But no matter how strong the thoughts in his mind were, Cao Zhen had to accept the tricky situation he had to face at the moment after the loss of Luoyang.

That's his army, should he retreat?

Once his army retreats, Cao Zhen knows very well what it represents.

Therefore, even if he was inclined to withdraw from the army, he still specially convened a council today to let the generals discuss the question of whether to withdraw the army.

It's both for brainstorming and sharing responsibilities.

Cao Zhen looked at the noisy generals below, and while he was silent, his head also felt very painful.

The reason why the generals quarreled was mainly due to disagreement.

Some people are in favor of retiring from the army, while others are not.

Those who are not in favor of retiring from the army are not unaware of the situation they will face after the loss of Lyoyang.

But in their hearts, they are afraid to bear the responsibility of losing the entire Liangzhou.

Seeing that the atmosphere of the quarrel in the tent was getting more and more intense, Cao Zhen couldn't help but slap it directly on the table in front of him.

Cao Zhen is huge, and his slap is also extremely fat.

When the fat slap made heavy contact with the wooden case, there was a loud noise.

This loud noise, which was brewing with Cao Zhen's anger, instantly quieted the noisy tent.

After the generals stopped arguing in fear of Cao Zhen's majesty, Cao Zhen glanced at the audience coldly and said:

"The enemy army has not retreated, is our army about to be defeated?"

Cao Zhen's words made all the Wei generals present bow their heads in shame.

After suppressing the generals in the tent, Cao Zhen looked at Liu Ye, who was silently on the side, and asked him:

"Ziyang thinks, should our army retreat?"

After the defeat of Liangzhou, Liu Ye followed Cao Zhen and fled all the way back to Chang'an.

The result of Liangzhou's defeat did not affect Cao Zhen's trust in Liu Ye.

On the contrary, Cao Zhen became more and more convinced of Liu Ye's talent.

Because when the army was besieging Nanzheng, Liu Ye had suggested that Cao Zhen should take Seoul as soon as possible to avoid any accidents.

But at that time, Cao Zhen did not accept Liu Ye's suggestion because of Mi Yang's humiliation of Cao Cao.

If he could adopt Liu Ye's suggestion at that time, even if Mi Yang could attract a lot of water, the Wei army would not be on guard at all, so that there would be a final annihilation of the whole army.

Although Cao Zhen did not publicly ask for credit for Liu Ye on this matter afterwards, it also made Cao Zhen trust Liu Ye more and more.

Seeing Cao Zhen asking about his tricky question in public, Liu Ye's brows furrowed imperceptibly.

How could the smart Liu Ye not know that publicly expressing his stance on this matter at the moment would cause him a lot of trouble?

That's why he kept silent.

But now that Cao Zhen asked in public, he couldn't help Liu Ye not express his opinion.

"Our army should retreat!"

After Liu Ye bowed to Cao Zhen, he first expressed his opinion.

Cao Zhen saw that Liu Ye's opinion coincided with his inner thoughts, and his face became much better.

It's just that General Wei, who didn't support the retreat, couldn't help but look at him angrily after hearing Liu Ye's words.

Most of the Wei generals who did not support the retreat were Cao clan relatives, and they had no good impression of Liu Ye, a Han clan relative.

Faced with the angry eyes of some Wei generals, Liu Ye acted as if he didn't see it, and he then said his reasons.

"As some of the generals said, our army can divide its troops to the north to help King Ren Cheng recover Luoyang.

In this way, the situation in the street pavilion can be stabilized, and our army does not have to retreat.

But if things are really so simple, how can Mi Yang have the meaning of yin and yang?

Our army can divide troops, but our army is mostly an infantry army, even if our army sends troops today, it will not be able to reach Lüyang for more than five days.

According to the cavalry who fled back, the loss of Lüyang had been a few days ago.

Can the grain in King Ren Cheng's military camp hold out until our army recovers Lüyang? ”

After hearing Liu Ye say this, those Wei generals who were glaring at him angrily didn't dare to look directly at Liu Ye anymore.

It is true that in the barracks, for the sake of insurance, a part of the military rations will be stored.

But that part of the military rations will not be too much.

After Cao Zhang's defeat, there were still more than 20,000 troops, not to mention that there were still thousands of cavalry in his army.

The cavalry has always been a big eater.

As a result, the daily food consumption of Cao Zhang's army must not be low, and with the amount of grain and grass normally stored in the barracks, there is no way to support Cao Zhang's army for how long.

Even if it's just ten days, it's impossible.

After saying this inference, Liu Ye immediately said:

"Taking a step back, even if our army can recover Luoyang before the collapse of Renchengwang's army, the grain and grass base of Renchengwang's army in Luoyang has already fallen into the hands of the thief army.

