Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 404 398. Northern Expedition Strategy
Xu Shu and Huang Quan looked in the direction Feng Xi's finger was pointing. Feng Xi was pointing at a place southeast of Jiangdong on the map.

"This island is...?"

Huang Quan didn't know this place very well, or rather, he was still shocked by the map and it was difficult for him to calm down and think about his knowledge.

"Could this place be... Yizhou?"

Xu Shu pondered for a moment, then suddenly spoke, which made Feng Xi admire his erudition. Only a few ancient people knew about Izu and Wadao. I didn't expect Xu Shu to be so knowledgeable, and he was indeed a disciple of Mr. Shuijing.

"Yizhou...? Could it be the Yizhou where Xu Fu, a pre-Qin sorcerer, stopped before leading his fleet eastward to Tanzhou?"

When Huang Quan heard Xu Shu's words, he seemed to remember something and asked Xu Shu.

"That's right. Legend has it that Xu Fu led 800 boys and girls to the east on the orders of the First Emperor to search for the elixir of life. After passing through Yizhou, they arrived at Danzhou. Naturally, the so-called elixir of life was nowhere to be found, so they stayed in Danzhou and never returned."

Xu Shu briefly talked about Xu Fu's story at that time, and Feng Xi pointed to the previous Wa Island.

"Later, it was believed that the so-called Danzhou was the Wa Island, and the people living there were the descendants of Xu Fu and those boys and girls. However, they have been isolated from the Han Dynasty for hundreds of years, and there is no trace of the Central Plains anymore. However, no one has touched Yizhou. It is estimated that there are only some native tribes on it, which is just right for us to expand our territory."

Xu Shu and Huang Quan looked at each other, and in the end it was Huang Quan who spoke up to dissuade Feng Xi because he was theoretically on the same level as Feng Xi.

"Xiu Yuan, although you are determined to expand your territory, I shouldn't stop you. But now the primary opponent of our Han Dynasty is the traitor Cao Wei who usurped the Han Dynasty. If we rashly send troops to Yizhou, how can we guarantee the success of the Northern Expedition?"

Huang Quan didn't know what information Feng Xi knew, nor did he know what Feng Xi was thinking. He was just considering it based on normal thinking logic.

Judging from Feng Xi's performance in the past two years, Huang Quan felt that Feng Xi would attack Cao Wei either next year or the year after. How could he have the extra time to develop Yizhou?
"Northern Expedition? Didn't I say that the Northern Expedition will be announced at least two years later?"

Feng Xi was stunned for a moment, then he remembered that his previous considerations were all his own private thoughts and he had not told anyone about them.

"Two years later? Why?"

Now not only Huang Quan, but also Xu Shu was a little uneasy.

"Come on, come on, let's sit down first. We need to look into this matter in detail."

Feng Xi asked Huang Quan and Xu Shu to sit back first, and he pulled over a chair. The three of them gathered in front of Huang Quan's desk. Feng Xi could just use his map to point out the situation.

"Military Advisor Yuanzhi, let's not get too emotional. What do you think of Cao Pi's abilities?" Feng Xi was consistent at first. He did not get straight to the point, but instead asked Xu Shu about his opinion of Cao Pi. Because Xu Shu had been in Cao's camp for more than ten years, he knew a lot about the Cao family, at least more than Huang Quan and Feng Xi.

"If we don't talk about personal morality, I'm afraid Cao Pi is the most suitable successor to Cao Cao. Cao Pi is just like Cao Cao. He is cunning but never reveals it. He often shows his generosity.

He was also very familiar with political and military affairs. When Cao Cao was still alive, I often heard that he was on good terms with generals in the Cao family army, such as Cao Zhen, Cao Xiu, and the young generals of the Xiahou family. This is also the reason why there were not many waves in the country after Cao Pi inherited Cao Cao's throne and usurped the Han Dynasty. "

Xu Shu thought about it and gave a very pertinent evaluation. Feng Xi nodded. Although the old Cao family had bad character, their ability was indeed beyond reproach. Cao Pi was almost a little Cao Cao, and he had not lost any of the emperor's mentality. After he came to power, almost everyone in the army and the court was his supporter.

