Hearing what Cao Shuang said, Ding Mi couldn't help laughing and said:
"General, why do you need to worry so much? If Sima Yi is really like this, he will be deceiving the emperor, seclude himself from the court, and be despised by the world."
Cao Shuang still hesitated:
"What I am worried about is that Sima Yi has the reputation of assisting the government. If the war in the southwest goes unfavorably, he can lead his army southward in the name of protecting the emperor. Xuchang will be empty at that time. How can he be regarded as such?"
In Cao Shuang's eyes, Sima Yi, who had stationed a large number of troops in Luoyang, was even a much greater threat than the Western thieves.
After all, Xuchang does not border with the Western Bandits.
Therefore, what Cao Shuang usually thinks about most day and night is Sima Yi in the northwest.
As the saying goes, if a fool thinks a lot, he will gain something.
Ding Mi and others were stunned when they heard Cao Shuang's words.
They just thought that Sima Yi did not dare to risk the disapproval of the world, but they did not think of this aspect.
Ding Mi nodded and agreed:
"What the general said is very reasonable, but we didn't think it through carefully."
"Over in Jingzhou, Lu Xun and Feng Yong are both life and death enemies of the Wei Dynasty. They should not be underestimated."
When He Yan heard this, he quickly asked:
"Then what should we do?"
Among the three dogs in Taichung, Ding Mi is the best at planning.
However, he was sparse on the outside and had many taboos on the inside, and he was arrogant. Although he was on the same level as He Yan and Deng Yang, he seldom interacted with them and only tended to Cao Shuang.
Seeing He Yan looking like this, Ding Mi felt a little contemptuous.
He did not look directly at He Yan, but after thinking for a moment, he suggested to Cao Shuang:
"What the general is worried about is that the imperial army will be transferred to the west. Xuchang is empty. He is afraid that Sima Yi may have a trick."
"Now that the Jianghuai war is over, why don't General General send some of the Jianghuai elite troops to the west to make up for the shortfall of the Forbidden Army?"
"At the same time, you can send an order to General Wang. If Sun Quan attacks again, it is important to defend tightly and not to attack at will."
When Deng Yang heard this, he showed praise on his face:
"What Yan Jing said is absolutely true! In this Jianghuai war, it was Wang Yanyun (Wang Ling) who was greedy for power and advanced recklessly, which gave the Wu invaders an opportunity."
"If we can guard Shouchun and other places tightly, the thieves will have nothing to do!"
The Jianghuai troops are definitely not enough if they want to go south to defeat the bandits.
But it is more than enough to rely on the cities of Hefei and Liu'an to defend it.
When He Yan heard this, he understood and said:
"Exactly. In the past, Sun Quan mostly attacked the north in winter and spring, so he was afraid of the fine cavalry of Wei Dynasty."
"It's summer now, which is when the elite cavalry comes into play. Even if some of the elite troops are deployed, there's no need to worry too much."
Ding Mi couldn't help but feel proud when he saw both of them agreeing with him.
Unexpectedly, Cao Shuang still had concerns:
"The situation in Jingzhou is urgent now. If we wait for the troops from the Jianghuai River to arrive, we may miss the things to the west."
Ding Mi said confidently:
"This matter is easy to hear. Didn't Sima Yi himself say that he would lead his army across the river to go north to fight against the thieves? The general can take advantage of his situation and send envoys with the emperor's edict to praise him."
"If Sima Yiru is really as he said, why should the general worry about him?"
When Cao Shuang heard this, his eyes suddenly lit up, and then he asked thoughtfully:
"If Sima Yi deceives the emperor, what will happen to us?"
Ding Mi laughed:
"If Sima Yi was deceiving something and the army was still in Luoyang, how could he hide it from the envoy?"
"When the general sends elite troops from the Jianghuai River to Xuchang, he can make them march twice as long. As for the imperial troops sent to Jingzhou, they can first be ordered to slow down, perhaps twenty miles a day, or thirty miles a day."
"In this case, it will only delay the rescue of Jingzhou for four or five days at most, but it can cover everything."
"The city of Xiangyang is high and the pond is deep. It's not a big deal if we are delayed by four or five days."
When Cao Shuang heard this, he sighed:
"This is a great thing to say."
So he did it.
Just when the Wei State was mobilizing troops and generals, far away under the city of Shangdang's Gaodu, the offensive and defensive battles between Han and Wei had entered a fever pitch.
Gaodu City faces the Taihang Mountains to the south and overlooks the plains to the north.
With the city as the center, the Wei army set up a variety of forts, large and small, on the surrounding hills, forming a situation like stars holding the moon.
In the past few months, Wei Yan had sent people to conduct reconnaissance countless times, but he could not find a mountain path that could bypass Gaodu and lead an army.
If you want to attack the city, you not only have to face Gaodu City, but you also have to be careful of the surrounding mountains.
