Han Xiang

Chapter 583: Liang has a plan to defeat the powerful enemy
The news of Gao Gan's defeat was confirmed, and with Shiren revealing the information, Cao Hong immediately stopped provoking.

Shiren unexpectedly saw Guan Ping and the eye-catching banner with the word Guan on the battlefield. He mistakenly thought that Guan Yu had also arrived in Guanzhong, and thought that Gao Gan had lost well.

Wrong understanding also misled Cao Hong and Cao Xiu.

After all, Guan Yu's white horse beheading Yan Liang has long been engraved in the minds of the generals. They thought that if this great god came to Guanzhong, he might be able to shock the generals of Liangzhou.

Two days later, Zhuge Liang appeared in Tongguan.

Cao Hong wanted to withdraw his troops, so he approached Cao Xiu for advice.

"Wen Lie, Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang are both in Tongguan, and Guan Yu has brought troops from Jingzhou to help Guanzhong. I am afraid that Ma Tenghan, Han Sui will not be able to do it. If Guan Yu leads his troops to fight out of the pass, our [-] surrendered soldiers may not be able to stop it. Instead of wasting food here, how about retreating to Hongnong?"

"Well, it makes sense"

Cao Xiu pondered for a moment, then suddenly his eyes lit up and he reminded Cao Hong: "If Guan Yu really leads his troops into Guanzhong, not only will the danger of Xiangyang be lifted, but Nanyang will also be empty?"

"Hiss really."

Cao Hong swallowed hard, with joy in his eyes, and asked excitedly: "According to Wen Lie, we should do the opposite and quickly return to Luoyang to capture Wancheng?"

Cao Xiu shook his head slightly: "This is just an inference. Shiren didn't see Guan Yu with his own eyes. What if he is still in Jingzhou?"

"What do you mean?"

Seeing Cao Hong's incredulous expression, Cao Xiu explained: "Although it is just an inference, it is indeed an opportunity. Our task is to keep an eye on Tongguan. I also agree to return to Hongnong and only leave the scouts to monitor, but the guess must be reported."

"What speculation? I think it is a fact. After all, the area of ​​Wancheng belongs to Liu Biao and his son, while Guanzhong was taken by Liu Bei himself. It is easy to tell which is more important at a glance, so Guan Yu must be in Guanzhong without a doubt. I will write to my lord right away. report"

After Cao Hong finished speaking, Cao Xiu stopped him and reminded him earnestly: "I have traveled thousands of miles to Hebei and asked for instructions to postpone the sun and the moon. I suggest you report directly to General Xiahou."

"Wen Lie is right, I will repair the book for Yuan Rang."

As soon as Cao Hong arrived at the table and sat down, he suddenly seemed inspired by something and smiled and showed off to Cao Xiu: "Let Shiren go to Xudu to deliver the message."

Cao's army retreated outside Tongguan, and Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang breathed a sigh of relief.

After explaining and giving instructions, the two immediately set off back to Chang'an. After all, the threat to the west was greater than that to the east.

On the way, most of the wheat fields beside the road have been harvested.

The closer we get to Chang'an, the faster the wheat harvest progresses.

When this happens, firstly, there are more people in big cities and work is faster, and secondly, there are powerful soldiers stationed in Chang'an, so the people have the courage to go out to harvest wheat.

Similar to areas such as the east and north of Zuo Fengyi and the west of You Fufeng, these places have a small population. The garrison can only cover important towns and fortresses. There are only a small number of anti-robbery soldiers in the marginal counties and villages. Whenever there is war or military disaster, the common people Almost hiding at home, I could only harvest some secretly at night.

It has been 20 years since the Liangzhou Rebellion, and it has been ten years since Dong Zhuo and Li Guo rebelled against Chang'an. The people in the two places interacted with each other and fled, and they have become accustomed to this chaotic life.

During Zhong Yao's tenure as Sili Xiaowei, many small warlords like thieves and bandits were still entrenched in many places in Fengyi County on the left and Fufeng County on the right. Liu Bei took over and spent a lot of energy to eliminate the warlords and bandits who exploited the people in the territory.

