In 262 AD (the fifth year of Jingyao of Shu Han, the third year of Jingyuan of Cao Wei, and the fifth year of Yong'an of Eastern Wu), the first month. After four and a half years of recuperation, Jiang Wei, the general of Shu Han, sent troops to the Northern Expedition again.

This Northern Expedition, on the one hand, is the material accumulated by Shu Han for four years, and on the other hand, it is the factor of traversers, and the national strength of Shu Han has been enhanced to a certain extent compared with the historical plane. Therefore, Jiang Wei dispatched a full 40,000 troops this time.

This time in the Northern Expedition, Jiang Wei set off from Yinping County, bypassed Cao Wei's Qishan camp, and went straight to Taoyang. Deng Ai led the main force of the Yongzhou Army to fight with Jiang Wei in Houhe and was unwinnable. So Deng Ai led the Wei army to retreat into Taoyang City, and fixed the income according to the city.

In the past, Shu Han and Cao Wei fought, no matter how badly Cao Wei was beaten in the field, there was always the ultimate move: Turtle Flow - Shu Han was weak and could not withstand long-term attrition. At the same time, the Shu road is difficult, and it is extremely inconvenient to transport grain. Therefore, if the field battle cannot be won, Cao Wei's generals only need to find a fortified city and hide inside, and the rest can sit and watch Zhuge Liang or Jiang Wei retreat.

But this time is different, Jiang Wei has been cultivating for four years for this Northern Expedition, in addition to asking the Shu Han Imperial Court to work hard to transfer grain to the northern line in the past four years, Jiang Wei has also carried out tuntian in this place, plus the help of traversers. So this time, Jiang Wei himself was ready to fight a war of attrition. Therefore, Deng Ai was besieged in Taoyang City for three months this time and could not move, if he continued to sit still like this, Deng Ai would be the first to eat up the food. As soon as Taoyang is broken, Longxi is close at hand......

But...... In October of this year, the Shu Han Dynasty in the rear CD set off a stormy wave against Jiang Wei.

General Wei, Shang Shu Servant Shooting, Counselor Shang Shu Shi Zhuge Zhan looked up, Shang Shu Ling Fan Jian, Shang Shu Servant shot Pang Hong, Right General Yan Yu, Guanglu Doctor Chen Zhou...... At the same time, he wrote to Emperor Liu Chan to impeach the general Jiang Wei for years of the Northern Expedition, wasting national strength. Ask His Majesty the Emperor to remove General Jiang Wei and Liangzhou Thorn Shi from his position, replace him with Yizhou Thorn Shi, and let him stay in CD in the future.

This wave came too suddenly, and the momentum was too fierce - whether it was the Jingzhou faction, the Yizhou faction, or the Dongzhou faction, almost all of them participated. Liu Chan was shocked to find that the Northern Expedition in Shu Han had reached the point of collective disgust and hatred for the Northern Expedition year after year.

With such a huge pressure, even Huang Hao couldn't withstand it. And he doesn't like Jiang Wei, who has always been birding himself. So at this time, Huang Hao abandoned his promise to Chen Yuan back then, and also jumped out and stepped on Jiang Wei: Your Majesty, Jiang Wei is already a traitor, why bother to protect him? It's better to do what the courtiers want. As for who will defend against the pseudo-Wei after Jiang Wei? Isn't there still the right general Yan Yu? Wouldn't it be nice if we got rid of the word "right"?

Finally, Liu Chan could not resist the unanimous anti-war voice of the whole country. In the end, Jiang Wei was ordered to withdraw his troops.

A person who has been fighting for a goal for decades is about to succeed. At this time, he was suddenly attacked by his teammates behind him, resulting in failure. Jiang Wei's mood can certainly be imagined.

Jiang Wei, who returned to the CD, went to see Liu Chan in a menacing manner, and asked Liu Chan to kill Huang Hao very irrationally - Your Majesty, I am very angry now. You're going to give me an account! In this way, isn't it the dog that Huang Hao wants him to raise, Yan Yu, to replace me? Please do Huang Hao! Let everyone stop thinking about it.

Huang Hao is such a good dog, how can Liu Chan be willing to kill it? However, the emperor of the Liu family generally does not face to face his courtiers, so he just said lightly: How much ability does a eunuch have to cause chaos in the court? General, you think too much.

This is the emperor's statement: I will not deal with any people who oppose you, what is my attitude towards you, you understand?

Jiang Wei is not a political idiot, of course he understands. So he also made his own reaction: I will not hand over military power. Since you don't want to see me like this, then I'll go to Yinping County and continue to Tuntian!

After all, the most elite mobile corps in Shu Han has been in Jiang Wei's hands for more than ten years, and the generals from top to bottom are all staunch Northern Expedition factions. Therefore, the Shu Han government could not push Jiang Wei too much at this time, so the politicians used a soft knife and successively transferred Liu Yin, a member of the army under Jiang Wei, Fu Jian, Jiang Shu and others to serve in Hanzhong. In the plans of the CD politicians, the next step is to gradually rotate the officers of the mobile corps one by one - the middle and low-ranking officers have been replaced, can you still effectively control the troops as a commander?

