Chapter 13 4. Recover the new city

The bluestone floor tiles of the Dongcheng gate tower are full of broken arrows, scattered with sawdust and gravel, and also stained with blood... Li Fu led a team of personal soldiers to the podium carrying dozens of tans of beef and rice wine. From a distance, he saw Deng Xian, whose face was covered in blood, hoarsely directing the left and right soldiers to join the battle. "Master Li! Are you here?" Deng Xian had caught a glimpse of Li Fu coming up the corridor of the city wall, and hurriedly ordered a few words to his subordinates, then trotted over to meet him.He took off the leopard-head bronze helmet that was cracked by the enemy's random arrows, and smiled at Li Fu: "It's really hard work for you, you have brought us so much wine and meat! "

"Lieutenant Deng and all the officers and men are fighting bloody battles in the front, and we deserve to send these mere rewards! We deserve it!" Li Fu replied while watching the situation on the tower: the corners of the walls are crooked. Wounded soldiers were lying on the ground one by one, moaning one after another. Deng Xian wiped the hot sweat off his face with his hand, picked up a wooden ladle, scooped up a scoop full of rice wine, and drank it "gulp, gulp", then turned around and shouted to the soldiers behind him: "Everyone! Let’s take turns to rest and eat in batches! Don’t be in a hurry, everyone has a share..."

Li Fu pulled him to stand behind a stone bunker, and asked with concern, "Is the battle going well on the tower? Everyone's morale looks good?" Deng Xian nodded quickly, swallowed his saliva forcefully, with an anxious expression on his face: "That's all! It's just that Deng has an urgent matter that needs to be reported to my uncle by Master Li. Meng Xing can no longer take away my elite soldiers guarding the East City at will!" Then, he pointed to the piles of wounded soldiers lying on the corridor at the corner of the tower and said: "He asked me to use these four or five thousand How can old, weak and remnant soldiers withstand the onslaught of tens of thousands of enemy troops outside the city?!"

Li Fu also said sullenly: "Ms. Li looked a little strange just now. Didn't Prefect Meng leave more than 10,000 elite soldiers with you to garrison the East City earlier? Why is the number so few today?" "Where are there more than 10,000 elite soldiers? In the past six or seven days, Meng Xing has been running here, and he has transferred five or six thousand soldiers from me one after another... No, yesterday he asked his own soldiers to bring letters over He said that there are "traitors everywhere" in the city, and they must be wiped out with heavy troops, and eight hundred of my soldiers will be taken away..." Deng Xianyue said more and more angrily, "I scolded his personal soldiers who carried the letter on the spot. , Do you still want to defend? What are they trying to do by taking away so many elite troops and entering the inner city?"

inner city? !When Li Fu heard this, his face turned pale with shock: No wonder when I came out of the prefect's mansion, I saw many soldiers crowded into the streets and alleys of the inner city along the way!Judging from these signs, Meng Da was clearly preparing to abandon the outer city and retreat to the inner city to protect himself!Then why did he send himself to assist Deng Xianshou on the East City Gate Tower?This... Isn't this deliberately deceiving myself and Deng Xian to foolishly treat him and his son as scapegoats on the front line?Reminiscent of Meng Da's various expressions and attitudes towards him, and thinking of Meng Da's ruthlessness and ungratefulness, Li Fu felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar, and his heart and lungs were frozen to the core...

He secretly gritted his teeth, slowly calmed down the violent turmoil in his heart, and desperately forced back the painful tears that were about to come out of the corners of his eyes!After thinking for a while, he put on a calm face, waved to Deng Xian, pulled him to squat down, and whispered to him: "Deng Junwei, it's time for Li to talk to you. Let's talk about some heart-to-heart things..." "Wei Jun came in! Wei Jun came in!" A flurry of shouts woke Meng Da up from the couch in the underground secret room.He hurriedly jumped up, grabbed the scabbard hanging on the bed, and pulled out the sword. The cat shrank to a corner of the secret room, hid himself behind the bookshelf, and stared at the door.

"Bang bang bang" after a deafening knock on the door, Meng Xing's shout came from outside: "My lord father! Open the door quickly! Wei Jun has entered the city!" Meng Da twisted the switch, and the door opened. Meng Xing led seven or eight soldiers to rush in, and immediately shouted: "Father! Quick! Quick! Quick! My child will cover you and break out of the encirclement!" Meng Da flashed out from the corner, and asked with a surprised face: "How did the Wei army attack the city? It's impossible!" Meng Xing's face was full of tears, he stamped his feet and shouted, "It's Li Fu and Deng Xian—they secretly opened the east wall gate and let Wei Jun in..."

