The seventeenth year of Jian'an, July.

Cao Cao patrolled Jianghuai in the south, Cao Pi, Xun Yu, and Ma Chao accompanied the army, and summoned Qingxu, Yanyu, and the four states of Qingxu and Yanyu to assassinate the history and generals to Shouchun.

Yangzhou in disguise, Lu Fang watched left and right, and cautiously walked into the shop selling brocade silk on the street.

With a rough voice, Lu Fang asked, "Do you have red and green satin brocade for sale?" ”

"A few horses!" The ordinary-looking businessman asked casually.

"Two and a half horses!"

Shang Jia raised his head, looked up at Lu Fang, and said with a smile: "There is only one horse in the warehouse, and it will take time for one and a half horses left." ”

"I can wait two and a half days." Lu Fang replied.

"Please come to the back room!"

Shang Jia asked the man to entertain other nobles from the inn, and led Lu Fang to the narrow side room.

Coming to the side room, Lu Fang stuffed the towel in his hand into Shang Jia's hand, and said in a low voice: "Urgent news, I found out from Wen Hui's mouth that Cao Gong seems to have the idea of being a prince, Cao Pi, Ma Chao, and Xun Yu will all follow him to the south, and will soon patrol the Huai River in the south." However, he summoned the generals of Qingxu to lead their troops and horses to Shouchun. ”

Shang Jia secretly tucked it into his sleeve and said, "Fisherman, the governor has praised you many times for your intelligence, so the monthly salary is doubled as a reward. Later, I'll ask someone outside to bring you brocade, as usual. ”

"Thank you, Governor!" Lu Fang said gratefully.

Shang Jia glanced out and said in a low voice: "Xiahou is very strict in searching, and if there is no emergency, contact will be reduced recently. ”

After a pause, Shang Jia advised: "Remember that no one knows the identity of the post except me." ”

"Good!"

Shang Jia smiled and sent Lu Fang out of the side room, and said with a respectful smile: "Noble, the red and green satin is gone." Why don't you take the dark satin! ”

Lu Fang hesitated for a while and said, "It's okay!" Next time, if there is red and green satin, remember to leave it to me. ”

"No!"

The importance of espionage intelligence for the operation of a large army cannot be said. In the many battles that Huo Jun won before, scouts played an important key.

Huo Jun's infiltration of Jianghuai began during the period of sitting in the city of Weixukou, when Jiang Ji was in charge, using his identity as a Huai person and the old Yangzhou driver to build an intelligence system for Huo Jun.

After the Battle of Hefei, the situation in Jianghuai was chaotic, and many generals and officials abandoned their officials and fled north to Shouchun. Jiang Ji took advantage of his previous interpersonal relationships and gave a lot of money to oppose Yangzhou to engage in Lu Fang and make him an insider.

Lu Fang took advantage of his close relationship with Wen Hui to extract a large amount of Jianghuai intelligence and Hefei from it, and gradually became the core figure in Huo Jun's intelligence system.

In terms of allowances, due to the chaos in the world, the monetary system collapsed, and it was basically bartered. Jiang Ji sent his subordinates to Shouchun, opened rice shops and cloth shops, used rice shops and cloth shops as cover, paid allowances to spies, and used them as general liaison stations to convey information to Hefei.

More than 200 miles from Shouchun to Hefei, there are regular scouts and fast horses to transmit information, and often the news is transmitted to Hefei in one day.

At this time, Huo Jun was writing his experience of using soldiers over the years, or writing a draft for his military book.

People live for fame and fortune for a lifetime, and it is difficult for Huo Jun to break free. After being ready to move for a long time, Huo Jun wanted to write a military book and make it a classic, which would be passed on to future generations and spread his military ideas.

In ancient times, those who talked about military books were nothing more than classics such as "The Art of War", "The Art of War of Wu Zi", "Li Weigong Asks the Right Question", "The New Book of Discipline and Effectiveness".

Except for the "New Book of Discipline and Effectiveness" written by Qi Dashuai, which is biased towards practical operation, most of the military books are biased towards tactical tactics. As for war cases, only "Li Weigong Asks the Right Questions" mentions a lot.

If you want to leave your name in the world, you must not be the same as your predecessors. If you talk about the art of war and tactics, An Neng is comparable to the famous "Art of War" of Sun Tzu. Before and after deep thought, Huo Jun had a rough outline.

In the book of war, Huo Jun wants to divide it into three volumes, namely "Junguo", "On Technique" and "Governing the Army".

