(PS: I could have gone home the day before yesterday, and I could have resumed normal updates yesterday, but friends should also notice that on the 15th and 16th, there was heavy snow in the southwest.) It hasn't snowed at least ten years on the pure wolf's house, but it's rare to go out once, so the pure wolf has been blocked by heavy snow and can't ............go home. ）

Cao Boss and Uncle Liu Huang were afraid of Deputy Director Tao's expedition to the west, and beat the water dogs to kill them, but as everyone knows, within the Xuzhou Army and within the Xuchang Imperial Court controlled by the Xuzhou Army, there was a fierce debate on whether to launch the Western Expedition, and there were huge differences, among which the voices opposing the Western Expedition were unexpectedly much louder than the voices supporting the Western Expedition.

There are two reasons why the opposition voice is more than the support voice, one is that the Xuzhou army's preparations for the western expedition are not sufficient, in the Jingzhou War, although the Xuzhou army did capture a large amount of money and grain for military use, and then Xuchang Tuntian also achieved a bumper harvest, and at the same time, the five counties of Xuzhou and the Jizhou granary also achieved a good harvest, but if the Xuzhou army launched a large-scale war on the western front, the logistics guarantee was still a huge problem.

The logistical problem that bothered the Xuzhou army the most was the problem of a large amount of consumption of grain and grass to the front line, and friends know the situation of the Yellow River, the downstream river is wide and shallow, the sand is seriously carried, and the water volume is seriously affected by the season, so it is not very suitable for ships to navigate. If it was in the peaceful years, the central government was able to control the river effectively, the embankments were strong, the river was stable, and it was not impossible to use the Yellow River channel to transport a large amount of grain, but the problem was that the Central Plains had been in serious turmoil in recent years, and the warlords of all sizes had no intention of controlling the river by only fighting the black and eating the black, and the water conservancy situation of the Yellow River was naturally extremely bad. The damage to the embankment was very serious, the river flooded, Deputy Director Tao sent people to investigate again and again, and found that the grain ships could only transport grain and grass to Kaifeng and Mengjin at most, and then they could only take land transportation to the west, and if the Xuzhou army wanted to hit Chang'an and Hanzhong, it had to pay a huge price for thousands of miles of land transportation!

In this era of all-dependent human and animal transportation, the horror of the consumption of grain transportation by land is by no means imaginable to modern people, and there are detailed records in historical records. During the reign of Qin Shi Huang, Meng Tian fought against the Xiongnu. The Central Plains region transported grain to the northwest, and every time a truckload of grain was transported to the front line, 192 truckloads of grain were consumed on the way! The Xuzhou Army's transportation of grain from Xuchang to the Western Front was calculated and analyzed by a group of internal affairs experts such as Yi and Liu Ye. Grain was transported from Xuchang to Chang'an. The most conservative estimate. It is also every time you transport a piece of grain, you have to consume more than 22 pieces on the way! Such a huge consumption is for the Xuzhou army, which has exhausted its inventory in the Great War of Jiyou. Definitely a heavy burden that is too much to bear.

Taking into account this reason, and considering the great drought in Guanzhong this year, there is almost no harvest in the west of Tongguan, and the Xuzhou army cannot replenish grain and grass on the spot even if it enters Guanzhong, so even many Xuzhou military officers who are loyal to Deputy Director Tao have persuaded Deputy Director Tao to seriously consider the westward expedition, and then recuperate and accumulate grain for several years, and then consider the westward expedition not too late. Even Yang Changshi's father and son, who hugged Deputy Director Tao's thigh, also had this attitude, Yang Changshi felt that the Western Expedition was unprofitable, and Yang Zheng, the cutting-edge representative of the Xuzhou Army, wanted to leave a good impression on Deputy Director Tao, so both father and son persuaded Deputy Director Tao to use troops carefully, and Yang Changshi also suggested that if you must use soldiers, then you should first attack Xichuan, first take the country of Sichuan Tianfu, and then slow down the hungry land in Guanzhong.

