Just after the rain, on the official road in the north of Xuchang, a cow cart that stretches for more than ten miles is full of grain and grass is moving slowly, the cart squeaks and quacks on the muddy road and walks hard, from time to time there are ox carts stuck in the mud, dozens of soldiers behind shouted in unison, with their shoulders, with their hands to push, the ox cart out of the mud pit.

On both sides of the official road are endless corn fields, the corn has ripened, like a golden sè wave, and a thousand Cao soldiers guarding the grain and grass walk cautiously on the edge of the corn fields.

The Cao army was extremely strict about the protection of farmland, and those who practiced wheat were punished with death, even when they attacked Xiangyang, in fact, not only the Cao army, but also the Han army, the Jiangdong army, and even Liu Bei's Jiaozhou army, which paid special attention to the protection of crops, which was the instinct of the regular army in an agricultural society.

At this moment, a troop of cavalry galloped up, shouting loudly, and the whip was drawn mercilessly, "Get out of the way, get out of the way!" ”

Frightened, the ox carts dodged to the side, giving way to half of the official road, and in a short time, thousands of cavalry rolled in from a distance, murderous, in the middle of the cavalry there was a carriage pulled by eight strong horses, which was guarded by hundreds of Zhige ironclad cavalry regiments, this was Cao Cāo's carriage, he personally rushed to Xuchang to inspect,

Behind the carriage, dozens of strategists followed on horseback, and there was a slightly smaller carriage in the distance, which was specially for Cheng Yu to ride, he was too old to ride a horse.

Half a month ago, his eldest sons Cao Pi and Xu Huang defeated the remnants of the Yuan clan in Liaodong, killed more than 30,000 rebels, captured Yuan Shao's son and military advisor Xun Chen alive, captured more than 40,000 women and children who were attached to the Yuan army, and completely exterminated the remnants of the Yuan clan.

This Liaodong victory boosted the morale of Cao's army at a critical moment, and also enhanced the prestige of his eldest son Cao Pi and himself, which made Cao Cāo very pleased, and it was with the Liaodong victory that he also had some confidence in this Central Plains campaign.

Cao Cāo's mind was thinking about this Central Plains battle, in fact, Cao Cāo knew very well why Liu Jing wanted to unite Jiangdong to fight this Central Plains battle, obviously for Guanzhong, but even if he knew the Dao, Cao Cāo had no choice but to passively respond to the battle.

Cao Cāo sighed, from the ninth year of Jian'an when he was ready to take Jingzhou, he fought with Liu Jing, it has been almost ten years, not only did not eliminate him, but became stronger and stronger, he could allow Liu Jing to unify the south, but he must not accept his northern expedition, but what if he did not accept it, Liu Jing captured Longxi, opened the gate of Guanzhong, once Guanzhong was captured, the Qin Empire of the former rì reappeared, which made Cao Cāo worried.

Although Guanzhong was in danger, he had to transfer his forces to the Central Plains, if Guanzhong was really captured, he had to accept his fate, then he must not lose in the Central Plains, although Guanlong is important, but the Central Plains is his core interests.

Cao Cāo sighed in a low voice, as he got older, Jīng's strength was not as strong as before, he was becoming more and more powerless, Liu Jing's words to him were really about to come true, his age and Liu Jing couldn't fight, in the end he would lose, if he died, what would happen to his children and grandchildren, what would happen to his family, Cao Cāo couldn't think about it.

The team marched southward, and arrived at Xuchang an hour later, Cao Cāo did not enter the city, but went to the main camp of Cao's army in the east of Xuchang, which covered an area of thousands of acres, with more than 4,000 camp tents, 100,000 garrisons, and countless grain and grass military resources.

In the deployment of Cao Cāo's four fronts, Xiahoudun was in charge of the two fronts of Nanyang and Runan, and Cao Ren was in charge of the two lines of Hefei and Xuzhou.

