Three Kingdoms: I am not Cao Rui

"No, no!"

Jiang Wan, a military officer who led several light cavalrymen to Zhuge Liang's army, saw that Zhuge Liang looked a little flustered at the moment, and quickly waved his hand to explain:
"I didn't explain it clearly. Prime Minister, you are worrying too much. Xiabian is just surrounded by the enemy. Although Wang Ping, Ma Zhong, and Gao Xiang have abandoned the outer camps, they are still defending near Xiabian City."

"It's just surrounded, Xiabian City has not been lost, and the passage on the west side of the city leading to the Prime Minister is still there!"

It was rare for Jiang Wan to see the Prime Minister so flustered.

He knew in his heart that this battle was of great significance to Zhuge Liang and was also crucial to the Han Dynasty. Since the great defeat in the sixth year of Jianxing, people were frustrated and chaotic, and it was time for a great victory to boost morale.

This was the last breath. Even Hanzhong was gone, and it was not easy to achieve this point today with only Shuzhong and Nanzhong to the south. The 40,000 troops sent this time were already the upper limit of the court's ability.

Zhuge Liang's expression eased a little: "Gong Yan, the messenger who arrived at the army more than an hour ago has not yet explained the matter. How did Xiabian get surrounded?"

Xiabian could be surrounded and slightly defeated, as long as the city was not lost, this was Zhuge Liang's bottom line. Just like Tian Ji's horse racing strategy, Wang Ping's 10,000 men could resist the Wei army on the east side on this day, allowing Zhuge Liang to concentrate on the war in the west, which was already a great achievement.

Jiang Wan explained repeatedly, "Prime Minister, the Wei bandits in the east advanced in three directions. General Ma Zhong's troops in the north encountered the most enemies. General Ma Zhong abandoned the first line of defense at 2:00 pm and lost the second line of defense at 3:00 pm. Under the command of General Wang, the central and southern routes each withdrew troops to defend. Around 3:00 pm, the Wei bandits swarmed in from the north route. We lined up in the north of Xiabian to respond. Generals Wang and Gao then abandoned their positions in the valley east of Xiabian and fought along the city and the camps outside the city. They used wooden carts, bows and crossbows, and defensive measures to resist several attacks by the Wei army and thus saved the city from being lost."

"What are the casualties?" Zhuge Liang asked again.

Jiang Wan paused and said, "Today, the Wei army's attack was fierce. The three generals Wang, Ma, and Gao lost about 3,000 of their 10,000 troops. When I left Xiabian, the battle was still going on outside the city. That's why General Wang Ping asked me to come here to ask the Prime Minister to send troops to support us. If we don't send more troops, if the Wei army attacks again tomorrow, the camp outside the city will not be able to be defended, and we will have to retreat to the city. By then, I'm afraid the Prime Minister will be attacked from both sides."

"The Wei bandits have many cavalrymen. Please consider this, Prime Minister."

When Zhuge Liang heard this, his expression changed for a moment.

While the two were talking, Yang Yi, the chief secretary of the Prime Minister, also walked in from outside the simple military tent. He glanced at Jiang Wan in the tent and seemed not surprised. He bowed and said:

"The Prime Minister has just ordered his subordinates to count the casualties of each unit, and we already have a rough number. If you want a more specific number, I'm afraid we have to wait until the night to complete the count of each unit."

"How much?" Zhuge Liang slowly uttered two words.

"About 3,000 people were killed today." Yang Yi took a deep breath. "Most of them were killed in the battle with the Wei bandits this morning. The losses during the pursuit and attack on the camp, plus the counterattack by the Wei cavalry in the afternoon, were relatively small."

After listening to Yang Yi's words, Zhuge Liang remained silent for a long time. He did not even put on his cloak and stood in the cold wind for a long time.

Jiang Wan and Yang Yi waited for a moment, looked at each other, and then chased out and stood beside Zhuge Liang.

"Prime Minister..." Yang Yi asked in a low voice, "What are you worried about? After all, the royal army won a victory today, and the casualties of the Wei bandits must be greater than those of the royal army!"

"It was a victory, but the number of casualties was beyond my expectations." Zhuge Liang said slowly, "Duke Wei, Gongyan, the weather and terrain were all on my side. The chariot formation, crossbows, and fortifications were all perfect, but we still lost so many soldiers. Liu Nanhe died in the battle, and three Sima Qianshi died..."

