[The past is vague]:
As the four ministers of Gu Ming successfully repelled the attack of King Sun Quan of Wu, Emperor Longyan was delighted and promoted Cao Xiu, the general of the Eastern Expedition, to the Grand Sima in charge of the national expedition, and was promoted to the title of Marquis of Changping; while Cao Zhen, the general of the Chinese army, was The general of the army, Chen Qun, was promoted to the rank of Da Sikong and the marquis of Yingyin. The general of the Fu army, Sima Yi, was also promoted to the rank of hussar, second only to the general. General, enter the title of Marquis of Wuyang.
Since the founding of the Wei Dynasty, most of the titles of ministers in the court have been limited to the second-tier marquises such as Tinghou and Xianghou. It is naturally a supreme favor and honor for the four of them to be promoted to marquises this time.
[Note 1: During the Three Kingdoms period, the nobility systems of the Three Kingdoms were different. The title system of Cao Wei, since Cao Cao's reform, has been from top to bottom, including king, duke, marquis, uncle, son, and male. This title is the most respected. After that, there are the titles of Xiang Gong, Xiang Princess, Ting Gong, and Ting Princess. Generally, the titles were granted to distant relatives of the royal family; after that, they were given the titles of County Marquis, Township Marquis, Ting Marquis, Guannei Marquis, etc. The Marquises were virtual titles, only renting taxes and food, but no actual fiefs. 】
However, Cao Rui and the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty were not happy for a long time. A new test suddenly came to the emperor and his empire once again.
In the first year of Wei Taihe, it was winter in December.
The entire Wei Dynasty was in shock.
Mengda Mengzidu, the prefect of Xincheng, General Jianwu, and Marquis of Ting, who had been ruling the three counties on the southwest border of Wei for seven or eight years and served as the barrier of the Great Wall in the southwest of the Wei Dynasty, was actually instigated by Zhuge Liang, the prime minister of the Shu Han Dynasty, to command tens of thousands of troops from the three southwest counties. , brazenly rebelling at the border!
Suddenly, the barrier in the southwest of the Central Plains not only disappeared, but also turned into a thoroughfare for the enemy to go north overnight. Not only that, Meng Da was not only a close friend of Emperor Wen and the Marquis of Changling Township, Xia Houshang, but also had a good reputation. Gao, and before he surrendered to the Wei Dynasty, he was the founding general of the Shu Han Dynasty. Since his surrender, he has led troops on the border for many years. He is a famous general with a lot of battle experience. The late emperor even praised him for his "magnitude of joy and perseverance." ".
In addition, the school officials also learned that Meng Da had already been communicating with Zhuge Kongming, the Prime Minister of the Shu Han Dynasty, and they were colluding. If they could not resolve the issue quickly, whether Meng Da and Zhuge joined forces together or they split up and invaded the north, the consequences would be disastrous.
Such a terrifying figure and such a sudden change gave Cao Rui, who had just ascended the throne less than a year, a headache. In his opinion, the danger of this rebellion was no less than that of King Wu Sun Quan's personal march north, because indeed no one in the civil and military circles of the Manchu Dynasty dared to guarantee that they could defeat Mengda.
After careful consideration, Cao Rui decided to send General Hussar and Wuyang Hou Sima Yi to lead his troops to quell the rebellion and eliminate Mengda.
Because of the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty, those who had the most strategic and military exploits were the Great Sima Changping Marquis Cao Xiu and the Great General Shaoling Hou Cao Zhen. However, the Great Sima Cao Xiu guarded Yangzhou in the southeast and was unable to do anything at all. After the battle, the General Cao Zhen suffered a recurrence of his leg injury. It is difficult to lead troops to fight.
Apart from these two people, only Sima Yi, the general of the Hussars and Wuyang Hou, had the ability to fight Meng Da. Moreover, Sima Yi began to serve as the governor of Jingzhou and Yuzhou after the death of Xia Houshang, the former general who conquered the south. He had guarded Jingzhou for several years and knew the terrain of Jingzhou and Xiang very well. Therefore, it was most appropriate to order him to conquer Mengda. .
But what Cao Rui didn't expect was that just one month later, Jingzhou's school spies had already reported that Wuyang Hou Sima Yi's army had arrived in Xincheng County!
You know, after receiving the secret report from the school officials, although I had quickly sent an envoy to inform Sima Yi to attack Mengda, Luoyang was thousands of miles away from Wancheng where Sima Yi was stationed, and it would take nearly a month for the envoy to go. It also takes a month to return, so it will take two months for him to know the news of Sima Yi's advance. However, Sima Yi has already arrived in Xincheng County at this time, which only shows one thing, that is, Sima Yi Before he received his emperor's order and the tiger talisman to mobilize the army, he had already decided on his own, killed first and reported later, and quickly rushed to Xincheng County!
Knowing that Cao Rui was here at this time, I felt a mixture of joy and sorrow.
With this joy, even if Meng Da was really capable of Le Yi, he would be caught off guard by Sima Yi.
What worried him was that he had only been on the throne for less than a year, but Sima Yi, as a minister who cared about life, was so expert that he dared to mobilize the army privately.
There is no doubt that Sima Yi's actions have offended the emperor.
But now that the matter was over, Cao Rui still forcibly suppressed his inner anger for the time being. After all, pacifying Meng Da was the most important thing at the moment.
At this moment, Meng Da, who was waiting for the Shu Han and Soochow reinforcements in Xincheng County, was looking at the map on the case and stroking his beautiful beard with leisure.
