This palace, which served as the residence of the last emperor of the Han Dynasty in its early years, was very simple.
Not only is it small in scale, there are few pavilions and pavilions, and there is not even a magnificent main hall.
When Emperor Cao Rui visited Xuchang Palace this time, he fortunately did not stay overnight there. Instead, he lived in the felt hall in the south of the city, where he handled government affairs and received courtiers.
Therefore, after staying in Xuchang for nearly a month, he became tired of it.
And I have to go back to Luoyang.
But the biggest reason is not the small size of Xuchang Palace.
But in the seventh month of Autumn, the great general Sima Cao Zhen was ordered to join forces with the great general Sima Yi to attack Shu, and the battle was defeated.
Yongliang and Jingxiang spent more than a year preparing for this attack on Shu temples. They mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops and conscripted hundreds of thousands of common people to serve as corvees and transport heavy grain supplies. Cao Zhen went to Ziwu Valley and Sima Yi went to Dongsanjun. , Zhang He took the Baoxie Valley, and Guo Huai and Fei Yao took the Qishan Road, advancing in four directions, with the united will of vowing to take back Hanzhong County, but they ushered in a very ironic result - just two months later, the main forces of both sides were defeated. There had never been a fierce frontal battle, so the Wei army, as the attacker, automatically stopped and returned!
In this regard, both the government and the public in Wei thought that they had been defeated by Tianshi.
Since the beginning of mid-August, the entire Qinling Mountains to Wanluo area has been experiencing heavy rain for more than 30 consecutive days.
Rivers such as the Han River, the Y River, the Luoshui River, and other major rivers all overflowed their banks. However, Cao Zhen, who was walking through the Ziwu Valley, encountered landslides and the plank roads were so damaged that it was difficult to walk.
After the courtiers accompanying him in Xuchang Palace learned about it, they gathered together to invite Emperor Cao Rui.
He claimed that the attack on Shu was no longer possible and ordered Cao Zhen to stop his troops in order to reduce the loss of national power.
The emperor followed the advice.
In this way, Cao Zhen, who was in charge of the main force, stopped his troops and returned, and Sima Yi and others who were coordinating the battle naturally stopped their troops.
In the massive Battle of Shu, only two battles took place.
One is Xiahou Ba, who was entrusted by Cao Zhen to be the vanguard.
As the vanguard of the main force to conquer Shu, Xiahou Ba marched very quickly, leading his troops to cross the Qinling Mountains before the heavy rains continued, and arrived at Xingshi Mountain. They camped in the valley and looked at Chenggu County (Lecheng) at the eastern end of Hanzhong County in Shu. The golden (garrison) siege.
The Shu army saw its general's flag outside.
They underestimated him because he was an anointed son who had gained the position because of his family background, and deceived him into not participating in the war in person, so he sent troops to attack him.
As soon as the war started, the Wei army was at a disadvantage.
Fortunately, Xiahou Ba was quite brave, and regardless of his own safety, he personally led his troops to resist desperately at the front line of Lujiao, and finally waited until the follow-up troops arrived to relieve the siege.
This little battle can be regarded as indeterminate.
The other battle did not take place in Hanzhong County, but far away in Wei's Longyou and Yangxi (Xi) in Nan'an County, and it was an unplanned encounter.
The reason for this must start with the geographical location of Shu.
For the Shu State with its solid mountains and rivers, no matter how many routes the Wei State invades this time, the only places that need to be defended are the two counties of Hanzhong and Wudu.
Among them, Hanzhong County was personally garrisoned by Shu Prime Minister Zhuge Liang.
He also summoned Li Yan, another important minister of the Shu Kingdom, to lead 20,000 troops to Hanzhong County to assist in the defense. In this way, the defense of Wudu County naturally fell on Wei Yan.
According to Zhuge Liang, the Prime Minister of Shu, Wei Yan was appointed as the general and Wu Yi was the deputy. About 7,000 troops took the Qishan Road and garrisoned at the Jianwei garrison at the bottom of the Qishan Mountain, leaving Guo Huai and Fei Yao at a loss. Go south.
