Sima Yi was not surprised at all that Chen Tai was able to defend Xuchang. With the Chen Tai family's status and influence in Yingchuan, plus the help of Guo Huai and Jia Kui, holding Yingchuan was not a big problem.
But to say that Chen Tai could still command his army to regain Xiangcheng was somewhat beyond Sima Yi's expectation.
In fact, when Zhuge Liang gathered his troops and marched into Luoyang, Sima Yi did guess that the Shu thieves would withdraw their troops from Yingchuan County, and Chen Tai would be under much less pressure.
But Xiangcheng is an important town that protects the safety of Shu thieves' food routes.
Xiangcheng fell, and the Shu thieves' supply channel was directly exposed to Chen Tai's military peak.
Sima Yi almost subconsciously wondered whether this was a trap deliberately set by Zhuge Liang to lure Chen Tai's troops to rush in, and then set up an ambush to surround and annihilate the Yingchuan defenders.
But then, Sima Yi saw from the military report that Chen Tai had the same suspicion and was stationed in Xiangcheng without moving his troops. However, after more than ten days of investigation, nothing suspicious was found.
The Shu thieves only arranged three thousand soldiers to guard Luyang and Kunyang respectively. No other traps or ambushes were discovered at all.
Chen Tai even took the risk and took the initiative, sending a small force to attack the Shu thieves' grain transport team, and achieved good results, burning a small amount of grain and grass.
If it is not absolutely necessary, Zhuge Liang feels that it is better not to use this "last resort" for the time being.
Sima Yi was not sure, but there was a real possibility that something might happen in Jingzhou.
On the surface, Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition did not have enough troops and he had to concentrate his forces to attack Luoyang. Therefore, he sent soldiers from the rear to the front for support, resulting in weak defense of the grain road. It makes sense.
They were just some excuses given by Chen Tai to explain why he did not come to Luoyang for rescue, such as lack of troops, threats to the Shu thieves' food routes and reducing the pressure on Luoyang.
Therefore, Sima Yi wrote a letter back to Chen Tai, telling him that if possible, try to attack Luyang or Kunyang to cut off the Shu thieves' food routes. But be sure to use your troops carefully and don't be too eager to fight. If you find something is wrong, retreat immediately to save Xiang. The city is important.
Judging from Chen Tai's previous reaction, either Chen Tai himself has good military skills, or he has the help of experts. If you want to induce him to take the initiative to send troops to attack, you need to have enough patience.
And really speaking, as long as Luyang and Kunyang do not fall, the Shu thieves cannot be said to have cut off their food routes. Although under the threat of Chen Tai in Xiangcheng, there will definitely be a loss of military rations, but it is not impossible to continue to fight.
If Jingzhou is in a hurry, it is possible that Zhuge Liang will take the risk and choose to deploy troops, fight quickly in Luoyang, and then return to support Jingzhou.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang just ordered someone to send an order to Zhang Yi, asking him to increase the frequency of transporting grain and grass and strengthen the protection of the grain and grass transportation team, in order to relax Chen Tai's vigilance.
However, according to the military report sent by Zhang Ni, Chen Tai's harassment was very fast from the scale to the speed of withdrawal. It was obvious that Chen Tai was worried about the Han army taking the initiative to withdraw its defense line.
In this way, after giving Zhang Yi the next order, Zhuge Liang sent an order to Zhang Xi, asking him to hold his troops temporarily at Dagoguan and wait for the right opportunity.
One is an official order.
But the question is, how can Sima Yi "notice" that he is starting to feel "impatient" or even "in chaos"? !
Running out of food and grass? !
If he really makes up his mind, can't hold on, and adopts passive tactics such as defending to retreat from the enemy, I'm afraid there will really be nothing that can be done against him for a while.
But what is this accident? !
Continuing to read Chen Tai's military report, it is not nutritious.
Only at that point could Sima Yi really be fooled and take the initiative to go out of the city to seek to defeat his own army, so that Zhuge Liang would have a chance to defeat the enemy in a battle.
After replying to Chen Tai's letter, Sima Yi began to think again about what Zhuge Liang was thinking. !
Sima Yi tried to consider the problem from Zhuge Liang's perspective. Although he had some clues, he always felt that something was wrong.
After all, Jingnan and Jiangxia are both in the hands of Soochow. With the magnanimity of the Soochow monarch and his typical shady character, it is really possible to send troops to attack Jingzhou when the Jingzhou army goes north to attack Luoyang.
For a while, Zhuge Liang really couldn't think of any good method. In other words, there was a method, but it was definitely not a good method.
And this pressure actually exists.
Of course, Sima Yi was not short-sighted and would not decide the next battle plan based on his own imagination. Therefore, he immediately sent someone to contact the experts in Huainan and Soochow to seek more direct evidence support.
At the same time, Zhuge Liang, who had already marched to Yique Pass, also received a military report from Zhang Yi in the rear.
However, due to concerns, Chen Tai did not dare to harass the Shu thieves' grain transport team on a large scale. In addition, the follow-up reinforcements from the Shu thieves came very quickly. Chen Tai had few soldiers and had to retreat immediately. Otherwise, the result of the battle would have been greater.