"Why don't you close the gate of the inner city quickly?" Meng Da shouted anxiously. "The guards at the gate of the inner city are the old subordinates of Li Fu and Deng Xian. When they shouted in front, they all threw up their weapons and surrendered!" "Li Fu! Deng Xian! These two guys, one is my nephew and the other is my confidant, and they both betrayed me ungratefully!" Meng Da was furious, "I've seen There is something wrong with Li Fu recently, I really should have killed him in the prefect's mansion! I really hate him! Deng Xian is as stupid as a pig, he should have been slaughtered long ago! Sigh... or my heart is too soft..."

As he said that, his eyes were full of fierceness: "Kill! We father and son must kill them, and we must chop off the heads of these guys to feed the dogs!" "Meng Da! There's nothing to hate or hate—seventeen years ago, you betrayed Liu Zhang and joined Liu Bei; seven years ago, you betrayed Liu Bei and joined my Great Wei; three months ago, you Betrayed my Great Wei again and turned to Zhuge Liang and Lu Xun——as the saying goes, "Those who betray others, others will also betray them; those who harm others, others will also harm them". Every time you come to Luoyang Taixue, you must give the doctors Playing with your eloquence shows how intelligent you are, these inscriptions should be familiar to you, right?"

With a deep and powerful voice sounding slowly, a row of torches suddenly lit up at the door of the room, illuminating the room and the outside.Two rows of tiger and cardinal warriors carried a red lacquered chariot and stood solemnly outside. On it sat an elderly man who was nearly fifty years old, with three shiny black beards under his chin, which gently fluttered behind his shoulders in the wind—he looked forward At this moment, the fearful and majestic presence, with every gesture, an indescribably clear and murderous air swept towards Meng Da and the others! ——He is Sima Yi, the Southern Governor of Weiguo Town!

