The Duke of Shu Han began guarding Jingzhou in place of Guan Yu.

Chapter 164 Dense Clouds Finally Rain
At this moment, Zhao Yun pointed to the mountain pass north of Shanggui:

"If the siege ultimately fails, then continue the siege."

"In this way, it might create an opportunity for Mi Shishan to return to the south."

Zhang Yi recalled that not long ago, scouts had discovered that the Miwei had been spotted in the Longyuan area north of the Wei River, and for a moment he was speechless.

Furthermore, the generals' achievements in conquering Heyou have long been a matter of public discussion throughout Shu.

In terms of pacification and recruitment, Ma Chao is number one.

In terms of military achievements, Huang Quan ranks first.

In terms of strategy, Mi Wei is number one.

According to a gossipy official surnamed Meng, the emperor privately said that the annexation of Liangzhou was all the work of Mi Shishan.

Upon learning of Guo Huai's false report of Mi Wei's death, the emperor was both shocked and furious. He smashed the map of Liangzhou on the ground and cursed, "What kind of place is Liangzhou that it dares to harm my prime minister!"

When news of this reached Sichuan, Mi Wei's fame spread throughout the court and the country.

So much so that children in the capital sang: "Seeking a title and honor with thousands of steles and praises is not as good as smashing Liangzhou in a fit of anger."

Clearly, this is a comparison to Li Yan's past actions of currying favor, such as carving inscriptions on steles.

There might be several high-ranking officials in the imperial court stirring things up behind the scenes.

This was done to cultivate the image of the emperor as a wise ruler who "cherishes virtuous ministers and keeps away from petty men."

But there is no denying it.

After this incident, Mi Wei is no longer just seen as a talented young man in the eyes of many people.

He is a national hero worthy of being entrusted with important matters.

Even if the fight to save the nation's heroes fails, it is still worthwhile to demonstrate the emperor's appreciation for talent.

but.

Just as Zhang Yi began to consider how to minimize casualties while achieving the desired publicity effect.

Suddenly, a scout came from the foot of the mountain to report that Mi Wei and his party had set out from the west of Linwei and had reached Duan Valley.

Zhao Yun and Zhang Yi were overjoyed upon hearing this and immediately went down the mountain to greet them.

The two sides met shortly afterward.

Mi Wei briefly explained his background and then said:

"I heard that the general plans to attack Shanggui tomorrow?"

Seeing that Mi Wei had returned safely, Zhao Yun's determination to launch a full-scale attack was no longer as firm as before.

He then laughed and asked, "What brilliant plan do you have for destroying Liangzhou?"

Mi Wei was taken aback.

Shatter Liangzhou?
What is all this nonsense... Is this about me?

But the military situation was urgent, and there was no time to think about it further.

He quickly put that aside and said directly:

"If the general wishes to pacify Longyou, he should not engage Guo Huai in battle beneath a fortified city."

"We should cross the Wei River to the north and quickly capture all the counties."

"If there are sufficient troops, send a general north to Jieting to cut off the Long Road, so that the grain and personnel from Guanzhong cannot be sent west in large numbers."

"If the troops are insufficient, then build more pontoon bridges on the Wei River to open up a passage to the south for the people and people north of the Wei River."

"If that happens, Guo Huai's fortified city will crumble without a fight!"

Mi Wei finished speaking in one breath, but Zhao Yun seemed to be deep in thought, while Zhang Yi had some doubts.

He then said to the latter:

"Is Lord Zhang worried that if we don't capture Shanggui first, Guo Huai might leave the city and cut off the army's retreat?"

“That is one consideration.” Zhang Yi nodded frankly.

"Furthermore, Guo Huai has constructed a tunnel north of the Wei River, with beacon towers connected together. The tunnel, consisting of three layers from north to south, is ten miles thick... It will not be easy to break through quickly!"

Mi Wei replied decisively, "There's no need to worry about that!"

"Guo Huai had already run out of food and reinforcements and was unable to mobilize a large army."

"Those three-tiered passageways were less for preventing our army from advancing north, and more for preventing the Han and Di peoples north of the Wei River from migrating south!"

"After all, everyone's run away. Who's going to farm for him? And where is he going to recruit people?"

"What's the point of him defending this city to the death?"

Seeing Zhang Yi's sudden realization, Mi Wei turned back to Zhao Yun and said:

"When the general was in the south earlier, he only saw Guo Huai's empty power and did not know that many people in the north wanted to surrender to the south."

"While I was in the north, although I knew the people's sentiments, I did not see Guo Huai's empty power and did not think much of it."

