Zuo Fengyi, in Linjin County.

"How are the Shu thieves?!"

Cao Zhen, the governor of Yongliang of the Great Wei Dynasty and the new general, stared at the map of Guanzhong in front of him while asking the general of Tongguan standing below him, Wang Chang, the general of Dangkou.

"Shu general Zhang Xi has already led his troops into Chongquan and deployed defenses on the spot, so he has no intention of advancing eastward for the time being." Wang Chang honestly answered the questions he knew.

Hearing this, Cao Zhen smiled slightly, looked at an old man dressed as a scribe beside him, and said, "This Zhang Yuanchang is still so cautious. But that's fine. ”

The old man also smiled slightly, and said to Cao Zhen, "Zhang Xi is a person who is cautious in success and cautious in defeat. Zhong Daguo has great talent, and he can be regarded as the best in people's hearts. ”

Cao Zhen's face changed slightly, and he really couldn't hear the old man praise that Sima Yi.

But the old man's status is unusual, Cao Zhen is not easy to offend, plus some of Cao Zhen's actions, he still needs the old man's help to endorse, therefore, Cao Zhen is not good at throwing his face at the old man, so he can only be reluctant, and then turned around and ordered Wang Chang, saying, "General Wang, order the three armies, fortify on the spot, and do not advance westward without an order, and violators will be beheaded immediately." ”

Wang Chang looked at Cao Zhen, and then at the old man beside Cao Zhen, and finally didn't say a word, and came out with the promise.

After Wang Chang left, Cao Zhen adjusted his attitude slightly, turned his head and continued to look at the old man, put on a smiling face, and said, "Situ Gong is from afar, but there is His Majesty's will to convey it?!" ”

Wang Lang still smiled, shook his head, and said, "The Governor is His Majesty's family's favorite general, even if His Majesty has a will, it is possible to go directly to the Governor, why do you need the old man to convey the old decay on his behalf, it is in accordance with His Majesty's will to assist the Governor to recover the lost land in Guanzhong." ”

Wang Lang's words finally made Cao Zhen feel a little relieved.

In fact, this time Cao Wei suddenly went out to counterattack, and there was really a bit of particularity in it.

This was not a large-scale counteroffensive ordered by Cao Rong, but Cao Zhen's own initiative!!

Just as the Han side has not completely prepared for the Northern Expedition, Cao Wei's preparations for counterattacking the fortified positions have not been completely completed.

Although in April, after the Great Wei court meeting, the strategy of countering the attack was established, and Cao Rong issued an order in the court to worship Cao Zhen as the general, the governor of Yongliang, the fake festival, and the prime minister to counterattack the battle in the attack.

However, in order to launch a comprehensive counterattack against Guanzhong and even Yongliang, Cao Wei also had to make a lot of preparations, not only to prepare enough grain and grass, but also to transfer county soldiers from all over the country and change the defense arrangement, which could not be prepared in three months.

Therefore, Cao Wei's expectation is to launch a counteroffensive against Guanzhong after the autumn harvest in September, and the goal is not set too high, and it is unthinkable to recover Yongliang, as long as Guanzhong can be recovered, then the troops can be temporarily stopped and the battle can be stopped, in order to plan for the future.

However, in mid-July, when the Eastern Wu and Shu thieves turned against each other, the news that Zhou Yu, the governor of Eastern Wu, personally led his troops to "capture" Jiangxia County reached Luoyang.

In Cao Zhen's view, this is a very good opportunity to send troops.

Of course, Cao Zhen could not have known about the private agreement between the Han and Eastern Wu, and as soon as he saw Zhou Yu personally attacking Jingzhou and capturing Jiangxia County at once, he naturally thought that this was a precursor to another war between the Great Han and Eastern Wu.

The importance of Jingzhou to the Shu thieves, Cao Zhen's level commander, it is impossible not to know, and once the Eastern Wu attacks Jingzhou, the Shu thieves will definitely do their best to protect Jingzhou, at least the two important strategic nodes of Jiangling and Xiangyang must not be lost.

To put it mildly, the Shu thief Jingzhou army must make every effort to prevent Eastern Wu from continuing to advance westward, and it is no longer possible to pose a threat to Nanyang in Jingbei and Xuchang in Yuzhou.

In order to defend Jingzhou, the Shu thieves will inevitably transfer troops from Shu to Jingzhou to support, and the Eastern Wu side will inevitably transfer the main force to the west to compete with the Shu thieves for Jingzhou.

If it really wants to fight to that point, then the Guanzhong of the Shu thieves, and the Huainan and Qingxu of Eastern Wu will all be affected, and they will no longer pose any threat to the frontier of the Great Wei.

Cao Zhen won't care about the situation in the east, that's what Sima Yi and Jia Kui need to worry about, Cao Zhen only cares about whether his counter-attack plan can be implemented, and he will be ashamed.

Now is a very good opportunity to send troops, the Shu thieves do not have the ability to fight on two fronts at all, once Jingzhou starts fighting, the Shu thieves support Jingzhou, then the time is ripe for their counterattack.

This is the real reason why Cao Zhen wrote to Cao Rong and asked for troops.

However, Cao Rong did not approve.

First, it is because the preparations for the Great Wei counterattack have not been completely completed, and the most important military food reserves have not been fully deployed.

