Mi Han

Chapter 431 Cao Zhen Laughs at Yang Fu's Private Invitation
February of the third year of Han Zhangwu, or for Cao Zhen, the current time is February of the third year of Wei Huangchu.

But no matter which year it is, for Cao Zhen, it has been more than five months since he returned to Luoyang last time.

More than five months!

This period of time has extraordinary significance for Cao Zhen.

Five months ago, he returned to Luoyang in person to propose a southern expedition to Cao Pi, which was approved by Cao Pi.

Then he returned to Chang'an and asked Xia Houmao to take charge of the food, grass and armaments of the Southern Expedition Army.

At the beginning, Xia Houmao promised Cao Zhen that in about five months, he would be able to raise all the military resources for Cao Zhen's [-] troops to march south.

Xia Houmao did not break his promise, during these five months of daily life, he almost kept working without food and clothing.

The high-intensity work pressure made Xia Houmao lose a lot of weight.

But Xia Houmao's dedication has achieved remarkable results.

Cao Wei's national power is already the best in the world, what Cao Wei lacks is the talents who can integrate its powerful national power, and Xia Houmao is exactly this kind of talent.

When a strong national power meets an effective organization, the power that erupts is enough to shock any power in the world.

As early as the beginning of this year, under the arrangement of Xia Houmao, grain, grass, ordnance, and soldiers in Guanzhong were continuously transported to Chencang County.

Chencang was Cao Zhen's offensive base for the Southern Expedition.

Thanks to the convenient official roads built in Guanzhong in the Western Han Dynasty, most of the huge amount of materials departing from Chang'an were transported to Chencang City within a month.

Due to the huge amount of materials, Cao Zhen also specially built many granaries and arsenals in Chencang City to store them.

If Chencang City had not undergone an expansion, I am afraid that there would be no vacant land to build those granaries and arsenals.

To this day, not mentioning the huge amount of military supplies that have been transported to Chencang City, it is said that the Wei army inside and outside Chencang City alone has reached [-] people.

These [-] people are only the number of regular soldiers, not counting the number of auxiliary soldiers and civilian husbands who support the [-] regular soldiers.

It is no exaggeration to say that in and around Chencang City in February, the number of soldiers was several times greater than that of the common people.

Cao Zhen, with a group of cronies, stood on the towering city wall and looked down. What caught his eyes was an endless and vast military camp.

The barracks, where tens of thousands of people live, seems to extend from the distant sky all the way to the city of Chencang. How can it be described by just using the word spectacular.

Seeing this extremely spectacular scene, Cao Zhen was filled with pride and ambition.

There is no man who would not be excited by the current scene, not to mention that Cao Zhen is still in charge of the [-] army.

Because of the excitement in his heart, Cao Zhen couldn't help standing on the top of the wall and laughing happily.

His laughter soon infected all the cronies standing behind him, and many of them laughed along with Cao Zhen.

Cao Zhen's cronies all know that the enemy they are going to face next is Mi Yang - the one who has not been defeated since his debut, and he is the well-deserved No.1 general in the world today.

Because of Mi Yang's glorious record, Wei Chen in Luoyang has a deep fear of Mi Yang. As Wei Chen, why didn't Cao Zhen and his cronies not exist in the past?

But this kind of fear was gradually suppressed by them after seeing the powerful strength displayed by their own side.

This is human nature, and it is also the unique charm of this troubled world.

It is the most romantic thing in this era to fight the three armies against the heroes of the world.

Cao Zhen's hearty laughter didn't last long, and he stopped soon.

It's just that although Cao Zhen stopped laughing, his eyes were still full of satisfaction.

This kind of comfort comes not only from his imagination about the future, but also from the relief after he has relieved a heavy burden in his heart.

Five months may not be short for ordinary people, but for Cao Zhen who often leads the army in battle, these five months are not too long.

Because often a war will last for a year or even longer.

But the previous five months made Cao Zhen feel very long, because of his nervousness.

The key to Cao Zhen's plan to march south is that the South China Rebellion will occur in Yizhou, and this rebellion will undoubtedly involve most of Yizhou's military strength, food and grass.

In this case, Mi Yang, who leads the army stationed in Liangzhou, is tantamount to a lone army.

This is the best time for Wei Jun to defeat Mi Yang in recent years, and it is impossible for Cao Zhen to let it go.

But this timing will slowly change with the passage of time.

Especially after Cao Zhen received the news that Zhuge Liang led the Han army to a great victory in Nanzhong, this made Cao Zhen feel anxious.

What Cao Zhen was worried about was that before he was ready, Zhuge Liang had already led his army to quell the Nanzhong Rebellion.

