After November of the 24th year of Jian'an, the war that lasted for the entire second half of the year had gradually eased. On the contrary, things outside the two battlefields of Jingxiang and Guanzhong happened one after another.

When he had just evacuated the battlefield in Jingxiang, Cao Zhang had considered hiding the news of Cao Gong's death, but in the environment of fleeing, he could not control the transmission of information at all. So in just over ten and twenty days, most of the world, including the heads of the Hebei Central Plains, and local towns and generals, knew about it.

The huge shock caused by this was beyond anyone's imagination. Not only the government and the country were in danger, but the world was in a state of collapse. For example, a Qingzhou soldier stationed in Luoyang thought that the world was in chaos and scattered. Zang Ba, the general of Zhendong who was originally stationed in Juchao, abandoned his garrison and led his troops back to his hometown at night. Taishan County in the eastern part of Yanzhou, and in the name of Xuzhou governor and governor, he sent orders to the Qingxu counties.

Previously, when the Hanzhong King integrated Liangzhou, Zhang Ji, the governor of Yongzhou under the Cao family, joined forces with Su Ze, the commander of the Qiang Huzhong, and merged with the Qiang Huqiu in the four counties of Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan and Dunhuang, and the great surnames of the villages of the town, gathered troops to defend themselves, and continued to control the northern areas of the two counties, and crossed Sheyanze and helped each other with the Huhus in Bingzhou.

The King of Hanzhong led his troops to pacify him with general Wu Yi, who was fighting against rebellion, and marched to the first city of Gaoping. After Zhang was in vain, he did not fight, and the two armies stalemate for dozens of days.

When the news of King Wei's death in the army reached, the people around Zhang might have questions and their intentions to fight were not firm. The King of Hanzhong then sent an envoy to comfort him. Zhang treated the envoy well, but did not reply for the time being, and the King of Hanzhong did not urge him.

At the same time, Liang Xi, the governor of Bingzhou, once carried the Xianbei, Xiongnu, Qiang and Hu people to advance to Hejin, Puban and other places, and used light cavalry to cross the river and raided the Han army camps. The strong ones went straight to Xinfeng and contacted the main force of the Cao army in Guanzhong, who was guarding Chang'an. Fortunately, Zhang Ren, the general of the defeated enemy, led his troops to defeat him and confronted Liang Xi across the river.

As soon as the news arrived, Liang Xi immediately withdrew his troops and turned to Anyi, Hedong, in the Wenxi area.

At that time, a civil servant once persuaded Liu Bei, claiming that as long as he promulgated the world and claimed that the crime was in Cao's family, the rest of the world would not be asked, and the world could be settled immediately. However, Liu Bei did not agree, because the power of Yizhou, Jingzhou and Jiaozhou had already reached its limit.

In the eyes of scholars who do not know the military, they can make contributions by taking advantage of the victory and chasing the north; but when they really reach the level of being able to control the overall situation and deeply understand the military and political affairs, they can understand how extensive and difficult the army is involved, and it is not as simple as a single order as imagined.

At this time, Jingzhou and Jiaozhou defeated the Cao army headquarters with all their might, but the army suffered huge losses. It is said that many capable lieutenants, Sima, and the entire battalion were killed, and the soldiers' physical and mental consumption was even more amazing.

Under high-intensity combat, the food and weapons accumulated by the two states over the years were almost consumed. Even if there was still some surplus at the bottom of the box, it would depend on suppressing the newly expanded territory, which was definitely not enough to surround the Central Plains.

As for Guanzhong, although we have tried our best to open up the Qinling Mountains over the years, the many transportation channels in Longshan have always had problems of difficult transportation. The huge amount of materials previously stationed in Nanzheng, Hanzhong, supported the Liangzhou and Shangyong at the beginning of the war, and consumed extremely quickly. No matter how quickly the grain stored in Yizhou is transferred, considering the road carrying, the conditions for storage of grain and fodder, the scale of mobilization of civil servants along the way, etc., there is always an upper limit.

This is also an important reason why Liu Bei always left Zhuge Liang in the rear. Apart from Zhuge Liang, no one could combine many areas connected by thousands of mountains and rivers, and coordinate the transfer of materials.

However, the Yizhou army was 100,000 in Guanzhong, and the soldiers of the various troops of Liangzhou and the subordinates of the Qiang and Hu tribes were nearly 30,000. Even if Zhuge Liang and the civil servant system of the General's Office were all in full swing, it was not so easy to provide. From October, Zhang Fei and other troops who invaded Guanzhong began to eat cattle and sheep.

This is not a good thing. The Qiang and Hu soldiers in Liangzhou regard cattle and sheep as the source of food and clothing, and cherish it very much. They usually eat some cheese at most, so how can they bear to eat beef and mutton? At this time, the General's Mansion dispatched cattle and sheep from Liangzhou to Guanzhong, which certainly proved the strong control of Liangzhou by the central government, and it also showed that Yizhou was not easy to support and needed Lianglong's assistance.

