Prancing Horse Xiliang

Chapter 312 Guess
In the Xuchang yamen, Cao Ren frowned and paced back and forth in the hall.

Amidst the hurried footsteps, Chen Gong strode in.

"Mr. Chen Gong!"

Cao Ren hastily went up to meet him, and bowed his hands.

Chen Gong returned a salute and asked: "I don't know if the general is calling, what's the important thing to discuss?"

Cao Ren said: "Just now the scout came to report that a Xiliang navy sailed down the river and stopped near Guandu. The thirty large boats were all filled with grain and grass. I don't know what is going on here. Please come and discuss with me, sir. "

"Xiliang Navy?"

Chen Gong was puzzled and asked, "What are the Xiliang water troops doing here to transport grain and grass?"

Cao Ren frowned and said: "I don't really understand. A few days ago, there was news from Luoyang that Luo Zheng lured out the guards of Hangu Pass and attacked Hangu Pass with a surprise army. I thought Luo Zheng was going to take advantage of the situation to enter Luoyang, but he didn't want to let it go." The navy escorted the food and grass to the Central Plains."

Chen Gong's face immediately changed, and he said in a concentrated voice: "Could it be that guy Luo Zheng is coming to rob the Central Plains?"

Cao Rendao: "I heard that Luo Zheng ruled Liangzhou to have a good harvest year after year, and the autumn grain harvest in the Sanfu area last year was also quite plentiful. If they really want to plunder the Central Plains, the navy warships will be equipped with cavalry instead of food and grass. "

Chen Gongdao: "Even if Luo Zheng is not short of money and food, he is short of people!"

Cao Ren's expression froze, his brows furrowed, and he began to think quickly.

Chen Gong said again: "Since the founding of Wu, there have been constant wars in the land of Guanliang, and it is no longer as stable as the Western Han Dynasty, and the population is far less than that of the Central Plains. The price attracted refugees to Liangzhou, and even sent people to various places to confuse the people to move to Guanzhong, Liangzhou and other places. Besides, this guy is robbing, and he does not change his style of robbers. I think it is not unusual to send people to the Central Plains to rob people. It is not difficult to let the navy escort the grain and grass."

Cao Ren said: "But how will Luo Zheng's army pass Luoyang and Hulao Pass?"

Chen Gong went to the topographical map of the palace affairs, looked at it carefully for a while, and then drew a line casually, saying: "How could General Cao Ren have forgotten the East River. The geographical location of the East River is very important. If you go north, you can hit Xihe, Shangjun and other places, and it will be close to Hetao .To the east, you can enter Bingzhou Shangdang through Yicheng, go south from Gaodu, bypass the eastern foot of Taihang and cross the river, then you can enter Yanzhou."

Cao Ren stared at the map for a while, and then said awe-inspiringly: "If you don't bring food, fodder and supplies, the cavalry will be able to kill Guandu in ten days at most, and the Xiliang water army only needs to transport the supplies to Guandu. In this way, Xu Chang may face endless raids from Xiliang cavalry, this is too bad, I need to report to my lord immediately!"

Chen Gong thought so and said, "What General Cao Ren said is absolutely true."

Cao Ren pondered for a while, then said: "If this guess is true, there is fear that the counties in Yanzhou will start fighting again, and Luo Zheng must not be allowed to harm the Central Plains again. A certain plan to lead the army north to Guandu to block the Xiliang army, what do you think?"

Chen Gong's eyes flickered, and said: "It should be so!"

Cao Ren cupped his hands and said, "If that's the case, Xu Chang will leave it to you, sir."

Chen Gong also returned the salute and said: "The general has led all the troops to go, I will definitely guard Xuchang for my lord!"

Only then did Cao Ren leave Chen Gong and hurried to the barracks.

Luoyang, Beigong.

Li Ying looked at Li Jue and asked puzzledly: "Brother, Luo Zheng is going to attack Xuchang and plunder the Central Plains. Since our army has formed an alliance with Cao Cao to fight against Luo Zheng, why don't you tell Cao Cao the news?"

