Cao Cao’s movements in the 19th year of Jian’an

Attack Han Sui and Ma Chao, unite with Sun Quan, and pacify Jingzhou?

Cao Cao pondered for a long time.

He is a smart man and naturally knows what Guo Jia means.

Don't look at Sun Quan and Liu Bei getting married, even his sister married Liu Bei.

But Sun Quan still secretly expressed his homage to Cao Cao, and his words were extremely flattering.

All fools know that Sun Quan offered his sister to Liu Bei and colluded with Cao Cao at the same time. He wanted to take advantage of the situation and bet on both ends.

Therefore, from the perspective of the advisers on both sides, they all believed that Sun Quan was just a fence-sitter who wanted to support whoever wins.

You can fight, but it's not necessary.

Because beating Sun Quan will only force him into the enemy camp and help the enemy increase its strength.

So just keep trying to win over Sun Quan to prevent him from surrendering to the enemy.

After pondering for a long time, he said to Guo Jia: "Apart from this, is there any other reason?"

Only Liu Bei, who occupied Jingyi, had such a large naval force that he could sail down the Yangtze River and directly capture Jianye.

Because for Sun Quan, it is in his interests that Liu Bei falls.

"Thank you, Prime Minister, for your compliment."

Guo Jia added: "The second step is to test Liu Bei's reaction. Liu Bei's advisers now also have wise men. I previously deduced that Han Sui and Ma Chao have protons in Yecheng, and Liu Bei will definitely think that they want to surrender.

Attacked them, but unexpectedly he held back."

The two chatted about other things. At the end of the evening, it was already dark. Cao Cao saw that Guo Jia was tired, so he left his mansion.

This means that the only pressure for survival that Sun Quan faces comes from Liu Bei.

As long as Sun Quan wanted to live, and even wanted to annex Jingzhou and achieve hegemony, he would never let go of this golden opportunity.

The only thing he fears is Liu Bei.

So it was this information gap that made Fazheng, Pang Tong, Xu Shu and others make wrong judgments, which almost forced Han Sui and Ma Chao to defect to Cao Cao.

On the second day, Cao Cao thought deeply and summoned Xun You, Cheng Yu, Dong Zhao and others for a secret discussion. The final result of the group's discussion was that this plan was feasible.

For Cao Cao, he didn't care whether Han Sui, Ma, or Sun Quan were superior.

Even if it doesn't succeed, I believe that Cao Cao's ability will be enough to destroy Xiliang Guanzhong. Even if Sun Quan is gone, everyone will still have Cao Cao destroy Han Sui Ma Chao, Liu Bei destroy Sun Quan, and finally the north and south will confront each other.

By February, Liu Bei already knew the news. Since he couldn't figure out what Cao Cao wanted to do, he immediately made preparations.

In his opinion, Sun Quan was extremely stupid. If he couldn't send an envoy to explain clearly, he was afraid of creating opportunities for the other party, and he would be useless.

Once such a situation is formed, the southern soldiers are generally inferior to the northern soldiers, and Cao Cao's total military strength is greater than Liu Bei's, and he also has a large number of cavalry. At least in the confrontation between the north and the south, Cao Cao has gained a huge advantage.

Such a division was also carried out in Yizhou. For example, Jianwei County was divided into two, from Bodao to Wuyang in the west, that is, in later generations, the area from Yibin to Pengshan was still Jianwei County, and from Jiangyang to Han'an in the east, it was also Jianwei County.

That is, in later generations, Luzhou City to Neijiang City was changed to Jiangyang County.

"Why?" Cao Cao was puzzled.

Cao Cao thought about it and sneered: "In the Battle of Hongkou, Sun Quan was defeated even though he had such a huge advantage. He is just an incompetent person. Maybe he should send envoys to lobby."

If Cao and Liu are two tigers, then the others are a pack of wild wolves.

He was stunned for a moment, then suddenly came to his senses, turned his head to look at Guo Jia, and laughed loudly: "The plan of filial piety is really as unpredictable as ghosts and gods."

After using the tongs to add charcoal fire, Guo Jia took a pot of wine, leaned against the wooden wall behind him, took a sip of the hot wine, and then turned to look at the snowflakes still floating outside. Although there was a cold wind pouring in, his body was still wet.

Wearing a fluffy fox fur, I don't feel cold at all.

Guo Jia's meaning is very simple.

Cao Cao opened his eyes wide, and then asked: "Why can it be done?"

Inside the small building, except for the sound of the howling wind blowing the curtains, the only sound left was the thick and rough sound of Xu Chu standing outside the door guarding the door in the snow, standing like an iron tower.

"Jia thought that although it was a risky plan, it could work."

At that moment, Cao Cao's mind went through countless thoughts, and he immediately began to think.

The purpose of this is simple, to win over people in advance.

For example, when he sent troops to Xiliang and Guanzhong, Sun Quan suddenly teamed up with Liu Bei to go north to raid Xuzhou, Yuzhou and other places.

When the time comes, Liu Bei's main force will be transferred to Guanzhong, and the rear of Jingzhou will be empty. At this time, he will join forces with Sun Quan to raid Jingzhou and cut off Liu Bei's arm.

"Hmm."

Naturally, counselors such as Guo Jiaxunyou knew that Han Sui, Ma Chao and others had always been unwilling to surrender.

Therefore, many counselors also recognized Guo Jia's strategy, because even the worst plan would not be a loss for Cao Cao.

The second is to fight a general war, and those who benefit are the other princes who are watching the excitement.

After all, Liu Bei transferred his main force to Guanzhong, Jingzhou, and other places to create a void of different forces?

