"If I lose my information about Longyou, Liangzhou will probably not be saved. I hope your majesty will be prepared in advance and not be overwhelmed by temporary gains and losses." Liu Ye said.
Cao Rui was shocked: "Can't Liangzhou be saved?"
"Yes, once Zhuge Liang frees up his hands, he will definitely take action against Liangzhou. Liangzhou Governor Xu has only more than ten thousand troops under his command. It is not easy to defeat the Shu army. The area is also remote in the west. Even if the court wants to Rescue is also beyond the reach of the whip, so it is very difficult for Governor Xu and others to defend Liangzhou in front of Zhuge Liang."
Upon hearing this, Cao Rui flicked his sleeves and said solemnly: "Although Liangzhou is located in a remote place in the west, it is also a land with seven counties, thousands of miles in radius, and a population of hundreds of thousands. How can we give up so easily?
Although Longyou fell into the hands of Shu thieves and cut off the connection between Guanzhong and Liangzhou, we, the Wei Dynasty, can still communicate with it from the northern grasslands. Even if the Shu army invades Liangzhou, we, the Wei Dynasty, can send troops or recruit Hu cavalry to detour to support, so why can't we protect it? "
Liu Ye smiled and praised: "Your Majesty is indeed wise, wise and far-sighted, and has a clear understanding of the situation in Liangzhou."
The topic changed and he said: "But I thought that even if we could borrow a road from the barbarian territory to support Liangzhou, it would still be thousands of miles away and we would still have the disadvantage of being out of reach.
If few soldiers are sent away, they will not be able to defeat the Shu army and will be in vain; if too many soldiers are sent away, the army will consume a lot of food and fodder, and once defeated, there will be no backup force, so it is better to abandon it temporarily. "
Seeing that the emperor's face was still livid, Liu Ye changed his tone again: "But what your Majesty said is true, even if it is beyond the reach of the whip, Liangzhou cannot be given up to the Shu thieves so easily.
Therefore, your majesty can issue an edict to Xu Miao, asking him to make great use of the people and summon the surrounding Qiang and Hu tribes to deal with it as long as possible. Zhuge Liang cannot be allowed to seize it in one fell swoop. "
"Well, I think so too. Liangzhou must still try its best to hold on. Even if it is really taken away by Zhuge Liang in the end, a few big teeth of the Shu thieves will be broken." After hearing this, Cao Rui felt better.
Seeing the emperor's face softening, Liu Ye secretly breathed a sigh of relief and continued: "Your Majesty, Liangzhou can be used as a quagmire to hold back the Shu army. When Zhuge Liang attacks Liangzhou, we can take the opportunity to attack Hanzhong."
"Hanzhong?" Cao Rui exclaimed.
Liu Ye nodded and said: "Exactly. Your Majesty, although the Shu thieves now occupy Longyou, their roots are still in Yizhou, and the pass connecting Longyou and Yizhou is Hanzhong.
Therefore, regardless of whether Zhuge Liang occupies Longyou now or even Liangzhou in the future, as long as we can capture Hanzhong, the situation will immediately favor our Wei Dynasty. By then, Longyou's recovery will be effortless.
What's even better is that by taking Hanzhong, our great Wei Dynasty has a sharp sword hanging over the heads of the pseudo-Shu monarchs and ministers. But the troops can go south and point directly at Chengdu, and the destruction of the pseudo-Shu is not a problem. "
Although the blueprint drawn by Liu Ye was very beautiful, Cao Rui still had doubts in his heart and asked: "Hanzhong is the throat of Yizhou. The imperial court has long wanted to capture this place. However, the roads in the Qinling Mountains are rugged and difficult to walk and there are many passes. The late emperor is In view of the difficulty of traveling to Shu, no troops were sent to attack Shu during his reign. Now that the puppet Shu army has moved north to camp in Hanzhong, wouldn't it be more difficult to attack Shu at this time?"
Liu Ye said: "Your Majesty, don't you hear that this happened all the time? In the past, Zhuge Liang relied on the difficult and dangerous roads of Shu to seclusion and refused to defend. Only then did we, the Wei Dynasty, have nothing to do with him. Now it's better. He took the initiative to lead the main force of the Shu army to attack. Now Gave us the chance to eliminate him in one fell swoop.
Don't look at Zhuge Liang's current military strength and occupy Longyou, but as the saying goes, things prosper and then decline, and happiness is miserable. Now the Shu army has not only emerged from the turtle shell of Yizhou, but also stretched the battle line so long. This is exactly God has given me a good opportunity for the Wei Dynasty to destroy Shu.
