"Prime Minister, give the order."
"Please give the order, Prime Minister."
"Prime Minister, despite your orders, we will march forward to the death."
...
In the meeting hall, all the generals were eager to fight and asked for a fight one after another.
The great victory in the first half of the year greatly enhanced the confidence of everyone in Ji Han. Seeing Soochow's great victory and catching up, everyone hoped to win another great victory at the end of the year and completely defeat the Wu people.
What's more, the generals have been preparing for months. They are already gearing up and ready to go. They have to go north to explore the reality of the pass.
Zhuge Liang saw that his army was ready, nodded slightly, and said loudly: "Generals, listen to the order. The primary purpose of this Northern Expedition to Guanzhong is to capture Chencang. However, this attack is not a strong attack, but a siege and reinforcements. The first priority is to annihilate the city. The main force of the Wei army."
"Zhao Yun, Deng Zhi." Zhuge Liang paused and began to order generals.
Zhao and Deng quickly responded: "The general is here."
"I order you two to be the vanguard of the army. Make preparations these days. When the emperor's edict is issued, you will immediately lead the right army of ten thousand people to march directly from Chencang Road to Chencang."
Zhao and Deng said in unison: "Take the order."
"Guan Xing, Jiang Wei." Zhuge Liang named the two generals again.
Guan and Jiang clasped their fists and responded, "The end will be here."
"You two are the generals of the Chinese army. In this Northern Expedition, I will bring the Chinese army to march next. You two must also be prepared."
Guan Xing and Jiang Wei looked at each other with joy in their eyes and responded in unison: "No."
"The rest of the generals are stationed in Hanzhong as backup." Zhuge Liang ordered the others.
At this time, Gao Xiang, the commander-in-chief of the left army, saw that he had no part in this expedition, and hurriedly said: "Prime Minister, will it be a little short to only lead the right army and the central army? The general is also willing to go with the army."
After several months of recuperation, the armies that suffered losses in the first half of the year have all been replenished. At present, Zhao Yun's right army has recovered from nearly 7,000 to more than 10,000, and the Chinese army has expanded to more than 25,000 after absorbing surrendered troops and replenishing new recruits.
Of course, the 25,000 central army includes 5,000 casual cavalry, 3,000 company crossbowmen, 7,000 tiger-step middle camp, 6,000 tiger-step rear camp, and 4,000 people under Liao Hua's command. The tiger-step rear camp was where Zhuge Liang returned before. The newly formed battalion after arriving in Chengdu is basically composed of new soldiers, and Jiang Wei is currently the commander of the battalion.
Therefore, the total number of the central and right armies attacking Chencang in this Northern Expedition was 30,000. The number of troops was neither too large nor too small. It was the maximum number that Zhuge Liang could come up with under the current supply of food and grass.
In addition, through Wang Ping's efforts these days, Yang Qing's rear army, the Wudang Fei Army, has now reached 10,000 and has become the main force of the Han army.
Today's Jihan is very different from what it was five or six years ago. After Zhuge Liang and others' hard work and continuous military victories, the territory and population have increased significantly.
So today, the total strength of the Han army has finally returned to more than 100,000 people. Although it is not as good as the peak period before the 24th year of Jian'an, the mobile strength of the Han army that can be used to conquer Cao Wei has increased compared with the first half of the year. some.
At present, Ji Han sent nearly 14,000 troops in the direction of Liangzhou, including Wei Yan's 10,000 advance troops and 4,000 troops under Chen Shi. Of course, the tens of thousands of Qiang and Hu soldiers who surrendered were not included.
Yang Qing's Yongzhou had no less than 20,000 troops on the ground. Liao Hua, the governor of Guangwei, had four to five thousand men. Wu Yi also had more than 4,000 men in Anding County, and the state soldiers directly under Yang Qing had 4,000 men. , the total number of county soldiers in various counties was eight or nine thousand.
In addition, Wei Yan still had 2,000 former troops stationed in Tianshui, and 4,000 left troops were stationed at Qishan Fort. Calculating this, Ji Han deployed no less than 26,000 troops in Yongzhou.
