"Conspiracy?" Zang Ba frowned and asked anxiously, "What is the conspiracy? Please tell me clearly..."

The Guanglu doctor Cheng Yu gently stroked his long beard three feet under his chin, and his tone was a little heavy: "Xuan Gao repeatedly ordered that he would not attack the Liaodong Army. Yu expected that the soldiers in our army would not violate the general order lightly.

Therefore, this conflict is likely to be part of the conspiracy of others, and the purpose is... I am afraid it is to trigger the war in Youzhou."

"Conspiracy? Does Lord Cheng mean that this matter was done by Gongsun Kang himself?" Zang Ba said in a slight surprise.

"It may be Gongsun Kang, but... it may also be Liu Bei." Cheng Yu said slowly with deep eyes, "No matter who it is, before the situation on the battlefield between Xu and Yu is determined, Gongsun Kang cannot ruin the Prime Minister's major event."

"This is natural!" When Zang Ba said this, there was a lack of confidence in his tone.

The lack of food and grass is Zang Ba's most troublesome thing. If this problem cannot be solved, it is hard to express confidence in this battle no matter what.

.

Liaodong County, Xiaoqiting, Anshi County

After hearing the report from the confidant sent by Teng Bao, the Liaodong County Si Gong joined the army, Fa Zheng, who looked slightly dark and thin, did not show too much joy. He just nodded slightly, then closed his eyes and fell into deep thought.

Teng Bao's close confidants who had seen Fa Zheng's wisdom and lingering fears did not dare to easily interrupt the thoughts of the thin black scholar in front of him, and could only wait with his hands down.

After half a cup of tea, Fa Zheng opened his eyes and said, "You go back to Xiangping to tell Lord Teng that he did a good job.

Also, Liaodong does not need to do anything else in a short period of time, and ask our people to temporarily hide, so as not to arouse unnecessary suspicion.”

"yes!"

"Come!" After Teng Bao's confidant left, Fa Zheng recruited people into the room and ordered. "Immediately report the news to Lujiang and Xia Pi from the sea...

Contact our staff in You and Ji and spread the news of Gongsun Kang's uprising to attack western Liaoning as much as possible..."

"yes!"

…………………………………………………………….

The news that the Yancao army launched a full-scale counterattack against Xuzhou will be completely digested in the future. Han Sui and 30,000 Western Liang cavalry went south and "bad news" came again.

The situation faced by the Northern Expedition Army of Jing and Yang seemed to have turned from advantage to inferior overnight, from attack to defense.

The Lujiang court was generally optimistic about the prospects of the Northern Expedition. Some people even hoped to completely expel Cao Cao across the Yellow River this year and then return to Luoyang.

For this reason, many people submitted a letter to General Liu Bei and asked two armies to attack Xuchang.

Although these proposals were eventually denied by Liu Bei tactfully, optimism continued to spread, as if Cao Cao, who had been dominating for a while, had become a lamb to be slaughtered.

But in just a few days, everything changed.

.

In the conference hall of the General's Office, the Wei Wei Wei Xu Shu, the Ting Wei Zhang Zhao, the Taipu Lu Su, the Dahonglu Sun Qian, the Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretary (the main assistant of the Grand Secretary) Mi Zhu, the Shaofu Cheng (the main assistant of the Shaofu Land) Jian Yong, the Zhongsan Doctor Chen Zhen, the Anhan General Gong Du and other important officials were together.

Everyone knows the severe situation facing the Northern Expedition Army, and the expressions on most people appear to be a little heavy.

"Although the Yan Cao army has a population of 100,000, there is no doubt that there is a shortage of food and grass. If the army has no food, it will be in chaos. Although the Cao army's counterattack is fierce, it cannot last long. Moreover, the king and Kong Ming have already prepared something.

Therefore, the battlefield in Xuzhou should be no major damage..." Xu Shu said with a small stick in his hand and pointed to the huge sand table beside him.

"In Xuzhou, the biggest problem is not the 100,000 Cao troops, but the hundreds of thousands of people stranded in the three counties of Pengcheng, Xiapi and Donghai." Lu Su frowned slightly and said slowly.

