Chapter 169
From Bu Qi's mouth, it was learned that the construction of the treasure ship had a certain degree of difficulty, but these shipwrights were experienced and had the drawings given by Liu Jue, so they could be built smoothly.
Liu Jue praised the shipwrights lavishly, and ordered Buqi to continue to supervise the construction of treasure ships, and he returned to Xiangyang.
It was more than a month to go back and forth, and the time was close to May in the blink of an eye, and at this time, all the supplies in Jiangling had been moved to the public security.
Sun Shangxiang and Fan Zhen were both pregnant, and while the pregnancy time was not long, Liu Jue sent someone to send Mrs. Cai and a group of wives and concubines, as well as Da Qiao and Qiao Gong and his wife, to Wuchang City to settle down.
At this time in Xiangyang, there were only the broken camp and the wind battalion led by Liu Jue, with a total of 10,000 people. Wen Ping led an army of 20,000 and stationed in Fancheng on the north bank of the Xiangjiang River.
Liu Jue did these things very secretly, only a few people such as Cai Mao found some clues, although they were puzzled in their hearts, but at this time they did not expect that Cao Cao would go south soon.
On the Wuxi side, with the joint efforts of Lu Xun and Wei Yan, at the end of last year, more than ninety percent of the 500,000 Wuxi people had come out to surrender.
After the New Year, Liu Jue's mining team entered Wuxi and began to mine various mineral deposits in the mountain according to the instructions on the mineral map.
The craftsmen who cast the Su iron knife have all moved to Yuanling, and now Yuanling City has become a huge arsenal, and hundreds of Su iron knives are cast every day.
In short, Liu Jue has made sufficient preparations in order to deal with Cao Cao.
......
In June of the thirteenth year of Jian'an, the grain harvest in the north began, and Cao Cao's sailors also completed their training.
Thirty miles south of Yecheng City, there is a large military camp.
This camp stretches for more than ten miles, covers an extremely wide area, there is a handsome flag in the center of the camp, embroidered with a big 'Cao' word, more than 100,000 soldiers under Cao Cao, are stationed here at this time.
After more than half a year of recuperation, these Central Plains soldiers are already full of energy, and this year's grain harvest is enough for Cao Cao to launch a great war.
Seeing that everything was ready, Cao Cao felt that it was time to go south to Jingzhou.
At this time, Cao Cao had abolished the three dukes and appointed himself as the prime minister, and the hall of the prime minister's mansion was very magnificent, only a little smaller than the palace of the emperor Liu Xie.
At this time in the hall, Cao Cao summoned hundreds of officials and said: "Now that the north has been decided, what I am worried about now is Liu Jue, Sun Quan, Liu Bei, and the rest of the people are not worried. "
After Cao Cao said this, his eyes were like lightning, and he swept over everyone one by one to see who dared to come out to oppose it.
Not to mention, there are really people who are not afraid of death who dare to come out and sweep Cao Cao's face.
Taizhong Doctor Kong Rong didn't say a word, and immediately stood up and said: "Think twice, Prime Minister! Liu Jue and Liu Biao are both relatives of the Han family, and Sun Quan is in the six counties of Jiangdong, and Jingzhou and Jiangdong have the Yangtze River. "
Prior to this, Kong Rong saw that Cao Cao was treacherous and treacherous, and he was becoming more and more lawless, so he couldn't bear it in his heart, so his speech became more and more extreme, often offending Cao Cao's face.
Cao Cao has long been unhappy with Kong Rong in his heart, but Kong Rong is the queen of Confucius, and he has left a good reputation for Rang Pear since he was a child, and he has a lot of fame and prestige.
Cao Cao pretended to be tolerant on the surface, but he had long wanted to kill Kong Rong in his heart, and now that the army was about to march south, Kong Rong jumped out to oppose it again, which made Cao Cao even more annoyed.
Cao Cao suddenly laughed angrily and said: "Liu Jue, Sun Quan, and Liu Bei are all chaotic ministers and thieves, I am ordered by the Son of Heaven to levy, how can I allow you to oppose here?"
Speaking of this, Cao Cao Huo Ran got up and shouted coldly: "I have made up my mind about the Southern Expedition, if anyone dares to oppose it again, don't blame me for being polite." "
The rest of the people who were willing to oppose it, when they heard Cao Cao's words, pondered in their hearts, and they didn't speak, but Kong Rong sighed and sat back in his place.
