and Karasuma. In the previous battle, Sanhan had already suffered a big injury, but Goguryeo and Buyeo had not completely surrendered, and Karasuma had been dishonest all these years, so it was time to beat him up. This time, Xiahoudun sent troops again, which lasted three months, and finally defeated the 180,000 troops of the Three Kingdoms Alliance at the foot of Changbai Mountain with a mixed force of 90,000 Qingzhou soldiers and tiger and leopard cavalry. Seeing that Xiahoudun did not accept it, he left the captured more than 20,000 Karasuma elite soldiers to Zhenbei Zhonglang to incorporate Xianshao into the army, but he led a lone army to go deep and completely captured the capital of Goguryeo, took away most of the people's population, and moved to the hinterland of Youzhou. Continue to rely on this method of nurturing war with war to increase the bargaining chips for the decisive battle after Cao Ying's death.

"Now there are 40,000 elite cavalry soldiers. If it is a decisive battle with Liu Da'er, these 40,000 elite horsemen are enough to turn the big-eared thief back and forth! Cao Ying was also smiling after seeing the battle report sent by Xiahoudun. Before Liu Bei reopened the passage with Xiliang, he could not form a cavalry force to compete with Cao Ying only with horses produced in the Central Plains.

Cao Ying naturally didn't know that after the Wenshan Mountain Road was opened, Ma Chao had already sent 8,000 Xiliang horses to Xichuan and then to the Central Plains. Coupled with the previous Fengyun Cavalry and the White Horse Righteous Servants, Liu Bei's current cavalry has reached an astonishing 40,000. Although the number is slightly worse than Cao Ying, once Liu Bei occupies the Guanzhong area, and Ma Chao's Xiliang Iron Cavalry intervenes again, then the superiority of the two sides in cavalry will be reversed immediately.

As for the grain and grass, Liu Bei asked Zhuge Liang to calculate the military rations harvested this year, and the results were still very exciting. If you don't count the men and horses of Shangxichuan now, then the grain and grass are enough to support Liu Bei's northern expedition with 600,000 troops for eight months. Such a result almost made Liu Bei think that Zhuge Liang was fooling him. After believing the news, Liu Bei's confidence skyrocketed. If it weren't for Guan Yu's repeated emphasis that the training of new recruits was not yet mature, I am afraid that he would have to move his army north this year.

In the first battle, if you count the Xichuan side, Liu Bei mobilized 300,000 troops before and after, and the final result was to successfully capture Guanlong and the Central Plains, and won a complete victory; In the second battle, Liu Bei's group invested more than 400,000 troops before and after, but in the end, it was almost a big loss. Before the second battle, the strength of Cao and Liu was almost equal, and now Cao Ying lost Guanzhong, but Liu Bei only lost Hanzhong, so in terms of family foundation, Liu Bei's family foundation is a few points stronger than Cao Ying. But Liu Bei also knows that Cao Ying is definitely not a person who can make people take it lightly.

Zhao Feng, who is in Xichuan, doesn't know all this. Now he is in front of Fushui Pass, accepting a batch of warships that have just been built. Beside him were Huang Quan, Zhang Ren and Fa Zheng.

"General, I, Xichuan, have never trained as a sailor, and now the general is building this building ship, what is the matter?" Huang Quan looked at the sold-story building ship, and he was almost dizzy. Zhao Feng asked him to go up with him, but he didn't dare.

"Hehe, Gongheng, you don't know, I tried to deal with Sima Yi this time, but I let the lord give me a bloody investment. This kind of five-story building ship is the magic weapon of the Jiangdong sailors in the past, and one ship is enough to carry 3,000 people! Zhao Feng said with a smile.

"Three thousand!" Hearing this, not only Zhao Feng, but even Zhang Ren exclaimed. What is the concept of 3,000 people? That means that with just a few such large ships, an army of tens of thousands of people can be mobilized. But I heard Zhao Feng continue: "Now that Hanzhong is lost, it is really difficult for us to seize Hanzhong. Therefore, I hope to rely on this kind of building ship, when the two armies are facing each other, lead the army down the river to Yidu, and then wave the army from Zigui to the north, through the three eastern counties to capture Hanzhong. Although this will detour some paths, but it can avoid the natural danger of Yangping Pass, isn't it wonderful? ”

"I see, no wonder the general wants to transfer the military horses of Yidu County!" When Zhang Ren heard this, he suddenly realized, and Huang Quan also nodded and said: "It is a little difficult to take Hanzhong directly from Xichuan. If you go to the three eastern counties, you can avoid the Yangping Pass. However, they didn't expect that this was only the first step in Zhao Feng's plan, and the real killing move was still to come. Of course, now Zhao Feng has not completely broken it. So far, as long as Fa Zheng knows all his plans. The rest of the people, Zhao Feng was going to wait until the start of the fight.

