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

Everyone stood up one after another and surrounded Cao Cao and headed towards Chang'an City. The palace in Chang'an had been burned to pieces by the Red Eyebrow Army. After Liu Xiu ascended the throne in Luoyang, he did not rebuild the palace. He only built a palace on the original site of Weiyang Palace, which was repaired twice by Emperor Shun and Emperor Heng. Later, Dong Zhuo expanded the palace and named it the new Weiyang Palace.

Before Ma Chao's rebellion, this palace covering an area of ​​nearly four acres was used as the Sili Office, and now it has been changed to the Guanzhong Governor's Office, where Cao Zhi stationed in it and commanded the 140,000 troops in Guanzhong.

Cao Cao entered the palace and sat down in the inner hall. The generals stood on both sides. Cao Cao then asked, "There is news over Liu Jing."

Cao Ren took a step forward and bowed and said, "Report to the Prime Minister, Liu Jing has gathered troops in Hanzhong one after another. According to our latest information, it is estimated that there are 100,000 troops. In addition, there are 400,000 stones of grain left by Zhang Lu and a large amount of weapons and materials in the Nanzheng official warehouse. There is also a news that Liu Jing has renamed the Jingzhou army to the Han army."

Cao Cao was stunned and suddenly raised his head and laughed. Everyone was confused. Cao Cao nodded and said, "It seems that Liu Jing has no longer concealed his ambitions. My army is called Cao Jun, but his army is called Han Jun. Is he the army of the court?"

Xun You smiled slightly and said, "I'm afraid Liu Jing's real idea is to call the Southern Han Army."

"Gongda is right. Liu Jing doesn't want to admit the court. He wants to establish his own court. Unfortunately, his ambition will not succeed. I will defend Guanzhong to the death and not let him go to Guanzhong."

Speaking of this, Cao Cao looked around and said slowly: "Although I am very confident, we must also admit that Liu Jing's army is our biggest enemy. He has many advantageous troops. The navy can be ignored, but his heavy armored infantry can even compete with my tiger and leopard cavalry. In addition, he has excellent soldiers and sufficient food and well-trained soldiers. This battle in Guanzhong will each occupy half of the chances of victory. It depends on who can perform well in the battle. Therefore, we cannot be slacking off, nor can we be arrogant. Please remember this point."

Everyone bowed and bowed together, "The Prime Minister's teachings are remembered in my heart."

After Cao Cao met everyone, he returned to the inner hall. He ordered someone to find Xun You, Zhong Yao and Cao Ren. Cao Cao had already changed into loose clothes and smiled at everyone, "Please sit there as you like, everyone."

Cao Zhi was also present, and he stood behind his father. Cao Cao looked back at him, "You sit down too."

Seeing that everyone was sitting down, Cao Cao sighed and said, "I feel very regretful when I talk about it. If I persisted in Runan, I would have captured Liu Jing, who had gone to surrender to Liu Biao, and I would not have the passiveness today."

Everyone smiled bitterly. The Prime Minister had regretted this incident more than once. Xun You advised: "The empress was also present at that time. To be honest, I didn't take this little boy at all at that time. I guess everyone didn't take him seriously. Who would have thought that he would make a big splash one day, become the lord of Jingzhou and Yizhou, and become our biggest enemy. So the Prime Minister no longer has to worry about the past."

"I'm not thinking, I'm thinking, how great it would be if I had such a child."

Everyone looked at each other. It turned out that the Prime Minister had a desire for talent again. When will this old problem be changed? Cao Zhi looked embarrassed and bowed, "The child has disappointed my father."

Cao Cao waved his hand and sighed, "Forget it, I won't talk about this matter anymore. I'll listen to everyone's response. How should we deal with Liu Jing's northward journey?"

He glanced at Zhong Yao and smiled and said, "Yuan Chang not only wrote well, but also had good strategies. He is especially familiar with Guanzhong. I want to hear your opinion first."

Zhong Yao was the founder of regular script and a famous calligrapher in the late Han Dynasty. He was about 60 years old and a minister of the court. He had a particularly deep friendship with Xun You. Xun You recommended him to Cao Cao many times, so Cao Cao appointed Zhong Yao as the Sili School Captain and guarded Guanzhong.

It was also under Zhong Yao's painstaking management that the economy in Guanzhong has recovered very quickly over the years and is no longer as dilapidated as in the early years of Jian'an, and has already gained some vitality.

When Zhong Yao saw Cao Cao ask him first, he bowed and said, "I think Liu Jing will not attack Guanzhong, but will march into Longxi."

"How do you say this?" Cao Cao asked hurriedly.

"The reason is very simple. The six roads of the Zhongyu Valley Road in Guanzhong have been destroyed for decades and are difficult to reuse. In fact, there are only five roads, Wuguan Road, Wudao, Luotang Road, Baoxi Road and Chencang Road. Wuguan Road comes from Nanyang, so it can be ruled out, and only four roads are left. The characteristics of these four roads are all located in the steep mountains. It can be said that one man is at the pass, and tens of thousands of troops cannot be opened. Now there are tens of thousands of troops stationed in each valley. How can Liu Jing's army pass? Zhao Yun's army continues to harass him. They also know that if the four roads in Guanzhong cannot enter, then the most likely one is to go north of Qishan."

Zhong Yao's analysis was reasonable and well-founded, which made people convinced. Cao Cao walked to the map hanging on the wall with his hands behind his back and stared at the Guanzhong map for a long time. The map was marked very clearly, from the Wuguan Road in the east to the Chencang Road in the west. Cao Cao pondered for a while and said, "I want to go to Wudao to take a look in person."

