Zhuge Liang finally wrote this letter, not for anything else but for the great man.
Zhuge Liang can be regarded as one of the few people in this era who puts his country before his family. His ideals of helping strong men are actually no worse than Liu Bei's.
Coupled with Liu Bei's kindness, it is not surprising that Zhuge Liang made such a choice.
After Zhuge Liang's letter was sent, the strategy of the entire Northern Expedition was basically determined - using Pang Tong's surprise strategy of attacking in the east and attacking in the west, taking Chencang Road to capture Mei County, cutting off Cao's army's retreat on the Weishui River in one fell swoop, and then besieging Chang'an.
After the strategy is formulated, all that's left is to deploy troops and improve the details.
For example, how many soldiers and horses should be dispatched to attack Chencang Road, who should be sent to lead the army, how to attract the attention of the main force of Cao's army on Longshan Road and Baoxie Road, how to solve the problems encountered during the attack, etc.
These are all details, and some of them really can only be improvised, and it is impossible to predict everything in advance.
So these five people came together to discuss as much as possible how to reduce risks.
As for Liu Ba, he is busy.
On the one hand, we must be busy finishing the economic war in Guanzhong, and on the other hand, we must cooperate with Pang Tong to collect as much intelligence as possible in Guanzhong.
The specific time of Liu Bei's second Northern Expedition has not been determined, but there is a high probability that it will be after the autumn harvest.
This time, there is no need to go around Qishan Road. We can send troops directly from Longshan Road and Baoxie Road. Then the time for troop deployment and march can be greatly reduced. Even if Liu Bei issues an edict in September and sends troops in October, they can still be dispatched before winter comes. , invaded the land of Guanzhong.
The reason why Liu Bei has not issued an edict now is that on the one hand he is waiting for the autumn harvest to be completed, and on the other hand, Liu Bei is also waiting for an opportunity.
In the hinterland of the Central Plains, a battle between the Sun and Cao families has not officially started yet.
Liu Bei really didn't understand, what on earth was Cao Pi waiting for? !
Intelligence passed from the Central Plains to central Sichuan shows that Yanzhou has been raising military rations on a large scale since May, and in the Yuzhou area, Cao Xiu, who is stationed in Runan, also leads his troops eastward to threaten the Huainan area. Logically speaking, this Sun-Cao War The battle between the two countries should have started long ago.
But the problem is that we haven't seen any signs of taking action until now. It has been almost four months, and Cao Pi is still squatting in Yecheng, and Sun Quan has been in Jianye and has not gone north.
Liu Bei's idea is very simple. He hopes that the Sun and Cao families will start fighting first. When Cao's army is all mobilized and contained in the hinterland of the Central Plains, then he will lead his troops out of Guanzhong and attack Chang'an. This will not reduce the pressure. how.
It can be said that there is no problem with Liu Bei's idea. The real problem is-in today's divided world, the heads of the three families are not fools.
Although Cao Pi was not as good as Cao Cao in all aspects, he was still a good ruler in this world. He did not lack the political acumen at all.
It's not like Cao Wei didn't send agents and spies to Shu. The current situation in Shu, as well as the fact that almost all Liu Bei's important officials have moved to Hanzhong, are such obvious signals that Cao Pi has to be on guard.
Although there is no clear evidence that Liu Bei is going to make a big move, maybe Liu Bei has just founded the country and is trying to solve domestic internal affairs problems. But what if Liu Bei suddenly sends troops to Guanzhong? !
Therefore, Cao Pi wrote a letter to Cao Zhen privately, asking Cao Zhen to be more vigilant and deploy his defenses in advance without resorting to war. This would be a waste of military supplies, but he still had to be vigilant and not be careless.
As for the Central Plains, because of Liu Bei's strange behavior, Cao Pi has not yet made up his mind to officially start the battle to regain Qingxu.
In the battle with Liu Bei in the northwest two years ago, Cao Wei's losses were actually quite considerable, especially in the Luoyang, Hedong, and Wancheng areas. At that time, the troops were mobilized back and forth for defense, which almost made these areas miserable. It can even be said that they were unable to survive for a year. peaceful.
The failure of the grain harvest is still minor, the people have fled, and the farmland has been destroyed. These impacts are the most important.
Until now, the area near Luoyang has barely returned to its previous state. This was only possible if Cao Pi lowered his face and coerced and lured the aristocratic families in Hedong, asking them to spit out the people who had taken advantage of the chaos. A barely achieved result.
Once Cao Pi arrives at Yanzhou and starts a war with Jiangdong in Qingxu, and at this time Liu Bei goes out to Longshan to attack Guanzhong, then Cao Pi will be attacked from both sides, and will inevitably have to torment the defenders in Luoyang. If this happens again, even if it is prosperous The hinterland of the Central Plains cannot withstand such torture.
So, Cao Pi is waiting too.
Anyway, the gang of rats in Jiangdong would not dare to take action first. If Liu Bei really sent troops to Longshan to attack Guanzhong, Cao Pi would directly transfer the soldiers from Yanzhou to Chang'an and Wancheng, leaving only some troops to monitor Jiangdong.
Just wait until Liu Bei's attack is repelled, and then go back and deal with these Soochow rats.
It's not that Cao Pi looks down on Jiang Dong. It's actually that Jiang Dong has fought well in recent years, except for the sneak attacks on Qingxu and Huainan, and his other results have been very disappointing. The only person Jiang Dong needs to pay attention to is Zhou Yu. As long as Zhou Yu's energy is used, If it involves Huainan, then the direction of Xuzhou is not a concern at all.
