Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, spies had already appeared.

Shen Chen has deployed a powerful spy network in the north, so it is naturally impossible for the Cao Wei Group not to have undercover agents in the south.

Such a large-scale military mobilization by the Liu Bei Group cannot be hidden from the eyes of undercover agents.

Now the person in charge of intelligence of the Cao Wei Group is Sima Yi. Sima Yi's official position is to serve as a servant and a minister and right servant, and at the same time he is added to Shizhong and recorded ministers.

The first three official positions are nothing. Shizhong and Shangshuyoupushe are all third-rank, and Gishizhong is fifth-rank. They are honorary loose officials.

But the last record is not easy. In the Han Dynasty, this title was often only available to Sangong, and sometimes Sangong didn't even have it. Only high-ranking and powerful people could get it.

Because Lu Shangshushi means to be in charge of the affairs of Shangshutai. When there is no minister with the title of Lushangshushi, Shangshutai is the boss of Shangshuling, who manages the government affairs of the whole world. Shangshuling has become a typical representative of low-level positions.

If you have the title of Lushangshushi, then Shangshuling can only obey orders from those who record Shangshushi.So now Sima Yi can be said to be under one person and above ten thousand people, his name and position are not that big, and his political power is close to that of Zhuge Liang.

Therefore, Sima Yi was in charge of the country's government affairs, and the news of undercover spies was naturally delivered to him immediately.

When Cao Pi heard the news from Sima Yi, he hurried back to the Luoyang Palace, went to the Pinghong Hall in the North Palace, and immediately summoned Zhu Shuo, Chen Qun, Sima Yi, Wu Zhi, Dong Zhao, Jiang Ji, Liu Ye and others .

Cheng Yu died of illness a few years ago, and Cao Cao's early counselors have almost gone. Only Dong Zhao, a second-tier counselor, is still there, and the rest are important ministers in the mid-term of Cao Wei.

At this moment, everyone gathered in the North Palace.

After everyone arrived, Cao Pi said in a deep voice, "Everyone, you already know everything."

Sima Yi said: "I have already circulated the official document to all the lords."

"Ah."

Cao Pi nodded: "Liu Bei prepared equipment, food, supplies, and constantly mobilized troops. It seems that he is finally going to fight to the death with me. What do you think?"

Dong Zhao said: "Your Majesty, Liu Bei's three-way northern expedition, I think it must be two truths and one false, so we still need to deal with it."

Two true and one false?
Cao Pi then asked: "Where is true, and where is false."

Dong Zhao looked around at the crowd and made a judgment: "Chang'an and Henan are true, and Huainan is false."

"Oh?"

Cao Pi asked curiously, "Why is Huainan fake?"

"Because there are no people living in Huainan for thousands of miles, and the walls of Hefei are high and thick, His Majesty only needs 2 horses to stop Guan Yu's tens of thousands of troops."

Dong Zhao replied, "That's why I think that Liu Bei should not pin his hopes on Guan Yu."

"Well, that makes sense."

Cao Pi said: "But Chang'an is also thousands of miles away, so why is Chang'an their main attack direction?"

"Although Chang'an is thousands of miles away, it has two flaws that Hefei does not have."

Dong Zhao held up two fingers and said, "One is that we have to rush to rescue Chang'an, and the journey is far away. Second, although Chang'an City has a thick wall, it is really too big."

Big means there are too many directions the enemy can attack.

The total length of the city wall of Chang'an City is 25 kilometers, and 10 people standing on it cannot defend all the sections of the city wall. It is not easy to defend and difficult to attack, but easy to attack and difficult to defend.

Therefore, compared to Hefei City, which is small and easy to defend, Chang'an City has become a weak point that is easy to attack.

"of course."

At the end Dong Zhao added: "Chang'an City does have many flaws, but the enemy transported grain from Hanzhong to Guanzhong, and then transported grain from Guanzhong to Chang'an. It can only disperse by itself because of the lack of food."

Cao Pi thought for a while and said, "Dong Gong, what you mean is that Chang'an and Huainan are mainly based on defense?"

"Yes."

Dong Zhao said: "Liu Bei's main force is in Nanyang, and he will attack Henan with all his strength. We must also fight against him in Henan. Therefore, Chang'an and Huainan should stick to it."

"Ah."

Cao Pi looked at Sima Yi, Chen Qun and others, and asked, "What do you think?"

"I think so too."

Everyone replied.

This is an opinion recognized by the counselors.

The Liu Bei Group formulated a three-way Northern Expedition, of which the main attack direction was Chang'an and Henan. The level of the Cao Wei Group's advisers is not low, so it is naturally impossible to expect it.

