Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

In mid-August of the seventh year of Zhangwu, after burying the first emperor and handling some official duties, Zhuge Liang, the prime minister of the Han Dynasty, went north in person to the front line in Henan.

At this time, Henan was at a time when there were no generals, and the morale of all generals and soldiers was extremely low due to Liu Bei's death.

During this period of time, Cao Wei did not take advantage of the situation to launch an attack.

They didn't attack because Wude felt that Liu Bei's attack was not good during his funeral, but after analyzing the pros and cons, they felt that a forced attack would not be beneficial.

First of all, the Han army has become a mourning soldier because of Liu Bei's death. It does not mean that the mourning soldier will definitely win, but the combat ability is definitely not inferior to Cao Jun, not to mention that they still guard the camp to fight.

Secondly, Cao Wei believed that even a strong attack may not necessarily lead to victory. It is better to take advantage of this time to seize the east and west lines, so he simply did not rush into the middle army, slowed down the offensive, and focused on other places.

Under such a strategy, Cao Pi sent envoys to Xiangyang in the south to express condolences to Liu Bei, and at the same time discussed with Zhuge Liang their request to strike peace.

Zhuge Liang agreed to strike, and neither side signed any peace treaty.

Now it is not a situation where Song, Liao, and South are confronting each other, but the South advocates the Northern Expedition, and the North also intends to annex the world.

Both sides are only briefly seeking internal recuperation, waiting to fight again in the future.If you sign some peace covenant, isn't that making yourself uncomfortable?

The Han Dynasty paid great attention to faith.

Why did Cao Shuang trust Sima Yi?
That's because Sima Yi pointed at Luoshui and swore not to touch him.

The result is that Sima Yi breaks the contract, causing the faith to collapse directly, and the oath treaty has since become a waste paper.

But before Sima Yi, both sides still retained the national reputation, so the two sides had a tacit understanding and just stopped fighting to make peace. As for when they will fight again, it depends on when the two sides suddenly launch an attack.

The initiative is still in the hands of the upper echelons on both sides.

However, Zhuge Liang did not really believe in Cao Pi when he said it was a strike to make peace. He knew that if the troops retreated in order and did not give Cao Jun an opportunity to take advantage of it, then it would be called a strike to make peace.

If the order was chaotic and the soldiers and horses were not unified when the troops were withdrawn, it would be impossible for Cao Jun not to take advantage of this opportunity to launch a surprise attack.

After all, if you can take advantage of it, why not take it?
Therefore, Zhuge Liang was extremely cautious. He and Zhang Fei arrived at the front line with 5000 people from Wang Ping's department and began to plan for the withdrawal of troops.

On August [-]th, it was the Mid-Autumn Festival, the weather was dry and the autumn wind was bleak.

It is still hot during the day, but it cools down at night, the sky is like a tablecloth dotted with countless stars, and the moon hangs in the sky like a silver plate, reflecting the earth like a Milky Way.

The main camp of the Fenqiu Han army located on the south bank of Yingshui. At this time, Zhuge Liang had just returned from his tour of the camp. He arrived at the camp in the morning and inspected the entire camp.

From the northwest to the southeast of Yingshui, there is a diagonal line, and the camp stretches for more than 20 miles. There are more than [-] main force.

Then there are still tens of thousands of people in nearby Xiangcheng, Yingyang, Sicheng and other places. The total number of people on the front line of the Han army has reached 13. If auxiliary soldiers, craftsmen and farmers are added, the number is close to 30.

Such a large and bloated camp, in the absence of a chief general, is almost entirely supported by Liu Bei's elite advisers and generals.

It is very difficult to maintain it, and it is difficult to continue to attack.

Zhuge Liang sat on the main seat in the camp, and below Zhang Fei, Pang Tong, Fazheng, Gan Ning, Lu Chang, Wu Yi, Wu Ban, Gao Xiang, Dong Jue, Feng Xi, Zhang Nan, Zhang Ren, Wang Ping and other generals gathered together .

They're all old men.

Here Zhuge Liang is the youngest, 46 years old this year, and the rest even Fazheng is 51 years old.

Fazheng's health is not very good. He is more stubborn and has a more vengeful temperament. Such people often don't live too long.On the contrary, Pang Tong has a more gentle and generous temperament, and looks much younger than Fazheng.

Zhuge Liang looked around at the crowd, shook his feather fan lightly and said, "It's been nearly two years since the Northern Expedition. General Hussars captured Guanzhong in the west, and General Huainan in the east. We already had a great advantage. But after the death of the late emperor, food and grass were exhausted, and the people's livelihood in the country gradually declined. Withered, in order to protect the great cause and defend the hard-won victory, I think we should withdraw our troops and return to Nanyang, what do you guys think?"

"Retreat? Is it just like this? We finally attacked Henan."

