Soldiers come to the world

The full moon banquet in the tavern was still going on, but the lights were turned on in Liu Jing's outer study room. In the room, Jia Xu and Xu Shu had already rushed over. Even the veteran Huang Zhong was sitting by the side. Everyone was silently waiting for Liu Jing to come back .

At this time, there was the sound of quick footsteps in the yard, and Liu Jing walked into the study quickly, "I just got the latest information!" He was holding a few tubes of pigeon letters in his hand, and he hadn't had time to copy the reputation.

Liu Jing handed several tubes of pigeon letters to the three of them and asked them to pass them on to each other. He then said, "Xu Huang led 20 troops to attack Jingling County. The defenders in Jingling County have already retreated. In addition, Cao Cao's [-] main force Entering Yunmengze from Huarong County, they should have opened up a road in Yunmengze."

At this time, Xu Shu asked: "Is this road in Yunmengze the Huarong Road where refugees fled to Jiangxia?"

"It should be this way!"

Liu Jing went to the map by the wall and lit a candle. The map on the wall suddenly became clear. The Huarong Road and Jingling Road were clearly marked on the map. For more than a month, Cao Jun has been in Yunmeng. Jiang Xia has already received the news of Ze Nei opening up the road.

Liu Jing picked up a wooden pole, pointed to Jingling Road and said to everyone: "From the current situation, it is unlikely that Cao Jun will take Jingling Road. One is that they did not take Jingling County in advance, and the other is Jingling Road is far away, and we need to dig mountains and build bridges along the way, but Cao Jun didn't do anything first, so we can rule out Jingling Road."

Liu Jing pointed the wooden pole at Huarong Road again and said: "Even if you take Huarong Road, there are two forks, one is to go to Chibi Wulin, and the other is to go to Puqi Wulin. What we need to clarify is here, where is Cao Jun going? Where are you going to cross the river in Wulin?"

At this time, Huang Zhong said: "If they are crossing the river by Puqi Wulin, they will go directly east from the official road of Puqi County. I walked this road back then. After three days, they can go directly to Yangxin County. Five days later. When it comes to Chaisang, I think Cao Cao should be very clear about this."

Liu Jing nodded, and then looked at Jia Xu who had been thinking, "What's Mr. Jia's opinion?"

Jia Xu smiled and said: "Perhaps I know Prime Minister Cao better. He never does things in one way, making people confused about his true intentions. I think he not only wants to Walking Chibi Wulin, and at the same time Puqi Wulin, this is his style, but where is his real goal? I’m afraid even he himself doesn’t know.”

Jia Xu's last sentence made the other three stunned. Doesn't even Cao Cao know his own goal?After a moment of silence, Xu Shu first realized, "Wenhe means the warships in the Yangtze River?"

Jia Xu stroked his beard and smiled, "That's exactly what I mean!"

Liu Jing also realized that Puqi is the junction of Changsha County and Jiangxia County. After passing Puqi, he entered Jiangxia County and entered the core area of ​​Jiangxia Navy. If Cao Cao's warship could enter Jiangxia, he would certainly If you choose Chibi Wulin, if you can't enter Jiangxia, you can only take the next best thing and cross the river from Puqi.

Huang Zhong was the last to react. He smiled and said: "If I were Cao Cao, I would not choose Puqi. To enter Jiangxia from the east of Puqi, you need to cross mountains and ridges, and it is difficult to travel with heavy supplies. You can't let Cao Cao's main force carry dry food. Let's go, Jiang Xia!"

Liu Jing walked a few steps with his hands behind his back, which involved a problem. Whether Cao Cao crossed the river in Puqi Wulin or in Chibi Wulin, it seemed to be decided by Jiang Xia's army, and Cao Jun's warship was intercepted at In addition to Jiangxia, even using the advantage of the water army to wipe out all Cao Cao's warships will make it impossible for Cao Jun to cross the river in the end, so that he will withdraw his troops and return north.

But is this what Liu Jing wants?He has planned for nearly a year, even the layout in Hebei, including the alliance with Jiangdong, all in order to wipe out Cao Jun in Jiangxia, repeat the scene in history, and finally give him a chance to rise.

But if Cao Jun is allowed to retreat completely, it will prevent him from developing to the north, and finally compete with Jiangdong for the southern land, which is not in line with his overall situation.

"What do you think?" Liu Jing turned around and asked the crowd, "Do we need to wipe out all Cao's warships in the Yangtze River?"

Jia Xu was silent. On this matter, he could only talk with Liu Jing in private, and it was not suitable for him to express his opinion in front of everyone.

Huang Zhong didn't say a word either. Although he wanted to wipe out Cao Jun's warships, he had a wealth of life experience after all. Liu Jing asked questions about such a natural thing, which meant that he didn't want to do it.

Perhaps Liu Jing has deeper thoughts, which are not known to him who has just been transferred to Jiangxia, so it is better for him not to express his opinion.

At this time, Xu Shu smiled and said: "It seems that I have to express my opinion. I have never understood that in Xiangyang, Zhou Mu sent a navy to sweep Cao Jun's warships in Hanshui, and did not give Cao Jun any chance. Then why is it in the Yangtze River? But the Jiangxia navy never went to Jiangling? Is it because Cao Cao’s navy has made progress, or has Zhou Mu had other ideas?”

Xu Shu's meaning was already very clear. Since he didn't go to Jiangling to sweep Cao's warships, why did he intercept Cao's warships outside Jiangxia? Liu Jing's goal was to wipe out the main force of Cao's army, not just a few hundred warships.

"Zhou Mu's thoughts, the subordinates only understand today." Jia Xu was stunned, with a concealed wry smile on his face, he shook his head and said, "This is a bit too unexpected."