Among the three roads, under normal circumstances, Henan is the easiest, followed by Hefei, and finally Chang'an.

However, although Henan and Nanyang have a flat road, it is precisely because of this that Ji Han and Cao Wei put their main force here, but this is the most difficult point to attack.

Hefei is also a Pingchuan, but Huainan is already thousands of miles away. Guan Yu's army can only go northward and die in Hefei City. As long as Hefei can hold on, then Huainan will naturally be safe and sound, so it is the next best thing.

In the case of Chang'an, even if there are no people in Guanzhong, the city is easy to break through. This is the easiest place to attack. Therefore, the Cao Wei advisers are convinced that the main attack points of the Liu Bei Group must be Henan and Guanzhong.

Sima Yi added: "Your Majesty, I believe that since Liu Bei will use Henan and Guanzhong as his base, Guanzhong will inevitably be attacked by him. General Anxi rarely leads troops, and now Shen Chen is in charge of Guanzhong. If Shen Chen attacks, Still be careful."

"You mean a replacement?"

Cao Pi frowned.

Sima Yi hesitated for a moment, but still said: "I think that General Anxi lacks combat experience, and it would be better if he is in charge of food and grass in the rear."

"Then who do you think should go to Chang'an?"

Cao Pi asked back.

Sima Yi thought about it and sighed: "Even if we can't change generals, we should send generals with foreign surnames who are experienced in combat to assist, and we must send more troops."

"Well"

Cao Pi pondered.

The relationship between Xiahoumao and him is like brothers, so in history, after he became emperor, he has always trusted Xiahoumao, and let Xiahoumao sit in Chang'an for eight years. It was not until the reign of Emperor Wei Ming that Xiahoumao was withdrawn to Luoyang.

Now the Cao Wei Group is in an embarrassing period, the older generation of generals are dying and getting sick.At present, only Zhang Liao and Xu Huang are left as high-ranking generals. Zhang He and Zang Ba were only second-tier generals before, but now they have all been promoted.

These people are the cornerstone of Cao Wei. It is impossible for Cao Pi to let a foreign surname be the coach, so when he deployed the main force in Henan and other places, he used Xia Houyuan as the main general and Xia Houshang as the deputy general.In the direction of Huainan, Cao Xiu was ordered to be the main general, stationed in Zhaoling County, Runan County, and responsible for resisting Jiangdong's attack.

As for the direction of Guanzhong, Cao Pi actually placed two people, one is Anxi general Xia Houmao, and the other is Zhenxi general Cao Zhen.The difference is that Xia Houmao guards Chang'an, while Cao Zhen sits in Lantian and is responsible for defending Nanyang Liu Bei's army in the direction of Wuguan.

So in fact, if Xia Houmao is really replaced, unless it is a general with a foreign surname like Xu Huang and Zhang Yun, otherwise, there will be no one from Cao Wei's second generation to send.

Even if Cao Zhen is allowed to go, who will guard the direction of Lantian Wuguan?
It's embarrassing.

Cao Pi doesn't trust foreign generals, but the talents of the clan are quite withered, one radish and one hole, and now there are no Cao family and Xiahou family in the north, which shows the lack of talents in Cao Wei.

But what Sima Yi said is also reasonable. Although Cao Zhen, Cao Xiu, and Xia Houshang are also the second generation, they have followed Cao Cao for many years in the South and North Wars, and now they are all over 40 years old. They can afford the leader. Soldiers, lack of actual combat experience.

Moreover, his opponent is Shen Xiaoqing, who is famous all over the world. Even though it is very difficult for Shen Chen to attack Chang'an, it is hard to say what kind of conspiracy he has to capture Chang'an, so we still have to be cautious about this issue.

After much deliberation, Cao Pi decided to be on the safe side, and said: "Although Zilin has few leaders, he is a man who can listen to his words, so he asked Xu Huang and Zhu Ling to take another 3 people to Chang'an, so that Chang'an will have more troops." With 7 people stationed, plus Zidan, there will be 10 people in Guanzhong, so there should be no serious problems."

"Your Majesty is wise."

Sima Yi felt that Xu Huang and Zhu Ling were veterans with many years of combat experience, and with their help to check, there should be no problem.

Chen Qun also suggested: "Your Majesty, Liu Bei is old. When he launches an offensive, he will go all out. I think that if a lion fights a rabbit, he must do it with all his strength. Now that Liu Bei is using the strength of the south to attack the Central Plains north, we must do the same. Deal with it carefully, and all kinds of food, weapons, and supplies should also be mobilized."

