After breaking out of contact with the Han army, Sima Wang's army retreated for more than 20 miles eastward before stopping and starting to gather the troops.

This battle was really a frustrating battle for the commanders of the Guanzhong Corps of Jin State.

It makes no sense. The enemy just had a long spear, and they were poking and poking. In this way, they beat the elite infantry on their side backwards.

As for cavalry, let alone cavalry. Over the past few decades, the field battles between the Han and Wei have always been the cavalry of the Wei and Jin sides. When did the cavalry of the Shu thieves be so powerful?

"King, the general can see clearly. The cavalry of the Shu bandits was equipped with two single-sided stirrups under the saddle, so that the cavalry's feet were supported. In this way, all the strength used to maintain body balance can be used to kill the enemy!"

"Not only that, king. After having this thing, the movements the rider can do on the horse can improve more than ten times! Therefore, our army was not unfairly defeated in this battle!"

After listening carefully to the description of the stirrups by the two riders, Sima Wang sighed: "Hey, I remember, the one-sided stirrup was found in the former Han Dynasty, right?"

"When the king said, that's true. The 100,000 cavalry of Emperor Wu of Han in the past all had one-sided stirrups."

"Hey! Why didn't we expect it? The function of one-sided stirrups is mainly to help riders get on and off the horse. Since this is the case, why didn't we expect to put stirrups on both sides of the horse's back so that the riders can also have support points when they are on the horse!"

"Yes, my subordinates are ashamed."

"No, no blame for you. No one has thought of it for hundreds of years. Alas, Guan Zifeng is such a genius."

After sighing a long time, Sima Wang suddenly felt better again and looked up and laughed.

"Well, why is the king laughing?"

"Hahaha, I laughed Guan Zifeng was still too young after all. After having a baby, I was eager to show it out. Well, yes, our army lost this battle, but our army only spent a few thousand people to figure out the meaning of stirrups. Ah, after this thing is available, the combat power of the cavalry will definitely be significantly improved. However, compared with the national strength that is very different from Western Shu and our Jin Dynasty, who will make a greater profit after everyone's cavalry is equipped with stirrups?"

"So that's it, the king is very proud!"

"Yes, the king has a far-sighted vision. Guan Yi's son will definitely die in the future by our stirrup cavalry!"

"Hahaha~~~" After raising his hand to stop the crowd of people below, Sima Wang raised his head and said to Xun Kai: "Have you ever seen the mystery of the Shu thief gun formation just now in the formation?"

"It is an elite force, and the orders are in compliance with the rules!"

"Is there a way to break the formation?"

"Well..." Xun Kai lowered his head and pondered for a while, then looked up helplessly: "I haven't thought of a way to crack it yet. The king forgives me."

"Hey, I've actually been thinking about the wonders of this gun array all the way back, but after thinking about it, I feel that it's extremely simple. But if it's really that simple, I can't think of the cracking method. For nothing, I don't think about it. These things can be left to those people in Luoyang to think about."

"So what the king means?"

"By relying solely on the strength of our army, we cannot face Guan Zifeng's battle independently and win it. Moreover, the Shu thieves invaded this time, there is no such a small number of people. So, according to my guess, the Shu thief Jiang Boyou must have gone to Longxi. But Guan Zifeng is here again, and our army cannot go west to Longxi for support in a short period of time, so Hu Xuanwei can only let him ask for more blessings."

"What the king means is that our army will return to Chang'an and then ask for help from Luoyang?"

"Yes, this time the invasion of the Sichuan thieves must be greater than before. Therefore, it is not something that our Yongliang Army can handle alone. We must gather the strength of the whole country to fight it back. Maobo, thank you for your hard work later. I will write a long letter to Your Majesty, and you will personally take someone to Luoyang! We must deliver it to Your Majesty's desk as soon as possible, and Your Majesty must send reinforcements immediately, immediately!"

"No! Please rest assured, the king, I will lead the reinforcements back as soon as possible!"

...

Guan Yi set out from Hanzhong on September 25th and entered the Guanzhong Plain on the fifth day of the October 20th. What about Jiang Wei? With the Qishan camp in hand, the defense line of the Shu Han Dynasty and the Wudu line had obviously moved a lot northward. So the general swore from Qishan on the first day of the October 20th, and took down Xixian at the foot of Qishan on the third day of the October 20th. Then Jiang Wei and Zhang Yi had a total of 80,000 troops, and rushed to Shangqi.

Since the Qishan Camp was taken over by Jiang Wei more than four years ago, Xixian at the foot of Qishan Mountain has been abandoned by Hu Fen's strategy. All the people in the county have long been moved away by Hu Fen, and the garrisons were usually only one or two hundred: they don't want to defend the city, but just want to spread the news. Therefore, the loss of Xixian is no big deal.

But Shangbi is different. To the west of Shangbi is Ji County, the county seat of Tianshui County, and to the east is Linwei County, the county seat of Guangwei County. The so-called Linwei is of course a city built along the Wei River. If it is lost here, the Wei River passage will be completely blocked.

