"You are from Shu!" Jiang Tuo stood up, took a few steps forward, and enthusiastically took Zhuge Liang's hand.
"Well, I came here to see you, sir!"
"Haha, I love making friends with people from Shu!" Jiang Tuo was very happy and said: "I was on official business just now, so I couldn't come out in time to greet you. Please don't take offense to me!"
"I'm not surprised." Zhuge Liang took out his hand and said gently: "Your captain of the bodyguard took us around just now, and we got to know a lot about it, but the red mark on your face..."
"Oh, it was just an accident when I was busy with official duties."
"The rouge fragrance on your body..."
"Oh, this is the pollen that was stuck on just now... As you all know, I prefer flowers and plants, but these are not important."
Jiang Tuo waved his hand and said: "Since you are from out of town, I also want to ask for some news from the outside world. Haha, I am treating you to a banquet!"
Zhao Yun glanced at Zhuge Liang.
Zhuge Liang nodded: "Okay, thank you."
Jiang Tuo invited the two of them into the living room and said with a smile: "Let you two try the dishes invented by me."
"good!"
Zhuge Liang smiled. He was picky about his food and had a special chef to cook it.
He originally thought that Jiang Tuo's delicacies were nothing to attract him, but when the maid brought the food, he couldn't sit still.
These meals are unheard of and unseen.
Every dish exudes a tempting aroma.
This made Zhuge Liang a little puzzled.
Jiang Tuo laughed and explained: "As the saying goes, food is the most important thing for the people, so I developed these many delicacies mainly so that the people can eat delicious meals."
"You developed all this?"
"Haha, yes, this meal seems very complicated, but in fact it is not simple at all. For this one, it uses a three-month-old calf, roasted carefully for three hours, and brushed with oil five times..."
"And this porridge uses thousand-year-old snow lotus..."
Jiang Tuo talked about the preparation process of these meals, which directly silenced Zhuge Liang and Zhao Yungan.
They thought of Jiang Tuo's extravagant spending, but they didn't expect that Jiang Tuo would be so extravagant!
That's a calf...if it is raised and grown, it will be comparable to five or six young adults.
Zhuge Liang looked at the dishes on the table, hesitated to move his chopsticks, and couldn't help but sigh. It was obvious that the young Magistrate Jiang had some talents, but no moral character.
Talent without virtue cannot be put to great use.
Thinking of this, Zhuge Liang lost interest in talking.
But Jiang Tuo was very excited and asked again: "Since you are from Shu, you naturally know the news about Zhuge Wuhou?"
"Well, I know a little bit."
Jiang Tuo said: "Since the death of Liu Bei, Marquis Wu of Zhuge Liang fought hard for four years, and then sent troops to Longxi. He sent Zhao Yun and Deng Zhi as suspects to send troops from Xiegu Road to occupy Ji Valley to resist the Wei general Cao Zhen."
"And he led the army out of Longxi to capture the three armies of Nan'an, Tianshui and Anding. Guanzhong was shocked and responded one after another."
Zhuge Liang was a little surprised. He didn't expect that Jiang Tuo, who was in such a remote place, was so well-informed and could clearly know all his arrangements.
Maybe send people often to inquire about information.
Jiang Tuo explained the situation and suddenly asked: "Then I would like to ask you two, has the street pavilion been lost? Does Zhuge Wuhou intend to withdraw his troops?"
"What?!!"
Zhao Yun stood up suddenly and looked at Jiang Tuo with a look of surprise on his face. His resolute face was full of shock. He frowned, paused for a while, and asked, "How did you know that the street pavilion was lost?!"
"Ah? The street pavilion has been lost?"
Jiang Tuo was very surprised.
Hearing this, even Zhuge Liang couldn't sit still. He asked: "The news of the loss of the street pavilion just came yesterday, and it has not been spread to the public. How did you learn about it?"
"My guess."
"You guessed it?" Zhao Yun squinted his eyes slightly, put his hand on the Qingzhi sword unconsciously, and asked: "This is a military secret. How could you guess it correctly? Are you colluding with the senior officials of the Shu Army?"
Jiang Tuo analyzed nonchalantly: "Hey, isn't this hard to guess? Marquis Wu will definitely send his trusted aide Ma Di to guard the street pavilion, but can Ma Di guard the street pavilion? He can't guard it at all. He doesn't have the ability, you know?"
"Why?"
