Xun You stood in a high position, overlooking the valley, with a happy expression.

After staying here for more than half a year, Xun You fell in love with it. Surrounded by mountains, the scenery is pleasant, there is no scorching heat in summer and no severe cold in winter. The waterways that are three or five days away from the Chengdu Plain are not far or near, and it is a good place to live in seclusion.

However, at this moment, he was even more amazed at Sun Ce's foresight. The land called dams by local natives can be seen everywhere in this mountain. It is not big or small. In conjunction with the farming technology of the Central Plains, it is not a problem to support 30,000 or 50,000 troops within a radius of 30 miles. It is difficult to use any number of elite troops. Zhou Yu's total strength, including craftsmen, was only more than 30,000. Their arrival not only did not bring heavy burdens to the local natives, but also had some spare time to build a school and work officers, who could also show kindness to the people while meeting their own needs.

Without additional burdens, they can bring a lot of benefits. They naturally received support and love from the locals - Zhou Yu became the perfect lover in the hearts of countless indigenous girls, but only one of the representatives, and the soldiers and craftsmen in the army were generally welcomed - these indigenous people who were familiar with the terrain took the initiative to take on the task of scouting and help them find out the news. Many young and strong people even joined the army directly, and the combat effectiveness of the entire army was further improved.

If the force increases by another 20,000 - even if it is a unit of Yizhou, 50,000 troops are necessary - the situation may be completely opposite. The scope of raising food and grass should be expanded, and the consumption will increase exponentially. The indigenous people will be overwhelmed, complain about their arrival, and may even trigger resistance. Once the war meets each other, how can the current relationship between the military and the civilians be in the military?

The army was walking between the steep mountains and ridges, farming and fighting, and was able to be self-sufficient and almost no need to transport supplies from the rear. This was indeed a miracle. If Ma Yuan could handle this, he might not have been able to wear a horse's body. But who knows that even if he is as wise as Guangwu, he would not have been relieved to lead tens of thousands of troops to station in Chongshan for many years and let him do his own thing.

Even if he is as generous as Sun Ce, he will not trust Zhou Yu without reservation. Otherwise, He Qi and Zulang would not be arranged as deputy general. However, it is rare for Sun Ce to do this. At least so far, He Qi and Zulang have not had principled conflicts with Zhou Yu on the surface, and the so-called differences are limited to tactics and tactics.

Perhaps Sun Ce really hopes that Zhou Yu can go on an expedition to India?

"Gongda, are you going to write a poem?" Zhou Yu walked up the mountain road among the bamboo forest. Seeing Xun You looking at the valley in a daze, he laughed loudly.

Xun You took back his mood and bowed to salute. "Governor, I don't have that kind of elegance. I just am about to part, and suddenly I feel a little reluctant to give up."

“Like this place?”

"like."

"I like it too." Zhou Yu and Xun You stood side by side to enjoy the scenery of the mountains. "In the future, the world will be peaceful, and we will ask the king to grant him a title here and live in seclusion here."

Xun You smiled. "As long as you can live here for a lifetime, it doesn't matter if you or not. Besides, you and I are willing to live in seclusion, but my descendants may not be willing. They may want to follow the king or the heir to wander around the world."

"Haha, Gongda can see far. Then let his descendants be granted the title, we live in seclusion, build a small courtyard in this mountain, teach three or five children to study and practice martial arts, and when they are free, they are holding a stick and wandering among the mountains and rivers. Wouldn't it be a pleasure?"

The two looked at each other happily. Xun You was silent for a moment. "Next year I will know my destiny. After pacifying Yizhou, I will consider retirement. The governor is in his prime and has to wait for a few more years to live up to this rare fate of the king and his subjects."

Zhou Yu sighed softly, but didn't say much. He knew that Xun You was deeply in his mind. Even though they worked together for many years, he did not really understand what Xun You was thinking. But he was sure that Xun You said he wanted to retire, and he was not pretending to be casual. He really had this plan and notified him in advance so that he had time to choose the military plan candidates to take over. The war was about to be imminent, and it was time to best reflect the military planners' abilities.

Xun You didn't talk about this topic anymore and waved. A young army joined the army and took a map and pressed it with the prepared stones. Xun You and Zhou Yu stood in front of the map, looking at the map composed of a large number of twists and turns, and sighed for a moment. This map was one of the hard work in the past six months. With the help of local mountain people, the scouts and the soldiers responsible for surveying and mapping the map measured the main passages and rivers of the land with their feet. It took a lot of effort to draw the map.

Several dots are marked with cinnabar on the map, one of which is Louguan.

Louguan is the last work of Xi Zhicai. When Xi Zhicai entered Jiaozhou to assist Liu Yao and a senior official in the battle, he passed through Ji Ke County and Jianwei County. When he passed through Anle River, he inspected the nearby terrain and believed that this was the only way out of the mountain. He ordered people to build the pass here. The pass was not big, but it was extremely strong. It was built with huge stones. It took two years to complete. After Zhou Yu entered Xi County, he got the news from the mountain people and sent scouts to verify it on the spot. He wisely gave up the plan of attack and decided to rest here for a while before making a decision.

