Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 675 Your Majesty’s wise opinion!

Jingwan was less than a thousand miles away from Luoyang, and the news of Sima Yi's defeat quickly spread to the capital, causing shock in the court and the public in Luoyang.

In the Secretariat, Chen Jiao, the Secretary of State, heard the news and could not help but say, "The key to defeating the enemy rests with Zhang He. Now the troops in Jing and Wan have been defeated, and he has died before the key is accomplished. Zhuge Liang has been in charge of state affairs for a long time, and he is new to the military. How can he defeat the two generals?"

Chen Jiao could not hold it any longer. The strongest military officers of Cao Wei were Zhang He, Sima Yi and Cao Zhen. It was understandable if Zhang He and Sima Yi could not defeat Huo Jun together, but it was hard to believe and inconceivable that they could not defeat the fledgling Zhuge Liang.

"Mr. Chen, now that things have come to this, we should report it to His Majesty!" said the assistant minister.

Chen Jiao sighed and said, "I will report this to your Majesty and see if you have any suggestions for remedying the situation!"

As the Minister of the Chancellery, Chen Jiao knew that Cao Rui and Liu Ye had formulated the strategy of Tian Ji's horse racing, and he also supported this plan. Although he did not understand military affairs, he understood Tian Ji's horse racing and the idea of ​​starting with the easy and then the difficult.

He shared the same opinion as many generals and civil officials that Zhuge Liang was the weakest commander among the three armies of the Southern Han Dynasty's Northern Expedition and should be disqualified. Defeating Zhuge Liang first would not only boost morale, but also provide surplus troops to support Qi and Lu.

But the battle of Laokou slapped him and them in the face. Zhuge Liang was not a soft persimmon at all. Instead, he played the pig to eat the tiger and defeated Zhang He and Sima Yi, so that their longed-for Tian Ji horse racing strategy was shattered at the first step.

Not only that, the failure of the strategy was not the only impact of this battle. More importantly, the top leaders of Cao Wei began to worry and even distressed about the current situation. After all, the advantage stage of Tian Ji's horse racing strategy was to use his top horse to defeat the middle horse or the bottom horse, right?
However, the facts at the moment were telling them that the top horse that they valued was not as good as the opponent's middle or bottom horse. The strategy they had formulated was a failure from the very beginning, and they had no reliable generals to compete with them. This made people feel suffocated and powerless.

This was Chen Jiao's mood at the moment. He was already wondering whether the trend of the Han Dynasty's Northern Expedition and unification of the world was really unstoppable!

After thinking deeply for a while, Chen Jiao looked at the Minister of the Interior Chen Qun and asked, "Minister, now that the Jingwan army has been defeated and Sima Yi has been defeated and defended the Yu River, what should we do?"

Hearing this, Chen Qun couldn't help but think of the collapse of the South Gate of Xuchang. He sighed slightly and said, "Do your best and leave the rest to fate. Don't ruin state affairs, be loyal to your duties, and be a civil official for you and me!"

That being said, Chen Qun was planning to return home today to communicate with his pen pal Zhuge Liang and keep in touch with each other. After all, he was a minister under Liu Bei in his early years. He had to work for Lu Bu and Cao Cao only for reasons and for the sake of his family.

If one day the Southern Han really reached Luoyang, or had the tendency to destroy Cao Wei, he might be treated well because of his relationship with Zhuge Liang.

Of course, given his power in Cao Wei, it would be best if Wei could be divided from Southern Han. After all, he could be a prime minister in Cao Wei, while he could only be a casual official in Southern Han.

Hearing Chen Qun's words, Chen Jiao thought of his hometown. He was from Dongyang County, Guangling, which was now occupied by the Southern Han.

Not to mention that Chen Qun and Chen Jiao were already in a state of confusion due to the defeat at Laokou, Cao Rui, who was in the palace, almost fainted from anger when he heard about the defeat.

Cao Rui was furious and smashed everything he saw, cursing, "Zhang He has misled me!"

Liu Fang wanted to step forward to persuade him, but Cao Rui threw the porcelain in front of him, scaring him on the spot.

"Zhang He, you are so arrogant that you have experienced hundreds of battles, but now you can't even see through a simple trick to lure the enemy!"

