The 21st year of Jian'an was destined to be tense and busy. On the third day after the dantian, the ministers of Pingzhangtai rushed to Fengyi County and Fufeng County again to continue to deal with the resettlement of the Huns.

At the same time, the planning and preparation of the Hefei battle also quietly kicked off. Li Jing appointed Li Yan as the grain commander of Jingxiang to coordinate the military food transportation in various counties in Jingxiang. In addition, Liu Jing ordered the collection of 1,500 civilian ships in Jingzhou for military material transportation, and transferred 30,000 troops from Bashu and Jingnan to Chaisang.

The capture of Hefei can be controlled by Jiangdong in the south and Xuyu in the north, which can be regarded as a great strategic fulcrum. If the Han army wants to unify the world, seize the Central Plains, and annex Jiangdong, Hefei is bound to win. Since last year, the Battle of Hefei was a clear plan on the table. Not only did the Han army clearly understand this, but the Cao army also knew this.

Cao Cao tried every means to prevent the outbreak of the Hefei Battle, and even used his daughter and Liu Jing's marriage, but it still had no effect. Except for the Han-Hungarian War that broke out in autumn and winter last year, which delayed the Battle of Hefei for half a year, there was no force to block the will of the Han army to seize it.

Unless Cao Cao agreed to Liu Jing's conditions and gave up Luoyang, Cao Cao would not agree to such conditions that drinking poison to quench thirst, and giving up Luoyang means that the gate of the Central Plains will be opened, and the Han army can sweep the Central Plains at any time, and stand firm in Hefei and compete with the Han army, but he still doesn't know who will win.

Since he had learned about the strategic deployment of the Han army, Cao Cao did not wait for death. He appointed Zhang Liao as the governor of Yangzhou, deployed 100,000 troops in Hefei and Shouchun, and appointed Cao Ren as the governor of Xuzhou, and deployed 60,000 troops in Xuzhou as the counter-attack of Hefei.

At the same time, Cao Cao ordered the recruitment of 200,000 civilians in Si and Huai areas to strengthen the city defenses of Hefei and Shouchun, and widen the river channels to better connect the two important cities of Feishou.

Just after the New Year, Cao Cao arrived in Hefei City. At this time, he had made it clear that the Han army would launch an attack on Hefei before April, so it would be urgent to speed up the progress of Hefei's fortifications.

At the end of Hefei City, Zhang Liao was accompanying Cao Cao and military advisor Cheng Yu to inspect the progress of Hefei City. The water in Xiaoyaojin had been drained, and tens of thousands of civilians were nervously repairing the city wall. A three-mile city wall has begun to take shape on Xiaoyaojin.

Seeing Cao Cao frowned, Zhang Liao seemed not very satisfied with the progress of the city building, he quickly explained: "Reported to Duke Wei, the fortifications for the construction of the city on Xiaoyaojin are extremely large. It is not the city wall itself, but the water from Xiaoyaojin is drained first. We used several plans but failed. In the end, we could only dig a depression east of Xiaoyaojin to seal the water inlet and outlet of Xiaoyaojin, and then drain the water into the depression, and then use soil to fill the silt at the bottom of the lake. This fortification alone took three months. The villagers were busy day and night, and even the main dynasty only had three days off."

"Stay for three days?" Cao Cao sneered: "I haven't had a day off in the dantian. Are you even worse than these civilians?"

"But it's too tight, they will not work hard."

Before Zhang Liao finished speaking, Cao Cao waved his hand and interrupted him and asked, "I want to know how many civilians died?"

Zhang Liao hesitated for a moment and whispered: "Seven people died one after another."

"Very good. Only seven people died. I guess these seven people died of illness! No wonder it took four or five months to even have a shadow appeared in the city wall. I don't think it is necessary to repair it. Withdraw the troops to Shouchun and give Hefei directly to the Han army. None of the civilians need to die. This fulfills your love for the people. General Zhang, do you think so?" Cao Cao looked at Zhang Liao with a smile.

Zhang Liao heard the serious dissatisfaction in Cao Cao's tone, so he quickly knelt down and apologized: "I have to bear the heavy trust of Duke Wei, and I am willing to bear all the blame."

Cheng Yu next to him saw that Zhang Liao was not in line with the current affairs, and he couldn't help but feel anxious. Duke Wei was dissatisfied with the progress too slowly, so Zhang Liao should answer how to improve the progress. This is the way to solve the problem. At this time, he still has to take the blame. Wouldn't it make Duke Wei even more angry?

Seeing Cao Cao's face getting darker and obviously was about to take off, Cheng Yu hurriedly advised: "Please calm down. I feel that Wen Yuan also knows that it is important and has a plan in his heart, which will not affect the overall situation in Hefei. Duke Wei might as well let Wen Yuan finish his words."

Cheng Yu's words reminded Cao Cao that since Zhang Liao was the main general of Hefei, Zhang Liao should be fully responsible for the entire battle situation in Hefei. With Zhang Liao's literary and military strategy, how could he not know that the situation was urgent? Perhaps he did have his own plan. Thinking of this, Cao Cao's face cleared a little and asked again: "Then tell me, how do you ensure that the overall situation in Hefei will not be affected?"

Zhang Liao looked at Cheng Yu gratefully and said in a deep voice: "There are spies in both Chaisang and Lujiang. We should pay close attention to the movements of the Han army. We thought that the Battle of Hefei is a war situation that concerns the general trend of the world. The Han army will never send troops rashly. We must be fully prepared, especially strategic materials such as food, grass, ships, etc., which must be prepared in advance. The combat preparation time alone will not be less than three months. Therefore, the Huyi is limited to three months. The Huyi can ensure that the city wall is completed in two and a half months, and it will take another half a month to cool down and solidly."

