"Ahh

In the cold winter wax moon, although there is no heavy snowfall in Hebei, it is also a cold wind, and the moderate rain is mixed with light snow.

Guo Kerry walked out of the house on the third floor and the outer three floors, and walked out of the house wearing a wide crane, but the oncoming wind and rain still made him sneeze.

At this time in history, he had died of illness in Liaodong, and the grass on the grave should be three feet high.

But now it's alive.

It's not that he is in good health, but that he didn't run to a bitter cold place like Liaodong like in history, and he made himself sick after a long march.

In fact, his health has not been very good, and his skin is a little pale.

In addition to the fact that it is winter now and the north wind is strong, what is more important is that Guo Jia has always been uninhibited, addicted to wine, and has no moderation at all.

This seems to be a common disease of scholars and doctors in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties periods, in addition to the color of wine, in the future, you will have to add five stone powder.

At this moment, Guo Jia was still followed by several women, chirping and chirping, and Yanyan snuggled up to him, hugging and hugging and reluctantly saying goodbye.

Outside the door was Cao Cao's Tiger Governor Xu Ding, that is, Xu Chu's brother.

Compared with his younger brother Xu Chu, who is introverted and taciturn, Xu Ding can speak two sentences, seeing the smell of rouge spices and wine on Guo Jia's body, he said with a smile: "The military division drinks and indulges in lust every day, if Chen Changshi sees it, I am afraid that I will have to join the military division again." ”

"Chen Qun is pedantic, and he is not enough to talk to Coats."

Guo Jia's face flushed with drunkenness, he responded with a smile, got into the carriage with Xu Ding's support, and then asked: "Sikong is called at night, I don't know what is the important matter?" ”

"Sun Quan sent someone to deliver the letter."

"Oh? Was it a messenger sent, or was it sent by Yangzhou Thorn Shi Wenhui urgently? ”

"It was sent by Wen Tingshi urgently, and he just arrived at Sikong Mansion."

Xu Ding rode a horse to guard him on his left and right, and it was still raining lightly in the sky, crackling on Xu Ding's robe, he licked his lips and said: "It is said that Sikong's face changed greatly after reading the letter, so the starry night summoned the sacrificial wine, the Chinese military division, and the general Fenwu to discuss the matter. ”

"Well, I know what Sikong called me on."

Guo Jia leaned his head on the back of the carriage seat, supported his forehead with one hand, and leaned on the carriage with the other, and the whole person was half-lying in the carriage.

Xu Ding was surprised: "The military advisor knows? ”

"Nature."

Guo Jia yawned and stretched: "Sun Quan used to send envoys to form alliances, and he was often solemn. This time, Wen Hui was suddenly asked to send it urgently, which can only mean one thing - there has been a big change in Jingzhou! ”

The carriage spun around and slowly stopped at Sikong's mansion along the bluestone slab. The umbrella cover on the car was ticking, and there were raindrops falling, and there were already people waiting nearby.

After the servants of Sikong Mansion saw Guo Jia's carriage coming, they hurriedly walked to the side of the carriage with bamboo straps and came over to greet them.

And Chen Qun, wearing a black robe and an ordinary alpine crown on his head, stood on the high platform under the eaves of the gate of Sikong Mansion, condescending, and watched Guo Jia lazily get off the carriage with a very indifferent gaze.

When the slave took Guo Jia to him, the smell of wine and rouge spices in his face made people frown.

"The military advisor sacrifices wine."

Chen Qun couldn't help but say: "Since you see Sikong, why are you full of wine? ”

Guo Jia said with a smile: "It was cold, I drank some wine to warm up, and slept at home with my wife and concubine in my arms." Sikong is summoned temporarily, and there is no way to bathe in time, is this also wrong? ”

"You."

Chen Qun was very displeased.

Guo Jia said with a smile: "Besides, Changshi is no longer a scholar and a servant of the imperial history, so let's do our part first." ”

Chen Qun was speechless, so he brushed his sleeves and turned his head into the mansion to lead the way.

