(This chapter is a spoof, and a transition.)

"Dangdangdangdangdang... Dear compatriots from Dawu, audience friends from Yangjingjiao Sanzhou, and overseas compatriots from Yizhou, Shanyue in the mountains, those who are not on the government's civil book, and friends from Wuling... Today is the third day of the October 19th year of Yong'an (the reign of Emperor Jing of Eastern Wu, that is, 263 AD). Good evening everyone! I am the host Liuluo, and I am the host Quanhuijie... Welcome everyone to watch the news of Dawu!"

"The main content of this news is broadcast below."

"The envoy of Western Shu, General Zong Yu of the Central Army, arrived in Jianye yesterday to pay a friendly visit to our country. He was cordially received by His Majesty the Emperor of Our Country."

"The rebellion in Jiaozhou has been strongly suppressed by the imperial army. The thief chief Lu Xing has been shot dead... General Zhengnan said that under the wise leadership of His Majesty the Emperor, some rebellion will not affect the stability and prosperity of the Great Wu."

"Recently, His Majesty the Emperor visited the Chinese studies again and gave cordial condolences to the teachers and students in the Chinese studies. The teachers and students of the Chinese studies expressed a warm welcome to His Majesty the Emperor's arrival..."

"The "Into the Truth" column later reported to you: Recently, news came out in the palace. Last month, His Majesty the Emperor got sick and invited a male witch to treat the disease. In order to verify whether the male witch is wise, His Majesty killed a goose and buried it in a grave. He told the male witch that the male witch buried a woman in the grave and asked the male witch to describe the appearance of the woman. The male witch watched the grave for a day and said that she only saw one goose and did not see any woman..."

...

"The following is the in-depth report program content. According to Zong Yu, the envoy of Western Shu who came to Jianye yesterday, in early August this year, the Wei Kingdom in the north launched an army of 180,000 to attack Western Shu in three groups. The northern front of Western Shu lost consecutive battles and was already in extreme danger. Mr. Zong Yu's trip was called a friendly visit, but it was actually a request for help. So, what is the direction of this war between Wei and Shu, and what impact will it have on our Great Wu? Today we invite you to interpret the former Prime Minister's son, Mr. Lu Youjie, General of the Army, to interpret it for us. Welcome..."

"Hello, host, hello, audience friends, I am Lu Kang Lu Youth Day."

"Ahem, General Lu, please briefly introduce to us the current form of the war between Wei and Shu."

"Okay. Please look at this topographic map of Yizhou. We know that before August this year, among the 22 counties in Western Shu, the three northernmost counties were Yinping County, Wudu County, and Hanzhong County from west to east. According to the news we received and the information summarized by the Dawu School Office, as of the end of September this year, the Yinping County and Wudu County in Western Shu had been completely lost. And Hanzhong County only had three strongholds left, Lecheng, Seoul and Golden City - and these three strongholds were still surrounded and became dead chess. At present, the 180,000 troops of Wei State, except for the 25,000 people who surrounded the three strongholds I just mentioned, the remaining 155,000 people were all gathered in Jiange and confronted the 40,000 main troops of Western Shu."

"Ah? More than 150,000 to 40,000? A gap of nearly four times. Wouldn't it mean that Western Shu is dead this time?"

"This is not necessarily the case. Because Jiange is a rare majestic pass. Please look at the topographic map of Jiange in my hand... This is Longmen Mountain, which lies in the north of the basin. The entire mountain is extremely steep, and the mountain is almost straight, and there is no possibility of climbing at all. To pass Longmen Mountain, you can only walk Jiange because there is a canyon here. Now Jiang Wei's 40,000 people are defending in this canyon based on the city..."

"The key to the problem is that this canyon is too long and too narrow. If the Wei army wants to attack Jianmen Pass, it cannot be used in such a narrow terrain. According to my personal experience, in such a narrow terrain, the attacking party can invest no more than 2,000 troops at a time... In other words, although the Wei State has only 150,000 troops, it can only invest 2,000 people at a time... and the defensive power of Western Shu is as high as 40,000."

"Oh, so that's it. It's really a rare guarantee to have this Jiange in Western Shu. So General Lu, why didn't the Wei army stretch out to the east and west sides of Jiange and seek new channels?"