"That's right. Compared with Liu Bei, we still have a great advantage in food and grass. The roads in Huainan, Henan and other places are flat, and food, grass and reinforcements can arrive quickly. If we wait for work at leisure, we can spend it with Liu Bei."

Liu Ye, a descendant of Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu, was also actively working for Cao Wei and made suggestions.

Jiang Ji even said: "Your Majesty, I thought Liu Bei was in a hurry for the Northern Expedition because he felt that his death was imminent, so he was so eager. As long as he defends patiently and blocks his attack, Liu Bei may die because of long-term consumption. , once he dies, the south is likely to be in chaos, this is a good time for His Majesty to recover the south."

"Oh?"

When Cao Pi heard this sentence, he immediately became interested.

Now that the north and the south are confronting each other, the strength of the north is slightly stronger than that of the south, with a total force of more than 40 and close to 50, which can be described as unprecedentedly strong.

Although like the Liu Bei Group, many of the troops are county soldiers, the total number of soldiers is also maintained at more than 30.

For example, Xia Houmao currently has 4 people in Chang'an, and Cao Zhen has [-] people.

The Henan direction had the largest number of soldiers and horses. Xia Houyuan, Xia Houshang, Zhang He, Guo Huai, Jia Kui, Wang Ling and other dozens of generals, with a crowd of nearly [-], confronted the Nanyang Liu Bei Group in Henan.

In the Huainan direction, Cao Xiu, Zhang Liao, Lu Qian, and Zang Ba led tens of thousands of people, stationed in Runan County of Yuzhou, Jiujiang County of Yangzhou, and Guangling County of Xuzhou respectively to guard against Jiangdong.

In this way, there are about 20 soldiers and horses facing each other in general.

It looks less.

But in fact, there are still a large number of elite soldiers stationed in the capital of Luoyang.

The number of confronting soldiers and horses is smaller, which can alleviate the problem of food and grass transportation. Once a war breaks out, Luoyang soldiers and horses can quickly rush to help everywhere.

So in fact, apart from the fact that Guanzhong cannot rush to reinforcements in a short period of time, Henan and Huainan can basically be reached within ten days, and they can completely compete with the south.

At the scale of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, even if a large-scale war is launched, it will not be completed in a year or two. Unless there are major internal problems between the enemy and the enemy, it is basically impossible to annex each other in a short time.

However, Jiang Ji believes that now that Liu Bei is so old, he is likely to die during the Northern Expedition. Once Liu Bei dies, the backbone of the South will fall, and if it is not good, it will cause chaos.

Just like when Cao Cao died, there was civil strife in the north.

Therefore, Jiang Ji's suggestion is that Cao Pi should actively confront Liu Bei and fully mobilize the opponent's troops. When Liu Bei dies and the south is in chaos, he should immediately drink horses to the Yangtze River and regain the world.

Sima Yi also said: "Mr. Zitong is right. Your Majesty and I also think that the defense should be the main priority now. When Liu Bei dies, the great cause can be accomplished."

"Ah."

Cao Pi nodded approvingly: "Okay, if Liu Bei comes, I will fight with him personally. Everyone, Liu Bei is now rectifying military affairs and allocating food and grass, so I can't lag behind. Send an order to invite the Taiwei to Chang'an to assist Zilin. Zhong I arrived in Luoyang and was responsible for supervising the transportation of grain and grass in the rear, and the rest followed me to Henan."

"only."

Everyone bowed their hands together.

At present, the Cao Wei Group is also actively responding to the offensive prepared by the Liu Bei Group.

Due to the convenient transportation in the north, Cao Pi did not plan to increase his troops. He only appointed Zhong Yao as his staff, Xu Huang and Zhu Ling as his lieutenants, and went to Chang'an to assist Xia Houmao in guarding against Shen Chen.

Preparing [-] soldiers and horses in Chang'an already gave Shen Chen great respect.

The second is to increase the supply of food, grass and ordnance in Huainan, Henan, especially Hefei and other places. The arrows alone have increased by millions.

In the end, it was natural to order Yan Rou, Tian Yu, Xian Yufu and others from the north to send additional cavalry to Luoyang to improve the mobility of the Luoyang army so as to achieve the purpose of rapid reinforcement.

A series of countermeasures were quickly prepared.

The war machines of the Liu Bei Group and the Cao Wei Group began to run crazily. Both sides had a lot of troops, food and grass to mobilize, and at the same time they also recruited civilians. The situation between the North and the South was tense for a while.

I may have a chapter or ask for leave tomorrow. I feel unwell and want to go to the hospital for a physical examination.