A great battle in the Central Plains finally dispersed quietly.
Starting from June of the fifth year of Jianxing, when Cao Zhen led his troops to counterattack Guanzhong, and ending in November of the fifth year of Jianxing, when the Han army retreated to Wancheng, the war that lasted for half a year was finally over.
This battle did not last long. It did not last for more than a year like the last two Ji-Han Northern Expeditions. However, the intensity of this battle was far greater than the previous two Ji-Han Northern Expeditions.
The Han Dynasty used a total of nearly 200,000 troops to launch the Northern Expedition from Jingzhou and Guanzhong at the same time. More than 60,000 people were killed in the battle. They repelled Cao Wei's attack on Guanzhong. At the same time, they occupied Nanyang County and opened up the route to the hinterland of the Central Plains. aisle.
As for Cao Wei, the eastern and western fronts combined mobilized nearly 200,000 troops. However, the eastern and western fronts were completely defeated and nearly 100,000 people were lost in the battle. Not only did they fail in the counterattack, they also lost Nanyang County and half of Ru. South County.
The only good news is that Cao Wei at least defended Yingchuan County and preserved the last barrier in front of Luoyang. At the same time, it did not allow Soochow to occupy too much land on the eastern front.
As for Soochow, a total of 150,000 people were mobilized. In the end, at the cost of more than 30,000 casualties, Jiangxia County, Wuling County, Lingling County, and half of Runan County were harvested, and the overall strategic initiative in the Huainan region was mastered. right.
Judging from the results of the battle, the party that gained the most benefit in the end was actually Soochow. But the problem is that Sun Quan is really not happy now.
On the Runan side, Lu Xun led his troops to retreat to Shouchun, leaving Zhu Ju to garrison Ruyin. He was still facing a confrontation with Cao Xiu who was following Cai.
In Jingzhou, although Zhu Ran and Zhou Yu safely returned to their respective starting points, how to negotiate with Ji Han after the war became a big problem for Sun Quan.
If this fails, it is not impossible for Han and Wei to jointly attack Soochow.
Although it is said that Han and Wei were feuding, in the eyes of Sun Quan, a political creature, this could not be the reason why the two sides could not cooperate. Therefore, Sun Quan decided to strike first.
He once again sent his envoys to Luoyang to seek the possibility of cooperation with Cao Wei.
After all, Ji Han, who was able to send 200,000 troops to attack the enemy country at once, and also occupied the geographical advantage of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, had already made Sun Quan a little sleepy.
At that time, Cao Wei was powerful, and Soochow did not unite with Ji Han, and would only end up being defeated by Cao Wei.
But now, Cao Wei's power has shrunk significantly, and even the Central Plains is in danger. The Han Dynasty has not only conquered Yongliang, but also opened the passage to the Central Plains. Sun Quan can no longer sit back and watch like this.
The situation has changed, and it is no longer necessary for Sun and Liu to unite. In this case, Sun Quan needs to reconsider Soochow's diplomatic strategy.
Sun Quan can choose whether to unite with Han to fight against Wei, or to unite with Wei to fight against Han, or he can choose neither. This needs to be renegotiated.
For this reason, Sun Quan quickly summoned Zhang Zhao and asked Zhang Zhao's opinion.
There was no way, Lu Xun and Zhou Yu both had important areas that needed to be garrisoned. In order to prevent possible counterattacks from the Han and Wei Dynasties, neither of them could easily leave the places they were guarding, and Zhang Zhao was in Jianye.
In this way, Zhang Zhao, who was nearly eighty years old, had to give advice to Sun Quan again.
In other words, Zhang Zhao is really alive and his body is still strong. Otherwise, Sun Quan would not be able to tolerate it.
As for Sun Quan's current hesitation, Zhang Zhao thought carefully for a long time and suggested Sun Quan to wait and see what happens.
In other words, don’t take the initiative to cooperate with others and wait for others to come to us and ask for help.
