Zhuge Liang is Liu Bei's subordinate, and there is an irreconcilable enmity between Liu Bei and Guanzhong.

The most important thing is that Liu Bei is the weakest among the princes, and Chen Xu is eyeing Jingzhou.

If Chen Xu can't be eliminated, the fall of Jingzhou will only be a matter of time, so no matter what happens, Liu Bei will spare no effort to support Zhuge Liang.

Seeing that Yuan Tan, Cao Cao, and Sun Quan expressed their positions one after another, Liu Bei also spoke.

I saw Liu Bei take a step forward and said: "We have been fighting with Chen Wenzhao for nearly three years, and during this period, countless soldiers have been lost, and the cost of money and food is immeasurable. ”

"Now that Chen Wenzhao is forced to retreat to Chang'an, and the coalition soldiers are in full swing, if they pass the buck to each other now because of the grain and grass problem, wouldn't it be a waste of their previous achievements?"

Speaking of which, Liu Bei changed his usual mild-manneredness, but was a little sharp.

Glancing around at everyone, Liu Bei suddenly raised his voice and continued: "I know that you all have hardships, and I Jingzhou also have hardships. ”

"However, I am still willing to give everything I have to fight against the thieves!"

"Bang Bang!"

When Cao Cao heard this, he couldn't help but applaud immediately, and then sighed: "Xuande is dedicated to the public, and he is really an example for us." ”

Liu Bei can see things clearly, how can Cao Cao not understand, but the logistics are indeed under great pressure, and Cao Cao thinks that the coalition forces must face up to this matter.

As for Cao Cao himself, he never thought of tearing the coalition forces apart.

After praising Liu Bei, Cao Cao said: "Xuande means that Cao doesn't understand, but it's not that we are prevaricating, it's just that the grain and grass are transported along the way, and it costs a lot of people to eat horses and chew them." ”

"The money and food consumed by the people on the way is even more than that of the soldiers, and this matter has to be taken seriously."

Cao Cao was not wrong.

In ancient warfare, the logistical supply of a soldier required at least three civilians to complete.

If it's cavalry and elite troops, the number will only get bigger.

And with the elongation of the supply line of the coalition army, the logistics of three civilians to supply one soldier can no longer be supported.

The combined strength of the coalition army is only 500,000 people, but in order to ensure the logistics of this 500,000 army, the people requisitioned by the four major princes are nearly 2 million.

Although the money and food consumed by a civilian man is not as good as that of a soldier, there are not as many people as possible.

What's more, it was also very hard for the people to travel long distances to transport grain and grass, and the money and grain consumed were not much less than those of the soldiers.

Therefore, the coalition forces had to supply not only 500,000 troops, but also about 2 million civilians to sustain the war.

With such a huge population base, the amount of grain and grass consumed is an astronomical amount every day.

When Yuan Tan and Sun Quan heard this, they also nodded secretly.

Now that Wuguan has been taken by the coalition forces, Jingzhou can directly transport grain and grass from Wuguan, which will save a lot of manpower and material resources.

However, due to the advance of the battle line to the west, the supply lines of the remaining princes became longer and longer.

In this way, the people will transport grain and grass, and more and more money and grain will be consumed along the way.

When Liu Bei heard this, he had nothing to say, and it was also a last resort to levy a large number of people to transport grain and grass.

It's just that the loss of grain and grass along the way is indeed too alarming.

Moreover, due to the fact that the coalition forces had requisitioned too many people, the production capacity of the territory was also greatly reduced, and the grain output was much lower than before.

The current dilemma of the coalition army is not that the soldiers consume too much money and food, but that in the process of transporting grain and grass, too much grain and grass are consumed.

Zhuge Liang frowned slightly, and after a long time, he spoke: "You give me half a month, and I will reduce the two million people who are responsible for transporting grain and grass to about 400,000." ”

When everyone heard this, they all looked at Zhuge Liang in disbelief, and there was a look of disbelief in their eyes.

Zhuge Liang bowed deeply to everyone, and then said: "I have always been researching a kind of instrument, which I call the wooden ox and flowing horse. ”

"Wooden oxen and horses can be loaded with a large amount of grain and grass, but they will not consume money and grain in the process of transporting grain, and only need to be rationed to a man for each wooden ox and horse."

"In this way, we can minimize the consumption of grain and grass in the transportation process due to too many levies."

The wooden ox and flowing horse that Zhuge Liang studied were not the kind of things that could generate their own power as they were said in later generations.

This kind of wooden ox flowing horse adopts the principle of energy conversion, and then uses the law of leverage to urge the wooden ox flowing horse to walk.

As long as there is a man following each wooden ox and horse, he keeps operating the lever to convert the kinetic energy of the human body into mechanical energy, and then converts the mechanical energy into the wooden ox and the horse, so that it can generate kinetic energy, and the wooden ox and horse can move around on their own.

