As early as the end of the year, Cao Cao had already formulated a basic strategic plan with Sima Yi, Jiang Ji and others, and Cao Cao had already decided that Sima Yi would follow him to fight the West, which means that Sima Yi, who had just been reunited with his family for less than two years, would bid farewell to his family again.

When Sima Yi told Zhang Chunhua about this decision, she immediately grabbed Sima Yi's hand tightly, and her face showed concern and reluctance: "Do you have to go? Can you refuse?"

Sima Yi reached out and patted Zhang Chunhua's back of the hand and shook his head:

"Cao Cao has already ordered my general himself, and as his adviser, I have no choice."

At this time, Zhang Chunhua's emotions began to become unstable:

"There are bloody scenes on the battlefield where you drink blood from the knife and kill the ground. Now you have helped Cao Cao plan the entire strategic pattern. Even if you go there, you can't go to the battlefield to kill the enemy for Cao Cao. Why do you still want to go?"

Seeing his wife's tone that was uncontrollable, Sima Yi comforted and explained:

"It is indeed as you said, it is not my strength to make contributions and kill enemies on the battlefield. However, in a war, it is not enough to just have a brave and good general who is good at fighting. Cao Cao defeated Guandu with few enemies and ended up with the defeat of Chibi by bullying the few. They are all the key role played by the strategists."

However, this reason did not convince Zhang Chunhua, and she still disagreed with Sima Yi's journey with the army:

"Even so, there are so many strategists around Cao Cao, why do you want to take you there?"

In fact, what Zhang Chunhua thought was that Sima Yi had gone south with Cao Cao, but almost died in the cold current of the Yangtze River. Now she is expeditioning to Guanzhong with Cao Cao, and she is really worried that the tragedy will happen again. Sima Yi saw his wife's concern and gently held Zhang Chunhua's hand with both hands and smiled:

"Because I was the one who offered Cao Cao the strategy of moving westward. Now that it has reached the first step of implementation, how can I stay out of the matter? Don't worry, there will be no more trouble this time, I will definitely come back safely."

Zhang Chunhua, who bit her lips tightly, wanted to tell Sima Yi something very important, but before she could open her mouth, the voice of the minister's servant came from outside the door: "Sir Sima, the Prime Minister is invited."

In this way, Zhang Chunhua had to swallow the words that were about to blurt out, and watched him get up and leave with the servant. After this departure, Sima Yi did not come back because he worked continuously in the prime minister's mansion for a long time.

Zhang Chunhua, who was waiting at home every day, faced with the long-term Dukongwai, she had no complaints because she knew that the husband she chose was not an ordinary person. Although he did not like intrigue and conspiracy of the official life, since he escaped from death in Jingzhou, Zhang Chunhua could see from his eyes: Sima Yi was destined to be involved in the torrent of this troubled world, and his eyes were already placed in the whole world, and no one could stop him...

For this reason, in order to make Sima Yi focus on the world, Zhang Chunhua chose to support him silently in the rear of her husband and take good care of herself and Sima Shi, including the child who was raising her slightly bulging belly...

In the first month of 211 AD, after Cao Cao had confirmed that he had taken Cao Zhi to the army to go on the war, he decided to leave Cao Pi to serve as the important responsibility of guarding Yecheng. For this reason, he adopted Chen Qun's suggestion and specially appointed Cao Pi as the General of the Five-Secret General and also served as the Deputy Prime Minister, which suddenly raised Cao Pi's political status to second only to himself.

Those who understand can see at a glance that Cao Cao's move was to balance Cao Pi and Cao Zhi, two young masters who were most likely to inherit their titles in the future. Before, the Tongquetai had the help of Yang Xiu, Cao Zhi had already shined, and his momentum had even surpassed Cao Pi, who had made great contributions in the battles in Hebei. In addition, Cao Cao actually took Cao Zhi to conquer Mahan this time, which easily reminded people of Cao Cao's preference for Cao Zhi more than he did.

