"Everyone, Liu Bei has a plan!" In Xuchang City, Cao Ying read the letter in his hand and was excited to greet everyone. This is exactly Liu Bei's reply to Mi Fang's letter, everything is expected by Cao Ying.

"Lord, a few days ago, Liu Bei summoned generals from all over the world to go to Shouchun to discuss matters, and since the third day, the military horses of Xuzhou and Jingzhou have been transferred to Runan and Xinye. Such a move, except for wanting to enter Xuchang, there is no other purpose! Sima Yi, the implementer of the plan, said with a smile, and everyone was also overjoyed, but Jia Xu didn't say a word.

"Wenhe, what are you worried about?" Cao Ying's vision was so keen, he could see Jia Xu's absent-mindedness at once. The latter was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then he spoke: "Lord, is the implementation of this plan too smooth, and Liu Bei is so deceived?" ”

"Wen He is too worried, Mi Fang is Liu Bei's brother-in-law, and he is a general, if he takes the lead anyway, Liu Bei will definitely not be suspicious." Cao Ying said disapprovingly. Jia Xu nodded silently when he heard this, and said with some self-deprecation: "It seems that I am suspicious." ”

"Zixiao has already led the army into Liang County, and when Liu Bei crosses Yingshui and enters the Yingchuan territory, he will take advantage of the situation to cut off his return route and annihilate it in one fell swoop!" Cao Ying was full of confidence.

"In order to exterminate Liu Bei this time, the lord has gathered 100,000 troops in Xuchang, and Liang County also has 100,000 troops on standby. It's just that the soldiers and horses of General Xiahou in Guanzhong need to be more careful? Strategist Liu Ye suddenly admonished. Hearing this, Cao Ying said disapprenously: "It's okay, Guanzhong only needs to guard against the enemy of Yizhou." There are only a few valley roads in Yizhou's entry into the customs, as long as you hold Chencang City and Sanguan, Zhao Botao will be able to return in vain. ”

"That's it!" Liu Ye nodded, but inadvertently saw Jia Xu's brows frowning slightly, and he was also a little worried about this.

What Cao Ying didn't know was that Zhao Feng, who had returned to Chengdu, immediately summoned everyone to prepare for the northward dispatch of troops. According to Liu Bei's grand strategy, his march to Xiliang this time is the first step of the Northern Expedition, and whether it can be smooth or not is related to the success or failure of the entire Northern Expedition.

"Bo Tao, lend me 10,000 fine horses, and I can sweep Xiliang and help your Northern Expedition go smoothly!" You don't have to think about it to know that there will be no one else in this big voice except Ma Chao. In addition to Zhao Feng and Zhuge Liang, Zhao Yun, Lu Xun, Ma Chao, Fa Zheng, Zhang Ren, Huang Quan and others all arrived, and even Ma Dai and Pang De also came.

Listening to Ma Chao's arrogant words, Zhao Feng smiled bitterly and said: "Meng Qi, don't be irritable, I don't have more than 10,000 cavalry in Sichuan, and I have nothing to do with you." But with only 10,000 cavalry, if Xiliang Han Sui and Guanzhong Xiahou Yuan attacked from two sides, how would Meng Qi prepare to deal with it? ”

"This?" Ma Chao was speechless when he heard this. No matter how confident he is, he is not sure to use 10,000 people and Han Sui Xiahou Yuan. At this time, Zhao Feng spoke: "Han Sui is a wise man to protect himself, if I attack Xiahou Yuan, then Han Sui will not come to the rescue; If I attack Han Sui, then Xiahou Yuan will definitely wave his army to save Xiliang in order to prevent Xiliang from falling into our army. Therefore, it is necessary to cut off the road from Guanzhong to Longxi first, and only let Meng Qi face Han Sui, then pacify Xiliang and say that it is okay! ”

"That's right!" Everyone understood this truth, and then Zhang Ren asked: "So, does the general want to go out of Qishan?" ”

"It's just to take Qishan Avenue, but before that, you need to transfer Xiahou Yuan's main force to Kanto!" Zhao Feng smiled, and then asked Huang Quan, "Gong Heng, how is the armament now?" "When he and Zhuge Liang were not in Xichuan, the armaments were all captured by Huang Quan and Zhao Yun, and he had to be asked about the specific situation.