Although there were traditional royalists who made trouble, after two generations of Cao Cao and Cao Pi, those royalists who were loyal to Liu Xie had almost all died, and the remaining small fish and shrimp could not cause any trouble. Later, Cao Pi directly usurped the Han Dynasty, and directly cut off the path of the royalists. Now, at least on the surface, Cao Wei is calm.

"Military Advisor Yuanzhi is right. Cao Pi is extremely capable. Military Advisor Yuanzhi, if we march north, I'm afraid we will face considerable pressure, right?"

When Feng Xi asked about the risks of the Northern Expedition, Xu Shu looked at the map drawn by Feng Xi, and deduced in his mind the situation where the Han army would attack Cao Wei from three directions at the same time, and finally nodded.

“If our army marches north in the current situation, with the high quality of our Jingzhou troops and advanced weapons and equipment, we can rush straight to Nanyang. However, after taking Wancheng, our army will inevitably be surrounded from all sides in the direction of Chang'an, Hongnong, Luoyang and Huainan.

And Yangzhou had just been conquered, and the Yangzhou Army had just been formed. With its capabilities, it would probably be blocked by the Wei Army defending the city in the Xuzhou area, making it difficult to send reinforcements to the Huainan direction.

As for the central Sichuan, the troops in the central Sichuan area can be divided into two routes. One route can start from Hanzhong and go north through several valleys to completely conquer Liangzhou and threaten Guanzhong. However, Tongguan is naturally dangerous, Chang'an is a city, and the valleys are difficult to travel. There are too many variables. In addition, Zhang He, Cao Zhen and others in the Guanzhong area are not ordinary people. I am afraid that the central Sichuan will also be trapped in a tough battle in Guanzhong.

By then, even if part of our Jingzhou forces break in, I'm afraid it will be difficult to launch a full-scale attack."

Xu Shu's analysis of the current combat effectiveness of the various armies of the Han Dynasty is quite appropriate. Needless to say, the Jingzhou Army, led by Feng Xi, is the most powerful of the four states of the Han Dynasty. Moreover, if Feng Xi himself were to command the central army, it would be a piece of cake for him to march northward and defeat Xiahou Shang's Nanyang Central Line.

First of all, Cao's army on the central line of Nanyang was badly damaged after the previous defeat in Xiangfan. Many veterans died in the explosion in Xiangfan and the subsequent encirclement and suppression by the Han army. Although Cao Wei has replenished their manpower in the past two years, and Xiahou Shang now has an army of 80,000 again, there are less than 30,000 veterans who have truly experienced blood and fire, and the rest are all innocent and stupid recruits.

Secondly, it is a problem of generals. The Wei army in Nanyang was originally quite strong, but Wen Qin, Niu Jin, and Xu Huang died in the Battle of Xiangfan, and countless generals were lost. In addition, Cao Ren, the pillar of Cao Wei, also died of illness. Now Nanyang can only rely on Wen Pin, a veteran, to be in charge. The others are young men like Xiahou Ba and Xiahou Shang, who are difficult to convince.

Therefore, when the strongest Jingzhou army faced Cao Wei's weakest Nanyang central line, the outcome of the battle was definitely beyond doubt. The Jingzhou army would definitely beat Xiahou Shang in the Nanyang central line into a pulp in a short period of time, and Xu Shu had no doubt about this.

But what will happen next? Xiahou Shang will certainly continue to retreat, and Luoyang, as the capital of the Zhou emperor, is surrounded by the "eight pass capitals" and many fortresses. Moreover, as the capital of Cao Wei, reinforcements will surely come to rescue it.

No matter how elite the Jingzhou army is, it has to focus on attacking and defending.

(End of this chapter)