Cao Cao glanced at Kong Rong coldly, and then said to Chen Qun, "Is the army outside the city ready?"
Chen Qun straightened up slightly, arched his hand and said: "Prime Minister Qi, Xu Huang, Li Dian, Zhang He, Ren Jun, Lu Zhao, Zhu Ling, and Feng Kai are all ready, just wait for the prime minister's order, you can go south to sweep Jiangnan." "
"Yay!"
The joy on Cao's face flashed, and then he raised his head and looked down at everyone, and said loudly: "Where is Xun Yu?"
"Xun Yu is here. Xun Yu got up and came to the center of the hall and bowed to Cao Cao.
Cao Cao said loudly: "You stay in Yecheng, responsible for supervising the hundred officials of the town, and after my army sets off, you will deter the younger people for me and stabilize the dynasty." "
"No. Xun Yu calmly agreed, and then returned to his seat.
Historically, when Cao Cao went out on expeditions, Xun Yu was basically responsible for guarding the rear, and there were few exceptions for decades.
Cao Cao then looked at Xiahoudun and shouted, "Xiahoudun listens to orders!"
"The end will be. Xiahoudun also got up and came to the center.
Cao Cao nodded and said, "You are responsible for leading the troops to stay in Yecheng and help Xun Yu deter people with ulterior motives." "
"Wow!" Xia Houdun's face was not much surprised.
Xiahoudun's ability to lead troops to fight is not as good as Cao Ren and Zhang Liao, but he is Cao Cao's most trusted person, and he will let him stay in the rear to reassure Cao Cao.
At this time, Cao Cao looked at the others, such as Cao Chun, Xu Huang, Li Dian and other generals, all showing eager looks. Next, there are the generals who marched into Jiangnan, as well as many civil servants accompanying them.
Now that Cao Cao has unified the north, he has a large number of military generals, and he is a well-deserved number one force.
At this time, Cao Cao is like a giant, Liu Jue, Sun Quan, Liu Bei and others are just a group of ants, how can this battle be invincible?
Almost everyone thinks that Cao Cao can sweep the south of the Yangtze River in this battle, and when Liu Jue, Sun Quan and others are pacified, there will be fewer opportunities for meritorious service.
Therefore, for the generals, this expedition to the south of the Yangtze River is a feast for meritorious service, and everyone wants to go over to get a piece of the pie and obtain a few meritorious deeds, so as to crown his wife and son to glorify their ancestors.
Looking at the eager eyes of the generals and the confidence of victory, Cao Cao, who was sitting on the main seat, suddenly had a sense of pride in his heart, and suddenly said loudly: "Xu Huang, Li Dian, Zhang He......"
As the names spit out from Cao Cao's mouth, the chosen ones were all happy, as if they had already made meritorious deeds, and those who were not called were extremely annoyed, and even beat their chests.
Cao Cao also smiled and continued: "Xun You, Cheng Yu, Jia Xu, Chen Qun and others will follow me south, and the rest will stay in Yecheng. "
"No. The ministers of civil and military affairs immediately responded in unison.
Immediately, Cao Cao ordered people to draft an edict, scheduled to march south on July 15, and then Liu Xie, the son of heaven, will sacrifice the main soldier Chiyou in the military camp outside the city.
When the matter was over, Kong Rong walked out of the Prime Minister's Mansion and looked up to the sky and sighed: "The Prime Minister has raised an unrighteous army, and this battle will definitely be defeated?"
Kong Rong's words came as soon as he opened his mouth, completely ignoring the consequences, but he was known by the imperial historian Xi Xuan, who was often humiliated by Kong Rong, and immediately informed Cao Cao of the matter.
Cao Cao was immediately angry, thinking that the army was about to go on an expedition, but Kong Rong jumped up and down, not killing this person, it was really difficult to understand the hatred in his heart.
Moreover, allowing Kong Rong to talk nonsense will affect Cao Cao's authority, and getting rid of Kong Rong can also deter a group of juniors.
Cao Cao immediately let the sacrificial wine Lu Cui play, and arrested Kong Rong and executed him on charges of plotting misdeeds and slandering the court, and even Kong Rong's family was not spared.