Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 668 Zhuge Village Man!

In March, the river water gradually rises.

While Huo Jun easily conquered the two counties of Donghai and Langya, Zhuge Liang led his army north to Jingwan and surrounded the city of Yuyang.

Because Han took Xinye, Sima Yi chose a dangerous location over a hundred miles south of Wancheng to rebuild Yuyang City, intending to serve as a buffer zone between Han and Wei.

After Zhuge Liang surrounded Yuyang City, Sima Yi, with his previous experience, led a large army to station in Bowang, hoping to observe the situation of the Han army's military operations.

The territory of Wei's Jingzhou was very small, only two-thirds of Nanyang County in the Eastern Han Dynasty. In order to have a buffer zone, Sima Yi moved the state capital to Bowang with Cao Rui's consent.

Bowang is located north of the Yushui River and is relatively safe because of the river. The old capital, Wancheng, was used as a military settlement because of its fertile soil, and a lot of wheat and rice were grown there.

Yuyang, the Han army camp.

In the big tent, because it was dark, Zhuge Liang lit the orange lamp. The Jingwan map flickered under the lamplight, and Zhuge Liang observed it carefully.

Shi Ran opened the curtain and walked in, saying, "Prime Minister, Sima Yi still has no plans to deploy troops!"

Zhuge Liang stared at Wancheng on the map and asked, "Is Yuyang City willing to surrender?"

"The defenders in the city are unwilling to surrender!"

Shi Ran shook his head and said, "Looking at the situation in the city now, if our army wants to take down the city, we have to launch a violent attack!"

Zhuge Liang held up the lantern and said, "Although Yuyang is a small city, it is a strategic location. If we launch a strong attack now, the soldiers will surely suffer heavy casualties."

"Prime Minister, Yuyang is just a small city, and it is a garrison. It is better to leave troops to besiege Yuyang before the anti-Wei army arrives, and the Prime Minister will lead the troops to take Wancheng first, or defeat Sima Yi." Wen Pin said: "If Wancheng is captured, Yuyang will surrender without a fight!"

“I’m afraid it’s difficult!”

Zhuge Liang placed the lamp on the table and said, "Sima Yi is good at using troops. His troops are few now, so how can he attack easily? Moreover, Sima Yi is in Bowang, and he intends to cooperate with Wancheng from a distance. If our army attacks Wancheng by force, we will most likely be defeated by Sima Yi."

Ma Liang said, "As the Prime Minister said, Sima Yi must not be defeated first, and Wancheng must not be taken quickly. The only thing to do now is to take Yuyang first, move forward steadily, advance slowly, and confront Sima Yi across the Yu River."

Zhuge Liang fanned himself and paced, saying, "The reason why Sima Yi built Yuyang was to build a strong city to wear down our army's morale. Then, when our army's morale is low, he will use cavalry to charge into our formation and defeat us!"

Sima Yi had a plan in mind, and perhaps others did not understand, but Zhuge Liang saw through it at a glance.

Sima Yi took the initiative to move the provincial capital to Bowang, which seemed to be a defensive move. But in fact, Sima Yi was secretly planning a killing move. He used Wancheng and Yuyang to consume the energy and morale of the Han army, and then sent troops to attack the Han army that was besieging the city.

If it were an ordinary general, seeing Sima Yi's refusal to fight, he would not know what he meant. In order to break the situation as soon as possible, he would probably lead his troops to besiege Yuyang, which would lead to Sima Yi's fierce attack.

For example, Zhu Ran was confused and led his troops to besiege Fancheng. Sima Yi used light cavalry to contain Zhu Ran, so that the Wu army did not dare to attack Fancheng easily. Then Sima Yi suddenly led his elite troops south, with drums and flags raised, showing a strong attack posture.

Zhu Ran didn't know what Sima Yi was like, so he led his troops to retreat southwards out of fear. Unexpectedly, he fell into Sima Yi's trap, and Sima Yi led his troops to chase Zhu Ran, and the Wu army was defeated and fled.

