Yan Pu did not choose to answer Zhang Lu's inquiry positively, but asked back:

"In the past, there were Ma Chao in the west of Guanzhong and Han Sui, there were Yuan Shao in the east, Cao Cao invaded, Yan Yanming planned the curtain, and he was wise and decisive, personally led Qin and Hu's troops to fight the east and west, and were invincible. This is the hero of the world, with unparalleled martial arts. Who will win in front of the battle between the master of the army?"

"I'm not as good as that." Zhang Lu replied sadly.

"Who will Hanzhong soldiers fight against the Kansai Army in a fierce battle on the battlefield, who will win?"

"The strong soldiers in Guanxi are far superior to Hanzhong."

"Which land is larger than Hanzhong, which one has more food and grass? Who has more households?"

"Everyone is not as good as human."

"Oh." Yan Pu also sighed, "Since these Shijun understand that what chance of winning is that Shijun thinks Hanzhong is fighting against the strong with weak points? Even if Zhang, Yang and other generals can repel the enemy outside Yangping Pass nowadays? Guanxi is powerful and will have ten or a hundred times the troops coming in the future. Even Yan Yanming personally led the army to conquer and question the crime. Shijun thinks that by then, can the power of the entire Hanzhong territory still resist?"

"This--" After listening to Yan Pu's analysis, Zhang Lu was speechless. At this time, he was even more restless than he had just thought, and the idea of ​​surrender also gained the upper hand. However, because he still had concerns, he said:

"What Mr. Yan said is very much, but Hanzhong sent troops to attack Wudu before, and now he has resisted the enemy outside the Yuyangping Pass. The two families have long formed enemies. Even if I am willing to surrender, how can I know that Yan Yanming from Chang'an can accept the surrender without guilt?"

This question seems to have already had an answer in Yan Pu's mind. He said confidently: "In Pu's opinion, although Hanzhong surrenders, there are still disciples of Liu Zhang in Shu. Yan Yanming is definitely not a short-sighted villain. He will definitely imitate the affairs of horse bones in Qianjin. High officials and generous salaries are treated by Shijun. Besides, his subordinates are mixed with Hu and Han, and even the barbarian kings can be used by him, how can they not tolerate Shijun's five-dove rice path? If Shijun has the intention to test Chang'an, Pu is dull and willing to work hard for dogs and horses."

Speaking of this, Zhang Lu and Yan Pu have all expressed their thoughts, but this time Zhang Lu did not give a reply quickly. He thought for a long time, but in the end he was unable to make up his mind. He just said:

"This matter is of great importance, and we have to slowly look at the changes in the situation and make a decision."

···

Facing the pressure of a strong enemy, Zhang Lu was fighting or surrendering, and he was reluctant to take over. However, Cao Cao, who was far away from the mountains and thousands of miles away, had already made a decision to fight hard and send troops to Nanyang.

At present, the alliance between Yan Yan and Liu Biao in Guanxi, one in the west and one in the south seriously threatened the peace of the Xudu court. Although various remarks about moving the capital to avoid the enemy's edge in the palace and the palace emerged from time to time, Cao Cao would never allow the majesty of the Xudu court and the Sikong Mansion to wipe out the ground in this cowardly form. Therefore, after a short year of rest, he recruited the troops of Yan and Yu again and sent troops south to recover the northern border of Nanyang that was lost last year.

In fact, compared with the threat from the west and south of the Xudu court, the threat from Yan Yan in Guanxi is undoubtedly even more severe. The light cavalry of the Western Liang army set out from Henan and could reach the city of Xudu without a day, and attacked and plundered the cities and towns of Yan and western Henan.

It is more urgent to lift the threat to the west of Xudu than to the enemy from Jingxiang to the south.

However, after experiencing the defeat of the Xiang family, Cao Cao no longer dared to confront Guanxi alone. In addition, Yuan Shao died of illness and the Yuan brothers fought against each other. Hebei's strong support could not be counted on. Cao Cao could only choose to be easy first and then difficult, seize the opportunity of Guanxi turning to Hanzhong, and unintentionally looking eastward, and launching an offensive against the enemy of Jingxiang occupying Nanyang.

However, Cao Cao did not expect that the tragic level of this war that he expected to be able to make a quick decision was beyond the predictions of him and his advisers.

In October, Cao Cao personally led a large army southward, and the whole way was unstoppable, conquering Xi'e, Bowang and other cities. However, after the army arrived in Wancheng, they were stubbornly resisted by Liu Bei's troops in the city. Moreover, during the besiege of Wancheng, reinforcements from Xiangyang and Guanxi arrived one after another, echoing inside and outside, and supporting each other, preparing to attack Cao's army in the union.

Moreover, Yan Yan, who attached great importance to the movements of Cao's army, also sent his general Zhang Liao to lead a side army to advance eastward to Xudu and harass the rear of Cao Cao's army.

As a last resort, Cao's army, who had no choice but to attack and win, could not retreat and repeated the same mistake, fought fiercely with Liu Bei, Wen Pin, Yang Feng and others for several days.

