Chapter 35 Chapter Thirty-Five

The Wei army led by Sima Zhongda and the Shu army led by Zhuge Kongming faced each other for more than a hundred days at Wuzhangyuan on the south bank of the Weishui River. "The Prime Minister of Shu has passed away!" The aborigines of Wuzhang went to Wei Jun's barracks to report this in the autumn and August of this year. "Kong Ming is dead?" Zhong Da showed a surprised expression.Zhong Da, who had studied Kong Ming more deeply than anyone else, was very depressed when he heard the news of his enemy's death.The death of a powerful enemy should be good news, but Zhong Da's heart is full of loneliness.

"I seem to be deeply confused by Kong Ming..." Zhong Da's eye sockets felt hot.How empty is his heart! There was an uproar in the headquarters. "I heard that Kong Ming is dead!" "Without Kong Ming, the Shu army would be nothing to fear!" "God has favored us on Wei's side!" "This golden opportunity must not be missed!" Zhong Da heard the staff talking about it. "Wait a minute!" Zhong Da said. "What does the general mean?" asked the aide. "Who is Kong Ming? Will he die like this?" Through years of research on Kong Ming, Zhong Da felt that he was more or less the incarnation of Kong Ming.

"If it were me, if I knew that I was about to die..." Zhong Da thought about this.Knowing that he was going to die, wouldn't he make great use of this opportunity? It is well known that Kong Ming knew that he was seriously ill.Therefore, the news that "Kong Ming is dead" will not arouse doubts. Wei Jun must think that this is an excellent opportunity to smash the Shu army. The uproar among the staff around him at this moment is an example-Kong Ming will of course predict this. The Wei army, who believes that this is a good opportunity, will definitely reverse its previous attitude of not being provoked, and suddenly launch a full-scale attack on the Shu army——

The more this is the case, the more likely it is to fall into a trap.What's more, this is Kong Ming's favorite strategy. "Maybe this is a trap..." Zhong Da said. Upon hearing this sentence, the staff suddenly became silent. Zhuge Kongming, known as the god of strategy, since he was going to die, he would never die for nothing.It is very possible that he will use the last chance to make great use of his strategy.When coach Sima Zhongda said these words, Wei Jun's staff began to have a sense of "trap". "The Shu army may indeed set a trap, so what should we do now?" an aide asked.

"We'd better adapt to the situation, see the situation, and pay more attention to the movements of the Shu army." Zhong Da said. On the side of the Shu army, due to the loss of Kong Ming, the spiritual pillar, the whole army is mourning.In this state, it is impossible to fight.Although there are still many doubts about whether Kong Ming is a real military genius, he has indeed exerted his superhuman ability to the maximum limit. - God of War. Kong Ming knew that he was not worthy of this title, but he did not object to being called so.As a humble man, he does not deny exaggerated legends because it is related to war issues that he is not good at.

——We in Shu have Zhuge Kongming, a great military strategist who is as resourceful as a god. Kong Ming subconsciously cultivated such beliefs within the Shu army.Because of this belief, the Shu army was able to exert its combat power above its own strength.Conversely, once Kong Ming is lost, the combat power will drop below the actual strength, and there is even a possibility that the fighting spirit will be completely lost. "There is only one way to retreat." All the important members of the Shu army knew that without Kong Ming, the object of faith, it would be impossible to continue fighting with the superpower Wei.

"Although the prime minister is dead, it doesn't mean we can't continue fighting. With me here, what are you afraid of?" It was Wei Yan who stood alone and advocated fighting to the end.The upper-level meeting caused everyone to be disappointed because of his speech.This person has always thought that his military ability is still higher than that of Kong Ming, so he is full of conceit, and he often speaks out in this way.When the "one-strike attack theory" was rejected by Kong Ming before, he also preached everywhere with the words "the prime minister has no species", which is really an outlier in the army.

