Chapter 591: Worry about food supply, where is Mengda?
Looking at County Magistrate Xi who was trembling with fear, Mi Yang used the long sword in his hand to pick up the seal ribbon on the wooden plate in Magistrate Xi's hand.
While looking at Xishou, Mi Yang's peripheral vision glanced at the not-so-high county town in front of him, his eyes full of amusement.
In and around the city of Yixian, not even a single Wei soldier could be seen for a long time. The only people left in the city of Yixian were some old and weak county soldiers.
In addition, as soon as he led his army to Xi County, the behavior of County Magistrate Xi to open the city and surrender fully proved the fact that Cao Zhen abandoned the city and fled.
To be honest, Mi Yang had not expected this incident in advance.
Originally, Mi Yang thought that when he arrived in Xi County, he would face a tough battle.
But he didn't expect that it would be so easy for him to capture Xi County.
Jiang Wei, who had just led his army to investigate the city first, returned to Mi Yang's side soon after.
After Jiang Wei's report, Mi Yang learned that there was no ambush in Xi County.
After learning about this incident, Mi Yang let go of the last trace of wariness in her heart.
Mi Yang first comforted County Magistrate Xi with kind words, and Mi Yang's words showed his intention to continue to let County Magistrate Xi in front of him serve.
County Magistrate Xi was flattered by Mi Yang's plan.
He really didn't expect that he could continue to be in charge of Xi County.
The main reason why Mi Yang did not plan to change County Magistrate Yi was that he knew that the national conditions in Cao Wei were different from those of the Han Dynasty.
Most of the local officials in Cao Wei were children of local aristocratic families. Those children of aristocratic families had extraordinary influence in the local area because of their family background.
If Mi Yang rashly changes the county magistrate, and there is no suitable replacement under his command, then this move will definitely cause instability in the local situation in Yi County, which is not in line with the interests of the Han army in the future.
After Cao Zhen abandoned Xi County, Mi Yang would definitely lead his army to pursue him further. In this case, the stability of Xi County was very important.
Of course, Mi Yang could also see that the county magistrate in front of him had the characteristics of most children of wealthy families - a grassroots man who fell on both sides.
In order to have no worries, Mi Yang would leave some elite troops to control Yi County after leading his army to move forward.
Under Mi Yang's grace, County Magistrate Xi continued to show his loyalty.
While County Magistrate Xi was talking endlessly, Mi Yang suddenly asked something:
"Could the real grave of Dharma Gongta be located outside the city?"
Mi Yang's sudden question made County Magistrate Xi stunned.
County Magistrate Yi knew who Mi Yang was talking about.
He was Fazhen, a famous Confucian scholar in the Yi County area during the Huan Ling period.
Given Fazhen's reputation in Fufeng, County Magistrate Xi, who came from a well-established family, didn't know that it was impossible for him.
But what surprised County Magistrate Yi was why Mi Yang suddenly mentioned this celebrity who had been dead for decades?
Then County Magistrate Xi realized why Mi Yang asked this question.
In addition to being a famous Confucian master in Fufeng, Fazhen also has another level of identity, that is, Fazheng's grandfather.
As everyone knows, Mi Yang is a disciple of Fa Zheng.
In today's world, disciples who join a family are sometimes not much different from sons.
According to this relationship, Mi Yang and Fazhen also have a deep connection.
I came to Mi Yang to consult on the location of Fa Zhen's tomb, and perhaps wanted to pay homage in front of Fa Zhen's tomb.
After guessing Mi Yang's intention, County Magistrate Xi carefully considered his words and replied:
"Reporting to the general, Duke Dharma's grave is not outside the city."
After answering, County Magistrate Xi didn't wait for Mi Yang to ask questions again, and then explained:
“The rainy season the year before last was very rainy, and the water volume of the Wei River surged, destroying the original city wall of Xi County.
At that time, in order to settle the people inside and outside Yi County, Ni Wei specially re-established Yi County in a gentle area to the west of the original Yi County.
This is the building that the general saw right now.
As for the people who originally lived in Yi County, a small half followed the ministers and came west to live in Yi County, and the other large part was settled in Wugong County, not far from the original Yi County."
"I think the clansmen who came to honor the general as my master also followed most of the people to Wugong County at that time."
County Magistrate Xi told Mi Yang an incident that happened in Xi County in recent years.
After Mi Yang learned of this incident, he had a noncommittal look on his face.
Today's economically developed counties are mostly built along rivers, which provides good objective conditions for the development of agriculture in the county.
It's just that everything has its pros and cons. Since they depend on rivers for survival, once a natural disaster strikes, the damage to these counties will be unimaginable.
Xianglaixian County is a typical example.
What Mi Yang didn't know was that such things had often happened in Xi County for hundreds of years since the county government was established.
Because this county has not only moved its county address several times, it has also been abolished and renamed frequently.
After County Magistrate Xi truthfully reported back to Mi Yang, there was no response from Mi Yang, which made Magistrate Xi feel uneasy.
