Cao Cao sharpened his sword in the Central Plains and trained as a sailor in the Xuanwu Pool. The Jiangdong Naval Division's exercise, which had been busy all winter, came to an end. Except for some of the sailors who were ordered to be stationed, all the soldiers of all departments returned to their families to work as farmers because of spring ploughing.

This is the particularity of the military system in the Qin and Han dynasties, even the world military system is not exempt from vulgarity, except during the war, they are all according to the system of 'training the army in their spare time, and returning to their families to work in agriculture when they are busy', after all, in ancient times, professional soldiers were not easy to afford.

After the sailor practiced, Huo Jun was ordered to rush to Wu County to meet Liu Qi. Going down the river, Huo Jun took a day off in Jingkou and met Zhuge Liang.

"Kong Ming has been waiting for a long time!"

Huo Jun wiped his face with a towel and walked out, and then handed the wiped towel to the maidservant's hand.

"Nothing!"

Zhuge Liang put down the teacup and said with a smile: "The tea made by Zhong Miao is quite bitter at the first drink, but it has a sweet taste after tasting it. The bitterness is sweet, but it can refresh the mind and brighten it. ”

Huo Jun sat on the couch, took out a small pot of tea from the wooden box on the desk, put it in front of Zhuge Liang, and said with a smile: "This tea is very different from Dabie Mountain, planted by my Huo clan, I call it Huoshan Yellow Bud." ”

Zhuge Liang picked up the lacquer box and opened the lid, and felt that the tea was fragrant, very fresh, and refreshed.

Closing the lacquer box, Zhuge Liang smiled: "Zhong Miao is kind, Liang has thanked me here." ”

Among the high-level people in Jiangdong, Huo Jun is the most adept, not extravagant, but very exquisite in the quality of life.

Huo Jun took a sip of tea and asked, "How is Kong Ming in Danyang recently?" ”

Zhuge Liang shook the feather fan lightly and said: "Raise money and grain for the army, and send another 5,000 soldiers to Xiakou for the lord to dispatch." ”

"Huh?"

Huo Jun asked curiously: "Could it be that there has been a change in Jingzhou?" ”

Zhuge Liang shook his head and said: "The lord is worried about the lack of troops in Jiangxia, and I am afraid that when he leads his troops to Xiangyang, the two generals of Man Chong and Li Tong will attack the three passes of Yiyang in the south, break the city and enter the city, and use the city of Weixiakou. ”

As he spoke, Zhuge Liang frowned and said, "Cao Cao has settled in Hebei and has China. The general of the Che Cavalry is seriously ill and has not yet established an heir, and Wu Chu is restless. Cai Mao and Kuai Yue had bad intentions and wanted to support Liu Cong to succeed to the throne. With the current situation, only by letting the eldest son ascend to the throne can Wu Chu be prevented from collapsing. ”

After Cao Cao took Wuhuan, the nerves of Jing Yang and the two places were in a tense state, and they were very worried that Cao Cao would raise troops to the south. In fact, with the experience of the last time, it is okay for Cao Cao to raise troops to go south, the point is that Liu Biao has not made it clear who he will be the heir so far. And the struggle between Liu Cong and Liu Qi seems to be known to everyone in Jingyang and Yangzhou.

There is a strong enemy outside, the lord dies of illness, and the heir is not established. It is not difficult to see Wu Chu's problems. In this case, it is purely normal for people in Jingzhou to be panicked.

Shaking the feather fan, Zhuge Liang confided in his heart and said: "With the current situation, Liang is very worried about the sudden death of the Che Cavalry General, Cai Mao and Kuai Yue have a grudge with the envoy and the eldest son, and this grudge is difficult to dissolve. The eldest son succeeded to the throne, and the two of them would surely die, and in order to protect themselves, they were afraid of surrendering to Cao Cao. ”

"Cao Cao moved the people from the north to Wuchu and took advantage of the chaos to seize Jingzhou. Xiangfan soldiers and horses, with its prestige, pacified the four counties of Jingnan, and our army only relied on Jiang Zuoer. Defend against hundreds of thousands of Cao's army with the land on the left side of the river, perhaps the only thing to rely on is the great river Zhougeer! ”

Huo Jun put down the teacup and said, "Cai Mao and Kuai Yue have a grudge against us, and they prevented the eldest son from entering Xiangyang to ask to see the general of the Che Cavalry. The current situation will have a chance to reverse this situation unless the Xiangyang Cai clan, the Kuai clan, and the Wu and cronies under the account are completely eradicated. ”

Zhuge Liang stopped the feather fan, frowned and said, "Then you are going to move the army?" ”

"Cai Mao is in charge of the soldiers and horses of Nanjun, and Jiangling is the old place of governance; and into Xiangyang, Nanyang and the surrounding soldiers and horses, and was mastered by it. If you want to punish the Cai and Kuai clans, the only way to do this is to raise troops to fight and seize Xiangyang. And Xiangyang City has always been strong, with 10,000 soldiers and horses enough to resist an army of 50,000. And Xiangyang is very close to Xuchang, and you can go to Xiangfan in half a month. ”

Zhuge Liang shook his feather fan and said in self-analysis: "Unless Xiangfan is taken quickly, the troops will be raised to besiege it, and when the Cao soldiers go south, they will be hindered inside and outside, and the army will undoubtedly be defeated." And if I am Cao Cao, I will see our army moving to Xiangyang, and I will go to Xiakou and Chaohu with my troops. With the number of Cao soldiers, our army is outnumbered, and can it be an enemy? ”

Jiang Zuo has too few soldiers and horses, and Cao Jun has too many soldiers and horses, which is a fatal problem at the moment. As Zhuge Liang said, if you can't take Xiangfan quickly, you will be blocked outside the city by Xiangfan, and when Cao Cao's army arrives, the army besieging Xiangyang will be defeated.

