Chapter 3263: Difficulties Mean Unity

Chapter 3262 If there are difficulties, just unite everyone

Sima Yi had limited independent military power in the Pubanjin area of ​​Hedong. His limit lies in the number of soldiers and horses under his command, and he can call in a certain amount of reinforcements when necessary.

Sima Yi felt that there was no need to call for reinforcements now because his strategic purpose was simple.

He will try his best to harass Cao Jun's front and contain the strength of Lao Cao's classmates.

It's not a head-on battle.

Regardless of whether there are risks or problems in this matter, Sima Yi knows one thing. In this war between Fei and Cao, only Fei Qian can win.

If Cao Cao ultimately wins, Fei Qian will not be the only one unlucky.

At present, Cao Cao's main target is concentrated in the north, so Sima Yi will have the opportunity to launch a sneak attack on the flank.

He also knew that this was very risky. He had to figure out where the main force of Cao's Chinese army was, so that he wouldn't want to take advantage and end up running into a steel plate.

Therefore, when Sima Yi dispatched Hao Zhao, he did not send many troops. On the one hand, more people were easier to expose, and on the other hand, Sima Yi did not dare to invest too many troops before the information was confirmed...

After Hao Zhao brought back the survivors, Sima Yi determined that the main force of Cao's army had moved northward from the Zhongtiao Mountain camp, so the Cao's troops on the flanks could not help but relax...

It's a good thing he saw the fighter plane.

If the main force of Cao's army is still near Zhongtiao Mountain, it would be inappropriate for Sima Yi to make any big moves. After all, Sima Yi does not have many men and horses at the moment, and every loss means that the strength of his men is weakened. .

"Would you like to ask your lord for some reinforcements?" 』

Hao Zhao suggested.

Sima Yi thought for a moment and shook his head. Let’s not talk about whether asking for reinforcements can be replenished immediately. Simply speaking, if Cao Cao knows that he has a lot of troops here, he will inevitably increase his defense here, which will not be conducive to Sima Yi’s sneak attack plan.

As long as Sima Yi can open a hole, it is possible to cut off Lao Cao's food route, and then force Cao's army to turn back, or send reinforcements from Tongguan, which is equivalent to him directly disrupting the situation with a small number of troops. Cao Jun's layout in the Heluo area of ​​Hedong created better opportunities for Hussar Feiqian's final victory.

Therefore, Sima Yi's strategic purpose was not to capture the city, but to "disrupt".

Disrupting the opponent's layout is equivalent to taking the initiative.

Well, that's right, it's just a stick to stir things up...

…

…

The main camp of Cao's army.

Mao Jie hurried in, raised his hands to Cao Cao and said, "My lord, we found it!" 』

Cao Cao tilted his head slightly and gestured to the map, "Point it out!" 』

Mao Jie stepped forward and placed a spot on the map near Zhang Yangchi.

"The Sima clan of the thief army is probably in this position. There are more than thousands of people and cavalry. They may not all be elite soldiers, but at least they are trained cavalry with skillful riding skills..."

After that, Mao Jie pointed his finger to the side and said again: "There were originally ferry defenders in Pubanjin, and there were about 800 people here." 』

Cao Cao thought for a long time and said slowly: "If we don't get rid of this thief, we will have a thorn in his back." 』

Right now, Cao Cao has to make many plans.

What if Fei Qian attacks? How can he attack if he doesn't?

What should we do if there is a problem with the Shangdang?

as well as……

The land of Shandong...

Here, Cao Cao has received many reports one after another.

There is good news, and of course there is bad news, and overall there is far more bad news from the home front than there is good news from the front.

In the days after Cao Cao left Shandong, many people had jumped out, stirring up trouble openly or covertly.

Cao Cao has sent Cheng Yu back, ready to put out the fire at any time.

Cheng Yu's hands are relatively dark. After Cheng Yu makes a move first, Cao Cao can pretend to be like "Oh, I just found out about this"...

So now Cao Cao's head hurts and his butt is on fire.

If Sima Yi inserts an acupuncture needle into his waist, it will be really hard to live...

When it comes to cavalry tactics, Cao Cao doesn't have many good ones.

Even Cao Cao himself did not dare to say that he could command the cavalry as well as his arms, so using cavalry to control cavalry is undoubtedly to use short attacks to attack long ones. Cao Cao hoped to drag the people on the Hussar side into the rhythm of the battlefield that he was familiar with.

