Super Cultivation System of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1138 Wei Yan's Strategy
Among the mountains in the southeast of Hanzhong.

In the forest where only wild animals and birds were supposed to roam, there was a figure moving forward.

The leading general was none other than Wei Yan.

After walking for a long time, Wei Yan was already sweating profusely. He stopped and the deputy general beside him came forward and brushed a large stone a few times. After Wei Yan sat down, he hurriedly handed him a water bag.

"Gulu...Gulu..."

Wei Yan drank several mouthfuls in succession. The clear mountain spring water instantly restored some of his energy.

Then he looked around and asked, "We have been marching in this mountain for seven days. I wonder where we are now?"

The deputy general replied, "I have already checked. There is a village about ten miles southwest of us. There are about thirty or forty households in the village. This village belongs to Hanchang County, Ba County, and is more than twenty miles away from the county seat."

"Oh? We've reached Hanchang?" Wei Yan was a little surprised. "According to the calculation, we can reach Langzhong City in another seven or eight days. Well... this will not delay the master's plan."

The deputy general took the water bag from Wei Yan and quickly drank a few sips before continuing.

"General, I still don't understand. My lord said that according to the original plan, Hanzhong is within our grasp. Why should we go to such great lengths to march through this vast mountainous wilderness?"

Although he said this respectfully, there was a hint of complaint in his words.

On that day, Wei Yan volunteered to go, saying that he had heard from a local woodcutter that there was a path in the mountains that was rugged and difficult to travel, and extremely secret, but it could lead directly to Langzhong. He asked Sun Ce to allocate 5,000 elite soldiers, travel light, and rush to the city of Langzhong through this mountain path.

Langzhong originally had more than 10,000 defenders, but Wu Yi transferred 6,000 elite soldiers a few days ago, leaving the city empty. Wei Yan thought that the remaining 4,000 old and weak soldiers would definitely not be able to withstand his offensive. Even the Yizhou surrendered soldiers who had recently joined the Luoyang court might open the city and surrender.

In this way, after resting in Langzhong, he can attack Chengdu directly. After Meng Huo's soldiers arrive, he will be the leader and Meng Huo will be the assistant. The first achievement of capturing Yizhou will belong to him. By then, he will be promoted rapidly in the army, and even Zhou Yu will not dare to underestimate him.

This deputy general was also Wei Yan's confidant who had followed him for many years since Jingzhou. Wei Yan did not hide anything from him and gave him a general idea of ​​his plan.

The deputy general was also very happy at first, but when he looked up at the vast mountains around him, his face was full of bitterness.

"It's just...ah, this mountain road is so difficult to travel, with bushes and wild beasts everywhere, and it rains frequently, so the road is muddy. If we want to reach Langzhong, I'm afraid it will take much later than the original date. The soldiers didn't bring much dry food, and the journey has been so difficult these days. Dozens of brothers have died of colds or been killed by wild beasts at night. If this continues, the morale of the army may change."

Wei Yan, however, did not care. He drew his sword and chopped off a bush in front of him. After a moment, he leaned his sword on the ground and said, "Pass the order down. After we capture Langzhong City, the soldiers can take any property in the city treasury."

The deputy general said with mixed feelings: "Will this, without asking for permission, cause dissatisfaction to the lord?"

Wei Yan smiled and said, "My Lord is a man of great ambitions. Why would you care about these few properties? Besides, looting properties is a way to boost morale. It has been done since ancient times. What's the point of talking about it?"

The deputy general was delighted to hear this, and immediately stepped back to pass on the order. Soon, cheers were heard from the soldiers behind him.

In Nanzheng City, Liu Zheng frowned with a little anxiety, looking at Zhuge Liang who was sitting on his left with his eyes closed. He opened his lips slightly, but ultimately said nothing.

"Brother, if you have any questions, you can ask them clearly. Why keep them in your heart?"

When Liu Zheng heard Zhuge Liang's sudden reminder, he looked up, but saw that his eyes were still not open. However, seeing him say this, he no longer hesitated.