Not to mention how dangerous Xiangfan is and how many soldiers and horses are needed to attack. Just talking about Jiangbei and the Jiangxia defense line will require a lot of men and horses to garrison, and they will have to bear the huge pressure of Cao's army moving south.

Huo Jun dipped his fingers in tea, drew a simple Yangtze River defense line on the desk, and said: "There are about 70,000 soldiers in my Jiangzuo army, and now there are 15,000 people stationed in Jiangxia under the command of the envoy Jun, and Jun leads 10,000 sailors to garrison Jiangbei, 25,000 Danyang soldiers including the old and weak, 8,000 soldiers and horses in Yuzhang and Luling, and 15,000 people in Wujun and Huiji. ”

The overall strength of Jiangzuo is about 80,000, including soldiers and horses under Jian'an County and Changxian. However, considering the situation, Jian'an County, which is entrenched in Shanyue, cannot be transferred, and Changxiantun Bingjiang cannot be moved lightly. The soldiers and horses in these two places will not be able to move, in fact, there are more than 70,000 soldiers and horses available in Jiangzuo.

Then, Huo Jun said for the dismantling: "The river is vast, thousands of miles long. If Cao Cao's 100,000 people go to Jianghuai, our army must defend the mouth of the river with 60,000. If Cao Cao's soldiers and horses go to Jingzhou, our army will leave more than 10,000 people to defend Jiangzuo, and go to Jiangxia with 15,000 people, and Jiangzuo will use more than 45,000 soldiers and horses. ”

The situation is very realistic, Liu Qi and Liu Bei do not dare to move their troops, once they move a large army, Cao Cao may march south from Jianghuai. Today's historical route has undergone a great deflection, and Cao Cao can choose not only Jingzhou, but also Jiangdong. That is, Cao Cao was observing the trend of the situation in the south, so as to choose the route of the march.

After thinking about it carefully, Zhuge Liang said: "As Zhong Miao said, the only way to do this is to go down to Xiangfan quickly and integrate the soldiers and horses of Jingzhou with the prestige of the eldest son. However, if there is a county in Jingzhou that is not well guarded, or the city of Xiangfan cannot be held, it will also be approached by Cao Cao's soldiers. ”

He didn't want to rely on Jiangdong to resist Cao Cao on his own, so he had to quickly take Xiangfan and integrate Jingzhou's soldiers and horses with Liu Qi's inheritance. In this process, the county guards in Jingzhou must cooperate with Liu Qi very much, and Xiangyang City can withstand the onslaught of Cao's army, and at that time, the entire defense line of Xiakou and Jiangbei has been attacked by Cao's army, and it must also be held.

"It's hard!"

"It's hard!"

Listening to Zhuge Liang's emotion, Huo Jun was also speechless. If you want to take Xiangfan, this is the problem that Jiangdong is facing, and the difficulty is no longer something that Huo Jun can master, but it depends on the faces of others and the destiny of heaven.

"What does Zhong Miao mean?" Zhuge Liang asked.

Huo Jun picked up the already cooled tea, drank it in one gulp, and said: "Yu Xiangyang Yucao, watch Cai Mao and Kuai Yue, also watch Cao Cao and his subordinates, and even watch the mandate of heaven to act. Make the monarch live in Xiakou, or find an opportunity to attack Xiangyang. ”

"And Jun can't gamble on the destiny of heaven, when he is in the left of the river, he should watch the situation in Wu and Chu, lead the troops into the palace, lead my boat, and break the enemy on the river."

Zhuge Liang nodded and said: "You can let the envoy give it a try, if Xiangyang is not advisable, immediately retreat to Jiangxia, and I will wait for the army to rush to Xiakou." Using the Great River Trench to eliminate the strength of Cao's army's infantry and cavalry, even if it can't break the enemy, it can still make Cao Cao retreat. ”

After a pause, Zhuge Liang seemed to think of something, took the jar behind him, and said with a smile: "What Zhong Miao wanted, Liang ordered someone to bring from Jiangdu!" ”

"Oil?"

"Yes!"

Zhuge Liang lifted the lid of the altar and said: "It is the thing in Zhong Miao's mouth, which does not melt with water, it is quite like pure lacquer, burning like hemp, but the smoke is very thick. ”

Changba is located in Buqiu, Jiangdu (now Shaobo, Yangzhou), which was later a famous oil producing area in northern Jiangsu. When Changba built a new city, the people dug down the well, but unexpectedly dug up a small amount of oil. The people didn't know about it, and accidentally touched it with fire, and it was able to ignite a fire, and it became an anecdote from then on.

This matter was known to Zhuge Liang, and when he noticed the extraordinaryness of this kind of thing, he shared this matter with Huo Jun. After Huo Jun learned about it, he asked Zhuge Liang to help him collect it.

Huo Jun scooped up a little crude oil with a wooden spoon, seeing that it was viscous and dark brown liquid, he sniffed the rich taste, and said with a smile: "Thank you Kong Ming for your help, this is of great use." ”

Zhuge Liang shook the feather fan lightly and said, "Liang ordered people to collect more than 20 altars, are you not satisfied?" ”

"That's enough!" Huo Jun closed the wine jar and said, "Please ask Kong Ming to send someone to Wankou Water Village." ”

"Yes!"

There is one more chapter in the evening

(End of chapter)