Seeing everyone next to him looking over, Feng Yong handed the secret letter to Gongsun Zheng, with a gloomy expression on his face: "The Cao thieves in the east of Longshan have moved."
To be precise, it was the Wei army on the Yuezhi City side that showed signs of mobilization.
Gongsun Zheng took it, glanced at it, and said in surprise: "How is it possible? How can Thief Cao be so well informed?"
Although the Han Dynasty guarded the two most important passes, Longguan and Xiaoguan, it did not mean that they could sit back and relax.
At least Xiaoguan's side needs special attention.
Because it is located to the east of Longshan Mountain, it is also at the northernmost edge of Longyou.
The big man wanted to support Xiao Guan, not only the journey was long, but also he had to cross Longshan Mountain.
The loss of Yuezhi City caused Xiao Guan to lose an important place of early warning and guidance.
"Hang up the map of Longyou."
Feng Yong suppressed his slightly irritable mood and gave an order.
The staff officer quickly found a map of the entire Longyou and hung it on the wall.
Feng Yong walked to the map, first found the location of Xiaoguan, then clicked on the location of Didao, and finally his eyes fell on the two supporting points of Yuzhong and Jincheng.
"It's impossible to have such well-informed information." Feng Yong said with certainty, "What's going on with the Cao thieves in Liangzhou now?"
"Judging from the news from General Ju, the Cao thieves are indeed as we expected. They only want to stick to the river and Jincheng and have no intention of going south."
Gongsun Zheng replied quickly.
"Then the strange behavior of the Cao thief in Guanzhong is most likely a coincidence."
Such a tacit cooperation cannot be achieved unless we can communicate instantly through the air.
I can't even make a radio. Could it be that you guys have some black technology?
Feng Yong looked at the map closely, playing with the small flag in his hand, and suddenly threw it out, hitting a rare place marked.
It was obvious that he was very annoyed with the baldness department.
No matter what the purpose of the Wei army in Guanzhong is, Zhao Yun must return to the east.
If the Battle of Longxi cannot end as soon as possible, once the Wei army in Liangzhou reacts without pressure, it will be its turn to bear the pressure from the north.
If the Bald Ministry can live up to expectations, Longxi should be ready to clean up the battlefield by this time.
"I want to go to Daxia County myself."
Feng Yong said with determination.
Daxia County is the final point where the Han army reaches in this campaign plan.
When Feng Yong went there, he could see Bald Kheli as quickly as possible and ask what the situation was like in the Bald Department.
More importantly, he will also look at the specific situation to see how to end this battle as soon as possible and consolidate the results.
Gongsun Zheng had no objection.
At present, the Wei army in Liangzhou has not responded, and the Qiang and Hu troops in Longxi do not pose a threat to the Han army, so there is not much danger in the monarch's trip.
But he still reminded Feng Yong: "Didao has been decided for the first time, so it is best for the prince to bring his troops."
"Three hundred steps are enough." Feng Yong nodded, "Don't worry, I won't put myself in danger."
The unusual movements of the Wei army in Anding County passed through the Longyou Governor's Mansion and also reached the Prime Minister's Mansion in Hanzhong at an extremely fast speed.
Yang Yi, who was already accompanying Army Commander Shi, hurriedly took the urgent documents that had just been delivered and walked into the hall where the Prime Minister handled government affairs.
"Prime Minister, Longyou is sending an urgent message, saying that there is something strange happening to Cao Cao's thieves over in Anding."
When Zhuge Liang, who was dealing with government affairs, heard this, his expression became condensed and he hurriedly took over the urgent matter.
After reading it, he walked to the huge map hanging on the wall, thought deeply for a moment, and finally sighed: "This Cao Zhen can be considered a capable person, and he really shouldn't be underestimated."
Yang Yi followed Zhuge Liang, but she didn't understand why the Prime Minister would sigh like this: "Why did the Prime Minister suddenly say this?"
"Guanzhong and Liangzhou are separated by Longyou, making it difficult to communicate with each other."
