Zhuge raised his tent and gathered the generals to discuss matters and discuss military strategies.
However, before officially starting the discussion, Zhuge Liang had to say a few words.
"The battle in Guanzhong was all due to the bravery of the kings. The soldiers forgot their orders, but traveled thousands of miles to protect the country and the people. The people of Guanzhong paid tribute to the kings."
"In the battle of Tongguan, the generals strategized and risked their lives to fight. Although they did not achieve full success, they also caused Cao Zhen to flee in panic and lost the army. This is a great achievement."
These two sentences can be regarded as qualitative, a summary of the previous two battles.
Although, the war is not over yet, and it is a bit early to say this, but Zhuge Liang is such a smart and perceptive person. When he arrived at the Tongguan camp, he was very keenly aware of the strange atmosphere in the army today.
Even if you don't look at it from the perspective of the Northern Expedition, just from the perspective of the Guanzhong Defense War, how can it be considered a victory to defeat Cao Zhen? Why is the atmosphere in the camp still a little depressing? !
After a little understanding, Zhuge Liang understood why the atmosphere in the Tongguan military camp was not high even though he had won the battle.
Co-authored because the three generals on the front line felt that the Battle of Tongguan was not a victory.
This won't work, it's bad for military morale.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang must say these words in advance and characterize this matter at the official level, which can be regarded as stabilizing the morale of the military.
But Zhao Yun still has something to say about this matter.
"The Prime Minister said, Yun dare not take credit." Zhao Yun stood up, raised his hands to Zhuge Liang and said, "During the battle at Tongguan, Yun's prediction was wrong, which led to the failure of Wen Chang's strategy of "conquering Tongguan with different religions". Please punish me, Prime Minister." .”
In this matter, Zhao Yun must stand up and admit his mistake. After all, it is really his fault.
But Zhuge Liang shook his feather fan slightly, smiled slightly, and said, "Although Wen Chang's strategy is wonderful, it is not a foolproof plan. Victory or defeat is possible, so why bother to insist on victory or defeat at the moment?! Zilong is overthinking."
After saying this, Zhang Xi's expression was very subtle.
Zhuge Liang took the initiative to praise Wei Yan's strategy, which always made Zhang Xi feel a strange sense of disharmony, but the interaction between Zhuge and Zilong was quite pleasing to the eye.
Wei Yan, on the other hand, looked constipated. It was obvious that he was somewhat dissatisfied with Zhuge Liang's words.
What does "not a foolproof solution" mean? !
As long as I can persist for two more days, forget it, there is no point in worrying about this now.
After all, Wei Yan is a mature coach. Although his strategy failed, he can only deal with this kind of thing for two days, and it will be boring if he struggles with it for more than two days.
Therefore, although Wei Yan was very unhappy, he still adjusted his mentality, stood up, raised his hands and said, "Prime Minister, the matter has come to this, it is useless to talk more. Is the Prime Minister here to break the Tong Pass?!"
This makes Zhang Xi want to cover his face.
What we are saying is that the big boss is saying something to praise his subordinates in front of him. Although he knows that this is a business exchange, as a subordinate, you can't have a little emotional intelligence and cater to it, and there is no need to go straight to the topic, right? !
Wei Yan's emotional intelligence is really... Well, forget it, what if it wasn't for Wei Yan.
Zhuge Liang was not surprised by this. It was obvious that Zhuge Liang knew Wei Yan's temper very well and didn't care at all. He continued to smile and said, "Liang came here to fight at Tongguan, but he did not come to break Tongguan."
Um? !
Now Zhang Xi couldn't hold it in any longer, so he came out and handed over his hand, asking, "Now Cao Zhen has retreated to the pass and suffered a lot of losses. If he can take advantage of the situation and go down to Tongguan and attack Hongnong, Luoyang will be just around the corner. What did the prime minister say? It's not just to break Tongguan." Come?!"
As long as Tongguan is broken, Hongnong and the Hangu Pass, which have been in disrepair for a long time, should not be able to stop the Han army's Northern Expedition.
Once Luoyang is captured and Sili is pacified, the overall situation of the Northern Expedition has been decided. The Han Dynasty occupies half of the world. Cao Wei has only one way to retreat to Hebei.
It is impossible for Zhuge Liang not to understand this truth.
But Zhuge Liang remained calm, smiled, and said to Zhang Xi, "Although Yuan Chang's words are reasonable, has Yuan Chang forgotten how Zuo Fengyi should march when he formulated the Northern Expedition strategy?!"
Zhang Xi was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then he understood what Zhuge Liang meant.
Yes, when the general strategy of the Northern Expedition was formulated, Zuo Fengyi's task was to feign an attack on Tongguan and contain the main force of the Wei Army Sili so that they could not support the direction of Wancheng.
The real main direction of attack is actually in Wancheng.
Now Zhuge Liang takes the initiative to bring up this matter, just to remind Zhang Xi that it doesn't matter whether Tongguan is broken or not. He defeated the main force of the Wei army's Sili army in the first battle and surrounded Tongguan. The result has far exceeded the expected results.
"If Tongguan can be conquered, Liang naturally hopes to defeat it in battle. However, Tongguan is dangerous and strong and cannot be broken through easy tactics. After Wen Chang's sneak attack and loss, the Wei thieves must take strict precautions." Zhuge Liang continued, "If we want to To capture Tongguan, we can only attack it by force, but cannot conquer it wisely, so it will be difficult."
"It is difficult to break Tongguan, but it is easy to besiege Tongguan. Give the Wei thieves enough pressure to garrison troops at Tongguan and dare not leave lightly. This is also the established strategy of the Northern Expedition. Why do we need to forcefully break Tongguan?!"
