. . . . .

On March 25, the fifth year of Zhanghe, Guan Yu's army advanced to more than 60 miles south of Puyang. The number of defenders in Puyang City was limited, and the generals dared not fight, so they could only close the four gates and wait for assistance.

According to the scouts' reports, due to the increasingly passive war on the Eastern Front in recent days, coupled with the failure on the Western Front, Puyang City was panicked. It was even rumored that some people almost started fighting with the defenders because they wanted to go out to avoid disaster.

The chaos in the city can be seen.

It is only a matter of time to win such a Puyang City.

However, at this moment, several urgent reports came one after another, sending out one shocking news after another——

On March 22, General Cao's Huya led the cavalry, with more than 10,000 infantrymen. With the cavalry leading and the infantry following up, he entered the junction of Huang Zhong and Zhao Yun, and divided the two armies.

On the same day, General Zang Ba of Cao's army from the east led 20,000 troops to launch a fierce attack on Huang Zhong's troops. Huang Zhong fought bravely, and the two armies fought fiercely in Fule County, and it is difficult to distinguish between the two.

On March 23, Cao Ren, the general of the Southern Expedition of Cao's army, sent his general Dong Heng to supervise thousands of troops to counterattack Yu County, located in the northeast of Liang County.

…………

.

The Cao army's series of major moves were both somewhat unexpected, but they were also reasonable. In Luoyang, Chang'an had been broken, and in Guanzhong, Guanxi was lost. When Guan Yu's army had already reached Puyang, it was impossible to expect Cao Cao to never see Liu Bei's army's Northern Expedition strategy.

If it is impossible to see the first division plan of Liu Bei's army. It is Cao Cao's negligence. Then, it is equivalent to a fantasy to deceive him with the same means.

In fact, from the moment Guan Yu and Zhuge Liang turned around to attack Jiyin, they did not have the idea that they could really hide from Cao Cao. They only fought a time difference——

According to the news that the scout came back from western Henan, Cao Cao had been entangled with Lu Xun in Yangcheng and Xingyang lines before because he tried to reverse the bad situation on the western front.

It was not until the situation in Yong and Si provinces was confirmed that Cao Cao could truly give up.

Even if he gave up, he would need a certain amount of time to return and recover from the loss.

Guan Yu and Zhuge Liang were planning to take advantage of this period of time to attack fiercely and quickly, take down Jiyin, block Puyang, and divide the prefectures and counties in Henan into two.

Next, we will attack Wei Yan left and right to completely deal with Cao Ren's army.

However. Just as the division plan was about to be completed, Cao Cao's counterattack came, and it was quite fierce...

.

The thick and solid city walls of Puyang are already in sight, but Guan Yu's army has to stop temporarily.

A fast horse was racing in and out, constantly conveying the message back and forth.

He lifted the curtain. Quan Cong stepped into the temporary tent, bowed and reported to the report: "June, Guan Danggu (General Guan Ping of the Bandits) had just sent back the news from the fast horses--the flying army had already arrived at the city of Puyang.

The Cao army guarding the city stayed behind closed doors. The Guan Danggu was calling on the defenders to surrender, but there was no result yet. "

Guan Yu just nodded, saying that he already knew about this and his eyes were still on Zhuge Liang in the middle of the tent.

Quan Cong bowed another time and retreated to the lower left head of the coach's tent.

"... Once Yu County is lost..." Zhuge Liang pointed to the sand table beside him with a feather fan in his hand, and said with a slightly serious expression, "Cao army actually attacked Huang Hansheng's troops from the east and west. At the same time.

Due to the blocking of the pulling move, the Feng Cavalry on the southern front was unable to effectively support General Huang..."

"But..." Zhuge Liang straightened his body, and his light eyes swept across the generals in the tent. The wind of speech suddenly changed. "Liang did not think that Cao Cao planned these big moves for the purpose of General Huang..."

"What does military advisor mean?" Zhu Ran asked, seemingly, not Mingming.

Zhuge Liang moved the feather fan forward from the place he originally pointed to and stopped in one place. Then he made a flicker.

The eyes of the generals couldn't help but tighten. What Zhuge Liang pointed to was exactly where Guan Yu's army was.

Zhuge Liang confirmed the speculation in everyone's heart, "Using the trap to restrain Zhao Zilong. He threatened Huang Hansheng from both sides of the east and west... All of these things, Cao Cao's real purpose is probably to surround and annihilate the army of lords."

"How to say it?" Guan Yu asked simply and directly, stroking his long beard under his chin.

"On the Western Front, Cao Cao no longer had a chance to turn around. For him, it was not just Xiahou Yuan, Cao Hong, and the tens of thousands of troops, as well as the vast land in Guanzhong and Guanxi.

More importantly, he has lost the confidence of the people and the earth, especially the confidence of the officials, military and civilians of the states and counties he ruled.

If this continues, if our army attacks, the counties under Cao Cao's rule may turn against each other in groups.

"Zhuge Liang gestured at the sand table and analyzed slowly, "If the battlefield situation cannot be changed quickly, this situation will worsen.