The first volume, "The Militaristic State", discusses the relationship between the military and the state from a macro perspective, and the army, as a state violence machine, essentially forces the enemy to obey the will of his own country, and needs to take 'profit' for the country.

Secondly, taking the difference between the two Han military systems as the starting point, this paper analyzes the impact of the two systems of conscription and conscription on the strength of the national army. and extend to the economic, political, socio-cultural aspects of the country.

At the end, the strategy is discussed by using the geographical knowledge of the later framework, dividing geographical regions such as Jianghuai, Jiangdong, Jingxiang, etc., taking each geographical region as a module, citing the examples of the Spring and Autumn Period since the Qin and Han dynasties, and expounding the strategic significance of the geographical region and the purpose of fighting for this region.

Such a huge amount of discourse content, beyond the thinking framework of the times, from the macro to the micro to discuss the war, just the content of the first volume of "Junguo" is enough to be a separate book, which shows how high Huo Jun's expectations are for his military book.

Just as Huo Jun was writing the next word, the attendant came into the hall to report and said: "Governor, the new deputy governor of Jianghuai, Lu Zijing, asks to see you." ”

"How did Zijing get so fast?"

Huo Jun put his pen on the shelf and said, "Quickly invite Deputy Governor Lu." ”

"No!"

After a while, Lu Su, whose complexion was much darker, wore a strong suit and walked into the hall.

Seeing Lu Su, Huo Jun stayed to welcome, held his arm, and said enthusiastically: "I haven't seen Zijing for a long time, and I am becoming more and more heroic." Jun did what he did in Jiaozhou, and Jun heard a lot. Today's Jiaoling can be safe, thanks to Zi Jinger! ”

"Du Du praises!"

Lu Su showed his white teeth and said with a smile: "The capital overseers broke Hefei and swept Jianghuai, and their reputation resounded all over the world, and Su Jiaozhou has heard of it. ”

Holding Lu Su's hand, Huo Jun invited him to the bed and asked, "Jun heard the letter from the lord, Zijing and his troops just set off from Jiaozhou, how can they arrive in Hefei so quickly?" If you know that Zi Jing is here, Jun will order someone to greet him and set up a banquet to entertain Zi Jing. ”

"The governor is gracious!"

Lu Su smiled and said, "Su heard that Cao Cao's troops returned to Xuchang, and I am afraid that he will go south to Hefei." Therefore, the soldiers went first and rushed to Hefei to help the governor resist the enemy. ”

"Jun Dezi respects the assistance, Jianghuai must be worry-free!" Huo Jun said with a smile.

"Listen to the dispatch of the governor."

Lu Su arched his hand and asked, "Dare to ask the governor, how is Cao Cao's actions today?" Where do you want to go from here? ”

"Zijing has a high opinion?" Huo Jun asked.

Lu Su groaned a little and said: "I don't dare to say that I have a high opinion, I just think that Cao Cao won the victory in Guanzhong, because he returned to the Central Plains to recuperate, but he went south to Hefei, so tired soldiers, our army is stuck in the city, and Cao Cao can retreat!" ”

"I wonder what the governor thinks?"

"What Zijing said, Jun thought it was true. Cao Cao went to the south to conquer the south, and turned to the west, the soldiers were tired, and it was not an opportunity to fight. Now Cao Cao south to Shouchun, or no south to Hefei. Huo Jun said.

Cao Cao marched south from last year, and the sergeants traveled thousands of miles, and fought a vicious battle with Ma Chao. Although he returned to the court victoriously, the soldiers were tired. If Cao Cao led a tired army to the south, with his military knowledge, he would definitely know that it would be difficult to succeed.

Therefore, Huo Jun had to suspect that Cao Cao was going south to the Huai River, and he had no intention of going south, but wanted to fight a political war. After all, according to Huo Jun's only historical knowledge, Cao Cao's title seems to have been in the past few years.

"Why did the Governor say that?" Lu Su asked with curiosity on his face.

Huo Jun's expression was calm, and he said: "The military report is on the road, and you will be able to know what Cao Cao wants at that time." ”

"Governor!"

