Strategically, Cao Cao famously thinks more long-term.

Giving up the opportunity to quickly unify the north in a short period of time, he sent troops to the south to stifle Liu Bei's development.

But in reality, it will also stifle their own development.

If he can't take advantage of the fact that Yuan Shang, Yuan Xi, Gaogan, and the three counties Wuhuan are fully prepared, they will immediately send troops to get the annexed state and Youzhou, and the longer it drags on, the more unfavorable it will be for him.

Because although Cao Cao is growing, these remnants of the Yuan clan that can occupy Youzhou will not stop.

Not to mention anything else, there are at least tens of thousands of elite cavalry under the Wuhuan leader of the three counties, plus the Wuhuan leaders of other tribes, the Wuhuan army is at least more than 100,000.

If the remnants of the Yuan clan are allowed to gather the old party, and then borrow Wuhuan troops, plus the original prestige of the Yuan family in Jizhou, and go south again, it is not impossible to take Jizhou back.

Therefore, Cao Cao forcibly sent troops, which can be described as killing 1,000 enemies and losing 800 himself.

Once Cao's army is dragged into the quagmire of war in the south, the north may fall again.

However, Cao Cao is not a stupid person, so he naturally knows this.

Therefore, in order to be able to send troops smoothly, he also made sufficient preparations.

The first is that the northern troops and horses cannot be mobilized.

This is the cornerstone.

As long as the soldiers and horses in the north are there, Jizhou will not be lost.

Then there is the joint Sun Quan.

Sun Quan also wants to rob Jingzhou now, and he doesn't mind having a companion with Sun Quan.

In this way, at least someone will bear the loss with him.

Finally, there is the direction of choice.

Although Nanyang is Liu Bei's foundation, because of the civil strife in Jingzhou, the original garrison of 50,000 or 60,000 is now only left with Wenpin's troops.

At present, Liu Bei is still besieging Zhang Yun in Xiangyang, and Nanyang is empty, which is really a good time for him to take advantage of the void.

If at this time he went south to attack Nanyang, and Liu Bei led the army north to defend, then no one would attack Xiangyang, and Zhang Yunkuai Yue could make trouble in the rear.

If Liu Bei didn't care about it and just wanted to take Jingzhou first, then it would just be right for them to take the Nanyang Basin in their hands and weaken Liu Bei's strength.

No matter how bad it is, even if Liu Bei is not stopped from seizing Jingzhou, Nanyang cannot be captured, he can at least immediately retreat and go back to save the soldiers and horses.

So on the whole, according to Cao Cao's assumption, he would at most delay some time to recover and annex Youerzhou in the spring of the following year.

A few days later, Yanzhou Chendu.

Although the main force of Cao's army is currently in Hebei, Cao Cao still deployed at least 60,000 soldiers and horses in the south.

They are mainly distributed in Yingchuan, Runan, Peiguo, Xuzhou and other places.

For example, Li Tong's department in Runan, Cao Hong's department in Yingchuan, Zang Ba's department in Xuzhou, etc., and the rest have Zhu Ling, Li Dian, Lu Zhao, Feng Kai and other departments, totaling about 60,000 people.

Although the troops deployed along the southern route do not seem to be many, most of them are elite troops, so the strength is still very good.

Cao Cao only brought one or two thousand cavalry to the south this time, entered the Chen capital, quickly controlled the situation, and then dispatched troops to order Guo Jia to guard Chen Liu, and let Runan Taishou Zhao Yan supervise the transportation of grain and grass in the rear, he personally led the army of 50,000 and went straight to Nanyang.

At the same time, Sun Quan of Jiangdong had already exchanged letters with Cao Cao, and in early December, thousands of Jiangdong ships sailed up the Yangtze River into Jiangxia.

"Bang!"

Jingzhou South County, Yicheng County Ya Mansion.

In the middle of winter, the fierce north wind blows, and Yicheng goes north to Xiangyang more than 100 crowns, dozens of wealthy families, forests, and bamboo shadows.

