Even Liu Bei didn't expect that he just issued an edict and went to Hanzhong, but Sun Quan couldn't wait to take action first.
Some things are like this. Once the balance is broken, even if only some superficial balance is broken, it will cause a series of chain reactions.
Liu Bei issued an edict to punish the thieves. Cao Wei's attention, troop deployment, and food and grass transportation all came to the west side of Guanzhong. When Soochow saw that Cao Wei had begun to mobilize food, grass, and troops to the west, they took action directly.
Both sides were originally in a state of combat readiness, so it would not be surprising whoever takes action first.
But Liu Bei still looked down on Sun Quan - this guy has become the emperor, why is he still so immoral? !
Do you still need some face? ! ah? !
Could it be that Sun Quan really didn't care at all about the words "his teacher is famous"? !
Or is it that the people of Soochow, from the emperor to the famous generals and soldiers, have no other way of fighting except sneak attacks? !
In any case, Lu Xun and Zhou Yu's two consecutive attacks in Xuzhou did involve part of Cao Wei's troops. After all, after Soochow defeated Xiapi Ke, they would be able to penetrate deep into Yanzhou. Cao Wei would never tolerate this.
It's really hard to say now, whether Cao Pi should gather his troops in Guanzhong first, or whether he should march eastward to Qingxu first.
Liu Bei also hurriedly seized the time to prepare for the invasion of Guanzhong, trying to send troops before the war between Sun Cao and Sun Cao in the east was over, so that Cao Jun could not take care of both sides.
In terms of strategy, Liu Bei discussed it with the four great counselors as soon as he arrived in Hanzhong. Liu Bei had no objection to the strategy proposed by Pang Tong.
Liu Bei may be a little inferior in other aspects, but as far as people are concerned, he is definitely the top existence in the world.
Fazheng and Pang Tong were two men with outstanding military skills and few rivals in the world. However, they were too impatient and prone to using strange tactics, so their strategies were not safe.
Zhuge Liang and Zhang Xi are both excellent in all abilities and can serve in both military and political roles. However, their personalities tend to be cautious. They pay attention to the steady and steady approach to military use and never take risks.
These four people have different military styles, but if they can complement each other and formulate strategies, basically no one in the world can compete with them.
Therefore, after the four people discussed it, Liu Bei accepted the strategy submitted by Pang Tong in full. The only thing left was to mobilize the troops and generals and arrange the candidates to lead the troops in various places.
According to Pang Tong's strategic concept, Baoxie Road and Longshan Road are both suspicious soldiers, but this suspicious soldier cannot fool things.
Cao Zhen of Chang'an must be convinced that the Han army will fight out from these two places.
Therefore, the people leading the troops in these two places also need to think carefully.
In the direction of Longshan Road, Zhao Yun, as the commander-in-chief, is not bad in terms of military experience or official position. But in fact, in terms of deterrence, the most suitable coach in the direction of Longshan Road should actually be Ma Chao.
Pang Tong also proposed to use Ma Chao as his commander. After all, Ma Chao had dominated Yongliang for so many years, and had even separated the Central Plains for a period of time. Once Cao Zhen heard that Ma Chao was raising troops to invade, he would definitely be prepared to prepare.
But Fazheng, Zhang Xi, and Zhuge Liang all opposed this proposal and insisted on using Zhao Yun as commander.
The reason is actually very simple. None of the three people can trust Ma Chao.
Ma Chao is only in his forties this year, so making him the governor of Yongzhou is already very bold. You also let him lead a group of people to cross Yongliang. Are you really not afraid of creating another Liangzhou warlord? !
Another thing is that Ma Chao has a very violent personality, and he can easily get into trouble when he gets excited. What’s especially terrible is that once this person gets in trouble, no one can stop him. Even if he feels aggrieved, Zhao Yun serves as Ma Chao’s deputy. At a critical moment, Zhao Yun also I can't persuade Ma Chao.
If something happened on the battlefield and the army was defeated along the Northern Expedition, Zhao Yun alone would not be able to clean up the mess.
In this case, it would be safer to put Ma Chao in Yongzhou to continue to guard against the northwest Qianghu, and let Zhao Yun be the commander.
No matter from a political or military perspective, Zhao Yun's choice as commander is better.
At least Zhao Yun used his troops carefully, and even if he didn't win a big victory, he wouldn't be defeated badly. The deterrence might be a little worse, but if Cao Zhen wanted to stop Zhao Yun's steady attack, it might not be that easy.
Pang Tong was not a man without political acumen. Since all three of them objected, he didn't say anything. The four of them came together to make a unified suggestion, suggesting that Liu Bei use Zhao Yun as the commander of the Longshan Road partial division.
Liu Bei agreed without thinking.
Zhao Yun, besides his second brother Guan Yu, the person Liu Bei feels most at ease with is Zhao Yun, even more so than Zhang Fei. After all, our three generals also have bad tempers, and Liu Bei is sometimes quite worried about Zhang Fei leading the army.
As for the direction of Baoxie Road, there is no need to ask. It must be Liu Bei's personal expedition. Not only Liu Bei, but also Zhang Fei, Huang Quan, Zhang Xi, Pang Tong and others will all appear on Baoxie Road, creating a kind of Han Dynasty main force for Cao Zhen Give the illusion of praise.
If fewer people go, Cao Zhen will inevitably have to wonder, who else is there? What on earth did this person do? !
