Zhuge Liang had just led his army to force Cao Zhen back, and was about to urge his troops into the city to sum up the gains and losses of the battle... and prepare for another northern expedition.
Suddenly, he saw Yang Yi, who had joined the army, coming quickly from the rear army. Before he could reach him, he waved his arms and shouted at the top of his voice: "Prime Minister, Ma Su divided his troops into two groups and led 5,000 men to attack Chencang!"
"What?!!"
Zhuge Liang exclaimed in surprise, his body froze, and he tightly grasped the feather fan in his hand, his heart filled with turmoil.
Zhang Bao and Guan Xing's eyes widened, Jiang Wei's sword fell to the ground, and the surrounding generals looked at each other in astonishment.
This news is indeed a bit too shocking.
Bang——
The long sword hit the ground, as if hitting everyone's heart, with a click.
It seemed like something had cracked.
Zhuge Liang came back to his senses, slowly bent down, picked up the sword, handed it back to the stunned Jiang Wei, and said seriously:
"As a general, you won't be surprised when things change. Bo Yoo has taken care of you."
Jiang Wei quickly took the sword and nodded in shame.
To be honest, he had just defected to the Shu Han Dynasty and didn't know much about the style of Ma Su and the generals. When he suddenly heard that Ma Su was attacking Chencang alone from thousands of miles away, he was stunned by his arrogant and arrogant momentum.
Then he thought about Zhao Yungang's trick of Cao Zhen's 100,000 men with two thousand soldiers and horses, and Wei Yan's "Ziwu Valley Plan" that was dismissed by the Prime Minister, which was a plan of ten thousand people to sneak attack Chang'an.
Jiang Wei suddenly felt a little excited.
Although there are tens of thousands of people, I will go.
This is what a man should do!
All these generals in Shu are so brave.
I, Jiang Boyue, am so lucky to be able to work with such generals!
As soon as Zhuge Liang saw Jiang Wei's expression, he knew what he was thinking, and without bothering to correct the latter's erroneous "adventurist" thinking, he quickly fetched the map of Chencang to check.
After seeing clearly the terrain around Chencang and the deployment of Wei troops shown in the picture, he swayed and could hardly stand. He looked up to the sky and sighed:
"Ma Su is stupid! He is trapped in a dead end without even realizing it!"
"Chencang City is easy to defend but difficult to attack. In the past, the Xiliang Kingdom and Han Sui attacked hard for more than eighty days. Now how can five thousand people capture the city? If they don't attack for an hour or three, they will be killed when Cao Zhen returns.
, our army will die without a burial place!"
Jiang Wei had recovered from his shock and said cautiously, "Prime Minister, I see General Ma Di's troops are as stable as a rock. I think he must be absolutely sure when he goes to Chencang."
Zhuge Liang was so angry that he trembled all over, shook his head and said: "Even if we are sure of seizing the city, it is difficult to change the situation. Chencang is a small town with no surplus food. There are only a thousand soldiers and horses stationed there. How can the food and grass be enough for 5,000 people? What if?
The Wei army is surrounded on all sides, and within half a month, all our troops will starve to death!"
Jiang Wei quickly held Zhuge Liang's arm and analyzed: "Prime Minister, if General Ma Su successfully captures Chencang and cuts off Cao Zhen's return..."
After annihilating Cao Zhen's army, wouldn't there be a chance to escape death?
Zhuge Liang looked solemn and waved his hand: "Although the Qinling Mountains are dangerous, they are not a dangerous place. The mountains in the northern section of Chencang Road are gentle and not difficult to climb. Ma Su may win a small victory with this move, but it will be difficult to shake the foundation of the Wei army."
Then we can't just give up on General Ma Di and his five thousand soldiers... Jiang Wei cupped his hands and said: "Prime Minister, I am a weak general. I am willing to lead my troops north immediately and attack Cao Zhen together with General Ma."
"That's all we can do now." Zhuge Liang nodded and turned to look at Yang Yi: "Quickly order the three armies to repair the Chencang plank road immediately and go north to pursue the Wei army!"
Yang Yi accepted the order with his hands raised.
After a while, the army changed direction and headed north along Chencang Road.
The military formation was about to move, and suddenly a hunter was seen emerging from the mountains. He climbed down the hillside in the dust, and was blocked by the soldiers. He could only stretch his neck and shout: "Prime Minister, there is a message from General Ma Di!"
Jiang Wei rushed over in a few steps, took the letter and forwarded it to Zhuge Liang.
The latter quickly took the letter and read it carefully.
As soon as he saw the dog-like characters on the letter, Zhuge Liang secretly breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that it was undoubtedly Ma Su's handwriting, and he also realized that Ma Su was in a good situation at the moment.
However, the anger was still boiling in my heart and I could hardly suppress it.
This Ma Su always does something amazing and catches people off guard.
Looking at all the generals under his command, no one dared to disobey his military orders because of Wei Yan's pride.
This Ma Su, this Ma Su...
Why is it so different!
During the battle to defend the front street pavilion, he repeatedly asked him to set up camp and take charge, but he decided to move his troops up the mountain to show off his naive military theory.
At that time, Zhuge Liang thought Ma Su was as stable as an old dog, but now that he thought about it, he broke out in a cold sweat.