"Alas." Zhuge Liang sighed heavily. "The court only has 80,000 troops now. After the battle of Xiabian, nearly one-tenth of them will be gone? And they are all elite troops. Although it is a victory, how many times can such a victory be won again? Even if Cao Rui and the Wei army are not here, why are Cao Zhen, Zhang He, Lu Xun and others not afraid of sacrifice when they fight?"

Jiang Wan and Yang Yi remained silent for a long time. After a while, Jiang Wan whispered, "Don't worry, Prime Minister. We have won after all. We still have battles to deal with tomorrow. Don't catch a cold. Go back to your tent quickly."

Zhuge Liang nodded and looked at Yang Yi: "Lord Wei, quickly organize the remaining troops of Liu Yong into the Jufu army. There should be about 3,000 of them. Then order them to go with Gong Yan to support Xiabian at night. Don't make any mistakes! The rest of the troops will follow me to attack westward tomorrow. We must take down the narrow mountain camp tomorrow!"

"As you wish." Yang Yi bowed and replied, then left with Jiang Wan.

Jiang Wan led his troops to march at night with torches. Xiabian was in the east, only 20 miles away. Sitting on his horse and looking at the long light of the torches behind him in the dark night, Jiang Wan felt a little dazed at this moment.

Will the Northern Expedition work?

Every attack on Wudu would cost nearly one-tenth of the troops, and they would not be able to gain any substantial benefits, only an empty space. Yizhou had lost Hanzhong, and only half of the state could not afford such a loss.

Fighting, no prospects in sight.

If we don't fight, we will not be able to rally the people in the court and boost morale.

The Northern Expedition placed too much hope on the court. Before the battle, almost everyone hoped that victory would solve the problem. But when victory was achieved, other problems were exposed.

Jiang Wan shook his head. It was too cold at night. He tightened his cloak around himself and then looked out at the night in front of him.

If we want to get news from the State of Wu here, it will probably take nearly a month.

When I was walking and chatting with Hu Zong in Wuchang, it was not as cold as in Wudu. How was Sun Quan? How were Xiangyang and Fancheng?
In Zhang He's camp located in a narrow mountain, unlike Zhuge Liang's camp which was gradually quieting down, there was noisy sound everywhere.

The infantrymen who escaped from the east today, except for a few teams that were able to maintain the integrity and order of the organization, thousands of soldiers fled into the narrow mountain camp in scattered teams of more than a hundred people or as few as dozens of people. It only took a moment for the retreat to turn into a rout. Being able to maintain some organizational strength in this situation was already the result of good training. Fortunately, Zhang He had a backup plan and had already left two thousand people garrisoned in the narrow mountain. The soldiers who fled to the front of the camp were then organized by the remaining troops and the organized cavalry to disperse and organize in the large open space behind the camp, gradually looking for their respective commanders and teams.

In addition, they had to count the casualties, organize military weapons and armor, prepare meals, and keep warm and start fires... They were busy until late at night.

At midnight, the narrow mountain camp finally gradually became quiet.

Li Yan, who had been following Zhang He's army, had been unhappy since returning to Sazashan. The day before yesterday, the Qiang cavalry Zhi Wudai tribe on the banks of the West Han River captured several scouts sent by Wu Yi who were trying to sneak across the West Han River to investigate the military situation. When interrogating the scouts, they learned that Li Feng, a military officer at Wujie, had been taken back to Chengdu for his crimes, and the news had spread like wildfire.

Zhang He and Lu Xun finally had time to sit down and talk about today's battle. Zhang He wanted to call Li Yan, but when he saw Li Yan's depressed look because his son was captured, he was already impatient, and now he was even more reluctant to call Li Yan. What were they doing with such childish behavior?
The fire was burning fiercely, and the firewood crackled from time to time. A soldier had already cooked a pot of thick corn porridge for Zhang He. After Zhang He and Lu Xun ate some of the porridge, they were no longer hungry. After the soldiers left, they finally began to review the battle situation of the day.

Zhang He no longer acted like a scholar, but sat cross-legged on the carpet, legs apart. He was obviously very tired, and asked in a slightly hoarse voice:
"Bo Yan, how much damage did your light cavalry suffer today? Do you have any figures? Did any officers get killed?"

Lu Xun responded, "Except for the 1,000 men from Hetang who went east, more than 1,000 of the remaining 6,000 cavalry were killed. As for the generals, one Sima of 1,000 stones was killed, and the rest are not worth mentioning here. General Zhang, how are your infantry today?"