Cao Rui vented his anger and cursed: "If Sima Yi had not used his troops properly, the military of Jingwan would have been destroyed in your hands!"

As Cao Rui spoke, he thought of Liu Ye who had given him bad advice, and he became even more furious. He said, "Liu Ziyang boasted that he had the ability to help the world. If he hadn't offered Tian Ji's horse racing strategy or recommended Zhang He to use the army, how could we have been defeated today!"

After scolding Liu Ye and Zhang He, Cao Rui, who was a non-stick pan, gradually calmed down and regained his rationality.

Cao Rui's face was gloomy, and he ordered: "Come here, summon the civil and military officials to the palace to discuss the matter!"

"Oh, and clean the house!"

"promise!"

In order to maintain his dignity as a monarch, Cao Rui did not dare to let outsiders know that he had breached his defense.

After a long time, the ministers who heard the news of the defeat came slowly and paid their respects to Cao Rui before sitting down.

Cao Rui looked around at everyone with a stern expression and asked, "Now that the army at Laokou has been defeated, the General of the Cavalry is asking for forgiveness and resigning. I wonder what you think?"

Everyone looked at each other for a moment, not knowing what to say, and fell into silence.

After a while, Minister of the Interior Chen Qun spoke first, saying, "Your Majesty, before this battle, General Huoqi suspected Zhuge Liang of fraud and advised us to postpone the use of troops. Now we have no choice but to send troops and suffer defeat, so in my opinion, we should not punish him, but comfort him."

"Exactly!"

Wu Zhi said, "Your Majesty, Zhuge Liang is not a man without strategy. General Zhang He suffered defeat because he underestimated the enemy, but General Huoqi had already seen through Zhuge Liang's plan. Now the task of resisting the enemy should be entrusted to General Huoqi. Let him fight against Zhuge Liang and see if he can find a chance to defeat him."

"The General of the Cavalry has profound insights and should be given important positions!" Yang Ji said.

"I second the proposal!" The officials who had previously advised Cao Rui to listen to Sima Yi seemed to have proved their correctness, and they all proudly spoke out to persuade Cao Rui to use Sima Yi. However, the officials who advised Cao Rui to adopt Zhang He's strategy fell into silence because they lost their voice in the short term.

Cao Rui nodded slightly and said with a sigh, "I am thousands of miles away and it is difficult for me to know the situation on the battlefield. Therefore, I have many doubts about what the General of the Cavalry said. I can only follow the old strategy. Although Zhuge Liang is a rookie, he is cunning in using troops. Only the General of the Cavalry can defeat him."

Cao Rui then instructed Liu Fang, "Draft an edict for me to comfort the General of the Cavalry and tell him that the gates of the capital depend on you!"

"promise!"

"Your Majesty, what should we do if General Zhang misjudged the situation?" Wu Zhi asked, not forgetting to step on Zhang He.

"Your Majesty, although General Zhang's advice was wrong, he was concerned about the country. Now that a war is imminent, I think it is not appropriate to punish the general. A verbal warning will be enough!" Chen Qun said.

"Now is the time to employ people. We should not demote the generals and hurt the soldiers' hearts." Wei Zhen said, "Besides, General Zhang is the deputy general and has no power to lead troops into battle. If we don't punish the general of the cavalry, how can we punish General Zhang?"

"The General of Cavalry was good at assessing the situation and tried his best to oppose the dispatch of troops; the former general was eager for merit and insisted on using force. The reason for the defeat today is not because of our army's incompetence, but because of the former general's greed for merit!" Wu Zhi said.

Listening to the quarrels about how to share the pot, Cao Rui was a little tired. He waved his hand and said, "Fine one year's salary from former general Zhang He as punishment, and order him to obey the orders of the general of cavalry. If he disobeys orders, he will be punished for both crimes!"

"Your Majesty is wise!" Chen Qun and everyone else complimented.

Although Wu Zhi was unable to severely punish Zhang He, he was satisfied to see that he had helped Sima Yi completely gain control of the military power.

Cao Rui did not want to dwell too much on the issue of responsibility, so he asked, "We have been defeated at Laokou, and nearly 20,000 of our troops have been killed or wounded. We are no longer able to send troops eastward, and we must focus on preventing Zhuge Liang from going north. Tian Ji's horse racing strategy has been defeated, and I wonder if you have any suggestions?"

