Three Kingdoms: I am not Cao Rui

It was not difficult for Wei Yan to pretend to be defeated and retreat.

But three days ago, Zhuge Liang had personally assigned the task here, asking Wei Yan to lead the troops to resist for a few days. Why did he change his mind today?

"Wenwei, why is the Prime Minister acting so hastily? Is there any new situation in Xiabian?"

Fei Yi, who was standing nearby, answered slowly, "In the past two days, the Wei army on the east has been advancing more and more closely. The Prime Minister personally visited the camp to observe the situation of the Wei army and ordered Wang Ping's troops to make several feints and test the situation. In the past, the Wei army used cavalry to dispatch between the camps, but in recent days, there are more infantry. After more than half a month of confrontation with the Wei army on the current front line, yesterday was the first time that the Wei army dispatched more than a thousand troops to attack Gao Xiang's camp in the north, but was blocked by Gao Xiang's troops."

"Based on the long stretch of camps on the east side of the Wei army, the number of Wei troops on the east side should be close to 30,000." Fei Yi paused, then added: "This is what the Prime Minister said after he saw the Wei army camps, not what I said."

Wei Yan was only twenty miles away from Xiabian, so it would have been fine to send a military officer over, but Zhuge Liang still sent Fei Yi.

Although Fei Yi didn't say anything when Zhuge Liang named him, and to be honest it didn't delay much time, he still felt helpless in his heart. Almost all matters related to Wei Yan had to be handled by Fei Yi, as if he and Wei Yan were inseparable.

This is another form of dedicated use.

After listening to Fei Yi's explanation, Wei Yan put the bamboo slips back into the wooden tube that carried the message, put his hands on his knees and stood up:

"Wenwei, the Prime Minister told me the other day that we should attack the west and defend the east. I didn't quite understand it at the time. I only thought about the military strategy based on the terrain and simply thought that the east was easier to defend. After listening to Wenwei's words today, I feel that I was really shallow and not as far-sighted as the Prime Minister."

Wei Yan stood in the tent with his hands on his hips and said with emotion: "Cao Zhen is in the east. The more he actively seeks battle, the more we must stop him in the east to weaken his sharp spirit. Zhang He has been retreating in recent days, so we must defeat him as soon as possible."

"Please tell the Prime Minister that Wei Yan will not move from here and will wait for the Prime Minister to lead the army to fight here. I am willing to be the Prime Minister's vanguard to defeat Zhang He and avenge the vengeance of the sixth year of Jianxing!"

"I've made a note of that." Fei Yi responded calmly, "Master Wen, you should retreat as soon as possible."

Wei Yan grinned and said, "Wen Wei doesn't need to worry about this."

As Fei Yi and the ten cavalrymen who accompanied him left the camp and galloped eastward, Wei Yan also ordered the incendiary materials that had been prepared long ago to be calmly ignited in the camp, and then led his own soldiers and Liu Yong's soldiers to calmly move eastward to the last line of defense.

By the time Zhang He personally led his troops to Wei Yan's camp, the baggage and military tents had been dismantled, and only many wooden fences and camp fences were left burning fiercely. The thick smoke was carried by the wind into Zhang He's army, which was very choking.

Zhang He frowned as he sat on his horse and looked at the burning military camp. The military flags behind him fluttered in the east wind. He then gave an order:
"Don't just watch this place burn. Find someone to put out the fire, then march three miles forward and set up camp."

"As ordered." Chen Ping responded and led his troops to put out the fire immediately. After the road was cleared in the camp, Zhang He continued to pass through this place and head east without stopping until he re-established the camp, thus ending today's march.

In the evening, Zhang He, Lu Xun, and Li Yan sat around the stove in the military tent. The weather outside was getting colder, and Zhang He had just returned from patrolling the camp, so he took off his brocade hat with a mink tail and warmed it by the fire before putting it back on.

"After leaving 2,000 men under Lieutenant Xue Ding in the narrow mountain today, the army here has less than 20,000 soldiers." Zhang He paused for a few moments and gave more accurate numbers: "My army has 12,000 soldiers, and Boyan's army has 7,000 Qiang cavalry, which is 19,000 in total. According to the general's letter yesterday, Guo Boji led 10,000 people to the general. In the east, there are 5,000 infantrymen of the general's own army and 9,000 elite cavalrymen of the Yulin Right Army. Now there are 5,000 foreign troops and 5,000 Qiang soldiers from Hanzhong, which is 24,000 in total. If we take the east and west together, there are 43,000 people, which is 10,000 more than the Shu army here."

"Forty-three thousand." Zhang He put his hands to the fire, turned them up and down a few times, and rubbed his face. "Forty-three thousand against thirty-three thousand. Although the Shu army has Xiabian City to rely on, it still has the advantage."

Lu Xun looked down at the burning wood in the ceramic stove and roasted it, lost in thought. For a moment, he even felt that Zhang He was repeating these advantageous numbers to give him a sense of security.

"There are more soldiers, but it's hard to say how strong they are." Lu Xun still spoke carefully and reminded: "General Zhang has 7,000 Qiang cavalry, and General Guo has 5,000 Qiang soldiers."

"I know." Zhang He frowned, seeming a little impatient. "The Shu army is unusually aggressive this time. Every time they make contact, they retreat. Even in such an important place as the narrow mountain, they don't spend much effort to defend it. Today, they retreated without defending it. It's like they are lying in ambush ahead."

