Three Kingdoms: I am not Cao Rui

"Come in and talk." After Lu Xun helped Zhou Duo up, he raised his hand and pointed inside the hall, then turned around and strode in. Zhou Duo did not dare to neglect him, and followed closely, stepped over the threshold, and carefully closed the door.

Dazhong is located at the border of Xizhou. The nights at the end of September are already cold, which is different from the south of the Yangtze River where Lu Xun usually lives.

However, marching and fighting are major national affairs.

In the first year of Taihe, Shu Han chose to launch an attack at the end of November, and Wei could only respond passively and hastily.

Zhuge Liang chose to advance at the end of September, which was two months earlier than the last time the Shu army launched a major attack. The difficulty of the attack was obviously smaller than it was then. This was definitely not good news for Wei.

"Have a cup of ginger water to get rid of the cold." Lu Xun personally poured a full cup for Zhou Duo from the ceramic jar that was warming on the stove nearby.

Zhou Duo was flattered and quickly stood up to thank him: "Thank you for your kindness, General."

"No problem." Lu Xun said casually, "Zhuge Liang will lead the army. The court and the general have already written to me and made a guess. It's normal that you don't know since you haven't taken up your official position yet."

"Is it the letter in Yuezhong?" Zhou Duo asked curiously.

"Yes." Lu Xun nodded. "Your Majesty writes to me every month. You know this. This year, there is drought in Guanzhong and floods in the Central Plains. It would be strange if Wu and Shu did not take advantage of the opportunity. The general also made arrangements with me. If the Shu army invades, they will probably attack Dazhong."

Zhou Duo was not surprised. He held the steaming ginger water in both hands and sipped it. "Yes, if Zhuge Liang doesn't attack Dazhong, where else can he attack? Wuxing Pass is impossible to attack, and Yangping Pass and Hanzhong are even more impossible to attack. Zhang Zhengxi is in Xiabian City in Wudu County. How dare Zhuge Liang attack? If he wants to fight, he can only come here to attack the general."

Lu Xun said calmly, "That's right. But if Zhuge Liang came to me at this time, I would be in trouble. The wheat has just been planted. If we abandon Dazhong and retreat, I'm afraid that next year's grain will be destroyed by Zhuge Liang."

Zhou Duo asked: "So we have to hold on?"

Lu Xun nodded, "This is the only way. The light cavalry will take advantage of the terrain to move around, recruit Qiang people to defend the city, and wait for Zhang Zhengxi's reinforcements to arrive. What else can we do?"

Zhou Duo sighed, "For a general of your talent, it is really unfair for you to guard such a remote place as Dazhong. This year, the court attacked Liaodong and won the battle in one go. They were very generous and gave double the fiefdoms and titles. But guarding the border requires hard work but little credit. When the general resisted Zhuge Liang last year, the court only encouraged him!"

Judging from what Zhou Duo said, it was not so much that he was speaking up for Lu Xun, but rather that he himself was guarding the remote Wujie and could not achieve any success.

Yes, Qinzhou is extremely remote. Zhou Duo led a thousand Qiang people to guard Wujie, a desolate border place, for more than half a year. How could he not have some emotions in his heart?
Lu Xun laughed and said, "Although Liangzhou is a remote place, it is more important to the court than the ordinary inland areas in the eyes of Your Majesty."

"Jin Ning, don't you know that I am a suspect? Apart from fighting against Shu, where else can I be used? Everyone in the court knows that I, Lu Xun, am the mortal enemy of Shu. It is safer for me to be in Liangzhou."

Zhou Duo sighed softly and bowed slightly: "General, what you said is very true."

"Jin Ning, wait a moment."

Lu Xun stood up, walked to the shelf beside his desk, and carefully took out a wooden box with exquisite lacquer from the bottom corner. Lu Xun reached out and brushed off the non-existent dust on it, opened the lid, and placed the wooden box on the desk next to Zhou Duo.

Zhou Duo came over to take a look and saw a thick stack of letters neatly placed inside the wooden box.

"Jin Ning, I haven't shown you these before." Lu Xun said softly, "They are all letters from His Majesty, one per month, starting from September of the second year of Taihe, until the beginning of the month, when I received the letter from His Majesty sent from Yingzhou in July. In total, there are more than 20 letters."

"Although I am in a remote area, from your majesty's perspective, Dazhong is not farther away than Luoyang. Jin Ning is a general under me, and his future is equally bright. Your majesty knows all about your hard work in the past two years."

Zhou Duo was startled, raised his eyes and looked at Lu Xun for a few seconds, then immediately stood up and bowed:

"General, I have absolutely no intention of harboring any resentment. What I said just now was unintentional. I hope you will punish me!"

To be fair, from Lu Xun's perspective, Zhou Duo's two words of protesting for himself actually sounded like a complaint. As the commander and the superior, Lu Xun naturally had to deal with such behavior of his subordinates properly.

Using official positions to suppress him or ignoring him is not a good way to deal with it. It is better to ease the situation than to block it. Telling Zhou Duo that the emperor has always been paying attention to the border areas is the best way to appease him.

Lu Xun just smiled and helped Zhou Duo up again: "Jin Ning, what are you talking about? You are my chief historian and my confidant. I just showed you some things. How could I blame you? Don't say such polite words in the future."

"I obey your command." Zhou Duo responded repeatedly.

