Chapter 114: Thousands of dangers lurking, the three-way attack on Shu
The autumn rain continued. In the blink of an eye, it was already mid-August.
A moderate layer of rainwater has accumulated on Luoyang's markets and among the streets on the outskirts of the city.
In the inner city of Luoyang, on top of a tall tower, Xia Houxuan stood holding an umbrella, his thoughts hard to calm down.
He looked at the heavy rain in Luoyang City, and was thinking about one thing in his mind, that is, if Sima Yi and his son were found to have really committed evil deeds, how should he expose it?
If it is revealed that Hui'er is the daughter-in-law of the Sima family, what should she do?
If I tell the truth directly to His Majesty, will His Majesty really believe me?
Xia Houxuan understood that the best way to expose it was to let Yuanrong find witnesses in person, so that his majesty might be able to believe it.
But if you do this yourself, how can you treat Yuanrong right...
Or maybe, Yuanrong is simply not willing to get to the bottom of this matter.
Xia Houxuan was sitting high down, looking at the prosperous imperial capital. How much unknown filth was hidden within the walls of Luoyang?
No matter how strong the wind and rain are, it will be difficult to wash away those sins.
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In Wuyang Hou Sima's Mansion, no matter whether the master, the young master and several young masters are at home or not, it seems to be as quiet as this moment.
Fortunately, Xia Houhui likes this tranquility, although sometimes she feels it is too deserted.
Ever since he listened to his eldest brother Xia Houxuan's words during the begging party on the seventh day of July, Xia Houhui's words have been lingering in his mind.
Although she understood her identity as the daughter-in-law of the Sima family, her trust in her elder brother and her desire to know the truth finally urged her to start investigating.
Are there any places in the mansion where we can hide people?
As a young lady in Sima Mansion, she is very familiar with most places, but there is one place that she has never been close to.
That is the study room of the head of the family, Sima Yi.
She thought that her grandfather and her husband had gone to the front line and had been away from the house for many days. If they went to clean the study by themselves, there would be no problem.
Xia Houhui thought this and headed towards the back hall. Although she had never been to her grandfather's study, she had been to the back garden here twice. There was a very beautiful camellia planted here, but now
It was already autumn, and most of the camellias had withered and withered, but she could still see this lovely flower next year.
Although Ma Yi's study room in his father's company was not very big, it did have two side halls. Xia Houhui thought that his father's book collection must be too diverse, so he needed so many compartments.
In this way, while Xia Houhui was cleaning slowly, he had many thoughts in his mind.
"Huh?"
Suddenly, when Xia Houhui was wiping the bookshelf, he accidentally knocked over a small bottle. Xia Houhui picked up the small porcelain bottle and saw two small and elegant seal characters - "Gan Bing" - engraved on it.
"Gan Bing..." It looked like it should be a medicine bottle. Xia Houhui suddenly felt very curious. How could there be a medicine bottle in Grandpa's study?
Thinking about it, my grandpa probably used it to protect books from moisture.
When Xia Houhui thought about it, she felt that it was nothing. Just when she was putting the medicine bottle back to its place, she suddenly noticed a book next to the medicine bottle, which happened to have the word "Gan Bing" on it. Xia Houhui
Hui was once again driven by curiosity and opened the volume.
"Gan Bing is very poisonous, colorless and slightly sweet. For a moment, you will feel thirsty in your throat. If you feel thirsty for a moment, it will become even worse the next moment. It is like an emergency..."
When Xia Houhui saw this, the hand holding the scroll couldn't help but tremble slightly. This sweet ice turned out to be poison! Why did grandpa collect the poison? Is it to kill the insects and rats in the study? But after reading these descriptions,
This Gan Bing is obviously formulated for people, why would grandpa hide such poison...
"Young Madam, what are you doing here..."
At some point, Granny Yu, who was in charge of affairs in the mansion, suddenly appeared behind him and asked quietly.
"Ah!" Xia Houhui was startled, and the book in her hand fell to the ground. She turned around and saw that it was a servant of the mansion, and then she calmed down a little.
"It turns out to be Granny Yu. Why did you come suddenly? You scared me."
Xia Houhui took a deep breath, and her mind suddenly flashed. She tried hard to calm down, and she calmly explained:
"I...two days before I met, some rats came into the house. I was afraid that the rats had bitten my father's letters, so I came in to have a look..."
"oh……"
There was no unnecessary expression on Granny Yu's face, and she still said slowly:
"From now on, we can just leave this kind of thing to our servants. How dangerous it would be for the young lady to do it herself..."
"Um……"
Xia Houhui responded and walked out of the study quickly. Since marrying into the mansion, Xia Houhui has not had much contact with the old servants in Sima Yi's back garden, so he is not very familiar with them. And this Granny Yu has always been
Being taciturn has always given Xia Houhui a gloomy feeling, which is why she was so nervous just now.
Grandma Yu slowly bent down and picked up the book that fell on the ground. Looking at Xia Houhui's panicked back, a strange smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.
―――
The southwest border of Wei and Han, Shangyong.
An army of more than 30,000 men was slowly advancing along the Han River Valley.
In the front row of the queue, two sturdy soldiers were carrying three large banners with gold characters on a black background. On the first flag, the word "Sima" was flipping in the wind and rain.
