Yang Yi retreated in frustration, and the smile on Zhuge Liang's face slowly faded, turning into a sorrow that could not be dissolved. He sat silently in front of the case, looking at the two military reports on the case, and the frustration in his heart was no less lighter than Yang Yi's.

Both are defeats, two different kinds of defeats, one is a defeat to an external enemy, and the other is a loss to an internal opponent. Ma Tan's defeat not only meant that the strategic goal of encircling and annihilating Zhang He had been fully realized, and the dust of the Battle of Longyou had been settled, but also forced him to a dead end, so he could only accept Wei Ba's suggestion and retreat to Guanzhong, taking Guanzhong as the only result of this war.

What embarrassed Zhuge Liang was that this was originally the content of Wei Ba's Meridian Valley strategy, and it was also the content that was later suggested to Lang. He rejected these two proposals one after another, and now he was forced by the situation to support this proposal and admit his mistakes.

Admitting his mistakes is not an easy task, but what makes Zhuge Liang uncomfortable is not only the loss of face, but the major setbacks of years of hard work.

Ma Tan was defeated, and his efforts to support the Jingxiang family were frustrated. Wei Ba's father and son became the first contributors to the Northern Expedition, and his efforts to centralize power faced major challenges.

Ma Tan, Ma Tan, do you know how serious the consequences of this are? You are my most important comrade-in-arms, and now you have pushed me to the brink of despair.

The more Zhuge Liang thought about it, the more angry he became, and his heart and lungs hurt.

Huo Yi stood aside, looking at Zhuge Liang's red eyes, looking at his somewhat distorted face, and sighed secretly. As the prime minister's secretary, he understands the stakes too well. But he couldn't comfort Zhuge Liang, such a thing can only be decided by Zhuge Liang himself, and such humiliation can only be borne by Zhuge Liang himself.

"Shaoxian. Proposed Order. Zhuge Liang said in a hoarse voice.

"Whoa." Huo Yi responded, hurriedly spread out the pen and paper, and listened carefully.

Zhuge Liang's voice was not loud. But the words were clear, Huo Yi listened to two sentences, but his face changed. He stopped the pen in his hand and stood up in surprise: "Prime Minister." Cannot! ”

"What's not to do." Zhuge Liang smiled bitterly, stretched out his broad palm, and gently pressed it. motioned for Huo Yi to sit down. "So far, focusing on the overall situation, whether it is the father and son of the Wei family, or the Hanzhong family, we can only talk about it later."

Huo Yi was stunned for a long time and sighed gloomily.

……

Xiang Lang looked at the military newspaper in his hand, shocked and inexplicable. I didn't come back to my senses for a long time. The originally ruddy face turned pale. Seeing that his expression was wrong, Hu Ji hurriedly snatched the military newspaper from his hand, quickly glanced at it, and as soon as he saw half of it, his face became even more ugly than Xiang Lang's.

"Xiangyang Ma family. Finished. Xiang Lang was suddenly furious, slapped his palm on the bookcase, and with a loud "snap", the pen and ink on the case jumped up and fell to the ground with an uproar. His face was pale, and he gritted his teeth and said: "This vertical man is young and frivolous, and he doesn't know how to advance or retreat. Speaking of the head, it's the way, now it's good, you can't see people in life, you can't see corpses in death, God knows where you die, and there is no place to bury you. ”

Xiang Lang roared angrily: "He should die, he should die!" ”

Hu Ji was dumbfounded. Xiang Lang is generous and rarely gets angry with others, and it is the first time he has seen Xiang Lang so loudly and angrily, and it is Ma Jian who he usually admires the most. The Ma family brothers treat Xiang Lang like an elder, and the Ma family brothers treat Xiang Lang like a child, and it has never happened for him to scold Ma Jian like this.

"Xiang Gong, victory and defeat are common things in soldiers......"

"Victory and defeat are common in soldiers, but they are not easy to ignore. How many times have I told him, the soldiers are in danger, the soldiers are in danger, he is just perfunctory, how can he really listen to me? Xiang Lang glared at Hu Ji angrily, as if Hu Ji was the disobedient Ma Yan. He can be defeated, but he can't be missing, the general who led the troops to fight left his subordinates and fled, how can he still command in the army in the future, and who else will look up to him? ”

Xiang Lang's roar fell back in the big tent, shaking people's eardrums. Not only did the guards look like dirt, but even Hu Ji didn't dare to intervene. He knew that Xiang Lang was so angry, Ma Jian was defeated, and he escaped, it was not only his personal matter, nor was it just about the face of Jingxiang people, Xiang Lang considered that the Xiangyang Ma family would never have a chance to turn over again.

The Ma family is five constants, and the white eyebrows are the best. Ma Liang died in the battle of Liu Bei's Eastern Expedition, and the hope of the Ma family fell on Ma Yan. Ma Tan has become a general with Zhuge Liang's weapons, leading the troops to fight, and is expected to make meritorious contributions. This would have been a good thing. But Ma Jian was defeated, not only defeated, but also left his subordinates and fled. What good is such a person if he comes back alive? Do you still want to lead troops into battle in the future? As a scholar, his reputation is stinky, and he will be a bunch of shit that he doesn't pay attention to in the future, and the Ma family's hope of re-emerging by him is completely shattered.

Xiang Lang, who has a deep friendship with the Ma family and has high expectations for Ma Yan, how can he not be angry?

Xiang Lang roared for a while, and the old tears were all over the place, and he couldn't cry.

