Chapter 205: The Crisis Is Coming (seventh more, 760
Shanggui.
A day's fierce fighting had just come to an end. There were corpses and bloodstains everywhere in Shanggui City. The soldiers of the Wei army and the Shu army who had just died fell together, and some were still fighting each other before they died. Maybe they didn't care about each other.
Strange acquaintances, perhaps once fellow villagers, are now falling together for so-called righteousness that has nothing to do with them.
Zhuge Liang had been besieging the city for a hundred days, but the Wei troops in the city had no intention of surrendering. Maybe they did, but they were suppressed by Guo Huai. Seeing that the enemy was so tenacious, Zhuge Liang had no choice but to attack the city by force. The city was indeed short of food, and his food supply
He was not well off either. A lot of wheat in Shanggui was burned by the Wei cavalry, which seriously affected his army ration supply. After three months, both the army rations he brought and the wheat he harvested were almost exhausted, so he could only arrange to stay behind.
Wu Yi from Hanzhong sent another batch of grain.
It is impossible to transport food for thousands of miles. It is more than 600 miles from Mianyang Camp in Hanzhong to here. Although a long section is a waterway, which reduces a lot of consumption, the difficulty of transporting food cannot be ignored. More importantly, Hanzhong stores food
limited.
It is common sense among military strategists that if the army is no longer in service and the food supply is not enough for three years, it is because the consumption of transportation is too great, so every general will find a way to defeat the enemy with food. Zhuge Liang sent troops before the autumn harvest, with the purpose of grabbing Shanggui's wheat. If
If you can grab all the wheat in Shanggui, you can greatly reduce the burden of transporting grain.
Most of his plans came true, with only two minor accidents. First, the cavalry of the Wei army cruising outside the city resorted to ruthless tactics, starving themselves and setting fire to the wheat. Second, Zhuge Liang underestimated Shanggui.
The Wei army in the city persisted in their determination. After a hundred days, they still had no intention of surrender, and there was not even a sign of loosening.
Next, there was only one way to attack by force. Attacking by force took time, and also required more grain. Zhuge Liang had to change the original plan and transport grain from Hanzhong again. He knew very well that Hanzhong's grain storage was also limited, and he could transport two more grains at most.
Then, there would be no food to transport. If it were transshipped from Chengdu, even if there was food, it would be too late.
This was the result of accepting Wei Ba's suggestion, changing the original battle plan, and postponing the dispatch of troops for half a year. If he had dispatched troops at the beginning of the year, Hanzhong would have even less food reserves. He must withdraw his troops now, otherwise he would face the risk of running out of food. In Hanzhong
After staying for an extra half year and planting more crops, not only did he get a good opportunity to fight, but he also gained an additional grain harvest. Calculating the grain, it gave him at least three more months.
These are all the contributions of Wei Ba. Thinking of this, Zhuge Liang felt a little uneasy.
It has been three months since Wei Ba and his son entered Guanzhong. They guarded the eastern defense line of Guanzhong and blocked more than 100,000 Wei troops to the east of Guanzhong. They realized the strategic concept and bought him time. However, the price was also staggering.
Facing the fierce attack of more than 100,000 Wei troops, their casualties were definitely not small. Every day they defended, their casualties would increase. In addition to these casualties, what made Zhuge Liang even more uneasy was Wei Ba's actions in Guanzhong.
Wei Ba recruited 10,000 to 15,000 troops in Guanzhong. It was originally said that he had recruited 10,000 to 15,000 troops, but now it seems that he had recruited at least 30,000 troops, possibly even 50,000. Those Hanzhong people who were forcibly moved to Guanzhong by Cao Cao,
They all gathered under the banner of Wei Ba, who now even has the status of the chief priest of Guanzhong District in Tianshi Dao. Because of this status, he controls almost half of the population of Guanzhong.
Wei Ba had more manpower, which greatly increased his hope of defending Guanzhong. However, the rapid growth of his strength also brought new instability factors to the Shu Han regime. Zhuge Liang knew very well that Wei Ba, a cautious person, made such a move.
His actions were not just forced by the situation, he was expressing his anger, the anger of being deceived by him.
This is not a situation Zhuge Liang wants to see.
The internal conflicts are still secondary. Zhuge Liang believes that no matter how angry Wei Ba is, he will not let the Wei army enter Guanzhong. On the contrary, he will guard Guanzhong more carefully. At least from this point of view, the current situation is still beneficial to the whole situation.
Therefore, what Zhuge Liang is most concerned about now is not Wei Ba, but how to conquer Shanggui City.
During the siege of the city, Zhuge Liang was not idle. He built a large number of siege equipment, including thunderbolt chariots and repeated crossbows. These thunderbolt chariots and repeated crossbows were basically similar to those used by Wei Ba, because they were originally donated by Wei Ba.
When Wei Ba suggested that he patiently wait for the opportunity to fight, he also gave three suggestions: first, to farm in Hanzhong and increase food reserves; second, to step up military training and strengthen the training of the newly recruited soldiers to increase their combat effectiveness;
The last one is to create these new types of ordnance.
Zhuge Liang himself had considerable attainments in mechanics. He readily agreed to the suggestions provided by Wei Ba and adopted them one by one. Even the repair of the inclined valley plank road was based on Wei Ba's suggestions, which greatly improved the speed of repair. Zhao Yun's
Only then could he reach Guanzhong in time. Now, he used these weapons to attack the city, putting great pressure on Shanggui City.
Unfortunately, these pressures were not strong enough. Guo Huai in the city was also not an easy man. He had enough troops and guarded Shanggui City very tightly, leaving no chance for Zhuge Liang.
