Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 732: Wei and Hu collude
At the same time that Huo Jun was heading west into Guanzhong, the curtain had already been raised on the Han's campaign to destroy Cao Wei.

When Liu Chan and Zhuge Liang led the army in person in February, Cao Rui decided to lead the army himself and march south with Sima Yi.

At the same time, Kebineng responded to Cao Rui's request and led 50,000 Xianbei cavalry from Yanmen County to the south, directly into Hebei, to assist Cao Wei in the battle.

Upon learning that the Xianbei cavalry was heading south, Pang Tong and Quan Cong moved closer to the main army to ensure that the main force had sufficient manpower.

The situation in the world is that Lu Xun is dealing with Cao Zhen, Liu Chan and Zhuge Liang are fighting against Cao and Ma, and Huo Fan is fighting against Cao Hong again.

In February, Zhuge Liang led the main force across the Yellow River and subdued Liu Jing, the governor of Henei County; in March, the main force of the Han army broke through Chaoge and stationed in Qiyuan, confronting the Wei and Xianbei coalition forces across the Qi River.

Liu Chan did not join the army, but went to meet Liu Xie.

After Liu Xie abdicated to Cao Cao, he was granted the title of Duke of Shanyang County, with a fief of more than 10,000 households. Shanyang County was located in Henei Prefecture. Now that the Han army had conquered the counties of Henei, Liu Xie naturally submitted to the Southern Han.

It is truly a pity that he went from being an emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty to a king of a fallen country, and then from a king of a fallen country to a minister of the Han Dynasty.

Zhuge Liang did not meet Liu Xie to avoid suspicion, and Liu Chan personally met Liu Xie. The contrast between the two Han emperors was too great.

Liu Xie was able to understand the situation and met Liu Shan, the emperor of Southern Han. He politely performed the etiquette of a monarch and a minister. He also said that the Eastern Han Dynasty had fallen and he was no longer the emperor of the Central Han Dynasty. The world should be ruled by the Later Han Dynasty, Liu Shan should be the emperor and he would be a minister.

Liu Chan was magnanimous and comforted the old Liu Xie, saying that Zhong Han and Ji Han were of the same clan and were like brothers. Although Zhong Han was gone, Ji Han was deeply indebted to Zhong Han. Liu Xie should not worry, and Han would still treat him as a county duke with ten thousand households.

Having said that, the young Liu Chan was still worried about this, so he asked Ding Feng to lead the Xiongkui Army to guard Liu Xie, and prepared to grant him a vassal state and move him to Guanzhong.

In fact, due to the special relationship between the two planes, the inheritance theory between the Central Han Dynasty and the Later Han Dynasty can no longer be explained by the theory of the Five Elements.

Therefore, during Huo Jun's reign, because he supported Mencius's people-oriented thought, he boldly put forward a theory to explain to the outside world the relationship between the Later Han Dynasty and the Two Han Dynasties. Although they were both Han Dynasty, they were not in the same dynasty.

The reason why the Han Dynasty perished was actually because there were problems in governing the people, just like the relationship between water and a boat. Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it.

Gaozu followed the will of the people, took the sword that slashed the white snake, and raised an army to overthrow the tyrannical Qin Dynasty; at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the people were living in poverty, and Shizu, like Gaozu, flattered the will of the people and raised an army to establish a new dynasty. Now the Eastern Han Dynasty was not good at governing the people, which led to resentment from the people, and the boat had already sunk, so Zhongzu raised an army to establish a new dynasty.

The idea of ​​people-centeredness is tied to the succession of the Han Dynasty, which can barely explain the reason for the succession of the Three Han Dynasties. But it is not without problems, and the biggest loophole is why the surname Liu came forward to save the country.

Huo Jun didn't want to talk too much about this topic!
The reason why he didn't mention it to explain was that Huo Jun understood that when there was a problem with the governance of a country, the people would not care how sacred the country was, they were bound to rebel because they had to survive.

During the Zhou and Qin dynasties, officials were appointed based on blood ties and then ruled the people. However, the slogans of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang disintegrated the backward aristocracy. Therefore, no matter how much Liu Han was deified, he could never betray the people.

Anyone who is a relative of the Han royal family and cares about the people will naturally follow the example of the three founding monarchs. If they do not care about the people and are as cruel and abusive as Cao Cao was, they cannot blame anyone.

After Liu Chan appeased Liu Xie, he took the initiative to go to Ji County in the rear to supervise the battle for fear of affecting Zhuge Liang's performance, and handed over the front-line command to Zhuge Liang.

Qiyuan, the central camp of the Han army.

Zhuge Liang sat upright on the couch, listening to Yu Shao's report on military intelligence.

"Prime Minister, there are about 50,000 Hu cavalry under the Xianbei army, plus more than 40,000 soldiers gathered by Cao Wei, a total of nearly 100,000, which is similar to the number of our troops. Judging from their elite troops, the Hu cavalry are uneven, and the Wei troops are not well-trained and are far inferior to our army!" Yu Shao said.

Although Huo Jun left the army, his old subordinates were still scattered throughout the army. When Zhuge Liang took over the army, he did not make too many changes, but directly established a command system with Huo Jun's old subordinates as the main force. For example, Yu Shao was still in charge of intelligence, Jiang Ji was responsible for planning operations, and Zhou Cang was responsible for dispatching the troops.

Of course, there were changes. The Xiongui Army, which was responsible for the safety of the commander-in-chief, was arranged to "protect" Liu Xie, the last emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, because they were not Zhuge Liang's confidants.

Zhuge Liang stroked his fan and sneered, saying: "Cao Rui does not know the will of heaven and insists on doing things his own way. Now he is inviting the Xianbei Hu people to come south and wants to use the Hu cavalry to resist us. This is really ridiculous!"

