,,,,,,,,,,,,

In the study, Liu Min moved more than a dozen rolls of bamboo slips on the table and said to Ma Teng: "There are all the accounts in the manor that have problems."

Ma Teng recognized Liu Min and was extremely shocked. He immediately glanced at the maids standing at the door and told them, "You all retreat."

The reason why Ma Teng lets the maid enter the study was because he knew that if he did not do this, he would be under more strict surveillance. In short, only if someone knows what he is doing at all times can Cao Cao not be suspicious.

But today is different. Ma Teng knew that Ma Dai must have something important. Several maids retreated, and only they were left in the room. Liu Min then took out Ma Chao's letter from his arms and presented it to Ma Teng and said, "This is the letter from the Grand Duke to the General, please check it out."

Ma Teng glanced at Liu Min vigilantly. Compared to Er's letter, he was more concerned about Liu Min's identity. Liu Jing's aide in Jingzhou joined the army. The chief actually asked him to deliver the letter. He actually trusted this journey. What does this mean is that he wants to tell himself that he has reached a tacit understanding with Jingzhou?

Although he was very confused, Ma Teng did not ask too much, but opened Ma Chao's letter, which said that it was difficult for him to command several lieutenants in the army and asked his father to formally hand over the army to him, not just to serve as a steward.

Ma Teng couldn't help but sneer, if you hand over the power of the army, will you still have your own life?

In fact, the conflict between Ma Teng's father and his father was mainly caused by the competition for military power. The military power of the Xiliang army was always firmly grasped in Ma Teng's hands, which made Ma Chao, who was gradually eager for power, begin to be dissatisfied.

The conflict between the two fathers gradually increased. Although it was not enough to turn against each other, the senior officials of the Xiliang Army knew that their fathers were incompatible.

The reason why Ma Teng refused to give up the army completely when he arrived in Yedu was because he was afraid that Ma Chao would rebel, so he would not be able to survive in Yedu.

In fact, this is also Cao Cao's cleverness. He saw the conflict between Ma's father and asked Ma Teng to continue to control the army. He came to control Ma Teng, which indirectly controlled the Xiliang army. As for giving Ma Dai freedom, it was also to facilitate Ma Teng to control the Xiliang army.

Ma Teng paced back and forth in the study with his hands behind his back. He wanted to figure out his true intentions, but Ma Dai next to him was a little surprised. Since the eldest brother was trying to get military power, why did he let Jingzhou's aides come forward for him? Isn't this even more vigilant to my uncle and even less military power?

Ma Dai didn't understand, but Ma Teng understood a little. This was actually a kind of open and honest statement to him. Ma Chao wanted military power and wanted to form an alliance with Jingzhou. He spread everything on the table, told himself clearly, and finally let himself choose.

If he doesn't choose or agree, then Ma Chao will lose his moral responsibility. At this time, Ma Teng is already sure that Ma Chao is going to take action, or he has already taken action. He must have the confidence to control the military power and will directly reveal it to himself.

Ma Teng felt a pain in his heart. Is he really going to abandon himself?

At this time, Ma Teng suddenly stared at Liu Min with a sharp look, and his anger shifted to Liu Min, "You are so brave, you are instigating our father's relationship. Are you not afraid of being cut into pieces?"

Ma Teng shouted loudly, and several personal guards immediately appeared at the door. Ma Dai was shocked and quickly advised: "This matter has nothing to do with Mr. Liu. He is just a sender. Uncle should not take his anger on him."

Liu Min seemed to know that Ma Teng came to vent his anger. He said lightly: "I am the special envoy of Jingzhou. Do you know the consequences if Ma Gong killed me?"

"If you kill you, my son will not collude with Jingzhou again," Ma Teng said viciously.

"Ma Gong was wrong"

Liu Min is still calm, "If you kill me, Meng Qi will completely cut off his father's affection and rebel against Cao. Can Ma Gong stay in Yedu?"

