Half a month ago, Guan Yu was ordered to return to Xuzhou, Liu Lan did not greet him personally, but sent Xu Shu to go, while he waited in the conference hall, and after a short time, Guan Yu and Xu Shu arrived in the hall together.

Liu Lan stood in front of the sand table, although Guan Yu had already guessed Liu Lan's plan, but his expression was still grim, obviously he didn't have much confidence in finding Cao Juntun's grain station, but the reason why he came was actually when he discussed with Zilong and Yide before leaving, he had some ideas, and this was the method that Zhang Yide came up with.

Can you believe it? I don't dare to believe it, but Guan Yu, who understands Zhang Fei, doesn't seem to be surprised, even including the lord, Zhang Fei is a person who is a showman, and he may seem reckless in many things, but in this kind of thing, he can have unexpected tricks, and he can be enlightened, which makes people's eyes shine.

However, it is not surprising that the specific measures will be discussed with the lord on how to implement them, after all, the think tank team around the lord will make the deployment perfect.

In fact, every time a battle, the lord will let these army staff officers first put forward a few operational arrangements, which is the biggest difference from the previous marching operations, in the past, the army gathered in the military formation, think of a way, mainly the generals, but now it is the lord who puts forward a strategic concept, by the army staff to improve the operational deployment, and then handed over to the generals of each army to deliberate, select the best combat plan, and even improve on the combat plan.

It's like the Battle of Langya, although it seems to be the combat idea of Liu Lan and Xu Shu getting along, but it was finally completed after the improvement of the staff and the addition of Guan Yu, and finally won a complete victory, and this is also reflected in the Battle of Jiujiang, which can be said to be an innovation of Liu Lan's combat methods.

The General Staff, that is, the general of the military division, was thus promoted, although it is now only implemented in Xuzhou and Liaodong, but soon this method of warfare will be promoted to all armies, including Guan Yu's Setshan battalion.

In the future, Guan Yu may still have the final say in the battle of the Setshan Battalion, but how to fight, then there will first be a staff officer to give the corresponding combat strategy, which will be referred to and selected by Guan Yu.

And now, Liu Lan frowned because he was not very satisfied with several sets of plans of the staff officers, but he had already decided to attack the grain and grass of Cao's army, and when Guan Yu put forward some of his ideas, Liu Lan immediately laughed out loud, although he could not determine the direction of Cao Cao's grain station, but he could see Cao Cao's reaction by dividing his troops to attack the rear of the enemy's army, and it was even possible to hit him crookedly.

After Guan Yu sent scouts to determine that Cao Jun's grain and grass were not carried with the army, but transported from the rear, Guan Yu originally wanted to follow the vine, but unfortunately Cao Jun never moved again, and began to implement the plan.

However, because Cao Jun escorted grain and grass into from the north gate, Guan Yu, who mistakenly thought that the grain and grass were in Shanyang, found that he had nothing to gain after sending troops for the first time, so he had to send a second army again, and this time he went straight to Xiao County, as for whether it could succeed, Guan Yu could not be sure, but judging from the results, Xiahou Yuan's arrival, it was obvious that Cao Cao attached great importance to it this time, because the reason why they attacked Shanyang last time or because Xiao County could not afford to lose and could not judge, so this battle had to be a skirmish with them. Let's see Cao Jun's reaction.

However, the result was agreed to be unexpected, and the Cao army actually withdrew, which means that the Cao army was very cautious, at least they were more afraid of being attacked by the enemy on their backs, rather than afraid that Xiao County would be captured by the Xuzhou army.

On this point, Guan Yu was able to judge that they were looking in the wrong direction again, and chose the wrong direction twice in a row, although they were closer to the correct target, but it was also possible that they did not find the target, and the strange behavior of two times in a row was likely to arouse Cao Cao's suspicions, and the current Fengxian coalition army is said to have begun to assemble, just to facilitate the Xuzhou army to go south again.

And the most critical point is that because of the two small-scale battles, Jizhou has already caused a reaction, after all, such friction is very likely to cause a large-scale confrontation, so Yuan Shaojun is also ready to move, the army can go south at any time, and at that time, Xuzhou will face the situation of being attacked by the enemy on the back of the abdomen.