And out of strategic considerations, Shu Prime Minister Zhuge Liang also asked Wei Yan to try to contact the Qiangzhong tribe when he went to the west.
Qiangzhong is not the name of a county or valley.
In a broad sense, it generally refers to the area where the Western Qiang thrives, including the entire county of Longxi and part of Jincheng County (later drawn as Xiping County); and in the current period of the Wei-Shu conflict, it refers to the west to Xiangwu County of Longxi County.
The area of Baohan at the head of the river.
This area is home to large and small Xiqiang tribes.
Among them, Tang Fan, the leader of the tribe who thrived in the land at the head of the river, raised troops to respond when the Shu Kingdom sent troops to Longyou for the first time.
However, after the failure of Shu's first Northern Expedition, Tang Fan was also defeated by Guo Huai.
But he was not killed, but escaped into the continuous plateau valley with the remaining defeated soldiers.
If Wei Yan had the opportunity to contact him and inform him of the fact that the main force of Yongliang in Wei State is now used to conquer Shu, he would definitely lead the tribes out of the mountains to attack the land at the head of the river, causing turmoil in Longyou of Wei State.
However, it's a pity.
The messenger sent by Wei Yan had not yet found Tang Fan, so all the Wei troops who were attacking Shu on all four sides stopped.
An ordinary general would be very happy and satisfied with the result of keeping the enemy at bay, and would lead his troops back home.
But Wei Yan is different.
As early as when Liu Bei conquered Bashu and proclaimed himself the King of Hanzhong and promoted him to be the prefect of Hanzhong, he once said, "If Cao Cao comes with the whole world, please reject it for the king; if Cao Cao comes with a hundred thousand people, please swallow him for the king."
"It's" words.
A person with such lofty ideals would not be satisfied with just working in vain.
However, he did not follow the usual practice of military warfare. He pursued Guo Huai and Fei Yao who had returned from the army, and fought fiercely with the Wei army before it retreated into the city of Tianshui County, taking the opportunity to seize the city.
Rather, they are well versed in the essence of the art of war of "Don't hold back when returning to the enemy". Since both sides automatically stopped their troops before the Wei army engaged in a fierce battle, and the morale of the soldiers and generals was intact, we concluded that their return journey must be orderly and well-organized, and it may even be possible.
Set up an ambush.
Therefore, he found another way and took a different approach.
He chose to take the Dongting Road (Shiying Road) north to Nan'an County, hoping to take advantage of the Wei army's return to Tianshui County to defeat the empty Nan'an County, and also isolate Longxi County (Qiangzhong) from Longyou.
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If everything goes well, it will not be difficult to induce the Qiang people in Longxi and even Hehuang to rise up against Wei again, and there is hope that a situation will be formed where Wei and Shu will equally divide the right of Longxi.
Of course, this non-step-by-step approach is also risky.
This is because he violated the taboo of marching deep alone and was easily cut off by the Wei State.
It's like "If you don't succeed, you will succeed."
However, neither of these two possibilities happened.
Guo Huai and Fei Yao, who had not yet led their troops back to Shanggui, also learned that the Shu army had encircled the rear and attacked Nan'an County. They immediately led their soldiers and rushed to the rescue. The two sides met at Yangxi.
If the two armies are of equal strength and meet on a narrow road, the brave one will win.
The Wei army was severely defeated in this battle, and they fled back to the city to defend it with nearly half of their casualties.
However, when the lightly armed Shu army saw that the Wei army had retreated into the city, the strategy of seizing Nan'an County was no longer possible, so they stopped and returned.
It was precisely because of the defeat of the Wei army that Emperor Cao Rui had the idea of summoning Xia Houhui to ask for advice when he returned to the capital Luoyang.
This is because the troops of Guo Huai and Fei Yao are not county soldiers, but the elites that Wei relies on to defend Longyou!
