"Ji Wudai is right!"
Xiahou Ba stood up from the banquet, put his hands on his waist and looked around the tent with disdain, "Captain Lu has been in office for nearly a year, and he has kept everything he promised, without a single mistake."
"Do you know where Captain Lu comes from?" Xiahou Ba asked.
Although Qiu Ling, Zhi Wudai and others who were familiar with Lu Xun and had talked with him privately knew about it, no one was willing to interrupt at this time.
Those who didn't know looked at Envoy Xiahou with even more curiosity.
"If you don't know, I'll teach you all today." Xiahou Ba said proudly, as if he was the protagonist: "Do you know Liu Bei?"
As for Liu Bei, even if he was the least well-informed person, how could he not know the name of King Hanzhong and Emperor Zhaolie of Shu Han in the south?
Xiahou Ba did not stop at all: "In the past, Liu Bei led 50,000 men to fight, but was defeated by the army led by Captain Lu in the hall today. Liu Bei barely escaped with his life! And then he died less than a year later!"
"If Liu Bei is like this, what can his Prime Minister Zhuge Liang do?" Xiahou Ba continued, "Besides, Zhuge Liang is so rampant, His Majesty the Emperor of Wei will definitely send the Central Army here! By then, the Wei army in Longyou will definitely have more troops than Zhuge Liang!"
"Zhuge Liang won't be able to be so arrogant for many days!"
If you talk to these Qiang leaders about the application of military tactics and the theories of orthodoxy and strangeness, most of them will not understand.
But if we say that Lu Xun can defeat Liu Bei, and Liu Bei is more capable than Zhuge Liang, we can conclude that Lu Xun is stronger than Zhuge Liang. Plus, Wei has more troops...
If you put it this way, everyone will understand.
What's more, the tribes of all the Qiang leaders present had almost all been beaten by Xiahou Yuan, Zhang He and Cao Zhen in the past, so there was no doubt about it at this moment.
Tang Yi's face turned blue and red. Except for himself, almost everyone in the hall came here from Liangzhou. After thinking for a moment, Tang Yi suddenly stood up from the table.
"Captain Lu," Tang Yi said, bowing, "I understand everything Qiu Ling, Zhi Wudai, and Envoy Xiahou said today."
"I have no intention of going against the Wei Dynasty. I was simply deceived..."
There are more than 30,000 people on the opposite side, while we only have 10,000 people. We are not very familiar with Yuan Chen in the south, and we don't know if this person can be trusted.
Tang Yi didn't want to sacrifice his future outside Xiangwu City. So he had to let Zhuge Liang, who was not here, stay away from him.
How to choose between Wei and Shu is often that simple.
Just like Nangan County, Ji County, and Linwei surrendered to Shu.
Lu Xun nodded: "I know you have been bewitched. But since you have promised Zhuge Liang, if I let you attack him instead, you will also become a traitor."
"It snowed heavily in Fuhan three days ago, and many livestock died. Natural disasters can be predicted, and it is reasonable to return the army. Besides, you have not gained any benefit from Zhuge Liang now." Lu Xun looked at Tang Yi and said, "You can lead the army back to Fuhan to take care of the tribe. I will order people to clear the way and will not pursue the matter."
"However, since you did not participate in the battle, the lands of Yinping and Wudu counties will not be given to you. But the Great Wei will definitely reward you and give you an official seal."
"Would you like to return?"
The eyes of the Qiang warriors in the tent turned to Tang Yi. Under everyone's gaze, Tang Yi gritted his teeth and said, "Just follow Captain Lu's orders! It's late tonight, I will leave tomorrow morning."
From Qiu Ling, Zhi Wudai, to other Qiang leaders, they all showed satisfied smiles.
In general, the Qiang people in Yongliang area are more simple and trustworthy in the way they get along with each other than the Han people. It may also be because they have not yet learned the "Hongmen Banquet" thinking paradigm.
Qiu Ling and other Qiang leaders invited Tang Yi to come here. If Tang Yi could not refuse, then they would really become enemies.
But if Lu Xun and Xiahou Ba wanted to harm Tang Yi in the camp, these Qiang leaders would really risk their lives to ensure Tang Yi's safety.
It has a primitive beauty.
When Lu Xun heard what Tang Yi said, he immediately nodded and said, "I will not let you break your promise, and you should not break your promise to me either."
"There is not much time to waste in the army's advance. If you do not pass through this camp and head north before noon tomorrow, then you and I will be enemies, not friends."
"Do you know?"
Tang Yi nodded repeatedly: "I already know, thank you Captain Lu for your advice."
Seeing this, Xiahou Ba looked at everyone with a smile on his face and said, "Everyone is happy today. Tomorrow we will pass through Xiangwu and join forces with the army in the city to attack Yuan Chen's army in the south!"
"There are still soldiers in the city, nearly 40,000 soldiers against the Shu army's 5,000. You must hurry up and make contributions."
After saying that, Xiahou Ba clapped his hands, and soldiers came in one after another outside the tent carrying delicious food. The tableware contained steaming mutton and a dish of fine salt on the side.
Then, fine wine was served to the table of each Qiang hero.
Xiahou Ba said: "There is plenty of mutton from Wuwei, as well as fine salt from Wuwei and fine wine from Zhangye. I will treat you all to a feast today!"
The atmosphere in the tent suddenly became heated, and the banquet began. The sounds of these Qiang warriors, who would never get together if there was no war, drinking and chatting were extremely loud.
However, in the eyes of Lu Xun and Xiahou Ba, this sound was quite pleasant. The next day, north of Xiangwu City.
Lu Xun and Tang Di agreed on a meeting time of noon, but just at dawn, Tang Di ordered his younger brother Song Qi to come to the tent of Zhao Fang, an official of Shu Han.
