Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 734: The Arrogance of the Barbarians
Not to mention that Huo Jun was busy governing Guanzhong, arranging candidates for the three prefectures of Guanzhong, and looking for a site for a new city.

At this time, the Southern Han Dynasty was launching an expedition to the North, and the war entered a period of stalemate!
In order to ensure that no accidents would occur, Zhuge Liang confronted the Wei-Hu coalition army across the Qi River, intending to consume Cao Wei's already limited food and grass to intensify the conflicts among the Wei-Hu coalition army.

From March to June, the allied forces went out of the camp every day to challenge each other, but because Zhuge Liang refused to go out, the two armies were never able to engage in a major battle and were instead in a stalemate.

As time went on, due to the huge consumption of money and food for nearly 100,000 troops, as Zhuge Liang had judged, Cao Wei's food and grass became scarce, and how to distribute food and grass became a difficult problem for the Wei army.

Wei army, Cao Rui's camp.

Yu Zhuqian stepped into the tent and saw Cao Rui sitting on the Hu chair. He bowed slightly, straightened his back, and said with a slightly arrogant look: "Greetings to the emperor. I am here on the order of the Chanyu to inquire about food and grass. Why have the food and grass been gradually decreasing in recent months? How can our army fight against the Han soldiers?"

Seeing that the Xianbei visitor spoke in an arrogant tone and did not take Cao Rui seriously at all, the Wei official in the tent could not help but feel angry.

Not only were the Wei officials angry, Cao Rui, as a young monarch, was also annoyed by this. However, considering that he needed help from the other party, he had to endure the anger.

Cao Rui tried to calm down and said, "The reason why we reduced the food ration is that our army only relies on Hebei for supplies, and the food is not enough. Now the food is gradually running out. I hope that the Chanyu can understand and win as soon as possible. The best plan is to win."

As Kebineng's son-in-law, Yu Zhugan did not take Cao Rui seriously at all. He raised his chin slightly, sneered a few times, and said, "The shortage of food and grass is not our Xianbei's problem. If the food and grass are insufficient, our soldiers will starve and the soldiers will be resentful and want to return to the south of the desert. Don't blame me for not telling the emperor in advance."

For the Xianbei nomads, the fate of Cao Wei had nothing to do with them. If Kebi Neng had not been unwilling to unify China and had not forcibly led his troops to intervene in the war, they would probably still be grazing on the grasslands south of the desert, or marching east to Liaodong to plunder supplies.

Kebi was willing to endure some suffering for the sake of the greater good, but his generals could not accept starvation. Yu Zhugan's outspokenness showed Cao Rui the public opinion of the Xianbei generals.

Cao Rui took a few deep breaths, suppressed his anger, and asked, "How do you explain your army's looting around Yecheng when there is plenty of food and grass?"

Yu Zhuqian stared at Cao Rui coldly and said sarcastically: "Our 50,000 cavalrymen are expended every day, and the weather is getting hotter today. Most of our soldiers have no will to fight. We are looting the area around Yecheng out of helplessness, not intention. If the emperor does not wish, please ask our army to return to the south of the desert."

How could the Xianbei's military discipline be better than that of the Wei army? As a nomadic people, looting and killing were their natural thing to do.

Since they moved south, even with Kebineng's warnings, the Hu cavalry still couldn't help themselves and took advantage of the war to plunder the wealthy Wei County.

After learning that the Xianbei had plundered the Wei army, Cao Rui repeatedly stressed to Kebi Neng that it was not advisable to plunder lightly. However, Kebi Neng handled the matter with care and did not take it to heart in order to take care of the Xianbei soldiers.

With Kebi Neng's indulgence, the number of looting incidents by the Xianbei Hu cavalry gradually increased, which angered the local gentry in Hebei and made them unwilling to provide money and food to support Cao Rui.

Recently, the grain supply has been reduced suddenly. In addition to the shortage of grain in Hebei's treasury, the nobles gradually decided to give up their support for Cao Wei because of the Xianbei looting incident and the fact that Cao Wei had no hope of turning the tables. Therefore, when Cao Rui asked for grain, the nobles in Hebei refused to support Cao Wei on the grounds of lack of grain.

Hearing Yu Zhugan's threatening words, Cao Rui was speechless. After all, it was he who needed help from the Xianbei.