Cao Cao also understood this point. In order not to let the fight between Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang happen to his son, he also gave Cao Pi almost as much favor as he paid attention to Cao Zhi. In this way, he could not only calm the hearts of his two sons, but also prevent the ministers under his command from appearing one-sidedly too early.

During the period of guarding Tongguan, Niu Jin assisted Cao Ren stubbornly resisting several fierce attacks by the Guanzhong Allied Forces. Originally, Ma Chao expected that his 50,000 elite troops from Han Sui were enough to capture Tongguan, but a few months later he found that the defender Cao Ren was not so easy to deal with, so he continued to increase his troops during the siege battle, and finally gathered all 100,000 Guanzhong Allied Forces in the west of Tongguan.

After seeing this, Zhong Yao said to Cao Ren: "General, Tongguan is surrounded by water on three sides and is the main road between Guanzhong and Luoyang. Ma Chao must take it down. Although Tongguan is under our control, the Guanxi Army from the Guanzhong Plain is strong, and our food and grass are limited, so we should abandon Guandong and retreat."

Cao Ren, who is known as a famous general to defend the city, was not willing to accept it, so he rejected Zhong Yao's proposal:

"In the past, the Prime Minister gave me the important task of guarding Nanjun, but unfortunately I was defeated by Zhou Yu and had a heavy burden. Now I will never give up on the last moment of the day. If you are afraid, please leave first."

Later, after Niu Jin calmly thought about it, he thought that Zhong Yao's proposal was correct, or had more far-reaching considerations, so he also advised Cao Ren to give up Tongguan and temporarily retreat eastward, but Cao Ren was firm in his attitude, so Niu Jin had to temporarily return to the tent to rest.

As soon as he entered the tent, Niu Jin felt the atmosphere was a little unusual. When he felt the huge chill and murderous aura emitted from behind, his right hand had already touched the sword around his waist. While turning around, he pulled the sword out and slashed it behind him...

Niu Jin's judgment was correct. Just as he drew his sword, Guo Huai, who had been lurking in the tent, drew out the sharp sword from his waist and stabbed him in the back. As a result, the two swords touched each other, and the two sides were in close contact.

"It seems that you have been doing a wrong life recently, General Niu..."

It was not surprising that Guo Huai was sarcastic about Niu Jin, but he grew up with Guo Huai since childhood and knew that he was not his opponent, so he did not take advantage of the confrontation between hand and blades. The sword in Guo Huai's hand pressed his sword against Niu Jin's body bit by bit. Niu Jin, who was sweating on his face, retorted with difficulty:

"I am not thanks to you today..."

Guo Huai and Niu Jin were in a cold face, and seemed to have no feelings for this former comrade:

"Not for Xun Yun, you will even betray the 'Your Highness'. Have you forgotten my common wish?"

“It sounds so nice…”

Niu Jinhui sneered at Guo Huai's words: "Guo Huai, you and I have grown up together since childhood. We are all very familiar with each other. The person who stabbed me with a sword at Sima's house last time was you? Although you were covered in your face, I can still recognize your eyes. If you want to say betrayal, you will betray me first. How can you be qualified to accuse me here!"

After saying that, Niu Jin used all his strength to retreat several steps. After the two separated, Guo Huai quickly stood firm. He rushed to Niu Jin again at a pace that was faster than Niu Jin, and swung his sword at Niu Jin.

Although Niu Jin barely avoided the vital points with his agile skills and sensitive instinct, his arm was still slashed.

Blood flowed to the ground one by one. The sword that had just fallen because of dodging was not far away in front of him. Niu Jin saw that Guo Huai was approaching him step by step, so he rolled sideways and quickly pushed forward. He planned to pick up the sword and make a last fight with Guo Huai. However, just as his hand was about to touch the hilt, the extremely sharp sword in Guo Huai's hand had already nailed Niu Jin's right hand firmly to the ground from the back of his hand, Niu Jin was in great pain.

After bending down to pick up the sharp sword that Niu Jin wanted to pick up, Guo Huai left the hilt of his sword with his right hand, held Niu Jin's sword with both hands, aimed at his head and prepared to stab him: "This is what you asked for..."

