After Zhu Ran and others left one after another, Guan Yu returned to his seat and picked up a volume of documents to read. Zhuge Liang was still standing next to the sand table, thinking about something.

"June, the surprise attack on Qingzhou is very dangerous. There is no need to let the major general lead the troops to..." Withdrew his gaze from the sand table, Zhuge Liang turned around and said to Guan Yu, "In Liang's opinion, Gan Xingba and Ding Chengyuan are enough!"

Leaving the document in his hand, Guan Yu looked up at Zhuge Liang: "Kong Ming, you planned to attack Qingzhou by surprise. Do you have no confidence?"

Seeing Guan Yu, who was so accustomed to being a little joke with him, Zhuge Liang smiled slightly and shook his head and said, "Confidence is confidence, but there are always dangers when we go deep into Qingzhou alone. Liang just feels that there is no need to let the major general take risks in person!"

"In the army, Ping'er is no longer just the son of Guan, he is also the general of the great Han Dynasty. Xingba and Chengyuan can take risks, and he is nothing wrong with him..." He gently stroked his long beard under his chin and said in a low voice, "Besides, in the years when he followed his third brother to fight in Jiangdong, Ping'er's martial arts and military management have made great progress. He is considered qualified for generals, but if he is allowed to stand alone, it is still a little lacking.

If he doesn't let him experience it much, Ping'er will only be a general but not a handsome man in the future.

"Junhou said so!" Zhuge Liang nodded and changed a topic. "Since Cao's army began to counterattack, there has been a doubt in Liang's heart..."

"Oh~~?" Guan Yu looked at Zhuge Liang in surprise, raised his hand to signal him to continue.

"Cao Cao endured our Yangzhou army for more than two months, and even gave up the entire Xuzhou, but why did he suddenly choose to counterattack at this time?" Zhuge Liang shook his feather fan and said slowly, "Although the courage of our army has been reduced after the months of delays and defecation.

But Cao's army may not be much better than our army.

In addition, although Liang was not sure, Cao's army should have almost exhausted the food and grass. With their only remaining food and grass, how long can the counterattack last?

What's more important is that our Jingzhou army has also attacked Runan. Once Runan is captured, not only will Xuchang take the general's breath, but Yanzhou's abdomen will be completely exposed. Even if the general does not take Xuchang, he can attack Yanzhou directly eastward.

Directly threaten Cao Ren's side. If Cao Ren fails to defeat our army by then, he will face the attack of our Jing and Yang army on both sides..."

Guan Yu raised his eyebrows slightly, and felt something was wrong. He asked in a deep voice: "Kong Ming, what did you think of?"

"The general may also encounter trouble..." Zhuge Liang sighed, "If Cao Cao had not been sure to restrain the general, he would not dare to launch a counterattack against Xuzhou at will."

"Where is the third brother?" Guan Yu said with a deep frown, "Nanyang battles several times. Cao's army lost nearly 50,000. Not to mention that the troops could not be replenished quickly, even with the low morale after several defeats, Cao's army was not enough to threaten the third brother in a short period of time..."

"Unless, Cao Cao can get strong help..." Zhuge Liang pointed his feather fan to the end of the west side of the sand table, "Xiliang!"

"Han Sui????!!!!" Guan Yu said in confusion.

"No matter whether this is the case or not, it will be news in a few days..."

……………………………………………………………………………….

In order to prevent the pursuit of the Cao-Han Allied Forces, I had only had time to rest for two hours, so I led my army to continue to march southwest. I learned from Liang Xing that Han Sui still had 10,000 cavalry whereabouts unknown, so I naturally did not dare to slack off.

Try to choose some undulating paths to prevent raids from enemy cavalry.

After three consecutive marching, when we were about to enter Shenyang County, the Fengqi Scouts suddenly discovered that a large army was coming towards our army.

After making preparations for the battle, the scouts returned for the second time, and only then did they realize that it was a false alarm.

What came was Chen Dao's army.

.

The sun at noon shines directly above the head, and the hot sunlight steams the earth.

Tens of thousands of soldiers were looking for shade in groups and sat on the ground, with their helmets and weapons placed aside. The ribbons that tightly tied their armor had also been loosened to dissipate heat.

Since there may be an enemy raid at any time, no one dares to take off his armor. Wearing a helmet and tie a belt is easy and easy, while wearing a armor is much more troublesome.

Some soldiers were dozing, while others were silently maintaining their weapons and armor. In order to prevent the metal from reflecting under the sun, the weapons were covered with a layer of shallow dust or grass chips.

.

In a small wood

"It all lost the tips from the military advisor and Lord Sima, otherwise this time I would be doomed again!" Chen Dao did not make any contribution and looked at Pang Tong and Sima Yi and said. "There are 10,000 Xiliang cavalry and no less than 3,000 Cao's cavalry.

If you want to confront each other head-on, it will be difficult for you to lead the army to retreat all of you!"

The progress of things was indeed as I had guessed——Cao Cao and Han Sui did send another cavalry to attack Chen Dajun who was surrounding Pingyu.

Fortunately, Chen Dao, under Sima Yi's reminder, remained highly vigilant about possible surprise attacks and sent a large number of scouts to search for information in all directions for more than 30 miles.

Therefore, when the Cao-Han alliance of more than 13,000 cavalry came roaring from the northwest, Chen Dao got the news early.

Under Pang Tong's planning, Chen Daotit's army slowly retreated, and at the same time, he set up a suspicious formation, but it made Pingyu's defenders notice it.