The defeat at Laokou, the deaths of Niu Jin and Jia Si, and the loss of many elite troops meant that Cao Wei had lost the initiative on the battlefield of Jingwan. Without military support, it can be expected that in the coming period, the situation in Jingwan will enter a stage where Han will attack and Wei will defend.

The failure of Tian Ji's horse racing strategy meant that Cao Rui had to come up with a new solution to deal with the Southern Han's Northern Expedition.

Wei Zhen hesitated for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, if we want to resolve the current situation, there is no other way except to send 20,000 new soldiers to reinforce Guanxi, order the Grand Marshal to defeat Lu Xun, and then go south along the Wuguan Road to attack Zhuge Liang from both sides!"

Now that the plan to defeat Zhuge Liang has failed, the only way to resolve the current crisis is to look to Guanxi, that is, to let Cao Zhen defeat Lu Xun, and then transfer troops from Guanxi to the south from Wugu Pass to attack Zhuge Liang's troops from the flank.

As for the 20,000 new soldiers, Cao Rui forcibly recruited a group of 20,000 new soldiers from Hebei this month to cope with the shortage of soldiers. They are still being trained hard. They are more than enough to maintain public order, but they will probably be defeated if they go out of the city to fight in the field.

Cao Rui frowned and said, "The troops in Guanxi are smaller than those of the bandits. We can only stop them by attacking them from both sides together with Hexi. Besides the 10,000 imperial guards, we only have 20,000 new soldiers available. These 20,000 new soldiers are more than enough to defend the city. If we attack them in the field, we will surely be defeated!"

Cao Rui learned the lesson of overstepping his authority and said, "The Art of War says that when a general is away from home, he may not obey orders from his sovereign. Now the Grand Marshal is focused on Lu Xun. If there is a plan to defeat the enemy, the Grand Marshal will certainly deploy troops. If I urge him too much, I am afraid we will suffer a defeat at Laokou."

Wei Zhen looked embarrassed and said, "If there are no soldiers available, we can only sit and watch the three generals fight the enemy. Whenever one general wins, the three armies will withdraw one after another."

"So according to you, you want me to sit back and watch the success or failure of the three armies?" Cao Rui asked.

"Forgive me for my limited knowledge, which makes me unable to share your Majesty's worries!" Wei Zhen bowed and apologized.

Cao Rui did not want to embarrass Wei Zhen, and said: "It's not that I don't want to follow your advice, it's just that I am worried about Qi and Lu!"

Guanxi has the advantages of Chencang's strong city and mountains and rivers. In addition, Cao Zhen has outstanding military strategy, so Cao Rui will not worry about the situation in Guanxi.

Although Jingwan is not as strong as Chencang, given the current situation, with the support of the capital, and Sima Yi able to identify Zhuge Liang's treacherous schemes, there should be no major problems for the two armies to hold out.

Qi and Lu were the areas that Cao Rui was most worried about. Without Zhang He's military support, it meant that Sun Quan and Wang Ling had to resist Huo Jun's army on their own.

Although there are dangers in Pengcheng and Muling, it does not mean that Qi and Lu can rest easy. For example, Muling is a natural barrier in the south of Qi, but it does not mean that this is the only way to enter Qi. It does not even mean that you cannot take a detour.

Wei Zhen thought for a long time and said, "If your majesty is worried about Qi and Lu, why not issue an imperial edict to warn the generals of chariots and cavalry and military advisor Liu not to engage in battle with Huo Jun, but to guard the city and pass strictly."

As he spoke, Wei Zhen pointed out, "Lu Xun is sending troops from Longyou, where the food and grass are not as abundant as those in Jianghan. Now that Guo Huai has sent troops to harass, it may not be impossible to force him to withdraw. If Lu Xun withdraws due to lack of food, the troops in Guanzhong can be used!"

"Let's do as Wei Qing said. Issue an edict to order Generals Sun and Liu to hold their ground and see how effective Guo Huai's attack on Long is." Cao Rui said.

"Best regards, Your Majesty!"

ps: I will continue to update three more chapters tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)