Imperial Power Of Han Dynasty

Jiujiang County, Hefei.

Hefei is located on the bank of the Anhui River. The city is strong and located at a critical point. It is a battleground for military strategists. Therefore, all dynasties built the city here. The center of Jiujiang County is Hefei. As long as Hefei can be defended, the Northern Army will be able to resist the Northern Expedition of the Southern Army, and if the Southern Army can occupy Hefei, it will be able to lay the foundation and use it as a base to fight north.

So the Soochow in history has attempted to Hefei more than once. For example, after the Battle of Chibi, Sun Quan, who won, led an army of 100,000 to besiege Hefei. If Zhang Liao hadn't led his army to directly take Sun Quan's army, I am afraid that Hefei would have fallen.

Above the city of Hefei, there was a person standing upright. He was not tall, even a little short, with a fair complexion, dark beards under his jaw, and a pair of small eyes flashing with brilliance. He knew at first sight that he was a worried person.

A strong wind blew, and a young teenager from the rear stepped forward, put the brocade robe on him, and said concerned: "Prime Minister, the city is windy, come down?"

"Haha, Wenlie, it doesn't matter."

Cao Cao waved his hand with a smile and looked at Cao Xiu with admiration: "Wen Lie, you said our army secretly sought Lujiang County this time, can the Jiangdong Army detect it?"

Although this young general is young, his eyes are big, his nose is high, his lips are tight, and his facial features reveal a sense of determination. It is Cao Xiu, Cao Cao's nephew, with the word Wenlie.

When Dong Zhuo entered Luoyang, the world was in chaos and the Cao clan fled for their lives. Cao Xiu's family fled to Wu County to avoid disaster. Hearing that Cao Cao had risen up against Dong, Cao Xiu persuaded his family to return to the Central Plains with his mother and defected to Cao Cao's command. When Cao Cao met Cao Xiu and asked about current affairs and the art of war, they all had high opinions, so he praised him as "My Cao Family Thousand Miles Horse".

Because Cao Xiu had stayed in Wu County for a while and was familiar with Jiangdong, Cao Cao sent troops to Lujiang County this time, and Cao Xiu was appointed to accompany him.

Cao Xiu pondered for a while, and then replied: "Prime Minister, with all due respect. When a certain person was in Jiangdong, he heard that the song was wrong, Zhou Langgu, it was Zhou Yu."

Cao Cao smiled and said, "Oh? Zhou Yu is still proficient in rhythm?"

Cao Xiu nodded: "Zhou Yu is quite talented, but he is limited to this, but he has never heard of him leading soldiers in battle."

When Zhou Yu lived in Lujiang County earlier, although she was somewhat famous, her real fame began when he followed Sun Ce across the river to attack Liu You. At that time, Cao Xiu had already gone north to go home, so it was naturally unclear.

"Sun Ce, the world calls him a little overlord. Maybe he is not as brave as Xiang Wang, but he is a rare military prodigy, and he can see it from Ping Jiangdong for several months."

Cao Xiu analyzed: "It is said that Zhou Yu and Sun Ce are close friends of wealth, so Sun Ce commissioned the army to lead the army, but the strategy is only like that."

Cao Cao smiled and shook his head: "Wen Lie, don't despise Zhou Yu."

"Oh? The prime minister has information long ago?" Cao Xiu asked in confusion.

"Do not."

Cao Cao slowly said: "Can you be appointed by the Jiangdong Sun Clan as the chief governor of soldiers and horses, is it a person who is waiting? A certain general feels that this strategy may have been discovered by Jiangdong Army..."

Cao Xiu was dissatisfied: "But the prime minister, it is Uncle Zixiao who is responsible for leading the troops this time. Uncle Zixiao has strict military discipline and it is difficult to expose."

"Haha, let's not mention this. Regardless of whether Zhou Yu is prepared or not, as long as he and Li Shu fight first, the situation in our army will be favorable."

Cao Cao smiled slightly and looked towards the horizon. It took him a long time to worry: "The only thing I worry about is whether the war between Yanzhou and Jizhou will expand in scale. If this is the case, our army will go to war on multiple sides and the pressure will be great."

Cao Xiu comforted: "The prime minister can rest assured, that Liu Ye previously mobilized tens of thousands of troops to expedition to Hebei, and the battle has been long, and the food and grass have been exhausted. And our army is very strong, and the two states of Qingxu have implemented military garrison, hoarding more than 100,000 shi, how can Liu Ye do it? Ben hurts?"

In ancient times, when fighting and not fighting, the consumption of food and grass was completely unequal. Fortunately, if the army does not go to war, once it enters a state of combat readiness, the amount of food consumed will rise sharply. First, the army fights every day, the soldiers consume violently physical strength, and the natural appetite greatly increases; secondly, the grain and grass need to be turned halfway, and it is inevitably lost during the journey. After all, the civilian men who transport the grain must eat or drink; thirdly, the horses eat more There are a lot of people, and large households need to feed concentrated feed, soybeans, and eggs to raise horses. The maintenance of horses is even more laborious.

Horses can eat grass, but not for a long time, just like people have to eat instead of drinking gruel. If you eat grass all day and do not eat concentrate, the horse will lose fat and become unusable.

Therefore, when the battle is approaching, the horse must be fed regardless of the cost, and the weight will increase rapidly, otherwise the horse is likely to fall halfway.

So why are the war horses of the nomads all fat and strong? Are they richer than the Central Plains, and tens of thousands of horses use concentrated feed and eggs?

Of course this is not the case, because the Central Plains horse rearing model is different from the grassland horse rearing model. There are few horses in the Central Plains, so they need to be meticulously served. However, the nomadic warhorses use large-scale stocking with hundreds of thousands of horses. , Naturally there will be fat and strong war horses. Moreover, nomads tend to have one person, two horses, or even three horses, and the horsepower will naturally be consumed less when riding.

"Hurting people with this?"

Cao Cao repeatedly figured out these four words, frowning and said: "With Liu Yuqing's great talents, Xun Yu, Jia Xu, and Guo Jiazhi's resourcefulness, it is absolutely impossible for our army to attack Jiangdong. He will definitely respond. If it is true that it hurts others. That step..."

Once Liu Ye didn't hesitate to "injure people with his roots," he would fight Cao Cao in exchange for injuries. Cao Cao could not rule the three states, so his overall strength would naturally not be comparable.

"In this case, our army should speed up and attack Lujiang with lightning speed!" Cao Xiu resolutely said: "Our army must fight quickly and hard. When Liu Yuqing reacts, our army has already drunk the Yangtze River. , So even he can do nothing."

Cao Cao laughed, patted Cao Xiu on the shoulder and said, "Wen Lie, you are right!"

"Zhong De!"

An eight-foot tall and robust scribe greeted him, it was Cheng Yu.

"What is the prime minister's order?"

Originally, the most quick-witted person in the Cao Jun was Xi Zhicai, but he suddenly fell ill in the past few months, and his condition has become more serious, so Cao Cao left him in Xuzhou to recuperate and rest, and he cooperated with Cheng Yu to go south.

Cao Cao pondered for a while, and ordered: "Zhong De, you are writing on behalf of the original minister, telling Yuan Rang and Zilian, order them to increase the harassment of Yanzhou and Jizhou, at the expense of casualties, it is better to cause Liangzhou army to cause our army to win. It’s a illusion, you have to do a fake show.

Cheng Yu nodded and added: "The prime minister, you can invite Yuan Shao to attack Jizhou in cooperation to increase the pressure on Xu Huang's department."

"Yuan Shao suffered heavy casualties, will he send troops?"