Chapter 708 - Night Undercurrent (II)

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The cold wind is persistent and cold, sweeping away how many joys and sorrows.

The stars are incomprehensible and sorrowful, flickering and blinking.

The crescent moon is not sophisticated, illuminating the sneaky night pedestrians.

"Da Da Da!"

The stars and the moon are in the sky, and Hangu Pass is quiet and quiet.

Four fast horses suddenly burst out of the mountains and forests to the south, and after stepping on the official road, they galloped and galloped straight to the city gate.

Immediately, hundreds of arrows shot at the four fast horses that suddenly came, but they were not killed on the spot, and the rapidly falling arrows wrapped the four men and four horsemen in the middle, forming a fence made of arrows, forcing the four uninvited guests to dismount and be bound.

A quarter of an hour later, the four of them were brought into the pass by the defenders, and after a series of reports, they were escorted to the general.

In the tent of the commander of the Chinese army, Li Li slowly walked to the upper steps and sat down in a brocade robe with sleepy eyes, and when he raised his eyes, he saw that Jia Xu, Guo Jia, Bo Cai, Teng Yu and Gao Shun had been waiting for a long time.

After waving his hand to signal that Jia Xu and the others did not have to be formal, Li Li picked up a cup of hot tea that had just been brewed by his own soldiers, and said while drinking: "Cheng Yu must have a plan for this trip, but the three watches came in the middle of the night to disturb people's dreams, and their deeds are too sneaky, which is really unpleasant." ”

"The lord broke the mystery in one word." Jia Xu nodded in response with a smile on his face, and said with a smile: "At present, the two armies are stuck with each other and have a temporary truce, which seems to be calm and peaceful, but in fact, there are doubts surging, and many measures are in the pipeline. Recently, the princes and their henchmen have been active and have been in and out of the Allied gates in the hundreds. Plans are hatched one after another, and they will be revealed one by one on the day of the decisive battle between the two armies. This time, Cheng Yu visited the pass late at night, presumably the same. ”

There was a pause in his tone. Jia Xu's words changed sharply: "No, Cheng Yu actually came to ask to see the lord in the starry night, but it was a little unexpected by Wei Chen. Prior to this, Feng Xiao and I had already expected that some of the allied princes would secretly form an alliance with us, and the prince who was most likely to reach a consensus with our Western Liang Army was Zhang Yan, the leader of the Black Mountain Army. After all, the Montenegrin Army and our Xiliang Army have nothing to do with each other, they have no direct interests, and they have never had a grudge against each other, and they have always been at peace. If it is said that our army can secretly win over the allied princes. I'm afraid it's only this Zhang Yan.

However, surprisingly, Zhang Yan did not take the initiative to contact us for a long time. On the contrary, Cao Cao, who was inseparable from our army, took the lead in sending his henchman Cheng Yu to come late at night to ask for a meeting with the lord. Something is abnormal, I have to guard against it! ”

Li Li's expression changed slightly, a cold light flashed in the corner of his eyes, and he sneered: "Yes." Cao Cao had a deep grudge with my Xiliang army. It can be said that they are the enemies of life and death, and they are inseparable from each other. Half a year ago, Xiahoudun and Xiahouyuan brothers died in my hands one after another, two months ago in the battle of Feiyundu, Cao Hong, Cao Ang, Cao Anmin, Cao Xiu, Cao Zhen and Yu Ban and others were all captured by our army, and Cao Cao's 60,000 troops were almost wiped out. It can be said that most of the clansmen and generals under Cao Cao's account in Yanzhou, as well as half of the soldiers and horses, were successively destroyed under the front of our Xiliang army. The enmity between the two sides is as deep as the sea. They all want to kill each other and then hurry up, the contradictions are fierce and the hatred is deep. It is completely irreconcilable, and only when one party is completely destroyed can this grievance be understood.

Fortunately, Cao Cao took the initiative to send an envoy to negotiate with us, clearly intending to form a secret alliance with us. Not to mention what Cao Cao's plans are, this kind of mind alone is enough to impress us, and we must not be taken lightly! ”

"The lord is wise." Li Li's voice fell, and Guo Jia continued: "Cao Cao has a deep grudge against the lord, this is a fact known to the world. If Cao Cao really formed an alliance with us, once this matter spreads, I am afraid that even a three-year-old child will not believe it. However, it was precisely because no one would have thought or believed that Cao Cao would form an alliance with us, but Weichen felt that this matter was promising, and it was extremely beneficial to our army and the decisive battle after the year. ”

When Guo Jia said this, his expression was extremely determined, as if he was in his chest and the victory was in his hands, and he seemed full of confidence, so that his eyebrows were filled with joy that could not be concealed.

After Li Li heard this, his sword eyebrows moved slightly, his eyes narrowed slightly, he gently put down the teacup, and his right index finger lightly tapped the handsome case, and he was silent in thought.

At this time, Bo Cai suddenly spoke: "How sincere does the military advisor think Cao Cao can be in sending an envoy to discuss with us this time?"

It must be known that Cao Cao is now in a difficult situation, and after losing troops one after another, he is already in danger, and his demise is imminent. Half a year ago, he lost the foundation of Yanzhou, although there are still more than 100,000 soldiers and horses, but there is no place to stay, panic like a lost dog. After the alliance, he had 80,000 troops, and his status among the allies was second only to Yuan Shao, but although he escaped by luck after the battle of Feiyundu, his strength plummeted, and he was not the same as before. Now, after several months of fierce battles between our army and the Allied forces, we have an absolute advantage, and we can only wait for the beginning of spring to attack the whole army to fight a decisive battle with the Allied forces and sweep away the Allied forces in one fell swoop.