There are only a few famous generals in the Han army now.
Guan Yu is stationed in Jingzhou. This is a headache for Zhang Liao. Cao Zhen doesn't need to worry too much.
Except for Guan Yu, there are only a few famous Han generals left in Cao Zhen's eyes. Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, Zhao Yun, Zhang Xi, Huang Quan and so on.
If the whereabouts of all these people are clear, then Cao Zhen really won't worry about the Han Dynasty's other routes to take in the Northern Expedition, so as to provide opportunities for troops to leave Chencang Road.
As for the general who led the attack on Chencangdao, there is some controversy.
Several famous generals cannot be mobilized at will, so they can only find someone from the Mesozoic Era who can take on this important task.
In fact, there are not many candidates, there are only three people, Wu Yi, Wei Yan, and Kou Feng.
The rest, like Zhang Yi, Ma Zhong, Chen Shi, Gao Xiang, Wang Ping, Feng Xi, Zhang Nan, Li Yan, etc., either their abilities still need to be trained, or they all have their own uses and cannot be easily transferred.
Wu Yi used his troops in a regular manner and made few mistakes. This kind of raid mission must ensure that the coach has a clear mind at all times and can make correct decisions when the opportunity arises.
With Wu Yi, you don't have to worry about a big defeat, but similarly, if Wu Yi uses his troops to be right, he may hesitate when he needs to make a bold breakthrough.
Kou Feng's use of troops highlights the character of recklessness. He dares to fight hard when using troops. He really dares to attack at critical moments, and the results are often very good.
Using Kou Feng can ensure the speed and threat of the surprise attack, but similarly, Kou Feng will easily get hot-headed and not calm enough when he gets involved. Once he encounters such a calm guard, he can easily be taken advantage of.
As for Wei Yan, it's funny to say that the person who most recommended Wei Yan to be the leading general was Zhang Xi.
In Zhang Xi's view, Wei Yan was the only one among the Mesozoic generals of the Han Dynasty. This kind of task that required both recklessness and calm response was perfectly suitable for old man Wei.
Although Wei Yan is reckless, he is not as easy to get into trouble as Kou Feng.
And as Kou Feng's elder brother, Zhang Xi knew very well where Kou Feng's shortcomings were - when Kou Feng fought, he had three axes: be reckless, stop, and be reckless again.
If these three axes are useless and the enemy is not fooled, then Kou Feng will have nothing to do.
But Wei Yan is a reckless person. After all, he has a brain and is good at thinking for himself. Although the Ziwu Valley conspiracy is a bit nonsense, he at least thinks independently, and it looks like that.
Therefore, although he did not get along with Wei Yan, state affairs took precedence. Zhang Xi really had no intention of competing with Wei Yan and decisively proposed to let Wei Yan take on the important responsibilities.
It's just this choice, Zhuge Liang was a little hesitant.
It's not that Zhuge Liang didn't believe in Wei Yan's ability. Zhuge Liang was worried that Wei Yan would not follow the routine halfway, thus ruining the entire Northern Expedition strategy.
After all, Wei Yan is a person who can really think for himself. Zhuge Liang was so impressed by the Ziwu Valley conspiracy that Zhuge Liang was really afraid that Wei Yan would have another whim and change his strategy midway, thus affecting the entire strategic deployment.
In fact, the most suitable candidate to lead the troops to attack Chencang Road should be Zhang Xi, and the second most suitable candidate is Zhang Fei.
But these two people couldn't move. If these two people didn't appear at the entrance of Baoxie Road, Cao Zhen would have to murmur.
If you think about it this way, among the generals in the Mesozoic Era, Wei Yan is the only one who can take on this important task.
After thinking about it for a long time, Zhuge Liang finally did not put any obstacles in Wei Yan's appointment and allowed Zhang Xi to recommend him, and finally left it to Liu Bei to make the decision.
What else could Liu Bei choose? Wei Yan would definitely be his choice.
Although Wu Yi was safe, he was not courageous enough. Although Kou Feng was reckless, he would not be able to do it without help. Moreover, Liu Bei was really worried about Meng Da in Shangyong County, and he was a little afraid to transfer Kou Feng from Shangyong County.
Then it’s Wei Yan.
Wei Yan was from Liu Bei's tribe and had always been a direct lineage whom Liu Bei had deliberately cultivated. Loyalty was definitely not a problem. He had grown a lot after years of hard work. What he lacked now was an opportunity to make contributions.
Regardless of ability or close relationship, Liu Bei wanted to train Wei Yan. Liu Bei knew that he was old, and he also knew that Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were old. It was time to pave the way for the next generation while he still had energy.
Therefore, Liu Bei immediately sent an envoy to secretly summon Wei Yan back to Hanzhong and entrust him with important tasks.
As long as Wei Yan returns to Hanzhong, he can let all the troops set off, leave Guanzhong in the west, and march to Chang'an.
While Liu Bei was waiting for Wei Yan to return to Guanzhong, Guan Yu began his second Northern Expedition in the direction of Jingzhou.
After swearing an oath in Xiangyang, Guan Yu led a dozen generals and 50,000 Jingzhou troops to leave Fancheng north again and invade Xinye.
Cao Wei's new general, Cao Chun's son Cao Yan, took the initiative to retreat and retreated to Deng County to join Zhang Liao.
Guan Yu reoccupied Xinye, used Xinye as his advance base, and launched another attack on Wancheng.
(End of chapter)
