My father-in-law Guan Yu, I persuaded Liu Bei to launch a surprise attack on Xiangyang at the beginn

Xiao He lowered his head slightly, pondered for a moment, then slowly raised his head and said solemnly:

"Given the current situation in Hanzhong, we must prioritize the overall strategic layout and must not delay any longer."

"In my opinion, we should quickly divide our forces into 50,000 troops and send them south along the Chencang Road to strike directly at the flank and rear of Yangping Pass with lightning speed."

"If we can annihilate the Shu army led by Zhang Ren in one fell swoop, that would be the best outcome. This would greatly weaken the Shu army's strength and reduce the obstacles for our army to conquer Shu in the future."

"Even if we cannot annihilate the Shu army, we can at least force Zhang Ren to retreat, thus relieving the urgent crisis facing Nanzheng."

"Once the crisis in Hanzhong is resolved, we can transport sufficient grain and fodder to Hanzhong ahead of time, laying a solid material foundation for our upcoming southern expedition against Shu."

"After all, an army cannot move until its supplies are ready."

"Then, once our army has successfully captured Liangzhou and completely wiped out the puppet Wei regime, we can immediately march south and strike directly at the puppet Shu."

"By then, we will have already prepared the provisions, so we will not need to spend a lot of time and energy mobilizing them. In this way, we can speed up the process of unifying the world and help His Majesty realize his long-cherished wish sooner."

Guan Yu agreed wholeheartedly, acknowledging that Xiao He's plan was not only well-considered, and adopted it without hesitation.

After careful discussion, the group decided that Guan Yu would personally lead an army of 50,000 south to Yizhou.

Xiao He was in charge of commanding the remaining 200,000 Han troops. After a short rest, they would cross the Longshan Mountains to the west and take Liangzhou with overwhelming force.

...

Meanwhile, at Jieting.

When Cao Pi led his army to Jieting with great momentum, he found that the two Han armies led by Ma Chao and Deng Ai had already successfully joined forces.

At this time, 10,000 Han troops were stationed inside Jieting City, 15,000 Han troops were stationed outside the city, and another 10,000 Han troops were stationed on Maijishan Mountain.

The three Han armies formed a triangular defensive formation that supported and complemented each other.

Upon seeing this, Cao Pi immediately led an army of 40,000 to launch a fierce attack on the Han army, attempting to recapture Jieting by virtue of his numerical superiority.

The attack lasted for ten days.

Unfortunately, despite launching relentless attacks day and night and suffering heavy casualties of over a thousand men, the Wei army failed to make any substantial progress.

The reason for this was not that Cao Pi was incompetent in military strategy, nor that the Wei army was not elite enough. The key issue was that the Wei army was relatively small in number.

On the surface, the Wei army had 40,000 men, while the Han army had only 30,000. The Wei army had 10,000 more men than the Han army, which seemed to give them an advantage.

However, as the attacking side, the Wei army's advantage of only 10,000 men was insufficient.

As the art of war says, attack with five times the strength, surround with ten times the strength.

With a mere 10,000 troops, how could the Wei army possibly capture Jieting?
Cao Pi was merely deceiving himself.

What's more.

The generals commanding the Han army were either top-tier generals like Ma Chao (one of the Five Tiger Generals) or generals like Deng Ai (of the Temple of Martial Arts), possessing both wisdom and courage.

How could such a combination be easily manipulated by Cao Pi?

Therefore, despite the Wei army's strong attack for more than ten days, they failed to achieve any results and instead suffered heavy losses.

Cao Pi was unwilling to give up so easily, so he had no choice but to order more troops to be sent to reinforce the area.

In the following two weeks, the Wei army recruited more than 10,000 Qiang and Hu people from Jincheng and other places, finally increasing the number of troops to more than 50,000.

This troop strength represents the limit of Wei's national power.

Therefore, Cao Pi could only continue to launch a fierce attack on Jieting City, hoping to break through the Han army's defenses in one fell swoop by virtue of his numerical advantage.

