Zhuge Liang raised his head, looked at Xiangwu City in front of him, and sighed, "This Xiangwu is in a remote place, I thought that the city was not repaired, but I didn't expect it to be so difficult to fight." ”

"That Hao Zhaojiu Town Hexi, known as prestigious, is not to be taken lightly, so I have repeatedly asked the villagers to persuade him to surrender, who knew that he was so stubborn."

Even if he is as arrogant as Wei Yan, when he heard this, he had to admit that the prime minister's concerns were indeed more thoughtful than himself.

"There are only 50,000 people in the Han Dynasty, and it is indeed a bit reluctant to attack a city defended by more than 20,000 people." Zhuge Liang said slowly, looked up at the sky again, and narrowed his eyes slightly, "You have to figure it slowly." ”

There is another reason, Zhuge Liang didn't say.

That is, although the Eight Formations made up for some of the shortcomings of the Han Dynasty's lack of cavalry, and could use the infantry army to block the cavalry, it was only to block it.

Just like in the battle with Cao Wei's cavalry a few days ago, although Hao Zhao suffered a little loss, as soon as he saw that the momentum was not right, he immediately withdrew to Xiangwu, but he could only watch, and there was no way to pursue it.

That's the disadvantage of not having cavalry.

Even if you can defeat Cao Wei's cavalry, it will not be easy to annihilate it.

At this time, Xiangwu Xiangwu was built according to Weishui, Cao Wei relied on the water to defend the retreat to the west, and most of the cavalry in the city, if Hao Zhao was determined to return to Liangzhou, the Han had no way to stop it.

Zhuge Liang had no choice but to first order Wei Yan, Gao Xiang, and Chen Shi to divide into three routes, encircling the southeast, north, and south, and at the same time let them just guard the camp, dig ditches and build walls, and besiege but not attack.

Hao Zhao saw that the Han army's offensive stopped, and he thought that he was afraid of Zhuge Liang, plus he believed that he was an elite cavalry and had a way to retreat in his hands, but he was not afraid of any conspiracy from the other party.

For a time, the Han and Wei armies were at loggerheads.

In May of the sixth year of Jianxing, the weather became hotter and hotter.

According to the experience of previous years, the rain in Longyou should gradually increase at this time, and the Weishui will begin to rise.

But this year is somewhat unusual, with very little rainfall.

Guo Huai felt that God was really taking care of him: if the Weishui rose sharply at this time, then there would be no way for his people to escape back to Chencang along the Weishui.

At the beginning of the destruction of Linwei City, Wu Yi sent Zhang Bao to set up an ambush at the east gate, forcing Guo Huai to go west, and replaced others, but I was afraid that he might not be able to escape.

But Guo Huai is different, he has participated in the battle of Hanzhong, and then transferred to the west of the town to Changshi, and then marched to conquer the Qiang army, and finally promoted to the history of Yongzhou assassination, he has been staying in Yongzhou for ten years, governing Guanzhong and Longyou.

Therefore, he is most familiar with the area of Guanzhong Longyou.

After learning that there was an ambush in the east of Linwei, he first got rid of Zhang Bao and did not go east, but went west.

At that time, the Han army encircled Sanque and attacked Linwei, and a large number of routs fled to the east gate, which attracted the attention of the Han army.

A short walk to the east, you will arrive at the confluence of Qingshui and Weishui, where Guo Huai followed Qingshui to the north, and finally found a Qianghu tribe near Qingshui City.

When the tribe Qu Shuai Ye Russian Moth learned of Guo Huai's arrival, he was taken aback, and he secretly led him into the account, and at the same time made people serve food.

Just as Ye Russian Moth was about to enter the tent to meet Guo Huai, a cronie below quietly persuaded him, "Now that the Han State has occupied Longyou, this Guo Huai is an important fugitive they are pursuing. Why don't you take the opportunity to capture Guo Huai as an advanced achievement? ”

Hearing this, Ye Ru Moth was taken aback and reprimanded, "Guo Jun is kind to me, how can I do such a beastly thing?" ”

"If the adults are unwilling to capture Guo Huai to invite merit, then they can't try their best to help him, otherwise they will be known by the Han Kingdom in the future, wouldn't it be self-inflicted disaster?"

The cronies persuaded again.