While speaking, Jiang Ji entered the hall with a letter and said: "Shouchun came to report, Cao Cao led Yan and Yu soldiers to patrol the Huai River, and recruited Qing and Xu generals to lead troops to Shouchun, and Cao Pi, Xun Yu, and Ma Chao accompanied him in the army. ”

After a pause, Jiang Ji emphatically said: "Cao Cao left the Chinese army to rest in Xuchang, and the post messenger learned that Cao Cao wanted to take the throne and become the prince. ”

Seeing that Huo Jun was reading the information he had collated, Jiang Ji said: "Or as the governor said, Cao Cao should have no intention of going south, and now he should go south to consolidate the Huaihe military, get praise, and prepare for the rank of duke." ”

Lu Su connected the events before and after, and analyzed: "Cao Cao wants to use the merit of leveling the customs to become the prince of the country. However, the governor broke through Hefei, which made Cao Cao lose face. Now Cao Cao went south to Jianghuai, when he wanted to make a small contribution and make a name for himself as a prince of the country. ”

Saying that, Lu Su was amazed and said, "The governor is also clever!" But I don't know what to do with it? ”

Huo Jun paced in the hall and said with a smile: "Cao Cao wants to make a name for himself, how can Jun not help, order the defenders of Zhongli, Huailing, Huaiyin and other cities to retreat south, shrink their forces to the three cities of Sheyang, Lu'an, and Hefei, and not fight Cao Cao." ”

"Governor, why is that?" Jiang Ji asked.

Huo Jun saw that Jiang Ji couldn't understand, and explained: "Zhongli, Huailing, Huaiyin and other cities are close to the Huai River, far away from Jiangdong, which is beneficial to the enemy and not to me. Cao Cao knew that Hefei and Lu'an were difficult to overcome, and if he wanted to make meritorious achievements, he would besiege the outer city of Huainan of our army. ”

"Today, our army has only more than 50,000 troops, guarding hundreds of miles of Jianghuai, and it is difficult to defend them one by one. Why don't you withdraw from the outer cities and retreat to Jianghuai. If Cao Cao wanted to attack Hefei, he would defend Lu'an and Hefei with heavy troops, which would be enough to base the enemy on Shaobi. ”

Before that, Huo Jun sent four parts to take the Jianghuai land, which was called taking the land, which was actually to move the people to Jiangbei. After several months of relocation activities, tens of thousands of people were stationed in Jiangbei.

Have sergeants stationed in outlying cities, mostly to guard outposts and act as a buffer zone. Now Cao Cao is going south, and the outer cities belong to chicken ribs. After all, these cities are deserted, there are few people, and if they can give up, they should give up, it is better to concentrate their forces to defend in important areas, and there is no need to fight with Cao Cao on the outer defense line.

If the outer defense line is stubbornly smashed, the few forces will be scattered, and it will be easy to be broken by Cao Cao one by one. That is, if the land is lost, the people and the land are lost; If people lose land, people and land will survive.

After Cao Cao obtained these peripheral cities, he achieved small feats, and he was generally satisfied. If you continue to conquer Hefei in the south, you will encounter a real hard bone, and it is inevitable to retreat without victory.

"The Governor is wise!" Jiang Ji praised.

After Jiang Ji retreated and assigned the task, Lu Su opened his mouth and asked: "Governor, Su is assisting the governor, I don't know what important things the governor has to hand over to you." ”

Huo Jun groaned for a while and said: "Zijing came in time, Jianghuai is vast, and it is difficult for Jun to separate and rule. Guangling is located in the east of Jianghuai, close to the seashore, the acres of fertile fields, and the ditch passes through the county. Today, the lord sent Liu Ji to serve as the Taishou, build counties and townships, recruit displaced people, and resume production. ”

"However, the ditch is silted, and there are few people in Guangling, so it is difficult for Liu Ji to govern alone. Jun wanted Zijing to go to Jiangzuo to recruit Huaimin who fled south, and went north to Tuntian to build a city, thinking that he would consolidate the border. He also worked with Changxia Pi and Liu Guangling to dredge the ditch and connect the Yangtze River to the Huaishui waterway, laying the foundation for the future Northern Expedition. ”

Whether you want to go north from the Jianghuai or stick to the Jianghuai defense line, you can't do without Hangou. After all, it is impossible to count on the rejuvenation of Jianghuai, and only by paying equal attention to dredging ditches and building counties and townships can we support the demand for the use of troops in Jianghuai.

"I don't know if the son is willing to accept this important responsibility?"

Lu Su looked serious, and arched his hand and said: "The order of the governor, Su should obey it." And it is the great cause of the Lord, and Su and An dare not serve his life. ”

"Good!"

(End of chapter)