These days, Liu Bei's army went north, Zhang Yun was defeated in successive battles, and he had retreated into Xiangyang, and the counties around Xiangyang were looking down on the wind, and there was only one Xiangyang left for Liu Cong's forces.

However, Xiangyang is surrounded by water on all sides, and the moat can be 100 meters wide, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack, so Liu Bei temporarily stationed his army in Yicheng, and then went north to attack when the follow-up grain and grass arrived.

In the past half a month, the Jingzhou family led by the Yicheng Ma family, the Xi family, and the Xiang family have defected to Liu Bei, and Liu Cong's group has lost all expectations, and even Kuai Yue's nephew, Zhuge Liang's brother-in-law Kuai Qi, also surrendered to Liu Bei on behalf of the Kuai family.

It can be said that most of the entire Jingzhou Group is currently owned by Liu Bei. In addition to Kuai Yue and Zhang Yun still resisting stubbornly, even Wenpin's side also expressed his intention to Liu Qi because Liu Qi sent documents.

It's just that in such a good situation, Liu Bei was in the county mansion at this time, slamming the official document in his hand on the table, and his face was not very good-looking.

Just now a letter was sent from Jiangxia, Sun Quan blatantly sent troops to Jiangxia in the name of conquest of Huang Zu and avenging his father, what kind of calculation he made, even Liu Bei, who was far away in Yicheng, could hear it, so it made him very unhappy.

"Sun Quan reneged on the covenant and sent troops to Jiangxia in the name of conquering Huang Zu and avenging his father, what do you think?"

Liu Bei looked around at the people below.

In addition to Zhuge Liang, Xu Shu, Mi Zhu, Sun Qian, Jian Yong and other strategists, there are now more Ma Jun, Xiang Lang, Xi Zhen and others.

Recently, Liu Bei also plans to listen to the advice of Zhuge Liang and Xu Shu, and then visit Pang Tong, if he can invite Feng Xiao out of the mountain, the top families in Jingzhou will support him, and it will be smoother to take over Jingzhou.

"Sure enough, as Xiaoqing expected."

Xu Shu stroked the goat's whiskers and said, "But if I were Sun Quan, I wouldn't let go of this opportunity." He was afraid that the idea was to wait for us to fight with Liu Cong and then take advantage of the situation, but he didn't expect that Xiaoqing had already made preparations. ”

Liu Bei sighed and said: "Although Xiaoqing has already had an idea, the Jiangxia Navy now has less than 30,000 people, and the Jiangdong Navy is strong and strong, I have always been very worried about him." ”

Zhuge Liang chuckled and said: "Don't worry, my lord, since Xiaoqing chose to garrison troops in Baqiu against public opinion, he must have his intentions." The most important thing at the moment is not Jiangdong, but to seize the time and conquer Xiangyang as soon as possible, otherwise"

"Otherwise what?"

Liu Bei wondered.

Zhuge Liang looked to the north: "Otherwise, Cao Cao may come." ”

Will Cao Cao come?

Everyone was a little frightened for a while.

This time, Shen Chen insisted on going his own way and chose to block the Jiangdong Sailor in Baqiu, just to buy time for Liu Bei.

Liu Bei went north to eliminate Liu Cong as soon as possible, and he could immediately return to the division to rescue Jiang Xia.

In this way, the battle situation has been decided, and Sun Quan has nothing to do.

After Liu Bei stabilized Jingzhou, they could smoothly implement the grand strategic policy of first the south and then the north, eliminate Sun Quan and Zhang Lu and Liu Zhang, occupy the south, and then dominate the world in the north.

But if Cao Cao comes at this juncture, I am afraid that the most important task of recovering Jingzhou will not be completed, and it will be very dangerous at that time.

"Not bad."

