Shu Chen

Chapter 241
The sudden military situation disrupted the deployment of the Han army in Longyou.

No one expected that Cao Zhen, who still chose to defend Zuli City after several times of loss of soldiers and generals, would take the initiative to strike back.

Since the war has been going on, no matter from which point of view, Wei Guo must not retreat.

Because of the retreat, the Haoyou and Qianghu tribes in Liangzhou, and even the pawns and traffickers, will no longer believe that Wei Guo has the strength to retake Longyou and compete with the big Han after witnessing this battle.

This means that Wei Guo has surrendered Liangzhou!
However, Cao Zhen and the ministers of the Wei Luoyang Temple couldn't even see this?
Is it to retreat as an advance?
For example, Liangzhou was regarded as an abandoned son of the game between the two sides, and after the Han army marched into the four counties of Hexi to fight, the Wei army came from the Wushui River Valley to encircle Zuli County, so that the Han army could not look after each other.

Or is it another way?
For example, he felt that the Wei army had gone from Guanzhong to Anding County and entered Longyou, and the logistical pressure was too great, so instead of targeting the weakness of the Han army's defense line being too long, he transferred the army back and threatened Hanzhong County; I dare not send too many troops to attack the four counties in Hexi.

These two speculations are the views most supported by many generals of the Han Dynasty.

But things are too weird, and the cause and effect are not clear, so no one dares to make a definite assertion.

After the prime minister Zhuge Liang heard the news, he immediately asked the officers and men of the various ministries to suspend the plan to dispatch troops because the situation was unclear, and sent a large number of spies into the pass to collect intelligence.

He also communicated with Wei Yan and Zhang Bao, and took advantage of this idle period to transport some grain and fodder to stock up.

The right is to plan ahead, in case Wei Wei re-sieges the city.

However, in Wei Yan's letter, he also asked to lead the army to attack Hexi.

The reason was that he speculated that it was because of Cao Zhen's death from illness that Wei Guo's sudden and unreasonable strike back.

In fact, this speculation was also mentioned in Longyou.

It is no secret to the big man that Cao Zhen has suffered from frequent illnesses in recent years.

Now that the soldiers and horses are working hard, the successive battles are not smooth, and they have been living in the cold wind and frozen soil for nearly half a year in the severe winter, eh, it seems to be reasonable?
Furthermore, Wei Yan also mentioned one point.

Trapped in the city, he patrolled the top of the city every day, and also witnessed the situation of the Wei army's relief from the siege.

Cao Zhen, who had always had the same board and lodging with the soldiers, was different from the past when he retreated and marched. Not only did he not show his face, even the driver was surrounded by the soldiers.

This made Wei Yan feel that even if Cao Zhen did not die, he would be dying of terminal illness soon.

Otherwise, it would be impossible to explain Wei Guo's strike.

The prime minister didn't say much about his opinion.

It is only on the grounds of "not to act rashly", let him wait for the military order first, and make plans after careful investigation and clear information.

Moreover, it will be spring and March in a few days.

The spring plowing must not be delayed, it was just a good time to inquire about the news, let the soldiers return to the military camp in Longyou, sow this year's grain and fodder first, so as to ease the difficulty of transporting grain and fodder from Shu to Longyou.

As for why the Wei State retreated, whether it was out of necessity, whether it was beneficial or disadvantageous to the big man, time will give the answer.

Anyway, the longer Yuyinsai belonged to the big Han, the more unfavorable it would be to Wei.

It is to adapt to all changes with the same, no need to be eager and reckless.

With this thought in mind, the prime minister left the garrison behind and led the army back to Ji County, Tianshui County, busy repairing the armor and clothing of the soldiers and supervising farming and mulberry.

Zheng Pu also returned to the other courtyard of Lu's family where they gathered together.

His headquarters was disabled, and there was no source of troops for him to replenish for the time being, and there was nothing to do for a while.

Simply, he threw all the trivial matters in the army to Zhou Tai.

As for the duties of protecting the generals of the Central Army and promoting low-level military officers, the prime minister is in Longyou and all the soldiers and horses are ready to rush to the battlefield at any time.

But leisure is not easy to enjoy.

Little Jing Ji, who is over a year old, no longer recognizes him.

Whenever I see him, I will dodge timidly; if I get close, I will howl and cry.

Hey, worry.

Time goes by, day and night.

Before you know it, it is spring and March, and the banks of the Weishui River are green again, glowing with vitality, and the fields in the military and civilian villages are full of busy people.

Zheng Pu, who came out of the prime minister's office in Ji County, rode his horse back slowly.

Thoughts also fluctuated with the bumps of the horse's back.

Two pieces of news have come out recently.

One is that Liu Xie, who was deposed as Duke of Sanyang, died of illness.

Cao Rui of Luoyang mourned in plain clothes, sent envoys to guard the funeral, and was posthumously named Emperor Xiaoxian.

The other is Cao Zhen, the great Sima of Wei, who was sent by Cao Rui to take him back to Luoyang to recuperate after returning to Guanzhong after his strike.

However, according to Luo Yang's rumors, Cao Zhen has already been ineffective, and has reached the point of preparing for the funeral.

The cause of the onset was shortness of breath and heart attack, and even vomiting blood.