Yu Shao bowed and asked, "Prime Minister, the enemy has more cavalry and fewer infantry. How will our army defeat them?"

Zhuge Liang did not answer, but looked at Jiang Ji and asked, "General Jiang, do you have any strategy to defeat the enemy?"

Jiang Ji pondered for a moment and said, "Prime Minister, the Xianbei are not Wei, so they have no intention of fighting to the death for Cao Rui. Although the Wei soldiers are Wei people, they have no intention of fighting to the death for Cao Rui because the situation is clear."

"When the Hu see that Wei is defeated, they know that the situation is hopeless and will flee to the south of the desert. The Wei army is at a disadvantage and they will scatter because of their hometowns."

After a pause, Jiang Ji smiled and said, "Since the two thieves are not united and have no intention of fighting to the death, the Prime Minister might as well devise a plan to separate the two thieves."

"Oh?" Zhuge Liang's expression was slightly moved. He looked at Jiang Ji for a few more times and asked, "What's the plan?"

Jiang Ji stroked his beard and chanted, saying: "If the Prime Minister holds his ground and does not come out, we can defeat the enemy!"

"How can we defeat the enemy if we don't hold our ground?" Yu Shao asked in confusion.

Hearing this, Zhuge Liang laughed a few times and said, "Zi Tong is indeed a great talent. He is well aware of the current situation. This strategy is very much in my opinion!"

"this?"

Yu Shao looked at Zhou Qian with eager eyes, hoping to get an explanation.

Zhou Cang thought for a long time and said, "It is now March. If our army holds on and does not fight, the Wei people will not be able to plough in the spring. The Hu cavalry has a large number of horses, and most of their food and supplies come from Hebei. If our army holds on and does not fight, Wei and Hu will consume huge amounts of food and fodder every day, and Hebei will run out of food!"

"good!"

Zhuge Liang stroked his fan and nodded, smiling, "I received a letter from the Wei people, saying that the treasury in Yecheng has little food and clothing, and the people are already in turmoil. Now we are facing the enemy across the Qi River. We are defending our camp and consuming their supplies. The enemy army is short of food and clothing. How can the two enemies be united?"

"At that time, Cao Rui gave more of his army and food to himself and less to the Hu people. The Hu people have many horses. If they have little food, they will just let their soldiers plunder Hebei. The people of Hebei already have resentment, and now seeing the Hu people plundering, they are all excited and will rise up to respond."

"It's not just that!"

Zhuge Liang added: "Most of the Wei soldiers are from Jizhou. Seeing the Hu cavalry looting the counties, they will be indignant. If Cao Rui orders Ke Bineng to return north, it may help to dispel the resentment of the Wei soldiers. If Cao Rui forces Ke Bineng to stay, the Wei soldiers may resent it and secretly surrender to our army."

Chen Qun had long since let go of the situation and often sent letters to Zhuge Liang. Although he did not surrender directly, his letters more or less revealed the internal problems of Cao Wei.

Now, not only Chen Qun, but also many other scholars who were willing to surrender, a large number of letters were sent to the army through various channels, and Zhuge Liang was no longer surprised. Through these letters, Zhuge Liang even had a clear understanding of the internal situation of Cao Wei.

Since Cao Wei lost Henan, Cao Hong and Cao Zhen now needed to rely on Hebei for food and fodder. However, due to years of war, Cao Wei constantly captured able-bodied men as soldiers, and Hebei had long lost its former prosperity. The people fled in all directions to avoid Cao Wei's tyranny.

Under such circumstances, the Northern Wei Dynasty was running out of food and grass and could not hold out for many months.

In the case of food shortage, 50,000 Xianbei cavalrymen came to the rescue. Although they seemed to be assisting Cao Rui, they also consumed a lot of food and grass.

When the grain reserves in Hebei were running low, Cao Rui faced a dilemma. If he wanted to protect the Xianbei and Hu cavalry, he would intensify the conflict between the Han and Hu peoples. If he wanted to protect his own troops, Kebi Neng would have no choice but to flee to the south of the desert because he had no food.

If it is the former, Cao Rui will lose his base, and a large number of Wei generals will surrender, and Cao Rui will no longer be able to fight against the Han army; if it is the latter, without the support of the Hu cavalry, Cao Rui will not be a match for the Han army at all.

The Han Dynasty had three-quarters of the world's territory, so food and grass had long been no problem. Therefore, in terms of military food consumption, Cao Wei was simply unable to compete with the Han army. Once it fell into a state of food and grass shortage, the Cao Wei army was bound to be defeated.

Upon hearing about Zhuge Liang's plan, Wen Pin, Yu Shao and other generals were full of praise.

"The Prime Minister's strategy is far-reaching and beyond our expectation."

Wen Pin showed a delighted look on his face and asked for battle, saying, "If you want to fight the enemy, I will be your vanguard."

Wen Pin knew that the gap between himself and a county lord was not too big. In order to be promoted to a county lord, or to earn more fiefdom, he would naturally ask for a fight whenever he heard about it!

"good!"

Zhuge Liang stroked his fan and smiled, saying, "Without my order, all troops must hold their ground and not leave lightly."

"Yes!" everyone responded in a deep voice.

Jiang Ji pondered for a while and said, "Prime Minister, Huo Qizhou and Xu Qingzhou have sent troops to the coast. If our army stops fighting and holds on, they will be attacked by the Hu cavalry. We should order the two armies to stay put."

Zhuge Liang showed his admiration and said, "You are very wise and thoughtful. You can act according to your will."

"promise!"

ps: I didn’t forget to owe you two chapters, but due to my personal reasons, I haven’t been able to make up for it recently!
(End of this chapter)