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

Chapter 456: Asking Wu about raising troops to attack Han, Cao defeated Sima and persuaded him to surrender

After Cao Han's matter was settled, Liu Chan asked about Sun Wu's matter again.

Zhuge Liang came out and responded: "Sun's power is weak, with no more than 100,000 soldiers, and no more than a million citizens. He has been able to survive to this day, and even made Cao Han gain ground many times. He only occupies geographical advantages and relies on the advantage of his navy.

However, most of our naval forces are located in the Yellow River and few in the Yangtze River, so many attacks have achieved little success.

Therefore, I believe that Sun Wu should not be underestimated and cannot win quickly. He should organize a strong navy in Jiangzhou, Shu. When the navy is complete, he can move directly down the river and Sun Wu can go against the current. He will definitely not be the opponent of the Han navy.

When our army fights with them in Jingzhou and the navy in the rear is empty, General Zhang can take the Guangling navy ship to replenish the fleet and cross over to attack Wu County.

When Sun Wu's army in front hears that the rear is missing, the morale of the army will be in chaos, and the enemy will be defeated. Without the advantage of the navy, Sun Wu will be like a beast without claws. Wu's infantry is weak, and the navy in Shu can go straight to Jianye. .

The troops from Jingzhou can also cross the river to seize the four counties in Jingnan. If all three groups attack together, Jianye will be lost, but Sun Ni can be defeated. "

Everyone thought that Zhuge Liang's strategy was very complete and agreed with him. Seeing this, Liu Chan ordered Zhuge Liang to be appointed as the commander of the navy, gathered shipwrights from all over the country, and took full responsibility for supervising the construction of Shuzhong warships in Jiangzhou.

June
Liu Chan issued the "Order to Defeat Korea" and appointed Zhuge Liang as the Grand Sima. He led 100,000 troops and divided the country into three groups to attack Korea.

Along the way, the general Bai Xing led 50,000 troops, starting from Yanzhou and heading west to attack Cao Han's Sizhou.

The Great Sima Zhuge Liang personally led the way and led 30,000 troops from the east of Guandong to join forces with Bai Xing to attack Luoyang, the capital of Cao and Han.

Along the way, Jiang Wei, the governor of Hanzhong, led 20,000 troops to attack Xiangyang, Jingzhou, Cao Han from Hanzhong to prevent Sun Wu from taking advantage of the chaos to seize Xiangyang City.

July
The three armies were like a torrent, sweeping towards Cao Han's territory.

July rd
Cao Rui, the emperor of Cao Han, summoned his ministers to discuss the matter of resisting Zhao Han.

Finally, someone was sent to Sun Wu to persuade him to send troops to help Cao Han defend Zhao because of his desperate situation.

Then Sima Yi was appointed as the general, Kaifu Yitong Sansi, Chijie, and Fake Huangyue were appointed as commanders of Chinese and foreign military affairs. Together with the great Sima Cao Zhen, he commanded the entire Cao Han army of 100,000 to resist Zhao Han.

However, there are 100,000 people in Cao Han, and Sima Yi has 70,000 troops, mainly responsible for the direction of Zhuge Liang and Bai Xing.

Cao Zhen was in charge of Jiang Wei in Hanzhong.

July 23
Sima Yi ordered his son-in-law general Sima Shi to lead 20,000 troops to garrison Luoyang, the capital, to defend Zhuge Liang from Guanzhong. He personally commanded an army of 50,000 to garrison Xingyang to defend against Bai Xing.

July 30

Zhuge Liang surrounded Gucheng but did not attack. On the other hand, Bai Xing and Sima Yi also fell into a confrontation in Xingyang. On the contrary, the battle in Hanzhong was very fierce.

August
Jiang Wei defeated Shangyong with strong troops, and Cao Zhen led his remaining troops to retreat to Fang County.

August 13

Jiang Wei led his troops to Fang County and began to attack the city that afternoon.

Since Jiang Wei led elite soldiers selected by the imperial court, they were not comparable to the 30,000 ordinary soldiers Cao Zhen had.

Before setting off for the expedition, Zhuge Liang secretly summoned him and told him that the purpose of his journey was to defeat Cao Zhen forcefully in order to support the larger strategy.