Fortunately, Zhang He was a warrior and did not know how to use tactics. He divided his troops twice. When the front army arrived at the street pavilion, it only had 10,000 troops. It could not bypass the street pavilion to attack Wang Ping, Wei Yan, Gao Xiang and others behind.
Otherwise, even if Ma Su camped on the mountain, stored enough water, and cut down all the trees in Nanshan to prevent fire, he would definitely be defeated!
Zhang He could completely ignore Ma Su and send troops to guard the gentle slope to the north, and then divide his troops to seize one of the three important roads behind, which would break the situation instantly.
Looking at Jieting's two victories, it can only be said that Ma Su was lucky enough to meet Zhang He, a well-matched opponent.
Zhuge Liang shook his head slightly. Jieting won the previous game, so he could ignore Ma Su's responsibility for disobeying military orders. This time, if Ma Su can come back alive...
No matter what, he must be punished for the crime of "acting on his own without authorization and urging troops to take risks"!
After reading the letter, Zhuge Liang's anger was slightly reduced, but the anger was still lingering in his chest and would not go away.
Jiang Wei took the book and saw that there was only a short sentence in the letter:
"He has captured Chencang and blocked Cao Zhen in the middle of Chencang Road. He is waiting for the prime minister to attack from both sides and completely wipe out his army."
After reading the letter, Jiang Wei fell silent.
This Ma Su, sometimes reckless and sometimes steady, is really a ruthless person who dares to "take the lead" in the charge.
…
On the other side, Chen Cang.
After all arrangements were made, Ma Di left Li Sheng to guard Chencang and went to Hulu Valley to set up an ambush.
This valley is located in the northern section of Chencang Road, about 80 miles away from Chencang City. It has a typical topography of two mountains sandwiched by a ditch. The valley is shaped like a gourd, slightly larger in the middle, and has narrow roads at both ends.
Ma Su ordered his soldiers to dig up the mountain and fill it with earth, blocking the northern exit of Hulu Valley. He also prepared dry firewood and kerosene above the entrance of the valley, waiting for Cao Zhen's army to fall into the trap.
Although the plan was interconnected and perfect, Ma Su was very nervous and anxious.
I don't know if the strategy will work.
Because the Cao Zhen he is about to face is by no means the headstrong, stupid and incompetent person described in the novel.
In history, the real Cao Zhen had real abilities.
In the original time and space, during Cao Zhen's lifetime, he defeated Zhuge Liang's First and Second Northern Expeditions, and took the initiative to launch a war to attack Hanzhong, forcing Zhuge Liang to launch his third Northern Expedition.
During this period, externally, Cao Zhen forcefully repelled Zhuge Liang's offensive; internally, he also suppressed Sima Yi forcefully, and there is a proverb "Unless Cao Zhen dies, Sima will not come out".
During his lifetime, Zhuge Liang had difficulty making progress, and Sima Yi had no chance to display his talents.
During Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition, the Wei State declared a defeat at the beginning of the war. The three counties of Nan'an, Tianshui, and Anding successively defected to Shu. Under such an unfavorable situation, Cao Zhen's army divided into two groups to fight against Zhuge Liang. On the first group, General Zhang He sent troops to Jieting and won the victory.
A great victory; on the other hand, Cao Zhen personally led the army and led the main force to defeat Zhao Yun and Deng Zhi, forcing Zhuge Liang to retreat to Hanzhong.
This Northern Expedition ended with Cao Zhen's great victory.
After his defeat, Zhuge Liang quickly made a comeback and launched the Second Northern Expedition. However, Cao Zhen predicted in advance that Zhuge Liang would advance from Chencang, so he sent Hao Zhao and Wang Sheng to guard Chencang.
As expected, Zhuge Liang attacked Chencang with heavy troops, but due to Cao Zhen's advance preparations, the Shu soldiers failed to capture Chencang City, and finally returned without success.
After winning two battles, Cao Zhen turned from defense to offense. In the eighth year of Jianxing (230), he divided his troops into three groups and took the initiative to attack Hanzhong. Unfortunately, God was unfavorable and encountered heavy rain for dozens of days during the march. In desperation, he had to
Retreat.
After this withdrawal, Cao Zhen fell seriously ill and died soon after. Only then did Sima Yi come out and take over the military power of Wei.
It can be seen from this that Cao Zhen is by no means an incompetent person. He is a rare pillar of the Wei Kingdom. It is a pity that the tiger father gave birth to a dog son. Cao Shuang lost the country that generations of Cao family have worked hard to build, and ruined his reputation for a lifetime.
.
…
The news of Chencang's fall was not leaked, but Cao Zhen quickly noticed the anomaly.
The army marched outside the Calabash Valley. Cao Zhen looked ahead, his expression suddenly changed, and he raised his hand and shouted: "Stop the whole army!"
As the order "All troops stop..." was spread one after another, the army slowly stopped at the entrance of the valley.
Cao Shuang rode his horse from the rear to the front and asked suspiciously: "Father, why did you stop moving forward?"
Cao Zhen pondered for a moment and took a breath of cold air, "No, there has been a change in Chencang, and there may be an ambush ahead!"
"There has been a change in Chen Cang? Is there an ambush in front of us?" Cao Shuang muttered and repeated it, as if he had been poured cold water on his head, and he was panicking.
Everyone was stunned.
Even though there were 100,000 soldiers and horses at his side, it still couldn't give him the slightest sense of security.
