Chapter 70: Sun Cao Liu kills them all in one fell swoop
After nearly twenty years of development, the intelligence of the Military Intelligence Department has spread all over the world.
There are internal agents in Cao's army, and naturally there are also in Sun's army, even more than in Cao's army. The whole army is almost like a sieve.
The reason is that Cao Cao has Guo Jia. Guo Jia's strategies and tactics are relatively average, but his psychological analysis and intelligence are very good.
Although the deployment of his intelligence network started very slowly, and his spies were pressed to the ground and rubbed by the Military Intelligence Department.
But Guo Jia at least has an intelligence department that can do some counterintelligence work.
On the other hand, Sun Ce's side is much rougher, he doesn't pay attention to intelligence, and he tends to do things based on emotion and doesn't pay attention to details.
This led to the fact that when he was recruiting troops in Huaibei and expanding his army along the way, he had no idea how many internal spies were placed in his army.
The upper echelons of the army were not infiltrated, but there were still a few middle- and lower-level officers who were spies, such as Xu Sheng from Langyeju County.
In his early years, Xu Sheng moved his family to Wu County due to war in his hometown, but he did not expect that Liu Bei would soon capture Langya and Donghai County in the north of Xuzhou.
Under the governance of Xiao Jian, the Langya Prime Minister appointed by Qingzhou, Langya Kingdom quickly returned to its former peace.
So Xu Sheng returned to his hometown. At this time, Liu Bei happened to be recruiting troops to deal with Yuan Shao, so he joined the army and served as a scout. He was promoted because of his bravery and was absorbed into the Military Intelligence Department.
Later, Chen Mu made a layout in Jiangdong and sent many people from the Military Intelligence Department to Jiangdong as a base. Among them was Xu Sheng, who had lived in Wu County and was familiar with the environment.
The layout of the Military Intelligence Department was first established by Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping's business network.
At that time, with the support of Liu Bei, Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping's business network spread all over the world. Wherever they went, they would follow the military intelligence department to establish strongholds and secretly recruit local people to join them as spies.
Nowadays, the number of editors in the entire Military Intelligence Department has exceeded 10,000, and the intelligence network even involves Wusun in the Western Regions, Xianbei in the north of Saibei, barbarians in Jiaozhi, and Fuyu in the northeast.
After Sun Ce sized up the situation and tried hard to persuade Cao Cao's advisers, he finally agreed to bring the main force north to help Cao Cao.
This information was expected by Chen Mu, because the previous information had been continuously passed on.
Sun Ce has not completely pacified Jiangdong so far. He has just captured Danyang and is currently attacking Wu County. Yuzhang County in the south was reluctantly settled because his father had been the governor of Yuzhang.
As for Kuaiji County, Wu County has not yet captured it, let alone Kuaiji County.
Therefore, judging from the current situation, the only areas Sun Ce has complete control over are Jiujiang, Lujiang and other places northwest of Yangzhou.
The area under control is Danyang. Yuzhang has only captured Nanchang, Poyang, and Chaisang in the north. The south has not yet been captured, and Kuaiji has not yet fallen into Sun Ce's hands. He only captured one-third of the entire Yangzhou.
Historically, it took Sun Ce nearly five years to conquer Jiangdong. However, at that time, Sun Ce had few soldiers and food, with more than a thousand regular troops and four to five thousand ordinary soldiers who had defected, so the battle was difficult.
And this time, although he had the foundation of his father being the shepherd of Yuzhou, with strong troops and horses, and a strength of fifty or sixty thousand, it was not easy to pacify Jiangdong in just a few months.
But it’s almost there, because the richest places in Yangzhou are the four counties of Jiujiang, Lujiang, Danyang and Wujun in the north of Yangzhou. The population is also concentrated in this area. Further south, south of Yuzhang and Kuaiji, that is, Jiangxi and Fujian are all Shanyue at this time.
Barbarian territory.
Therefore, although he did not unify Jiangdong, Sun Ce was able to spare his energy to help Cao Cao.
After all, he still understands the meaning of lips dying and teeth falling cold.
In addition to Sun Ce, Liu Biao finally reluctantly agreed to send the main force northward.
