Liu Bei's second Northern Expedition, known as an army of 100,000 and dozens of generals, went out of the ramp and invaded Guanzhong.

When the news reached Chang'an, Cao Zhen frowned.

Not that I was intimidated by the news.

Liu Bei is going to go on the second Northern Expedition, and Cao Zhen has long been on guard. After all, Liu Bei is not Sun 100,000, the emperor is driving in person, and the movement is definitely not small, how can there be anything like Sun 100,000, who will attack directly without saying hello.

Even if it was Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition in history, after he was on the division list, Zhuge Liang did not immediately send troops, but stationed troops in Hanzhong for a period of time, and during this time, it was enough for Cao Wei's detailed work to pass on the content of the division table to Wei.

In fact, when Zhuge Liang went on the first Northern Expedition in history, Cao Wei knew about it, but he didn't take it to heart.

At that time, Shu Han was in that state, the defeat of Yiling was only five years, Liu Bei also lost all the family funds that he had saved up in Yiling, and Cao Wei did not believe that Zhuge Liang could not only clean up the mess in the country in just five years, but also train a team of tens of thousands of elite soldiers.

So Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition was really a good opportunity, but unfortunately Zhuge Liang used the wrong horse, resulting in a total loss.

But now it's different.

This Northern Expedition was led by Liu Bei himself, Ji Han's family background is still there, although a group of famous generals are old, they can still lead the army after all.

Last time, the Northern Expedition allowed Liu Bei to occupy Longshan Road and easily harvest Yongliang Erzhou, and now Liu Bei is coming again, who dares to be careless?!

So Cao Zhen really didn't have a headache about Liu Bei's Northern Expedition, but a headache, and Liu Bei entered Guanzhong all the way from there.

Before losing the northern part of Yongzhou, no matter which way Liu Bei came out of Qishan, Cao Zhen had enough strategic space to move around, even if he made a mistake at the first time, Cao Zhen relied on Cao Wei's profound heritage and military advantage, and he had time to make adjustments, and would not let Liu Bei threaten Chang'an.

But now the situation is completely different, the counties in the north of Yongzhou are not in his hands, once Liu Bei sends troops, he can enter the Guanzhong Plain at any time, and the Guanzhong Plain is such a big place, how can he flicker around.

If one does not deal with it well, Liu Bei will approach Chang'an and come to the city.

There are only a few passages from Hanzhong to Guanzhong, Cao Zhen must deal with it without any mistakes, otherwise it will be really troublesome to let the Shangyong Meng Da and Kou Feng lead the troops into the Guanzhong Plain like last time.

But now Cao Zhen also has his own difficulties.

Last time Liu Bei's Northern Expedition, how to say that Cao Pi was also guarding Chang'an, and the most important thing is that Cao Pi also brought 100,000 Cao Wei's elite Chinese army, and Cao Wei was absolutely superior in terms of strength.

But now, Cao Piren is in Luoyang, and the elite Chinese army he brought is only 50,000 people, especially last time Cao Ren had 100,000 central elite help, they all fought like that, and he has such a small number of people on hand, God knows if he can carry it.

Cao Ren has outstanding ability, rich experience, and a wide range of soldiers, so he can use the strategy of defending himself against the enemy and fighting with Liu Bei in Yongzhou and Longshan, but Cao Zhen feels that he doesn't seem to have this condition now.

No matter how arrogant Cao Zhen is, he doesn't think that his ability has surpassed Cao Ren, and his experience in commanding the army is even more incomparable.

Liu Bei sent 100,000 troops, dozens of generals, this kind of exaggerated words, Cao Zhen will not believe that the roads of Qishan are not easy to walk, if he could pass through so many troops at one time, Liu Bei would have been in Chang'an a long time ago.

But. There should be 50,000 or 60,000 soldiers, and it is not impossible to get together 50,000 or 60,000 in addition to Yongliang, and all of his troops are only 50,000, and they must be stationed in various key passes, and the troops are indeed insufficient.

Cao Zhen thought about it, on the one hand, he hurriedly asked Cao Pi in Luoyang for help, and on the other hand, he was hesitating whether to lead the troops to resist and concentrate on the defense around Chang'an.

Judging from a cautious and cautious attitude, Cao Zhen felt that his troops were insufficient, the strategic space was insufficient, the area that needed to be defended was too large, and the strategy of defending against the enemy was no longer appropriate.

Therefore, Cao Zhen planned to change his strategy, shrink the defensive line, and only ask to hold Chang'an.

One thing to say, Cao Zhen's plan is actually the most headache for Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei.

Attacking a city, or attacking a strong city like Chang'an, the advantage of troops is only two to one, and it is difficult to fight.

When Cao Cao led his troops to capture Pi and Yecheng, they all had an absolute advantage, and the morale of the defenders in the city was not high, so they all fought hard for a year to conquer Liu Bei, how could he have so much time and grain and grass to deal with it.

If Cao Zhen really reduced his forces to defend Chang'an, and let Cao Pi put the mobile Central Forbidden Army into Zuo Fengyi and Wancheng to deploy defenses, Ji Han's ill-prepared Northern Expedition this time would have to return in vain.

But at this time, Cao Zhen's pig teammate Cao Pi went online.

In fact, they can't be regarded as pig teammates, but the two sides don't think the same.

Cao Zhen made a judgment based on the actual situation in the Guanzhong Plain, and Cao Pi had to take into account not only the actual situation in Chang'an, but also the political influence.