Xu Shu also said: "Sun Quan originally wanted to wait for us to lose and then take advantage of the situation, but Cai Mao lost too quickly, which caught him off guard. And facing us and Qi Gongzi alone, he is already beyond his strength, so it is very likely that he will write to Cao Cao. ”

Liu Bei was surprised: "I heard that Yuan Tan has driven away Yuan Shang and occupied Jizhou. Cao Cao went north to attack Yuan Tan, and with the strength of the Yuan clan, he should not be defeated so quickly. When he went south at this time, wouldn't he want to give up a great opportunity to Jizhou and let Yuan Tan get a respite? ”

Zhuge Liang smiled bitterly: "Lord, although the Yuan clan is strong, it is all condensed by Yuan Benchu alone. Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang and the like, how could they be Cao Cao's opponents? I'm afraid that at this time, Jizhou has been broken by Cao Cao. ”

"This"

Liu Bei hesitated for a while, he had been in Yuan Shao, and naturally knew that the skills of Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang and others were indeed as Zhuge Liang said, their strength was not good, their talents were average, and they were in internal fighting, compared with Cao Cao, it was indeed a world of difference.

However, the latest news he got was that Yuan Tan drove out Yuan Shang this year and occupied Jizhou by himself, although Cao Cao also got Wei County, but if Yuan Tan could integrate the soldiers and horses of the entire Jizhou, he should not be wiped out by Cao Cao so quickly, so they had not considered Cao Cao before.

"Of course."

Zhuge Liang added: "Liang also only said a possibility, if Cao Cao has not been able to defeat Yuan Tan and get the entire Jizhou, even if he is worried that the lord will get Jingzhou, he will not come, unless Cao Cao is so short-sighted that he completely ignores the north." ”

"Hmm."

Liu Bei nodded, looked at Mi Zhu and said, "Zizhong, how is the grain and grass prepared?" ”

Mi Zhu said: "Back to the lord, the grain and grass in March has been transported to the county, and the follow-up grain and grass will be able to arrive in Yicheng tomorrow, and now there are still 20 days of grain and grass in Yicheng, and after the grain and grass arrive, the next batch will be in two months." ”

"Good, that's enough."

Liu Bei said happily: "In this case, tomorrow we will set off first and surround Xiangyang." ”

"Report!"

At this time, a soldier suddenly came in outside and said, "Someone from Jizhou." ”

"Oh?"

Liu Bei said: "Who? ”

The soldier said: "It is said that it is under the command of Jizhou Mu Yuan Tan." ”

"Let people in."

"Yui."

The soldier turned and went out.

After a while, a middle-aged man with a sad face walked in and bowed his hand to Liu Bei, "General Zuo." ”

"Guan Taishou!"

Liu Bei knew him, he was Yuan Tan's confidant, his name was Guan Tong, and he was the Taishou of Donglai.

In the early years, Liu Bei was defeated by Cao Cao and went to Qingzhou to defect to Yuan Tan.

At this moment, we met again, but I didn't expect Guan Tong to come to Jingzhou.

Liu Bei said very surprised: "Guan Taishou, you are guarding the rear for Xiansi in Qingzhou, why did you come to Jingzhou?" ”

Guan Tong said sadly: "Cao Cao besieged Nanpi, and Yuan Yuanjun asked me to hurry to Jingzhou to find the general for help, but I heard that Nanpi was captured and Junjun was killed halfway through. ”

"What?"

Liu Bei was stunned and said, "Isn't Jizhou then?" ”

"yes."

Guan Tong sighed and said, "It has been obtained by Cao Cao." ”

Zhuge Liang narrowed his eyes: "Jizhou is initially decided, and Cao Cao may not necessarily go south." But this matter is not accurate, in case Cao Cao is worried about the south for the lord's gain, and suddenly leads his army south, for fear of missing the opportunity, the lord should immediately send someone north to Yingchuan to investigate the news. ”

Liu Bei was surprised: "What does Kong Ming mean?" ”

"Cao Cao may go south at this time."

Zhuge Liang said in a deep voice.

