The sixteenth day of the first month of the fourth year of the Han Dynasty (AD 243).
Chang'an, Prime Minister's Mansion.
Long Shi Jiang Wan hurriedly walked into Prime Minister Zhuge Liang's study. Prime Minister Zhuge Liang, who was busy, heard footsteps and knew someone was coming in, but he did not stop what he was doing.
"Prime Minister!"
Jiang Wan approached, his voice a little anxious, and he said: "Let's take action."
Hear the words,
Zhuge Liang's brush paused while he was writing. It was a little later than expected. He thought about it in his mind, then put down the brush, picked up the feather fan and shook it gently.
"When?" Zhuge Liang asked.
"Yesterday at noon." Jiang Wan replied.
"Prime Minister!" Jiang Wan then asked: "How should we deal with it next?"
Jiang Wan seemed a little anxious, but Zhuge Liang was calm and calm, as if it was nothing serious.
"Step by step,
Everything is as usual." Zhuge Liang smiled,
Then he stood up from his seat, looked outside and said, "It's almost time. I have to go to the East Palace to see His Highness."
"No!"
Jiang Wan responded and immediately withdrew.
After Jiang Wan left, Zhuge Liang simply tidied up and then headed towards Weiyang Palace.
It's two o'clock in the morning.
East Palace.
"I have met the Prime Minister!" Prince Liu Chen saluted Zhuge Liang. This was what Liu Chan had told him. He must salute the Prime Minister and not act like a prince.
"Your Highness!"
Zhuge Liang said politely, and then the two of them took their seats respectively.
"The Prime Minister came a little late today," Liu Chen said.
In the past, the prime minister would always enter the palace at the first quarter of the hour. Today, it was not until the second quarter that the prime minister arrived late.
Liu Chen asked with concern: "What happened, Prime Minister?"
"Report to Your Highness!" Zhuge Liang nodded slightly and said: "Some things have been delayed for a while, and I would like to ask Your Highness to atone for my sins."
"The Prime Minister is joking;" Liu Chen waved his hand and said, "The Prime Minister is busy with state affairs.
You have to come here to give lectures to me every day, it’s hard work for the Prime Minister.”
Zhuge Liang is very satisfied. Liu Chen is now similar to the emperor when he was young. He is very respectful to others, especially to the veterans in the court.
"Your Highness!" Zhuge Liang said with a smile: "Before today's lecture, I have something I would like to hear your Highness's opinion on."
"Prime Minister, please speak!" Liu Chen said.
Zhuge Liang shook his feather fan slightly, then frowned slightly, and then said: "If Cao Wei sends troops to attack Wu at this time... Your Highness, how do you think I, a big man, should respond?"
"Cao Wei wants to conquer Wu?" Liu Chen did not answer directly, but asked instead.
"Yeah!" Zhuge Liang nodded slightly and said: "A few months ago, Cao Wei raised 150,000 troops and divided them into three groups to attack Wu..."
Liu Chen gently lifted his chin with his small hand and thought for a moment.
"I believe that Cao Wei's intention in attacking Wu is not in Jiangdong;" Liu Chen shook his head and said calmly: "What he really wants to attack...should be Hefei."
Zhuge Liang was stunned for a moment.
Cao Wei's attack on Wu actually happened a few months ago. Not long after Liu Chan's western expedition, Cao Rui claimed to have raised 150,000 troops.
The troops divided into three groups to attack Wu, and threatened to destroy Soochow in order to avenge the loss of Hefei.
However, although the Wei army did have a large army going south, it was so slow that Zhuge Liang did not receive the news until today that Cao Wei had taken action.
In other words, Cao Wei's attack on Wu took several months from sending troops to officially starting the war.
Moreover, as Liu Chen said, his goal is Hefei.
Yesterday at noon, the three armies of Cao and Wei moved simultaneously. Lujiang Governor Wen Qin led 30,000 troops to attack Jiangxia; Sima Yi led 50,000 troops out of Jingzhou, intending to cross the river; Grand Sima Cao Shuang led 100,000 infantry to attack Hefei.