In the direction of Xuzhou, Cao Wei not only had Xiapi County in hand, which was enough to contain the Soochow Army occupying the southeastern part of Xuzhou, but the guard Zang Ba was also a local snake, with high ability and prestige, and he could hold it down.
Moreover, Jiangdong sent a scholar with little battle experience to take charge of Qingxu's military affairs, which was somewhat of a trust.
Cao Pi inquired and found out that the general named Lu Xun was only able to take power because he was from a wealthy family in Jiangdong and was Sun Ce's son-in-law. He was considered a relative of the Sun family. What worries did Sun Quan's son have in using such a person? !
Therefore, Cao Pi felt that as long as he did not take the initiative to fight Qing Xu's Soochow Army, the Soochow Army would never dare to rush northward and compete with Cao's cavalry in the plains.
In fact, Sun Quan did not have this idea.
Sun Quan is not stupid either, he knows where his strengths and weaknesses are.
What Lu Meng said is actually correct. Soochow is good at water warfare, and its navy is invincible in the world. But if you go to the land of Qingxu, or even Yanzhou, to compete with Cao Wei's cavalry, you are just looking for a draw.
Lu Meng's response strategy was to let Sun Quan capture Jingzhou and occupy the entire middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. First, he would focus on self-protection, and then find ways to capture Wancheng, Luoyang and other hinterlands of the Central Plains. After his strength increased, he would then go north.
Even if we can't go north, we can't protect ourselves enough. It's not a problem to separate ourselves from Jiangdong and become king and hegemon.
In history, Sun Quan was unable to attack Hefei for a long time. Every time he either lost troops or was scared off, he lost any face. It was probably at that time that Sun Quan had given up on the idea of unifying the world and instead adopted Lu Meng's strategy to sneak attack Jingzhou. , ready to separatist rule and defend themselves.
But this era is different.
Although Sun Quan also adopted Lü Meng's strategy, Sun Quan never experienced a major defeat when he attacked Hefei several times. He even almost captured Hefei. Sun Quan had not completely given up on the idea of becoming the master of the world.
After the surprise attack on Jingzhou failed, Sun Quan acted responsibly to protect Lu Meng, ceded territory to compensate Liu Bei, and renewed the alliance. But to be honest, Sun Quan at this time was somewhat depressed.
But not long after, Zhou Yu gave him a great gift - not only captured most of Xuzhou and the entire Qingzhou in a sneak attack, but also lured the enemy deep into Huainan, defeated Cao Xiu in one fell swoop, captured the entire Huainan including Hefei, and left Jiangdong The tentacles had the opportunity to enter the Central Plains for the first time.
Because of this, Sun Quan had the confidence to proclaim himself emperor after Cao Pi and Liu Bei successively proclaimed themselves emperors. At the same time, it also rekindled the idea of heading north to the Central Plains to compete for the world.
At this time, Sun Quan was only in his early forties. He was in the prime of life. In addition, the entire Huaisi Group had not completely withered at this time and could still compete with the Jiangdong Family Group. Therefore, Sun Quan did not need to balance internal relations. Engage in palace fights.
Of course, the most important thing is that Sun Deng is living well now, and is very much in line with Sun Quan's wishes. Sun Deng's position as prince is very solid, and there is no basic condition for a "second palace dispute" at all.
Now Sun Quan still looks outward. He knows that although he now occupies Huainan and Qingxu, Cao Pi will definitely not give up.
Therefore, Sun Quan knew very well that Cao Pi would send troops to Qing Xu sooner or later, and Sun Quan also knew that the current Soochow soldiers had a pitifully low chance of winning against Cao's cavalry on the plains.
Even Zhou Yu couldn't deny this.
Therefore, both Zhou Yu and Zhang Zhao suggested that Sun Quan should not act rashly for the time being, put defense first, not engage in field battles with Cao Jun, guide Cao Jun to take the initiative to attack, and drag Cao Jun into siege warfare. This is the most beneficial to Jiangdong.
Once Cao Jun takes the initiative to launch an attack on Soochow in the hinterland of the Central Plains, Liu Bei in Chengdu will not let go of such an opportunity, and he will definitely send troops to Guanzhong again.
In this way, Cao's army was faced with enemies from both sides and was in a dilemma. At that time, Soochow would wait for the opportunity to seize Xiapi and connect Huainan and Qingxu. This would be much easier.
There is no need to go to war anymore. You can just sit back and watch the battle between Cao and Liu, while training the soldiers to adapt to the characteristics of northern warfare, go north to Liaodong to contact the Gongsun family, and purchase war horses to form a cavalry unit.
By the time the Cao and Liu families were both defeated, Soochow had trained its soldiers to attack in the north, and they could engulf the Central Plains, go north to fight for Hebei, and seize the world.
This was Zhou Yu's new strategy for Sun Quan, and Sun Quan expressed his approval.
Therefore, Sun Quan is also waiting now. One is waiting for Cao Pi to take the initiative to attack, and the other is hoping that Liu Bei can send troops to Guanzhong first to attract Cao Wei's attention.
In this way, Sun Quan no longer has to worry about Cao Wei taking the initiative to attack, but can plan how to capture Xiapi.
The situation after the world was divided into three parts was like this. No one dared to act rashly, they were all waiting for someone to stand up and break this delicate balance.
(End of chapter)
