Zhuge Liang still wrote this letter after all, not for anything else, but for the sake of the Han.

Zhuge Liang can be regarded as one of the few people in this era who puts the country in front of his home, and his ideal of supporting the Han is actually no worse than Liu Bei.

Coupled with Liu Bei's kindness, it is not surprising that Zhuge Liang made such a choice.

And with the sending of Zhuge Liang's letter, the strategy of the entire Northern Expedition was basically determined - to adopt the strategy of Pang Tongsheng to attack the west from the east and take Meixian by taking the Chencang Road to capture Meixian, cut off the retreat of Cao's army in Weishui in one fell swoop, and then besiege Chang'an.

Once the strategy is formulated, all that remains is to deploy troops and improve the details.

For example, how many troops and horses were dispatched to attack Chencang Road, who to send to lead the army, how to attract the attention of the main force of Cao's army on Longshan Road and Baochuan Road, and how to solve the problems encountered in the process of attacking. Wait a minute.

These are all things in detail, and some of them can really only be improvised, and it is impossible to predict everything in advance.

So these five people got together just to discuss how to reduce the risk as much as possible.

As for Liu Ba, he is busy.

On the one hand, he must be busy finishing up the economic war in Guanzhong, and on the other hand, he must cooperate with Pang Tong to collect as much information as possible in Guanzhong.

The specific time of Liu Bei's second Northern Expedition has not been determined, but there is a high probability that it will be after the autumn harvest.

This time, there is no need to go around the Qishan Road, you can directly send troops from Longshan Road and Baochuan Road, then the time for transferring troops and marching can be greatly reduced, even if Liu Bei issued an edict in September and sent troops in October, he could also attack the land of Guanzhong before the winter came.

The reason why Liu Bei has not issued an edict now is that on the one hand, he is waiting for the completion of the autumn harvest, and on the other hand, Liu Bei is also waiting for an opportunity.

In the hinterland of the Central Plains, a big battle between Sun Cao's two families has not officially started at this time.

Liu Bei really doesn't understand, what the hell is Cao Pi waiting for?!

Intelligence transmitted from the Central Plains to Shuzhong shows that Yanzhou has been raising military rations on a large scale since May, and in the Yuzhou area, Cao Xiu, who has garrisoned Runan, also led his troops eastward to threaten the Huainan region. It stands to reason that this battle between Sun Cao should have started a long time ago.

But the problem is that there has been no sign of action until now, and it has been almost four months, Cao Pi is still squatting in Yecheng and not moving, and Sun Quan has also been in Jianye and has not gone north.

Liu Bei's idea is very simple, that is, he hopes that Sun Cao's two families will start fighting first, and when Cao's army is all mobilized, they will be contained in the hinterland of the Central Plains, and then he will lead his troops out of the customs and attack Chang'an, so that the pressure is not very small.

Liu Bei's idea can be said to have no problem, the real problem is - in today's world, the three lords are not fools.

Although Cao Pi is inferior to Cao Cao in all aspects, he can be regarded as a good monarch in the world, and he does not lack political acumen at all.

It's not that Cao Wei didn't send a fine work to Shuzhong and plant spies, the current situation in Shuzhong, and the fact that almost all of Liu Bei's ministers moved to Hanzhong, such an obvious signal, Cao Pi has to be more or less guarded.

Although there is no clear evidence that this is Liu Bei going to make a big move, maybe it's just that Liu Bei has just established the country and is trying to solve the problem of domestic internal affairs, but what if Liu Bei suddenly sends troops to Guanzhong? !

Therefore, Cao Pi wrote a letter to Cao Zhen privately, asking Cao Zhen to be vigilant and not need to make a big move to make defenses in advance, which would be too wasteful of military rations, but the necessary vigilance should still be there, and it should not be careless.

As for the Central Plains, because of Liu Bei's strange behavior, Cao Pi has not made up his mind until now, and officially started the battle to recover Qingxu.

Two years ago, in the northwest with Liu Bei, Cao Wei's losses were actually not small, especially in Luoyang, Hedong, and Wancheng.

The grain harvest is still light, the people are fleeing, and the effects of the destruction of the tuntian are the most important.

Until now, the area near Luoyang has barely recovered to its previous state, and this is still Cao Pi pulling down his face and coercing and enticing the families in Hedong, so that these families can spit out the population that is hiding in the chaos, which can barely be achieved.

Once Cao Pi came to Yanzhou and started a war with Jiangdong in Qingxu, and at this time Liu Bei went out of Longshan and attacked Guanzhong, then Cao Pi was the enemy on his back, and it was inevitable that he would have to toss back and forth The defenders in the Luoyang area would come back and forth so many times, even the prosperous and rich hinterland of the Central Plains could not withstand such a toss.

So, Cao Pi is also waiting.

Anyway, the gang of rats in Jiangdong didn't dare to make the first move, if Liu Bei really sent troops to Longshan and attack Guanzhong, then Cao Pi directly transferred the soldiers from Yanzhou to Chang'an and Wancheng, leaving only some soldiers and horses to monitor Jiangdong.

After repelling Liu Bei's attack, you can go back and clean up this group of Eastern Wu rats.

It's really not that Cao Pi looks down on Jiangdong, it's really that Jiangdong has been fighting well in addition to the sneak attack on Qingxu and Huainan over the years, and the other results are very stretched, and the only person to pay attention to in Jiangdong is Zhou Yu, as long as Zhou Yu's energy is involved in Huainan, then the direction of Xuzhou is not to worry about at all.

