I remember a saying: There is no road in the world, but when there are more people walking on it, it becomes a road.
There are many valleys and river valleys in Qinchuan. The reason why the Tangluo Road can reach four hundred miles is because some people walked it and some people built it.
In addition to the main road, there are many mountain passes along the way, and there are still signs of human activity everywhere. When Qin Liang explored the terrain, he had to sigh that the world's desire for exploration is indeed very strong.
When Guo Huaijun was marching in the Luo Valley section, he would occasionally repair the road because there were plank roads and cable bridges. But after passing a place called Huayangji and passing through a winding and ascending road, he no longer encountered plank roads.
Although it is in a valley, most of the roads are not narrow.
This place is about the same distance from Xingshi Mountain as the Lecheng Shu army was from Xingshi Mountain. Qin Liang wanted to urge Guo Huai to speed up his march in order to seize the terrain.
Because when the Wei army marched in the Luogu section, most of the areas they passed through were uninhabited mountains and forests; at that time, the Shu army did not necessarily know that the Wei army was coming. Therefore, after Guo Huai's forward troops passed through Huayangji, they might
You can take advantage of the situation by surprise! How can you seize the opportunity if you don't try?
But Qin Liang didn't talk much after all.
Guo Huai has been fighting on the Western Front for half his life. If he doesn't understand military knowledge, Qin Liang won't believe him.
Sometimes things are like this, you think you are smart and can see the next step, but maybe others are looking at the next five steps.
So the forward army continued to advance unhurriedly. When they arrived at Zhengjiang Mountain, they had traveled the Tangluo Road, which was about 400 miles long, for more than ten days.
"Order the entire army to be on alert, and each battalion will choose a location to build a camp." As soon as Guo Huai saw the flag on the mountain, he immediately gave the order loudly.
"Here" responses came from the side one after another.
There were people in the distance, with the flag of the Shu army, moving at a mountain pass. The place Guo Huai chose to camp was at another mountain pass to the northeast. It was indeed more stable to stop here.
The two armies faced each other from a distance, as if no one could fight the other.
But there was Cao Shuang's nearly 100,000 troops behind him. Why didn't Guo Huai's forward take advantage of the opponent's unsteady footing to fight?
At this moment, Qin Liang finally understood: Guo Huai must have made a deal with someone. Someone didn't want Cao Shuang to win at all...
Originally, Deng Yang's lame one-way advance strategy had a very small chance of winning, but he had to worry about what might happen. If the Shu army was stupid and put 100,000 Wei troops into the Hanzhong Basin, it would really be possible to launch a massive attack.
What a miracle! Therefore, the Wei ministers must block this emergency, and Guo Huai is the plug that blocks the loophole.
Beware that Cao Shuang is so lucky that he inexplicably conquers the Hanzhong Basin. At that time, the Wei State can directly suppress the Shu Han and change the situation on the western front. Is that okay? The consequences are simply unimaginable!
Not everyone can bear the great achievements that affect the general situation. If Deng Ai and Zhong Hui had figured this out later, they would not have died in a daze. Then Sima Zhao, who did not know how to fight, would have tricked others into death.
I guess Cao Shuang knew it well, so his mind was not on the military, but on wooing him. He made Sima Zhao the deputy general and got a big share of the pie. Guo Huai and others were not Cao Shuang's people. Cao Shuang
The meaning is probably: With great success, everyone can share it together. I eat meat and you all have soup.
But Cao Shuang is still too young, and what others may want more is: I eat meat, and you die. Qin Liang thought to himself: This is an attack on a horse.
Guo Huai, who was standing at the mountain pass watching, suddenly turned his head to look at Qin Liang. Guo Huai's eyes were very sharp, as if he could see through other people's hearts, giving people the illusion that they were inescapable, and Qin Liang's heart tightened.
However, Qin Liang had been mentally prepared for a long time. He had vaguely felt that this battle was very foggy, so he was not surprised to encounter such a situation.
Qin Liang turned his head to look at Guo Huai with a confused expression, looking calmly into Guo Huai's eyes: "Grandpa, what's wrong?"
In the past, when Qin Liang was in the army, he always called him General Guo Huai. This time, the relationship between relatives was brought out again.
Guo Huaiyuan pointed to the front and said: "The valley in front is like a big basin. Once our army enters, if the battle is unfavorable, the intersection behind will be narrow and it will be difficult to retreat. Does Zhong Ming have a good strategy?"
Qin Liang nodded and said, "My grandpa has been prepared for a long time. It should be fine. Let's check the situation first."
Guo Huai nodded slowly, looked into the distance, and said "Huh". His posture was still straight and stable, quite official and majestic.
The situation was quite rough, but Qin Liang was not depressed.
If you are the kind of loyal and upright person, you will be very angry when you see this situation. However, Qin Liang is also full of selfish interests for the time being. As the saying goes, the world is as dark as crows. If you look at everything with an open mind, you will feel better.
At this moment, Qin Liang already knew in his mind that the focus of this battle was not on the attack, but on a term in the art of war, called retreat.
Sometimes the goal of war is not necessarily to kill the opponent, but may also be to protect oneself. As long as the battle goal is achieved, it is a successful battle. There are many such battles, and it is not uncommon in later generations.
If Qin Liang planned to withdraw from the war, there would be no problem.