"After delayed by Xu Huang's cavalry, the progress of moving south has slowed down greatly. In recent days, the people in the south have only been picked up by the navy in the past few days. According to this progress, it is difficult to complete the refugees in a year."

"Don't say a year, every day, there will probably be countless hunger people..." Jian Yong said helplessly, "If the war in Xuzhou is delayed for a month, at least 100,000 refugees will die.

If it was two months, I’m afraid there would be no fewer left in the 300,000 refugees stranded in Huaibei!”

"But the war in Xuzhou must not be rushed to achieve success." Xu Shu said withdrew his gaze from the sand table. "Cao Cao has been planning for the current counterattack for a long time. What he most hopes is to arouse our army to fight it hastily.

Cao Cao himself was eager to resolve the war, but he hoped that our army would become eager to achieve success.

Although Xu Shu did not make it clear, his implication was to temporarily put the issue of hundreds of thousands of refugees aside.

For Liu Bei, this has indeed become a dilemma. If you want to win the war, you have to put the life and death of hundreds of thousands of refugees aside; if you want to take into account hundreds of thousands of refugees, you may face the danger of failure in the war...

With his hands on his forehead, Liu Bei closed his eyes slightly. Although his expression was as calm as usual, his brows, which were gently frowning from time to time, showed his inner struggle.

"Cao Cao wants to win.

The people of Qingxu were killed; in order to rescue hundreds of thousands of Qingxu people, the lord had consumed 110,000 stones of food in the past and continued, and had resettled homes for 200,000 migrants who moved south, distributed land, and organized farming... All kinds of favorable actions are well known to the people.

It is already undisputed that the lord and Cao Cao are sincerely dedicated to the people and who strive to restore the Han Dynasty.

"Zhang Zhao stroked the long beard that appeared slightly in silver silk and said in a deep voice, "The great man today is just like a seriously ill person. Although he still has a breath, if he does not treat him in a hurry, it will be a matter of time before he goes deep into the terminal. Cao Cao's disaster to the country and the people, and kills the king to usurp the enemy is the root of the disease.

If the disease is not removed, it is difficult to cure severe illness.

Now, the northern expedition of our Jing and Yang army is the most important time to clear the root of the disease. If you make mistakes and miss them, you will regret it.

Lord, it’s better to use severe medicine to get rid of the flesh and sores in order to cure the wound."

Liu Bei raised his head, and Zhang Zhao, who was a little surprised, was actually agreeing with Xu Shudi's proposal.

After looking at Xu Shu and Zhang Zhao, he turned his eyes to Lu Su again, and the same answer was obtained. Liu Bei closed his eyes and thought for a while, and finally nodded gently: "They will decide the war in Xuzhou by sending the letter Yun Chang and Kong Ming."

After a pause, Liu Bei added: "Transfer to the letter to Duke Yi (Jiang Qin) again, and do his best to transport Qing and Xu people to the south.

Zi Jing, who passed on a letter to Zishan (Prince Bu Zhi of Shouchun), was cautious in relocating refugees, and could not make a person who had traveled south suffer from hunger!”

"Don't worry, lord!" Lu Su stood up and responded.

"Yuan Zhi, do you see if Yide needs to add reinforcements?" Liu Bei turned to Xu Shu and said.

"Although the battle situation in Yuzhou is tight, the general did not ask for help from his lord in his letter. As expected, the general should be confident in dealing with the current dilemma.

"Xu Shu said in a deep thought, "However, you can add some troops to Pingchun to make sure you have everything. Pingchun is only separated from Runan by one Huai, and it is also under the control of Ling Zifu (Ling Cao) navy. If you want to go north, it will not be difficult."

"Yeah!" Liu Bei nodded, "Then let Zi Xu (Quan Rou, the father of Quan Cong) lead 10,000 troops here in Lujiang to Pingchun."

"Report to the lord. Runan and Xiangyang at the same time, a urgent letter was passed on!" Yingyang's captain Quan Rou rushed to the outside of the hall, bowed and reported loudly.