Therefore, Cao Cao must win a battle in a short period of time, and it must be a great victory that can shock the world.

The lord, the general was in Guanzhong, and was about to meet with Ma Dai, Zhang Ren, and Lu Meng, and Cao Cao was anxious and could not even plan. In this way, the only person he could think of was the Lord.

And if this is true... Once Cao Cao's plan succeeds, it will definitely have a collapsed impact on the Northern Expedition."

Zhuge Liang's words are very obscure. In fact, all the generals in the tent, including Guan Yu, knew that the so-called "scheming succeeded", referring to the defeat of Guan Yu.

As two giants in Liu Bei's army, Guan Yu's every move can indeed be related to the final outcome of a battle. Zhuge Liang said this at all.

If Cao Cao could really defeat or even capture Guan Yu, it would be likely to cause the war on the Eastern Front to shake and even collapse at the first time.

If the Eastern Front is defeated, no matter how brilliant the victory on the Western Front is, it will be useless. The Lujiang court carefully planned and the unprecedented second Northern Expedition would likely die in the middle way.

If this Northern Expedition fails, I don’t know how long it will take to recover. By then, Cao Cao may also stabilize his footing, and the confrontation between the two strong men in the north and the south may be maintained for a long time.

Although the consequences of Zhuge Liang's analysis of this possibility are very serious. But the problem is, does Cao Cao really have the ability to surround and even annihilate Guan Yu's army?

Not to mention Huang Zhong and Zhao Yun’s tribes in the south, and Wei Yan’s tribes in the east, there are more than 50,000 elite troops in Guan Yu tribe in the suburbs of Puyang alone.

Although such strength cannot be said to be irresistible, Cao Cao would probably be scalded to death if he wanted to swallow this piece of "fat meat" that had just been out of the pot.

Furthermore, in Guanzhong, the war in Guanxi is about to end. More than 100,000 troops on the Western Front will be able to return to the Central Plains battlefield in less than a few days, especially this includes tens of thousands of Western Liang Iron Cavalry.

Based on these, the generals in the tent doubted whether Cao Cao had such ability? But Zhuge Liang has always been predicting things like a god...

"Cao Cao definitely has such strength..." Feeling the anxious gazes of everyone, Zhuge Liang knew that they were confused. He sighed and said, "In addition to the troops that had already attacked, Cao Cao still has at least 80,000 troops in Yingchuan County.

Including the troops used to guard against the lord and general, Cao Cao should be able to draw 50,000 people to surround our army from the west.

At the same time, Cao Ren from Yandong also had about 50,000 people. If Cao Ren divided his troops and horses, he would ask the general who was defending his troops to fight Wei Wen for half a month or even a month, which might not be impossible. In this way, he would probably draw another 20,000 to 30,000 troops.

If necessary, even Zang Ba can abandon General Huang for a moment and go north to attack with all his might..."

With Zhuge Liang's analysis, the expressions of the generals gradually became solemn.

"In addition, Cao Cao could even transfer Hebei troops from Baimajin, Guandu and other places to move south..." Zhuge Liang's analysis did not end, "If necessary, Cao Cao could mobilize at least 80,000 people to besiege our army.

And at most, he could even take out 150,000 people."

When someone even breathed a sigh of surprise when he heard the number 150,000.

"Although the military advisor's words are good, if Cao Cao really did this, the troops in other places would be greatly weakened. It would be difficult to defend first and last. The danger is extremely great. Do he really dare to take such a risk?" Pan Zhang frowned and said.

"As for the current situation, Cao Cao is not willing to take it or not.

Do you dare to take it? It is because he must take this risk. Although the failure of the risk will accelerate the demise, if Cao Cao does not take this risk, can Cao Cao really escape the demise?" Zhuge Liang lifted up his feather fan, shook it a few times, and said slowly, "Faced with this situation, with Cao Cao's character, he would rather take the risk than stay in a conservative way.

”

"Kong Ming said it well, Cao Cao is indeed such a person..." Guan Yu nodded slightly, expressing his final recognition of Zhuge Liang's analysis, "But, it's good..."

The generals looked at Guan Yu in surprise, wondering what this "okay" actually refers to?

"After finally... I'm waiting for a hard battle..." Guan Yu's face slowly closed his unpredictable phoenix eyes, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

Waiting for a hard battle! Such a serious battle situation was so calm and gentle as Guan Yu said...

However, the generals under the tent were extremely helpful. Worry, worrying about being swept away, and replaced by excitement, bloodthirsty excitement, and excitement from the bone marrow...

This is Guan Yu. He is so serious that it is daunting. At critical moments, just a few words and small moves can stabilize people's hearts and arouse the endless fighting spirit of the soldiers under his command. Zhuge Liang sighed softly without being listened to.

"Kong Ming, come and plan a solution..."

"Yes, Lord and Marquis..." Zhuge Liang nodded, turned around and faced the sand table and said, "Liang has an idea - since Cao Cao wants to use the encirclement and annihilation of Lord and Marquis to turn the situation around, we can also use the Lord and Marquis as bait to lure Cao Cao to fight to the death with our army.

”
Chapter completed!