In the direction of Xuzhou, Cao Wei not only has Xiapi County in hand, which is enough to contain the Eastern Wu army occupying the southeast of Xuzhou, and the guard general Zang Ba is also the head of the land, his ability and prestige are not low, and he can hold it.

Moreover, Jiangdong sent a scholar with little experience in battle formations to preside over the Qingxu military, which was somewhat entrusted.

Cao Pi inquired, the chief general named Lu Xun was only because he was born in a wealthy Jiangdong family and was Sun Ce's son-in-law, and he was a relative of the Sun family, so Sun Quanxiao'er, who was able to take power, used people like this, why worry about it? !

Therefore, Cao Pi felt that as long as he did not take the initiative to fight Qingxu's Eastern Wu Army, the Eastern Wu Army would never dare to rush north and compete with Cao's cavalry in the plains.

In fact, Sun Quan really didn't have this idea.

Sun Quan is not stupid and knows where his strengths and weaknesses are.

What Lu Meng said is actually right, Dongwu is good at water warfare, and the sailors are invincible in the world, but if you go to the land of Qingxu, or even Yanzhou, to compete with Cao Wei's cavalry, it is purely to find a draw.

The counterstrategy made by Lü Meng was to let Sun Quan seize Jingzhou, occupy the entire territory of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, first based on self-preservation, and then find a way to capture Wancheng, Luoyang and other hinterlands of the Central Plains, and then go north after the strength increases.

Even if we can't go north, we have more than enough to protect ourselves, and it is not a problem to divide Jiangdong and claim hegemony.

Sun Quan in history, because he couldn't attack Hefei for a long time, every time he either lost his troops or was scared back, he didn't have any face at all, probably at that time, Sun Quan had given up the idea of dominating the world, and instead adopted Lu Meng's strategy to sneak attack Jingzhou, ready to divide himself.

But this era is different.

Although Sun Quan also adopted Lü Meng's strategy, Sun Quan fought Hefei several times, but did not experience a major defeat, and even he almost took Hefei. Sun Quan has not completely given up the idea of sitting as the lord of the world.

After the sneak attack on Jingzhou failed, although Sun Quan was very responsible, he protected Lü Meng, ceded land to compensate Liu Bei, and remade the covenant. But to tell the truth, Sun Quan at this time was somewhat depressed.

But it didn't take long for Zhou Yu to give him a big gift - not only did he sneak attack and capture most of Xuzhou and the entire Qingzhou, but Zhou Yu lured the enemy deep in Huainan, broke Cao Xiu in one fell swoop, and took the entire Huainan including Hefei, giving Jiangdong's tentacles the first chance to enter the Central Plains.

It is because of this that Sun Quan has the confidence to be the emperor after Cao Pi and Liu Bei successively became emperors, and at the same time, he also rekindled the idea of going north to the Central Plains and competing for the world.

At this time, Sun Quan was only in his early forties, and it was when he was in the prime of life, and at this time, the entire Huaisi Group had not completely withered, and he could still confront the Jiangdong Family Group, so Sun Quan did not need to engage in palace fighting in order to balance internal relations.

Of course, the most important thing is that now Sun Deng is alive and well, and it is very in line with Sun Quan's wishes, Sun Deng's position as the crown prince is very solid, and there are no basic conditions for any "second palace dispute".

Now Sun Quan's eyes are still looking outward, and he knows that although he now occupies Huainan and Qingxu, Cao Pi's side will definitely not give up.

Therefore, Sun Quan knew very well that Cao Pi would send troops to Qingxu sooner or later, and Sun Quan also knew that the current Eastern Wu soldiers had to fight against Cao's cavalry on the plains, and the odds of victory were pitifully low.

This is something that Zhou Yu can't deny.

Therefore, whether it is Zhou Yu or Zhang Zhao, they all suggested that Sun Quan should not act rashly for the time being, put defense first, not fight with Cao Jun in the field, guide Cao Jun to take the initiative to attack, and drag Cao Jun into a siege war, which is the most beneficial to Jiangdong.

Once Cao's army took the initiative to launch an attack on Eastern Wu in the hinterland of the Central Plains, then Liu Bei in Chengdu would not let go of such an opportunity, and he would definitely send troops to Guanzhong again.

In this way, the Cao army was in a dilemma between the enemy and the back, and at that time, Dongwu waited for the opportunity to move, captured Xiapi, and connected Huainan and Qingxu, which was much better.

After that, there is no need to make a big move, you can sit back and watch Cao Liu fight, while training the soldiers to get used to the characteristics of northern operations, go north to Liaodong to contact the Gongsun clan, and buy war horses to form a cavalry unit.

When the Cao and Liu families were defeated and wounded, Dongwu trained the soldiers to attack in the north, and they could swallow the Central Plains, go north to fight for Hebei, and seize the world.

This is the strategy that Zhou Yu has reformulated for Sun Quan, and Sun Quan expressed his very approval.

Therefore, now Sun Quan is also waiting, one is waiting for Cao Pi to take the initiative to attack, and the other is hoping that Liu Bei can send troops to Guanzhong first to attract Cao Wei's attention.

In this way, Sun Quan could not worry about Cao Wei taking the initiative to attack, but planned how to seize Xiapi.

The situation after three points of the world is like this, everyone does not dare to act rashly, they are all waiting, waiting for someone to stand up and break this delicate balance.

(End of chapter)