The two sides can only fight hard, fighting for troops, food, morale, and various techniques and tactics.
Although Zhuge Liang is anxious, he is more confident than Guo Huai in the city. As long as Guanzhong is still in Wei Ba's hands, Cao Wei's reinforcements cannot arrive, and Guo Huai's collapse will be a matter of time. He can boost morale, but he does not have enough food.
, even if he eats people, he won't be able to last long.
Without food, can he survive?
Both sides have reached a deadlock. Relatively speaking, Zhuge Liang's situation is better.
Of course, this is good to a certain extent. In fact, both sides have reached the most difficult time. At this time, it depends on who can persevere to the end.
Zhuge Liang sighed and stood up from the command platform. The day's battle was over, and he was going to retreat to the camp to rest. Under the setting sun, the soldiers were reorganizing their battle formations, but this time it was not for another attack, but for another attack.
It's for retreat.
The forts in formation were withdrawn to the main camp one by one, in an orderly and orderly manner. After several months of fighting, these recruits grew up rapidly and already showed the prototype of an elite. This is something Zhuge Liang is quite satisfied with. He believes that
, after this battle of Longyou, these tens of thousands of elites will repair to a certain extent the damage caused to the Shu Han by the battle of Yiling.
"Wei Gong, do you have any news about Wu Yi?" Zhuge Liang said to Yang Yi who followed him as soon as he walked into the tent.
Yang Yi opened the account book in his hand and said: "Prime Minister, the food is on the way, but he said that the collection of new food is not going well."
"It's not going well, what do you mean?" Zhuge Liang looked at Yang Yi in confusion: "Those Hanzhong rich people are not willing to pay for food?"
"It's not that they refuse to pay the grain." Yang Yi sighed: "They have paid in full the stipulated grain tax. They just collected it separately..." He looked at Zhuge Liang, paused, and seemed a little embarrassed. Zhuge Liang was serious.
His face dropped, and the displeasure in his eyes was very obvious. Yang Yi did not dare to be perfunctory, so he could only say: "They said that their grain has other uses and has been sent to Guanzhong, so... there is no extra grain to sell to us."
"Sent to Guanzhong?" Zhuge Liang was stunned for a moment, then understood: "Sent to Wei Ba?"
Yang Yi nodded and said nothing.
Zhuge Liang hesitated for a while, then slowly calmed down, and then asked: "Has he checked to see what happened?"
Yang Yi's eyes flashed, and he lowered his voice and said: "According to what Wu Yi said, these things have nothing to do with Wei Ba. It was the big Hanzhong clan who took the initiative to send people and food and rushed to Guanzhong to help Wei Ba hold on to Guanzhong. However, this matter
The matter is not a trivial matter. It took at least two or three months from the beginning of the movement to the completion of the trip. Logically speaking, it is impossible for him to not be aware of it in advance. Those families in Hanzhong are all under our surveillance."
Zhuge Liang glanced at Yang Yi and was silent. He heard what Yang Yi meant. Yang Yi not only alluded to Wei Ba's alliance with the Hanzhong clan, but also pointed the finger at Wu Yi. He believed that Wu Yi was conniving at the Hanzhong clan.
Support Wei Ba by doing nothing.
I can't say that this is impossible, but thinking this way without any evidence makes Yang Yi's frame-up intention even more obvious.
"Wei Gong, Wu Yi is the brother of the Empress Dowager, and his loyalty to the court is impeccable."
Yang Yi felt a chill in her heart and nodded quickly: "Prime Minister, my subordinates have no suspicions about General Wu, but...these Hanzhong people have gone too far. They should know that the Prime Minister needs food here more..."
"Guanzhong also needs food. Only if Wei Yan and the others guard Guanzhong will we have enough time to conquer Longyou."
"...Well, what the prime minister said is true." Yang Yi saw Zhuge Liang's unkind expression and quickly stopped talking. Such words to sow discord can only go so far, and it would be unsightly to say it too openly. He believed that Zhuge Liang had a negative attitude towards the Wei family.
The fear between father and son is no weaker than his.
“How long can our food last?”
"Half a month." When Yang Yi talked about his duties, he immediately became energetic. He pointed to the numbers in the account book and explained them one by one. Finally, he comforted Zhuge Liang and said: "Prime Minister, please don't worry, the second batch of food and grass is on the way."
, it can arrive in ten days at most, and I will definitely be able to pick it up. In addition, I suggest sending people to Longyou to collect grain. The wheat harvest in the Hehuang area is good this year."
Zhuge Liang sighed. He also knew that the wheat harvest in the Hehuang area was good. But he never wanted to collect grain because he had just obtained Longyou. Before he fully grasped Longyou, he could not treat them too harshly, otherwise it would be extremely serious.
It is easy to cause unrest in people's hearts. The reason why the three counties of Longyou are willing to surrender to him is because of their military power. Another more important reason is that the people of Longyou are dissatisfied with Cao Wei. A few years ago, there was a big rebellion here. Although
Although he was put down by Cao Wei, people's hearts are still confused, so as soon as he leaves Qi, the three counties of Tianshui, Nan'an and Anding will respond immediately. If he is like Cao Wei, there is no guarantee that the unruly Yongliang clan will not rise up to oppose him.
he.
However, the current situation is urgent and it seems difficult to sustain for too long without food collection.
Just as Zhuge Liang was weighing the pros and cons, Ma Dai hurried in. His face was covered in dust, with streaks of sweat on his face, and his eyes were a little panicked.
"Prime Minister, reinforcements from Cao Wei have arrived."
With a "pop" sound, the account book in Yang Yi's hand fell to the ground.
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