When Ji Han and his men traveled to the Three Kingdoms crew

Chapter 773 Tried my best

"Teachers, what are you doing? Don't be upset!"

Seeing Zhuge Zhan and Zhuge Shang about to hit their heads and die, the calm scene suddenly exploded. The actors were horrified and rushed forward to stop Zhuge Zhan and Zhuge Shang. After everyone's efforts, they finally pulled Zhuge Zhan and Zhuge Shang back.

Zhen De hurried over and sent away the other actors, leaving only Zhuge Zhan, Zhuge Shang and Liu Chan.

Zhen De felt somewhat fortunate in his heart, fortunate that he had asked other actors to pay more attention to the role of Ji Han. If Zhuge Zhan and Zhuge Shang were really killed in the accident, it would be really unfair to Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang.

When Zhen De appeared, Zhuge Zhan and Zhuge Shang learned from Liu Chan about Zhen De's identity - a brother of Emperor Zhaowu, a close friend of his father/grandfather, and the person in charge of the theater.

hiss--

Zhuge Zhan and Zhuge Shang both took a deep breath. This generation was simply too great. No wonder His Majesty respected this Director Zhen so much.

At this moment, Zhuge Zhan and Zhuge Shang calmed down. After thinking about the assistant director's words carefully, they felt that there was a loophole, a big loophole. Jiang Wei was in Jiange, Luo Xian was stationed in Yong'an, and Huo Yi was in charge of Nanzhong. Where did they get 70,000 troops?
Just as Zhuge Zhan and Zhuge Shang were thinking this, Zhen De's question happened to ring in their ears.

"So what's going on?"

Zhuge Zhan and Zhuge Shang looked ashamed and sighed, "Director Zhen, we were too impulsive."

"This is the first time for the two teachers to participate in the New Three Kingdoms. It is normal that they have not reacted well." Zhen De comforted them a few times and then listened to Liu Chan's story.

Zhen De was somewhat amused. Zhuge Zhan and Zhuge Shang had taken the Romance of the Three Kingdoms as historical facts. As we all know, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms often depicts armies of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands, which is actually an artistic exaggeration. Liu Bei's army to attack Wu was less than 70,000, so how could Zhuge Zhan have 70,000 troops to resist Deng Ai?
Zhen De explained: "There are discrepancies between the novel and history. 70,000 versus 2,000 is just an exaggeration in the novel. It's like Liu Bei's army of 700,000 to attack Wu. In history, both sides deployed troops at Guandu. Yuan Shao had about 120,000 plus more than 20,000 logistics and more than 10,000 naval forces, and Cao Cao had more than 50,000 troops. The Sun-Liu coalition forces at Chibi were about 50,000 to 60,000. If Liu Bei had 700,000, let alone attacking Wu, he could have unified the world."

After hearing what Zhen De said, Zhuge Zhan and Zhuge Shang breathed a sigh of relief. Just as they thought, the 70,000-strong army was quite different from the actual strength.

Zhuge Zhan asked, "Director Zhen, may I ask how many troops do the two sides actually have?"

"The actual military strength of both sides." Zhen De thought for a moment and said, "Let's talk about Zhuge Zhan first. According to Wang Yin's "Records of Shu", after Ji Han surrendered, there were about 102,000 registered soldiers in the country. Most of these 102,000 soldiers were in four places. They were Chengdu, Hanzhong, Yong'an, and Nanzhong."

"According to the Records of the Three Kingdoms, Biography of Zhong Hui, Zhong Hui wrote to Sima Zhao saying that after Jiang Wei surrendered, his army numbered 40,000 to 50,000. This was after the battle, which means that the entire Hanzhong army numbered more than 50,000."

"As for Yong'an and Nanzhong, when Liu Bei entrusted his son to others, he appointed Li Yan as the Central Protector to guard Yong'an. In the eighth year of Jianxing, Cao Zhen prepared to attack Hanchuan from three directions. Zhuge Liang ordered Li Yan to lead 20,000 troops to rush to Hanzhong. Yong'an must have 20,000 troops at least."

"The supply to Nanzhong is difficult, so the garrison should not be large. However, judging from the records of the previous Beijiang governors who suppressed the rebellion, there must be more than 5,000 troops."

"If we reduce this and that, the number of troops in Chengdu will be much less than 30,000."

"Let's look at Deng Ai's military strength. The "Book of Jin: Emperor Wen's Chronicle" records that in November, Deng Ai led more than 10,000 people from Yinping to Jiangyou across the dangerous terrain. The "Records of the Three Kingdoms: Biography of Zhong Hui" records that Zhong Hui sent General Tian Zhang to lead troops from Jiange to support Deng Ai and defeat three schools of Shu army ambushes. Deng Ai used Tian Zhang as the vanguard. At this time, Deng Ai's army had nearly 20,000 people."