"But can you complete your progress in two and a half months? I'm very suspicious."

"I have reported to Duke Wei, because it is late winter now, the weather is cold, and there is still ice condensation in the soil. Once the rammed earth is now, the ice water dissolves after spring, and the originally compacted soil will collapse, which seriously affects the solidity of the city wall. Therefore, the plan chosen by Huzhi is to prepare materials first and prepare fortifications simultaneously. After the spring of February, construction will start immediately. Because the preparation is sufficient, it will only take one month to complete the construction."

Zhang Liao's words greatly relieved Cao Cao's face. After thinking about it carefully, it was indeed the truth. This is called sharpening the knife and chopping wood. He asked again: "How is the current progress of defensive weapons such as catapults?"

"Report to Duke Wei, all eighty catapults have been completed last month and are only waiting for the final installation of Shangcheng."

At this time, Cao Cao also felt that he was too strict with Zhang Liao just now. He felt a little apologized and his tone eased more and more: "Wen Yuan, I just hope you understand that this battle in Hefei is of great importance. Once the Han army breaks through this critical step, his world chess game will be deployed, and we will also face a huge strategic passive. Wen Yuan, we can't afford to lose this battle!"

Zhang Liao nodded silently, Cao Cao didn't say anything more, patted Zhang Liao on the shoulder, turned around and went down the city. Zhang Liao looked at Cao Cao's back and walked away. At this moment, he felt great pressure.

The next morning, Cao Cao left Hefei and took a boat to Shouchun for inspection. The trip from Hefei to Shouchun was mainly connected by fertilizer and water. Because the fertilizer and water were blocked by mud and silt, the river channel was very narrow and could only travel a warship of 500 stone. In order to strengthen the connection between Shouchun and Hefei, Zhang Liao recruited tens of thousands of civilians to dredge the river for 200 miles, so that the fertilizer and water could already travel a thousand stone cargo ship, greatly accelerating the transportation of materials between Shouchun and Hefei.

Cao Cao stood on the big boat, looking at the green mountains on both sides with his hands behind his back, and the clear water was as clear as a belt. Although it was still late winter, there was a hint of warmth in the air. Cao Cao couldn't help but admire him and smiled at Cheng Yu and said, "The scenery of Jianghuai is like a picture, and it is indeed more beautiful than the north. Unfortunately, the population is too small. If I give me another ten years, I will vigorously immigrate to Jianghuai and make Jianghuai a rich granary for the Wei Kingdom."

Cheng Yu smiled and said, "As long as we can defeat the Han army this time, Duke Wei will have the opportunity to manage Jianghuai. I don't think it will take ten years to fulfill Duke Wei's wish in five years."

Cao Cao nodded and asked again: "Does Zhongde think I can defeat Liu Jing this time?"

"Duke Wei, the matter is in human affairs. As long as Duke Wei prepares for the war, makes arrangements from the overall situation, and persists, I believe we will definitely win the battle in Hefei."

Cao Cao heard something in Cheng Yu's words. He never mentioned the overall situation, but today he proposed it for the first time, indicating that Cheng Yu was thinking about it. Cao Cao smiled and said, "What is the overall situation? I would like to listen to the military advisor's detailed discussion."

Cheng Yu said calmly: "I have been thinking about it for the past few months. Last year, Duke Wei went to Jiangdong to join Sun Quan to join the alliance, but Liu Jing also rushed there. Why? Is this just to compete with Duke Wei for Qiao?"

"Of course not!"

Cao Cao smiled faintly and said, "Liu Jing is not a lustful person. It was just the right time for him to get Big and Big Qiao, and it was definitely not because he deliberately fought for it."

"Mr. Wei is right, then why did he go to Jiangdong? Have you ever thought about it?"

Cao Cao pondered for a while and said, "I think his real purpose is to destroy my alliance with Sun Quan."

"That's right. It was precisely to destroy the alliance between Duke Wei and Sun Quan that I later figured out that including his release of Lu Xun back to Wujun and the burning of Jiangbei warships, all of which were his foresight, all for the preparations for the Hefei battle."

Cao Cao's eyes flashed, and he stared at Cheng Yu and asked, "Zhongde, what do you mean?"

Cheng Yu sighed slightly and said, "Last autumn, Xun Lingjun's back disease relapsed and unfortunately passed away. I rushed to Yingchuan on behalf of Duke Wei to attend the funeral and happened to meet Xun You. I talked with him for a long time and begged him to go out to continue to serve Duke Wei because Duke Wei has been treating him well for many years."

Since Xun You was released back to Yedu by Liu Jing, he was reluctant to participate in military affairs. Cao Cao was also dissatisfied with Xun Yu because of Xun Yu's affairs, so he sent Xun You to Xun Chang as a free official. Soon, Xun You returned to his hometown to study behind closed doors and did not ask about political affairs.

Although Cao Cao felt a little regretful, it was absolutely impossible to make him apologize to Xun You. When Cheng Yu talked about Xun You, Cao Cao asked, "What did he say?"

"He said nothing, and did not express his opinion, but before I set out to Hefei, I received a letter from him."

Cheng Yu took out Xun You's letter and handed it to Cao Cao. Cao Cao saw the familiar handwriting again and felt a little moved. He opened the letter, but saw that there was only one sentence in the letter, "Great the whole world, and the whole world is three parts."

Cao Cao frowned, "What does he mean?"
Chapter completed!