Lu Xun nodded and said, "Since Jin Ning has returned to Dazhong, let's take a good rest for a day. The Shu army is composed of infantry, so they have enough time to prepare for the response. There is no need to be too anxious." Zhou Duo bowed and said, "I understand. I will follow the general's orders."

Zhou Duo rode quickly to Dazhong to meet Lu Xun and informed him of the invasion of the Shu army. On the same night, Zhuge Liang also led his army to Wandang, 50 miles southeast of Wujie.

Wujie, Xiabian and Dazhong, which are not far from here, are actually places where Qiang people have lived for a long time. It is impossible to know how the place name Wandang came about, but judging from the name, it should be the name of the Qiang people.

The Qiang River flows southeastward from the plateau upstream, passing through Dazhong and Wujie successively, and makes a big turn at Wandang, 50 miles southeast of Wujie, and changes its course to the southwest along the mountain. After entering the boundary of Yinping County for dozens of miles, it flows along the river valley in the mountains to Baishui.

Although Dazhong, Wujie, and Baishui are all adjacent to the upper and lower reaches of the Qiang River, the Qiang River is winding and precipitous, and cannot be used for water transport like the Ju River and the West Han River. In spring and summer, mountain torrents frequently occur along the Qiang River, making it unsuitable for large-scale military operations.

At night, the Shu Han was in the camp that stretched for several miles, in Zhuge Liang's prime minister's tent, where all the ministers and generals were.

In another day, Zhuge Liang's army would arrive at Wujie, starting another Northern Expedition in the fourth year of Taihe, or the eighth year of Jianxing.

After returning from a great defeat two years ago, the Prime Minister's Mansion has been stationed in Baishui, reorganizing the army, training soldiers, and preparing for war day after day. Now it is finally time to test the results.

This army is completely different from the 80,000-man army two years ago. Losing a battle is never a good thing, but after a big defeat, how to sort out the experience and lessons, how to boost morale, how to drill and train soldiers, how to revive the depressed army, this is the difference between a mediocre commander and a famous general.

The Chief Clerk Yang Yi, who was standing at the front of the crowd on the right, bowed and said in a loud voice: "Prime Minister, all the officials and generals of the Prime Minister's Office are here. Please give us your instructions."

Zhuge Liang nodded, looked around, and said slowly: "Everyone, tomorrow the army will arrive at Wujie, and may engage in battle with the Wei thieves' army. Since the sixth year of Jianxing, two years of hard work, two years of training, and two years of military reorganization have been experienced by you and me, so there is no need for me to repeat the extra words."

"In the next two days, I will directly command the troops to capture Wu Street. At today's military meeting, I will discuss with you the arrangements after we capture Wu Street."

Obviously, Zhuge Liang was still very optimistic about taking Wujie, and he didn't even take Wujie seriously. The ministers and generals standing in the tent had the same idea.

Zhuge Liang said: "The army set out from Baishui on the 25th, and it has been six days since then. Although it is a bit urgent to send troops, the 40,000 troops from top to bottom are ready at any time this year, so it is not hasty."

"After we take Wu Street, I will select a general to garrison Wu Street, and I will personally lead the rest of the army to attack Wudu."

"Wudu?"

"Shouldn't we attack Dazhong? Why did we change it to attack Wudu?"

"Why is it Wudu?"

There was a hint of discussion in the originally quiet tent.

"Quiet!" Yang Yi turned around and frowned at everyone, reminding them loudly, and the noise died down a little.

Xiang Lang, the former chief secretary of the prime minister, was dismissed and demoted back to Chengdu by Zhuge Liang after the army returned to Baishui, because he argued for Ma Su and did nothing during the Battle of Chiting. Yang Yi, Yang Weigong, formerly a military officer, was chosen by Zhuge Liang as the chief secretary because of his decisive and prudent behavior at Chiting, and he gradually became the leader of the ministers in the prime minister's office.

"Wenchang, you come and explain the military strategy to the generals." Zhuge Liang pointed to the front general on the left.

"As you command." Wei Yan, the Prime Minister's Sima, clasped his fists and saluted, then turned back and said in a deep voice:

"As all my colleagues know, this time we are attacking Wei in order to restore the Han Dynasty and respond to Sun Quan of Wu. We are attacking Wei from the east and west at the same time. Yangping Pass and Wuxing Pass are difficult to attack, and we cannot involve the Wei bandits' troops, so the army has only one option to choose, which is to go out of Wujie."

"After conquering Wujie, we can either head northwest to Dazhong or northeast to attack Wudu. Dazhong is a remote place, and even if we conquer it, it will not change the overall situation. If we look at the overall situation, attacking Wudu is the most correct choice."

Wei Yan explained in a deep voice, and the doubts of the generals in the tent gradually subsided. A few days ago, when Zhuge Liang led the army to advance, he only said that he wanted to capture Wujie.

According to the inherent thinking that Zhuge Liang personally led the army to attack Dazhong last year, many generals thought that they would attack Dazhong again this time, which led to Wei Yan explaining the scene to everyone.

Just as Jiang Wan, a military officer, and Hu Zong of Wu had said outside Wuchang City in the past, Shu Han now has a total of 80,000 troops, with about 12,000 troops around Chengdu, 10,000 troops in Ba County and Badong bordering Wu, and 8,000 troops in the remaining counties and Nanzhong. The remaining 50,000 elite troops are all under the command of Zhuge Liang's Baishui Xiangfu. (End of this chapter)