Shu Han Confucian General of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 257 Sima Yi's Capital
"Master, is this bird really capable of delivering letters?" Wang Shuang asked a little ignorantly as he watched the pigeons flapping their wings and gradually drifting away.The famous fierce general in history is still only a boy under 20 years old.But he is strong, tall and burly, and with the blue birthmark on his face, he looks a little scary.

"Of course it can!" Sima Yi said calmly, but he sighed in his heart, this Zhao Botao is really amazing, he can actually make this kind of bird.I spent a lot of money and searched various post stations under Liu Bei's rule, and only got these few.It took me several years to find out how to raise it by myself, and I didn't know how to use it to send letters.But now it seems that it's all worth it.It's not far from my goal.

"Father, the child is late, and the child is not filial!" Sima Yi, who had just arrived home in the Sima Mansion in Hedong, knelt in front of his father's spirit and wept bitterly.For the next few days, Sima Yi stayed behind closed doors, keeping his father's filial piety at ease.Only when there are occasional guests who come to pay tribute to the funeral, does he come forward to meet him.

It was two o'clock in the evening, Sima Yi looked around and no one noticed him, then carefully went back to the small courtyard where he lived, looked in the pigeon nest, and two more pigeons flew back.Sima Yi untied the post box tied to the pigeon's leg, and then went back to his room.After closing all the doors and windows, and then blowing out the lights, Sima Yi listened carefully to the outside of the window, making sure that there was no movement before doing anything.

With a "creak", Sima Yi turned an unremarkable oil lamp on the table, and a door suddenly appeared on the green brick wall beside it, and inside was an extremely long corridor.Sima Yi went in lightly, closed the door again, and then dared to take out the fire pocket on his body, and lit a torch on the wall.With the help of the dim light from the torch in his hand, Sima Yi walked for tens of feet before reaching the end of the corridor.

With a "creak" sound, the door at the end of the passage was pushed open, and Sima Yi walked out, and was already in a small courtyard.He gently knocked on the door of a hut, and an old voice came from inside: "Is it Zhongda, the door is unlocked, come in by yourself!"

"Father!" After entering the door, Sima Yi bowed meticulously to the old man who had just got up in his clothes.That's right, the old man hiding in the small courtyard is Sima Yi's father, Sima Fang who claimed to be dead.

"Zhongda, let me count the days, and you should be back by now. How is everything going well?" Sima Fang asked with a smile after putting on his clothes.

"Thanks to father's concern, everything is fine!" Sima Yi said respectfully.Sima Fang nodded, then sighed suddenly and said, "Zhongda, if this matter fails, our Sima family will have no place to stand. The only reason to hide your name for your father's fraudulent death is to allow you to return to your hometown to preside over the overall situation. But you have to make sure everything is safe before you can do anything!"

"Father, don't worry, my son has made a thorough plan. But when Cao Liu fights again, we can profit from it!" Sima Yi said solemnly.Seeing his son's confident posture, Sima Fang nodded with some reassurance, but he still reminded: "My son must not be careless. Although my Sima family has a strong foundation, but it has been in Hedong for many years for my father, but it is not easy. However, if you can accumulate this little fortune, the soldiers and horses in the Sili area, counting your father's protégés and old officials, may only be able to mobilize at most [-], and no more will be mobilized!"

"Twenty thousand troops are enough, besides, I have other troops!" Sima Yi laughed.Sima Fang nodded and said nothing more.Sima Yi said a few more words with his father, and left in a hurry.In the next few months, Sima Yi studied at home and grew vegetables, kept filial piety for his father, and managed the family business.And whenever relatives and friends came to visit, Sima Yi also warmly received them.But he himself rarely goes out to visit friends, and it can even be said that he stays behind closed doors.

Of course, all this also reached the ears of Prime Minister Cao in Yecheng through spies.Cao Cao was noncommittal after reading the spies' report.However, Sima Yi was fine for the time being, and Cao Cao also relaxed a little bit, and began to go all out to restore the people's livelihood in Hebei, and then prepare for the next war.However, in the winter of this year, when Cao Cao himself almost forgot about Sima Yi, two uninvited guests came to Sima Yi's home in Hebei.

"Young Master Sima, are you really willing to help us?" The man asked Sima Yi impatiently after entering the door.Sima Yi laughed when he heard the words, and then said: "General, don't worry, I, Sima Yi, am not a man who does not believe what he says. Right now Cao Cao is bullying the emperor and oppressing the people. The general is under pressure, how can Sima Yi stand by and watch? If the general can trust me, In a few years, you will be able to find a place to live for your subordinates!"

