Section 9 Liu Ba

When Cao Cao saw Zhang Zhongjing, he was overjoyed and hurriedly welcomed him in. After hearing Cao Chong's idea of ​​building a medical school, Cao Cao thought for a while and said, "This idea is feasible, but it's not urgent for a while. You can prepare first. What's urgent is the military affairs, with more than 100,000 troops and thousands of doctors. These people are afraid that the master will be too busy."

After hearing this, Cao Chong felt it was reasonable. Zhang Zhongjing agreed and said a while. Cao Cao asked someone to take Zhang Zhongjing to rest, leaving Cao Chong to discuss matters. He took Cao Chong's hand and walked in and smiled, "Cang Shu, you did this very well. With this Zhang Zhongjing, the loss of soldiers in my camp can be reduced to extremely low, otherwise the epidemic will spread, and I am afraid that they will collapse before the battle. I think it is God who wants me to win this battle, which is why I favor me so much."

Seeing that he was full of success and his confidence was inflated, Cao Chong couldn't help but complain. He thought for a while and said, "Father, the destiny of heaven is far away and ignorant, and people should be more important. Although the success of things is in heaven, the planning is in man. My father has won so many hard battles, and no time has it been gathered to gather the wisdom of the people. The strategist is strategizing in the middle, and the soldiers are using their lives outside. What does it have to do with destiny of heaven? His father's note of Sun Tzu also said that the art of war was invincible first, and to wait for the enemy to win. If the invincible is invincible, it is better to win in the enemy." Although Jiangdong is small, the terrain is very different from the Central Plains, which is beneficial to naval forces but not cavalry. Our army does not occupy a good area. I am afraid that Sun Quan will not be able to win easily, so it is better to be careful."

Cao Cao turned his head to look at Cao Chong jokingly, touched his head and said, "Cang Shu, why don't you have confidence in being a father? I have tens of thousands of powerful soldiers in my hand, and there are more than 200,000 troops in the Jingzhou Navy. There are so many wise and brave men under the tent, and I can't take over the son of Sun Quan from Jiangdong? Don't want to gain the ambition of others and destroy your own majesty."

Cao Chong sighed secretly. Cao Cao's tone seemed to be joking, but in fact he was a little unhappy. He had to laugh and stop talking. The father and son walked to the meeting hall and saw Xun You and the generals who had already enjoyed economic prosperity, waiting for Cao Cao to come. After Cao Cao sat down, he nodded to the prime minister's chief clerk Huan Jie. Huan Jie nodded, turned his head to a scholar about thirty years behind him and said, "Zi Chu, please tell you about the situation in the Jiangxia area."

The literati responded, stood up, first bowed to Cao Cao, turned his head to salute Cao Chong beside Cao Cao, with a smile on his face and nodded slightly. Cao Chong was surprised. He had never seen this person before. I think he had just come here two days ago, so why are he so polite to him? He just remembered to return the gift, but Zhou Buyi, who was behind him, shouted happily: "Teacher, you are here."

The man smiled and nodded, turned around and bowed to the people who turned into a circle, cleared his throat and said, "Everyone, Ba Nai Lingling, has been by the water for a long time, and knows a little about Jiangxia. He is ordered by the Prime Minister to explain the situation in Jiangxia. If there is any unclearity, you can speak freely after a while. Ba Knows everything and speaks everything."

Everyone returned the gifts one after another, and the man picked up a bamboo pole placed next to the sand table and began to explain the terrain.

"At present, the army is stationed in Jiangling and Xiangyang. Xiangyang sent troops to the east along the Han River, and there is no other way. From Jiangling, there are three key places, namely Huarong Road southeast of Jiangling, Lukou east of Huarong, Xiakou in Jiangxia and Fankou in E County. Huarong Road is 180 miles southeast of Jiangling City, facing the river in the south, and dozens of lakes of all sizes, including Dongjianghu, Jiajinhu, Nanjianghu and other large and small rivers. The waterways between the lakes are crisscrossing and difficult to march. Therefore, this road is the key point of the throat. The first one is to gain benefits, and we must fight..."

