The unprepared Shu Han Tiger Infantry was suddenly attacked, and hundreds of people were killed in one fell swoop. Just as Jiang Wei led his tiger infantry to retreat, two of Xiahou Ba's men were eager to pursue their merits. Qujiang spoke:
"General, the Shu army has retreated. If we don't take advantage of the victory and pursue it now, when will we wait?"
Xiahou Ba has been fighting against Shu all year round and knows that the Shu army is well-trained. After looking at the slowly retreating Shu army in the distance for a while, he shook his head at the lieutenants and guards beside him:
"You see, although the Shu army seems to be defeated, its position is not in chaos, the flag does not fall, and the soldiers do not abandon their helmets and armor. It can be seen that Jiang Wei still has a backup plan. If our army rushes to pursue it at this time, I am afraid it will All your previous efforts have been wasted!”
As soon as Xiahou Ba finished speaking, a Wei army commander in the distance who disobeyed orders and pursued the Shu army without authorization was stabbed to death in front of his horse with a spear by Jiang Wei who was behind him. When Xiahou Ba saw this, he immediately ordered several messengers to The general's order, "The rear army shall hold fast, pursue with bows and crossbows, and the front army shall not pursue" was sent to all ministries on horseback. At the same time, Xiahou Ba immediately asked his soldiers to wave the Chinese Army's Yellow Dragon Tooth Flag.
This is the flag language that Xiahou Ba has set long ago. Waving the Yellow Dragon Tooth Flag means that the entire army cannot leave the sight of the Chinese army.
This specific set of flags was taught to Xiahou Ba by his cousin Xiahou Shang, who was known as the "Mou Mo Extraordinary". Xiahou Ba's ability to become one of the most famous generals in Yongliang was naturally inseparable from his own martial prowess and these specific secret tactics and techniques.
When the two generals, who had just been promoted due to military merit and had little commanding experience, saw the commander of the village who was secretly pursuing and being killed, and Jiang Wei, who was as powerful as a ball of flames with his cross spear, there was an instant feeling of pain on their spines. A cold sweat broke out.
When Jiang Wei, who had extraordinary eyesight, saw the unique semaphore used by Xiahou Ba, his eyes suddenly became a little more hostile. It seemed that Xiahou Ba was not the foolhardy man he was rumored to be.
Jiang Wei, who was bent on reviving the Han Dynasty, but was alone and under great pressure, suddenly had an idea that made him feel ridiculous, that is, to recruit Xiahou Ba to become his right-hand man!
Xiahou Ba is the son of Xiahou Yuan, the most famous hero of Cao Wei. The Xiahou family and the royal family of Cao Wei are inextricably linked. Jiang Wei's idea is indeed absurd.
Generally, the semaphores used by generals only include forward, retreat, gather, gather, and some extremely simple formation changes. However, the changes in the yellow dragon flag used by Xiahou Ba at this moment have gone beyond the scope of these simple semaphores.
Jiang Wei naturally also understands flag language, and even the flag language he understands is much better and more sophisticated than Xiahou Ba!
At this moment, Xiahou Ba, who had very strong ears, suddenly heard the sound of golden drums coming from the Shu army formation. He intended to train the two commanders under his command who were brave and good at fighting but lacked strategy, so he signaled to them:
"Have you heard the sound of the golden drums in the Shu army formation?"
One of the commanders replied:
"General Qi, the last general heard it. Just now, two drum sounds came from the Shu army's central formation, followed by two more chants!"
Another music director added:
"Not only that, the general also heard a trumpet sound mixed in between the two drums and two golds!"
After listening to the words of the two generals, Xiahou Ba nodded heavily. He was in a good mood and continued to ask:
"Do you know what the sound of the golden horn means?"
One of the directors, who had been reading the book for several days, replied:
"General, I know that when you retreat, you listen to gold, and when you advance, you listen to drums. But in the Shu army formation, they are beating drums, ringing gold, and blowing horns. The general really doesn't know what the Shu army is selling in the gourd. What medicine?"