Needless to say, Guo Huai's tribe, during the first Northern Expedition of the Shu Kingdom, only Shanggui County, which was defended by his headquarters, was intact in the entire Longyou; then General Fei Yao's tribe was stationed in Yongliang for more than ten years, and had previously suppressed rebellions in Liangzhou and Hexi many times.
, and also served as Zhang He's deputy to attack Jieting and thwart Shu's first Northern Expedition.
The defeat of the two of them also made Emperor Cao Rui begin to realize that the reason for the defeat of Shu was probably not just the lack of time.
Perhaps, it is also because today's Wei soldiers may not be as good at fighting as Shu soldiers?
If this is the case, can Xia Houhui's previous strategy of "strengthening the walls and clearing the country, exhausting Shu with troops, and then destroying it in one battle when it is poor and weak" still be implemented?
But he said that after Xia Houhui received Li Changshi's message, he did not dare to neglect and hurriedly came over.
By the time we arrived at Xuchang Palace, we were already dusty and tired.
He reported his name to the guards outside and asked to see him. The person who came out to greet him was his younger brother Xia Houhe.
The brothers had not seen each other for several months, and they were naturally happy to see each other. However, Xia Houhe had many responsibilities and there were too many soldiers around him. Your Majesty has been in a bad mood for several months. Please do not say any disobedient words to your Majesty."
In response, Xia Houhui nodded silently.
He knows the reason.
In the summer, Taifu Zhong Yao died in April, in June, the empress dowager and Mrs. Bian died, and now Cao Zhen failed in his expedition to Shu. It’s no wonder that the emperor is in a good mood!
Not long after, the officials announced that he could enter the palace.
Xia Houhe straightened his clothes, entered the palace, bowed his head and walked forward, bowing and paying homage.
As for Xia Houhui, as soon as he entered the palace, he paid homage directly and loudly announced to himself: "General Hui of Yamen, pay homage to your majesty."
The reason for this is because he is no longer a close minister of the emperor~
A mere Yamen general guarding the border would not even be qualified to see the Emperor unless he was summoned by the Emperor.
Even if you are lucky enough to be summoned, you must pay homage to the emperor from a long distance according to the order of honor and inferiority in the train.
Although, even if he, like Xia Houhe, walked up to the emperor and then paid homage, Cao Rui would not be surprised or ask any questions because of Cao Rui's treatment of him.
But he didn't want to be impeached by Yousi and cause trouble.
This scene fell in the eyes of Emperor Cao Rui, and he was deeply moved.
The ministers who are dedicated to serving the public and dare to advise the country without fear of power are not even qualified to meet the emperor.
When did the Wei State show such signs of distant virtuous ministers being promiscuous and treacherous?
Could it be that I, who has been working hard to govern, have shown signs of being a coward without even realizing it?
With this thought, Cao Rui stood up silently, waved his hand to reject Xia Houhe and many other officials, and walked slowly to Xia Houhui, "Zhi Quan, get up and follow me for a walk."
"only."
Xia Houhui stood up in response and followed closely behind.
After leaving the felt hall, Emperor Cao Rui walked aimlessly and looked around from time to time, as if he wanted to find a high place to enjoy the wind and relax his mood.
It's just that the terrain of Xuchang is flat, with only mountains in the distance to the west of the city, and not even a low hill to the south of the city.
"Does Zhiquan know?"
The emperor Cao Rui, who had been thinking about it since he ascended the throne, slowly said, "Da Sima failed in his attack on Shu, and I have ordered the troops to stop. Alas, what Zhiquan said to Shu before is correct."
"Replying to Your Majesty, the favor has been learned."
Xia Houhui responded softly, and then added, "Your Majesty, it is right for you not to hope that you will be promoted."
These words also made Cao Rui pause for a moment, and he suddenly felt that the late autumn scenery he saw was particularly desolate. He gave up the idea of continuing to walk and look around, casually walked to a protruding stone and sat down, beckoning Xia Houhui to sit on the ground. , after explaining the situation of Guo Huai and Fei Yao being defeated by the Shu army, he asked softly.
"Now that the matter has come to this, can Zhi Quan's previous plan to tire Shu be carried out?"