Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 701 The situation is great
Zhao Yun threatened Yique Pass, and Zhang He was ambushed and killed on the way to rescue him, which really shocked the capital again.

Unexpectedly, when the situation was favorable, Zhao Yun, under the order of Zhuge Liang, decisively led his troops to withdraw, taking a small road to join Shi Ran's troops.

In December, Zhao Yun and Shi Ran left 7,000 soldiers stationed at Muzhaling to transport grain, and the two led 8,000 infantry and cavalry to march out of Luyang again.

Zhang Xiong, the defender of Luyang City, followed his father's old order and surrendered the city to Han with General Han Kan. Zhang Xiong's move surprised the high-ranking officials of Cao Wei. They never expected that not long after Zhang He's death, his son Zhang Xiong would lead his troops to surrender to Han.

Zhang Xiong surrendered the city and helped the Southern Han gain a foothold in the Funiu Mountain area, which made Zhuge Liang very happy. He immediately recommended Zhang Xiong as the prefect of Yingchuan.

Luyang was occupied by the Han army. Due to its geographical location, it could threaten Luoyang from above, approach Yingchuan from the east, and lock Jingwan from below. This instantly made the Xuzhou and Luoyang areas dangerous, and the empty Yingchuan was even exposed to the Han army.

At the critical moment, Cao Rui decisively sent Xu Chu and Qin Lang to lead 10,000 infantry and cavalry out of Luoyang, stationed troops in Liang County and Fucheng, and prevented the Han army from infiltrating Yingchuan and Henan Yin.

At the same time, Sima Yi was worried that Zhao Yun would occupy Ye County and Juancheng, block his way back, and attack his army with Zhuge Liang. He decisively abandoned Wancheng, which was still defending, and led his troops to Wuyang overnight.

Upon hearing that Sima Yi was withdrawing his troops, Zhuge Liang sent Liao Hua and Feng Xi to lead troops in pursuit. However, because Sima Yi was prepared, the two generals suffered heavy losses and returned to Wancheng in defeat.

Seeing that Sima Yi retreated in an orderly manner and that Wancheng had not been taken, Zhuge Liang gave up the idea of ​​continuing to pursue him and instead led his troops to attack from all sides. When the defending general learned that Sima Yi had withdrawn, he led his troops out of the city and surrendered to Zhuge Liang after holding out for two days.

As Wancheng surrendered, Sima Yi abandoned Wuyang. Zhuge Liang's northern expedition reached this point, and he finally surrendered all the counties in the Nanyang Basin, and the entire Jingzhou was restored.

After entering Wancheng, Zhuge Liang briefly learned about the household registration under the jurisdiction of Wei Jingzhou, and saw that the household registration of the three counties was less than 20,000 households, which made Zhuge Liang sigh deeply.

After staying in Wancheng for a few days, Zhuge Liang adjusted the old system of Cao Wei, merging Hannan County with Weinanxiang County, formerly known as Hannan County, with Liao Hua still serving as the governor of Hannan to defend Wuguan in the northwest.

To the east of the Nanyang Basin, Cao Wei's Yi Yang County and Han's Zhangling County were merged to form Yi Yang County, with Zhu Ju as the prefect.

Because of his meritorious service in launching a surprise attack and commanding the shooting death of Zhang He, Shi Ran was transferred by Zhuge Liang from the post of prefect of Zhangling to the post of prefect of Nanyang.

After splitting and merging Wei and Jingzhou, Zhuge Liang led his troops northward, passed through Fangcheng Xiadao, stationed the army in Juancheng, and occupied Wuyang County.

In the current situation in the Central War Zone, Zhuge Liang was stationed in Juancheng and Zhao Yun was stationed in Luyang. The two divisions were separated by more than a hundred miles of mountains, and they sent troops to each other to ensure that the two divisions could respond to each other.

Cao Rui of Cao Wei wanted to imprison Zhang He's family members because of Zhang Xiong's anger. However, considering Zhang He's loyalty to the country, he finally let Zhang He's family members go, and only divided Zhang He's fiefdom equally among Zhang He's other three children.

In terms of battlefield situation, Sima Yi's withdrawal was acknowledged by Cao Rui afterwards. After all, Zhang Xiong and Han Kan surrendered to the Han Dynasty, and Zhao Yun joined forces with Shi Ran, with a total force of nearly 20,000. If Zhao Yun had used his troops more aggressively and directly attacked Yecheng, Sima Yi's troops would have been defeated.