In the past two months, the Han army, under the cover of stone cannons, had filled in the moat of Gaodu City.
At the same time, the surrounding area at the foot of the mountain was completely destroyed by the continuous attacks of stone cannons.
The walls of Gaodu City are also in pieces.
On the second day after Wei Yan launched his attack on the city, the Wei army had no choice but to give up all the flat land in the city and retreated to the stone fort on the mountain.
Wei Yan's troops were divided into three groups, with wings on both sides to guard the hills on both sides.
In the middle is the main siege force.
Relying on the top of the mountain, the Wei army in Gaodu had already prepared countless logs and rolling stones.
The sharp horns pierced the hilltops. Countless arrows were missing from the remaining city walls of Gaodu and the connected hills, and they rushed towards the Han army like a storm with dense sharp-horned rocks.
A rock as hard as fine iron with sharp edges and extremely lethal.
It even rolled down the mountain with an astonishing momentum.
The Han soldiers, who could only attack from their backs, held shields in their hands. In front of the whizzing rocks, every one of them was hit to pieces.
Even if he is wearing fine armor, it can block swords, guns and arrows, but in the face of huge kinetic energy, it is no different than tissue paper.
Not to mention climbing a mountain and attacking from behind, the physical exertion is much greater than running on flat ground.
Many soldiers only wore light leather armor in order to save their physical strength, and also to move more flexibly and avoid the mountains and rocks in time.
"boom"!
A Han soldier who was climbing up looked up twice and took two steps to the side, trying to find a path that would be as free of trees and rolling stones as possible.
Then he lowered his head and crawled a few steps quickly. When he raised his head again and looked up, his eyes suddenly widened and his face was full of horror.
A heartbreaking cry came from his mouth:
"don't want!"
The rocks in his eyes grew bigger and bigger, and he subconsciously raised the shield in his hand, trying to weaken the force coming from top to bottom.
But the power of an individual, in this case, can be almost negligible.
The moment the shield was shattered, the soldier's arm was shattered and fractured at the same moment.
But he couldn't feel the pain anymore.
Because immediately after, his whole body was crushed by rocks...
Red, white, dyed with mountain grass.
At the same time, in the woods on the hilltop connected to the archery tower, the Wei army's crossbowmen were invisible and fired from a long distance. Taking advantage of the height, they continued to shoot at the Han army who were trying to avoid the rolling stones.
Even if the soldiers who attacked the city were lucky enough to escape the rolling stones, they were often shot by the Wei army's crossbowmen and fell down screaming in agony.
The most unlucky ones were the Han soldiers who lost the ability to move after being hit by arrows.
They watched helplessly as the Shimu Mountain rocks rolled down the mountain. They tried their best to avoid them, but they could not move.
Some of them screamed crazily, trying to vent the fear in their hearts.
Some faces were ashen, but no sound came out when they opened their mouths.
…
But without exception, the final result that greets them is the coming of death.
Even though the soldiers of the Han army were brave and good at fighting, their morale could not help but become low under the influence of this despair.
Before they reached the halfway point of the mountain, their follow-up troops were already exhausted.
Wei Yan, who was holding a telescope, saw that the last Qu Chang who was rushing forward was hit on the head by a piece of wood. The soldiers could no longer hold on and began to turn around and run down the mountain.
He was so angry that he almost dropped the telescope in his hand - if it weren't for the fact that the thing in his hand was too rare and too valuable.
"Come on, come on, bring me the first person who takes the lead in escaping!"
Wei Yan put down the telescope and gritted his teeth, "Also, call Wen Shi from the engineering camp!"
The first soldier who turned around and ran away was quickly escorted over.
"Say! Why are you running!"
Wei Yan pulled out the sword he carried with him and shouted angrily:
"Do you know what it is to turn around and run away without hearing the name?"
"General, spare your life, general, spare your life!"
The soldier collapsed to the ground and kowtowed repeatedly, "It's not like you want to run away on purpose. I won't dare to do it again!"
"General, out of ten people in the villain's team, only one is left. Please spare the villain, General!"
Wei Yan didn't listen to the other party's call at all and cursed angrily:
"Everyone else died in the battle, but you are the only one who is greedy for life, so what use do you have!"
As he spoke, he raised his sword and lowered it.
The soldiers' pleas for mercy came to an abrupt end like a duck being pinched by its neck.
He covered his neck, opened his mouth, and fell to the ground.
A line of blood lay at the feet of Wen Shi, who had just arrived.
"Take this man's head and send an order to the army. Let all soldiers know what will happen if you dare to disobey military orders!"
Wei Yan returned the sword to its sheath and ordered coldly.
No one next to me dared to raise an opinion: "Here!"
Two guards stood up and dragged the body down.
When Wenshi saw Wei Yan's eyes falling on him, he felt a chill all over his body, and he quickly saluted:
"The general is going to pay homage to the General Hussar. I wonder what the General Hussar calls the villain to do. What is the important matter?"