Xu Shu's eyes widened and said: "Even if Cao Cao has the heart to go south, but at this time, he has just won Jizhou, and Youzhou has not yet calmed down, so he dares to come and send troops, will he be too eager?" ”

Liu Bei looked at Guan Tong and asked, "Guan Taishou, along the way, did you find any signs of Cao Cao's dispatch of troops?" ”

Guan Tong shook his head and said, "I haven't seen it. ”

Liu Bei sighed and said: "Guan Taishou came all the way to the south, I don't know what else to do?" ”

Guan Tong said: "I originally came to ask for help on the orders of Yuan Yuan, but the envoy is dead, and I have nowhere to go. ”

Liu Bei said: "In this case, why don't you come to my account first, and when it comes, we will wave our troops north to avenge Xiansi!" ”

"Thank you, General Zuo."

The management is overjoyed.

This time I went south to Jingzhou to ask for help, but Yuan Tan died halfway through, so naturally there was no way to ask for help, and now it is naturally better to be able to take refuge in Liu Bei.

Liu Bei settled down and sent someone to take him to rest, and then said to everyone: "Since Cao Cao has no signs of sending troops, he should not be so eager to go south to attack Jingzhou." ”

Zhuge Liang insisted: "Lord, it's always a big mistake to be careful. Now Nanyang is empty, if you can't be cautious about the facts, if you are raided by Cao Cao, I'm afraid Nanyang will be lost. ”

"Hmm"

Liu Bei thought for a while, nodded and said, "Okay, just follow the words of the military advisor." ”

At that moment, he immediately sent someone north to investigate.

At the beginning of December of the thirteenth year of Jian'an, Cao's army had also been assembled at this time and was officially preparing for action.

Cao Cao's southward journey was carried out in secret, and he himself only brought one or two thousand cavalry and Xun You and Guo Jia to Chenliu.

Instead of mobilizing troops and horses on a large scale in the north, he used the grain and grass of soldiers and horses in the south on the spot, intending to carry out a surprise attack.

Because Cao Cao has been paying attention to the war in the south, he knows the current situation in Nanyang.

Due to the civil strife in Jingzhou Liu Qi and Liu Cong, Cai Mao and Zhang Yun evacuated the defenders of Nanyang, and the only remaining Wen Ping was still besieging Huangmen Pavilion in Xinye.

As a result, Nanyang is now extremely empty, and there are almost no soldiers and horses in the key areas around Wancheng in the north.

Therefore, Cao Cao believed that at this time, the soldiers were very fast, and suddenly gathered troops to attack Nanyang, at least to take all the north of Wancheng, and then peeked into Xinye and other areas south of Nanyang.

In this way, he can extend his power to Nanyang, relying on the city and geography to maneuver with Liu Bei in Nanyang.

At that time, Liu Beiren will still be in Xiangyang, and he will be dragged down by Zhang Yun again, and he will definitely suffer this dumb loss.

Anyway, for Cao Cao, as long as he can get Nanyang in his hands, why not give Jingzhou to Liu Bei?

So this is a Yangmou!

It's just that Zhuge Liang who he thought of also thought of it.

Although Cao Cao's play like this will lead to missing the opportunity to recover Youzhou and merge states.

But the problem is that once he succeeds, his gains will be very large.

compressed Liu Bei's development space, and at the same time he could get the treasure land of Nanyang, so Zhuge Liang believed that it was possible to do so with Cao Cao's habit of using troops in a dangerous way.

So a few days later, Liu Bei got a news that shocked him very much - Cao Cao really gathered a large army, went south to Yingchuan, and had arrived in Kunyang.

At this time, Liu Bei was still besieging Xiangyang, after learning about this, he left Guan Yu to lead 20,000 people to guard Fancheng, Xu Shu 10,000 people to guard Yicheng, continue to surround Xiangyang, and personally led 20,000 troops, gathered the soldiers and horses of Wenpin Gan Ning and Huangmen Pavilion, and went north to meet Cao Cao.

Meanwhile.

On the surface of the Yangtze River in the south, countless ships are also coming towards Baqiu.

I fell asleep yesterday, slept until noon today, this disease is really troublesome, I still have a fever every day, dizziness, and now the symptoms are tinnitus in the right ear, dizziness, cough, low-grade fever, and weakness, I hope to recover as soon as possible. Everyone should also take care of their health, my father's friend's son, 26 years old, is gone.

(End of chapter)