"Great, Zhuge Liang is coming for me!"
Cao Rui sneered and said, "General, you may not be familiar with Zhuge Liang. I know his habits. Whenever he encounters a major event, he will not trust others and always thinks that he is the safest person."
"If Zhuge Liang could come to attack in person, something must have happened to make him alert. The news that Lu Xun went to Baishui must have been known to the Shu army!"
After saying this, Cao Rui suddenly stood up from his seat, put his hands on his hips and looked at the ministers in the hall.
Chen Ping was just a soldier. This was his second time to see the emperor. How could he have ever seen the emperor angry?
However, as everyone in the tent stood up and stood in the hall to face him, Chen Ping was blocked behind by the general, the prime minister and others, and he felt a little relieved.
Cao Rui stood in front of the crowd with an expressionless face, and said in a deep voice: "Lu Xun and Xiahou Xian are the flanks of the army. The attack on Baishui was originally to support the battle here in Xiabian. Now, Zhuge Liang has come to attack me in person, contrary to his usual behavior. He must have sent reinforcements to the south."
"Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang and others have been behaving like bandits for so many years! They don't retreat when faced with danger, but instead face it head-on. After being defeated, they flee thousands of miles away. Our army must blunt their edge!"
Cao Zhen immediately responded: "Your Majesty, I am willing to go to the front to lead the army in the attack. I hope Your Majesty will grant my permission!"
"The general will come with me." Cao Rui glanced at Cao Zhen and said, "The general is here to help me lead the armies of the world. The Shu army is only one state's army, why would they need a general?"
"Having Zhang He in person is enough."
Cao Zhen bowed slightly and said nothing more.
Cao Rui looked at the ministers in the tent and said, "My lords, do you know why I like Liu Ye?"
Sima Yi was a little confused about the emperor's thoughts. Why did he mention Liu Ye who was far away in Youzhou when the army was facing the enemy?
"I like Liu Ye because he is very good at judging people and always hits the nail on the head!" Cao Rui snorted, "At the beginning, Liu Ye said, 'Although Shu is small and weak, Bei wants to strengthen himself through force and will certainly use the people to show that he has more than enough'."
"And today, Zhuge Liang came to attack me personally when he was most short of troops. How similar is this to Liu Bei's behavior?"
"Yang Qing, pass on my order!"
Yang Fu took a half step forward, bowed and said, "I am here."
Cao Rui said in a cold voice: "Send a message to Zhang He, today is the day of death. Let him ignore all casualties and attack Zhuge Liang head-on! Doesn't he have 30,000 soldiers? The valley is narrow and there is no room for tricks. Just kill him!"
"Tell Zhang He that I am right behind him, watching over him as the General of the Western Expedition!"
"As you wish." Yang Fu replied.
"Send a message to Qian Zhao and Xiahou Ru, and have them attack southwards early tomorrow morning." Cao Rui raised his eyes and looked at Yang Fu: "Tell Qian Zhao to show the spirit and vigor he had in Lueyang, and tell Xiahou Ru that now is the time for me to use him, and don't disgrace his family name!"
"Yang Qing, go!"
Yang Fu bowed, took the order and left immediately, not forgetting to drag Chen Ping away with him.
Cao Rui turned around and sat at the table.
The three people left in the tent, Cao Zhen, Sima Yi and Chen Jiao, looked at each other.
Cao Zhen asked, "Your Majesty, do you have any assignments for us here?"
Cao Rui laughed: "Of course there is."
"Mr. Chen, bring me my Tangqi."
Sima Yi showed a hint of confusion, but then he said with emotion: "Your Majesty is so courageous! Using the battlefields of Qinzhou and Yizhou as a chessboard, moving the chess pieces with your fingers is like commanding thousands of troops."
"I should record such a noble event and hand it over to the historian after returning to Luoyang!"
Cao Rui waved his hand and said, "Don't make me sound so mysterious. The Wei and Shu armies are fighting fiercely in the valley. There is no military strategy to discuss. It's just that the two armies are fighting to the death here."
"What else can we do? Just sit here and watch the success or failure of the front line."
"Your Majesty is right." Cao Zhen cupped his hands and said, "Having Zhang He in command is enough. The army has been full of energy from Lueyang to here."
"Today is the day for the decisive battle."
While they were talking, Chen Jiao had already brought over the chessboard for Tanqi, holding two brocade bags containing Tanqi pieces.
The so-called Tangqi is actually a game similar to table tennis.
On a two-foot square wooden base, there is a jade chessboard of the same size.
The square chessboard has a high center and low sides, and the chessboard surface is polished smooth and shiny.
The chess pieces are made of polished mulberry wood and are shaped like tiny pillows, with each side having six.
There is a Chi-shaped hole on each side of the chessboard.
The rules of the game are similar to those of billiards. Both players use their fingers to eject their own chess pieces to prevent the opponent's chess pieces from entering their own holes. If all of their chess pieces enter the opponent's holes, they win.
In the past, Cao Pi was very good at playing Tanqi, and this game became popular among the high-ranking officials of the Wei Dynasty for several years.
Seeing this, Cao Zhen spoke up and asked, "There are four people in the tent now. Your Majesty, please give the order and select two to start."
Cao Rui smiled and said, "You can't play Tangqi with me without a prize. You take turns to play against each other and the loser is out. If you lose a game, you have to drink an extra bottle at the celebration banquet for this battle!"
"I will play the black chess first, and the general will play against me first." Cao Zhen smiled and bowed: "I am sorry, I will play the white chess."