Unfortunately, Zhuge Liang chose to send Zhao Yun, who was calm and steady, to lead the troops out of consideration for the safety of the troops. Although he could not win a great victory, he could ensure the safety of the special forces.

Xu Chu returned to Luoyang and Qin Lang was stationed in Liang County to ensure that the Han army in Luyang was contained. Sima Yi led his troops to defend the Ru River and confront Zhuge Liang with the cities of Ru and Ying. In order to counter Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi sent cavalry south to plunder Zhuge Liang's food supply.

The journey from Wancheng to Ye County was more than 200 miles long, mostly flat and smooth, which was very advantageous for the Wei cavalry to gallop. Now it was Zhuge Liang's turn to have a headache because of Sima Yi's food robbery.

Although Zhuge Liang defeated Sima Yi twice, he failed to inflict heavy damage on Sima Yi's army, and the battle with him continued.

In order to keep in sync with Huo Jun in the Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang wrote several letters to Huo Jun, describing his battles with Sima Yi and sharing the intelligence he knew about the Wei army.

The letter was first delivered to Yiyang County by express horse, then sailed through the Huai River to Huaiyin, then sailed up the Si River to Xiapi, and then took the land route. The journey was more than 4,000 miles, and in accordance with the requirement of continuous communication, four messengers were replaced along the way, traveling day and night, and it took seven days to deliver it to Huo Jun.

Along the Sishui River, the Han strongholds were built in succession and were heavily guarded. Because of the cold weather, there were many fire basins in the stronghold for the Han soldiers to keep warm.

Inside the big tent, the floor is paved with felt, and the heating brazier burns wood ash to keep the tent warm.

Huo Jun sat cross-legged in socks, drinking half-cold tea and reading several letters sent by Zhuge Liang.

"Kong Ming's strategy is brilliant. He attacks the weakest enemy and makes the Wei army exhausted!"

Huo Jun was amazed to see Zhuge Liang's three steps, one link after another, one step closely connected to the other, which led to the successful capture of the three counties of Jingzhou.

"Knocking on the mountain to scare the tiger, besieging Wei to save Zhao, and then attacking Luyang, every step is surprising, Prime Minister Ge's use of troops is truly extraordinary!" Jiang Ji praised.

Jiang Ji asked in confusion, "Zhang He was ambushed and killed by our army, so why did Zhang Xiong suddenly surrender?"

Among Zhuge Liang's three tactics, the last step had such a great impact, thanks to Zhang Xiong and Han Kan's surrender. If Zhang Xiong had held Luyang and refused to surrender, Zhao Yun could have plundered several surrounding cities, but the effect would not have been very good.

The surrender of the two generals gave the Han army a foothold in the northern part of the Funiu Mountains, allowing them to station troops in Luyang and attack from all directions. And because of the geographical key of Luyang, Cao Rui took the initiative to send troops to garrison the city walls outside the capital, which frightened Sima Yi to lead his troops to withdraw from Yingchuan quickly and dared not stay in Bowang any longer. Huo Jun drank a sip of tea and smiled, "How can a profit-seeking person put all his eggs in one basket?"

"How could Zhang He not know that Wei was about to fall?" Huo Jun guessed, "Zhang Xiong surrendered to Han, probably under the guidance of Zhang He. Don't forget the Battle of Guandu, when Zhang He surrendered to Cao."

In terms of the people Yuan Shao hated the most, besides Xu You, they were probably Zhang He and Gao Lan. Xu You betrayed the enemy and colluded with Cao, revealing the location of the grain and grass.

Generals Zhang He and Gao Lan led their troops to attack Cao's camp. However, upon learning that the grain and grass in Wuchao had been burned, they turned against Yuan Shao in the battle, causing the morale of Yuan's army to collapse and forcing Yuan Shao to abandon the camp and flee.

Now, based on Huo Jun's malicious speculation, it is probably that Zhang He, before his death, persuaded his son to surrender the city to the Han Dynasty, just as he surrendered to Cao in the battlefield, in exchange for the Zhang family's wealth.

Jiang Ji stroked his beard and chanted, saying, "It is probably as the governor predicted. He saw that the Wei Dynasty was in decline, so he led his troops to surrender the city to us. Now the prime minister has treated me well as the governor of Yingchuan. The rest of us who are willing to surrender to the Han will surrender eagerly."

