After all, Liu Bei couldn't wait.

Liu Bei is 63 years old, while Cao Wei's Cao Pi is only 37 years old, and Sun Quan is only 42 years old.

If it weren't for a crossing dog like Zhang Xi, no one would know that Cao Pi was a short-lived ghost, and according to the thinking of normal people in this era, Liu Bei would definitely not be able to consume the two offspring opposite.

Liu Bei himself also knows that the current situation, if it drags on for another three or five years, he may be able to go below to meet more than 20 emperors of the Han Dynasty.

Therefore, in September of the second year of Zhang Wu, Liu Bei issued an edict to raise 150,000 troops to defeat the usurper Cao Pi, and in mid-September, he personally led the troops to be stationed in Hanzhong.

Of course, Liu Bei actually only brought 70,000 or 80,000 soldiers to Hanzhong, and this 150,000 refers to the sum of the military strength of all parties.

After the Han Dynasty rebuilt the northern and southern armies, although according to Zhang Fei, "both the northern and southern armies can fight for the country", but what the actual situation is, in fact, Liu Bei also knows it in his heart.

In less than two years, there is no problem if you just form an ordinary army, but if you want to form the most elite northern and southern armies in the history of the Han Dynasty from scratch, you can't do it at all.

Even speaking, the fact that the two armies and armies in the north and south can be equipped with all the armor and ordnance in two years can be regarded as the result of the efforts of the people in the Ministry of Industry.

Therefore, Liu Bei could only draw some well-trained soldiers from the northern and southern armies, plus the county soldiers who were previously transferred to Chengdu, and organized an army of about 50,000 people.

The remaining armies of the north and south still stayed to defend Chengdu.

After all, once Liu Bei personally recruits, he must be the crown prince Liu Chan in charge of the country, and Liu Chan is only seventeen years old this year, and he simply does not have the ability and experience to handle state affairs well.

Therefore, Liu Bei left Liu Chan at least half of the northern and southern armies, and Xiang Pet, Fu Wei, two of Liu Bei's henchmen and generals, to lead the northern and southern armies and help Liu Chan deal with military affairs.

Although the combat strength of the northern and southern armies did not reach the elite standard, it was enough to suppress local rebellions by virtue of the superiority of the armaments and equipment of the northern and southern armies.

As for government affairs, Liu Bei left Zhang Yi, Yang Hong, and Qin Mi to assist Liu Chan to ensure that government affairs would not be abolished due to conquest.

In this way, Liu Bei led an army of 50,000 to the north and stationed in Hanzhong, and joined the more than 20,000 troops that had been assembled in Hanzhong in advance, with a total strength of more than 70,000 people.

In addition, part of Yongliang's army will not gather in Hanzhong, but will assemble directly in Shangqi, where Zhao Yun is the commander, and will probably send about 20,000 troops, barely a whole few hundred thousand people.

It's really not that Yongliang has few soldiers, but Liu Bei's decision to go on the Northern Expedition, which is indeed a bit out of time.

At this time, Yongliang was initially decided, the people's hearts were not attached, and Zhao Yun and Ma Chao also had their own practical difficulties, so they didn't dare to transfer more soldiers.

Yongliang Erzhou has just experienced the war, and it is time to resume production, even Ma Chao, who has no conscience, does not dare to recruit the people of Yongzhou to join the army at this time.

And Yongliang Erzhou is a place surrounded by foreign races, even if you send troops, you have to guard against the surrounding foreign races.

Yongzhou is better, Ma Chao poked at the Qiang people, maybe he could recruit some Qiang Huyi to participate in the war. Zhao Yun of Liangzhou doesn't have this spare strength.

Liangzhou under Zhao Yun's governance adopted the strategy of Xu Miao's recuperation, and externally he had to guard against the movements of various different races, and internally he had just finished suppressing the rebellion of Koji Yan, Zhang Jin and others, and he really had no ability to support the Northern Expedition for a while.

Even Captain Pang De couldn't leave Liangzhou, although Pang De had initially made a name for himself as a "White Horse General" on the territory of Liangzhou Zhuhu, but his prestige among the Liangzhou clans was not as good as Ma Chao, if he and Zhao Yun left Liangzhou at the same time, Xu Miao alone could not suppress those Liangzhou Qianghu.

