The next day, Sun Quan held a civil and military meeting at court and rewarded ministers with meritorious services. All the generals are rewarded, so everyone is happy.
After the reward was completed, Lu Xun went out to report and said: "Your Majesty, although Cao Xiu has been defeated and Wei is discouraged, Sima Yi is still the great water conservator of the Han River, and there are signs of returning with troops.
Therefore, I thought that I could write a letter of state and send an envoy to Shu, firstly to inform Zhuge Liang that our country had won the great victory at Shiting, and secondly, to teach Zhuge Liang to fulfill the righteousness of the alliance and send troops northward to contain Cao Wei's troops in Jingzhou. "
"Good, just follow your advice, write books and go to Shu, and let Zhuge Kongming raise troops for the Northern Expedition. I think the people of Shu will be impatient with waiting." Sun Quan nodded.
So Soochow immediately sent envoys to Shu to report the war situation on the eastern front. Zhuge Liang was quite surprised when he learned that the Wu army had captured and killed ten thousand people at Shiting. He did not expect that the Wu army could defeat the Wei army of hundreds of thousands in a land battle.
Although he was surprised by Wu Jun's land combat capabilities, Zhuge Liang was more happy now, because Cao Wei's loss of strength was a good thing for Ji Han, especially when the second Northern Expedition was about to begin.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang immediately agreed to the request of the Soochow envoy, and wrote two letters to clear up the confusion of Sun Quan and Lu Xun. He also sent an envoy to Longyou to inform Yang Qing that all the armies in Hanzhong would act accordingly.
Before, Zhuge Liang asked Yang Qing about his strategy for entering Guanzhong. After careful consideration, Yang Qing proposed two strategies in succession.
First of all, he suggested that Zhuge Liang's northern expedition to Guanzhong should not be limited to the Wei River line, but should put pressure on Qixian and Qixian to contain Cao Wei's troops in the northern part of Guanzhong.
This move also had a deeper purpose, that is, although Cao Wei's defense in Guanzhong was comprehensive, heavy troops were still concentrated on the Wei River line, and the number of troops in the northern part of Guanzhong was relatively small.
Therefore, even if Zhuge Liang's attack on Chencang is blocked, Yang Qing can take advantage of the momentum to attack from the north and capture one or two cities as a foothold to prepare for the subsequent attack on Guanzhong and the recovery of Chang'an.
Therefore, with such a deployment on the southern front, we can encircle the points for reinforcements. If the encirclement and reinforcements fail, we can turn to the east and attack the west, looking for a breakthrough in the northern part of Guanzhong. In this way, the initiative in the war will be completely in the hands of the Han army.
As for Yang Qing's second strategy, it is aimed at how to break Chencang. Although the current Chencang guard is not Hao Zhao in the original history, Guo Huai should still be above Hao Zhao in terms of military capabilities, so Zhuge Liang It is also very difficult to break the city in a short time this time.
In fact, in the era of cold weapons, it was not easy to attack a strong city with good generals and abundant food and grass.
Not to mention the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, in recent decades, the reason why various princes were able to successfully capture strategically located fortified cities or important towns was mostly through long-term sieges, which resulted in unfavorable situations such as a loss of food and fodder for the defenders and the surrender of some people. The hope of ruining the city.
For example, after Yuan Shao's death, Cao Cao sent troops to attack Yecheng, Yuan's home base in the ninth year of Jian'an. Cao Cao himself was very good at using troops. He had a rain of advisers, a cloud of strong generals, and some of the best soldiers in the world.
But even so, Cao's army continued to attack Yecheng for a long time, from March to August. During this period, they used various methods such as hole attack, earth mountain attack, water attack, etc., but they could not break Yecheng's city defense.
In the end, it was because Shen Rong, the nephew of the guard general Shen Pei, lost confidence and took the initiative to open the city and surrender. This allowed Cao Cao to take Yecheng, the Yuan family's stronghold, into his pocket. Otherwise, it would have taken much longer for Cao Cao to break the city. time.
The same goes for Soochow. After Cao's army was defeated in Chibi, Zhou Yu led his army to attack Jiangling where Cao Ren was stationed. It took a year and all kinds of strategies to inflict heavy losses on Cao's army. Cao Ren saw that It was impossible to take the initiative to abandon the city and retreat, so Soochow gained Nanjun.