.............

The Wu Road is the most steepest among the six paths in Guanzhong. Since ancient times, there has been a saying that the Six Paths in Zhongnan and Wu is the king. The Wu Road is also the closest Zhongnan passage to Chang'an. It leads from Chang'an to Hanzhong. It is six miles long, enters from the valley in the north and exits from the valley in the south, so it is also called Wu Valley.

There are steep and steep mountains on both sides of Wu Valley. The valley path is narrow and long, with only two steps at the narrowest point and less than two steps at the widest point. The high ground in the valley is undulating and the climate changes are unpredictable. It was sunny just now, but in a blink of an eye, it was covered with dark clouds and lightning and thunder. Often, businessmen and travelers are tired and die in the valley.

Cao's army built ten beacon towers on the top of a mountain about the north line of Wudao. On average, there was one beacon tower every ten miles, monitoring the valley road long. In addition, five military forts were built in dangerous places. Each military fort could accommodate people, forming a situation where one man was at the pass and ten thousand men could not open.

Not only that, Cao's army also had a large military camp at the entrance of the valley, with about 10,000 troops stationed. Not only Wugu, but the other valleys were all tightly defended, and tens of thousands of troops were stationed.

Cao Cao came to Wugukou with everyone. He did not go to the military camp, but went directly into the valley road. More than a thousand soldiers guarded him, heading south along the valley road. After walking about ten miles in the rugged valley road, there was a military fort in front, which was high above and cut off the valley road, just like a strong man straddling the valley road. Passengers must pass through the military fort.

This military fort is the southernmost defense point of Cao's army. To the south, only beacon towers remain. Cao Cao pointed to the military fort with a horse whip, "It's here."

The soldiers in the military fort came out one after another. In order to be a military marquis, he stepped forward and knelt down on one knee to greet him, "Meet the Prime Minister."

Cao Cao lowered his body and asked, "There may be an enemy situation recently."

"Report to the Prime Minister, there are often enemy scouts recently, and beacons are lit this morning. It is estimated that a large number of enemy troops will come to harass them."

Cao Cao nodded, turned over and dismounted. Surrounded by a group of military officials, he walked into the military fort, and went up to the floor, looking south from a high point. The valley to the south was relatively wide, like a trumpet-shaped one, with a thin and narrow top, gradually widening, and at the bottom was a flat land about a wide step.

At this moment, an army suddenly appeared in front of him, with about a thousand people, which were the cavalry, with flags as like clouds and quite spectacular. At this time, Cao Ren exclaimed in a low voice, "This is Liu Jing's army."

Everyone was stunned, and Cao Cao asked, "How can I see it?"

Cao Ren pointed to the flag in front and said, "Prime Minister, please look at a big flag in the middle. The red flag and black dragon gold edge are more than the ordinary flag. This is Liu Jing's handsome flag, and Liu Jing must be in it."

Cao Cao narrowed his eyes and looked closely. He also saw that there was indeed a golden-edged red flag in the other party's flag. He couldn't help but laugh, "It's really a coincidence that I actually met Liu Jing here."

Cao Cao's escorts became nervous, and more than a thousand people lined up, tense, and were vigilantly watching Liu Jing's army more than two steps away. At this time, the army opposite also stopped. Cao Cao saw clearly that there were only more than a thousand people, unlike who were coming to attack Wugu, but perhaps Liu Jing was also here to inspect.

Xun You whispered: "Liu Jing appears in Hanzhong, and the war is about to begin. I feel that Longxi needs to strengthen its troops, and in addition."

Before Xun You finished speaking, a cavalryman rushed over and shouted dozens of steps away: "Master Cao is here."

Cao Cao laughed at the top of the military fort and said, "Here is the true image."

The cavalry clasped his fists and said, "My family's governor wants to talk to Prime Minister Cao, but I don't know if the Prime Minister is willing to appreciate his face."

Cao Cao pondered for a moment, then smiled and said, "Yes, please ask the governor of Liuzhou to come forward and talk."

Liu Jing arrived in Hanzhong five days ago. He also came to inspect Wugu personally, accompanied by dozens of military generals and officials, to understand Cao's defense. Unexpectedly, he met Cao Cao in Wugu Road, which surprised him. He immediately realized that he still had a battle with Cao Cao in this battle in Guanzhong.

Soon, Liu Jing slowly stepped forward under the escort of more than 20 cavalrymen. The riders held shields in their hands and kept guarding Liu Jing to prevent Cao's army from attacking with crossbow arrows.

There are more than twenty steps away from the military fort, Liu Jing stopped, clasped his fists and said loudly: "Prime Minister Cao has invited me."

Cao Cao stood in front of the military fortress and laughed and said, "My dear nephew, don't be fine."

"My nephew is a hard-working man, running around Jingshu. However, the Prime Minister is a little old and his temples are gray. I also ask the Prime Minister to take care of his health."

Cao Cao has indeed grown a lot in the past two years, with half-white hair and frosty temples, but he never admits that he is old, and the ministers around Wu dare not mention this matter in front of him. Only Liu Jing pointed it out directly in front of more than a thousand people. Although it was a greeting, Cao Cao heard it harshly.

The smile on his face disappeared, and he replied lukewarmly: "I am strong and can ride a horse and open a bow, and recite poems and essays. I am very confident that one day I will personally erect a monument for the provincial governor. To be honest, I am very much looking forward to that day."
Chapter completed!