Chapter 106 100. Sima Yi's Plan

Xudu.

Cao Pi, wearing a crown, looked at the battle report in his hand in silence, with no expression of sadness or joy on his face.

The ministers in the hall did not dare to say anything. After all, Cao Pi's poker face did not reveal his joy or sadness, and no one would be so blind as to take the initiative to bring bad luck upon himself.

"...Huh...Jiangnan's informant reported that the Shu and Wu factions are now gathering in the Dongting Lake area, preparing to start another round of war."

The silent and depressing atmosphere finally disappeared as Cao Pi spoke, and the ministers couldn't help but start discussing in low voices after hearing Cao Pi's words.

"Your Majesty, why did the Shu army penetrate Dongwu's Jiangling-Gong'an defense line directly? Jiangling is a strong city. How could the Shu army break through Jiangling in just ten days?"

Sima Yi stepped out and asked a question that almost no one in the court paid attention to. The last time Wei received news was when the Eastern Wu was defeated in Yiling, and the Grand Commander Lu Xun was captured alive and poisoned. Now, in just one month, how come the Han army rushed to the Dongting Lake area and prepared to fight a decisive battle with the Wu army on the river?

Cao Pi glanced at Sima Yi with an inexplicable emotion and gently shook the secret report in his hand.

"According to Jiangling's spies, the Shu army besieged the city for only five days before the Jingzhou soldiers in the city, instigated by Guan Yu's former subordinates, rebelled and opened the city gates to let the Shu army in. Even the Wu army generals did not have time to evacuate and were all captured by the Shu army."

Cao Pi gave a brief account of Feng Xi's situation from Yiling to the fall of Jiangling. At this point he could not help but sigh, the prestige of the Han army among the people was really too high.

Even though Guan Yu had been defeated for a year, when the Han army fought back to Jingzhou, counties and prefectures all over the country actually responded first. Only a month after the Han army entered Jingzhou, most of Jingzhou was already under the control of the Han army again.

"Your Majesty, I wonder how the generals' recent raids on Shu and Wu have gone?"

Sima Yi silently reviewed the situation on the map of Jingzhou in his mind before once again asking Cao Pi for help.

"Not very ideal. General Cao Ren tried to attack the three counties of Shangyong, but he was unable to defeat Shangyong's garrison commander Li Yan, so he had to return without success. Zhang He from Guanzhong took the Tangluo Road to attack Hanzhong, but encountered heavy rain, making it difficult for the army to advance through the mud, and it was difficult to get supplies, so he had to retreat to Chang'an. Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu attacked Jiangdong, but were intercepted by the Jiangdong navy and could not cross the river."

Cao Pi shook the remaining battle reports and felt helpless. Guanzhong, Shangyong and other places were easy to defend but difficult to attack. Although it was difficult for the Han army to attack Chang'an and Wancheng, it was not possible for him to capture these places with a tentative attack.

As for the Eastern Wu, although the main force of the Eastern Wu was destroyed by the Han army, the Eastern Wu still had other troops to defend against Cao Wei. Moreover, no matter where the Eastern Wu navy was, Cao Wei's navy could not match it, and the future Grand Commander Cao Zhen could only sigh at the river.

In this way, Cao Wei gained success on three fronts, but suffered setbacks on all three fronts.

"Your Majesty, if our army attacks in all directions, we will not be able to concentrate all our strength. Both Shu and Wu are quite wary of our Wei. Why not join forces and attack one place fiercely? We will surely be able to defeat it in one battle."

Sima Yi thought about the territory of Wei State for a while, and finally proposed the plan of "attacking focused areas rather than attacking in many directions".

"In your opinion, where should we attack?"

Cao Pi seemed to be quite interested in Sima Yi's strategy, and leaned forward to ask, "Hanzhong is in a dangerous position, and the several valleys are difficult for a large army to pass through, so we can't attack it; Jiangdong is naturally dangerous, our army's boats are not convenient, and it's difficult to have a numerical advantage on the river, so we can't attack Jiangdong.