Cao Chong listened to this person talking, his thoughts were clear and detailed, and everyone was fascinated by the fact that he nodded repeatedly. Cao Chong couldn't help but wonder that there were many talented people under Cao Cao's tent, not only Xun You and Hua Xin, Huan Jie, He Qia, Pei Qian, Sima Zhi and others who were recently recruited were all talented men, especially Huan Jie, who were originally given advice for Liu Biao's opponent Zhang Xian, which made Liu Biao very anxious. Even Cao Cao raised a thumbs up when he heard that he was, and appointed as the prime minister's chief clerk. Which talent is this, he is not afraid of these people at all.

Zhou Buyi seemed to know each other. Cao Chong leaned back and asked softly: "Yuan Zhi, who is this person?"

"My teacher, Lingling Liuba Liu Zichu, a talented man from Jingzhou, has few high reputations. Don't you know?" Zhou Buyi lowered his voice, but there was an uncontrollable excitement in his voice.

"Liu Ba Liu Zichu?" Cao Chong suddenly realized that he was nodding at Zhou Buyi, a student. I was still self-indulgent and thought he was getting close to me. He thought he was close to me after thinking about it. After he came to Shu, he seemed to have not dealt with Liu Bei, so he was not very clear about the others. After he arrived in this world, he heard Zhou Buyi talk a few times. Every time Zhou Buyi mentioned him, he always praised him, saying that Liu Ba had the talent of Zhang Liang who was good at planning and Sang Hongyang, who had the ability of the prime minister's economy. He was a rare talent, but he was not able to deal with Liu Biao, so he never became a famous official. He only worked as a household in Lingling County, Cao Shizhuji, and took a book to calculate the accounts every day.

Unexpectedly, this talent suddenly appeared today. He thought he would run away with Liu Bei like those scholars. By the way, he and Liu Bei were not in the way, so of course he would not follow Liu Bei. Seeing his explanation of the situation in Jiangxia, Zhou Buyi's words were generally not false.

While they were talking, Liu Ba had finished talking about Huarong Road and Lukou, and was talking about Xiakou and Fankou: "Xiakou is the intersection of Han River and the Yangtze River, which is a key area. If the army can cross this place and flow eastward, just as the Eastern Wu can make a foothold, Sun Quan will be captured. However, this place is close to Wu, and its naval army is easy to arrive. Moreover, Jiangxia is now in the hands of Liu Qi and Liu Bei. Our army will cross Huarong Road and go east along the river to Lukou. The road is long and difficult to move. If you want to fight for it, you should set off immediately and defeat Jiangxia before Sun Quan decides his plan. If you get it later, you will be greatly disadvantageous to our army."

After he finished speaking, he turned around and bowed to Cao Cao: "Prime Minister, the explanation of Ba is finished. Please ask the Prime Minister to decide."

Cao Cao came back from his thoughts, and he smiled and waved his hand and said, "Zi Chu is very talented, the explanation is very clear." He thought for a while and said, "The day before yesterday, Cang Shu recommended Jiang Ziyi to come. He had already brought my handwritten letter to Jiangdong to persuade the surrender. Zi Chu thought Sun Quan would surrender? Besides, there was a report that Liu Bei sent Zhuge Liang to Jiangdong to negotiate peace with Sun Quan. Zi Chu thought Sun Quan would agree? Will he kill Liu Bei and invite surrender?"