After all, in the current situation of the three-part world, the three parties are evenly matched.
Soochow is not like Ji Han, who has the mission of reviving the Han Dynasty, nor is it like Cao Wei, who wants to maintain the world's orthodoxy. Those two forces are destined to fight to the death.
Under the current situation, Ji Han and Cao Wei are destined to attack each other. For Soochow, they can only take measures to win over.
After all, no one has the strength to send troops to destroy Soochow alone, and it is impossible for the two families to reach a tacit agreement to send troops together to carve up Soochow.
Yes, it was difficult to say in the past. After all, Cao Wei was too strong at that time. If Shu and Wu fell out, Cao Wei might take advantage of troubled waters and attack Soochow. After all, he had the confidence.
But now, it is too late for Cao Wei to consolidate the defense of the Central Plains. Even if the Shu Han and Soochow fall out, Cao Wei may send envoys to reconcile with Soochow so that they can trick the Shu Han together.
Therefore, the current Soochow is fully qualified in terms of the situation and has the strength to sit back and watch the fight between tigers and tigers. In the end, they may be able to reap the benefits.
At this time, do nothing, consolidate the newly occupied territory, and wait for Wei and Shu to take the initiative to negotiate, so that you can reap the greatest benefits.
You have to say that Zhang Zhao's ability is quite reliable. Although he made a fool of himself once in Chibi, his judgment after that was basically not wrong, and he was not a French strategist who only made bad ideas.
This analysis made Sun Quan enlightened and regretful at the same time. Old man, please tell me if you have anything to say next time. I just sent someone as an envoy to Cao Wei.
Zhang Zhao, that depressed person. Before you send someone to contact Cao Wei, at least ask me first. Do you think that the old man is old and no longer useful, so you don't even ask? !
Okay, even if you dislike me for being too old and useless, I don’t have anything to say, but the question is, isn’t it a bit unethical for you to take the blame now? !
Zhang Zhao came happily again and left angrily, but Sun Quan didn't let anyone chase the old man's temper. Sun Quan knew it very well, but Sun Quan also had to let the old man understand that he was now the emperor of a country after all, and was no longer the ten-year-old man. How old are the children.
This is the way Sun Quan and Zhang Zhao get along uniquely. It can’t be said to be very good, but since these two people don’t say anything, outsiders are not qualified to comment.
At least in this time and space, Sun Quan has not yet performed the magical operation of building a wall on the front door of Zhang Zhao's house, and the two of them are already getting along well.
Soochow is discussing the aftermath, and Cao Wei is actually considering the same issue.
In fact, the situation in Cao Wei was much more serious than that in Soochow.
Although Tongguan was recaptured, once Wuguan and Wancheng were lost, only Yingchuan County stood in front of Luoyang.
But the problem is that Yingchuan County is not a place with dangerous terrain, easy to defend and difficult to attack. This place is flat and flat, and the only ones that can be used as strategic strongholds are Kunyang and Luyang on the border with Nanyang County.
Think about it, even Kunyang can be used as a strategic stronghold of Yingchuan County. This shows how unsafe Yingchuan County can be defended.
Really, if God had not blessed the Wei Dynasty, and the Shu thieves had General Guan Yu die of illness in front of them, and Jiangdong was attacking the rear, and the Shu thieves were really allowed to break through Kunyang's Wei army to intercept them, even if Cao Rui organized 100,000 garrison troops, he might not have been able to Block the attack of Shu thieves.
Therefore, the most realistic question now facing Wei Dynasty is whether Cao Rui should continue to stay in Luoyang.
Cao Rui doesn't want to leave, really. ,
Cao Rui is an ambitious monarch, and at the same time, he is also a young monarch. The enemy forces are about to attack the city, but he returns to Ye City to take refuge at this time. Cao Rui really feels that he cannot afford to lose this person! ! !
But it's useless if Cao Rui doesn't want to leave. The current Cao Wei court unanimously hopes that Cao Rui will move to Yecheng.