Louguan is a man who is the pass, but ten thousand men cannot open it. Zhou Yu is unwilling to waste his precious troops in front of this majestic pass. The elite troops can indeed be one to ten, but in this terrain, no matter how many troops there are, they cannot exert their advantages, and the armour cannot be deployed, so they can only fight for consumption. This is the situation he least wants to see.

Zhou Yu had never seen Lou Guan with his own eyes, but when he saw this map, he knew how much trouble Xi Zhicai caused him.

Xun You's fingers slid across the map. "The news came from the direction of Nanzhong that Cao Ren was appointed General Annan and contacted Liu Yao and the senior officials. Liu Yao, the senior officials had no success in their battles for a long time and had already ended their journey. It was difficult for them to refuse Cao Cao's invitation to form an alliance. It won't take long to launch an attack on Lingling and southern Guiyang, while Cao Ren will lead the barbarians in the south to head north along the Wenshui River, joining the barbarians in Yelang and other places, and launching an attack on me."

"Cao Ren can appease Nanzhong so quickly?"

"The southern center is full of mountains, with vast land and sparse people. The barbarians live in mixed places. They cannot be divided into households and people like the Central Plains. They can be detained from the village to the Yunnan Province. Cao Ren does not need to convince everyone, but only convince the heads of a few families. Although these heads have some connections with the Central Plains, they are very limited. Most of them are still like the King of Dian and Yelang. They do not know how big the difference between the Central Plains and Yizhou. Ignorance will be fooled. How can they tell whether what Cao Ren said is true or false? Cao Ren does not need to say too much. A sentence of equalizing the rich and poor is enough to make them share the same hatred and enemy."

Zhou Yu didn't say anything. They had some differences about Sun Ce's new policy and tacitly refused to discuss it. Xun You said it casually today, which may not be just venting dissatisfaction. Their differences are a dispute over governance, not a dispute over personal interests. Yingchuan, which has recently implemented the new policy, has long proved that Sun Ce only wanted land to curb annexation and did not plunder their property. Most people's industries were not damaged. As for whether they could make profits from the new policy, it was another matter.

"The barbarians are familiar with the terrain and are fierce and aggressive. If they are scattered between valleys, even if they have been scattered for ten years, it will probably be difficult to clear them. Now that they are gathering together, it is a good opportunity to severely damage them. As long as they kill their chiefs, intimidate their hearts, and show their good fortune, they will naturally descend upon them. Therefore, they can go straight to the south and pacify the southern center. Of course, they can only be restrained, and it is not realistic to mobilize the people directly like the Central Plains."

"Take Nanzhong first?" Zhou Yu pondered.

"First take Nanzhong, then go north along the Lu River to Jidao, which is relatively safe."

"If you defeat Cao Ren, if you go up to Bulang Mountain, go westward along the Anle River, and then cross Fenguan Mountain and into Zhu River, can you also go to Jidao?"

"Of course, but how can the governor overturn the tower ship over these two mountains? Without the tower ship, even if the governor reaches Jidao, how can he fight against the Yizhou Navy? If Gan Xingba leads the navy into the Three Gorges, not to mention the distance between thousands of miles, how can he dispatch it in a unified manner? How many years will the 30,000 soldiers be willing to work hard for others? In the end, they will still make wedding dresses for others?"

Zhou Yu was speechless by Xun You's repeated questions. He understood Xun You's concerns. He could not care about who was the main attacker and who was the auxiliary, but He Qi and Zulang would definitely not be willing to do so. However, according to Xun You's plan, the war to conquer Chengdu would have to be delayed for at least another one or two years.

Zhou Yu glanced at Xun You and suddenly remembered what Xun You was about to retire just now. Xun You said that if Yizhou is pacified, he will retire. If he insisted on going north first, it would seem like he would drive Xun You away, which was obviously not suitable.

"Let's talk about defeating Cao Ren first." Zhou Yu said: "This matter must be discussed with He Zu before deciding on it."

Xun You agreed, then pointed to the terrain and began to introduce the combat plan formulated by the participating soldiers.

Wei Yan stood aside, staring at the map, listening attentively, and refused to miss a word. Xun You always spoke concisely. If you don’t listen carefully, you will miss some very important content. Of course, he could ask Zhou Yu again in the future, but he felt that he would be alone sooner or later and would not be able to follow Zhou Yu forever. If he met a very smart but scheming military advisor like Xun You, he could not ask Zhou Yu for advice anymore.

A smart person can help, but the premise is that he must be smart enough, otherwise he will inevitably lose his power and lose his power. In this regard, the person he admires the most is King Sun Ce of Wu. Not only can he use so many powerful people, but he also makes these powerful people admire him very much. However, he is a peerless genius. He believes that he can't learn it, so he can only take Zhou Yu as an example, become a governor in the future, command tens of thousands of people, and guard one side.

Xun You finished speaking quickly, and Zhou Yu did not immediately express his opinion. Xun You did not urge him, and then he said another plan, which was the plan that Zhou Yu had just mentioned. The military officers made the plan, but he was not optimistic, just as an alternative. Even if he did not consider the issue of winning between the governors, just based on the actual situation, it would not be a wise choice to take the initiative to go out and attack the heart of Yizhou after defeating Cao Ren.

After hearing this, Zhou Yu still did not make an evaluation. He just asked Xun You to write both plans into reports and copy them to He Qi and Zulang. Then he would gather his thoughts and make a decision that everyone could accept.
Chapter completed!