Chapter 278 Women’s Clothes as a Gift to Pi and the Cavalry Flag Raised
A bitter smile appeared on Mi Yang's lips, not just because Zhang Liao refused to fight, but because Zhang Liao's refusal to fight would lead to a dilemma that was very unfavorable to the Han army.
This kind of dilemma was often encountered by Zhuge Liang during his Northern Expedition in history.
That means that the current Han army cannot fight a protracted war.
The two states of Jing and Yi currently owned by the Han Dynasty appear to be very large from the map, with quite a few counties under their jurisdiction.
However, the four Jingnan counties in Jingzhou and the four Nanzhong counties in Yizhou are mostly backward areas with poor development.
Not to mention how much national power these eight counties could contribute to the Battle of Fancheng, it is a blessing that they did not hold back and need support from the imperial court.
The combined territory of these eight counties already occupies half of the territory of Jingyi Prefecture.
As for Shu County, which is currently the most prosperous among the two prefectures of Jing and Yi, it is just an ordinary large county when compared with the counties in the Central Plains and Hebei Province.
With such a huge gap in national power, Zhang Liao, who can receive a steady stream of Cao Wei's national power, can easily lead the 30,000 Cao Wei army to defeat the Han army outside Yancheng as long as he does not make some fatal mistakes.
last year.
For the Han army outside Fancheng, it does not even take a year, and it will take at most half a year for the Han army outside Fancheng to retreat.
Because the number of Han troops outside Fan City has reached 60,000 at present, the food and grass consumed by these 60,000 troops in a month is at least 60,000 shi.
If it weren't for the good harvest in Jingzhou this year and the large amount of corn captured by Mi Yang by taking Wudang, the Han army would probably have no choice but to retreat in three months.
The combat effectiveness of the Wei army's central army was already strong, and with the city as its backing, with tens of thousands of Wei troops forming camps to defend themselves, it does not mean that the Han army would not be able to do anything to them.
No matter how strong the fortress is, no matter how good the enemy is, they can be slowly worn down.
It's just a matter of time.
But the big man with a weak national power is short of time now.
Therefore, on the first day when Zhang Liao led his army to Yancheng, Guan Yu signaled Zhang Fei to go outside the camp to quarrel and lure the enemy.
It's not that Guan Yu is eager to make meritorious deeds, it's just that as a commander, he knows very well where the biggest weakness of the Han army is.
Faced with this dilemma, either the Han army could obtain a large amount of food and grass in a short period of time, or the central army of Cao Wei led by Zhang Liao should be mobilized as soon as possible to fight them decisively.
But obviously, from Zhang Fei's unsuccessful return today, it can be seen that Zhang Liao was determined not to engage in battle with the Han army.
Zhang Liao wanted to rely on Cao Wei's strong national power to defeat the 60,000 Han troops outside Fan City.
Just like Sima Yi in history.
However, Zhuge Liang, who had great mastery of strategic and tactical thinking in history, could not come up with a good idea when faced with the tortoise-like old thief Sima. What clever plan could he come up with in a moment?
When everyone in the tent saw a wry smile on Mi Yang's lips, a look of contemplation appeared on their faces, and the expectation in their eyes decreased.
But everyone felt relieved after thinking about it.
Although Mi Yang was famous for his good tricks in the past, no matter how good Mi Yang was, he would inevitably not be able to come up with good plans in a hurry.
Guan Yu saw that Mi Yang was immersed in thought and did not want to push him too much.
So he turned around and started discussing other military matters with the other ministers present.
Although Guan Yu really wanted Mi Yang to come up with a strategy for him and force Zhang Liao to come out and fight him, a good strategy takes time to figure out.
While Mi Yang was given time to think about his strategy, Guan Yu thought of discussing other matters with other ministers first.
Currently, in this military tent, in addition to the three generals Guan, Zhang, and Mi, there are also several ministers with high status.
Most of these ministers were brought by Liu Bei from Yizhou to serve as military counselors.
When Liu Bei went to Xiangyang a few days ago, he specially left these ministers in the big tent and asked them to plan for Guan Yu.
While Guan Yu was discussing military affairs with these ministers, one of the ministers reminded Guan Yu to be careful of the Wei army's guard Du Xi.
This minister was none other than Huang Quan, who Liu Bei had just appointed as the General of the Western Conquest.
Huang Quan was worshiped as General of the Western Conquest by Liu Bei, not only because of Huang Quan's reputation in Yizhou and because Liu Bei wanted to reward him to stabilize the people of Yizhou, but also because Liu Bei was thanking Huang Quan for his advice.
"Destroying Du Yi, Pu Hu, killing Xia Houyuan, and occupying Hanzhong are all based on the original plan."
During the Battle of Hanzhong, everyone in the world came to know Fazheng's strategy through that battle.