Therefore, he had only one purpose, to attack, and to attack continuously, making Cao Zhen unable to withstand it, and asked the court for help.

August 25
Jiang Wei captured Fang County, and Cao Zhen led more than 10,000 defeated troops to retreat to Xiangyang City.

Seeing how fierce Jiang Wei's offensive was, and hearing that there was basically no fighting between Sima Yi and Sima Shi, Cao Zhen felt very uncomfortable. As expected, he asked the court for help and asked Sima Yi to send reinforcements.

After receiving Cao Zhen's letter asking for help, Cao Rui immediately called for Sima Yi's other son who stayed in Luoyang, Shi Zhong, Yilang, and Luoyang Diannong Zhonglang general Sima Zhao.

"Aiqing is the son of Governor Sima. There is no rush in the battlefields of Gucheng and Xingyang now, but Xiangyang is about to be lost. Why not trust your father and allocate some reinforcements to Grand Sima so as to stabilize the southern front."

Sima Zhao refused: "Your Majesty, unless my father does not allocate reinforcements to the general, there will be no troops available.

Your Majesty, you don't know. On the surface, Gucheng and Xingyang seem to be in peaceful times, but in fact, they are in turbulent times and undercurrents are surging. Both sides are looking for each other's weaknesses in order to kill them with one blow.

If the troops in Gucheng and Xingyang are insufficient because of the general, and Zhao Jun seizes the flaw, causing the defense line to collapse, Zhao Jun will march straight in and wreak havoc on Sizhou.

Then Luoyang is in danger, and Your Majesty is in danger.

After all, Xiangyang is not as important as the two places. Even if it falls, there is still Wancheng and even Xuchang. It can be seen that the general has a lot of room for maneuver, but the minister's room for maneuver is small.

Why couldn't the general see such an obvious thing? Or maybe if he saw it, he had some other purpose.

Also, my father and my brother fought so hard to defend themselves against the enemy, so that not a single city or pool was captured, but the general was retreating steadily. It is still unclear whether there is something fishy in this. "

When Cao Rui heard what happened, the more he listened, the more uneasy he felt, and he became more and more dissatisfied with Cao Zhen, and then said:

"In this case, I also ask Governor Sima and General Wei to resist the enemy with peace of mind. I will help them stop the rest."

"Thank you, Your Majesty. If nothing happens, I will leave!"

After Sima Zhao left, Cao Rui immediately asked someone to write a letter to Cao Zhen:

"There is really no reinforcements to be sent in the court, and the general is asked to resolve it on his own. However, there are many discussions in the court about the general's consecutive defeats. The content is really hard to hear, and it is far from being compared with the governor. All of these things, I hope the general will do it. Think carefully and make sure you don't lose again, otherwise the public will be furious and I will not be able to protect the general."

When Cao Zhen received this letter, his face was really ugly. In a fit of anger, he tore up the letter directly. All his generals looked at each other in shock and did not dare to say anything.

September 10th
Jiang Wei bribed the big families in Xiangyang, the east gate of Xiangyang was opened, and the Han army entered the city. Cao Zhen had no choice but to take thousands of people and flee north to Wancheng.

After capturing Xiangyang, Jiang Wei did not continue to march. Instead, he took more than 10,000 remaining soldiers to garrison Xiangyang to guard against Sun Wu's sneak attacks at any time.

Here Sun Quan got Cao Rui's letter, and he also knew the truth about the coldness of lips and teeth. He knew that if he didn't help Cao Han, he would not be able to do well in the future.

He then sent the Grand Governor Lu Xun with 50,000 troops to attack Xiangyang, and he personally commanded 60,000 troops to attack Jiujiang and Hefei.

The two-month offensive had no results in these two places except for the loss of troops and generals. Instead, it allowed Zhang Liao to capture Lujiang County.

The same goes for Lu Xun of Xiangyang. No matter how he tried his best, Jiang Wei refused to leave the city. Instead, he ordered the city gates to be blocked, as if to defend to the death.

September

After hearing the news that Cao Zhen was defeated and retreated to Wancheng, the Cao Han court was in an uproar. Under Sima Zhao's instigation, the ministers began to impeach Cao Zhen, asking Cao Rui to punish him, and sent another general to take over the southern defense line.

