Chapter 78 Final Preparation

After years of war, the world has suffered a lot. This year, God finally opened his eyes. The grain in Jingzhou, Yizhou, Yangzhou and Yuzhou was a bumper harvest, and the big men were also able to take a breath.

Hebei is no exception. After a rare bumper harvest, Cao Wei was also overjoyed and began a new round of hoarding of food and fodder and arms race. Sima Yi, who occupied the rich customs, was also a fierce soldier, ready to collect grain and grass to start the battle. All three sides hoarded heavy troops at the border to prepare for war. But this battle was not fought in the end.

There is no other reason. In the battle of the previous year, both Cao and Liu suffered heavy losses. The short year really made them a little powerless. At this time, recuperation is the wisest choice. Since last year, Liu Bei has recruited 50,000 new recruits in Jingyang and Xu Sanzhou. Yangzhou, which has the fewest number of people in these three states, will be nearly 2 million, which is really easy. After losing more than 2 million people in Guanzhong, the number of household registrations was worse than that of Liu Bei. Therefore, while recruiting new soldiers, he also used Qianshao to recruit some small nomadic tribes outside the fortress to become military members, reducing the pressure on the states. Now that Liu Bei does not take the initiative to attack, Cao Jian is also a little relieved.

But it is also recuperating, and the difference is still obvious. At present, the population ratio of Cao Liu and Sima Yi is about 3:4:1. Liu Bei, who occupies the whole Central Plains and the south, basically occupies the most fertile land in the Han Dynasty. Moreover, in terms of climate, the south has achieved rotational planting of rice and wheat. With the same acre of land, the annual output in the south is significantly higher than that of the north.

Although Hebei is also a famous rich place, Hebei, which can only grow one stubble of wheat every year, is really not as good as the south that can have a few ripens every year. After the grain harvest, Cao Qian and Xun You calculated, but the final result almost made them lose confidence to continue to fight.

Last year's grain output in Jizhou, Youzhou and Liaodong was basically barely the same as that of Jingzhou under Liu Bei. This can only show one point: fighting for logistics, Cao is completely defeated. The result also forced Cao Wei to do everything possible to plunder food.

So in September, Cao Yan once again sent Xiahou Dun to Goguryeo, Fuyu and Wuwan. In the previous battle, Sanhan's vitality has been greatly damaged, but Goguryeo and Fu Yu have not completely surrendered. In addition, Wuwan has been not honest over the years, so it's time to beat him. This time, Xiahou Dun sent troops again. After three months, at the foot of Changbai Mountain, he defeated the 180,000 allied forces of the three countries with a mixed force of 90,000 Qingzhou soldiers and tigers and leopards. Seeing that Xiahou Dun, who did not accept it, left the captured more than 20,000 Wuwan elite soldiers to Zhenbei Zhonglang to join the army, but he led the lonely army to go deep, completely captured the capital of Goguryeo, captured most of the people's population, and moved to the hinterland of Youzhou. Continue to rely on this method of fighting to increase the bargaining chips for Cao's decisive battle.

"Now there are 40,000 elite soldiers. If you fight with Liu Da'er, these 40,000 elite riders are enough to turn the big ear thief back and forth!" Cao Yan also smiled happily after seeing the war report sent by Xiahou Dun. Before Liu Bei reopened the passage with Xiliang, he could not form a cavalry force to compete with Cao Shen by relying on the horses produced in the Central Plains alone.

Naturally, Cao Qian did not know that after the Wenshan Mountain Road was opened, Ma Chao had sent 8,000 Xiliang horses to Xichuan and then to the Central Plains. In addition to the previous Fengyun cavalry and Baima Yicong, Liu Bei's current number of cavalry has also reached an astonishing 40,000. Although the number is slightly worse than that of Cao Jian, once Liu Bei occupies the Guanzhong area and Ma Chao's Xiliang Iron Horse intervenes again, the advantage of the two sides in the cavalry will be immediately reversed.

As for the grain and fodder, Liu Bei asked Zhuge Liang to calculate the military grain harvested this year, and the result was still very exciting. If the people of Xichuan are not included now, then the food and fodder are enough to support Liu Bei's northern expedition with 600,000 troops for eight months. Such a result almost made Liu Bei think that Zhuge Liang was fooling him. After being convinced of the news, Liu Bei's confidence also soared. If Guan Yu had not repeatedly stressed that the new recruits were not yet mature, I'm afraid he would have waved his army to the north this year.

In the first battle, if the Xichuan side is included, Liu Bei used 300,000 troops before and after, and the final result was that he successfully captured Guanlong and the Central Plains and won a complete victory. In the second battle, Liu Bei's group invested more than 400,000 troops before and after, but in the end he almost lost. Before the second battle, the strength of Cao and Liu was almost equal. Now Cao Qian has lost Guanzhong, but Liu Bei has only lost Hanzhong. Therefore, in terms of family background, Liu Bei's family background is a little stronger than Cao Qian. But Liu Bei also knows that Cao Jian is definitely not a person who can make people take it lightly.

Zhao Feng, who is in Xichuan, doesn't know all this. Now he is accepting a batch of warships that have just been built before the Fushui Pass. Beside him were Huang Quan, Zhang Ren and Fa Zheng.