Zhao Fang was the only one here, and he had no way to deal with Song Qi's persuasion. He had to accept Song Qi's statement that "Fuhan was affected by the disaster" and returned alone to the south of Xiangwu City.
Another hour and a half passed. Tang Yi looked at the height of the sun and without any further hesitation, ordered his subordinates, who had already packed their luggage, to start marching north.
Leaving Yuan Chen an hour and a half would probably be considered as doing Zhuge Liang justice.
Hao Zhao on the Xiangwu City received a report from the scouts and saw Tang Yi's troops in the north and Yuan Chen's troops in the south of the city withdrawing almost at the same time.
After speaking a few words to Longxi governor You Chu, Hao Zhao led ten cavalrymen out of the city and headed north to Lu Xun's camp.
"Brother Boyan has done such a great thing!" Hao Zhao said with great joy, "How did Tang Jue's 10,000 Qiang cavalry and Yuan Chen's 5,000 infantry in the south withdraw at the same time?"
"How did you withdraw?" Lu Xun and Xiahou Ba looked at each other and laughed, "If Bo Dao hadn't led his army to Xiangwu and held on there for so many days, what could I have done by leading my army?"
"Since Xiangwu has been decided, you and I will unite our forces today and set out to the east to the Nan'an County seat, Zhudao City!"
Hao Zhao nodded: "That's right!"
……
On the 23rd, Zhuge Liang integrated Wu Yi's troops and the defeated Eastern Army in Lieliu City and marched south together.
On the same day, General Cao Zhen of Wei, who was marching towards Xianqin, also led his cavalry to defeat Zhang Yi's army of Shu that was approaching Lueyang. Due to the narrow mountain roads, he only killed less than a thousand soldiers, and the rest of the Shu troops scattered into the mountains.
On the 24th, Lu Xun persuaded Tang Yi to return north and forced Yuan Chen to withdraw his troops. He then led 30,000 Qiang cavalry and 5,000 infantry and marched towards Nangan County.
On the night of the 24th, Zhuge Liang led his army to the outskirts of Shanggui City and began to discuss subsequent military affairs with his generals.
A few days ago, when most of the Shu army was heading north, Liao Hua's troops were defeated by Guo Huai to the west of Shanggui City.
As for Liao Hua, after receiving a thousand reinforcements from Huang Xi's troops in Ji County, he continued to block the west side of Shanggui City, blocking the road from Shanggui to Ji County.
Two days later, Guo Huai calmly ordered his men to leave the city and set fire to the remaining camps of the Shu army east of Shanggui City.
However, Guo Huai's camp-destroying operation was just halfway through when Gao Xiang, with a total of 20,000 assembled Qiang and Di reinforcements, plus his own 1,000 cavalry, arrived outside Shanggui City.
Unable to attack the city and having learned of the army's defeat, they had no choice but to wait for Zhuge Liang's arrival.
At night, in the hastily built camp, Zhuge Liang looked at the exhausted generals in his tent and asked, "The Wei army has more cavalry, and they will definitely go in the direction of Ji County."
"Now that everyone is clear about the situation, do you have any ideas to share?"
Wei Yan, Wu Ban, Wang Ping and others remained silent. Wu Yi cupped his hands and said, "Prime Minister, Ji County is in a critical position and cannot be lost. This city was able to rebel against Wei and return to Han, and it is possible that it can rebel against Han and return to Wei again. We should have considered this earlier."
Fei Yi also cupped his hands and said, "Prime Minister, the current situation is not entirely unfavorable to the Han Dynasty."
"After General Gao Xiang led the Qiang and Di reinforcements to arrive, with less than 60,000 royal troops and 30,000 Qiang and Di, the Han still had 90,000 troops in Longyou, so we can still fight calmly."
Yang Yi objected: "Prime Minister, except for General Zhao Yun who led 10,000 troops to garrison Xiali City, the available troops are less than 50,000, and they are also distributed in the three counties of Tianshui, Nangan and Longxi."
"I am afraid that the Wei cavalry will invade Ji County and then divide and defeat the troops. By then it will be too late to regret!"
Zhuge Liang said softly: "I will personally pass through Xiali City. The remaining 10,000 troops of Zhao Yun are enough to guard the mountain road."
"But the reason I want to capture Longyou this time is to cut off Long and then gradually take over Longyou. Now that the Wei Central Army is coming so quickly, it is meaningless to hold a stalemate with the Wei Army in Longyou."
Fei Yi was shocked: "What is the Prime Minister doing? Are you going to withdraw the troops?"
"We still have nearly 90,000 troops. How can we not keep the Wei army out of Jixian and Shanggui?"
Zhuge Liang sighed: "It's not that I can't, it's that I don't want to."
"Let me ask you, the Han Dynasty has lost 20,000 soldiers. If we fight the Wei army for a few more months, another 20,000 or 30,000 will die. Even if we take over Longyou, the disadvantages to the Han Dynasty will still outweigh the advantages!"
"What's more, I am not just trying to take Longyou, Liangzhou is also a strategic goal! But now even if we can take Longyou, Liangzhou will be powerless to advance, and the Wei army must have already taken precautions."
As soon as Zhuge Liang said this, all the generals in the tent and the ministers in the prime minister's office looked gloomy.
"However, you don't need to be so negative." Zhuge Liang said calmly: "This time when we withdraw our troops, we must do our best to withdraw the people, food, and property of the four counties in Longyou to Wudu and Hanzhong."
"In the past, Cao Mengde moved all the people of Wudu northward. Today is the time to return them!"
"I want to see if the Wei army dares to come to Wudu to fight me!" (End of this chapter)