Ma Teng was stunned for a moment. He stared at Liu Min for a while, waved to several guards. The guard stepped back. Ma Teng then asked coldly: "What do you say?"

Liu Min smiled and said, "I'll say frankly, Meng Qi guaranteed my safety to my lord. If I was killed, he would immediately join forces with Han Sui to attack Guanzhong. My lord set out from Xiangyang to attack Nanyang and attack the Central Plains. Cao Cao was attacked from both sides. In this case, will Cao Cao use Ma Gong's head to apologize to my lord?"

Ma Teng is a suspicious person. He heard Liu Min say something reasonable, but when he saw that Liu Min was calm and did not look scared at all, he couldn't help thinking in his heart that this person must have a backup plan and should not be careless.

Thinking of this, Ma Teng suppressed the annoyance in his heart and said slowly: "I won't write any letters. Go back and tell Meng Qi, let him think about how to be a person and how to be a brother."

Speaking of this, he said to Ma Dai again: "You go back with Mr. Liu to help Meng Qi manage his troops."

Ma Dai sighed in his heart, "Is uncle going to put himself on the fire?"

At the same time Ma Teng was facing Ma Chao's forced to palace, in the study of the Prime Minister's Mansion, Cao Cao, Xun You and Cheng Yu urgently discussed the next strategic deployment.

Just half an hour ago, Cao Cao met with Jiangdong envoy Zhang Wen. Zhang Wen proposed new requirements to increase tincture oil assistance or teach tincture oil technology to Jiangdong. Cao Cao just laughed out these two requirements.

But Cao Cao immediately received another major intelligence, and the Jiangxia army actually wiped out Cheng Pu's Wan Army in Lujiang County, which made Cao Cao very nervous.

In the room, Cheng Yu sighed slightly, "Since Cheng Pu was defeated in Lujiang, Jiangdong had already lost this battle. In this way, Liu Jing would be out of the East's restraint. He would definitely go west to Bashu with all his might. In fact, in some way, we helped him."

Xun You's face next to him was very ugly. Cheng Yu's words meant that his Jiangdong Ce was a huge mistake, which led to Liu Jing defeating Jiangdong and stabilizing the eastern front. However, this is another fact, which made Xun You unable to defend for the time being.

Cao Cao saw Xun You's embarrassment and quickly smoothed out the situation: "The battlefield has always been elusive. No one knows whether it is lost or won in advance. The key is that the Jiangdong Army is disappointing. I thought it and Jingzhou had been strong for decades, and also had a strong navy. At least it could be a loss-making loss. I didn't expect this was my prediction mistake."

Although Cao Cao explained for Xun You, Xun You did not deny his mistake in judgment. He was silent for a moment: "Prime Minister, this matter is indeed a matter of inadequate consideration. He did not expect that the impact of turmeric oil on the water war. More importantly, the current lord of Jingzhou is no longer Liu Biao who only swept the snow in front of the door, but Liu Jing who cares about the world. I underestimated him and was willing to take all the responsibility."

Although Cheng Yu looked down on Xun You's four strategies and spoke sarcastic words, he immediately realized that he not only slapped Xun You in the face, but also slapped the Prime Minister's face. It would only be detrimental to him if he made the Prime Minister unhappy.

Cheng Yu immediately apologized: "The Prime Minister is right. This is indeed not the responsibility of Gongda. The strategy itself is not wrong. It is very clever. I can only say that Sun Quan is disappointing. In fact, Gongda's strategy also has great gains."

"What gains?" Cao Cao asked quickly.

Cheng Yu smiled and said, "At least it destroyed the Sun-Liu Alliance. It was not easy to reach the Sun-Liu Alliance at the beginning. Now it has been destroyed by Sun Quan. It will be difficult to reach the Anti-North League again, so this is Sun Quan's biggest mistake."

“Good said”

Cao Cao smiled with relief and said, "Zhongde is very accurate, it is true. Okay, let's not talk about this anymore. Let's talk about the next step. I'll invite you two to discuss how we should deal with Liu Jing's expansion in the west."

