Mencius said: The weather is not as good as the right place, and the right place is not as good as the people.
Someone else said: The most dangerous thing in the world is the human heart.
These words may sound a bit Confucian pedantic, but you have to admit that people have always been the most important factor. If people do not have the heart to defend, even a hundred-foot strong city will be of no use.
Therefore, Uncle Li, a master among thieves, said that it is difficult to lead an army when people's hearts are scattered.
This is exactly the case in Wuguan.
The retreat was suddenly blocked by enemies coming from Nanyang, and the leader was Wei Ba, who appeared out of nowhere and had an almost mythical record. For the Wei soldiers in Wuguan, this was like a bolt from the blue. Wei Ba was at Wuguan Road.
The battle with the hussar general and his son, which left them disgraced, is still vivid in my mind. He set a fire in Wuguan, and the anxiety on the city wall has not dissipated yet. He actually came again.
And it came from behind.
Wei Ba never attacked the city, but the Wei soldiers in Wuguan City did not dare to relax. On the contrary, their mood became more nervous because of the long wait. When they found that more than 20,000 people were coming from the direction of Shang County,
When they and Wei Ba blocked the way to Wuguan, they collapsed even more.
There is no fortified city, but only a thousand remaining soldiers. The enemy is coming from behind, and reinforcements have not arrived for a long time. These are all squeezing the confidence of the Wei army soldiers. Not everyone has a strong and tenacious heart, and when no success is seen,
When there is hope, most people will choose to live in an ignoble existence.
When Ma Su wrote an eloquent letter of persuasion to surrender and had it sent to the city, the Wei army defender wisely chose to surrender. Since Cao Yu and Guan Qiu Jian could surrender, he had no reason to insist on fighting to the end.
Wuguan was defeated without attacking, and Ma Su effortlessly regained Wuguan, regained control of Wuguan Road, and obtained a lot of grain, grass and baggage stored here, and was in a good mood. He immediately wrote a joint letter with Wei Ba and Deng Zhi
The letter was sent to Li Yan, saying that Wuguandao had already taken possession of it. Next, their 30,000 troops would go straight to Nanyang, intending to join forces with General Hussar to kill Cao Rui and cleanse the Central Plains.
Ma Su's letter was impassioned. Although Li Yan didn't like his tone, he was still very happy to have so many reinforcements. He immediately responded to a letter to Ma Su, saying it very politely, hoping to have a good relationship with Ma Youchang.
Together they regained Jingxiang, fulfilled the unfulfilled wishes of the Marquis of Guan, and did their best to revive the Han Dynasty.
This sentence is a show of goodwill to Wei Ba intentionally or unintentionally. Who is Guanhou? Wei Ba’s father’s idol, Wei Ba’s wife’s father. Using Guanhou as a banner is undoubtedly the most face-saving thing for Wei Ba.
While they were politely probing, Cao Rui was a little anxious. The fall of Wuguandao was expected, but this did not alleviate Cao Rui's anxiety. Ma Di led more than 20,000 people to come from Guanzhong to help.
For Wei State, which was already in a bad situation, this undoubtedly made matters worse.
Cao Rui hated Ma Su as much as Wei Ba. His beloved daughter Cao Shu died of fright when Ma Su attacked the camp in Fancheng. Two years later, when Ma Su appeared again, she was no longer the same person.
A military strategist, but an important general with an army of 20,000 men, stabbed him hard in the right rib. How could he not be frightened?
Cao Rui immediately convened the ministers to discuss matters, and soon set up blocking positions in Li County, Champion County, Rang County and other places along the Turbulent River as Wancheng's western defense line.
Wei Ba and Ma Di soon arrived at Li County.
Li County is on the west bank of the Turbulent River, and the Wei army set up a camp on the east bank of the Turbulent River, and set up a pontoon bridge on the Li River to respond. The camp on the east bank and the Li County town on the west bank support each other. Although the Shu army has a fierce navy, it cannot last long.
By land and boat, when Xiangyang and Xinye are in the hands of the Wei army, it is impossible to transfer from Danshui to Turbulent water. The Shuhan army's naval advantage cannot be used, so they can only rely on infantry attacks to break this road.
Line of defense.
In this way, the Wei army had advantages in both strength and geographical location. If the Shu and Han army did not make a surprising move, it would be difficult for them to really approach Wancheng, and the two sides could only stand in a stalemate. This was in line with Liu Ye's plan for Cao Rui. Since the attack
If the Shu and Han army are unable to hold on, the Wei army can launch a counterattack, at least to protect the entire territory of Nanyang.
Ma Su was victorious, but there was still a long way to go to reverse the situation.
In the big tent, Wei Ba, Ma Di, and Deng Zhi gathered around the sand table, planning how to attack Li County, and analyzing the entire situation.
"Ziyu, the Prime Minister has been surrounding Ji County for two months. Once the Qiang people are gathered in place, the Prime Minister's total force will be 70,000 or 80,000 people, while Ji County only has 5,000 or 6,000 people. With ten times the force, it will only take one to break the city.
Months of time.”
Ma Di twirled his fingers, his tone was soothing, but his eyes were somewhat nervous. He was forced to this step by Wei Ba, and joined forces with Li Yan to attack Nanyang. In fact, he had broken with Zhuge Liang. Although he didn't like Li Yan, he didn't like Li Yan either.
Hope was dragged along by Li Yan and failed miserably.
"I can't see that fast." Wei Ba stared at the terrain around Wancheng and said calmly: "Jixian County is a big city. Hao Zhao has guarded Hexi for more than ten years and has won the hearts of the soldiers. Moreover, when preparing for this battle
It's too long, and there is no surprise at all. Hao Zhao is probably well prepared. I'm afraid it won't be easy for the Prime Minister to break the city quickly."