Many Xuzhou civil and military opposition to the Western Expedition was definitely out of loyalty to Deputy Director Tao, and another group of voices opposing the Western Expedition was purely to disgust Deputy Director Tao - the Han civil and military forces led by Fu Wan jumped out to oppose the Western Expedition, the purpose was nothing else, that is, to give Deputy Director Tao's several opponents a chance to breathe, so that Deputy Director Tao would not dare to be too domineering internally in the face of external troubles, and give Emperor Han Xian time and opportunity to regain power in the world. At the same time, the excuses of these people are also very good, what Cao boss Liu Huangshu has no shortage of tribute, has already surrendered to the imperial court, sent troops to fight against the name is not right, what are the frequent troops to fight the people and lose money, and bring trouble on themselves, together they desperately persuaded Deputy Director Tao to temporarily stop the western expedition, and adopted a gentle policy of appeasement to Cao Boss and Liu Huangshu and others.

After the idea of these people, Deputy Director Tao, who is good at power struggle, can guess their real malicious intentions even if he uses his ass to calculate, but Deputy Director Tao, who has been seriously brainwashed by modern education, thinks that their words are not unreasonable, and feels that he has been fighting more and more every year over the years, and the people under his rule are indeed overwhelmed, and the economy and people's livelihood are greatly affected by the war, so it is time to let the people take a few breaths, and at the same time, considering that his westward expedition is difficult to last in terms of food and grass, Even if he entered Guanzhong, he could not save the people in Guanzhong who were plagued by famine, so Deputy Director Tao was inevitably a little hesitant and couldn't make up his mind to launch a large-scale westward expedition in the eleventh year of Jian'an.

In addition, there is another reason that also affects Deputy Director Tao's attitude towards whether to launch a westward expedition, that is, Cao Boss's illness, Deputy Director Tao judged from the report of the Xuzhou army that brought his own dry food, and the evil seeds he planted in Qian County in the second year of Jian'an finally bear the ideal fruit - Cao Boss has been infected with tuberculosis by Guo Jia! Tuberculosis is an incurable disease of this era, the normal life expectancy of Boss Cao will definitely be greatly shortened, as long as Boss Cao dies, the Cao army will inevitably have internal chaos, Cao Boss's eldest son Cao Ang is the largest pro-Tao faction in the Cao army's ranks, and the Xuzhou army will have great hope of winning the entire Guanzhong at a very small price! Therefore, Deputy Director Tao inevitably had such a thought, using time to boil Boss Cao to death, and then easily take Guanzhong, swallowing the remnants of Cao Jun even the belt bones to the bottom!

If it weren't for the fact that Deputy Director Tao still had a few reliable strategic masters around him, the Xuzhou Army's westward expedition might have been stillborn. To Deputy Director Tao's surprise, Jia Lao, Shi Yi, Chen Deng, and Lu Su, who usually have the most stable personalities, actually firmly supported Deputy Director Tao in launching the Western Expedition in unison, and Lu Su, who was sitting on the southern front, also wrote to say that as long as Deputy Director Tao made up his mind to go west, then Lu Su would suspend the war to sweep away the remnants of Jiangdong, and take out the money and grain from Lianghuai, Guangling and Jiangdong to support Deputy Director Tao to launch the Western Expedition, and once again give blood transfusion to the main force.

In addition to these four lackeys, there is also Lang Huaxin, who has recently entered the court as an official and has little seniority in the Xuzhou army. It was also surprising that he stood up and became the first bird, firmly supported Deputy Director Tao to launch the Western Expedition, and also launched a fierce debate with Fu Wan and other royalists in the court, refuting the royalists' opposition to the reasons for war one by one. The royalists said that Boss Cao and Uncle Liu obeyed the imperial court, and the tribute was never lacking, and there was no trace; Hua Xin immediately retorted that Wang Mang and Dong Zhuo did not dare to pay any less tribute to the imperial court before they rebelled, and the so-called tribute of Cao Boss and Liu Huangshu was just to be a bitch and set up an archway, and turned out the old account of Cao Boss holding the Son of Heaven and Liu Huangshu Runan hostage, pointing out that the crimes committed by Cao Boss and Liu Huangshu have never been punished. If you give up pursuing Cao Liu's previous crimes because of a tribute that is not worth a few dollars. In the future, the Son of Heaven will lose face, the imperial court will not be able to maintain discipline, and all the anti-thieves and traitors in the world will regard Uncle Liu and Boss Cao as models, and will directly refute the royalists speechless.

