After listening to Tao Hua's words, the pottery merchant more or less understood the metaphor in her words and what she was worried about.
He turned to look at the two children, Xiao Liu Xi and Xiao Tao Ji, who were having fun over there.
Looking at the two innocent children, the pottery merchant turned to her and asked, "What do you think, sister?"
Tao Hua was silent for a while and said: "I am from the Tao family, so naturally I will not argue with the Tao family."
"From my perspective, I won't argue with my own girls." Tao Shang said calmly: "For some things, just listen to fate and do your best. If you think too much, it will be complicated. But for our generation and people
For the next generation, I do have an idea."
"Brother, please tell me."
The potter leaned his head over and whispered into Tao Hua's ear.
…
A few days later, news came from the Central Plains that Cao Cao and the Sanliu Group were indeed taking action.
And this action is not ordinary big.
Liu Biao gathered 100,000 elite troops in Xiangyang City. Liu Zhang from Xichuan went straight down the river and sent 50,000 troops out of the mouth of Xichuan to Jingxiang. Cao Cao gathered 100,000 troops from the Central Plains and tens of thousands of troops from the princes of Guanzhong, starting from Luoyang.
It's bound for the Central Plains.
Judging from the marching route, it is obvious that they have only one destination, and that is Xuzhou!
Of course, thanks to the fact that the pottery merchant was well prepared, he had already assembled elite soldiers and generals under his command. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses were all stationed in Xuzhou, just waiting for the other party to make the first move, then strike later and turn against the enemy.
Xu Rong, the current general of Pengcheng Kingdom, reported the enemy's military situation, general configuration, and military intelligence to the pottery merchant.
"Prime Minister! The enemy forces are quite powerful and have already assembled in Zhongzhou. Liu Xiang is the leader of the coalition and is responsible for overseeing the command and dispatch of all the troops."
"Assemble in Zhongzhou..." The pottery merchant gently knocked on the table and said while thinking: "Compared to Liu Biao, I care more about Cao Cao. It turns out that he is still cunning and cunning, and he pushed the position of leader of the alliance to Liu Biao.
, to a certain extent, it is to shift the responsibility for the conflicts that may arise in the Guanzhong princes, including Xichuan Liu Zhang's army, to him... Just like Yuan Shao when the princes attacked Dong Zhuo, hehe, Cao Cao at that time
But he took advantage of Yuan Shao."
Xu Rong agreed: "If they divide their forces to attack, our army will have to spend a lot of effort to deal with them. Now that the enemy has concentrated its forces in Zhongzhou and is targeting Xuzhou, it will be relatively easy to deal with them."
Tao Shang sighed and said: "Even so, we should not be careless... How is the other party's generals and personnel equipped?"
Xu Rong then explained to the potter: "All the elite soldiers under Cao and Liu came out. On the other side of the Guanzhong generals, Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Li Kan, Zhang Heng, Liang Xing, Cheng Yi, Ma Teng, Han Sui
Everyone sent troops to help. Of course, these small princes did not have many soldiers and horses, some led ten thousand people, and some led three to five thousand people."
The pottery merchant nodded to express his understanding, and then asked: "Among the princes in Guanzhong, is there anyone named Ma Chao under Ma Teng?"
Xu Rong blinked in surprise: "The Prime Minister actually knows about Ma Chao?"
"Ah, I've heard a little bit about it."
Xu Rong sighed: "In recent years, the sons under Ma Teng have begun to grow up. Don't look at the old boy Ma Teng himself, but these sons of his are really amazing. It is said that they have pacified Liangzhou in these years.
When various Qiang tribes rebelled, Ma Teng and Han Sui relied on his nephews, especially the one named Ma Chao. Rumor has it that he was as brave as any man, no less brave than Lu Bu back then."
Lu Bu back then?
The current figure of Lu Bu flashed in the pottery merchant's mind, and he nodded in agreement.
"How is the morale of our soldiers, horses and generals now?"
Xu Rong cupped his hands and said: "With this period of time, the soldiers of the three armies have all prepared. But what is disadvantageous to our army now is that although we have many soldiers and horses, because Hebei has just been pacified, the fatigue of the war has not yet recovered, and from now on
The additional sergeants in Hebei are not yet well-trained and cannot be fully integrated into our army, and the generals are not as good at commanding them as they are at commanding our original troops."
Tao Shang sighed: "This kind of thing cannot be solved by one's personal ability. It can only be adjusted slowly."
While the two were talking, Pei Qian walked in and said, "Prime Minister, all the conspirators are here."
The potter motioned to Pei Qian to lead them in.
When I was young, I saw Guo Jia, Lu Su, Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi and Chen Deng who had hurriedly arrived from Nanchang City walking in.
Even though the Dow Group now has more and more talents, from the beginning to the end, only these five people are the real right-hand men of the pottery business.
The potter asked the five people to sit down, and then narrated the whole story to everyone.
Finally, Tao Shang looked at these people and said, "I wonder what you gentlemen have to say about the Cao and Liu coalition forces stationed in the Central Plains to conspire with us in Xuzhou?"
Before he could finish the question, Chen Deng raised his hand vigorously and said excitedly like a primary school student rushing to answer: "Me! Me! I have something to say!"
The pottery merchant was delighted when he saw Chen Deng: "Yuanlong, I haven't seen you for two years, how come you have become like this? What is there to argue about?"
Chen Deng sighed and said: "Prime Minister, I have been sitting in Nanchang for so long. I haven't seen you for a long time. I have never offered you a plan or made a plan in the past two years. I am
Aren’t you panicking from holding it back?”
When Tao Shang saw Chen Deng looking so anxious, he couldn't bear it.
It has only been two years, and it seems like the child has been holding back.
Let him release it.
The pottery merchant waved to Chen Deng and said, "In that case, it's up to you to speak freely today."
Chen Deng fluttered his sleeves very excitedly, stood up, walked to the picture, and then clicked three dots on the picture in a row: "This, this, this!"
The pottery merchant looked at the three places pointed by Chen Deng, namely Lu State, Pei State and Nanchang City.
Tao Shang touched his chin and said thoughtfully: "You mean, these three places will become the main attack points of Cao and Liu's coalition forces?"
Chen Deng said: "Yes, but it won't be their attack points at the same time, but their attack points sequentially."
The potter smiled and said: "What are the attacking points in sequence?"
Chen Deng smiled and explained for the pottery merchant: "Now that Cao Cao and San Liu have just united, they can be considered as strong soldiers and horses. Their first step strategy must be to station troops in Shanyang County, attack the Lu Kingdom, and complete their success in one battle, opening the door to Xuzhou.
The land of Xuzhou is easy to attack and difficult to defend. As long as the gate of Lu State is opened, we can directly enter Xuzhou territory."
Tao Shang raised an eyebrow and said: "According to your opinion, our army is going to concentrate its forces in the State of Lu to defeat Cao Liu's attack?"
Chen Deng nodded and said: "That's right. As long as we withstand their attack in Lu State, the momentum of Cao Liu's coalition will weaken over time, and they will definitely think of other strategies."
"What side plan?"
"Leave aside Liu Biao, with Cao Cao's vicious gaze, he will definitely unite with Sun Ce secretly to attack Pei State, in order to divide our Xuzhou power from the side. This is the second thing we have to do, consolidate Pei State and guard against Sun Ce.