Zhuge Liang is Zhuge Liang after all, and this co-ordination ability is really not something that can be boasted.
It only took him three days to complete the transformation of all the transport carts of the main force of the Northern Expedition. He even had enough left to prepare the more than 10,000 Qiang and Hu cavalry under Zhao Yun's command to wrap the horses' hooves and prevent slipping. Pieces of linen.
In this way, all the problems of sending troops are basically solved.
In this way, the main force of the Han army stationed in Mei County finally took action again. Liu Bei took Wei Yan as the vanguard and set off for Wugong County first. He led the Chinese army and the grain and grass baggage to set off together. After completing the assembly in Wugong County, he went straight to the right Fufeng governs Huaili.
As for Zhang Xi, Zhang Xi's preparations were a little slower. He even set off one day later than Liu Bei.
This is not Zhang Xi's fault. The main reason is that Zhang Xi had to cross the Weishui River in heavy snowfall for more than ten days before attacking Zuo Fengyi. The Weishui River had already frozen.
Theoretically speaking, Zhang Xi does not even need a ferry at this time and can cross the Weishui River directly on the ice. But anyone with a little knowledge of hydrology knows that ice forms on the water surface, and no one knows how thick the ice layer below the water is. .
In order to find out the thickness of the ice on the Weishui River, Zhang Xi had to spend an extra five days testing and slowly looking for a suitable path through the ice.
Not only must the soldiers be able to pass safely, but most importantly, the food and baggage must also find a way to pass on the ice, which is really not easy.
If it weren't for the help of local fishermen, and Zhang Xi also found some hydrological records of the Weishui River in the Wugong County treasury, crossing the Weishui River in this weather would not be that simple and easy.
Even so, Zhang Xi also lost more than 20 people, most of whom were ice exploration soldiers who accidentally fell into the ice cave and failed to be rescued in time.
And once you can cross the Wei River, the rest becomes much easier.
Zhang Xi and Liu Yin led the troops together. This time there was no separation of the front and rear armies. They just moved together in large groups and attacked Zuo Fengyi's Changling-Weicheng line.
Gao Xiang, on the other hand, was left by Zhang Xi to guard Wugong County and at the same time handle Liu Bei's main army.
Not to mention Liu Bei's march all the way, just talk about Zhang Xi and Zhang Xi crossing the Wei River. After marching all the way, the more they walked, the more they felt something was wrong.
It's still snowing now, and although the days of heavy snowfall are over, occasionally, there will be bursts of light snow, and the northwest wind is still strong, so the marching speed will naturally be greatly affected.
Fortunately, the army had plenty of coal reserves, so Zhang Xi did not dare to march too hastily. He marched about thirty miles a day and set up camp early so that the soldiers could stop and warm themselves up by the fire without getting too cold.
Logically speaking, on this day, unless it was a march like this, you would not meet anyone in the wild. This is quite normal.
It's a cold day, and people are staying at home.
Zhang Xi didn't think anything was wrong at first, but when Zhang Xi passed through three towns for three days in a row and still didn't see any fireworks, he felt that there must be something fishy about it.
When passing through the first town, Zhang Xi deliberately avoided the town in order to avoid being discovered and did not get close. It was normal that he did not notice anything strange.
When passing through the second town, because the town is not big, it looks like a small town with about a hundred households at most. The reason why there is no fireworks is probably because the people in this small town are poor and cannot afford them. Charcoal, the weather is too bad and I can't go out to chop wood, so I stay at home and eat cold food. This is also very normal in this era.
But when passing through the third town, Zhang Xi still didn't find any smoke from fireworks. This was wrong.
In addition to the nearly ten days of marching, Zhang Xi has now marched to the vicinity of Maoling. It is unreasonable to encounter a town without fireworks.
Maoling is the mausoleum of Emperor Xiaowu of the Han Dynasty. As early as the Pre-Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty moved people to enrich Guanzhong, and a large number of people came to Maoling. In addition, the guards who guarded the mausoleum and their descendants later put it this way. , Maoling in this era should be a densely populated and commercially developed area.
There is no smoke or smoke in this place, which is extremely abnormal.
After Zhang Xi and Liu Yin discussed it, they both felt there was a problem and immediately sent out military scouts to venture close to Maoling County to find out what was going on.
As a result, the scouts reported that no one was seen in the villages near Maoling, let alone Maoling County.
Zhang Xi and Liu Yin were both a little confused. What was Thief Wei trying to do? !
In this world, after years of war, it is not uncommon for villages to be deserted, but that is basically in the wilds of war zones, or in some small villages. It is unthinkable to think of no one in the city. possible.
Even if the Wei thieves abandon the defense of Maoling in order to gather troops, they can't even see the common people or the local aristocratic families? !
In this situation, there is probably only one possibility - Wei thieves are migrating local people and families.
But the question is why? !
After thinking about it for a while, not only Zhang Xi, but also Liu Yin understood it.
The Wei thieves want to escape. They want to abandon the three assistants in Guanzhong, move the people in Guanzhong, and retreat to the Central Plains.