But many people have overlooked that it was Huang Quan who first proposed to Liu Bei the idea of occupying Hanzhong under Liu Bei's account.
It is true that Fazheng and Zhuge Liang were the biggest contributors to Liu Bei's victory in the Battle of Hanzhong, but Huang Quan's contribution in that battle cannot be ignored.
When Huang Quan talked about Du Xi, he informed everyone present in detail about the importance of Du Xi's role as a guard.
After Huang Quan's narration, everyone realized that Du Xi's position as an army guard was such an important one.
In fact, it is not surprising that Guan Yu and others did not know much about the position of the Guard of Cao Wei, because although the position of Guard of the Army was established by Cao Cao to supervise generals with different surnames, the position of Guard of the Army rarely appeared in the frontiers.
The reason is very simple. When Cao Cao was alive, the border areas were guarded by clan members as the main generals, so there was no need for any protective troops.
The "guards" of the Cao clan are usually called military advisors, and they are purely used to advise military aircraft.
At that time, the transmission of information was very limited, so even though Guan Yu had guarded Jingzhou for several years, although he knew about the role of a guard, he did not know very well that Du Xi's guard could sometimes have such great power.
The reason why Huang Quan knew this was that after Xiahou Yuan died in the Battle of Hanzhong and Zhang He was promoted as the temporary commander-in-chief of the Wei army, Du Xi served as Zhang He's army protector.
Of course, Huang Quan would send agents to investigate in detail the enemy's "second-in-command" who was close at hand.
After Huang Quan reminded this point, although Guan Yu and others had cautious expressions on their faces, they did not pay too much attention to it.
When Mi Yang on the side heard this, a hint of joy appeared on his face.
Although Mi Yang had been thinking about good strategies just now, his thoughts were not all about that.
According to Huang Quan's introduction, Cao Wei's position of guarding the army was similar to that of overseeing the army in later generations.
Now Du Xi is essentially an spy placed by Cao Pi beside Zhang Liao, and this spy can "rectify chaos" when necessary.
After learning this, some of Mi Yang's ideas instantly became clear.
Mi Yang immediately stood up and asked Huang Quan, "Gong Heng, how about this guy Du Xi?"
Guan Yu and others, who were still discussing military affairs, couldn't help but feel a little curious when they saw Mi Yang suddenly come out of deep thought and then stood up to ask Huang Quan such a question.
Could it be that Mi Yang has a plan in mind?
Huang Quan saw Mi Yang and asked him how Du Xi was doing. Although Huang Quan didn't understand Mi Yang's intentions for a while, he still replied:
"Du Xi is a man of great wisdom. Cao Cao used him very highly when he was still alive. He once ordered him to supervise the military affairs in Guanzhong and Hanzhong."
After hearing what Huang Quan said, Mi Yang's eyes flashed with disappointment - it seemed that there was nothing he could do about Du Xi.
But his disappointment was fleeting, because he couldn't plan the Du attack, so there was still Cao Pi.
After receiving Huang Quan's answer, Mi Yang immediately turned around and bowed to Guan Yu and Zhang Fei on the main seat:
"With Du Xi at Zhang Liao's side, the leader of the thirty thousand Wei army is actually Cao Pi."
Although Mi Yang's words were addressed to Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, everyone in the tent heard them.
After hearing what Mi Yang said, everyone in the tent had a look of contemplation on their faces.
Then among the people in the big tent, Guan Yu and Huang Quan were the first to show joy on their faces.
With a smile on his face, Guan Yu looked at Mi Yang and stroked his beard and asked, "What does Zi Sheng mean by saying that I can use Cao Pi to induce the rebel army to fight?"
Seeing that Guan Yu understood what he was thinking, Mi Yang bowed with a smile and replied: "Of course."
"The position of protecting the army against Wei may prevent Cao Pi from losing military power, but everything has its pros and cons, which also puts Zhang Liao's constraints on him."
"Perhaps Zhang Liao is a wise and brave general who failed to fall into our army's trick of luring the enemy. But what about Cao Pi?"
Guan Yu's inquiry and Mi Yang's explanation made everyone in the tent understand what Mi Yang was thinking.
It's not that Zhang Fei's plan to provoke his generals was bad. The reason why he couldn't succeed was because the opponent's general was a wise and brave general like Zhang Liao.
But what if Zhang Fei’s idea of humiliating and provoking generals was applied to Cao Pi?
Let's not talk about Cao Pi's resourcefulness. Let's just say that Cao Pi's identity is different from Zhang Liao's.
Zhang Liao can be regarded as a general at most, and he is also a reduced general, so he may be able to face humiliation, but Cao Pi is the emperor of Cao Wei.
As the emperor of a country, if you do not react when you are wantonly humiliated by an enemy general, you will lose your prestige as an emperor.
It will even have a very bad impact on the morale of the military and the people of the newly established country of Cao Wei.