"Ma Di is so arrogant that he can be called the Three Kingdoms version of Zhao Kuo. If he talks about military affairs, he can talk for three days and three nights. But if he is allowed to take charge of the army, he will inevitably disobey orders arrogantly, which will lead to the loss of the street pavilion. "
Zhuge Liang was silent again.
Zhao Yun asked unwillingly: "How did you know that the Prime Minister would send Ma Di to guard the street pavilion?"
Jiang Tuo said: "It's very simple. In addition to guarding the street pavilion, the prime minister also wanted to conquer Qishan, make an emergency landing in Longxi, and digest the three counties of Tianshui, Nan'an, and Anding that had already responded, so he needed generals like Wei Yan and Wu Yi even more. So he guarded the street pavilion. This kind of thing falls on the shoulders of Ma Su and Wang Ping."
"Now in the hands of Marquis Wu, there is no general who can take charge alone."
Zhuge Liang's eyes suddenly froze, and then he fell silent.
This is indeed the case. In the first Northern Expedition, he led the army to advance with great success, conquering three counties in Longxi and besieging the remaining two counties. To recover these counties, officials needed to be managed and appeased.
In the process of rapid expansion, there was simply not enough talent, so Ma Su and Wang Ping could only be sent to guard the street pavilion, which also led to the tragedy that followed.
In the final analysis, it was because of the Battle of Yiling a few years ago, the nationwide battle with Soochow, in which not only the first-tier generals such as Fazheng, Zhang Fei, Huang Zhong, and Ma Chao were lost.
Even the generals and counselors of the second echelon suffered heavy casualties. Zhang Nan, Feng Xi, Fu Tong, and Ma Liang all died in this battle. The elites were exhausted and there were no talents to train in Shu.
But what shocked Zhuge Liang was...
Jiang Tuo, a remote person, could calculate all this by relying only on deduction.
Isn’t this talent too terrifying?
Zhuge Liang is also good at deduction, but he can only make deductions for some major events, such as the east wind and the death of Zhou Yu. But what about Jiang Tuo? Not only did Ma Su defend the street pavilion, but also the street pavilion fell.
He couldn't help but ask: "What will the Prime Minister do after the street pavilion is lost?"
"Retreat." Jiang Tuo said without hesitation: "The only solution for now is to retreat. Zhang He's occupation of the street pavilion means that he will immediately cut off the Shu army's retreat. If the prime minister does not retreat as soon as possible, then his army will become rootless duckweeds." , we can only let the Wei army slaughter us!"
Zhuge Liang took a deep breath and looked lonely.
Zhao Yun asked unwillingly: "What if we return from the Northern Expedition with a huge defeat?"
"Of course we will start the Northern Expedition again."
"Can the Northern Expedition succeed again?"
"cannot!"
"That……"
Jiang Tuo said seriously: "Without the Northern Expedition, the Shu Kingdom will definitely lose. During the Northern Expedition, the Shu Kingdom still has a glimmer of hope! Since the Battle of Yiling, the Shu Kingdom has lost all its elites and is in a corner of peace. If this continues for a long time, the country will be small and the people will be small. It will definitely be cannibalized by Wei!"
"In the end, when the Wei State has regained its strength and restored its people's strength, it will conquer the Shu State..."
"The path that the Prime Minister is taking is a struggle with Heaven. If you can defeat Heaven, you can revive the Han Dynasty and return the old capital. If you cannot defeat Heaven, you can only wait to be annexed by Wei!"
Hearing this, Zhao Yun looked at Zhuge Liang in disbelief.
Zhuge Liang was silent, and there was a storm in his heart.
Jiang Tuo's idea coincided with his own.
Because he had made up his mind, even if the Northern Expedition failed, after returning to Chengdu, he would continue to strengthen his troops and leave Qishan, hoping to compete with the Wei army for hegemony.
Fight with people, fight with heaven!
Zhuge Liang stood up, his eyes serious.
This is a road of no return, and with his intelligence, he naturally understands it.
But...that year in the Yong'an Palace of Baidi City, the lord was about to die and asked his father to leave alone. He told the civil and military ministers that if Adou couldn't help, he could take it for himself...
What a trust!
The late emperor's lifelong ambition was to revive the Han Dynasty and restore the glory that belonged only to the Han Dynasty. After so many years, his ambition is his own ambition, and everything about him is also everything about him.
Therefore, he has long been accustomed to carrying big men alone.