If the thief army sees that Luoyang cannot be defended, they can directly burn down our army's grain and grass base in Luoyang, and at that time, it will be difficult for the army of the king of the city to escape defeat. ”

If Liu Ye's last inference still made some Wei generals have hope in their hearts, his judgment directly cut off the last trace of thought in the hearts of those Wei generals.

Grain and grass are the most important strategic materials for the army.

After the First World War in Liangzhou, the grain stored in Guanzhong for several years had long been submerged in the water.

At present, most of the grain and grass supplies of the two armies of Cao Zhen and Cao Zhang were transferred from the Central Plains, Hebei and other places.

Hebei in the Central Plains has always been a good place to be rich, but the transfer of military rations for thousands of miles has also made the supply of military rations for the Wei army not very smooth and sufficient.

This made it impossible for Cao Zhen to divide the military rations of his own army and go to supply Cao Zhang's army.

But if there is not enough military food supply, even if the soldiers and horses sent by Cao Zhen can open the passage between Luoyang and Jieting, but Cao Zhang's army will continue to defend Jieting, I am afraid that it is also a delusion to return to Chang'an safely.

Because once Cao Zhang led the army to retreat, Mi Yang would definitely lead the army to pursue behind.

There were pursuers outside, but there was a shortage of military rations inside, and the outcome of such a battle was doomed from the beginning.

Liu Ye's vision is indeed very accurate.

But what he said was cold to the Wei generals in the tent, which made them sad.

A strong sense of powerlessness lingered deeply in the hearts of all Wei generals.

This sense of powerlessness knowing that an ally is in trouble, but you can't save it, is very uncomfortable.

Even after Cao Zhen listened to Liu Ye's words, he couldn't help but sigh.

How did he see the shadow of himself when he was in Liangzhou from Cao Zhang's body?

After Liu Ye finished speaking, at this moment, no Wei general in the big tent had any objections to the proposal to withdraw the troops.

If the street pavilion really can't be defended, and Cao Zhangruo really can't be rescued, then they must retreat in order to ensure the safety of the back road.

Liu Ye saw that his words caused the mood of the Wei generals in the tent to be sluggish, in order to boost the morale of the army, Liu Ye got up and bowed to Cao Zhen and said: "Our army is retreating at the moment, only temporarily. When the time is ripe in the future, our army still has a chance to recover Liangzhou. ”

Hearing Liu Ye say this, not only Cao Zhen, but also the other Wei generals in the tent were also attracted by Liu Ye's words.

Under the gaze of the generals, Liu Ye expressed his opinion.

"The main purpose of the Northern Expedition of the thieves is not to encroach on Liangzhou, their main purpose is to occupy Guanzhong completely.

The encroachment of Liangzhou is just their preparation for the occupation of Guanzhong.

The loss of Liangzhou by our army is a huge loss on the surface, but it is not.

Since a hundred years ago in Liangzhou, foreign races have often been in turmoil, resulting in the ruins of livelihood in Liangzhou and the loss of the people.

After the thief army takes Liangzhou, at least for a few years, the national strength of the thief army will not be greatly improved, on the contrary, in order to ensure the stability of Liangzhou, the thief army also needs to spend national strength to pacify Liangzhou.

In addition, our army has several places in Hebei for the ranch that the thief army dreams of, including the north and the south.

The loss of Liangzhou will not make our army lose the benefits of cavalry.

And even if the thief army can occupy the Hexi Corridor and get excellent pastures, if you want to form an elite cavalry army, in addition to having excellent pastures, you also need to have strong national strength to support it.

Yizhou is thousands of miles away from Liangzhou, and the mountains are separated, and the thief army cannot always supply Yizhou's national strength to Liangzhou.

In that case, why should our army be worried?

In terms of the current war situation, Liangzhou is just a piece of chicken ribs for our army. ”

Liu Ye's words made the faces of the generals in the tent much better.

Cao Zhen's eyes were full of appreciation when he looked at Liu Ye.

Cao Zhen motioned for Liu Ye to continue.

After receiving Cao Zhen's encouragement, Liu Ye continued:

"At the moment, for our army and our dynasty, the most important thing is not to lose Guanzhong.

As long as Guanzhong has been in the territory of our dynasty, after our dynasty has recuperated for a few years, most of our dynasty's national strength in Guanzhong will be restored.

At that time, our dynasty can still rely on its strong national strength to slowly try to recover Liangzhou.

And the key to Guanzhong lies in Chang'an, and the main purpose of the thief army is also in Chang'an.