"Haha, the host is worthy of being the son of General Liuzan, my great Wu Ge Shen, and his military strategy is not bad... The Wei army has a great advantage in numbers and should indeed spread to the east and west sides of Jiange to pull the defense line of Xishu. But the terrain here is really special... Please see, the west side of Jiange is the Qionglai Mountains, which are not only high and dangerous, but also often collapse, and are not suitable for the army to advance. The east side of Jiange is the Daba Mountains, and it can be crossed, but it is limited to individual soldiers. The food transport team behind cannot go up the mountain..."

"So, if the Wei army wants to enter the basin, they can only go to Jiange?"

"There is no absolute thing in the world. It is not ruled out that there are other shortcuts to the basin that we have not discovered, but judging from the information I have at present, in order to maintain the army's food route, the Wei army can only go to Jiange."

"Okay, thank you very much for General Lu's brief introduction. It made us understand the current situation of the war between Wei and Shu. Simply put, it is: after the initial multi-line attack and defense, the attack and defense of Wei and Shu are now concentrated on one point, that is, on the Jiange?"

"Yes."

"So can General Lu predict the direction of this Wei-Shu War?"

"Well, this is really hard to say. If I were the commander of the Cao Wei army from a purely military perspective, what I was thinking about at this time was how to withdraw troops safely. Due to various reasons, it was impossible to take down Jiange before Western Shu entered heavy defense. The war had inevitably become a long-term war. Now, due to the loss of the three northern counties of Western Shu, the front line of Western Shu was shortened, and the pressure on grain transportation was greatly reduced. Now, Cao Wei's grain transport team was going to cross the Qinling Mountains, Micang Mountain, Longmen Mountain and other mountains, and the logistics pressure of more than 100,000 troops was extremely high. Even if Cao Wei has strong national strength, it would be impossible to support it for a long time. Once the logistics cannot keep up, and the more than 100,000 troops were trapped in Shu again, it would be quite dangerous."

“So what you mean?”

"From a purely military perspective, if Cao Wei cannot take down Jiange within two months or enter the basin through other methods, then Cao Wei will face great failure!"

"Okay, thank you very much for General Lu's wonderful comments. Next question, what should I do in this war to maximize our interests? Oh, no, it should be what should I do to maximize the unbreakable interests of the Wushu Alliance?"

"Haha, the main force of Cao Wei is now trapped in the vast mountains of Shu. This is an excellent opportunity for me, Wu. Before I came here, I have received the exact news. According to the instructions of His Majesty the Emperor, General Ding Feng has rushed to Huainan and is about to supervise the command of the army to advance to Hefei. Host, your younger brother General Liuping has also led his troops to Nanjun of Jingzhou, joining the troops of General Shi Ji, and is about to launch an attack on Xiangyang of Wei. In addition, Your Majesty has issued an order to order the Xiling Supervisor to prepare and send troops into Jianping County to prepare to enter Shu to support Western Shu."

"Oh my God, are you going to use my private soldiers who stayed at home again? Ah? No, no, no? Director, what the words just now are going to be cut off... Well, is my son who stayed at home going to the battlefield again to show their majesty? OK! Well, Sister Quan, what does it mean that you have been sitting there without saying a word?"

"My husband died suddenly at the age of 20. There must be a shady story here. The next in-depth report should be based on this topic..."

"Director, cut off the previous paragraph! Alas, I am so tired of treating it as a host. Uh, let's get back to the topic: General Lu, you just said that from a purely military perspective, Western Shu is probably safe this time. But based on our understanding of Western Shu, the Western Shu army has never fought a purely military battle, right?"

"Well, what you said makes sense, host. In fact, starting with Liu Bei in Western Shu, his military has always served their politics. They have indeed never fought a pure military war."

"So, the level of the Western Shu leaders now..."

"It's really worrying, it's really unreliable."

“Can you be more specific?”

"It's totally OK. Liu Chan is a pig, Zhuge Zhan is a peacock who only considers himself very high and is actually not capable, and Huang Hao, hahaha..."

"Your opinion is the consensus of my great Wu. So, what if these guys are blindly commanding, Western Shu will lose Jiange in a short period of time or let the Wei army enter the basin through other channels?"

"Then Western Shu will be destroyed."

"So what should we do if we encounter this situation?"

"From the heart, it is hard for people to like those dead perverts who know how to engage in (defense of harmony) all day long. But in the current situation where Cao Wei is dominant, we still need the ally of Western Shu. If this ally is gone, the pressure that our Great Wu will have to bear is too great... If this situation really happens, the only thing we can do is to seize Badong County of Western Shu as soon as possible. Take all the natural dangers of the entire Yangtze River in our own hands!"
Chapter completed!