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As night fell, dense drum beats sounded from the drum tower of Yedu. Pedestrians rushed to their homes in a hurry, and various taverns and shops closed one after another. This was a curfew that had just been implemented. Since the Han army occupied Longxi, it has caused a great response in various parts of the Central Plains, especially the people of Yedu and Xuchang were fluctuating, which severely hit Cao Cao's prestige.

In order to prevent the situation from deteriorating, Cao Cao issued an order through the mouth of Liu Xie and imposed a curfew in Yedu and Xudu for a year. After nightfall, he would beat Drum 8. After the drum was stopped, there were no pedestrians on the street. Those who violated the order would be arrested, and those who violated the order twice would be killed.

When the drums stopped, the streets and alleys became silent. No pedestrians were seen again, and the restaurants and shops were closed one after another. Some people who had no time to go home also looked for hostels or brothels nearby to spend the night. There were only a group of patrol soldiers in full armor on the street.

At this moment, a sound of horse hooves suddenly came from the street. A carriage was rushed towards him under the escort of Yu cavalry. An orange lantern was hung on the shaft, with two black words written on it. This was Cao Cao's carriage, and the soldiers of the patrol stopped to salute.

Of course, Cao Cao would not be subject to the curfew. It was important for him to go out tonight. As soon as the carriage ran, he came to Cheng Yu's mansion. Xu Chu turned over and got off the horse and went forward to knock on the door. After a moment, the door came the voice of the doorman, "Who is it?"

"Please tell your master that the prime minister is here."

There was a sound inside the door, and then there was no sound. In just a moment, the door of the mansion opened. Cheng Yu's second Cheng Yan came out and bowed to the steps, "I didn't know that the Prime Minister had arrived and had missed the welcome. My father ordered the younger generation to accuse the Prime Minister of the incident."

Cao Cao came out of the carriage and said with a smile: "It should be that I am embarrassed to disturb you to rest, your father is sleeping."

"My father has not yet rested, the Prime Minister asks me to come to the mansion with me."

Cao Cao knew that Cheng Yu must have fallen asleep, otherwise he would come to greet him in person, and would not send his son to replace him. He felt a little apologized, so he followed Cheng Yan into the mansion and came to the study of Cheng Yu in the inner house. Cheng Yu had already put on his clothes and was waiting at the gate of the courtyard. He bowed and said, "I failed to go outside the mansion to welcome the Prime Minister. Cheng Yu was disrespectful, I hope the Prime Minister forgives him."

"Zhongde, I should have apologized to you and disturbed you to rest."

"Where is the prime minister's night visit? There must be something important. Please go into the house and discuss in detail."

Cheng Yu knew that Cao Cao was not a person who was polite, so he didn't have much politeness and directly invited Cao Cao into the study. The two of them sat down and ordered the concubine to serve tea. Cao Cao sighed and said straight to the point: "The defeat in Longxi has a huge impact, which makes me unable to sleep at night. Zhongde, what should I do?"

"Does the Prime Minister want to take back Longxi?"

"I feel very confused and want to take back Longxi, but I have no idea, so I come to ask Zhongde, can Longxi be taken back?"

Cheng Yu smiled bitterly and asked, "Does the Prime Minister want to listen to my heart, or just want to listen to my comfort?"

"I want to hear your comfort, but I want to hear the truth. If you can't do both, it's better to be frank and let me face the reality."

"I'm sorry, I'm so blunt. If the Prime Minister wants to regain Longxi, it's not impossible. As long as the country's troops are raised and the tiger and leopard cavalry are sent to cooperate in the battle, I believe that the five counties in Longxi can be recaptured, but what if the Han army has established the Qishan grain channel. As long as Liu Jing defends Shangfanggu and Xicheng, once the Prime Minister withdraws his troops, he will still easily occupy Longxi, unless the Prime Minister sets up 200,000 troops in Longxi and 100,000 troops in Guanzhong. In this way, the court must be dragged down by huge money and grain expenditures, and the Central Plains will be empty. How can he defend against the Han army in Nanyang and Jiangdong army?"