"I think my third brother only has some minor skin injuries. He will be fine after two or three days of rest. Why do you want to transfer him back to Chengdu to recuperate? My fourth brother Cheng Yang was recently summoned back to Luoyang by our father to discuss his marriage with my eldest sister Princess Ning Yu. The generals in Yizhou have recently surrendered and each has their own plans. It is difficult for the court to do its best. Now the only general who can be of great use to me is my third brother. If he leaves, how can we resist when Sun Ce and Zhou Yu's army arrive?"

Zhuge Liang smiled, looked at Liu Zheng from the corner of his eyes, and then shook his head slightly.

"I thought that when my brother saw me off, he would not be able to resist asking for clarification. I didn't expect that he could hold back until now. This is really commendable. Hahaha..."

Seeing that he looked relaxed, Liu Zheng's own worries were alleviated a little bit, and his tone also softened accordingly.

"Second brother, what exactly is your plan? It's better to tell me as soon as possible, otherwise I will be unable to sleep for the next few days."

"Hahaha...Okay, okay, since you asked, how can I not explain it to you?"

He leaned forward slightly towards Liu Zheng, and Liu Zheng responded.

"Brother, how can one be called a man who knows military affairs?"

Liu Zheng thought without hesitation: "Sun Wu said, knowing yourself and the enemy, you can fight a hundred battles without danger. If you can see clearly the advantages and disadvantages of both sides, as well as the weather, terrain, and people, then you can be called a military expert." "That's right." Zhuge Liang nodded slightly: "Brother, you have been taught by Your Majesty since you were young, so you are not bad. So, from your point of view, Sun Ce's army is about to arrive at the city. How strong is it compared with our army?"

After a little thought, Liu Zheng said, "The enemy and I have similar forces. Our army is on the defensive. Although Nanzheng City cannot be said to be high and deep, it is easy to defend and difficult to attack because of its terrain. Moreover, the enemy suffered a disastrous defeat not long ago, and Sun Ce himself escaped with his life. Now their morale is low, while our army is in high spirits. All the soldiers in the army hope to capture Sun Ce alive as soon as possible, conquer Jiangdong, unify the country, and give titles to their wives and children. The only thing that is inferior is my ability to command troops. I am not as good as Sun Ce and Zhou Yu, and I don't think I can match the enemy's available soldiers. But with your help, I think we can make up for it. In this way, we have the advantage of time and place, and the people are in harmony. Both sides have their own advantages, and it is difficult to tell who is better."

Zhuge Liang smiled even more: "Haha, brother, you have an overall view, think carefully, and face your own shortcomings. It can be seen that your majesty is a wise choice to entrust the heavy responsibility of Yizhou to you."

Liu Zheng waved his hands repeatedly: "Second brother, please stop making fun of me. Let's talk about the important things."

"Good good."

Zhuge Liang straightened his expression slightly: "Brother, you are very familiar with the abilities and personalities of Sun Ce and Zhou Yu. However, there is another person in the enemy army who is very important, but you have overlooked it. If our army wants to win this battle and hold Hanzhong, it is not difficult. However, if we want to reduce our casualties as much as possible and completely defeat the enemy's morale, the key lies in this person."

"Oh?"

Liu Zheng suddenly became curious and moved closer to Zhuge Liang.

"Who is so important?"

Zhuge Liang smiled mysteriously: "Wei Yan, Wei Wenchang."

Liu Zheng was stunned: "Although this man is quite important in Sun Ce's army, his status and military achievements are lower than those of Huang Gai, Cheng Pu and others. Why is he valued so much by my second brother?"

Zhuge Liang did not answer directly, but walked to the sand table topographic map, walked around the sand table and continued speaking.

"Wei Yan was originally a general from Jingzhou who surrendered to Sun Ce together with the old general Huang Zhong. After Cao Cao's death, the old general Huang Zhong mourned for his former master for three months. It was only after Sun Ce visited him twice that he began to work for him. But Wei Yan was different."

Liu Zheng also said: "I have heard about this. Wei Yan took the initiative to kill Cao Cao's relatives and took their heads to see Sun Ce. He bluntly said that when Cao Cao was in Jingzhou, there were many tyrannical policies, the nobles were dissatisfied, and the people were resentful. In the army, rewards and punishments were unclear. He only used his own Cao and Xiahou generals. Xiahou Dun had few military achievements, but he was the leader of all the generals. Even Cao Ang relied on the fact that he was Cao Cao's eldest son to surpass the many surrendered generals in Jingzhou. They have long been very dissatisfied."

