Zhuge Liang was tired.

It has been three years since the preparation of this Northern Expedition began, and it has been almost half a year since the troops were dispatched from Hanzhong. In the past six months, he has not slept normally, and he has stayed up all night countless times, and it is even more common for him to lie down in clothes. Because from the beginning of the army, all kinds of unexpected things have continued to appear, and the expected victory has always been so far away, even more and more distant, until now, Ma Tan's whereabouts are unknown.

Ma Tan's failure made him sad, disappointed, and frustrated him more than his own.

Zhuge Liang and the Ma brothers have a long friendship.

Thirty years ago, Zhuge Liang and his younger brother Zhuge Jun followed their uncle Zhuge Xuan to Jingzhou and took refuge with Liu Biao, who was the pastor of Jingzhou at that time. Since then, Zhuge Liang has had dealings with the local wealthy people in Jingxiang, and his friendship with the Ma brothers has also started at that time. When I first met Ma Tan, Ma Jian was only in his teens, and he was still a beautiful young man.

Zhuge Liang is nine years older than Ma Tan, and three or four years older than Ma Liang, the best white-eyed Ma Liang in the Ma family's five constants, Ma Liang has always regarded Zhuge Liang as a brother, and Ma Jian has regarded Zhuge Liang as a father and brother. Similarly, Zhuge Liang also regarded Ma Liang and Ma Jian as brothers. After Ma Liangzhan died, Zhuge Liang took the initiative to assume the responsibility of a father and brother, although Ma Jian was already close to standing at that time.

Ma Jian is his confidant, his brainchild, his sibling, and the first person he thinks of in times of difficulty. To some extent, Ma Jian is more important than Zhuge Qiao and understands his mind better.

His trust in Ma Jian has caused a lot of criticism, which he knows. But he insisted that Ma Jian was talented, and that he was just missing an opportunity. The reason why there has been no chance is only because the first emperor Liu Bei thought that he was flashy and could not be used.

Just like there are many issues, Zhuge Liang has a different view from Liu Bei, such as fighting for Jiangnan. For example, the crusade against Soochow, such as the evaluation of Ma Tan. However, Zhuge Liang never argued with Liu Bei. He just waited silently, waiting for the facts to prove himself right.

fought for Jiangnan, Jiangnan lost half of it, and the alliance with Jiangdong broke down. directly led to Guan Yu's Northern Expedition, Sun Quan stabbed Guan Yu in the back. The whole country attacked Wu and fought Yiling. After a complete defeat, Liu Bei returned to Chengdu without shame and died of illness in Yong'an, pushing the newly born Shu Han regime to the most dangerous edge.

However, it also gave him a chance to truly take on the power and prove himself.

Since the auxiliary government, Zhuge Liang has been dreaming of prosperity all night. Everything must be done personally, with his extraordinary energy and talent, he repaired the Yizhou left by Liu Bei. It only took him three years to basically restore the people's livelihood and build a new country for three years. He sent troops in large numbers, swept away the southern barbarians, and prepared for the Northern Expedition. In the fifth year of Jianxing, he gathered an army of 100,000 and stationed in Hanzhong, which will once again prove that he is as outstanding in military affairs.

Among them, there is the credit of Ma Tan. He also has high hopes for Ma Tan, not only hoping that Ma Jian can become his right-hand man in governance, but also hopes that Ma Jian can fight side by side with him, take charge of himself, make meritorious achievements, and silence those who question them. He hoped to take this opportunity to prove their talents, prove his correctness, and prove that Liu Bei had seen the wrong person with his irreproachable military exploits.

It's a pity that from the beginning of Hanzhong, the Northern Expedition was not so smooth. The stubbornness of Wei Yan and Wei Ba's father and son caused contradictions within the Jingxiang family that he relied on, and made him see the danger of splitting. In order to appease the Wei family father and son, he had to modify the combat jihua, postpone the division, turn the unfavorable factor into a favorable factor, and create a more haode fighter. With Sun Quan attacking in the front, and Wei Ba's father and son guarding Guanzhong behind, the difficulty of his capture of Longyou was greatly reduced. As soon as the battle flag appeared in Longyou, Tianshui and Nan'an surrendered, and then, Anding surrendered, Ma Tan conquered Xiangwu and pacified Longxi, and the entire Longyou became his bag, leaving only Shangtai and a city still lingering.

If it weren't for Zhang He's sudden appearance in Longyou, it would have been easy to conquer Shangqi after several months of siege. The Northern Expedition will be a complete success, and he will use this victory to prove himself right.

However, all of this has just taken a turn for the worse with the arrival of Zhang He.

Zhang He rushed to the wooden door and pushed him into a dilemma. If you persist, you can only transport grain from Hanzhong for the third time, and retreating will mean the complete failure of the Northern Expedition.

In this case, he took a risk and set up Jihua who used the grain and grass of the wooden door as bait to lure Zhang He. Everything went well, and Ma Jian arrived at the wooden gate in time to block Zhang He's retreat. Seeing that in half a day, they would be able to block Zhang He at the wooden gate, kill this Cao Wei's five good generals, defeat the hope of the Longyou Wei army, and add a heavy credit to the Northern Expedition.

However, this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity slipped through Ma Yan's fingers.

Because of Ma Tan's sloppiness, Zhang He rushed out of the encirclement, and he himself fled, which not only destroyed his Jihua who surrounded Zhang He, but also pushed him into a difficult situation.