Zhuge Liang was a little curious and asked Liu Chen: "Your Highness, what do you think that Cao Wei is interested in Hefei?"
"Return to the Prime Minister!" Liu Chen said: "Cao Wei and our Han Dynasty suffered a series of defeats. The Battle of Jinzhong has severely damaged his vitality. In addition, Sun Quan suffered a heavy setback in the Battle of Hefei."
"Now Cao Wei does not have the strength to attack Soochow, so their goal is naturally Hefei."
Although Liu Chen is only eleven years old this year, he often listens to Liu Chan telling him about the general trend of the world, and Mr. Taixue also tells him some things between the Three Kingdoms from time to time.
Now that he heard that Cao Wei wanted to destroy Soochow, Liu Chen's first reaction was that this was impossible.
Zhuge Liang nodded, secretly praising the prince, and then asked: "According to your highness's wishes, what should I, a big man, do now to respond?"
Zhuge Liang just wanted to test Liu Chen, but Liu Chen didn't even think about it and said, "Send troops immediately to contain Cao Wei."
"Oh???" Zhuge Liang asked: "Why?"
"Your Majesty is far away in the Western Regions. Wu and Wei are at war again at this time. Shouldn't I, a big man, sit back and watch the tigers fight and reap the benefits?"
Liu Chen secretly said to himself, Prime Minister wants to test me again?
"Return to the Prime Minister!" Liu Chen said: "Hefei is in Wu, and Cao Wei cannot sleep at night, and his food is not satisfying. If Hefei is in Wei, Cao Wei can deal with my big man wholeheartedly."
"Your Highness is brilliant!" Zhuge Liang praised.
Liu Chen's answer was indeed beyond Zhuge Liang's expectations. Although he had known that the prince was smart over the years, he was still just an ignorant boy after all.
But this answer made Zhuge Liang's eyes light up. It was really rare to have such insight at such a young age.
There is hope for the revival of the Han Dynasty.
If the emperor had an unexpected encounter, traveled to the future, and gained the power of prophecy, then the prince's wisdom can make the future of the great man even brighter.
"The Prime Minister has given you too much praise..." Liu Chen said with some embarrassment: "This is all due to the Prime Minister's good teaching, so I can only understand the basics."
Zhuge Liang certainly agreed with Liu Chen's suggestion.
After giving lectures with Liu Chen in the East Palace for an hour, Zhuge Liang left Weiyang Palace, feeling very good along the way.
After leaving Weiyang Palace, he ordered his attendants: "Go to the Cavalry General's Mansion."
"No!" the attendant responded.
After a stick of incense, the chariots and cavalry arrived at the general’s mansion.
In the study room.
Chariot General Wu Yi and Prime Minister Zhuge Liang had just sat down when Zhuge Liang raised his hands and said: "Old General, it seems that you have to go through a hard trip."
"Good thing, good thing!" Wu Yi said with a smile: "I am worried that I have no place to stretch my muscles, hahaha."
"Old General!" Zhuge Liang said: "This time the old general has arrived in Hongnong...don't he have to quickly attack Hongnong County?"
"???" Wu Yi was stunned.
In fact, Zhuge Liang had discussed this matter with him a few months ago. Now that the Emperor is leading his troops on the Western Expedition, there are not many generals in the court, especially the younger generation of generals. They have all gone with the Emperor on the Western Expedition.
p>
The rest, such as Wei Yan, Chen Dao, Ma Dai, Liao Hua, Wang Ping, Yang Tongshan and others, are all stationed in important border towns.
However, a few months ago, Cao Wei threatened to destroy Wu. Zhuge Liang naturally knew that Cao Wei wanted to take advantage of the Han Emperor's westward expedition and the Han Wuxia's eastward visit to attack Soochow.
Of course, Zhuge Liang had already guessed that Cao Wei's goal was Hefei.
As Prince Liu Chen said, the current Cao Wei does not have the strength to complete the war to destroy Wu. Not to mention that Cao Wei can recruit good warriors. Except for Sima Yi and Cao Shuang, there are not many generals who can take the lead.
