My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 531 He once walked forward in confusion

Jia Xu spent a long time devising a strategy for Xiahou Yuan, but he didn't know that all these efforts were destined to be in vain.

The next morning, Wang Guan, who had received Jia Xu's latest instructions, set out again, trekking more than 40 miles to visit Wu Yi's camp.

However, this time Wang Guan didn't even get the chance to enter the camp.

Just a few hundred steps outside Wu Yi's camp, he was shot by crossbows and stopped in his tracks. A group of scolding soldiers shouted and warned him not to go any further. General Wu did not want to negotiate with him anymore.

Wang Guan was of course shocked when he saw this. He didn't expect that Wu Yi would change his mind so drastically in just two days.

He could only let the people accompanying him temporarily act as scolds, shouting in unison from two hundred steps away:

"General Wu! Didn't we agree on this? Last time you didn't believe General Xiahou's conditions. This time I brought General Xiahou's new promise, as well as various measures to ensure fulfillment of the contract. I guarantee that you will be able to rest assured! Let me go into the camp and explain in detail!"

Wu Yi ordered all the archers to stand on guard with their arrows on their bows, then stood on the sentry tower at the side of the camp gate and directed the scolds to shout in unison:
"I heard that Cao Cao is best at using the newly surrendered troops as the front line to fight against the former friendly forces. Didn't you use Yuan Shao's surrendered soldiers to fight against the Yuan family in the same way after the Battle of Guandu? After Zhang Lu surrendered, when you attacked Liu Bei's Diaoyucheng, you also let Yang Ang and Yang Ren go up first to die!

Cao's reputation has long been tarnished! If we surrender, I'm afraid we will be used by Xiahou Yuan to fight Liu Bei! He can't even beat Liu Bei, and he still expects us to die? Daydreaming! If you dare to get close again, don't blame the crossbow arrows for being ruthless! Shoot! "

Wu Yi did not want to kill the envoy directly and make things worse, so he just shot a warning arrow and drove Wang Guan away.

He knew very well that when two armies were fighting, envoys would not be killed. If he just drove Wang Guan away, Xiahou Yuan would have to consider whether he had the spare strength to defeat his more than 20,000 men by force.

But if Wang Guan was shot dead directly, with Xiahou Yuan's violent temper, he would fight with him with all his strength even if it was just for the sake of face. By then, Xiahou Yuan might not even care whether Yangping Pass had enough strength to defend for a long time.

Moreover, this is not only a question of whether Xiahou Yuan himself is angry or not, but also involves the morale of Cao's army. The Cao army was able to beat Wu Yi so badly before because they were desperate and wanted to escape. After Wu Yi gave up the key pass outside Yangping Pass, Cao's army had a way to return to Hanzhong, and their morale and fighting spirit fell again. If something humiliating Cao's army happened again, their morale might be reactivated.

Wu Yi just wanted to protect himself, not to provoke the enemy and seek death, so he certainly didn't dare to kill the envoy.

Wang Guan thus saved his life and was able to return to report. However, the back and forth, plus the shouting and tug-of-war, dragged on for almost two more days.

……

When Wang Guan returned to Cao's camp, Xiahou Yuan and Jia Xu were the first to ask him about the situation, wanting to know the details of the Yizhou army's surrender.

Upon learning that Wu Yi had actually killed Yang Huai, Gao Pei and other surrenderists, and had given very clear reasons for refusing to surrender, Xiahou Yuan was of course furious.

"Wu Yi is a coward! He is so shameless that he used the chance given to him. It turned out that he was just stalling for time that day. Wenhe, I want to raise an army immediately and crush Wu Yi. You just stay here to guard the camp!" Xiahou Yuan was so angry that he grabbed his helmet and was ready to lead his troops into battle.

Although Jia Xu was also shocked, he was an old cunning man after all, so he quickly forced himself to calm down and quickly advised: "General, don't be reckless! Although our army defeated Wu Yi before, it was because our army's way back was cut off and everyone fought bravely to survive.