Moreover, there were not many war horses in Cao's army. They were all used on the edge of the sword, and they were so tight that they could not move away.

But this does not mean that Cao Cao can only be beaten passively.

Cao Cao guessed what Sima Yi wanted to do. After all, if he were in Sima Yi's position, he would also make a move similar to Sima Yi's to contain the opponent's troops.

Therefore, if you want Sima Yi to fall into his trap, you must have soldiers and horses that can really "contain" him...

Cao Cao looked up at Mao Jie.

Mao Jie was also mentally prepared. He raised his hands and said, "I am willing to share my worries with the Lord!" 』

Cao Cao nodded, "I'm very pleased that you have this intention." However, you are not good at cavalry fighting... Come, go and lead the cavalry captain... No, go and ask General Zijing to come! 』

This is an on-site upgrade.

"Qian Zi Jing is good at cavalry..." Cao Cao said to Mao Jie again, "If the Sima thief wants to attack my flank... he will probably choose this position..."

…

…

Jizhou, Yecheng.

Chen Qun has ordered all counties and counties to strictly enforce the garrison. They are not allowed to believe in any transfer orders, nor are they allowed to leave the garrison without permission.

This was the best solution he could think of.

In Chen Qun's opinion, Wei Yan was like a louse in the hair, crawling around, biting on the left and sucking on the right. He didn't kill people on the spot, but it was very uncomfortable. He didn't think that Wei Yan could capture Yecheng with just the few infantrymen under his command, but he caused chaos in Jizhou.

If he sent people to catch him, he would really have to comb through him like a comb to catch Wei Yan pretending to be a soldier of Cao's army...

Damn it, Chen Qun was furious when he thought of this.

How could Wei Yan pretend to be a Cao army soldier so skillfully?

Isn't it true that a real man should not change his name or surname?

When Wei Yan was broken into pieces, Chen Qun was at a loss.

Chen Qun has no problem with the key garrisons, but in addition to the key garrisons, more people must be dispatched to investigate...

The efficiency of the dragnet investigation is pitifully low without instant messaging tools. Even the investigation team does not know whether other teams have checked the same place. It is possible that all teams have checked a certain place several times, while no one has been to another place.

Especially for some large households, they must be investigated in detail.

The large households who can't bear the disturbance complained.

Chen Qun also has a headache.

Unless Chen Qun leaves Yecheng and personally commands these investigation teams.

But Chen Qun can't leave.

He must stay in Yecheng and guard Cao Pi, otherwise if Cao Pi has any problems, his Chen family will be buried with him.

In this situation, the manor system of the gentry in Jizhou has been greatly damaged...

The city can lock the four gates, but what about the manors outside the city?

The manor owner can indeed build a fortress and a large manor to protect the family and some servants and tenants within the wall. But no matter which manor owner, it is impossible to build a magnificent wall around all his land. At most, it is already very impressive to build a fence. Some manor owners can only put up a sign at the intersection to distinguish them.

Of course, there are some private armed forces and guards in these manors, but compared with the soldiers under Wei Yan, there is a big gap between these people. After all, there is a difference between professional and part-time.

The contradiction lies here...

The manor owner values ​​his land too much. Even if Chen Qun persuades them to live in Yecheng for a while and go back after the danger is over, most of the manor landlords are unwilling to do so. They would rather stay in their own manors. Even if the defense system of these manor forts is much worse than that of the city.

The last gentry who suffered a loss still cannot alert these people.

Sometimes it is not that Cao Jun is unwilling to protect them, but that they are really powerless.

The front line also needs people, and now the rear line is unstable. The soldiers, horses, money and food are not dropped from the sky. They are automatically generated in the granaries of the town at any time. It is already very difficult to extract soldiers from the key defense points. How can more people be sent to the countryside to eliminate the scattered Wei Yan teams?

But if Wei Yan's team is allowed to abuse Jizhou for too long, even if Wei Yan withdraws in the future, it will inevitably make the Jizhou people resentful. These Jizhou people may not hate the enemy Wei Yan, but they will definitely hate Chen Qun who "does not come to rescue"...

So Chen Qun is unwilling to offend these gentry and powerful families too much. He is more or less hesitant whether to withdraw some soldiers guarding the city around Yecheng, at least to sort out these places around Yecheng and remove Wei Yan's team.

Perhaps, 3,000 soldiers can still be gathered?

