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On the river outside Yidu County, 1,55 warships were densely laid on the river, like crucian carp crossing the river, with a huge scale.

This is the 70,000 Jingzhou army that is about to expedition to Bashu, who have gathered on the river outside Yidu City for two days, waiting for the final order.

The so-called Battle of Jingnan was just an excuse for their army to assemble. Jingzhou made full preparations for several months, including 100,000 stones of grain, countless weapons and supplies, more than 10,000 mules, horses and livestock, and mobilized 20,000 boatmen and 10,000 logistics civilians.

Jingzhou almost devoted almost all the benefits of the Battle of Chibi to this war.

The 70,000 troops were divided into two groups, one was composed of veteran Huang Zhong as the main general and Liao Hua as the deputy general, leading 20,000 troops to land, and the other was that Liu Jing personally led 50,000 troops to land, and the water and land were carried out at the same time, and he would seize Bashu in one fell swoop.

At the dock, Liu Jing was mobilizing several generals above the army to fight.

"Dear generals, Liu Zhang of Yizhou has passed away not long ago. His two sons broke out in civil war for the position of inheritance. In Badong County, the Dongzhou soldiers and the local troops of Bashu also broke out in war. This is our opportunity. The flag of the Jingzhou army will then fly over Bashu..."

Speaking of this, Liu Jing slowly looked at everyone, and saw that everyone looked solemn and their eyes were full of tension, as if they were going to participate in a battle of blood and fire. He smiled and said, "Don't be nervous, you all generals, we have an absolute advantage in capturing Bashu. Liu Zhang died new, people's hearts were in chaos, and there were still tens of thousands of troops trapped in Hanzhong. As long as we don't take risks and do stupid moves in this battle, we will definitely be able to take Bashu within two months at most, and all the soldiers participating in the battle will be rewarded."

The last sentence made the officers jubilant, and the atmosphere on the dock suddenly became warm. Liu Jing waved his hand again, and the officers on the dock calmed down again. Liu Jing then ordered: "One later, I will go back and prepare now."

The officers dispersed one after another. At this time, Sima Yi hurried up with a messenger and said, "Prince, there is news from Wucheng just sent."

The report soldier stepped forward and knelt down on one knee, raised a letter high, "This is my family's letter of help to the provincial governor."

When Liu Jingxun took the letter, he felt a little inexplicable worry. Before he went to war, he actually received a letter from Pang Xi for help, which gave Liu Jing an ominous premonition.

He looked at the letter and found that Pang Xi was defeated by Yan Yan. Now the soldiers are in small positions and are huddled in Wucheng County, begging Jingzhou to send troops to provide assistance.

"Is it a defeat in Badong or a defeat in Wucheng army?" Pang Xi did not write it clearly in the letter, and Liu Jing asked the soldiers who reported the letter.

"Qi Bingzhou Governor first defeated Badong, General Pang Jun was killed. Yan Yan's army chased and killed the fleeing soldiers to Wucheng. He was very arrogant. Pang Shou attacked angrily, but he was ambushed again and was killed and returned home with great defeat."

"How many troops are there in Wucheng now?" Liu Jing asked again.

"Pang Shou has transferred the defenders of Zigui County to Wucheng, with less than a thousand troops."

"I see"

Liu Jing asked his personal soldiers to take the newsman to go down. At this time, Sima Yi smiled and said, "It seems that Yan Yan is also quite good at using tricks, and it will be a stumbling block for us to move westward."

"Military advisors don't have to worry. Although Yan Yan has some strategy, his mantis arm cannot stop the chariot. Our army advances westward and will definitely crush his 20,000 troops."

Liu Jing stared at a green farmland in the distance, and he couldn't help but sigh softly, "It's my sin to go to the battle in spring."

After saying that, he turned around and walked towards the big ship, shouted the order, "ready to leave"

One hour later, with the sound of huge war drums, one thousand five warships hung sails, thousands of sails were like clouds, extremely spectacular, and the fleet sailed towards Bashu, officially opening the curtain for the westward expansion of Jingzhou.

.........

Yedu, under the night sky, a carriage slowly stopped in front of the Prime Minister's Mansion. Xun You came out of the carriage with the support of a family child. On the steps of the mansion, more than a dozen people carried lanterns and shone the door in front of the mansion as daylight. Cao Zhi, who was waiting in front of the steps, hurriedly came forward and bowed and said, "Father is waiting for the uncle in the study, please follow me."

