Soldiers come to the world

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The 21st day of Jian'an was destined to be tense and busy. On the third day after the day, the ministers of Pingzhangtai went to Fengyi County and Fufeng County again to continue to deal with the resettlement of the Huns.

At the same time, the planning and preparations for the Battle of Hefei also quietly kicked off. Li Jing appointed Li Yan as the Jingxiang Food Supervision Envoy to coordinate the transportation of military food in Jingzhou counties. Five hundred civilian ships were used to transport military supplies, and the [-] garrisons in Bashu and Jingnan were transferred to Chaisang.

To capture Hefei, you can control Jiangdong in the south, and see Xuyu in the north. It can be called a great strategic fulcrum. If the Han army wants to unify the world, capture the Central Plains, and annex Jiangdong, Hefei is bound to win. Since last year, the battle of Hefei has been on the table Not only the Han army was clear about the strategy, but the Cao army was also clear about it.

Cao Cao tried his best to prevent the outbreak of the Battle of Hefei, and even took advantage of his daughter's marriage with Liu Jing, but it still had no effect. Except for the Han-Hungarian War that broke out in the autumn and winter of last year, which delayed the Battle of Hefei for half a year, there was no force to stop the Han army from capturing will.

Unless Cao Cao agreed to Liu Jing's conditions and gave up Luoyang, Cao Cao would not agree to this condition of drinking poison to quench thirst anyway. Giving up Luoyang means that the door to the Central Plains will be wide open. The Han army can sweep the Central Plains at any time, and stick to Hefei. A contest with the Han army, but it is still unknown who will win.

Now that he had an insight into the strategic deployment of the Han army, Cao Cao did not sit still. He appointed Zhang Liao as the governor of Yangzhou and deployed [-] troops in Hefei and Shouchun.

At the same time, Cao Cao ordered the recruitment of 20 civilians from the Si and Huai areas to strengthen the defenses of Hefei and Shouchun, and widen the river to better connect the two important cities of Feishou.

Just after the new year, Cao Cao arrived in Hefei City. At this time, he had already made it clear that the Han army would launch an attack on Hefei before April, so it became urgent to speed up the progress of Hefei's fortifications.

At the head of Hefei City, Zhang Liao is accompanying Cao Cao and military commander Cheng Yu to inspect the progress of Hefei City. The water in Xiaoyaojin has been drained. Tens of thousands of civilians are busy repairing the city wall. A three-mile-long city wall has begun to take shape on Xiaoyaojin.

Seeing that Cao Cao was frowning, Zhang Liao seemed dissatisfied with the progress of the construction of the city. He hastily explained, "To Duke Wei, there is a huge amount of work to build the city in Xiaoyaojin, not the city wall itself, but the construction of Xiaoyaojin. For water, we tried several solutions without success. In the end, we had to dig a depression to the east of Xiaoyaojin, seal the water inlet and outlet of Xiaoyaojin, then drain the water into the depression, and then fill up the lake bottom with soil. This fortification alone took three months, and the peasants were busy day and night, and even Zhengdan only rested for three days."

"Three days off?" Cao Cao sneered and said, "I didn't take a day off in Zhengdan. Are you not as good as these folks?"

"But if you push too hard, they will work instead of doing nothing..."

Before Zhang Liao could finish, Cao Cao waved his hand and interrupted him, asking, "I want to know how many people died?"

Zhang Liao hesitated, and said in a low voice: "Seven people died successively. (The update is the fastest and most stable)"

"Very well, only seven people died, and these seven people probably died of illness too! No wonder it took four or five months before even a shadow appeared on the city wall. I don't think there is any need to repair it. Withdraw the troops to Shouchun and give Hefei directly to the city. None of the Han soldiers and civilian husbands need to die, and this fulfills your love for the people, General Zhang, don’t you?” Cao Cao looked at Zhang Liao with a half-smile.

Zhang Liao could hear the serious dissatisfaction in Cao Cao's tone, he quickly knelt down and pleaded guilty: "The humble official has a heavy trust from Duke Wei, and the humble official is willing to bear all the responsibility for the crime."

Next to Cheng Yu, seeing that Zhang Liao was unable to understand current affairs, he couldn't help but feel very anxious. Wei Gong was dissatisfied with the slow progress, so Zhang Liao should answer how to improve the progress. This is the way to solve the problem. Duke Wei is angry?

Cheng Yu saw that Cao Cao's face became more and more gloomy, and it was obvious that he was about to explode, so he hurriedly persuaded him: "Please calm down, Duke Wei, I feel that Yuan also knows that the matter is important, and I have my own plan in mind, and it will not affect the overall situation of Hefei. Duke Wei may as well Let it go."

Cheng Yu's words reminded Cao Cao that since Zhang Liao was the chief general of Hefei, Zhang Liao should be in charge of the entire battle in Hefei. With Zhang Liao's martial arts strategy, how could he not know the urgency of the situation? Perhaps he did have his own plan. Thinking of this, Cao Cao turned pale, and asked again: "Then look, how do you ensure that the overall situation in Hefei will not be affected?"

Zhang Liao glanced at Cheng Yu gratefully, and then said in a deep voice, "I have spies in Chaisang and Lujiang to keep a close eye on the movements of the Han army. I believe that the battle of Hefei is related to the general situation of the world, and the Han army will never be rash. When dispatching troops, one must be fully prepared, especially strategic materials such as grain, grass, ships, etc. must be prepared in advance, and the time for combat preparation alone will not be less than three months, so the humble position is limited to three months, and the humble position can guarantee two and a half months After the city wall is completed, it will take another half a month to cool and strengthen it."

"But with your current progress, can you complete it in two and a half months? I doubt it."

