After clarifying the problem of grain and fodder transportation, it is time to think about whether to send troops.
Cao Zhen stood up with the case, turned around and found a large pile of cloth from the utensils, spread it out on the case table one by one, frowned and stroked his beard and thought carefully.
Each piece of fabric is quite large.
Some of the titles at the beginning of the volume are named after regions, such as "Tianshui", "Hanzhong", "Longxi" and "Wudu".
The detailed records are densely recorded, showing the actual situation of the counties and counties occupied by the Han army.
For example, the approximate number of garrison troops, the number of pass garrison encirclements, the production of grain and fodder, and the resettlement of the common people, etc. Even the grain, fodder and baggage transported by each county every month are recorded on the side.
Some cloths are prefaced by a person's name.
Such as "Shu Zhuge Liang", "Shu Zhao Yun", "Shu Wei Yan", "Shu Wu Yi", "Shu Ma Dai" and so on.
If Zheng Pu was lucky enough to witness this case, he would be shocked.
He has only been in official service for a few years, and at such a young age, he is actually among them!
And the notes are quite detailed.
"Pu, the general of Shu who besieged the captives, led the prime minister's office to join the army, is from Shifang, Guanghan."
"His forefathers, Zheng Du and Liu Zhang, were also painters, and he had his own style. The Prime Minister of Shu recognized him and appointed him as an assistant. He was quite unique and often called upon to discuss military plans. The Lord of Shu, Zen, was also friendly to him, so Shu
Zhang Fei's second daughter married him and made him his brother-in-law. Rumor has it that in the land of Bashu, scholars and common people privately said that Pu was similar to the old Shu Dharma and Zheng, and that he had strange plans and plans, and he would definitely retaliate."
"It is rumored that Pu was instrumental in planning the rebellion against Shu and quelling the rebellion in the counties in Nanzhong. He recruited soldiers from the southern barbarians and cut off the foundation of the powerful clans in Nanzhong. The Prime Minister of Shu often used his words in public appearances."
"Later, he led the Xuanwu governor and fought against Yinping Jinggu Road. He used an ambush to defeat Di Wang Fuzhang. Later, Fuzhang raised his clan to annex Shu. This was Pu's achievement in this battle."
"In the battle of Wei Xingjun, Pu also went with him. Shen Yi surrendered, all the common people in Xicheng were relocated, and Jingzhou engaged in events such as the annihilation of Zhoutai's entire army. The reason is not yet clear, so we cannot say whether it was a conspiracy or not."
"In the battle of Longyou, Pu and Ma Su guarded the Xiaoguandao Road. Su advanced rashly and returned in defeat. Pu held on with four thousand soldiers and horses to resist the old general He of the left. The general defeated Ling's three times the army. Ten of Pu's soldiers died.
Seven or eight, the army was not defeated, and finally the Shu general Chen Shi and Wei Yan's cavalry commander Zhao Guang came to rescue him, and he returned alive. His loyalty was not afraid of death, his righteousness won the soldiers and they would not turn around even if they died.
This is the problem of my great Wei Dynasty."
"At the end of October in the winter, the Prime Minister of Shu sent Pu to lead his headquarters to Didao, Longxi. Pu divided his troops and generals to patrol the defenses. He brought his followers and disciples to talk to You Chu about the elegance of silk and bamboo. He had frequent contacts and kept going for several months. His intentions are unknown.
also."
And Cao Zhen's eyes now fell on the cloth recording Zheng Pu's events.
It’s not that I think Zheng Pu is the biggest threat to Wei State now.
Rather, people such as Prime Minister Zhuge Liang, generals Zhao Yun, Wei Yan, and Wu Yi have been famous for a long time, and everyone in the world has heard about their character, military strategies, and talents.
Cao Zhen, who has been supervising Yongliang's military affairs, has long been aware of this because the defense area is connected to Bashu.
Therefore, when Zheng Pu was stationed in Didao, Longxi County, he wanted to find out from Zheng Pu's past events his style of conduct and the clues he had in using military tactics.
It is quite strange because of the recent changes in the arrangements of various counties in Shu.
At the beginning of November in winter, the Tufa tribe of Xianbei raided the north of the Weishui River on the right side of Longyou with cavalry bandits. The Prime Minister of Shu sent the Wu Ban tribe to help Wei Yan guard the area.