Although among the Three Kingdoms, Soochow is the worst in terms of strength.
However, even the worst Soochow has more than 200,000 soldiers and horses at the moment, and there is a defensive line of the Yangtze River. The Wei army is not used to water warfare, and it is not that easy to destroy Wu.
Even the eleven-year-old prince knew that if Hefei was in the hands of Soochow, Cao Wei would never be at peace, and he would be worried about Soochow sending naval troops northward at any time.
Therefore, for the current Han Dynasty, Hefei is definitely more beneficial in the hands of Soochow than in the hands of Cao Wei.
Once Cao Wei re-captures Hefei, they will naturally send heavy troops to guard Hefei and block the Dongwu navy south of the Yangtze River and Huaihe River, so that Cao Wei can free up his hands to deal with the Han Dynasty.
Therefore, once Cao Wei attacks Hefei, the Han Dynasty will definitely send troops to contain Cao Wei.
However, Wu Yi is a little confused.
The last time they sent troops to Hongnong, whether it was Emperor Liu Chan or Prime Minister Zhuge Liang, they all asked him to work as a foreigner in Hongnong. They didn't need to actually fight, just put on a show and scare Cao Wei.
After all, as soon as Hongnong was defeated, Luoyang was exposed to the front of the Han army.
Once the Han army leaves Tongguan, Cao Wei will definitely focus on Hongnong to deal with the Han army.
"Are we going to capture Hongnong in this battle?" Wu Yi asked.
"That's right!" Zhuge Liang nodded and said: "This time Cao Wei sent troops to Hefei. Naturally, he felt that His Majesty was busy with the Western Expedition, and I, the great Han Wuxia, was looking eastward. If he still pretended to attack like last time, Cao Wei would definitely remain unmoved and continue to attack with all his strength.
Hefei."
"That's it!" Wu Yi said with a smile: "In that case, please prime minister to allocate some three-bow bed crossbows to me. If there are three-bow bed crossbows to complement each other, I will defeat Hongnong County."
"Okay!" Zhuge Liang agreed: "Liang will give the old general a hundred crossbows."
"Thank you!" Wu Yi was immediately overjoyed.
There are hundreds of three-bow crossbows to assist in the battle, and Hongnong County is easy to capture.
......
The twenty-first day of the first lunar month.
Hongnong County.
"Bold Wu Yi!" Wang Ling, the prefect of Hongnong, stood at the top of the city and shouted: "Why do you raise troops to invade the country?"
"Hahaha!"
Wu Yi heard the sound and laughed loudly and said: "Cao Wei usurped the Han Dynasty, not to mention Hongnong County, even the prefectures and counties in the world are all owned by our Han Dynasty, how can we invade the country?"
"Prefect Wang!" Wu Yi shouted loudly: "Now that our army is approaching, if you know the current affairs, you should surrender the city. If so, Wu will definitely serve as the emperor of tomorrow and protect the glory of the prefect."
"Bah!" Wang Ling said angrily: "As the governor of the Wei Dynasty, how can Wang surrender to you?"
As soon as Wang Ling finished speaking, he immediately ordered the arrows to be fired.
In an instant, hundreds of feather arrows shot down, but Wu Yi was naturally prepared. Just as the arrows were shot, a group of soldiers behind him used shields to block Wu Yi's face.
"Wang Ling!" Wu Yi continued to scold: "You don't know the current affairs, so you might as well go out of the city to fight Wu. Why are you hiding in your boudoir like a woman?"
"Hahaha!"
"Hahaha!"
After Wu Yi finished speaking, he laughed loudly, and the Han soldiers around him also laughed loudly. They wanted to anger Wang Ling with this.
Because Wu Yi once heard someone say that Wang Ling was petty.
"Wu Yi!" Wang Ling was immediately furious. Seeing his posture, he really wanted to go to the city to fight Wu Yi to the death. However, Pingxi General Xia Houba on the side quickly dissuaded him and said: "Prefect, calm down, Wu Yi just wants to make Wu Yi angry.
