The Han army in Guanzhong, in both directions, was brewing a counteroffensive.

Runan County, Yuzhou, located in the Central Plains, is now unusually calm.

Don't look at it now, the vanguard army of the Shu army in Jingzhou has gone north to attack Nanyang County, and Runan County seems to be not too far from Nanyang County, but Cao Xiu is really not worried that Nanyang County will be lost.

Yes, Cao Xiu has always been unaccustomed to Sima Yi, thinking that this person is just relying on the support of the Hedong family, so he rode on his head and became the governor of Jing, the leader of Henan Erzhou, but Sima Yi's ability, Cao Xiu still knows a little bit.

If he didn't have two brushes, would he Sima Yi be trusted by two successive generations of Great Wei Emperors, and hand over Nanyang County, the gateway to the Central Plains, to him to guard? !

Facing the invasion of more than 40,000 Shu thieves, if he Sima Yi can't hold Nanyang County, then. That proves that Cao Xiu's impeachment is not wrong at all.

As for whether the Shu thieves will attack Runan County from the east to the west, Cao Xiu is not worried about this.

If you want to send troops from Xiangyang to attack Runan, you must first bypass Xuchang, an important town in Yuzhou.

Xuchang is a place where Cao Wei has been operating for decades, and it can be said that it is deep-rooted, and Wang Yanyun, who guards Xuchang, is also a general who is familiar with military books and is both civil and military.

And to attack Runan from Jiangxia to the north, then don't even think about it. Across a big mountain.

The marching battles of these years are not the next generations, whether it is the soldiers or generals of this era, no one can advance thousands of miles into Dabie Mountain. No one can do this without enough blessings of faith.

Not to mention, today's Jiangxia has just experienced the "flames of war", the Shu thieves have "retreated" from Jiangxia, and the Eastern Wu has just occupied Jiangxia, many things have not been straightened out, and it is impossible to send troops from Jiangxia in a short period of time, bypassing or crossing the Dabie Mountain, and attacking Runan.

Therefore, Cao Xiu is really stable now.

But Cao Xiu didn't want such stability.

Cao Xiu has been stable in Runan for almost five years, and if he continues to be so stable, it is estimated that the emperor of Great Wei will almost forget the existence of such an uncle as himself.

Over the years, Cao Xiu has kept writing to impeach Sima Yi, on the one hand, he really can't bear Sima Yi becoming his top boss and wants to ask the Son of Heaven for power, on the other hand, Cao Xiu has not shown his sense of existence to the new Son of Heaven Cao Rong.

The previous two defeats made Cao Xiu's reputation fall to the bottom, and after retreating from the defeat of Shouchun, Cao Xiu felt that Cao Pi was a little awkward because he couldn't figure it out, and felt that Cao Pi was helping outsiders and not helping his own people, which led to a sharp decline in Cao Pi's sense of Cao Xiu.

Over the years, it is not so much that Cao Xiu stayed in Runan County and was unwilling to return to Beijing, but that Cao Pi put Cao Xian in Runan, and he had no intention of recruiting him to return to the dynasty for reuse.

This kind of situation is unacceptable to Cao Xiu.

Why is it that he is also defeated, he Cao Zidan can rise to the top, and even become the auxiliary minister of Tuogu, but he has to be trapped in a county in Yuzhou, looking at this group of Jiangdong rats? !

He Cao Zidan lost Yongliang Erzhou, I just lost half of Huainan, and I still occupy Runan County, and I watched the Eastern Wu soldiers in Huainan, and didn't let them easily connect with Qingxu's Eastern Wu army.

Who the hell loses more?!

In the past, Cao Xiu complained in his heart, but for the sake of Cao Zhen being his own brother, he didn't have any other ideas.

Everyone has lost the battle, and it is meaningless to compare who loses more miserably, no matter how Cao Xiu is, he still has this mind.

But not anymore.

Now, Cao Zhen led the elite soldiers of the Central Plains to counterattack the attack in two ways, all the way to the right Fufeng, seeing that it was about to sweep the entire right Fufeng, and the other road also trapped the main force of the Yongzhou Shu thieves, and it was about to enter Chang'an, and how could Cao Xiu sit still after recovering the three assistants in Guanzhong.

If Cao Zhen really led his troops to recover Guanzhong and washed away the shame of his previous defeat, then Cao Xiu's position would be embarrassing, and he would completely lose the opportunity to be reused by the Son of Heaven.

Even if it's not for power, you should fight for your reputation.

Therefore, Cao Xiu is also considering whether there is a chance to do something in the Huainan area, or even take the initiative to send troops to recover Huainan.

Huainan is a place that plays a pivotal role in the current situation on the Eastern Front.

Eastern Wu controls Huainan and can support the Qingxu Army of Eastern Wu through Huainan at any time. If it weren't for Pengcheng Card, let Dongwu completely connect Qingxu and Huainan, Dongwu would have a chance to completely threaten Yanzhou in the hinterland of the Central Plains.

But in the same way, because of Pengcheng stuck in the corner of the passage between Huainan and Qingxu, as long as Huainan can be recovered, it can basically cut off the connection between the land of Qingxu and the land of Jiangdong.

In the future, Dongwu will not have no way to contact Qingxu, but such a contact can only be pinned on the offshore boat, the efficiency is not a little bit low, and the transportation of various ordnance supplies is also very unfavorable, and the most important thing is that once a war breaks out in Qingxu, Jiangdong can only take the waterway to support Qingxu, which will seriously reduce the efficiency of support.