"I would like to report to Duke Wei, because it is late winter, the weather is cold, and there is still ice in the soil. Once the earth is rammed now, the ice water will dissolve after the spring, and the originally rammed soil will loosen and collapse, which will seriously affect the strength of the city wall. According to the plan, the materials should be prepared first, and the fortifications should be prepared at the same time. After the spring begins in February, the construction will start immediately, because the preparations are sufficient, and it will only take one month to complete."

Zhang Liao's words made Cao Cao's expression soothed greatly. After thinking about it carefully, this is true. This is called sharpening knives and chopping firewood by mistake. He then asked, "How about the progress of defensive weapons such as trebuchets?"

"Reporting to Duke Wei, the eighty trebuchets were all made last month, and we just need to wait for the final installation to go to the city."

At this time, Cao Cao also felt that he was too harsh on Zhang Liao just now. He felt a little apologetic in his heart, and his tone became more relaxed: "Yuan, I just hope you understand that this battle of Hefei is of great importance. Once the Han army breaks through the crucial One step, his world chess game is deployed, and we will also face a huge strategic passive, far, we can't afford to lose this battle!"

Zhang Liao nodded silently, and Cao Cao didn't say any more. He patted Zhang Liao on the shoulder, turned around and went down the city. Zhang Liao watched Cao Cao's back go away. At this moment, he also felt great pressure.

........

Early the next morning, Cao Cao left Hefei and took a boat to Shouchun for inspection. From Hefei to Shouchun was mainly connected by fertilizer and water. Because the fertilizer and water were blocked by mud and the river was very narrow, only a warship of [-] shi could travel. For the connection between Shouchun and Hefei, Zhang Liao recruited tens of thousands of people and took three months to dredge the river for [-] miles, so that the fertile water could already drive a thousand-stone cargo ship, which greatly accelerated the transportation of materials between Shouchun and Hefei.

Standing on the big boat, Cao Cao looked at the green hills on both sides of the bank with his hands behind his back, and the clear water was like a belt. Although it was still late winter, there was already a hint of warmth in the air. Picturesque, it is indeed more beautiful than the north, but unfortunately the population is too small, if I give me another ten years, I will vigorously immigrate to Jianghuai, so that Jianghuai will become the rich granary of Wei."

Cheng Yu smiled slightly and said, "As long as we can defeat the Han army this time, Duke Wei will have the opportunity to manage the Jianghuai River. I don't think it will take ten years, but five years to fulfill Duke Wei's wish."

Cao Cao nodded and asked again, "Does Zhongde think I can defeat Liu Jing this time?"

"Wei Gong, it's all about human effort. As long as Wei Gong fully prepares for the battle, deploys it from the overall situation, and perseveres, I believe we will definitely win the battle of Hefei."

Cao Cao heard that there was something in Cheng Yu's words. He never mentioned the overall situation, but today he brought it up for the first time. Ming Cheng Yu thought about it, so Cao Cao smiled and said, "What is the overall situation? I would like to listen to the military advisor to discuss it in detail."

Cheng Yu said calmly: "The humble official has been thinking about it for the past few months. Last year, Duke Wei went to Jiangdong to form an alliance with Sun Quan, but Liu Jing also rushed there. Why? Is it just to compete with Duke Wei? ?”

"of course not!"

Cao Cao said with a faint smile: "Liu Jing was not a man of passion, he got the big and small Qiao only at the right time, and he definitely didn't fight for it on purpose."

"Wei Gong is right, then why did he go to Jiangdong? Has Wei Gong thought about it?"

Cao Cao pondered for a while and said: "I think his real purpose is to destroy my alliance with Sun Quan."

"That's right, he was trying to destroy the alliance between Duke Wei and Sun Quan. I figured it out later, including the fact that he sent Lu Xun back to Wu Commandery and set fire to the warships in Jiangbei. It was all his foresight and foresight to prepare for the Battle of Hefei."

Cao Cao's eyes flickered, he stared at Cheng Yu and asked, "Zhongde, what do you mean?"

Cheng Yu sighed slightly and said: "Last autumn, Xun Lingjun's back disease relapsed, and unfortunately he died of illness. I rushed to Yingchuan to attend the funeral on behalf of Duke Wei, and I happened to meet Xun You. I talked to him for a long time, and begged him to see that Duke Wei treated him kindly for many years. For the sake of going out of the mountain, I will continue to serve Duke Wei."

Since Xun You was sent back to Yedu by Liu Jing, he was not willing to participate in the military. Cao Cao was also dissatisfied with Xun Yu's affairs, so he sent Xun You to Xuchang as an idle official. Soon, Xun You returned to his hometown under the pretext of returning to his hometown to recuperate. Study behind closed doors and don't ask about political affairs.

Although Cao Cao was somewhat regretful, it was absolutely impossible for him to apologize to Xun You. At this time, when Cheng Yu talked about Xun You, Cao Cao asked, "What about him?"

"He didn't have anything, and he didn't express his position, but before I left for Hefei, I received a letter from him."

Cheng Yu took out Xun You's letter and handed it to Cao Cao. Cao Cao felt a little moved when he saw the familiar handwriting again. He opened the letter, but saw that there was only one sentence written in the letter, "Combined vertically and horizontally, the world is divided into three parts." .

Cao Cao frowned, "What does he mean?"

"Weichen has been thinking about the meaning of Xun You's words all the way. It wasn't until last night that I finally realized that Liu Jing launched the Battle of Hefei, never to attack the Central Plains. Before Liu Jing attacked the Central Plains, he would definitely take Bingzhou first. Attacking Luoyang again will send troops to Hefei at the end. Now Liu Jing is eager to launch the Battle of Hefei before attacking Bingzhou. In order to attack the Central Plains, and to seize Jiangdong."