In April of the 11th year of Jian'an, Chen Liujun, Chen Du, Sikong Mansion.

It was early summer, and Cao Cao stumbled out of the study a little in the early morning, and he liked to read in the study lately, and he didn't stay in the backyard.

Outside the door, Xu Chu saw that he was in a trance, and hurriedly went up and asked, "Sikong, what's wrong?" ”

"The lonely wind is suffering again."

Cao Cao only felt that the headache was unbearable, and said: "Fu Gu went to the back garden to rest, and then sent someone to Qian County to spread Hua Tuo." ”

"Yui."

Some of the attendants helped him to the backyard, and some went to the county government to send official documents.

This kind of official document must be issued by the government, and there is a special state capital to send the letter, which is the position held by Tai Shici in his early years, and then the local government will send someone to find Hua Tuo.

Cao Cao arrived at the back garden and lay down on the wooden collapse to rest for a while, in the midst of a splitting headache, and finally fell into a deep sleep like numbness.

When I woke up in the afternoon, I was already in a cold sweat, and I only felt that the wind in my head had disappeared all of a sudden, as if it had healed.

"Ming Gong."

Guo Jia and Cheng Yu, who were guarding the outer hall of the small building, heard the movement inside and immediately entered the inner room.

Seeing that it was the two of them, Cao Cao sat up from the wooden collapse, gasped for breath, and a maid beside him helped wipe the sweat on his forehead, and waited for a while before letting the maid leave.

"Fengxiao, Zhongde, you are here."

Cao Cao calmed down, he was wearing white silk pajamas, because it was a little hot in summer, so he took a black silk coat from the hanger and draped it, put on clogs and slowly walked to the main seat of the outer hall and sat down.

Guo Jia and Cheng Yu followed him to the outer hall, and after Cao Cao asked them to sit down, they sat separately on Cao Cao's left and right, Guo Jia arched his hand and said, "Ming Gong, what's wrong?" ”

"Lone read in the study until midnight last night, and fell asleep in a daze, only to feel that there seemed to be a fox in his ears, and he got up this morning with a splitting headache."

Cao Cao frowned and said: "The lonely road is a head wind and a crime, so I went to Xiaozhu to rest, but I saw the tiger roaring mountain forest in my sleep, and there seemed to be the sound of rolling thunder." Vaguely see the nine-tailed silver fox, the platinum tiger. After getting up, the head wind suddenly healed, but it was much more comfortable. ”

Tiger roaring and fox groaning?

Cheng Yu looked at Guo Jia, but Guo Jia said with a happy face: "Ming Gong is lucky." ”

"Oh?"

Cao Cao wondered, "Where does Ji come from?" ”

"The nine-tailed fox, the six-in-one will see you together, and when King Wen is king, Dongyi will return to it. The white tiger, the five spirit beasts, the holy king is prosperous, there is a white tiger in the morning, and the thunder is in the four fields. ”

Guo Jia explained: "This indicates that someone will come to join the Ming Duke, and the north will also be pacified. ”

"Report!"

As soon as the words fell, someone came to report outside the door: "Sikong, General Duan sent an official document, saying that Ma Teng is willing to belong to the imperial court and send protons to Chendu." ”

"Hahaha."

Cao Cao laughed, waved his hand and said, "Go ahead." ”

"Yui."

Wait for the attendants to leave.

Cao Cao looked at Guo Jia Chengyu and said: "It seems that this dream is indeed auspicious, a few days ago, Zhong Xuan sent a letter, saying that Han Sui defeated Ma Teng, and Ma Teng is very likely to belong to the imperial court, and it really came true." ”

After the defeat of the Kwantung coalition army last time, Han Sui, Ma Teng and others ran back to Guanzhong, fighting separately, attacking each other, and fighting fiercely.

Because of the contradictions between Han Sui and Ma Teng's tribes in the early years, Han Sui killed Ma Teng's wife, and the two had a grudge against each other, but Zhong Xuan and others mediated that this did not break out in full force.

But after Cao Cao repelled the Kwantung coalition army, he had a long-standing grudge and suddenly flare-up.

So since last year, there has been more civil strife in Guanzhong, and Ma Teng's power is not as good as Han Sui, and he was beaten and fled to Hedong.

At this time, it was estimated that he could not withstand the pressure, and was finally forced to choose to ask Duan Xuan, who was stationed in Shaanxi County, for assistance, and expressed his willingness to submit to the imperial court.