It was not until last winter that Zhuge Liang completed actual control of the three counties in Guanzhong (Zuo Fengyi, You Fufeng, and Jing Zhaoyin). Liang Xing, Zhang Heng and other warlords who had thousands of troops in Guanzhong were forced to flee to Liangzhou to settle down.

Liangzhou has been in chaos for 20 years. Wei Duan, the state herdsman, doesn't care about adding more rivals. However, there are already many warlords and bandits in the area, and life is already tight. The more people there, the easier it is to fight.Liang Xing, Zhang Heng and others were driven out of Guanzhong, with hatred and anger in their hearts.

Later, when Liu Bei went south to Jingzhou, Wei Duan mediated and coordinated, and led by generals Ma Teng and Han Sui, he united ten generals with a total of 7 people to cooperate with Cao Hong on the eastern front to retake Guanzhong.

However, although there are many troops and horses, there is no unified command. Just like Sun Quan's attack on Hefei with a hundred thousand troops, each general acted on his own, hoping that others would lose their troops and generals, and they would follow behind to share the fruits of victory.

After nearly a month of dispatching troops, they were operating on the fringes and did not really attack Chencang and Yunyang.

It was not until the news came that Gao Gan was crossing the river to march westward that Ma Teng and Han Sui began to plunder the surrounding areas and cut off the seasonal wheat for military supplies. However, the various ministries almost came into conflict due to uneven distribution.

Zhuge Liang had already studied the ten generals of Liangzhou thoroughly. He knew that nothing could be done with too many people, so he dared to leave Chang'an.

When they were resting outside Zheng County on the return journey, Zhuge Liang saw Liu Bei's sad face and asked, "My lord just drank some water, did you find it difficult to swallow the dry food? You can't go into the city to get more food. Zheng County has just harvested new wheat." , let someone make some 'Hefei special noodles'?"

"Huh? No."

Liu Bei shook his head and sighed: "Half of the troops are prepared, and they never dislike food. I didn't eat solid food just now because I was worried and couldn't eat it."

Seeing beads of sweat pouring from Liu Bei's forehead, Zhuge Liang fanned himself with a feather fan and asked curiously:
"Why is my lord upset?"

"Ma Teng and Han Sui have 2 soldiers, and there are powerful generals like Ma Chao and Pang De. Are the military advisors not worried at all? We have to divide our troops to defend various places. It is passive defense in nature. We can only spare [-] or [-] people for fighting. I don't know what we can do. Or can we force them back to Liangzhou like we did with Cao Hong?"

After Liu Bei finished speaking, he noticed that Zhuge Liang was smiling, so he couldn't help asking: "Why is the military advisor laughing?"

Zhuge Liang suddenly said: "What did you think was bothering you? It turned out to be because of this rabble. So what if they have Ma Chao and Pang De? Yide and Zilong are even better. Now that Cao Hong and Gao Gan have retreated, Ma Teng, It was only a matter of time before Han Sui retreated. When food and fodder were scarce in the winter, they left on their own."

Liu Bei still frowned and murmured: "It's only early August, and there are still two or three months of cold weather. Is it really going to be delayed until winter? Aren't the people around us suffering a lot?"

"Lord, do you want to retreat now?"

Seeing Zhuge Liang stroking his beard and smiling mysteriously, Liu Bei knew that the other party had an idea, so he happily asked: "Could it be that the military advisor has a good plan?"

"Of course there will be light, and it will be a long-term solution, if the lord is willing to eat something."

"Eat, I'll eat. I'll be full so I can go on the road."

Liu Bei didn't wait for Zhuge Liang to finish, and waved to the guards to get dry food.

Zhuge Liang nodded slightly, approached Liu Bei, covered his face with a feather fan and whispered: "Ma Teng's people come and go. They are capricious and are ultimately a danger to Guanzhong. Liang has a plan to allow the lord to take Liangzhou in advance. This way Like."

"Is this okay?"

Liu Bei looked shocked after hearing this.

Zhuge Liang straightened up, looked in the direction of Chang'an, and said seriously: "We have few soldiers and poor food supplies, and there are threats from the outside. If we don't implement this strategy, I'm afraid we won't be able to conquer Liangzhou in ten years."

"Forget it, just follow the military advisor."

(End of this chapter)