Once the Jizhou army goes south, then the main target is Langya, although the Qingzhou army and the Langya army are still defending in Langya, but after the battle of Langya, it is difficult for the troops there to stop the Jizhou army from moving south on a large scale.

The difference in strength is too great, even if they defeat Cao Cao here, then when they rush over, it is likely that they will face the situation that Langya is broken, and Yuan Shao's main force has even arrived in Donghai County or even Xuzhou City, and it will not be so easy to block the main force of Jizhou at that time.

Guan Yu became very worried because of this, the most critical point in finding Cao Cao's food is that the target can be found in the first or even the second time, so that the third dispatch can be successful in one blow, and now the urgent need to send troops is still to find the target, and then if the target is still not found, then the time is wasted, which is too unfavorable for them.

At this moment, Zhou Cang and Chen Feng, who went to Xiao County, came back, Guan Yu listened carefully to the specific situation of the battle between the two of them in Xiao County, although there were some discrepancies with the battle report that came, but it was not big, which made him a little disappointed, and Guan Yu didn't even ask about the casualties.

But what really caught Guan Yu's attention was that when he was cleaning the battlefield, he found that several crossbow machines were missing, although he couldn't be sure whether they were taken by Cao Jun, but he was not far from ten.

This incident made Guan Yu quite angry, although it was a matter of time before the Xuzhou crossbow was captured by the enemy, but he didn't expect it to be so soon, although this battle may not be able to be imitated by Cao Cao's side, but when Cao Jun meets Cao Jun in the future, Cao Jun is very likely to use crossbow arrows with the same lethality as them, this matter can be big or small, but it must be paid attention to.

In the matter of equipment, Guan Yu could not and could not conceal it, so he had to report to Liu Lan, Liu Lan was helpless about this, in fact, there are many weapons that surpass this era, not to mention anything else, just say that bilateral stirrups and horseshoes are far more strategic value than Xuzhou crossbow machines, and this is why he has always only used unilateral stirrups, that is, he does not want to be exposed to the enemy too early.

Similarly, the horseshoe has been invented in Liaodong, but it has been shelved, the same is the truth, but the crossbow machine is not good, in order to kill the enemy more efficiently on the battlefield, and in order to survive the warriors more effectively, the new crossbow machine can only be constantly replaced.

And the easy imitation of the crossbow machine is different from the Pu knife, the iron-smelting technology of refining the Pu knife is a highly confidential thing, with Cao Cao's craftsmen, it is not so easy to imitate, but the crossbow machine is different, as long as it is a craftsman, the crossbow machine is disassembled and studied a little, and it is very convenient to understand the structure of his answer to the question.

However, Liu Lan has long considered the situation of the crossbow machine circulating, so he is not too anxious, after all, now the weapons factory has developed the latest crossbow machine, which is not only small and lightweight, but can shoot five arrows at a time, but has not been put into the army on a large scale, but has been innovating.

Once Cao Cao or even other princes master the second-generation Xuzhou crossbow, then Liu Lan will speed up the replacement of the fourth-generation Xuzhou crossbow machine and put it into the army as soon as possible.

This point has Ou Yejian, Liu Lan is not worried at all, and even said that Ou Yejian has almost rarely asked about the crossbow machine now, and the person in charge of the crossbow factory is completely responsible, and he and the crossbow factory workers continue to innovate, I have to say that the power of the people is infinite, as long as it is on the right path, then there will be some gains, even if there will be some difficulties in the middle, but it will soon be completely overcome with the concerted efforts of everyone.

Sent Zhou Cang and Chen Feng away, Guan Yu found Zhao Yun and Zhang Fei, this time the situation is different, it can be said that they can only try one last time, if there is nothing to gain, they can only be forced to give up all deployments, and then, either confront Cao Cao and the coalition army, or can only defend, and he will return to Langya according to the order of the lord to defend the Jizhou army.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the same time, Xiahou Yuan, who returned to Feng County, came to see Cao Cao, which was regarded as a plea, but after carefully listening to the reason for Xiahou Yuan's retreat, Cao Cao did not punish him.

However, the enemy army also left Xiao County after they retreated, which can be said to be good news, of course, the most important point is that when they fought with the Xuzhou army, they captured a lot of enemy weapons, which was in the previous battlefield, although there were similar opportunities, but because in the end various circumstances were not implemented, and Xiahou Yuan saw the horror of the crossbow machine of the Xuzhou army, so he specially told the troops, it was because the soldiers brought back a lot of Xuzhou army's ordnance when they retreated.