As for the strength of the Han army on the front line in Hanzhong, it is even greater. There are 21,000 central troops, 10,000 rear troops, 10,000 right troops, 5,000 left troops, plus 10,000 Hanzhong county soldiers. A total of fifty-six thousand people.
Therefore, Ji Han's total force in the direction of Wei was more than 90,000 people. Excluding the guard troops in various places, the force of the five armies in the front, rear, left and right sides responsible for field battles totaled more than 70,000 people. Basically, it was the same as before the first Northern Expedition. Field strength remained flat.
In addition, Li Yan had no less than 30,000 troops in Jiangzhou and Yong'an. Li Hui's troops in Nanzhong also numbered 8,000 or 9,000. The troops guarding Yizhou counties and defending Chengdu were also about 10,000.
Therefore, Ji Han's current total strength should be more than 140,000. This is the result of Zhuge Liang's controlled military expansion. If he does not consider the people's strength, the total strength of the Han army can become even higher.
In the original history, Ji Han's total military strength at the time of his demise was 110,000, so the current army of more than 140,000 is considered normal. After all, Ji Han's national strength at this time is far from what it was at the time of its demise.
Zhuge Liang smiled and replied: "Thirty thousand people are enough. Our food and grass can only support this few people. What's more, Yang Mingzhi of Yongzhou will also send troops to attack the northern part of Guanzhong, so our troops in the Northern Expedition are not small." .
Besides, Hanzhong is the foundation of our Northern Expedition. There must be no room for failure, and it needs to be heavily guarded. Although you are sitting in the rear, your responsibilities are not unimportant, and you must not ignore them. "
"Yes, I understand." Gao Xiang said with cupped hands.
Zhuge Liang then gave an order to Ma Su, the prefect of Hanzhong: "You Chang, I will leave the army's food and fodder to you for transportation."
"Yes, Prime Minister, don't worry, I will ensure that there is enough food and grass on the front line." Ma Su replied confidently.
"Okay, let's stop the discussion here today. You all go back and prepare. As soon as the emperor's edict comes, we can start the second Northern Expedition."
Everyone stood up, bowed and said, "I will obey the Prime Minister's order."
More than ten days later, the Han Emperor Liu Chan, who was in Chengdu, issued an edict agreeing to Zhuge Liang's second Northern Expedition.
Zhuge Liang immediately ordered the Hanzhong armies to act according to the plan. Zhao Yun and Deng Zhi led 10,000 right-wing troops to set off first, and he, Yang Yi, Guan Xing, Jiang Wei and other central army generals followed behind.
He also sent an order to Shanggui to Yang Qing, ordering him to raise troops to attack Qixian, Qixian and other places at the right time to contain the Wei army stationed in the northern part of Guanzhong under Zhang He and Dai Ling.
In order to build up momentum and confuse the Wei army, the Han army threatened to raise 100,000 troops and attack in two lines from Chencang Road and Baoxie Road. Of course, there were only a few Hanzhong County soldiers on Baoxie Road and they planted banners at Baogukou and Chiya to act as suspicion. Zhuge Liang and others concentrated their forces to capture Chencang.
The news reached Guanzhong. Although Cao Zhen and others were well prepared, they still did not dare to be careless at this time, because they suffered a defeat on the eastern front, which made Emperor Wei very angry. If they were defeated again here, who knows what they would face. serious consequence.
Therefore, Cao Zhen immediately ordered Guo Huai, Fei Yao, Qin Ji and others to take strict precautions and defend Chencang according to the previous deployment. At the same time, he sent more scouts to the depths of Baoxie Road to find out the strength of the Han army.
Just as Chencang's offensive and defensive battle was about to begin, Yang Qing, who was far away in Longyou, had a headache at the moment.
Originally, he had received Zhuge Liang's order to lead his troops eastward and cross Longkou to contain Zhang He and others, but he did not want two sudden letters to disrupt his deployment.