Prefect."
"Hmph!" Wang Ling said angrily: "How can Wang be afraid of an old man? Why don't Zhong Quan join me in killing the general?"
When Xiahou Ba heard this, he immediately panicked and said hurriedly: "Prefect!"
"Hongnong is related to the safety of our great Wei State. How can we lose big things because of small things?"
Xiahou Ba was still a little speechless. He didn't know what the emperor was thinking, and he actually sent such a thing to guard Hongnong.
"I have made up my mind!" Wang Ling roared: "I must kill Wu Yi today!"
Wang Ling did not take Xiahou Ba's dissuasion seriously. The general of the Han army opposite him was just a veteran general who was over sixty years old, and he was in his prime. Moreover, looking at the troops led by Wu Yi, the total number would never exceed 30,000.<
/p>
But Hongnong City is also guarded by 30,000 people.
Thirty thousand against thirty thousand, strong men against old age, the Wei army will definitely win.
What's more, he was already at odds with Xiahou Ba. Although Xiahou Ba was a member of the clan, he was not reused in the Wei court. Otherwise, he would not have been allowed to come to Hongnong as Wang Ling's deputy general.
"Prefect!" Xiahou Ba still tried to dissuade him: "If Hongnong is defeated, Luoyang will be in danger."
"Xiahou Ba!" Wang Ling said angrily: "I, Wang Ling, am the prefect of Hongnong. Do you want to teach me how to fight?"
Wu Yi, who was hundreds of steps away, seemed to see the commotion at the top of the city from a distance.
"Old General, look!" Yulin Colonel Jiang Bin pointed at the city and said with a smile: "This city will be destroyed."
"Hahaha!"
Wu Yi laughed, and immediately ordered his soldiers to shout again.
"Wang Ling, a common man, hides in his boudoir and dares not go to war. He is a coward!"
"Wang Ling, a common man, hides in his boudoir and dares not go to war. He is a coward!"
Tens of thousands of Han troops shouted in unison, which made Wang Ling very angry. Even if Xiahou Ba tried his best to dissuade him, he could not listen to a word.
"Kaicheng! Follow me out of the city to kill Wu Yi."
Wang Ling shouted loudly, but Xiahou Ba quickly pulled out the sword from his waist and scolded: "As a prefect of a county, you only care about your own personal honor and disgrace, regardless of the prosperity of the country."
"Xiahouba!" Wang Ling said angrily: "Do you want to rebel?"
"Come here!" Wang Ling glared at Xiahou Ba, and immediately ordered his men: "Bring this cholera soldier to the governor and capture him."
"No!"
In an instant, the surrounding soldiers swarmed up and helped Xiahou Ba into custody.
Xiahou Ba didn't expect this. Although Wang Ling didn't think highly of him on weekdays, he was still doing well on the surface.
This is actually no wonder Wang Ling, who made him unpopular in the court.
But at this moment, Xiahou Ba was really angry.
"Wang Ling!"
"As the governor of a county, do you vow to destroy the foundation of our great Wei Dynasty?"
But Wang Ling ignored him at all, and immediately asked the soldiers to escort Xiahou Ba to the prison. After Xiahou Ba was taken away, a junior high school officer asked without knowing the reason: "Prefect, are you going to fight in Kaicheng?"
However, Wang Ling glared at him and said angrily: "Do you really think that I, Wang Ling, can't hold my breath?"
"???"
The primary school student was stunned for a moment.
My heart says that you are messing with this place, why is that?
Didn't you just say that you were going to go out of the city and kill that old man Wu Yi?
Why did I regret it so quickly?
"Hold the city!" Wang Ling glanced at the Han army outside the city and said in a deep voice: "Don't let a single Han army stand in the city."
At this time, facing the harsh shouts outside the city, he seemed not to hear them. Instead, he raised his brows slightly and seemed to be in a good mood.
'Xiahou Ba, don't blame me!' Wang Ling sneered secretly: 'It's only your fault that you don't know the current affairs.'
Wu Yi didn't know what happened at the top of the city.