However, Shu Zhaoyun in Hanzhong County burned down all the planks of Baoxie Valley and Tangluo Road, and sent heavy troops to guard the Golden Canyon. Scouts often went deep into the Xunkou garrison in Wei Xing County to inspect the siege, and they were very alert. Unexpectedly, for some unknown reason, there was no place to send troops from Bashu.
With the arrival of reinforcements, the number of garrison troops in Hanzhong County suddenly increased a lot.
The same was true for Ma Dai who led the Wudu County of Shu.
In addition to guarding the Dashan Pass, they also frequently sent scouts You Fufeng to visit, and many small-scale conflicts broke out with the Xianbei Tufa tribe.
Wu Yi's tribe and Tiger Infantry Meng Yan's tribe, who were originally stationed in Tianshui County, sent additional troops to the Weishui River Valley and Longguan Road respectively to prevent the Wei army from attacking Longyou again.
The soldiers and horses guarding the center of power in Longyou today are "Sisou" who were temporarily led by Guan Xing.
In other words, the arrangements of the Shu army are all ordinary.
However, there is still a group of soldiers and horses in Nishu, whose movement and whereabouts are unknown.
He is the senior general in the army who leads an army of more than 10,000 people and is highly regarded by the Prime Minister of Shu, Gao Xiang!
Due to the careful work of the dispatcher Long You, the news of the return conflicted with the news communicated by Liangzhou Governor Xu Miao's old officials.
At the earliest, Gao Xiang led the army to garrison after the governor of Longxi was forced to surrender to Chu against Shu.
However, after Zheng Pu led his troops into Didao, Gao Xiang's troops moved to the east bank of Taoshui River and settled in the mountains. They built a pontoon bridge to face Didao across the water and formed horns with each other.
This is the weird thing!
In the harsh winter, more than ten thousand troops went out of the city and settled down in camp. What happened?
In the news sent back by Xi Zuo, it was claimed that the Gaoxiang tribe camp was patrolled by soldiers within ten miles and was strictly guarded. Any trespassers would be bound and sent to Tianshui County.
Moreover, these patrolling generals and soldiers are in the same team every day and never rotate!
The most incredible thing is that the amount of smoke rising from Gao Xiangbu's military camp every day is enough to feed more than 10,000 soldiers.
However!
Longxi Gong Cao Jiang Liu took advantage of his position to learn and pass on the news of his return. The grain that Didao transported to the military camp of Gaoxiang every ten days was only enough to feed more than a thousand people!
This has been the case for several months.
Is this following the example of Yu Xu, the prefect of the Han Dynasty's Wudu capital in his crusade against the Qiang and Hu rebellions, who reversed Sun Bin's strategy of "increasing troops and reducing stoves", adding more stoves every day, pretending to have strong military strength?
Cao Zhen frowned and closed his eyes, just pinching his head and thinking.
Having commanded armies on countless expeditions, he naturally knew the significance of food and fodder to the soldiers.
Without food, the army will collapse!
Even Sun Wu, Wu Qi and others could not command an army without food.
And Gao Xiang, who could not yet be called a famous general, deprived his soldiers of enough food for two months in a row and still managed to prevent the army from collapsing?
There must be fraud in this!
However, if Gao Xiang's troops only have a thousand men left to garrison the military camp, where are the remaining nearly 10,000 soldiers?
Could it be that he has secretly returned to Hanzhong County to garrison?
Cao Zhen suddenly opened his eyes and picked up the information about Hanzhong and Wudu counties from the table.
"In mid-October, Zhao Yun, who was against Shu, burned the Qinling Plank Road."
"At the beginning of November, Hanzhong and Xijin garrisoned the siege and added three thousand troops."
"At the end of November, about 2,000 troops from Mianyang County entered the city; Baozhong County built a garrison along Baoshuikou, with about 3,000 troops stationed."
"At the beginning of December, the number of garrison troops in Nanzheng County increased by about 2,000."
"At the beginning of October in winter, Chen Shibu, who was garrisoning Wudu County, announced that he was transporting grain and fodder to Longyou. He sent troops to guard the Qishan Road to prevent the common people in the county from setting foot within one mile for nearly ten days."
"Huh~~~"
Cao Zhen looked at Cao Zhen who had finished reading again and let out a long sigh of relief.
If you compare the sudden increase in troops in Hanzhong County with the Gaoxiang troops who have been dormant for several months, you can find that they are exactly the same.
However, soldiers should be careful.
He did not make an immediate assertion, but once again set his sights on the news conveyed by Xu Miao and delivered by Jiang Liu, the meritorious Cao of Longxi.