Waving his hands, Cao Rui suppressed his anger and said, "General, please return to the camp first. Let me calculate the remaining food."

"Hurry up!"

Yu Zhugan was very impatient and said, "If our army runs out of food and supplies, you will bear the consequences yourself."

Seeing that Yu Zhugan's attitude was getting worse, the elderly Xu Chu widened his eyes, clenched the hilt of the knife in his hand, and expressed his indignation.

Yu Zhugan came out of the desert tribe fighting, how could he be afraid of Xu Chu? Instead, he deliberately said: "We should ask for war as soon as possible. If we are short of food and supplies in the future, don't blame my Xianbei soldiers and horses. In order to survive, we have to return north."

The power released by the Tiger Marquis Xu Chu not only failed to scare Yu Zhugan, but instead increased Yu Zhugan's prestige. This made Xu Chu even more helpless. After all, when you are under someone's roof, you have to bow your head.

As he spoke, Yu Zhuqian looked around at the civil and military officials in the tent, then walked out with a proud look on his face.

After Yu Zhuqian left, Cao Rui was still furious. He pounded the table and cursed: "You are just a Xianbei Hu, relying on the power of others. How dare you be so arrogant!"

Wei Zhen sighed and asked, "Your Majesty, our army is short of food and fodder, and the Hu people are complaining. What should we do?"

Cao Rui frowned and asked, "How long can the army's food supply last?"

Sun Zi stepped out of the line, bowed, and replied: "Your Majesty, the army has enough food for 20 days. After 20 days, our army may run out of food!"

"No new grain has arrived after twenty days?" Cao Rui asked.

"No!"

Sun Zi looked depressed and said, "Years of war have caused the people to be scattered and Hebei is short of food. Our next plan is to engage the Han army in a field battle as soon as possible. If we wait until the soldiers and food run out, the situation will not be favorable to our army and we will surely be defeated due to lack of food."

"Where does the food come from?"

Cao Rui looked unhappy and couldn't help but sigh.

As the number of troops was smaller than that of the Han army, Cao Rui was only thinking about raising troops, but forgot about the issue of food supply. At that time, Zhuge Liang was holding on and not coming out, which really cost him his life.

After thinking for a while, Cao Rui said: "Since the confrontation between the two armies, the reason why the Han army did not attack is because there are too many Xianbei Hu cavalry. In order to plan for the big event, we should first allocate more troops and food to the Xianbei to comfort Ke Bi Neng."

In order to appease the Xianbei and get them to help him fight, Cao Rui had no choice but to supply them with food and grass. If the Xianbei were angry about the lack of food, regardless of the current situation, and tens of thousands of cavalry returned directly to the south of the desert, then Cao Wei would have no hope at all.

"What about our army?" asked Sun Zi.

Cao Rui shook his head and said, "Send a letter of challenge to Zhuge Liang and set a date for a decisive battle. Or find the enemy's granary and see if we can suddenly attack and burn the granary."

"promise!"

The morale of the crowd was a little low, and they responded casually.

Knowing that Cao Rui had decided to distribute more food and fodder to the Xianbei, the soldiers in the army became dissatisfied, the army's morale gradually wavered, and discussions began to arise among the crowd.

The morale of the Wei army was shaken, and the Han scouts soon discovered the situation and reported it to Zhuge Liang. Qiyuan, the camp of the Han army.

Inside the big tent, Zhuge Liang stroked his fan and smiled, saying: "Cao Rui values ​​the Hu cavalry and despises the Wei soldiers. He will bring about his own destruction!"

"Prime Minister, the morale of the Wei army is unstable. Can we go to war now?" Wen Pin asked.

"Hmm~"

When Zhuge Liang was considering whether to use the army, Jiang Ji quickly stepped into the tent and said, "Prime Minister, a Wei soldier has secretly come to the camp and said that he is a close confidant of Wei general Liu Qin and has come to present a letter of surrender on behalf of Liu Qin."

Zhuge Liang opened the letter and saw that Liu Qin first tried to establish a relationship with him. He said that he was also a descendant of Liu Sheng, the King of Zhongshan, and that he was also from the Liu family of Zhuo County, and had a weak blood relationship with the royal family of Southern Han. Now that the Wei people were unjust, he was willing to surrender to the Han Dynasty and begged Southern Han to accept him.

