Ten days later, Cao Cao personally led the army to Jiangling.
Cao Cao, who originally learned that Guo Jia had annihilated Liu Bei's five thousand troops and captured countless civilians, was smiling.
The shame of Xiangyang City twice was finally washed away here.
However, after arriving at Jiangling, Cao Cao was caught off guard by the extremely empty city.
When hearing Guo Jia's personal account of the incident, Cao Cao was not as furious as Zhang He expected.
He just sighed softly, showing a little helplessness and anger.
Regarding Guo Jia's approach, Cao Cao showed complete support and approval.
Not to mention that Guo Jia only had 5,000 cavalry at that time. Even if Cao Cao brought an army of 200,000 here, he would not choose to go to war with Pang Tong.
Occupying Nanjun is the first priority. As for the more than 100,000 people, just keep them if you have them. If you don't have them, it doesn't matter the overall situation.
More than 100,000 people were extremely painful to Liu Bei.
But for Cao Cao, who occupied nearly eight states in the Central Plains and Hebei Province, it was really nothing!
If you can use these more than 100,000 people to stabilize Liu Zhang, you may be able to exchange for Jingzhou and the ten counties of Yangzhou.
By then, millions of people will not be a problem, how can we stick to a mere hundred thousand?
The matter of Pang Tong's interception of the Hu population was easily exposed by Cao Cao.
Subsequently, under Guo Jia's plan, 200,000 Cao's troops attacked in separate groups.
In just a few days, all the cities in Nanjun formerly occupied by Liu Bei's army changed hands.
Yiling, east of Yidao, completely belonged to Cao Cao.
After entering Jiangling, Cao Cao immediately decided to abandon the burned Xiangyang and use Jiangling as a new base to attack Jingnan.
Cao Jun's supplies began to be transported crazily by land and water.
Before long, there was a scene of piles of people in Jiangling City.
Since there are no common people in the city, it greatly facilitates the management of supplies.
The food and grass alone was enough for Cao Jun to fight fiercely for a year!
Abundant food and grass meant that Cao Cao could deal with the war calmly and did not have to rush for quick success.
Even so, Cao Cao didn't delay at all.
After taking control of all parts of Nanjun, they immediately began to attack Jingnan.
At the same time, Cao Jun also investigated everything about Jingnan's response.
After Liu Bei retreated to Jingnan, he deployed all his more than 50,000 troops on the south bank of the Yangtze River.
Camps were set up and garrisoned at dangerous points. At present, there seemed to be no place on the south bank of the Yangtze River in Jingnan for Cao's army to land.
If they forcefully attack and land, Liu Bei's army will definitely wait for work.
This will undoubtedly cause Cao's army, which is not good at water warfare, to suffer heavy casualties.
Of course, Jingnan is not invulnerable!
Yidao City, occupied by General Zhang Liao under the command of Qin King Liu Zhang, was an important town in Jingnan.
Although Liu Bei built a camp on the mountainside twenty miles east of Yidao City, it was still much easier than attacking from the water and forcing a landing.
However, Wei King Cao Cao and Military Advisor Guo Jia did not agree with this offensive route.
Let's not talk about whether the Qin army can agree to borrow Yidao City. Even if Cao Cao agrees to borrow it, do he really dare to hand over the back of the army to the Qin army?
If the Qin army suddenly goes back on its word, the food route will be completely cut off.
Furthermore, if Cao Cao borrowed the road to Yidaocheng, would Zhang Liao think it was a fake road to attack Guo?
One careless move can cause huge misunderstandings.
Cao Cao had the advantage, so naturally he wanted to do more than do less.
By accident, more than 100,000 people were lost again.
However, without borrowing the Yi Dao road, the casualties paid by attacking Jingnan were not something Cao Cao could accept.
Faced with this situation, Guo Jia didn't have a good solution.
Guo Jia is from the Central Plains and has certain ingenious strategies for infantry and mounted combat.
But he knew almost nothing about the water war in the south.