Hu Ji took the order in his hand and looked sad. The grain was robbed, Zhang He ran away again, and Zhuge Liang is now in a dilemma. Jin, can only force the Wei army to burn the batch of grain and grass, but it is impossible to take it back. retreated, he could only accept Wei Ba's alms and retreat to Guanzhong. He had already expressed this attitude by asking Xiang Lang to cooperate with Wei Ba in the order. It stands to reason that Xiang Lang is a long history, and Wei Ba is just a member of the army, and if he cooperates with the battle, it should be Wei Ba who cooperates with Xiang Lang. Now in reverse, let Xiang Lang cooperate with Wei Ba, indicating that Zhuge Liang has tacitly agreed that Wei Ba is a winner in this internal battle.

At least a temporary winner.

Hu Ji hesitated and said to Xiang Lang: "Xiang Gong, this military order ......"

"Nope." Xiang Lang interrupted Hu Ji's words undoubtedly, and he glanced at Hu Ji: "We want to enter the customs, do we want Wei Ba to agree?" I will go, and I will go. If you want to cooperate with the battle, it should also be him to cooperate with the Prime Minister's Mansion to fight, how can the Prime Minister's Mansion cooperate with him to fight? ”

Hu Ji smiled bitterly: "But the prime minister's military order is here......"

"It's a mess, it's not in order, it's not enforceable." Xiang Lang raised his head and muttered for a moment: "This is the order given to me by the prime minister, and only you and I know it." As for Wei Ba, I will give him an order in the capacity of Prime Minister Changshi and order him to fight with me. ”

Hu Ji frowned slightly. He knew that Xiang Lang had good intentions and couldn't let Zhuge Liang lose face, so he had to emphasize the dignity of his identity and let Wei Ba cooperate with him in the battle. But he was very worried, if Wei Ba was not satisfied and was passive and sluggish, what would he do? Capturing Shangqi is the only result that Zhuge Liang can strive for at present.

"Weidu, don't worry, let's send a message to Wei Ba first and see what his reaction is." Xiang Lang glanced at Hu Ji and comforted: "You have to understand that it's not just us who is anxious now, Wei Ba is also anxious. Without the prime minister's army, it would not be easy for him to hold Guanzhong. If he can't even see through this, how could he come from Chang'an? ”

Hu Ji nodded and agreed with Xiang Lang's analysis.

"Anyway, when the prime minister retreated to Guanzhong, he just bowed his head. But the prime minister is the prime minister after all, and he can't help but save a little face. Wei Ba is a young man, and he is a member of the Prime Minister's Mansion, so he should be wronged. I believe that he has gained the benefit and will not dwell on this false name again. If you don't even know this in general, you will be a scourge in the future. ”

Hu Ji smiled bitterly. He knew very well that this was the only bit of face that Xiang Lang could fight for Zhuge Liang.

Xiang Lang persuaded Hu Ji and immediately ordered Wei Ba and Zhao Guang to cooperate with him in the battle in the capacity of the prime minister's governor, with the purpose of capturing Shangqi. He didn't say a word about Ma Tan.

The military order quickly reached Wei Ba's hands, Wei Ba read the order, played with it for a long time, and smiled at Zhao Guang: "Senior brother, look at it, is there any meaning in this?" ”

Zhao Guang took it and looked at it, thought about it carefully, shook his head and said, "I don't see any deep meaning." He asked rhetorically, "Why, do you see the problem?" ”

"Hmm." Wei Ba nodded and slowly stood up: "The battle in Mumen, I'm afraid it's not ideal, maybe...... We've seen it. ”

"You mean, Prime Minister...... Defeated? ”

"Maybe it's the prime minister, maybe it's Ma Tan, comparing the strength of the two, Ma Tan is more likely to lose." Wei Ba analyzed softly. When tactical deduction was first invented, Zhao Guang was a participant, and in the past two days, they often discussed the battle situation, although they did not necessarily set up a position, but their thinking was still the thinking of deducing tactics. After doing the math, Zhuge Liang's success rate of trying to block Zhang He with two-way foot soldiers is still not high. In comparison, Zhuge Liang has a main force of 30,000, as well as cavalry, and the road is much closer, Ma Jian only has 20,000, and he runs for 300 miles, and there will probably be no less people who fall behind halfway. Coupled with the difference in experience between the generals of the two sides, Zhang He is likely to choose Ma Jian as the breakthrough point.

Judging from the time, Zhuge Liang and Ma Tan should have rushed to the wooden gate, whether it was blocked or not, it should have been decided by now, and Xiang Lang's order did not mention the battle of the wooden gate, there was only one possibility: Zhuge Liang's Jihua failed.

After listening to Wei Ba's analysis, Zhao Guang raised his eyebrows, looked at Xiang Lang's order and pouted: "If this is the case, then capturing Shangqi is the only visible result for them, why is he still so strong?" Want to bully our two juniors with seniority and status? ”

Wei Ba smiled silently. If his guess is correct, then Xiang Lang's intention is very obvious, it is nothing more than to try his attitude and save a little face for the Prime Minister's Mansion as much as possible. Zhuge Liang agreed to retreat to Guanzhong, and the first merit of the Northern Expedition has already fallen into the bag, so why care about such a little fame. After all, they are all Jingxiang people, and it is not beneficial for anyone to fall out, and political struggle cannot be aimed at losing both, and when it is time to give in, it is still necessary to give way.

"Senior brother, after all, he is an old man and a prime minister, how can he cooperate with our two juniors to fight?" Wei Ba Wen persuaded him: "No matter who cooperates with whom, we will all have merit in winning this battle anyway." ”

Zhao Guang smiled: "I also have merit?" ”

"Of course there is merit." Wei Ba smiled: "Am I the kind of person who crosses the river and demolishes the bridge?" Senior brother, when I practiced boxing, you helped me dismantle my hands, and you also had to help me in this cavalry battle. ”

Zhao Guang opened his arms: "Dare not obey your fate." ”

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The fifth chapter of debt repayment is one chapter away. (To be continued.) )