Seeing Qin Lang and Tian Yu, Sima Yi wanted to cry without tears. It was such a coincidence, if he hadn't been in a hurry to get to Fancheng, he would have been able to join the cavalry as long as he had to wait a day. If it weren't for the Shu army's counterattack last night, but until today, these 20,000 iron cavalry would be able to rush to Fancheng in time, and at that time, no matter how good the Shu army was, it would only have to retreat. By mistake, it was just a one-day time difference, and he fell into a situation where he could never recover, and he returned with a miserable defeat.

This time it was even worse than the Battle of Fangling. Although the battle of Fangling was retreated, the troops were damaged and limited after all, and most of the main forces returned. This time, the 30,000 army died more than 10,000 in the battle under Fancheng, and countless were captured, and only 3,000 or 4,000 people fled back with him.

This is undoubtedly a fiasco, to some extent worse than Cao Xiu's defeat in Lujiang. Cao Xiu was more or less ambushed first, and his troops were less than the other party when he was fighting, but he was now 30,000 against 20,000, and the Shu army had been attacking the city for many days and was no longer sharp. In this case, he failed to relieve the siege of Fancheng, but was defeated and fled by the Shu army with fewer victories.

Sima Yi's mood was worse than a burnt beard, but he didn't say anything, while writing a petition to the emperor Bixia, while doing his job, marching to Fancheng with Qin Lang and Tian Yu, collecting the remnants of the army along the way. Looking at those exhausted, scarred, and demoralized soldiers, Sima Yi's mood also fell to the bottom.

Sima Yi was still very calm on the surface, and what he should do was done in an orderly manner. But in his heart, he began to doubt whether he could lead the army. In just one year, he was defeated by the same young man one after another, which can only be explained by fate. If the other party is a battle-hardened general, then it is fine, or someone like Lu Xun is fine, but now it is Wei Ba, a young man who has just been out of office for less than two years, Sima Yi really can't figure it out.

Just as he couldn't figure out how an arrow could shoot that far.

Sima Yi was puzzled by these giant crossbows that fell from the sky, he knew that such a giant crossbow had existed. It is recorded in the classics that there were once 20 or 30 stone crossbows. Just a 10-stone crossbow can't leave the capital, and how can a 20-stone or 30-stone crossbow appear in the army. Even if Wei Ba brought such a sharp weapon to the army, how did he transport it to the front of the battle?

Sima Yi was busy and found Ma Jun. Tell Ma Jun his doubts. Ask him if he can find the answer. Ma Jun thought about it for a long time. Promise to give it a try. He has some ideas, but they are not the truth, and they must be verified.

Sima Yi said to Ma Jun earnestly. You must solve this matter, otherwise, we will not dare to fight against Wei Ba in the future, the gap in this armament is too big, and we will suffer a lot."

……

Xinye, Cao Rui, the son of heaven who had just arrived, read Sima Yi's plea, his face was as cold as water, and he didn't speak for a long time. Sun Zi, who was accompanying him, was so nervous that he was sweating and didn't dare to say a word. As a Zhongshu order beside the Son of Heaven, Sima Yi's petition must go through his eyes. This news is so ominous, any reaction of the Son of Heaven at this moment, he feels that it is forgivable.

However, Cao Rui didn't get angry, let alone angry, he was calm as usual, but a green tendon in the corner of his eye kept writhing like an earthworm, making his delicate face look a little distorted.

Cao Rui raised his hand, covered his face, and slowly rubbed his sore eyebrows with his fingers, and after a long time, he let out a long breath.

"It seems that Uncle Huang is too worried." Cao Rui suddenly said without a beginning or an end.

Sun Zi understood, and he replied: "Bixia Shengming, this is originally the conjecture of the king of Dong'a. He is just resentful of his stay away from the court, hearsay, perfunctory, where to know the real situation. ”

Cao Rui's hand slid down, covering most of his face, revealing only two eyes: "Yanlong, Sima Yi was defeated by Wei Ba again, and the general was bedridden, who else can take on this heavy responsibility now?" ”

Sun Zi looked at Cao Rui cautiously and muttered for a moment: "Bixia, the minister thought that although the hussar general was defeated again, it was not that he was incompetent, but that Wei Ba had many strange skills and sharp weapons, and he was not the enemy of our army." At this time, it is unwise to compete with the Shu army for a short time. It is better to avoid the facts, attack its weakness, repel Lu Xun first, and relieve the siege of Xiangyang. If the Wu army retreats, it will be difficult for the Shu army to be alone. ”

Cao Rui was thoughtful. Just now, Sima Yi's petition proposed a giant arrow with a range of three or four hundred steps, and he was also a little puzzled, but he had already been mentally prepared for Wei Balai's mastery of machinery, and although he had doubts, he was not shocked. It's just that he can't help but worry when he thinks that the gap between the two sides in this regard has led to several unfavorable battles one after another.

Ma Jun is smart, but he is still slightly inferior to Wei Ba, and if Xiahou Hui has no information, Ma Jun will not be able to catch up with Wei Ba's progress. For the foreseeable future, the Wei army's ordnance will always be at a disadvantage.

The bigger problem is that Wei can't afford to drag it out. Since Cao Xiu's defeat in the southeast last year, more than a year of fighting has not only suffered heavy casualties and greatly damaged vitality, but also emptied the already inabundant warehouses of the Wei State. If the war drags on, there will inevitably be resentment in the country, and the barbarians on the frontier will also take advantage of the opportunity to cause trouble.