If this is the case, Cao Zhen probably has to go to Cao Wei's Taimiao immediately to plead guilty to Cao Cao.

But fortunately, what Cao Zhen worried about did not happen.

Thanks to Yang Fu's "strategy of cutting diplomatic relations", the Han army's road to suppress the rebellion in Nanzhong has been triumphant, but it has not yet ended.

And just at this time, five months had passed, which made Cao Zhen feel a sense of gratitude of "God bless Wei".

The mood changes like a roller coaster are not enough for outsiders to understand. Others don't know what kind of inner suffering Cao Wei's general suffered in the past.

They only knew that Cao Zhen, standing in front of them at this moment, was full of high-spirited temperament, which made them more confident.

After gazing at the military camp below the city for a long time, Cao Zhen asked Yang Fu who was standing at the front behind him, "Yishan, where is Boji?"

Faced with Cao Zhen's sudden inquiry, Yang Fu, Cao Zhen's most trusted confidant, immediately replied: "According to the report sent by the governor of Yongzhou, he should arrive at Chencang today."

The governor of Yongzhou mentioned by Yang Fu was referring to Guo Huai who had offered advice to Cao Zhen before.

Cao Zhen was in a good mood for Guo Huai's suggestions that day. Cao Zhen was a person who was not stingy with rewards. Soon after, he recommended Guo Huai to Cao Pi as the governor of Yongzhou.

With Cao Zhen's current status in Cao Pi's heart, his recommendation soon became an official edict of Cao Pi.

Also because of Cao Zhen's kindness, Guo Huai rushed towards Chencang non-stop after receiving Cao Zhen's order.

Hearing Yang Fu say that Guo Huai will arrive today, Cao Zhen felt even better.

After he nodded, he said to Yang Fu, "When Boji arrives, let me know immediately."

After saying this, Cao Zhen reluctantly looked at the vast barracks below the city, and then walked down from the top of the city.

Two hours after Cao Zhen stepped down from the top of the city, a travel-stained Kuaiqi led a dozen personal guards to dozens of miles away from Chencang City.

This horse is exactly Guo Huai who was called to come.

But before Guo Huai continued to approach Chencang City, he and his personal guards were intercepted by the scouts sent by Chencang camp.

Thanks to Guo Huai's seal, he dispelled the concerns of the scouts and allowed them to continue moving towards Chen Cangcheng.

This little episode didn't stop Guo Huai for too much time, but it made him think.

According to the regulations of the army, when there is no fighting, the scouts of the camp can only scout for ten miles.

But when he was dozens of miles away from Chencang City, he was intercepted by the scouts of Chencang Camp, which showed one thing, that is, the scale of Chencang Camp is very large now.

Guo Huai's prediction was right. After he continued to move towards Chen Cangcheng for a certain distance, he saw the deer and horse rejecting horns on the outskirts of the camp.

Under the sunlight, the countless horns of deer and horses emitted a burst of dazzling brilliance, which made Guo Huai feel a little dazzled for a while.

But after being dazzled, a sense of pride naturally emerged in Guo Huai's heart.

Under the influence of this sense of pride, Guo Huai couldn't help speeding up his progress a bit.

Because of the seal on his body, Guo Huai finally came to the city of Chencang after passing through various checkpoints.

And Yang Fu, who was instructed by Cao Zhen, waited under the city to welcome Guo Huai's arrival after Cao Zhen left.

Guo Huai came from a famous family in Taiyuan, and now he is the official governor of Yongzhou. Such a status deserves Yang Fu to greet him personally.

One of Yang Fu and Guo Huai was the governor of Liangzhou, the other was the governor of Yongzhou, so they naturally knew each other because their jurisdictions bordered each other.

After Guo Huai saw that it was Yang Fu who greeted him in person, he immediately stopped the gallop of the steed, then jumped off the horse and quickly came to Yang Fu and bowed to him:
"Mr. Yang has a heart."

Facing Guo Huai's salute, Yang Fu smiled.

He likes to say hello to the children of the aristocratic family the most.

After Yang Fu returned the salute to Guo Huai, he led Guo Huai to the chariot that had been waiting here for a long time.

After Guo Huai boarded the chariot, Yang Fu also boarded the chariot under Guo Huai's surprised gaze.

Riding in the same chariot is an expression of close relationship in this world.

It is obvious that Guo Huai's relationship with Yang Fu did not reach this level before.

But after being surprised, Guo Huai quickly realized that this was Yang Fu's kindness to him.

After realizing Yang Fu's intention, Guo Huai put away his surprised gaze.