Liu Ba smiled faintly: "Prime Minister, will Sun Quan kill Liu Bei? General Fenwei (Cheng Yu) made it clear yesterday. Ba thinks it is very reasonable. Although Sun Quan is young, he can bend and stretched, and has a very tolerant nature. When facing the Prime Minister's army of nearly 200,000, he will not dare to kill Liu Bei and hurt everyone's heart. Instead, he will prefer Liu Bei and work together to reject the Prime Minister's army. As for whether Sun Quan will surrender, Ba thinks that whether he surrenders or not, the Prime Minister should take the pretext of not surrender. The army will force him to defeat Jiangxia first and capture Liu Bei and Liu Qi. If Sun Quan surrenders, he can conquer Jiangdong with the opportunity. If he does not surrender, he will force him to surrender with a large army. This is a perfect strategy."

After hearing this, Cao Cao nodded slightly and looked at Xun You and others: "Since you all think so, then let's decide. The army marched towards Jiangxia in turn, and ordered Cao Ren to march towards Xiakou immediately. Gongda, you announce the order of the march in Xiangyang."

"No!" Xun You stood up and received the order, turned around and shouted at the generals: "The Prime Minister has an order, and the generals come forward."

The generals responded with a loud promise and stood with their fists.

"The vanguard of the left military guard, Wen Pin, the prefect of Jiangxia, led the navy. The land arrangements are as follows: General Huwei Yu Jin is the first army, and General Fenwei Cheng Yu is the second army..."

"General Zhang Liao, the bandit, is the third army..."

“…”

“…”

"General Li Feng, Cao Hong, stationed in Xiangyang, is responsible for mobilizing all kinds of materials needed on the front line, and conducting the southern general Cao Ren, guarding Jiangling." Xun You announced the order and then retreated to the side. Cao Cao's face was as deep as water and looked at the generals: "Everyone, the military orders are like mountains, I hope you can work hard."

"No!" The generals agreed, retreated one after another, and returned to the camp to prepare.

Seeing that the generals left the door, Cao Cao turned around and said to Cao Chong who was sitting aside, "Cang Shu, you are still following me in the central army. The two thousand cavalry are temporarily belonging to the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, and a single battalion is established. Pang De is the chief, Yan Ying is the deputy, and he is led by Zi and (Cao Chun). You can see."

Cao Chong smiled and nodded and said, "My father made the arrangements right." This matter is naturally natural, and it makes people unable to say anything wrong. I am afraid that Cao Cao will have some knots in his heart and deliberately weaken his strength. I am afraid that he has reminded him many times that he feels a little uncomfortable. Alas, this good man is really hard to do. I cannot forcefully advise, and I cannot watch the army be burned by fire. As the play says, this matter in Cao's camp is difficult to handle. He can only agree on Cao Cao's arrangements, so what else can he say?

The father and son talked some more gossip. Cao rushed out of the mansion and got into the carriage unhappily and returned to his temporary new residence in Caijia Manor. He thought to himself that maybe he should move back tomorrow and always live in Caijia Manor, but he was afraid that his father would have any objections after a long time. While walking, he thought about how to stop the defeat of Chibi. He just thought about it and seemed that there was no good way to persuade Cao Cao. During the last military discussion, even Jia Xu, who usually didn't speak much and wanted to give some face to speak, expressed his opposition to go straight to Jiangdong. As a result, Cao Cao just smiled and refuted it silently. At this time, he always said something to be careful. No wonder Cao Cao was so satisfied.

Maybe, maybe things may not be as they thought. Zhang Zhongjing is here, and the problem of epidemics can be controlled. With Liu Ba, if Cao's army arrived in Xiakou in front of Sun Quan and broke Liu Bei and Liu Qi's army, the battle of Red Cliffs might not have occurred, right? But can they be ahead of Sun Quan?

Cao Chong suddenly woke up. He found that Zhou Buyi, who had been following him, was not by the car, and was a little surprised. He asked Xu Yi and said, "Mr. Yuanzhi went to find his teacher, and said he would go to find the young master in a while."

"Oh, that's good." Cao Chong responded and retracted back into the car. He asked Liu Ba carefully about this and saw how to solve it.

Damn, why do you feel cold when you think of Huarongdao’s head?
Chapter completed!