Following closely behind are two big tooth flags embroidered with the word "Wei" and the word "General" respectively.
This was exactly the army led by Sima Yi, who had just been promoted to general and led the western expedition.
"Report to the General."
A young general in armor rode up from the vanguard, approached the central army, and came to the guard of honor of General Sima Yi:
"It's raining heavily, I'm afraid it will be inconvenient for our army to march forward."
Sima Yi looked up at the gray, rainy sky. After thinking for a moment, he nodded and said:
"Instruct the three armies to find a nearby commanding height, set up camp and rest, and wait until the rain stops before setting off again."
This time, Cao Zhen was the commander-in-chief of the expedition to Shu. According to Cao Rui's original intention, he wanted to recall Sima Yi from Wancheng in Nanyang, go to Yongzhou, and lead the northwest army into Shu together with the great Sima Cao Zhen.
However, Cao Zhen believed that the army had no second commander and if he and Sima Yi marched together, not only would they not be able to cooperate, but they might hinder each other, so he formulated a new plan for the southern expedition.
That is, Cao Zhen himself led the troops of Yongliang and marched south from Ziwu Valley into Hanzhong; Sima Yi led 30,000 Jingzhou tribesmen, went up the Han River from Shangyong, and joined forces with Cao Zhen at Nanzheng, Hanzhong; Marquis Zhang He led an army
The army marched from Baoxie Road and pointed directly at Hanzhong.
There seems to be no problem with this plan. The Shu Han army is already weak and will inevitably be unable to divide its troops to defend each road. If one of our three armies enters Hanzhong, the Shu army will lose its geographical advantage.
The key is that at this time, God was unfavorable and it rained continuously for days. Sima Yi had no choice but to set up camp here and no longer march as planned.
Yongliang's 50,000-strong army led by Cao Zhen was marching with difficulty in the Ziwu Valley, which was in constant rain, was in disrepair, and had difficult roads.
Cao Zhen chose to place his main force in Ziwu Valley, which had been in disrepair for a long time. Naturally, he had his reasons.
Cao Zhen felt that it was precisely because the road in Ziwu Valley was difficult that the Shu army did not expect that his main force would pass through here. Once the main force successfully passed through Ziwu Valley, it would definitely boost the morale of his own army, and he would be able to cope with Sima Yi.
He and Zhang He successfully entered Hanzhong, the northern border of Shu Han.
Although the heavy rain continued at this time, Cao Zhen believed that this was a good time for the Shu army to relax their vigilance. As long as he successfully passed through the Ziwu Valley and entered Hanzhong, then the other two armies led by Sima Yi and Zhang He would definitely not hesitate anymore.
Already.
"Send orders to all ministries to speed up and move forward!"
Cao Zhen wore a military-style raincoat and shouted orders in the rain. He always cherished his soldiers and paid great attention to military morale. When the soldiers had no place to shelter from the rain, he would accompany them in the rain. But usually
Cao Zhen would also use most of the rewards obtained from winning battles to reward his troops, so the Yongliang armies admired and trusted Cao Zhen.
On the battlefield, as the commander-in-chief, if he does not bravely surpass the three armies, who will die for him?
In the pouring rain, the troops of Yongliang pushed their carts and led their horses, shouting loudly, and marching hard. Cao Xi looked at his father who was soaking in the rain with the soldiers, and he was very worried at the moment. He knew that his father was already old and would not be able to survive.
He is no longer as lively as he was when he was young. Not only that, but his father still has many old injuries and illnesses. If he doesn't take good care of his body, he is afraid that his old illnesses will relapse.
"Da Sima, please put on this raincoat again. You are the commander-in-chief, and you are responsible for the success or failure of the soldiers of the three armies. You must take care of yourself."
Cao Xi knew that his father had always been strict, so he was always addressed by military titles in the army. He also knew his father's temper, and he would never agree to asking him to return to his camp to take shelter from the rain, so Cao Xi gave his father
I took an extra raincoat.
Cao Zhen didn't say anything more, he just patted his son on the shoulder, smiled, put on his raincoat with a splash, and began to stride to the various departments to give orders.
A few miles west of Shangyong, where General Sima Yi was marching, a fast horse entered the Wei army camp despite heavy rain. Looking at his clothes, the soldiers at the camp knew that he was a scout delivering orders, so they did not stop him to avoid delaying the military plane.
"Report..."
The scout arrived outside the main camp tent, dismounted, half-knelt in the rain and reported loudly:
"We have important military information ahead and need to report it to the general."
Seeing the scout walking into the camp, Sima Yi gently put down the letter in his hand.
"General General, I have found out that the commander-in-chief of the Shu army, Zhuge Liang, has set up camp in Akasaka. His number is probably less than 100,000."
"Akasaka……"
Sima Yi thought for a while, then looked at the army map. After a while, he finally nodded and said:
"Akaban is the only road to the north of Nanzheng in Hanzhong. Whether it is himself, the Great Sima Cao Zhen, or Marquis Zhang He, if they want to enter Hanzhong, they have to pass through this place. Zhuge Liang chose to camp here so that he can wait for his work and relax.
One against three, this Zhuge Kongming is really not simple."
The rain outside the camp was pattering and gradually getting heavier and heavier.