If he adopted Lu Kang's approach of besieging without attacking and focused on defending against external enemies, Sima Yi would resort to robbing the grain route or using a strategy of making a feint to the east and attacking in the west.

Whenever the Han army attacked a city, Sima Yi would definitely take action to try to seize the initiative on the battlefield. Although Zhuge Liang had few encounters with Sima Yi, he was a cautious person and thought deeply about all possible situations.

Shi Ran frowned and said, "If we follow the Prime Minister's words, won't our army be wasted in Yuyang? When Zhang He's troops arrive, I'm afraid the situation is on the enemy's side, not on ours!"

Zhuge Liang paced and chanted, and asked, "What is your strategy, Youchang?"

Ma Su pondered for a long time and said, "Sun Tzu said, 'If I want to fight, even if the enemy has high fortifications and deep trenches, they will have to fight me. I will attack the place they must rescue.' The current situation is well aware of this saying. If the Prime Minister can attack the place Sima Yi must rescue, Sima Yi will definitely take action!"

Zhuge Liang couldn't help but smile with satisfaction when he heard Ma Su's words. Just as Huo Jun trained Pang Tong, Huo Fan and Zhou Cang, Zhuge Liang also hoped to train Ma Su, who was good at military strategy, to become a great commander of the Han Dynasty.

Now everyone is confused about the current situation, and only Ma Su can understand what he is thinking. Since Sima Yi is staying at home and not fighting, he might as well take the initiative and attack the place where Sima Yi was rescued, and then reveal his own flaws to attract Sima Yi to the south, and then find an opportunity to defeat him.

"You Chang knows what I mean!"

Zhuge Liang stroked his feather fan and said with a smile, "Since Sima Yi wants to defend Bowang and observe the situation, our army will lure him out of the cave."

"I'd like to listen to the Prime Minister's advice!"

Although Wen Pin is an old general, he is respectful and not as rude as some fierce generals. Moreover, Wen Pin had worked with Zhuge Liang in his early years and understood Zhuge Liang's numerous strategies!

Zhuge Liang pointed to Wancheng on the map with his feather fan and said, "Please look, everyone. Nanyang's prosperity is all due to the Yu River, which has been used to irrigate the fields. Now most of the grain is produced in the upper and lower reaches of the Yu River. Although Sima Yi has moved the provincial capital to Bowang, the fields in Wancheng are fertile, and many of his troops are stationed here."

"Wei's Jingzhou is narrow, only half of Nanyang. The food for the soldiers in the whole state mostly depends on Wancheng, or Xuchang to transfer food to the south for the army. But now in March, the spring wheat is not ripe, and the Wei people have not harvested it yet. Our army can go to Nanyang and harvest the wheat to destroy the Wei army's food after spring."

"If Sima Yi hears that the spring wheat in Nanyang has been destroyed, he will take action, and Zhang He will also lead his troops there. The two armies will join forces and march south, and I can fight them in the field..."

Zhuge Liang smiled faintly, looking very confident. Although Sima Yi could rely on the grain in Xuchang to fight, it did not mean that Sima Yi would be willing to give up the large wheat fields outside Wancheng.

After all, Cao Pi had already exhausted all the grain stored in Henan after the Huai River campaign. Although there was grain stored in Xuchang, the grain storage base, it did not mean that there was as much as before. Otherwise, Sima Yi would not have set up military settlements in Wancheng in order to be self-sufficient!

Moreover, Zhuge Liang was harvesting spring wheat and his troops were dispersed. For Sima Yi and Zhang He, this was an opportunity to defeat the Han army.

Sun Quan's seizure of Huo Jun's grain route and Zhuge Liang's attack on the spring wheat in Wancheng can be said to be basic operations for generals.

"color!"

Wen Pin's eyes lit up, and he cheered, "Wancheng has always been an important city in Nanyang, with fertile fields and tens of thousands of acres of paddy fields. Harvesting the spring wheat today will leave the Wei people without food. Sima Yi will definitely not abandon it!"