Of course, the Wei River west of Longshan is small in volume and the drop is large. It was not conducive to shipping originally. But more importantly, once Linwei was lost, Guangwei County would no longer have strong city defenses. To the north of Linwei, the Jin army would no longer have heavy army groups to defend. Jieting was 160 miles north of Linwei!

Therefore, Shangji must defend! If Shangji is not lost, it will be difficult for Jiang Wei's army to advance and retreat. After Shangji is defeated, Hu Fenjun will be passive everywhere.

Hu Fen's Longxi Army had a total of 50,000 troops. Hu Fen released a total of 10,000 people in Shangji City. The general stationed here was Duan Zhuo, the remaining troops of Deng Ai.

Duan Zhuo, whose courtesy name is Xiuran, is a native of Dunhuang, Liangzhou. The general under Deng Ai was seriously injured in the Mianzhu battle and was sent to Longxi for recuperation, and escaped. As a veteran general under Deng Ai, there were quite a few old subordinates of Deng Ai in the army he led. Of course, these people hated Jiang Wei extremely. So when he heard the news that Jiang Wei had invaded again, his morale naturally burst into extremes without any mobilization.

However, as a long-time general who had fought with Jiang Wei, Duan Zhuo knew very well that it was okay to defend the city with the 10,000 people in his hands. But it was absolutely impossible to go out of the city to fight Jiang Wei. So on the one hand, he comforted the soldiers of his side and explained the need to defend the city to them, and on the other hand, he sent envoys to express the urgent need to defend the city to Hu Fen, who was stationed in Ji County.

On the fifth day of the October 10th, Jiang Wei's army arrived at Shangqiu City. After failing to persuade him to surrender, he tried to attack the city, but failed.

However, Jiang Wei is not anxious about this.

"Hahaha, for this Northern Expedition, Zifeng will help me. I will not worry about the Jin army coming to Guanzhong in a short period of time. So, Bo Gong, don't worry, we can rest under Shangqiu City for a few days."

"Hahaha, Boyue, you want to use the above gui as bait to attract Hu Fen's main force to come. Take this opportunity to succeed in the battle?"

"Oh, that would be great if this is the case. Hu Fen is not a nerd like Wang Jing, how could he not understand the trick here? If I were Hu Fen, then I would find a way to notify Duan Zhuolan City in the city to defend him. He also sent an envoy to ask Guanzhong for help."

"Nee, what should I do? Boyue, although Guan Zifeng will definitely nail Sima Wang to Chang'an, the central army of Jin State in Luoyang is not easy to deal with. I also have to take down Jieting in advance and improve the city defense. If Shangji cannot be taken down for a long time and Hu Fen does not lead the army to fight to the decisive battle, then we..."

"Hahahaha~~~Bogong, we have been to Shangji several times in the Northern Expedition. Tell me, why can't we take Shangji before?"

"It goes without saying that we didn't have the Qishan camp in our hands before, so we could only start from the debate or the misunderstanding. The soldiers and food have always been very nervous and they are not durable at all. So we can't fight a strong city and siege it for a long time."

"Yes, we have solved this problem now."

"It is not enough to solve this problem alone. Shangji City is built on the bank of Jinghe River, and the river water in the wells in the city is endless. It will not be as scarce as other county towns in Longxi. Even if they are siege for a long time, as long as the city has enough food, they can hold on for a long time. We cannot afford this time."

"Hehehe, Bo Gong, this time, Wei is going to make a fuss on this Jinghe River."

"Oh? I dare to ask the general, will the plan come out?"

"Bo Gong, come to see. Shanggui is located on the north bank of Jinghe River, but the terrain here is high in the south and low in the north, while Shanggui is located in a river bay. Such a terrain does not cause water shortage in the wells in Shanggui City. But if I build a dam upstream of Shanggui, intercept the water of Jinghe River, and then release the dam after accumulating to a certain extent..."

"Oh! General, what a clever plan!"

"Hey, actually, I thought about how to break Shangri-Bicheng more than 20 years ago. Unfortunately, at that time, I was limited to the lack of troops, food and grass, and the civilians. I could not implement this extremely labor-intensive project at all."

He raised his head and breathed a sigh of relief: "God blesses the great man and brings a prosperous life. Under his governance, the country is far stronger than the prime minister. This time, we have an unprecedented army of 80,000, with inexhaustible food and tens of thousands of civilians who follow the army. With so many resources, I can finally put all my ideas over the years into implementation!"

"Good! General, Zhang Yi will definitely do his best to help the general accomplish his career!"

Duan Zhuo, a native of Dunhuang. Dunhuang is a historical symbol and is related to many famous historical figures. However, there are not many famous people in the place itself. Duan Zhuo is one of them. The reason why he left his name in history is that in the historical plane, Deng Ai was falsely accused and killed by Zhong Hui. When Sima Zhao died and Sima Yan took office, he wrote many letters, which eventually helped Deng Ai rehabilitate.
Chapter completed!