Guo Jia replied firmly.

But they didn't know that even if their family members were used as hostages in Yecheng, the two still chose to separate themselves and had no intention of surrendering to Cao Cao.

The end of the 18th year of Jian'an was spent in this heavy snow. After the New Year, by the end of January of the 19th year of Jian'an, Yecheng became lively, with soldiers and horses coming and going, and a large amount of food and grass accumulated.

At their size, it is difficult for both sides to determine the outcome through local wars. Instead, they must start to fight for national strength and fight a general war.

Cao Cao pondered: "Sun Quan is more afraid of Liu Bei than I am. But Gu is afraid that this guy is as timid as a mouse. Even if all the main forces of Jingzhou enter the pass, he will not dare to send troops to Jingzhou."

If Sun Quan was a snake and a rat, wouldn't he be in danger?

I suffered a loss last time.

After the news came, Liu Bei couldn't sit still, and immediately dispatched his troops and generals to rush to Nanyang in person to prepare to resist Cao's army.

Cao Cao nodded again: "Good."

The reason for this series of events was Sun Quan's tragic defeat at Hongkou.

The main force is 200,000 soldiers, and the second-line county soldiers are 130,000.

If both sides suffer losses, maybe these wild wolves will be able to bite off a piece of meat from the two tigers.

The main reason is that the Liu Bei Group's development focus is in the north of Yizhou and the north of Jingzhou. Zhuge Liang is even guarding against the aristocratic families and ethnic minorities in the south of Yizhou, so the south is not moving now and will be discussed in the future.

So even if Cao Cao wanted to compete with Liu Bei for Hanzhong, Liu Bei would have enough reaction time to counterattack and increase his troops, so he was not worried about Hanzhong.

Therefore, Yizhou currently has about 50,000 infantry, 10,000 cavalry, 10,000 well-trained soldiers, 30,000 county soldiers from various places, and 30,000 county soldiers in Bodao to defend the south of Yizhou.

Among them, there are about 70,000 main soldiers in Yizhou and 60,000 county soldiers.

If he doesn't unite with himself, when Liu Bei further expands his navy in the future, Jiangdong may be destroyed.

But in Cao Cao's view, Sun Quan was not reliable.

In the 15th year of Jian'an, Yizhou only had 50,000 main troops and 30,000 county troops. The army was not well trained, so the number of available troops was 80,000.

It obviously takes a day or two to prepare for a big war. The recent movements of soldiers and horses in Yecheng have also attracted the attention of the Liu Bei Group's personnel stationed in Yecheng, and they immediately sent news back to the south.

He felt that many powerful families and ethnic minorities in southern Yizhou were extremely negative towards government orders and might launch a rebellion, so he appointed Huo Jun as the governor of Qianwei and trained troops in Bodao.

In the 15th year of Jian'an, Jingzhou's total military strength was 170,000. Shen Chen led 50,000 troops to garrison Nanyang, Liu Pan led 20,000 troops to garrison Changsha, Huang She led 30,000 troops to Jiangxia, and there were 50,000 county troops in other places. , as well as thousands of embroidered cavalry and 10,000 Wuxi barbarians from Samoko.

This time Liu Bei brought only 5,000 white soldiers from Yizhou. When passing through Yidao, he ordered Samoko, the general of Jianwei and the prefect of Wuling who was stationed in Xiaoling, to lead his troops north to join him and immediately support Nanyang.

The northern soldiers were not good at water warfare and posed no threat to Sun Quan who was trapped in Jiangdong.

If Cao Cao sends troops to Xiliang Pass to attack Han Sui and Ma Chao, Liu Bei will definitely not sit idly by.

For Cao Cao, the harvest was very big today and he needs to go back and digest it.

The north of Wuling County was Wuling County, and the south was changed to Yuanling County. The west of Changsha County and part of Lingling County were added to form Hengyang County. Since Guiyang County was lent to Sun Quan, it has not been changed for the time being.

There was silence.

At the beginning, against all opinions, I chose to put aside the two Yuans and attack Nanyang, just to eliminate today's hidden dangers and prevent Liu Bei from becoming bigger.

Four years later, the Jiangxia Navy expanded and returned to a size of 50,000. Then Zhao Yun guarded Lujiang County and took away about 15,000 county soldiers. The rear also expanded the Yangtze River Navy by 10,000 along Jiangling. Therefore, the total strength is 200,000.

Guo Jia said: "Now I see that Sun Quan and Liu Bei are getting married, and he has also ceded to him a strategic military area like the south of Lujiang County. I think he is like Gou Jian, who was willing to eat hard and let Liu Bei relax his vigilance against him. The prime minister sent envoys, and Sun Quan was afraid We have to kill the envoy Mingzhi."

Therefore, Cao Cao doubted Sun Quan's ability very much. He even thought that if he did what Guo Jia said, Sun Quan might backhandedly sell him.

Guo Jia said: "Even if Liu Bei doesn't leave Hanzhong and compete with us in Xiliang, if the prime minister marches to the right, he can cut off their source of horses."

"Conquering Huainan alone?"

"Hmm."

In this silent confrontation, another half year passed.

"Hmm."

The remaining Shu counties were divided into Wenshan County, Guanghan was divided into Zitong County, and Hanzhong was divided into Shangyong County. The vassal state of Shu County was renamed Hanjia County, and the vassal state of Guanghan was renamed Yinping County.

This small house in the lake is surrounded by wooden boards on three and a half sides. Only a window-like gap is left on the right side of the main seat, hung with fine gauze curtains, so that people can view the scenery from inside.
To be continued...