"good!"

Zhao Yun responded with a smile: "Prime Minister is very resourceful. This can defeat Sima Yi's plan!"

Seeing that everyone agreed, Zhuge Liang did not hesitate and ordered, "Where is General Zhongye?"

"The general is here!"

Wen Pin stood with his hands clasped and responded.

"Now I order you to lead 30,000 troops from the Jianghan headquarters to besiege Yuyang City and repair camps for the army. The rest of the people, led by Generals Zilong and Shuzhi, will follow Liang to Wancheng to harvest the spring wheat." Zhuge Liang said.

As he spoke, Zhuge Liang stroked his fan and smiled, saying, "The Grand Marshal wrote to me saying that the army should take the two counties of Langya and Donghai, and recover all the counties of Xuzhou, and then rush to Qingqi. The battle of Qi and Lu was a success, and our soldiers in Jianghan should encourage them."

"The Grand Marshal's troops are marching to the Donghai and Langya counties?"

"How fast!"

As soon as Zhuge Liang said this, everyone in the tent started talking to each other, all of them couldn't believe that Huo Jun could use his troops so quickly. The army set out in February, and in March, they had conquered two counties. Except for Pengcheng, the entire territory of Xuzhou had been recovered!
Of course, the people just didn't know the details of the Qi-Lu war. In order to motivate everyone, Zhuge Liang didn't intend to tell the truth.

After a while of commotion, the generals, led by Wen Pin and Zhao Yun, said in a deep voice: "Please rest assured, Prime Minister. We will do our best!"

"good!"

Yuyang was not far from Wancheng, and Zhuge Liang led the Han army lightly and advanced, and suddenly attacked Wancheng. Seeing this, the soldiers of Wancheng reported to Sima Yi while closing the gates and guarding.

Tens of thousands of Han troops arrived outside Wancheng. In addition to the cavalry deployed around the city, the infantry, led by Zhuge Liang, turned their ring-handled swords into sickles and frantically harvested spring wheat outside the city.

Spring wheat generally matures in April or May, and may mature earlier in the south. Spring wheat in March is inedible. If it is harvested, it will be useless except for feeding horses. The Han army harvested it, but it would destroy Cao Wei's supply.

In order to encourage the Han army to harvest more wheat, Zhuge Liang even went out himself and transformed himself into Zhuge the Village Man to take the lead.

With Zhuge Liang taking the lead, the Han army was willing to work, and the speed at which they destroyed the spring wheat was very fast!

Wancheng is more than a hundred miles away from Bowang. If you ride a fast horse, you can reach it in one day and one night!

Late at night, in the Wei army's Bowang camp, an urgent report from Wancheng woke up the sleeping Sima Yi.

"what's up?"

Sima Yi got up from the bed, looking very unhappy because he was woken up.

"Reporting to the General of Cavalry, Zhuge Liang led his lightly armed troops to Wancheng and led his soldiers to harvest spring wheat." The attendant said hurriedly.

"The big spring wheat harvest?"

Sima Yi, who was feeling sleepy at first, suddenly perked up after hearing this and asked, "Are you talking about the wheat outside Wancheng?"

"Exactly!"

The attendant said, "Zhuge Liang went to the fields himself to encourage his subordinates to harvest wheat. Thanks to Zhuge Liang's actions, the morale of the pirates was greatly boosted, and they harvested the spring wheat in large quantities. If we don't stop them now, our army may have no wheat to eat in the spring!"

Sima Yi cursed loudly, saying: "Zhuge is a country bumpkin, he actually used such a petty trick!"

"Come here, gather all the troops and march south overnight!"

ps: I didn't forget the chapter I owe you. I've been in a bad state recently, and the number of words is also small, so it's even more difficult to update three times. Let me take it easy, and then we'll get to the main story, and I'll update more.

(End of this chapter)