However, according to intelligence from the Military Intelligence Department, Liu Biao's so-called main force was actually the tens of thousands of surrendered soldiers left behind by Zhang Xian, the prefect of Changsha, after his death.
It's not that old man Liu Biao doesn't have martial ethics, it's that he is really stretched thin and doesn't have any troops that he can use.
It seems that he has an army of more than 100,000 people, which is very generous. However, the only army that can fight is the Ministry of Civil Affairs. 30,000 people went north and were killed by Chen Mu's Central Army.
The combat effectiveness of the infantry in the south is indeed very weak. It is okay to deal with ordinary mountain bandits and bandits, but it is impossible to deal with top elites like the North and South Army of the Imperial Court who were killed in a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
Liu Biao's strongest force was the naval force. To put it bluntly, the Central and Southern armies were invincible on land, but on the water they would probably be beaten into pieces by Liu Biao's naval army.
In history, Cao Cao has proved this with practical actions.
But what's the use?
Even if the naval forces landed on land, they would still be decimated by the regular troops from the north and south of the central government.
Cao Cao wanted Liu Biao to send troops to help him resist the imperial army in Henan, but he was not fighting in Jingzhou. The navy had no place in Henan. After all, you can't dig a Yangtze River in Henan.
Therefore, according to the current intelligence, the main response of the imperial court should be the main force assembled by Cao Cao and the main force of Sun Ce.
Due to the defeat at Guandu, coupled with the defeat and the scattered people, Cao Cao now has less than 40,000 troops.
Although Sun Ce was also gathering the main force to go north, intelligence from the inside showed that he had left at least 20,000 troops in Jiangdong, so what he had to deal with here were also Sun Ce's approximately 40,000 troops.
As for Liu Biao's side, it's not too important. If you send 10,000 or 20,000 regular troops casually, they should be able to kill those troops without leaving any trace, so it is of no importance.
Early September, Zhuqiu County, Pei State.
The army of the imperial court pressed forward step by step, and the area stretching for dozens of miles on the north and south banks of Bin River was lined with military camps.
Although Liu Bei had an army of 300,000 men, he did not bring them all. Except for the 100,000 people in the switch, tens of thousands others stayed behind in various places.
But even if only 120,000 to 30,000 troops were used, it would still be enough for Cao Cao to drink a pot of water. Cao Cao had already been driven to the Guangling Pei Kingdom area.
Because it was already late autumn, the court would not give Cao Cao much time to prepare, so it planned an autumn offensive.
In the county government mansion, Liu Bei sat on the throne, and many of his generals were stationed in various places to guard the camps. Therefore, many counselors were summoned to discuss the details of the attack.
The meeting was still chaired by Chen Mu. After forcing Cao Cao to leave Yanzhou as planned, Cao Cao had no way to retreat. All that was left was to think about his next plan.
Many ministers gathered in the hall one after another. Liu Bei also sat on the throne, looked around and asked in surprise: "Where is the fourth brother?"
Zhuge Liang stood up and said: "Your Majesty, I was originally coming with the Prime Minister just now. On the way, suddenly there was urgent information from the Military Intelligence Department that needed the Prime Minister to deal with. Therefore, the Prime Minister ordered me to come first, and he will arrive soon."
Liu Bei nodded and said: "In that case, don't wait any longer. Let's talk about the food, grass and baggage first. After making sure there are no problems with the logistics, we will wait for the Prime Minister to come and talk about how to fight."
At that moment, Mao Jie stood up and said: "Your Majesty, the previous grain and grass transportation was sent from Luoyang. Luoyang is already short of grain and has to provide grain and grass for Guanzhong. It is already a bit overwhelmed. The price of grain in Luoyang's millet market has soared. Therefore, Luoyang's
The grain transportation has been stopped and has been replaced by Jizhou grain transportation."
Liu Bei interrupted him and said: "I know about this. After Hebei has restored people's livelihood in the past two years, there is plenty of food, which can be transported to the front line. What I want to know is how much food has been transported from Hebei now, and how much food can it support?
How long will my army last?"
Mao Jie continued: "Your Majesty, please listen to what I have to say. What I want to say is that because the food is transported from Hebei, there is too much food, which requires a large number of ships to transport food and grass in a short period of time. I want to be stationed in Qingzhou in Chuping."
