Yanzhou, Shanyang County.

The governor's mansion was full of generals and ministers.

Cao Cao, who was dressed in a maroon brocade robe, paced his steps, and only after the personnel had arrived did he sit down slowly and say to everyone: "I summoned you here today to hear your opinions. ”

As for what it is, everyone here knows what it is.

Two days ago, an urgent report came from the front line, saying that Lu Buqin had led an army of 40,000 troops from Chenliu and was marching in the direction of Jiyin.

Its intentions are self-evident.

"My lord, Lu Bu sits in Guanzhong, and the two places of Merge and Liang, and his power is huge, and since he defeated Yuan Shu last year, he is even more prosperous. Yanzhou, which has been turbulent in recent years, is really unable to fight with it, so his subordinates think that it is better to avoid the edge for the time being. ”

As soon as these words came out, many people nodded and agreed.

Although the current Cao Cao is barely sitting in Yanzhou, if he wants to collide with Lu Bu, it is undoubtedly an egg against a stone, and many people are not optimistic.

Xiahoudun, Cao Ren and the others who were sitting in the front position did not express their opinions, for them, as long as Cao Cao gave the order, let alone fighting against Lu Bu, even if it was a sea of swords and fires, they would dare to go on a journey.

It was not easy to sit firmly in Yanzhou, Cao Cao naturally did not want to retreat, he asked Xun Yu, who was headed by the scribes: "Wen Ruo, what do you think?" ”

Xun Yu, who was in charge of other driving, got up and replied: "Lord, according to me, Yanzhou, we can't retreat a single step!" ”

Cao Cao's eyes flashed with a gleam, among the many strategists, he was most optimistic about Xun Yu, and he often compared himself to 'my son's room'.

Xun Yu dared to say this, it would definitely not be untargeted.

"Why?" Cao Cao asked in a deep voice.

"Back to the lord, Lu Bu is very ambitious. If he takes a step back because he is afraid of his strength, he will definitely take a step forward, and if he takes two steps back, he will inevitably take two steps, and so on until the whole of Yanzhou is swallowed up. ”

Xun Yu said very firmly, through the collection of Lu Bu's intelligence in recent years, he deeply believed that Lu Bu had woken up. And the beast that devours people everywhere.

As long as such a person does not die, even if he survives, his fangs will never be smoothed.

Rather than waiting until there is no way to retreat, and then counterattack, it is better to not give up an inch of land from the beginning!

After listening to Xun Yu's opinion, Cao Cao thought it was true, and he meant it himself. If he cowers because of the strength of others, then it will be difficult for him to become a hegemon in this life.

"So how do we deal with it?" The belligerent generals couldn't help but ask.

"Lu Bu is from Chenliu, and the first target will definitely be Jiyin."

Xun Yu was confident about this, so he suggested to Cao Cao that he send heavy troops to defend in Juyang, Boxian, and Dingtao, and connect them vertically into a straight line, so that these three places are connected in series into a hard 'wall' to resist the offensive of Lu Bu's army.

Cao Cao nodded approvingly, judging from the current situation, it can only be like this.

The morale of Lü Bu's army is now like a rainbow, and Cao Cao has little chance of winning in the frontal battle, so he has to defend the city and wait until the sharp energy of Lü Bu's army is consumed before making a decision.

The general strategic plan was formulated, and Cao Cao's next step was to deploy troops.

"Cao Ren!" Cao Cao shouted.

The young general sitting below was obviously stunned for a moment, because in the past, the first person to shout was basically Xiahoudun, and today the first one was actually called his name, so Cao Ren didn't react for a while.

Fortunately, he was only stunned for a moment, then he came back to his senses and clenched his fists, and replied calmly: "The end will be!" ”

Cao Cao took out an arrow and said loudly: "I have 10,000 soldiers and horses with you, Cao Hong and Li Dian are deputies, and we will go to guard Juyang, and we will not be lost!" ”

"The last general commands!" Cao Ren stepped forward to take the arrow, and then solemnly clenched his fists.

"Xiahou Yuan!" Cao Cao drew the second arrow.

"The last general!"

"I will also have 10,000 soldiers and horses with you, with Le Jin and Cao Xiu as deputies, and guard Bo County for me."

"Obey!"

After instructing Cao Ren and Xiahou Yuan, Cao Cao looked at Xun Yu: "As for the dispatch of grain and grass, supplies and reinforcements, I will leave it to you, Wen Ruo." ”

Xun Yu nodded, as early as when Cao Cao was crusading against the Qingzhou moth thieves, he had always been responsible for the scheduling of these logistics matters, but he had never made any mistakes.

Xun Yu was responsible for giving advice to Cao Cao on the battlefield, while Xun Yu was responsible for overseeing the overall situation and strategizing in the rear.

The cooperation between this pair of uncles and nephews can be described as seamless.

"Mengde, what about Dingtao?"

Xiahoudun asked loudly with confidence on his face, and said that in the three places that he had said, Cao Cao only arranged Cao Ren and Xiahou Yuan, and 99% of the rest of the Dingtao was for him to go.

Although Lu Bu was fierce and difficult to handle, as long as Cao Cao gave an order, even if he died on the city wall, he would never retreat half a step back.

"Dingtao, I'll be in charge personally!"

Cao Cao's voice was full of determination, Dingtao is the county seat of Jiyin County, and it will definitely become the focus of Lu Bu's attention.

Therefore, Cao Cao had to go in person, as long as he, the lord, personally supervised the city wall, the soldiers would have enough faith to defend the city.

This time, Cao Cao bet on the whole of Yanzhou.

If you lose, it will be a doom; If he wins, then he will have a new respite and can continue to grow his power.

The meeting dispersed, and the generals who had been given the task went about their work.

Cao Cao quickly rode to Rencheng, where there was the main force of the Qingzhou Yellow Turban that he had surrendered.

In the winter of the previous year, the main force of the Yellow Turban Army, which had invaded Yanzhou, surrendered unconditionally to Cao, note that it was unconditional, not defeated surrender.

As for why the Qingzhou Army surrendered unconditionally, later generations have different opinions, but there has never been an accurate answer.

After the surrender, the number of Qingzhou moth thieves reached nearly 300,000.

Of course, there is a lot of water in it, because there are not only young and strong men, but also old and weak soldiers and young "child soldiers".

Including their families, it totals millions.

That's a huge number.

After many defeats in previous battles, as well as the lessons of the rebellion of the Yangzhou soldiers recruited that year, Cao Cao learned from the pain and decided to put the combat effectiveness and loyalty of these moth thieves in the first place.

As a result, among the 300,000 Qingzhou moth thieves, 60,000 were selected and organized into a formal army formation.

Cao Cao gave them a name: Qingzhou Bing.

In order to dispel the worries of the soldiers and soldiers, and also to build a relatively stable logistics base, Cao Cao asked the rest of the people, including the families of the Qingzhou soldiers, to arrange all the tuntian fields to provide food and grass for the military.

Yanzhou has experienced wars, the population has plummeted, and the land is barren, which is just enough for millions of yellow turbans to settle fields. The government provided land, farming tools, and cattle, while the Yellow Turbans provided manpower, and the grain produced was divided equally between the two sides.

In this way, those Qingzhou moth thieves who are in trouble everywhere are naturally grateful to Cao Cao.

And these 60,000 Qingzhou soldiers who are still training are also the trump cards that Cao Cao holds in his hands.