Zhuge Liang explained, "After the Battle of Longyou last year, the Han Dynasty was temporarily unable to invade Liangzhou. Now both sides have rested for half a year, and it is the beginning of spring, which is the time to use troops."
"Cao Zhen's move can just contain Longyou. Coupled with the loss of Yuezhi City, we have to heavily guard the east and cannot advance westward with all our strength."
Yang Yi asked with some confusion: "Prime Minister, you mean that Cao Zhen has expected that the Han Dynasty will send troops to the west at this time?"
Zhuge Liang nodded, "It's possible, but even if Feng Yong didn't send troops to Longxi, Cao Zhen would probably do this."
"Why is this?"
Yang Yi was even more confused.
"Testing." Zhuge Liang looked at Yuezhi City on the map, his eyes flashing continuously, showing that he was thinking quickly.
"Cao Zhen is most likely trying to test the situation from Yuezhi City, and at the same time, he is also trying to delay our march into Liangzhou."
After losing Yuezhi City, the Han Dynasty only had Xiao Pass left in the east of Longshan.
Therefore, Cao Zhen did not hesitate to use troops in winter, in fact, in order to put pressure on Xiaoguan and then support Liangzhou conveniently.
"Because the longer it is delayed, the more advantageous it will be to Cao Cao. Because Longyou is between Guanzhong and Liangzhou, there is a danger of being attacked from both sides."
Zhuge Liang figured this out, walked back to his seat, sat down, pondered for a moment, and asked: "Wei Gong, how is the construction of the plank road in Xiegu?"
Last year, Zhao Yun was discovered by Cao Zhen as a suspicious soldier and had to retreat from Xiegu to Hanzhong. At the same time, in order to prevent Cao Zhen's army from pursuing him, he burned the plank road.
It's just that the fire was a bit big. This fire burned nearly a hundred miles of wooden plank road.
It is easy to set a fire, but difficult to repair it.
The wooden plank road not only needs to wedge wood on the dangerous cliff, but also lay pillars and beams in the water below the cliff for support.
This is a large amount of work.
"Prime Minister, Zhuge Junjun personally supervised this matter. However, it is difficult to work in winter. Although there is an engineering team from Nanxiang, the progress is still very slow."
"What's more, after the beginning of spring, there will be spring floods and the water will be turbulent. I have personally seen it. The red water has surged, and even the thickest logs cannot be fixed into the water."
Yang Yi quickly replied.
From Hanzhong directly to Guanzhong, there are four roads from east to west: Ziwu Valley, Luo Valley, Xie Valley, and Chencang Old Road.
Ziwu Valley is difficult to travel and is full of dangers.
There was another Chencang at the end of Chencang's old road. The terrain was difficult and the army could not deploy.
The sloping valley is the flattest and can be used by large armies, but unfortunately the plank road is inaccessible.
"It's also difficult to travel in Luo Valley. You can only travel with a partial army, not a large army. It's so difficult!"
Zhuge Liang sighed.
Yang Yi heard the words and knew what they meant, "Prime Minister wants to send troops from Hanzhong?"
Zhuge Liang nodded, feeling a little distressed: "Cao Zhen is testing, we can also feign an attack to cooperate with Longyou. But the sloping valley is blocked, what can we do?"
Yang Yi's mind moved: "Why don't the Prime Minister send people to march from the old Chencang Road?"
"That's all it is now."
There is no way around it.
After all, if you march from Luo Valley, it is difficult to march a large army. It is easy for Cao Cao to guess that this is a suspicious army and not the real Hanzhong army.
In that case, it would not be able to contain Guanzhong.
Now that Cao Zhen is just testing, the Hanzhong army cannot be easily mobilized.
Coupled with insufficient preparation, rushing into battle will only waste money and food and tire out the soldiers.
Only by following the old path of Chencang can the Cao thieves believe that the army may march into Guanzhong and attack Chencang. It doesn't matter whether they attack Chencang or not. What is important is that at least Cao Zhen cannot act rashly.