Cheng Yu said: "Ming Gong, Xiliang people are capricious, Ma Teng and Han Sui are like this, and now they surrender, but they have to do it as a last resort. Even if we send protons, we may not be able to believe it, if we make him an official in the court, we will send someone to take over his subordinates. ”

Guo Jia also said: "At this time, Ma Teng is exhausted, if he can't be attached to the imperial court, he will be killed by Han Sui, we can just let Captain Sili return to Guanzhong and guard Hedong to get a glimpse of Chang'an." ”

"Hmm"

Cao Cao pondered for a moment, this strategy was a failure.

Because Ma Teng's current situation is not good, and he is already a mortal enemy with Han Sui, Han Sui will not accept his request for reconciliation, so he must need external forces to intervene.

In the last Han Sui Ma Teng Rebellion, Zhong Xuan was driven out of Chang'an, and now he is still in Luoyang, acting as a barrier to the west of the imperial court.

Now that there is civil strife in Guanzhong, it is better to take this opportunity to seize Ma Teng's military power. Let Zhong Xuan return to Chang'an, and let him fight with Duan Xuan and the generals who were willing to defect to the imperial court in Guanzhong and Han Sui when the time came.

Thinking of this, Cao Cao nodded and said: "Okay, this matter will be handed over to Yuan Chang, and I will write a letter later, send someone to Luoyang, and let Yuan Chang negotiate with Ma Teng." ”

After settling Ma Teng's matter, Guo Jia said again: "I came with Mr. Zhongde today to report on the affairs of the north. ”

"Say."

"These days there has been a change in Yecheng, and we should have news in Yecheng that Yuan Shang is mobilizing grain and grass, and I am afraid that he wants to take advantage of the fact that most of our troops are in the south to eliminate Yuan Tan in one fell swoop."

"Oh?"

Cao Cao's eyes flickered and said, "Then in this battle, do we have a chance?" ”

At the beginning, Cao Cao followed Guo Jia's strategy and chose to deploy more troops in the area of Runan and Yingchuan, saying that he would guard against Liu Biao, who was the emperor in the south.

Since Liu Biao rejected Sun Quan in the east and attacked Liu Zhang in the west, he has become a hegemon in the south, which can be said to be the peak of his power.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Liu Biao also successfully became the emperor, obviously gambling with the sky, betting that he would live a few more years, and when he eliminated Liu Zhang and Sun Quan and stabilized the south, he would be able to free up his hands to solve the internal troubles of his heirs.

At that time, Cao Cao may at most get Jizhou, maybe he hasn't even gotten Jizhou, after all, with Liu's strength, he will be able to pacify the entire south in less than three years.

Therefore, Cao Cao ostensibly looked to be guarding against Liu Biao, but in fact, he had been coveting Jizhou in the north, and he had transferred his troops and horses to the south on the surface, but in fact he had been observing Eryuan.

Hearing that Eryuan might fight again this year, Cao Cao's heart suddenly moved, once he reaped the benefits of the fisherman, he would be able to annex the entire Jizhou in one fell swoop.

Guo Jia said: "According to the internal news, this time Yuan Shang obviously intends to completely eliminate Yuan Tan, but the senior cadres of Bingzhou have also recruited a lot of people to come, and it is very likely that there will be a lot of soldiers left in Yecheng, so if you want to take advantage of the situation, I am afraid that it will be a little difficult." ”

"Hmm."

Cao Cao nodded slightly, he also knew that he couldn't become a fat man by eating in one bite, Yuan Shao left Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan too much money, and there was also a Youzhou assassin Yuan Xi, and Bingzhou assassin Shi Gaogan, if you want to kill these people, it's not that simple.

Guo Jia said again: "However, it is still possible to take this opportunity to weaken Yuan Shang, we took advantage of the pretense to go north to surround Yecheng, but in fact, the troops entered the front line and attacked Yuan Shang with Yuan Tan." ”

"Feng Xiao wants to force Yuan Shang to return to Yecheng, and then when he is forced to withdraw his troops, let's take the opportunity to join Yuan Tan to attack Yuan Shang."

Cao Cao asked.

Guo Jia said: "Exactly. ”

"Okay."

Cao Cao said: "Just do it according to the intention of filial piety." ”

At that moment, the three of them talked about some specific matters, and after confirming the plan, the meeting was dismissed.