As one of Cao Zhen's most valued vassals today, Yang Fu has nothing to lose by being close to him.

After Yang Fu boarded the chariot, he first asked a subordinate official to enter the city to report Guo Huai's arrival to Cao Zhen, and then he asked the imperial officer to drive the chariot towards the city.

After the chariot started to move, Guo Huai had the leisure to look at the gate of Chencang, which was getting closer and closer to him.

Since the expanded city gate of Chen Cang is very tall, Guo Huai noticed it when he approached Chen Cang City. Cao Zhen used countless manpower and material resources to build the outer city of Chen Cang.

However, many things are completely different when viewed from a distance and viewed up close.

When Guo Huai came last time, the outer city hadn't been fully built yet, and he was anxious to see Cao Zhen, so he didn't pay much attention to the outer city under construction in Chen Cangcheng.

But now when Guo Huai was getting closer to the city wall of Chen Cang, he noticed that the outer city of Chen Cang City was much more majestic than he expected.

Guo Huai couldn't help thinking of the Luoyang City he had seen last year.

Although the outer city of Chen Cang could not be compared with the city wall of Luoyang City, it was definitely not much different.

At least it is on par with the world-famous Jiangling and Gong'an cities.

Thinking of this, Guo Huai realized how much Cao Zhen valued Chen Cangcheng.

Yang Fu, who was sitting on the side, noticed Guo Huai's gaze, and he explained to Guo Huai: "At the beginning, the general thought that if the bandits invaded Guanzhong, they would definitely use Chen Cang as the main direction of attack, so they did not hesitate to build the outer city."

After saying this, Yang Fu's tone suddenly became relaxed, and he continued to smile and said: "But maybe after this southern expedition, the strong defense of Chencang City will no longer be useful."

The ease in Yang Fu's tone was undisguised, and Guo Huai was an intelligent person, so he quickly understood what Yang Fu meant.

Rather than saying that Chen Cangcheng was defending against the Han army, it would be better to say that he was defending against Mi Yang.

Judging from the current strength of Wei Jun, if the Southern Expedition goes well, Mi Yang may be gone, and Chen Cangcheng will of course lose its greatest role.

Although Guo Huai didn't think that Mi Yang would be so easy to defeat, he was also full of confidence in his army's southern expedition this time, so he also echoed with a smile:
"When Chen Cangcheng is useless, I'm afraid Yang Gong and Jiuqing are expected."

Hearing what Guo Huai said, the smile on Yang Fu's face grew stronger.

Perhaps Cao Pi deliberately covered up Wei Jun's southern expedition plan at the beginning, but the gathering of [-] troops is obviously not a small move, and the other ministers are naturally not blind.

So not long ago, many ministers guessed the important event that the court is doing today.

Seeing that the Nanzheng matter could no longer be concealed, Cao Pi followed suit and no longer concealed it, and took this opportunity to promote Yang Fu's role in this major event.

If Mi Yang was really defeated in this battle, then the first contribution is Cao Zhen, and the second contribution is naturally Yang Fu who offered advice.

And with Cao Wei's fear and attention to Mi Yang, Yang Fu's contribution to defeating Mi Yang with his design, the benefits he will get from this matter will be huge.

Not to mention Jiuqing, when the time is right, the position of Sangong can also be expected.

When Guo Huai said this, he was clearly congratulating Yang Fu in advance.

For Guo Huai's congratulations, Yang Fu seemed to be very grateful.

However, he did not forget the business he and Guo Huai had to do in the same chariot.

After thinking for a while, Yang Fu revealed a piece of news to Guo Huai:
"The [-] troops have gathered [-] in Chencang City, and the remaining [-] troops will arrive soon.

After the [-] troops arrived, with the temperament of a general, he would definitely lead the army to march south immediately.

This time the general summoned Boji to come here, in order to formulate a specific strategy for the Southern Expedition. "

Hearing what Yang Fu said, Guo Huai's expression suddenly became straight.

After receiving Cao Zhen's call, he also guessed Cao Zhen's intention.

But guesses are guesses after all, and now his guesses have been confirmed by Yang Fu, making him cautious immediately.

Guo Huai didn't feel that Yang Fu purposely rode in the same chariot with him just to tell him the news that he was about to know.

As expected by Guo Huai, Yang Fu then revealed his true intention.

"As far as I know, during the Southern Expedition, the General will definitely divide his troops.

Today, the general will discuss the specific route of dividing troops.

I have always admired Boji, and I will strongly advocate Boji to become the chief general of a different army at the meeting.

It's just that Fu has a request, and I hope Boji will agree. "

(End of this chapter)