Time flew by, and three days passed in the blink of an eye. That morning, outside the west gate of Wugong, there were banners and war drums beating, and nearly 30,000 Han troops were in full armor and ready to go, waiting for the military order to set off.
Yang Qing and Guan Xing stood by Zhuge Liang's side to see him off, while Zhao Yun, Jiang Wei and others slowly followed behind.
Zhuge Liang smiled and said: "Mingzhi, Anguo, I won't belabor the follow-up matters. With you two guarding the pass, the emperor and I can feel at ease."
Although we, the Han, Soochow, and the Puppet Wei have been at war with each other for the past year and have wasted countless resources, the Puppet Wei has a big business after all, and its national power is far more prosperous than ours and Soochow. Therefore, you two should not be careless and be careful with the Wei army. Raise troops to invade. "
"Yes, Prime Minister, don't worry. The victory that our army finally obtained will not be taken back by the Wei army." Yang Qing said firmly.
Guan Xing replied with the same resolute expression: "Yes, Prime Minister, as long as my brother and I are here, you can just return to Hanzhong in peace and rest. If Cao Zhen and the others really dare to invade, my brother and I will definitely kill them to pieces." .”
"Haha, what An Guo said is really like his father!" Zhuge Liang laughed heartily.
After Yang Qing laughed along with him, he asked again: "By the way, Prime Minister, you said you would transfer the Wudang Feijun to garrison in Guanzhong. When will you give the order?"
In the past three days, Yang Qing and Zhuge Liang discussed the strategy for the next stage several times. They not only exchanged opinions on how to arrange the defense of Guanzhong, but also gave a thorough explanation of farming, business development, and military expansion in the two states of Yongliang.
They both agreed that this year the Han army launched two Northern Expeditions in succession. Although they achieved brilliant results, the depletion of national power was not small. Therefore, unless there is a major change in the world situation next year, Ji Han will not launch the third Northern Expedition. Three Northern Expeditions, so in the next one or two years, Jihan's side will mainly focus on recuperation.
However, Cao Wei will definitely not let Ji Han get his wish easily. They have lost soldiers, generals, cities and territory during this period, and they will definitely find ways to make up for it.
Therefore, after much thought, Zhuge Liang still felt that the troops in Yang Qing's hands were somewhat insufficient, and decided to transfer the Wudang Fei Army to garrison in Guanzhong.
The Wudang Feijun was subordinate to the rear army in the Northern Expedition, and Yang Qing still held the position of rear commander, so it was very appropriate for the Wudang Feijun to be transferred to Guanzhong for defense.
"It's definitely too late this year. When spring comes next year, let Wang Ping lead the Wudang Flying Army northward. They are all your old subordinates. You will be very comfortable in using them. This way, Guanzhong's defense will be more secure." Zhuge Liang said.
Yang Qing nodded. Zhuge Liang continued: "There is another purpose in moving the Wudang Fei Army to go north. There are quite a lot of troops stationed in the Han Army at the moment, and the pressure on food and grass is too great. The Wudang Fei Army going north to eat can also relieve the pressure on Youchang. He A lot of bitterness has been poured into me in the past few months."
"Prime Minister, the pressure on Youchang's side has been reduced, but the pressure on my side has increased. Isn't this a bit unfair?" Yang Qing said jokingly.
Zhuge Liang smiled slightly and said, "Who said you are stronger than You Chang?"
As soon as this sentence came out, Yang Qing was speechless. After all, he could not falsely say that his ability was not as good as Ma Su.
Guan Xing, who was next to him, saw that Yang Qing was choked by Zhuge Liang and was speechless. He wanted to laugh but was afraid of offending the other person, so he turned his head and suppressed his laughter without making a sound.
But Yang Qing, who had very good eyesight, noticed something strange about him and said angrily: "Anguo, just laugh if you want, be careful not to injure yourself internally."
As soon as these words came out, Guan Xing could no longer hold back and laughed loudly. Zhao Yun, Jiang Wei and others behind saw him smiling so weirdly, and they all secretly wondered what he was up to.
"Okay, let's just send him here. It's already late and it's time to set off." After Guan Xing stopped laughing, Zhuge Liang stopped and said.