The only thing left is that the roads in the Nanyang County area are smooth, which is conducive to the march and combat of our Wei cavalry; and Xiangyang and Fancheng were just burned by General Cao Ren, and it is difficult for the Shu army to repair them in a hurry. In addition, there is only a small army of the Shu army in northern Jing, and the leader is Huang Quan. I heard that he is a scholar in Sichuan, so I think he is definitely not a match for our veteran generals on the battlefield of the Great Wei. "

Sima Yi pointed out the weakest point of Wei's border after a brief analysis.

"Then according to what you said, I should send a general to fight with him for Xiangyang?"

Cao Pi thought about it and felt that such an attack was not impossible, but it seemed to be no different from the previous attempt?
"No. Your Majesty can order General Cao Zhen to escape from Huainan and lead his army to attack Xiangfan together with the general. The Wu army is currently short of manpower, and leaving General Cao Xiu in Huainan is more than enough to deal with the Eastern Wu. I believe that the Eastern Wu will not dare to fight both of us at the same time. Even if they do, their troops are not enough to capture Hefei, Guangling and other important places."

Cao Pi suddenly realized that Sima Yi was obviously taking advantage of the fact that Eastern Wu was short of troops. He simply transferred some of Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu who were originally assigned to fight against Eastern Wu and concentrated the troops to fight against Ji Han.

“The mountain roads in Sichuan and Shu are not conducive to our army’s attack, nor are they conducive to the enemy’s attack on Guanzhong. Therefore, we can order General Zhang He of Guanzhong to take the Wuguan Road south and make a move to approach the three counties of Shangyong. If the three counties of Shangyong dare not move lightly, the enemy in Xiangyang will have no strong support outside and no strong city inside, and will be defeated in a few days.

After returning to Jingzhou, Wei can station troops in Xiangfan and wait for the outcome of the battle on Dongting Lake. If the Shu army wins a great victory, they will pursue the victory and attack Jiangxia and even Chaisang along the river. Our army can seize the opportunity and attack Jiangling directly to cut off their head and tail.

If the Wu army wins a great victory, they will surely go upstream to capture Jiangling. Our army can march eastward and attack Jiangxia and Chaisang directly to cut off the Wu army."

When Cao Pi heard Sima Yi's plan, he nodded repeatedly. In this way, all the troops were concentrated to attack Jingzhou. It was expected that neither the Han army nor the Wu army would have expected this to happen.

"Zhongda's plan is really good. I will immediately send Shi Zidan to lead the army to assist the general, and order Wen Lie to be careful of Sun Quan."

Cao Pi immediately agreed to Sima Yi's plan. Upon seeing this, Sima Yi tentatively put forward his own demands.

"Your Majesty, I am afraid that the situation on the battlefield is changing rapidly, and planning alone is not enough. I would like to go to the general's tent and assist him in defeating the enemy in Xiangfan."

When Cao Pi heard Sima Yi's words, his smiling face suddenly became solemn. He closed his eyes and knocked on the table in front of him a few times without saying a word.

When Cao Pi opened his eyes again, he had regained his smiling expression. He waved his hand and said to Sima Yi:

"You are a talented person. On the battlefield, swords and knives are merciless. If you are killed, it will be a loss for our Wei. Moreover, the general is a veteran of the battlefield and knows how to use troops. Xu Gongming is still under the general's command in Wancheng and is also a good general of our Wei. Zidan is even more of a pillar of our clan. With them in front, why do you need to go there in person?"

Although Cao Pi seemed to be worried that Sima Yi might get into trouble on the battlefield, both Cao Pi and Sima Yi knew that Cao Pi was just trying to refuse and was actually unwilling to let Sima Yi interfere in military affairs.

When Sima Yi heard Cao Pi's answer, he could only sigh in his heart, curse the bastard who spread rumors about him, then thanked Cao Pi for his kindness in a sullen manner, and then retreated to the two sides of the queue without saying anything more.

(End of this chapter)