To put it mildly, without Huainan taking on the role of connecting Jiangdong and Qingxu in the middle, Qingxu is basically equivalent to an enclave for Jiangdong, and it is effortless for Dawei to take it back.

Therefore, the place of Huainan is really important, Cao Xiu has been trying to recover Huainan for so many years.

But. Cao Xiu thought so, but the court of Great Wei didn't think so.

The Great Wei court, from Cao Pi to Cao Rong, always focused on the Guanzhong region, because Shu Han was Cao Wei's henchman.

Cao Xiu did not deny this, and he also knew that the foundation of Shu Han and Great Wei was determined, and there must be an endless situation between these two countries. But in recent years, the rats in Soochow have developed in a boring manner, and their strength should not be underestimated.

I didn't take Dongwu seriously before, it's okay, after all, Dongwu doesn't have cavalry, and the infantry combat power is also stretched, so it's okay to fight a city defense battle, but it is definitely not the opponent of the Great Wei army to fight field battles and plain battles.

It is also for this reason that Cao Wei has never taken Dongwu in his eyes.

But now, according to Cao Xiu's observations, the soldiers of Eastern Wu in Huainan and other places have been practicing land warfare tactics, trying to make the Jiangdong naval army have the same excellent land combat capabilities. Although progress is slow, if it continues to be so laissez-faire, Jiangdong will sooner or later become a scourge to the east of Great Wei.

Therefore, over the years, Cao Xiu has always insisted on asking the imperial court to play, hoping to take the initiative to launch an attack on Eastern Wu and interrupt the development rhythm of Eastern Wu, but the imperial court has never been moved.

Cao Xiu was in the place, and he didn't know what the imperial court thought.

If other places, such as the impeachment of Sima Yicai, are unworthy, and the impeachment of Jia Kui's incompetence is due to Cao Xiu's own selfishness, Cao Xiu really has no selfish motives in launching an active attack on Eastern Wu.

But it's a pity that the imperial court really can't understand his thoughts.

This is also to blame Cao Xiu himself.

Cao Xiu didn't listen to the order and didn't follow the edict before, so Cao Xiu's impression on Cao Pi's side was already very low To put it bluntly, if it weren't for the serious withering of talents among the generals of the Cao clan, Cao Pi would have already relieved Cao Xiu's military power and let him stay where he was cool.

And Cao Rong, who has just succeeded to the throne for less than three years, is still in the process of establishing his prestige, and has not yet had the heart to consider the issue of Cao Xiu.

In addition, when Cao Ei was the prince, Cao Xiu had been guarding the Runan area, and Cao Ei had not seen Cao Xiu a few times, and his impression of Cao Xiu was also influenced by Cao Pi to a large extent.

Although Cao Ei is a little more generous than Cao Pi, the bad influence of Cao Xiu's disobedience to the edict will not be easily accepted even by Cao Ei.

Cao Pi and Cao Heng's two generations of emperors did not give Cao the right to take a holiday, so this matter is not the same as Cao Zhen's unauthorized dispatch of troops, Cao Xiu did not listen to the order, and relied on his surname Cao, which did not even have an excuse for the past.

Therefore, although Cao Xiu felt that he had suggested an active attack on Eastern Wu out of public interest, in the eyes of Cao Pi and Cao Ei, this was still a way for Cao Xiu to try to obtain military power.

Sima Yi wanted to guard Nanyang, and he couldn't leave easily, and Jia Kui and Cao Xiu did not agree, in the tradition of the Great Wei court, there were few precedents for generals with foreign surnames to command clan generals to fight, so once the war against Jiangdong started, it was inevitable that Cao Xiu could only be appointed as the commander-in-chief, and let him be the governor of Yanzhou, Yuzhou, and Pengcheng military, so as to give Cao Xiu great military power.

Anyway, Cao Ei didn't want to be like his father and experience another bad thing that was untouchable, so Cao Xiu's so-called public heart, on Cao Ei's side, was just an excuse for Cao Xiu to ask for more rights in disguise.

It's weird to agree!!

This undoubtedly deepened Cao Xiu's depression and his eagerness to prove his ability.

But. Although Cao Xiu always wanted a chance to prove himself, he never found such an opportunity.

Cao Xiu is proud of himself, but as one of the few outstanding generals in the second generation of the Cao clan, his basic military literacy is still there, and he knows that if you want to start a war, you can't just take the soldiers out for a walk.

All kinds of war preparations need to be made in advance, logistics and supplies must be arranged, the march route and attack plan need to be formulated, and the possible reaction of the enemy army must be predicted, and then the corresponding plan should be formulated. Wait a minute.

Therefore, if the imperial court did not agree, it did not have enough troops and insufficient logistical support, and it was difficult to launch a campaign on its own.

Originally, Cao Xiu could only continue to be depressed like this, watching Cao Zhen wash away his shame, so as to become famous and pay homage to the prime minister.

However, there is a but. Cao Xiu suddenly received good news.

Zhou Yi, the general of Eastern Wu who was stationed in Dangtu County, was unable to bear Sun Quan's suspicion and deposition, and intended to sacrifice the city to join the Great Wei.

Cao Xiu suddenly felt that his opportunity had come.

(End of chapter)