Zhuge Liang arrived in Chang'an five days later than Fu Qian.
We can't blame Zhuge Liang. Fu Qian was the general's general, and he came to Chang'an to convey the order at high speed. He dared to run to Chang'an alone. Zhuge Liang was not good at it.
Although Zhuge Liang also rode horses when he went to war with the army, he was still a civil servant after all. When fighting, he always rode docile mare horses, which could be used for transportation.
When we came to Chang'an this time, it was freezing cold and the roads were blocked by heavy snow. Zhuge Liang was not in as good health as Fu Qian, so he came by carriage.
Therefore, when crossing Baoxie Road, I was delayed for a while. Baoxie Road was blocked by heavy snow and it was difficult for the carriage to pass. Zhuge Liang had to leave the carriage and ride a donkey instead. He did not go back to Baoxie Road until he left the entrance of Baoxie Road. Change to a carriage at the military camp at the entrance of Baoxie Road and continue towards Chang'an.
Therefore, it was five days late.
These five days were actually not too easy for Zhang Xi.
Zhang Xi has almost used the fire charcoal and charcoal "donated" by the aristocratic families. Recently, he is thinking about how to use some excuse to get some more from the aristocratic families. Otherwise, the people will freeze.
Therefore, when Zhuge Liang arrived, Zhang Xi suddenly felt much more relaxed.
When Zhuge Liang arrived in Chang'an, he directly asked Zhang Xi about the current negotiation process.
By the way, Zhang Xi was also given a thumbs up.
"For such a big matter, Yuan Chang did not inform Liang and made the decision for the court without authorization. It is against the rules of the court!"
This is Zhuge Liang's evaluation of Zhang Xi's plan to smuggle grain and grass this time.
Actually, you really can't blame Zhuge Liang for this matter. It is indeed Zhang Xi's lack of consideration in this matter.
A border general joined forces with aristocratic families under his jurisdiction and planned to smuggle grain and grass from the enemy's country, so he asked Zhuge Liang to understand what kind of person Zhang Xi was. Otherwise, it would not be Zhuge Liang who came to Chang'an, but a big man. The Northern Army.
At this time, Zhang Xi finally realized how outrageous it was for him to take the initiative to engage in this official smuggling matter.
Liu Ba could handle this matter, because he was the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue at that time and was in charge of economic work. This matter was his responsibility.
But Zhang Xi is now the governor of Yongzhou and also holds the title of Minister of War. It is too taboo to do such a thing without informing the court.
Even if he is the minister of Tuogu, this matter is also suspected of overstepping.
Therefore, Zhang Xi must explain.
"This is indeed because of Xi's improper thinking, and I ask the Prime Minister to forgive me. However, what Xi did was firstly to plan for the future, and secondly, it was also because he was anxious about the current disaster in Yongzhou, so he acted improperly."
What does Zhang Xi mean? In fact, he didn't think about putting this matter on the schedule so quickly at first, but he couldn't bear it. Now he needs a lot of fire charcoal, and the fire charcoal from Hanzhong can't be shipped for a while. , in order to provide disaster relief, he had to work with the aristocratic family and use the benefits of smuggling to attract the aristocratic family to help with the disaster relief.
"If not for this, why would Liang come in person?!" Zhuge Liang also said helplessly.
Just because he knew Zhang Xi's current difficulties, he was afraid that Zhang Xi would compromise with those aristocratic families in order to provide disaster relief and lose benefits that should not be lost. That would be trouble.
And now that Zhang Xi has started this, the matter of smuggling grain and grass from Cao Wei is indeed in the interest of the imperial court. This matter has already involved the Yizhou family. This is not a matter of Yongzhou, a border state.
Zhuge Liang must rush to Chang'an immediately to take charge of this matter. By the way, he will help Zhang Xi and also give this disaster relief matter.
Isn't it just Huotan? It's understandable that Zhang Xi has little experience in dealing with aristocratic families, but Zhuge Liang has very rich experience.
Whether it's soft or hard, Zhuge Liang has his own set of methods.
This matter should be dealt with sooner rather than later. Zhuge Liang asked Zhang Xi to come forward and invite the Chang'an family to have dinner together for the third time. The time was set on the day after Zhuge Liang arrived in Chang'an.
But before that, Zhuge Liang still had something to discuss with Zhang Xi.
"Liangzhou urgently reported that the Hu tribes in Liangzhou were seriously damaged by the White Disaster. Therefore, under the instigation of Liangzhou Hu King Zhiyuanduo, they went south to plunder. Now Zilong and Lingming have led Liangzhou's elite troops to march north. Both sides have Time is stuck.”
Zhang Xi was also stunned when he heard this.
Zhao Yun and Pang De took action together, how could Zhi Yuanduo still be in a stalemate with the Liangzhou Army? !
Is this a bit too unscientific? !
It is true that the Liangzhou Corps has not been established for a long time, but that only refers to the cavalry regiment that has not been fully formed. The Liangzhou infantry has been training for five years. With the abilities of Zhao Yun and Pang De, they will not even train this little infantry. it's not good? !
Zhang Xi questioned this, but Zhuge Liang just sighed and said, "This time Guanzhong suffered a snow disaster that has never happened in a century. The land of Liangzhou is bitterly cold, and the snow disaster is more serious. Zhiyuanduo's headquarters only has more than 20,000 people, but the number of people affected by the disaster is There are no less than thirty or forty members of the Hu tribe, and these people were all incited by Zhi Yuanduo to go south, with a total force of more than 200,000."
When Zhuge Liang said this, Zhang Xi was immediately shocked.
With so many barbarians going south to plunder, it's really not that easy to deal with.