"The loss is nearly four thousand." Zhang He replied softly.

Compared to his previous panic in the battle, Zhang He was indeed much calmer now. Zhang He had joined the army to fight during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and had fought in countless battles, both large and small, and suffered many defeats in his life.

The mentality of veterans is to be better. Winning and losing are the norm in the world. Previously, Zhang He led more than 10,000 soldiers to attack Dangqu, but was defeated by Zhang Fei and escaped with only more than ten cavalrymen. Wasn't it the same as before?

In addition, Your Majesty is a man who can command troops and is sensible. As the military situation in Qinzhou is critical right now, you should not impose any punishment.

Instead, Lu Xun seemed more depressed.

It seemed that his defeat at the hands of Shu army's Zhuge Liang made him even more embarrassed.

When leading his army to break through Zhuge Liang's camp, Lu Xun fell off his horse after being hit by an arrow. Although his leg was bruised and swollen by the horse's body and his ankle was sprained, his real injury was in his left arm. It seemed that his forearm was broken and was now tied up with layers of linen and fixed to the side in front of his body.

"Today, when I led my troops to break into the rear, I saw the Shu bandits' infantry forming a battle array with wooden carts. I immediately felt that something was wrong. Against such infantry, my light cavalry was almost useless. It was really frustrating."

"General Zhang, I was too hasty in answering your question today. It's not that I don't want to hold back the Shu bandits' formation, nor do I want to rush back the same way, but the Shu bandits' chariot formation is about to approach, and under the fling of crossbow arrows, if I take the same way, I'm afraid that not even half of the 6,000 cavalry will return!"

"I understand." Zhang He did not blame him, but showed an understanding expression: "Two years ago, the Shu bandits did not have such a fighting method, but I never thought that two years later, it would be so difficult to fight. When the two armies fought today, it seemed that Wei Yan was facing me head-on, and his army was more brave than the Shu army two years ago."

Lu Xun sighed, "There is little food this year, and your Majesty's central army is either tired or on guard against Sun Quan, which gave Zhuge Liang an opportunity. If there were more central troops here, the situation would definitely be greatly improved!"

"In any case, after this battle, you and I will be able to give an explanation to His Majesty, the general, and the court. But today, I am too busy to send scouts to the east to pass on the message. I wonder how Wei Pushe and Guo Zhengshu are doing in the east."

Zhang He shook his head and said, "Either we win, or we are stuck in a stalemate with the Shu army outside the city of Bian. What else can we do? The Shu army we are fighting today has about 20,000 men. With more than 20,000 men to the east against 10,000 men, how can we lose?"

"We will send out scouts to the east at dawn tomorrow. It is dark and moonless tonight, so it will be difficult for the scouts to take a detour and leave."

"General Zhang is right." Perhaps because his arm hurt, Lu Xun sighed and showed a slight pain: "What should we do tomorrow? The army has no intention of fighting now. What if Zhuge Liang leads his troops to attack again tomorrow?"

Zhang He looked at Lu Xun helplessly and said, "What else can we do? We have to retreat again and wait for the order from the Eastern Guard. He is currently in charge of the troops in Guanxi!"

Fortunately, we were coming slowly, and there was a simple camp almost every twenty miles behind us, so we had no worries about having no place to stay.

Lu Xun replied, "I understand. If so, please allow me to send someone to recall Zhi Wudai from the West Han River at night."

Zhang He said, "Today, we had 18,000 men fighting against the Shu bandits, and lost more than 5,000. With the addition of the 2,000 infantry here and Zhi Wudai's 2,000 cavalry, we can now have 16,000 or 17,000 men. If we let the Shu army go through the narrow mountain area and have a way back, they shouldn't push us too hard."

Lu Xun bowed and said, "I will go now. Please rest well, General Zhang."

Zhang He then turned his eyes to Lu Xun's broken arm and asked, "Is the injury that Boyan suffered when he fell off his horse still serious?"

What have you done so far?

Although Lu Xun complained in his heart, he still had an appreciative expression on his face: "Don't worry, General. It shouldn't be a big deal. It's just a fall from the horse. It won't cost me my life."

After leaving the tent and taking a few breaths of cold air, Lu Xun looked at the soldiers patrolling outside and was a little dazed for a moment.

Everyone said it would be great if the central army came, but now the central army has not moved, and Guanxi is short of food, and the situation has become like this. How can the narrow land of Shu still have any future? (End of this chapter)