The First Military Division of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 323
Chapter 330 Five Bets

"Prime Minister, since Chen Ziming's arrival, his soldiers and horses have not been able to defend. I went to call for the formation but also put up the exemption card. I don't know why?" After calling for the formation again and returning without success, Xia Houdun and others came to report to Cao Cao.

"Huh?" Cao Cao frowned after hearing this, and after thinking for a while, he said: "Please come to the military division to discuss the matter."

Cao Cao really couldn't think of a reason, so he had to leave the matter to his intelligence team to think about it, and immediately recruited Xi Zhicai, Cheng Yu, Xun You, Hua Xin, Dong Zhao and other advisers to discuss.

"Prime Minister, Chen Ziming is very resourceful and full of schemes, so we must guard against them." Dong Zhao heard Cao Cao's doubts, and immediately said: "Chen Ziming's army has a slight upper hand, but he can't hold on to this matter. He must have a big plan."

"Prime Minister, according to the scout report, the number of cavalry to supply food and grass to Chen Ziming has decreased a lot recently, and Chen Ziming can't defend it, which may be related to this." Hua Yun thought of something, and immediately stood up and reported to Cao Cao.

"Oh?" Cao Cao's eyes lit up after hearing this, and he hurriedly asked, "Could it be that Chen Ziming's army is short of food and has no strength to fight anymore?"

"Otherwise." Xun You objected: "Liu Bei governs a vast land, and last year was a harvest year. Although he has been using troops for a long time, he will not be short of food because of this."

"Yes, Prime Minister." Cheng Yu immediately said: "According to the information collected by Zhuowei, Liu Bei received tens of millions of food last year, let alone hundreds of thousands of troops spending more than half a year. There will be a shortage of food, this must be Chen Ziming's strategy, and he wants to use this to lure the prime minister's army to attack rashly."

"That's right." After listening to Xun You and Cheng Yu's words, Cao Cao also nodded and said, "Liu Bei is sitting on the land of eight states, the land in the north is fertile, and there are many cattle and sheep under his rule, so there will be no shortage of food and grass."

"Prime Minister." At this moment, Dong Zhao suddenly said, "I don't know whether Chen Ziming is short of food and grass, but we are already short of food and grass for our army. Please make a decision as soon as possible."

"What?" Cao Cao was taken aback when he heard this, and hurriedly asked, "Gongren, last year Yanzhou, Yuzhou, Nanyang and other places had a bumper harvest, why is there a shortage of food?"

"The Prime Minister does not know that Yanzhou, Yuzhou, Nanyang and other places do have a lot of grain and grass, but now Taishi's soldiers and horses are besieging Luoyang, so the grain and grass from the three places have to be transported thousands of miles away from Wei County, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive. After arriving here, there will be two and three out of ten." Dong Zhao said helplessly about the difficulties.

"Prime Minister, now the only way is to get rid of Tai Shici's troops who are besieging Luoyang, or quickly decide the victory with Chen Ziming, otherwise, it will be bad for our army." Cheng Yu hurriedly suggested after hearing this.

"Gongda, when will the siege of Luoyang be resolved?" Cao Cao immediately asked Xun You, who had been following the war in Luoyang.
"Report to the Prime Minister." Xun You hurriedly came out and said, "Taishi is kind and brave, Zhuge Liang is good at planning, and the two lead an army of [-] to surround Luoyang. Although Luoyang is defended by General Cao Hong with [-] troops, there are Dong Heng and Du Ji The general has [-] soldiers and horses to help, but there is no way to take Tai Shici's soldiers and horses for a while, so he can only protect Luoyang."

"How could this be?" After Cao Cao heard this, he felt a big headache. The road to Luoyang was blocked, and the supply of food and grass here would be difficult to maintain. Cao Cao was asked to quickly decide the outcome with Chen Ziming, but what should he choose.

Unless he wants to return in a big defeat, it is impossible to defeat Chen Ziming's army so quickly.