"General rest assured, after the disarmament of the previous general, I still have 140,000 elite soldiers in Sichuan. Excluding the troops guarding various places and guarding against invading troops from the south, the general's march this time was enough to dispatch 100,000 troops. Moreover, this year's wind and rain are smooth, there is no shortage of grain and grass, and the generals are also in Tuntian and Yuzhong, and the army should not be short of food! Huang Quan said carefully.

"That's good, righteous, you and Bo Yan first led 30,000 Sichuan troops, falsely claimed 100,000, went out of Hanzhong from Yangping Pass, took the Xiegu Road to force Weinan, and attracted Xiahou Yuan's main force in Guanzhong!" Zhao Feng arranged first.

"No!" Zhang Ren didn't care much, he directly promised that Zhuge Liang on the side raised his eyebrows when he heard this, and then said: "Does the general want to attract Xiahou Yuan's main force and Weinan, and then lead the army to take Qishan Avenue and pacify Xiliang in one fell swoop?" ”

"Exactly!" The people present were all high-level people, and Zhao Feng did not hide it from them. That's right, Zhao Feng just wanted to emulate Zhuge Liang's old trick of going out of Qishan in history, and feigned to take the slope valley road, but in fact, the soldiers went out of Qishan. Since coming to Xichuan, Zhao Feng has carefully studied the history of Zhuge Liang and Jiang Wei's several Northern Expeditions, hoping to find some secrets of success.

I have to say that the situation I am facing now is not a little better than Zhuge Liang or Jiang Wei in history. Historically, due to the reluctance of Eastern Wu to forge ahead, Cao Wei basically focused on the Guanlong area. Zhuge Liang and they only relied on one Yizhou, and it was indeed very difficult to compete with Cao Wei, who occupied Kyushu in the north, and to take the initiative to attack.

Now it's different, hundreds of thousands of troops on both sides of the Central Plains have gathered, and the war is about to break out, and their hundreds of thousands of Sichuan troops can only be regarded as playing soy sauce, and Cao Yingguan has not placed many troops to defend himself. Moreover, although Xiahou Yuan has been on the battlefield for a long time, he is still much easier to deal with than Sima Yi because of his impatient surname. As long as you plan carefully, don't have a tragedy like the lost street pavilion, it's no problem to calm down Guanlong.

"Although there is a Cao army camp in Qishan, there are only thousands of defenders in Qishan Jiuzhai, and it can be pacified in one battle!" At this time, Wang Ping also said after hearing this. "That's right, once the troops leave Qishan, we only need to cut off the street pavilion and Weishui, which will make it difficult for the military horses in Xiahou Yuanguan to enter Xiliang. Just wait for General Ma to pacify Xiliang, and then join forces to fight Xiahou Yuan to the death! ”

Everyone knows that Wang Ping is proficient in geography, and now that he has said so, there is nothing to say. At that moment, Zhao Feng ordered Zhang Ren and Lei Tong to lead 30,000 Sichuan troops, and according to the date agreed with Liu Bei, the troops went out of the Xiegu Road and entered the Cao army Dazhai in Weinan. At the same time, he gathered 80,000 horses and temporarily stationed them in Hanzhong as a backup. At the same time, under the mobilization of Zhuge Liang and Huang Quan, who stayed in Chengdu, truckloads of grain were transported to the front line.

"What, Zhao Botao's troops have left the Xiegu Road and have now occupied the Weinan camp?" In Chang'an City, Xiahou Yuan asked in front of this little colonel kneeling in front of him, his tone was full of disbelief.

"Exactly, the 5,000 defenders of the Weinan camp were almost wiped out, and the Sichuan army was stationed in the Weinan camp, and sent people to collect rafts and build pontoon bridges, and they would come to the north at any time!" Someone to report. Xiahou Yuan waved his hand to signal him to go down, turned his head to Cheng Yu and said, "Mr. Zhongde, as you expected, Zhao Feng's guy is really unwilling to defend Xichuan, so this army is out of the valley?" ”

"This person is definitely a person who can't hold back, it would be strange if he could nest in Xichuan with peace of mind!" Cheng Yu said with a smile. Lu Kuang, the general on the side, asked at this time: "General, do you want to lead the army to recapture the Weinan camp?" ”

"No need, the Weinan camp was deliberately left to him by me!" Xiahou Yuan sneered, and then Zhong Xuan explained to Lu Kuang and the others who didn't know where to go: "The land of Weinan is barren and the roads are rugged, even if Zhao Botao occupies it, he can't open up the land to raise troops. We only need to guard the north of Weishui, and when its food is exhausted, we will retreat. We will wait for the army to cover up and kill, and we will be able to destroy the enemy in one fell swoop! ”