After leaving Situ's mansion, Cheng Yu said to Guo Jia: "Fengxiao, Cao Gong's dream today is quite strange. ”

"There's nothing strange about it, the dream is said to be judged by people, where is it strange?"

Guo Jia smiled, but his eyebrows unconsciously showed a little sadness.

Cheng Yu looked at him seriously and said softly: "I heard that Sima Hui, a famous man in the south, knows how to meet, he named a person named Zhuge Liang Wolong, a person named Pang Tong named Feng Xiao, and there is another person who has two self-names at the same time, which is the Tiger Silver Fox. ”

"This is just the prophecy of a face-to-face person, and it should not be true." Guo Jia waved his hand: "Back then, Yuan Shu also looked for someone to look for a face, saying that he had the appearance of an emperor, but what in the end?" ”

As he spoke, he turned and left.

Looking at the back of his departure, Cheng Yu frowned slightly, Guo Jia would encourage Cao Gong's heart, but is it really appropriate to only report good news and not bad news?

But after all, it's just a dream, and the things that dream about are indeed sometimes not necessarily true or false, so I also left.

．

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Just when Cao Cao was plotting the north, the south was gloomy.

In Chengdu Mansion, Shu County, Yizhou, Liu Zhang, who has been looking very bad recently, convened many henchmen in the mansion to discuss important matters at this time.

In the past two years, Liu Zhang's power has been declining, and although the north of Ba County was occupied by Zhang Lu, at least most of the territory in the south of Ba County was still in his hands.

Now he has simply lost Jiangzhou, and the population and strength under his rule have been greatly reduced, and he can only trap Shu County, Guanghan and Qianwei.

In this case, Liu Zhang sighed every day, regretting that he wanted to form an alliance with Sun Quan to attack Liu Biao together.

"Duke Ming, Liu Biaozhi's ambition is to dominate the south, seize Yizhou and Jiangdong, and then go north to seek the world. Even if we don't attack Liu Biao, Liu Biao will come to attack us, you live or die, and the way to survive is also. ”

Shu County is too guarded, and the state capital is engaged in Wang Shang said: "The current situation is indeed unfavorable for us, but Zhang Lu and Liu Biao are at war in Ba County, and this is our time." ”

"Oh?"

Liu Zhang hurriedly asked, "What time?" ”

Wang Shang looked around and said with a smile: "Zhang Lu and Liu Biao will not dare to attack us when they divide the winners and losers, but once they divide the winners and losers and drive the other party out of Yizhou, they will immediately turn their heads and attack Chengdu, so we must not sit still, we should wait for the time to move, and take advantage of them to profit from them and repel them at the same time." ”

"Yes, now Liu Biao is strong and we are weak, but if they want to attack us, they can't tell the winner in a short time, I'm afraid that even if they win, it will be a miserable victory, so they will choose to go south first and then change, break the strong enemy and then seek the weak, but we are definitely not people who can be fished by them."

"Ming Gong can first secretly rectify the soldiers and horses, gather troops to garrison troops in Mianzhu, if Liu Biao wins, then go south to take Jiangzhou. If Zhang Lu wins, the troops will be divided into two routes, all the way from Jiameng Pass to the east, and to Tho Township. Go all the way to Langzhong and go straight to Hanchang. ”

"This strategy is not bad, we will definitely be able to defeat Liu Biao and Zhang Lu, but our troops are insufficient, is there some division of troops into two routes?"

"Then think again."

Chen Shi, Gong Yang, Zhao Min, Li Jing, Wang Tang, Meng Biao and others in the hall had a lot of discussions.

They still gave some more pertinent advice.

The current situation is that the eldest and the second are fighting, and the third is watching the play on the side.

It's just that the eldest and the second are somewhat evenly matched, and although the third is weaker, it is not much weaker.

So once the eldest and the second don't fight and come to attack the third, the other side is really likely to take advantage of the fisherman.

Therefore, in the eyes of Zhang Lu and Liu Biao, whoever gets the other party will be able to get Yizhou.

But Liu Zhang's subordinates clearly don't intend to sit still.

After all, once Zhang Lu was beaten back to Hanzhong, or Liu Biao was beaten back to Jingzhou, then his next 30,000 horses would have to face an army of more than 50,000 or 60,000 enemies.

