"Bo Tao, Bo Yan, I called you from my newlywed wife so soon, you won't blame me for being unkind!" Liu Bei seemed to be in a good mood, and after seeing Zhao Feng and Lu Xun, he also smiled and laughed.

"The Lord is serious, and he should put state affairs first!" Zhao Feng and Lu Xun hurriedly thanked him. If the leader has some words, just listen to them, and it would be tragic if you really took them seriously. At this time, Zhao Feng discovered that in addition to Lu Su and others in Shouchun, many important generals and ministers also came to Shouchun, including Zhang Fei in Pengcheng, Zhang Liao in Yuzhou, Zhuge Liang in Jingzhou, Gao Ran in Yangzhou, and even Gao Shun in Qingzhou, who had not seen him for some years. In this way, everyone spent a lot of effort to reminisce about the past.

After everyone sat down, Liu Bei said the reason for summoning everyone this time. Before that, Liu Bei first took out two official documents and circulated them to everyone, it turned out that these two official documents were sent by Zhang Zhao, the pastor of Yangzhou, and Gan Ning, who was in Jiaozhou. Zhang Zhao told Liu Bei that Xu Jing, who was entrenched in Yizhou, was no longer stubborn after learning that the foundation of the Sun family had been shattered, and led people to surrender, more than 10,000 remnants of the army had been absorbed, and Xu Jing himself was coming to Shouchun; Gan Ning's share explained that Ling Tong, who was in Zhuya County, had killed himself in the army after learning of Sun Quan's ambush, and his subordinates had also surrendered. The last two islands of the Sun clan surrendered without a fight. And coincidentally, even the time when the two military reports arrived in Shouchun was the same day.

"In other words, Zhuya County and Yizhou have been pacified?" After reading these two military reports, Zhang Fei was also a little surprised.

"Exactly!" Liu Bei nodded with a smile. To be honest, although everyone thought that the defenders in these two places might collapse on their own, it was still a bit unexpected and unexpected when it came to the end.

At this point, all the troubles in southern Xinjiang have been cleared, and the lord no longer has any worries. As long as the officials are rectified and the soldiers and horses are recuperated, they can wave the Northern Expedition! After Zhuge Liang saw all this, he immediately understood what it meant.

Northern expedition!

When these two words popped out of Zhuge Liang's mouth, everyone felt refreshed. All along, although everyone has been fighting from time to time, they are often confined to one state. And once the Northern Expedition is made, it will be a decisive battle related to the belonging of the world, and at that time, both the strength of the army and the scale of the region will be far from being comparable to those battles in the past. The thought of having the opportunity to participate in such a big battle made everyone feel that their blood was beginning to boil, and they couldn't help but start to feel a little distracted.

"Big brother, I am willing to lead an elite army to the north, sweep away Cao Ying'er, rescue Your Majesty, and help the big man!" The first person to react after the excitement was Zhang Fei, who was most often hot-headed. Maybe for him, his blood is boiling all the time in life, so it doesn't matter if he reacts or not?

"Third brother, don't be impatient!" Liu Bei waved his hand to signal Zhang Fei not to be so excited, and then explained in detail: "At present, our army has experienced the attack of the Fifth Route Army, especially after the rebellion of the Sun family, there is no spare strength for large-scale battles this year, and it is impractical to immediately go on a northern expedition. Besides, I have an appointment with Cao Ying, as long as he is still sweeping the border for the Han Dynasty, I will never do anything to hinder me, so as not to hurt the relatives and enemies. ”

"So, my lord, what shall we do next?" After learning that Liu Bei would not enter the army in the short term, Gao Shun also asked.

"For now, we will rest and recuperate first, and wait for the decisive battle with Cao Ying in the future. Yesterday, I just received a military report, entrenched in Youzhou, the remnants of Yuan Tan, colluded with Xianbei to attack Cao Ying, but Cao Ying took the opportunity to advance eastward to lay down the three counties of Dai County, Shanggu and Zhuo County, and Yuan Tan was forced to retreat to Yuyang. I'm afraid that in a few months, he will have to return to Liaodong. Liu Bei sighed.

