Cao Ying was also shocked.

It was only more than a year since Liu Feng pacified Eastern Wu, and he launched an all-out blow against him with the army of the whole country, and the launch of this war was somewhat hasty.

Cao Ying immediately understood that it was actually he who forced Liu Feng to launch the Northern Expedition in advance.

The original plan of this Prime Minister Cao Cheng was to Xi and Liu Bei to reduce the pressure on Hongnong's front line, and then maximize the advantage of the population and restore the strength of 400,000 soldiers and horses in three to four years.

All this is just Cao Ying's best plan, he should actually know very well that Liu Feng is not Liu Biao, this young overlord will never sit back and watch him recover.

The enemy's fist had been dispatched, and Cao Ying had to respond.

In addition to the 50,000 newly recruited troops, Cao Ying's troops can reach as many as 200,000, which is no more than 50,000 different from the number of Liu Feng's Northern Expeditionary army.

In terms of troops, Cao Ying does not lose the disadvantage, and Cao Ying's biggest disadvantage is his lack of generals.

In the wars in the previous years, Cao Ying successively lost Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Xiahou Yuan, Le Jin, Li Dian, Zhang Jaw, Wen Ping, Zhang Liao and many other good generals.

These generals are all veteran generals who have been in battle for a long time since the era of Dong Zhuo, the so-called thousands of troops are easy to get, and one general is hard to find, and the loss of these generals is more painful than the loss of hundreds of thousands of troops.

On the other hand, Liu Feng, over the years, has been full of talents and gathered stars.

Cao Ying, who pretended to have strategists under his command like rain and good generals like clouds, felt the pain of lack of talent for the first time.

In this case, Cao Ying had to mobilize a large number of young generals, with Cao Xiu, Cao Zhen, Xiahou Shang, and the veteran Zang Ba, leading an army of 70,000 to be stationed on the front line of Yanzhou to resist the two enemy forces in the east.

On the front line of Xuchang, Cao Ying took Yu Ban and Zhu Ling as generals, commanded 40,000 troops, and deployed defenses on the line of Xihua, Changping and Ruyang east of Xuchang to block the enemy army in the direction of Yingshui.

On the Yangcheng line south of Luoyang, Cao Ying led an army of 30,000 with Xu Huang to deal with Wei Yan's attack by the Nanyang army.

The defense of Luoyang City, Cao Ying handed over to Xiahoudun, and ordered him to command an army of 30,000, in addition to defending Luoyang City, he was also responsible for the defense of the line from Hangu Pass to Huangchi west of Luoyang, in case Liu Bei took the opportunity to breach the contract and advance eastward.

Cao Ying himself, who supervised 30,000 troops, sat in Xuchang and commanded all the armies.

On the entire semicircular arc-shaped defense line, Cao Ying has already used all his family resources, and the newly recruited 50,000 troops, because they have not yet formed combat effectiveness, can only be deployed in Hebei Prefectures.

Liu Feng's Zhulu army was marched at the end of August, and the two naval armies in the north marched smoothly, defeating Cao Zhen, Cao Xiu and other junior generals, forcing them to retreat again and again, and could only retreat in Chenliu, Dongpingguo and other counties near the Yellow River in the north to prevent the enemy's naval army from entering the river.

On the Nanyang side, Wei Yan drove all the way and defeated Xu Huang several times in a row, forcing him to retreat to Yuyuan Pass.

Only Yingshui all the way, Yu Ban and Zhu Ling's two generals are experienced, and they are not weak in terms of troops, and they have fought several battles with Zhang Ren and other generals in Ruyang, regardless of victory or defeat.

Hearing that the progress of the Yingshui army was unfavorable, Liu Feng had to lead the Chinese army from Pengcheng to the south to Shouchun, and go north along the Yingshui to support Zhang Ren and other troops.

When Cao Ying heard that Liu Feng was in person, he also led Xuchang's troops to dispatch, and the two armies of Cao and Liu were nearly 200,000 troops, so a confrontation was formed in the Ruyang area.

######洛阳城.

In Sima's mansion, Jiang Ji visited again, but this time, he came from the back door.

Since Liu Feng's army went on a northern expedition, Luoyang City has entered a high degree of alert.

Although Cao Ying is in power, there are still many opposition forces in the government and the opposition, and these people were afraid of Cao Ying's power before, so they can only pretend to be obedient.

Now that the situation is that Liu Feng's army is approaching, it is not yet known who will kill the deer in the end, and in this case, those opposition forces are naturally ready to move.

Since Cao Ying led the army to leave, Luoyang City has been surging at this time, and all the people with evil intentions are plotting and calculating the way out.

In order to prevent some people from wantonly causing chaos, Xiahoudun, the general who stayed in Luoyang, had to strengthen the patrol in the city, and strengthened the covert surveillance of those civil and military officials who were not close to Cao Ying.

Although Jiang Ji nominally belongs to the pro-Cao faction, Sima Yi is not a "person in the circle", and in this extraordinary period, Jiang Ji should naturally keep a low profile when he visits, so as to prevent people from hearing and seeing.

In the secret room, Sima Yi was playing chess.

Black and white chess pieces, entangled and intertwined.

Kuroko's big dragon is surrounded on all sides, but as long as it breaks out of the encirclement, it will be unstoppable.

Whoa~~ Jiang Ji grabbed a chess piece and messed up a game of black and white chess.

"Zitong, I ruined all my good game of chess." Sima Yi complained with a flat mouth.

Jiang Ji sat down, shook his head and sighed: "Zhongda, Luoyang is being attacked on all sides, when is it, don't pretend to be calm anymore." ”

Sima Yi smiled slightly, and said with a smile: "I'm not pretending to be calm, but really calm." ”

Jiang Ji was stunned.