"A thousand gold coins for a bone, Mal!"

Huo Jun put down the teacup and said, "Kong Ming is leading his troops to Juancheng now, confronting Sima Yi in Ru and Ying, which should be beneficial to the situation. If we can defeat Sima Yi again, or if our army makes some progress, the people of Henan will be defeated!"

Although Cao Wei occupied a lot of territory, in fact, given the current situation, Cao Wei could hardly afford a defeat. If there was a major defeat, no matter where it happened, it would cause a chain reaction and push the front line to Luoyang.

If Man Chong was defeated by Pang Tong, Pang Tong would be able to send troops from the Huai River and head straight for Yingchuan and Chenliu outside Luoyang.

Or if Wang Ling was defeated by Huo Jun, Huo Jun would advance eastward along the Ji and He rivers and bring the war to Xingyang, or even to Hulao Pass.

As for Zhuge Liang and Lu Xun, there is no need to say much. Once they make a breakthrough, the war will spread directly to the capital.

If any of the above situations occurs and the capital falls into war, it will cause a chain reaction and cause the rest of the legions to disintegrate and collapse.

Jiang Ji took a sip of tea and asked, "In your opinion, can our army attack Wang Ling right now?"

Huo Jun did not answer, but looked at Zhou Cang and asked: "How is Ziyu doing at Sishui? How is the morale of the soldiers?"

Zhou Cang, who was arranging the maps, put down his work and said, "My Lord, the Si River has dried up and the river surface is frozen, which is convenient for crossing the river. The soldiers in the camp are well clothed and well fed, and their morale is high. They are busy training and are ready for a battle."

"Then wait a little longer!"

Huo Jun thought for a while and said, "The Si River is frozen, which is good for crossing. But our army is not good at fighting in winter. Let the soldiers rest for a while. When spring comes, it won't be too late to send the army to fight Wang Ling."

"If you can defeat Wang Ling in the spring, you can use the lotus water to enter the Ji River in the summer, take a boat directly to Xingyang, or let your horse drink water from the Yellow River."

Hearing what Huo Jun said, Jiang Ji became interested and asked, "Does the commander-in-chief have a strategy to defeat the enemy?"

"Not yet!"

Huo Jun said truthfully: "Although Kong Ming has taken over the three counties of Jing and Wan, he has not been able to affect Yanzhou. I want to keep my troops in place and observe the situation in Qingqi and Hebei."

"What's the situation in Qingqi and Hebei?" Jiang Ji asked thoughtfully.

"Now Kebi has sent tens of thousands of cavalry to plunder Hebei, and Cao Hong has no choice but to return to Jizhou for assistance. Linzi has been besieged by Shi Zai for many months. If we can wait until their food runs out and force Xiahou Ba to surrender, or if we can break through Linzi, our army can take Qingqi and then cross the Yellow River to Hebei."

Huo Jun said: "If we look for an opportunity to deploy our troops at that time, we might be able to force Wang Ling to lead his troops into battle."

Before, Xiahou Ba and his brother Xiahou Hui were trapped in Linzi City. Huo Jun could not wait that long, so he left Huo Fan and Xu Sheng in Qingqi to be responsible for besieging Linzi, pacifying the counties of Qingqi, and blocking the troops coming to rescue.

Cao Hong was originally ordered to go south to relieve the siege, but he was pulled to Hebei halfway, which made Xiahou Ba completely lose his reinforcements and was trapped in Linzi City. Linzi City had little food and grass, and could only support it for five or six months.

Once the food and grass in the city were consumed and no reinforcements were seen, Xiahou Ba had no choice but to surrender. After Linzi was captured by the Han army, the entire Shandong Peninsula would be occupied by the Southern Han.

Then Huo Fan can spare some energy to lead his troops to cross the Yellow River to the north, or to join Huo Jun to the west. No matter how Huo Fan dispatches his troops, it will bring about significant changes to the battlefield.

"Then why don't you let Xiahou Ru go north to persuade Xiahou Ba and his brothers to surrender?" Zhou Qian suggested.

Huo Jun pondered for a long time and said, "In addition to what Ziyu said, I have given a letter to Shi Zai, asking him to comfort Xiahou Ba and his brothers on my behalf."

(End of this chapter)