"Prime Minister, should we reconsider?"

"It was reported in the mansion newspaper that the late emperor shouted three times for the Northern Expedition. His long-cherished wish was to defeat Cao Wei and revive the Han Dynasty. Is it so easy to retreat?"

Some generals talked a lot.

Although the war has been fought for a year and a half, nearly two years, both the generals and the soldiers are relatively tired, and the fighting spirit is actually far less than the high morale and high morale of the army when the Northern Expedition first started.

But because of the victories on the western and eastern fronts, their main force in the middle line has actually been holding back their energy.

Why both sides won, but they have been unable to win?
So if you think about it from a rational point of view, now that the battle is at this level, both sides are struggling, and it is difficult to have any breakthrough ability. It is indeed a good choice to retreat.

But the soldiers on the middle line in Henan didn't want to just retreat from the emotional point of view. They really didn't have an inch of effort to make them very unwilling.

Only Zhuge Liang shook his head and said: "I know that the generals want to decide the outcome of a decisive battle with Cao Jun, but now is really not the time to continue to attack, everyone must understand that I don't want to retreat, but continue to attack now, the national strength is almost at the limit. Can't stand it."

Although it has been three years of recuperation, the war for more than a year can be described as a gold-swallowing beast. Countless money, food, supplies, and equipment have been spilled. Now the treasury has been mostly empty. If it cannot be returned, it may not be long before it will be consumed.

"cough cough"

Fazheng coughed twice, and said: "Retreat. It is indeed time to retreat. Since His Majesty has already agreed to the matter of retreating, you should abide by it. Let's continue marching in the future."

"Ugh."

Zhang Fei let out a long sigh and said, "I don't want to retreat either, but my elder brother told me to listen to the prime minister, so I should retreat."

"It seems that we can only retreat."

"It doesn't matter if you retreat, the soldiers are indeed exhausted physically and mentally."

"Then obey the prime minister's orders."

The generals said nothing more.

Now that the matter of withdrawing troops has been decided, it is obviously impossible to say that the soldiers still want to fight.

So retreating may indeed be a good choice.

Fazheng said in a deep voice: "It is indeed the most correct and most necessary thing for us to retreat and go back to recuperate. But Cao Wei lost Guanzhong and Huainan, and they will not let it go easily. They will find a way to get them back."

"Ah."

Zhuge Liangliang nodded and said: "General Hushi and I think so too, so at this time General Hushi has already returned to Guanzhong, and the general is also rushing to Huainan. The army returns to Nanyang and connects with Guanzhong. We can rush to help Huainan, the most important thing now is to recuperate and accumulate strength for the next Northern Expedition."

Pang Tong said: "But now that the army has been deployed, if we want to retreat, it may cause some confusion in the troops. If Cao Wei takes advantage of the situation and pursues, what should we do?"

"Let me discuss this matter with Xiao Zhi and Shi Yuan."

Zhuge Liang thought for a while and said: "Everyone, please go back to your respective camps first, and wait for the order."

"Yes."

"I will retire at the end."

"Then we'll go back first."

Many generals stood up and said goodbye, ending the military meeting.

After everyone left, Pang Tong asked Zhuge Liang, "Kong Ming, what are your plans?"

Zhuge Liang stroked his beard and said, "I think Cao Wei is unlikely to let us go like this. He will probably send people to monitor us. If the troops are in order, they will not dare to attack. If there is a little confusion, they will send troops immediately. We're attacking."

"Well, that's what I thought too."

Pang Tong said: "The current situation is that there are more than 30 troops, plus nearly [-] civilian auxiliary soldiers. It may not be so easy to evacuate at once. A little carelessness may cause chaos. Cao Wei now has a lot of cavalry. Woolen cloth."

"Humph."

Fazheng snorted coldly: "We also have a lot of cavalry, how can we be afraid of them? In my opinion, it is better to set up an ambush. When retreating, let the cavalry stop. Once they attack, teach them how to look good."

Zhuge Liang said: "This is a way, but it depends on what we mean, whether we want to retreat safely, or whether we want to take some risks."

It's easier to go back safely.

It is only necessary to strictly organize the team and let the generals and soldiers at all levels evacuate in an orderly manner. When Cao Jun sees that there is no opportunity to take advantage of it, he will naturally not pursue it.

But if you want to set up an ambush, you have to show some flaws on purpose.

Just like in history, when Zhuge Liang went out of Qishan, Zhuge Liang pretended to continue to besiege Qishan, but suddenly retreated, making Sima Yi think that something happened to Zhuge Liang's rear, so he sent Zhang He to chase after him.

The only problem is to control more than 30 troops, nearly [-] people retreat together, and at the same time keep certain loopholes, so that the enemy feels that there is an opportunity to take advantage of it, which is very difficult.

If you are not careful, you may crash the game, causing unimaginable consequences.