Yang Qing said, "Yes." He turned around and shouted to Zhang Yi, Liu Yin and others, "All the officials in Yongzhou have listened to the order and will send off the prime minister and the triumphant army."
"We are waiting to see off the Prime Minister and the triumphant army!" Everyone bowed and saluted under the leadership of Yang Qing.
Zhuge Liang smiled and nodded, got on the carriage, and said to Yang Yi outside the carriage: "Mr. Wei, send the order, the army is on its way."
"promise."
No
After a while, the military order spread throughout the army, and nearly 30,000 soldiers slowly looked westward under the leadership of their respective generals. They wanted to rush to Yicheng first, and then return to Hanzhong via Baoxie Road.
When the news reached Chang'an, although Cao Zhen, Sima Yi, Guo Huai and others were unwilling to accept it, they had no choice but to accept it. In addition, deep down in their hearts, they were secretly relieved.
In the past two months, the Wei army had suffered heavy losses and was struggling to hold on. The withdrawal of the main force of the Han army to Hanzhong may not be a bad thing for them. At least they don't have to worry every day, fearing that they will repeat the disastrous defeat in the first half of the year.
Although the three places of martial arts are currently lost, at least most of the cities in Chang'an and Guanzhong have been preserved, and Cao Zhen and others can barely explain themselves to Emperor Wei.
Three days later, Zhuge Liang's army arrived at Yi County and entered Baoxie Road. Thirteen days later, the army successfully returned to Hanzhong under the support of Hanzhong County soldiers led by Ma Su himself.
After returning to the Mianyang camp, Zhuge Liang did not take much rest, but did not waste a moment. He wrote a memorial in detail about the process and results of the Northern Expedition, and sent a horse back to Chengdu to report to Emperor Liu Chan. Know.
The Northern Expedition lasted for more than two months. A total of 40,000 Han troops launched a fierce offensive from the north and south against Guanzhong occupied by Cao Wei.
Although the situation was not opened up on the southern front in the early stage, after Yang Qing's continuous guerrilla attacks on the northern front, the well-defended Wei army was able to be mobilized, and a gap was finally opened in the southern Wei River defense line.
During the entire Second Northern Expedition, the Han army killed nearly 10,000 people including Wei generals Wang Shuang, Bian Bao, and Dun En, captured more than 4,000 Wei soldiers, and seized countless war horses, armor, swords and other military supplies.
The Guanzhong soldiers and horses commanded by Cao Zhen lost almost 20,000 horses, including the sergeants who escaped and disappeared. The losses were not heavy.
In addition, the Han army also successfully regained the three key passes of Wugong, Yicheng and Chencang, laying a foothold for the next Northern Expedition. With these three bridgeheads, the Han army no longer has to worry about the difficulty of safely transporting grain and grass from the rear to the Guanzhong front line, and the Han army's logistical pressure is greatly reduced.
Although the results of this Northern Expedition cannot be compared with the first Northern Expedition, if we include Liangzhou, which was recovered during the battle between Wei and Wu in the Shiting area, the Han army in this Northern Expedition can still be called a brilliant result.
After all, the Han army itself suffered only eight or nine thousand casualties, half of which were recruits recruited by Yang Qing in Anling, Maoling and other places. The elite veterans only suffered casualties of less than 5,000 people. The Han army was already making a big profit. .
The news that the main force of the Han army had returned victoriously reached Chengdu, and everyone in the court was overjoyed. Ji Han had achieved two major victories within a year, and everyone from the nobles to the common people were delighted and ecstatic.
The people in Chengdu spontaneously came outside the palace to shout long live the mountain. Later, more and more people gathered, reaching tens of thousands. The Yulin army guarding the palace gate was shocked, fearing that the people would attack the palace, and quickly reported it to the emperor.
After receiving the report, Liu Chan not only did not issue an edict to stop the expulsion, but instead went to the palace wall with Queen Zhang to accept the worship of the people and celebrated the hard-won victory with the subjects, which showed the demeanor of a wise king.
The king and the people enjoyed themselves together until late at night. Early on the next morning, Liu Chan set up court, gathered civil and military officials to discuss the matter of rewards, and sent envoys to Soochow to report the victory.