As the saying goes, accompanying a king is like accompanying a tiger. Mi Yang is not a king, but in the heart of County Magistrate Yi, he is a hundred times more terrifying than Liu Bei.
What County Magistrate Xi didn't know was that the reason why Mi Yang didn't respond to him in time was because he was thinking about something in his mind.
After thinking about it, Mi Yang asked the county magistrate to step down, and ordered the entire army to rest and regroup in place.
When Mi Yang's order was issued, the main tent belonging to Mi Yang was quickly set up, and then all the Han generals gathered in Mi Yang's main tent to discuss the next move of the Han army.
During the discussion, Huang Quan took the lead and said to Mi Yang: "Cao Zhen must have led his army to Wuzhangyuan when he retreated."
Regarding Huang Quan's judgment, all the Han generals in the tent showed approval on their faces.
It has been more than half a year since the Northern Expedition.
In more than half a year, all the Han generals have already mastered the map of Guanzhong.
As they were familiar with the topography of Guanzhong, they naturally knew about Wuzhangyuan.
Wuzhangyuan is located south of the Wei River and west of the Wugong River. The terrain is flat and has a radius of several miles, which is very suitable for the garrison of large armies.
Moreover, Wuzhangyuan is bordered by the Qinling Mountains to the south and the Weishui River to the north, with steep slopes on its east, west and north sides. The situation is dangerous and it is a battleground for military strategists that is easy to defend but difficult to attack.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! The most important thing is that Wuzhangyuan is not far from Baoxie Road.
Not far from the southeast of Wuzhangyuan is the entrance of Xiegu.
If once the Han army can occupy Wuzhangyuan, then the Han army can take advantage of the situation to open up the perimeter of Baoxie Road, which will be of great benefit to the Han army.
The advantage of this is that the Han army's ration transportation lines will be greatly shortened.
At present, because Xiegukou is under the control of the Wei army, the Han army's grain road is quite long:
The grain and fodder of the Han army had to be transferred from Yizhou to Nanzheng, then from Nanzheng to Tianshui via Yinping and Wudu counties, and finally transferred to the army along the Weishui River Highway.
Such a long grain road not only consumes a lot of manpower, but also causes great loss of grain during transportation.
And it will also invisibly deepen the risk of instability in the Han army's food routes.
Although the main force of the Wei army was gradually forced back to Fufeng County by Mi Yang, this long road of food and grass passed through many foreign lands.
Now that the Han army is in great prestige, many foreigners do not dare to take the risk to attack the Han army's food routes, but as time goes by, this situation will change.
It is July now, and in three months the land of Guanzhong will enter winter.
When winter arrives, many alien races will face food shortages.
The foreigners dare not attack the Han army's food routes now because they are afraid of death, but what if they are about to starve to death?
Once a person is hungry and crazy, he will do anything.
Mi Yang and all the Han generals knew this, and Cao Zhen and all the Wei generals naturally knew this. There is no one in the world who does not understand the virtues of foreigners.
That's why Huang Quan believed that Cao Zhen would definitely defend Wuzhangyuan.
Because if Wuzhangyuan was occupied by the Han army, then the Han army's food route would be from Yizhou to Nanzheng, and then from Nanzheng directly to the Miyang army via Baoxie Road.
In this way, not only the loss of manpower and material resources will be greatly reduced, but the Han army will no longer have to worry about the safety of the grain road.
After agreeing with Huang Quan's judgment, solemn expressions appeared on the faces of all the Han generals.
Although the troops currently in Cao Zhen's hands are not as strong as his own, the terrain of Wuzhangyuan is dangerous and not easy to capture.
Even Cao Zhen doesn't need to guard Wuzhangyuan for too long. As long as he holds on until winter comes, many of his worries will come true under the influence of the weather.
The worried expressions on the generals' faces were noticed by Mi Yang.
This means that the generals have no good way to quickly seize Wuzhangyuan.
It was Wei Yan among the generals who was the first to break the silence in the tent:
Wei Yan stood up and spoke to Mi Yang: "General, since our army has recaptured Yi County, it is time to continue advancing in one go.
Is Wuzhangyuan difficult to capture? Why not wait until our army reaches Wuzhangyuan before worrying about it?"
Wei Yan's words made Mi Yang nodded.
Mi Yang, who felt that Wei Yan's words made sense, took out a command flag and handed it to Wei Yan's hand.
"There is a small city to the west of Wuzhangyuan called Xiwei. I order you to lead ten thousand troops to capture that city."
Wei Yan didn't expect that he, who had been ignored recently, would get a task because of today's suggestions, which made Wei Yan overjoyed.
It seems that sometimes people just can’t be too low-key!
Wei Yan excitedly stepped forward to take the flag from Mi Yang's hand, and said to Mi Yang: "General, please rest assured, I will fulfill my mission."
After saying these words, Wei Yan hurriedly walked out of the tent.
