When the Shu Han Dynasty made various adjustments for the next strategy. On the side of Cao Wei's camp, there was also a fierce dispute over the next strategy.

At the beginning of September, Deng Ai and Zhuge Xu fought first.

Deng Ai: Boss! Zhuge Xu is a fool, a very selfish fool, a very selfish and cowardly fool. Jiang Wei's clumsy plan to attack the west. Even a pig can see it. Zhuge Xu can't see it? He couldn't see where he was, and he was clearly deliberately fooled in order to evade the responsibility of defeat!

Zhuge Xu: Boss! This time, Jiang Wei was able to successfully escape into Zitong. The main problem is that Deng Ai did not follow closely. If his troops were always no more than a day's journey away from Jiang Wei, how could Jiang Wei possibly make a maneuver first north and then south. The problem is not me at all, but Deng Ai raised the enemy with self-respect and deliberately let Jiang Wei go - why Zhao Guang held on to the valley for five or six days? Who is Zhao Guang? A guy who doesn't have any fame at all! With less than one-tenth of Deng Ai's troops, Deng Ai was blocked for so long, who would believe it?

Deng Ai: Boss, listen to me, Zhao Guang is Zhao Yun's son, that's quite fierce......

Zhuge Xu: Boss......

Sima Zhao: Shut up Lao Tzu! Now they all bring their troops over to join the bells. Work hard in the future, and if a similar situation happens, I want you to look good!

Then Deng Ai and Zhuge Xu came to the Sword Pavilion to report to Zhong Hui in disgrace.

Before arriving at the Sword Pavilion, Deng Ai had a heartfelt eye. He did not follow Sima Zhao's order to bring his troops to the Sword Pavilion, but instead stationed the main force in the distant Yinping County. He just brought fifty cavalrymen to the Sword Pavilion to meet Zhong Hui with Shi Yu, Tian Xu and others.

Before meeting Zhonghui, he went to see Zhuge Xu first.

Deng Ai: Zisi, let's not talk about those things in the past. My brother did do something wrong, so I'll apologize to you first.

Zhuge Xu: Forget it, these things are really inevitable in officialdom. I didn't take it to heart either. Anyway, you came to meet me before I arrived at the Sword Pavilion this time, do you have something to say?

Deng Ai: Well, it's nothing, it's just a suggestion. I hope that Zisi will temporarily stop the army and my troops together, and not bring them to the Sword Pavilion.

Zhuge Xu: Why? Didn't the general explicitly ask us to bring our troops to the Sword Pavilion?

Deng Ai: The place in the Sword Pavilion is a natural hazard. 100,000 or 160,000 people actually mean the same thing. Our troops will not make much use when they go. This time, if you want to achieve any decent results, you must find another way. Extend the battle line to the northwest of the Sword Pavilion. In that case, why do we have to drag the troops back and forth?

Zhuge Xu: What you said does make sense. But I only know to faithfully carry out the orders of the great general. So forget your advice.

Deng Ai: You have to be careful, Zhong Hui is ruthless. If you bring the army over, you might be swallowed by him. In order to annex your troops, he may have to put on you an inexplicable guilt.

Zhuge Xu: It's strange that these 30,000 Yongzhou troops belong to the state, not mine. What can't be swallowed? And Zhong Shiji is a child of the Yingchuan family, and he is the most graceful, how could he do such a shameless thing?

Deng Ai: ....... (What you, a child of the Langya family, said is so reasonable, it makes me, a child of a commoner in Jingzhou, speechless...... ）

It can be said that from the beginning of this battle to the present, the most depressed is Deng Ai.

Originally, according to Deng Ai's plan, he put Jiang Wei in Hanzhong and let Zhong Hui be deflated in front of Jiang Wei - in Deng Ai's opinion, Jiang Wei is the most outstanding field commander in this era, although Zhong Hui has the advantage of troops, but what he is good at is intrigue and political struggle, fighting? I don't deserve Jiang Wei's shoes! When the time comes, after Zhong Hui was photographed as a pig's head by Jiang Wei in the Hanzhong Basin, didn't he rely on him Deng Ai to reorganize the main force of Shu?

But no one expected Zhong Hui's luck to be so against the sky: he took down Yang'an Pass! This is a great achievement that Cao Zhen, Sima Yi, and Cao Shuang have never achieved in the commanders of Cao Wei's Western Front! Now, although Jiang Wei said that he was guarding the Sword Pavilion, Zhong Hui would not be able to enter. But it can also be said that Zhong Hui's more than 100,000 troops blocked Jiang Wei in the Sword Pavilion, so that he could not get the opportunity to fight in the field.