Hearing this, Ye Ru Moth hesitated for a long time before saying, "Let me go and inquire first, and see what Guo Jun wants to do here." ”

Then he entered the tent, first saluted and greeted, and then asked tentatively, "Why is Guo Jun here?" ”

Guo Huai ruled Yongzhou for a long time, but whenever there was a Qiang Hu to vote, he always asked people to find out the situation of their tribe in advance, such as the number of men and women, the age and the young, etc., and then they were received.

With this method, before the Hu leaders could say what they meant, Guo Huai already knew what they wanted to do, and seemed to care about them very much, so he was called a god-like figure by the Hu people.

When Yeru Moth led the clan to take refuge, he was greatly favored by Guo Huai, so he was very respectful to Guo Huai.

"Ye Russian moth, now I am extremely poor, I have no way out, and I am almost starving to death, so I have come to take refuge in death and beg for a full meal."

Guo Huai was hungry and tired, full of embarrassment, and he said while gulping down the food prepared for him by the Yeru Moth.

"What did Guo Jun say? If you are willing to come to my little tribe, I can't be happy. As long as you have all in the clan, you can open your mouth. ”

When Ye Russian Moth heard this, he hurriedly said in a panic.

Guo Huai shook his head, "Now that I am the one who was urgently captured by Shuyu, I came to you just to have a full meal." If you can lend me a few horses for the sake of what I have helped you before, then I will be grateful. ”

"If you want to capture me to invite merit, I can also understand you, after all, Longyou is now the world of Shu, and I heard that many Qianghu have been attached to Shu."

"If you tie me up and send me to Linwei, it must be a great merit, and Shu Lu will give you a lot of rewards."

Guo Huai said, stood up, and handed the long sword at his waist, "I only hope that you can spare those subordinates who came with me, they are all loyal and brave people, even if you take them, you will not have much credit." ”

When Ye Russian Moth heard the words of the great benefactor, especially the four words "loyal and brave man", he couldn't help but feel ashamed and ashamed when he thought of his own careful thoughts.

He only felt a surge of blood rushing up to his head, and immediately fell to the ground and cried, "What did Guo Jun say?" If it weren't for Guo Jun's great kindness back then, how would today's smelting Russian moth come about? Guo Jun, please rest assured, even if the villain dies, he will send you back to Guanzhong safely! ”

Guo Huai hurriedly stepped forward to help him up, and sighed, "I'm just afraid that it will hurt you." ”

"If Guo Jun really wants to harm me, why would he wait until today?"

After Ye Russian Moth got up, his face was full of determination.

"Thank you!"

Guo Huai said deeply.

Seeing Guo Huai's gift, Ye Ru Moth was even more determined to help Guo Huai at the moment, "Guo Jun and sit down, I will send someone to Qingshui City to inquire about the news." ”

Longyou Qianghu, those who are willing to rely on the Han Dynasty, take Tianshui County as the most.

And those who are interested in Cao Wei are mostly in Guangwei County.

The reason is also very simple, because Guangwei controls all the communication arteries between Longyou and the east, and even if it is from the northernmost Anding County, it has to pass through Guangwei to reach Tianshui.

Therefore, Cao Wei's attention to Guangwei is definitely greater than that of Tianshui County, the actual center of Longyou.

A few months ago, the Northern Expeditionary Army appeared out of Qishan, and many of the two counties of Tianshui and Nan'an rebelled, but Guangwei County mostly held on, and few places surrendered, which is enough to prove the control of Wei over Guangwei County.

Guo Huai dared to come to Qingshui to ask Ye Russian Moth for help, so he naturally had a certain degree of certainty.

But if he dares to find Qianghu in Tianshui, it will basically end up being captured.

Because the main passage connecting Hanzhong and Longyou, Qishan Road, is directly to Tianshui County, and most of the Longyou clans are gathered in Tianshui, so the mutual market in Hanzhong has the greatest influence on Tianshui.

Guo Huai is not a simple character, he is regarded by the Qianghu in Guanzhong as having the ability of a god, and he also has some influence in the Qianghu tribe in Longyou.

In the case of Longyou changing hands, Ye Ru Moth can still take the risk to help Guo Huai escape, which is the result of his good care of Qiang Hu in the past.

The clear water comes from Longshan, and there are actually many tributaries coming down from Longshan, but this year's rain is insufficient, so some river valleys have dried up.

Guo Huai and the others made up the supplies, did not enter Qingshui City at all, and went directly to the east, found a dry river valley, walked south along the river valley, and after making a big circle, they actually went around to the Weishui River Valley east of Linwei.

The water level in the Weishui Valley was much shallower than in previous years, and Guo Huai rode his horse and galloped towards Chencang day and night.