My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 508 Xiahou Yuan's Final Madness

They realized that they had spent the entire winter in vain, wasting so much money, food and energy on useless efforts.

The morale of Xiahou Yuan's 50,000-strong army suddenly plummeted to the bottom.

Even Xiahou Yuan himself felt it personally.

It was the end of early March. After Xiahou Yuan failed in his last attempt to destroy Wei Yan's dock, he returned to the camp and reflected for a long time. He finally calmed down sadly and began to seriously consider the question of "whether to withdraw the siege."

For fear of further undermining morale, Xiahou Yuan did not dare to make a big fuss this time. He only summoned his three most trusted senior generals, Jia Xu, Zhang Xiu, and Feng Kai, to talk privately behind closed doors.

"I should have known not to try to seize Wei Yan's wharf. Not only did it lead to fruitless efforts and wasted men, but it also made the soldiers know that we had been besieged for an entire winter.

Now that morale is so low, there is no point in us staying here any longer. Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang might take advantage of this opportunity to attack us. What do you think? Should we avoid their attack?"

It was rare for Xiahou Yuan to be so humble and so willing to listen to advice.

He had always been not worried about Liu Bei's counterattack and seeking a chance for a decisive battle in the field. But at this critical moment, it was indeed not a good time. Morale had just hit the bottom. If he was attacked at this time, Xiahou Yuan did not dare to think whether he could hold on.

Seeing their commander so miserable, Zhang Xiu and Feng Kai also tended to retreat temporarily and not fight for the short term.

Fortunately, Jia Xu was far-sighted and immediately jumped out to play the role of the stabilizing force: "General, you can't do that! It is precisely because the morale is so low now. If we retreat immediately, Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang will seize the opportunity and rush to attack us, and we will surely be defeated.

After all, we have built a siege camp and several layers of antler trenches for a whole winter. If we hold on to the camp, even if Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang concentrate their forces to fight, they will not be able to break through. If we retreat, it means abandoning the solid camp that has been built for a whole winter. Once we are chased by the enemy in the wild, the situation will inevitably collapse!

Even if we want to leave, we can't leave at this critical moment. Zhuge Liang will definitely think that it is easiest for us to leave at this time. So we must be patient and not let Zhuge Liang get it right. When Zhuge Liang relaxes his vigilance and is no longer on guard, we will suddenly retreat quickly and shrink back!"

While Jia Xu was talking, Feng Kai beside him felt nothing, but Zhang Xiu recalled some long-forgotten memories - nine years ago, when he was chasing Cao Cao in Wancheng, Jia Xu also taught him a similar strategy of pretending to be real when pretending to be real.

At that time, he and Liu Biao teamed up to pursue the retreating troops of Cao's army, but lost. After losing, he used the defeated troops to pursue the victorious troops and won again. Jia Xu's grasp of the morale and mentality of the enemy and us is really perfect.

This time, facing Zhuge Liang, Jia Xu once again used his signature strategy, which should be effective.

Although Xiahou Yuan did not personally experience what happened nine years ago, he knew that Jia Xu was indeed quite capable in this area, so he agreed to listen to him again.

We really cannot withdraw now. We should stay put to reward the soldiers and restore their morale, and then withdraw unexpectedly when the enemy least expects it.

When retreating, you should also make arrangements for elite troops to cover the rear and set up an ambush. As long as Liu Bei dares to send people to chase, you can kill him with a surprise attack and ambush Liu Bei!

"In this case, the detailed deployment will be handed over to Wenhe. You should pay more attention to it in the next few days and report anything you think of in time." Xiahou Yuan finally made the decision.

……

Xiahou Yuan wanted to stabilize the morale for a few days and wait for the enemy to take advantage of the situation before leaving. Unexpectedly, during the few days he was waiting, new news and Cao Cao's latest instructions came from the rear.

The news was delivered on March 16th. The messenger crossed the Qinling Mountains from Chencang Road on March 9th, and then went south over mountains and ridges to find Xiahou Yuan.

It is said that before this messenger arrived, there were two other messengers who arrived earlier, but they were probably killed in a fall in the snow-covered Qinling Mountains and were unable to deliver the letter to Xiahou Yuan.

The snow deep in the Qinling Mountains in winter would not completely melt until the fourth month of the lunar calendar, and then the peak of the ice flood season would begin. If the army and its food and supplies were to cross the Qinling Mountains, it would basically take until April.

However, small-scale messenger and scout teams have lower requirements for roads and can start crossing the Qinling Mountains in March, but the mortality rate is higher.

The message Xiahou Yuan received this time was, of course, sent by Cao Cao in mid-February, which mainly informed him of several things:
First of all, Cao Cao had become the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty, and he took the opportunity to promote Xiahou Yuan to the title of General of the Western Expedition.

Before becoming the prime minister, Cao Cao was relatively restrained in granting official titles to his cousins and nephews from the Cao and Xiahou families. He always acted humble, as if “the court is not controlled by me, Cao Cao,” to avoid slander.

But after becoming the prime minister, he was too lazy to pretend to do many things. More importantly, Ma Teng had become a general of cavalry, and in the future he might have to obey Xiahou Yuan's orders and participate in the war in the northwest. If Xiahou Yuan's official position was still too low, it would be a bit unreasonable for him to command those old generals under Ma Teng.

Xiahou Yuan was very happy to see his master finally become the prime minister and he himself was promoted. He quickly summoned all the generals to announce the good news and used it as an excuse to reward the army. Anyway, he had been trying to boost morale in recent days and was trying to find excuses to treat the soldiers better to ensure that they would fight hard in the tough battles.

If they gave out money, food and wine without any reason, the soldiers would feel guilty and suspicious. Now that they had a reasonable excuse, they could just go with the flow.

