Xiahou Yuanrang was suddenly infected with a cold and was seriously ill, and it was estimated that by the time the battle of Shu officially began, he might not be able to get better, so he played Cao Cao and asked for a replacement. Cao Cao was a little depressed - three ways to cut Shu, Yongzhou is the top priority, theoretically Xiahoudun can be regarded as the commander of the whole army, and the pace of advance and retreat of the other two roads has to cooperate with him, now that he has fallen, he must be replaced, but who else can he be replaced? Who has the ability, and more importantly, who has the qualifications and fame to succeed him?

Among the generals in the DPRK and China, in terms of prestige and fame, they are comparable to Xiahou Yuanrang, and there are only Cao Ren and Cao Hong brothers. However, Cao Ren had already set off for Jingzhou, and began to familiarize himself with geography and subordinates, and made detailed campaign plans, so it was not appropriate to suddenly transfer him to the northern front; Cao Hong hadn't gone west yet, but Cao Cao thought that he was reluctant to serve as the commander of the front, and it was really difficult to be the commander of the three roads. For this reason, Cao Cao once had the idea of pro-conquest, but he was finally held down by the ministers.

Since he is the Son of Heaven, he should sit firmly in the middle of the capital and not move lightly. The sword has no eyes on the battlefield, and if the emperor makes a mistake, I am afraid it will cause national turmoil - sit down, Your Majesty, the situation is not bad enough for you to go into battle.

So he suggested that it would take two or three months to move the troops anyway, and Chang'an was not far from Luoyang, so it was better to recall Xiahou Zhuguo to Duzhong for the time being, one was convenient for recuperation, and the other was to inquire about the situation in Guanzhong from him and discuss a suitable successor.

So Xiahoudun did this, and under the protection of his eldest son Xiahou Chong, he hurriedly returned to Luoyang.

Cao Cao personally brought his important ministers to visit the patient, and first asked Xiahoudun, since Yuan Rang did not refrain from conscription, do you have any suggestions for the replacement candidate? Xiahoudun said first: "Zixiao can also." Cao Cao shook his head and said that Zixiao had arrived in Jingzhou. It's not suitable to transfer him back - I know that when it comes to fame, you can barely overpower Zixiao by half a head, even if Zilian is not suitable, it is not suitable for him to be the main and Zixiao as the deputy; However, although Yongzhou is the main force. There is no need to worry that the main general's position is not as good as Zixiao, and he will not cooperate with the camera when the time comes.

Therefore, let's pull out the generals, put down the taste first, just talk about ability, who do you think is appropriate to replace you in commanding the army?

Xiahoudun shook his head lightly and kept silent. Cao Cao has been close to him for many years, and he joined hands to raise troops, so he naturally understood the other party's thoughts, so he let the ministers temporarily retreat. In the house, he and Xiahou Yuan left the two of them, and then asked the question again.

Xiahoudun said: "What Your Majesty said, the minister does not dare to agree. "You're not right - the main general of Yongzhou Road must look at the position, not the ability. Why? Because the plan has been set and the supplies are sufficient, what is needed under this premise is that the generals of all fronts fight bravely and cooperate appropriately, regardless of how many tricks the main generals sitting in the rear have. But how can we make the front-line generals do their best without hindering each other? Then it will have to be suppressed and coordinated by the name.

So. In terms of ability, I think the deputy general Zhang He is quite suitable. Cao Zidan also has talents in all aspects, the problem is that the former is a demoted general and lacks prestige, and the latter is too young and too shallow. Do you think that if Zhang He gives an order, Xu Huang will be willing to obey? Cao Zhenruo gave the order. Will Lejin obediently obey his fate?

"All generals must have a rebellious nature, and those who are not famous and meritorious are afraid that they will be difficult to control."

If you want to say that the ability is not bad, and the name is enough to suppress the generals in Guanzhong, there are two people. But even if I bring it up, they may not be willing to fight.

Cao Cao asked, who do you say first.