Xiahou Ba first gave the order to the soldiers to impose martial law on the left and right armies, and then said solemnly:
"What you don't know is that the changes in flag language that Jiang Wei is proficient in were taught to him by Zhuge Kongming himself. Kongming had studied the Eight Formations of War Art before his death, and the most exquisite one is that it includes changes in flag language, military formations, etc. Including the Eight Formations. I have been fighting with Jiang Wei for many years, and I have roughly guessed a bit of his method of flags, drums and golden horns. If I guessed correctly, the sound of two drums and two gold that sounded in the Shu army just now is Commanding the military formation at its southeast corner!"
"No wonder the general ordered martial law for the left and right armies. It turned out to be to prevent the Shu army's rear army from turning around and making a surprise attack!"
"Eight Formations?!"
After listening to Xiahou Ba's words, the rough, strong, and uneducated music director unconsciously scratched the fish-scale iron armor on his head.
The music director who had read a few books for a few years asked:
"The method of eight formations has been around since ancient times. I heard it was just a trick practiced for the Spring and Autumn monarchs to use in their military parades. I wonder what changes Zhuge Kongming made to allow Jiang Wei to use his troops to appear so mysteriously?"
"The great thing about Zhuge Kongming's reformation of the eight-formation diagram is that it transformed the eight-formation diagram that was originally used only for ceremonial military parades in ancient times into an eight-array diagram used in actual combat!"
After listening to Xiahou Ba's words, the two of them couldn't help being surprised, thinking that Zhuge Kongming was indeed a genius.
Xiahou Ba continued:
"The eight formations restructured by Zhuge Kongming are: Sky-covering formation, Earth-carrying formation, Wind-raising formation, Cloud-falling formation, Dragon-flying formation, Tiger-wing formation, Bird-flying formation, and Snake-coil formation."
When the two young men heard these strange and mysterious formations, their ears immediately pricked up. Just listen to Xiahou Ba continue to say:
"These eight formations each occupy one of the hexagrams in the eight trigrams. They are arranged in the order of Qianliu, Kun2, Xunsi, Genba, Zhensan, Duiqi, Lijiu and Kanyi to form a "Dai Jiulu" One, three on the left and seven on the right, two and four are the shoulders, six and eight are the feet," a nine-square grid formation with the center empty!"
Xiahou Ba was on the ground at this moment, pulled out the ring knife from his waist, and began to draw on the spot. The two generals immediately jumped over to see Xiahou Ba drawing a nine-square grid formation diagram:
[Note 1: The picture below is a nine-square grid composed of text, which is convenient for readers to understand. 】
Xun 4 - Li Jiu - Kun 2
(The four winds of Xun are rising, the birds are flying in the sky, and the two earths of Kun are contained)
Zhen San - [Zhongjun] - Duiqi
(Zhen Sanlong Fei, the Chinese Army, against the Seven Tiger Wings)
Genba - Kanyi - Qianliu
(Eight clouds hang down from the ground, a snake and a pan form the bridge, and it will cover them in six days)
"The sky is covered with Qian, the earth is carried with Kun, the rising wind is called Xun, and the hanging clouds are called Gen. They are located in the southeast, northeast, northwest, and southwest, which are the four corners most likely to encounter the enemy. They are the four upright positions.
The flying dragon represents the shock, the tiger's wings represent the dui, the snake and the pan represent the hurdle, and the flying bird represents the separation. They are located in the four easy-to-hidden positions of due west, due east, due south, and due north respectively, which are the four oddities. "
The general who had read the book slightly nodded and murmured:
"In all battles, we must rely on the right combination and win by surprise. It turns out that this is how it works in formations..."
Xiahou Ba was interested in teaching at this moment. While watching the situation on the battlefield, he continued to explain the application of the formation semaphore to the two studious commanders.
Jiang Wei saw that Xiahou Ba was pressing forward step by step but not pursuing recklessly. Knowing that the advance was hopeless, he finally made up his mind to retreat with his entire army.