Therefore, his subordinates suggested that instead of sitting and waiting for death, it was better to take the initiative to attack, and when the other party decided the victory, he would attack decisively, and take down the other party in one fell swoop when Zhang Lu or Liu Biao was still immersed in the joy of victory.

Of course, it must be riskier to do this, and to be stable is to continue to stick to Chengdu, and it will take several years to break through the danger of Chengdu, regardless of Zhang Lu and Liu Biao, so it depends on whether Liu Zhang has the courage.

"Take the initiative?"

Liu Zhang hesitated, looked around and said: "Now that our soldiers and horses are weak, the soldiers are unstable after the defeat of Zigui, I am afraid it will be difficult to maintain, so forget it." ”

"Ming Gong!"

Wang Shang was shocked: "If you don't take advantage of the two tigers to take risks, I am afraid that there will be endless troubles in the future." ”

"Forget it."

Liu Zhang waved his hand: "I stick to Chengdu, they can't break it, they will retreat, so let's do it today." ”

"Ming Gong, you must not show weakness at this time."

"Ming Gong should be decisive."

"Ming Gong."

Everyone still wanted to persuade them again, but Liu Zhang had made up his mind and no longer listened to them.

Because of their cowardice, the people were disappointed and dispersed.

Only Zhang Song's eyes flickered.

Liu Zhang is too weak, although it is extremely risky to take the initiative to attack, but if it is done, at least Yizhou will be stabilized.

More importantly, if Zhang Lu is disabled, it is not impossible to recover Hanzhong.

But he missed the opportunity, and would rather divide his troops and stick to the surrounding counties of Chengdu than gather his forces and take advantage of the two tigers to fight each other.

It shows that this person is definitely not the master of Yizhou.

Under Liu Zhang's rule, if Yizhou wants to come out, I am afraid that there will not be that day, and it still has to seek other heroes.

Zhang Lu?

Liu Biao?

Let's wait and see.

Zhang Song slowly walked out of the hall.

The rest is already full of disappointment with Liu Zhang.

．

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Jiangdong, which has been in Jian'an for 11 years, has not had a good time.

Strictly speaking, although Shen Chen released a flood, the number of dead and injured was only more than 10,000 people.

However, the flood was accompanied by epidemics, so that many surviving soldiers in Jiangdong were infected with the plague, and there were many subsequent deaths and injuries, which made Jiangdong more and more bleak.

And then there were rebellions in various parts of Jiangdong, and there were countless people from Shanyue and the already unstable family in Jiangdong who raised swords.

Sun Quan personally led the army to the east and west, coupled with the strategy of Lu Su, Zhang Zhao and others, which was barely pacified.

Immediately after Liu Biao became emperor at the beginning of this year, he shocked the south, and many families in Jiangdong who were ostensibly subservient to Sun Quan secretly exchanged songs with Liu Biao, which made him exhausted.

The only good news was that Zhou Yu recuperated for more than half a year, his condition improved a lot, and he suggested to Sun Quan that he go north to the imperial court to become a vassal, form an alliance with Cao Cao, win many political victories, and be appointed as the pastor of Yangzhou.

Before that, his official positions were Zhennan General, Huiji Taishou, and Wu Hou, among which only Wu Hou, the county marquis, had the highest title and occupied the southeast, and there was always some injustice in his official position.

Now that he has been appointed as the pastor of Yangzhou, he has gained great political benefits, and the occupation of Yangzhou has justified his name, which has provided a solid foundation for his rule and obtained many benefits.

Cao Cao has never given him the official position of the princes' territory, for example, Liu Bei's territory is Xuzhou, and he will call him the pastor of Yuzhou. Later, Sun Quan's territory was in Yangzhou, and he called him the pastor of Xuzhou.

This time, Cao Cao actually chose to give Sun Quan such a big political benefit, which is a very big concession, which is enough to see his urgent mentality of wanting to stabilize the south and then annex the north.

The same is true of Sun Quan, who is now not interested in going north to seize Cao Cao's territory, and is thankful that he will secure his territory from being destroyed by Liu Biao.

So for a while, Cao Cao and Sun Quan entered a honeymoon period, and the two sides exchanged letters frequently, just like two patients who were admitted to the ICU by Shen Chen were exchanging their conditions, both full of hatred for Shen Chen and sympathy for each other.

