Chapter 674

Liu Bei summoned his group of advisors to discuss the plan for the expedition against Hebei throughout the night.

Jia Xu cupped his hands,

"My lord, after successive defeats, the Cao army has fewer than one hundred thousand elite troops, and the other one hundred thousand are basically farmers who were just forcibly conscripted and trained. The people of Hebei are already complaining bitterly about this."

Liu Bei nodded,

"Excluding the troops left to guard various places, our army can mobilize over four hundred thousand troops, which is far superior to the Cao army, and we have many elites."

"Where do you think the difficulties in conquering Hebei lie?"

Guo Jia looked at the map,

"My lord, the most difficult part of conquering Hebei is naturally taking Yecheng, followed by the Pingyuan Kingdom and Bohai Commandery guarded by Xia Houyuan, and finally the Youzhou guarded by Cao Hong."

Liu Bei smiled,

"Then should our army start with the easy and end with the difficult, or start with the difficult and end with the easy?"

Jia Xu cupped his hands,

"My lord, the battle for Yecheng will inevitably be extremely fierce and cannot be taken in a short time. I believe we should start with the easy and end with the difficult, cutting off Youzhou, Qingzhou, and the other commanderies of Jizhou. Once Yecheng becomes an isolated city, the morale of the Cao army will inevitably falter, and perhaps there will be flaws to exploit."

Liu Bei nodded; he also intended to take Qingzhou and Youzhou first.

Pang Tong cupped his hands,

"My lord, with our army's current strength, '700' we can fully press our troops to Wei Jun, while simultaneously attacking multiple points, sending great generals to attack Youzhou and Qingzhou."

"With a massive army pressing at the border, Cao Cao will certainly not dare to send troops from Yecheng to rescue Qingzhou and Youzhou, making it easier to attack both provinces."

Liu Ye frowned as he looked at the map,

"There is another difficulty in attacking Yecheng: the army cannot move without grain and fodder. If we besiege Yecheng for a long time, the amount of grain required will be enormous. If we rely on human labor to push carts, I fear the burden on the people will be too heavy."

Everyone agreed that Liu Ye made a very valid point. If the burden on the people is too heavy, the rear will become unstable, and if the siege fails, we will have to retreat, which would mean all previous efforts were wasted.

Liu Bei smiled,

"Everyone, Kongming, who is in Henei Commandery, has already thought of this."

Liu Bei handed Zhuge Liang's suggestion to everyone to read,

"Kongming has been inspecting Henei Commandery. The Qi River originates in the Taixing Mountains; its current is swift and its volume is quite large. It flows through Zhaoge and merges into the Yellow River."

Liu Bei pointed at the map,

"As long as we divert the Qi River and channel the water into the Bai Ditch, our army can directly use the waterway to transport grain deep into the heart of Wei Jun."

"If we also dig a small canal starting from the Zhang River in the west and reaching the Bai Ditch in the east, our army can directly transport grain from the Central Plains to the foot of Yecheng."

Everyone was overjoyed,

"My lord, if we can do this, our army will have no worries about grain, and our chances of victory will greatly increase!"

Liu Bei smiled,

"Not only that, this canal can also serve as a water trade route in the future, greatly promoting the commercial prosperity of Hebei."

Everyone bowed in admiration,

"My lord is wise!"

Having solved the problem of transporting grain, everyone was in high spirits and continued to discuss the details of the troop deployment intensely.

The live broadcast room's comments also exploded,

"Brother Bei is awesome! While others are fighting a war, he has started working as a construction contractor!"

"He actually started digging a canal? Have you thought about how Boss Cao feels?"

"Boss Cao's side is a bit chaotic right now; Liu Bei's chances of winning are quite high."

Liu Bei's side was busy preparing for the expedition against Hebei,

Preparing grain, mobilizing troops, adjusting generals, and conscripting laborers—such a massive movement naturally could not be hidden from Cao Cao.

"Cough, cough."

Cao Cao, despite being ill, looked at the intelligence on the bamboo slips, his brows furrowed tightly,

"It seems Liu Bei is going to launch a full-scale expedition against Hebei this time. What do you think?"

Cheng Yu's eyes were filled with worry,

"My lord, Liu Bei is attacking with all his might this time; our army can only focus on holding our ground."

Xun Yu also indicated that they had lost the strength to leave the city and fight a decisive battle with Liu Bei.

Military Sima Yi cupped his hands,

"My lord, Liu Bei has mobilized over four hundred thousand troops, and the laborers transporting grain number at least one million. The people are seething with resentment. As long as our army holds the fortified cities, Liu Bei's rear will be unstable, and he will inevitably have to retreat."

Cao Cao nodded,

"It seems your views are all focused on holding our ground. Then notify Zhong Yao, Xia Houyuan, and Cao Hong to hold out until Liu Bei retreats."

Everyone understood; Cao Cao was abandoning all the small cities to protect only a few major ones.

Cao Pi felt somewhat heavy-hearted. He had just become the heir and hadn't enjoyed a single day of comfort, and now Liu Bei was coming!

Two months later,

Liu Bei held a swearing-in ceremony in Xuxian, dispatching four hundred and eighty thousand troops—claiming one million—to conquer Hebei and unify the Great Han!

In general, the army was divided into four routes,

The first route was naturally led by Liu Bei himself with one hundred and eighty thousand troops, accompanied by great generals Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, Gao Shun, Ju Yi, and others, setting out from the Central Plains and heading straight for Liyang City!

The second route was led by Zhuge Liang with one hundred thousand troops, accompanied by great generals Xu Rong, Xu Huang, E Huan, Wang Ping, Guo Huai, Yan Xing, Yu Du, and others, setting out from Henei Commandery, passing through Zhaoge to attack from the west of Wei Jun, and heading straight for the strategic town of Dangyin.

The third route was led by Lu Xun with one hundred thousand troops, accompanied by great generals Huang Zhong, Zhang He, Gan Ning, Xu Sheng, Ling Cao, Ling Tong, Chen Wu, and others, attacking Qingzhou and heading north to Bohai Commandery to besiege Nanpi City!