Now Wu Yi has given up the important road before leaving the pass and let us go back to the pass. The soldiers finally got a chance to recuperate. Who would be willing to go out and fight? Moreover, if we only look at the number of people, Wu Yi has more soldiers than us. Yizhou has a dense population, but the soldiers are not elite enough.

On the other hand, now that we have cut off Wu Yi's way back, if we still want to kill him, Wu Yi will take this opportunity to boost his morale, and I'm afraid it will be difficult to break through! For now, it is better to wait for the Prime Minister's reinforcements to arrive, and attack Wu Yi from both sides, and Wu Yi will surely collapse! I believe the Prime Minister will definitely arrive before Liu Bei!"

Xiahou Yuan also knew that the method Jia Xu suggested was relatively safe, but he always had a bad feeling recently as to why there was no news about Cao Cao's main reinforcements.

Although the geographical environment of Hanzhong is indeed closed, and the Shangyong Road that goes down the Han River in the west is blocked by Liu Qi, Huang Zhong and Huo Jun, if Cao Cao encounters any changes and wants to inform himself, it should still be possible to enter Hanzhong via the Baoxiade Road, a pure mountain road.

The small road like Baoxiade is only narrower and more difficult to travel than Chencang Road, making it difficult for a large army to pass through and for transporting food, but it is not difficult for messengers to deliver messages.

(Note: The Baoxiadao Road is a small road that can only be traveled on foot, and grain can only be transported by people. Historically, it was not until Zhuge Liang's three northern expeditions that the wooden ox and flowing horse were invented, and grain could be transported on the Baoxiadao Road.)
So Xiahou Yuan always wondered if there was really any delay in Cao Cao's reinforcements?
Thinking of this, he became more and more restless. He ignored Jia Xu's dissuasion and insisted on retaliating and attacking Wu Yi.

Xiahou Yuan insisted, "Even if Wu Yi can use this opportunity to boost morale, he has just killed Yang Huai and Gao Pei. Didn't you say before that as long as Wu Yi, Yang Huai, or Gao Pei are killed or injured, it will help weaken the enemy's combat power, which is good for us? Why are you changing your mind now?"

Jia Xu: "This is a different time. At first, I thought that the two groups would fight each other and cause chaos. I never thought that Wu Yi was so calm and collected. He did not cause any internal strife when he seized the army. It seems that Wu Yi must have an extraordinary ability to control the hearts of the troops. We underestimated him at the beginning."

Xiahou Yuan waved his hand angrily to stop the other party from continuing: "I have made up my mind, no need to say more!"

Jia Xu's persuasion was ineffective, so he could only let it go. ...

The next day after Wang Guan returned to report, Xiahou Yuan hurriedly led his troops to attack and retaliate.

The army cooked at the fourth watch and left the camp at the fifth watch. They walked for the whole morning and finally arrived at Wu Yi's Hechi camp in the late afternoon.

Inevitably, the two sides started another war of words, with each side accusing the other of betrayal.

Wu Yi also once again publicly recounted the various unjust histories of Cao Cao's camp towards the newly surrendered troops, from Cao Cao's use of Yuan Shao's surrendered troops to his later use of Zhang Lu's surrendered troops as vanguard cannon fodder. He told them all, doing everything he could to boost the morale of the Yizhou soldiers and using the crudest logic to let everyone know that as long as they surrendered to Cao Cao, they would not have a good ending.

Xiahou Yuan was of course furious, and he led his troops to launch a fierce attack, shouting wildly for a while that he would chop off Wu Yi's tongue before killing him.

This guy is really good at inciting his soldiers to resist. When we defeated him at Yangping Pass a while ago, why didn’t we see that he was so good at instigating and boosting morale?
Wu Yi was not willing to be outdone. He immediately fired his bows and crossbows, and arrows rained down, blocking Cao's army layer by layer.

Cao's army charged forward under a hail of arrows, suffering some casualties, but finally reached the antler defense line of the trench, charging forward one after another. The two sides soon fell into a bloody hand-to-hand fight.

