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The sky gradually became brighter and the Han River surface returned to peace. After a night of life and death, the main force of Cao's army led by Zhang Liao finally used a raft to cross the Han River. At the same time, Yu Jin from Yicheng County also used a sheepskin raft to smuggle the Han River successfully and withdrew back to the north bank. Cao's army once again gathered in Fancheng Daying.

Although the Cao army crossed the river and did not achieve much results and paid a considerable price, Cao Cao's strategy was successful. Cao Cao's crossing the river put huge pressure on the Han army, and Liu Jing had to suspend the Northern Expedition and lead his army to support Xiangyang.

Although the Northern Expedition was only suspended, it would take at least half a year to launch another offensive, which won valuable time for the Cao army to deploy the Longxi defense. From this perspective, Cao Cao achieved the expected goal in the south of Xiangyang and achieved success.

Just the morning after Cao's army crossed the river, Wei Yan led 5,000 Han army vanguards to Xiangyang. At noon, tens of thousands of main troops led by Liu Jing also appeared in Longzhong. At this time, Pin and Jia Xu also arrived in Longzhong to welcome Liu Jing's arrival.

"The low-level position made a mistake in judgment and failed to intercept Cao's army. I asked the state governor to punish him."

Pin was very ashamed. Although Jia Xu had realized that the purpose of Cao's army was to cross the river from Longzhong, he still made a mistake in his judgment and believed that Cao's army was to block the reinforcements of the Han army, so he could not seize the opportunity to pursue Cao's army.

Liu Jing had received a report, and he helped him up and said with a smile: "This time Cao's army traveled south and returned to the north, obviously, carefully planned in advance, and used sheepskin rafts. This is really hard for the southern army to imagine that as long as you can defend Xiangyang this time, I think you have not neglected your duties and deserve the reward."

At this time, Jia Xu also walked up to salute and said, "It's amazing to say that the general could not have thought that Cao's army would use sheepskin rafts, but I am from Xiliang and have been familiar with this kind of river crossing vehicle since I was a child. But I didn't expect that it was a bit unreasonable. This time, the responsibility lies with me and has nothing to do with the general."

"The military advisor doesn't have to blame himself. Actually, I'm worried that Cao's army will attack Jiangxia. Fortunately, Cao Cao has no intention of this, which is our luck."

Speaking of this, Liu Jing smiled at everyone and said, "Go to Longzhong Wharf and have a look."

He turned over his horse and surrounded him and headed towards Longzhong Wharf. At this time, Longzhong Wharf was filled with military supplies and weapons discarded by Cao's army. Han soldiers were cleaning up all kinds of supplies. Liu Jing came to a pile of sheepskin rafts. These were rafts washed ashore by the river. There were more than four, most of them were deflated, and more than a dozen complete rafts were piled aside.

Liu Jing looked at the sheepskin rafts carefully and turned around and asked Jia Xu: "How big is the largest raft that the military advisor has ever seen?"

Jia Xu thought for a while and said, "There were some in Dong Zhuo's army back then. In fact, it was made of ten small rafts. There were huge trees around it. It was very large and could carry up to two people. However, it was mainly used to transport grain. Even a thousand-stone warship might not overturn."

Liu Jing nodded, "This time Cao's army used a small raft and tasted the sweetness. I am very worried that he will build a giant raft in the future to facilitate transportation and will pose a great threat to our Jingzhou. Moreover, this time Cao's army crossed the river, exposing the narrow weakness of our navy's defense. Today, crossing the river from Yicheng County, and maybe tomorrow it will cross the river from Anlu County, which is unpredictable."

Jia Xu smiled bitterly and said nothing. Liu Jing said to Pin and Wei Yan again: "You go back to Xiangyang first and station the army. I will take a boat to Xiangyang with Junshi Jia later."

Everyone bowed and said goodbye, Liu Jing and Jia Xu boarded a thousand stone ship and headed towards Xiangyang.

On the side of the ship, Liu Jing stared at the destroyed Dengxian County Town on the other side for a long time, his eyes full of anger. At this time, Jia Xu slowly walked to Liu Jing and sighed for a while: "Maybe we are going to change our plan."

Liu Jing looked back at him and asked in confusion: "What does military advisor mean?"

"Cao Cao has found a way to crack the defense of the Han River, which has put a huge pressure on our northern expedition on the western front. After all, Cao Cao's military strength is much greater than ours. If our strategic focus is on the west, then Cao's army can restrain us from the eastern front at any time. I feel that Cao's army crossing the river is actually warning us. If we do not give up the northern expedition, then there will be a second crossing of the Han River. At that time, it may not be Xiangyang, but Jiangxia."

“What does this have to do with our plan to change”

"Our original plan was to seize Longxi first, gain a foothold in Longyou before attacking Guanzhong. But now it seems that we must seize Guanzhong as soon as possible. If Cao's army restrains us from Jingxiang, then we can threaten Bingzhou from Guanzhong eastward, and even threaten Nanyang from behind, so that the two sides of the Cao army will be encircled."

Liu Jing pondered for a long time and said, "We can support Jiaozhi Guardian Xie and give him the strength to compete with Liu Bei. In this way, I can transfer all the naval forces and warships in Jiangling to the Han River, double the defense of the naval forces of the Han River, and at the same time recruit 50,000 troops to increase the defensive forces of Jingzhou to 120,000. I think this will not affect my plan for the Western Expedition."

Jia Xu understood what Liu Jing meant. He still didn't want to attack Guanzhong first. He still had to follow the original plan and gain a foothold in Longxi before marching towards Guanzhong. This was also safer. Thinking of this, Jia Xu smiled and said, "Maybe I have another plan to let Cao's army be restrained by the direction of Hefei, and he would be powerless to attack Jingzhou."