Anyway, Sima Yi never thought about asking Chen Tai to lead troops to support Luoyang. Chen Tai's initiative to send troops to harass the Shu thieves' food routes was considered by Sima Yi as a sign of his unexpected change in battle.
In addition, it is rumored that Zhuge Liang is quite cautious in using troops. If he can compete with Zhang Yuanchang, he should not adopt such a strategy of using troops.
Therefore, Zhang Xi was actually thinking about whether there was a suitable way to force Sima Yi to take the initiative to send troops.
Not enough troops? !
This is for sure, but the question is, when Zhuge Liang launched a strategic attack, didn't he calculate the required troops, and only now did he suddenly realize that the troops were not enough to attack Luoyang? !
To take a step back, even if Zhuge Liang is really that stupid, he can now mobilize troops from Chang'an or Jingzhou. Especially Jingzhou soldiers, it is not that far away to come to Luoyang to help in the battle.
But the problem is, Sima Yi always feels that this matter is not that simple. Why is Zhuge Liang so impatient and quickly marching into Luoyang? !
It doesn't make sense.
Chen Tai is so cautious and cautious. It is hard to say whether his strategy can be hidden from Sima Yi.
Could it be that there was some unexpected situation that caused Zhuge Liang to start using troops eagerly? !
Seeing this, even Sima Yi began to wonder. Could it be that Zhuge Liang was really eager to attack Luoyang, so he gathered too many troops and did not have enough troops to guard the grain road? !
As for whether Zhuge Liang designed this on purpose, Sima Yi didn't really believe in using grain roads as bait. These days, anyone who is not a brainless fool would not use grain roads as bait to lure the enemy.
Sima Yi was from a wealthy family. In the Heluo area, a place where wealthy families gathered together, although the Sima family was considered to have a say, there was still a gap between them and those top families.
By the way, Zhuge Liang also included his own idea of "a next step" in Zhang Xi's military order and asked for Zhang Xi's opinion.
This is a strategy that will lead to a huge loss if you are not careful.
If all the aristocratic families in the Heluo area unite to put pressure on Sima Yi, then even if Sima Yi doesn't want to fight, I'm afraid he will have to fight.
Everything seemed to be going according to Zhuge Liang's plan. As expected, Chen Tai sent troops to recapture Xiangcheng and raided the army's food route.
Normally, after the attack on the grain and grass team, the security of the grain and grass team must be strengthened. If not, it will arouse Chen Tai's suspicion.
Increasing the frequency of transporting grain and grass is to give Chen Tai the illusion of food shortage in the front. On the one hand, Chen Tai can give Sima Yi wrong judgment, and on the other hand, it can also induce Chen Tai to take the initiative to attack Lu Yang or Kunyang. The attack was intended to cut off the food and grass of the Northern Expeditionary Army.
As long as Xiangcheng is still in their hands, the Shu thieves' food routes will never be safe and will always be a major threat to the Shu thieves.
For example, Cao Rui personally issued an order for Sima Yi to take the initiative to fight and seek to defeat the Han army.
The remaining one is to create enough pressure on Sima Yi, so that Sima Yi has to send troops when he can't withstand the pressure.
Hmm. In this case, I seem to be much less stressed all of a sudden.
Therefore, to a certain extent, Zhuge Liang felt that he needed to give Sima Yi a little more "confidence" so that he would have enough confidence to take the initiative to fight.
So. Could it be that something happened in Jingzhou? !
No, it's not possible. The supply line of transporting grain and grass from Jingzhou to Nanyang, and then from Nanyang to Luoyang is not too long. There won't be a shortage of food in Jingzhou, right? !
No, Zhuge Liang's tactics of using troops now don't look like the kind of person who cares about his head and body.
However, Zhang Xi had not thought of this method of getting all the big families to unite and ask Sima Yi to fight.
As for Zhang Xi, after leading his troops to occupy Dagong Pass, he separated from Zhuge Liang.
Rather than Zhuge Liang's deliberate design, Sima Yi was more inclined to think that something had happened and Zhuge Liang had to do this.
In Zhang Xi's view, there are only two possibilities for Sima Yi to take the initiative to send troops to attack.
Although Zhang Xi knew the general strategy, he was not sure whether it would be successful.
After all, the opponent is Sima Yi, an old turtle and an old fox.
But this kind of thing, even if Zhang Xi wants to be blind, there is no way Cao Rui will listen to Zhang Xi. Whether it is the Cao Rui in history or the Cao Rui in this time and space, they are the kind of monarchs who are very clear-headed. It is impossible for them to do this. A thoughtless command.
To be honest, Zhuge Liang didn't want to use such a strategy, but if it really came to a point of necessity, well, he'd better seek Yuan Chang's opinion first.
But, this still takes time.
At this time, Zhuge Liang's military orders and his letters arrived.
In terms of military orders, there is nothing special, Zhang Xi can just follow them.
But Zhuge Liang's letters, especially the "lowest strategy" mentioned in Zhuge Liang's letters, made Zhang Xi's eyes light up, but he also fell into deep thought.
There is a way, but the price is indeed not small.
(End of chapter)