As long as the time is right and the king's army marches out in all directions, Zhuge Liang will definitely ignore each other. At that time, your majesty will recover Longyou in the small case, occupy Hanzhong in the middle, and destroy the pseudo-Shu in the big case. You will achieve unparalleled achievements. "
"Good." Cao Rui heard his heart surge and said excitedly: "Your words are like clearing the clouds and seeing the sun, which makes me enlightened. As long as the false Shu can be eliminated, what's the harm in Longyou or even Liangzhou temporarily giving way to Zhuge Liang?"
Liu Ye raised his hands and praised: "Your Majesty can endure a temporary defeat, you are a truly wise king."
"The Qing family is far-sighted and makes plans for the future. They are also virtuous ministers." At this time, Cao Rui was in a good mood and he did not hesitate to praise Liu Ye as a think tank.
The monarch and his ministers complimented each other and liked each other very much. Liu Ye said a few words modestly, suppressed his smile, and said with a little worry: "Your Majesty, although the plan just now is wonderful, there is still a flaw."
"Oh, where?"
Liu Ye pointed to the east and replied: "In the east."
"You are talking about Sun Quan of the Eastern Wu Dynasty?"
Liu Ye nodded and replied: "Exactly. The Wu and Shu thieves colluded with each other. If Sun Quan's troops come out of Jingyang when our army attacks Shu, our Wei Dynasty will not be able to cope with it. At that time, something will inevitably happen. This is what I am most worried about."
"You are overly concerned." Cao Rui said with a relaxed smile: "Sun Quan is not good at military affairs. He has invaded Hefei many times before, but was easily repelled by our army. Even if the army from Soochow invades, there are more than 100,000 soldiers and horses in Jingyang and Yangzhou. It's enough to handle, last year was a ready example."
Seeing that Liu Ye was worried about Soochow, Cao Rui breathed a sigh of relief. He admitted that Soochow's navy was difficult to deal with, but he did not think that Soochow's infantry could compete with his own army, especially when he thought of Wu Lord Sun Quan's several performances in Hefei. No more worries.
Liu Ye thought to himself, not to mention that the Wu army could not fight on land, but the more than 100,000 Wei troops along the Jingyang line were not just decorations. The great Sima Cao Xiu was stationed on the eastern front, and Sima Yi defended the middle line, which was enough to deal with Sun Quan, Lu Xun and others.
After planning the plan to attack Shu, both Cao Rui and Liu Ye were in a good mood. One no longer worried that Longyou and even Liangzhou would temporarily fall into Ji Han's hands, and the other finally got the emperor's approval for his plan to destroy Shu, and the two were in good spirits again. They talked animatedly for more than an hour, until the chamberlain reminded Cao Rui several times outside the palace that it was time to eat, and then the conversation ended.
Of course, Liu Ye was also left to dine with Cao Rui. Today, he came up with a clever plan to relieve the emperor's worries, which solved the confusion in Cao Rui's heart and restored Cao Rui's confidence in the future situation. His status in the heart of Wei Emperor has been greatly improved, and he has been rewarded with a lot of glory.
Two days later, Cao Zhen's opinion was conveyed back to Chang'an. As expected, he did not agree with the transfer of troops from Guandong to Guanzhong. The reason was the same as that of Yan Fei and Liu Ye, saying that Guanzhong could not support so many sergeants, and he It is asserted that Zhuge Liang will not attack Guanzhong in the short term, and the current troops and horses are enough to cope with it.
Therefore, Cao Rui rejected Sun Zi's suggestion to deploy more troops and horses, and sent 5,000 additional sergeants to Zhang He, asking him to immediately return to Qian County to prevent the Han army from coming down from Longshan. In addition to the thousands of defeated troops, Zhang He had more than ten thousand troops under his command, enough to defend the city.
He also sent a secret envoy from Hetao to Liangzhou, and ordered Xu Miao, the governor of Liangzhou, to close the passage, gather volunteers, recruit Qiang and Hu, and hold on to the city. He also told Xu Miao that as long as he could keep Liangzhou, he was allowed to kill first and then act in an expedient manner, which was a bit arrogant. The place will not be held accountable by the court.
With Liu Ye's plan, Cao Rui had settled down and began to rely on his strong national power to remedy the adverse effects of Jieting's defeat.
Even if two bad news came back soon that Guo Huai abandoned Shanggui and withdrew from Guanzhong and Gao Gang, the defender of Qishan Fort, surrendered to Ji Han, Cao Rui was not as angry as before and just let the ministers follow the law. To control the situation, he wants to focus his energy on the next war.