For example, Ma Di.

He thought that he could be stationed on the mountain to inspire the soldiers' fighting spirit and have the effect of fighting to the death, but the game collapsed and he directly defeated himself.

So playing like this is a double-edged sword.

Fazheng said without hesitation: "If they don't hurt Cao Jun, how can they not know how powerful we are? It's okay to take a little risk. Didn't General Hussars send Liangzhou iron cavalry over? Could it be that such an army can't even finish the battle?" End mission?"

Pang Tong has worked with Fazheng for so long, and he knows that his character likes to take the edge of the sword. He shook his head and said, "It's better not to make troubles. It's not easy for more than [-] troops to retreat calmly. There is no need to do this."

"Shiyuan, you are timid. Sometimes you have to make a decision when you have to make a decision. You can't be afraid to make a decision because of the possibility of an accident."

Fazheng was dissatisfied and said: "You should understand that if Cao's army comes to pursue, they will not only send a few people. If they can successfully ambush, they can severely damage Cao's army and even defeat their cavalry troops. How many obstacles?"

"That's it."

The old god Pang Tong said: "But it is not a big mistake to be cautious. If it is not done well, it will easily implicate the three armies. Kong Ming, what do you think?"

The ball hit Zhuge Liang again.

He pondered.

In fact, being able to make more than [-] troops retreat safely is already a top famous general in ancient and modern times.

Being able to retreat in an orderly manner, and at the same time arrange an ambush calmly, not to mention the entire history of the Three Kingdoms, but the entire history of China, I am afraid that there are only a handful of them.

Zhuge Liang was leading the army for the second time so far, and he was actually a little hesitant about whether he could do this.

After a while, he said: "If an ambush is set up, what does Xiao Zhi plan to do?"

Fazheng came to his senses and said: "If the three armies want to retreat, the main force in front must withdraw first. The left and right wings cover the main force, and the main force covers the peasants. The auxiliary soldiers and craftsmen go first with their supplies, so that the troops can be withdrawn slowly."

"Ah."

Zhuge Liangliang nodded, this is the truth.

Unless they don't want the luggage, otherwise, the luggage must be withdrawn first.

Fazheng continued: "I intend to deliberately discard some luggage, so that Cao Jun will think it is a "bait" trick, and the main force will retreat in a hurry. They will definitely not pick up the luggage and chase our main force all the way. Can defeat Cao Jun."

"The "bait" plan?"

Zhuge Liang thought for a while and said, "This seems to be Xun Gongda's plan to kill Wen Chou."

"good."

Fazheng nodded: "The difference is that Wen Chou was caught in a trick by his recklessness and ignorance. Cao Jun would not be so stupid as to fall into a trick, but he didn't know that it was a trick."

Pang Tong raised an objection: "But Cao Jun will not be so stupid that we don't know that we have cavalry. Their cavalry is chasing after them. Aren't they afraid that our infantry and cavalry will encircle us?"

"Well"

Fazheng pondered for a moment, then said: "If they don't fall for the trick, we can evacuate calmly."

"Losing some supplies for nothing?"

Pang Tong asked back.

"This"

Fazheng was left speechless by the rhetorical question.

If the enemy is not fooled, it will indeed lose a lot of supplies.

Pang Tong laughed and said, "It's good to retreat safely like this."

Zhuge Liang thought for a while, but smiled lightly and said: "Actually, it's not impossible to fight back against Cao Jun."

"Oh?"

Fa Zheng hurriedly said, "What does Kong Ming think?"

Zhuge Liang said: "There is no need to cover the retreat with two wings. First, let the two wings cover the peasants and craftsmen to go back. After I personally lead the main force, Cao Jun will probably come to pursue it. If there are surprise troops at this time, they should be able to defeat them."

"Kong Ming cut off the empress himself?"

Pang Tong was surprised: "But I remember that Kong Ming only led troops in Nanzhong. Fighting against Cao Wei is not the same as fighting in Nanzhong. Can Kong Ming lead the three armies well?"

Zhuge Liang smiled and said, "It's probably okay. If Cao Pi knew that I was leading the army, he would not let this opportunity pass."

"Oh?"

Fazheng wondered, "Kong Ming is so sure."

Zhuge Liang looked at Beibei with deep eyes and said, "Even Xiao Zhi and Shi Yuan think I'm not up to the job, let alone Cao Pi?"

The world only knows that Kong Ming has been governing the country from the rear, and leading troops to fight has only pacified Nanzhong.

But they don't know that Liu Bei's capture of Jingzhou in the early years was almost entirely due to Zhuge Liang's army.

At that time, he was already a military staff officer, and the army was managed in an orderly manner, but it was only in Nanzhong that he led the army alone.

If Cao Wei underestimated Zhuge Liang because he felt that he had no experience in leading troops, it would be a big mistake.