Therefore, in this Northern Expedition, Liangzhou only produced one Zhao Yun as the commander of the army, and the main military composition was the Yongzhou Army, which barely gathered 20,000 people, and half of them were called out by Ma Chao and led by his brother Ma Dai Qianghu Yicong.

Really, this is already the extreme army that Yongliang Erzhou can put together under the guarantee of its own stability.

As for the remaining 50,000 people, don't ask, it's the Jingzhou Front.

The purpose of this Northern Expedition is to attack Guanzhong, and the task that Jingzhou has to undertake is actually similar to the last Northern Expedition, so Liu Bei did not specifically call Guan Yu to Chengdu for a meeting this time, but just wrote a letter to Guan Yu, asking Guan Yu to raise troops after his edict.

Liu Bei is at ease enough with Guan Yu, Guan Yu also has the ability to command the army to fight, plus now Guan Yu's side, it is not that there is no one to help, and he has full authority to Guan Yu to deal with it, which is much more reliable than his own long-distance remote control.

No matter how "ignorant Liu Bei" is, he is much stronger than the Gaoliang River Cheshen and a certain bald principal.

On the Jingzhou side, after receiving Liu Bei's edict to kill thieves, Guan Yu did not hesitate to raise 50,000 troops in Xiangyang, and at the same time, in the name of the fake festival, ordered Shangyong Kou Feng to lead the troops out to the right to support the wind in response.

Hanzhong has to consider what method to use to enter Guanzhong, and Guan Yu doesn't have this trouble, his purpose is very simple, just go north to attack Wancheng.

Moreover, the starting point of this Northern Expedition was Guan Yu's request to play, so after receiving a reply from Liu Bei's private letter, Jingzhou, like Hanzhong, began preparations for the Northern Expedition early.

The whole configuration is almost the same as the last Northern Expedition, Wen Ping, Wang Ji, and Shi Bao are stationed in Jiangxia, Jiangling, and Wuling counties to guard against possible sneak attacks in Jiangdong, Zhang Wei is still stationed in Fancheng as the rear wing of the army, Ma Liang and Fei Yi are stationed in Xiangyang, and the governor's army is logistics grain and grass.

Guan Yu personally took Xu Shu, Deng Ai, Guan Ping, Guan Xing, Liao Hua, Wang Fu, Zhao Lei and others to march into Wancheng.

In Wancheng, Zhang Liao has not relaxed his vigilance, and has been training soldiers for the past two years, strengthening the city defense, building bunkers, camps and other fortifications in the area from Deng County to Wancheng, based on defense.

As soon as the news of Liu Bei's edict against Cao Wei reached Wancheng, Zhang Liao immediately entered a state of combat readiness and personally arrived in Deng County, preparing to continue to fight a battle to defend Wancheng.

As for Cao Pi. Liu Bei made the first move, and Cao Pi immediately had a direction.

He first ordered Xu Huang in Yanzhou and Zang Ba in Xiapi to enter a state of combat readiness to defend against a possible attack by Eastern Wu, while Cao Xiu and Jia Kui in Yuzhou also had to lead their troops to press forward and contain Zhou Yu in Huainan.

As for himself, he personally led the 50,000 Chinese army, and immediately set up troops to the south, preparing to be stationed in Luoyang, ready to respond to the eastern and western battlefields at any time.

With Liu Bei's arrival in Chang'an, Cao Pi sent troops south to Luoyang, but Sun Quan, who was in Jianye, did not make a move.

Sun Quan's move made Cao Pi breathe a sigh of relief.

If Sun Quan came to Huainan or Xuzhou in person, then Cao Pi really had to worry about the possibility of fighting on both fronts, and the monarch would be on the front line, and it would be impossible for the Eastern Wu army to continue to shrink and let the monarch command the defensive battle, right? !

Sun Quan still stayed in Jianye, which shows that Dongwu has no desire to take the initiative to attack, and should still focus on defense, so it is important to see if there is a chance to sneak attack. As long as Xu Huang, Cao Xiu, Zang Ba and others are vigilant.