"Sima Yi! You old thief, how dare you be so treacherous—you secretly bought Li Fu and Deng Xian to plot against me!" When Meng Da saw him, his eyes bulged out angrily, and he almost wanted to spit fire. Come! Sima Yi smiled slightly, did not answer, but slowly turned sideways to the back of the chariot and asked leisurely: "Did you both hear what he said?" Meng Da's eyes widened in astonishment, and from the shadow behind Sima Yi, two people walked out side by side, it was Li Fu and Deng Xian!They both stared at themselves with complicated expressions, and the deep contempt was clearly revealed in their eyes! "Meng Da, you don't know! Just now, you two subordinates were begging the governor to spare your father and son's lives along the way! But what we heard outside this room was you They kept saying that they were going to chop off their heads and feed them to the dogs!" Sima Yi spoke slowly, and there was a ray of humor in the deep calmness of his tone—but this ray of humor was like a needle of ice, piercing people's hearts with a faint pain! Meng Da was stunned like a stone man. With a "clang", the sharp sword in his hand suddenly dropped to the ground vertically. "Father..." Meng Xing looked at his father who suddenly became like a "living dead", and couldn't help but almost cried out! But Sima Yi's eyes passed over Meng Da's head, looked around the secret room, and said slowly: "Hehehe! You built your nest very solidly! These walls are all made of one piece. It’s made of big bluestone, right? What a pity! What a pity! The imperial court really should have left you in Luoyang as a master craftsman, so maybe it would have saved you from the disaster of extermination today, right?” "You guys forced me..." Meng Da murmured, "You guys forced me..." "No one is forcing you! It was you who were greedy for money and ungrateful, and greedy for words. You walked this road step by step!" Sima Yi's voice became as cold as steel, "You have been relying on your talent all your life, Changing from east to west, without rules, no one cheats, everything cheats, you don’t believe in yourself, which subordinate follows you and doesn’t protect you behind your back? Come here——chop off the heads of his father and son Go to Luoyang, and 'show the head of the owl' in the street, thinking it is a ring for those who are not loyal!" This time, no one persuaded him to withdraw or change the order.Both Li Fu and Deng Xian bit their lips tightly, not uttering a word. After the Huben warriors escorted the disheveled Meng Da and his son away, Sima Yi withdrew his solemnity and looked at Li Fu with a smile: "Mr. Li! I heard that you are very resourceful, but I still did something wrong for Meng Da." Less good idea..." "The villain is the planner of the defeated army, how dare you say wise?" Li Fu answered with his head bowed. "Well...you can't say that. On the stall, Meng Da is a person who is worried about gains and losses, wandering around and has no fixed opinions. Even if Zhang Liang and Chen Ping are reborn, it will be difficult to help him succeed!" Sima Yi said, his eyebrows raised. There was another trace of contempt in the room, "It's only a matter of time before a bony, ungrateful, and ungrateful villain like him will destroy himself! The governor saw his end six years ago! " Then, he straightened his face, and said calmly: "Now that Xincheng County has returned to our territory in the Great Wei Dynasty, the governor hereby swears that everything will be reformed with the people, let the past go, make good and eliminate bad, and rebuild peace! Deng Xian, you still stay here Li Fu, you will be promoted to be an official of the county—this time, the governor must choose a new prefect worthy of assistance for you, and guard the southwestern gate for our Great Wei!" Wei Jun lined up in a square and neat formation, and withdrew from Xincheng County in an orderly manner. Sima Yi stood on the hill outside the East City Gate, looked at the peaceful county town, and said slowly to himself: "Xincheng County, which is as solid as gold, is said to be 'difficult for birds to enter, and difficult for apes to climb'—how could it be expected? As soon as the Bendu's army arrived, they took down the city within ten months! Master, do you know the reason?" "Father commander is like a god with his troops, he is invincible in every attack, and he is invincible in all battles - a mere new city can be easily destroyed!" Sima Shidang praised. "You are wrong, my father is never as loud as you!" Sima Yi turned his head and stared at him deeply, and said awe-inspiringly, "This county opened its gates to let my Great Wei Tianjun enter. It wasn't because of the father's smashing car or flying stones! Meng Da and his son are selfish and don't care about the suffering of the people-since they have regarded the city's civilians as worthless, it is no wonder that the city's civilians also regard them as worthless Abandon it! Once the hearts of the people are lost, even if there is a golden city for thousands of miles, who will help you guard it? You must keep this lesson in mind in the future!" "Okay, my lord." Sima Shi replied convincingly. Sima Yi was silent for a moment, then turned his gaze to the western sky: "Once the new city is lost, Zhuge Liang will no longer be able to go east to the Hanshui River and attack Jingxiang! Our great Wei country is invulnerable!" "Father, I have a question on my mind—why did you ask General Niu Jin to bring only 10,000 people to Weixing County to support Governor Shen Yi?" Master Sima looked around and asked in a low voice, "According to my humble opinion, Why don't you take this good opportunity to go west with your troops, commit suicide in Weixing County, and challenge Zhuge Liang in Hanzhong County with the people of Jingxiang? You can also teach the heroes of the world to see your astonishing talent!" Sima Yi turned his face slightly, glanced at him coldly, and cast his eyes back to the western sky: "Does a person need to win so many