Sima Yi put the chess pieces into the chess basket and said: "We are loyal to the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, what does it matter who wins and who loses?" ”

This sentence shocked Jiang Ji's expression.

"Zhongda, what do you mean......" Jiang Ji's tone was a little excited.

Sima Yi poured a cup of tea for Jiang Ji and said lightly: "The current situation is very clear, Cao Gong will undoubtedly be defeated, do you still plan to accompany Cao Gong to the funeral?" ”

Jiang Ji frowned, and there was a bit of doubt in his expression: "Right now, Cao Chengcheng and Liu Feng are in a stalemate, and the number of winners and losers is not yet known, Zhong Da, how can you decide who wins and who loses so quickly?" ”

Sima Yi took a sip of tea and sneered: "Gong Cao is in a stalemate with that General Liu, but don't forget, Zitong, there is another person, if he intervenes in this war, he will definitely be able to decide the final victory." ”

"You mean Liu Bei?" Jiang Ji suddenly remembered.

Sima Yi pointed to the west and said: "Then Liu Bei has more than 100,000 troops, once he joins the war with all his might, isn't it enough to decide the victory?" ”

Jiang Ji nodded slightly: "Liu Bei reached an agreement with Cao Gong a while ago, and the troops and military passes were held to contain Liu Feng, but he has been bluffing all along, and he doesn't seem to really plan to use troops against Liu Feng, Zhong Da, what do you mean, it seems that Liu Bei still wants to take the opportunity to attack Cao Gong?" ”

"Liu Bei's generation of annihilation of males, he will definitely not do things that harm others and himself, I expect him to be stationed in the military pass, just to confuse Cao Gong. As long as the time comes, he will definitely break his covenant and lead his army eastward. Moreover, this time, his target will inevitably not be the well-guarded Luoyang, but the empty Hebei Prefectures. ”

The words sprinkled with joy surprised Jiang Ji.

This right Zhonglang will think for a moment, and suddenly his expression changed, and he exclaimed: "Zhongda, are you saying that Liu Bei will not attack Hangu Pass in the east, but will enter Hedong in the north, and want to start from the state to seize the four states of Hebei?" ”

Sima Yi looked confident, and snorted coldly: "Besides, I can't think of a second way for Liu Bei to turn things around." ”

Sima Yi's judgment made Jiang Ji, who had no clue, feel more and more confused, and the increasingly complicated situation changed so that he had lost his judgment a little.

"If Liu Bei can seize the four states of Hebei, then the strength should be equal to Liu Feng, and it seems to be another difficult problem who we vote for these two Liu." Jiang Ji's face was embarrassed.

Sima Yi said: "It doesn't matter who you vote for, the important thing is that we must have a bargaining chip to gain a foothold under the new master." ”

"What chips?"

Sima Yi stood up, facing in the direction of the palace, a sly smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"Emperor Han is a bargaining chip."

#######大河之畔, the middle-aged general with black hair and charcoal face stood majestically, his cold eyes scanning the waves of the rolling river.

The light of the dusk sun sprinkled on the beachhead, high on the horse, and as far as the eye could see, I saw countless soldiers along the river, all busy.

All the departments were rushing to make rafts, and they did not dare to be lazy, because their Zhendong general Zhang Yide had an order that they must cross the river at dawn, and the soldiers who did not make the bamboo rafts had to wade across the Yellow River by themselves.

Zhang Fei galloped along the coast, and once he saw a slightly lazy soldier, he scolded him sharply, and even went up directly to whip and whip him.

Tens of thousands of soldiers were so frightened that they didn't even have time to wipe the beads of sweat on their faces, for fear that Zhang Fei would see it, mistakenly think they were lazy, and they were whipped for no reason.

Zhang Fei is very excited, and he is also very irritable, and this irritability has intensified since Guan Yu's death.

He and Guan Yu are brothers, when he heard that Jingzhou fell and Guan Yu was killed by Liu Feng, he cried many times and begged Liu Bei to send troops to avenge Guan Yu.

Even after Liu Bei captured Guanzhong, he once wrote a letter, asking Liu Bei to send all the troops of Guanlong to attack Liu Feng.

However, all his pleas were politely rejected by Liu Bei with "the overall situation as the priority".

Zhang Fei, who was in a depressed mood, could only borrow alcohol to relieve his sorrows, and whenever he was drunk, he would take pleasure in whipping the soldiers.

He regarded the flogged soldiers as Liu Feng.

A few days ago, he was guarding Tongguan, and he received a secret order from Liu Bei, ordering him to command the 50,000 troops led by Pang De, Zhang Jaw, and Li Hui, who secretly returned north from Wuguan, with Fa Zheng as the military division of the army, and went north in the starry night, crossed the Yellow River from Pubanjin to the east, and raided Hedong County.

After receiving this secret order, Zhang Fei was so excited that he stayed up all night, he knew very well what this secret order meant.

That means that after so many years of soy sauce, he can finally play the protagonist and wash away the bitterness in his heart with killing and blood.

After a busy night, at dawn, thousands of rafts were completed, and Zhang Fei couldn't wait to lead the 3,000 vanguard army to start crossing the Yellow River eastward.

From a distance, there were no people on the other side of the river, and it seemed that the defenders of Hedong County were not prepared for Liu Beijun's surprise attack at all.

Zhang Fei's 3,000 elite troops successfully crossed the Yellow River, and except for more than 100 soldiers who unfortunately fell into the water and drowned, they basically landed safely.

On the river beach, Zhang Fei ordered the wolf smoke to be lit and sent a signal to the follow-up troops on the west bank to cross the river as soon as possible.

Just when the three piles of wolf smoke were just lit, all of a sudden, a cloud of dust rushed up on the wilderness east of the river beach.

An enemy army lurking in the morning mist suddenly arrived.

(To be continued)