Cao Cao was not an indecisive person. Therefore, Cao Cao would never allow what had happened to Yuan Shao to be repeated to himself. And Cao Cao himself can be called a military strategy, after weighing Xun You's worries and Cheng Yu's suggestions, the lesser of two evils, Cao Cao decided that no matter whether this Hebei incident is a trap of Qin or not, it must be fought for.

And the reason why Cao Cao's forces were still able to develop rapidly and not deviate from the historical track without the help of Qin Xu's "cheating" was still able to develop rapidly and generally did not deviate from the historical track without the help of Qin Xu's "cheating". The halo of "pig's feet" on his head is certainly one of the reasons, but more important is Cao Cao's decisiveness and accurate judgment of the situation.

In fact, Cao Cao didn't have much available troops at hand now. Since the Yellow Turban Rebellion more than ten years ago, the vitality of the Central Plains has been greatly damaged, the population has been displaced, countless casualties have been lost, and there have been frequent droughts, and the population base has decreased sharply, far less than Hebei, Xichuan and other places that have rarely encountered wars. Luoyang, Chang'an, and Yuzhou, which are newly in the bag, are even more so, compared with the two prefectures of Qingxu and Xu, which have collected nearly 1.5 million yellow scarves, they cannot be compared at all, and it is quite good to have one-third of their population base. Therefore, it is not easy for Cao Cao to maintain more than 100,000 standing troops under his command, and this is all due to the imitation of Qingzhou Tuntian's merits so as not to cause a shortage of military resources and grain. This is why even Xun Yu, who has always been concentrating on political affairs and not asking about military affairs, came to persuade Cao Cao to settle down before he went outside.

On the other hand, Cao Cao and Lu Bu are different. Under Lu Bu's command, whether it is Qingzhou, Xuzhou or Yangzhou Jingzhou, it has been connected from the Central Plains to the southeast. From a large point of view, they are all connected by the sea. There is no worry about being attacked in the belly, the strategic depth is wide, and there are benefits of fishing and salt. And the five states controlled by Cao Cao. But there is no state that cannot be heavily guarded. Cao Cao had more than 100,000 soldiers and horses on hand. However, whether it is Yongliang, Yanzhou, Bingzhou, Yuzhou, or Jingzhou, the remnants of Lu Bu, Yuan's remnants and Gongsun Zhan, Ma Teng, Han Sui, Liu Biao and Liu Yan are all strong enemies. Cao Cao previously swallowed 20,000 people to Chang'an, 10,000 to Puyang, 10,000 cavalry stationed in the state, and the rest such as Taishan County, Jiujiang County and other places, each with thousands of soldiers and horses guarded. The surplus troops that can be drawn out to attack Hebei can be combined with 10,000 cavalry, and 30,000 soldiers and horses can be raised. It's already the limit. That's it, and then remove the 10,000 standing reserves that are not allowed to move lightly in Xuchang, that is, half of Jingzhou has 7,000 sailors stationed with Cai Mao's new surrender, otherwise it is just as Xun You said when he persuaded Cao Cao not to move lightly. Actually against Hebei. Cao Cao's troops can be used are only 20,000 when they are full. And what Cao Cao has to face this time will be the 50,000 troops of Jizhou and Liu Bei's allied army, and it is very likely that Lu Bu's army can be mobilized at any time in addition to the city defense army stationed in Linzi in Qingzhou, and the standing army of at least 50,000 people. In other words, if the worst situation is encountered, Cao Cao may encounter at least nearly 100,000 opposing forces in Hebei this time. That would be nearly three times the strength of your own army. At the same time, there is a lot of pressure from all sides, which is no joke.

However, Cao Cao's self-confidence seems to be very strong. barely "persuaded" Xun You. Placed Xun Yu to lead 10,000 garrisons to guard Xuchang in case there was a change, and at the same time "monitored" a group of ministers, five days later, Cao Cao led 15,000 men and horses from his headquarters, with Xu Huang as the vanguard general, Xun Yu and Cheng Yu as the left and right military divisions, in the name of patrolling the border on behalf of the Son of Heaven to Bingzhou, and went north.

Cao Cao's movements were not small. It's almost impossible to hide your whereabouts. Just after Cao Cao's vanguard general Xu Huang led his headquarters of 5,000 soldiers and horses out of the city, Qin Xu, who was 600 miles away in Linzi City, had already obtained detailed information about Cao Cao's actions sent by the shadow.

"It's done!" Qin Xu handed the information in his hand to Jia Xu and said, "I have always been worried that with Cao Cao's ability, as well as the wisdom of his left and right strategists Xun Gongda and Cheng Zhongde, I will be able to see through this plan to hide the sky and the sea. Unexpectedly, it was a worry in vain. ”

"Whether Cao Mengde and the people around him can see the truth or not, it doesn't really matter." Jia Xu smiled very ethereally: "Although the shadow has eyeliner all over the world, we must not underestimate the sources of other forces. The matter of Wancheng can hide from the eyes of ordinary people, but for Xun Gongda, who has also served under Dong Zhuo and contributed to the Xiliang Army, the role it can play is not big. ”

"That ......" Qin Xu is now accustomed to the expression of top strategists such as Jia Xu and Guo Jia saying that half of them are left and half is left to show their ability, and he is not in a hurry, making a gesture of listening carefully and waiting for Jia Xu's next words.