At the end of April, Zhou Yu's condition had improved a lot, and Sun Quan summoned Zhou Yu, the governor of Yangzhou, Shi Zhangzhao, the military captain of Zan, Lu Su, the left Sima Gu Yong, the right Sima Tengtan, and the newly promoted Zhong Sima Zhuge Jin.

Originally, Sun Quan was not qualified to open the government, but after becoming the state minister, he had the power to open the government, and the shogunate had all kinds of history, Sima, master book, and engagement, and there were quite a few talents.

After everyone gathered in the Yangzhou Pastoral Mansion, Sun Quan looked around, looked at Zhou Yu and Zhang Zhaolu and them, and said in a deep voice: "Recently, the defenders of Anhui came to report that there are sawdust down the river every day. ”

Zhou Yu recovered from a serious illness, his face was slightly pale, and he said: "A few days ago, I came to report that Huang Lao Thief secretly returned to Jiangxia and was training the navy, I am afraid that Liu Biao has expanded the military for him again, and at the end of this year, it should be the time for him to march." ”

"It seems that we have to deal with it in advance, but now that Jiangdong is newly defeated, the morale of the soldiers is low, and even if they defend, they don't know if they can defend it. Now Cao Cao is stationed in Yingchuan Runan, which is not as good as the imperial court. ”

Zhang Zhao suggested: "If Cao Cao can be reinforcements, he attacks Nanyang to contain Liu Biao, and we fight with Huang Zu in Yuzhang, we will definitely be able to retreat in response to Liu Biao's difficulties." ”

"Not bad."

Lu Su also said: "Liu Biao seems to be powerful, but it is difficult to fight on three sides. Now he sent people to attack Yizhou, attack Zhang Lu, and want to capture Xichuan. At this time, it is a good time to bring in Cao Cao, we have a naval army, if we attack from three sides, Cao Cao will get Nanyang at most, Zhang Lu will get Xichuan, and we can get most of Jingzhou. ”

Everyone looked at Lu Su one after another, but they didn't expect his appetite to be so big. Others were still thinking about joining forces with Cao Cao, Zhang Lu, Liu Zhang and others to repel the invading Liu Biao, and he had already thought about how to divide Jingzhou after defeating Liu Biao, didn't this person look at the actual situation?

Only Zhou Yu smiled and said: "Zijing is right, the old thief is nearly seventy years old, and his death is near, as soon as he dies, Jingzhou will fall apart. ”

It's about looking at strategy.

Everyone was looking at the tactics and thinking about how to defeat Liu Biao.

But Zhou Yu and Lu Su thought that Liu Biao was too old, and once he died, Jingzhou, a seemingly strong giant, would collapse in an instant.

Then the three sides attack at the same time, and it depends on who can devour the cake of Jingzhou.

And Zhou Yu and Lu Su both believed that Cao Cao's army was strong and would win Nanyang. If their naval army is strong, the south of Nanyang will belong to Sun Quan.

As for the lord of Xichuan, now that Liu Zhang is too busy to take care of himself, even if Zhang Lu defeats the troops sent by Liu Biao to annex Xichuan, he will devour Liu Zhang first, so Xichuan has no ability to come to Jingzhou to divide the meat.

This is the conclusion that everyone looks at the problem differently.

It's just that it seems that the future is promising, but now the main thing is that Liu Biao is still strong and brilliant before he dies, how can he withstand his last attack?

Sun Quan said: "The matter of Jingzhou is too far away, and the top priority is how to resist the attack of the old thief Huang Zu." ”

"Wu Hou should contact Cao Cao immediately, of course, he can't pin his hopes on being fed."

Zhou Yu groaned: "I heard that Shen Chen has resigned and returned to his hometown, this is a good time for us to defeat Huang Zu, we should show the enemy weakness, lure the enemy deeper, and annihilate Huang Zu's old thief in one fell swoop!" ”

"Then let's set it up."

Sun Quan said in a deep voice: "I want to go to Anhui in person and swear to live and die with Jiangdong!" ”

"Yui!"

The crowd bowed their hands in unison.

This is the difference between Sun Quan and Liu Zhang.

Liu Zhang was cowardly and did not dare to take the initiative. And Sun Quan has the courage to dare to put his death and live later.

Present.

Cao Cao, Liu Zhang, Sun Quan and others have their own arrangements and launch a Jedi counterattack!

(End of chapter)