Whether the excuse for sending troops is justified. Deputy Director Tao didn't care about this. Hua Xin's rebuttal words were just a rhetoric in Deputy Director Tao's opinion. But when Hua Xin refuted the crooked theory that the royalists sent troops to the west to fight for the people and money, Hua Xin's words greatly moved Deputy Director Tao. Hua Xin pointed out that since the Yellow Turban Rebellion. The Han Dynasty has been plagued by war for 21 years, the lives are devastated, the people are displaced, and the dead are tens of millions, it is the time when people are at peace and the world is looking forward to unification, in this case, if the Xuzhou army does not seize the opportunity to sweep away the remnants of Cao Liu, then it is a crime against the people of the imperial court, rather than raising carbuncles, giving Cao Liu a chance to breathe, causing a greater war in the future, so that the army and the people can endure the harm of war for a longer time, it is better to cut off the rotten flesh now, and cut off the root of the disease. Then the people of the world can obtain a truly lasting peace and no longer suffer from war!

After listening to Hua Xin's words, although the major events of the Western Expedition were not finalized in the court that day, on the night of the same day, Deputy Director Tao summoned Jia Lao Poison and Shi Yi at his home, and privately asked them about their attitude towards Hua Xin's words. As a result, Jia Lao Poison also pointed out to Deputy Director Tao that although Hua Xin's words were indeed inviting merit and flattery, and welcoming Deputy Director Tao's thoughts on the west, his opinion pointed out the crux of the problem, and now is the best opportunity to eradicate the Cao-Liu Alliance in one fell swoop.

After listening to Jia Lao's poisonous words, Deputy Director Tao, who was always worried about logistics problems, was still a little hesitant, and the most stable of the decision-making level of the Xuzhou Army was Yi suddenly stood up, bowed to Deputy Director Tao from the table, and said solemnly: "Lord, Yi knows that you are worried about the lack of grain and grass, but please rest assured, Yi stayed in Xuchang to prepare grain and grass, even if it is to smash pots and sell iron, break houses and take eaves, he will definitely do his best to supply the front line of grain and grass!" At present, Liu Bei's foothold in Hanzhong is not stable, the people's hearts are not attached, and Liu Zhang has a grudge against Ma Teng, Cao Cao suffered a drought in Guanzhong, hunger and hunger, natural disasters and people are trapped, and it has shown a trend of collapse, it is the time to pacify the two thieves in one fell swoop, such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, if the lord sits back and misses it because he is worried about the grain and grass, he will regret it in the future! ”

"Mr. Ziyu's words, although they make sense." Deputy Director Tao was still a little hesitant, and said hesitantly: "But Guanzhong is far away, hunger is serious, and our army's grain and grass are not very sufficient, if the grain and grass are really not ............." ”

"If the grain and grass are really not continued, then the lord can also choose to retire!" It was Yi who said something amazing, and then Yi asked with a smile: "Dare to ask the lord, the current situation, is it that our army can't withstand the disaster of war, or Cao Cao and Liu Bei can't withstand the disaster of war?" Our army already holds the land of Kyushu, and the number of soldiers wearing armor has already far exceeded 600,000, and the war in the west cannot afford to be lost by our army, or can Cao Cao and Liu Bei not afford to lose? ”

Wake up from the dream, Deputy Director Tao, who has been brainwashed by modern education, suddenly remembered that he is now launching the Western Expedition, in fact, he can't lose no matter how he fights, because his comprehensive strength has already exceeded the total strength of the Cao-Liu Alliance by more than ten times, and he can suffer defeats for various reasons, he can eat a few defeats, and he can even be forced to withdraw because of the exhaustion of food and grass, but he only needs to win one battle! Their own foundation can withstand the toss, but Boss Cao and Uncle Liu Huang can't withstand the toss, even if their westward expedition is ultimately fruitless, it can also drain the strength of Boss Cao and Uncle Liu Huang, so that they are powerless to peek into the place where Yizhou stands, and there will never be a chance to make a comeback!