"Zheng Fang, what do you think Zhuge Liang was thinking?"

"Me?" Li Yan was obviously not prepared for the question. "Zhuge Liang has many plans, and I don't know everything. However, I have told Mr. Zhang before that after Zhuge Liang was defeated by Wei two years ago, he brought the entire prime minister's office to Baishui to streamline the troops. It is said that he has a lot of experience in training troops."

"Zhuge Liang... Zhuge Liang may want to defend first and then attack outside Xiabian City in order to win the battle." Zhang He had never mentioned the food and grass situation in the army to Li Yan. After hearing what Li Yan said, he relaxed his tone a little: "The general is using the army's food as a limit and strives to defeat Zhuge Liang within this month. Zhuge Liang said that he sent troops to support Sun Quan this time, and he must have taken advantage of our lack of food. This must be an important reason."

"However," Zhang He shook his head, "I am a little embarrassed by the general's tactics."

Li Yan seemed to understand something, and sighed softly following Zhang He's actions. Li Yan was not a novice in the use of troops, and at this critical juncture, how could he not know Zhang He's worries?

No one could find fault with Cao Zhen's strategy of attacking from both the east and the west. The terrain was like this, with Xiabian City lying in the center. How else could they fight?
But Zhang He is in the west, and the Shu army's way back is also in the west. If the situation changes, the Shu army will definitely try their best to find a way back to the west! Then won't Zhang He suffer?
Lu Xun knew all this in his heart, but he still quietly warmed himself by the fire and said that he would follow Zhang He's instructions.

Zhang He sighed and said, "It is only ten miles away from Xiabian. The general is in the east, and his distance to Xiabian is not much different from mine."

"Boyan." Zhang He called Lu Xun softly.

"General Zhang." Lu Xun responded.

Zhang He said calmly: "From here to the east until the city of Xiabian, the whole road is flat. The reconnaissance and harassment will all be done by Boyan's Qiang cavalry. If necessary, for the sake of the army, we may even sacrifice several thousand Qiang cavalry lives as bait."

"Bo Yan, I know these Qiang cavalry are the result of your hard work over the past two years. But when a large army fights, this kind of situation is inevitable. Your unit is the weakest, so this is unavoidable. The Qiang people are Qiang people after all."

Lu Xun's face also became serious, and he nodded solemnly and said, "I understand."

"That's good to know." Zhang He said in a clear voice, "After Boyan and I return, we will explain to our respective subordinates the reason why a great war is coming. With 20,000 troops here, every move must be under the command of the Central Army and in compliance with military law. There must be no slacking off."

"My troops have been prepared, so please don't worry, General Zhang." Lu Xun agreed without hesitation.

"it is good."

……

When Fei Yi returned to Xiabian, Zhuge Liang was still inspecting the place where military supplies were stored in the city. It took Fei Yi a while to find Zhuge Liang. When Fei Yi arrived, Jiang Wan, who was in charge of military supplies for the entire army, was talking to Zhuge Liang and others about the situation of crossbow arrows.

"Prime Minister, please take a look. After the last supply was delivered from Wujie, our army has a total of 3.5 million crossbow arrows."

"General Wang Ping in the east has one crossbow for each man. In battle, each man carries fifty crossbow arrows. Fifty crossbow arrows are prepared in the camp, and another fifty are kept in the city. One million and a half million crossbow arrows were prepared seven days ago. In addition to the ten thousand men under General Wang Ping's command, the remaining armies have a total of 15,000 crossbows. The crossbow arrows for the remaining armies have also been distributed according to the number of fifty-one men."

"Prime Minister, please look," Jiang Wan pointed to the eastern courtyard, "The remaining 500,000 crossbow arrows on the eastern front are here, and the rest are in the western courtyard."

Zhuge Liang nodded and walked slowly towards the east courtyard. Yang Yi, She Yuan, Fei Yi, Jiang Wan and others followed him.

The weather in Qinzhou in winter was very cold, so there was no need to worry about being soaked by rain. However, the army had its own rules. Each bundle of crossbow arrows was tied in batches of 100 and neatly stacked in the yard, with linen padding on top and bottom, which was very appropriate.

Zhuge Liang walked forward, lifted a piece of linen cloth, held up a bundle of crossbow arrows with both hands, looked at them carefully for a few moments, and sighed softly: "I worked hard in Baishui for two years, but in the end, I only accomplished three things. The first is the law, and the advance and retreat are clear and all follow orders. The second is the strong crossbow, and everyone is no exception to the crossbow. The third is the chariot formation, which is important to defend against the enemy on flat ground."

"In order to transport these military rations and crossbow arrows, the people's manpower and resources of Zitong, Baxi and Guanghan counties were heavily levied. Men were required to fight and women to transport them. This is not much different from the victory of the previous emperor in Hanzhong."

"This time the Wei army is fighting east and west, and the army's dispersed forces are enough to win. In addition, the Wei army's central army is not in Qinzhou. This is a heaven-sent opportunity. If we lose it, we will never get it again."

"These crossbow arrows are the blood and sweat of the people." Zhuge Liang blew away the dust on the crossbow arrows in his hand, put them back into the pile, carefully covered them with sackcloth, and turned to look at everyone after pressing them down. He said in a deep voice: "This battle will win! The destiny is with Han, not Wei!"

"We will follow the Prime Minister's orders." Everyone bowed. (End of this chapter)