"Oh, it's so good!" The man also sighed after hearing the words.Looking at Sima Yi with a calm smile on his face, this man also said bitterly: "I have been gathering in the mountains and forests for more than ten years, but now I am struggling! After my father passed away, I brought these 10 people to live in the mountains and forests. In the battle with Zhang Jaw, I lost more than I won. I want to surrender to Cao Cao, but Cao Cao is treacherous, and we are afraid of being killed by him. Fortunately, Mr. Sima has helped him out of righteousness, and Zhang Fang is very grateful!"

"General Zhang is serious. After the matter is completed, Yi promises that the general and his troops can go to Guanzhong to live and work in peace and contentment! General, please see, this is a secret decree written by the current majesty. You and I are called to hunt for thieves, so why worry about Cao Cao not breaking it!" While speaking, Sima Yi took out the edict of Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty in his bosom, and Zhang Fang nodded again and again after reading it.After reading it, Zhang Fang sighed: "Cao Cao is now very powerful. Even if you and I join forces, it will only be tens of thousands of horses. It will be even more difficult to defeat Cao Cao!"

"Don't worry, general, I have a plan. General, please go back to Montenegro for a while and be patient. After everything is ready, we will raise troops again!" Sima Yi gave a few words of comfort at the end, Zhang Fang nodded quickly, and then left.

As the largest remnant force of the Yellow Turban Army after the Qingzhou Army, the Black Mountain Army has been entrenched in the Taihang Mountains for many years.In history, after Cao Cao unified the north, the Black Mountain Army was incorporated.But now Cao Cao has Liu Bei as his great enemy in the south, and he fought Liu Bei almost after beating the Huns.In addition, Yuan Tan in Liaodong is also more difficult than the Black Mountain Army, so their extermination has been delayed.Until Zhang Yan, the first leader of the Black Mountain Army, died, his son Zhang Fang succeeded him as leader.

Now, Cao Cao and Liu Bei have ceased fighting for the time being. Naturally, such a big hidden danger cannot be ignored. Therefore, since the beginning of spring, Cao Cao sent General Zhang Jai to lead his army to destroy the Black Mountain Army.Zhang Jai is a veteran of suppressing the Yellow Turbans. It was because Wu Dun and the others had nowhere to hide that they were forced to vote for Liu Bei.Now Zhang Fang is fighting against him, but he is also retreating steadily.

The Montenegrin Army claims to be 30, but in fact it is only 30 for all the people with their families.But after Zhang Jaw's blow, there were less than 20 left.In terms of military strength, there are still [-] to [-].But with such a small amount of manpower, it is extremely difficult to gain a foothold in the troubled times.In desperation, Zhang Fang had no choice but to lead his troops back to the deep mountains of Taihang Mountain, preparing to be a citizen of the mountains and forests like the Shanyue people.

This year, Sima Yi suddenly sent his confidant Wang Shuang to sneak into the mountains to get in touch with Zhang Fang.Wang Shuang told Zhang Fang that Sima Yi was willing to take them in.Taihang Mountain is located between Hedong County and Jizhou. Wang Shuang suggested that Zhang Fang can sneak into the sphere of influence of Sima's family for shelter.

Zhang Fang naturally didn't believe it at first, but then a small-scale flood broke out in the Taihang Mountains, making it even more difficult for the Black Mountain Army to survive.At the same time, the Sima family took the initiative to help them.Zhang Fang was grateful for his kindness, so he agreed to cooperate with Sima Yi.Under Sima Yi's suggestion, some of the Black Mountain Army who did not want to gather in the mountains and forests mixed with the fleeing victims and began to flee to Hedong County to seek a living.Sima Yi's family has a big business and a lot of land, so they resettled these ten thousand people.Of course, it was said to the public that these people were disaster victims, and the Sima family just took them in.But after all, this kind of thing can't be hidden from his own people. When Sima Fu said that Sima Yi took in the dead, he was referring to this matter.It's just that there were no more than a thousand households, thousands of people, in general. This kind of thing is not too eye-catching.After all, these days, it is normal for aristocratic families to take advantage of natural disasters to take in victims as tenants.

In this way, Sima Yi gained Zhang Fang's trust.The Montenegro army numbered tens of thousands, and with the help of this force, Sima Yi was able to use his strength.As long as Liu Bei and Cao Cao go to war again, I can profit from it.At the same time, Sima Fang took advantage of the occasion of the nine-rank Zhongzheng system to select some of his cronies as officials at all levels in Hedong.Although Cao Cao knew about this, the Sima family was a wealthy family in Hedong, so it was normal for him to select some of his family's cronies.What's more, even if Sima Yi wanted to make something happen, it would not be enough to rely on just one county in Hedong.When Sima Fang died, Cao Cao's only doubts dissipated into clouds.Who would have thought that he had already figured out so many tricks.Even when Zhao Feng later found out that Sima Yi had actually taken precautions to this point, he could only lament that this guy was really too dark.It's just that he still doesn't understand why Sima Yi, who has endured for many years in history, now wants to take risks?
What Zhao Feng didn't know was that Sima Yi had no choice but to do so.In history, Sima Yi endured for 40 years, and after slowly accumulating fame and strength, he began to seize the Cao family.But now it is very different from history. First of all, the three-point posture of the tripartite no longer exists.Right now, Liu Bei and Cao Cao's strength is almost the same. In the next battle, whoever loses is basically doomed to a complete failure.In less than ten years, the world will inevitably be unified.Because of this, Sima Yi took the risk and acted in advance.It is also precisely because of this that last time Sima Yi gave Cao Cao such a strategy that seemed to be polite to Cao Cao, but actually secretly assisted Liu Bei's soldiers to encircle Xuchang, in order to balance the strength of the two, so that they The longer the confrontation lasts, the more opportunities he has to take advantage of it.The abacus has reached this point, it really can't be described as fine.