A personal soldier walked to the wall and pulled up the bamboo curtains on the wall. A wide wooden carving map appeared on the wall. This is a group view of the world, which was made by the craftsmen just now.

The map marks the current distribution of major forces, including the court forces in the north, the Yuan forces in Liaodong, the Ma Chao and Han Sui forces in Xiliang, the Zhang Lu forces in Hanzhong, and the Liu Jingzhou forces in the south, the Sun Quan forces in Jiangdong, the Liu Bei forces in Jingnan, and the Liu Zhang forces in Bashu.

It can be clearly seen from this map that although the court has a large influence and occupied the most populous Central Plains, Hebei, Bingzhou and Guanzhong, the separatist rule in the world has far from subsided. Cao Cao specially used a red corner flag to insert it on Jingzhou.

Cao Cao picked up the wooden pole and pointed at Liaodong, "I have ordered Cao Chun to lead 10,000 troops to station Linyu Pass, so that I don't have to consider the worries of Hebei for the time being."

Cao Cao's wooden pole slid towards Bashu again, drew a circle on Bashu, and said, "What I worry most now is here. Once Liu Jing loses the worries of Jiangdong, his next step must be to seize Bashu. I don't know when, this year or next year, but no matter when, once Liu Jing seizes Bashu, he will be like a tiger and will truly become my enemy. So no matter what, we must stop the Jiangxia army from expanding west."

Speaking of this, Cao Cao sighed slightly, "But last night I saw Ruo's grain news. Now that the inventory of military rations in various places has reached a limit, I can no longer use troops. At the latest, I have to wait for the autumn harvest. Am I just watching Liu Jing march into Xichuan and gain a foundation?"

Cheng Yu next to him smiled and said, "I might as well make a bet with the Prime Minister. Liu Jing will not attack Bashu this year, at least wait until the spring is coming next year."

Cao Cao was overjoyed, "How to say this?"

Cheng Yu smiled and said, "There are five ropes that have dragged Liu Jing's hind legs, making it impossible for him to expedition to Bashu in the west this year. First, if Jiangdong is defeated, he will take at least several months to deal with the funeral of Jiangdong; second, he will move the prefecture to Xiangyang, settle down in Jiangxia and restore Xiangyang, which will take at least several months; more, he will compete with Liu Bei for the Yiling Road, but the road cannot be opened, so it will take several months for him to fight Bashu; fourth, his army has more than one year of continuous wars, and the people in Jingzhou are struggling, so he also needs to rest and recuperate, which will take at least one year; fifth, and the most critical point, he must regain Fancheng Xinye and resettle the people fleeing east. Such five ropes will be implicated. If he can expedition to Bashu next spring, it will be very good."

Cao Cao nodded repeatedly, Cheng Yu's analysis deeply agreed. He pondered for a moment: "Zhongde means that Liu Jing will turn around and attack Fancheng Xinye after the war with Jiangdong ends. Is that true?"

"I think this must be the case, otherwise he would not be able to move the prefecture to Xiangyang, and"

Speaking of it, Cheng Yu hesitated and said, "I have a little doubt that Liu Jing will continue to attack Nanyang to increase the depth of Xiangyang's defense."

Cao Cao was silent. He paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, looked up at the roof for a moment, and slowly said, "Xu Gongming only had 10,000 troops, no benefits from navy troops, and there were only 5,000 defenders in Nanyang. More importantly, Xiahou Yuan and Cao Ren were still in the hands of Liu Jing, so I have to find a way to redeem them."

Speaking of this, he glanced at Cheng Yu. Cheng Yu understood what Cao Cao meant and smiled: "If the Prime Minister wants to sign a contract with Liu Jing, he exchanged Fancheng and Xinye for General Miaocai, and at the same time, he also saved Nanyang, I think it is feasible."
Chapter completed!