"Zhicai?" Cao Cao didn't know what to do for a while, so he had to put his last hope on Xi Zhicai.

"Prime Minister." Seeing Cao Cao calling him, Xi Zhi had to stand up and say, "Now that Chen Ziming can't defend himself, there are only two possibilities. One is that Chen Ziming's army is indeed short of food and it is not suitable to fight again. The other is that he knows the prime minister's military operations." Food is difficult, and I want to use this to drag down the prime minister's army and make it win without fighting."

Xi Zhicai analyzed this point, walked to the front of the map and said: "Chen Ziming's purpose for this trip is Liangzhou. He won't get Liangzhou, and he will never retreat easily. But if he wants to take Liangzhou, he can only defeat the prime minister's army."

"Now that the Prime Minister's army has difficulty in supplying food and grass, we must not hide this from Liu Bei's hidden guards. Chen Ziming may use this to plan the Prime Minister's troops."

After Cao Cao heard this, he walked back and forth, frowning. Now he was facing a very big problem. After a while, Cao Cao raised his head and asked, "How true is it that Chen Ziming's army is short of food?"

"Report to the Prime Minister." Hua Xin stood up and said, "This year, Liu Bei fought a battle with the Huns in the north at Yanmenguan, and then gathered a large army here. It cost a lot of money to hold back an army of more than [-], and I heard that there are floods in Youzhou, Bingzhou and other places, if this is the case, there is not much food left in Liu Bei's hands."

"Prime Minister, Chen Ziming's shortage of food and grass is all speculation. If he has enough food and grass, after a long time, it will be that our army is short of food and grass, and we will be in danger." Cheng Yu knew what Cao Cao was thinking. Cao Cao just wanted to make peace with him. Chen Ziming tried his best to spend it, and see who can spend it.

"Then what should I do?" Cao Cao became angry and asked everyone: "Now we are short of food and grass, and it is not easy to attack Chen Ziming's army. At this time, I can't advance or retreat?"

"Prime Minister, don't worry, I have a plan to solve the current crisis." Just when Cao Cao was furious, Xi Zhicai spoke, making Cao Cao and others look at Xi Zhicai expectantly.

"Prime Minister." Xi Zhicai said: "Now Han Sui in Xiliang has served the Prime Minister. There will be less war in Xiliang, so we should store more food, and more people in Xiliang have cattle and sheep to feed them."

"Very good!" Cao Cao was overjoyed immediately after hearing this, and ordered: "Han Sui is ordered to deliver 20 deniers of grain and [-] cattle and sheep to our army within one month for our army's needs."

It is true that Yanzhou, Yuzhou, Nanyang and other places need to detour to Weijun to go to Hongnong, but there is no problem at all to come here from Xiliang. They only need to pass through Tongguan and pass through Chang'an to get here. Not only saves time and effort, but also the distance is very short.

"Order all the battalions to silence the flags and drums, hang up the sign of exemption from battle, and don't send troops without my order." After solving the problem of food and grass, Cao Cao felt a lot more relaxed. Since Chen Ziming wanted to fight with him, let's see who can afford it.

After Cao Cao's actions reached Chen Ziming's ears, Chen Ziming just laughed and didn't take it seriously at all. All he did was to confuse Cao Cao, making Cao Cao wishful thinking that Chen Ziming was planning his army.

In fact, Chen Ziming put the treasure on Tai Shici and Zhuge Liang. As long as Tai Shici and the others deal with the [-] reinforcements outside Luoyang City, Luoyang will definitely be in a hurry. It will depend on Cao Cao's choice at that time.

"Ziming, why don't I go to Ziyi's place?" Guo Jia came to Chen Ziming's side. He has nothing to do here now, but it was Tai Shici's place. He was a little worried. After all, Zhuge Liang was too young and wanted to arrive in August It is not easy for Wan Cao Cao to be an elite.

(End of this chapter)