In this way, Cao Pi can be assured and boldly stationed in Luoyang, and even if necessary, Cao Pi can also send the elite of the Chinese army to Chang'an to support Cao Zhen, who is at a disadvantage in terms of troops.

With Liu Bei's edict, the entire Central Plains began to enter a tense state of combat readiness.

And the person who really fired the first shot was a figure that no one expected.

Lu Xun, who was stationed in Langya County, suddenly made a move and led his troops south from Langya County to Xiapi County, kicking off the prelude to this big battle.

Zang Ba in Xiapi was beaten for a while, and he was a little caught off guard.

This matter, although there are some problems with Zang Ba's own problems, and there are some problems with his response, but in the final analysis, everyone still despises this governor of Eastern Wu Qingxu stationed in Langya County.

Lu Xun is not only smart and sensitive to military and political affairs, but also very good at learning. He somewhat learned a little from his former Jingnan Governor of Eastern Wu, Lu Meng, who had passed away, a little less honorable means.

In the previous two years, Lu Xun wrote letters to Zang Ba every once in a while, putting on an attitude of humbly asking for advice from juniors, and even faintly showing weakness very skillfully, making Zang Ba think that this person's ability is nothing more than that.

It is precisely because of Zang Ba's judgment of Lu Xun that Xu Huang in Yanzhou, Cao Xiu and Jia Kui in Yuzhou, and even Cao Pi in Yecheng all believe that Lu Xun's appointment is the result of Sun Quan's unauthorized use of his relatives.

Therefore, Zang Ba really didn't expect that Lu Xun would suddenly take the initiative to attack Xiapi.

And Lu Xun's means of attacking Xiapi are also quite smart.

Lu Xun didn't send troops all the way, and he went straight to attack him and divide his troops.

He led an army west to attack Pengcheng and threatened the west side of Xiapi County, and ordered his deputy governor Zhuge Jin to lead troops out of Qixian County and threaten the east side of Xiapi County.

Zang Ba was already a little caught off guard by Lu Xun's surprise attack, but at this time, he suddenly faced a two-way attack by the Eastern Wu army, and he was even more out of control.

But Zang Ba is not a dry eater after all, he has no ability, and it is impossible for Zang Ba, who has calmed down after Qingxu has been the emperor for so long, began to judge where the focus of the attack was in the two-way offensive army of Eastern Wu.

Lu Xun's sneak attack made Zang Ba realize that he might really underestimate this weak scholar from a foreign relative, and the timing of this sneak attack and the coordination of the two-way attack were not something that a novice who had just entered the battlefield could do.

After a little research and judgment, Zang Ba felt that since Lu Xun was not as incompetent as he thought, then according to common sense, the way where the commander led the troops should be the direction of the main attack.

Therefore, Zang Ba made a decision, and while ordering the guards of the county to hold on to and wait for reinforcements, he sent reinforcements in the direction of Pengcheng.

But then, something happened to Zang Ba who was puzzled.

Soon after sending reinforcements in the direction of Pengcheng, even the reinforcements were still on the way, Zang Ba suddenly received a report from the defenders in the direction of Pengcheng, saying that Lu Xun had not attacked Pengcheng and had withdrawn.

Zang Ba wondered at that time whether this Lu Xun was really not good, or did he misjudge the enemy's main attack direction?!

And at this time, Zang Ba suddenly received an urgent report from Qi County, saying that Zhuge Jin led 20,000 troops to besiege Qi County, and Qi County was lost, and now the Eastern Wu Army has approached Quyang County on the east side of Xiapi County.

Zang Ba was taken aback, thinking that he had fallen for Lu Xun's plan to attack the east and west, and misjudged the direction of the enemy's main attack, so he immediately transferred back the reinforcements sent to Pengcheng, and asked the reinforcements to rush to Quyang to support.

But less than three days later, a battle report was sent from the direction of Pengcheng, saying that Lu Xun led his troops to Pengcheng again, and Pengcheng was in an emergency. Zang Ba began to have a headache.

Which side is the main direction of attack of the Soochow Army?!

(End of chapter)