After Wei Yan left, Mi Yang also waved his hand to disperse the other generals.
It's just that Jiang Wei was left alone by Mi Yang.
When there was no one else in the tent, Mi Yang asked Jiang Wei:
“Given the current situation, what advice can Bethio have?”
Mi Yang had high expectations for Jiang Wei, and he was definitely not on the same level as Huang Quan and others, so he left Jiang Wei alone to ask his opinion.
Facing Mi Yang's inquiry, Jiang Wei thought for a while and said:
"Wei thought that Cao Zhen would abandon Yixian decisively, and he may have deliberately wanted to lure the main force of our army to continue to penetrate deeper."
After hearing Jiang Wei's inference, a smile appeared on Mi Yang's face.
Jiang Wei's ideas coincided with his.
Although on the surface, Cao Zhen abandoned the city and fled before even engaging the Han army, which greatly enhanced the prestige of the Han army.
But from another perspective, this incident was not entirely beneficial to the Han army.
Mi Yang knew in advance that the city defenses in Xi County were not strong.
Therefore, his original plan was that if Cao Zhen wanted to defend Xi County, he could just use the battle of Xi County to destroy Cao Zhen's main force here as much as possible.
If this tactical goal can be achieved, it will be much easier for the Han army to attack Chang'an next.
Unfortunately, Cao Zhen's decisive move to evacuate regardless of his reputation was beyond Mi Yang's expectations.
This also put the Han army into another form of passivity.
If they want to continue to attack Chang'an, the Han army can only continue to penetrate deeper, and as it goes deeper and deeper, the risks on the Han army's food routes will only continue to deepen.
Because the main force of the Wei army is still there, this will make the Han army's strategic plan to break through Wuzhangyuan in a short time full of difficulties.
It is true that with Zhuge Liang stationed outside Chencang, Mi Yang would not worry about the Wei army in Chencang posing a threat to his back and front, but what about the many foreigners scattered along the long grain road?
A carrot and a pit, Zhuge Liang has no clone skills.
Seeing that Jiang Wei had the same worries as him, Mi Yang asked Jiang Wei again: "Since Bo Yue is worried, does Bo Yue have a clever plan to help our army break through the enemy's blockade set up by Wuzhang Yuan?"
There was expectation in Mi Yang's tone.
But even though Jiang Wei was very resourceful, he didn't have any good ideas for a while.
Seeing Jiang Wei shaking his head at him, Mi Yang was not too disappointed.
But what Mi Yang didn't expect was that when Jiang Wei saw no one around, he suddenly bowed and asked Mi Yang:
"Does the General have a countermeasure in mind?"
Mi Yang was stunned by Jiang Wei's question, and then he asked Jiang Wei:
"How did you know that Gu Zhong has some countermeasures?"
Under Mi Yang's questioning, Jiang Wei remembered the scene just now and replied:
“The general had just arrived in Yi County, and when the county magistrate presented him with the seal, he first did not ask about the acres of land, and secondly, the population, but took the lead in paying attention to the affairs of his ancestors. This made Wei feel puzzled.
Furthermore, I just saw that the general seemed to be deep in thought after listening to what County Magistrate Yi said, so I had the courage to make this guess."
Jiang Wei's words made Mi Yang laugh out loud:
"Qing Youlin's name is indeed worthy of his name."
Mi Yang was happy because Jiang Wei had a keen insight.
Among the Han officials who had just surrounded Mi Yang, Jiang Wei was not the only one, but Jiang Wei was the only one who had this suspicion in his mind.
Mi Yang's words also indirectly proved that Jiang Wei's guess was reasonable.
Since Jiang Wei can guess some clues, Mi Yang is also willing to share some things with Jiang Wei:
"Does Boyo know that there is another general named Mengda under Gu Zhang?"
Hearing Mi Yang mention Meng Da's name, Jiang Wei thought about it and remembered this person.
Since he cut off his hair and earned Cao Ren, Meng Da's reputation in the world is not small.
It's just that Jiang Wei has never seen Meng Da since he joined Mi Yang, and why did Mi Yang suddenly mention him now?
Looking at Jiang Wei's confused gaze, Mi Yang tapped her fingers on the table and said:
"Gu's predecessor, Yihou, came from a famous family in Yi County. Meng Da and Yihou were close friends, and he was also a descendant of a famous family in Yi County.
Since he belongs to a famous family, Mengda has many connections with other aristocratic families in Yuanxi County.
Boyue, can you remember where those aristocratic families are now according to what County Magistrate Caixi said just now?
Boyue, guess again, where is Mengda now?"
When Jiang Wei first heard this, he woke up with a start.
He suddenly looked up at Mi Yang.
Seeing that Jiang Wei was aware of it, Mi Yang finally said leisurely:
"The Nine-Rank Zhongzheng System is a powerful weapon against the Wei Dynasty and against our dynasty.
But it doesn’t mean that this sharp weapon won’t be used by me.”