Xun You nodded and smiled, "What happened? Your father is so anxious to find me."

"I don't know the specific nephew, it seems to be related to Yizhou."

"Oh, there is news from Yizhou," Xun You asked, stroked his beard.

"Just just now, a quick message was sent in Yizhou. My father seemed very shocked. I guess the news was not good."

The bad news came from Yizhou was as expected by Xun You. At the beginning of the month, he told the Prime Minister that Liu Jing gathered a large army in Jiangling, nominally attacking Jingnan, but actually preparing to use troops to Bashu. He made a suggestion, first, to issue an edict to clarify the sphere of influence of the princes and not give Liu Jing an excuse to cross the border to attack Yizhou.

Secondly, it was suggested that Cao's army launch a large increase in troops in Runan to put pressure on Anlu County, so that Liu Jing dared not act rashly.

The first suggestion was to remind Liu Zhang to increase his troops to Badong County and strengthen Yizhou's own defense. However, for some reason, the prime minister did not adopt the first two suggestions, nor did he explain the reason to him. However, Xun You could guess one or two. The key was that the prime minister's mentality was different from before. Since the defeat in Chibi, the prime minister has obviously changed from offense to defense, and his focus has also shifted from military to politics, losing his former strength.

Of course, Xun You could also understand that the Battle of Chibi caused great losses to the Central Plains' material resources and financial resources, and it has not yet recovered. It is obviously unrealistic to think of sending troops on a large scale, but more importantly, the prime minister is old and no longer has the aura of his former self, but instead pays more attention to his status in the Han Dynasty.

On the contrary, Liu Jing was young and vigorous, full of vitality, with elite soldiers and civilians, and with top talents like Jia Xu and Sima Yi, it is reasonable that the great cause of expansion is in an upward period.

Frankly speaking, Xun You did not have a good plan to suppress Liu Jing's expansion in the west, unless you let Jingzhou cause civil strife, it seems impossible, and Jiangdong is not a threat. After thinking about it, he had to send troops to intervene.

Xun You followed Cao Zhi quickly to the inner hall. This was the place where Cao Cao summoned his confidant aides to discuss military and national affairs. The Prime Minister was walking back and forth in the hall alone, which seemed very worried, which made Xun You feel inexplicably sad.

In the past, the five major advisers, Guo Jia died of illness, Jia Xu surrendered to Liu Jing, and his uncle turned to the government affairs of the court and no longer advised the prime minister. However, after Cheng Yu was defeated in Chibi, he felt guilty and kept saying that he could not get out of illness. Now the prime minister is the only one left.

Xun You walked quickly to the hall, bowed and said, "I am going to see the Prime Minister."

"Gongda is coming just right, please come in quickly"

Cao Cao was anxious. He had no intention of reconciling family matters with Xun You. The two sat down. He said straight to the point: "Just just got the news that Liu Zhang died of illness."

This news shocked Xun You, "How could he die of illness?"

"I heard that he died suddenly during the inspection, and the cause of death is unknown, and it may be that he died of poisoning."

Cao Cao sighed and said, "Now Liu Zhang's two sons accused each other of poisoning each other and led their troops to conquer the war. The civil war was very fierce. The war between the soldiers and the Bashu clans in the south had also fought fiercely. Yizhou is now in chaos."

Xun You snorted slightly and said, "Liu Zhang died suddenly. Who else would be the one who did Liu Jing do? It's a pity that Liu Zhang and his two stupid people fought for their own interests, but ignored the arrival of great enemies."

Cao Cao nodded, "It is obvious that Liu Zhang's death is the biggest benefit. As long as Liu Zhang is eliminated, Yizhou will become a land without a border. Liu Jing can seize Bashu before the imperial court appointed the governor of Xinzhou, in the name of quelling the Bashu rebellion and protecting the people. He will morally stand firm. At that time, he will force me to admit his control over Bashu."

Speaking of this, Cao Cao's eyes showed an unconcealed worry and said to Xun You: "Liu Jing occupied Jingzhou and Bashu, and the world's wealthy land was second, and Bashu was more advantageous. If his Shangyong strategy was successful, it would be a one-stop bass in the Hanzhong, and then the troops were targeted at Guanzhong, which would occupy half of the Han Dynasty. Gongda, what should we do now?"

