As the four ministers who took care of life successfully repelled the attack of Sun Quan, King of Wu, the Emperor Longyan Dayue promoted Cao Xiu, the general of the Eastern Expedition, to the Grand Sima in charge of the national expedition, and was promoted to the title of Changping Marquis; while the Chinese general Cao Zhen was promoted to the rank of Changping Marquis. The general of the Zhenjun Army, Chen Qun, was promoted to the rank of Da Sikong and the Marquis of Yingyin. The general of the Fu army, Sima Yi, was also promoted to the rank of hussar, second only to the general. General, Jinjue Wuyanghou.
Since the founding of the Wei Dynasty, most of the titles of the ministers in the court have been limited to the second-tier marquises such as Tinghou and Xianghou. It is naturally a supreme favor and honor for the four of them to be promoted to marquises this time.
[Note 1: During the Three Kingdoms period, the feudal systems of the Three Kingdoms were different. The feudal system of Cao Wei, after Cao Cao's reform, was from top to bottom: king, duke, marquis, uncle, son, male. This title was the most respected; after that, it was The titles of Xiang Gong, Xiang Princess, Ting Gong and Ting Princess are usually awarded to the distant relatives of the royal family. After that, there are other marquis titles such as County Marquis, Xiang Marquis, Ting Marquis, Guannei Marquis, etc. These titles are empty titles. There are only taxable settlements and no actual fiefdom.】
However, Cao Rui and the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty were not happy for a long time. A new test suddenly came to the emperor and his empire once again.
The first year of Wei Taihe, winter twelfth month.
The entire Wei Dynasty was in shock.
He has been ruling the three counties on the southwest border of the Wei Kingdom for seven or eight years. As the prefect of Xincheng, General Jianwu, and Tinghou Mengda Mengzidu, who served as the barrier of the Great Wall in the southwest of the Wei Dynasty, he was actually instigated by Zhuge Liang, the prime minister of the Shu Han Dynasty, to command tens of thousands of troops in the three southwest counties. , brazenly rebelling at the border!
Suddenly, the barrier in the southwestern part of the Central Plains not only disappeared, but also turned into a thoroughfare for the enemy to move north overnight. Not only that, Meng Da not only became close friends with Emperor Wen and Xia Houshang, the mourner of Changling Township, but also had a good reputation. Gao, and before he surrendered to the Wei Dynasty, he was the founding general of the Shu Han Dynasty. Since his surrender, he has led troops on the border for many years. He is a famous general with a lot of battle experience. The late emperor even praised him for his "measure of joy and perseverance." ”.
In addition, the school officials also learned that Meng Da had already been communicating with Zhuge Kongming, the Prime Minister of the Shu Han Dynasty, and they were colluding. If they could not fight quickly, whether Meng Da and Zhuge joined forces together, or they split their forces and invaded north, the consequences would be disastrous.
Such a terrifying figure and such a sudden change gave Cao Rui, who had just ascended the throne less than a year ago, a headache. In his opinion, the danger of this rebellion was no less than that of Sun Quan, the king of Wu, who went north in person, because the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty Among them, indeed no one dares to guarantee that they can defeat Meng Da.
After careful consideration, Cao Rui decided to send the Hussar General Sima Yi, Marquis of Wuyang, to lead his troops to quell the rebellion and eliminate Mengda.
Because of the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty, those who had the most strategic and military exploits were the Great Sima Changpinghou Cao Xiu and the Great General Shaoling Hou Cao Zhen. However, the Great Sima Cao Xiu was guarding Yangzhou in the southeast and was unable to do anything at all. After the battle, the General Cao Zhen suffered a recurrence of his leg injury. It is difficult to lead troops to fight.
Apart from these two people, only Sima Yi, the general of the Hussars and Wuyanghou, has the ability to fight Mengda. Moreover, after the death of Xia Houshang, the former general of the southern expedition, Sima Yi began to serve as the governor of Jingzhou and Yuzhou, and has already guarded the provinces. Jingzhou has been in Jingzhou for several years and has a good understanding of the terrain of Jingxiang's generation, so it is most appropriate to order him to conquer Mengda.
But what Cao Rui didn't expect was that just one month later, Jingzhou's school spies had reported back that Wuyang Hou Sima Yi's army had arrived in Xincheng County!
You know, after receiving the secret report from the school officials, although I had quickly sent an envoy to inform Sima Yi to attack Mengda, Luoyang was thousands of miles away from Wancheng where Sima Yi was stationed, and it would take nearly a month for the envoy to go. It also takes a month to return, so it will take two months for him to know the news of Sima Yi's advance. However, Sima Yi has already arrived at Xincheng County by this time, which only shows one thing, that is, Sima Yi Before he received his emperor's order and the tiger talisman to mobilize the army, he decided on his own to kill first and report later, and quickly rushed to Xincheng County!
When I learned about Cao Rui at this time, I felt a mixture of joy and sorrow.
Such a happy situation, even if Meng Da is really capable of Leyi, he will be caught off guard by Sima Yi.
What he was worried about was that he had only been on the throne for less than a year, but Sima Yi, as a minister who cared about life, was so expert that he dared to mobilize the army privately.
There is no doubt that Sima Yi's actions have offended the emperor.
But now that the matter has come to this, Cao Rui still forcibly suppresses his inner anger for the time being. After all, pacifying Meng Da is the most important thing right now.
At this moment, Meng Da, who was waiting for reinforcements from Shu Han and Soochow in Xincheng County, was looking at the map on the case and stroking his beautiful beard with leisure.
