Three Kingdoms: Ancestors of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 414

It was night, the starry sky was bright, and the land in Guanzhong fell into darkness again. Thousands of fires were burning on the land north and south of the Wei River, accompanied by the sound of crackling burning, and the chirping of insects in the fields.

At the gate of the Han army camp, Meng Yan was holding a bag under his armpit in his right hand and a boot in his left hand. His wet trousers were rolled up, revealing thick black leg hair, and his white and wrinkled feet stepped on the ground. Tiredly, he greeted the rest of the Han army generals.

After Zhuge Liang drove Sima Yi to the north bank of the Weishui River, he did not intend to let Sima Yi go. Before the water level rose in spring, he built a raft and built a bamboo bridge, and chased him from the south bank of the Weishui River to the north bank of the Weishui River.

Zhuge Liang crossed the river on a raft with Meng Yan, the tiger-budden supervisor, as the vanguard, while Yuan soldiers shot arrows on the bamboo bridge to cover them.From the beginning of the fight in the afternoon to dusk, Guo Huai and Le Chen led the army on the north bank of the Weishui River to take advantage of the Weishui River to prevent the Han army from successfully crossing the river.

At dusk, Sima Yi set fire to the prepared wooden boat and charged it against the bamboo bridge of the Han army. Zhuge Liang returned to Weinan after seeing this, but the bamboo bridge built was destroyed by the burning wooden boat.

Holding his wet boots, Meng Yan said gloomily, "Sima Yi is a very insidious thief. If it wasn't for the wooden boat rushing over the bridge, how could he return without success today?"

The heads of the Wei army beheaded by the tiger infantry basically stayed on the north bank and did not bring them over due to the hasty evacuation.

Wu Ban, who was in charge of crossing the river, patted Meng Yan on the shoulder to express his relief. Since the beheading was not brought back in time, the battle across the river only recorded casualties. How can the soldiers not be depressed.

Having said that, Sima Yi was already frightened by the Han army's terrifying infantry combat capabilities. You must know that fighting across the river has high requirements for the army's organizational and combat effectiveness.However, the Tiger Army and Wudang Flying Army are far stronger than the Guanzhong Army under their own command. Perhaps only the Wei Zhong Army can barely fight head-on.

Especially today, Guo Huai organized cavalry to attack the formation of the Tiger Infantry. Unexpectedly, the Tiger Infantry was not afraid at all, and the bow and crossbow with arrows raining down on the bridge finally made Guo Huai completely give up the idea of ​​charging into the formation.

After the war, Guo Huai suggested that Sima Yi repair the moats in Weibei and rely on the moats to resist the Han army crossing the river, so as to protect Weibei and wait for the arrival of Wei Zhongjun's support troops before fighting Zhuge Liang.

Sima Yi already knew that it was basically impossible to force the Han army back by fighting head-on, and it was a fluke not to be defeated by Zhuge Liang.Unless the Han army reveals its flaws, there is hope of defeat.So Sima Yi followed Guo Huai's advice like a follower of good people, and his soldiers also responded to him one after another.Regardless of post-war fatigue, he directly built moats on the Weibei Plain to prevent the Shu army from crossing the river.

"Hey! Hey!"

A sound of horseshoes came from the entrance of the camp, and three thousand cavalrymen of the Qingjiawei returned to the camp. Xiang Yu, the leader, got off his horse without joy or sorrow, and let the soldiers lead the horses away.

Wu Ban looked around for a few moments and saw that there was only Xiang Yu's headquarters, not Wang Ping's troops, and asked, "Zixu, where is Zijun's headquarters?"

Today, while Zhuge Liang dispatched Wu Ban to lead the soldiers to attack Weibei, he asked Xiang Yu to lead [-] cavalry soldiers to think that the front should go east to meet Wang Ping's troops.

