Fu Zhu turned his gaze to Cao Cao, a sneer on the corner of his mouth, and said: "Some people may think that our strategy to break the enemy is too conservative, and we should take advantage of the fact that the Northern Xinjiang Army is now short of troops, food and grass, and soldiers are exhausted, and quickly launch a counterattack. Pen~Fun~Ge www.biquge.info We also thought so, but considering the strong force of the Northern Xinjiang Army, and they have occupied Yanzhou and gained thousands of miles of depth, the counteroffensive may evolve into a protracted offensive battle, especially in the Great Plains, the power of the Northern Cavalry will be exerted to the extreme, which will greatly increase our casualties and the difficulty of the attack, and the advantages and disadvantages of the two sides will be reversed again, and we may lose the opportunity to defeat the Northern Xinjiang Army again, and may even lose back to Henan again. In this defeat, we lost our troops, and it is impossible to accumulate troops and grain and grass like today. In other words, we can't afford to lose, we can't afford to consume. As long as we lose, we will inevitably lose the Central Plains, then Luoyang, and then the entire society. ”

"Take a step back, even if we defeat the Northern Frontier Army in this way. We exchanged the lives and blood of 100,000 people, or even more, for victory, but in the end all we got was a ruined Yanzhou. By then, everyone will be scarred and will need to recuperate. When we regained our strength, Li Yi was also alive, and he was going south to fight the Central Plains again. How long will this endless crusade be? ”

"If you want to fight, you must beat the Northern Xinjiang Army to a slump, you must beat Li Yi to the point that he has no strength and courage to go south to the Central Plains, and you must beat him to the point where he is dying and is about to die. The only way to achieve this goal is to fight a decisive battle, gather all the forces that can be gathered, and destroy the main force of the Northern Frontier Army in a decisive battle. ”

"So......" said in earnest terms, "we carefully weighed the pros and cons, and finally gave up the initiative to attack, or used a solid defense to drag down and consume the Northern Frontier Army, and patiently looked for an opportunity for a decisive battle." As long as we grasp the weakness of the Northern Frontier Army, we will definitely be able to exchange the greatest results for the minimum cost. ”

He paid great attention to the two battlefields of Xuzhou and Guanzhong, which were the two wings of the entire Central Plains battlefield, and whether these two battlefields could pose a threat to Hebei would be directly related to the success or failure of the Central Plains War.

In Fu Zhu's view, if the Northern Xinjiang Army could not break through on the Central Plains battlefield, Li Yi's eyes would naturally be cast on the east and west flanks, in order to use the victory on the flank battlefield to break the confrontation situation on the Central Plains battlefield. The coalition forces are the same, and they will also use these two battlefields to pose a threat to the Northern Xinjiang Army, so as to make mistakes in the Central Plains Battlefield.

At present, on the battlefield of Xuzhou, Chen Deng led 20,000 horses to compete with Zang Ba's Qingzhou army, and his strength was obviously insufficient, let alone defeating Zang Ba and threatening Qingzhou and Yanzhou.

Therefore, Fu Zhu suggested that some men and horses from Cao Cao's army be transferred back to Xuzhou. The reason why Cao Cao's army was transferred to the Xuzhou battlefield was because Cao Cao was eager to defeat the Northern Xinjiang Army and recapture Yanzhou, and their desire for war was very strong.

In comparison, Liu Bei did not have much desire to attack Yanzhou, and this mood and mentality of Liu Bei and his subordinates would seriously affect their understanding and execution of the imperial court orders.

After Cao Cao listened to the words, his face was extremely ugly. Yuan Shao was forced to accept and was going to attack himself.

Yuan Shao's reason in front of the public was very sufficient and reasonable, and it played a more decisive role in the outcome of the war, and he could not tolerate his own opposition and rejection.

Cao Cao finally understood that Yuan Shaowei resolutely disagreed with his resignation as prime minister. As a prime minister, he can't ignore the safety of the society because of his own selfishness. Now that Yuan Shao is taking the post of prime minister, he is taking the big victory and defeat, and threatening himself with the safety of the society, and he has no room for maneuver at all.

Now the main force of their army is in the northern battlefield of the Central Plains, and the tigers and leopards and Yang Ping's men and horses are in the southern battlefield of the Central Plains, which has been divided into two.

At this moment, the Son of Heaven was sitting high, and the ministers were in four columns, how could Cao Cao dare to hesitate for half a minute, and immediately agreed: "Everything is in accordance with the will of the imperial court." ”

After finishing speaking, he set his eyes on Liu Bei.

The smile on Liu Bei's face was a little stiff, and it was estimated that his mood was as bad as Cao Cao's.

Liu Bei's army was also divided into three on the battlefield in the Central Plains, and Liu Bei originally wanted to discuss it with Yuan Shao after this military meeting and transfer Zhu Ling's army back to Xuzhou, but Yuan Shao didn't give him a chance at all. If his own army suffered heavy losses on the battlefield in the Central Plains in this battle, there was almost no possibility for Liu Bei to return to Xuzhou.

"The imperial court plans to let General Cao Hong take 20,000 people south to the Yangxia garrison of Chen State in Yuzhou, and let the two generals Cao Chun and Xiahou Shang rush to Pengcheng, Xuzhou with 16,000 cavalry, meet Jian Yong and Chen Deng, and go north from Pei County and Xue County, frequently attack Shanyang, Rencheng, Dongping, Lu Guo and other counties, and wait for an opportunity to defeat Zang Ba and recapture Langya County." Fu Zhu said calmly, "The prime minister's command of the army north of the chasm water to defend Zhang Fei is crucial to stabilizing the Central Plains battlefield, so the imperial court decided to let General Liu Pan lead an army of 20,000 to Yangwu to fill the defensive gap left by General Cao Hong after he went south. ”

Liu Biao, Cao Cao, and Liu Bei were of course in unison in front of the Son of Heaven, and they all agreed.

