Chapter 73 Chapter 73: Wooden Cow and Horse

One day, a Wei general came to the camp of the Shu army, claiming that he was Zheng Wen, a partial general of the Wei State, and asked to see Prime Minister Zhuge for something. Kong Ming called him into the account and asked, "What's the matter with you?" Zheng Wenbai fell to the ground, untied his saber and presented it with both hands, "I want to surrender to the prime minister." Kongming investigated the reason for his surrender, and Zheng Wen replied: "I was originally a partial general of the Wei State, and was called by Sima Yi to join the army. Unexpectedly, Sima Yi used Qin Lang for his own sake and treated me like nothing. I have repeatedly expressed grievances and intends to put me to death. Zheng Wen does not want to die in such an ambiguous manner, and has always admired Prime Minister Gao De, so he has come to surrender. If he is granted and taken in, I will be loyal to the Kingdom of Shu, that’s okay. I hate it so much."

At this time, the sentries outside the camp came to report that a Wei general came to fight and shouted frequently, asking the Shu army to hand over Zheng Wen. Kongming then asked Zheng Wen: "Someone is chasing you now, do you recognize this person?" Zheng Wen hurriedly replied: "This person seems to be Qin Lang who often slandered Sima Yi against me. He must have been ordered by Sima Yi to come and capture me back." "Compared with Qin Lang, whose martial arts are stronger? Since Qin Lang is reused by Sima Yi, his martial arts should always be higher than yours, right?"

"There is absolutely no such thing! How can my martial arts be inferior to Qin Lang?" "If your martial arts are really better than Qin Lang, then Sima Yi was indeed deceived by the slander, which also shows that you never spoke falsely." "What the prime minister said is true." "Then please go out of the camp now to fight Qin Lang. When he comes back with his head, I will accept your surrender and entrust him with a heavy responsibility." "What's so difficult about it? Prime Minister, please wait a moment." After Zheng Wen finished speaking, he got on his horse and galloped out of the camp.

That officer Wei Jiang had been waiting for a long time. When he saw Zheng Wen, he cursed loudly: "Bah! You shameless traitor! You even stole my horse and fled to the Shu camp. I am here to ask you for it under the orders of the governor Sima Yi." Dog's life, with a knife!" While speaking, he swung his big knife and slashed at Zheng Wen.Unexpectedly, the two fought for only one round, and General Wei was beheaded by Zheng Wen. Zheng Wen cut off his head and returned to Kong Ming.Kong Ming said: "Bring Qin Lang's body and battle robe together." Zheng Wen ran out of the camp according to the order, and carried the dead body to Kong Ming.Kongming observed the dead body carefully, and then ordered to the left and right warriors: "Push Zheng Wen out and behead him!"

When Zheng Wen heard it, he held his head and shouted hoarsely: "Ah? Why, why did you kill me?" Kong Ming said with a smile: "This dead body is not Qin Lang at all. I have seen Qin Lang a long time ago. You just found a ghost who looks like Qin Lang to fool you. How could I be fooled by you? It seems that this is another Sima Yi trick Bar." Zheng Wen was so frightened that he trembled all over, so he had to admit that he was indeed ordered by Sima Yi to feign surrender.Kong Ming pondered for a moment, changed his mind, and decided to save Zheng Wen's life for the time being. He ordered his left and right: "Put Zheng Wen in the prison van first."

The next day, Kong Ming showed Zheng Wen a piece of paper he had written on, and ordered someone to hand over the pen and ink to Zheng Wen, "If you want to survive, write a letter to Sima Yi according to the content on this paper. " Zheng Wen had no choice but to copy a letter to Sima Yi in the prison car according to the order. So, a Shu soldier dressed up as a local resident, sneaked into the Wei army camp, and handed the letter to Sima Yi's side minister. Sima Yi read and reread the letter carefully, and recognized Zheng Wen's handwriting on the letter. He was overjoyed, so he rewarded the Shu soldiers who came to deliver the letter with food and wine, and told him not to disclose it to anyone, and then asked him to return to the Shu camp to inform him. Zheng Wen.