But who should lead the troops?

……

……

Xu County.

Cui Yan also has a mansion in Xu County. He was supposed to lead the troops to the north, but was delayed because of something.

Cui Yan sat in the hall in plain clothes, looking at his son Cui Qin who came back from the outside, with a calm expression, and seemed a little unhappy.

'Father...' Cui Qin lowered his head.

Cui Yan looked at Cui Qin coldly, and didn't speak for a long time.

Cui Qin's head was slightly sweaty.

'You have grown up, and you make your own decisions?' Cui Yan said to Cui Qin, 'Do you know what time it is now?'

Cui Qin lowered his head and said: 'Father... Your Majesty, Your Majesty personally checked the child's knowledge, that is... um, um...'

Cui Yan stared at Cui Qin, 'I'm asking you if you know what time it is now?'

Cui Yan didn't care what official positions his children got, because he knew that these official positions were empty, like flowers in the water and the moon in the well, which looked good, but were useless.

In Jizhou and Yuzhou, in the entire Shandong region, what matters is not official positions, but territory and connections.

Without his own territory or connections, even if he has an official position, he will be removed soon...

Cui Qin thought that it was his knowledge that impressed the emperor, but he didn't know that the emperor really thought he was knowledgeable?

『...』Cui Qin was silent. It was obvious that he understood in his heart, but he didn't want to stay behind Cui Yan. He wanted to stand out and get his own title, not just "son of Cui Beijia".

『You shouldn't have taken the initiative to see His Majesty...』Cui Yan didn't expect that he would encounter such a thing as soon as he arrived in Xu County. Originally, he thought that naughty children were all from other people's families, but he didn't expect that his own children would also become naughty. This made Cui Yan very sad and headache.

『I know my mistake. 』Cui Qin bowed his head and said, 『But His Majesty invited me so kindly...』

‘Is that so?’ Cui Yan said in a deep voice, ‘You can refuse. If you don’t accept the job, you will still have a good reputation.’

Cui Qin was stunned, thought for a moment and said: ‘Father…but Your Majesty…if Father doesn’t want to, I…I can also resign…’

Cui Yan looked at Cui Qin for a long time, and finally sighed and said: ‘Since Your Majesty has already granted it, how can you refuse it? Just do your best. If…if you encounter any crisis in the future…don’t avoid danger, don’t let the Cui family’s reputation fall…’

Cui Qin was shocked, ‘Father? !’

‘Accompanying the emperor is like accompanying a tiger.’ Cui Yan sighed and said, ‘You think you have got the official position, but you don’t know that you have already swallowed the bait…Now you can only be cautious in what you say and do…be careful!’

‘Father!’ Cui Qin fell to the ground with a plop.

‘Go and have a rest.’ Cui Yan waved his hand, ‘Don’t let the Cui family’s reputation fall. 』

Cui Qin had no choice but to bow respectfully and slowly retreat.

Cui Yan watched him leave, with a thoughtful look in his eyes.

What is Emperor Liu Xie going to do?

He actually stretched his claws to his son?

Or not just his son, but also the children of other officials in Xu County?

This is really...

Interesting.

However, letting his child fall into such a situation, even if Cui Qin jumped into it himself, made Cui Yan feel more or less unhappy. It's just that he doesn't have much time and energy to deal with this matter now, because Cao Pi in Yecheng, Jizhou has been urging him three times a day to lead troops to encircle and suppress Wei Yan's team that invaded Jizhou, and it's not good to delay any longer...

Well, there are things everywhere, just like being trapped in quicksand, even if you know what to do, you can't help yourself.

Originally, Cui Yan thought that letting his son leave Yecheng and come to Xu County was a good choice, but now it seems that this world is in turmoil, where is the real place to settle down?

……

……

Xiangyang.

After receiving the news of the great changes in Jiangling, Cao Ren hurried back to Xiangyang and summoned Cai Mao and other local Jingzhou natives to stabilize the people's hearts.

To be honest, Cao Ren and Cai Mao did not get along very well.

Although Cai Mao was not directly killed by Zhou Yu's teasing like in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, after Cai Mao joined Cao Cao's army, he did not get the territory and population he wanted. Instead, because Cao's family kept bleeding Jingzhou, Jingzhou as a whole seemed very sluggish.

Moreover, Cao's family had always been on guard against Cai's family intentionally or unintentionally. Although they were very polite on the surface and conferred Cai Mao a title, in reality, they did not let Cai Mao get involved in the military power at all. They would rather use Wen Pin than let Cai Mao lead the army.