A game of Tanqi doesn't take too much time, with a two-foot chessboard and twelve chess pieces. According to the time of later times, a game can be completed in almost ten minutes, and if it is fast, three to five minutes is also common.
Drinking a bottle for every round you lose can’t be considered a small bet.
Just as the emperor was taking turns fighting with the general, the prime minister, and the governor of Qinzhou, attacking and defending the chess game, the battle in the front became unusually fierce.
Yesterday, Zhang He divided his troops into twenty groups and launched a fierce attack. However, after taking down two camps and finding the third camp difficult to capture, he slowed down the pace of the attack.
Today's battle situation is similar to yesterday's, but there is no room for easing!
The battle between Wei and Shu started in the morning. Before noon, both sides had left more than a thousand corpses near the front line in the river valley.
The number of casualties was not as high as when Qian Zhao attacked Lu Yang in the past, but the degree of tragedy was much higher than when Lu Yang was attacked.
Qian Zhao attacked the Shu army camp in Lueyang, across a width of three miles from east to west, and led thousands of troops to attack.
Zhang He's battle today was fought in a width of more than 70 zhang. In such a narrow area, there were so many casualties that it could be said that there were corpses everywhere.
Huang Xi stood beside Zhuge Liang. He was temporarily deprived of the right to command. He looked at the slightly red mud water on his left hand and said with a little reluctance: "Prime Minister, should we sound the horn to rest for a while so that the soldiers can have time to collect the bodies?"
Zhuge Liang looked at the battlefield with a grim face.
In less than one morning, they had already lost a thousand soldiers. At this rate, it was unclear how long the ten thousand men here could hold out!
Huang Xi was disturbing again, and Zhuge Liang was a little impatient: "Sounding the horn now? It won't be too late to sound it when the sun is at its highest."
"Huang Xi, if we lose today, both you and I will have to stay here. Do you know that?"
Huang Xi smiled and bowed his hands to admit his mistake: "It was my fault for being careless. The Prime Minister is a master in leading troops, so he is naturally invincible. How could he fail?"
Zhuge Liang did not say anything, but continued to stare at the battle situation ahead from the watchtower.
At noon, Zhuge Liang was about to sound the gong to call back the troops. As soon as he sounded the gong and drum, the Shu army retreated and the Wei army, led by Zhang He, chased after them.
Like Zhuge Liang, Zhang He also looked out at the entire battlefield from the watchtower built in the rear.
It can be said that this was the easiest battle Zhang He had ever fought in his forty years of military service.
The simplicity of fighting has nothing to do with the number of casualties. In a battle in a narrow valley, it depends on which general is more ruthless and can withstand more damage.
And His Majesty is right behind.
Receiving the imperial edict from His Majesty means receiving the highest authority in the world. How could Zhang He care about the lives of his soldiers?
It's nothing more than a comparison between the two sides, who is more willing to pay the price and who is less afraid of death!
When the Shu army was retreating, it was attacked by the Wei army and had to retreat into the camp, changing the field battle into an offensive and defensive battle.
But what surprised Zhuge Liang was that the Wei army seemed tireless and continued to advance despite suffering casualties.
It's not that the Wei army is tireless, it's simply that the Wei army has more troops and each wave fighting on the front line is a fresh force.
From noon to afternoon, the casualties of the Wei and Shu armies increased. By dusk, Zhuge Liang had already surrendered all of Huang Xi's remaining four camps and a camp to the Wei army.
Facts have proved that in this battlefield where military strategies are of no use at all, Zhuge Liang's command and role here would not be greater than Wei Yan's.
But compared to Huang Xi, he was still stronger. With the Prime Minister in front, morale was naturally higher and tolerance for casualties was a little higher.
Moreover, with the command center moved forward, the efficiency of commanding soldiers to rotate is much higher.
As it was getting dark, both Wei and Shu sounded the call to withdraw their troops.
When the Wei army retreated, they set fire to the last captured camp, filled in trenches, burned deer antlers, and knocked down walls along the way.
"How many casualties are there today?" Zhuge Liang sat in the tent with his eyes closed and asked Chen Shi who was standing in the tent.
"Report to the Prime Minister." Chen Shi said, "Just now, I asked each camp to roughly count the number of soldiers who died or were seriously injured and could not be saved. There are about 2,500 soldiers and more than 1,200 wounded."
Zhuge Liang remained silent.
The reason why there were more deaths than injuries was that the Shu army retreated all the way and lost camps one after another.
The Wei army was advancing at a very fast speed. If we couldn't retreat in time, we would be left on the battlefield! With most of the Wei army rushing forward, how could we survive?
In the Wei army camp, Cao Rui, Cao Zhen, Sima Yi and Chen Jiao, who had been playing Tangqi for the whole day, were all exhausted at this time.
Cao Zhen won the most and lost no more than ten games.
Cao Rui came second, losing more than twenty games.
Sima Yi and Chen Jiao both lost about forty games.
If I lose a game, I get a bottle of wine. If I lose more than 40 games...
It can be said that after losing twenty games, Sima Yi already felt a sense of helplessness and frustration.
There is no way to deny the debt in front of the emperor. Twenty bottles, how can I drink it!
But as Sima Yi lost more and more games, and when he lost more than 30 games, he was no longer worried. This was because the emperor had also lost nearly 20 games.
Just as the four of them were looking at the record of today's losing chess game, Zhang He walked in from outside the tent.
The wind blew in from the door, and it seemed to carry a hint of blood. (End of this chapter)