After figuring out this joint, Deputy Director Tao immediately put aside what humanitarianism and universal values were, and said on the spot: "What Mr. Ziyu said is extremely true. This Western Expedition must be fought, even if there is no certainty of victory, it must be fought! It's decided, send 200,000 troops, and go west to conquer Cao Cao's big-eared thief! ”

Having made up his mind, the next morning, Deputy Director Tao immediately used Cao Boss and Uncle Liu Huang to rebel and rebel as an excuse, and forced Emperor Han Xian to send an edict to the west. Then Deputy Director Tao used the excuse of communicating with Cao Cao and Liu Bei. In front of Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, he ordered Fu Quan's family to be imprisoned, promoted Lang Huaxin to court lieutenant, and presided over the interrogation of Fu Wan's case. For a while, the dynasty was horrified, but he didn't dare to resist Deputy Director Tao's obscenity. Including Emperor Han Xian, he didn't dare to intercede for Fu Wan. can only obediently approve Deputy Director Tao's Western Expedition Chapter.

Hua Xin is also worthy of being the master of the old Liu family. On the day he took Fu Wan, Hua Xin found a lot of gold, silver and jewelry in the wall of Fu Wan's study, as well as letters from Fu Wan and his daughter Queen Fu in secret contact. There are also words in the letter that colluded with Uncle Liu Huang and Boss Cao to conspire with Deputy Director Tao, as well as letters with several royalist officials, and the result was that Hua Xin, who was honest and honest, handed over the gold, silver, jewelry and letters to Deputy Director Tao, and Deputy Director Tao suddenly had an excuse to go to prison, and immediately took down the whole family of several royalist officials who colluded with Fu Wan, and mercilessly ordered Cao Hong to hang Empress Fu, who he coveted, and forced Emperor Han Xian to set up a concubine without parents and family as the queen. Fu Wan, Wei Huang and Huang Kui and other royalist officials who were given evidence were also ordered by Deputy Director Tao to immediately behead the whole family, and dealt a heavy blow to the royalists before the western expedition to prevent internal troubles.

In mid-June, Deputy Director Tao finally announced his plan for the westward expedition, and decided to personally lead an army of 150,000 troops from Xuchang, with Zhao Yun as the vanguard to attack Hangu Pass through Luoyang, and Zang Ba, the oldest general in the Xuzhou army, led an army of 50,000 troops from Jizhou to attack Jiguan through Hanoi, and the troops were divided into two routes to join forces of 200,000 to fight against Cao Boss, first end Cao Boss's last money and grain supply place Hongnong County and Hanoi County, and then take Tongguan and Chang'an. The people who stayed in Xuchang were still the absolutely reliable Tao Ji, Cao Hong, and Shiyi, and the burden of escorting the grain and grass was handed over by Deputy Director Tao to Chen Dao, a brave and resourceful general, so that Chen Zhi could be careful to guard against Cao Boss sending a small number of elite soldiers down the Yellow River to sneak attack the grain route of the Xuzhou army.

When the Xuzhou soldiers seized the time to say goodbye to their relatives, Deputy Director Tao also gathered his own wives and children at home to say goodbye one by one, and most of the wives and children were present, and they seized the time to talk about the joy of family with Deputy Director Tao, but Deputy Director Tao's two concubines Cao Qing and Xiahou Juan were not present, and Deputy Director Tao did not care, but exchanged instructions with a dry wife and children, and went to Cao Qing's room at night, met with Cao Qing and Xiahou Juan, who were crying in the room.

When they met, Cao Qing and Xiahou Juan, the two cousins, knelt down in front of Deputy Director Tao together, tears rained down but they didn't say a word, Deputy Director Tao knew their intentions, so he picked them up one by one, hugged the sisters together in his arms, and sighed: "Qing'er, Juan'er, don't blame me, this is fate, if I don't kill your relatives, they will come to kill me, this is your life-and-death relationship, I can't give in." You have to learn from your sister Fang'er and be my virtuous helper. ”

Hearing this, Xiahou Juan, who had been killed by his uncle Xiahou Yuan, was better, but Cao Qing cried into a tearful person, and only sobbed for a while and said: "Husband, the concubine knows your difficulties, and the concubine does not dare to beg you to take back your life, only ask you for one thing, if your father is caught by you, please leave him a life, don't kill him." ”

"I promise you." Deputy Director Tao said solemnly: "As long as your father is willing to surrender and your family is willing to surrender, I promise that I will not touch a single hair of them, including your younger brother Cao Zhi, who has always looked at me well, I will not kill him, and I will give him an official position, so that he can have no worries about food and clothing." Even if they are caught by me on the battlefield, as long as they still have a breath, I will let the medical officer do his best to treat them and give them a way to live. ”