victories for himself? Too many victories are too much burden! The territory to the west of Weixing County is under the jurisdiction of General Cao Zhen. Since he is the chief official in the Kansai area, he should bear the heavy responsibility of resisting Zhuge Liang himself! Father will never do such a stupid thing as superfluous!" "Xincheng County has fallen?" When Zhuge Liang heard the news in the tent of the Chinese army in the Hanzhong camp, he couldn't help being so shocked that the goose feather fan in his hand fell to the ground. Only sixteen days have passed!" There was a reason why he was so surprised: In his previous plan, although Meng Da's talent could not completely "turn over the salty fish" and repel the Wei army in one fell swoop, but relying on the strength of the city and the wealth of food and grass, he should at least be able to defeat the Wei army. Sima Yi dragged it down for three or four months, making their veterans tired.At that time, after repelling Cao Zhen's attack on Xiegu Road, he will be free to go straight from Weixing County to help Xincheng County with all his strength!However, he never expected that Xincheng County, which had 1.6 million shi of grain and was impregnable internally and externally, would collapse in just 16 days under Sima Yi's hands!This surprised him very much: he knew that Sima Yi was very powerful, but he never expected that Sima Yi would be so powerful in this "strike from a distance" contest with himself - every move was like a thunderbolt attack, almost It is invincible! But Zhuge Liang couldn't care less about this matter any longer, he pondered for a while, and then ordered Ma Di: "Send someone to inform Wang Ping, Yao Jing, and Zheng Tuo immediately, and tell them to stop attacking Weixing County immediately and withdraw their troops. Hanzhong——If the truth is as expected, after Sima Yi pacified Xincheng County, the next step would be to send troops straight out of Weixing County and attack our Hanzhong County! Wang Ping and his mere 20,000 horses are moths in front of him Putting out the fire?" Ma Di's complexion darkened, he lowered his head, and said in a deep voice, "Your Excellency, you don't know: Su just received a report from General Wang Ping this morning—they were attacked by Wei thieves outside Weixing County. Yao Jing, Zheng Tuo and other 7,000 soldiers have already died in battle! Now, he is on his way back to Hanzhong County with his remnants and defeated soldiers..." "Has the Wei thief ever followed up?" "This, Wang Ping didn't mention it in the newsletter—they probably didn't follow up afterward." Only then did Zhuge Liang relax a little.He changed his mind, stomped his feet heavily, and said bitterly: "Meng Da is an idiot, he doesn't listen to the honest advice, he is greedy for his own territory and doesn't know what to choose, sits and waits for death, and is finally surrounded and wiped out by Sima Yi—— It's really self-inflicted, and I don't regret it! I can only sigh that my big man's "Longzhong Opposition" strategy of "going out of Guanzhong in the west and out of Jingxiang in the east" has been completely broken since then! The truth is that we lost the main way to march southeast and cannot go east. Taking Jingzhou by the Han River, the only way to get to the Central Plains is from Longxi and Guanzhong in the future. He sighed for a while, then suddenly remembered something, and asked Ma Su, "Where is Li Yan...do you have any news from Chen Dao? Is Li Yan already willing to lead Jiangzhou's powerful soldiers to the north?" Ma Di was stupefied for a while, before he said dryly: "Chen Dao sent information saying that after Mr. Jiang Wan went to explain and persuade, Li Lingjun temporarily gave up going from Shennong Mountain to meet Meng Da, but he has been Refusing customers behind closed doors, saying that he could not afford to be ill... I am afraid that only when the imperial court conferred the title of Bazhou Shepherd on him, and granted him the right to open a mansion and build teeth, he might suddenly recover from his illness and lead his troops to the north..." Zhuge Liang listened, but remained silent.Li Yan, who was pretending to be sick in Yong'an Palace, should soon know the news of Xincheng's fall and Meng Da's death.This news will make his "heart disease" worse.Objectively speaking, Meng Da's removal should be regarded as a major setback for the Dongzhou faction.Li Yan no longer has the strength to dare to challenge his authority as Prime Minister!But it's not okay to "hang" aside and wait and see like him.This kind of person who doesn't care about the overall situation leaves him as a feudal official in the Jiangzhou region. I don't know how many right and wrong will arise over time?It seems that after the end of the Northern Expedition, I should return to Shu and put an end to this matter... He slowly gathered his thoughts, looked far away at the northern sky, and murmured: "Ma Di! In your opinion, how should we implement the current Northern Expedition strategy?" "My lord prime minister, according to Su's opinion, the current situation of the battle is hidden, and you have no choice but to abandon your son to take advantage of the situation and counter the enemy!" Ma Di has always been good at planning, and when he heard Zhuge Liang's words, he clasped his fists and said, "to the north , you can appoint old general Zhao Yun to lead a powerful force to intercept Cao Zhen near Jigu; to the east, you can leave Deng Zhi to defend Hanzhong County to stop the enemy from Weixing County; Su and General Wei Yan headed west straight out of Mount Qi, outflanked the territory of Liangzhou in the puppet Wei Dynasty, and after capturing the three prefectures of Tianshui, Nan'an, and Anding, they followed the Wei River to the east toward Chencang with the overwhelming momentum of Mount Tai, and seized them in one fell swoop! Chencang won, Then there is no need to worry about the affairs of Guanzhong!" Zhuge Liang listened, and nodded again