On October 11, Luoyang received the first report of the Northern Expedition of Shu Han.

On the 22nd, Sima Yong, who hurriedly completed all preparations, led 30,000 central troops to set off from Luoyang.

This side of Longxi.

On the 25th, Hu Fen sent Wen Hu to lead 10,000 troops to Jieting, and he also led 30,000 Longxi troops to go south. On the same day, Shangji City was broken, and Shu Han Fang Zhang Yi led 30,000 troops to advance towards Jieting.

Jiang Wei's main force, while leaving behind 3,000 soldiers and 2,000 civilians to stay in Shangqi, and while protecting this new stronghold in the Northern Expedition, he also habitually transported prisoners and people to the rear. Later, the entire army took the initiative to go north, hoping to find Hu Fen's main force and defeat him in one fell swoop.

"Report~~~~ General Zhenxi, his subordinate is Cao from Shangji City. He came to report to the general, Shangji, lost!"

"Ah?! The walls in Shangji City are deep, why are they lost so quickly?"

"General, Jiang Wei has used countless manpower... and there is a thing that the Sichuan thieves have, at the beginning, powder, and once it is touched with water, it becomes extremely hard. Therefore, they can quickly block the Jinghe River and flood the water..."

"Hey!" After screaming with great reluctance, Hu Fen thought for a moment: "So quickly pass Xuan Si, Qi Qian, Shi Yuan come!"

"Everyone, this is the situation now. If Shangji is lost, it has lost its meaning to go to Shangji again. Where will we go to the next 30,000 people? Can you teach me?"

The Jin State's response to the Northern Expedition of Shu Han this time was really much worse than that of Cao Wei before.

There are many reasons for the current situation, such as the loss of the Qishan Camp, which led to the loss of the frontier bases and alarm towers of the country. The strategic deception of Shu Han's success in advance and the harassment of the northern ethnic minorities is becoming increasingly strong, which seriously involves the energy of the Yongliang Legion. But the most important point is that Shu Han's national strength has been significantly enhanced.

In the past, when Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, Cao Wei often needed to use the national strength to deal with it (the first and fifth). Jiang Wei's nine Northern Expeditions were always the Yongliang Corps could deal with it alone. This time, the 110,000 people of the Yongliang Corps were passive in front of the 120,000 Northern Expedition Army of Shu Han, and were defeated repeatedly. Without the joining of the Luoyang Central Army, the Yongliang Corps could not reverse the passiveness of the strategy.

There are not many choices in front of Hu Fen now, just two.

The first choice: recall Wenhu's troops, 40,000 people gathered together, and then transported the grain from Jicheng. The entire army retreated west to Jincheng (Lanzhou). While lengthening the logistics line of Shuhan, it preserved its own vitality.

The advantage of this is that the 40,000 people on this side have always maintained the military existence of the Jin Empire in Liangzhou. The aristocratic families in Liangzhou, the ethnic minorities on this land will not quickly turn to Shu Han. At the same time, these 40,000 people are like thorns on their backs, which will restrain Jiang Wei from being unable to drive the main force to Guanzhong to support Guan Yi.

But the disadvantage of doing this is that Jieting will definitely be lost. The troops supporting Longxi from Luoyang and Chang'an cannot enter in a short period of time. This side will become an isolated army in Longxi or Liangzhou, and if you don't pay attention, the entire army will be wiped out.

So there was a second choice: the entire army went north to Jieting, guarding the key entrance of the five counties in Longxi, and waiting for reinforcements from the court.

The benefits of doing this are obvious: Longxi's entrance is in hand. As long as the reinforcements from the court arrive in time, with the huge disparity of national strength between the Han and Jin countries, Jiang Wei's 80,000 people could not resist the overwhelming Luoyang Central Army. Therefore, even if the five counties in Longxi are temporarily lost, they will only lose tens of thousands of people. The territory here can be brought back. The aristocratic families and leaders of ethnic minorities and tribes are not stupid. As long as the Jieting is not lost, it is entirely possible to impose a sarcasm against Shu Han, but they will not quickly stand on the side of Shu Han.

However, there are obvious disadvantages to doing this: this army will be fixed by Jieting's strategic point and will completely lose its mobility. It is obvious that it will be surrounded by Jiang Wei's army in Jieting. If the reinforcements from the court did not arrive in time, they will be accidentally wiped out.

"Uncle, my nephew means that it is better for our army to retreat to Jincheng. It is necessary to know that 20,000 of our army's 40,000 are cavalry. The remaining 20,000 people can be riding horses. Moreover, the number of war horses in our army is sufficient. The mobility of our army is not comparable to that of Shu thieves. Moreover, no matter how much food and grass the Shu thieves have, it needs to cross the Qinling Mountains to reach. Therefore, as long as our army maintains mobility and hangs the Shu thieves far away from the periphery, the 80,000 troops of Shu thieves can only waste food and grass in Longxi and cannot support it.

