A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 453: Defeated in the Southern Expedition, Zhongda showed his fame, and plotted to alienate the capital to protect the Western Regions

After Liangzhou was pacified, only Yuzhou and Jingbei occupied by Cao Han and Yangzhou, Jiaozhou and Jingnan occupied by Wu were left in the world.

Although Zhao Han had to stop the war and handle domestic government affairs due to a major change of leadership in recent years.

But Cao Han and Sun Wu did not rest.

Since Yizhou was occupied by Zhao Han, especially Hanzhong, the only contact with Liangzhou was lost, Cao Han lost news about Liangzhou and once thought that General Xia Houyuan and others were dead.

Therefore, Cao Pi re-appointed Cao Zhen as the general to be in charge of the country's military affairs, and made Sima Yi the minister and servant as the core of government affairs.

However, the Yizhou strategy failed, and Cao Pi once again focused on Jingzhou in an attempt to struggle.

Therefore, for two consecutive years, he led an army of 80,000 to conquer Jingnan, but was stopped by Lu Xun, the governor of Wu State.

Failed.

Zhao Han and Cao Han were facing the transition from old to new, and so was Sun Wu. However, Sun Quan was younger than Liu Bei and Cao Cao, so he was still in power today.

However, veteran generals Gan Ning, Lu Su, Zhang Zhao, Huang Gai and others all died one after another, and Sun Wu was also faced with the situation of having no generals or talents to use.

Coinciding with Cao Pi's southern expedition, Sun Quan had no choice but to use Lu Xun, who was only in his early thirties recommended by Lu Su before his death, as the governor of Jingnan and ordered him to resist Cao's army.

Fortunately, Lu Xun lived up to expectations and took advantage of Cao Pi's contempt for his youth to bypass Cao Jun's defense line from Jiangxia and successfully burned Cao Jun's granary in Dangyang.

Cao's army was short of food and had no choice but to retreat.

The next year, Cao Pi attacked again. Sun Quan worshiped Lu Xun as the governor and commanded 30,000 Jiangdong navy and army to resist Cao's army.

In the end, Cao Pi returned without success due to lack of naval advantage and lack of horse power due to the loss of Liangzhou Racecourse.

The cavalry has no choice, but the navy itself can supervise the construction in Xiangyang.

So in the fourth year of Zhang Wu, Cao Pi completed the training of 10,000 naval troops in the Han River, and once again raised an army of 60,000 to attack Jiangxia and Lujiang.

Jiangxia and Lujiang were also one of the main reasons for Cao Pi's repeated southern expeditions.

When Cao Pi lost Hanzhong, his strength was greatly reduced, and Runan and Chenliu rebelled, leaving Jingbei with no military strength.

Lu Su, who had not died of illness at that time, decisively raided Cao Jun's station in Jiangbei. Cao Jun was defeated and retreated from Lujiang and Jiangxia one after another. Finally, he withstood the front of Soochow in Jiangling.

As for why Sun Quan dared to attack Cao Pi at this time, firstly, Cao Han's troops in the south were insufficient, and secondly, Cao Renxin, the famous general of Cao's army in the south of the Yangtze River, died, and his morale plummeted.

The strength of Cao Han among the three has been greatly reduced, and he is no different from Sun Quan, so Sun Quan is no longer weak.

How could Sun Quan, a great lord, be willing to continue to pay tribute to Cao Pi's son? Cao Pi could be the emperor, Liu Bei could be the emperor, why couldn't he?
However, Sun Quan did not expect that Cao Jun's revenge came so quickly, so he had to put aside the plan to become emperor that he was preparing and use all his strength to resist Cao Pi's attack.

Although Cao Han's power was greatly damaged by Zhao Han, it depends on who is compared. The cavalry was damaged, but the Cao army's infantry was still elite.

In the early days of the war, Cao Pi relied on his elite army to win successive victories. The Wu army was simply invincible, allowing Cao Pi to capture half of Jiangxia County, and his troops reached Lujiang River.

In the end, Lu Xun relied on his naval strength to force his ships into the Han River and burned Cao's army's grain and grass in Dangyang.

Cao Pi was unable to advance further, so he had to lead his army to retreat.

The second time, the Jingbei area was even lost, and the important town of Jiangling fell, causing the Wu army to arrive in Xiangyang.

The failure of the two southern expeditions made Cao Pi extremely frustrated. He was even unwilling to fight again. He wanted to wait for Liu Chan to attack and surrender directly. However, Sima Yi saw this and persuaded:
"Instead of competing with Wu for supremacy, it is better to retake Hanzhong. We have only lost the news of Liangzhou in the past two years. With the bravery of General Xiahou, we may not have lost Liangzhou.