The building ship in front of Zhao Feng now was built by the shipbuilders of Gu Yong's Gu family. Zhao Feng remembered that in history, Dong Xi, the general of Eastern Wu, was drowned because during the battle at Dongting Lake, the boat was overturned by the wind and waves. In view of this, Zhao Feng has always been unkind to this kind of building ship. When he first conquered Jiangdong, all the building ships of the Jiangdong Navy Division were parked at Poyang Lake. As a result, after he got Poyang City by himself, this building ship became an ornament.

But since he defected to Liu Bei, Gu Yong ceremoniously introduced his building ship to Liu Bei. Although the wind and wave resistance is relatively poor, after all, it is a big ship that can carry thousands of people, and this kind of transportation volume also makes Liu Bei quite excited. Later, after referring to several new types of ships designed by Zhao Feng, Gu Yong also improved the building ship, replacing the original oars with an impeller, omitting one of the five layers of the ship, and lowering the center of gravity. At the same time, the structure strengthens the firm surname of the hull, which makes this kind of building ship can withstand the wind and waves of the Yangtze River. Of course, it is unlikely that at this stage it is impossible to go to sea.

"The general's meaning is to first make a big show and pretend to march into Hanzhong, and then use this kind of building boat to go down the river to Yidu County, and then march into Hanzhong from the three eastern counties." After Huang Quan pondered it, he also understood a little. Zhao Feng nodded, but still said cautiously: "Wait for the beginning of spring next year, and agree with Ma Mengqi to send troops together, and then act." ”

"That's right, if General Ma can march into Longxi and threaten Guanzhong, he can at least contain Sima Yi's tens of thousands of horses. Coupled with the garrisons in various parts of Guanzhong, and the defenders of Tongguan, Wudu, and Yinping, Sima Yi could only arrange tens of thousands of defenders in Hanzhong at most. In this way, we will be more sure to march from the three eastern counties! "The Fa is serious and authentic. obviously knew the whole plan of the matter, but he still pretended to be so enlightened, and even fooled Huang Quan and Zhang Ren, Fa Zheng's bad taste was enough.

"It's also fortunate that Uncle Zhang held the West City at the beginning, otherwise, all this would be empty talk!" Zhang Ren suddenly sighed. Zhang Ren has always been right about things and not people, although he has never met Zhang Xiu, but he still admires his behavior. When Xiahou Yuan marched into Hanzhong, he led his army to pursue Lu Xun, and at the same time sent the partial general Du Xun to lead people to attack Xicheng, but was repelled by Zhang Xiu. Of course, this is also thanks to the fact that when the predecessor Xicheng Taishou Ma Jian was in office, he had already expanded and strengthened the city of Xicheng. And Xincheng and Shangyong are both located in the deep mountains to the east of Xicheng, and Du Xun didn't even capture Xicheng, let alone these two places.

"Yes, the uncle's contribution is not small!" Zhao Feng nodded and said, if it weren't for the fact that the three eastern counties were still in Zhang Xiu's hands, Zhao Feng's plan would have died at least half, and the original triple deception could only be implemented in two at most. And against a giant annihilator like Sima Yi, every layer of deception you miss, he may see through it. Even with this triple deception, Zhao Feng didn't expect Sima Yi to be able to see through it, but just tried to buy time for himself before he completely saw through all his plans.

Time passed day by day, and 212 A.D. was still spent in a relatively peaceful atmosphere. Except for some small fighting, most of the area was peaceful. In the spring of 213 A.D., Liangzhou assassinated Shi Ma Chao and sent Liangzhou to take the Wenshan Road, and came to Chengdu for more than half a month to discuss the march with Zhao Feng. At the same time, Liu Bei, who was in Xuchang, also received a letter from Zhao Feng, which only had six words on it:

If you don't succeed, you will be benevolent.

(To be continued)