Support Guanzhong. Even if Jieting is lost, the imperial army will not be able to enter Longxi for a while, but the Shu thieves in Guanzhong will inevitably be surrounded and suppressed by the imperial court. I heard that the chief leader of the Shu thieves was Guan Zifeng, who was the Grand Marshal of the Shu thieves. If the military situation is really urgent, how dare the Shu thieves in Longxi not be rescued? At that time, it is the time for our army to counterattack! None of the 120,000 troops of the Shu thieves will be able to return! At that time, my uncle can achieve great achievements in destroying Shu!"

"The Major General is so brave! General Zhenxi, Wen Yang also agrees with the Major General's opinion! As long as our army can maintain mobility, no matter how much territory it loses, it is not afraid! After all, the national strength of Shu Kingdom is far inferior to me, and our army is just a difficult time. We will eventually win a complete victory!"

"Well~~~" As a general, Hu Fen's choice is of course the first. But at the same time, as a bureaucrat, he vaguely felt something was wrong.

"Xuan Si, what about your opinion?"

"Well, Xuanwei, I thought about it carefully just now. If we retreat to Jincheng, will we all be lost, whether it is Jieting or Longxi?"

"That's right!"

"Well, with the power of Xuanwei and the two generals, it is impossible for Jiang Wei to wipe out us completely. But if Jieting is lost, it will definitely be much more difficult for the imperial army to enter Longxi. Over the long time, it is really hard to say that the aristocratic families in Longxi and Liangzhou will have the same attitude. It is really hard to say. It should be noted that over the years, the salt road in Western Shu has been fine, and the soaked fragrance and the burning knife have caused many aristocratic families to be envied? In the war, the monopoly on the side of King Yiyang will definitely be gone. If the Sichuan thieves took out the right to sell these two wines to connect with the aristocratic families?"

Hearing this, Hu Fen had an unnaturally cold war: There is no doubt that the aristocratic families in Longxi and Liangzhou must have knelt down and licked Guanyi immediately. And the Hu family in Anding not only disappeared from the salt mine, but also because they could not share the wine industry's soup, they would inevitably decline.

"Xuan Si is very worried. Is there any?"

"Well, there are. Everyone, it would be fine if we retreat to Jincheng and wipe out the entire army in the battle with Jiang Wei. If we survived, the court destroyed the power of the nine oxen and two tigers and opened up Jieting, and recovered Longxi..."

As soon as Wang Shen said this, not only Hu Fen, but also Wen Yang began to tremble: If the situation that Wang Shen said happened, the Central Committee of Jin would definitely hold him accountable after the war. According to the Sima family's unreasonable love for his relatives, Hu Fen and Hu Yuan's two uncles and nephews were probably demoted. Shouldn't it be Wen Yang who came out as scapegoats? If one Wen Yang was not enough, shouldn't it be Wang Shen?

Therefore, Wang Shen had already made up his mind: even if he lost his mobility, he had to guard Jieting. Otherwise, there would be a disaster of extermination!

In order to successfully get Hu Fen in, Wang Shen had no choice but to say so much.

Of course, I said a lot, but the effect was still good. At least the four people's opinions have been unified at this time: I will go back to Jicheng immediately, pack up the food and grass, and then go north to Jieting!

...

On the other side, fifteen miles north of Shangji City.

"General Cheqi and Cavalry, why did the entire army order the speed to slow down? Shouldn't our army quickly run to Jieting to defend on the spot?"

Looking at Ma Guo with an anxious look, Zhang Yi smiled slightly: "Change it, you are the think tank of the Grand Sima. Why don't you understand such a simple situation?"

"Secretary..."

"Hahaha, change it, you said, what is the situation today? What is the general most hoping for? What is he most afraid of?"

"The most hope, the most fear... Well, the general hopes that Hu Fen is stupid and concentrates all his troops at one point. What he fears most is that after hearing that Shangji fell, he led the main force to escape from the distance and avoid fighting. In this way, our army will always be like a thorn in the back. While unable to completely settle Longxi, he will not be able to enter Guanzhong to support the Grand Sima."

"So, with Hu Fenzhi's ability, he must have seen the importance of Jieting. So as long as Jieting is not lost, he will go to protect Jieting. If we took the Jieting down before he arrived at Jieting..."

"So that's it. Why did the general still have to leave Jicheng?"

"Oh, it's a big loss today. It's a great regret for my great Han Dynasty over the past decades. But today's national strength is far better than that of the past, and this Northern Expedition is very likely to be successful. Therefore, we must maintain a normal mind when changing it."

"The lower official is ashamed, the lower official has lost his composure. I would like to ask the general of the chariot and cavalry to continue to give advice."
Chapter completed!