"How so?" Everyone looked at each other. Hearing this news, everyone's mood was also quite complicated, not only angry for Yuan Tan's luring of wolves into the house, but also a little regretful for his failure. After all, without Yuan Tan, Cao Ying's worries will be greatly reduced, and when the time comes, he will be right on his side, which will be a Cao Ying who integrates the entire north and Guanzhong, and the pressure can be imagined.

"In addition, according to the detailed report, Cao Ying ordered to build a palace in Yecheng, presumably to force His Majesty to move the capital to Hebei." Liu Bei suddenly mentioned another thing.

"Move the capital to Hebei?" Zhao Feng was also taken aback at first, but then understood that this was normal. In history, when Guan Yu hit Fancheng, Cao Ying was so frightened that he almost wanted to move the capital, after all, it was too close to Fancheng. Now not only Fancheng, but even Wancheng and Runan are in the hands of Liu Bei. In addition to Liang County in the east, which was also in the hands of Cao Ying, Liu Bei could attack Xuchang from both sides of the southwest. Once Xuchang falls, it will be a great blow to Cao Ying's morale and military morale. Although moving the capital back to Hebei now also hurts morale a little, it is much better than directly being captured by the capital.

"Big brother, why don't you send Jing Xiangshui Master to ambush on the side. Just wait for Cao Ying to move the capital and cross the Yellow River, and take the opportunity to rescue the Son of Heaven? Zhang Fei suddenly proposed. This proposal is quite novel, and everyone is also a little excited. Liu Bei hesitated for a moment, and finally sighed: "This is inappropriate, the sword on the battle array has no eyes, if it hurts the Son of Heaven, wouldn't Bei be a sinner?" ”

"But?" Zhang Fei wanted to say something more, Liu Bei waved his hand to signal him not to come up with this idea of reducing the risk factor to a relatively high level, Zhang Fei had no choice but to retreat stupidly, but his mouth was muttering: "Cao Ying wants to move the capital, and he can do whatever he wants." It's just dough. I don't know if he did it intentionally, but the voice was really not small. Liu Bei's face was a little ugly when he heard this, but he didn't say anything.

"Yuan Tan colluded with Xianbei, and the military and people in Youzhou were very disappointed in it, and now they have lost the hearts of the people, but I am afraid that it will be difficult to gain a foothold in Youzhou. Mr. Zizhong said that Mr. Qianzi Zhong had seen Yuan Tan from Jingxiang Shui Shi to Youzhou by sea, his situation was very bad, there were less than 80,000 soldiers and horses left, and Shao and Zhang Jaw were dissatisfied with what he had done, and had defected to Cao Ying. Although Guo Tu and Tian Feng and others are still doing their best to assist, they do not have the talent of a general, and defeat is only a matter of time. Zhuge Liang saw that the atmosphere was a little embarrassing, and hurriedly changed the topic.

"Mr. Zizhong has been to Youzhou?" Everyone was very surprised when they heard this, and Mi Zhu also smiled at this time: "Zhu took a sea ship from Donglai to the sea, and landed in Liaodong, and finally saw Yuan Tan. With armor and weapons, I exchanged him for some war horses. ”

"I see!" It dawned on everyone. "How much?" Zhang Fei asked with some eagerness.

"Not much, only 2,000 horses." Mi Zhu laughed. Everyone also knows that Yuan Tan himself is nervous now, and it is unrealistic to want to get more war horses from him. Liu Bei's prefectures, as well as Xuzhou and Jingzhou, also had formed cavalry, which were the White Horse Yicong and the Fengyun Cavalry. Among them, there are about more than 20,000 horses and more than 10,000 cavalry, and the same is true for the Fengyun cavalry. It's just that of the more than 40,000 war horses, more than 30,000 are Shandong horses. Among the various war horses in the Han Dynasty, the surname of Shandong horses is far inferior to that of Xiliang horses, Bingzhou horses and even Liaodong horses, so now Liu Bei Group's thirst for good horses is quite strong.