The Liangzhou Army was limited by the local bitter cold, insufficient arable land, and not many settlements. It only had about 20,000 standing county soldiers and only 3,000 cavalry. Facing more than 100,000 barbarians, it was able to occupy the city by itself. Shou, the stalemate with the barbarians is already quite serious.
Yes, they are barbarians. The more than 200,000 people are the total number of people who bring their families and their families. The real number of soldiers who can fight to the death is about 50,000 or 60,000 people. But the problem is that when such a large group of people come over, their momentum will The feeling is different.
The counties and counties in Liangzhou are also relatively scattered. Unlike Guanzhong, which can do key defenses, the counties in Liangzhou can basically only fight on their own against the barbarians in the north. Zhao Yun and Pang De can win people's hearts and keep them together. , leading these county officials to fight against the foreign races, he is already considered to be outstanding in ability and conscientious in his duties.
Thinking of these situations, Zhang Xi, as a leading general, naturally understood the difficulties on the northwest border and immediately made suggestions.
"Why doesn't the Prime Minister ask Ma Chao to lead the Qiang and Hu cavalry to Liangzhou to help in the battle?!"
Zhuge Liang still shook his head with a sad look on his face and said, "Liangzhou was plagued by white disaster, how could Qinzhou be spared!? Although Ma Mengqi has a high prestige among the Qiang people, the Qiang people today are already Ma Mengqi's credit. Also, can An Neng drive the Qiang people to fight in Liangzhou again?!"
"Besides, during the chaos in Liangzhou, Ma Dai, the brother of Ma Mengqi, also wrote a letter on behalf of his brother, saying that Ma Mengqi was seriously ill and unable to govern, and asked the court to allow him to go out on behalf of his brother to lead Qinzhou County soldiers to Liangzhou to help in the war. How can the imperial court be so unkind?!"
The former reason makes sense, but the latter one.
"Ma Chao is really sick?!" Zhang Xi asked suspiciously.
Zhuge Liang rolled his eyes at Zhang Xi angrily, and then said, "According to what Jiang Changshi said, Ma Mengqi has been unwell since autumn, and has been bedridden since winter. The Qinzhou governor's house is full of sadness. Treat it as nothing fake.”
When Zhang Xi heard this, he rolled his eyes at Zhuge Liang again! ! !
What Zhuge Liang meant by rolling his eyes, Zhang Xi understood, was that Zhuge Liang disliked Zhang Xi for not trusting the important officials of the court at this time. As soon as he heard that Ma Chao was seriously ill at this juncture, he immediately suspected that Ma Chao was pretending to be ill and preparing to rebel.
But the problem is that the explanation you gave Zhuge Liang was so detailed. If you didn't believe that Ma Chao's illness was so coincidental, would you have done such detailed intelligence work? !
After all, didn't Zhuge Liang also suspect that Ma Chao was ill by coincidence? !
Everyone is not a kind person, so don't criticize anyone.
Zhuge Liang was also a little embarrassed, so he quickly dropped the topic and said, "The imperial court has ordered that Ma Dai go out on behalf of his brother and lead the Qinzhou soldiers to Liangzhou to assist in the war under the banner of Qinzhou Governor. However, in this way, Yongzhou's defense can still be restored. You need to worry more, Mr. Yuan."
Zhang Xi understood this, and it was to tell Zhang Xi that at least in the short term, there would be no reinforcements in Yongzhou.
Zhang Xi did not forget that before the heavy snowfall in Yongzhou, the Wei army in Wuguan and Tongguan moved. Now due to weather factors, the Wei army has temporarily ceased its activities, but when the snow melts in spring, the Wei army may invade Guanzhong at any time.
In other words, Zhang Xi must rely on more than 20,000 Yongzhou County soldiers, 10,000 border guards, and 10,000 elite Northern Army troops on hand, a total of 40,000 people, to defend the entire Guanzhong area.
Theoretically, there are a lot of troops, but when they are really spread out to Guanzhong, Zhang Xi now understands the predicament of Cao Zhen and Cao Ren.
It looks like there are a lot of troops, but once they are deployed separately, this force will be seriously insufficient.
Once the enemy invades on a large scale, Guanzhong is full of loopholes. It can barely defend and wait for reinforcements, but it cannot completely drive out the bandits and protect the three auxiliaries in Guanzhong.
If we want to completely defend the three auxiliaries in Guanzhong and prevent the enemy from invading, it is impossible without a permanent force of 100,000.
But now that the war has been going on for decades, the population has dropped sharply. Even when Cao Wei was in control of Yongzhou, it was impossible to station 100,000 troops in Guanzhong Sanfu. There is no way.
When Zhuge Liang came this time, in addition to helping Zhang Xi handle Yongzhou's economic affairs, the most important thing was to discuss Yongzhou's defense issues with Zhang Xi.
According to Zhuge Liang's inference, the shadow of Cao Wei was indispensable behind King Hu Zhiyuan of Liangzhou going south this time. Even the sudden changes in Soochow in Jingzhou were inseparable from Cao Wei.
After all, Jiang Ji's mission to Soochow was done with great fanfare and could not be concealed from the eyes of Xizuo, who was placed in Soochow by the big man.
The soldiers from Liangzhou and Qinzhou will not be able to support Yongzhou in the short term, and the soldiers from Yizhou must also be prepared for the changes in Soochow. Zhuge Liang has even sent Chen Dao to lead 10,000 elite Northern troops to settle in Baidi City in advance. To intimidate Soochow, on the other hand, it also made Chen Dao ready to support Jingzhou at any time.
In other words, except for the reinforcements of more than 10,000 soldiers in Hanzhong, which is separated by the Qinling Mountains, in Yongzhou today, it is really impossible to mobilize enough reinforcements from other places.
Once Cao Wei really separates his two armies from Wuguan and Tongguan, it will be really difficult to handle Yongzhou.
(End of chapter)