If Liu Bei is allowed to go in and out of the pass so easily, not to mention the loss of soldiers, God knows what will become of the hearts of the people in this pass.

Again, Cao Pi drove his own expedition this time, and was first beaten by Dongwu in the eastern part of the Central Plains, and he was beaten with gold stars, which would make Liu Bei easily enter Guanzhong. In this position of emperor, what confidence do you have to sit down?!

Therefore, after receiving Cao Zhen's letter for help, Cao Pi immediately sent 30,000 elite Chinese troops to Chang'an.

At the same time, along with the 30,000 elites of the Chinese army to Chang'an, there was also a full favor and an edict from Cao Pi.

Cao Pi's edict was addressed to Cao Zhen, telling Cao Zhen that he must do whatever it takes to prevent Liu Bei from entering Guanzhong.

And full of favors, in addition to bringing troops to support, was also sent by Cao Pi to explain the reason to Cao Zhen, and at the same time to counsel the military aircraft.

Although Cao Pi is doing the things of pig teammates, he is not a pig brain, and it is not easy to know Cao Zhen, so he asked Man Chong to come to Chang'an on behalf of him to explain to Cao Zhen the reason for his decision, hoping that Cao Zhen can strengthen his determination to keep Liu Bei out of Guanzhong.

Cao Zhen just sighed after listening to Manzhong's explanation.

What can you say?!

The emperor personally issued an edict, and he was afraid that you would not understand it and sent an envoy to explain it to you. Can you still resist the decree?!

And to be honest, if he Cao Zhen is not surnamed Cao, Cao Pi can care what you think.

But since he wants to block Liu Bei from entering Guanzhong, he must make a clear judgment on the direction of Liu Bei's troops, otherwise once the judgment is wrong, he may not even be able to recover the defense.

Fortunately, Cao Pi sent a full favor, this is also a person who can be literate and martial, and is old in the military array.

And after taking the time to understand the intelligence of the Shu army gathered in Chang'an, Man Pet also gave suggestions.

The first place to be heavily guarded must be the slope.

After all, there are more than 10,000 people stationed at the Bao Shu Road, and from the most conventional point of view, the place where Liu Bei is most likely to send troops must be the Bao Shu Road.

Not only is there a ready-made passage, but also can hoard grain and grass and gather soldiers, if you don't take advantage of such a good advantage, then Liu Bei will also go on a northern expedition.

Therefore, Man Zhong suggested that Cao Zhen should strengthen the garrison and defense of the Wuzhangyuan area, and not let the Shu army have enough time and troops to break through the defense of the Wuzhangyuan line.

This can be seen by anyone who is not confused, and Cao Zhen also agrees with it.

Regardless of whether Liu Bei will take the ramp as the main direction of attack, the ramp cannot be guarded against. Immediately send 10,000 elite forbidden troops to assist in the defense of Wuzhangyuan.

Secondly, in terms of Longshan Road, although it may also become Liu Bei's main direction of attack, there is still a loose pass out of Longshan Road, and Cao Zhen also sent Sun Li to lead 5,000 troops to garrison the scattered pass early.

Sun Li led 5,000 people to garrison, as long as it did not encounter too much disparity in troops, it should not be a problem.

But even so, Man Chong still suggested that just in case, send another 5,000 people to Sun Li, and gather 10,000 people to defend If Liu Bei wants to go out of Longshan Road to attack Sanguan, without 100,000 troops, don't want to attack it at all.

Obviously, it was impossible for Liu Bei to gather an army of 100,000 in the north of Yongzhou, and the logistical pressure alone could crush Liu Bei.

Third, the meridian road.

The meridian road is rugged and difficult to travel, and it is impossible for too many troops to pass through at one time, and at the same time, the transportation of grain and grass is also extremely difficult, but it has an advantage, that is, it is very close to Chang'an, and it is less than a hundred miles away from Chang'an, but it is only a two-day or three-day march.

Although Man Zhong and Cao Zhen didn't think that Liu Bei would lack the heart and eyes to go to Meridian Valley to attack Chang'an, they still had to defend it.

It doesn't take much, just send 3,000 people to watch the Meridian Valley crossing.

The meridian crossing is very narrow, and the terrain is also very treacherous, which is not suitable for a large army to fight.

As long as you look at the meridian crossing, no matter how many troops Liu Bei comes, they will not be able to break through the meridian road.

This forbidden army that did not need to be used for reinforcement, Cao Zhen sent his own brother, Cao Tai, who was also Cao Ren's son, to lead the army to guard the Meridian Valley crossing.

This is not a place where you need to fight wits and courage, once you come, it is still a place where you can easily make contributions, Cao Zhen sent Cao Tai to go, which is somewhat of a way to take care of the Cao family.

As for Fu Luo Dao, close to Zuo Fengyi, this place will be handed over to Zhang He.

Zhang He led 20,000 troops to garrison Zuo Fengyi to guard against the mediocre Meng Da and Kou Feng, and as soon as he came out of Fu Luo Dao, if he wanted to attack Chang'an, he would definitely pass through Zuo Fengyi, so let Zhang He take a look.

With Zhang He's ability, as long as he doesn't mess up, it won't be so easy for Liu Bei to break through.

As for the last Chen Cangdao. Cao Zhen hesitated.

In the end, should Guo Huai lead the troops to guard Chen Cangdao and replace Xiahou Nan

(End of chapter)