But he could tell that Wang Ling planned to hold on to the city and refuse to fight.
"Send the order!" Wu Yi looked at the Wei army at the top of the city and said coldly: "Get ready to attack the city!"
"No!"
A small school immediately agreed.
This place was only three to four hundred steps away from the city wall. After shouting to no avail, Wu Yi led his generals to retreat slowly, which made the Wei army at the head of Hongnong City overjoyed.
"Prefect, look!"
"The Han army withdrew."
Wang Ling took a closer look and saw that the Han army was indeed retreating, but he didn't understand. After struggling for so long, the Han army retreated like this?
No...Wu Yi didn't retreat, he retreated in an orderly manner...Wang Ling immediately became serious. He was also the governor of a county. He often encountered two armies fighting. This Wu Yi was retreating.
"Everyone is ready!" Wang Ling reminded: "The Han army is about to start attacking the city."
Just when his soldiers were stunned, they saw hundreds of three-bow bed crossbows rolled out in front of the Han army's formation. Hongnong County also had these things, but these soldiers all knew that the range of the Han army's bed crossbows was higher than that of the Wei army's bed crossbows.
In an instant, the soldiers of the Wei army couldn't help but become nervous.
At the same time, some soldiers hurriedly found shields.
Xiahou Ba, who was imprisoned, couldn't figure out why Wang Ling was still imprisoned just because he refused to listen to dissuasion?
"The bastard harmed the country!"
"The bastard harmed the country!"
Xiahou Ba sighed and said that in his opinion, it might not be long before the Han army entered Hongnong City, but he never thought that Wang Ling, instead of leaving the city to duel with Wu Yi, was at the top of the city commanding soldiers to defend the city.
,
"Let it go!"
"Let it go, let it go!"
Wu Yi stood in front of the formation, constantly urging the crossbowmen to release arrows. The big man's three-bow crossbow was a multi-shot crossbow that could fire nearly fifty special feather arrows in a row.
Hundreds of crossbows can fire in volley, which means they can fire nearly 5,000 feather arrows at one time.
"Escape!"
"Escape!"
Wang Ling stepped close to the city wall and stamped his feet, constantly reminding the generals to take shelter, but soldiers were still being shot and killed at the top of the city, and the Han army seemed to have endless arrows to shoot, as arrows kept coming from the top of the city.
On the other side, Wu Yi has naturally been paying attention to the movements at the top of the city. After several rounds of feather arrow attacks, the shield on the top of Hongnong City was clearly visible.
"Siege the city!"
Wu Yi shouted loudly, and the first echelon of five thousand people took the lead in charging forward.
"Kill!"
"Kill!"
Hongnong City is located on the east bank of the Hongnong River, and is blocked by strong cities on both sides. However, this is also an advantage for the Han army, that is, they only need to attack one side.
It's near the river beach.
Five thousand Han troops carried long ladders and pushed the crash carts to attack the gate. Under the cover of three-bow bed crossbow feathers and arrows, they quickly rushed to a distance of nearly a hundred steps from the city.
"Shoot!"
"Shoot! Shoot them to death!"
Wang Ling, who was carrying a shield and moving up and down, slowly urged the archers to attack the Han army under the city. The Han army had already begun to attack the city. Although they were now covered by the Han army's arrows, they still had to risk their lives to attack the Han army.
No way——
If they wait until the Han army reaches the city and then rush to attack, Hongnong City will soon become a Han army's city.
"Keep cumming! Don't stop!" Wu Yi also urged.
However, the crossbowman commander reminded: "General, if you continue to shoot, it is easy to hurt our siege soldiers."
The siege troops are getting closer and closer to the city wall, and the base of the city wall has been covered by the Han army's crossbows. This is an indiscriminate shooting. If the crossbows are not stopped, the siege troops will not be shot by the Wei army, but will be shot by their own side.
The crossbow arrows cost lives.
However, Wu Yi understood better that if the crossbows stopped firing, the Wei army would immediately become free, and they would use all available weapons to attack the attacking Han army.
......
......
This chapter has been completed!