Shu Chen

Chapter 123

The advent of life from a desperate situation is by no means accidental.

You have to grit your teeth and persevere in desperation, then God will have a chance to bring luck.

This is the case with Zheng Pu.

With the decision to kill the whole army, finally ushered in the hope of survival.

It also allowed him to gain the respect of Chen Shi.

If it is said that Chen Shi had a good impression of Zheng Pu when he fought side by side in Nanzhong Cang County in the past, but now he has turned into this son who will become the mainstay of our great man in the future.

Therefore, after all the Wei troops retreated to Xiaoguan, he took the initiative to undertake the hard work of cleaning the battlefield.

Such as collecting the armor and armor of the dead soldiers, burying the corpses of one's own soldiers, and finding firewood to burn the filth of the battlefield.

In a few days, it will be summer and April, the weather is getting hotter and the flies are blooming.If the flesh and blood residue and filth on the battlefield are not dealt with as soon as possible, it may cause a plague.

With the highest rank in the military, he did his part, and sent Zheng Pu and Zhao Guang to the camp.

In fact, the camp is ready-made.

The retreat against the Wei Dynasty was too hasty, not only did not have time to destroy the camps, but also did not burn much food, fodder and supplies.

It is equivalent to the Chen style in disguise, let him lead the army to rest.

In the middle, there is a small episode.

Ma Su took more than a thousand remnants of his troops and escorted them with food and fodder.

It's just that he felt guilty and ashamed, so he went to Jieting without stopping for a moment after the handover.

Or in other words, the only thousand remaining soldiers under Zheng Pu's command looked at him with a little annoyance, which made it impossible for him to continue to exchange pleasantries.

In this regard, Zheng Pu chased up to say goodbye to Ma Di.

"Brother Youchang, in fact, I also have the heart to send troops out of Xiaoguan."

His eyes were very clear, and there was no sign of sarcasm on his face, "However, the time to send out troops is after reporting to the Prime Minister to invite reinforcements to garrison here."

After finishing speaking, seeing Ma Di's face still looking lonely, he added another sentence, "Furthermore, our army has not lost this Xiaoguan Road, and the battle has gained a lot."

After hearing this, Ma Su raised his eyebrows in astonishment, and then fell silent.

After a long time, Fang sighed.

Regardless of his higher official position and older age, he bowed down and bowed to Zheng Pu, "Thank you Zijin for your protection."

After saying that, he turned and left.

Although the back is still depressed, it is slightly upright, and it is no longer gloomy.

Gein Zheng Pu's words were a veiled claim that when reporting the war here to Zhuge Liang, he would try his best to play tricks and play down his guilt of disrespecting the general and ordering his troops to leave Xiaoguan privately.

He put him to death by himself, but he still wanted to deal with himself regardless of the previous suspicions.

Such a friendship, Ma Di is of course deeply impressed.

It's just that sometimes, any words are pale, and it's hard to show gratitude no matter how moved.

He could only bow deeply and keep this friendship in his heart, hoping to repay it one day.

Not long after he left with his army, Zhang Bao, who was leading the Suihou army, also arrived.

Everyone complained about their joyful reunion.

That is, every time Zhang Bao looked at Zheng Pu, there would always be a gleam of sadness in his eyes.

Generals such as Ju Fu, Wang Ping, Huo Yi, and Zhang Ni who were fighting to the death were more or less injured.But Zheng Pu, who was well-guarded by his subordinate Qiyacuo, was disfigured.

On the left cheek, there is a scar about several inches long.

Not deep, it should be the tip of a spear or a blade, but it will leave a scar.

Liao Zuo, a big man, always pays attention to appearance.

For example, Xiahou Dun, the old general against the Wei Dynasty, was shot by Liu Shi when he was conquering Lu Bu, hurting his left eye, and was nicknamed "Blind Xiahou" by the army sergeant.It also made Xiahoudun angry when he looked in the mirror, and threw the mirror on the ground.

There is also Sun Ce, the rebellious general.

Once traumatized by Xu Gong's disciples, the doctor said it can be cured, as long as he takes good care of himself and does not move for a hundred days.