"Now that I think about it, Guo Huai was already weak and exhausted, with no food inside and no help outside. He was just pretending to be strong and holding out for as long as possible."

"Therefore, if the general attacks a fortified city and wins, it will only be a minor victory."

"Only by winning over all the people and severing their foundations can we achieve a complete victory!"

……

Shanggui is a strategically important location and has always served as a protective barrier for Guanzhong.

After Guo Huai came to Longyou, he expanded his residence and stored grain to prepare for danger.

But only Guo Huai and a few grain officials knew about it.

Nine out of ten newly built granaries are empty.

On this day, he came to inspect the mansion as usual.

Inspect the ledgers, which were actually written incorrectly.

Out of boredom, he secretly cast a divination.

The result was a small accumulation hexagram with Qian below and Xun above.

The saying goes, "Dense clouds but no rain, from my western suburbs."

It is a hexagram indicating a need for conservatism.

At this moment, the Shu bandits are rampaging in Hexi, the royal army is stuck in Guanzhong, and we are trapped in Longyou. Shouldn't we just wait and see how things change?
I thought to myself that this divination was indeed accurate.

Just as he was about to carefully calculate the changes in the hexagrams, a military officer suddenly came to report.

It is said that the enemy army shot a message into the city to persuade the city to surrender.

The reason for saying "again" is that this is the fifth consecutive day that letters urging surrender have been sent from outside the city.

Guo Huai was too lazy to look any further and asked directly:

"What official position does the Shu bandit intend to offer me this time? Governor of Guanzhong or Prefect of Yongliang?"

The military officer said:
"It is said that the magistrate will be appointed as the Marquis of Qiao."

"Bang..." *Smack!*
Guo Huai threw down the bamboo slips and became furious.

As is widely known, Qiao was the ancestral home of the Cao Wei emperors, and it is now one of the five capitals of the Wei Kingdom.

As a minister of Wei, how could Guo Huai tolerate such rebellious and immoral remarks?
Whether you're truly angry or not, you must feign anger on your face at this moment.

Those around him, being his trusted confidants, immediately reacted, vehemently denouncing the Shu traitors as arrogant and shameless, and accusing them of trying to frame Guo Shijun in an unjust way.

In short, after a necessary performance.

Guo Huai looked up at the sky and saw a dark mass spreading from the west, indicating that it was about to rain but had not yet. He immediately recalled the divination he had just received.

He exhaled a breath of stale air and said:
“Reply to me and say that the position of Marquis of Qiao is too heavy for me to bear, and that I should choose another one.”

Although those around him did not suspect that he was really going to defect to the enemy.

But this is ultimately a gesture of submission and weakness, he wondered:
"Your Excellency previously undertook large-scale construction projects to demonstrate your strength to the enemy, but now you suddenly appear weak. Aren't you afraid that Zhao Yun will discover the true nature of our army?"

Guo Huai sighed:

"Zhao Yun is a veteran general under Liu Bei. Even if he is temporarily misled by me, he will surely gain something in time."

"We can only use a mix of feints and real attacks to keep them off track and maybe we can get through this summer."

Upon hearing this, those around him were enlightened, but they couldn't help but feel discouraged by this passive strategy.

Guo Huai knew that morale was about to plummet, so he could only confide in his trusted confidants first:

"To be honest, ever since Lord Zhang passed away, I have had mixed feelings about this battle."

"If we can wait for reinforcements from Guanzhong, then we should switch from defense to offense and attack the enemy's weak Qishan camp. This is the best strategy."

"If there is no reinforcement this year, then we should emulate the late emperor's bravery in personally entering Hanzhong and breaking through the enemy lines, and try to relocate as many people from Longyou as possible into Guanzhong, fortify our defenses and clear the fields, so that they will not be used by the Shu bandits... This is the worst possible strategy."

Ultimately, the Longyou, Longnan, and Hexi regions were already sparsely populated and lacked food.

"Three years ago, the Shu bandits captured Hanzhong but did not gain control of its people, and the area has not been fully recovered to this day."

"Therefore, even if the best strategy fails, the success of the worst strategy can still buy the court three or four years."

"Once the court has straightened out its internal affairs and its troops are well-trained and well-supplied, it is not impossible for us to retake Longyou and Hanzhong in the future!"

As one of the main generals in the Battle of Hanzhong, he once led his entire army to retreat while being pursued by Liu Bei's troops.

Guo Huai was quite convincing.

So for a moment, neither side had anything to say.

The next morning, a new letter urging surrender arrived.

