Unlike the tense fighting situation between Wei and Shu in December last year, more than half of January was spent in confrontation.
As Xu Chu and Cao Hong led their troops to Longyou, the 50,000-man central army of Wei was finally ready. Zhuge Liang's army calmly set up defenses near Xi County, waiting for the Wei army to attack.
Apart from a few small-scale battles involving thousands of people between Shanggui and Xixian, no other major wars took place.
Wei Yan, who had set up an ambush on Mumen Road, had almost moved from camping to settling down, but he still hadn't waited for the Wei army to attack.
On the morning of January 23, Wei Yan led several personal guards and hurried south to Xi County, where the Shu Han camp was stationed, to look for Zhuge Liang in person.
As the General Zhenbei and the Chief Secretary of the Prime Minister's Office, Wei Yan naturally entered the Xi County City unimpeded, but he was stopped in front of the county government office.
"Why did General Wei come to Xi County? Shouldn't you be in Hulu Valley now?" Yang Yi, who was walking out of the gate, happened to bump into Wei Yan who was walking into the county government office, and reached out to stop him.
Wei Yan had been guarding Hulu Valley for nearly a month. Not only did most of the Wei army not come, he was not even allowed to participate in the raids to the north.
Confrontation between the two armies is a common occurrence, but now there is no war or no war. How can Wei Yan be effective if he leads his troops to stay here every day?
Ten days ago, Wei Yan wrote a letter to Zhuge Liang asking for battle, but was temporarily appeased by Zhuge Liang's personal reply.
Four days ago, Wei Yan requested to lead his troops to attack the north again. What he waited for at the Hulu Valley camp was not a letter from Zhuge Liang, but a document from Yang Yi persuading him to defend with peace of mind.
If the prime minister had said it himself, Wei Yan might have been more patient.
However, Yang Yi wrote a letter asking Wei Yan not to act rashly, and his words even hinted at accusing Wei Yan of ignoring the overall situation. How could this make Wei Yan feel good?
What's more, Yang Yi personally stood in front of Wei Yan!
Wei Yan was definitely not a fool, he had the bearing of a governor and a general. But Yang Yi, as a military officer, actually stopped him at the prime minister's door!
If the news spread, some people might think they were going to be demoted! Doing such a thing in the heart of the Northern Expedition Army was clearly a slap in Wei Yan's face.
This has exceeded the scope of official business, so Wei Yan naturally has no reason to be polite to Yang Yi.
Wei Yan was wearing armor. He just stretched out his right hand to hold Yang Yi's outstretched arm, and pressed down with force with a calm expression. Half of Yang Yi's body was pressed down by Wei Yan.
"Wei Wenchang! How can you be so rude in front of the Prime Minister's Mansion!" Yang Yi quickly took a big step back to avoid Wei Yan's big hand, and then pretended to rub his arm, raised his voice several degrees, and bared his teeth to accuse Wei Yan.
"Yang Yi, am I rude or are you?" Wei Yan's face remained calm, but there was undisguised contempt in the corners of his eyes.
"I am the Prime Minister's military officer. How can I allow a military officer like you to teach me a lesson? Why are you blocking the door and not letting me in? How can you act so arrogantly here?"
Yang Yi knew he was in the wrong, but since there were already people watching in the mansion, he couldn't lose face. "As a general, you didn't follow the military strategy and stayed in Hulu Valley. Instead, you left the army and ran to Xi County? How do you explain this?"
"Explain? I don't need to explain to you." Wei Yan snorted, looking up at Yang Yi with his peripheral vision: "I have important military strategies to present to the Prime Minister, what does it have to do with you?"
Yang Yi also said: "Is it a critical military strategy? Like the military strategy you used when the Wei army broke through your camp in the east of Lueyang City?"
"It was because you failed to hold on that the Han lost the important city of Lueyang! Today, the army retreated to Xi County and could not advance, all thanks to you, Wei Wenchang! You are the sinner of the country!"
Prime Minister Zhuge had clearly divided the responsibilities for the battle of Lueyang a month ago when they were in Lieliu City. Ma Su was guilty of indecision, while the other generals fought bravely and were not guilty at all.
But no matter what, Wei Yan, Zhao Yun, Wu Ban and others were generals. Although Zhuge Liang did not care about the defeat, they lost and there was no point in finding excuses. They had often been ashamed of it in the past month.
It was his own business to be ashamed of himself, but today this fig leaf was lifted in public by Yang Yi, which made Wei Yan unable to bear it any longer.
"How dare you!"
Wei Yan raised his eyebrows, drew out half of his long sword from his waist, stared at Yang Yi coldly and said: "You are a mobster, you can only bark wildly in the mansion, what benefit can you bring to the country?"
"Yang Yi, do you dare to lead the troops into battle and die for the Han Dynasty? If you don't dare, then don't talk about loyal ministers here!"
Yang Yi saw Wei Yan had half of his sword drawn out, and he became even more angry. Although this is the Xi County government office, it is also the temporary location of the Prime Minister's residence. How can I allow you to be so presumptuous here?
The Prime Minister is still in the hall!
This is called being fearless.
"You said I was causing chaos? You are the one who misled the army!" Yang Yi shook his head and sneered, "You are a loyal minister but not a capable one! Do you dare to say that you didn't lose the camp east of Lueyang?"
"You still want to lead troops to the north to harass? The Prime Minister gave you a warning ten days ago, but you didn't realize it. I advised you, but you didn't listen. You really have to lose another eight thousand before you'll be satisfied, right?"
Clang!
