Chapter 240 Step by Step Shock

Since Cao Ren was captured, Cao Hong, the second general of the Cao family, has been ordered to take over the defense of Nanyang. Cao Yan deployed more than 40,000 soldiers and horses in Nanyang.

A few days ago, Cao Hong received a secret order from Cao Qian and ordered him to go south and immediately launched a surprise attack on Fancheng.

Cao Qian got the order and personally led more than 30,000 steps to ride. On a starry night, he rushed to Xinye. Together with the 10,000 soldiers and horses of the Wenpin Institute, 40,000 troops immediately launched an attack on Fancheng.

However, the movement of Cao Jun has long been expected in Jingzhou.

As early as Liu Feng pretended to take the order of the Han Emperor and pretended to send troops to Sichuan, he secretly ordered Wei Yan, the general of Zhenbei, to enter Fancheng, and quietly increased the number of Fancheng's soldiers to more than 10,000.

When Cao Hong, who seemed to be a powerful walking army, launched an attack on Fancheng this morning, Wei Yan had been waiting for him here for several days.

After the Battle of Xiangfan last year, Liu Feng mobilized a large number of civilians to strengthen and raise the wall of Fancheng in order to ensure the foolproof of the Xiangyang barrier north of the Han River, which greatly improved the level of defense.

After Wei Yan entered Fancheng, he quickly mobilized the troops to complete the deployment, and the city defense equipment such as arrows, fire oil, wood and rolling stones were well prepared.

With such full preparation, the result of the battle can be thought to be stopped.

On the same day, Cao's army attacked from morning to evening. After several rounds of fierce attacks, after paying about 2,000 casualties, they failed to shake Fancheng.

Under the unfavorable attack, Cao Hong had to order to stop the attack, and tens of thousands of troops camped more than ten miles north of Fancheng.

At the same time as the defeat of Cao Hong's army, the 50,000 troops commanded by Yu Jin and Xu Huang have also turned from Luoyang to Nanyang. The vanguard cavalry said to travel 300 miles to Yancheng in the northwest of Fancheng.

At the same time, Cao's 100,000 main forces, who had originally passed through Luoyang and entered Guanzhong to attack Hanzhong, also suddenly changed the direction of the march and rushed to Jingzhou.

Within ten days, nearly 200,000 Cao troops came to Jingzhou.

In Xiangyang City, in the state pastoral government, Liu Feng stared at the latest information from all over the country, but his face was hesitant.

"Sir, I always feel that Cao's use of soldiers this time seems a little strange." Liu Feng touched his chin.

Pang Tong smiled slantingly and said, "I don't know where the lord feels strange?"

"Please have a look, sir."

Liu Feng pointed to the map and said, "The nearly 100,000 soldiers and horses led by Cao Hong and Xu Huang and other four generals have gathered in the area of Xinye to launch an attack on my Xiangfan. The 100,000 soldiers and horses led by Cao Qian have also entered Wancheng. On the surface, Cao Shen really thought of the soldiers of the country and devoured me Jing Xiang in one fell swoop.

"Well, at least it looks like this." Pang Tong nodded slightly.

Under the surface, there are often more terrible conspiracies.

Liu Feng continued: "However, the intelligence of Guanzhong is that Xiahou Yuan is leading 30,000 soldiers and horses to attack Hanzhong from Xiegu. Twenty thousand soldiers and horses of Zhang Yi attacked Yangpingguan from Wudu, and these two armies of soldiers and horses have fought fiercely with Liu Bei's army."

In Pang Tong's smile, there was a little bit of pride. It seemed that he had already expected Liu Feng's doubts.

"If Cao Wei is determined to attack Jingzhou first, then in Hanzhong, he should take the defensive position. But now, Cao Qian is abnormal and launches a two-line attack in Jingzhou and Hanzhong at the same time, which is obviously against the law of war. Lord, this is what you are wondering about.

Pang Tong's words, cut into Liu Feng's heart.

With Cao's three points, he has two strengths in the world. Of course, he has the strength to fight two wars at the same time.

However, judging from Cao's previous use of troops, this person has always concentrated superior troops to ensure the victory of a war.

It is not in line with his style of fighting two wars at the same time.

In the vague, Liu Feng felt that things were not as simple as he thought. Behind Cao Hen, there must be a master to give him some advice.

"Sir, since there is doubt, in your opinion, we still need to transfer the soldiers of Yizhou to Chu to support." Liu Feng hesitated about the previous plan.

Pang Tong pondered for a moment and said, "As far as the current situation is concerned, the pressure on Xiangfan is not enough to be supported. What's more, there are also wars in Hanzhong. Maybe there will be opportunities for us. The soldiers of Yizhou, I don't think we have to be in a hurry to transfer to Jingzhou for the time being.

"Well, sir, what you said is reasonable."

Liu Feng agreed with Pang Tong's suggestion and immediately sent a letter to Yizhou, ordering Zhang Ren, Yan Yan and other generals to stay in Yizhou for the time being, and then wait for the follow-up orders to act.

....................................Wancheng.

In the big account, the atmosphere is extremely solemn.

Cao Qian looked around at the young faces in front of the tent, and there were several installments in his cold eyes.

The two generals in front of the account, Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu.

Both of them are the best of the young generation of the Cao family. At present, Cao Zhen is a partial general, and Cao Xiu is an official to a cavalry lieutenant. Both of them serve in the tiger and leopard cavalry.

Although they are young, they have been tested by war and experienced rising stars.

