Three Kingdoms: I am not Cao Rui

February 12th, Yizhou.

Outside the east gate of Chengdu, a solemn but not extravagant farewell ceremony was held. Chancellor Zhuge Liang, acting on the orders of Emperor Liu Shan of Han, was to depart from Chengdu today to lead troops eastward, acting on behalf of the emperor and in charge of all external affairs and military campaigns.

Today Zhuge Liang is leaving, and tomorrow Liu Shan will also leave Chengdu in the same way.

"Your Excellency, please take good care of yourself on this journey." Liu Shan and Zhuge Liang stood facing each other, their eyes meeting. Liu Shan's eyes were already brimming with tears. "What happens to Wu or Wei is not important. I only hope that Your Excellency will be safe and sound and return to the court to meet me in Chengdu."

Two years after Zhuge Liang's fifth Northern Expedition ended in failure, and with the surging backlash within the Shu Han court, Liu Shan finally began to shoulder the responsibilities of an emperor, leading the Chengdu Imperial Guards north to Baishui to support Zhuge Liang. Consequently, Zhuge Liang began to personally instruct Liu Shan in all aspects.

Zhuge Liang changed his style of doing everything and handling every detail, returning the ruling power of Shu Han from the Prime Minister's Office to the Secretariat, thus having more time to spend on Liu Shan.

People have different talents, but diligence can make up for lack of talent. One is willing to teach, and the other is willing to learn; this is almost the ideal outcome.

Although Liu Shan's talent is not even half that of Liu Bei, he is now well-versed in politics, familiar with military affairs, and has a basic understanding of military strategy, which is more than enough to qualify him as an emperor.

Liu Shan even repeatedly requested that Zhuge Liang be given the title of Grand Tutor, but Zhuge Liang explicitly refused, and the relationship between the ruler and his minister became increasingly close.

Zhuge Liang sighed: "My journey to Yong'an is uncertain. I dare not speak rashly about anything else, nor can I be certain when I will return. Everything will depend on the circumstances."

"It's just that Your Majesty has had to personally go to Baishui to oversee things."

"How could I be tired? It is still the Prime Minister who has toiled. I can already see the gray hairs on your forehead." Liu Shan stopped and, in front of all the ministers, bowed deeply to Zhuge Liang: "Take care, Prime Minister!"

Zhuge Liang was slightly taken aback when he saw Liu Shan bow to him, then took a deep breath and bowed back in return: "Your subject is leaving."

Then he turned and walked away.

Once Zhuge Liang rode into the army formation, his personal guards immediately sounded the horn, and the army marched eastward from the east gate of Chengdu along the official road.

Liu Shan looked around for a while, then turned back into the city, having also come on horseback. From behind, Liu Shan appeared thinner than he had been two years ago, and his horsemanship and archery skills had begun to improve.

Emperors are indeed power-hungry creatures.

Once they assume power, have tasted its sweetness, and are aware of the external crises, they will naturally become more motivated and ambitious.

When Wei Yan led his army away from Chengdu, he drew 5,000 imperial guards from the city and another 5,000 soldiers from Fuxian. Together with the 10,000 soldiers that Emperor Yong'an had prepared and the 10,000 new recruits he had gathered from Sanba, he made a total of 30,000.

The military strength of Shu Han also increased to 90,000.

A few days ago, after Liu Shan and Zhuge Liang received an official document jointly signed by Wei Yan and Fei Yi from Yong'an, they reacted quickly and formulated a response strategy at the first opportunity after judging that the situation in Wu was indeed urgent.

That was to have Prime Minister Zhuge Liang as the commander-in-chief, drawing 5,000 soldiers from the Chengdu Imperial Guard, 6,000 from the Prime Minister's Office, and transferring all 5,000 soldiers from Fuxian County, and drawing another 4,000 from the Baishui Camp, to make up a force of 20,000 elite troops, before heading to Yong'an.