If this war ends here, there is no doubt that the greatest credit will be given to Zhong Hui. And Deng Ai, hehehe~~~

Therefore, it is necessary to find another way, break through the Sword Pavilion, and obtain greater combat achievements. In this way, I can reap the greatest benefits for myself in this war - I, Deng Ai, am sixty-six years old this year, and I don't know how long I can live. If Shu perishes this time, maybe this will be my last battle. This battle will not only determine the fate of the Shu Kingdom, but also the key to whether my Deng family's future will be a first-class or second-rate family in the Sima family's world. It is enough that I have endured the discrimination and insults of the family in my life, and the children and grandchildren of my Deng family should not be so angry anymore.

As expected, Deng Ai, who had made up his mind, finally set his sights on the north-south Qionglai Mountains.

It is necessary to cross hundreds of miles of no-man's land and assault the hinterland of Shu Han. Deng Ai's current 30,000 people are still a little less. Therefore, Deng Ai's purpose in coming to Zhuge Xu was actually to let Zhuge Xu's 30,000 people go south with him. In this way, the 60,000 elite Longxi field soldiers bypassed the Sword Pavilion, if they could successfully break into the hinterland of Shu Han, but the most elite mobile corps of Shu Han was dragged by Zhong Hui in the Sword Pavilion - the picture was simply beautiful.

It's a pity that Zhuge Xu doesn't cooperate - on the one hand, he is a son of the Langya Zhuge family, and he can't understand the desire of a civilian child like Deng Ai to do anything to get ahead. On the other hand, he is a pure bureaucrat - the main characteristic of a bureaucrat is to obey the leadership and evade responsibility. Zhuge Xu perfectly embodies these two points.

However, in such a bureaucratic system, sometimes it is not enough to make the top leader comfortable.

"Phew!" Twenty miles north of the Sword Pavilion, in the military tent of Cao Wei's army, the bell sitting on the main seat would slam the table hard!

"Zhuge Xu! Thou art convicted?! ”

"General Zhenxi? What is the crime of the lower officials? ”

"Humph! You occupied the bridgehead more than half a month before Jiang Wei returned to the division. At that time, Baishui Pass, Sword Pavilion and other key points were undefended at all! Why don't you just move south and seize these levels? ”

It can be said that among the generals of Cao Wei now, Zhong Hui is the most proud, but Zhong Hui is also the most stressed.

I have been sitting in front of the Sword Master for a month, and I don't see any hope of breaking the Sword Pavilion at all. Jiang Wei and others guarded this place impenetrable, and the combat effectiveness of the Shu Han army, especially its mobile corps, was indeed breathtaking. In the past month, Cao Wei's army attacked seven or eight times on a small scale, and there were two strong attacks on a scale of more than 50,000 people, but each time there was no hope at all except for the loss of troops and generals. Nearly 100,000 troops sit here, and the amount of grain and grass consumed every day is an astronomical amount. Du Zhen, who was sitting in Chang'an, had written many times to warn: If there is no breakthrough in the war situation within two months, it is necessary to consider the matter of withdrawing troops.

Zhong Hui did not think of expanding the front to the east and west. Tian Zhang, under his command, led a detachment of 10,000 people and walked seventy or eighty miles to the northwest, even breaking the ten captains of Shu Han. But the further west you go, the more precipitous the terrain becomes, and the more difficult it is to transport grain. In the end, Tian Zhang reluctantly said: Unless the detachment of this side brings tens of thousands of people at one time and moves 200,000 stones of grain and grass at one time, it will not be able to continue fighting.

Hearing such a report, how could Zhong Hui not be angry in his heart: "If you hadn't failed to seize the Sword Pavilion in time, Ben Jiang would have been lying on CD by now!" After years of planning and ruining it, you still ask where your sin is? It is clear that sin deserves death! ”

When Zhuge Xu heard Zhong Hui speak like this, he suddenly became angry: "Zhong Shiji, don't spew blood there!" The officer received an order from the general to take the bridge and intercept the ......."

"Hmph, why don't you say it? If you don't say it, Ben will say it for you. It's to block Jiang Weidong's return! But where is Jiang Wei now? Right in front, right in the Sword Pavilion. Blocked the only passage for my army to go south! ”

Looking at Zhuge Xu, who bowed his head and was silent, Zhong Hui sneered: "You are an important minister of the imperial court, although there will be a fake festival, but you can't be directly punished." Come on, strip them off their official clothes, put them in the prisoner car, and escort them to Luoyang! ”

"Hey, I regret not listening to Deng Shizai's words! Zhong Shiji, you framed Zhongliang like this, you will not die a good death! ”

"Humph! Ben will do things with a clear conscience. By the way, your 30,000 Yongzhou troops...... Well, Tian Zhang, Pang Hui, Xiahou Xian, and the other three went to take it well. ”

"Thank you, General Zhenxi. We will not live up to the trust of the general. ”

Successfully annexed Zhuge Xu's troops, Zhong Huizhi proudly ushered in Deng Ai's visit.