Although the Chen family and the Guo family are both top families in Yingchuan, Chen Qun was born in the main line of the Chen family, and Guo Jia is just a side branch, so the two naturally have no friendship.

After Cao Cao recruited Chen Qun, Chen Qun first became the Sikong Cao Peng, and then transferred to the imperial historian, who was only promoted to the chief of the Sikong last year.

Because he couldn't get used to Guo Jia's misconduct, he went to the street to tease women from good families when he had nothing to do, and often took off his clothes in public, so during the period of serving the imperial history, Chen Qun asked Cao Cao to impeach Guo Jia every day, which made the relationship between the two very bad.

However, Cao Cao is not a good person, both of them like beautiful women, so Guo Jia's little hobby and Cao Cao can be said to smell the same, and Cao Cao naturally will not blame Guo Jia for this little thing.

This caused Guo Jia to still go his own way, showing his so-called celebrity demeanor, and Chen Qun couldn't do anything about him, so he was angry.

The group soon arrived in the atrium.

At this time, Cheng Yu and Xun You had just arrived in the hall, and the three of them were almost a matter of front and back.

"Sikong."

Guo Jia entered the door and bowed.

Cao Cao nodded slightly and said, "Sit down." ”

And they sat down.

Cao Pi, who had been in the hall, looked left and right, and said, "Father, the child has stepped back." ”

"Wait."

Cao Cao glanced at Cao Pi and muttered, "You stay here and make a record with Chen Qun on the side." ”

Cao Pi was stunned for a moment, and then said happily: "Thank you, father." ”

Cheng Yuxun and Guo Jia are Cao Cao's three most trusted military advisors, not to mention intimacy, all of them are 2,000 stone members in their positions alone, and they are not qualified to listen to Cao Pi's deliberations in the past.

Now he was suddenly asked to stay, although he was just kneeling and sitting on the side as a note-taker like Chen Qun, but this was already a big improvement.

Cheng Yu, Xun You, and Guo Jia also looked at Cao Pi in surprise, which was also for them to understand the signal released by Cao Cao.

It seems that after Cao Chong's death, Sikong has begun to retrain other heirs.

Soon the hall door closed.

Outside the door, Xu Chu and Xu Ding brothers stood like two iron towers.

Cao Cao listened to the sound of rain, snow, wind and frost knocking on the wooden window outside the door, looked around at everyone and said: "Sun Quan sent a letter, inviting Gu to attack Liu Bei together, and said that he was willing to share Nanzhou with Gu. ”

Several people did not speak.

Because they all know that since Sun Quan will make such a move, it must mean that something must have happened in Jingzhou.

Sure enough.

Cao Cao pondered for a moment and continued: "He said in the letter that Liu Bei and Liu Qi's alliance has annihilated Cai Mao, and now Jingzhou is only left with tens of thousands of horses in Zhang Yun's hands, and this is a good time to raise troops to the south, what do you think?" ”

All three of them knew that this was Cao Cao's question asking them whether they should send troops.

Cheng Yu thought for a while and said, "Be out." ”

"Hmm."

Xun You nodded.

Guo Jia said: "If you don't send troops, Zhang Yun and Sun Quan and others may not be Liu Bei's opponents, if Liu Bei is allowed to get Jingzhou, the south will be for them, so even if it is to prevent Liu Bei from succeeding, they must also send troops." ”

This is like forcibly attacking Hanzhong, Liu Bei is much easier to fight Hanzhong from Yizhou than Hanzhong from Guanzhong, so even in order to prevent Liu Bei from getting Hanzhong or getting the population of Hanzhong, Cao Cao must forcibly attack Zhang Lu.

"If Gu can get Nanyang, what if Jingzhou is given to Liu Bei?"

Cao Cao's eyes narrowed.

Guo Jia said: "Sikong said that Nanyang is the foundation of Jingzhou, and if Jingzhou goes to Nanyang, it will almost cut off half of Jingzhou's land." ”

"It's a pity."