Since the loss of Liangzhou has become a fact, the top priority of our army is to slowly retreat, return to Fufeng County to deploy defenses, and defend Chang'an City!

The general should know what Chang'an means to our dynasty and what it means to the puppet dynasty.

Liangzhou can be lost, but Chang'an must not be taken away by the thief army! ”

Liu Ye's words were like a cool basin of water, pouring on Cao Zhen's faintly aching head, making his thoughts clear all of a sudden.

Yes, we shouldn't focus on the gains and losses of the street kiosks at this time.

And we should focus our attention on how to defend Chang'an and how to defend Guanzhong.

When the main direction of the train of thought was determined, Cao Zhen was in a good mood.

Cao Zhen looked at Liu Ye and asked, "Zi Yang thinks that if the thief army wants to continue to capture Chang'an, where will it attack first?" ”

Regarding Cao Zhen's inquiry, Liu Ye replied without thinking: "It must be Chen Cang!" ”

Liu Ye is very determined, and his determination is also justified.

"Our army does not need to worry that after the thief army breaks through the Jieting, it will go all the way south from Anding County and cross thousands of miles to attack Chang'an.

The main force of a thief army is mostly in Shangqi, and the thief army does not need to go far and near.

Second, the main grain route of the thief army is in Tianshui County, and it is impossible for the thief army to ignore the safety of the grain road, let alone make its own grain road so long! ”

After listening to Liu Ye's inference, a smile appeared on Cao Zhen's face, but he still had a layer of concern in his heart.

"With Mi Yang's changeable style of using troops, would he suggest that Liu Bei divide his troops to surround Chen Cang, and then send another army to directly bypass Chen Cang and go all the way east?"

Normally, Cao really shouldn't have this kind of worry.

Throughout the ages, few celebrities have used such tactics.

Because such a tactic is too risky, there is a risk of cutting off the food routes of your own army at any time.

Otherwise, if it is so easy to choose to bypass the city, how can there be such a thing as a place where soldiers must fight for in the world?

But the reason why Cao Zhen has this concern is very normal.

Looking at Mi Yang's military style over the years, you can't say that he will advance lightly, but he is indeed too good at surprise soldiers.

Without accurate information, no one could predict what he would do next.

So even though this possibility is very low, Cao Zhen had to ask with a blessed heart.

And when Cao Zhen asked this sentence, worry also appeared on the faces of many Wei generals in the tent.

And today, no one dares to despise Mi Yang anymore.

It's just that after Liu Ye heard Cao Zhen's worry, a smile appeared on his face.

He naturally took this into account, but in his opinion, this was impossible.

The reason is simple.

Liu Ye turned to the Wei generals in the tent and said:

"It's possible, but don't worry too much.

Don't forget that there is only one Mi Yang in the world. ”

After hearing Liu Ye's words, many Wei generals didn't understand the meaning of Liu Ye's words at first.

But soon, with many years of combat experience, they reacted.

Logically speaking, the Han army's move to directly bypass Chen Cang and attack Chang'an is very unlikely because it is too risky.

But as the saying goes, soldiers are impermanent, and water is impermanent.

In one case, it is possible.

In this case, Mi Yang personally led the army to garrison outside Chencang City.

Wars are made up of people, which leads to the fact that as long as that person is good enough, then even the smallest thing can be successful.

With Mi Yang's military strategy, all Wei generals believed that as long as he led the army to personally guard against the back of the Han army, then the back of the Han army would be guaranteed.

This is the past few years, Mi Yang has used one amazing record after another to make the world trust him.

But as Liu Ye said, there is only one Mi Yang in the world.

If Mi Yang went to defend the back of the Han army, then who would be responsible for dealing with the main force of the Wei army?

Many people subconsciously thought of Liu Bei.

At the thought of this, many Wei generals had smiles on their faces.

It's not that they despise Liu Bei, Liu Bei is an experienced general, this is undeniable.

But in the Wei army, will there be a shortage of generals?

After this period of confrontation, they found that Liu Bei was not as difficult to deal with as Mi Yang.

At least as long as his side doesn't make a mistake, Liu Bei can't defeat them.

The Wei generals are not afraid to fight against a master general like Liu Bei, not to mention that they will still have a good location at that time.

Maybe Liu Bei may not personally lead the army to attack Chang'an, and will choose to let Mi Yang take command.

But in that case, it would be impossible for the Han army to lead the army around Chencang.

And no matter how good Mi Yang is, it will not be easy for him to gnaw down two fortified cities in a row.

The fortification of Chen Cang's city defense made the Wei generals feel very relieved.

Moreover, they occupy a favorable geographical position, and have a natural advantage in the defense of the city.

When you think about it this way, the situation is indeed not so bad.