Xiahou dun saluted Cao Cāo, and said, "I want to inform the prime minister about the situation of the Han army!" ”

Cao Cāo waved his hand and smiled: "Let's talk about it when we enter the camp!" Everyone is a little tired, and I need to rest for a while. ”

"The camp has been arranged, please ask the prime minister and the gentlemen to come in and rest."

Cao Cāo led his advisers into the camp, and they were exhausted from the journey, and they went to rest in their respective tents, and Cao Cāo also slept in the tents, and did not regain his strength until the evening.

The big tent was brightly lit, and Cao Cāo stood in front of the map, listening to Xiahoudun's report with a sinking face, although Xiahoudun arranged the food and lodging very thoughtfully, but the map in front of him made Cao Cāo very dissatisfied.

Cao Cāo asked to make a complete sand table in the Central Plains a few months ago, but so far, only the sand table in the Nanyang and Xiangyang regions, and nowhere else, made Cao Cāo happy.

Xiahoudun looked embarrassed, he knew that Cao Cāo sand table was angry, but he had no choice, it would take at least a year to make a sand table, and it would take a large number of scouts to investigate on the spot, and it was only a few months now, how could it be done.

Since Cao Cāo didn't mention it, he could only pretend not to know, and reported head-on: "At present, the Han army is also mobilizing troops on a large scale, the army in Xiangyang is about 60,000 people, with Wen Ping as the main general, and the army of Anlu County is about 50,000 people, with Gan Ning as the main general, which is 110,000 people, according to reliable information, Liu Jing is leading 30,000 troops on the way to Xiangyang, at that time, the Han army will have 140,000 people, I am not worried about Jiangdong, I am worried about the pressure on the Han army." ”

Cao Cāo didn't say anything, and asked again, "How is the situation on the Jiangdong side?" ”

Jiangdong is Cao Ren is in charge, and it stands to reason that Xiahoudun should not be asked, but since Cao Cāo asked, Xiahoudun had to report: "I just heard that there are still differences within Jiangdong, it seems to be a battle for dominance, Zhang Zhao's Jiangbei Department and Gu Yong's Wu Yue Department both want to lead this northern expedition, and the last is Sun Quan's forcible appointment, with Jiangbei General Lu Meng in charge of the attack in the direction of Xuzhou, and Wu Yue's general Lu Xun in charge of the attack in the direction of Hefei, the same number of troops, each with a rate of 40,000 people, led by Sun Quan, in addition, I heard that there is also a situation in Jingnan. ”

"What's the situation?" Cao Cāo asked curiously.

"Sun Quan appointed Bu Qi as the governor of Jingnan and led 20,000 troops to Jingnan."

As soon as Xiahou Tang said this, a voice came from the door of the big tent, "This is Liu Jing's poisonous plan, Sun Quan thinks he has taken advantage." ”

Cao Cāo turned around, only to see Cheng Yu walking in, he saluted Cao Cāo, "Please forgive Weichen for entering the account without authorization." ”

"This is my charter, and Zhongde doesn't need to apologize."

Cao Cāo asked again: "What is Liu Jing's poisonous plan for Lu?" ”

Cheng Yu nodded to Xiahoudun, and then sneered: "Weichen knows that Liu Bei is forced to go to Jiaozhou, he doesn't want to return north in Panyu all the time, but he is afraid of the strength of the Han army, he doesn't dare to act rashly, but now the four counties of Jingnan have become the Jiangdong Army, and Jiangdong is far away, it is difficult to rescue Jingnan, and the strength is far weaker than the Han army, how can Liu Bei not be moved." ”

"But Liu Beijun is fighting for Jiaozhou with the Shijia army, how can he have the strength to look north?" Xiahou asked puzzled.