However, in this process, the people who are responsible for providing energy must also give the wooden ox and horse the helm.

Of course, the manufacturing process of the wooden ox flowing horse is very complicated, even if Zhuge Liang has studied it for a long time, he has not been able to study it thoroughly.

It's just that there is already a rough prototype.

However, Zhuge Liang is confident that if all the craftsmen in his generals gather together and do their best to develop wooden oxen and flowing horses, he will be able to research this thing in a month at most.

Cao Cao and the others, after hearing Zhuge Liang's description, were very curious about the so-called wooden ox and flowing horse.

If other people spoke like this, the princes would definitely not believe it, but if it was Zhuge Liang, they would naturally believe it.

If the wooden oxen and horses are really as magical as Zhuge Liang said, they can eliminate many people who are used to transport grain and grass, and let them return to their hometowns for farming.

In this way, not only will a lot of money and grain be saved on the way to transport grain and grass, but the grain production in the territory of the princes will also increase a lot due to the return of the people.

Therefore, the princes, who had some floating thoughts, all calmed down at this time.

Everyone discussed for a while, and was about to end the meeting, when they suddenly saw Chen Zhi running in in a little panic, and came to Liu Bei's side and whispered a few times.

Liu Bei listened, and his face suddenly became very ugly.

Cao Cao's eyes moved, and he hurriedly asked, "Xuande, but something happened in Jingzhou?" ”

At this time, everyone focused on Liu Bei, and even Zhuge Liang's eyes showed a look of exploration.

Liu Bei took a deep breath and said: "Chen Zhengxiao'er raised 100,000 troops, Xu Huang raised 50,000 troops, and the two of them stationed troops on the border of Jing and Yizhou, and they were eyeing Jingzhou, which made the people in Jingzhou panic. ”

When everyone heard this, they were all shocked.

Yuan Tan exclaimed: "How can there be so many soldiers and horses in Yizhou? ”

It's no wonder that Yuan Tan was so surprised, you must know that Yizhou had already sent more than 100,000 reinforcements to Guanzhong, and there were only tens of thousands of soldiers and horses left in the territory at most.

But now, with 150,000 troops stationed on the border of Jingzhou, this terrifying force is even comparable to all the soldiers and horses of the princes of one side.

Before Liu Bei could answer, Zhuge Liang immediately said: "It's not surprising that Yizhou can have so many soldiers and horses. ”

"Yizhou is densely populated, and the population base is not even below Jingzhou, so it is not difficult to levy more than 200,000 troops."

Liu Bei relied on the land of Jingzhou to levy hundreds of thousands of troops, and although he was defeated repeatedly, he was still able to gather more than 100,000 soldiers and horses.

The population of Yizhou is not under Jingzhou, although it has repeatedly fought with the Jizhou army, it has not suffered too many casualties, and it is not an exaggeration to be able to have such a large war potential.

You must know that in history, Shu has competed with Wei for decades by virtue of Yizhou, and the degree of wealth can be seen.

Sun Quan's face was not very good-looking, and he asked: "Since Yizhou can recruit so many soldiers and horses, why has it not been triggered?" ”

Sun Quan's words also raised the questions in many people's hearts.

Cao Cao pondered for a long time and replied: "Chen Wenzhao has always liked to win more with less, and he attaches great importance to the internal affairs under his jurisdiction. ”

"Yizhou has requisitioned more than 200,000 troops, which must have shaken the foundation of Yizhou, if it is launched as soon as possible, it will not be able to defeat our combined army, and the people's livelihood in Yizhou will plummet."

"Moreover, if I expected it to be true, these newly recruited troops must have been half-cultivated and half-trained in the first two years, and they have only had some combat effectiveness until today."

"What's more, our troops are already in the city, if Chang'an is conquered again, Chen Wenzhao will have a big deal."

"Until now, Chen Wenzhao can't care about hindering the development of people's livelihood, so he has done his best to attack Jingzhou with the strength of Yizhou, so as to reduce the pressure on the Guanzhong army in Chang'an."

Although Cao Cao's guess was not all correct, it was already eight or nine.

Yizhou first supported more than 100,000 troops in Guanzhong, and then recruited 100,000 troops, although it did not completely shake the foundation, but also seriously hindered the development of people's livelihood.

In the first two years, Chen Zheng scattered all these newly recruited troops to Tuntian, which could still ensure a steady stream of grain and grass income.

However, once these troops are mobilized to wage war with Jingzhou, the development of the entire Yizhou will be greatly affected.

You must know that after the start of the war, not only will there be a shortage of more than 100,000 young and strong laborers, but also about 500,000 people will be requisitioned to transport grain and grass because of the needs of the war.

