Chapter 241 Alliance
It was mid-November, the north was cold and the wind was roaring.
Xu Huang and Cao Hong led their troops to Runan. When they were about twenty miles away from Runan City, they suddenly found a layer of ice on the post road and the wilderness, which was neither thick nor thin. It was about the thickness of a book. When people walked on it, they would fall to the ground and fall on their backs to the sky if they accidentally fell on it.
After walking two or three miles forward, 20,000 people had already fallen and injured a hundred people. In desperation, Xu Huang had to order to temporarily retreat from the ice surface and return this strange situation to Cao Cao, waiting for instructions.
At this time, Cao Cao's army had just left Xuchang forty or fifty miles before receiving Xu Huang's fast horse report.
"What? Is it frozen in the wilderness for no reason, hindering the army's way forward?" Cao Cao was shocked and angry when he heard this. What's going on?
Liu Ye was very familiar with the geographical situation in Runan. After thinking for a while, he understood the truth: "There is a river in the west of Runan, called Ruhe. I guess it was the idea that Chen Gong gave Liu Bei. He spilled the river water on the ground and then iced to stop our army from siege!"
Cao Cao was a little bored when he heard this and said angrily: "This guy Chen Gong is very hateful. I have repeatedly won him over, but this guy turned a deaf ear to him. He first surrendered to Lu Bu and then surrendered to Liu Bei. Why don't he like me so much?"
Jia Xu comforted: "Don't worry, Cao Gong, the tricks of eagle are not enough to cause trouble. Ice can stop our army for a while, and can stop it for a lifetime? When spring comes, then the troops will come to Runan with Mount Tai, and Liu Bei can capture it!"
"Ahem..."
Guo Jia wanted to speak, but first coughed a few times. Then he took out his handkerchief and wiped the corner of his mouth, and said softly: "What Wenhe said is very true. Chen Gong is indeed a little clever, but he is just a little clever. He does not have a far-sighted talent and strategy, but just rely on his cleverness to take advantage of his tricks. I don't think there is hopelessness to achieve something with Chen Gong!"
Although Guo Jia's words were implicit, the staff were all smart people. If you think about what he said, you can understand it after a little thought.
If Chen Gong was a wise man, he should plan a long-term policy for Liu Bei, step by step, rather than take advantage of the decisive battle between Cao's army and Yuan Shao, and sneak attacked Runan when the main force of the Cao army fought against Yuan Shao.
Runan was only more than 200 miles away from Xuchang, but Liu Bei took the opportunity to attack him. He threatened Xuchang directly, how could Cao Cao give up? He would definitely fight for it with all his might. In this way, it would undoubtedly be a burning fire.
The trend of things is indeed like this. Sun Ce took advantage of Liu Bei's troops dispersed and took down Lujiang. Liu Bei picked up sesame seeds and lost watermelons. He was busy in vain and provoked another enemy, but did not expand his territory.
Only considering immediate interests and lacking far-sightedness, how can Chen Gong be considered a wise person?
Of course, the staff under Cao Cao also understood that their group of people rarely make mistakes. The main reason is that they have too many people, they make up for each other's shortcomings and correct each other's mistakes, so they can make up for each other's mistakes.
Guo Jia, Jia Xu, Xun You, Cheng Yu, Liu Ye, Dong Zhao, etc., who are not people with superb IQ? So many smart people sit together and discuss something together, and they will naturally be fine, so the mistakes will be minimized.
The reason why Chen Gong made a mistake was perhaps because Liu Bei had only one think tank around him, and he lacked people to weigh and discuss, so he would lack consideration when doing things. If he really competed with Chen Gong alone, few people would dare to say that he was sure to win!
After hearing the words of the staff, Cao Cao closed his eyes and pondered, just like an old monk entering into meditation, motionless.
After a long time, he opened his eyes, his eyes were like a torch, and he said in a deep voice: "Since this is the case, let Liu Bei stay in Runan for a few days. Anyway, Sun Ce has taken over Lujiang, and Liu Bei is also unable to sleep or eat. When the spring of next year comes, he will make a comeback. He must destroy Liu Bei before the decisive battle with Yuan Shao!"
In fact, although the solid ice on the road is not slippery, Cao Cao can also order soldiers to break the ice and advance, wasting some time, and sooner or later, he can reach the city of Runan.
However, in this way, the morale of the army will inevitably be affected, and the soldiers slid on the ice, so there must be no small number of non-combat reductions; in addition, the soldiers confronted Yuan's army for half a year, and the morale was not high.
Since Chen Gong created ice twenty miles away from the city, the freezing under Runan City must be thicker and harder. If you forcefully attack the city, you really have no confidence in winning. Even if you break through the city, the casualties will definitely be heavy. Instead of doing this, it is better to retreat for the time being and wait until the weather is warm and come to find Liu Bei's bad luck.
At the beginning, the reason why Cao Cao decided to conquer Liu Bei despite the cold weather was not only because of his anger, but also because he was worried that Liu Bei's power would become stronger.
Now Sun Ce has taken over Lujiang and eroded one-third of Liu Bei's territory, so that Cao Cao can rest his soldiers with peace of mind and wait for another battle to come next year.
"Transfer our military orders and withdraw the troops!" Cao Cao gently stroked his beard and made a decision. "Let Xu Huang and Cao Hong station in Shangcai and Guanyang areas to closely monitor Liu Bei's every move, but if there is any disturbance, report to Xuchang immediately!"
The "Ice-making Scheme" finally temporarily blocked Cao's army, which made Liu Bei's army breathe a little relieved and gained a precious opportunity to breathe.