Cao Cao sighed, his eyes full of regret.

The three of them actually knew what he was regretting.

He regretted that he couldn't do his best.

Although Yuan Tan had just been eliminated, Cao's army had not yet completely occupied Jizhou.

In the northern part of Jizhou, such as Hejian Kingdom, Zhongshan Kingdom, and Changshan Kingdom, there are still a large number of remnants of the old Yuan family.

Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi are even more entrenched in the Zhuo County area of Youzhou.

There are also Gaogan and Southern Xiongnu forces in Bingzhou, and the Xianbei forces in the central part are also quite good, and they are also threatening the north.

More importantly, the Yuan clan has always been friendly with the Youzhou Karasuma forces, and it is said that this time Yuan Shang Yuan Xi contacted the Liaodong Karasuma leader Bun Dun and invited him to come to Youzhou to help.

Therefore, once Cao Cao led the main force south to conquer Jingzhou, the backyard would immediately catch fire, and the newly obtained Jizhou was estimated to be recaptured by the Yuan family.

Therefore, it is impossible for Cao Cao to move south with a large force, and he can't even send too many men and horses, so he can only send a small force of soldiers and horses south to harass Nanyang.

"Over the years, we have also been sending people to the south to find out the news."

Guo Jia said: "Jingzhou's detailed work reported that Liu Bei's soldiers and horses were only forty or fifty thousand, and Liu Qi's men and horses were even less, that is to say, Liu Bei and Liu Qi's soldiers and horses added up to less than 100,000, and most of them were rabble. Zhang Yun and Sun Quan's soldiers and horses combined, there are about 100,000 people, and we only need to send 20,000 or 30,000 people, maybe it will have a miraculous effect. ”

"Twenty or thirty thousand?"

Cao Cao stroked his chin and beard, narrowing his eyes in thought.

After the Battle of Kuangcheng, he was defeated and lost a lot of men.

However, with Yuan Shao's illness and death, he gradually recovered, and the number of soldiers and horses also increased.

Especially after the capture of Yecheng last year, Zhang Yan specially brought hundreds of thousands of Montenegrin troops to defect because he was an old enemy of the Yuan family, and replenished a large number of people and soldiers for him.

After eliminating the old and weak and selecting elite soldiers, Cao Cao currently has a lot of soldiers and horses under his hands, with a total of 150,000 or 60,000.

It is certainly inferior to this time in history.

Historically, he led an army of 200,000 to the south, which in itself shows that his total strength was more than 300,000.

And now the strength may be less than half of history.

But even so, after the collapse of Yuan Shao and Liu Biao's power, Cao Cao has become the first prince in the world.

It's just that he is undecided in the north, like the border between Jizhou and Youzhou, which still needs a large number of soldiers and horses to defend, if the main force goes south at this time, the rear will be extremely empty, so he can't do it with all his might.

But gritting your teeth and squeezing 40,000 or 50,000 horses, it should still be okay.

Thinking of this, Cao Cao shook his head and said, "Liu Bei and Shen Chen and others have been operating in Nanyang for many years, how can twenty or thirty thousand yuan shake their foundation?" Lone decided to personally lead 40,000 troops south and personally conquer Nanyang! ”

"Commonplace?"

The three strategists all looked at each other, and they didn't expect that Cao Cao would choose to fight in person again for the sake of the situation in the south.

Cao Cao said in a deep voice: "Yes, personally conquer Nanyang!" ”

Cheng Yu dissuaded: "I know that Sikong's intention is to stifle Liu Bei, but the most important thing for us now is to pacify the north first." Next year, the remnants of the Yuan clan in Bingzhou and Youzhou should be eliminated to eliminate worries. If we go south at this time, it will be detrimental to us if we are dragged into the southern war. ”

"yes, Sikong."