On the battlefield of Guanzhong, Yuan Tan's attack on Hedong stopped immediately after Zhang Fei withdrew from the Henan battlefield.

Worried that the Northern Frontier Army's attack on the Central Plains battlefield would be blocked, he turned to concentrate his forces and attack the fortified positions. If Han Sui fell to the Jicheng court at this time, and Yue Fei in Hedong attacked one after the other, attacking back and forth, Guanzhong would be in danger without support. If Guanzhong is lost, Kansai is in an emergency, and Nanyang is in an emergency, the battle situation will be shocked, and the defeat on the Central Plains battlefield will be inevitable.

He said with a solemn expression: "Generally speaking, if the Northern Xinjiang Army wants to fight Guanzhong, it must meet two conditions. The first is that Han Sui is loyal to the Jicheng court, and the second is that Han Sui is willing to send troops to help, and the Northern Xinjiang Army forms a front and rear attack. With the strength of the Northeast Frontier Army, even if it broke through the natural danger of the Yellow River, it would be difficult to break through the resistance of Yuan Tan and Zhang Ji on the front line of the Weishui River. Once the war in Guanzhong has not progressed for a long time, it will definitely affect the supply of grain and grass to the Northern Xinjiang Army on the Central Plains battlefield, so that the Northern Xinjiang Army will give us the opportunity to defeat them, so Hebei will be very cautious about whether to send troops to Guanzhong. ”

"Therefore, in the current situation, if you want to hold Guanzhong, there is only one way, to stabilize Han Sui." Frustrated and disdainful, he continued, "The way to stabilize Han Sui is also very simple, that is, to give him food, give him money, and give him everything he needs. ”

"Han Sui was stabilized, and he and Luoyang eyebrows were like glue, the Northern Frontier Army did not dare to risk attacking Guanzhong no matter what, on the contrary, the Northern Frontier Army instead wanted Chen Bing Pubanjin to prevent us from attacking him."

"We're going to hit him." Fu Zhu waved his hand and said, "After stabilizing Han Sui, we have no worries, of course we have to send troops to threaten Hedong, so that Hebei will not transfer troops from Hedong to support the Central Plains battlefield." ”

Many of his suggestions were unanimously endorsed by the Son of Heaven and the ministers.

Yuan Shao ordered Xu You to go to Chen Liuyi to discuss peace again and explore the movements of the Northern Xinjiang Army.

The next day, Cao Cao, Liu Bei and other ministers bid farewell to the Son of Heaven and went to the battlefield.

Cao Cao was in a bad mood, sitting on the horse and shaking, listless.

Cheng Yu rode his horse and followed him, worried. He went back to Xuchang with Xu Xuan this time, and wanted to go to Xuzhou with Cao Chun, but Cao Cao was worried that something would happen to him and left him behind.

"Zhongde, the situation in Xuchang reminds me of one thing." Cao Cao suddenly stopped his horse and turned to Cheng Yu and said.

Cheng Yu looked at Cao Cao suspiciously, waiting for his next step.

"Back then, I was invited by Yuan Shao to crusade against Dong Zhuo with him. After arriving at the sour dates, Zhang Miao, Liu Dai, Qiao Mao, Yuan Yi and others sang with wine, and had no intention of making progress at all. Cao Cao smiled bitterly, "Look at the atmosphere in Xuchang today, how similar it was back then." Perhaps, what does this already portend? ”

Cheng Yu understood what Cao Cao meant, and sighed in a low voice: "Give up the initiative to attack, give up the quick decisive battle, and use defense to drag down the Northern Frontier Army, from the current point of view, it is obviously inappropriate, because in such a long time, we are looking for the flaws of the Northern Frontier Army, and the Northern Frontier Army is also waiting for us to make mistakes, and the opportunities for both sides are the same." In addition, the Northern Xinjiang Army has such a long time to stabilize Yanzhou counties and strengthen their foothold in the Central Plains, and it will become more and more difficult to defeat. ”

"After staying on the battlefield for a long time, I can't see the hope of defeating the Northern Xinjiang Army, the soldiers will be tired and tired of fighting, especially Liu Biao, Sun Fu, and Lu Su, who are far away from the Central Plains, and even if the Northern Xinjiang Army captures the Central Plains, it will not be able to threaten their survival for the time being, so their desire to fight is the weakest. The longer the time, the more they don't want to fight, and the more they don't want to fight, the more conservative they become, and once this conservative sentiment spreads, it will immediately affect the formulation of the offensive and defensive strategies of the army, and will affect the execution of the offensive and defensive orders by the soldiers, and the mistakes that lead to defeat will also appear quietly here. ”

"Yuan Benchu ignored Sheji, his mind was full of the cause of the king, he preserved his strength and was unwilling to take the initiative to attack, even if he dared to think about how to weaken me and Liu Bei's strength at this time, so that after he defeated the Northern Frontier Army, he could quickly take Yanzhou and Xuzhou." Cao Cao snorted dissatisfiedly, "I really can't figure it out, what's the benefit of him doing this?" The more he deploys his troops in this way, the less confidence we have to attack, and the stronger our desire to preserve our strength becomes. After losing the battle and letting the Northern Xinjiang Army occupy Yanzhou, how many years can he keep Luoyang? Isn't this a rat's eye, and the end is gone? Even if he wants to swallow us up and dominate the Central Plains, he must first drive the Northern Xinjiang Army across the Yellow River, right? He is so anxious, what big can he do? (To be continued.) )