The navy helped transport food, but I learned a few days ago that the Qingzhou navy had been transferred away by the prime minister."
Liu Bei frowned: "Why didn't you report this before?"
Mao Jie said: "I was supervising the transportation of grain and grass in the rear, and the Prime Minister happened to be there. I went to ask the Prime Minister, and he said that he had other secrets for the navy to do, and asked me to find a way to solve the problem of grain transportation."
Liu Bei's expression was not very good and he said: "Then have you solved it?"
"solved."
Mao Jie cupped his hands and replied: "The minister adopted the method of transporting grain step by step. After discussing with Qingzhou Mu, Qingzhou temporarily mobilized grain and grass, and then transported the grain and grass from Jizhou to Longcuo Ferry to fill the vacancy in Qingzhou.
, At present, most of the grain and grass have been transported, and they are stored in Fengxian, Peixian, Guangqi and other places, which can be used by the army for half a year, and the subsequent grain and grass will also be transported forward. "
"That's good."
Liu Bei's expression calmed down. He was not angry because Chen Mu mobilized his troops without permission, but was afraid that Mao Jie had not solved the problem of food and grass and would delay the attack.
At present, the court's food supply is actually a bit tight. It's not that there is a shortage, but that transportation is inconvenient, which leads to a shortage on the front line.
Although Qingzhou has been governed for many years and has tens of millions of grains in stock, it took a lot to defeat Yuan Shao. Later it entered a period of recuperation, but there were also some small-scale wars in Guanzhong, Youzhou, and Henan.
The scale of the wars fought in these places seemed small, but because they were far away from the imperial center, it was inconvenient to transport food, so a lot of food was consumed, which almost wiped out the many years of accumulation in Qingzhou.
It was not until Chen Mu set the national policy of recuperation that people's livelihood in Jizhou slowly recovered. With the support of the entire North China Plain in Hebei and Qingzhou, the food shortage problem was gradually solved, and Liu Bei had the confidence to take action against Henan.
However, although there is food in the rear, the problem is still the same. Food transportation is relatively difficult. Historically, Yuan Shao spent more than half a year preparing for the Battle of Guandu, which was basically spent on transporting food and grass.
The same is true now. Luoyang has accumulated a lot of food and grass before. However, it has to transfuse blood to Guanzhong, support the imperial court in fighting in Henan, and take into account people's livelihood, so it is somewhat stretched and must transport food from Hebei.
It was not easy to mobilize a large amount of grain and grass in a short period of time, so Liu Bei sent Mao Jie to Jizhou and Dong Zhao to Qingzhou, respectively responsible for raising grain and grass and army supplies and equipment.
Troops wait for supplies at the front line.
This is why the imperial court did not continue to attack Cao Cao from July to September.
Fortunately, Mao Jie is not a mediocre person. The method he adopted was to tear down the east wall to repair the west wall. Qingzhou's granary was at its bottom, but there was still some left over to take care of people's livelihood and stabilize prices.
He brought the remaining grain stores nearby, and then transferred the grain from Jizhou to Qingzhou. In this way, although Qingzhou might have a food shortage problem in a short period of time, it would soon subside without any impact.
Hearing that Mao Jie had perfectly solved the problem of transporting grain, Liu Bei was very satisfied and looked at Dong Zhao.
Dong Zhao also talked about the current equipment reserves.
When everyone saw Dong Zhao and Mao Ji reporting the baggage problem separately, they did not focus on it. After all, the two of them did things very safely and there were no mistakes.
Except for a small number of people who have not thought about this problem, most smart people are thinking about the same problem - the prime minister mobilized his troops privately, but the emperor actually ignored him, without even the slightest anger on his face. This trust, when
It's really touching.
You must know that during the Pre-Han Dynasty, even if the prime minister was falsely accused of treason, let alone deploying troops, he might be beheaded without substantial evidence.
For example, Gongsun He, the prime minister during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, was unjustly killed for no apparent reason.
But now the emperor is not worried at all about the Prime Minister deploying troops to rebel. This kind of attitude of not trusting people and not using them, as well as the importance and trust in brotherhood, can it be seen?
