Although Wei and Wu had definitely sent troops, the offensive had not yet started.
For Xiahou Ba of the Wei State, he was warned by Emperor Cao Rui and Sima Yi, the Governor of Yongliang, before his departure. The purpose of sending troops to Jiangdong was to lay the foundation for a real joint attack on Shu and to plunge Shu into war. For a longer period of time, the march should not be too hasty, and everything should be done to protect oneself.
Wu Guo also had similar thoughts.
They had to wait until Xiahou Ba's troops entered the Ziwu Valley, and it was confirmed that the Han army would no longer send troops from Guanzhong to support the war in the three counties of the East via Hanzhong, before they launched the attack.
Among them, Lu Xun and Sun Quan had another tacit reason.
Although the Tang Counseling Department in Shangyong County was trapped in the city in mid-autumn and August, as the front line against Bashu, the city's grain crops could still sustain till next spring plowing.
In this way, there is no need to worry about rescue.
As for what happens if the morale of Tang's army is unstable and they are captured before their supplies of food are exhausted?
It doesn't matter anymore.
Everything has its pros and cons.
If Shangyong County falls, Jiangdong will no longer be in a dilemma of being surrounded and seeking reinforcements. Instead, it can withdraw its troops into Xiangyang City and let the Han and Wei sides fight on their own.
Time was in the minds of both Wei and Wu, and it came to the end of November in mid-winter.
Xiahou Ba's tribe finally arrived at the south exit of Ziwu Valley, Anyang County (Shiquan County) established by Cao Cao of the former Wei Dynasty.
The mouth of the valley happens to be where the Chihe River turns west and merges into Mianshui River.
If you don't leave the valley, it will be very easy to defend. It will still take several miles for the Gaiinchi River to merge into the Mian River, but it will be difficult to threaten the waterway used by the Han army to transport heavy supplies of grain and fodder.
Unless he leads his troops to garrison at Rumiankou.
Of course, Xiahou Ba wouldn't do anything unnecessary.
After the heavily guarded supervisors arrived, he built fortifications directly at the entrance of the valley, turning the intrusion into a defense.
However, it was not that he did nothing.
After sending scouts to analyze the military situation in Xi County and Shangyong area, and learning that there were no Han troops guarding the area, they immediately sent envoys to sneak into Shangyong City and bring Tang Zi an edict from Emperor Cao Rui.
The content of the edict can be roughly divided into three contents.
One is to analyze the pros and cons.
For example, it is claimed that the Tang Dynasty Counselor is now in danger, and even if the Wu State tries its best to save it, it will be limited by factors such as mountains and terrain and it will be difficult to succeed.
The other is inducement.
Cao Rui wanted Tang Zi to return to Wei with his soldiers.
He claimed that as long as Tang Zi was willing, his previous rebellion against Wei and Wu in Licheng County would disappear with the passage of time; Xiahou Ba's tribe would do their best to support him in entering Guanzhong from Ziwu Valley.
Moreover, after Tang Zi entered the Wei State, he could still oversee the troops as before, and his official position and title would be upgraded to one level higher than those in the Wu State.
In other words, the biggest reason why Wei State allowed Xiahou Ba to lead his troops into the Ziwu Valley was that he valued the more than 5,000 elite soldiers led by Tang Zi.
Yes, elite.
As the first line of guarding the city of Bashu, Tang Zi's soldiers were among the best among the various ministries in the state of Wu.
Finally, it was relief.
He claimed that Tang Zi did not need to worry about the safety of his family members who stayed in Jiangdong after entering the Wei Dynasty.
Now that Wu was conquered by Bashu, the war on the southern front had been completely defeated, and Sun Quan could not accept another disastrous defeat on the northern front.
Therefore, Jiangdong did not dare to leave Wei as a temporary alliance at this time.
He also dared not refuse Wei Guo's request for Tang Zi's family members, which was not too much.
Did Sun Quan have the patience of Gou Jian?
After Tang Zi read the edict, he felt in a daze for a while.