During this period, Cao's army, who wanted to seize Wancheng first, retreated to the city, failed to attack Wancheng. Cao Cao, the commander of the three armies, once wore a strong and held a sharp edge on the battlefield, personally supervised the battle, and ordered the elite infantrymen of the central army to launch an attack. However, he did not take down Wancheng, which Liu Bei and others led their troops to defend. Instead, his nephew Cao Anmin was hit by the stone cannon in the city and died on the spot.

Immediately afterwards, in a night attack launched by the enemy general Yang Feng of Guanxi, some new soldiers in the army were rioted. Cao Cao's eldest son Cao Ang was not afraid of danger and led the army to fight back bravely, but unfortunately he was shot by a wandering arrow on the battlefield. He was seriously injured and was already unconscious when he was carried back to the tent. The ulcer doctor in the army rescued him for a long time, but he was unable to save his life. The Qianlijiao of the Cao family died before he could succeed and died in the army that night.

However, even in the face of such a tragic situation, Cao Cao, who was determined to conquer Wancheng and remove the threat from Xudu, was still unshakable. He endured the pain of his new son and nephew, motivated the officials and soldiers under the tent to comfort the disability in the army, making Cao's army more and more brave, turned grief and anger into strength, turned defeat into victory in the battle days, and gradually gained a clear advantage over the enemy in the battle formation, defeating Wen Pin and Yang Feng, who were outside Wancheng, successively defeating two reinforcements.

Afterwards, Cao Cao, who had won the battle formation, did not rashly attack Wancheng. Instead, he sent out a series of strange troops and sent infantry and cavalry to intercept the Jingxiang rear army Zhang Yun to supervise the baggage chariot transported to Wancheng. He defeated Jingxiang troops and horses, burned all the food, grass and supplies transported by Jingxiang rear army, and killed Zhang Yun and others to throw away their armor and run away with their heads in their arms, and they were spared.

Through these victories, Cao Cao's army led by Cao Cao fully controlled the dominance of the battlefield. In order to avoid losing all the supplies, Liu Bei voluntarily gave up Wancheng, risked his life to break through, and met Wenpin's defeated army and retreated to Fancheng.

Seeing that the situation was unfavorable, Yang Feng's army was afraid of being defeated by Cao's army again, so they burned the camp and retreated overnight and followed the Wuguan Road to Guanzhong.

A partial army of Zhang Liao, who raided the rear of Cao's army, encountered Yu Jin's troops in Yingchuan. The two armies had many small-scale battles in Yingchuan, but the outcome was not decided. Later, after learning that the Nanyang army was defeated, Zhang Liao did not dare to fight, so he quickly escaped from the entanglement of the enemy general Yu Jin and led his army to retreat to Henan.

At this point, in the seventh year of Jian'an, the Nanyang battle was fought with Cao's army defeating Jingxiang and Guanxi soldiers and the victory came to an end. Cao Cao left behind Li Tong, Zhao Yan, Du Xi and others to lead the troops to rebuild the Wancheng defense line, eliminating the threat from the south of Xudu court.

This battle was indeed beyond the expectations of the General of the Cavalry. In the eyes of Yan Xing and others, after Cao Cao was defeated, in order to replenish his troops and accumulate food and fodder, he would not dare to launch a large-scale attack in the short term. However, he did not expect that Cao Cao not only launched the battle to recover Nanyang in just one year, but also had a firm will. He did not waver in the early stage and finally successfully captured Wancheng, laying the foundation for the victory of the war on the southern front.

However, things are unpredictable. There is another village in which Yang Feng, who rescued Nanyang, and Zhang Liao, the generals of Zhang and Liao, were unable to retreat and win, the Nanzheng Army, who originally thought they would return without success, successfully captured Yangping Pass, the gateway to Hanzhong. Then they were unstoppable, and they won consecutive battles and won the land of Hanzhong in one fell swoop.

It turned out that when Yan Xing was unwilling to return to the army without success, he summoned Cheng Gongying and Ma Dai and other generals were about to launch another night attack, he happened to meet Zhang Ling's death. Yangping Pass general Zhang Wei, Yang Ang and others saw that the Southern Expedition Army was unable to advance in an instant, and they became arrogant and lazy. They were busy with sacrifices and other matters in the Pass during the day, and they inevitably relaxed their defenses at night. Therefore, they were led by Cheng Gongying and successfully attacked Yangping Pass. The soldiers of the Southern Expedition Army who were swarming in were unstoppable. They wiped out all the Hanzhong guards in the Pass that night, and captured Zhang Wei, Yang Ang and others who had no time to escape.

Since Yangping Pass was lost, Hanzhong was in danger. Zhang Lu in Nanzheng City could not sit still. He hurriedly asked Gongcao Yan Pu to discuss the surrender of Yan Xing in Guanxi again. However, this time Yan Pu changed his words and firmly opposed Zhang Lu's surrender at this time. Instead, he persuaded Zhang Lu to abandon the city and flee south, follow the Micang Road and cross the mountains and ridges to flee into Ba County, and surrender to Du Bian, Park Hu and other Banhua Manqus.