and again: It is really meaningless to continue to be in Hanzhong County now-Mengda's Xincheng County has been lost, and Sima Yi will send his troops from Weixing County to attack the east wing that threatens him at any time!If he gets an effective echo with Cao Zhen who rushed out of Xiegu Road and approached Jigu, he will be in a dilemma of being attacked on both sides!For the current plan, I can only do what Ma Di said: jump out of Hanzhong County, go westward across Qishan Mountain, outflank and outflank, expand the territory in the Longliang area, and then take Chencang along the Weishui River and go straight to Chang'an!Only in this way will he open up a first-line chance of victory! With this in mind, he stared squarely at Ma Su for a while, before saying deeply: "Ma Canjun is worthy of being the 'brain tank' of our Shu army—good! My Northern Expeditionary Army will do everything according to your plan!" Sima Yi's chariot slowly came to the side road outside Xuanwu Gate and stopped.At this moment, Dongfang has just revealed a faint gray belly - there is still more than half an hour before the morning palace meeting begins! With the help of his servants, Sima Yi slowly stepped down from the chariot, but at a glance, he saw Zang Ba, the general in charge of Jinwu who was walking slowly in the guardrail of Xuanwu Gate. Among Wei's military circles, Zang Ba could be regarded as a legendary figure.From the early years of Jian'an in the Eastern Han Dynasty, he assembled three thousand Qingxu Yellow Turbans and started his career. After he surrendered to Cao Cao in the sixth year of Jian'an, he went from the prefect of Jinan and the governor of Qingzhou to the important position of the right general. Unlike Cao Ren, Xia Houyuan and other military generals with clan background, and Confucian generals from aristocratic families such as Jia Kui, Man Chong, Pei Qian, etc., each has external help.All his successes are due to his hard work with one knife and one gun.Therefore, Sun Quan, the lord of Wu State, once praised Zang Ba in front of his subordinates as a general who was not inferior to Zhang Liao, Xu Huang and other Wei State "Generals of the Tiger" in terms of tactics! When Emperor Wei Wen led his troops to conquer Jiangdong in the early years of Huang Dynasty, everyone thought that Zang Ba would make new achievements in that Eastern Expedition, but what surprised them was that Zang Ba suddenly accompanied the capital in Xuchang. General Zhijinwu, who was transferred by an imperial edict to be in charge of court security, has since stayed away from the Huainan battlefield and gradually faded out of the military circle of Wei State.This made Sima Yi secretly grievance for Zang Ba for quite a long time - he knew some core insider reasons, and it was because Zang Ba's combat ability was too powerful. He had a feeling of suspicion of "a thorn in his back that had to be removed", and finally expelled him from the military power center at the risk of losing the results of the Eastern Expedition.This also verifies Sima Yi's fundamental views on the Cao Wei imperial family. On the issue of the ownership of military power, the Cao Wei imperial family absolutely regards it as a "Lei Chi forbidden area" and will never allow any outsiders to get involved-they will give you Jieyue today. , you just need to use your ability to serve them; once you lose the value of use, your military power will definitely be deprived! It is quite normal for former important ministers who have lost power to be left out in the cold, and everyone is used to it, and not many people will make irresponsible remarks about it anymore, even if they say it, it will be in vain.The previous majestic right general and Xuzhou Muzangba now stands there like an old gatekeeper who spends his days leisurely and leisurely, only the armor is still showing to outsiders that he is getting better and better. The rare status of a general... This scene made Sima Yi secretly feel a little bitter: General Zang, who had no support from the family background and stood out from the lonely environment, ended up in such a fate, it is really embarrassing! It wasn't until Sima Yi stood in front of General Zang that Zang Ba came out of his contemplation.He looked at Sima Yi, was startled for a moment, and then pointed his hand to the Xuanwu Gate with great enthusiasm: "Governor Sima came so early? If you don't want to wait outside to cool off, why don't you go inside to the jade steps of Tianjie Street?" Wait for the call!" Sima Yi waved his hand lightly, looked at him squarely, with a clear expression of deep respect on his face: "Yi came to pay a special visit to General Zang! If you have a convenient time, I hope that Xiang Yi will not hesitate to teach you to Ping Wu Mie." Kou's strategy." Zang Ba's whole body shook as if he had been electrocuted, squinted his eyes and looked at him deeply, and moved his lips for a long time before he said a word: "Oh...you are the first general in office to come here on purpose. Those who visit the old man." Then, his expression slowly returned to calm, and he and Sima Yi walked slowly, casually.At this moment, the night has passed, and the morning star in the western sky has become the last silver light, and the morning glow as bright as a golden flame spreads all over the sky, so this last silver light produces a very warm beauty. "If you have any questions, just ask!" Zang Ba slowly walked side by side with Sima Yi, his attitude and tone were as friendly and natural as treating a close friend who hit it off, "I have been waiting for so many years, and today I finally waited for you That's it - the old man was still wondering: Didn't the Great Wei Dynasty want to rule Jiangdong and unify the world? It's a coincidence, what a coincidence, you're here today. "To be honest, I don't want to be buried in the coffin with the old man in such an obscurity with the strategy that I have painstakingly figured out all my life to defeat Wu and destroy the bandits!"