"Hefei"

Liu Jing's eyes lit up. He understood what Jia Xu meant. If that was the case, it would be a good idea. He believed that Sun Quan would definitely swallow this bait.

Zhang Liao led his army back safely, and Liu Jing was forced to stop the western expedition and come to help Jingzhou. This made Cao Cao feel very happy. Before Liu Jing's army arrived in Xiangyang, Cao Cao ordered a banquet to celebrate the success of the military dispatch.

In the tent, Cao Cao set up a banquet, and everyone gathered in a circle to sit down. Several strong men from the army wrestled sumo in the tent. Everyone laughed and said, and the atmosphere was very warm.

At this time, Cao Cao raised the wine bottle and smiled at everyone and said, "Please listen to me, everyone."

The big tent immediately became quiet, and countless eyes were staring at Cao Cao. Cao Cao then said slowly: "The significance of crossing the river this time is not only that we successfully forced Liu Jing to help Xiangyang, nor that we could return all over the world. More importantly, we have been under the oppression of the Jingzhou naval army over the years and finally found a fight against the Jingzhou naval army. We do not need traditional warships, and we can use the convenience of sheepskin rafts to flexibly fight with the Jingzhou naval army. Come on, we drink this bottle of wine together."

Everyone responded in unison, picked up their ear cups and drank the wine. Many people here did not understand the profound meaning of Cao Cao's last sentence, but Zhang Liao understood that because several Cao soldiers who fell into the water actually swam back to the other side with a sheepskin bag, the discovery was of great significance. In this way, as long as the Cao soldiers could swim smoothly through the Han River, they could swim smoothly.

In the past, some people suggested that soldiers could cross the river with wood, but after all, it was inconvenient to carry wood, and sheepskin bags could be stacked in a backpack. Each soldier would carry it with him, and each person would carry four, and armor and weapons could be placed on the leather bag to cross the river.

It can even be temporarily put into a giant raft to carry war horses and supplies across the river. It is this discovery that made Cao Cao ecstatic. The problem of crossing the river that has troubled him for so many years has finally been solved. Of course, the Yangtze River is not good, but except for the Yangtze River, Cao's army will no longer be trapped by any river.

Seeing Zhang Liao thinking, Cao Cao smiled and asked, "What are you thinking about far away but you are thinking about the wonderful uses of sheepskin."

"It's Beizhi who is thinking about this. In addition, Beizhi is a little worried about Hefei and is worried that the Jiangdong Army will take advantage of the situation to attack Hefei City."

Cao Cao smiled, "I did get an urgent report. Huang Gai led 20,000 Jiangdong across the river from Liyang to Hefei, but I was not worried that Sun Quan would really work hard for Liu Jing and help Liu Jing defeat us. What is the benefit of him? For him, the biggest benefit is that Cao and Liu both suffered losses, so he would only act and would never really attack Hefei."

"The Prime Minister is indeed an insight into people's hearts." Everyone raised their glasses to praise him.

Cao Cao drank two more glasses of wine, and he felt a little half-hearted. He sighed and said, "The difference between Rangshan and Rangshan saved Liu Jing's life. Unexpectedly, he eventually became my biggest trouble, so he was so passive today. I am fifty-eight years old this year, but the world is not yet peaceful. The refugees in the north are getting worse and worse. The martyrs are in their old age and their ambitions are not fulfilled."

After saying that, he raised the wine bottle again and drank the wine in the bottle. Unconsciously, Xu Chu, who was standing behind Cao Cao, felt that the Prime Minister was no longer supported, so he hurried forward and whispered: "Prime Minister, you need to change your clothes."

Cao Cao nodded, "I really want to change my clothes."

Xu Chu helped Cao Cao up, and Cao Cao smiled at everyone and said, "This time I may not be back. I know that everyone hopes that I will leave, so I will give you my best wishes. Everyone, have a drink and we will discuss how to deal with Liu Jing's arrival tomorrow."

Everyone laughed and stood up to salute. Then Xu Chu helped the Prime Minister to leave carefully from the back tent. Cao Cao left. Everyone was out of control. The big tent became lively again, and everyone was chatting and laughing, and the atmosphere was warm.

At this time, Cao Hong brought a glass of wine to Zhang Liao, and said with a smile: "Although Yuan was defeated in this battle, he was defeated heroically. Even the Prime Minister praised him and even placed the wine as a celebration of Yuan. It is admirable. I will stay at Yuan for a glass of wine to express my feelings."

Zhang Liao heard that his words were thorny, and he felt a little displeased, and said lightly: "Zhang Liao was just following the Prime Minister's order to fight. The Prime Minister's wine had nothing to do with Zhang Liao, so he dared not be praised by General Lian. We should drink this glass of wine separately."

He picked up the wine and drank it all. Cao Hong's face changed slightly and he said coldly: "Is it better to give me this face?"

"I'm just drinking General Lian's wine, and I don't get praised by General Lian. Please, General Lian."

"snort"

Cao Hong snorted heavily, poured wine on the ground, turned around and left, pouring wine on the ground in front of him. This was a move to humiliate people at the wine table. Zhang Liao was furious and slapped the table and shouted: "Cao Hong, what do you mean?"

Cao Hong glanced back at him and said in a sarcastic tone: "It's nothing, I'm just paying homage to the innocent villagers who were unfortunately killed by the general. Why should the general be angry?"

Zhang Liao immediately understood that it was the military marquis who was lustful and insulted the people and killed people and seized money. Cao Hong really attacked him. Zhang Liao was not a humiliating person. He took a deep breath and said in a deep voice: "General Cao Hong, please explain it clearly before leaving."
Chapter completed!