"Zidan, Wen Lie, the burden this time is on your shoulders. You are all my Cao family. It's time to let go and let you show your talents."

Cao's generous words of encouragement only listened to the two young generals.

Cao Xiu, surnamed Ru Liehuo, immediately arched his hand and said, "Don't worry, Zidan and I will never disgrace the prestige of our Cao family."

"Okay, okay, bring the wine."

Cao Shen was in high spirits and brought good wine. Cao Shen gave them a drink in person and sighed, "Come on, I will toast you this glass of wine. I wish you success."

The three people surnamed Cao, old and young, drank all the wine happily.

"The Prime Minister, take care. I'm leaving now."

After saying goodbye to Cao Jian, Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu strode out of the account. That evening, they led 30,000 vanguard riders, left Wancheng to the west, and went on a starry night.

One day later, the remaining 70,000 troops led by Cao Yan also quietly set out from Wan County, under the banner of Xiangyang in the south, but went west of Nanyang.

....................................Hanzhong, Nanzheng.

In General Zuo's mansion, there was a little anxiety on Liu Bei's gloomy face.

It's no wonder that the soldiers got Hanzhong without blood, and quickly appeased the hearts of nearly 300,000 scholars and people in Hanzhong. After the disaster, Liu Bei, like God's blessing, couldn't even believe that he had miraculously seized such a strategic land.

According to the Longzhong strategy formulated by Zhuge Liang for him, the original ambition was to cross Jingyi, then seize Guanlong in the north, and then enter the Central Plains in the east.

The fall of Jingzhou and the loss of Yizhou originally forced Liu Bei to a dead end, but the unexpected Hanzhong once again gave Liu Bei hope.

Just as Liu Bei was in high spirits and was about to use Ma Chao's prestige to connect Qiang Hu to Guan Long, he was unexpectedly preempted by Cao Qian.

Previously, Cao Wei claimed with great fanfare that he wanted to enter Guanzhong and attack Hanzhong in a large-scale attack.

At that time, Zhuge Liang and Fa Zheng speculated that Cao Qian mostly wanted to attack Hanzhong in the name of attacking Hanzhong. On the way, he suddenly turned back to the south and attacked Xiangfan.

Jingzhou's intelligence showed that Zhuge's guess was completely correct. Cao Wei came to Jingzhou with 200,000 troops, and the momentum was extremely huge.

However, what made Liu Bei depressed was that while attacking Liu Feng, Cao Wei did not forget to call his old opponent.

Xiahouyuan, who went south of Xiegu Road, and Zhangjiao, who came from Chencang Road, formed a force of attacking the front line of Yangping Pass, and the situation in the western part of Hanzhong was quite tense.

The soldiers and horses held in Liu Bei's hands, the original army, and the surrendered Zhang Lu army, had a total force of only more than 60,000 people.

Among them, in order to prevent the Yizhou army south of Hanzhong, Liu Bei had to deploy more than 20,000 soldiers on the front line of Jianmeng and Langzhong.

That is to say, Liu Bei has more than 40,000 mobile troops that can be mobilized, but there are 50,000 opponents.

Fortunately, Liu Bei is a home battle after all, and there is no problem in food and fodder supply. In addition, with the danger of Qinling as a support, it is not difficult to withstand the attack of Cao's army.

It's just that Cao's main force is gathered in Jingzhou, which is a rare opportunity. At present, Liu Bei, who originally planned to take the opportunity to attack Guan Long, had to be entangled with the enemy in the rugged land of Qin Jun, watching the time pass little by little.

"Military Master, what's going on with the Cao thief this time? He obviously pretended to swallow Jingzhou, but why did he attack me like this against Hanzhong? It's really against common sense."

Liu Bei also saw some clues. At this time, Fa Zheng was at the Yangping Pass, working with Wu Yi, Li Yan, Ma Chao and others to resist the attack of Cao's army. Liu Bei could only consult Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Liang gently shook the feather fan, and there was also suspicion in his expression. "Cao Jian's use of soldiers like this is indeed a little unusual, but..."

Before the words fell, Sun Qian hurried in and said solemnly, "Master, the big thing is not good. There is an urgent report from the Golden County. The three eastern counties found signs of a large number of Cao troops stationed, and there seemed to be an intention to attack Hanzhong in the west."

Cao Jun appeared in Dongsan County!

Hearing Sun Qian's report, not only Liu Bei, but also Zhuge Liang's expression changed.

The three counties in the east are the east of Hanzhong, the three counties of Xicheng, Shangyong and Fangling. The terrain of these three counties is dangerous, surrounded by mountains, four dangerous, and Hanshui runs through it.

Because the three counties are geographically blocked, they have little contact with Hanzhong in the west and Jingzhou in the east.

Among these three counties, the Shen brothers of Shangyong and Xicheng Haoqiang, with thousands of families and dependent people, are the largest local tyrants in the area. They are divided internally, and outwardly bowed to Zhang Lu, Liu Biao and Cao Qian successively.

In nominally, the three counties of East are loyal to the Han Dynasty, but in fact, they are semi-secession.

"Cao's army is originally in Wancheng, and Wancheng is very close to the three eastern counties. Could it be..."

Liu Bei muttered to himself, and his expression changed.

Zhuge Liang sneered and said, "What the lord said is right. It seems that Cao Yan's real goal is not Liu Feng, but the lord. He wants to surprise Hanzhong from the three eastern counties."

(to be continued)