Xiahoudun said: "One is Jia Wenhe, and the other is Hong Fuer. ”

It's just that these two goods cherish their feathers too much, and they will definitely refuse to answer the order to lead their division to the battle. First of all, Jia Xu, he is indeed wise and scheming, and he can lead troops to fight, but he was in chaos back then, and it is estimated that he will not go back after killing him. Besides, Wen He was born after all, and I know that His Majesty has always been wary of him, so can I rest assured that more than 100,000 troops will be handed over to him? Even if you are relieved, he himself is not at ease, for fear of being jealous, he will not go.

Besides, it is Xun, the ability to fight a war is average, but when it comes to coordinating the overall situation and coordinating the generals, even I may not be able to compare with him, and he is the best candidate to be the main general. He has always been worried about the high merit and the master, and he refused to start to seize the military power, and he deliberately asked for orders to go to Liaodong, in order not to go to conquer Shu in the future. Is Hongfu famous all over the world, Shishu is in his heart, if he wants to hold an army of more than 100,000 and get all of Shu, are you not afraid that he will become the second Liu Bei? Well, even if you don't watch out for him at all, he has to watch out for himself, think about what he once said—

"The wood is beautiful in the forest, and the wind will destroy it; Heaps out of the shore, and the flow will be turbulent; Walk above men, and the crowd will not. The foresight is not far away, and the car will follow the track. ”

You must know that there are many people who are dissatisfied with Xun's new policy, and when the time comes, the army will be outside, and the slander will follow, in order to save his life, he is estimated to beg for land like Wang Jian and tarnish his name. Therefore, if you think that he is a general, it is not to love him, but to harm him.

Cao Cao frowned, and replied with a wry smile, I have also considered all the questions you raised, otherwise I would have sent Shixun to replace you directly. But if you can't find a suitable candidate, do you really have to go to the palace to recruit yourself?

Xiahoudun said that if you really can't find a suitable candidate, you might as well send Taifu (Cao De) to go. Although you don't know how to fight at all, you can take care of him in advance, only let him take the role of coordination, and then send a few staff officers who know how to fight to assist, such as Cao Zhen, Cao Xiu, Xiahou Shang, Zhuge Liang, Lu Meng, etc., and so on.

Cao Cao pondered for a long time, and said Then I will think about it again, Yuan let you have a good life, I have already issued an order to summon Jiangxia Taishou Zhang Zhongjing back, and let him treat you - if you can recover before September, then one day the dark clouds will be gone, and it will be Tianqi and my Great Wei!

dragged out of the dormitory with heavy steps, and saw the ministers waiting in the courtyard, talking about it. Cao Cao heard Shi Xun's voice as soon as he heard it: "...... I'm afraid this situation is in danger! ”

What's that? What is "in danger"? Cao Cao coughed phlegm, and the ministers hurriedly stopped their mouths and bowed their heads one after another. Cao Cao asked Shixun: "What did Hongfu say?" ”

It was Xun Yu who reported that His Majesty Shicai was talking to Zhuguo, and we came out first, so I grabbed Xiahou Chong and asked him in detail about the layout of the Guanzhong area, but after hearing it, I felt that the problem was very big, and even unpredictable disasters might occur.

Previously, when formulating the military plan, His Majesty had asked his ministers and others, saying that if he stood in the position of Liu Bei in Shuzhong, how would he deal with such a large-scale three-way attack on Shu - if you are Liu Bei's staff officer, what other ideas can you come up with besides persuading him to surrender?

At that time, the ministers proposed two possibilities, one was to hold on, and the other was to counterattack. First of all, it is said that Liu Bei is likely to shrink his forces and strictly guard against Hanzhong, with Nanshan as the block, the place in Hanzhong is easy to defend and difficult to attack, if he holds on and intercepts layer by layer, the casualties of our army will be large, and if the time drags on for a long time, it is likely that he will return in vain because of the lack of grain. If the misfortune has come to this point, then it is necessary to change the strategy and turn the focus of the campaign to the southern front, on the one hand, send Lu Sushui Division to assist Cao Zixiao in attacking Ba County, and on the other hand, send Bu Qi and Huang Zhong out of Jiaozhou to Nanzhong, and cooperate with Yonghong and others to give Liu Bei a hard stab in the ass.