If Hanzhong is recaptured and Liangzhou is lost and recovered, will Wu be able to compete with us again? "

Cao Pi was persuaded by Sima Yi, so he appointed Sima Yi as General Hussar, Governor of Jingzhou, Jiejie, and changed the title to Xiangxiang Marquis. He led 30,000 troops and stationed troops in Xiangyang, and ordered him to attack Hanzhong with all his strength.

After Sima Yi entered Hanzhong, he sent many spies to sneak into Hanzhong to collect information.

In addition to learning that Liangzhou is currently experiencing a war, he also found out that the Hanzhong garrison was the prefect Zhang Ren, and the Shangyong garrison was the partial generals Kou Feng and Meng Da.

Zhang Ren and Meng Da were Shu generals, and Kou Fen was originally from Jingzhou and had been following Liu Qi. But Liu Qi was now enjoying the blessings in the plains and no longer paid attention to world affairs. He only took pleasure in making friends with famous people and talking about poetry.

After thinking over and over again, Sima Yi sent someone to send a letter to Kou Feng, which said:
"At the beginning, the general followed Liu Qi, the king of Pingyuan, and Zhuge Liang, the governor of Yizhou, to fight in Shu. He shared the same tent with Huang Zhong, Yan Yan and others as generals. He was also the confidant of the two men. However, what he did was nothing more than wealth and honor.

Now Liu Qi is the king of Pingyuan and enjoys the peace and happiness of the world; Zhuge Liang is the governor of Yizhou and monopolizes the power in Shu, and he has great power.

But what about you, General?

I heard that Emperor Zhaolie of your country pacified Bashu. General Duolai traveled through the mountains and ridges and worked hard. His achievements are not insignificant. However, you were not among the generals who were rewarded in the end.

Instead, the subordinate Zhang Ren was placed above you. Is this important to the general? I really feel unworthy of the general.

Even Fazheng, the civil servant next to Zhuge Liang, was the governor of Yongzhou, but the general was still a partial general.

However, when my lord heard about the general's talent, he felt deeply that the pearl was covered with dust. He was so sad that he ordered the general to abandon the dark side and turn to the bright side. When the time comes, he will be awarded the rank of a meritorious general and a marquis of Linxiang. I hope the general will consider it carefully. "

Then he wrote a letter to Meng Da. The book mentioned a lot about his status as a surrendered general, fearing that Liu Chan would not be able to reuse him. In addition, Zhao Han had many officials and generals, so how could he be ranked among them.

However, it is said that Cao Han is in short supply of talents now, and when he comes, he will be given the position of general. The whole book is extremely provocative and deceptive.

Kou Feng and Meng Da here received Sima Yi's letter of persuasion to surrender, and they felt moved. Originally, Kou and Feng had no objections to Liu Bei's reward and Zhuge Liang's appointment. After all, they were just the middle of the pack, and it was already good enough to serve as guard generals in key areas.

But now, after being bewitched by Sima Yi, I couldn't help but feel dissatisfied with Liu Chan, Liu Qi and Zhuge Liang.

Kou Feng, in particular, has always been resentful about why Zhang Ren was able to become the prefect of Hanzhong.

You know, you are the hero, and Zhang Ren is just a surrendered general, who also resisted his own army in Mianzhu.

For many days, Sima Yi kept ordering people to bring letters, gold, pearls and jade belts. The two were finally persuaded by Sima Yi to surrender and join Cao Han.

The second year of Xuanwu
April
Sima Yi entered Shangyong and accepted the surrender of Kou Feng and Meng Da. Then, taking advantage of the fact that Zhang Ren, the prefect of Hanzhong, had not received the news, he personally led 5,000 elite troops to raid Xicheng. He also used troops continuously to surprise Nanzheng with 1,000 troops.

Since Nanzheng is located in the hinterland, with Shangyong and Xicheng as barriers to the east, and Liangzhou to the west being flat, there are no enemy troops around at all, so the defense is very lax, many soldiers are resting, and it is located more than ten miles west of the city, so it was disguised by Sima Yi Merchants seized the city gate and defeated Nanzheng.

When Sima Yi and his men arrived at the governor's mansion, Zhang Ren and more than a hundred soldiers learned that there was a sneak attack by the enemy.

Zhang Ren faced Sima Yi and said in disbelief: "Who are you? Where do you come from?"

Sima Yi held his sword and rode on his horse. He said with pity on his face: "Sima Yi is the general of the Korean Hussars. Naturally, he comes from South Korea."

"It's impossible. South Korea is hundreds of miles away from Nanzheng, and there are cities like Shangyong and Xicheng with thousands of defenders. How could there not be any news sent back?"