But the Lujiang River was taken away by Sun Ce, which made Liu Bei unable to let go of it for a while and sighed in Shouchun City all day long.
"Oh... I have too few think tanks around me. If I were given three or five Chen Gongtai, Lujiang would not have lost it! Now, although I took Runan, I annoyed Cao Cao; Lujiang was occupied by Sun Ce again, and Shouchun was a place for four battles, easy to attack and difficult to defend. The weather will be warm next year and will inevitably be surrounded by enemies. What should I do?"
Looking at Mi Zhu, Sun Qian, Yang Hong, Yan Xiang and others beside him, Liu Bei complained. He squeezed out tears when he was talking, as easy as tap water. He complained while wiping the tears with a handkerchief.
Guan Yu stroked his hand three feet of beautiful beard, and Danfeng's eyes showed a firm look, comforting Liu Bei: "Brother, don't worry, soldiers come and generals come and cover them, and water comes and soil is covered. There is someone in Shouchun, so brother, just be content with peace!"
Mi Fang's death made Mi Zhu hate the Sun family to the core, and suggested to Liu Bei: "The Cao and Sun families united to join forces to hold us in the middle and be attacked from both sides. Life is really hard. We should make more foreign aid, restrain the enemy, and avoid Cao and Sun families from attacking. When our army is in Huainan and Runan is more stable, we will have the opportunity to counterattack Jiangdong and take away the hatred of Lujiang with one snow!"
"The relationship between our army and Liu Jingsheng is now integrated. Who else can join forces with the remaining princes?" Liu Bei wiped away the tears, rubbed the bridge of his nose, and asked.
Sun Qian said: "Yuan Shao, Hebei, fought with Cao Cao for half a year this year. The two armies are in a state of power. Qian is willing to go to Yecheng to form Yuan Shao and echo him from afar. If Yuan Shao formed an alliance with our army, Cao Cao would not dare to attack with all his strength! With Yuan Benchu helping to pinch Cao Cao and Liu Jingzhou helping to balance Sun Ce, our lives would be better!"
Sun Gan's words reminded Liu Bei, slapped the table, and said with a smug look: "Okay, Gongyou's words reminded me. I heard that Zilong has now joined the command of Yuan Shao's son Yuan Mai. I have a good relationship with Zilong. You can go to Hanoi to pay a visit to Yuan Mai first and express the meaning of our army wanting to attach with him. Please give Zilong a few beautiful words. This alliance is probably successful. Then you go to Yecheng to pay a visit to Yuan Shao!"
The soldiers were very fast, and Sun Gan immediately brought a generous gift, disguised himself as a businessman, headed north through Xuzhou, and then turned west, with his target directly aimed at Hanoi.
Since sending Zhang Ji to Xuchang to seek the "Land Edict", Yuan Mai has lived a leisurely life.
When I was free, I hid in the room and roasted the oven, teased my two sons, flirted with a group of beauties, and was so romantic and happy!
Over the past month, Zhen Mi asked the carpenter to make tens of thousands of stools, and then invested them into the market through wholesale, making a lot of money. This made Yuan Mai look at him with admiration. Only then did he realize that Zhen Mi was not just a beautiful vase, but also very smart in economics.
As a result, I loved Zhen Mi even more. I wanted to force it down several times, but at a critical moment, Goddess Zhen refused with fearless courage. I could only suppress the slaughter in my heart and wait for Yuan Shao to openly make Zhen Mi the official family after he died.
It was the twelfth lunar month, the weather was even colder, the soldiers could not train, there were few pedestrians on the streets, and there were fewer memorials from all over the country than before.
Bored, Yuan Mai summoned the carpenters to the mansion and asked them to create the world's first "mahjong" according to their requirements. Then, in the warm room like spring, he hugged several beauties to play mahjong to enjoy this war-free time.
In the Nuannuan room, Yuan Maizheng and Zhen Mi, Feng Yunniang and Cai Yan played mahjong, while Du and Helan watched the game with their children in their arms.
"It's so bad!"
Yuan Mai smiled and pushed down the wooden mahjong in front of him, and shouted with a laugh.
After several days of training, these women have already mastered the rules of mahjong, but their level is still slightly inferior to Yuan Mai, so they always lose to the only man on the poker table.
Cai Yan is idle and loves the mahjong invented by Yuan Mai. She is not lacking in almost every card game. However, although her literary level is high, she does not seem to have any talent for casinos that calculate each other. During this period, she always loses more and wins less.
"Sister Zhen, lend me some money, go back to the yard and get it back to you!"
Seeing that there were piles of Wuzhu coins in front of Zhen Mi, Cai Yan borrowed money from this "wealthy girl". Apart from that man on the card table, Zhen Mi was the one with the most wealthy family.
Yuan Mai smiled wickedly: "There is no debt in the casino. Ami, you have to think about it. Don't want to get back the money you lent out!"
"Are they a family?" Cai Yan looked at Yuan Mai angrily, "If you don't lend me money, how can I give it to you? Could it be that I will run back to the yard to get the money now?"
"If you lose all, take off your clothes. Is this interesting? What's the point of winning and losing with just a few copper coins?"
Yuan Mai rubbed her clothes and smiled badly, but her eyes secretly glanced at Feng Yunniang next to her. Seeing her smiling trembling, she was indeed a "Fengyun Niang". She hadn't touched the women in the room yet!
"Qi reported to the governor, Sun Gan from Huainan asked for a meeting!"
The sound of guards sounded outside the door, which was very inappropriate and disturbed people's elegance. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian to vote for recommendations, monthly votes, and your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile phone users please go to m. Read.)
Chapter completed!