As a protagonist, it is very necessary to maintain a sense of mystery in front of subordinates, and not let subordinates see through their own minds. This is a taboo of those in power. For example, Yang Xiu in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms does not understand this kind of power rules. .

The same is true for Liu Jing, he doesn't want to reveal any thoughts to his subordinates, and will only release them little by little when necessary.

He released a little idea today, but Xu Shu guessed it right away, while Jia Xu, who is extremely smart, suddenly realized, as if he hadn't thought of it at all.

Obviously, Jia Xu is well versed in the rules of power. Even if he had already guessed something that he shouldn't know, he would show a certain degree of astonishment. This is also a kind of respect for the lord.

Those who are good at fighting do not fight; those who are good at fighting do not get angry; those who are good at defeating the enemy do not fight;

Liu Jing was very happy that Jia Xu could follow his train of thought. He smiled and said, "Sweeping Cao Jun's warships is easy for me, but destroying Cao Jun's warships will not solve the problem. Next year Cao Jun will go south in a big way. If he doesn't go south for a year, he will also deploy a large army to guard against our northward expansion, and only by greatly weakening his strength will we have the opportunity to expand northward."

Xu Shu pondered for a while and said: "If my guess is correct, I am afraid that Prime Minister Cao also saw the real intention of Zhou Mu not sending a navy to sweep Jiangling, so he dared to let the warship continue eastward and let the main force go by land. Willing to go with the boat."

"This should be!"

Liu Jing sighed slightly, and said to everyone: "The question now is, how should we deal with it?"

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Yunmengze is a wetland of tens of thousands of hectares gradually formed in the hinterland of the low-lying Jianghan Plain after tens of millions of years of evolution. There are lakes, dry land, and islands in the middle.

For thousands of years, no one has lived in the wetland, and there are countless calamus ponds, ranging from hundreds of acres to tens of thousands of acres. If you rush into it, you will get lost in the middle and die. Only experienced fishermen can swim in the wetland. Move forward and retreat freely.

In the early morning, a white mist shrouded Yunmeng Water Lake. Although the mist was not thick, it was still difficult to see the situation dozens of steps away. At this time, a small boat sailed out of the calamus water, and there were five people on the boat. , except for an old fisherman who was punting the boat, the other four were scouts from the Jiangxia army, and they were one of the fifty scout teams in Yunmengze.

The area they patrolled was in the south of the central part of Yunmengze, only [-] miles away from Puqi Wulin. The early morning fog made them unable to see far away. A young scout could not help but complained in a low voice: "It's not even fifty steps away. Can't see, why is it necessary to come out early?"

They only rested in the middle of the night last night, and came out before dawn in the morning. They were very tired, and the chief commander yelled at the complaining subordinates in a low voice: "The food reward for scouts is several times that of ordinary soldiers. Do you think it is so easy to earn?" Is it? If you let the enemy go by mistake, you will lose your head, do you understand?"

Another veteran scout advised, "Goro is still a rookie and doesn't know the rules. When we first became scouts, didn't we complain the same?"

"It is because he is a recruit that we have to set rules for him, otherwise he would not know how he died!"

Shi Chang gave the young scout a hard look, "If you have any more complaints, just get the hell out of here!"

The young scout was too frightened to make a sound, but he was not convinced in his heart. At this time, the old boatman smiled and said: "I said Goro! In fact, Li Shichang was right. Why did he come out while there was fog? Because it is easy to cover when there is fog, although You can't see Cao Jun, and Cao Jun can't see you either, otherwise there are only a few of you, and once Cao Cao's forward finds out, it will be very difficult to escape."

The old fisherman smiled at Shichang again: "Li Shichang, am I right?"

Shi Chang nodded, "Old man is absolutely right, that's what happened. If you were a scout and couldn't protect yourself, you would have died a few times already."

The young scout was finally convinced, and lowered his head in shame. Suddenly, the osprey at the bow squeaked, and everyone became nervous. The strength and hearing of the osprey surpassed that of humans. It must have discovered something?

The old fisherman made a decisive decision, and with a push of the penny, the boat slid into the dense calamus water. Through the dense calamus, everyone watched the situation on the water outside vigilantly.

Not long after, a dark fleet appeared in the mist, all of which were small cargo ships of two hundred to five hundred shi, fully loaded with rations, and each ship had three or four soldiers of the Cao army, holding spears and crossbows. Gather at the stern to chat or rest.

The scout team thought it was just Cao Jun patrolling, but they didn't expect to encounter Cao Jun's transport fleet. The fleet passed by them twenty paces away, and they could clearly hear Cao Jun's soldiers talking and laughing.

They were so nervous that they didn't dare to take a breath. The old fisherman even stuffed his osprey into the bottom bin to prevent it from barking and revealing their hiding place.

The fleet of transport ships continued continuously, and it took more than an hour for the fleet to finally finish sailing. "It's so long, how many cargo ships are there?" a scout asked.

The chief scout shook his head, "I lost count after two hundred ships, and it is estimated that there are about 350 ships."

The young scout scratched his head, puzzled and said: "It's strange, I heard that the main force of Cao's army is not going to Chibi Wulin? This is the waterway to Puqi Wulin. What are they going here for?"

The chief scout quickly calculated in his mind that these cargo ships transported about five or six thousand shi of grain, which could at least feed an army of more than ten thousand, which meant that there were about [-] to [-] Cao troops in Puqi Wulin.

He immediately said in a deep voice to his opponent: "It means that tens of thousands of Cao troops have gone to Puqi Wulin by land, and this fleet is their supply. This is important information, and we must report back to Puqi immediately!"