In an instant, Guo Huai felt a strong air flow behind him, and he was pushing towards him. He had a premonition that the person who came was not in trouble and he instinctively turned around to draw his sword to fight the enemy, but the person who came to attack held the sword and stabbed Guo Huai directly. With his intuition, Guo Huai put the sword in front of him to resist, but was still broken by the sword of the man and stabbed Guo Huai in the chest.

The injured Guo Huai took two steps back with his chest, and then he saw clearly who the person who stabbed him was:

"Li Jin..."

Li Jin, who was standing in front of him, looked at Niu Jin, whose hand was nailed to the ground by a sharp sword, and then looked at Guo Huai not far away from him. Guo Huai also noticed this detail:

"So you really colluded with them..."

Guo Huai knew that Li Jin in front of him was not that simple. During the Puyang War, Lu Bu wanted to attack Chengxian, but was defeated by an unknown Li Jin. Later, he was ordered to assassinate Zhong Yu several times but was stopped by this man, and almost died in the hands of Li Jin several times. Now Guo Huai also knew that he was not Li Jin's opponent, so he had to break through the camp and flee quickly.

Seeing that Guo Huai had already escaped, Li Jin was not in a hurry to chase him. He walked forward and stretched out his hand to pull out the sharp sword on Niu Jin's back:

"Now you understand how crazy they are, do you?"

Niu Jin hurriedly asked Li Jin, "Is it true that Guo Huai said that Xun Yun betrayed me just now?"

However, Li Jin did not answer Niu Jin's question. He first took his sword back into the sheath, but took out a white cloth from the sleeve bag and wiped Guo Huai's blood-stained sword, then turned around and prepared to leave:

"You should do it yourself..."

But Niu Jin was very worried about Xun Yun, who had a good relationship with him on weekdays:

"If Xun Yun, you are really from your side, then he will be very dangerous now!"

At this time, Li Jin stopped: "You are now the deputy general of Cao Ren. Use your mind to think about it. Since Guo Huai appears here, where will your former boss be? What will you plan?"

After hearing Li Jin's words, Niu Jin quickly reacted:

"Does it mean..."

At this time, in the garrison of the Guandong Alliance Army outside Tongguan, Ma Chao was watching the mountains and rivers piled up with soil on the sand table, and his eyes were particularly focused on blocking Tongguan, full of small flags.

The man in the straw hat sitting behind him looked at the chessboard in front of him. He stretched out his hand and took the black pieces surrounding the white pieces from the chessboard one by one, and then said to himself:

"Don't worry, I think the Cao army stationed in Tongguan will evacuate the entire line soon..."

Ma Chao turned his head and looked at the man sitting behind him: "Why are you so sure?"

The man replied with an elusive smile that made Ma Chao feel at ease:

"If you want to say the reason, I'm afraid it's Cao Cao, Zhong Yao and others who are much smarter than you..."

When Ma Wan, who was sitting on both sides of the body, immediately drew his sword and stood up, but Ma Chao reached out to stop him:

"Then let's wait and see..."

In May 211 AD, just when Tongguan was in a stalemate, Cao Cao had already led his army from Yecheng to the Hangu Shuo Yellow River to continue westward. When he learned that the Guanzhong coalition forces were all below Tongguan, Sima Yi, who was traveling with him, believed that the war in Tongguan would be difficult to last for a long time. He suggested that Cao Ren should preserve his strength first and cooperate with Zhong Yao's defenders in Tongguan to withdraw from Tongguan.

This suggestion was recognized by Jia Xu, and Cao Cao also thought of the mystery. In addition, Zhong Yao had previously written a secret letter to request that Tongguan should be given up after the Guanzhong Allied Forces gathered in the area. Finally, he issued a direct order to Cao Ren, who was guarding in Tongguan to supervise the war:

He abandoned Tongguan and retreated to the township for defense, and released the Guanzhong coalition forces into the pass.

Cao Ren was very unaware of this order, but he had no choice but to act according to the order, so he had to act overnight to retreat to Shi Township, and hand over Tongguan to Ma Chao.
Chapter completed!