"General, I, Xichuan, have never been a sailor. Now the general builds this building ship. What's the matter?" Huang Quan looked at the several-storey building ship and was almost dizzy. Zhao Feng asked him to go up with him, but he didn't dare.

"Hehe, Gongheng, you don't know anything. I asked the lord to pay me money to deal with Sima Yi this time. This kind of five-storey building ship is the magic weapon of the Jiangdong sailor in the past. One ship is enough to carry 3,000 people!" Zhao Feng said with a smile.

"Three thousand people!" After listening to this, not only Zhao Feng, but also Zhang Ren exclaimed. What is the concept of 3,000 people? That means that only a few such large ships can mobilize an army of tens of thousands of people. But Zhao Feng continued, "Now that Hanzhong has lost, it is really difficult for us to seize Hanzhong. Therefore, I hope to rely on this kind of building ship. When the two armies confront each other, I will lead the army down the river until Yidu, and then wave the army from Zi back to the north and attack Hanzhong through the three eastern counties. Although this will bypass some paths, it can avoid the danger of Yangpingguan. Isn't it good?

"So that's it. No wonder the general is going to mobilize the army and horses of Yidu County!" Zhang Ren suddenly realized when he heard the words, and Huang Quan also nodded and said, "It's a little difficult to get Hanzhong from Xichuan. If you go to the three eastern counties, you can avoid the danger of Yangpingguan. However, they did not expect that this was only the first step of Zhao Feng's plan, and the real killing move was yet to come. Of course, Zhao Feng has not completely said it now. So far, as long as the law knows all his plans. For the rest of the people, Zhao Feng is ready to wait until the fight begins.

The building ship in front of Zhao Feng is built by the shipbuilders in Gu Yong's Gu family. Zhao Feng remembers that Dong Shi, a general of Eastern Wu in history, fell into the water and drowned because the ship was overturned by the wind and waves during the battle in Dongting Lake. In view of this, Zhao Feng has always been very reluctant to like this kind of building ship. When I conquered Jiangdong, all the buildings and boats of the Jiangdong sailors were all parked in Poyang Lake. As a result, after I finished Poyang City by myself, the building ship became a decoration.

But since he defected to Liu Bei, Gu Yong has grandly introduced his building ship to Liu Bei. Although the resistance to wind and waves is relatively poor, after all, it is a big ship that can carry thousands of people. Such a transportation volume also makes Liu Bei quite excited. Later, after referring to several new ships designed by Zhao Feng, Gu Yong also improved the building ship, replacing the original oars with impellers, eliminating one of the five-story ships and lowering the center of gravity. At the same time, the strong surname of the hull has been strengthened structurally, so that this kind of building ship can withstand the wind and waves of the Yangtze River. Of course, it is impossible to go to sea at this stage.

"The general's meaning is to first pretend to march into Hanzhong with a big fanfare, and then use this kind of building ship to go down the river to Yidu County, and then march into Hanzhong from the three eastern counties." After Huang Quan thought about it, he also understood a little. Zhao Feng nodded, but still said cautiously, "When the spring starts next year, we have agreed with Ma Mengqi to send troops together, and then act."

"Yes, if General Ma can march into Longxi and threaten Guanzhong, at least he can contain tens of thousands of Sima Yi. In addition to the garrisons in various parts of Guanzhong, and the defenders of Tongguan, Wudu and Yinping, Sima Yi can only deploy tens of thousands of defenders in Hanzhong at most. In this way, we will be more confident when we march from the three eastern counties!" The law is serious and authentic. He clearly knew the whole plan of the matter, but he still pretended to be such a sudden realization, and even fooled Huang Quan and Zhang Ren. Fa Zheng's bad taste was enough.

"Fortunately, Uncle Zhang guarded the West City at the beginning, otherwise, all this was empty talk!" Zhang Ren suddenly sighed. Zhang Ren has always been right-to-person. Although he has never seen Zhang Xiu, he still admires his behavior. After Xia Houyuan entered Hanzhong, he led his army to chase Lu Xun. At the same time, he sent the general Du Shi to attack the West City, but he was repulsed by Zhang Xiu. Of course, this is also thanks to the expansion and reinforcement of the city of the former Xicheng Taishou Ma when he was in office. Both Xincheng and Shangyong are in the deep mountains to the east of the West City. Du Xi didn't even capture the West City, let alone these two places.

"Yes, my uncle's contribution is not small!" Zhao Feng nodded and said that if Dongsanjun hadn't been in Zhang Xiu's hands, Zhao Feng's plan would have died at least half. The original triple deception could only be implemented at most. And when dealing with a giant annihire like Sima Yi, every time you have less layer of deception, you may be seen through by him. Even with this triple deception, Zhao Feng did not expect Sima Yi to be unable to see through. He just tried to buy time for himself before he completely saw through all his plans.

Time passed day by day, and the year 212 A.D. was still spent in a relatively peaceful atmosphere. Except for some small-scale wars, most areas are very peaceful. In the spring of 213 A.D., Ma Chao, the assassin of Liangzhou, sent Liangzhou to take the Wenshan Road and came to Chengdu for more than half a month to discuss with Zhao Feng. At the same time, Liu Bei, who is in Xuchang, also received a letter from Zhao Feng, with only six words:

If you don't succeed, you will become benevolent.

(to be continued)