Second, it was because Sima Yi, who was in Wancheng, also sent a letter to Cao Rong, expressing his concern about Wu Shu's anti-purpose.

In Sima Yi's view, the opposition between Wu and Shu was a little too sudden.

Yes, Lord Wu is capricious and treacherous is a common thing, but he backstabbed the Shu thief twice in a row, and the Shu thief endured this breath, which shows that for the Eastern Wu side, the tolerance of the Shu thief has always been very high.

What is the reason, Sima Yi still sees clearly not how generous the Shu thief is, nor how idiotic the high-level Shu thief is, it is purely the current strength of the Shu thief, which is not enough to support them to turn against Wei Wu at the same time.

In addition, some time ago, although the two countries of Wu and Shu have not formally reconciled the matter of betraying the alliance, the envoys between the two sides have been very frequent, and the attitude shown by Sun Quan, the lord of Wu, is also more inclined to cooperate with the Shu thieves than to unite with the Great Wei.

In this case, Wu suddenly took the initiative to attack, and in a short period of time conquered Jiangxia County.

Again, last time Wu took advantage of the situation to launch a sneak attack, Sun Quan led the superior forces, divided the troops into two ways, and attacked Jingzhou from the east to the west, but it was still blocked in the south of Jiangxia County, and the battle of Jingnan did not get any benefits, and even was almost counterattacked into Changsha County.

Even if the person leading the troops is Zhou Yu. You won't be out of the road that much, will you?!

In the last backstabbing sneak attack of Dongwu, Wen Ping was able to use inferior forces to drag Sun Quan, but this time, under the conditions of almost the same troops, he let Zhou Yu fight all the way and escape, and he had no power to fight back? !

And the most suspicious thing is that in the battle report after such a rout battle reached the Northland, the report on the battle damage was very vague and contradictory.

The difference between the detailed work arranged in Jingzhou and Dongwu and the information transmitted back can be said to be very different.

Information came from the Eastern Wu side, saying that this time it defeated more than 20,000 Jiangxia naval troops and burned more than 300 Jingzhou warships, but Jingzhou's Xizuo said that although Wenpin was defeated, he took 30,000 Jiangxia soldiers and Meng Chong, and retreated to Xiangyang with more than 200 ships, and the loss of troops and warships was not large.

Therefore, Sima Yi suggested that until the truth of this information was clarified, it was best not to react too much to the exchange of troops between Wu and Shu.

If it's fake, don't move, take me as the main thing, and you won't let Dawei have any losses.

Even if it is true, it is also the most beneficial choice for Dawei to sit back and watch the death fight between the two countries, and Dawei will choose the opportunity to react.

Cao Rong thinks that what Sima Yi said makes sense, although this person has selfish intentions, but his strategic vision is really outstanding, no wonder the first emperor used him so much.

However, Cao Zhen played sparsely, and Cao Ei was not good to refuse directly.

Therefore, Cao Rong wrote a letter to Cao Zhen, explaining Sima Yi's concerns to Cao Zhen, and hoping that Cao Zhen could wait a little longer and act at the opportunity.

Cao Zhen didn't feel anything when he received Cao Ei's private message, but after reading the content of the letter, Cao Zhen was really angry.

It's this damn Sima Yi again!!

At the time of the court discussion, this Sima Yi obstructed his counter-attack plan, and finally saw that the general trend had been achieved, so he got off the donkey and pretended to agree.

Don't think that Cao Zhen doesn't understand what this old boy has in his heart.

This old boy sits in Nanyang, leading the affairs of Jing and Henan, and now that Jingzhou is in war, he is naturally willing to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight.

Not to mention recovering the entire Jingzhou, it is not impossible to fight under the city of Xiangyang, or even directly recover Xiangyang.

At that time, not to mention his meritorious achievements in recovering the old land, in order to recover the grain and grass prepared in Guanzhong, this old boy may also take the opportunity to occupy it.

What do you rely on to recover Guanzhong?!

For this reason, Cao Zhen immediately wrote a letter to the Son of Heaven, exposing Sima Yi's entire conspiracy, and at the same time asking the Son of Heaven to seriously consider whether to counterattack Jingzhou or counterattack the attack.

The plan for counter-tackling has been in preparation for three months, and all measures are being prepared around the counter-attack.

And the counterattack on Jingzhou is just a temporary idea, no matter how much he Sima Yi can, he will not be able to break through the Xiangfan defense system, do you really want to give up a strategy that has been implemented halfway, and instead gamble on such an immature strategy? !

Cao Zhen thought that after his letter was delivered to Luoyang, Cao Ei would make a choice easily.

But Cao Zhen himself didn't expect that he waited for ten days and never waited for Cao Rong's reply.

This is not scientific, from Hanguguan to Luoyang, it is only seven or eight days to go back and forth, if it is a fast horse and urgent, it is possible to go back and forth in six days. In a major military situation, Cao Rong did not reply to Cao Zhen for ten days, which basically means that he is unwilling to reply to Cao Zhen.

This also means that Cao Ei made a choice between Cao Zhen and Sima Yi.

But this is unacceptable to Cao Zhen.

Therefore, Cao Zhenyi gritted his teeth, relying on his surname Cao, and also relying on his right to hold the governor Yongliang, and ordered Guo Huai and Wang Chang.

Send troops to counterattack the attack!!

(End of chapter)