Sima Yi is really grateful to Xiahou Shang. If he hadn't been on Xiahou Shang's level, he might have made a mistake today, which might have aroused the emperor's grudge against him.
Now, although the emperor's tone was still a bit unpleasant, he always gave himself a second chance anyway.
This time, Sima Yi didn't dare to be careless anymore. His mind was spinning rapidly, and he began to think of ways to recover his lost impression points.
"Cao Zhenjun's words are indeed reasonable!" Sima Yi first admitted Cao Zhen's words and said, "It is indeed more convenient for the Shu thieves in Jingzhou to mobilize troops, horses and food through water than the Shu thieves in Guanzhong."
As soon as he said this, Cao Zhen nodded slightly, expressing satisfaction.
But then, Sima Yi said again, "I think that the Shu thieves in Jingzhou may not dare to do anything without permission."
Cao Zhen's face froze, while Cao Rui showed a playful smile. After all, this old boy gave his own judgment.
Cao Zhen's expression froze because he felt that Sima Yi was objecting to his judgment. This was to show that the Shu thieves in Jingzhou had no intention of the Northern Expedition.
As for Cao Rui, to be honest, Cao Rui looks more and more displeased with Sima Yi now.
Good guy, I just asked you if you had any judgment, and you said no.
Now that Cao Zhen said that he has opinions about the Shu thieves in Jingzhou, you immediately stood up to refute. Sima Yi, Sima Yi, what on earth do you want to do? !
But no matter what, Sima Yi finally expressed his stance, and Cao Rui just smiled slightly and continued to ask, "General Sima, what do you mean by this?!"
Sima Yi's heart suddenly skipped a beat. Looking at the title "Emperor", it didn't seem like he was trying to calm down his anger.
In the past, calling oneself by his official position was considered an official rule and a form of respect for oneself. Now, calling oneself "General Sima" does not seem to be an expression of closeness.
But now, Sima Yi has no choice. He must say what needs to be said.
"Three years ago, Sun Quan, the leader of Wu, betrayed his faith and counterattacked Jingzhou. Although it failed, the Wu-Shu alliance was broken and has never been repaired. The Shu thieves in Jingzhou are enemies from the north and south."
"Sixty percent of Jingzhou's army is stationed in the southeast to defend Dongwu, and only 40% is in the north to resist the Japanese army. It is more than enough to defend but not enough to attack. If the Shu thieves in Jingzhou go north to attack Nanyang to cope with the Shu thieves in Guanzhong entering the Central Plains, Your Majesty does not need to do anything. Nanyang sends reinforcements with one soldier and one soldier, and only needs to send one eloquent scholar to Dongwu. The Lord of Wu will definitely attack Jingzhou again. In this way, the Shu thieves in Jingzhou cannot look at each other, and they will be defeated."
"Therefore, I believe that the Shu thieves in Jingzhou are more than able to protect themselves, but they are not strong enough to advance northward. Even if the Shu thieves in Guanzhong want to invade the Central Plains, Jingzhou will not be able to provide help, so this is not a cause for concern."
"If there is no restraint by the Jingzhou army, we, the soldiers of the Wei Dynasty, rely on the dangers of the three passes and are guarded by famous generals like Cao Zhen's army. How can we worry about Shu thieves invading the Central Plains?!"
After Cao Rui listened carefully to Sima Yi's analysis and judgment, he nodded slightly.
This old boy, although he is unrealistic and his thoughts are a bit treacherous and unpredictable, his level is really high.
After listening to what he said, I thought carefully about the situation that the Shu thieves in Jingzhou were facing now. They were indeed being attacked from both sides. They had enough to protect themselves and did not dare to move without permission.
No matter whether they attack from the south or the north, there will always be one party that takes advantage of the situation. With Jingzhou's current territory and population size, the number of troops that can be maintained at about 100,000 is already the limit, and it is impossible to support Jingzhou's two-front battle.
Cao Rui had to admit that Sima Yi still had strategic vision, and it was very good.
It's just something that Cao Rui is very dissatisfied with. You should have said this earlier. When I asked you before, you old boy, what do you mean by pretending not to speak? !
But seeing that Sima Yi finally expressed his judgment and that Cao Rui could safely deal with the Shu thieves, Cao Rui didn't want to argue too much with this Sima Yi.
But Cao Zhen quits.
When he was in Wancheng, he was defeated and fled back, and the situation was not optimistic. Therefore, Cao Zhen was very polite to Sima Yi and took the initiative to let Sima Yi preside over the Battle of Nanyang.
But what Sima Yi's ability was, Cao Zhen didn't see it. There was no way, not long after Cao Zhen was defeated and retreated from the pass, Guan Yu of Jingzhou chose to withdraw his troops back to Xiangfan, which really didn't let Cao Zhen see Sima Yi's commanding ability.
Yes, Cao Zhen also recognized that after Zhang Liao defeated Deng County, Sima Yi revitalized the morale of the army in a short period of time, which was a manifestation of his ability. However, Cao Zhen believed that it was not impossible for him to do this.
Afterwards, the two men were responsible for different areas and had little overlap. Cao Zhen did not have much contact with Sima Yi.
But now, Cao Zhen had to stand up and refute Sima Yi. Otherwise, when would he be able to counterattack Guanzhong? !
"I think what General Hussar said is inappropriate!" Cao Zhen stood up and advised Cao Rui again, saying, "Although the Wu-Shu alliance has broken down, in recent years, there have been constant envoys between Wu and Shu, so there may not be a chance to renew the alliance. It means. If Wu and Shu form an alliance again, the Shu bandits will leave Jingbei and Guanzhong, and the Wu bandits will leave Pengcheng, and jointly plot the Central Plains of our great Wei Dynasty. This is also unknown!!!"