"I see!" Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang also understood. At this time, Xiahou Yuan said again: "I personally led an army of 50,000 to Wugong City to set up defenses, and met Zhao Botao, Mr. Zhongde went with me, and Yuan Chang stayed in Chang'an." In addition, quickly write a letter about the military situation here and report it to the lord! ”

"No!" The crowd responded with a bang. What Xiahou Yuan didn't know was that at this time on the south bank of Weishui, Zhang Renzheng ordered someone to take out a carrier pigeon, wrote a letter and told Zhao Feng that everything had been done here, and the next step could be implemented. When the carrier pigeon flew to Hanzhong, Zhao Feng was in the military tent with Ma Chao and Zhao Yun, discussing the military situation around a map of Xiliang.

"Our army is out of Qishan, and Jiuzhai in Qishan is not enough to worry about. With Meng Qi's prestige in Xiliang, defeating Han Sui is not a problem. It's just that Han Sui and Yan Rou are both scheming people, and now Zilong and Xiaozhi will go with you, and if you discuss more things, you can be safe! When you pacify Xiliang, I will lead the army to guard Linwei County and Jieting, and prevent Xiahou Yuan's Guanzhong men and horses from entering Xiliang. Zhao Feng arranged carefully. Fa Zheng is Ma Chao's old friend, and he is famous in the Guanlong area, although Ma Chao is arrogant, but Fa Zheng's words will still be heard.

As for Zhao Yun, firstly, he is the son-in-law of the Ma family, and secondly, as the person who once defeated Ma Chao, he can prevent Ma Chao from forming a tail-ending trend after taking Xiliang, which is also what Liu Bei has carefully considered. When the war reaches this scale, it is not only on the battlefield that needs to be considered, but also other aspects that must be considered.

"This is very good, general, don't worry, with filial piety and brother-in-law to help, I promise to screw off Han Sui's old thief's head within a month!" Ma Chao patted his chest and assured that Zhao Yun, who was completely ignoring the side, had been made a little black in his head by his "brother-in-law".

"It's a pity that my uncle's health is not very good, otherwise, with his old man's prestige in Xiliang, if he can accompany the army, it will be twice the result with half the effort!" Ma Dai also sighed at this time. After all, Ma Teng is old, and he was too seriously injured in the previous battle, and he has not been able to recover so far. The former said that after being imprisoned for nearly a year, the Ma family's family called Han Sui to kill them. Ma Teng was hit by this blow again when he was over sixty years old, and suddenly fell ill again.

"General, right now Zhang Gongyi is stationed in Weinan. Although there are 100,000 troops in Xiahou Yuanguan, excluding the remaining guards in Chang'an, Wugong, Xianyang and even Tongguan, only 80,000 can be mobilized. Among them, Zhang Gongyi has already contained at least 40,000 or 50,000 horses, but we have 70,000 horses here, why not take the opportunity to break Xiahou Yuan in one fell swoop? Pang De suddenly said, and everyone was also a little shocked when they heard the words, being able to win Guanzhong in one fell swoop was definitely a big enough credit.

"You don't know, although there are more Xiahou Yuan in our army, but the Sichuan army has not been reorganized for a long time, and its combat power is not too strong. Moreover, Xiahou Yuan's Guanzhong men and horses, no less than 40,000 cavalry, but we only have less than 20,000 cavalry, only by pacifying Xiliang first and obtaining a stable source of horses, can we compete with Xiahou Yuan's Guanzhong Iron Cavalry! Zhao Feng explained in detail.

"That's right!" Pang De nodded, the infantry against the cavalry on the plain suffered a great loss, and he stayed in Xiliang for a long time, but he didn't realize that there were not so many horses here for a while, and he could pull up a cavalry of tens of thousands at every turn. While speaking, Zhang Ren's carrier pigeon had arrived, Zhao Feng was overjoyed when he opened it, and after circulating it to everyone, Ma Chao was also happy: "General, then we can send troops to Qishan?" ”

"Exactly!" Zhao Feng smiled, and then ordered the whole army to pull out, go out of Yangping Pass and take Qishan Avenue, and kill directly to the counties of Longxi, and at the same time Feige passed a letter to Guan Yu in Jingzhou. At this time, the messenger sent by Xiahou Yuan had just left Tongguan, and there was still a long way to go from Xuchang.

(To be continued)