However, he took a mirror to look at himself, saying that the left and right said, "If you look like this, you can still make contributions." He was so angry that the wounds were all cracked, and he died that night.

Zheng Pu's appearance has been damaged recently, and Zhang Bao, who has been designated by the emperor as a family of in-laws, is naturally a little worried.

I am afraid that Zheng Pu, who has a very rigid temperament, will lose his mind and panic due to other people's sarcasm in the future, and become withdrawn and rebellious.

Naturally, his worries were in vain.

As far as Zheng Pu was concerned, it was just a scar.

What a shame!

Furthermore, how can a good man show his courage without any scars?
In particular, he didn't have much courage.
cough!
A few days later, Zhao Guangbu, who had finished his rest, rushed back to Pingxiang City with the horses captured along the way to continue to listen to Wei Yan's orders.

The Chen Shi and Zhang Bao tribes took over from the Zheng Pu and Ma Su tribes to guard the Xiaoguan Road.

Well, Zheng Pu's army is disabled, so it's useless to stay here.

It is better to go back with the captives and the armor and clothing obtained in battle.

Longguan Road, Jieting.

Zhuge Liang, the prime minister who got Chen Shi to send someone to report the military situation, let go of his worries after knowing that Xiao Guandao was safe and Zheng Pu and others were safe.

It was the look of tiredness between the brows and eyes, which couldn't be concealed even when he was making a happy face.

He has been on the front line to supervise the battle for more than a month, and he has to be distracted from dispatching various ministries. He has already made him a lot thinner than when he left Hanzhong.

Still, it's all worth it.

Although a lot of soldiers were lost, and the loss of food, fodder and supplies was huge, Longyou was already in control!

I, a big man, finally broke through the closed cage of Bashu and ushered in the first ray of dawn to restore the old capital.

It is gratifying!
That's right, the prime minister can now claim that he won the battle of Longyou.

Because the rebellion against Wei Cao Zhen started yesterday, he no longer sent troops to attack Jieting.

At first, the prime minister was quite surprised.

After dispatching scouts to investigate, it was discovered that Cao Zhen had retreated and returned to the Panxu Pass on the other side of Liupanshan-Longshan Mountains!

Although I don't know why Cao Zhen is like this.

But the prime minister didn't go into it.

Husband battle, courage also!

Do it all at once, second time tired, third time exhausted.

The previous attack by Zhang Yun was fruitless, but now Cao Zhen returned in defeat. Even if Wei Wei sent another large army, none of the soldiers would have the courage to die.

What is there to worry about?

Therefore, the prime minister, who was temporarily free, re-arranged the duties of the various ministries of the Han army after looking at the map for a long time.

It is ordered that the responsibilities of Wei Yanbu and Wu Banbu will not change, and they will continue to guard. ,
Order Guan Xingbu, who was originally sent to Chengji County to protect Wei Yanhou Road, to turn west and force You Chu, the prefect of Longxi who rebelled against Wei Wei, to surrender!

However, it is not to occupy the entire territory of Longxi County, but to garrison as far as Didao.

Tang Fan, the leader of Qianghu, has already occupied the land of Heshou, and the prime minister does not intend to break out conflicts with him until the big Han completely digests the land of Longyou.

The Wu Yi tribe, on the other hand, transferred to the Jieting Warden to build the pass, turning this place into a dividing line between the Wei Dynasty and the Han Dynasty.

He himself wants to go back to Jixian County, Tianshui County, to establish the future center of Longyou, and to appease the people of Li and Shu.

As for Deng Zhi's tribe, they led the army to Wudu County, and together with the Ma Dai tribe who guarded the Liangdao, forced the Cao army and the Di tribe in Wudu County to surrender or wiped out all of them.

After Wudu County was pacified, Ma Dai turned to Chencang Road to repair the abandoned Dasan Pass, suffocating the possibility of Niwei attacking through Chencang.But Deng Zhi's department diverted to Yinping, and together with Liao Hua, governor of Guangwu, they tried their best to kill the thieves!