When Cao Zhen said this, Cao Rui was really a bit vague.
This possibility is indeed not impossible.
And if it is true as Cao Zhen said, then the Wei Dynasty will be back to the situation in the fourth year of Huangchu, facing the attack of Wu and Shu.
It was very difficult for Cao Pi to deal with this situation, let alone Cao Rui, who had now lost Guanzhong and could only protect himself in seclusion in the Central Plains.
Cao Rui's heart had just been comforted by Sima Yi's words, and his heart was in turmoil again.
"This is what happened in the fourth year of Huang Chu's reign." Cao Rui murmured.
Upon hearing this, Sima Yi stood up immediately, comforted Cao Rui, and said, "Don't worry, Emperor, the general of the army is wrong. Sun Quan, the Lord of Wu, is a capricious person. He cherishes his life when he does big things, but hesitates when he sees small gains. Forgetting his loyalty, he betrayed his alliance and made two sneak attacks. Even if the Shu thieves renewed their alliance, how could they completely trust him? Even if the two families formed an alliance, it was just the two thieves of Wu and Shu who used each other. How could they return to the situation in the fourth year of Huangchu? thing?!"
After thinking about it for a moment, Cao Rui seemed to be right.
With Sun Quan's old fox style, after betraying his alliance twice, even if he and the Shu Kingdom were to reconcile again, it would be impossible for the Shu Kingdom not to strengthen its defenses against him.
One, two, and three. How do you know whether Sun Quan will choose to backstab for the third time? !
Furthermore, judging from Soochow's foreign combat performance in recent years, this group of Jiangdong locals can only rely on the advantage of sneak attacks to create a little momentum. Once the two sides enter the stalemate stage, the first to choose to retreat and seek peace will inevitably It's Soochow.
In the first year of Huangchu and the fourth year of Huangchu, Soochow attacked Qingxu and Xiapi. Their strategies were extremely brilliant. They really caught the Wei Dynasty by surprise and lost the city and territory.
But as long as the Wei Dynasty can withstand the first wave of Soochow's offensive and defend the city for more than half a year, Soochow will be unable to follow up and automatically withdraw its troops to seek peace.
As for the fifth year of Huangchu, Soochow took advantage of Liu Bei's new death and sent troops to sneak attack Jiangxia and Jingnan counties. The battle was so terrible that they almost made people counter-attack Changsha with a sneak attack, but in the end they had no choice but to retreat.
Carrying the reputation of sneak attack on allies, except for looting some military supplies and property, they did not get any benefit at all.
Now the whole world can see that the gang of Soochow thugs can be seen in the early stage of the sneak attack. As long as they can hold on for a period of time, the combat effectiveness of the gang of Jiangdong thugs will plummet, so there is no need to worry at all.
Now in the southeast, Cao Xiu is leading the troops in Yuzhou and watching over Huainan, and Jia Kui is watching over Qingxu in Xuzhou. Neither of them are incompetent. As long as Cao Xiu in Runan can obey the court's orders and never send them away, then If you help the Jiangdong locals, there is absolutely no chance that they will get one step closer to the land of Yanzhou.
From this perspective, as Sima Yi said, even if Wu and Shu allied again, it would only be to use each other. At the same time, both sides have to guard against whether the other side will backstab. What can such a scheming alliance accomplish? use.
Cao Rui felt relieved again.
But Cao Zhen really quits! ! !
Sima Zhongda, we have no grievances, right? What do you mean, you old boy, insisting on ruining my good deeds? !
Cao Zhen gave Sima Yi a hateful roll of his eyes on the spot, and then ignored Sima Yi's surprise and knelt down directly in front of Cao Rui.
"Your Majesty, even if the Shu thieves in Jingzhou are nothing to worry about, the Shu thieves in Guanzhong are right in front of us. If we don't take advantage of them first, we will be in trouble later!" Cao Zhen kowtowed to Cao Rui again and again, and then said, "Your Majesty, please give me three With tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, Xu Chen had the power to preemptively attack Guanzhong to defeat the Shu thieves' conspiracy. If it succeeds, the Wei Dynasty will retake Guanzhong and threaten Liangzhou, and the destruction of Shu will be just around the corner; if it fails, the dangers of the three passes will lead to the destruction of Shu. The Shu thieves are also unable to invade the Central Plains. If Your Majesty wants to hold him accountable, I will do my best to do so."
After saying that, Cao Zhen continued to kowtow to Cao Rui, until his head turned red. Cao Rui was so frightened that he quickly asked Qin Lang to help Cao Zhen up and stop the uncle from committing suicide.
By the way, Cao Rui was also a little confused about today's discussion. What was the theme? !
Shouldn't we discuss whether the Shu thieves have any intention to invade the Central Plains, and if so, how to deal with it? !
Why did Cao Zhen say this and change whether the Wei Dynasty should send troops to counterattack and seize the lost territory? !
Not to mention Cao Rui being confused, Sima Yi was also confused. What does this mean? !
Didn't we just talk about the possibility of Jingzhou Shu bandits invading Nanyang? Why did Cao Zhen suddenly want to lead 30,000 soldiers and march westward to Guanzhong? !
Who hit whom? !
Another one. Did I offend Cao Zhen again just now? !
Sima Yi was just thinking about it, and Chen Qun, who had been standing for a long time without expressing his opinion, finally couldn't stand it anymore.
"Cao Zidan, you are discussing something before us, how can you behave like this when you are making such nonsense!!!"
As soon as the old man spoke, he suddenly became quiet! ! !
(End of chapter)