"Abolishing the world because of the death of one person, how can such a thing happen? Is what I said wrong?" Wei Yan insisted on continuing to fight. Of course, Kong Ming had thought carefully about what happened after his death.He even called in his main aides to teach him how to retreat after his death. Jiang Wei, Fei Yi, Yang Yi and others were given face-to-face instruction on strategies many times, but Wei Yan was never summoned by Kong Ming once.Kong Ming knew it was useless to call him, not to mention that Wei Yan would not agree to retreat at all. After giving the generals face-to-face advice on the retreat strategy, Kong Ming must not forget to give a special reminder: Wei Yan must not let Wei Yan know about this matter.

In addition, he said: If Wei Yan agrees to retreat, it is best; if he does not agree to retreat, then there is no other way, just leave him on the battlefield!This is better than the Shu army suffering great losses for him alone. After Kong Ming's death, every time a high-level meeting was held, no matter how much Wei Yan tried to say to continue fighting, all the generals remained silent, because they knew that it would be useless to argue with him.What the generals rely on is a sentence that Kong Ming said before he died: ——I have a layout in Wei Yanjun. Seeing that no one spoke, Wei Yan said to Fei Yi:

"You shouldn't be a coward, are you? Civil servants can escort the prime minister's coffin back, but we warriors must stay and fight Wei to the end. With me, Wei Yan, you can rest assured! The cowardly prime minister is dead, and I can just start a positive battle." Fighting! How to defeat Wei, I have already drawn up the battle plan." Wei Yan showed Fei Yi his battle plan.This plan was previously dismissed by Kong Ming. "It's terrible..." Although Fei Yi thought so in his heart, he looked at the battle plan again, pretending to be grateful, and said:

