Early the next morning, the three main divisions stationed in the western part of Qingzhou and Pingyuan County entered a state of combat readiness.

At the same time, Wang Qi, the commander of the Langya Army, who received the strong support of the Langya monarch, issued an order that the Langya Third Division left Xiao County under the leadership of General Yan Shen and went to the new city between Nanwuyang and Bian County, which was completed for only half a year.

Twenty miles northeast of Pengcheng, the central camp of Cao's army.

Cao Cao, who was full of vegetarian and his eyes were red, stood in front of the map for a long time, forcibly endured the deepening worry in his heart, and listened attentively to the arguments of military advisors Cheng Yu, Guo Jia, and general Cao Hong.

The food shortage crisis that worries Cao Cao has not only appeared, but is getting worse.

As early as when Cao Cao's 80,000 troops were assembled, the Xuzhou Mi family and the Cao family were unexpectedly united with dozens of large and small grain merchants, dispatched 2,000 military carriages and thousands of various carriages and ox carts, and launched a grain rush for six days and six nights.

In addition to the grain and grass left for the defenders of Pengcheng for a year, the northern counties only kept three months' grain and grass reserves, and all the rest of the grain was continuously transported to Donghai County in the rear for six days and six nights.

What's even worse is that I don't know how the forces spread Cao Cao's bold words and ambitions of vowing to "avenge his father and slaughter Xuzhou", causing more than 500,000 people in the northern area of Xuzhou, including Pengcheng, to scatter and rush to flee with their families, most of whom fled to Donghai County under the control of the Mi family. A small number fled to various parts of Yangzhou in the south.

This unexpected happening. A huge crisis has been created for the 100,000 Cao troops and 50,000 people who are short of food. As the war continued, the grain and grass carried by Cao's army were rapidly consumed, and the food replenishment obtained from conquering several counties could not catch up with the consumption at all, and the only hope at the moment was to attack Pengcheng, which stood tall and strong.

However, the 40,000 Xuzhou troops led by Cao Bao and tens of thousands of soldiers from several major families gathered in the city and held on, and the Xuzhou soldiers and civilians who were deeply afraid of being slaughtered by Cao Cao rarely united to resist. As a result, Cao's army, which had continuously launched a siege of the city for two days, suffered heavy losses, and returned again and again in vain, and finally had to temporarily withdraw its troops to seek countermeasures.

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After Xun Yu hurriedly returned to Yanzhou, Gongsun Pei, who clearly foresaw that the world was in turmoil, could not calm down for several days.

As Liu Cun's incomparably trusted and respected chief confidant, Gongsun Pei, who is extremely intelligent but low-key, has gradually been regarded by all princes as the core figure of the Qingzhou military and political group, and they all believe that Gongsun Pei is not only the behind-the-scenes manipulator of the "Qingzhou New Deal", but also Liu Cun's real housekeeper, and has been willing to live behind the scenes for Liu Cun for a long time to silently guard the Qingzhou nest.

However, apart from a few people at the top of the Qingzhou military and political clique, few people knew about every major measure, every important military expansion, and important personnel appointments and dismissals of the Qingzhou military and political clique. It will be implemented after repeated weighing and modification by Gongsun Pei in advance, therefore. The princes of all walks of life and even the civil and military officials of the Chang'an court underestimated the value and status of Gongsun Pei, and they did not know that Gongsun Pei was already the second person in the Qingzhou military and political group after Liu Cun.

Over the past few years, Gongsun Pei has not only formulated strategic plans for Liu Cun such as "sending troops to Luoyang in the name of respecting the imperial court to restore the imperial capital", "promoting the civil war in Youzhou and then seeking the two states of Youji", "quickly defeating the Baibo army to seek a good opportunity to break the situation" and other strategic plans, but also for Liu Cun to exercise the supervision power of the entire Qingzhou military and political group. Every day, a copy will be transcribed and sent to Gongsun Pei's desk.

The bumpy experience of half a lifetime has honed Gongsun Pei's mind to be extremely tenacious, and the whole person is as calm as water as praised by the outside world, and he is not shocked.

But at this moment, in the face of the upcoming great opportunity to determine the future fate of the group, Gongsun Pei has been unable to calm down, a two-page letter was written for three hours, it seems that every word consumes a lot of effort, and the brush in his hand is as heavy as a thousand catties, so that his hands are still trembling slightly after writing.

Half an hour later, Zou Yi, the young deputy lieutenant of the Internal Affairs Bureau, arrived quickly, respectfully saluted, and reported in a low voice: "The lord, accompanied by Lord Han, Lord Tian and other military advisors, has left the Linzi Mint Workshop and rushed to Zhushan, this is an urgent reply from the lord's personal guard. ”

After reading the letter, Gongsun Pei nodded slightly: "It seems that the lord is still not very satisfied with the thunderbolts and rockets made by Lingshan Island!" Mu Heng's kid is probably going to suffer. ”

Zou Yi immediately thought of the senior brother Mu Heng, who was about to become the son-in-law of the lord, and couldn't help grinning:

"Actually, Senior Brother Mu has worked very hard...... In the past year, the gunpowder workshop on Lingshan Island has more than tripled under his management, and its output has soared from two tons per month at the end of last year to 12 tons. ”

"At the same time, the range of rockets that the naval fleet has been constantly testing has also increased from 200 meters to 500 meters, and the explosive power has also increased exponentially.

"Mu Heng's results are good, I don't know how the gunpowder workshop over there in Yizhou is progressing?" Gongsun Pei asked kindly.

Zou Yi recalled for a moment: "It is estimated that it has been temporarily stopped, although the large-scale plague for two consecutive months has been initially controlled, but the current situation is still very unoptimistic, the head of the medical school, Lord Wu, led more than 300 doctors and students to send back reports from time to time to request additional manpower and medicinal materials, and the day before yesterday morning, the government sent two boats of medicinal materials and one hundred and twenty doctors to Yizhou again, so the younger generation estimates that the eldest prince may not be able to take care of the firearms workshop for a while." ”

Gongsun Pei thought for a while, shook his head and said: "Not necessarily, the eldest prince and the group of boys who follow him are all people with outstanding abilities and stubborn personalities, and the achievements they have made after landing in Yizhou are amazing, and with the increase of experience, their hearts are becoming more and more mature!" ”

"Even if this sudden plague caused the death of more than 100,000 soldiers and civilians, they did not give in, so far they have not lost a single acre of land, and the shipyard resumed the construction of large ships soon after a short period of panic, which is gratifying! Therefore, I conclude that they will not be intimidated by temporary difficulties. ”

Zou Yi nodded frequently, and said with emotion: "That's true, the eldest prince is soft on the outside and strong on the inside, knowledgeable, and has never disappointed, the younger generation really wants to go to Yizhou to help him......"

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