Even the strongest conspirator under his command had no choice, and Cao Cao couldn't help but become irritable.
Before the war even started, they were forced into a stalemate.
An army of more than 200,000 people has no place to use it!
Just when Cao Cao was upset, bad news came one after another.
"Informing the King of Wei, Sun Quan from Jiangdong has raised 150,000 troops three days ago. The troops are divided into three groups and are attacking our army!"
"Lu Xun, the prefect of Jiangxia, is the commander-in-chief of the West Route Army. He has assembled 50,000 soldiers from all walks of life in Jiangxia and Yuzhang, and is stationed at Xiakou to prepare for the navy's westward march."
"The central leader, Grand Governor Zhou Yu, is the commander-in-chief of the North Route Army. He commands a total of 50,000 soldiers and horses from all over Lujiang. He is currently heading north from Wan County, aiming directly at Hefei!"
"Sun Quan has appointed himself the Central Army and the Presidential Commander of the three armies. He has gathered a total of 50,000 troops from Danyang, Wu County, and Kuaiji County. He is currently stationed in Moling and is ready to support Zhou Yu and Lu Xun's armies at any time!"
When Cao Cao heard about Sun Quan's movements, his face became extremely gloomy.
I thought Sun Quan would be trembling with fear and not daring to make any mistakes.
I didn’t expect this kid to be so bold and dare to take the initiative!
"Gu originally wanted to deal with Liu Bei first and let Sun Quan live a few more days, but I didn't expect that this ignorant person would dare to offend Gu's power!"
"I want to ask you, are Jiangdong's soldiers and horses bluffing, or do they really have the intention to attack Gu?"
Cao Cao's question was not self-deception.
Anhui County in Lujiang County is close to the Yangtze River side, while Hefei is on the southernmost side of Jiujiang County and is a dangerous place to guard Lujiang County and Jiujiang County.
There is a long distance between the two.
Zhou Yu went north from Wan County and had to walk in his own county for a long time.
Who knows whether he is really going on the Northern Expedition, or just taking his troops and horses for a loop?
Hefei is an important town in Huainan. After Cao Cao pacified Yuan, he kept a garrison in Hefei.
Therefore, Cao Cao was not too worried about Zhou Yu.
On the contrary, Lu Xun's troops stationed in Xiakou were a serious concern for Cao Cao.
There is no water stronghold of Cao's army in the east of Nanjun. Lu Xun in Xiakou can use his navy to move westward at any time and forcibly harass Nanjun.
If Lu Xun took advantage of the battle between Cao's army and Liu Bei's army to make a sneak attack, it would be very harmful!
As for Sun Quan's self-proclaimed Central Army of 50,000 people, Cao Cao didn't take it seriously at all.
Let’s not talk about whether Sun Quan has so many soldiers and horses.
Even if it does exist, it is far away in the hinterland of Yangzhou and will not be able to reach the front line for a while.
The central route army claimed by Sun Quan looked more like a bluff to Cao Cao!
Therefore, as long as Lu Xun of the West Route Army does not make any move, it means that the troops and horses arranged by Sun Quan are just showing off.
The soldiers who came to report the news could not think of so much, and they could not understand Cao Cao's thoughts. They hesitated and did not know how to answer.
Cao Cao frowned and couldn't help but feel a little angry.
"Are you mute? Didn't you hear what Gu asked you?"
The soldiers were so frightened that they could only kowtow to Cao Cao to apologize.
"Report to the King of Wei, I... I don't know what Sun Quan is thinking."
"It's just that Sun Quan announced in public that he would join forces with Emperor Liu...oh no, the big-eared thieves to fight against the enemy and jointly annihilate the national thieves...oh no, King Wei!"
"snort!"
Cao Cao was furious when he heard this, and his face was filled with a ferocious look.
"What a young boy, Sun Quan. He may not be very capable, but his tone is quite impressive!"
"I have decided to leave the big-eared thief alive for the time being, so that the whole army can march eastward and destroy Sun Quan first!"