The Yizhou army did not have as good weapons and equipment as Liu Bei's army. The rate of armor was very low, and they did not have horse-cutting swords and iron halberds forged with cast-in-one steel.

But they managed to hold off Cao's attack by just using ordinary spears and lances. The key was that Wu Yi boosted the morale of the Yizhou army, and after all, the number of Yizhou troops was twice that of Xiahou Yuan's troops.

With morale strong and everyone willing to fight, it is not surprising that more than 20,000 people were able to defend the camp and hold out against an attack by more than 10,000 people.

Xiahou Yuan attacked fiercely for half an afternoon, suffering quite a few casualties, and finally realized that something was wrong.

"Wen He was right after all. Wu Yi retreated cowardly when our army was fighting for their lives. We underestimated him at that time. Now it's his turn to fight for his life, and he can make the untrained Yizhou soldiers fight with such strength. It seems that he is a talented general in stabilizing the morale of the army."

As the fight went on, Xiahou Yuan couldn't help but feel shaken in his heart. His contempt for Wu Yi gradually faded, and he no longer dared to be arrogant.

He had already seen that Wu Yi was quite capable. Thinking of Jia Xu's earnest persuasion before he came, Xiahou Yuan became even more discouraged.

He could not help but think of the time when Jia Xu advised Zhang Xiu to pursue Cao Gong, he also had a brilliant insight that "the whole army will be defeated if they pursue the retreating army, and the defeated army will be victorious if they pursue the victorious army." It seems that Jia Xu has accurately predicted it again.

With this thought in mind, Xiahou Yuan lost even more confidence.

The fighting lasted until the evening that day, and both sides suffered heavy casualties. Seeing that there was no hope of breaking through the camp, Xiahou Yuan had no choice but to decisively withdraw his troops and fled back to Yangping Pass in a panic.

When he returned to the camp in front of Yangping Pass, Jia Xu was already anxiously waiting for him all night.

When Xiahou Yuan saw Jia Xu, he was also filled with shame: "I regret not listening to Wenhe's advice! Today's attack on the camp was indeed repelled by Wu Yi. The rise and fall of morale can have such an immediate impact on an army!
The enemy army, which was vulnerable seven or eight days ago, was inspired by the desperate situation and its fighting power became so much stronger. Alas, I miscalculated!"

Jia Xu also wanted to take care of Xiahou Yuan's face, so he had to follow his words and said: "Victory and defeat are common in the military. Fortunately, there were not many casualties in today's battle, so it will not affect the defense of Yangping Pass. As long as we wake up in time, we should wait patiently for the Prime Minister's reinforcements to enter Sichuan.

Even if the Prime Minister arrives late, at least Wu Yi won't know that he will be late. Even if he can't wait any longer, maybe we can still scare him with the strategy of confusing him with an enemy."

After much persuasion, Jia Xu finally calmed Xiahou Yuan down, and Xiahou Yuan agreed not to engage in any more military action and to just hold out.

However, time is clearly not entirely on his side.

As Xiahou Yuan and Wu Yi had been struggling outside Yangping Pass for so long, Feng Kai, who was treated as a discarded pawn and a member of the rear guard in Langzhong County to the south, could no longer withstand the attack from Liu Bei and Zhang Fei.

Once Feng Kai's blockade was broken and Liu Bei's main force arrived, it would be enough to give Xiahou Yuan a big blow.

On the other hand, Xiahou Yuan did not know that after Liu Bei heard that Wu Yi led his troops out of Jiameng Pass and tried to steal Xiahou Yuan's retreat, Liu Bei actually sent a team of messengers composed of Baxiban Dunman who were good at climbing mountains to search for Wu Yi's location, and then sent a letter to Wu Yi so that Wu Yi could rest assured and wait for help.

All of this started with Fa Zheng secretly informing Liu Bei, and Liu Bei suddenly receiving a secret letter from Guandong a while ago.

(End of this chapter)