Liu Chan took over the conversation, "That means Zhuge Zhan and Deng Ai have similar military strength? Not as exaggerated as 70,000 versus 2,000?" "Yes." Zhen De nodded.

Zhuge Zhan and Zhuge Shang finally felt relieved. Although they felt bad for not being able to repel the foreign enemies, and felt ashamed of the emperor's trust, at least they were not as incompetent as having 70,000 troops defeated by 2,000.
The father and son hurriedly thanked him, "Thank you Director Zhen for clearing up my doubts."

"Hey, it's just a piece of cake." Zhen De waved his hand. To be fair, it was normal that Zhuge Zhan couldn't defeat Deng Ai. Not to mention the gap between Zhuge Zhan and Deng Ai, even the quality of Zhuge Zhan's soldiers was far inferior to Deng Ai's soldiers. Deng Ai led the Yongliang army that had been fighting with Jiang Wei on the front line of Hanzhong for a long time. On the other hand, what about Zhuge Zhan? Either the local county soldiers or the imperial guards in the palace.

Some people said that Deng Ai's army came from the Yinping Trail, a long journey, and was short of supplies. Zhuge Zhan was well-rested and could at least have fought a draw and held out for a while. Why did he suffer such a quick and complete defeat?
Yes, the Yinping Trail is almost uninhabited for hundreds of miles, and the long journey is tiring, thirsty, and exhausting. But the problem is that Jiangyou has surrendered, and Deng Ai has already had a chance to rest.

The general is not as good as the general. The soldiers are not as good as the soldiers.

If Zhuge Zhan wants to defeat Deng Ai, he has to ask Wu Hou to take over.

Not to mention that Zhuge Zhan's talent was far inferior to that of Wu Hou, and he also had considerable character flaws. In other words, as a loyal minister, Zhuge Zhan also did what a loyal minister should do.

Zhuge Zhan didn't know what Zhen De was thinking, but as someone who had been taught by Zhuge Liang since childhood, he understood one thing: even if one was defeated, one must find out the reason.

Zhuge Zhan asked again: "Director Zhen, I want to ask about the battle between the two sides and how Zhuge Zhan lost."

Zhen De recalled and said, "This is simple. The record of Zhuge Zhan in the Records of the Three Kingdoms: Biography of Zhuge Liang says that Zhuge Zhan "stayed in Mianzhu", which means he went up to the city to defend it. However, the Records of the Three Kingdoms: Biography of Deng Ai says that when Zhuge Zhan retreated to Mianzhu, he "lined up his troops to wait for Deng Ai", which means he lined up his troops outside the city for a decisive battle and defeated Deng Ai's army in the first battle."

"Let's look at the original text in the "Records of the Three Kingdoms: Biography of Zhuge Liang": Ai sent a letter to lure Zhan, saying: 'If you surrender, I will make you the King of Langya.' Zhan was angry and killed Ai's messenger. Then he fought and was defeated. He died on the battlefield at the age of 37."

"The logic should be that Zhuge Zhan held on to Mianzhu, and Deng Ai sent a letter to persuade Zhuge Zhan to surrender. Zhuge Zhan was furious, beheaded Deng Ai's messenger, and led his army to fight Deng Ai. Zhuge Zhan defeated Deng Ai in the first battle. As a result, Zhuge Zhan and his army were blinded by victory, underestimated the enemy, and suffered a great defeat in the next battle. Even Zhuge Zhan and Zhuge Shang died on the battlefield."

Silence. Zhuge Zhan fell into silence for a long time.

Excluding other reasons, he made two fatal mistakes just from the course of this battle.

First, he fell into Deng Ai's provocation, and second, he underestimated the enemy and advanced rashly.

Ugh.

Zhuge Zhan sighed in his heart: No wonder my father always told me to stay calm when encountering things. If I deal with it calmly, even if I can't win, I can still hold on for a while.

"Okay." Zhen De patted Zhuge Zhan on the shoulder and said to Zhuge Zhan and Zhuge Shang, "Don't think too much, it's all in the past. I'll give you the script later, and give each of you a mobile phone, but it doesn't have a card. I'm going to wait for the next teacher to arrive and take you to the city. But there is WiFi in the theater, and we've connected it in advance, so it should be no problem to go online. Take a good rest first and get used to it."

Zhuge Zhan and Zhuge Shang didn't understand what the cell phone in Zhen De's mouth was, but they could hear a hint of kindness and comfort in Zhen De's voice, so they thanked him repeatedly.

Liu Chan's mind suddenly moved. The next teacher? Could it be Chen Er?
(End of this chapter)