When the cavalry of the Cao-Han Allied Forces arrived, they found that Chen Dao's army retreated and stopped, and they were suspicious, worried that it was a trick to lure the enemy, so they did not dare to launch an attack immediately, but only used a small cavalry to harass and test it.

Chen Dao's reaction to these temptations was also hard and soft, making Cao and Han generals confused.

Dragging into the middle of the night, Pang Tong asked Chen Daoshi to confuse the enemy, and then retreated suddenly overnight. When the enemy cavalry found something was wrong, they rushed over, but were ambushed by Pang Tong. Both sides lost their own small troops and left the battle.

Since then, the Cao and Han cavalry have not pursued them further.

On the way to retreat, Sima Yi judged that most of the enemy cavalry that carried out the surprise attack were from Xiliang. He analyzed that Han Sui had gone south to assist Cao Cao, and pointed out to Pang Tong that the troops rushing to Runan City were likely to encounter enemy raids.

Pang Tong agreed deeply and discussed with Sima Yi and Chen Dao. He decided to march to Shenyang in the southeast and prepare to respond to me. It happened that the two soldiers and horses really met head-on.

"The plan was wrong this time, and the general was incompetent to work hard and the loess was stained with blood..." Pang Tong had always been full of energy and looked a little sad at this moment, shook his head and smiled bitterly, "Please also punish the general!"

"A wise man will have to make mistakes even if he has a thousand thoughts. Besides, I have great responsibility myself, so Shi Yuan doesn't have to blame himself!" I waved my hand and said with a smile, "The calculation was wrong this time, mainly because of Han Sui's sudden intervention..."

"General, can you tell me how Han Sui hid his detailed investigations from our army and quietly sneaked to Yuzhou?" Sima Yi suddenly asked.

"He went to the central part of Bingzhou and turned to Jiguan and went straight to Xingyang.

Entering Yuzhou..." From Liang Xingdi's mouth, I had learned about Han Sui's march route, and also roughly understood why our army knew nothing about the 30,000 Western Liang Iron Cavalry.

"So that's it!" Pang Tong said suddenly, "Han Sui did not leave Yong and Si prefectures, but instead left Bingzhou, which was sparsely populated. He could avoid most of the detailed works arranged by our army.

If Cao Cao blocked the news of Yuzhou again, and Han Sui stayed for a very short time, the detailed works of our army planted in Yuzhou would not be effective..."

Pang Tong's analysis was basically the same as what I thought. My eyebrows raised slightly. I found that Sima Yi was listening to Pang Tong's explanation, but a slight smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

Suddenly, a sense of enlightenment came to my heart———Sima Yi asked Han Sui how to go south, and the purpose was probably not just to understand the reason, but perhaps it was also the meaning of distracting Pang Tong's attention.

Pang Tong's talent is absolutely unquestionable. After becoming an official, his contributions to his suggestions can only be described as "hero". What's even more rare is that he can almost always predict the enemy's first. All plans are accomplished.

But this "scheme is successful" invisibly put a layer of shackles on him. If you get used to success and encounter setbacks at first, no matter how smart a person is, he will inevitably have psychological shadows.

In fact, since I met, I felt that Pang Tong's words and deeds were a little different from those in the past. It was only after I heard his words "I am ashamed of myself and apologized for my sins" that I realized it. Sima Yi probably also noticed it and distracted Pang Tong's attention.

Create opportunities to show his past style.

However, as far as I am concerned, even though I almost broke into Cao Cao and Han Sui's hands this time, I did not have any doubts about Pang Tong's ability.

No one can truly do the best. After defeating Cao's army several times, even myself underestimated Cao Cao's counterattack ability to some extent.

…………

After informing each other about the situation, under my leadership, everyone quickly entered the strategic discussion for the next strategic location. Due to Han Sui's strong intervention, the original plan must have been no longer applicable.

"Han Sui still has more than 20,000 cavalry, and the Cao army in Runan may be no less than 30,000. With the soldiers and horses of General Huang, our army has about 50,000. In terms of the total number of soldiers and horses, the difference between the enemy and us should be almost the same.

However, Han Sui's more than 20,000 cavalry were a big concern. Once they were entangled by them, it would be difficult to get out!" Zhao Yun said in a deep voice.

"It is definitely not possible to fight head-on." Pang De nodded and said, "If the troops are too exhausted, the Northern Expedition will not be able to continue. If both sides suffer losses, Cao Cao may be very willing."

"If you don't solve Han Laogou, don't think about going forward with Runan's strategy." Ma Dai said calmly.

It is easy to solve Han Sui, but it is definitely not an easy task to do it. A normal way, even if Han Sui is solved, our army will probably have to do it completely.

"Shi Yuan, see when will plum blossoms be entered in Huaibei?" I asked Pang Tong.

Pang Tong lit up instantly, and then he stood up and looked up at the sky.

Except for Sima Yi who had some insights on his face, the other generals were confused, surprised by my questions and even more surprised by Pang Tong's strange actions.

After looking at the sky, Pang Tong squatted on the ground and looked at the soil and plants. After a while, he actually walked out of the woods again.

"General..." Ling Tong asked me in shock, "What's wrong with the military advisor? Is it..."

Seeing Ling Tong's unspeakable appearance, I guess this kid might guess something was wrong with Pang Tong's mind.

"Public record, don't guess randomly!" I laughed and scolded Ling Tong and explained, ""Shi Yuan is surveying astronomy and calculating when the plum rainy season will come..."

"Plum rainy season?" Sima Yi showed a look of excitement in amidst surprise.

After half a cup of tea, Pang Tong rushed back and laughed and said, "It's early June, less than ten days later, the plum rain will come.
Chapter completed!