But of course the ministers know that everyone has a steelyard in their heart.
For Liu Bei, without his three brothers, let alone becoming an emperor, it would be a question of whether he could survive and find a piece of land to become a prince in troubled times.
Therefore, facing three sworn brothers who have shared weal and woe along the way, Liu Bei himself is 100% full of trust.
More importantly, there was no need for him to question Chen Mu's secret deployment of troops.
Because Chen Mu did this not once or twice.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Sometimes Chen Mu himself said that the deployment of troops is a sudden and temporary decision. As the saying goes, the general will not accept the emperor's orders.
During a war, it is most taboo to overstep the authority of the command, communication is inconvenient, and the people in the rear do not know the specific situation on the front line. If the machine gun position moves ten meters to the left, it will be a disaster for the soldiers on the front line.
.
Liu Bei was born in the military and was about to become emperor. How could he not understand this truth?
Therefore, he gave the three brothers the greatest trust and allowed them the power to adapt to the situation. So when he heard that Chen Mu had transferred troops a few days ago, he had no other thoughts. He believed that Chen Mu would give him an explanation.
Soon, Dong Zhao and Mao Jie finished talking about the situation of food, grass and ordnance.
At that time, provisions and ordnance for wars were usually completed before the battle, because the preparations and preparations were all done before.
For example, Guan Yu wanted to inspect the ordnance before going on an expedition, but a fire burned it out. After learning about this, Guan Yu threatened to go back to find trouble for Mi Fang and Fu Shiren after the battle, which caused the two to be frightened and surrender to Soochow.
So now that he heard that supplies were abundant and ready for war, Liu Bei said, "Well, now we have enough food, grass and weapons. Can you tell us how we are going to attack?"
No one spoke yet.
Chen Mu's voice had already reached the door.
"Your Majesty, I think that we only need two armies to advance together. The main force of your Majesty's army will go straight to Cao Cao in one leg, and send people to defeat Sun Ce in the second leg!"
"Hahaha, fourth brother."
Liu Bei smiled and said, "Sit down first."
Chen Mu walked in, cupped his hands, and sat next to him.
After he sat down, Liu Bei said: "Fourth brother, what did you mean just now?"
Chen Mu smiled and said, "Your Majesty, I mean it literally."
"this......"
Many ministers immediately looked at each other.
It's that simple?
Liu Bei frowned and said: "Fourth brother, sending troops like this is a huge problem. Isn't there a specific tactical plan? How will Liu Biao deal with it?"
Chen Mu smiled and said: "Your Majesty, don't worry, everything is under my control. We only need to send troops to win."
Can we win by sending troops?
If it wasn't Chen Mu who said this, all the ministers in the court would have wanted to smash his mouth.
You must know that although Cao Cao was defeated, he still had tens of thousands of soldiers and horses. Together with Sun Ce and Liu Biao, the total military strength would not be much less than that of the imperial court.
The lion still tried its best to fight the rabbit, not to mention that the court was not facing a rabbit, but three jackals.
Wouldn't being so careless lead to catastrophe?
However, precisely because it was Chen Mu who spoke, everyone didn't know whether to refute or not.
Over the years, Chen Mu has never failed.
Liu Bei thought: "Fourth brother already has a plan? Is it related to the navy?"
Chen Mu replied: "Yes, I have ordered the navy to go south along the coastal road, enter Wu County at the mouth of the river, and make a surprise attack on Sun Ce's rear!"
"good!"
Liu Bei was overjoyed and said: "If we attack from both front and back, Sun Ce will definitely be defeated!"
"Then...where is Liu Biao?"
Someone hesitated.
Chen Mu waved his hand: "Liu Biao is just a scabrous maniac, insignificant. Sun Ce learned that his father Sun Jian sent troops for this battle, and Jiangdong was lost, so he would not dare to fight and return to Jiangdong. At this time, after we defeated Cao Cao, we took advantage of the situation and went south.
, pacify Jiangdong, then go up the river and destroy Jingzhou. In this battle, I will kill Sun Cao and Liu in one fell swoop!"
Liu Bei nodded in agreement: "Okay, in that case, let's follow what my fourth brother said! When will we attack?"