However, another month passed in the blink of an eye.

Jieting City remains as solid as an indestructible iron wall, standing firm and unyielding.

Under the command of Ma Chao and Deng Ai, the Han army soldiers were united in their resolve and defended Jieting like an impregnable fortress, giving Cao Pi no opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

Also.

During this period, Xiao He continuously sent grain and military supplies from Chang'an to the front line at Jieting.

With the strong support of the entire Han state, Jieting City was impregnable, becoming an insurmountable obstacle for the Wei army.

After two months of continuous attacks, the morale and strength of the Wei army were exhausted, the offensive gradually weakened, and the soldiers' fighting spirit was declining day by day.

The Wei army was nearing its end. Night fell that day.

The atmosphere inside the Wei army's imperial tent was oppressive.

Cao Pi was having a meal while listening to his ministers report on the battle losses.

As he listened, Cao Pi, holding a bowl of rice, was lost in thought and couldn't eat a single bite.

At this moment, Xu Gai entered the tent, came before Cao Pi, and asked for the password to pass through that night.

Cao Pi's chicken rib fell right off his chopsticks.

So he casually replied, "It's like a chicken rib."

Xu Gai was taken aback upon hearing this.

This is the first time I've heard of using chicken ribs as a password?
Isn't this absurd?

Xu Gaixin felt something was amiss, but dared not ask any further questions, and could only accept the order and leave.

The ministers in the tent looked at each other, their faces filled with confusion.

Clearly, they couldn't guess what Cao Pi was trying to express with his comment about chicken ribs.

Only Jia Xu's eyes flashed with a sharp light, and a look of relief crossed his face.

He seemed to have gleaned some important information from Cao Pi's words.

The officials took their leave.

Xu Huang and the other generals discussed among themselves, all trying to guess the deeper meaning behind Cao Pi's words.

"Grand Commandant, tell me, what does it mean that the Emperor uses 'chicken ribs' as a password?"

Han De grabbed Jia Xu and asked anxiously.

Upon hearing Han De's words, everyone stopped in their tracks and turned to look at him.

Jia Xu smiled faintly and said slowly:

"Gentlemen, I suspect His Majesty will issue an edict to withdraw the troops soon, so let's make preparations as soon as possible."

Everyone was both surprised and delighted upon hearing this.

At this point, everyone knew that Jieting was beyond capture.

Cao Pi's insistence on fighting stemmed from his inability to swallow his pride.

Everyone wanted to persuade Cao Pi to withdraw his troops, but they were afraid of angering him.

Now that Jia Xu said Cao Pi was going to withdraw his troops, everyone was overjoyed, as if they had seen a glimmer of hope.

"Grand Commandant Jia, how did you guess that the Emperor intended to withdraw his troops?"

Han De continued to ask, his eyes full of confusion.

Jia Xu laughed and said:

"Just based on His Majesty's use of the word 'chicken rib'."

Han De and his generals looked at each other blankly, not understanding the connection between this sentence and the retreat.

Seeing the blank looks on everyone's faces, Jia Xu patiently explained:
"This battle has dragged on for so long that it's become like a chicken rib—tasteless and unappetizing. Our army has been attacking for so long and has paid a heavy price. The morale of our soldiers has been exhausted, and we are running out of food supplies."

"Having fought to this extent, His Majesty already knows in his heart that Jieting cannot be taken."

"Now that His Majesty has mentioned the term 'chicken rib,' it means that His Majesty has already decided to abandon Jieting. I predict that His Majesty will order a retreat to Ji County within a few days. You should all prepare in advance."

"The one who truly understands His Majesty is the Grand Commandant!"

Upon hearing this, Han De couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

All the generals agreed and nodded in approval.

Not far away, Cheng Gongying frowned slightly upon seeing this scene.

Seeing how much Jia Xu was trusted by everyone, he couldn't help but feel a surge of jealousy. (End of Chapter)