Zhen Mi wore a dark purple skirt, held a high bun, and sat quietly behind a few cases, elegant and tranquil, like an empty valley orchid, with no waves in the ancient wells on her face, her slender jade fingers gently played with the chess pieces of the mutton fat jade, her lips opened lightly, and she said softly: "This chess king may not lose." ”

"Oh?" Cao Cao set his eyes on the chessboard again, glanced at it, or shook his head and said: "The big dragon on the left has been slaughtered, and there is no power to return to the sky, how can this game of chess be won?" ”

Zhen Mi didn't have a trace of expression on his face, and said calmly: "The king is just too concerned about the life and death of the big dragon on the left, although the white chess on the right has built a big appearance, but the chess is weak, life and death are undecided, if the king can abandon the son and compete for the first, it is not possible to turn defeat into victory." ”

Cao Cao laughed and said: "Ai Jiguo is insightful, and he uses chess to describe the world, which is wonderful!" I'd love to hear your thoughts on the general trend in the world. ”

Zhen Mi lowered her head and said: "The cheap concubine is not familiar with the military, how dare she speak about the general trend of the world." ”

Cao Cao said: "There are no outsiders here, so if you say it wrong, you won't blame you." ”

Zhen Mi said respectfully: "Follow the king's orders." Since Dong Zhuo, the princes have risen together, divided the Quartet, disturbed the world, and then the time has passed, Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Gongsun Zhan, Liu Biao, Liu Zhang, these heroes have been cut off, this is in response to a sentence of the general trend of the world for a long time must be divided into a long time must be together with the ancient saying, today it has become a three-legged trend, the king of the north, and across the Hebei Qingyou and Yu Yan Siyong land, a million soldiers, three points of the world has been two of them, Jiangdong Sun Quan lived in Jiangdong, only according to the Yangtze River water risk to survive, this sincerity is not to worry also. Only Liu Zehu was far away from Jinghuai, and took his troops north out of the Qinling Mountains, swallowed Longyou, and surrounded Chang'an. It will be difficult for the king to dominate the world and calm the four seas. ”

Cao Cao nodded and said: "Ai Ji is reasonable, the person who can compete with Lone today is Liu Ze, I only sigh that I didn't hear Wen Ruo's words back then, so there is such a thing." Regret not being at the beginning. ”

Zhen Mi said: "At that time, I was forced by the form, and the king had no choice but to do it, and it was useless to regret it at this time and at that time." Liu Ze gathered heavy troops in Guanlong, and he was determined to win Chang'an, and he also occupied Tongguan, and defended it with danger, even if the king tried his best to save Chang'an, he was afraid that he might not be able to get through the main road of Tongguan. Since you know that you can't do anything. Why don't the king change his strategy, Liu Ze has a heavy army in Guanzhong, and the Jingxiang Jianghuai garrison under his rule is weak, and the king will raise troops to the south at this time, and he will be able to attack Wuchang directly. At this time, Liu Ze was in the barren land in the northwest, and the supply of military food was all dependent on the land of Jingchu, and if the king captured Jinghuai, he would definitely be able to cut off the supply of grain and grass for Liu Ze's army. Guanlong has been war-torn for a long time and is extremely desolate. What can Liu Ze do even if he takes Guanlong, he is trapped in the lack of food and grass, the army is discouraged, and he will not be able to hold it for a long time. ”

Cao Cao's face was contemplative. I have to say that Zhen Mi's construction has great temptation, which is also in line with Cao Cao's consistent strategic intention of defending the west and attacking the south, but Cao Hong is trapped in Chang'an, and if he is not rescued, he will be worried about overturning. Cao Hong is Cao Cao's younger brother, and he is a confidant and favorite general who has followed Cao Cao for many years.

Zhen Mi said: "This is a God-given opportunity, there is General Cao Hong's detention in Chang'an, Liu Ze is at this time has the heart to go east and is powerless, the king can take advantage of the situation to go south, all take the land of Jinghuai, if Liu Ze takes the first step to occupy Chang'an, the army is in Hangu, Xu Du Luoyang is also under its threat, the opportunity is lost, the king will regret it too late, this is the opportunity not to be lost, lose it again, hope that the king will think twice." ”

Cao Cao pondered for a long time and said: "Ai Ji is reasonable, but this matter has to be discussed with the ministers before it can be decided. ”

Zhen Mi had a faint look of disappointment on her face, but she didn't say anything more, gave a salute, and retreated.

The military situation was urgent, and Cao Cao did not dare to delay, and urgently summoned all civil and military officials to the hall to discuss matters.

Guo Jia died in Xuzhou, Xun Yu committed suicide in anger because of the failure to persuade Cao Cao to ascend to the throne as the king of Wei, and the two top strategists around Cao Cao passed away one after another, causing Cao Cao's think tank to suffer a great loss, although there are Cheng Yu, Xun You, Liu Ye, Man Chong, Chen Qun These important strategists, but Guo Jia and Xun Yu's status is almost irreplaceable.