It's a pity that Sima Zhao made a move at this time.

One day in the first month of the year 263, early in the morning, Sima Zhao, the general of Cao Wei, got up.

The maid quickly handed him toothpaste, a toothbrush, and a washbasin. Sima Zhao began to brush his teeth with a light car.

But! Suddenly, he felt his chest tighten, and his whole heart felt like it was wrapped in a rope. He gasped for air, hoping to make the feeling of death pass as soon as possible, but his body did not obey his brain's commands. Gradually, he only felt dizzy and weak, and then, his struggle finally turned to nothing, his eyes widened, and he passed out in an instant.

After a long time, when he opened his eyes again, he saw the worried but calm eyes of his original wife Wang Yuanji.

"Son, what's wrong with you? This is the third time in the last six months. ”

Sima Zhao sat up with Wang Yuanji's support, his eyes rolled slightly, in addition to Wang Yuanji, there was also his eldest son Sima Yan in the room. There is no one else.

"It's okay, it's just that life is almost up. Nothing to fuss about. ”

Wang Yuanji nodded indifferently when he heard Sima Zhao's words, but the twenty-seven-year-old Sima Yan was terrified all of a sudden: "Father! ”

Sima Zhao stretched out a finger, stopped Sima Yan's words, and then said to Wang Yuanji: "What about the peach charm, go and call him over." ”

The so-called peach charm refers to Sima Zhao and Wang Yuanji's second son, Sima You. He was only fifteen years old this year, and he had not yet been crowned. This child's personality is completely different from that of his resolute elder brother - knowledgeable, gentle, intelligent, studious, and approachable. Since he was a child, he has been deeply loved by the elders of the Sima family.

"The child visits his uncle, his aunt, and his brother."

That's right, Sima You just called Sima Zhao his uncle - Sima Zhao's eldest brother Sima Shi had no children. Therefore, Sima You was passed on to Sima Shi. Once this succession procedure is completed, Sima You can only call Sima Shi his father and Sima Zhao his uncle.

It is precisely because of this that Sima Yan does not have a title now, but Sima You, who is 12 years younger than him, has the title of county marquis - Marquis of Wuyang. This is Sima Yi's title, which was inherited by Sima Shi, and then passed on to Sima You.

"Alright, everyone's here. What I want to say for my father is that the kind of thing just now when he suddenly fainted with a tightness in his chest has been the third time since July last year. Not only that, but in recent days, the father has often had a splitting headache and misery. All in all, the time of the Father in this world is short......"

"Father!" "Uncle!"

"Don't speak, listen to me." Sima Zhao stopped the words of his two sons again and continued: "My Sima family has had no turning back since your grandfather killed Cao Shuang. Either succeed on behalf of Wei, or copy all over the house. Outside of the two, there is no third way. And if you want to replace Wei, you must have military merits. And this military merit must be destroyed Wu or Shu in order to be able to do it, in order to be used as the basis for my Sima family to be crowned king, and to block the mouth of the world. ”

"But Eastern Wu has the danger of the river, and Western Shu has the solid danger of serious danger. For decades, Cao Zhen, Cao Shuang, and your grandfather, including your father, have all planted their heads in front of Xishu. Xiahou Shang and Cao Xiu also hit their heads and bled in front of Dongwu...... The father originally wanted to wait a few more years to see if he could win a small battle and get the duke in his hands first. Then continue to have a good relationship with other families, hoping to be a logical king...... As long as the prince is in hand, the rest will be easy to handle. Pity...... It's a pity that the life span of a father is short, and he can't wait that long. My Sima family has been in control of the power of the Wei State for two generations and three people, and we can't let this situation of powerful ministers controlling the government continue to the third generation...... The longer it takes, the more likely it is to end up failing. Therefore, we can only take some risks and go to cut down Shu or Wu. ”

"If you send troops this time, you can destroy one of the countries of Shu or Wu, and it is natural to be crowned a prince and a king. If you are defeated and come back...... Think about what happened when Cao Shuang was defeated by Wang Zijun in the Battle of Xingshi and returned to the court......"

What else could be the matter? Cao Shuang's prestige after the defeat of the war was lost, and soon after there was a coup d'état in Gaopingling, and Cao Shuang was wiped out by the three clans. Thinking of this, both Sima Yan and Sima You couldn't help but tremble all over.

"The Father will do his best to do what is to be done for you before he is alive. Try not to get blood on your hands. But if this attack on Shu or Wu fails, or if his father dies of illness in the process of conquest...... You ......." Speaking of this, Sima Zhao's eyes became fierce: "At that time, the Sima family will only rely on your brothers to protect it!" At that time, you will only have to kill! ”