Three Kingdoms: The Kingdom Cannot Be Partial

Chapter 11: Ge can be captured and Hanzhong can be taken!
Fei Yi rushed to the Prime Minister and handed him a copy of the Chinese character "察" (Inspection) with a knotted string and sealed with ink.

After the Prime Minister took the note, he first checked the ink, then removed it, removed the knotted rope, and finally removed the covers at both ends of the note.

Then the scroll of bamboo slips that was wrapped in the bag was revealed.

The prime minister then spread out the bamboo slips on the table, but unexpectedly, a silk book wrapped in the bamboo slips suddenly appeared in front of the prime minister and Fei Yi.

Fei Yi was shocked.

Wan Yun and the other two had been exchanging letters with the Prime Minister constantly, but this was the first time they had used such a method to deliver a silk book.

He looked at the silk book.

Soon, as the words on the silk book came into his eyes, he lost control of his expression.

"What's wrong?" Wei Yan noticed that the Prime Minister and Fei Yi looked very strange. "Did something happen in Chengdu?!"

As Wei Yan asked, he quickly walked to the Prime Minister and Fei Yi.

Soon, Wei Yan finished reading the silk book.

At first he thought it was complete nonsense and full of absurdity.

But after reading it, he finally murmured with a bewildered look on his face: "Could it be that this is God's will?"

The Prime Minister gave Wei Yan a deep look and said, "God's will? Do you, Wen Chang, also believe in the so-called God's will?"

Wei Yan glanced at the Prime Minister and was speechless.

How can you not believe it?

The solar eclipse and earthquake occurred at the same time, but in the whole Chengdu, apart from the statue of the former emperor and Liu Adou, no other figures were damaged. Not even a single injured person could be found!
Isn't this weird enough?!

In addition, now because of your Prime Minister Zhuge's preference for Ma Su, we suffered a great defeat at Jieting. The strength that the Han Dynasty had accumulated for five years was wasted overnight!

Isn't this the best evidence that the Han Dynasty is about to fall?!
Wei Yan is superstitious.

In other words, the whole world is shrouded in an atmosphere of superstition.

Before the last Northern Expedition, Wei Yan had a dream in which he saw horns growing on his head.

He went to ask Zhao Zhi, the most powerful "Duke of Zhou" in Shu, to interpret his dream.

After Zhao Zhixin fooled Wei Yan, he secretly told others: "The horn means a knife is used on the head, which is a sign of beheading."

Once, Jiang Wan dreamed that a bull's head was chopped off and blood was pouring out at the door of his house. He was frightened and went to Zhao Zhi to interpret his dream. Zhao Zhi said that he would be able to become one of the Three Dukes in the future.

There was a man named He Ju who dreamed of seeing mulberry trees growing in a well. Zhao Zhi analyzed the word "mulberry" and predicted that he would not live past the age of 48. As a result, he died at the age of 48.

The fact that these things were recorded in history books also illustrates the superstitious atmosphere of the entire era.

Therefore, the words of Zhou Qun, the great prophet who was appointed as a talented person by the previous emperor, "The cuckoo takes away the soul, King Wang loses Shu, the cuckoo occupies the magpie's nest, and it is a sign of the country's destruction", became more credible in Wei Yan's eyes.

"Wen Chang, what did you want to tell me before Wen Wei came into the tent?" the Prime Minister asked after calming down, skipping the topic of God's will.

"Ah?" Wei Yan's mind was completely focused on the signs of the country's demise, and for a moment he even forgot the original intention of coming here to find the prime minister.

"Wen Changgang asked me, "Are we just going to leave like this without gaining anything?"

"If you have any plan, please tell us to me and Wen Wei."

Wei Yan finally reacted, but then hesitated again, not knowing whether to continue speaking.

After all, the capital was destroyed by you, Zhuge Liang and Liu Adou, so why should I bother making trouble?

But in the end, the soldiers' desire for war overcame the so-called national demise.

The former lord's kindness also did not allow him to make the repeated act of rebelling against Han and joining Wei.

His bold words, "If Cao Cao leads the whole world to attack, please repel him on your behalf. If a general with an army of 100,000 comes, please swallow him up on your behalf," were his greatest pride in his life.