Seeing that the Prime Minister agreed with his words, Yang Yi cheered up and continued to suggest: "Last year in the Northern Expedition, the Prime Minister did not listen to Wei Yan's words, and he had little credit in the attack on Longxi."
"Now Wei Yan often complains in private, saying that the prime minister did not use his plans at the beginning and did not allow him to lead the troops out of the Xie Valley, so his ambitions could not be achieved."
"Why don't we let him lead the army out of Chencang Road this time to scare Cao's thieves and prevent him from moaning all the time."
When Zhuge Liang heard Yang Yi's words, he frowned slightly and glanced at Yang Yi.
Yang Yi felt Zhuge Liang's gaze, her heart skipped a beat, and she quickly lowered her head.
"Wei Gong, I know that you and Wei Yan are at odds with each other. It's just that the two of you work for the Han Dynasty. The key is to attack the thieves together, not to attack each other."
"Wei Gong, you are well-planned. Wei Yan is brave and powerful. They are both rare heroes. If we fight, wouldn't it become a bitter feud?"
Zhuge Liang persuaded.
Yang Yi didn't dare to say any more and quickly agreed.
Zhuge Liang knew that Yang Yi was narrow-minded and not too young, so it was not easy to preach to him.
And this time, although he had selfish motives, what he said did make some sense.
Now in Hanzhong, only Wei Yan is the most suitable to lead this expedition.
It's just that he is a little too careless and eager to make contributions, but he needs to be warned.
Zhuge Liang was thinking this, but he didn't tell Yang Yi what he was thinking, and instead talked about another thing.
"Speaking of the different paths in Hanzhong, I remembered something."
"Although the Ziwu Valley and Luo Valley are difficult for large armies to move, they still have to prevent Cao Cao's thieves from venturing into Hanzhong. Therefore, I want to build a city each at the intersection of Ziwu Valley, Luo Valley and Xie Valley."
"In this way, the big man can attack when he advances and defend when he retreats. What do you think?"
If the Han Dynasty invaded Guanzhong from Hanzhong to the north, the transportation of food would be a big problem.
Although Dongfeng Express and new military rations have greatly alleviated this problem, care must still be taken.
Building forts at each crossing not only makes it easier to store food and grass in advance, but also allows you to garrison troops.
Yang Yi had been following Zhuge Liang for a long time. When he heard these words, he naturally guessed what the prime minister was thinking, and immediately nodded in agreement: "In this way, we can be more prepared for the Northern Expedition."
"Wei Gong, you are good at planning, so I will leave this matter to you. Just pay attention to the people's strength. The city does not need to be too big, but it must be strong, and we must find a place that is easy to defend but difficult to attack."
Zhuge Liang ordered.
"Yi leads the Prime Minister's order."
Yang Yi responded.
I heard Zhuge Liang say again: "Go down first and think carefully about how to deal with this matter. Also, help me call Zhuge Qiao."
"promise."
After a while, Zhuge Qiao came in and saluted Zhuge Liang respectfully: "I have met the prime minister."
Zhuge Liang nodded: "I called you here because I have something I want to entrust you to handle."
"Prime Minister, please give me your instructions."
They were obviously a father and son, but they spoke like superiors and subordinates.
"Last year during the Northern Expedition, when General Zhao returned to Hanzhong, he sealed up a batch of military supplies in Chiya. Now you go and take inventory."
"General Wei will lead the army to an expedition in the near future. This batch of military supplies will be needed by then, so there should be no delay. At that time, you will take another 500 sergeants to accompany General Wei on the expedition and take care of the military supplies."
Zhuge Qiao had a look of surprise on his face when he heard what the prime minister said, as if he was a little surprised by Wei Yan's expedition.
However, he was kind-hearted by nature, so he didn’t ask too many questions.
"Yes, Joe understands."
After talking about business, Zhuge Liang took out a letter.
He said to Zhuge Qiao: "A few days ago, someone from the east sent a message saying that Yuan Xun (Zhuge Ke) had been recommended by the Crown Prince of Wu and had to hold the post of Jiedu and be in charge of money and food."
