The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 511: Kill first and tell later
Deng Ai's memorial is very different from that of others.

Others' memorials were to ask Cao Mao whether it was possible to do so.

Deng Ai's memorial told Cao Mao that he had decided to do so.

Cao Mao had already made up his mind that after pacifying Shu, he would let Deng Ai farm and never let him touch the army again.

He originally thought that Zhong Hui wanted to kill him because Deng Ai was ugly, and that the destruction of Shu Kingdom would leave Zhong Hui with no more titles to offer.

However, through Deng Ai's recent performance, Cao Mao finally understood why Sima Zhao and Zhong Hui both wanted to kill this man.

How to say it, Cao Mao had never seen someone so smart and yet so stupid.

You say he is smart. He deliberately forced the Qiang and Hu to rebel, and wanted to use the heads of the Qiang people to build a Jingguan, which then caused a war between Wei and Shu. Now he even bypassed Zhuge Dan and others and wrote directly to Cao Mao, saying that he wanted to bypass Jiange and attack Chengdu directly.

It’s wrong to say that these things are self-pollution. Who would pollute themselves in such a dirty way?
This is pushing yourself to death.

But if you say he is stupid, he was able to successfully eliminate the Qiang and Hu who had been entrenched in Yongliang for many years, and beat Jiang Wei into a miserable state, forcing him to retreat repeatedly, all the way from Gansong and Dazhong to Jiange.

Now, the idea of bypassing Jiange and heading straight for Chengdu has been proposed.

In fact, unlike what was said in the interpretation, there are many ways to bypass Jiange. It is not that Deng Ai found a road that no one knew about and won by chance.

Although there are many ways to bypass Jiange, there are several problems.

First of all, all the roads that can bypass Jiange are mountain roads, which are very difficult to travel on. Leading a large army through here is likely to cause a rollover and cause huge losses.

And once you are discovered by the enemy, they will take advantage of the opportunity and wipe out your entire army, making it impossible for you to escape this road.

In addition, even if you can get out of this road and bypass Jiange, you still have to face Chengdu's defense line. Chengdu has the central army stationed there, and there is the army of Jiange behind it. If you are attacked from both sides, you still have no chance of winning.

Leading a large army on a long journey, crossing mountains and ridges, bypassing Jiange, and then fighting against the elite central army in Chengdu, and then winning at an extremely fast speed, otherwise they would be caught in two directions.
These conditions combined made the generals dare not try to bypass Jiange again.

Therefore, Deng Ai's success in history relied on his extraordinary talents and courage that ordinary people could not match. It was definitely not as easy as some people say, that he discovered a road that no one was defending by chance.

Even if we put aside his military achievements, his achievements in domestic affairs are enough to be astonishing.

He is a good farmer, and is on par with Wang Ji. He may even be better than Wang Ji overall.

This makes Deng Ai look very complicated.

To be honest, if it weren't for his talent, Cao Mao really wanted to dismiss him.

At this moment, Deng Ai talked about his crazy plan again.

When Zhang Hua saw this plan, he subconsciously shook his head.

"There's absolutely no way this can be done."

"The mountain road is extremely difficult to pass. Even if we can pass it, how many soldiers will be left?"

"After bypassing Jiange, Chengdu will be heavily guarded. How can we defeat the well-rested elite troops of Shu with our exhausted army?"

“This is something that is absolutely impossible to accomplish.”

Cao Mao pursed his lips. If he didn't have those memories that transcended time and space, he would have ordered Zhuge Dan to stop Deng Ai.

However, after having those memories, Cao Mao knew that Deng Ai was really capable of accomplishing these things.

Besides, it was pointless to say anything now. Deng Ai was not asking for instructions at all. He was just telling himself that perhaps he had already set off at this moment.

Zhang Hua obviously realized what was happening and his expression changed immediately.

"How dare Deng Ai do this?!"

"If we lose our troops and generals"

"Mr. Mao, forget it. Since he is so confident, let him do it. Even if we want to deal with him, we have to wait until he finishes these things."

"only"

Rumors are spreading in Chengdu at this moment.

The news of this war quickly spread to all places and was known to all the officials.

Moreover, Liu Chan did not hide much.

Dong Jue in the Shangshutai was already panicked and at a loss.

"Mr. Dong!"

"How is the war going?!"

"They say Hanzhong has been lost?"

Many ministers were crowded in Dong Jue's room at this moment, looking at Dong Jue with uneasy expressions.

The internal situation of Shu was already in chaos.

Dong Jue looked at the ministers in front of him and didn't know what to say for a moment.

In fact, his understanding of this war was very limited. The war progressed too quickly, and the enemy was advancing at a sweeping speed.

Dong Jue would often receive a piece of intelligence only to have it overturned by the next piece of information. The entire Secretariat was almost paralyzed at this time, and the officials were in chaos. They waited all day for news of war and even forgot about the internal struggle.

One of the ministers asked seriously, "Lord Dong, please tell me, where did Cao Cao go?"