Holding the whip, Xiang Yu shook his head and said: "When a certain army led the army to the east to meet the former general, he met his scouts. He said that Sima Shi led the army to help two days ago and attacked the former general's headquarters with Qin Lang. Because the former general had few troops, Fearing that the generals of the Kwantung Army will rush to help in a few days. It is difficult for our army to lead the masses to support, so we led the army back to Hanzhong at night."

After hearing the words, everyone felt that the current battle in Guanzhong was not progressing smoothly, and they only had a foothold in Weinan. Sima Yi withdrew his army and it was difficult to advance northward, Chen Cang had not yet been captured, and Wang Ping was forced to retreat to Hanzhong.

"Generals, the Prime Minister is waiting for you at the camp of the Chinese army!" Guan Xing, the supervisor of the Chinese army, said.

Everyone calmed down and followed Guan Xing into the camp of the Chinese army. They saw Zhuge Liang kneeling on the couch with a calm face and playing chess with Pan Jun.

Seeing this, everyone's depressed and irritable mood gradually calmed down, and they quietly waited for Zhuge Liang to finish playing chess.

After a while, Zhuge Liang saw that everyone was no longer whispering, so he put the sunspot on his finger into the chess box, signaling to end the game.

Pan Jun glanced at Zhuge Liang strangely, and withdrew as before.

Zhuge Liang shook his feather fan lightly, and said with a smile: "How do you feel about the recent war?"

Meng Yan glanced at the silent crowd, gritted his teeth, and said bluntly: "To the Prime Minister, I feel that the war is not going well. Sima Yi is either hiding or avoiding the war. Even if he fights, he will cross the river and feel that he can't use it. Moreover, the former general’s troops withdrew their troops back to Hanzhong.”

Zhuge Liang laughed lightly, and said, "What Zichao said is true, but he doesn't know what Sima Yi means behind it."

"Sima Yi thinks he's poor!"

Zhuge Liang said loudly: "Why did Sima Yi avoid the battle? It was nothing more than a loss of strength to our army. Today, he thought he could resist our army's attack across the river, but unexpectedly, our army almost occupied the Weishui River. He had to burn the boats to break the bamboo bridge. Now he repaired the moat on the north bank of the Weishui River There is no doubt that he is afraid of war. If he does not want to fight, it will be difficult for us to force him to fight with us."

While talking, Zhuge Liang shook his feather fan and said with a smile: "That's the way it is. You don't see it. The area from Chencang to Wuzhangyuan has already been included in my army. As long as our army captures Chencang, then we will join the 30,000 people of the chariot general and get Longyou. All the soldiers in the west of Guanzhong are in the hands of our army. How come you don’t like what you say? Therefore, the purpose of our army here is to contain Sima Yi, so that Sima Yi dare not look west."

Meng Yan showed shame, cupped his hands and apologized and said, "Yan is short-sighted, please go to the prime minister to punish him."

Zhuge Liang didn't say much, but just admonished lightly: "A soldier should put his strategy first, and fight when he has to. How can he fight for war? A general is a man's command, a country's sharp weapon, first determine his plan, and then act .As for Zijun’s withdrawal, it was ordered by someone, and he has a heavy responsibility on his shoulders!”

Everyone relaxed slightly, thinking that Zhuge Liang's words were quite right.

After Zhuge Liang calmed down, he waved his feather fan to signal everyone to retreat.

After everyone left the tent, Zhuge Liang looked at Pan Jun and said with emotion: "The weapons of generals vary in size. If you are to detect traitors, wait for disasters, and be obeyed by everyone, this is a general of ten men. Su Xingye Sleep, careful inspection of words, this is a general of a hundred. Straightforward and considerate, brave and able to fight, this is a general of a thousand. A handsome appearance, a strong heart, knowing people's hard work, knowing people's hunger and cold, this is a general of a thousand."

"Advance the virtuous and enterprising, be cautious every day, be honest and magnanimous, and be good at managing chaos. This is the general of 100,000 people. Benevolence and love are in harmony with the subordinates, faith and righteousness conquer neighboring countries, knowledge of astronomy from the top, human affairs from the middle, geography from the bottom, within the four seas. Like a family, the general of the world. Zijun is so cautious and good at managing chaos, he is the general of 100,000 people!" Zhuge Liang praised.