Wei Yan could no longer suppress his anger. He originally wanted to draw out half of the sword to scare Yang Yi, but now he pulled it out all at once.
Following the muscle movements of a general, he placed the sword blade next to Yang Yi's neck.
The sword blade was less than two inches away from Yang Yi's skin. Under the sword tip, Yang Yi's hair stood on end and his whole body seemed to be frozen.
When Wei Yan drew his sword, the officials who were watching from a distance in the courtyard were frightened and cried out in surprise. Although Wei Yan drew his sword based on muscle memory, he felt a little regretful when he put it on Yang Yi's neck.
He wanted to take it back, but he couldn't save face, and Yang Yi was really abominable! In a flash, Wei Yan just went with the flow and continued to hold the sword.
"What are you making so much noise for?"
Fei Yi walked out of the western household office, frowning and shouting. As soon as he took a step forward, he saw a man with a sword drawn and another with his neck stretched out, waiting to be chopped.
This is great! ?
Fei Yi did not dare to delay, and hurriedly trotted forward a few steps, reaching out to press down Wei Yan's arm holding the sword, but because Wei Yan was too strong, he was unable to do so for a while.
"Wen Chang, Wen Chang! Don't be anxious, don't use weapons!" Fei Yi looked at Wei Yan earnestly, but Wei Yan looked at Fei Yi and replied: "Wen Wei, how do you usually work with such a villain in the mansion?"
Seeing that Wei Yan would not listen, Fei Yi hurriedly tried to persuade Yang Yi: "Lord Wei, we can talk it out if we have something to say. Why did it come to this?"
Yang Yi did not give in, and even stretched his neck to get closer to the sword: "He was the one who drew the sword on me, not me on him! How can we allow such a reckless man to cause chaos in the Prime Minister's Mansion!"
Looking left and right, both of them were unmoved, so Fei Yi could only sigh, flicked his sleeves and said, "Wen Chang, put away your sword first, I will go find the Prime Minister to help you two!"
Yang Yi's eyes gradually became complacent. Wei Yan's eyes drooped slightly. He had to put the sword back into the scabbard at his waist, and confronted Yang Yi with his hands crossed.
Zhuge Liang was originally checking the number of stones of grain and fodder allocated to various counties in Yizhou. When he heard Fei Yi jogging over and speaking urgently about what had happened in the courtyard, he had no choice but to put down his documents and go into the courtyard himself.
"Your subordinate greets the Prime Minister!" Wei Yan saw Zhuge Liang coming out from the corner of his eye, and then bowed respectfully.
Yang Yi was stunned, then turned around and saluted.
When Zhuge Liang saw that these two people had started a dispute again, he felt it was difficult to deal with it for a moment, so he had to act as a judge and let the two of them tell him what had happened.
Zhuge Liang listened carefully to the two people's mutual criticism and sighed for a moment.
The worry on his face seemed to be even greater than that on Wei Yan and Yang Yi.
"What are you two doing? Let's go into the hall and talk to you two!" Zhuge Liang glanced at each of them, then turned and walked into the hall.
Although Wei Yan and Yang Yi did not get along well, when they saw the Prime Minister's expression, they were both panicked for a moment.
The two of them just wanted to argue about who was right and who was wrong, but they never thought of making the prime minister worry about them!
Zhuge Liang waved his hand lightly, and the officials in the courtyard went back to their rooms to do their work, not daring to come out and watch.
The argument between Yang Yi and Wei Yan just now can actually be regarded as a microcosm of the current Northern Expedition.
Of the 80,000-strong army that was gathered from the entire Yizhou, a quarter of it was lost in the battle of Lueyang.
The Longyou city, which had originally been captured, was forced to give up in the face of the aggressive Wei army and return to the Xi County camp.
Unable to advance, and difficult to retreat, this is the awkward mentality of the Shu Han Northern Expedition Army at the moment.
As a civil official in charge of the operation of the army, Yang Yi had a heavy workload every day. He had an instinctive disgust for Wei Yan's behavior of seeking a fight without knowing whether he could win, which came from his own fatigue.
As a general, it is understandable that Wei Yan wanted to fight.
But as Yang Yi said just now, fighting face to face in the wilderness of Lueyang and relying on the camps is not enough to resist the offensive of the Wei army. If you, Wei Yan, lead your army to fight the Wei army head-on, do you have a better chance of winning?
Each of them has their reasons, but neither of them can discuss the issue from the perspective of the overall situation.
What do the other generals think when Wei Yan and Yang Yi act like this? Can the soldiers still maintain a stable mentality?
The mentality within the army was so divided that this was what worried Zhuge Liang the most.
The four of them walked slowly into the hall. Zhuge Liang sat behind the desk in silence. Wei Yan and Yang Yi could only stand in the hall awkwardly.
The Han army that had fought against the Cao Wei army in the early years were all lost by the previous emperor in the Battle of Yiling. This was the first time that the Han army under Zhuge Liang fought against the Wei Kingdom.
Whether it was the cavalry's quick movement like the wind or the infantry's desperate attack, both made Zhuge Liang quite worried.
Objectively speaking, the combat effectiveness of the Han army in the Northern Expedition is no match for the central army of Cao Wei.
The difference in combat effectiveness lies, on the one hand, in the training of soldiers and practice of battle formations, and on the other hand, in the military tactics and coordination of generals.
There are shortcomings almost everywhere.
If we return to Hanzhong, practice battle formations, and train soldiers, it will be safer to attack Longyou tomorrow! The two armies are only one day away from Lueyang. Can Wei still be so lucky every time? (End of this chapter)
