The last three kingdoms

Chapter 171
A heavy snow covered Luoyang, the capital city. The Luohe River was covered with ice and snow, and the sky and the earth were all pale.

The end of the new year is approaching, and there are few pedestrians on the wide streets of Luoyang City. Occasionally, a few pedestrians walk in a hurry on the ankle-deep snow.

As twilight came, a fast horse galloped past on the empty street, and the horse's hooves stepped on the snow in a hurry, stirring up a cloud of snow and fog, and galloped in the direction of Prince Jin's Mansion.

In Luoyang City, the only mansion that is slightly inferior to the imperial palace is the Jinwang Mansion. It has high walls and green tiles, and is more magnificent than the houses.

"Woo--" The fast horse reined in front of the gate of Prince Jin's Mansion, and the postman on the horse's back rolled off the horse's back. Although it was freezing cold, the postman was sweating profusely and breathing heavily Bai Qi, handed the letter in his hand to the guard at the gate of Prince Jin's Mansion, panting and said: "Urgent report ahead... report to King Jin..."

The guards of Prince Jin's Mansion took a look at the letter. It was in a purple envelope, sealed with wax paint, and there was General Zhenxi's seal on it.Wei Guo's official documents are divided into four colors: purple, blue, yellow, and white according to their grades. Since it is a purple envelope, it means that this is the highest-level top-secret official document. These guards did not dare to neglect and immediately delivered the letter. go in.

Jin Wang Sima Zhao is wearing a precious ferret fur robe at this moment, sitting in the warm pavilion, discussing some matters with several officials under him, because the weather is too cold, it is difficult to resist the icy cold in the warm pavilion At that time, the servants added a pot of charcoal fire for Sima Zhao, and the charcoal fire was burning vigorously, glowing red and warm.

"Report to King Jin, General Zhenxi has a letter to send." The steward reported softly.When Sima Zhao was discussing matters, he didn't like to be disturbed by others, but the person in charge received a report from the guards and saw the purple border official document from Hanzhong, and knew it was urgent, so he had to carefully report to Sima Zhao.Although he was terrified of disturbing Sima Zhao, he knew better that if he delayed an urgent dispatch from the front line, it would be a matter of losing his head.

Unexpectedly, Sima Zhao did not blame his subordinates this time, but ordered someone to submit the letter, and he couldn't wait to open it and read it.Sima Zhao's brows gradually frowned, his expression extremely serious.

Accompanying Sima Zhao to discuss matters were Sanqi's regular attendant Jia Chong, Shang Shupu She Pei Xiu, Xi Cao's Shaoti, Yushi doctor Wang Shen, and others. Seeing Sima Zhao's expression was different, he knew that there must be something to report on the front line of Hanzhong. , but none of them dared to ask, they waited silently for Sima Zhao to finish reading the letter.

After a while, Sima Zhao threw the book on the case angrily, and sighed, "Deng Shizai was wrong!"

Everyone was stunned, except Jia Chong who silently picked up the document and looked at it, the rest asked why.

Sima Zhao said angrily: "Deng Ai was self-willed, played tricks and took risks, instead of taking the Jiange Avenue, took the risk of attacking the Yinping Trail, and was defeated by the Shu army. The [-] people he led were all killed. The army was shaken. It seems lonely Deng Ai's grand plan to conquer Shu will be completely destroyed in Deng Ai's hands."

Pei Xiu said suspiciously: "Deng Shizai has fought in Longxi for a long time, and he knows himself and the enemy in Shu. What's more, Deng Shizai has always acted calmly and is well versed in the art of war. How could he make such a simple mistake?"

Shao Ti of Xicao smiled and said: "The two scholars are fighting for the balance of the ear. I have heard that Deng Ai and Zhong Hui have a lot of discord. This time, the king of Jin ordered the two to lead the army to attack Shu. The two are fighting for the first place in the attack. Naturally, he is not willing to be left behind. Zhong Hui took Hanzhong lightly and won the first merit, Deng Ai must not be angry, and wanted to obtain extraordinary merit through a surprise attack on Chengdu. It is not surprising that he failed."

Sima Zhao's eyes became gloomy. At the beginning, the army was divided into three groups to attack Shu, which was a secret plan made by Sima Zhao to restrain each other. Family, for the civil and military ministers under him, the suspicion is particularly strong. Although Zhong Hui is Sima Zhao's most trusted confidant, Sima Zhao knows that no one can be completely trusted. The reason why they did not betray is not theirs. Loyalty is commendable, but they don't have enough capital in their hands to make them betray success.And when they really have the ability, they may not be able to replace them.

Therefore, in the strategy of sending troops to conquer Shu, Sima Zhao racked his brains to design an arrangement with Zhong Hui as the main and Deng Ai and Zhuge Xu as the auxiliary, in order to let the three restrain each other.However, changes occurred in the early stages of this plan. Zhong Hui hijacked the prestige of Hanzhong and deprived Zhugexu of his military power on the grounds that Zhugexu fell to the Yinping Bridge to let Jiang Wei go. Zhugexu was escorted to Luoyang with a chariot Come and wait.As for Zhuge Liangxu's soldiers and horses, they were all collected by Zhonghui and belonged to his subordinates. The Wei army also moved from three routes to two routes.

In terms of numbers, the armies of Deng Ai and Zhong Hui are not equal. Deng Ai's [-] Yongliang soldiers are not enough for a fraction of Zhong Hui's army.That's why Deng Ai was uneasy. Perhaps from the frontal battlefield, Deng Ai had no chance to grab the first victory, and only by another way, Deng Ai had the chance to rush to destroy Shu's first victory.

Opportunities and challenges coexist. Although Deng Ai's plan has great risks, if it succeeds, it can create an unprecedented myth and undoubtedly achieve the first victory in destroying Shu.

It's a pity that he failed in the end, and died, and Sima Zhao's plan to restrain each other among the three finally went bankrupt. The Kingdom of Shu has not yet been eliminated, and Zhong Hui has already monopolized power in Hanzhong. Regardless of whether he has the heart of rebellion, It was something Sima Zhao didn't want to see.

It's not terrible for the two men to compete for merit. Sima Zhao's original intention was to make Deng Ai and Zhong Hui compete with each other. Although Zhong Hui has many troops, he has just taken over the military power, and the fit of the entire army is still very poor. Many senior generals may not be able to easily The ground obeyed him, while Deng Aijiu was in Longxi, and he ran the army rigorously. Although there were few soldiers and horses, they were united by thousands of people, and their combat power was extraordinary.

Sima Zhao was more worried about Zhonghui before. Although Zhonghui has always been good at strategy, it is the first time that he has truly led an army independently. Sima Zhao is very worried about whether Zhonghui will become the next Zhao Kuo or the next A Ma Su is good at talking about soldiers on paper, but he is a mess in real marching and fighting.

But the final result surprised Sima Zhao deeply. Although Zhong Hui was unable to attack outside the Jiange Pass, he was quite satisfactory. On the contrary, Deng Ai, whom Sima Zhao trusted most, was blocked by the Shu people during his surprise attack on Yinping Road, and he suffered a crushing defeat. .The Wei army not only lost 3 horses, but more importantly, the momentum of taking Hanzhong was gone. The plan to destroy Shu encountered the greatest crisis. Even whether Hanzhong could hold it became a problem.

At this moment, Jia Chong had finished reading Zhong Hui's letter, he gave a little snort, and said, "His Royal Highness, there is something strange about this matter?"

(End of this chapter)