The most trusted confidant, the general who has always had high hopes, the Ma Jian who talks about the army and is all exquisite, actually became a deserter?

Zhuge Liang still can't accept this reality, and he begins to hope to find Ma Yan's body. For Ma Yan, dying on the battlefield is the most haode result.

He had not received any news about Ma Tan's whereabouts, and he even wished he would never hear about him. He couldn't face this humiliating truth.

Because of Ma Yan, he will face doubts from the government and the opposition.

Because of Ma Yan, Zhang He ran away and used the speed of the cavalry to blitz Shangqi again.

Because of Ma Yan, he could not return to help in time, and now he can only lead the main force as a separate unit as the prime minister, and strive for the opportunity for Xiang Lang and Wei Ba to seize Shangqi.

For this reason, he could not sleep at night.

Although a thousand were reluctant, Zhuge Liang still made the most appropriate arrangement. He ordered Gao Shen and Chen Shi to lead 10,000 foot soldiers to attack Mumen with Wang Ping, Huang Xi and others, and strive to recapture the grain and grass. He personally led 20,000 horsemen back to Shangqi and galloped to the aid of Xiang Lang.

Now, he first has to break through Xiahou Ru's blockade.

Although this is only a battle on a local battlefield, a battle to accompany Xiang Lang and Wei Ba, Zhuge Liang attaches the same importance and is as meticulous. Although he didn't like this situation very much, he knew that if he couldn't get to Shangtai City in time, even if Wei Ba's attack was successful, he might not be able to hold Shangqi.

To truly defeat Zhang He, it was far from enough to rely on Xiang Lang's 10,000 foot soldiers and Wei Ba's more than 2,000 cavalry, they needed the 20,000 foot soldiers he led. Only by rushing to Shangyou in time can they truly occupy Shangti, so that the Longyou battlefield of the Northern Expedition will not be nothing, and can they lay a solid foundation for taking Longyou in the future.

For the sake of the overall situation, Zhuge Liang didn't want to see the disobedient Liliang of the Wei family's father and son become stronger, but he had to cooperate with Wei Ba for the sake of the overall situation.

This is his pain, but also his helplessness.

And all of this is because of Ma Yan.

Zhuge Liang looked at the foot soldiers who were suppressed by the Wei army's crossbowmen and could not advance under the hillside, his eyes narrowed slightly, and the hand in his sleeve was pinched painfully.

"Crossbowman, take cover!"

"Whoa." Liao Hua answered and passed the order on.

Two thousand crossbowmen, under the cover of shield men, rushed to the front of the formation and began to fire on the hillside.

The dense rain of arrows attracted the crossbowmen on the hillside, and the rain of arrows fired at the charging infantry began to thin out, and the infantry soldiers got up again and attacked the Wei position on the hillside.

At the same time, the Qiang soldiers on the slopes of the mountains on both sides also condescended and began to attack the two flanks of the Wei army. These Qiang soldiers, who are accustomed to running in the mountains, jump between the mountains and rocks, like dexterous mountain apes. The rudimentary bamboo bows in their hands also exerted incredible lethality, and the Wei army was embarrassed. Those bamboo arrows were coated with all kinds of strange poisons, and once they were hit, they were paralyzed and unable to move, or they died on the spot. The Wei army almost had no experience in fighting these Qiang soldiers, and as soon as they came into contact, the position was chaotic.

The flag of the Wei army was constantly swinging, showing the panic of the Wei army's commander.

Zhuge Liang looked at the flag, not knowing which one of the Xiahou family it was. There are two branches of the Xiahou family, Xiahou Yuan has a waste like Xiahou Mao, but Xiahou Yuan has some ability. However, no matter which lineage this Xiahou came from, Zhuge Liang was confident enough to defeat him.

Under the command of Zhuge Liang, the left, middle and right three roads came out together, using the climbing ability of the Qiang soldiers, taking advantage of the strong bow and crossbow advantage of the Shu Han army, they quickly approached Xiahou Ru's position, but after a meal, they forced to Xiahou Ru fifty steps in front of him, and there was a great tendency to encircle.

Xiahou Ru couldn't hold on to him, he roared hoarsely behind the shield of his personal guards, and drove all the soldiers around him to the front of the battle, holding on for as long as possible.

It's a pity that his efforts are obviously so weak and powerless in the face of Zhuge Liang's step-by-step pressing. Although the Wei army was very tenacious, under the three-sided attack of the Shu army, and under the seemingly tireless shooting of the Shu Han army, his position was still shrinking.

"General, let's go, we can't hold on." The guard blushed and shouted.

Xiahou Ru looked at the clearly recognizable tattoos on the faces of those Qiang soldiers ten steps away, looked at the fierce expressions of those Qiang soldiers, and listened to their beastly howls, he couldn't help but shudder, and secretly said sorry to Zhang He.

"Withdraw!"

The three hundred guards were divided into two parts, one part was broken, and the other part hugged Xiahou Ru, hurriedly jumped on the war horse, and galloped away.

The Wei army immediately collapsed, scattered like birds and beasts. Some are kneeling in surrender, others are turning around and running.

The Shu army swarmed forward and quickly pushed away the barricades.

Zhuge Liang waved his hand: "Order Ma Dai to pursue!" ”

Ma Dai, who had been waiting for a long time, raised his arms and shouted, and the war horse began to run. (To be continued.) )