"What do you know?"

Li Jue reprimanded, and sneered: "Cao A deceived that guy to be scheming, and wanted to let someone block Luo Zheng for him. Although he gave this general some military rations over the years, how has this general really taken advantage of it? Want to get this general When the general is a gunman, how can there be such a cheap thing. If Luo Zheng wants to attack Xuchang, let him go. It is best to turn the Central Plains upside down. Anyway, it is impossible for that guy to occupy the Central Plains. It will only be cheap in the end General Ben."

"Uh!"

Li Ying hesitated: "Even if Luo Zheng turns the Central Plains upside down, what advantage can we take?"

"Why are you so stupid!"

Li Jue explained helplessly: "Although Cao Aman is allied with this general, he has deployed a large number of soldiers and horses in the Guancheng and Xuanyuanguan areas. It is obviously to guard against our army. If Luo Zheng attacked Xuchang in a surprise attack, he would definitely lead them away. The soldiers and horses around Xuchang, even if we can't kill Cao Cao, our army can take the opportunity to loot a lot of food and grass, how can we not take advantage of it?"

"I see!"

Li Ying suddenly understood, but still felt something was wrong.

Now that he has formed an alliance with Cao Cao, it would not be a good thing if he took advantage of the fire and violated his promise.

But looking at his brother's face, Li Ying wisely didn't say that.

Ruyin, Cao Cao's camp.

"Lord!"

Cheng Yu hurriedly entered the tent of the Chinese army, and bowed to Cao Cao.

Seeing Cheng Yu's expression changed, Cao Cao couldn't help waving his hands and said, "Cheng Zhongwu must be very polite, is there something important?"

Cheng Yuning said in a loud voice: "General Cao Ren ordered eight hundred miles to report urgently. He said that Hangu Pass fell a few days ago and was captured by Luo Zheng with a surprise army. Now the Xiliang water army escorted a batch of grain and grass from the waterway to Guandu. Luo Zheng It is very likely that he led his cavalry to Shangdang, went south from Gaodu to plunder the Central Plains, and now he has personally led more than a thousand troops north to guard Guandu."

"what?"

Cao Cao was taken aback and said, "Has Hangu Pass been lost?"

Cheng Yu nodded and said, "Exactly!"

Next to it, Guo Jia said: "The area around Hangu Pass was captured by Luo Zheng, and the situation will take a turn for the worse. Without the natural danger of Hangu, Luo Zheng's army can completely enter the Central Plains directly from the waterway with the support of the water army. From the east of the river to Bingzhou Although Shangdang can bypass the eastern foot of the Taihang Mountains and cross the river to the Central Plains, it is not so easy for the Xiliang water army to escort grain and grass through Hangu Pass. Our army only needs to provoke Li Jue to stop the Xiliang water army. Now that Hangu Pass has fallen, our army will be extremely passive."

Only then did Cao Cao realize the seriousness of the problem, and said sternly, "Feng Xiao thought that Luo Zheng would really come to plunder the Central Plains?"

Guo Jiadao: "I have to guard against it. Luo Zheng's control over the horses produced in Liangzhou is extremely strict. Our army wanted to buy a batch of war horses but couldn't get them, but sold them to Yuan Shao with [-] horses last year. Yuan Shao is the lord Unifying the biggest enemy of the Central Plains and Hebei, what did Luo Zheng sell his army and horses to Yuan Shao? That man is ambitious, and he will never help Yuan Shao with such kindness. This only shows that Luo Zheng believes that the threat to him is much greater than that of Yuan Shao. That's why we didn't hesitate to form an alliance with Yuan Shao, and even let Yuan Shao speed up the pace of unifying the four prefectures in Hebei, so as to facilitate Yuan Shao's army to go south."

Cao Cao was stunned for a while, and then sighed: "Mr. Luo Zheng really thinks of me!"