However, when he thought of this, Wei Yan suddenly realized something, and then his whole body seemed to be hit by something.

At this time when the army was in doubt and defeated, the prime minister saw such a letter that misled the people, but did not stop himself from coming over to read it.

Obviously, this is a show of trust in oneself, or in other words, a gesture of goodwill towards oneself.

He knew that he would not rebel against Han and surrender to Wei, and he also knew that he, as the prime minister, had indeed made a mistake this time.

Wei Yan looked at the prime minister with a complicated expression, but saw that the prime minister was also looking at him with gentle eyes.

People are always easily swayed by emotions. Wei Yan's resentment towards the Prime Minister in the past few days has finally subsided a little:
"Prime Minister, I'm thinking we should take Qishan Fort."

The Prime Minister frowned slightly, but still gestured for Wei Yan to continue.

Wei Yan said:
"Qishan is a fortress carved out of the mountains, which is easy to defend but difficult to attack, but it also blocks our food supply route.

"If we can capture it, our food supply routes will be smooth when we launch the Northern Expedition next time, and we won't have to worry about anything!

“In this way, we can gather all our troops in one place, and we won’t have to split off five or six thousand men to surround Qishan and protect the grain route.

After a pause, Wei Yan continued:
“I think the reason we failed to capture Shanggui this time was because we divided our forces into several routes.

"But now that things have come to this, there is no point in talking any more. I will only talk about the future.

"If we can capture Qishan Fort, we will have a base for future advances and retreats. If we can gather another 40,000 to 50,000 soldiers in one place, the enemy will not engage in a field battle, but will only defend the city.

"When the time comes, we can use the Prime Minister's strategy of digging the ground and burning the pillars to collapse the city. Why worry about the city not being able to be conquered?

"Now the Prime Minister's strategy of conquering Longyou in one battle is no longer feasible. We can only advance step by step, nibbling away at Longyou one city at a time.

“That is to say, even if we leave this time, we will still have to fight Qishan Fort in the future.

"But if we fight again in the future, Gao Gang will not be the commander guarding the fort.

"Gao Gang has already intended to surrender, but he has not done so yet because we have few soldiers and we have surrounded him without attacking him, so he has no fear of death.

"If I lead the masses south and besiege and attack them, they will not know the situation outside the fort and will only think that I have completely conquered Longyou, so they will definitely come out of the fort and surrender.

"If we can capture this fort, the Prime Minister only needs to allocate me 5,000 men and a year's worth of food and fodder. I will remain here until the Prime Minister returns with his army!"

Fei Yi, who was standing by, was shocked when he heard this.

Not to mention whether Qishan Fort could be captured, even if it could be captured, Wei Yan would be trapped here with 5,000 men, and would surely face a strong attack from the entire Wei State.

Is he really not afraid of death? As for a year's food and fodder, it is not a problem.

The Han Dynasty has no shortage of food and grass now.

The Prime Minister's savings from five years of business were all stored in Hanzhong, enough to support the 100,000-strong army for two years.

What is lacking is the human heart.

It was just like when Cao Cao hurriedly ran back to Xu Du after his defeat at Chibi. When the news of the army's defeat reached Bashu, the people in the two Sichuan and four border areas must have been in chaos and undercurrents would have surged.

The Prime Minister must lead the army back to Chengdu quickly to suppress the subsequent unpredictable situation and wait until people's hearts are settled before launching the Northern Expedition.

But who knows how long it will take for people to feel at peace?
Wei Yan was completely gambling with his life.

"Wenchang, this plan is not feasible." The prime minister rejected Wei Yan's proposal.

"Why?!" Wei Yan was annoyed. "I'm not even afraid of death, so what are you afraid of?"

The Prime Minister said:
"Gao Gang may not surrender, and our army's morale has been completely destroyed. If we let Gao Gang wait until Zhang He arrives with his main force, he may collapse without a fight.

"Zhang He is only two days' journey away from us. If we cannot capture Qishan within two days, it will be difficult to retreat safely.

"If Zhang He pursues us, it will definitely slow down our retreat.

"Guo Huai is familiar with the terrain of Qin and Long. He will surely lead his troops down the Wei River and then enter the Qinling Mountains from Chencang Road, cutting off the Han army's retreat."