The letter Sima Yi received was as follows: "Tomorrow night, I will set up a fire in Qishan, begging the governor to lead the army to come and rob the village. Kong Ming has no doubts about my surrender. I am now in the camp of the Chinese army. When the time comes, we will respond to the governor and capture Kongming alive, so we must not miss this opportunity." Sima Yi is usually not easy to be fooled by others, but this time he fell into the trap set by himself.On the second day, he prepared meticulously all day, and only waited until dark to lead his troops across the Wei River to rob Shuzhai.

"Why is father so uncharacteristic today?" The eldest son, Sima Shi, tried his best to dissuade him when he saw that he was going to Jiezhai himself.He bluntly said that his father has always been cautious, and now it is rash to change the established tactical policy based on only a piece of paper. "It makes sense." Sima Yi followed his son's advice and immediately sent another general to serve as the vanguard, while he retreated to the rear to support him. After dark, the night wind blows and the moon hangs high, which is quite unfavorable to the soldiers and horses who move quietly at night.But when they smuggled across the Weishui River, a thick night fog rose, and the dark clouds covered the sky. Sima Yi was overjoyed, "Angel, I succeeded!"

He ordered the soldiers of Wei to take all their titles, and the horses all refrained, and approached the camp of the Shu army quietly. But he said that Kong Ming also made careful arrangements for this day, preparing to capture Sima Yi alive after midnight.During the day, he went up to the altar and held his sword to pray, praying for the heaven to bless the Shu army to win this battle. In the evening, he drank the blood oath wine with the generals. Soldiers came to rob the stronghold. The night was getting darker, and the black mist filled the air. Suddenly, like a flood that burst a dike, the soldiers of Wei poured into the main camp of the Chinese army in the Shu army.Just when Wei Jun was full of doubts and prayed not to fall into the enemy's trap, their retreat had been cut off.

In an instant, drum horns, iron cannons, and shouts were loud, and the Shu army surrounded them from all sides. Most of the Wei army's front line was wiped out in a blink of an eye, and the pioneer Qin Lang was killed first. Fortunately, Sima Yi switched to the rear and was not trapped in the iron wall encircled by the Shu army.In order to rescue the front troops of the Wei army in the encirclement, he led the army to attack fiercely, trying to break through the encirclement of the Shu army from the outside, but lost a large number of soldiers in vain. Flee across the Wei River. Sima Yi was known for his calmness in dealing with things, and he rarely showed his emotions, but at this time, he also gritted his teeth and cursed bitterly as he ran away: "I actually fell into such a well-known trap! I should not have suffered such a defeat!"