Wei Yan was not polite to him, but pointed to the top of the mountain and asked:
"Is there any way for the engineering battalion to use stone cannons to smash those ants on the mountain?"
Wen Shi looked along Wei Yan's fingers, her heart sank slightly, and she answered bravely:
"General Hussars, it's too far and too high. The stone cannon doesn't have such a wide angle, so it's difficult."
"How about moving the stone cannon to the foot of the mountain?"
Wei Yan asked unwillingly.
illiteracy!
Simply illiterate!
If it had been anyone else, Wen Shi would have said that he was ignorant and ignorant.
Do you know what elevation angle is?
Do you know what a parabola is?
You don’t know anything, you just give blind orders!
Although he felt that Wei Yan's gaze seemed to be cannibalistic, Wenshi still withstood the pressure:
"General Hussars, this stone cannon is not omnipotent. If the target is too high, it needs not to be close, but to be farther away from it."
"There is a limit to the distance of the stone cannon. If it is too far away, it will not be able to hit it."
Wei Yan waved his hand impatiently:
"I don't understand these things, so I'm just asking you, is there any way?"
"Back to General Hussar, no!"
Although this was not the first time that he led an engineering battalion to fight with Wei Yan, Wen Shi still felt that it was really difficult to work under Wei Yan.
Compared with following Zhongduhu, who could freely display his professionalism, following Wei Yan was simply torture.
The outer city of Gaodu City is already in ruins. Do you still want to expect the engineering battalion to blow down the mountain?
Wei Yan groaned after hearing Wen Shi's words.
He took a few steps back and forth with great agitation.
As a veteran in the army, he had an intuition that the reason why the Wei army on the opposite side was so tenacious and clinging to the last high ground must have some reason that he didn't know.
In other words, reinforcements from the Wei army may be arriving soon?
As if to confirm his thoughts, Wei Chang trotted over in a hurry:
"Big... Hussars General!"
Wei Yan stopped and looked at Wei Chang:
"Why are you so nervous?"
In the hot summer, Wei Chang wore fine armor and was sweating profusely while running.
But he didn't even have time to wipe his sweat:
"General Hussars, Sima Yi! Please report carefully. Sima Yi has led the army across the river, and now the vanguard has arrived at Tianjing Pass at Taihangxing!"
"What did you say? Sima Yi! Are you really Sima Yi? Did Sima Yi leave Luoyang?"
When Wei Yan heard this, he was shocked. He took two steps quickly, forced himself in front of Wei Chang, and shouted loudly.
"This is the news that Xizuo risked his life to send back. The bandit army coming to help is extremely powerful."
Wei Chang took a breath and continued:
"Someone saw Sima's banner in the army, General Hussar. Even if it's not Sima Yi, we have to prepare as soon as possible."
Wei Yan tightened his grip on the sword hilt at his waist!
"Get the map!"
Soon some guards spread out the map.
Taihang Baxing, there are three most commonly used ones now.
From west to east they are Zhiguanxing, Taihangxing and Baixing.
Zhiguanxing connects Hedong and Hanoi, and Taihangxing and Baixing both connect Shangdang and Hanoi.
It is precisely because these three bridges are connected to Hanoi, one of the hinterlands of the Central Plains, that they appear to be important.
Even if Gaodu City was captured, it would only be the starting point of the northern end of Taihangxing.
The most important place in Taihangxing is Tianjingguan. (There is a map at the end of this chapter)
But for Wei Yan, if he did not capture Gaodu, Shangdang would be like a deep nail driven into him by Wei State, making it difficult for him to sleep or eat well.
Wei Yan hit the map hard with his fist, directly punching a big hole in the map.
I only heard him curse angrily:
"Feng Yongshuzi, you will never make any mistakes!"
If this son hadn't transferred the Tongguan garrison and forced himself to send troops to make up for it, resulting in a shortage of troops here, why hadn't Gaodu been captured yet?
But now, no matter how much you scold him, it's useless. You can only settle the score with him after the war.
Wei Yan turned around and ordered:
"Immediately send out fast horses to inform the soldiers coming from the Party and ask them to speed up!"
"Here!"
"General Hussars, Sima Yi's support speed is a bit too fast. Is it possible that he is cheating?"
"If it had been anyone else, there would be no chance of fraud, but Sima Yi..."
Wei Yan paused for a moment before continuing:
"It's not surprising, Sima Yi should not be underestimated!"
"When Meng Da wanted to return to the Han Dynasty, Sima Yi led his army to march 1,200 miles in eight days. Meng Da was afraid, and finally the city was broken and he died."
Thinking of the soldiers in hand, he then looked at Gaodu City, which was just a little bit close to being captured.
Wei Yan gritted his teeth:
"Send someone to Shangdang again and inform Guo Xun to recruit more county soldiers to guard Shangdang's important territory!"
Shangdang War Map: The first floor has not been simple since ancient times.