In order to win Zhuge Liang's trust, Liu Qin explained clearly the problem of the dispute between the Hu and Wei armies in Cao Wei, especially stating that the Wei army was about to run out of food.

Of course, not only Liu Qin surrendered, he also contacted Tian Zhang, and the two were willing to surrender to the Han Dynasty together.

Reading Liu Qin's letter, Zhuge Liang couldn't help but chuckle.

Because the Han Dynasty established a large number of vassal states in Guandong, there were too many people with the surname Liu, some of whom served Cao Wei and some served Southern Han.

Now there are surrendered people who claim to be the bloodline of King Jing of Zhongshan, and they are from the Liu family of Zhuo County. If Liu Qin's bloodline is true, we have to say that King Jing of Zhongshan is quite fertile.

Seeing Zhuge Liang smiling, Jiang Ji asked, "Why are you smiling, Prime Minister?"

Zhuge Liang restrained his expression slightly and said, "The surrendered man Liu Qin claims to be a descendant of King Jing of Zhongshan. Now he is willing to surrender to me with Wei general Tian Zhang."

"Oh?"

Jiang Ji was very interested and joked, "If this person surrenders, can he be included in the family tree?"

"How can I enter the family tree!"

Zhuge Liang shook his head and explained, "He is just someone trying to curry favor with the Han Dynasty. If he really wanted to serve the Han Dynasty, he would have led his troops to surrender long ago."

"That's a shame!"

Jiang Ji pretended to sigh and said, "Ji also wants to ask Your Majesty to grant me the surname Liu and include it in the family tree."

"Ha ha!"

Zhuge Liang handed the letter to his attendants and said with a smile: "There are many Lius in the world. If someone with the surname Liu can join the royal family, the world may be vast, but it will not be enough to divide it up."

As he spoke, Zhuge Liang deliberately said, "In the past, Lou Jing was able to change his surname to Liu because of his meritorious service in offering advice. Now I can ask for grace from Your Majesty on behalf of Zi Tong."

"No need!"

Jiang Ji smiled and said, "I am very close to Liu Zhi, and I am afraid that people in the future will mistake me for Cao Ji."

"hehe!"

After some laughter, everyone returned to the topic.

Wen Pin hesitated for a moment and said, "Prime Minister, Liu Qin and Tian Zhang want to surrender to me. Is this true or false?"

Zhuge Liang pondered for a moment and asked, "What do you think, Zitong?"

Jiang Ji stroked his beard and chanted, saying, "The Wei army is short of food and grass, and Cao Rui allowed the Hu cavalry to plunder, which has caused resentment among the soldiers and civilians in Hebei. Now I have read Liu Qin's letter. Although there are flattering words and flattering relationships, it fully reveals the internal situation of the Wei army, and it also shows the layout of the Wei army's camps. I think Liu Qin did not surrender in vain."

"Ok!"

Zhuge Liang fanned himself and paced, saying, "Zitong's words are to my heart. Many officials of Hebei Province, both large and small, have surrendered to me secretly. Their letters can fill a cart. Now it is not surprising that Generals Liu Qin and Tian Zhang surrendered to me."

The situation in the world was there, and anyone who was not a fool knew that Cao Wei would most likely perish, so there was no need for Liu Qin and Tian Zhang to pretend to surrender. Moreover, Liu Qin had told Zhuge Liang the core secrets of Cao Wei, so it was even more impossible for him to pretend to surrender.

After a pause, Zhuge Liang smiled and said, "If Liu Qin and Tian Zhang really surrender, then I will have a plan to defeat the enemy!"

"I would like to hear what the Prime Minister has to say!"

Zhuge Liang stopped and asked, "Did Sima Yi send a letter to ask for a fight?"

"Of course!"

"In that case, then reply and go to battle!"

Zhuge Liang instructed his attendants, smiling, "Come here, write back to Cao Rui and tell him that I will cross the Qi River to fight. Please ask him to retreat a few miles and allow me to lead the troops to retreat."

"By the way, please ask the Wei soldiers to come into the tent. Liang wants to interrogate them for details."

"promise!"

ps: There will be three updates tomorrow to make up for the owed chapters!

(End of this chapter)