He just wrote a letter in reply to Zhuge Liang:
"Prime Minister Rubu: Wan went to Luo for eight hundred miles, and I went to me for one thousand two hundred miles. When Sima heard about my action, he should express his gratitude to the emperor and counterattack. In one month, our city will be solid and all the troops can handle it. Then the place where I am is in deep danger, and Sima Gong will definitely not come by himself; in the future, I will be safe from danger. Dabai."
At this moment, Meng Da was secretly happy in his heart. Not only because, as mentioned in the letter above, it was difficult for Sima Yi to get here for a while, but he had enough time to set up his defenses.
What's more, he boasts that no one can understand his truest inner thoughts, and he also boasts that if his thoughts come true, no matter what, he will be able to find his own place with ease.
It turned out that Mengda not only corresponded with Zhuge Kongming of the Shu Han Dynasty, but also had long-lasting ties with Soochow. He was convinced that whether he surrendered to Shu or entered Wu, he would not be treated badly. What's more, he would not be treated badly this time. He has a greater ambition, that is, to unite Wu and Shu and go north to destroy Wei, and then he can take the opportunity to separate the north and form a new confrontation with Wu and Shu!
At this moment, the scout who delivered the order entered his mansion:
"General, there is a mighty army in the east, and it has already arrived within the county boundary."
Mengda was overjoyed. He knew that if Sima Yi wanted to come, he would have to go to the Emperor first. As soon as Wancheng went to Luoyang, it would take two months to go back and forth. It takes more than half a month, so this army and horse cannot be Sima Yi.
In this case, it can only be the reinforcements from the Wu Kingdom that he invited long ago.
In order to confirm his inner thoughts, Meng Da continued to ask with a confident smile:
"What color is the flag of the army horse?"
"It's a yellow flag!"
The messenger did not look as relaxed and content as Meng Da, but instead had a look of fear on his face, because he knew that the yellow flag was the yellow dragon flag that symbolized the virtues of the Wei Dynasty!
"What?"
Meng Da also seemed to be a little panicked:
"Are you sure it's not the cyan flag?"
"I am sure that the army horse is flying a yellow flag!"
Now Meng Da was completely panicked. He clearly remembered that Sima Yi had written to him before, saying that he would never believe the villain's slander and that he would be relieved to defend the country's borders. Taking a step back, even if Sima Yi had a knife hidden in his smile, it would not be just
He came here only eight days after he raised his troops. Didn't he report it to the emperor at all?
Meng Da's heart tightened and at the same time, he also increased the strength in his hands, so he accidentally pulled off several of his chin beards, which made him grimace in pain.
But after all, he is also a famous general in the world, and he will never surrender because of an accident. After a while, Meng Da calmed down and immediately began to issue orders:
"Quickly inform Deng Xian, Li Fu and others that they will come here to discuss matters, and also teach the generals guarding the city to guard the city closely, and quickly notify the armies outside the city to close the defense lines and be on strict alert!"
"Yes, my subordinates will do it now!"
After listening to the commander's order, the scout seemed to have a little strength in his heart and immediately left the hall.
It turns out that Meng Da thought that no one in the world could know his wishful thinking, but he didn't expect that two people had already penetrated his heart.
The first was Zhuge Liang, the Prime Minister of Shu. It turned out that Kong Ming was disgusted with Meng Da's capriciousness and wanted to trick Meng Da into raising his troops as soon as possible, so that he would no longer be the leader of two sides. Kong Ming knew very well that Meng Da and the prefect of Wei Xing were trapped.
Shen Yi had suspicions, so he sent Guo Mo to pretend to surrender. Guo Mo followed the plan and visited Shen Yi to reveal his intention to rebel. This is why Meng Da decided to rebel against Wei.
[Note 2: The reason why Meng Da offended Shen Yi was that Shen Yi and his brother Shen Dan were originally Wei generals, guarding Shangyong. After Liu Bei occupied Shuzhong, he sent Meng Da to attack Shangyong. Shen Dan and Shen Yi were under pressure.
After surrendering to Shu Han, Mengda soon rebelled against Han and surrendered to Wei, leading his army to cut off Shen Dan and Shen Yi's retreat. As a last resort, Er Shen had no choice but to surrender to Wei again. Shen Dan and Shen Yi did not want to repeat themselves, but the two
Cidu became a villain because of Mengda, so he hated him.】
The second person who saw through Mengda was his immediate superior, the Governor of Jingyu, General Hussar, and Wuyanghou Sima Yi.
Contrary to Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi was most afraid of Meng Da's premature rebellion, so he wrote to Meng Da long ago:
"In the past, the general abandoned Liu Bei and joined the country. The state appointed the general to take charge of the territory and appointed him as the general to promote Shu affairs. It can be said that his heart was full of daylight. The people of Shu are stupid and wise, and they all gnashed their teeth at the general. Zhuge Liang wanted to break up with him, but he had no choice.
Lu Er. What Mo Zhi said is not a trivial matter. How can I take it lightly and let it be revealed? This is almost difficult to understand."
Just when Meng Da felt relieved, Sima Yi immediately sneaked in and attacked without waiting for the emperor to report. Therefore, Sima Yi's army had already reached the three counties of Xincheng in only eight days.
Meng Da, who prides himself on being shrewd, never deceived anyone.
At the top of Shangyong City, Meng Da looked at the billowing smoke and dust carried by Sima Yi's army in the distance. He sighed and said, "I can only do this in eight days, but the soldiers have already reached the city. Sima Yi is so fast!"
However, he was just stunned for a moment, and immediately began to urgently deploy defenses. He understood that the situation was not the worst at this time. After all, Wu Shu's reinforcements would arrive in more than ten days. As long as he held on, he would wait until the reinforcements arrived.