Didn’t Cao Wei always pride himself on the Zhengshuo of China and look down on the barbarian countries in the south?
As a result, the barbarian country now came to attack and wantonly humiliated Cao Pi, the Emperor Zhengshuo of China.
If the so-called Emperor Zhengshuo of China does not react, then the newly established Cao Wei will undoubtedly become the laughing stock of the world.
From this aspect alone, Cao Pi would never remain indifferent.
Moreover, given Cao Pi's petty and face-saving character, if the Han army did something to humiliate him, he would most likely be unable to resist sending troops.
Referring to Cao Pi who was wantonly played by Sun Quan in history, after he learned the truth, during the years he was in power, he would beat Sun Quan whenever he had trouble, and completely regarded the advice of Jia Xu and Liu Ye as farts.
And the most important thing is that the Han army wants to humiliate Cao Pi, and under the current situation, it is completely possible to achieve it.
Because Cao Pi is in Wancheng now!
Who told him to have nothing to do, just follow Cao Cao's example and conquer personally.
Zhang Fei, who was a master of general skills, stood up from his seat happily after hearing Mi Yang's suggestion.
Zhang Fei came to Mi Yang and slapped Mi Yang's shoulder hard several times with his generous palm. Zhang Fei's slaps on the shoulder almost made Mi Yang cry out in pain.
Fortunately, Zhang Fei saw the discomfort on Mi Yang's face in time, and then he stopped patting his shoulders and said to Mi Yang with a smile: "You kid, you have my style."
Zhang Fei was now looking at Mi Yang with the same eyes as he looked at a fellow-traveler.
Feidao is not alone!
At this moment, the faces of other people in the big tent also showed joy.
Mi Yang's idea may not necessarily succeed, but at least he has come up with a new way out for the Han army that is currently in trouble.
Just happy to be happy, Huang Quan who was present still asked Mi Yang: "What method is General Zuo going to use to anger Cao Pi?"
Huang Quan's words raised the common question in everyone's mind at this moment.
Cao Pi is currently in Wancheng and not outside Yancheng, so naturally Zhang Fei's method of "humiliating the elite" cannot be used.
So what method should the Han army use now to humiliate and anger Cao Pi?
Facing Huang Quan's question, Mi Yang already had a plan in mind.
Now that Cao Pi has experienced being deceived by Meng Da, his psychological endurance should have improved to a certain extent, so ordinary methods may not be able to successfully anger him.
But there is a way that is definitely possible.
"You can send a team of light cavalry to patrol Nanyang. Every time the light cavalry patrols a place, they shout these two sentences: "The thieves are as afraid of the Han as the tigers" and "This is really the behavior of women."
"Then I ordered people to spread the news everywhere, saying that our army has sent a women's clothing to Wancheng."
"There is no need for Cao Pi to receive this gift, as long as all the officials in Nanyang County know about it."
When Mi Yang finished explaining this method, everyone in the tent was stunned for a moment, and then a burst of hearty laughter erupted in the tent.
Even Huang Quan, who had always been serious about his words, couldn't help but smile and started laughing.
It's not that they were laughing too hard, it was that they felt extremely happy when they thought of Cao Pi's expression after hearing the news.
After laughing, everyone in the tent looked at Mi Yang with admiration.
This son is really the nemesis of the Cao family.
Just outside the Han army's camp outside Fancheng, when the generals were discussing forcing the Wei army to go to war, a small fleet was sailing quickly on the Han River not far away.
On one of the small ships in the small fleet, Guan Yan, who was several months pregnant, held her belly in her hands and came to the deck of the ship to breathe.
When the maid next to her saw Guan Yan like this, she quickly followed her around worriedly and waited on her carefully.
When Guan Yan saw the maid's performance, a smile appeared on her face.
As Guan Yu's daughter, she has learned some martial arts since she was a child, and her body is not delicate, so there is no need to be so careful.
But Guan Yan also knew that the maid cared about her, so she didn't say anything.
She just stood by the female wall, looking in the direction of Fancheng.
Looking in that direction, Guan Yan's eyes showed warmth.
There, the two most important men in her life were waiting for her.
After staring in that direction for a long time, Guan Yan unconsciously looked towards a building boat in front of her.
Because the distance was not far, Guan Yan could clearly see the sergeant responsible for guarding the ship.
The appearance of those sergeants was different from that of ordinary Han Chinese. Judging from their attire, they looked a bit like the legendary aliens.
Guan Yan raised her head and looked at the flag hanging high on the ship, with a look of contemplation in her eyes.
The following words were written on the flag hanging high.
"Han hussars riding generals' horses".
The four most important generals of the Han Dynasty are about to gather outside Fancheng. Is the sky going to change in Nanyang?
If I can be completely fine tomorrow, I will be more anxious at midnight.
(End of chapter)
This chapter has been completed!