After announcing the reward, Xiahou Yuan discussed with Jia Xu and others other information revealed in Cao Cao's letter in order to make corresponding preparations.

Xiahou Yuan confidently showed his generals: "Don't worry too much! Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang are only arrogant for a while. By April or May, victory will definitely be ours!

The prime minister has already said that after the snow in the Qinling Mountains melts and the roads become easier to travel in April, he will send more troops into Sichuan and try to have a quick and decisive battle with Liu Bei.

Moreover, he has already controlled Ma Teng! Ma Teng himself is still in Xudu, and Pang De has also been won over by Prime Minister Huairou, and is willing to pledge allegiance to the Prime Minister in private!

In addition, during the period last winter when we were blocked south of the Qinling Mountains, Ma Teng eliminated Han Sui on the western front. So this year, Ma Teng and Pang De can also enter Sichuan to help in the war under the order of the court!

At that time, the Prime Minister will personally lead the follow-up army reinforcements, and the Xiliang elite troops of Ma Teng and Pang De will join forces with our army, and the three armies will work together to defeat Liu Bei! Our military strength will definitely be superior! "

After hearing the good news, Jia Xu, Zhang Xiu and others finally felt cheered up.

In the past half month, they have not received any good news, but only received a series of bad news about being deceived. Is this finally the time for their fortunes to change?

Jia Xu's mind raced, and he quickly worked out some plans. When he thought of the success, he couldn't help but clap his hands and sigh:

"If this is true, the battle in Yizhou might actually have a turning point! General, we can completely cooperate with the time set by the Prime Minister, and then before the Prime Minister's army enters Sichuan, we can pretend to realize that our siege of Diaoyucheng has failed and we have to retreat.

Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang didn't know that we would have reinforcements coming later, so they would definitely think that our army could be bullied, and they would pursue us relentlessly in the field. At this time, if the Prime Minister and Ma Teng's army arrived, Liu Bei would not be able to defend the dangerous area in time, and would be forced to fight a decisive battle with us in the field, and the matter would be resolved!
After we entered Sichuan, we have suffered a series of defeats in the past six months, but each defeat was caused by our attacking and the enemy's defense. In the final analysis, it was because we did not have the advantage of the terrain, which made it difficult for us to display our strength. As long as we can fight a fair and square battle, a decisive battle between the Prime Minister and Liu Bei, our army has nothing to fear! "

Xiahou Yuan was inspired by the big picture that Jia Xu painted, and suddenly he felt that it seemed to be the case, and his fighting spirit was rekindled.

Xiahou Yuan could not help but say happily: "After being frustrated for so long, there is finally some good news. Indeed, if we can do as Wenhe said, our army can combine the above factors and move the whole body. Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang will definitely not be able to resist! Let's do it!
The day we withdraw our troops must be coordinated with the day when the Prime Minister's reinforcements arrive! However, the Qinling Mountains will not be available for the army to cross until April. Even if the Prime Minister prepares in advance, it is impossible to cross the mountains in early April and then march south to Brazil. It is estimated that it will be at least early May.

Therefore, we have to wait until the end of April before we can pretend that the army is demoralized and gradually withdraw northward and abandon the siege... This will take more than a month."

Xiahou Yuan initially listened to Jia Xu's previous plan and planned to delay the retreat for ten days or eight days, and then find an unexpected time to retreat in late March. Now he had to delay the retreat until the end of April, which would take another forty days.

However, Xiahou Yuan quickly realized that they still had a solid camp with ten layers of deer horn trenches, so it would be no problem to delay for forty days.

The only minor problem was the supply of military rations. If it was delayed for another forty days, the pressure on military rations would be even greater.

We cannot wait until all our food reserves are used up before retreating. If we do that, if something goes wrong, the troops will be out of food and it will be troublesome.

When Xiahou Yuan thought of this, he told Jia Xu about his concern and asked Jia Xu to think about it and see if he could raise some extra food and fodder for the extra period of the siege.

Jia Xu also looked solemn after hearing this. It was true that he had a conspiracy, but it was impossible to conjure up food with a conspiracy. Moreover, in order to boost morale before the decisive battle, Xiahou Yuan had been rewarding his soldiers with wine and meat recently, and he also provided them with enough food, which made the military supplies consumed even faster.

After thinking it over, Jia Xu could only think of one move. Since he had no choice, he could only speak directly:
"For now, we can only divide our forces and go to the various villages along the way to force them to collect food. The land of Baxi is mountainous, the county has few households, and the money and food are scarce. Therefore, we can only count on the villages of Dangqu and Mengtou in the upper reaches of Qujiang River.

Although those places were only vassal camps with few Han people, there were many Qiang and Bandun barbarian tribes gathered around them, trading with the Han people. These barbarians should have stored grain, but in previous years they did not submit to the king and did not pay taxes to the government.

For now, we can't care about the people's hearts in the future. We can plan to kill the barbarians and rob the food of the Bantun barbarians for military use. After all, if we can't win this battle, we can't keep the land of Brazil. What's the point of caring about the people's hearts in Brazil?"

After hearing this, Xiahou Yuan stroked his triangular beard, and a fierce look flashed in his eyes. It was obvious that he thought this method was feasible.

The so-called Bandun Man and Qiang people are the indigenous people of the mountainous areas of Brazil. In history, the mountain soldiers of the "Wu Dang Flying Army" of the Later Han Dynasty were mostly composed of these Qiang people, and the mountain soldiers and generals such as Wang Ping were also from the local Bandun Man.

In order to sustain an extra month and a half of military rations, Xiahou Yuan was so hungry that he didn't care about the subsequent side effects. This matter was settled.

(End of this chapter)