"Really?" Cao Qing raised his tears, choked up with some worry and asked, "But my father was ...... in Xuzhou back then." ”

"It's okay, it's been more than ten years, I don't care anymore, you don't have to worry about me holding a grudge." Deputy Director Tao shook his head, wiped away Cao Qing's tears with his own hands, and said, "Now you have to do two things, the first is to write a letter to your father and tell him my attitude." Persuade him to surrender, and if he can lay down his arms and surrender, I guarantee that he will be among the three princes in the future. ”

"I'll write it right away." Cao Qing hurriedly agreed, and then asked, "Husband, what about the second thing?" ”

"The second thing ......." Deputy Director Tao showed an obscene smile that was common at home, and while skillfully probing the devil's claws into Cao Qingyi, he said with a lewd smile: "The second thing, of course, is to hurry up, take your cousin, and serve me as a husband well." Otherwise. Next time I want to serve your good husband, I don't know when. ”

Cao Qinghong spat a bit, then obediently puffed up his chest, while letting Deputy Director Tao caress and play with his tender body. While joining forces with Xiahou Juan, whose little face was even more red. Little by little, he removed his clothes for Deputy Director Tao............

………………

Deputy Director Tao seized the time to ravage the enemy's beautiful daughter at the same time. The news of Deputy Director Tao's decision to launch the Western Expedition was also sent to Chang'an City through various light and dark channels, and to Boss Cao, who was suffering from illness. Although Cao Jun has not yet collected information on the troops that Deputy Director Tao is preparing to dispatch on this expedition to the west, and various other details. But Boss Cao, who is already in the waning mountains, still understands that his death is approaching, and the storm set off by his unfilial son-in-law is about to befall him.

The expected end finally came, and Boss Cao, who had worked hard and had gray hair for the difficult situation of the army for several years, completely calmed down, and did not convene a group of strategists to discuss countermeasures, coughing painfully, he finalized the plan to meet the enemy, and wrote three orders in his own hand, one is to order the Luoyang guard Wei Chong to abandon the land and city west of Hangu Pass, transfer all the troops and food back to Hangu Pass; the second is to send a letter to Uncle Liu Huang to inform him of the enemy's situation, asking Uncle Liu Huang to immediately bring in the 200,000 Hu military rations that he promised to help; The third is to mobilize the armies of Guanzhong, Hongnong and Hanoi, and prepare to gather an army of about 35,000 troops, which will be commanded by himself to meet the Xuzhou army on the front line of Hangu Pass and Kei Pass.

It was not until Boss Cao's order was promulgated and implemented that Xun Yu, Guo Jia and others knew Boss Cao's strategy to defend against the enemy, and in surprise, Xun Yu, Guo Jia and Cheng Yu and other strategists and think tanks hurriedly came to Boss Cao and raised two objections to Boss Cao, "Lord, is it too risky to do this?" Your illness is so serious that you can still lead your troops to defend against the enemy in person? ”

"Also, are our forces too thin? The Wei troops withdrawn from the Luoyang area were only about 5,000 people, and we gathered about 35,000 troops, adding up to only 40,000 people, and defending the two strategic points of Hangu Pass and Kei Pass at the same time, is it too difficult? Although Tao Ying traitor is not a reckless soldier, and the number of troops dispatched will never exceed 200,000, but our army is not the elite army that faced Yuan Shao in Guandu back then. ”

Boss Cao smiled bitterly, coughed and said, "How can I not know what you said? But besides me, there is still that general in our army who can be the opponent of Tao Ying's traitor? Besides, our troops can gather about 60,000 people, and I have taken them to Hangu Pass and Kei Pass, what about Tongguan and Chang'an? Borrow troops from the big-eared thief, and let the traitor's army go to Hangu Pass, thousands of miles away, to assist our army in resisting the Taoying traitor, do you think there is such a good thing in the world? ”

Xun Yu and the others were silent together, hesitated for a long time, and then Xun Yu said cautiously: "Lord, in fact, we have a better choice, give up Hangu Pass and Ji Pass, concentrate all our strength, and defend Tong Pass." Tongguan to Hanzhong Meridian Valley can be passed, and the big-eared thief should send reinforcements to guard Tongguan. ”