Guo Jiadao: "The matter is very obvious. Luo Zheng regards the lord as a great enemy. In order to support the lord, he even sold [-] military horses to Yuan Shao, led the army to plunder the Central Plains, and it is not surprising that it caused trouble for the lord. "

Liu Ye, a member of the Han family who had just been put into the tent next to him, and a native of Huainan, said: "What the military master said is very true, besides, Luo Zheng started his family by plundering, and has never changed his style of robbers, and the population of Guanliang is sparsely populated, and it has always been Luo Zheng. The biggest flaw is that we have spent a huge amount of money to accommodate refugees before, and even sent people to various places to confuse the refugees to go to Guanzhong and Liangzhou. This time, when our army is at war with Yuan Shu, we will send troops to plunder the population from the Central Plains. There is a great possibility , must guard against!"

Cheng Yu said: "Since Luo Zheng regards the lord as an enemy, will he attack Xuchang?"

Guo Jia said solemnly: "It's really possible."

Cao Cao's color changed in an instant, Xuchang was not far from Guandu, and the cavalry could march from Guandu to Xuchang in one day.

If Xuchang is attacked and destroyed, I'm afraid the event will be over.

Xun You from Yingyin said: "Mr. Chen Gong is sitting in Xuchang. If Luo Zheng leads the cavalry to attack, he will definitely not be able to carry the luggage and siege equipment with the army. How can he attack Xudu? I don't think you need to worry about it!"

Cao Cao looked a little better now, looked at Guo Jia, and asked, "What do you think of Feng Xiao?"

Guo Jia said in a deep voice: "Our army can't stop attacking Huainan. Tens of thousands of troops are exhausted every day. In one more month, the Huainan area will usher in a month-long rain festival. Instead of being in a stalemate with Yuan Shu here, we should It's better to go back to Yingchuan to rest."

Cao Cao's eyes fixed, and he immediately understood what Guo Jia meant.

The incessant attack on Huainan was one reason, but the most important thing was Guo Jia's concern about the situation in Yingchuan.

Some words don't need to be said, but smart people can hear them.

If Luo Zheng personally raises an army to attack Xuchang, Cao Cao will face the danger of being copied from his old nest.

After all, Luo Zheng is full of tricks, and Jia Xu under the account is not a good guy, and no one can guarantee whether Chen Gong can keep Xuchang.

This risk is too great. Once such a thing happens, Cao Cao will inevitably be hit hard.

The most sensible choice is to return to Xuchang to deal with various emergencies.

Xun You said: "After all, Luo Zheng led the army to plunder the Central Plains. After all, it is only a guess, not a conclusive conclusion. Moreover, even if it is true, Luo Zheng may not lead the army to come, and he may condemn a general to command the army. If he withdraws the army, I am afraid It's not good for the army. My lord, why don't you condemn a general and an army to return to Xuchang to sit in the town, if Luo Zheng really leads the army to come, it won't be too late to withdraw the army!"

Cao Cao looked at Guo Jia and asked, "How has it been since Fengxiao?"

Guo Jia said: "That's fine, but we need to be on guard against Li Jue. Although this person is allied with our army, if the situation changes, the troops around Xuchang will definitely be mobilized. There is no guarantee that this person will not take advantage of the fire to loot."

Cao Cao took it seriously and said: "Be kind, just follow the view of filial piety!"

General Xia Houdun immediately came out and said: "Meng De, I am willing to lead an army back to Xuchang!"

Xia Houyuan, Cao Chun, Li Dian, Le Jin and other generals also wanted to ask for orders, but Xiahou Dun preempted them and had to sit back.

Cao Cao said happily: "I can rest easy if Yuan Rang returns to Xuchang to sit in town! Anyway, Yuan Rang can lead an army of [-] troops. Tomorrow three shifts will cook food, and five shifts will dispatch troops. Hurry back to Xuchang in case the situation changes. "

"Here!"

Xiahou Dun agreed, and immediately went out of the tent.

After discussing some other matters, all the civil and military personnel dispersed separately, and the fish tent got out of the handsome tent.

Guo Jia was about to leave, but Cao Cao stopped him with his eyes, so he had to sit down. After the others left, he followed Cao Cao to a nearby military tent.

(End of this chapter)