Let the land of Bashu and Longyou be completely connected.

Naturally, he did not forget Zheng Pu and Ma Di.

Instead, let the messenger send an order to Ma and Zheng to lead the army to Ji County immediately.

Cao Zhen, who stopped the fighting at Jieting and let his generals guard Fanxukou, is now in Chencang City, Youfufeng.

The reason for his retreat was that he learned of Xiao Guandao's defeat and Zhang Xi's death.

After all, he was able to reach the position of General Wei not only because of his clan status and his close relationship with Cao Pi, but also because of his talent as a commander.

Therefore, I also know that continuing to attack Jieting will not help.

In particular, he met Guo Huai.

Guo Huai, disguised as a commoner of the Li family, went down the Weishui River valley, took advantage of the opportunity of Wang Shuang and Wu Ban's strike, crossed Longshan Mountain and entered Youfufeng, and found Jieting to plead guilty.

In other words, the fall of Shangyu City allowed the Shu army to guard the Guanlong passage without any distractions, and Wei lost Longyou.

One step ahead is one step ahead.

The advantages and disadvantages of Wei and Shu's offensive and defensive battles will only become bigger and bigger as time goes by.

However, it is not acceptable to Cao Zhen to hand over Longyou to him.

Therefore, after locking himself in the tent for a whole day and night, he sent someone to look for Guo Huailai.

"The loss of Longyou was not the result of the war. The loss of Shanggu was not the fault of Boji either."

First, Guo Huai was taken out of the blame for the defeat of the war. Cao Zhenfang instructed, "Unfortunately, General Zuo is injured now, and Yang Tiao, the thief from Anding County, has not been punished. Xiaoguan Dao may be in trouble. Boji will go to Anding County and supervise the general. Wei Ping and Dai Lingxiu rectified the soldiers, killed the traitor Yang Tiao, and guarded the Xiao Pass."

As soon as these words fell, Guo Huai couldn't help the tiger's eyes getting wet, and bowed down to the ground.

Indeed, as Cao Zhen said, the loss of Longyou was not due to the war.

If none of the three counties in Longyou surrendered, it would disperse the strength of the Shu army and save him from the siege of tens of thousands of troops day and night. It may not be impossible to stick to Shangyu City until Cao Zhen's army comes to help.

Moreover, as early as last year, he went to Luoyang to show signs that the Shu army might send troops.

It's just that Luoyang Temple doesn't take it seriously, and there is no Yibing to deploy defenses in advance.

However, Zhang Yun, the mainstay of the Great Wei Dynasty, died in sorrow and anger, all Longyou was occupied by the Shu army, and there were tens of thousands of casualties. Someone must bear the consequences of such a tragic battle.

As the governor of Yongzhou, he cannot escape the blame!

Even if he hadn't been deposed as a commoner because of the war and moved thousands of miles away, he would have been confiscated and demoted.

After all, there is no right or wrong when it comes to the face of the court.

Today, Cao Zhen asked him to go to Anding County to supervise the battle and wipe out the rebel Yang Tiao, because he wanted to exonerate him.

It is to alleviate the attacks of the princes of Luoyang Gungun by suppressing the rebellion.

Can he not be grateful?

Naturally, the frontier men who grew up in the land of Yanzhao seldom act as relatives.

After he bid farewell, he rushed to Anding County, vowing in his heart that he would repay Cao Zhen's kindness for protecting him with his death.

After he left, Cao Zhen, who was sitting upright by the case, frowned, his eyes full of complexity.It's not because he has any other thoughts about Guo Huai, but because he is thinking about the last-ditch strategy half a month ago: using national power to kill Bashu!

Of course!

He wants to personally lead tens of thousands of troops out of Wudu County!
Now the Dasan Pass in Wudu County has been abandoned for many years. Although the Chencang Road is rugged and food and fodder are difficult to transport, the Shu army did not send troops to guard it.

If he enters Hechi County through Chencang Road and cuts off the connection between Hanzhong County and Longyou; and then don't send partisans into Donglang Valley, the birthplace of Jushui, and threaten Yang'ankou in Hanzhong, then the Shu army will be defeated!