"Xun You is not Cao Cao, and Cao Cao is not Xun You." Jia Xu was very satisfied with Qin Xu's reaction, and continued: "Although Wancheng is comparable to boils for the Cao family, compared to Hebei, which can be the place where the Cao family can flourish, it can only be regarded as a minor disease of scabies. Cao Mengde's ambition is not in a corner, so even if he knows that the Hebei incident may be just a ploy to attract his attention, he will be completely willing to join it. ”

"You're really a confidant!" Qin Xu thought for a moment and said with a wry smile. But isn't it, in history, Jia Xu can be regarded as the No. 1 "long-lasting" tumbler in Cao Cao's forces. For Cao Cao's understanding, almost no one can match it except for Guo Jia, who passed away at that time. also because of its success, Cao Pi catered to Cao Cao's mind and ascended to the throne. The inertia of history is so great that it has made Qin's nerves extremely thick, and although the monarchs and ministers in history have now become opposing sides, Jia Xu still has a unique insight into Cao Cao's understanding.

"General Lu still plans to order the lord to personally go to Hebei this time?" Regarding Qin Xu's "comment", Jia Xu didn't care, just smiled slightly and suddenly asked.

"It's hard to say!" Qin Xu shook his head with a smile and said, "The lord's feelings for the land of Hebei are very complicated. There is Liu Bei and among them, don't you know that the lord has long wanted to avenge that arrow, and to make an end to the matter of letting Liu Bei run away from Qingzhou Fu on a regular basis. In addition, although the Hebei incident happened suddenly, all forces were not fully prepared, but looking at the current situation, because Gongsun Zhan's rear was unstable and retreated to Youzhou, Jizhou, which had a weak main army, was almost a piece of ointment, and although Yuan Tan surrendered to Cao Cao, the intensification of contradictions in the state was close to the horizon, and it could almost become a war that could decide the fate of Hebei. It can even be said that after this war, it is very likely that Hebei will have no more war for decades. With such an opportunity, I am afraid that the lord will not fake the hands of others. ”

"My lord, let's fight for it!" Jia Xu pondered for a while, and suddenly such a sentence came out. Seeing Qin Xu's question, he said, "Even if you can't personally lead the army to the battle, at least you have to go with the army." ”

"What does Wen He mean by this? Right now...... With Chen'er here, it doesn't seem to be needed, right? Besides, if I go out with the lord, Linzi will be empty, and I am afraid that if there are bad people who will do the old things of Kong Wenju again, then someone in Qin will be a great crime. Qin Xu knew what Jia Xu meant. Because Lu Bu's meaning was very interesting before, but even if the meaning of the meaning is really interesting now, it is no longer interesting, and if you make some embarrassing meanings, it seems that the meaning is a little uninteresting.

"The lord is worried." Jia Xu nodded and said: "However, Linzi is now a fortified city, and the purpose of Cao Mengde's army is also in Hebei, and there is Hao Meng, the general of the city defense army, to guard it, and Linzi can be worry-free." It's just that things in Hebei are complicated after all, even if the shadow is in Hebei, the scene is actually not satisfactory. The lord also knows that although our army has the help of the Zhen family, the relationship between General Lu and the Zhen family is always a little ...... Harmonious. This war is about whether Hebei can be decided in a war, and it is for the sake of the little boy in the future, and this time he should do his best. ”

"Wen He is worried that this time our army will use the Hebei incident to attract Cao Cao's attention, which will backfire?" Qin Xu asked. Jia Xu's worries about Qin Xu seemed to be groundless, and he actually bet the victory or defeat of the Hebei war on the Zhen family. But it's not impossible to think about it. At the beginning, Zhen Jiang, the second sister of the Zhen family, wanted to be the "little fourth" of the old Lu family, but in the end, under the mistake of the past, the matter was not done, not to mention, and the cheap was taken advantage of by someone in Qin. The Zhen family and Lu Bujun were not very happy for a while, and later, although they cooperated with Lu Bujun very successfully out of general considerations, it always made people feel a little relieved. is also as Jia Xu worried, maybe it is impossible for a "mere" Zhen family to let Lu Bujun get Hebei, but because of the Zhen family's connections, power and strength in Hebei, it is enough to make it not so easy for Lu Bu to get Hebei. The heart of defense is indispensable!

After learning that Cao Cao was very likely to make a plan and really have an impact on Hebei affairs, Qin Xu was already thinking about how to deal with it. And the meaning in Jia Xu's words is very clear. For Cao Cao, Hebei is related to the follow-up development space. But for Lu Bujun, how could it not be so? If Hebei is fixed, then the territory of the Han Dynasty is from north to south, and the Lu Bu army has already been united. At that time, there were natural dangers of the Yellow River and the Great River, and the geographical advantages of the seven states of the Han Dynasty, such as You, He, Hebei, Qing, Xu, Yang, and Jing, and half of the world were in their hands. Therefore, although the Hebei incident came suddenly, it absolutely did not allow the slightest unforeseen error.

"So and so, I went to find the lord. Be prepared to talk about the stakes! Qin Xu said. (To be continued......)