Since our military and economic power is about to approach its limit, how practical significance does it have to the political offensives in Hebei, Central Plains and other places?

If the land was not captured by military power and only relying on political deterrence and call, it would not be a real victory, but would leave great hidden dangers. Yuan Shu was a model of failure at that time, and was a laughing stock for future generations.

As a hero who rose in troubled times, Liu Bei held high the banner of benevolence and righteousness, but he was never pedantic. He knew that everything was based on the strong army and was not interested in that kind of false victory.

It is not impossible to do such a thing as a mailing world. But it must be done after you have a comprehensive political, military and economic advantage on your side and can truly master every piece of subdued land. With your current military capabilities, the primary and only feasible goal is to conquer Chang'an and achieve stable control of Guanzhong.

The Cao army in Guanzhong naturally disagreed with the intention of the King of Hanzhong.

Cao Pi himself has been in charge of Guanzhong for six years, and he is definitely not an incompetent person, especially in Chang'an. Cao Hong, Yan Xing, Guo Huai and others are either old generals, powerful generals, or rising stars with civil and military talents. Although they do not have the ability to win in field battles, they are really not allowed to settle down in a daze.

Zhang Fei urged his army to attack fiercely for days, but he continued to compress the control of the Chang'an Cao army, so that the King of Hanzhong could spare no time to pay homage to his ancestors and soldiers in Yangling. Apart from this, there was no sign of victory.

Generally speaking, the confrontation between the two armies is still the same, and most of the battles that broke out in various places only consumed life in vain. Compared with the unstoppable momentum of breaking into Guanzhong ten months ago, it is even less likely to compete with the hundreds of thousands of people in Jingxiang and the hundreds of thousands of people who killed prisoners.

But on the side of the Cao army in Chang'an, they were increasingly restrained when facing tiger generals like Zhang Fei, and the contact channels with Guandong were at any time. The prince of Wei and deputy prime minister Cao Pi issued transfer orders to Guandong prefectures and counties several times to urge troops to support him, but Cao Zhen, the general of the cavalry in Wan and Luo, not only ignored it, but also kidnapped Cao Pi's envoy several times.

However, in early December, a big mess broke out in the area controlled by Cao Zhang.

Previously, Cao Cao led his troops through Wan, Luo and other places. Because the civilians and grassroots military strategists were unable to withstand the labor service, mutinies broke out several times. Dongligu, the prefect of Nanyang who was responsible for the local peace, ran around to suppress the situation, and was very busy.

By the end of November and early December, the news of Cao Gong's death from illness was shaken. In order to restore military power, Cao Zhang forced to recruit strong men and plunder local food. As a result, the people's hearts were boiling and could no longer be curbed. Hou Yin, the county general who was responsible for suppressing the rebellious people, launched a rebellion, and thousands of people went into the mountains to protect themselves, killing the county Gong Cao Yingyu and capturing the prefect Dongligu.

Although the Jingzhou army had no spare energy to go north to launch a large-scale conquest, they also gave Hou Yin from afar. Wei Kai was called General and marched into Xinye with a small number of elite troops.

Previously, more than 200,000 Cao's army collapsed during the Jingxiang war, and everyone was extremely afraid of Guan Yu. When the Jingzhou army showed its intention to go north, thieves rose up in Liang, Jia, Luhun and other places, and they all attacked Jingzhou banners everywhere, attacked and killed officials under the Cao family. The turmoil even affected Yanzhou, Yu and other states.

This time, Cao Zhang was inevitably panicked. He had to send troops to quell the rebellion and concentrate his efforts to deal with possible attacks. How could he take care of it for a while?

Zhuge Liang closed the scroll in his hand.

"Is there any more?" he asked.

After being summoned by the King of Hanzhong, Zhuge Liang quickly arranged many matters of the General Mansion of Hanzhong Military Advisors, and then arrived in vain.

In December, the weather was already cold. After he went to the Central Army to pay homage to the King of Hanzhong, he immediately asked about the information summarized from various places. Until the general concept of the matters, the snow particles still stained in his hair had not melted, and the blood from the cheeks that were blown by the wind and frost did not fade away.

He heard his inquiry and whether there was any news that had not been reported, his subordinates lowered their heads and turned over the case files. For a moment, the central army tent was filled with the sound of bamboo slips or cloth rolls opening and closing.

Of course there is still some news. What I just said does not involve the emperor's disappearance. There must be an explanation for this matter, but this matter is related to the two important generals of the Jingzhou Army and the Jiaozhou Army. The subordinates gave their eyes obscurely, and no one spoke first.

Liu Bei's master seat is next to Zhuge Liang.

Liu Bei also carefully considered the subtleties in the current situation, and he also planned several response plans with Fa Zheng. But at this time, he saw his subordinates busy, but for a moment he didn't know what he should do, so he simply picked up the copper pot and poured a bowl of hot water for Zhuge Liang: "Kong Ming, you drink water."

"Thank you, the king."
Chapter completed!