He just wrote a letter in reply to Zhuge Liang:
"Prime Minister Rubu: Wan went to Luo for eight hundred miles, and I went to me for one thousand two hundred miles. When Sima heard about my action, he should express his gratitude to the emperor and counterattack. In one month, our city will be solid and all the troops can handle it. Then I am in a deep and dangerous place, and Lord Sima will definitely not come by himself. In the future, I will be safe. Dabai."
At this moment, Mengda was secretly happy in his heart. Not only because, as stated in the letter above, it was difficult for Sima Yi to get here for a while, so he had enough time to set up defenses.
Moreover, he boasts that no one can understand his truest inner thoughts, and he also boasts that if his thoughts come true, then no matter what, he will be able to find his own place with ease.
It turned out that Mengda not only corresponded with Zhuge Kongming of the Shu Han Dynasty, but also had a close connection with Soochow. He was convinced that whether he surrendered to Shu or entered Wu this time, he would not be treated badly. What's more, he has a greater ambition this time, which is to unite Wu and Shu and go north to destroy Wei. Then he can take the opportunity to separate the north and form a new confrontation with Wu and Shu!
At this moment, the scout who delivered the order entered his mansion:
"General, there is a mighty army in the east, and it has already arrived within the county boundary."
Meng Da was overjoyed. He knew that if Sima Yi wanted to come, he would have to go to the Emperor first. As soon as Wancheng went to Luoyang, it would take two months to go back and forth. At that time, Sima Yi came from Wancheng with troops, and he was still there. It takes more than half a month, so this army and horse cannot be Sima Yi.
In this case, it can only be the Wu reinforcements that he invited long ago.
In order to confirm his inner thoughts, Meng Da continued to ask with a confident smile:
"What color is the flag of the army horse?"
"It's a yellow flag!"
The messenger did not look as relaxed and content as Meng Da, but instead had a look of fear on his face, because he knew that the yellow flag was the yellow dragon flag that symbolized the virtues of the Wei Dynasty!
"What?"
Meng Da also seemed to be a little panicked:
"Are you sure it's not the cyan flag?"
"My subordinates are sure that the army horse is flying a yellow flag!"
Now Meng Da was completely panicked. He clearly remembered that Sima Yi had written to him before, saying that he would never believe the villain's slander and that he would be relieved to defend the country's borders. Taking a step back, even if Sima Yi had a knife hidden in his smile, it was impossible for him to just He came here only eight days after he raised his troops. Didn't he report it to the emperor at all?
While Meng Da's heart tightened, he also increased the strength in his hands, so he accidentally pulled off several of his chin beards, making him grimace in pain.
But after all, he is also a famous general in the world, and he will never surrender because of an accident. After a while, Meng Da calmed down and immediately began to give orders:
"Quickly inform Deng Xian, Li Fu and others that they will come here to discuss matters, and also teach the generals guarding the city to guard the city closely, and quickly notify the troops outside the city to close the defense lines and be on strict alert!"
"Yes, I will do it now!"
After listening to the commander's order, the scout seemed to have a little strength in his heart and immediately left the hall.
It turns out that Mengda thought that no one in the world knew his wishful thinking, but he didn't expect that two people had already understood his heart.
The first was Zhuge Liang, the Prime Minister of Shu. It turned out that Kong Ming was disgusted with Meng Da's capriciousness and wanted to trick Meng Da into raising his troops as soon as possible. Shen Yi had suspicions, so he sent Guo Mo to pretend to surrender. Guo Mo followed the plan and visited Shen Yi to reveal his intention to rebel. This is why Meng Da decided to rebel against Wei.
[Note 2: The reason why Meng Da offended Shen Yi was that Shen Yi and his brother Shen Dan were originally Wei generals, guarding Shangyong. After Liu Bei occupied Shuzhong, he sent Meng Da to attack Shangyong. Shen Dan and Shen Yi were under pressure. After surrendering to Shu Han, Mengda soon rebelled against Han and surrendered to Wei, leading his army to cut off Shen Dan and Shen Yi's retreat. As a last resort, Er Shen had no choice but to surrender to Wei again. Shen Dan and Shen Yi originally did not want to be repeating villains, but they became repeating villains because of Meng Da twice, so they resented him. 】
The second person who saw through Meng Da was his immediate superior, the Governor of Jingyu, General Hussar, and Wuyang Hou Sima Yi.
Contrary to Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi was most afraid of Meng Da's premature rebellion, so he wrote to Meng Da long ago:
"In the past, the general abandoned Liu Bei and went to the country. The state appointed the general to take charge of the territory, and appointed the general to serve Shu. It can be said that his heart was full of daylight. The people of Shu are stupid and wise, and they all gnashed their teeth at the general. Zhuge Liang wanted to break up with each other, but he was in vain. Lu Er. What Mo Zhi said is not a trivial matter. How can one take it lightly and let it be revealed? This is difficult to understand. "
Just when Meng Da felt relieved, Sima Yi immediately sneaked in and attacked without waiting for the emperor to report. Therefore, Sima Yi's army had already reached the three counties of Xincheng in only eight days.
Meng Da, who prides himself on being shrewd, never deceived anyone.
At the top of Shangyong City, Meng Da looked at the billowing smoke and dust carried by Sima Yi's army in the distance. He sighed and said, "I can only do this in eight days, but the soldiers have already reached the city. Sima Yi is so fast!"
However, he was just stunned for a moment, and immediately began to urgently deploy defenses. He understood that the situation was not the worst at this time. After all, Wu Shu's reinforcements would arrive in more than ten days. As long as he held on, he would wait until the reinforcements arrived. , the outcome is still unknown.