When he returned to the other side of the Wei River, the fog cleared and the weather suddenly became clear as before, and the bright moon reappeared in the night sky. The dark clouds and heavy fog just now made people feel like a dream.Among the soldiers who survived the Shu camp with him, someone said: "Kong Ming used the method of the eight gates of armor to lure us into the dark clouds and mist first, and then used the divine power of Liu Ding and Liu Jia to drive away the clouds and mists. .” All the listeners believed this kind of unprovoked rumor. "Nonsense! Kong Ming is a human being, and I am also a human being. How can there be any ghosts and gods in the world?" Sima Yi severely refuted this superstitious rhetoric in the camp, and admonished the officers and soldiers not to spread false rumors that disturb the morale of the army.But the soldiers of the Wei army still deeply believed that Kong Ming possessed a kind of supernatural power, that he was a person who could perform miracles and achieve miracles. This kind of fear of Kong Ming permeated the soldiers of the Wei army, which naturally made it very difficult for Sima Yi to use troops.From then on, he had no choice but to stick to the danger and strengthen his defenses, never daring to fight rashly. During this period, Kongming sent more than a thousand artisans with the army into the gourd valley east of the Weishui River, where they secretly forged utensils.There is a gourd-shaped basin in this valley, surrounded by mountains, and entering the valley must pass through a narrow path that only allows one person and one rider to pass. Kongming must go to Guzhong to check the progress every day, and urge the craftsmen to work day and night. The Wei army stuck to its defense and did not dare to fight, no doubt trying to wait for the Shu army to run out of supplies by delaying time. Chang Shi Yang Yi was not without worries about this, and reminded Kong Ming: "The soldiers and rations brought in from the middle of Shu are all transported to Jiange first, but from Jiange to Qishan, there are many dangerous roads in the mountains. The cattle and horses are overwhelmed, and many die. The vehicles were also severely damaged, and the transportation has always been extremely difficult. Even though the stranded food in Jiange is piled up like a mountain, it cannot be transported here. If this continues, the rations in the camp may soon be exhausted." Since Jianxing sent troops to Qishan for the second time in the ninth year of Jianxing, the transportation and supply of soldiers and supplies have always troubled the Shu army every time they sent troops to Qishan. Kong Ming used the three-year truce to focus on the development of farming and let the soldiers get a full rest. Now they have unprecedented strong troops and equipment.This time he was sent to Qi Shan for the sixth time, so naturally he didn't want to taste the pain of lack of food again. After listening to Yang Yi's worried words at this moment, Kong Ming comforted him with confidence and said: "Don't worry about the food issue, it will be resolved in a few days." On this day, Yang Yi and the generals came to Calabash Valley for the first time under the leadership of Kong Ming. "It has been working here for a month?" Everyone looked at a large workshop built in the valley who did not know when it was built, all of them were surprised and dumbfounded. The products manufactured here are two kinds of transportation vehicles invented by Kong Ming, called "wooden ox" and "flowing horse". Similar monster chariots were used in the battles during the previous expedition to the Southern Man. This time, Kong Ming transformed them into special supply vehicles for grain transportation.This kind of vehicle was tried out a few times when it was sent to Qishan for the second and third times, but the effect was not satisfactory, so Kong Ming further improved it during the three-year truce, and finally developed this kind of vehicle. A reliable new weapon, mass-produced. "If animals such as cattle and horses are used, not only do they need to be fed, but they also need to be housed and raised. Sometimes they are disturbed by their illness and death. However, this kind of wooden cattle and horses do not eat, drink, and tirelessly, but they can Shipping a lot of supplies." Kongming pointed to a large number of wooden oxen and horses that had been built, unfolded the design drawings, and explained to the generals the meaning of the size, square and circle, length, width, and narrowness of the wooden oxen and horses. Here are a few words.What kind of vehicle is the wooden cow and horse?It is difficult to imagine its structure and shape based on the size and some descriptions handed down to later generations.Combining the records in "Han Jin Chunqiu", "Zhuge Liang Ji", "Hou Zhu Zhuan" and other books, it can be seen that it has the following structure and effect: "The so-called wooden ox has a square belly and a curved head, four legs that bend freely, and can walk freely. The head comes out of the neck, and the load is heavy but the speed is slow. It is suitable for large-scale transportation, not for daily small-scale handling. When traveling alone, it can travel dozens of miles a day, and when traveling in groups, it can travel twenty miles a day." Other books have the following descriptions for it: "The curved one is the bull's head, the double one is the bull's feet, the horizontal one is the bull's collar, the turned one is the bull's feet, the folded one is the bull's back, the square one is the cow's belly, and the vertical one is the bull's back." The tongue, the curved one is the rib of the cow, the one that is carved is the cow's teeth, the one that stands up is the horn, the one that is thin is the martingale, and the one that catches it is the autumn shaft of the cow. The cow is on the double shafts, the person walks six feet, and the cow walks four steps. Each cow carries one person's food One year's grain, people don't work hard, and cattle don't eat." "Houshan Cong Tan" has the following text: "There is a small cart in Shu, the front is like a bull's head, it can carry eight stones, and one person can push it. There is also a large cart, which can be pushed by four people and carry ten stones, or it is imitated by wooden cows and horses. " It goes without saying that this is a far-fetched attachment of the folk transportation tools of later generations to wooden cattle and horses.But in any case, although the mechanical structure of the wooden cow and the horse is not yet clear, its practicality is beyond doubt. However, after the Shu army produced a large number of wooden cows and horses, Kong Ming sent the right general Gao Xiang to lead the wooden cows and horses, and began to transport a large amount of military supplies from Jiange to Qishan. Seeing the continuous delivery of food, the Shu soldiers' morale was even higher.However, Wei Jun's delay and consumption tactics lost any meaning.