To say that Guo Huai was a man of great talent, a mere county magistrate was not worthy of him.

Because Guo Huai's ancestral home was Yangqu in Taiyuan, he was promoted to King of Taiyuan.

Guo Huai immediately laughed in anger.

At this point, he finally realized that the person on the other end was just as pretentious as he was, using this pretense to kill time.

Perhaps someone on the other side who understands the I Ching also cast a divination and received the same result: "dense clouds but no rain"?
My impression of Zhao Yun is that he should be a prudent and experienced general, and his words should not be so frivolous.

So he kept a watchful eye on things and the next day, under the pretext of discussing surrender terms, sent an envoy to the enemy camp to spy on the enemy's movements.

Half a day later, a fierce storm broke out in the sky, and rain poured down.

The messenger returned in a sorry state amidst the rain, saying that he had not reached the enemy camp and had encountered a messenger from Xiahou Ru, the Protector General of the Expedition against Shu, on the way.

After Zhang Ji's death, Xiahou Ru and General Fei Yao stayed behind to guard Ji City, coordinating with Guo Huai from the east and west.

Guo Huai's heart sank:
"What did Jicheng say?"

The messenger wiped his face:

"Zhao Yun is currently conquering cities and territories north of the Wei River!"

It turned out that this was during the time when Guo Huai was exchanging letters with someone in the enemy camp who was impersonating Zhao Yun.

Zhao Yun had already secretly crossed the river and headed north, breaching the three defensive lines set up by Guo Huai.

They then pacified Xinyang, Xianxin and other counties.

They are currently marching towards Shimizu.

Wherever it went, a large number of Qiang and Di tribes submitted to it.

Xiahou Ru tried several times to leave the city to send a message, but was blocked by the powerful families in the city. He only succeeded yesterday after killing many people in a fit of rage.

However, Xiahou Ru also frankly stated that he had lost the hearts of the people in Jicheng and was unable to send troops in the short term, asking Guo Huai what his plans were.

Guo Huai was both shocked and furious:
"When Zhang Derong was alive, she won over many local powerful families. How come they are as two-faced as the Qiang and Di people?"

The messenger said:
"It is said that Jiang Wei, on Liu Bei's orders, persuaded his clan to surrender to Liu..."

Liu Bei!

Guo Huai sighed in frustration.

He then asked again:
"Zhao Yun's army has recently turned its attention to Qingshui, and must pass through Lueyang. Why did he skip this place and not attack?"

The messenger said:
"It is said that Ma Dai, on Liu Bei's orders, had already persuaded the Di people of Lueyang to surrender. As soon as Zhao Yun's army crossed the Wei River, the whole county rebelled... Xinyang and Xianxin surrendered quickly under the attack from both sides."

It's Liu Bei again!

Guo Huai was already getting tired of hearing that name.

He rubbed his throbbing head and said:
"Zhao Yun suddenly saw through my weakness; surely he couldn't have been warned by Liu Bei? His troops are still in Hexi!"

The messenger could not answer.

However, a military officer standing nearby, upon hearing this, seemed to be deep in thought and said:

“The last time Mi Wei roamed between Guanzhong and Longyou, he came and went without a trace. His last appearance was in mid-spring... Perhaps he later fled back to Longyou to inform Zhao Yun? After all, he entered Guanzhong many times, and may have already found out the truth.”

Guo Huai thought about it and realized it was indeed possible.

Although he didn't know much about the young man named Mi Wei before.

However, the fact that the other party had successively assassinated two important officials, Zhang Ji and Yang Fu, speaks volumes about their capabilities.

Then, out of curiosity, he asked:

"During the Battle of Hanzhong, I never heard of this man in the Shu rebel army. I wonder what official position he holds now?"

After some discussion, someone gave a somewhat uncertain answer:
"His specific official position is unknown, but he must be a key figure, and Liu Bei relied on him heavily during this western expedition."

No wonder!
However, aren't they still Liu Bei's right-hand men?
Liu Bei, Liu Bei, Liu Bei...

Why is it that everywhere I go in Longyou this time, there are those big-eared thieves!

The clouds are dense but no rain falls; let's observe quietly as the situation changes.

How long must you endure this thief before you finally see the rain fall?
call!
A gust of wind blew in through the window, carrying a handful of cold raindrops that soaked half of Guo Huai's body.

Guo Huai suddenly realized something:

"So the meaning of that divination wasn't to observe the situation calmly in Longyou, but rather to retreat into the Guanzhong Plain?!"

(End of this chapter)