Adou has no talent and is not good at handling official documents. He is always used to hiding behind his back and calling him Xiangfu with a smile... And as the last prime minister of the Han Dynasty, he always has to revive the Han Dynasty as his own responsibility!
Zhuge Liang sighed with bitterness in his mouth, wanting to say something, but nothing came out.
But at this moment, I happened to see a mirror in front of me.
This mirror is different from a bronze mirror, but as clean as water, just like sitting opposite a person who is exactly the same as himself. His appearance is clearly visible, with some wrinkles added to his face and white temples.
I am getting old too!
"Why is this mirror...different from the usual bronze mirrors?"
"Oh, this mirror was also developed by me. It was ground with thousand-year-old glass for seven days and seven nights. If you like it, I'll sell it to you for five hundred taels of silver." Jiang Tuo said with a smile.
Zhuge Liang shook his head and refused: "Although it looks good, it's not of much use. I still don't want it."
"Don't look at it, this mirror is a priceless treasure. I think it's destined for you, so I'll sell it to you for a hundred taels."
Zhuge Liang pretended to be worried, shook his head, and wanted to say goodbye and leave, but saw a servant bringing three bowls of noodles and placing them in front of the three of them.
This side is golden in color, with half an egg and greasy vegetables on top. It looks extremely tempting.
"Try it, you two."
Zhao Yun picked up a piece of noodles and put it into his mouth. He felt the fragrance in his mouth and couldn't help but exclaimed: "I have never eaten such delicious noodles."
Zhuge Liang also took a bite and it tasted very good.
"If the soldiers at the front can eat a mouthful of noodles like this, their morale will be greatly improved, right?" Zhuge Liang murmured with a look of confusion on his face.
"Do you still have contact with the Shu army? Do you know Prime Minister Zhuge?" Jiang Tuo was stunned and asked quickly.
"I know him, but I'm not familiar with him." Zhuge Liang said calmly.
Looking at the clothes of the two people, Jiang Tuo suddenly woke up and asked: "You are merchants from Shu, you don't want to transport food and grass for the Shu army, do you?"
"Yeah, what's the problem?"
Hearing this, Jiang Tuo's expression became very excited. After waiting for a long time, he finally waited until today. His dream for a long time finally came true.
He was worried about how to transport grain and grass for the Shu army, but he did not expect that the grain transport officer was right in front of him. It's really hard to find a place after wearing iron shoes, that person is in a dimly lit place!
Jiang Tuo hurriedly took Zhuge Liang's hand and said with excitement: "The Shu army is fighting bravely on the front line. If they can't even have a full meal, how can they fight? How can they defeat the Wei army?"
"What do you mean?"
Jiang Tuo paid his respects and said loudly: "This is Shaanxi Youpo Noodles. I want to dedicate this noodles to the soldiers of the Shu Army so that they can have full stomachs."
Zhuge Liang laughed dumbly, shook his head and refused: "Although this noodles is delicious, there are so many soldiers in the Shu army. What's the use of your two bowls of noodles?"
Jiang Tuo said seriously: "What if we provide the Shu army with a county's worth of food? What do you think?"
Zhuge Liang was stunned, but shook his head and said: "There are 80,000 soldiers in the Shu army. How many people are there in Qingshui County? If one county can support an army of 100,000 people, it will probably last for seven or eight days at most? It will not help this war. .”
Jiang Tuo stood up, thought for a long time, and asked seriously: "You two, the war is urgent. Can I entrust you with a big thing?"
Zhuge Liang and Zhao Yun looked at each other and nodded.
"Actually, our county stores quite a lot of grain." Jiang Tuo confidently held out four fingers.
"Four thousand pounds?"
Jiang Tuo shook his head.
"It won't be 40,000 pounds, right?"
Jiang Tuo still shook his head.
"Are you kidding me? Four hundred thousand pounds? Do you think there is a grain mountain in Qingshui County?"
Zhao Yun teased with a smile.
Jiang Tuo took a deep breath, stretched out his hand and said, "You two, please come with me."
A long time later, Zhuge Liang and Zhao Yun stood in an open space. In front of them, there were more than a dozen huge granaries. The granaries were more than ten feet wide and three feet high. They looked very oppressive.
Zhao Yun raised his head and saw the top of the granary.
It turns out... he really has a mountain of food!
"You two, there are a total of four million kilograms of grain here. If I dedicate this grain to the prime minister for daily consumption of the army, how should the Wei army respond?"
Jiang Tuo asked proudly.