Xun You also said: "When the King of Qin unified the six countries, he used the strategy of distant friendship and close attack, first destroying Han, Zhao, and Wei, which were closer to Guanzhong, and then breaking Chu, Yan, and Qi. "Spring and Autumn" is also cloudy, "respect the king and conquer the country", Annei can respect the king, respect the king can be defeated, how can the army go out of the south when the north is not peaceful? ”

Both men were right.

Guo Jia didn't speak, he kept observing Cao Cao's face.

As a strategist who is best at controlling people's hearts, Guo Jia often does not consider the immediate interests, but will consider what the superior wants.

After he thinks about this clearly, he will work hard in the direction that Cao Cao wants and find a way to help him achieve it.

Of course.

The premise of all this is that Cao Cao's idea has the possibility of being realized.

However, from the bottom of his heart, Guo Jia also understood that at this time, taking a third of the army south to attack Nanyang was not a good thing for the Cao Cao group, which had just won most of Jizhou.

Because although the situation in the south is not good, Liu Bei has the possibility of making a big deal, but obviously the north is more important.

At present, Jizhou has not been completely obtained, and the remnants of the Yuan clan are gathered, and Yuan Shang, Yuan Xi, Gao Gan, Bang Dun and others are eyeing them, and they will come back at any time and attack their rear.

From the perspective of practical interests, Cao Cao should let Liu Bei, Sun Quan, Liu Cong, Liu Qi, Zhang Lu, Liu Zhang and others in the south continue to have internal friction, and he will be in full swing to pacify the rear of Bingzhou, Youzhou and Liaodong, and then consider sending troops to Jingzhou.

It's just that since Cao Cao has such an idea, Guo Jia is naturally willing to listen to it, unless there is no possibility of realizing it, and then find a way to persuade Cao Cao to dispel this idea, otherwise, he is still more willing to be consistent with Cao Cao's idea.

"Your concerns, Lone naturally knows."

Cao Cao waved his hand and said: "It's just that compared to Liu Bei, high-ranking cadres such as Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi are not enough to make Lone fearful. This generation is small, and it can be peaceful in a year. But if Liu Bei is allowed to get Jingzhou, then Gu will be sleepless all night. ”

"I think that Sikong's words are reasonable."

Guo Jia said: "Zhong Degong also said that Liu Bei had great talent and won the hearts of the people, but back then, Ming Gong wanted to accept the heroes of the world, and he was unwilling to kill him and lose the heart of the world. Although the north is important, if Liu Bei is allowed to do so, I am afraid that there will be endless troubles in the future. Foresight is admirable. ”

"Yes, it's just"

Xun You pondered for a moment, and finally said: "I still have to ask Sikong to think twice, if this battle fails to conquer Liu Bei, even if it is in vain, it will delay the recovery of the entire north." Originally, it could be done next year, and after two or three years of recuperation, it would be possible to gather millions of soldiers and swallow the world, so it might take a few more years. ”

Cao Cao said: "I have made up my mind, if I can defeat Liu Bei, even if I fail to get Nanyang, as long as Liu Bei can't get the entire Jingzhou, even if I wait a few more years, what can I do?" What's more, I know this battle in my heart, if I can't win, I will immediately return to the court. ”

"If that's the case, then follow the order."

Xun You and Cheng Yu no longer objected.

They knew that Cao Cao was a measured man.

If it really doesn't work, he will naturally make a trade-off.

At that moment, Cao Cao said: "The soldiers and horses in Jizhou will not be mobilized, so that Zhang Liao and Cao Chun will come back, and Gongda Fengxiao will go south with me, and let Xiahoudun and Xun Yu guard Yecheng." Zhongde, you went to the Bohai Sea, and together with Xiahou Yuan and Xu Huang, exterminated the remnants of the Yuan clan in Jizhou and coerced Youzhou. ”

"Yui!"

The three of them were commanded.

So in late November of the thirteenth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao, who should have been in Chibi in history, officially sent troops south, killed Jingzhou, and personally conquered Liu Bei.

(End of chapter)