Cheng Yu shook his head, "This is the news of Yuan Rang is not timely, Liu Beijun has completely defeated Shixie, Shixie only has one county left in Jiaozhi, this is the news half a year ago, and now Liu Bei's army should unify Jiaozhou." ”

Cao Cāo was silent for a moment and asked, "Is Zhongde saying that Liu Jing assigned the four counties of Jingnan to Liu Bei in order to provoke a war between Liu Bei and Jiangdong?" ”

"It must be like this, I have been thinking about this all the way, Sun Quan has been plotting Jingnan for a long time, Liu Bei is also eager to return to Jingnan, although he is afraid of Liu Jing, but he is not afraid of Jiangdong, I believe that Liu Bei will definitely find an opportunity to launch an attack to the north, Jiangdong will not give up Jingnan easily, so he was dragged in, with a small Jingnan, the most sluggish Jiangdong was dragged to death, I really admire Liu Jing's means, cranes and mussels compete, fishermen profit, I now begin to doubt Liu Jing's real intention to provoke the Central Plains Campaign this time."

"There are also masters in Jiangdong, can't they see Liu Jing's move?" Cao Cāo asked suspiciously.

Cheng Yu smiled slightly, "The problem is not whether Jiangdong has a master, but whether Jiangdong's intelligence is timely and accurate, if Jiangdong knows that Liu Bei is about to unify Jiaozhou, they will not easily swallow this bait, now it seems that Jiangdong does not understand the situation in Jiaozhou, and it is reasonable to make wrong decisions." ”

Cao Cāo paced back and forth in the big tent with his hands, his heart was very messy, Cheng Yu's words suddenly opened a hole in his heart, but he couldn't see clearly, he needed to sort out his thoughts, Cheng Yu was very clear about Cao Cāo's thoughts, and he cautiously reminded on the side: "The prime minister is thinking about using Liu Bei!" ”

Cao Cāo woke up, instead of slowly sorting out his thoughts, it was better to ask Jiao Yu, he must have thought it through on the way, he hurriedly said: "Please Zhongde teach me!" ”

Cheng Yu sighed and said: "We can support Liu Bei and support his growth, but I can't do anything for the time being in a short period of time, but the prime minister can send someone to meet with Liu Bei to express his support for him, and he will definitely have the opportunity to join hands with Liu Bei in the future." ”

Speaking of this, Cheng Yu smiled again, "Of course, the prime minister shouldn't have too much hope for Liu Bei, we are just using him a little, between Liu Jing's strength, Liu Bei's role is also limited, at most at some point, contain Liu Jing and give us time." ”

Cao Cāo nodded, "That's enough!" ”

He said to Xiahoudun again: "Yuan, let's go down first!" ”

Xiahou bowed and retreated quickly, only Cao Cāo and Cheng Yu were left in the big tent, the two sat down, silent for a long time, Cao Cāo said slowly: "Now there is a rumor in the court, many ministers have asked me to be crowned King of Wei, even including the eldest son, I don't know what Zhongde thinks?" ”

Cheng Yu knows Cao Cāo very well, if Cao Cāo is unintentional, he will not allow this kind of voice to rise up at all, let alone ask himself, now he has come to ask himself, it is obvious that he himself is also tempted, he is actually here to ask Jin Feng's reasonable xìng.

Cheng Yu is different from Xun Yu and Xun Yu, Cheng Yu is not loyal to the Han Dynasty, he is loyal to the Cao family, and he is good at flexibility, which is also a major reason why he can die a good death after the last one, but Cheng Yu is more calm and can look at problems more rationally.

He pondered for a moment and said: "It's not impossible for the prime minister to enter the king of Wei, and Weichen fully supports it, but I think this matter needs to be considered in the long run, not in a hurry." ”

Cheng Yu's words made Cao Cāo listen to it well, and he smiled slightly: "What Zhongde said about long-term planning refers to Liu Jing!" ”

Cheng Yu nodded, "Now we still need to concentrate our strength to fight against Liu Jing, but Liu Jing has been fighting again and again, and his people's and financial resources are unbearable, I think he will definitely strike with us and spend three or five years to recuperate, at this time, the prime minister will transfer his jīng power to politics, Jin Feng Wei king, clear prince, even if the prime minister does not consider it now, it will be impossible to avoid it at that time, this is called a matter of course." ”

Cao Cāo smiled happily and said, "Zhongde's words, great goodness!" ”

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