Zhang Lu was surprised by the change in Yan Pu's attitude before and after, and immediately asked:

"You have tried your best to persuade me to surrender to Guanzhong, why did you object again today?"

Yan Pu explained: "Now that Yangpingguan has been broken, the troops and horses in Guanzhong are in great difficulty. If the army king is forced to surrender, his merit will be light. It is better to flee south to Bazhong and resist him, so that the Guanzhong army will know that we are difficult to cure Hanzhong and the road to Shu are difficult to move. Then, he will surrender and he will have many merits!"

Zhang Luyan, who was in a panic, followed the plan and immediately prepared to abandon the city and could not escape. Because he had already had the ambition to surrender, he did not set fire to the Cangyu in the city. He only brought a few soldiers from the Five Doks of Rice Road, gave up Nanzheng City, and fled to Badi along the Micang Road overnight.

After that, as Yan Pu expected, after Yan Xing led his army to Nanzheng, he felt that the forces of the Five Doks of Rice Road in Hanzhong were mixed and difficult to cure. On the other hand, he was worried about the steep geography of Bashu and did not dare to advance rashly. Therefore, he followed the advice of Pei Ji, Gao Rou and others, and used both soft and hard work. He sent troops to attack Shangyong, Fangling and other places, and also sent envoys to Badi to surrender Zhang Lu, the Tianshi of the Five Doks of Rice Road, and made many generous promises, which led Zhang Lu and many Banyan generals to surrender to the Nanzheng Army and pacified the land of Hanzhong in one fell swoop.

Although Hanzhong is determined, the Five Doks of Rice Road must be wary of.

As a religion with a wide range of believers in Ba, Han and other places and had established separatist regimes, although the soldiers of the Southern Expedition could not take any extreme measures against the Five Doks of Rice Road due to the situation, given the closed geography of Bashu and the influence of Zhang Lu and others on Ba, Han, Han, and barbarians, the General's Mansion, which is a general in general, must prepare for the future.

After reading the good news and documents sent by the Southern Expedition Army, Yan Xing and his advisers Xun You and others decided to temporarily adopt military control in Hanzhong to increase the titles of Zhang Lu, Zhang Wei, Yan Pu and others, and let them and their families migrate to Chang'an City to facilitate the nearby surveillance of the shogunate school affairs. In the next few years, some important believers of the Five Doks of Rice Dao will also be migrating. The General's Mansion of the Cavalry will use both soft and hard measures to eliminate the huge impact of the Five Doks of Rice Dao on Ba, Han and other places.

Regarding the stay and departure of the soldiers of the Southern Expedition, because the Battle of Nanyang has ended, the General Cavalry Office not only rewarded the soldiers who were meritorious in the Southern Expedition and recalled several central troops of the main general Yan Xing, but was no longer in a hurry to mobilize troops to consolidate Guanzhong and Sanhe. Instead, it ordered Pei Ji, Yan Gui, Gao Rou and others to lead the army to stay and secretly contact the soldiers and people in Shu to wait for an opportunity to advance to the land of Bashu.

The Pei and Gao families used to have talented officials in Shu. It is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Bashu, which is xenophobic, is necessary to use their reputation and reputation to attack the heart and the friendship between them. This task will be coordinated with the battle against Shu, and is the military action that the Chang'an General Shogunate attaches most importance to.

While secretly preparing for the Battle of Shu, Xu Du, who won the Nanyang war, was also planning a large-scale capital relocation.

Xu Du, Sikong Mansion.

"Sikong, is it necessary to move the capital?"

The Shangshu Ling Xun Yu had a sad look on his face. He sat on the table and looked up at Cao Cao who was heading up.

"Um."

After experiencing the pain of losing his son, Cao Cao nodded without explaining it much. The people who know him knew it clearly. This was a manifestation of Cao Sikong's careful consideration.

Seeing this, Xun Yu fell into silence.

This time, the Cao army was able to defeat the army in Jingxiang and Guanzhong in Nanyang. In addition to Cao Cao's outstanding command and the brave battles of Cao's soldiers, Xun Yu, who was responsible for the heavy logistics of the army, also made an indelible contribution. Even if he was attacked by the light cavalry under the enemy general Zhang Liao from time to time, Xun Yu still tried his best to organize the civil servants of Yan and Yu, and sent the military rations to the Nanyang camp of Cao's army on time with the rear general Yu Jin.

Xun Yu originally thought that after the recovery of Nanyang, the pressure from the Xudu court would be greatly reduced, but he did not expect that Cao Cao, who led his army to return to win, hurriedly summoned his confidant advisers to plan the move to the capital.

Not to mention the huge project of moving the capital, it involves the interests of all parties. Just in terms of the crumbling majesty of the Han Dynasty, it is a huge damage.

If the capital was moved this time, the capital of the Han Dynasty was the fourth migration in the past ten years. Throughout history, no empire that frequently migrated to the capital could last forever. Thinking from another dimension, it even hints that the Han Dynasty has come to an end.

Guo Jia, who was standing aside, saw Xun Yu silent and knew that he was resistant to Cao Cao's move to the capital again, and immediately spoke:
Chapter completed!