First of all, the capital of the Wei Dynasty was always Yecheng, not Luoyang. The emperor of the Wei Dynasty did not stay in the capital when he had nothing to do. He even ascended the throne in Luoyang. What do you mean? !
Not to mention that the current situation is critical, even if it is not critical, the Hebei nobles are not willing to see an emperor stranded in Chang'an without returning.
Therefore, no matter what the reason is, Cao Rui must return to Yecheng first.
Secondly, Cao Rui's return to Yecheng is really not an escape.
If Cao Rui returns to Yecheng during wartime, especially when the Wei army is at a disadvantage, it will indeed hurt the morale of the people and the army, and make the people and soldiers think that the emperor is an irresponsible person.
But now that the war is over, the Shu thieves stopped at Yingchuan County and Tongguan, and the Wu thieves failed to break through Runan. Under such circumstances, Cao Rui's move to Yecheng cannot be regarded as fleeing in fear of thieves at any level.
Even from the perspective of aristocratic families, those families that put their treasure on Cao Rui would not want to see him stay in a dangerous place like Luoyang today.
Cao Rui moved to Yecheng so that Luoyang could free his hands and fight against the Shu and Wu thieves. When Cao Rui stayed in Luoyang, the first thing the soldiers had to consider was definitely the safety of the emperor, and the use of troops would be restricted.
Therefore, even if Cao Rui insists that staying in Luoyang can effectively boost the morale of the army and enable him to coexist and die with his soldiers, the life and death of the Wei Dynasty cannot be pinned on Cao Rui's personal senses.
This time, not only Chen Qun, but also Xiahou Shang, Cao Zhen, and Sima Yi all believed that Cao Rui should move to Yecheng just in case.
The four major Tuogu ministers all made the same decision. Even if Cao Rui wanted to go his own way, he had to consider the consequences.
After all, these four people represent the aristocratic families, the military, the clan, and the court. Once they reach an agreement, it will be difficult for the emperor Cao Rui to overturn their opinions.
In this way, Cao Rui didn't want to retreat, but in the end he had to issue an edict to set off at a selected date and return to the capital.
After discussing this issue, the next question is - who will guard Luoyang and coordinate the Sili garrison.
We can't let Cao Rui take the lead and leave Luoyang undefended, right? !
If you want to do this, then the Yingchuan Family and the Hedong Family should collectively "eat the pot of pulp" and have a good talk with the Jihan Group.
Luoyang still needs to be defended. This place cannot be given up easily.
Not only Luoyang, but also Yanzhou and Yuzhou must arrange suitable people to guard it, but the priority of these two places is not that high.
The first candidate to be determined is the Luoyang guard.
Now that he has decided to return to Yecheng, Cao Rui can't worry about anything anymore, but for the defender of Luoyang, Cao Rui still hopes that Xiahou Shang can take the initiative to stand up.
On the one hand, Xia Houshang completed the task of rescuing Tongguan quite well, so his impression in Cao Rui's heart was restored again.
On the other hand, Cao Rui really couldn't stand his two idiot clan uncles.
Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu, one of them sent troops without authorization, and the other made his own decision. Not only did they need Cao Rui to wipe their butts, but they also couldn't bring Cao Rui the victory he needed most. If they were left to guard Luoyang, God knows when Luoyang would be destroyed. Lost it in a daze.
Cao Rui could no longer trust these two clan generals and could only place his hopes on Xia Houshang, who was still relatively reliable.
There is no way, Luoyang, such an important place, cannot be left to a general with a foreign surname to guard it.
Xia Houshang, who felt Cao Rui's gaze, immediately understood Cao Rui's intention and took the initiative to stand up and ask for orders to stay in Luoyang.
Cao Rui was very satisfied with Xia Houshang's reaction and was about to nod in agreement when Chen Qun stood up.
Chen Qun recommended Sima Yi to stay in Luoyang.
(End of chapter)