Madam Niu, when there is nothing wrong, only calls Xiao Tiantian when there is something wrong. Now that she saw something wrong in Jiangling, she hurriedly summoned her, which naturally made Cai Mao feel uncomfortable. Therefore, after meeting Cao Ren, Cai Mao still had the proper etiquette, but he was like he had played threesomes all night last night, listless and wandering.

『Hmm! 』

Cao Ren looked around, his eyes fell heavily on Cai Mao, and then he said in a deep voice, 『I have been entrusted by the emperor and the prime minister to comfort Jingzhou, treat scholars with sincerity, and support the people. Now there is the Sun family of Jiangdong, who broke the alliance and killed the generals, and seized our Jiangling. Their crimes are great! 』

『In the past, the children of Jiangdong asked Xiangyang, and their words were sincere, willing to join hands to resist Fei and help the difficulties. At that time, on the high platform, we swore an oath of blood, and the words are still ringing in my ears! Who would have thought that the rats of Jiangdong would take advantage of my unpreparedness and brazenly send troops to attack Jiangling, killing my military school and harming my people! I was heartbroken when I heard it! 』

『The Sun family of Jiangdong does not think about serving the country, but only knows how to eat like a wolf, greedy, and is really despicable and shameless! Jiangling is an important town of the country. I entrusted Jiangdong with my trust and hoped that Jiangdong would defend it with loyalty and treat it with kindness. Unexpectedly, the Jiangdong thieves had ulterior motives and raised troops to seize my city and kill my good generals. Their feelings are hateful and their actions are punishable! '

'I am now submitting a memorial to the emperor, vowing to march south to wipe out the shame of Jiangling and to rectify the situation in the world! The Sun family rebels must be brought to justice to comfort the souls of the soldiers and people in Jiangling! '

Cao Ren shouted a few high-profile words, and seeing that Cai Mao and others were still bowing their heads and were unmoved, he couldn't help but feel angry. After a cold snort, he said, 'In this time of crisis, you should unite in sincerity and resist the difficulties together! The disputes in the past, the suffering of the people, was it not because of the loss of this sincerity that caused the chaos in Jingzhou? 』

『Ancient times said, "A tree that can be embraced by two people grows from a tiny seed; a nine-story tower is built from a pile of earth." If everyone present here today can abandon their egos and achieve great things, why worry about Jiangling's loss of power and Jingzhou's failure to prosper? 』

Cao Ren was indeed annoyed.

The main reason was that Jingzhou could not stand alone. It had to attack Wuguan and support Hanzhong, and now it was stabbed in the back by Jiangdong. Jingzhou was also divided and everyone had their own thoughts. Cao Ren had the time and means to pull one faction against another, but now, he was like supporting a house with leaks everywhere, and it was about to collapse.

If shouting slogans could defeat the enemy, then Cao Ren would simply ask a group of clerks to stand on the top of the city and shout slogans...

In the end, there was still a big stick in his hand.

This time, Jiangdong's sneak attack really caught Cao Ren off guard.

He did expect Jiangdong to tear up the alliance, but he didn't expect Jiangdong to do it so quickly!

Cao Ren originally thought that if Jiangdong couldn't hold out for two or three years, it should at least be able to hold out for a year!

But...

And the key is that Cao Ren's attacks in Wuguan and Hanzhong were not smooth!

Cao Ren knew that it was indeed difficult to attack Wuguan and Hanzhong, but now the change was too embarrassing. The attack did not achieve the effect, and his own chrysanthemum was stabbed by his allies!

Cao Ren thought about it and now he could only draw some blood from the natives of Jingzhou.

On the one hand, Cao Cao was fighting fiercely in Heluo and Hedong, and there were no extra soldiers to support and deploy. Even if there were, it would be cold if they went from Heluo to Jingzhou.

On the other hand, Jizhou was also attacked by Wei Yan, and Yanzhou and Yuzhou were also in a state of panic. In addition, the guys in Qingzhou and Xuzhou were also a little unstable, so the troops around Xu County could not move around.

Without external aid, he could only mobilize the elders and villagers of Jingzhou to expand domestic demand...

Cao Ren believed that the battle to recapture Jiangling was not difficult to fight, but the difficult part was how to get some more flesh and blood from Cai Mao and others...