It's not that the Wei thieves can't do this kind of thing, they have a criminal record - when Cao Cao withdrew from Hanzhong, he moved all the population of Hanzhong and Wudu County to Guanzhong, leaving not even a donkey for Liu Bei's group. .
If this is the case, Zhang Xi immediately ordered all the scouts in the army to move quickly towards Zuo Fengyi to find out the news.
Don't worry about being discovered and discovered. The most important thing now is to find where Cao Wei's migration team is and report it quickly.
Really, if you, Cao Wei, just move all the Guanzhong aristocratic families into Guanzhong, then Zhang Xi might be able to help you, and if you have nothing to do, you can arrange a little rhythm and scare the Guanzhong aristocratic families. With these people gone, Guanzhong will have Land allocation and planning may be re-organized to eliminate the influence of the family.
But the people really can't let you take them away. This involves big issues such as taxation in Dingkou and the recovery of production in Guanzhong.
Having reached this point, Zhang Xi could not do anything unexpected. While scouting around, he also did not forget to send a messenger to Liu Bei on the south bank of the Weishui River to inform him of the situation.
If the Cao thieves want to relocate the people in Guanzhong, they will definitely not just attack Zuo Fengyi, but You Fufeng and even Chang'an will definitely take action as well.
According to intelligence, the people of Sanfu have nearly 300,000 households and a population of one million. With such a large Dingkou, Cao Wei will definitely not be able to allow all Cao Wei to move safely to the pass. Otherwise, God knows when the pass will be truly restored to life.
Even if we can't intercept them all, intercepting half of them would be a great benefit to Guanzhong.
When he thought of this, Zhang Xi no longer cared about caution, and immediately led the army at full speed in the direction of Zuofeng Yi, trying to catch up with Cao Wei's migrating troops as much as possible.
Liu Bei, on his side, was also anxious after receiving Zhang Xi's urgent report.
Although Liu Bei set out one day earlier than Zhang Xi, Mei County was still at least five days away from Wugong County, and the snowy march was unable to match the normal marching speed, and the delay was even longer.
Therefore, when Liu Bei received Zhang Xi's urgent military report, he had only arrived in Wugong County for three days.
Originally, under Zhuge Liang's persuasion, Liu Bei also felt that he should not be too hasty when marching to Huaili and must be cautious. After all, Huaili is the seat of Youfufeng County, so his defense would not be lax, and there was Guo Huai, where Cao Zhen was stationed. Although the two men led the defeated army, it had been almost a month, and those who should have rested had almost rested, so they were not easy to deal with.
Therefore, Liu Bei really planned to rest in Wugong County for a few days, and then lead the army to set off, focusing on a surprise. When Guo Huai and Cao Zhen didn't expect it, they came to the city and attacked Huaili.
But now, who can think about taking a rest?
Millions of people are migrating. It would be strange if Liu Bei could remain calm in the face of this situation.
Today, there are three pillars of power in the world, but why is it recognized in the world that Cao Wei is the strongest, while Han and Wu are both weak? !
You have to look at the map to see that Liu Bei now occupies Jingzhou, Yizhou, Liangzhou, and will soon occupy the entire Yongzhou. Judging from the land area, it is actually almost the same as Cao Wei.
But no one still thinks that the current Han Dynasty is almost as strong as Cao Wei.
The most obvious gap between the two is the arable land area and the population.
In the land of Jingxiang, the only key areas are Nanyang and Nanjun. The remaining four counties, Jiangxia and Jingnan, are places with many mountains and little land, and few can produce food on a large scale.
Yizhou is similar. Except for the Chengdu Plain and the Hanzhong Plain that can produce grain, half of Yizhou is the Nanzhong area. Although there are many minerals in that area, so far, Nanzhong cannot even be self-sufficient in food. If you arrive, you must rely on subsidies from Chengdu.
As for Liangzhou, it does produce horses, but it does not produce food, and it is famous for its vast land and sparsely populated areas.
Therefore, the millions of people in this Guanzhong land can be said to be something that can seriously affect the balance of power between Han and Wei, and no one dares to ignore it.
Liu Bei immediately ordered the entire army to suspend rest and regroup and immediately march towards Huaili.
Actually, Liu Bei had a more efficient way to delay the Wei army's migration of the people - sending Zhao Yun to lead the Qiang and Hu cavalry, relying on the mobility of the cavalry, to find the main force of the Wei army's migration of the people.
As for the millions of people, if Cao Wei really wants to move these people into the pass, they can easily find them after they go deep into the Sanfu area.
To be honest, Liu Bei did have this idea, but in the end, he gave up.
Isn't this just another long slope? !
It can be said that Liu Bei saw what kind of human tragedy the people who had followed Liu Bei when they retreated from Xinye, Fancheng, and Xiangyang experienced when faced with the pursuit of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry.
He was powerless at that time, and the fact that he was able to save 50,000 people was the result of Zhang Xi's preparation in advance, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun's hard work.
Now, he has become the pursuer, while the Wei thieves have become the defender. Liu Bei does not want to direct another tragedy like Changbanpo by himself.
After all, in terms of military discipline and trust among the people, the Qiang and Hu cavalry are not as good as the tiger and leopard cavalry! ! !
(End of chapter)