Zheng Pu's troops stationed at Didao in Longxi had only three thousand cavalry when they arrived.
Among them, the central general Hu Zhong has been sent to garrison at Shangxiamen Pass; while the cavalry general Yang Ji is camped in the north of the city. Every day, the whole army goes out to inspect the northern section of the Taoshui River Valley; only the general Zhang Yi is stationed at
Inside the city, the place to set up camp is in the west of the city.
However, there is also a move that makes people unable to help but think about it.
When Zheng Pu led his army into Didao City, he once claimed that the Prime Minister of Shu would send troops to Longxi to garrison one after another, so that the people in the county would not have to worry about the incoming Wei army and would be left with empty defenses. And as Zheng Pu said, every ten days
More than a thousand soldiers and horses entered from Didaonan city gate and transferred to the military camp in the west of the city to station themselves.
In the military camp in the north of the city, more stoves were added and the amount of smoke was increased.
It's just the news from Chiang Kai-shek that the amount of grain allocated to the military camp in the north of the city every ten days has never increased!
Still only feeds two thousand soldiers!
Add more troops and more food, but not more food?
For such a strange thing, Xu Miao and Guo Huai both commented on it: "The traitor Pu is imitating Dong Zhuo in the past when he entered Luo, using a small number of soldiers to make a cunning plan to make the army prosperous!"
Well, when Emperor Ling collapsed and Luoyang was in chaos, Dong Zhuo heard about it and hurriedly entered Luoyang. At that time, he could only lead three thousand troops and cavalry.
Feeling that he had few troops and fearing that he would not be convinced by those near and far, he led the army to sneak out of the nearby camp at night for four or five days. He returned in the morning with Chen Jinggu, thinking that his subordinates were returning with troops one after another, but there was no one in Luoyang.
All of them were afraid of Dong Zhuo's powerful army and did not dare to become an enemy. Let the troops of the former general He Jin and his younger brother He Miao be afraid of Dong Zhuo's power and all surrendered to him.
After Zheng Pu arrived at Didao, he led a small army, so he followed Dong Zhuo's example and stationed Zhang Yi's troops in the west of the city every day. He led his troops out of the city at night and then entered from the south of the city. This was because he wanted to deceive the common people of Longxi by not adding more troops!
Another idea is to increase the reputation and deceive the Wei army into sending false news back to Jincheng, so that the Wei army thinks that Didao's defenders are in great power and cannot send troops to attack!
After Cao Zhen finished reading the book submitted by Jiang Liu, his eyebrows drooped and he thought again.
I also felt emotional in my heart, he went against Shu Zheng Pu, and his planning ability lived up to his filial piety by analogy!
He is only in his twenties, but he is able to calculate people's plans so deeply. How many rising stars in the Wei Kingdom can compare with him? After decades of chaos in the world, how many people can do the same!
But it’s just Guo Fengxiao, Xi Zhicai, Zhou Gongjin and a few others!
For example, Xun Gongda, Jia Wenhe, Fa Xiaozhi and others were already in their thirties or even forties when they accompanied the army on expeditions and made plans.
If this son of the Zheng family is not eliminated, he will definitely cause great trouble to the Wei State in the future!
Cao Zhen secretly made an assertion to Zheng Pu.
He no longer hesitated, opened his eyes, took some ink, and wrote a letter to Cao Rui in Luoyang to invite him to fight.
The reason was not to capture Didao and kill the ambitious Zheng Pu before he invaded Wei; nor was it to follow Xu Miao's advice and seize Didao and then go down the Tao River to intimidate Wudu County and allow Ni Shu to attack.
Long's right rear was unstable and lost ground in advance and retreat.
But the news came from Longxi County: the old county of Longxi, the ruins of Suoxi City, Lintao County and other places have now been surrendered by Zhuge Liang, the Prime Minister of Shu, to surrender Jiang Weibie to lead the Qiang school captain and recruit the Qiang and Hu tribes to serve as righteousness.
From now on, we will set up a horse farm to train cavalry!
Never sit back and watch, Ni Shu has trained a large number of cavalry!
This was the reason why Cao Zhen couldn't tolerate it.
Since Nishu has occupied Longyou and has a favorable geographical location, once it has a large number of cavalry, it will be time for the troops to leave Liangzhou!
However, Wei State, which was unable to rush to Liangzhou's aid due to the restricted terrain, feared that Liangzhou could not be defended!