At the third watch, when they came to the main road, the two armies met, united their troops and horses, and fought out from behind the Shu army. After walking less than thirty miles, the front army stopped advancing. The two rode to see, only to see Hundreds of hay carts blocked the way. Zhang He immediately came to a conclusion and said: "This must be prepared. You can choose the road to return." Just as he ordered the retreat, suddenly the mountains were filled with fire, the drums and horns shook loudly, and the ambush soldiers and horses came out, surrounding the two men. Stay, Kong Ming shouted from the heights of Qishan: "Dai Ling, Zhang He, you two can listen carefully to my next words. Sima Yi expected that I would go to Wudu and Yinping to appease the people and was not in the camp, so he sent you here The camp was robbed, but I had calculated it a long time ago, so you fell into the trap. Both of you are generals with little reputation in Wei State. I don’t have to kill you today, so you can dismount and surrender early!”
Zhang He was very angry, pointed at Kong Ming and cursed: "You are a mountain villager who violated the borders of our country. How dare you make such arrogant words? If I catch you, I will cut you into pieces!" "After saying that, he mounted his horse, drew his gun, and charged towards the high place where Kong Ming was.
At this time, the bows and arrows on the mountain shot down like raindrops. Zhang He had no way to go up the mountain, so he clapped his horse and danced his spear, and rushed out of the siege. No one dared to resist. The Shu army surrounded Dai Ling in the middle. Zhang He rushed out from the original road without looking. After arriving at Dai Ling, he had no choice but to return, fight his way into the siege, and rescue him.
Kong Ming watched from a high place and found that Zhang He was able to fight against thousands of armies. He felt that his martial arts was very powerful, so he said to his left and right: "I once heard that Zhang Fei fought with Zhang He, and others were very scared. Today I saw Zhang He with my own eyes." With his martial arts skills, I realized how brave he was. If this man is left behind, he will definitely be a serious problem for our Northern Expedition to the Central Plains. I must find a way to get rid of him." So he gathered his troops and returned to the camp.
Sima Yi led his soldiers and horses to arrange the battle. Seeing the chaos of the Shu army, they attacked together. Suddenly he saw Zhang He and Dai Ling returning in embarrassment and told him: "When we passed by, we happened to encounter an ambush by the Shu army. It turned out that Kong Ming had already Be prepared and return with a great defeat.”
Sima Yi failed twice and sighed: "It seems that I have underestimated Kong Ming. I have not surpassed him in terms of resourcefulness. Why don't we retreat first." So he sent an order for the army to return to the camp and hold on.
Kongming won two great victories and received countless weapons and horses. He returned to the camp with his troops and horses, and sent Wei Yan to challenge every day. The Wei army refused to fight, and it took more than half a month without surrendering the horses.
Kongming was worried in the camp and thinking about solutions. He suddenly reported that Fei Yi, the emperor's servant, had arrived with an edict. Kongming quickly entered the camp and burned incense to pay tribute.
The content of the edict: The failure of Jieting was all due to Ma Su. Now that you have been punished and demoted to three levels, this is enough. What’s more, you killed Wang Shuang in the Northern Expedition the year before last. Today, Guo Huai escaped, surrendered the Ji clan and the Qiang people, and revitalized two counties. He was powerful in China and made great achievements. Now the world is in turmoil and the usurper has not yet surrendered. You have a heavy burden and a heavy responsibility, but Self-deprecating to the third level, unable to explain emotions and reasons, this is not a way to promote patriotism. Restore the status of prime minister now, don't refuse!
This edict was naturally not written by Yu Yi. It turned out that Yu Yi was thinking about the affairs of the Qin Dynasty that day. Suddenly Fei Yi came and suggested that Kong Ming demoted himself to the third level. The reaction in the court was great. Now the Northern Expedition has made new achievements, and Jie The loss of the pavilion was all Ma Su's fault. He hoped that Official Kong Ming could be reinstated and the prime minister would still be the main one.
After hearing this, Yu Yi nodded and said: "Your suggestion is very good and in line with my ideas. Then you can draft the edict and go directly to the front line to read it to Kong Ming."
Fei Yi took out the drafted edict from his sleeve and handed it to Yu Yi. Yu Yi took a quick look at it, made some corrections, then covered it with the jade seal and let it leave.
After Kongming listened to the edict, he said to Fei Yi: "Our country's major affairs have not been completed, how can I restore the position of prime minister?" So he refused, and advised: "If the prime minister refuses to accept the post, the emperor's will will be ignored." If you violate it, it will also dampen the mood of the soldiers. This is not good, so you might as well accept it."
Kong Ming had a good relationship with Fei Yi and asked secretly: "What does the emperor think?"
Replied: "The Emperor agrees very much and told me to advise you to pay attention to your health and not to work too hard!"
Kongming was very moved after hearing this and had to accept the edict, and Fei Yi left.
After Fei Yi left, Kong Ming continued to think about the battle strategy. Thinking that if Sima Yi didn't come out, he would let all parts of the Shu army rise up and prepare to leave.
Someone told Sima Yi that Kong Ming had withdrawn his army. Sima Yi was very surprised after hearing this and said: "Kong Ming must have a big plan and cannot act rashly."
Zhang He said: "It should be that they have run out of food and grass, why don't they chase after them?"
Sima Yi said: "I predict that Kongming had a good harvest last year, and this year there will be ripe wheat and a good harvest of grain and grass. However, the transportation process is very difficult, but it can last for a year and a half. How can he just leave? He is looking at it. I have refused to send troops out to fight for several days, so if you use such a trick to lure us, you can send someone to find out first."
So the sergeant went to inquire about the information and came back to report: "Kong Ming is setting up camp thirty miles away from us."
Sima Yi said: "I predict that Kong Ming will definitely not leave like this. We will stick to the camp and not attack easily."
After staying for a few days, there was no news and no Shu army came to fight. Sima Yi sent people to investigate again and reported back: "The Shu army's camp has moved again."
Sima Yi refused to believe it, so he changed his clothes, joined the army himself, and went to the scene to check. Sure enough, he saw that the Shu army's camp had retreated another thirty miles.
Sima Yi turned back to Zhang He and said, "Look, this is Kong Ming's strategy. You can't pursue him."
A few days later, he sent someone to investigate again and reported back: "The Shu army retreated another thirty miles."
Zhang He said: "Kong Ming is using a delaying strategy and is preparing to slowly retreat to Hanzhong. Why should the governor be suspicious? It is better to pursue them immediately. I am willing to be the vanguard and fight them to the death."
Sima Yi shook his head and said: "Kong Ming has a lot of tricks up his sleeve. If anything goes wrong, our army's vigor will be lost, and we still can't attack easily."
Zhang He could no longer hold his anger and said, "If I fail, I will be punished with military orders."
Sima Yi said: "Since you are determined to go, you can divide your troops into two places. You go with one, but you have to fight to the death. I will go to meet you later to prevent ambushes. You leave first tomorrow and camp halfway. We will fight again in the day, so that the troops and horses will not be tired." Then the troops and horses were distributed.