All the civil and military forces obviously got the news from Guanzhong, but there were two completely different opinions on whether to rescue Guanzhong, one faction advocated immediately sending troops to attack Tongbing to relieve the danger of Chang'an, and the other faction advocated not saving Chang'an, taking advantage of the emptiness of Jingxiang, the army went south to attack Jingzhou. Advocate sending troops to Guanzhong believes that Guanzhong is fundamental, and there is no room for mistakes, and those who advocate going south believe that Tongguan is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and now the Jing army has set up a heavy defense in Tongguan, even if the Wei army attacks strongly, it may not be able to capture Tongguan, rather than fighting with Liu Ze and Guanzhong, it is better to take advantage of the weakness to go south and attack Jingxiang.

The two factions expressed their opinions, fought for each other, and made Cao Cao have a headache.

At this time, someone outside the hall reported loudly: "Zhennan General Cao Ren asks to see." ”

Cao Cao couldn't help but be a little surprised, Cao Ren has been guarding Fancheng in Nanyang, opposite Guan Yu in Xiangyang across the Han River, the most important thing, why would he return to Beijing without being called? Cao Cao let people pass on Cao Ren to the palace.

Cao Ren was covered in dust, and when he saw Cao Cao, he bowed his head and cried: "Ren heard that Brother Hong was besieged in Chang'an and was in danger, so he went to Xu Du in person and begged the King of Wei to send troops to save him. When Cao Ren was in Fancheng, he heard that Cao Hong was trapped in Chang'an, and he was shocked, and rushed back to Xudu overnight to bring rescue troops for Cao Hong.

Cao Cao coughed lightly and said, "Lone has just received news from Chang'an, and he is discussing with the ministers. ”

Cao Ren saw the civil and military forces on both sides, and said hatefully: "I heard that someone built the King of Wei to attack Jingzhou instead of saving Chang'an, who came up with this vicious plan to kill my brother Hong?" ”

The faces of the ministers who had just planned to go south changed at this time, and they didn't dare to look at Cao Ren's aggressive eyes. Cao Cao said a little unnaturally: "Fang Cai is just a casual discussion among the ministers, so he has not made a final conclusion, Zixiao rest assured, Gu and Zilian are brothers, and it is impossible to see death without help." ”

Cao Ren kowtowed again and said, "The minister implores the king of Wei to see the credit of Brother Hong's many rescues and send troops to rescue him." ”

Cao Cao also recalled Cao Hong's several rescues at this time, when Hangu, Cao Cao was ambushed by Xu Rong and hung by a thread, it was Cao Hong who sacrificed his life to save him, when Puyang, Cao Cao was chased and killed by Lu Bu, and it was also Cao Hong's broken rear to keep safe, the most recent battle of Tongguan, Cao Cao was killed by Ma Chao to cut his beard and abandon his robe, and it was also Cao Hong's desperate battle to block Ma Chao, Cao Cao was lucky, if there was no Cao Hong, Cao Cao didn't know how many times he was going to die.

Cao Cao said intimidatingly: "If there is no Zilian, the world has long been out of business, and now Zilian is trapped in Chang'an, how can he sit idly by and ignore it, and he must personally lead the troops to rescue him." Zixiao, you can rest assured, Lone will send troops to Tongguan tomorrow, and he can reach Chang'an City within ten days, and he will relieve the siege of Zilian. Fan Chengjing is a critical place, how can you leave your post without permission, you go back first, and the matter of Chang'an will be handled by Lone. ”

Cao Ren thanked him repeatedly, retreated and went back to Fancheng. Cao Cao no longer hesitated, ordered 200,000 troops, and made Xu Chu and Xu Huang the forward, and came straight to Tongguan.

Zhang Ren had already been ready for battle, relying on the dangerous terrain of Tongguan to prepare for defense. Xu Chu Xu Huang led his troops to the city of Tongguan and scolded and screamed, but Zhang Ren turned a deaf ear to them. The advantage of the Sichuan army lies in the mountain battle, and the advantage of the Wei army lies in the plain assault, and it is impossible for Zhang Ren to play up his shortcomings and avoid his strengths, and go out of the city to fight with the Wei army.

Xu Chu was furious and led the army to attack the city, but Zhang Ren was well prepared and the defense facilities were complete, and the Wei army had just attacked the city, when ten thousand crossbows were fired in unison, and arrows rained down. The Wei army attacked for two days in a row, and even the head of Tongguan had no chance to be hit.

Cao Cao led a large army of reinforcements and launched an unprecedented fierce attack on Tongguan, trying to open up this Guanluo Avenue by means of ant attachment. But Zhang Ren didn't leave him a chance, under the city of Tongguan, the Wei army suffered heavy casualties, but it never managed to cross the Lei Chi step.

Time dragged on day by day, and winter came, and the shape became more and more unfavorable to Cao Cao. (To be continued......)