In such a situation, what qualifications does Cao Cao have to form an alliance with us? With the 20,000 horses in his hands, it is not worth mentioning in front of my Xiliang army, and it can be destroyed by hand, so why should we still form an alliance with him? ”

Guo Jia chuckled when he heard this, and said without hurrying or impatiently: "What General Bocai said is reasonable, and it is also a well-known fact. Cao Cao's current strength alone is indeed not worthy of an alliance with our Xiliang army, and our alliance does not disdain to have a weak ally like him. In fact, Hugh said that he now had only 20,000 men, and even if he had 200,000 troops, we would not have to secretly ally with him, let alone pretend to be against him.

In the current situation, even if our army does not have any allies to help us, we can win this war, and the odds are very good. However, it is undeniable that after our army wins the battle against the allies, its own losses will inevitably be very large, and the casualties of soldiers and horses are definitely not few, and it is very likely that more than half of the casualties will be lost, or even more. And this kind of miserable victory and defeat is the last thing we want to see, and it is also a situation that the lord has always wanted to avoid. For this battle of Sili, we had a common goal: to defeat the Allies while minimizing casualties and preserving our strength as much as possible. Only in this way can we calmly face the sudden battle after this battle, and not be afraid of the threats and provocations of any powerful princes.

If we want to achieve this strategic goal, I am afraid that it will be difficult to achieve it with the existing strength of our army alone, or our army does not have the strength to completely defeat the allied forces of the princes, and it is impossible to achieve this strategic goal alone. Therefore, we need allies, especially those who can help our army defeat the allies of the princes. ”

After a pause, Guo Jia continued after taking a breath: "As General Bocai said. If Cao Cao's strength is not damaged and he still has 80,000 troops in his hands, he will never secretly ally with us, but is bent on defeating our army, and it is best to completely destroy our Xiliang army and enter Chang'an to regain the Son of Heaven. It's a pity that it backfired, he wanted to sneak attack Hangu Pass before we retreated to Hangu Pass, and give our army a fatal blow, but the sneak attack failed, but was blocked by our army in Feiyundu and annihilated in one fell swoop. And the fiasco of Feiyundu was undoubtedly a fatal blow to Cao Cao, which was tantamount to a house leak and overnight rain, almost forcing him into a desperate situation, and his destruction was imminent.

It's just the time of the moment. In the past, Cao Cao never thought of forming an alliance with our army one day, but now he was forced by the shape and the ambition to try to make a comeback, and he was soberly aware of the current situation, and knew that only by making friends with our Western Liang army could he seek a glimmer of life in this war. Even, he wanted to use the power of our army to get the desired benefits from the allies, so as to quickly develop and expand his own strength. ”

After listening to Guo Jia's words, Teng Xiao frowned and pondered and asked, "Why did Cao Cao do this, and what is the benefit of betraying the allies to him?" What's more, he should know that once the allies are defeated, we will definitely not let him go, and we will definitely destroy him and the other princes. If he and we have always been enemies, why should he send an envoy to form an alliance with our army? Isn't this a plot with a tiger to kill yourself? ”

Guo Jia smiled calmly: "The reason why Cao Cao did this is actually very simple. In fact, since the fiasco of Feiyundu, the person who can really destroy him Cao Cao is not my Xiliang army, or the princes who pose the greatest threat to him are not us, but the princes of the towns in the alliance. Among them, Yuan Shao of Jizhou, Lu Bu of Yanzhou and Zhang Yan of the Montenegrin Army are the most threatening. These three princes were not only the most powerful princes in the alliance, but also the overlords of the Central Plains states, possessing enough strength to kill him Cao Cao, uprooting his only remaining remnants of power and completely destroying them.

Because of this, for Cao Cao, the success or failure of the Battle of Hangu and even the entire Battle of Sili has nothing to do with him, and the most important thing for him now is to survive by any means. And if he wants to live, he has only two choices. One is to rely on other princes, to put it bluntly, to lead his troops to surrender and bow down to his former allies; The second is to find ways to weaken the power of the princes who live next to him, just like the neighbors who live next to each other, the neighbors who are too strong or too rich are not a good thing, and only when the two sides are equal can they live in harmony.

And if he wants to weaken the strength of the powerful princes, the only force he can rely on is our Xiliang Army. At the same time, he knew very well that even if our army was able to defeat the allied forces, the army of more than 300,000 princes was not an ornament to be slaughtered, and after the war, our army's casualties were not small, and it was unable to send troops to the Central Plains in the short term. And this is exactly what Cao Cao wants, taking advantage of this gap in the vitality of the Central Plains princes, he can avoid the slaughter of the princes and find a way out for the future.

As for how he got rid of the pursuit of our army during the war, he must have already thought of a way to retreat; After all, he was able to lead his troops to infiltrate Feiyundu to ambush unknowingly, and after the war, he would definitely be able to escape from Sili and return to Yanzhou safely. ”

Guo Jia's thorough and straightforward remarks undoubtedly convinced everyone in the big tent, including Li Li in the upper ranks.

—————————————— (To be continued......)