To make an inappropriate analogy, Cao Cao and Liu Bei are now equivalent to Cao Cao and Sun Quan who were originally confronted in history, while Sima Yi became Liu Bei at that time, with weak strength.Therefore, he can only take advantage of the time when Cao and Liu are fighting each other.How could it be so easy to just snatch food from Cao Liu's mouth?Sima Yi has been preparing until now, weighing up the bargaining chip in his hand, and if he wants to say enough, he is still a bit reluctant.But as the so-called wealth and wealth are sought in danger, thinking that the opportunity is not lost, and the time will never come, I can only bite the bullet and come.Once things are done, even if it doesn't work, you can separate one side and compete for the world.This temptation was too great for Sima Yi, and it was absolutely impossible for him not to place a bet.

Zhao Feng still doesn't know the mystery of this.Now he is busy training soldiers and horses in Xichuan to prepare for the next Northern Expedition.Although both Zhang Ren and Huang Quan think that this year is a good year, some new troops can be recruited appropriately.However, Zhao Feng, who is based on the idea of ​​sustainable development, thought again and again. After recruiting the Infinity Flying Army, he only recruited [-] soldiers to enrich the local guards.

"Currently there are more than 9 Sichuan troops. Excluding Dongsan County and Hanzhong, we still have 5 troops in Sichuan. If there is a Northern Expedition, more than [-] people will be left to cooperate with the county soldiers to guard the southern border. In this way, when I join After taking Zilong from Hanzhong and the uncles from the three eastern counties, plus Jushou and Tianfeng from Longxi, there can be [-] to [-] soldiers and horses. In addition, Ma Mengqi from Xiliang can mobilize no less than [-] to [-] People and horses. In this way, it will be enough to capture Guanzhong and defeat Xiahouyuan!" Looking at the map on the table, Ma Di spoke with confidence in his tone.On this day, Zhang Ren came to report on the drills of the new army, so everyone simply explored military affairs.Ma Di is really good at this kind of paper talk.

"This statement is true. What we fear in Nangri is Xia Houyuan's Guanzhong fine cavalry. Our Sichuan army is mostly infantry, and it is very disadvantageous to fight against him in the Guanzhong Plain. Now there are generals Ma Mengqi and General Zhao Zilong in the west. Liang Tieqi is enough to compete with Xiahou Yuan. If he is sensible, he will guard the Jinghe and Weishui, otherwise Guanzhong will be ours!" Zhang Ren nodded again and again.But looking back, Zhao Feng frowned slightly, he didn't seem to be very impressed by Ma Di and Zhang Ren's rhetoric, Zhang Ren couldn't help but hesitate a bit.

"What Youchang and Gongyi said is not bad, but if you send troops to the Northern Expedition, the master will have to decide how to advance!" Zhuge Liang smiled, and gently revealed the matter of the Northern Expedition with one sentence, and then everyone began to discuss how to arrange the Nanzhong. defense.Although Meng Jie and the others are relatively stable now, but if they say right or wrong, their hearts must be different. Zhao Feng dare not pin his hopes on these people's own obedience.

"The general seems to be worried about another Northern Expedition?" Zhuge Liang suddenly asked after everyone had left.

"Kong Ming, I knew I couldn't hide it from you!" Zhao Feng shook his head and smiled wryly.Just as Cheng Yu expected, Zhao Feng was really a little apprehensive now, whether he should continue to make meritorious deeds.After all, it is not a legend to be the master of the earthquake.It doesn't matter if you take Xichuan, Hanzhong, or Jiangdong by yourself, but Guanzhong is different. It is the number one strategic location for the Han Dynasty.In case this credit falls to him, it will be difficult not to attract attention.Therefore, Zhao Feng had already thought of a countermeasure.

"Kong Ming, I think, if the next Northern Expedition wants to capture Guanzhong, you will lead the Northern Expedition, and I will be in Chengdu!" Zhao Feng said suddenly, this proposal was really beyond Zhuge Liang's expectations.

(End of this chapter)