He had already learned from the envoys from Jiangdong that the Wu Kingdom was trying its best to rescue Shangyong City, and he had also received news from the Han army that they had sent people to surrender.
Now we are welcoming the Kingdom of Wei again
Unknowingly, he became the focus of the Three Kingdoms game and the object of competition.
But it is important for people to know themselves.
After Tang Zi was in a complicated mood for a short time, he politely declined Wei's envoy, claiming that his return to Wei was unexpected and unprepared for him who had been besieged for several months.
Therefore, it was impossible to give Wei Guo a reply for a while.
Moreover, a decision like surrender, which concerns the fate of all soldiers, is not something he alone can make arbitrarily.
For example, the deputy general in the city and the person who oversees the army is a die-hard loyalist of the Sun family, and can also influence the decisions of some soldiers.
If he cannot reach a consensus with the deputy general, then even if he is willing to return to Wei, he will kill each other due to the opposition of the deputy general, which will make the plan of entering Guanzhong from Ziwu Valley come to nothing.
After all, the Prime Minister's Department of the Han Army was stationed at the southern end of the Dushui River Valley.
If there is internal strife in Shangyong City, there is no way to hide it from the Han army.
The Han army will also hear the news and seize the city and pursue it!
Tang Zi's reason made Xiahou Ba a little jealous.
Gein was unwilling to fight fiercely with the Han army unless he had no choice but to do so.
Not fear.
But this move goes against the instructions of Emperor Cao Rui.
Furthermore, when war breaks out, soldiers will inevitably suffer casualties.
The purpose of recruiting and surrendering the Tang Counselor's Department was to increase the strength of the Wei State, but at the cost of losing Wei's soldiers, and it was not possible to estimate how many soldiers Tang Counselor could attract to the Wei State, it was naturally not worth the gain.
In this regard, Xiahou Ba discussed with his deputy Puzhong but could not make a decision.
According to what Tang Zi said, he needed time to think about it, and sent an envoy to reassure him that he was not in a hurry. Then he sent someone back to Guanzhong to report to Sima Yi.
Let the superiors think about this kind of thing.
But what he didn't know was that Tang Zi's reply to Wei Guo was nothing more than prevarication.
The deputy general and supervisor of the army in the city is not Sun's die-hard loyalist at all!
But the villagers who rebelled against Wei with him in the past!
Besides, even if the deputy general in the city is a die-hard Sun loyalist, so what?
He has been in charge of military campaigns in Jiangdong, a privately-owned country, for nearly 20 years. His soldiers have long "know the general but not the king"!
If he decides to join the Wei Dynasty, whether he is a die-hard Sun loyalist or a lieutenant general and supervisor of the army, anyone who dares not to follow will be killed with a knife, and he can still block his decision!
Furthermore, he is originally from Xuzhou~
The reason for raising troops to rebel against Wei before was also because of Wei's massacre of Xuzhou in the early years and the heavy taxes and corvee!
If he returns to the Wei Dynasty, how can he meet his hometown elders?
And the reason why he and Wei Guoxu were fighting each other was to delay time.
In any case, as long as the Wei army stays in Ziwu Valley for one day, it can more or less contain some Han troops for Wu, and it can also give the soldiers who are trapped in the isolated city a glimmer of hope.
In other words, he still has hope for Wu.
He had been in Wu for many years, and Sun Quan treated him well.
Therefore, he did not want to betray Jiangdong even though Jiangdong had done his best to mobilize troops to rescue him.
This is how he repays Jiangdong for his kindness over the years.
But if Jiangdong's rescue fails and Shangyong also runs out of food, then he will have no choice but to "go with the flow."
And by that time, whether he defected to Wei or returned to Han, Sun Quan would not blame his family.
The military law is as strict as that of the Wei State. There is a saying that "if someone is attacked for a hundred days and cannot be saved, he will not sit down even if he is surrendered." He persisted for more than a hundred days and it was at the last moment when the food was exhausted. What reason did the Wu State have?