What's more, Yizhou also has to transport grain and grass to Guanzhong to ensure that there is enough grain and grass in Chang'an City.

No matter how large the population of Yizhou is and how much land is fertile, it is impossible to hold on for too long.

If the war continues and Chen Zheng can't make any progress, the entire Yizhou may be dragged down.

Logistics and pressure are always the most laborious things in ancient warfare.

This is also why, Chen Xu's territory has a large population, but he has always been reluctant to recruit too much, but would rather always occupy a disadvantage in troops when fighting with the coalition forces.

In fact, over the years, the coalition army has almost exhausted its family base, and if the war cannot be ended within two years, even if Chen Xu does not launch a counteroffensive, the coalition army will collapse instantly.

On the other hand, Chen Xu, although the war has always been at a disadvantage, and he has retreated again and again, but in the past two years or so, the productivity of Bingzhou, Liangzhou, and Yizhou has not been greatly affected.

In other words, Chen Xu exchanged the disadvantages of the early stage for the advantage of the later war and the huge war potential.

The repeated defeats and retreats of the Guanzhong army were like boiling frogs in warm water, gradually dragging the coalition forces into the quagmire.

At that time, if the Guanzhong army was defeated too quickly, it would not be able to drag down the coalition army, and it would also be easy to arouse the suspicion of the coalition army.

If the resistance is too resolute and the coalition forces cannot advance an inch, the coalition forces are likely to collapse instantly, and the situation in the world will return to the previous situation of the princes dividing themselves.

At that time, even if the crisis in Guanzhong was lifted, it would be very difficult for Chen Xu to eliminate the rest of the princes.

Therefore, Chen Xu simply prepared for a rout all the way, and then tried his best to engage the coalition forces, and then lured them step by step to lengthen the battle line.

In fact, whether it was the loss of the Tiger Prison Pass, the defeat of the Guanzhong Naval Army, or the breaking of the Kei Pass, it was actually unexpected by Chen Xu.

It's just that because of these defeats, they have promoted the advancement of Guanzhong's grand strategy, and Chen Xu and several important strategists in Guanzhong have been in no hurry.

It is precisely in this hard-fought victory that the coalition forces will advance step by step, so that they forget about the logistical pressure.

It's just that when Chen Xu retreated to Chang'an, he had no way to retreat and was destined to live and die with Chang'an.

In addition, the situation of the coalition forces is not good, and by this time, the previously hidden strength of the Guanzhong Army has reached the time to surface.

At this time, everyone's eyes were focused on Liu Bei, not knowing what he would do in the next moment.

With the strength of Jingzhou left behind, it is difficult to block the 150,000 Yizhou army, if Liu Bei wants to keep Jingzhou from losing, he can only break away from the alliance and lead the troops back to help.

However, in this way, this costly campaign against Chen Xu will fail because of this.

Liu Bei's face changed, and then he took a deep breath and set his eyes on Zhuge Liang, with an inquiring look in his eyes.

On the one hand, it is his own foundation, and on the other hand, it is the great cause of the thief, Liu Bei doesn't know how to choose.

Zhuge Liang took a deep breath, and then said to Liu Bei: "Lord, if Chen Wenzhao is not eliminated this time, where will his first goal in the future be?" ”

"Jingzhou."

"If Chen Wenzhao does his best to attack, can the lord be sure to hold Jingzhou?"

"Not sure."

"So, does the lord believe in Yuan Zhi and think that he can keep Xiangyang from losing?"

This time, Liu Bei pondered for a long time before he replied: "I believe it!" ”

After saying this, Liu Bei swept away Fang Cai's entanglement, a ruthless color flashed in his eyes, and he drew his sword in his hand and shouted: "If you don't break the Xu thief, even if Jingzhou is destroyed, I will never retreat!" ”

The rest of the princes were shocked when they heard Liu Bei's resolute words.

It was only at this time that a smile appeared on Zhuge Liang's face, and then he said: "Actually, the lord doesn't need to worry too much at all, although Chen Zheng raised 150,000 troops, most of these soldiers are new soldiers. ”

"And now it's winter, Chen Zheng doesn't dare to lead new soldiers to attack Xiangyang."

"With Yuan Zhi's talent, give him a winter as a buffer time, even if Chen Zheng tries his best to attack Xiangyang in the end, he may not be able to attack it."

When Liu Bei heard Zhuge Liang's words, he breathed a long sigh of relief.

However, at this moment, Lu Kuang broke in and said to Yuan Tan in a panic: "Lord, Chen Gong and Wang Yan raised 100,000 troops, and stationed troops on the border of Jizhou and Youzhou, and the people in the territory are panicking!" ”

Yuan Tan was shocked when he heard this, and immediately some of the six gods had no master, and he was also a little panicked in his heart.