"Then I can only admit defeat in Longxi." Cao Cao said a little unwillingly.

Cheng Yu said helplessly: "Sometimes, we have to face reality."

Cao Cao was silent. He had considered what Cheng Yu said. He knew that he had to face reality in the end. It was just that Cheng Yu had to say it so that he could give up.

Cao Cao sighed, "Longxi is far away after all, and I know it is difficult to compete with Liu Jing, but I am afraid that once the Han army goes north, it will gradually gain the advantage of the Northern Army. I mean the cavalry. If this continues, I will die in his hands sooner or later."

"The Prime Minister's words are so serious. With the Prime Minister's foundation in the north, how can Liu Jing easily shake it by establishing a cavalry?"

This made Cao Cao feel a little comforted. He nodded and said, "When it comes to the foundation, my foundation is in the Central Plains, Xuchang, and Chenliu. This is my place to rise. To be honest, the loss of Longxi is a little far away, but the loss of Nanyang County puts more direct and greater pressure on me. At all costs, I will also take back Nanyang County."

"I support the Prime Minister's plan. Nanyang County is indeed very important. Moreover, if you regain Nanyang County, you will have a certain recovery of the Prime Minister's reputation. I support the Prime Minister's regaining Nanyang County."

Cao Cao smiled faintly again, "But there is no one in Nanyang, so I can't rest assured. Can't I make it happen in person?"

After saying that, Cao Cao looked at Cheng Yu with anticipation. Cheng Yu then realized that Cao Cao was looking for his real intention, and he wanted to go on a war to the south to Wancheng.

It turned out that what Longxi said just now was all about paving the way for him to go to Nanyang County. Cheng Yu smiled bitterly in his heart and got Cao Cao's trap.

Although Cheng Yu was unwilling to ask about military affairs after the defeat at Chibi, Cheng Yu also knew that Guo Jia died, Jia Xu surrendered, Xun Yu hid in Xiangyang to teach and educate people, Xun You was captured by the Han army, and he did not know his life or death. Only the five major strategists were left. Chen Qun, Liu Ye, Mao Jie, Xin Pi, Jia Kui and others could not take on major responsibilities, so Cao Cao came to ask him to come out of the mountain.

Thinking that he was responsible for defeating Jingzhou, Cheng Yu could no longer refuse Cao Cao's sincerity. He stood up and bowed and said, "The old minister is willing to share the worries of the prime minister."

Cao Cao was overjoyed. As long as Cheng Yu was willing to go out to Nanyang, his chances of victory would be greatly increased in this battle. He waved his hands repeatedly, "Zhongde doesn't have to do this, please sit down and talk, let's take a look at how to mobilize troops."

...........

就在汉军夺取陇西,大军进逼关中之时,曹操一方面命令关中十万大军严阵以待,另一方面也在调兵遣将,企图夺回南阳,他调回镇守幽州的一万骑兵,以及镇守徐州和合肥的两万精军,加上叶县和许昌的万军队,一共是五万步兵,一万骑兵,命夏侯惇为主将,程昱为军师,张辽,曹洪为副将,命他们务必在两个月内夺回南阳郡.

Ye County, Nanyang County, is called Wanzhihou and Xuzhikou. It is the gateway for Nanyang County to enter Xuchang. Its strategic position is important and it is also the only stronghold that Cao's army did not lose in Nanyang County after it lost Nanyang County. Cao Hong knew that his crime was serious and led thousands of defeated troops to defend Ye County to reduce his crimes.

However, it was because of insufficient troops. After capturing Wancheng, it did not continue to go north. This gave the Cao army in Ye County a breather. Soon, 10,000 reinforcements from Xuchang arrived in Ye County, increasing Ye County's defense.