When Zhuge Qiao heard this, a look of joy appeared on his face: "This is a good thing."
When Zhuge Liang heard this, he looked at Zhuge Qiao and sighed.
Seeing Zhuge Liang's expression, Zhuge Qiao felt a little uneasy: "Sir, what did I say wrong?"
Zhuge Liang waved to him and asked him to sit down.
Then he said: "Although you are not as talented as Yuan Xun, your temperament is much better than him."
"Supervising the transportation of grain and grass is an extremely tedious task. But you did it well, which is a good thing.
"But Yuan Xun is different from you. He has an arrogant and careless temper and can't calm down. I'm afraid he doesn't like such tedious things."
"And grain is the most important thing in the army. If something goes wrong, it will be a big deal. If you force a person to do something he is not suitable for and does not like, sooner or later something will happen."
Zhuge Qiao finally came to his senses when he heard his master reminding him: "Sir, I understand."
Then he asked slightly anxiously: "Where is brother..."
"Don't worry, I will write to Lu Xun and let him make it clear to the King of Wu. My brother (Zhuge Jin) is already old. In my opinion, it is best for Yuan Xun to serve beside my brother."
"It's just that Yuan Xun may not be willing to accept it, and King Wu also likes Yuan Xun quite a lot. Plus Prince Wu's recommendation, I'm afraid Yuan Xun will definitely be reused in the future."
"I'm telling you this just because I want you to write a letter to talk about the brotherhood, and also to persuade him to pay attention to him on weekdays."
Zhuge Qiao nodded quickly: "I understand, kid."
Speaking of Soochow, Zhuge Liang remembered something again and felt even more upset.
He usually didn't show any strangeness in front of outsiders, but at this time only Zhuge Qiao was in front of him, but he didn't hide his emotions.
Zhuge Qiao saw the rare irritability on the Lord's face, so he boldly asked, "What else is on your mind, Lord?"
Zhuge Liang waved his hand: "It's useless to tell you."
"Children know that they are stupid and cannot share worries for adults. But if the father is worried, the son will work hard. If the child knows in person that the adult is worried but ignores it, it is unfilial."
"If this matter is not a national matter that children cannot ask about, what's the harm in asking adults to tell it and let children listen? At least adults will feel more comfortable."
Zhuge Qiao said respectfully.
"If it wasn't a national matter, why would I be so upset?" Zhuge Liang shook his head, "It's just that this matter concerns Soochow, so it doesn't hurt to tell you."
He pondered for a moment, as if he was organizing his words, and then continued: "In Lu Xun's letter to me, he mentioned an incident from the year before last."
"At that time, after Lu Dai settled Jiaozhou, he wrote to the King of Wu, saying that a phoenix had appeared in Wuzhou. On New Year's Day this year, a yellow dragon appeared in the well of the Wuchang palace again."
At this point, Zhuge Liang stopped talking.
Zhuge Qiao didn't react for a moment: "The country is auspicious, isn't this a good thing?"
Zhuge Liang glanced at Zhuge Qiao: "Back then, before the late Emperor ascended to Dabao, Li Yan also wrote to the late Emperor, saying that a yellow dragon appeared in Wuyang and it would circle around for nine days before leaving."
"The dragon is the symbol of the king. "Book of Changes" Qian 95: The flying dragon is in the sky. The late emperor received the auspiciousness of the sky, and then he ascended the great treasure to prolong the reign of Han Dynasty."
When Zhuge Qiao heard this, he finally understood, with a look of shock on his face: "Does the King of Wu want to ascend the throne?"
"This is inevitable." Zhuge Liang's face became increasingly gloomy, "How could Sun Quan be willing to submit to others?"
Sun Quan proclaiming himself emperor was not only Sun Quan's ambition, but also the needs of the Soochow family.
When Lu Xun mentioned the auspicious thing in his letter, it was almost as if he was explicitly stating this matter.
But if this happens, the Han court will definitely be shocked.
More importantly, it is very likely that someone will propose to sever the Han-Wu alliance, or even fight against each other.