Just because Yuan Tan can get a war horse, he can't let him hang up so quickly, this is the consensus of everyone present. At this time, Liu Bei said again: "The matter of Liaodong is already like this, and today I invite you to come here to discuss the next stage of affairs." I don't know what do you think we should do in the next year or two? ”

"Take Xichuan, or Hanzhong!" Zhao Feng was the first to clearly express his attitude.

"Yes, if you don't take Xichuan, how can you enter Guanzhong?" Zhuge Liang also nodded in agreement. Because of Zhao Feng, Longzhong has long had no chance to come out, but the strategic significance of Xichuan is still obvious. Those who have a little vision here all agree.

"At present, Wuguan is in the hands of our army, and it is also possible to march into Guanzhong, do you still need to march into Xichuan under such a situation?" Zhendong General Liu Pan said with some doubts. As the hero of the capture of Wuguan, he didn't want his original efforts to be useless.

"Although you can enter Guanzhong from Wuguan, the road is rugged and narrow, which is quite inconvenient. It is also a dangerous pass in the green mud, and it is very unchanged. If you can march from Hanzhong, there are still several valley roads on Qishan Avenue, and the defenders will be invincible. Zhuge Liang is most familiar with the terrain of Guanzhong, and he also explained in detail at the moment.

"I see!" Only then did Liu Pan understand. However, Liu Bei was a little silent after listening to everyone's proposal to take Chuan.

"What is the lord worried about?" Seeing that Liu Bei was not very excited, Jian Yong, who was the best at observing words and feelings, also asked.

"Alas!" Liu Bei sighed, and then spoke: "Zhang Lu in Hanzhong is a demon Dao, and he is also a former soldier, if he captures Hanzhong, he has nothing to do." However, Liu Zhang of Yizhou is also a member of the Han family, and when he was preparing for the army, his father once recognized me as a nephew, and he had the grace of knowing my brother. The first two groups of people came to invade my Jingzhou, and Liu Jiyu not only refused to help Cao Ying send troops, but also helped me pacify the troops from Nanban and Hanzhong, which was kind to me. Bei has always treated people with benevolence and righteousness, and now he has not repaid his kindness, but he has raised troops to violate his borders, how do you call Bei to face the people of the world? ”

"This?" Everyone was a little speechless when they heard this. In fact, if you send troops to fight Xichuan now, it is a little unkind, and this kind of thing is not good to say. Zhao Feng thought about it carefully, in history, Liu Bei was also benevolent and righteous in Jiamengguan, and only after a year did he dare to turn his face with Liu Zhang. Rao is like this, and when he marched into Chengdu, he encountered a lot of resistance. If he fights so openly now, it is strange that there are different enemies in Shuzhong. The road to Shu is difficult, in case Liu Zhang is bent on defending it, it will really be like an iron-shelled turtle.

After thinking for a while, Zhuge Liang said first: "Since the lord has treated people benevolently and righteously, it may be inappropriate to capture Xichuan at this time." In Liang's opinion, you might as well capture Hanzhong first and connect with Shangyong. As for the matter of Xichuan, it will be said that we will act when we have the opportunity to do it later. ”

Zhuge Liang's meaning is very clear, that is, if it is inconvenient to take Xichuan now, at least Hanzhong must be taken first. Once Hanzhong is taken, a huge encirclement network can be formed, enveloping Xichuan in the center. At that time, no matter how Liu Zhang jumps, he will not be able to turn over the big waves.