Dong Jue looked at the people in front of him, hesitating for a long time before saying, "Don't worry, everyone. The general is already stationed at Jiange and will definitely be able to stop the invading enemy."

"What?! Cao's army has reached Jiange?!"

Dong Jue's words had a different meaning when heard by the ministers.

Dong Jue couldn't explain it clearly either. He was not a good speaker to begin with, and his hesitant explanation made the ministers even more anxious.

When they left the Secretariat, everyone's faces looked a little strange.

They looked at each other, hesitant to speak.

Qiao Zhou's theory of hatred against the country caused a huge impact in Shu, and the beliefs of the ministers suffered a great impact.

When they realized that the war had deteriorated to an irreversible point, the first thing the ministers thought of was how to save themselves.

If Jiang Wei was defeated and taken to Jiange, then the situation would certainly be beyond repair.

Hearing that Yong'an was in a precarious situation, Yan Yu had sent people to request support several times.

So, if the Cao Wei army came, how could he protect his clan from being slaughtered?
Not only the ministers but even the old generals had such thoughts.

When they learned that Jiang Wei was defeated and the enemy had reached Jiange, they were not even a little moved. When Liu Chan ordered them to lead the army, they also calmly prepared themselves.

Just as Zong Yu said, we have all fought all our lives. We are already in our seventies, waiting to die. Why should we do these meaningless things?
It was under such circumstances that Zhuge Zhan returned to Chengdu.

Zhuge Zhan's return gave everyone in Chengdu a reassurance.

Because of the flattery of Zhong Hui and others, Zhuge Zhan's reputation in Shu is now higher than before.

He came in a hurry, and the first thing he did was to see Liu Chan.

Finally, there were no beauties by Liu Chan's side, and no delicious food in front of him. He sat on the upper seat in fear, with many guards standing at the door.

But Huang Hao still stood beside him.

When Zhuge Zhan strode in, Liu Chan finally breathed a sigh of relief. He quickly stood up and walked towards him.

"Greetings to Your Majesty!"

Just as Zhuge Zhan was about to bow to greet him, Liu Chan grabbed his arm and quickly helped him up.

"Siyuan, you're finally back!"

Liu Chan was extremely upset at this moment.

If I had known this earlier, I should have let Zhuge Zhan replace Jiang Wei earlier. Look at the current situation. If it weren’t for Jiang Wei, would the situation have collapsed to this extent?

The failure of Shu Kingdom in history was actually inseparable from Jiang Wei. Jiang Wei adjusted his defensive strategy before the war.

Jiang Wei borrowed the tactics used by the Wei State against him and adjusted his defensive strategy to abandon the checkpoints when encountering enemy attacks, placing important forces inside the city, and the remaining soldiers fighting guerrilla warfare outside. In this way, he stretched the enemy's supply lines and consumed the enemy's army.

This is called applying what you learn.

But the problem is that a strategy that is suitable for Wei may not be suitable for Shu.

The Wei State was not worried about food supply at all. You copied them and even gave up the checkpoints with favorable terrain, which made the Wei army's attack smoother.
Liu Chan was really angry with Jiang Wei.

But Zhuge Zhan didn't care about these things. He hurriedly asked about the battle situation.

Liu Chan asked Huang Hao to come forward and tell Zhuge Zhan the general situation.

Although Huang Hao was a villain, he seemed to understand the current military situation more thoroughly than Dong Jue. He spoke familiarly about the situation in various places and the difficulties that Shu was facing now.

The State of Wei was outflanked from both sides and needed to call on the troops stationed further south to provide support.

Zhuge Zhan listened very carefully to Huang Hao's description of the situation.

"Your Majesty, Jiange is a fortress of great importance. The general has stationed a large force here. The Wei army has no way of breaking through. On the contrary, Yong'an is in imminent danger. We must ask Wu to send troops to resolve this crisis."

Zhuge Zhan came up with several solutions. Although these ideas were not very sophisticated, they were the first solutions to the problem that Liu Chan had heard in recent days.

Apart from Zhuge Zhan, no one else told Liu Chan any solution. Liu Chan asked them again and again, but they could not say anything.

"Okay, okay, I'll do as you say!"

Liu Chan finally calmed down a little.

"I originally wanted you to replace Jiang Wei and take charge of Jiange, but now that you've mentioned it, Yong'an is the most likely to have problems. Besides, changing generals right in the middle of a battle is not a good idea. You should stay by my side. If either side suffers a loss, you can rush to reinforce them in time."

Huang Hao, who was standing aside, knew Liu Chan's thoughts very well. His Majesty did not want to replace Jiang Wei, he just did not want Zhuge Zhan to go too far away.

When Zhuge Zhan went to Jiangzhou to reinforce Yong'an this time, the emperor was frightened and uneasy all day long. Even when he was playing, he would look worried.

Now that Zhuge Zhan has finally returned to Chengdu, he naturally won't be allowed to leave easily.

(End of this chapter)