"That's right." Zhuge Liang continued, "This man's ability to lead troops is probably among the top fifteen in our army, excluding Your Majesty. Moreover, he has great ambitions, and is both wise and brave. He is definitely not comparable to Cheng Pu and others."

Liu Zheng nodded and said, "Father once said that there are hundreds of generals in Jingzhou, but most of them are good-for-nothings. Only Cai Mao and Zhang Yun are good at water battles, and Huang Zhong and Wei Yan are both wise and brave. These four people can be of great use. It's a pity that there are no opportunities for water battles in the north, so Cai and Zhang died in front of Hulao Pass before they could become famous. But what does this have to do with my third brother's injury?"

Zhuge Liang then used his feather fan to point to a group of mountains in the sand table.

"Look, brother. Among these mountains, there is a path used by local woodcutters. Although it is steep and difficult to walk on, and even has cliffs and steep sides, and wild beasts roam around, it leads directly from Hanzhong to Langzhong."

Liu Zheng was shocked and hurriedly walked around the sand table, looking at it carefully for a long time.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier about this dangerous road, second brother? Now Langzhong City is empty, with only a few thousand old and weak soldiers. If the enemy troops arrive, can't they just attack Chengdu directly?"

"Hahaha... Don't worry, brother. I expected that given Wei Yan's character, he would definitely find ways to explore these small roads and try to gain the first merit. Although Sun Ce is confident that he can capture Hanzhong, it is inevitable that he will pay a heavy price and will not be able to hold on for a long time in the future. Therefore, he will definitely agree to his risky move."

Liu Zheng seemed to have figured something out at this time.

"Second brother, what you mean is that you want third brother to pretend to be seriously injured and go back to Chengdu to recuperate, but actually lead the troops to secretly detour to Langzhong to guard against Wei Yan?"

"Yes, that's right."

Zhuge Liang smiled and said, "This will bring three benefits."

"First, you and I are all young, and Sun Ce already looks down on us. The Shen brothers are arrogant, greedy, and will brag to Sun Ce that they shot an arrow that seriously injured the third brother. In this way, they will not be suspicious of the fact that the third brother returned to Chengdu to recuperate, and will be even more contemptuous of him. This way, our army has a better chance of winning."

"Second, capture Wei Yan alive and thwart the enemy's plan. Then the third brother can act as a surprise force and suddenly attack when the elder brother and Sun Ce are fighting. He will definitely catch the enemy by surprise and defeat them badly."

"The third is the most important point. Cao Cao was killed by the local gentry in Jingzhou because he used northern generals and the descendants of Cao and Xiahou to suppress the gentry in Jingzhou. Now that Jingzhou has surrendered to Sun Ce, they naturally hope to be used and make contributions. On the one hand, they can protect the foundation of Jingzhou and prevent the land of the wealthy families from being divided by your majesty's equal land order. On the other hand, although they have few ambitions to unify the world, the gentry in Jingzhou have been trying to occupy the fertile land of Yizhou for a long time."

"So, after the great defeat, Sun Ce still dared to mobilize troops to attack Hanzhong because Pang Shiyuan persuaded the various tribes in Jingzhou to help. Sun Ce promised that if he captured Yizhou, he would divide the land of Yizhou among the various tribes in Jingzhou, and if the Northern Expedition succeeded in the future, he would share the world with them."

Liu Zheng now understood it completely: "So, Wei Yan's special forces represent the determination of the various clans in Jingzhou to seize Yizhou. If this route fails, even if Hanzhong is captured by Sun Ce, it will be the credit of the Jiangdong nobles. At that time, the Jiangdong nobles will surely repeat Cao Cao's mistakes and suppress the Jingzhou nobles. If Sun Ce fails to capture Hanzhong, the Jiangdong nobles will also blame the Jingzhou troops and put all the blame for the defeat on Wei Yan, that is, on the Jingzhou nobles."

"That's right. In this case, regardless of whether Sun Ce succeeds in attacking the city, the two factions of Jing and Yang will inevitably be in turmoil. At that time, my brother will lead his troops to the east, and General Guan and Lord Xuande will lead troops from Yu and Xu to cross the river. With three armies advancing together, the demise of the Sun family will be imminent."

(End of this chapter)