Sima Yi didn't answer, just looked at him like this.

Zhang Ren is a veteran after all. He was panicking just now, so his thoughts were very confused. Now that he thought about it carefully, he still didn't understand something. He suddenly thought of something and roared:
"Kou Feng, Meng Da, I swear to kill you!"

Sima Yi sighed and said: "Hanzhong has been destroyed now, and you are powerless to save the day. Why not just surrender? Not only can you save your life, but with your talent, you may not be able to go further in our country."

"It's useless to talk more. I, Zhang Ren, am not the one who surrenders. I am here to fight."

After saying that, he led his bodyguards to kill Sima Yi.

Seeing Zhang Ren's ferociousness, Sima Yi quickly ordered the arrows to be released. Finally, Zhang Ren was drowned by the rain of arrows and died.

Sima Yi ordered Zhang Ren to be buried thickly, then carried his head to the top of the city and said to the Han army who had received the news outside the city:

"Your general is dead, if you don't surrender quickly, whoever surrenders will be spared death!"

Just as Sima Yi's 3,000 cavalry troops arrived, thousands of Han troops under the city were attacked from both sides. Their morale collapsed and they all fell to the ground.

At this point, Sima Yi captured Hanzhong County at a very small cost. Then he arranged garrison generals in various important places, and then returned to Xiangyang to garrison.

Zhuge Liang didn't learn the news until Sima Yi had deployed defenses throughout Hanzhong.

When Cao Pi learned of Sima Yi's victory, he immediately appointed Sima Yi as General of Chariots and Cavalry, superintendent of the military in Jing and Yi states, and opened the government and holiday festivals.

Facing the surrender of Kou Feng and Meng Da, Cao Pi was also very happy and let them garrison the new county and treated them well.

But Sima Yi believed that Meng Da was light-hearted in words and deeds and could not be trusted. So he wrote to Cao Pi and asked him to re-appoint him. The new county was an important place. If it fell, he was afraid that Hanzhong would gain it and lose it again.

Cao Pi refused to listen and still asked Meng Da to lead the new city governor.

Although Hanzhong was recovered, Xia Houyuan was not rescued after all. Cao Pi held a funeral for Xia Houyuan in Luoyang and sent his tomb to Cao Cao's Gaoling for burial.

June
The countries in the Western Regions heard that the rulers of the Han Dynasty had changed again, from Han to Han, and from Han to Han. Some thoughtful people thought that there must be a war in the Central Plains.

Today's Wuji Colonel was set up by Han, but the border area was under the jurisdiction of the Han Dynasty, so he began to raise troops to resist the Wuji Colonel set up by Cao Pi in the Western Regions.

Cao Han's Wuji captain was weak in power and was about to be defeated. He thought over and over again and thought that no matter how the Central Plains changed, they were still Han people, so he sent people to Dunhuang to ask Zhao Han for help.

The news reached Yedu, and after Liu Chan discussed with the officials, they decided to change Cao Han's post of Captain Wuji to be the Protectorate of the Western Regions, and re-station the Protectorate of the Western Regions.

Appoint Cao Han, the former captain of Wuji, as the governor of the Western Regions Protectorate, and appoint Yueqi Colonel Bai Guan (the eldest son of Bai Xing) as the governor of the Western Regions, leading three thousand troops to garrison in the Western Regions.

He ordered Fubo General Ma Chao to temporarily return to the DPRK, lead five thousand troops, assist Baiguan to defeat the rebels in the Western Regions, and then return to the DPRK.

June 12

After receiving the order, Ma Chao joined Bai Guan who had arrived, selected 5,000 cavalry, and ordered his deputy general to take the remaining army back to the court. He and Bai Guan headed towards the Western Regions.

July
Bai Guan and Ma Chao led 8,000 Han cavalry and defeated the 30,000 allied troops of the Western Regions who besieged Wuji Xiaowei City (Gaochangbi) in front of the Che Division.

The elite and skillful fighting of the Han army frightened these Western Region soldiers who fled back to other countries, and news of the Han people's return to the Western Regions continued to spread.

After reading Liu Chan's edict, Captain Wuji knelt down to the south and accepted his appointment as the chief historian of the Western Regions.

July 29
News of coups continued to spread from various countries in the Western Regions. The pro-Han factions regained control of the political power of various countries and submitted ministerial declarations to the Western Region Protectorate.

August 5
Ma Chao returned to the court with 5,000 people.

August 7
Baiguan began to fulfill his duties as the Protector of the Western Regions. With 3,000 Han troops and 10,000 Western Region soldiers gathered, he began to conquer the Western Regions countries that rebelled against the Han one by one.

(End of this chapter)