Because even Sima Yi would not be willing to see 100,000 Wei troops abandoned in these barren mountains. It would be really crippling. The entire western front would soon be eroded, and everyone would die together? That would not be a good idea.
Idea. Sima Yi just didn't want Cao Shuang to win, but he also didn't want to completely destroy the ideal society of the entire Wei Dynasty.
However, even though he was here, Qin Liang still looked for viewing spots around, wanting to see Xingshi Mountain with his own eyes.
Not to mention that the ancients did not have surveying and mapping tools, but they were very good at thinking about climate and geography. For example, they were very clever in building the lines of the Great Wall. The name of Xingshi Mountain was well chosen, Mrs. Mountain. The shape cannot be seen with the naked eye, but if it is put on paper
, the shape of the valley and mountain really looks a bit like the character "Xing", or Xing in simplified Chinese or cursive script.
The mountain pass blocked by the Shu army is the lower left corner of the character Xing. The Wei army is at the second mountain pass in the upper left corner, but the road is in the valley in the upper right corner. There is a valley in the middle, which together is as big as a football field.
The terrain of the valley is uneven, but not very undulating.
It's just that the "horizontal" is very irregular, as if several large mountains were squeezed together, forming a winding high mountain range that spans an extremely long time.
No wonder Wang Ping sent people to block this place. If the Wei army wanted to make a detour, they would have to go around the transverse mountain range, a very long way, and they didn't know where they could go. Maybe after detouring for a long time, there would be another blockade ahead.
Qin Liang felt that the chance of a detour and side attack was not very high, so he could send a reconnaissance team to take a look. But he didn't want to say more for the time being. Guo Huai said whatever he said would be whatever he said.
So the forwards of the Wei army blocked here and watched for two days without firing an arrow. The two armies were in peace. In the evening, Qin Liang followed the generals to the Chinese army's tent for dinner. The conditions were limited, and there was only one person in front of each person.
Straw mats were spread out and food was placed on the floor.
After the ceremony, Guo Huai looked back and said: "After passing the big valley in front, there is still a long valley to the south. The mountains on both sides are not so steep, so we can deploy troops. Our army is small. If we venture into the valley, we may be ambushed and defeated.
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All the generals agreed, "Thankfully, General, he is calm, otherwise the lives of our servants would have been ruined here."
Guo Huai has been an official in the Yongliang area for many years, and his subordinates are probably all his own. Qin Liang also nodded in agreement.
"The Shu army has been prepared for a long time, but now it is blocked, what should we do?" Guo Huai asked.
Immediately someone said: "We will wait until the general arrives with his army before we make plans." Someone else said: "We have less than ten thousand soldiers. We will die in vain if we enter the valley. It is better to wait."
Guo Huai looked at Qin Liang: "What do Zhongming think?"
Qin Liang pondered for a moment, then nodded and said: "Fortunately, the general has been prepared, so we will not be defeated."
Guo Huai's eyes suddenly showed a look of satisfaction.
The general complained: "Deng Xuanmao, the counselor of the general, has a problem and asked us to come all the way through the Tangluo Road. It is expected that we will be blocked."
Qin Liang said very little. He just waited for Guo Huai to start cooking, and he also picked up the chopsticks and cakes.
At this time, Qin Liang accidentally dropped some wheat dregs on the mat, so he dipped his fingers in it and carefully put it into his mouth. The military rations were transported from the Tangluo Road. How difficult this road was, Qin Liang did it himself
He walked over here, not to mention he wasn't carrying anything under heavy weight, he was just walking empty-handed.
Suddenly he found that Guo Huai was observing his little movements. The two looked at each other and said nothing.
The battalions were stationed for another two days, and Guo Huai finally made some movement. He sent one of his men to join the battle early in the morning. He dispatched hundreds of people to take up formation in the large valley in the middle. Then he sent light troops to provoke.
The Shu army has built fortifications at the mountain pass and planted red military flags with the word "Liu" written all over the mountain. I heard from Guo Huai that the Shu general here may be Liu Min. But no matter how provocative and loud the Wei army was,
The Shu army just refused to fight.
The enemy army obviously wanted to fight a defensive war, and of course they did not listen to the scoldings of the Wei army soldiers. So the two sides began to curse loudly again with different accents. The pronunciation of the language was different, but the content was still full of love for other people's mothers. This point
Not much difference.
Unexpectedly, the people in the front row of the Wei army scolded them vigorously and walked too close. Suddenly they were hit by a crossbow arrow. Many people were injured, so they had to withdraw their troops and retreat to the mountain pass.
Early the next morning, Guo Huai once again mobilized his troops, this time more than a thousand people, formed several neat square formations, and advanced to the close combat range. The two sides fought hard at the mountain pass, and the fences of the Shu army camp were destroyed, and soon the Wei army again
Mingjiao retreated his troops, but made little progress.
This place is surrounded by mountains on all sides. It was not clear for a while how many people from the Shu army came, but as time went by, there seemed to be more and more people. Guo Huai's army was stationed in the valley and could not move, but the defense was quite well organized.
The key areas were secured without any counterattack.
It was not until late March that news came that Cao Shuang's main force had passed through the Luogu section and passed through Huayangji. Within two days, Cao Shuang mobilized the first batch of thousands of elite Chinese and foreign troops and urged Guo Huai to continue the attack.