Anxiousness is naturally the reason why the Wei army retreated - Li Shu in Guanzhong gathered a crowd to fight back!

The leader of the thieves is Zhang Mu, a native of Guanghan, Yizhou.

That's right, it was the Marquis of Junqu who once belonged to Liu Zhang, the Mianzhu bandit Zhang Mu and Zhang Gongshang who was later recruited by Zheng Pu as the army Sima after the first emperor Liu Bei established Shu.

As for how he was in Guanzhong, we have to start with the first time the Han army left Longyou.

During the first Northern Expedition of the Great Han Dynasty, Zhang Mu led three hundred bandits who followed him as soldiers of the Xuanwu Army, subordinate to Zheng Pu, and guarded Xiaoguan Road.

After the war, less than 50 people survived the [-] bandits, and most of them were disabled.

Although the big man has no shortage of pensions for the soldiers who died in the war, and he will take care of his children and offspring, but Zhang Mu still feels guilty and feels ashamed to face orphans and widows.

He also thought that he was not in his prime, so he asked to quit the army and go to Guanzhong to work in detail.

At that time, Zheng Pu persuaded him many times.

But Zhang Mu's determination was very firm, and he couldn't change it, so he worked hard on his behalf to make his wish come true.

Zhang Mu, who has been a bandit for many years, is bold, careful, and decisive in killing.

When entering Guanzhong via the Tangluo Road from Hanzhong County, it happened to be the time when the State of Wei led the bald tribe of Xianbei to Youfufeng and moved Li Shu to Jingzhao and Zuofengyi at the northern foot of the Qinling Mountains.

Because he didn't have a household registration, he pretended to be a Li Shu who didn't want to migrate, and took advantage of the chaos to join himself as a bandit.

After wandering around like this for several years, he was jointly pursued and suppressed by the government and Xian Xianbei, and was transferred to Zuo Fengyi.

When the state of Wei moved Jizhou's rangers and Li Shu into Guanzhong, he found an opportunity to escape from the bandits, killed a Jizhou ranger, pretended to be his identity, and entered Jingzhao household registration.

He has been serving the people for several years, often teaching young people in the village to practice martial arts and donating money and food to help orphans and widows, so he is highly respected.

On the eve of the autumn harvest last year, Cao Zhen planned to go to Longyou, and all the counties and counties in Guanzhong launched corvee labor. Zhang Munai took the opportunity to provoke and arouse public anger.

In the spring of this year, the defeat in the Longyou war spread to Guanzhong, everyone is afraid.

The government imposed corvée again, forcing Li Shu to transfer grain, fodder and supplies to Gaoping City before the spring plowing. The people were uneasy and complained a lot.

Zhang Mu privately used the excuse that Cao Rui's heirs had all died young, and privately spread the saying that Cao Wei had no destiny, and took the opportunity to clamor for the government's endless corvee, and that everyone would be recruited into the ranks to fill the ditch, etc., which made Li and the common people extremely fearful and angry.

While serving in corvee, he also killed several government officials at night, which aroused conflicts between the officials and the people.

Officials are strictly investigated, and the people are afraid of crime.

Many Li Shu, who could not bear the burden of corvee, gathered together to push Zhang Mu to be the leader and rebelled.

Zhang Mu's scheming succeeded, so he selected brave men from among the crowd, and followed the Wei army's "Yangling-Chiyang-Qixian-Gukou" transshipment route, robbing supplies and fodder along the way.And every time he succeeds, he will donate most of the food and fodder to the local Li Shu, claiming that it is "to take the food from Wei's tyrannical government and return the food for Li Shu's livelihood."

Therefore, his reputation became stronger and stronger, and his followers were like clouds.

And because Cao Zhen took the army to Longyou, and other garrison troops deployed along the Qinling Mountains, the troops at the junction of Jingzhao-Youfufeng-Anding counties were empty, making the government unable to control the civil unrest in time.

It was half a month later when the government reported to Gaoping City and Zhao Yan, who was in charge of the rear, sent other troops back to fight against the chaos.

At this time, Zhang Mu had completely destroyed the supply line of Wei Guo's army in Longyou.

The final result of the matter was that Zhang Mu was besieged and killed by many soldiers and horses of the government, and the entire Guanzhong Sanfu was in a state of turmoil; many supplies, food and fodder raised from Luoyang, Hedong and other places were burned, and the Longyou army could not continue; Luoyang Cao Rui had no choice but to issue an edict telling Cao Zhen to strike down.

Cao Zhen, who led the army to besiege Zuli City, was out of breath and vomited blood immediately after hearing the news, fell to the ground and fainted.

After the soldiers returned to Guanzhong, they suffered from accumulated illnesses and were unable to stay and serve as directors.

He knew that he would never have a chance to take back Longyou in his life.

Therefore, the heart dies before the person dies.

That is to say, Zhang Mu, as a man, made Wei Guo's most outstanding Jieshuai hard to repay his ambition, and he was about to die with hatred.

It's really surprising, and I can't bear to feel that the world is impermanent.

Zheng Pu felt even deeper.

He originally agreed to Zhang Mu's request, but because he couldn't get rid of his affection, he fulfilled his wish.

Who would have expected that Zhang Mu could influence the direction of the war?
(End of this chapter)