The basis is the food and fodder of the Shu army!

When Bashu soldiers went out of Longyou, they were able to attack by surprise, so they must not have enough food and fodder.

Even if the three counties of Longyou surrendered, they would not be able to supply the [-] to [-] troops for several months.

Moreover, due to the start of the war this year, the spring plowing in Longyou has been delayed. The Shu army has newly acquired the land of Longyou.

As long as he cut off the food road of the Shu army, he could force the Shu army to come to Wudu to fight.

In this way, the Shu army would be unable to defend Longyou.

The newly seized land is inherently unstable.

If the Shu army had more troops left in Longyou, it would be difficult to push back the Wei army in Hechi County and Donglang Valley.

On the other hand, if you use all your troops to fight, you will not be able to defend the emptiness in Longyou!
After all, the Wei army in Liangzhou has more riders, but less Shu riders!

It only needs to recruit [-] Qiang and Hu cavalry with profit, and then send [-] Wei cavalry, and then they can be divided into ten teams and advance lightly, relying on their strong mobility to frequently harass and plunder the counties in Longyou.

Let the Shu army be exhausted, unable to take care of both the beginning and the end.

After one month, the great clans of Longyou and the Li people were suffering from turmoil, so they came to find the Wei army to cooperate with the outside, and drove the Shu army out of Longyou.

Moreover, there is no need to worry that the Shu army will do the opposite.

He can't attack Guanlong Sandao, but if he turns to guard the pass, Ni Shu can't even think about attacking Guanzhong.

With such a decision, Nishu will be dragged into endless wars, and the already declining Bashu land will be unable to bear the pain of consumption and retreat to Hanzhong on its own!

Furthermore, there is no need to worry about not coming to fight.

This is a conspiracy, which is tantamount to holding the initiative on the battlefield in his hands, making Ni Shu inevitable and retreat inevitable.

Naturally, if you want to break the boat, you also need to take risks.

Nearly half of the [-] army granted to him by Emperor Cao Rui has been lost.But if he wanted to cut off the grain road to Nishu, he would need at least [-] to [-] troops to enter Wudu County to make a contribution!
Deducting the troops guarding the three roads of Guanlong, etc., will inevitably require the support of troops from all states in the country.

For example, troops were transferred from Jizhou, troops were recruited from Sanfu in Guanzhong, and troops were transferred from Qingxu and Yangzhou thousands of miles away.

In addition, in order to restrain the troops staying in Hanzhong County against Shu and Sima Yi's troops guarding Jingzhou, it is necessary to send more than [-] troops to march from the three eastern counties to the Hanzhong Middle East portal for a feint attack.

If Ni Shu fell into an unsustainable situation due to the difficulty of the road to Shu and the small soldiers in Yizhou, he would automatically give up Longyou.

However, if the borderlands thousands of miles away from the Great Wei Dynasty, such as Youbin and Erzhou, could not defend against the invaders of Xianbei Kebineng, and the Southern Huns and Qianghu tribes in Shangjun took advantage of the fire; Jingzhou and Huainan could not resist the invaders of Sun Wu, they would Let the two powers of the Great Wei choose the lesser harm to each other, and had to retreat.

It can be said that all the mobile forces of the whole country will be put into this battle, and they will fight against Shu to fight against Shu!
Cao Zhen, who is the clan of Cao Wei, is extremely cautious about making decisions that are related to the survival of the country. After carefully considering every detail, he submitted it to the emperor Cao Rui who is in Chang'an.

He sat alone in the military tent for a long time.

I stayed until the first ray of sunlight appeared outside the skyline, and then I began to write with ink.

The above table arrived in Chang'an at sunset, and was laid out on Cao Rui's desk.

Cao Rui, who is in his twenties and fourteen years old, reads it, but he is also hesitant.

After thinking about it for a long time, someone summoned Liu Ye, the attendant who accompanied him to Chang'an, and Sun Zi, the secretary of Zhongshu, to ask for advice.

(End of this chapter)