Such a strategy can still be accepted by Liu Bei, and at the same time, it can also convince the people of the world. nodded, Liu Bei also agreed: "Since this is the case, then I will wait until the advanced army Hanzhong." ”

"It's just that the road in Hanzhong is rugged, easy to defend and difficult to attack. If the troops are sent through Shangyong, once Zhang Lu defends the pass, I am afraid that it will be difficult to attack! "As soon as the strategy of taking Hanzhong first was determined, Liu Bei immediately had a headache about how to enter the army. There are many dangers in the land of Liangchuan, and the kind of checkpoints where tens of thousands of troops can be helpless abound, and it is definitely very difficult to take Hanzhong by attacking hard.

At this time, it was Zhao Feng's turn to perform, he had been planning for a long time how to capture Hanzhong, and he smiled at the moment: "Why don't you borrow from Liu Jiyu in Yizhou, send a team of men and horses from Yizhou to attack Hanzhong, and then send troops from Shangyong to march into Xicheng. ”

"That's a good thing!" Liu Bei also felt that it was a little bigger to grasp the surname in this way, and asked at the moment: "Since this is the case, what strategies do you have to connect Xichuan and borrow Liu Jiyu?" ”

"The previous Duke of Shu had helped us resist Zhang Lu and the Southern Barbarians, and the lord could thank him in the name of sending a man who could speak well as an envoy to meet Liu Jiyu in Sichuan with heavy gifts. Give thanks first, and then discuss the matter of borrowing. Zhuge Liang thought for a while.

"So very good, Kong Ming, I ordered you to be an envoy, take my handwritten letter, and go to Chengdu to see Liu Jiyu. I hope he will remember the feelings of the same clan and help me eliminate Zhang Lu by using the Tao. Liu Bei thought about it and made a quick decision.

"Lord, if you take Hanzhong, you will march from Jingzhou. Although there are no generals under Zhang Lu in Hanzhong, it is still necessary to beware of Cao Ying's men in Guanzhong. Pang Tong suddenly reminded.

"This is true, Yan Liangwen and ugly in Guanzhong are fierce generals in the world, and they can be compared to them if they are not idle." Liu Bei nodded and said. Although they have never been in court with the two, they are both among the four court pillars in Hebei, and the strength of Zhang Jaw and Gao Ran is already good. Replaced by Yan Liangwen and ugly, who ranked higher, Liu Bei had to be cautious.

"Don't worry, no matter how brave Yan Liangwen is, he will not be brave enough to be brave as Lu Bu in the past. Moreover, Guanzhong and Hanzhong are separated by many mountains, and it is not easy for Yan Liangwen to intervene if he wants to interfere. If the lord is worried, he can let the second general personally lead the troops out of Xiangyang to attack the western city. The two generals are both wise and brave, which is enough to match Yan Liangwen and ugly! Lu Su also said slowly at this time.

"Yes, the second brother is out, why not be afraid of Yan Liangwen and ugliness!" Liu Bei was not a person who lacked self-confidence, so he nodded and agreed to Lu Su's suggestion.

The second general led the army out of Xiangyang and attacked Xicheng from Hanshui. And once Liu Jiyu agrees to borrow the road, which general should enter the army on the way to Jiameng Pass? I don't know if Zhuge Liang is too advanced or too confident in his persuasion ability, and has directly discussed the issue of marching.

"Well, this one!" Liu Bei also gently tapped his forehead when he heard this, feeling quite a headache. He didn't know how arrogant his second brother was. It's really difficult to find someone who has a tacit understanding with him. At the same time, all the generals looked at Liu Bei with expectant eyes, for no other reason, except for this battle in the short term, I am afraid that there is no other battle to fight, and if you want to make meritorious service as soon as possible!

"Bo Tao, you will lead the army to Jiameng Pass and help the second brother pacify Hanzhong!" Liu Bei thought about it, and still found Zhao Feng, who had a tacit understanding with Guan Yu, to be busy with this matter. The two cooperated twice in Yuzhou and Jingzhou, and the tacit understanding should not be a problem.

Liu Bei's work efficiency was very fast, and after the finalization, Zhuge Liang immediately returned to Jingzhou, and then went to Xichuan to meet Liu Zhang to discuss the matter of marching into the army.

(To be continued)