Guan Yu became very worried because of this, the most critical point in finding Cao Cao's food is that the target can be found in the first or even the second time, so that the third dispatch can be successful in one blow, and now the urgent need to send troops is still to find the target, and then if the target is still not found, then the time is wasted, which is too unfavorable for them.

At this moment, Zhou Cang and Chen Feng, who went to Xiao County, came back, Guan Yu listened carefully to the specific situation of the battle between the two of them in Xiao County, although there were some discrepancies with the battle report that came, but it was not big, which made him a little disappointed, and Guan Yu didn't even ask about the casualties.

But what really caught Guan Yu's attention was that when he was cleaning the battlefield, he found that several crossbow machines were missing, although he couldn't be sure whether they were taken by Cao Jun, but he was not far from ten.

This incident made Guan Yu quite angry, although it was a matter of time before the Xuzhou crossbow was captured by the enemy, but he didn't expect it to be so soon, although this battle may not be able to be imitated by Cao Cao's side, but when Cao Jun meets Cao Jun in the future, Cao Jun is very likely to use crossbow arrows with the same lethality as them, this matter can be big or small, but it must be paid attention to.

In the matter of equipment, Guan Yu could not and could not conceal it, so he had to report to Liu Lan, Liu Lan was helpless about this, in fact, there are many weapons that surpass this era, not to mention anything else, just say that bilateral stirrups and horseshoes are far more strategic value than Xuzhou crossbow machines, and this is why he has always only used unilateral stirrups, that is, he does not want to be exposed to the enemy too early.

Similarly, the horseshoe has been invented in Liaodong, but it has been shelved, the same is the truth, but the crossbow machine is not good, in order to kill the enemy more efficiently on the battlefield, and in order to survive the warriors more effectively, the new crossbow machine can only be constantly replaced.

And the easy imitation of the crossbow machine is different from the Pu knife, the iron-smelting technology of refining the Pu knife is a highly confidential thing, with Cao Cao's craftsmen, it is not so easy to imitate, but the crossbow machine is different, as long as it is a craftsman, the crossbow machine is disassembled and studied a little, and it is very convenient to understand the structure of his answer to the question.

However, Liu Lan has long considered the situation of the crossbow machine circulating, so he is not too anxious, after all, now the weapons factory has developed the latest crossbow machine, which is not only small and lightweight, but can shoot five arrows at a time, but has not been put into the army on a large scale, but has been innovating.

Once Cao Cao or even other princes master the second-generation Xuzhou crossbow, then Liu Lan will speed up the replacement of the fourth-generation Xuzhou crossbow machine and put it into the army as soon as possible.

This point has Ou Yejian, Liu Lan is not worried at all, and even said that Ou Yejian has almost rarely asked about the crossbow machine now, and the person in charge of the crossbow factory is completely responsible, and he and the crossbow factory workers continue to innovate, I have to say that the power of the people is infinite, as long as it is on the right path, then there will be some gains, even if there will be some difficulties in the middle, but it will soon be completely overcome with the concerted efforts of everyone.

Sent Zhou Cang and Chen Feng away, Guan Yu found Zhao Yun and Zhang Fei, this time the situation is different, it can be said that they can only try one last time, if there is nothing to gain, they can only be forced to give up all deployments, and then, either confront Cao Cao and the coalition army, or can only defend, and he will return to Langya according to the order of the lord to defend the Jizhou army.

At the same time, Xiahou Yuan, who returned to Feng County, came to see Cao Cao, which was regarded as a plea, but after carefully listening to the reason for Xiahou Yuan's retreat, Cao Cao did not punish him.

However, the enemy army also left Xiao County after they retreated, which can be said to be good news, of course, the most important point is that when they fought with the Xuzhou army, they captured a lot of enemy weapons, which was in the previous battlefield, although there were similar opportunities, but because in the end various circumstances were not implemented, and Xiahou Yuan saw the horror of the crossbow machine of the Xuzhou army, so he specially told the troops, it was because the soldiers brought back a lot of Xuzhou army's ordnance when they retreated.