"What about our money and grain producing areas in Hongnong and Hanoi? Wen Ruo, do you think that in the face of a traitor like Tao Ying, even if our army is lucky enough to hold Tongguan, it will still have a chance to recapture Hongnong and Hanoi two counties? Boss Cao asked silently: "Is it possible that our army wants to give up the last place of production of money and grain, and from now on the supply of money and grain will depend on the face of the big-eared thief, and will always be at his mercy, and will always be a watchdog for them?" ”

Xun Yu had nothing to say again, and when he lowered his head, Xun Yu suddenly saw two sealed wooden boxes next to Cao Boss's desk, with the names of Cao Ang and Cao Ren written on them, Xun Yu couldn't help but be surprised, and hurriedly pointed to the two wooden boxes and asked, "Lord, what does this mean?" ”

"Nothing." Boss Cao refused to answer, and took the two wooden boxes to hide them a few times, and then coughed and said: "Since you are all here, then I will also explain by the way, this battle of Hangu Pass, Guo Jia, Cheng Yu and Mao Jue went with me to meet the enemy, and Man Zhong assisted Cao Ren in Tongguan to guard the pass, Wen Ruo You and others stayed in Chang'an, and assisted Ang'er to guard Chang'an City." ”

"No." Several of the advisors agreed. Boss Cao coughed for a moment before he said to Xun Yu: "Wen Ruo, remember one thing, if I die in Hangu Pass, Ang'er will be the master of our army, you have to assist him well and give him more good ideas." ”

With a plop, Xun Yu knelt down on both knees, Guo Jia, Cheng Yu, Man Chong and others also quickly knelt down, and exclaimed together: "Lord, the war is coming, don't say such ominous words!" ”

"Get up, I'll just explain, just in case." Boss Cao coughed and waved his hand, and after everyone got up, Boss Cao barely stopped coughing, and said with a forced smile: "Besides, in this battle, our army may not be defeated, in Guandu, our army only had 60,000, and Yuan Shao had 300,000, didn't we still climb down Yuan Shaogan?" Tao Ying's thieves have always been expensive and not expensive, I estimate that he will not send more than 200,000 troops, but also to allocate a large number of troops to protect the grain road, transport grain and grass, we are facing the Tao thief strength must not even be half, the disparity in strength is far less than Guandu, and then fight a big battle with less to win more, and the weak to defeat the strong, hope is still great! Ha, haha, hahahahaha............. ”

Saying that, Boss Cao simply laughed out loud confidently, but this time, including Xun Yu, who has always had an optimistic attitude, didn't dare to echo and laugh, just with Guo Jia, Cheng Yu and others, silently looked at Boss Cao, who was already skinny and skinny, and silently looked at Boss Cao, who was so sick that he was dying, and his heart was miserable at the same time. And Cao Lao laughed for a long time and saw that no one echoed him, and he felt bored, so he put away his smile, and then couldn't help but cough violently. Xun Yu hurriedly stepped forward to pat Boss Cao on the back and asked, "Lord, do you want to summon the medical officer?" ”

Boss Cao waved his hand painfully to show that he didn't have to, and covered his mouth with a handkerchief and coughed for a while, until he spit out something, Boss Cao wiped the corners of his mouth with a handkerchief, and held the handkerchief tightly and hid it back in his arms. Although Boss Cao's small actions have been done very secretively, after seeing the bloodshot on the corner of Boss Cao's mouth, Xun Yu, Guo Jia and others still understand very well that Boss Cao is hiding something from his gang.

With tears flickering, Xun Yu could no longer hide his emotions, and knelt down to Boss Cao again, and said with a crying voice: "Lord, why can't you consider the last road?" You are his father-in-law, he is not a good person to kill, and he is both a confidant and an enemy of you, why can't you think about yourself? ”

This time, it was finally Boss Cao's turn to be silent, and after a long time, Boss Cao said slowly: "I, Cao Cao, Cao Mengde, am I a person who is willing to live under others?" What's more, is it willing to be under the juniors? That traitor has two good words, donate his life to go to the country, and see death as if he were going home! Who has not died in life since ancient times, and left Dan to take care of his sweat! (To be continued......)