Zhuge Liang was full of praise for Wang Ping's withdrawal this time, and he was not at all annoyed by Wang Ping's withdrawal without authorization, because he would retreat under such circumstances.There is no way to advance, and when the number of soldiers of the Wei army continues to increase, continuing to persevere is tantamount to ignoring the lives of the soldiers.

What made Zhuge Liang more important were the other two points. One, Wang Ping had already seen that if he stayed there, it would be detrimental to the future development of the army.This is why Zhuge Liang wrote to Wang Ping, saying that it depends on the situation, whether it is the Xihe army or the withdrawal from Hanzhong.Therefore, it is very good for Wang Ping to withdraw decisively, reaching the point where he can appoint an army.

The second and most important point is that Wang Ping was able to respond quickly in such a situation where it was not easy to retreat, and used the golden cicada's strategy of escape, so that the army could withdraw safely without losing a single soldier, food and grass were not lost, and the advance and retreat were controlled. It's beyond what a general can do!
Pan Jun also stroked his beard and nodded, agreeing with Zhuge Liang's comments on Wang Ping.

Zhuge Liang pondered for a while, and said: "The current situation in Guanzhong, Sima Yi retreated to Weibei, and the reinforcements against Wei came to support one after another, and the chariot generals besieged Chen Cang.

Zhuge Liang asked Pan Jun for his opinion and said.

"Now Lord Wu is about to raise his troops to attack Jingzhou. In contrast to Wei Jingzhou's soldiers who were transferred to the south, the second east county is empty. It is an opportunity to take advantage of it. Zijun is also returning to Hanzhong. It is better to let him lead ten thousand soldiers under his command to lead the Ankang Governor's sentence." Fu Dong went out, and Deng Bomiao and Chen Shuzhi entered the two counties of Shangyong and Fangling, thinking that they should make peace. When there are new changes in Guanzhong, let Zijun enter Guanzhong as a second hand."

The current situation is just like what Zhuge Liang said, the situation in Guanzhong is still quite anxious, Sima Yi has been avoiding the battle, Wang Ping can hardly play his role here, it is better to capture the empty East Second County.It is also feasible to transfer Huang Quan Chencang or Zhuge Liang to Guanzhong when there is a new breakthrough in the war.

Sun Quan's crusade against Jingbei this time will inevitably cause Cao Wei to transfer the soldiers of Donger County to the front line to fight, leaving Donger County empty.It will be very lucky if the guard of Donger County thinks that the big man will be a little slack in the crusade against Guanzhong.

Even if he was prepared, under the threat of Sun Quan, Cao Rui would not send a large force to support Donger County. After all, Donger County has a small area and few people, and its capture will not affect the situation in the world.Therefore, the big Han generals can take advantage of the fire to rob and seize the second east county.

"What Prime Minister Shang said is not unreasonable. The former general can be ordered to attack Shangyong and Fangling counties. After the great changes in Guanzhong, the tone will re-enter Guanzhong. This is an opportunity!" Pan Jun agreed.

"Good, order Bo Miao and Uncle Zhi to listen to Zijun's dispatch and attack the second east county together."

"promise!"

Wang Ping's move to withdraw the army this time increased his impression in Zhuge Liang's mind again. Instead of the soldiers of the two armies cooperating with each other, he was directly appointed as the commander-in-chief of the East Second County.

As for Ankang Governor Jufu, when Zhuge Liang promoted the New Deal and merged counties and counties, Ankang County was included in the governance of Hanzhong County.
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"Questions and Answers of Duke Xinghan"

Zhongzu asked: "What are the disadvantages that you should not be a general?"

The Duke of Xing Han replied: "There are eight disadvantages in the way a husband is a general: one is greedy and insatiable; Not self-determination, six is ​​licentiousness in wine and sex, seven is treacherous and cowardly, eighth is cunning and not polite."

(End of this chapter)