After Zhuge Liang said these words, he expressed his attitude towards the war at Tongguan - still focusing on containment and cooperating with the Jingzhou army to conquer Wancheng.
Although it feels a bit pity, since Zhao Yun and Wei Yan broke through and evacuated Tongguan, it has been impossible to recapture Tongguan. Zhang Xi, Wei Yan, or Zhao Yun all understand this.
Otherwise, Zhao Yun would not have taken the initiative to plead guilty as soon as he came up.
Missing the best opportunity to push Sili and attack Luoyang, even Zhao Yun was a little unbearable.
But now, Zhuge Liang tells everyone that since such an opportunity has been lost, then don't worry about it, just focus on the present and act according to the established plan.
But... there is still a little problem.
Zhang Xi thought for a while and said, "Prime Minister, this matter may not be easy. The Wei army stationed at Tongguan only has 10,000 troops. Now, including the reinforcements brought by the Prime Minister, our army only has more than 30,000 troops. Cao Zhen withdrew his troops in the pass, and there are still more than 30,000 troops. Nearly 30,000 people.”
The implication of Zhang Xi's words is obvious. The 30,000 people in front of him are not enough to increase the number of troops stationed in Tongguan with 10,000 people.
Although the Wei army that Cao Zhen returned to the pass experienced a catastrophe, the greatest impact was on the morale of the army, not the actual combat effectiveness.
As long as they take a period of rest and re-energize their morale, it will still be possible to support the Wancheng battlefield.
Thirty thousand people went to the Wancheng battlefield to support Sima Yi. Even Guan Yu would be a little helpless, right? !
Zhuge Liang certainly understood the meaning of Zhang Xi's words, but he didn't take it seriously.
On the one hand, Zhang Xi, who was in Zuofengyi, did not know the specific battle situation in the Youfufeng area. He did not know that not only the Northern Army had entered the Youfufeng battlefield, but also the Yizhou reinforcements led by Zhang Fei had arrived.
Now in Wancheng, in the direction of Wuguan, 90,000 Jingzhou soldiers and 60,000 Yizhou soldiers have been gathered for the attack, totaling 150,000 people.
on the other hand
"Liang has ordered Zhang Yi to lead an army of 10,000 people. Tonight, he will leave the camp for ten miles overnight. Tomorrow morning he will use his own banner to enter the camp. Tomorrow, he has ordered Xiang Chong to do the same thing. The day after tomorrow, he has ordered people to use the prefect Hu's flag to bluff for three consecutive days to expand the camp and increase the number of stoves. In this way, the Wei army will not dare to retreat lightly."
This is the response strategy given by Zhuge Liang - bluffing.
For three consecutive days, they sent people out of the city to pretend to be reinforcements and led thousands of people into the camp for reinforcements. At the same time, they set up fake camps based on the original camps. As long as they did not get close to investigate, they could not tell the difference for a while while standing on the tower of Tongguan. .
Counting the 30,000 extra people in this bluff, the Han army camp outside Tongguan City had a full "60,000 people". I don't believe that Cao Wei dared to use 10,000 people to guard Tongguan, and Cao Zhen dared to lead troops to rescue Wancheng. .
Don't tell me. After listening to Zhuge Liang's statement, Zhang Xi thought about it carefully and suddenly felt that there was a high possibility that Wei Jun would be fooled.
To be honest, Zhuge Liang's plan is not that subtle. In fact, there are still many flaws. It takes 30,000 people to create a momentum of 60,000 people. It will be okay for a while, but it will be easily discovered after a long time.
But now the situation is special.
Originally, the Han army was fighting at home, and it was very normal to mobilize troops for reinforcements. As long as the scale of the troops was not too outrageous, most people would not doubt that with the total population of Guanzhong, they would not be able to send 30,000 troops in an emergency mobilization.
And whether it is Cao Zhen or Xiahou Shang, there is a high probability that they will not send scouts or conduct detailed operations deep into the Han army camp.
Cao Zhen had just experienced a major defeat and had retreated to Hongnong. He did not have this ability for the time being. However, Xiahou Shangzha saw that 30,000 enemy troops were coming for reinforcements, and it was too late to defend the wall. He should not be aware of it in a short time. Strange.
And when Xiahou Shang judged that the Han army on the opposite side was increasing its troops, out of the need to defend Tongguan, he would definitely ask Cao Zhen to complete his rest and recuperation as soon as possible and lead troops to come for reinforcements. Cao Zhen would not be able to know the specific situation on the front line for a while, and naturally he would not. Dare to act rashly.
As long as the Wei army can be deceived for half a month to a month, even if Xia Houshang or Cao Zhen find out in the end, I am afraid the Wancheng side has already decided the winner.
Zhang Xi thought about it and felt that this matter was quite feasible. Zhao Yun and Wei Yan thought about it for a while, and they seemed to have no better solution than Zhuge Liang's strategy.
In this way, Zhang Yi led his troops and left the camp overnight. Early the next morning, he led his troops into the camp under his own banner.
The next day, Xiang Chong did the same thing.
On the third day, Zhang Xi asked Su Zexu to call Hu Zun's flag and bluff again.
On the tower of Tongguan City, Xiahou Shang, who had watched the Shu thieves coming to rescue him for three consecutive days, finally couldn't sit still.
However, Xiahou Shang did not contact Cao Zhen directly and asked Cao Zhen to lead troops to help. Xiahou Shang made a move that no one expected.
He wrote to the emperor, "I'm in a hurry!" ! !
(End of chapter)