The second is to counterattack, we have such a big move, Liu Bei can't be unaware, at that time Jia Xu said, if I am Liu Bei's staff officer, I will persuade him to strike first, to attack instead of defending, and the troops go out of Qishan to fight Liangzhou, and even go out of Fu Luo and other ways to attack Yongzhou, then it is possible to disrupt the rhythm of the imperial court's westward expedition.

The countermeasure is that Xiahou Zhuguo sits in Chang'an, first stabilize the defense, so as not to be taken advantage of by Liu Bei, and at the same time, although the auxiliary state Cao Hong has not yet bordered Liangzhou in the west, he first ordered Liangzhou to assassinate Shi Zhang and supervise Yan Xing and other generals, contact Qianghu, and control the Wei and Tao river basins.

Therefore, when Xiahou Zhuguo returned to Beijing due to illness, we asked Xiahou Chong how Guanzhong was deployed, and whether it became empty because of this, so that Liu Bei had a chance to take advantage of it?

How is Guanzhong arranged? Zhang He was in Chencang, blocking the old road of Sanguan; Xu Huang was in Yixian County, blocking the mouth of the Baoxian Valley; Lejin is in martial arts, defending Fu Luo Dao; Lu Zhao is in Juxian County, monitoring the meridian crossing. The big guys all think that this arrangement is more appropriate, but I think it's a little unsafe for Shixun - compared to Zhang He, Xu Huang and other generals, is the road move too weak?

Lu Zhao is Chen Liuren, Cao Cao Chu Mu Yanzhou, that is, the like-minded, theoretically he is older than Zhang He, Xu Huang and even Lejin, Yu Ban and others, but the name is under the three generals, why? Lack of ability. Besides, Lu Zhao is also old, seven out of fifty this year, and the soldiers and horses in his department are weaker than those in other departments, and the number is also small, how can you rest assured that he will defend the Meridian Road?

And the meridian road came out, the closest to Chang'an, after Xiahoudun went, Chang'an left only the assassin Shi Zhang Ji and Xiahoudun's second son, the emperor's son-in-law Xiahou Nan. Although Zhang Derong is a capable official, he has not made much achievements in military affairs, as for Xiahou Zilin...... Everywhere you go out of the door is not necessarily a tiger, does that guy really know how to fight?

Once the Shu people come out with a surprise army, win the grain and get out of the Meridian Valley, the road move is likely to be unstoppable, and when Lejin and them rush over from the west, it is estimated that the enemy army has already killed under Chang'an City. Chang'an City is thick and high, so there is no need to worry about it being defeated, but as long as the enemy divides his troops to plunder Sixiang and cut off our supply lines, the entire campaign deployment will be disrupted. What's even more worrying is that once we ravage Guanzhong, destroy production, and reduce the population, it is estimated that we will no longer be able to use Yongzhou as an advance base to attack Shu Han in two or three years.

Shi Xun finally concluded: "Therefore, Xun thought that this situation was in danger, so please send a famous general to the west as soon as possible, and replace the Zhu country to town Chang'an." ”

When Cao Cao heard this, he couldn't help frowning, turned his head and asked Xiahou Chong: "What do you think?" Xiahou Chong smiled faintly: "Taiwei is too serious, but unfortunately he is not familiar with the geography of Guanzhong." "From Hanzhong to Guanzhong, all the passages are rugged and narrow, and it is difficult for the army to march, especially the meridian road. If the Shu army sent tens of thousands of people, it would have to be three times as many people just to transport grain and grass, and it would be difficult to get out of the valley smoothly; If we send a few thousand people, why should we be afraid of him?

"It's the father of the old family who made General Lu guard it."

It's not that my father doesn't know how many brushes there are on the road, so he sent him to guard the mouth of the Meridian Valley, just because the roads in the west such as Fu Luo and Bao Xie are more dangerous, and they must be guarded by famous generals. It's the captain who is not so worried about the meridian as he is worried about the roads to the west...... (To be continued......)