Wei Yan said, "Isn't Gao Xiang's 4,000 men guarding Lielius Road at Chencang?"

The Prime Minister said, "If the Lie Liu soldiers guarding the Chencang Road hear that our army has been defeated, they will be terrified that Cao Wei will defeat us again and then send troops to Xiabian to cut off their retreat. How can they have the will to fight?"

Wei Yan was stunned.

He really didn't expect that the Wei army would have the possibility of entering the Qinling Mountains from Chencang Road to cut off the Han army's retreat route, because he thought Gao Xiang on Chencang Road could defend Lieliu.

He wants to win so badly.

Ignoring people's hearts and morale.

"In other words, this Northern Expedition was completely in vain?!" Wei Yan was still unwilling to accept it.

"I think you're being too cautious!

"Afraid of this and that, shrinking back in fear, when will we ever be able to reclaim the Central Plains, when will we ever be able to return to our old capital?"

After Wei Yan finished speaking, he left angrily.

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...

Shanggui.

Zhang He and Zhang Junyi, who had been supervised by Cao's relatives for half their lives, sent out for half their lives, and served as death-defying vanguards for half their lives, successfully joined forces with Guo Huai.

He thought that he would never have the chance to lead an army alone and prove himself in his lifetime.

But he never expected that even though he was already in his seventies and half buried in the ground, he would still be able to wait for the day when the clouds would clear and the moon would appear.

Zhang Junyi, who abandoned his wife and children and surrendered to Cao on the battlefield, was actually not allowed to lead an army alone by even Cao Cao's own family.

Zhang Junyi himself knew this.

Every time he was ordered to be a death-defying vanguard, he felt a surge of indignation in his heart.

This time, God finally had mercy on him.

He led the team alone and successfully proved himself!
His name will surely be recorded in history in the future!
He will no longer be a despised traitor!

He wished he could roar to the sky and let the anger in his heart dissipate into the world.

Walking slowly into the Han army camp, he took in all the fortifications, wells, toilets, barriers, fences built by the Han army, the earthen hill as long as the city, and the dozens of tunnels leading to Shanggui.

Its scale and regularity are almost incredible, and one can see the profound skill behind it at a glance.

How did the pseudo-Han prime minister accomplish these projects with only 20,000 to 30,000 troops?

Even though Zhang He had been through hundreds of battles and was a veteran on the battlefield, he could not help but sigh in his heart.

This kind of shock, compared with later generations, is probably similar to foreigners seeing a certain Eastern country build two hospitals in ten days.

I don’t know how I could do it, but someone did it, so I can’t help but admire him.

"Bo Ji, why don't you let me continue to pursue us?" Zhang He asked his doubts.

The two were old comrades-in-arms. When Xiahou Yuan was beheaded, Guo Huai, as Xiahou Yuan's military commander, took the initiative to step forward and give a speech, asking the three armies to temporarily appoint Zhang He as the commander.

That was the first time Zhang He led an army alone, and it was also in that battle that he gained the trust of Cao and was granted the title of Marquis of Xiang. Only then did he begin to supervise others while being supervised by Cao.

He was grateful to Guo Huai.

"General Zhang, do you want to trap Zhuge Liang to death in Longyou?" Guo Huai asked.

Zhang He was immediately shocked: "What? If Bo Ji had a plan, why didn't he tell me earlier?"

Guo Huai said:
"I thought that pursuing them would be futile and we might even be ambushed by the enemy.

"It's better to let him go. If he sees that I don't pursue him, he will most likely attack Qishan and use it as a bridgehead for future northern invasions.

"General Zhang, if you can only give me 10,000 men, I will lead 20,000 men down the Wei River and then march lightly through Chencang into the Qinling Mountains. In this way, we will surely surpass Zhuge Liang!"
"The morale of the Shu invaders is greatly reduced, and no one has the will to fight.

"If they see me leading a large force to attack from behind, they will scatter and flee. Then, we can capture the Ge family and seize Hanzhong!"

After listening to this, Zhang He analyzed it for a while, and then he began to tremble with excitement.

He simply didn't dare think about it.

If he could really trap Zhuge Liang to death in Longyou and capture Hanzhong, he would be the greatest meritorious person in the world!
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(End of this chapter)