At this time, 60,000 troops gathered in Ye County, Ye County's government office, Cheng Yu was analyzing the war situation with everyone. He advocated launching the Jingzhou battle to disperse the pressure of Longxi, which was Cheng Yu's opinion. However, in the end, the battle of Jingzhou failed and Longxi was unfortunately lost. Cheng Yu felt ashamed. With Cao Cao's sincere invitation, he gave up the principle of no longer participating in the military and rushed to Nanyang to supervise the war. He brought Cao Cao's latest order.

Although Xiahou Dun is the nominal head coach, Cheng Yu has Cao Cao's gold medal in his hand, so he is the actual head coach. Cheng Yu is fully responsible for all military mobilizations, and Xiahou Dun is just assisting him.

"In order to pay attention to this counterattack against Nanyang, the Prime Minister's failure in Longxi seriously affected the prestige of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister must use the battle of Nanyang to reverse his reputation. Not only that, recapturing Nanyang can also reduce the threat of the Han army to the Central Plains and drive the Han army back to Jingzhou. I hope you can understand this and work together to attack the powerful enemy."

Everyone bowed and bowed together, "I hope to hear the arrangements of the military advisor."

Cheng Yu nodded, picked up the wooden pole and pointed at the various counties of Nanyang County on the sand table: "According to the scouts, there were 10,000 people in Nanyang County, mainly concentrated in Wancheng, Nanxiang County, Jingyang County and Xinye County. Among them, Wancheng and Nanxiang County had 10,000 people each, and Jingyang County and Xinye County 5,000 people each. The reason why the Han army stationed in Nanxiang County was to go to Wuguan Road to march into Guanzhong, but they remained unmoved, which shows that Liu Jing did not really intend to seize Guanzhong, and it also shows that Liu Jing was worried that Nanyang would be in trouble, so he just made an attitude of preparing to march into Wuguan, but this just gave us the opportunity to seize Nanyang."

Cheng Yu used a wooden pole to guide Nanxiang County. "At present, Pang De led 10,000 troops to be stationed in Nanxiang County, so that Wancheng's troops were only 10,000 troops led by hiring. Although Wancheng was strong and difficult to attack, as long as the troops of Nanxiang County did not have time to rush to Wancheng, the 10,000 troops hired could not defend Wancheng."

At this time, Zhang Liao said from the side: "But our army gathers in Ye County, and you will definitely get news. Will he order to give up Nanxiang County and let ten thousand troops go to Wancheng to help the war, and Nanxiang County is closer to Wancheng, I am afraid that time will not be enough."

Cheng Yu stroked his beard and smiled proudly, "I am already prepared for this. The reason why I asked the Prime Minister to transfer cavalry to Nanyang is to solve this worry that I am far away. I will not hide it from you. As early as a few days ago, I secretly ordered Cao Zhen to lead 5,000 cavalry south first and cut off the passage between Nanxiang County and Wancheng. Even if I hired it, Pang De's army would not be able to get through, so there is no need to worry at all."

Everyone suddenly realized that the military advisor had already made arrangements. Seeing Cheng Yu's plan so far, everyone's confidence increased. At this time, Xiahou Dun said again: "Military advisor, since our troops are twice as strong as the Han army, we can continue to fight. I suggest that the surprise troops march into Fancheng and return home after the hiring is cut off. What does the military advisor think?"

Cheng Yu shook his head, "This plan was proposed before I left, but the Prime Minister believed that if our army went south to Fancheng, Liu Jing would inevitably transfer the Jiangxia naval army to increase defense in Xiangyang. Once the main force of the Jiangxia naval army headed north, the situation would change and even trigger Jiangdong to send troops, which was inconsistent with our strategy of seizing Nanyang. Therefore, the Prime Minister had an order that if Cao's army did not enter Jingzhou in this battle, the war was not allowed to be expanded."

Since Cao Cao had strict orders, Xiahou Dun had no choice but to say: "Then when will we send troops?"
Chapter completed!