"This plan is very good, I believe brother Yang Yi will agree." "No, I know Yang Yi will definitely not agree. I have a bad relationship with him, and he will definitely not support me." "I can tell him it's my plan, and he'll agree with it." Fei Yi said.In fact, he did not agree with Wei Yan's battle plan.Now that he knew that Wei Yan had no intention of retreating, he didn't want to be dragged into the water and fight a war without a plan, so he was anxious to find an excuse to get rid of Wei Yan. "That's a great idea!" Wei Yan, who was fully confident in his battle plan, immediately agreed to Fei Yi's proposal. "I'm going to find Chang Shi (that is, Yang Yi) now—" Fei Yi got on his horse and galloped away.Wei Yan, who watched him off, found that Fei Yi's riding speed was unusual. "Could he be lying to me?" Wei Yan immediately asked his subordinates to follow him. As a result, the subordinate did not return.It turned out that Zhuge Kongming had expected that Wei Yan would be the most likely to cause problems after his death, so he secretly pulled out his wings and recruited Wei Yan's main subordinates. This was Kongming's "layout" before his death. After Kong Ming died, he left his huge shadow in the Shu army.The shadow of Kong Ming guided the Shu army's return to the south in all aspects. Kong Ming not only left his own influence in the Shu army, he also left a deep shadow in the heart of the enemy general Sima Zhongda. "It's true that Kong Ming is seriously ill, but isn't he really dead?" Zhong Da even suspected that the residents came to report because of Kong Ming's strategy. Even if Kong Ming is really dead, since he has been sick for a long time, he may have already drawn up his posthumous battle plan.When dealing with such an enemy, one must not be careless. "Adopt a formation that can be changed at any time by advancing and retreating!" Sima Zhongda issued this order to Wei Jun. Wuzhangyuan is beside the Wei River, and the land is quite fertile.Although Kongming invented wooden oxen, flowing horses and other means of transportation to seek military supplies, he was afraid that this would not be enough, so he ordered his soldiers to engage in farming here. Although the land is fertile, the Weishui river in this area is quite shallow, so there is no convenience for boats.On the other hand, this place is a relatively high plain, which can overlook the distance. When the formation is deployed at this time, the dynamics of the enemy can be seen at a glance.Therefore, since ancient times, every time there is a battle, this place has been a battleground for military strategists. The Shu army, which implemented the farming system here and assumed a long-term combat attitude, had to retreat because of Kong Ming's death. All kinds of information were sent to the general headquarters of the Wei Army where Sima Zhongda was located. "I really don't understand." While speaking, Zhong Da knocked himself on the back of the head a few times. ——The Shu army is obviously preparing to return to the south. ——No, they have no intention of returning to the south at all. The completely opposite information came at the same time. "What is your information based on?" Zhongda asked this question to the person who brought the information that the Shu army had no intention of returning south. "I'm based on the judgment made by Wei Yan's troops." "That guy's troops..." Was it that bratty Wei Yan who violated the retreat order?Is this part of the battle plan of pretending to retreat and then attacking suddenly?Zhong Da really couldn't tell the difference.What he could imagine was that all these confusing information must have come from Zhuge Kongming's strategy.As for whether Kong Ming himself is still alive, Zhong Da is not even clear about this. "I really don't understand." When Zhong Da said this sentence again, he shrank his head.This is the end of August in the second year of Wei Qinglong (AD 234), the end of the Mid-Autumn Festival in the lunar calendar.The autumn wind blowing across the Wuzhang Plain is refreshingly cool. More and more information emerged.After careful sorting, the conclusion is that Kong Ming's death is almost certain, and it should be true that the Shu army is about to return to the south. "Let's start the pursuit! Losing Kong Ming's retreating Shu army will naturally lose all fighting spirit. Launch a fierce attack now, and we will definitely win a big victory." Qin Lang, the defender of Shu, said so. "Okay, let's send troops to pursue it! However, we must advance in an ambiguous formation." Zhong Da finally decided to move the army.Even so, he, who was afraid of Kong Ming's strategy, arranged a formation that could retreat at any time. "Why is the general so worried?" Qin Lang didn't think so. "That's because you don't know how powerful Kong Ming is. Don't be careless!" Zhong Da replied seriously. The Wei army has launched a pursuit of the Shu army moving south. At this time, a unit in the Shu army raised a drum, which was Yang Yi's unit. With the sound of the drum, the battle flag suddenly changed direction.In other words, the whole army turned around and turned to pursue the approaching Wei army.This change was very quick and neat, as if it had been scheduled long ago. "Go back! Go back! Kong Ming has used his strategy! You can't continue marching and fell into his trap! Go back!" General Sima Zhongda shouted loudly.Fortunately, the Wei army adopted a posture that could retreat at any time.When they heard Zhong Da's order, they retreated quickly. The Shu army took advantage of the retreat of the Wei army and quickly advanced south. As long as they entered the Qinling Mountains, the Wei army could not pursue them.After most of the Shu army entered the Qinling Valley Road, Shu released the news that "Prime Minister Zhuge Kongming is dead". The Shu army retreated from Wuzhangyuan with almost no losses.Wei Yan saw that his subordinates left him one by one, and all the troops of the Shu army went south, so he was very angry, so he sent an urgent envoy to Chengdu to report that "Yang Yi rebelled". report to Chengdu. The Emperor of Chengdu then asked Jiang Wan: "Which one is telling the truth?" "Of course what Yang Yi said is true." Jiang Wan replied.It is well known that Wei Yan violated the orders of the prime minister many times in the past. "Then attack Wei Yan!" The emperor issued this order. The Shu army finally completed a bloodless retreat from Wuzhangyuan, but such infighting occurred on the way back. As a result, Wei Yan was killed by Yang Yi's subordinates.Even so, since Wei Yan only brought a few subordinates with him in the end, the loss of internal strife was reduced to a minimum. This can be said to be thanks to Kong Ming's layout before his death, right? Sima Zhongda let the Shu army escape in vain.People in Wuzhangyuan call this: ——Dead Zhuge scares Sheng Zhongda away. "If someone says rude words again, let me hear them and arrest them." When Qin Lang reported this, Zhong Da only said: "Let them talk!" Dead Zhuge scares Sheng Zhongda away—in fact, it is Sima Zhongda himself who has fled and made the residents recite this sentence.