Cao Rui is really worried about internal and external troubles now, and the crown on his head is like a mountain, which makes him breathless. He felt like his bones were about to be crushed, and if he persisted, he could be crushed to the point of flesh and blood at any moment.

If he hadn't grown up by his grandfather's side since he was a child, and he had already seen his grandfather's tenacity in the face of internal and external troubles, he didn't know if he would be able to persevere now.

Cao Rui thought about it for a long time, but he still couldn't make up his mind. He sent someone to find Liu Ye and Jiang Ji to see what good plans they had.

After Liu Ye and Jiang Ji arrived, they were also shocked when they heard the news. Unlike others, they are very clear about Sima Yi's abilities. Especially Liu Ye, who once listened to orders under Cao Cao's account with Sima Yi, knew a lot about this colleague's scheming. Now that he heard that Sima Yi had been defeated by Wei Ba again, he frowned, thought for a while, and came to a conclusion.

This battle was not a mistake in Sima Yi's tactics, but the sharp armament of the Shu army, which was an unexpected defeat. This kind of thing can only have a temporary effect, if it is really invincible, why should they wait until now, it should have been used a long time ago. Now that we're on guard, what else can they do? Be careful and vigilant, and build the command station more firmly and farther away, so why talk about the tiger's color change.

As for attacking Xiangyang or Fancheng first, in fact, the two are one, and there is no order to talk about it. In the absence of a sailor, it is not easy to break through the Han River, so it is more prudent to take Fancheng first and repair the pontoon bridge. Fancheng is easy to gain and easy to lose, although the Shu army won, the losses are not small, if no more reinforcements arrive, they can't hold Fancheng. Recovering Fancheng and re-erecting the pontoon bridge, Xiangyang is naturally solid.

Jiang Ji also expressed a similar opinion to Liu Ye, believing that it would be safer to recapture Fancheng. After Cao Rui weighed it, he adopted their opinions and ordered Sima Yi and others to take Fancheng first, be careful and not repeat the mistakes of the past. At the same time, Chen Qun of Xuchang was ordered to lead a large army to Xiangyang.

……

When he received the edict, Sima Yi had already returned to Fancheng. Wu Yi entered the city, defended according to the city, and joined the sailors, attacking and retreating. Sima Yi's troops were insufficient, so he could only maintain pressure on Fancheng, but he could not attack the city.

Fancheng calmed down temporarily, but the flames of war ignited in Xiangyang on the other side.

The Shu army broke Sima Yi and conquered Fancheng, even if there was no episode of the Shu army humiliating the Wu army, the Wu army could not sit still. According to the agreement between the two sides before the war, the Shu army had already exceeded the task, creating favorable conditions for the Wu army to capture Xiangyang. If the Wu army does not attack the city in this case, it will not only be ridiculed by the Shu army, but the Wu people themselves will feel unreasonable.

In this case, Lu Xun did not wait for Wei Ba to go, he took the initiative to send someone to discuss with Wu Yi, and asked Wu Yi to give them those large siege equipment that had been used to attack Fancheng before to attack Xiangyang. Wu Yi readily agreed, and took the initiative to let Wei Ba go over to guide Wu Jun to repair.

At this moment, Wei Ba was in the Wu army camp. Of course, he didn't want to do the specific affairs, Lu Xun sent a lot of people to cooperate with him, he just had to move his mouth and give a few words. He also knew that Lu Xun did this because he wanted to learn his jishu, so there were some tricks he wouldn't say, just tell the other party how to do it, weishenme do this, you think for yourself, how much you can come up with, it all depends on your own talent.

There are two people who interface with him, one is Lu Lan next to Lu Xun, and the other is Zhang Zhao's nephew Zhang Fen. Lu Lan was a little bookish, and he didn't know much about Jishu, and many times he was watching from the side, keeping the drawings and being an escort. Zhang Fen knows a lot about machinery, and he himself has made siege vehicles before, but compared with the siege vehicles built by Wei Ba, it is far behind. In theory, he is worse than Wei Ba by more than one or two points.

However, this is not because Zhang Fen is stupid, but because he is self-taught, unlike Wei Ba, who has undergone a systematic basic education in natural sciences. On the contrary, Zhang Fen was very smart, and he vaguely felt that Wei Ba's strengths were in mathematics, especially in metaphysics.

"I don't know enough about metaphysics, so I can only know the design of joining the army, but I don't know why." Zhang Fen shook his head and said, "Maybe please ask Yu Gong, who is proficient in Yixiang, to come, he will understand more." ”

"Yu Gong, which Yu Gong?"

"Of course, it's Yu Zhongxiang Gong of the Yu family."

Yu flip? Wei Ba was shocked: "Where is he now?" ”

Zhang Fen looked around, lowered his voice, and said with a wry smile: "He is in Jiaozhou now." ”

Seeing Zhang Fen's strange expression, Wei Ba was stunned for a moment, and then he understood again, and couldn't help laughing secretly. Yu Chuan is a Jiangdong wang family, and he has been an important minister since the time of Sun Ce, and now he has been assigned to Jiaozhou, which shows that Sun Quan's internal peace is not very peaceful. It's not easy to be a leader, whether it's Zhuge Liang or Cao Rui, or Sun Quan, they are all anxious, if you want to say easy, it is the Adou Bixia who is the most relaxed, or how to say that people are the first blessed people in the Three Kingdoms. (To be continued.) For mobile phone users, please go to read. )

PS: Continue to ask for a monthly pass and work hard to return to the top six in the classification!