"The prime minister has prepared a lot of siege equipment. Do you think he has been idle these two months?" Ma Di glanced at Wei Ba: "His preparations will not be worse than Li Yan's preparations outside Xiangyang City, and Ji County is also far away.
Not as strong as Xiangyang."
"There is a person in the city of Hebei who may cause a lot of trouble to the Prime Minister." Wei Ba withdrew his gaze and looked at Ma Su with a half-smile: "You have been in Guanzhong for so long, don't you know that the Ma family in Fufeng also has a mechanical genius?
?”
Ma Su raised his eyebrows: "Ma Jun?"
"Well, he should be in Ji County." Wei Ba chuckled: "The ships used by the Prime Minister to transport grain from Hanzhong were built by Ma Jun and were prepared to enter Guanzhong from Shanggui along the Weishui River. I just don't know why.
Hao Zhao didn't dare to come in in the end, otherwise Cao Zhi might not be so passive."
Ma Su rolled his eyes: "Can this man's mechanical skills rival those of the Prime Minister?"
"It should be about the same." Wei Ba said with a smile: "The Prime Minister said that he has everything to do with everything, so how much energy can he focus on machinery? But Ma Jun is a technical expert. He has no distractions and studies mechanics wholeheartedly, and his achievements are not low. I
I’ve seen the Liannu chariots and Pili chariots he modified, and they are much better than Zhang Fen.”
"Compared with you?"
Wei Ba was silent for a moment: "I stand taller than him and have a wider vision, that's all."
Deng Zhi never interrupted. When he heard this, he sighed softly: "If this is true, with Ma Jun inside and Tian Yu outside, the prime minister's advantages are very limited. If the war cannot be resolved before spring plowing, wouldn't it be a dilemma?"
"Then it depends on how the Prime Minister will deal with it." Wei Ba waved his hand and changed the subject: "Cao Rui is determined to defend Nanyang. If we just attack blindly, not only will the progress be slow, but the casualties will also be huge. According to me
Look, Sun Quan needs to work harder and stab Cao Rui from the left. If Lu Xun can occupy Kunyang, Cao Rui probably won't be so confident."
Ma Di and Deng Zhi nodded in agreement. Ma Di pondered for a moment, glanced at Wei Ba again, and said with a joking smile: "However, if Cao Rui retreats to Wancheng, Sun Quan may have some thoughts in his heart. If you don't give him any meaningful guarantee,
I’m afraid I can’t kill him.”
Wei Ba scratched his head and sighed: "To be honest, Brother Youchang, I am also worried about this matter."
Deng Zhi looked at them and then at Fa Miao. Fa Miao's expression remained unchanged, as if he hadn't heard anything. Deng Zhi sighed secretly. Although everyone was an alliance of abandoned sons, he could clearly feel that Ma Di and Wei Bazhi
There was obviously some tacit understanding between them, which he had no chance to come into contact with.
…
Zhuge Liang stood on the mound as high as the city wall, looking at Jicheng in the distance, sighing secretly, and a trace of anxiety passed through his heart. The Qiang people came one after another, and the total force reached 70,000. Under his
With careful management, the city of Hebei was surrounded by water, and it seemed that there were about one hundred thousand people.
He thought that under such circumstances, sending Jin Xiang into the city to persuade Hao Zhao to surrender would be a natural thing, but he never thought that all his good intentions would be in vain. Hao Zhao not only refused to persuade Hao Zhao to surrender righteously, but also pointed out the Shu Han
Several disadvantages of the military.
Hao Zhao said that although there were many Qiang people, the Qiang people did not know how to fight. They were a mob and were easily disturbed. It was not advisable to use them to attack the city, as they could easily cause a large number of casualties and even dampen morale.
The Qiang people are not in a good position to attack the city, but their food is no worse than that of the others. The arrival of a large number of Qiang people will increase the food supply difficulties of the Shu-Han army. Even if food is transported from Hanzhong, it will be difficult to meet the food needs of nearly 100,000 troops for a long time. More importantly,
However, the Shu Han army did not have an organized cavalry. Although Tian Yu was defeated in the battle to show his relatives, the cavalry did not suffer any losses. They would definitely cause great trouble to Zhuge Liang's baggage transportation.
The last point is that the city of Hebei is strong, the people's hearts are stable, and Tian Yu is outside to help. It is not yet known who will win in the end. Therefore, there is no need to persuade you to surrender. You should save some energy to attack the city.
Zhuge Liang had to admit that Hao Zhao's reliance was exactly what he was worried about. The reason why he was unwilling to recruit unlimited Qiang people to help him was because food supply was a big problem. Even if there were newly built wooden oxen and horses to transport food, it would have to be supplied for a long time.
Fighting with an army of about 100,000 people is also a heavy burden. The longer the time goes on, the worse it will be for him.
Especially when Li Yan is competing with him.
"Prime Minister, let me enter the city." Jiang Wei looked at Zhuge Liang's lonely back and plucked up the courage to say.
"You can't go. Hao Zhao is determined. If you go, he will not surrender because of it. Instead, it may ruin your life. You will be serving as one of my generals for nothing."
Jiang Wei's eyes turned red and he choked up. Wei Yan on the other side heard this and snorted involuntarily. Although Zhuge Liang didn't look back, he knew it was Wei Yan. He was startled and regretted a little. He knew that these words made him
Wei Yan had an idea, but it was hard to explain, otherwise he would only get darker and darker.
He was secretly sad and didn't know how he got to this point. It seemed that the harder he tried, the more Jing and Xiang were separated from him. Now not only did Ma Di go to cooperate with Li Yan, but even Wei Yan seemed to be somewhat distant from him.