Xu Shu, Lu Su and others looked slightly moved, and they looked at each other in surprise.

"Zi Xu, come on!" Liu Bei's face was calm. He nodded to Quan Rou and signaled him to enter the hall.

After respectfully putting two small bamboo tubes on the table, he stepped back seven or eight steps, and then gave another tribute. He turned around and left.

After pinching the bamboo tubes and taking out a thin silk seal, Liu Bei quickly read it.

"Lord, is there anything important?" After Liu Bei finished reading almost the two silk books, Xu Shu asked cautiously.

"The letter from Xiangyang is to inform the war in Xichuan - Zhang Ren, Yan Yan was attacked by Xiahou Yuan and was defeated in Mianzhu, with more than half of his troops being lost."

"Sure enough!" After hearing the news, Xu Shu was not too surprised. "Zhang Ren was too anxious to use troops and was not alert to the Cao army in Hanzhong. This defeat was not unexpected.

If Zhang Ren can calm down, he may be able to stabilize his position first, otherwise he may be defeated."

"If Xichuan is fully acquired by Cao Cao, it will pose a great threat to the hinterland of Jingzhou. It seems that it will be of help to Zhang Ren, but now it has to deal with the Southern Central Barbarians, and the military strength of Jingzhou is also very tight..." Sun Qian said in embarrassment.

"No matter how tight you are, you have to help Zhang Ren hold on first." Xu Shu said affirmatively. "Lord, what did the general say in his letter?"

"The third brother wants Zhonghua to go back to Xiliang!" Liu Bei said in a shocking voice.

A slight scream immediately sounded in the hall.

"Take off the firewood from the cauldron?!!!!" Xu Shu reacted immediately. "How many people are the general going to ask Ma Zhonghua to bring back to Xiliang?"

"Zhonghua, Ji Huai and a few followers... Oh, by the way..." Liu Bei looked at Bo Juan and said with a smile on his lips, "And Sima Zhongda!"

"What?" This time the scream was even louder than the previous one.

Everyone here is the most trusted minister of Liu Bei, and Sima Yi's affairs are not a secret to them. It seems a bit difficult to accept such a person who is not very reliable and knows a lot about him to perform such a secret mission.

…………

After a while, the discussion gradually stopped.

Xu Shu recovered from his meditation and asked Liu Bei, "I don't know what the lord's intention is?"

"Yes!" Liu Bei's answer was only a simple word.

…………………………………………………………………….

Xuzhou

After completing the two sides of Pengcheng, Cao Ren personally visited the city and persuaded the defenders in the city to surrender.

Under the leadership of Li Yan, Wei Yan walked to the edge of the city, held the female wall with his hand, and looked at Cao Ren coldly.

"Now, you, Jing and Yang, have all fallen into the hands of the Prime Minister, and it is not long since the fall of the enemy. Wei Yan, the one who knows the affairs of the times is a hero.

If you are willing to surrender to the Prime Minister, the marquis of thousands of households can get it..." Cao Ren is not unfamiliar with Wei Yan and Cao Ren, and the two have even confronted each other many times.

Cao Ren knew very well about Wei Yandi's ability to use military forces. He also knew that if he could not defeat this old opponent, it would be empty talk to retake Pengcheng County.

Wei Yan's answer was very simple——a wolf-toothed feather arrow that welcomed Cao Ren and a thumb upside down showed everything.

The next moment, the shouts of killing rose into the sky.

The arrows are like locusts, flying all over the sky.

The Cao army, fully prepared, pushed the tower cart, rushed, and sprayed the siege (sturdy and protective siege operation vehicle), and launched a tide-like attack on the city. Hundreds of Thunderbolt cars roared and threw huge stones into the sky.

On the city tower, Wei Yan licked the corner of his mouth like a bloodthirsty beast, pressing his right hand down heavily.

The dozens of Thunderbolt chariots guarding the city also roared in anger.

.

At the sea, nearly a hundred fighting ships and Mengchong warships were flying like flying, and the dark green water Qilin battle flag was blowing vigorously.
Chapter completed!