With a puff of smoke and dust billowing, the Shu Han Tiger Infantry, which was good at rushing across the mountains, finally gradually and completely disappeared from Xiahou Ba's eyes.
——————
After Xia Houxuan learned that Xia Houba successfully killed hundreds of Shu Han's elite tiger infantry and forced Jiang Wei back, he decided to hold a glorious triumphal banquet for Xia Houba.
This is of course to further enhance the Xiahou family's reputation in the northwest.
Not only that, Xia Houxuan also promoted and rewarded a large number of new soldiers and junior officers who had made contributions in this battle, successfully gaining a wave of military morale.
Although Guo Huai also played an extremely important role in this battle, he directly succeeded in blocking Jiang Wei compared to Xiahou Ba. His great achievements are still inferior.
The news of the great victory on the northwest border soon reached the ears of General Cao Shuang. Cao Shuang was naturally in a happy mood. He immediately approved the personnel appointments and dismissals on the merit promotion list sent by Xia Houxuan, and returned it to the northwest A thousand sets of two-stage armor, 500 pairs of fish scale armor, 500 pairs of vests, 2,000 ring knives, 2,000 battle swords, as well as some charcoal, wine, and cotton-padded jackets for the winter were transported.
Although the power of the Wei Dynasty was booming, these armors and weapons required a lot of manpower, material and financial resources. It was only after some coordination and coordination that Cao Shuang obtained these precious weapons.
Cao Shuang understood that Yongzhou's military power was of extremely important significance to him.
"General."
He Yan on the side pondered for a long time before speaking.
"Oh? Uncle Ping, what do you want to say?"
"General, we have spent nearly a year dividing Hedong County. Although Pingyang County is divided from ten counties in Fenbei, the clans in Hedong County are still intertwined. Now we have divided the Hedong and Sima families. Disciples and former officials have been entangled for more than half a year. If this confrontation continues, I am afraid that the momentum of the reform will weaken again!"
He Yan hesitated for a long time, worried that his words would anger Cao Shuang. He carefully checked Cao Shuang's expression and found that although Cao Shuang frowned and looked displeased, his mood was still stable, so he felt relieved. tone.
"well!"
Cao Shuang let out a long sigh, put his right hand on his forehead, and said helplessly:
"How could I not know that Hedong County is a tough guy? If I had known that this was going to be a difficult situation, I would not have reformed the law in Hedong first. Now it has become such an embarrassing situation. Uncle Ping, tell me, what should we do? "
Seeing that Cao Shuang was not out of control, He Yan no longer tried to hide it. He looked firmly into Cao Shuang's eyes and spoke out his thoughts boldly:
"Pick the soft persimmon, temporarily abandon Hedong County, and instead take the lead in dividing counties in other states and counties with less resistance!"
Cao Shuang twisted his beard like a scimitar. After thinking for a while, he finally made up his mind:
"Forget it, just do what you said, Uncle Ping... The only prefectures and counties with less resistance are Jingzhou and Youzhou. Youzhou was previously guarded by Zhonggong, and the military and people's morale was available, but Zhonggong was transferred to Yuzhou After that, Cheng Xi, the general of Zhenbei of the Sima Party, became the top leader in Youzhou. This Cheng Xi bullies the weak and fears the strong, and is not a good person! But I don’t know who can go to Youzhou and take on the important task of reform..."
He Yan's eyes were blazing at this moment, and he firmly stated the candidate in his mind:
"Du Shu, Du Wubo!"
"Du Shu? Hasn't he always been at odds with me?"
After hearing He Yan's thoughts, Cao Shuang expressed his confusion.
"General, don't forget that Du Shu and Sima Yi are not on good terms either!"
He Yan was still determined.
"Will Du Shu support our reform?"
Cao Shuang asked again.
He Yan raised his head and smiled:
"Du Wubo has always had the heart to help the world. I have already inquired about it. Du Wubo once said: Although the general..., if the abolition of county officials is successful, it will save the country a lot of redundant officials. Fee, so Yan thought that Du Wubo would definitely be willing to preside over the layoff of county officials!"