It can be seen that in this era without artillery, it is very difficult to attack a strong city with external force. The best way to attack the city is to start from inside the city.
So Yang Qing decided to imitate Mr. Zhiduoxing Wu Yongwu Xuexue, the first military adviser in Water Margin. Although this man is a character in the storybook of Water Margin, the author Shi Naian once worked as a counselor under Zhang Shicheng, so the character in Water Margin The description of the war is extremely close to the real war in the Song and Ming Dynasties.
Therefore, Yang Qing thought that he could learn something from it. Although Wu Yong lacks strategic skills, there are many people who can be praised for his tactics, and he is especially good at attacking fortresses. This man's siege record is considered top-notch in the Water Margin, and even compared with the Yiying counselor in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it is very impressive. of.
Before the Great Juyi, Wu Yong had already achieved impressive results in conquering big cities such as Gaotangzhou, Qingzhou, Damingfu, etc. He was extremely good at defeating cities through the strategy of internal and external cooperation, and his method of using internal and external cooperation was not single, and he used unique tricks. They often come out, either sending people to sneak into the city first, or capturing one or two defenders to open the city gate, or pretending to be reinforcements to trick the city gate into opening, etc.
Therefore, Yang Qing suggested to Zhuge Liang that if he was determined to capture Chencang, he must adopt a strategy of combining inside and outside. He told Zhuge Liang Wu Yong's various tricks to break the city, and reminded Zhuge Liang that if he adopts one or two methods, he must make preparations in advance.
After Zhuge Liang read Yang Qing's reply, he was also quite surprised by the art of combining inside and outside that he offered. Especially, the letter also contained one or two destructive tricks, which made Zhuge Liang stunned. He immediately summoned Yang Qing back to Hanzhong and cursed him. The impulse of a meal.
However, if Yang Qing knew that Zhuge Liang blamed him for being too vicious, he would definitely complain. These strategies were all thought up by Wu Yong, and he just learned from them.
Besides, fighting on the battlefield should be done in every possible way. As long as these destructive tricks are not used on the common people, it is normal to do it occasionally.
However, Zhuge Liang has always been upright in his military use, and even when facing enemies such as Wei Bing, he had a somewhat benevolent heart. Therefore, he abandoned those underhanded methods and only used the trick of sending people to sneak into Chencang City first.
It's just that in the past two or three months, the Wei army has been very guarded in Chencang. Everyone entering the city has to be registered, checked, and searched. Therefore, the effect of sending people to sneak into Chencang is not very good. Until now, it has only been close to a hundred people.
"Prime Minister, there are only about ninety people who have infiltrated Chencang so far, and the guards who have been lurking in the city for many years can only provide some weapons, so Min thinks that we need to find another way to combine the inside and the outside."
In the mansion camp on Xitan Mountain, Zhuge Liang was convening the generals to discuss sending troops to Chencang. Wei Min first reported to him the internal arrangements.
After Zhuge Liang pondered for a moment, he said with a smile: "It doesn't matter. The method of integrating internal and external forces is just a trial. Since the current effect is not good, let the internal forces stay put for the time being and wait until my army reaches the gate of Chencang City before we make further calculations."
"promise."
Zhuge Liang looked at everyone and continued: "Everyone, I have gone to the emperor to ask for orders to send troops. The emperor's answer will be sent to Hanzhong in the near future, so the day for our army to go north to attack Chencang is coming soon.
Although the Wei army on the eastern front was defeated by the Wu army in Wancheng, Sun Quan sent people to report that Sima Yi in Jingzhou was still intensifying his troops and controlling the water army, and seemed to be on the verge of a comeback. Therefore, the Wei army on the eastern front was still being contained by the Wu army. We can go north with confidence. . "
Due to the current transportation conditions, although the Han and Wu families were willing to cooperate in the attack on Wei, they could not fully achieve the effect of sending troops at the same time.
Just like the Wu-Wei attack this time, when the news of Soochow's victory at Shiting reached the middle of Shu, it was already a full month after the war. Therefore, many people were worried that sending troops when the war on the Eastern Front was over. A weak situation.
Fortunately, Cao Wei still planned to fight another battle with Soochow, which made everyone feel relieved and decided to launch the second Northern Expedition in accordance with the previous deployment.