Cao Rui was concerned about the opinions of his ministers, so he had to call Cao Zhen back. He also sent Nanyang Renzhoutai, a Shizhong and Cavalry Commander recommended by Sima Yi, as Nanyang prefect and Zhennan general to serve as the garrison of Wancheng and lead the remaining 9000 garrison of Wancheng. .

Zhoutai was the work of Pei Qian, the former governor of Jingzhou. After Jingzhou was captured by Sun Wu, he entered the court and became an official. He has been unsuccessful and has been wandering around the three hundred stones all year round.

After Sima Yi stationed in Xiangyang and became a general, he continued to be the envoy sent by Cao Pi to express condolences to Sima Yi, so he was known to Sima Yi.

Later, when Sima Yi conquered Mengda, Zhou Tai served as a vanguard and made many achievements. Therefore, he was recruited by Sima Yi and became the cavalry captain.

Therefore, he has always regarded Sima Yi as his Bole and obeyed his orders.

Now that Cao Han's army is in Sima Yi's hands, Sima Yi is about to take action.

First, release the news of surrender to see how well the courtiers accept it.

September

Sima Zhao was the first to propose surrender at a court meeting:
"Now Zhao and Han are powerful and have captured our city one after another. They are really invincible, even if they can resist it.

But Zhao Han has a vast territory and tens of millions of people. Today Zhao's army is 100,000, and next year there will be 200,000, or even 300,000. By then, can we still be able to resist?

Since we can't resist it sooner or later, why not fall early?

It was too late. Zhao Han thought that we were groveling people, and the army was completely lost. We were of no use value and could threaten their strength, so we might not be spared our lives;

But if we surrender early, Zhao Han will be concerned about the strength of our army, and we can avoid the casualties of tens of thousands of soldiers. For both merit and benefit, we will retain our original positions. At most, we will be demoted or dismissed, and at least our lives will be safe.

And your majesty can also save his life to inherit Cao Han's Zhengshuo and maintain the incense of the Cao family. "

Sima Zhao's "On Surrender" indeed aroused the support of many ministers who had already had this idea, and they all spoke out about the benefits of surrender.

Although Cao Rui looked ugly, the military power was now in the hands of the Sima family and he did not dare to make an attack, so he had to retreat and discuss it next time.

Sima Zhao also saw the opinions of the court and mainly agreed with it, so he reported the matter to Sima Yi.

After Sima Yi got the letter, he returned to Luoyang with his troops overnight and asked to see Cao Rui.

"Your Majesty, as a Han minister, I shouldn't say this, but the late emperor has handed your Majesty into my hands, and I must protect your life.

Your Majesty also knows that I am well versed in military affairs. To be honest, our army is too weak compared to Zhao's army. No matter in terms of national strength or number of troops, we have no strength to fight.

The reason why Zhao Jun did not attack immediately was because he wanted us to surrender voluntarily and reduce losses.

Therefore, countless envoys came to the camp every day to persuade the ministers to surrender. Even Chen Qun, an important minister of Zhao Han, came to the camp in person to explain the pros and cons and persuade the ministers to abandon their loyalty to His Majesty and lead the army to surrender.

I was moved by this, and logically I should have rebelled, but out of consideration for His Majesty and the late Emperor's entrustment, I did not agree immediately and returned to the capital to ask for your opinion.

If you say you won't surrender, I will not surrender even if I die and resist until the last moment. If you say that the main purpose is to offer sacrifices to ancestors and surrender, I will immediately put down my weapons without saying a word to save your majesty's life.

I hope your Majesty will let me know your thoughts. "

Cao Rui looked at Sima Yi who was kneeling on the ground, and felt an indescribable feeling in his heart. He kept saying that it was for his own good, and everything he did was an act of rebellion.

But now he controls all the military power, even the guards of the palace are controlled by his son Sima Shi.

A few days ago, Sima Division, citing the lack of troops in Gucheng, transferred all the troops in Luoyang to Gucheng and sent another team of troops to defend it.

Therefore, his life is in Sima Yi's hands, does he have the right to speak for himself?
Moreover, 90% of the officials in the court agreed to surrender, and most of them were former subordinates of Sima Yi. If he had a fault and committed suicide in shame, it should be his only way out.

And this did not affect the surrender of the Sima family, but made him more valuable.

(End of this chapter)