Xun You sighed in his heart, Liu Zhang died suddenly, Liu Jing's general situation was ready to seize Yizhou, and there was still some way to stop it, but he had to share the worries for Cao Cao. After pondering for a while, Xun You said slowly: "I have a plan, maybe it can slow down Liu Jing's progress in the west."

Of course, Cao Cao also knew that this matter was difficult. If it was easy, he could decide by himself. It was because he had no choice but to invite Xun You. Xun You did not disappoint him and proposed a plan. He quickly smiled and said, "Please tell me if Gongda."

"The first plan can be called an urgent plan, and it must be done immediately. The court must immediately recognize Liu Xun or Liu Wei as the governor of Yizhou Prefecture, and then send people to Yizhou to persuade their brothers to stop internal strife and to unite with the outside world. This will make Liu Jing untenable in morality. At the same time, it is also recommended to immediately station troops in Nanyang or Runan, and take advantage of Liu Jing's approaching westward and Jingzhou is empty, so that the troops will be suppressed by Liu Jingzhou and force Liu Jing to withdraw his troops."

Cao Cao nodded silently. He could admit that Liu Wei was the governor of Yizhou and that Huang Quan could reconcile the civil war. There was no problem with this, but he thought it was inappropriate to attack Jingzhou. Xun You proposed this plan last time, but he did not adopt it.

It was not because he and Liu Jing signed a contract that was not attacking each other. That kind of contract was meaningless to him. The key was that there was a barrier between the Han River and the Yangtze River, and Jiangxia had a strong naval army. He had little effect on attacking Jingzhou, but instead tore up and broke the contract, giving Liu Jing the opportunity to attack Nanyang. Therefore, Cao Cao weighed the pros and cons, and did not adopt the plan to station troops in Runan.

But Cao Cao didn't want to explain too much, so he asked: "Please tell me the second plan."

Xun You felt that Cao Cao was not very surprised, and probably he would not adopt the policy of force Jingzhou. Helplessly, he had to say again: "If Liu Jing occupied Bashu, the Prime Minister could secretly support the local Bashu faction and at the same time allocate the conflict between the local Bashu faction and the Dongzhou faction, making it difficult for Liu Jing to gain a foothold in Yizhou and was forced to give up Yizhou. This plan takes a certain amount of time, but the effect will be very good, so it is also called delaying the plan."

"Yes," Cao Cao praised: "This is a plan to remove firewood from the cauldron. Without the support of the people of Bashu, Liu Jing could not swallow it even if he swallowed Bashu. More importantly, it could buy me time. I have adopted this plan. I will ask Gongda's plan."

Xun You thought for a while and said, "The first plan, let's call it a supplementary plan. What I mean is that we did not seize the initiative in Bashu and Hanzhong, and formed today's passiveness. Then we will seize Liu Jing and block his next step."

"Gongda refers to Guanzhong," Cao Cao asked.

Xun You nodded, "It's Guanzhong."

Cao Cao walked slowly with his hands behind his back. He understood Xun You's meaning. The key to Guanzhong lies in the horse. If the horse is not removed, Liu Jing might use his alliance with the horse to seek Guanzhong.

For horses, once Liu Jing takes over Guanzhong, it means that he has completely controlled Longyou, and no longer has to worry about the support of the Cao army in Guanzhong for Han Sui, and even asks Liu Jing to help him destroy Han Sui together.

However, for Liu Jing, if he conquered Guanzhong, he would form a situation of surrounding the Central Plains in the south and west directions, forming a strategic siege for himself, causing himself to lose sight of one thing and the other, and would eventually be eroded by Liu Jing step by step. Only by taking the lead in controlling Guanzhong, destroying the horse, and blocking Liu Jing in Hanzhong, is the correct strategy.

Thinking of this, Cao Cao turned around and asked, "If we want to destroy the horse, what should we do?"

Xun You stroked his beard and smiled and said, "The horses are beneficial to cavalry, and most of the soldiers in the army are Qiang people. Longyou is his foundation. If it is difficult to destroy him in Longyou, it is better to lure him to Guanzhong and destroy him in Guanzhong."

Cao Cao was overjoyed and asked quickly: "The plan will come out."
Chapter completed!