After hearing this, Cao Shuang nodded:
"Okay, if that's the case, then let this stubborn Du Wubo be the governor of Youzhou!"
——————
Wuyanghou Mansion.
A guest who came to pay homage was invited out by the butler:
"My Lord has been ill recently and is not feeling well. You'd better come back another day!"
Everyone knew that Sima Yi had been ill for two or three months.
Even most of the people in the house thought that their master was indeed seriously ill.
On this day, as usual, brothers Sima Shi and Sima Zhao came with Yirong, Sima Yan, and Xiao Taofu to pay their respects to their mother Zhang Chunhua.
"I heard that your father was seriously ill. I planned to go see him two days ago. But when I went to the east hall one after another, I saw Mr. Bai accompanying him. I got angry and stopped going. I didn't know about his Has your condition improved in the past two days?"
After hearing this, brothers Sima Shi, Sima Zhao and little Sima Yan all looked at each other.
Master Sima said:
"Dad, he just caught the cold occasionally, and he was afraid that my mother would also catch it, so that's why she didn't let her go to visit."
Zhang Chunhua snorted:
"Shi'er knows how to protect your father. It would be great if this old guy is really so considerate. It's not because he dotes on this vixen like Mr. Bai that he doesn't want to see me!"
Sima Zhao hurriedly smoothed things over and said:
"Mom, what are you talking about?"
Zhang Chunhua felt determined at this moment. She stood up from the couch, raised her crutches and said:
"I have to go and see if this old thing is really ill or a fake one today!"
Sima Shi and Sima Zhao felt bad after hearing this, but they knew that if they stopped him at this moment, their mother would be more suspicious, so they could only let Zhang Chunhua go to the East Hall.
When Zhang Chunhua came outside the hall, she heard the laughter and laughter coming from inside the room. Her heart sank instantly, and her right hand with the crutches and veins bulging in it started to tremble.
Master Sima was shocked when he saw this, and hurriedly helped his mother to leave, but Zhang Chunhua broke away. Master Sima saw his mother striding toward the room with a vigorous pace that she had never seen before, and hurriedly took Sima Zhao with him. We chased him together.
Several people entered the room and saw Sima Yi, whose face was rosy and did not seem to be sick. He was holding Mrs. Bai's hand and copying a set of official script inscriptions from the Han Dynasty.
"What are you doing here?!"
Sima Yi, who was already seventy years old, was disturbed, and his tone was full of impatience at this moment.
"I heard that the master was sick, so I wanted to come and see you. I didn't expect that the master was really seriously ill!"
Zhang Chunhua was also in an extremely unhappy mood at the moment, so he mocked Sima Yi tit for tat.
"You are such a disgusting old thing, how disgusting you are!"
Zhang Chunhua couldn't believe that her wife, who had been with her for decades, could say such heartbreaking words. She felt a tightness in her chest and almost fell to the ground. Upon seeing this, two brothers, Sima Master Sima Zhao, hurriedly supported their mother. .
"Okay, okay, okay! You really hope that I will die soon, then I will die in front of you!"
After Zhang Chunhua said this, he returned to his room without looking back.
That night, Zhang Chunhua stopped eating. But when Sima Yi found out about this the next day, he seemed not to care:
"Don't want to eat? Then let this old woman starve to death!"
At this moment, the servant who came to deliver the message continued:
"The two young masters have not eaten for a whole day and night. Say yes, say yes..."
"say what?"
"Yes, if the old lady doesn't eat, they are willing to starve to death with their mother!"
After hearing this, Sima Yi was shocked and immediately got up and went to Zhang Chunhua's room to apologize.
After all, Zhang Chunhua was still soft-hearted. When her husband apologized in person, his anger disappeared immediately.
At this moment, Mrs. Bai held Sima Yi’s hand and asked with a smile:
"I heard that the king told his mistress that beauty is a disaster?"
Sima Yi sneered and said:
"I say this not because I feel pity for this old thing, but because I am afraid that my two good sons will starve to death!"