Drawing troops from Chengdu was manageable, and drawing troops from Fuxian wasn't a major problem either. However, drawing troops from Baishui, the main base for attacking Wei, was a very serious matter. Therefore, Liu Shan decided to personally lead the remaining two thousand imperial guards north to Baishui to assist General Wu Yi in commanding the northern military affairs of the Shu Han.

Furthermore, following Zhuge Liang's advice, Liu Shan promoted Wu Yi from General Who Conquers the North to General of the Guards in order to further appease and show goodwill to Wu Yi. Wu Yi also brought many officials from the court and the Secretariat to Baishui to help Liu Shan control the situation.

In this way, both the north and the east sides can be satisfied.

For the small Shu Han court with only 80,000 to 90,000 troops, this troop deployment was already the best they could muster. With the formidable enemy, the Wei Kingdom, to the north, any further reduction in the number of troops guarding the passes would plunge them into an abyss of no return.

Although Wei Zhen would not take the initiative to attack, who in the Shu Han court could guarantee that?

On the same day, the vanguard of Wei Yan's 30,000-strong army also arrived north of Yiling City.

Yiling was renamed Xiling after the Wu Kingdom captured it, making it the westernmost border.

Although Wu and Shu Han had been allies for many years, neither Wu nor Shu Han had completely relaxed their vigilance on the border.

Relying on its geographical advantage, Shu Han stationed nearly 3,000 troops in Baidi City and deployed a considerable number of troops in other cities of Badong Commandery, bringing its total strength to 10,000. This was because Yong'an was too far from the northern part of Yizhou where the Shu Han army was stationed, and even with its advantageous terrain and natural defenses, it was still necessary to station a large number of troops there.

Because the Wu Kingdom had a large military force in Jiangling, which was not far away, they stationed fewer troops here, but still eight thousand, with General Bu Zhi in charge of military affairs.

It cannot be said that they did not attach great importance to it.

Due to the long-term suppression by Wei cavalry and the fact that Wei had blocked the land and water transportation between Xiling and Jiangling, Bu Zhi was forced to choose to defend the city to the death after fighting several battles with General Wen Qin of the Left Feather Forest Army and losing about three thousand soldiers.

Meanwhile, the east of the city had long become a place where the Wei army could roam freely without restraint. General Xiahou He led a thousand elite cavalry and three thousand light Xiongnu cavalry, totaling four thousand cavalry, to completely blockade the east of Xiling City. As a result, no matter how precarious the situation was for Zhuge Jin in Jiangling, Bu Zhi was unable to do anything.

Bu Zhi, who had been watching the boats sailing down the river from the top of Xiling City, and then disembarking at the dock north of the city, could not possibly not know what had happened.
It must be the Shu soldiers!
Bu Zhi was both annoyed and angry, yet also felt a sense of helplessness.

On the one hand, after Bu Zhi's second son, Bu Chan, went to Yong'an, there was no news of him.

Bu Chan originally thought that Wei Yan's promise to send someone to escort him meant sending fifty or a hundred soldiers as an escort, but unexpectedly, Wei Yan personally led more than ten thousand soldiers to 'escort' him! Under such circumstances, Bu Chan naturally had no chance to send a message.

On the other hand, although Xiling was a border region, Bu Zhi had also stationed two hundred soldiers in Zigui, which was further west of Xiling. Wei Yan came from upstream, and Zigui was a place he had to pass through. These Wu soldiers were easily driven away by Wei Yan, who then informed Bu Zhi.

Bu Zhi sent a letter to Wei Yan questioning him, but only received a vague reply. Wei Yan clearly stated that Han and Wu had sworn an oath of allegiance to Heaven, and now that Wu was in trouble, Han would certainly come to its aid!

They just didn't explain in detail how to save him.

Bu Zhi had been worried for several days, and upon seeing Wei Yan's army arrive today, he finally understood what had happened. (End of Chapter)