Zhuge Qiao was really afraid of Wei Ba, and didn't want to keep him by his side anymore, lest he cause anything more, so he simply let him take the captives back to Chuyang. Wei Ba didn't want to stay here anymore, so he escorted the grain to Elway, and when he returned, he left Fangling together.

Elk Wei said to Wei Ba with some schadenfreude: "How about it, you are running thousands of miles, regardless of life and death, Zuihou still has merit and demerits, just like us in Anyang, is there a loss?" ”

Wei Ba looked at the scenery on both sides of the strait and shrugged his shoulders: "Is there a difference between going around and returning to the same place, and staying where you are?" ”

Elway smiled: "There is a difference, that is, people who go around in circles are tired, and people who don't move in place are not tired." ”

"What you see is whether you are tired or not, but what I see is the scenery along the way." Wei Ba pointed to the mountains and forests on both sides of the strait and said with a smile: "The mountains here are high and the forests are deep, and it is really not an easy task to attack Hanzhong on the back." This is a personal experience, if you haven't been here, how can you know about it? ”

Elk Haha smiled. "I won't fight with you anymore. How about it, what are your plans after returning to Chuyang? ”

Wei Ba pondered for a long time: "I want to persuade the prime minister again, hoping that he will accept my suggestion." ”

Elk Wei sneered and did not comment.

"Don't worry, I won't bother you." Wei Ba patted Elk Wei's shoulder, "This matter has nothing to do with you so far. In case you make it successful, I will shake you out when the time comes. ”

"You think I'm scared?" Elk Wei squinted at Wei Ba, "I just think that you haven't figured out the prime minister's intentions yet, no matter how perfect your Jihua is, he won't agree." ”

Wei Ba was silent, he had to admit that Elk Wei had some truth in what he said.

……

Just as Wei Ba worried, Meng Da rebelled against Wei and returned to Han, Sima Yi came and went quickly, less than a month before and after, which far exceeded Zhuge Liang's expectations. The war in the three eastern counties was not as protracted as he expected, and there was no news of Jiangdong sending troops, which made Zhuge Liang hesitate.

The two measures previously arranged have failed, so does he still want to send troops to the Northern Expedition? If he sends troops, then he doesn't have any definite strategy now, only relying on his own liliang. If he doesn't send troops, how long will he have to wait in Hanzhong? If no troops are dispatched, the grain and grass prepared in the early stage will be consumed in vain, and it must be replenished from Chengdu again.

In a year in Hanzhong, not a single soldier has been out, but a lot of grain and grass has been consumed, how will he explain to those oppositionists?

Zhuge Liang had a headache, and after discussing it repeatedly with Ma Jian and others for a long time, he still couldn't make up his mind.

Wei Ba, who was on the way, didn't know that although Zhuge Liang and Ma Jian had always disagreed with his opinion, in fact, he had already left a deep impression on their hearts. The information gathered through different sources shows that several predictions made by Wei Ba about this war have so far been unbelievably hit.

Wei Ba said to Wei Yan: It is impossible for the prime minister to agree with his meridian valley jihua. Result: Hit!

Wei Ba said to Zhuge Qiao that Sima Yi probably did not wait for Luoyang's edict and sent troops to Fangling as quickly as possible, if he was not rescued, Meng Da might be defeated quickly, and the prime minister's Jihua could not become a reality. Result: Hit!

Wei Ba said to Ma Yan: Jiangdong will probably not take this plan seriously. Result: Koto has not made any moves so far, hit!

After three predictions hit in a row, Zhuge Liang and Ma Jian couldn't help but look at Wei Ba with admiration, and they couldn't re-examine their own Jihua. They are now not sure that Wei Ba's prediction about this war will be hit.

Wei Ba's military report once said that if he sent troops to Longyou, a temporary victory was possible, but in the long run, Shu Han would inevitably be dragged out of fatigue and defeated without a fight.

Zhuge Liang didn't believe that Wei Ba would be a last resort, but he had to admit that Wei Ba's analysis had a certain degree of reasonableness. Different from the method used by Ma Tan to convince Wei Ba, Wei Ba's tactical deduction is basically a hard indicator with no doubt, and there will be no major changes in a short period of time. Ma's idea, on the other hand, has more randomness. To put it mildly, it is not so much that Ma Tan defeated Wei Ba tactically, but that Ma Tan used the authority of the prime minister to seal Wei Ba's mouth.

This is a right, and it has nothing to do with jishu. You can use your power to silence Wei Ba, but the facts won't change because of this. Zhuge Liang knew this, so the idea of doubt was not transferred by his will, and naturally became his own thought. Although he is very rational to reject such thoughts, once he has this consideration in his heart, it is not so easy to exclude him.

The date of the Northern Expedition was repeatedly delayed, the New Year passed, and the first month of the sixth year of Jianxing was almost over. Until the end of the first month, Wei Ba returned to Chuyang, and Zhuge Liang still failed to make up his mind to send troops. The hesitation made Zhuge Liang uneasy, but what made Zhuge Liang even more uneasy was that he rushed to Wuchang to meet Sun Quan on his orders and explain the conflict between Wei Ba and Pan Zhang, and Zong sent back the news that so far, Wu had not shown any signs of sending troops to respond to his northern expedition.

This undoubtedly exacerbated Zhuge Liang's worries even more.

Wei Ba returned to Weiyang and saw that Zhuge Liang's camp was still at the foot of Yangping Mountain, and he was finally relieved. What he was most worried about was that Zhuge Liang was already on the road, so he didn't even have a chance to speak. Even if he catches up, will Zhuge Liang turn back halfway?

Wei Ba rushed to the Chinese army's tent as soon as possible, and asked to see him.

Zhuge Liang sat behind the desk, compared to a few months ago, he looked a little thinner, and there was a faint melancholy between his eyebrows.

"Prime Minister......" Wei Bagang shouted timidly, Zhuge Liang raised his head, glanced at him, and smiled. Ziyu, is your heart empty? ”

Wei Ba was embarrassed, he stammered and said, "Prime Minister, I ......"

"Don't say it. I already know all about you. Overall, although you were a little reckless at the time, it was understandable to make a mistake in that situation, and it was a good thing to be able to get out of it. ”

Wei Ba went against the tide and walked on the road for a month, but he didn't know how far the matter of Fang Ling had progressed, so he was always worried. Although there is no sign of increasing troops in Fangling, do you know if Zhuge Liang has already sent troops and has no troops to increase, so he can only let the situation in Fangling deteriorate? Now seeing Zhuge Liang's worried look, he was even more nervous.

"Zong Senjun has arrived in Wuchang and has a good conversation. We just need to compensate some money and appease Pan Zhang. Fangling is still guarded by Meng Da, but your brother Wei Feng will be his lieutenant, and after Zong returns from the army, he will also go to Fangling and serve as the general of the supervising army as the prime minister's mansion. ”

Zhuge Liang concisely told Wei Ba about the arrangement of Fang Ling. Wei Ba listened, and then he was completely relieved. Move more than half of Meng Da's subordinates, and then place Zong Pre and Wei Feng in Fangling, although Meng Da is still the chief general of Fangling, it is not so easy to make something happen. Compared to the population taken from Meng Da, the little money that accompanied Pan Zhang was nothing at all.

"The prime minister is strategic, and he is extremely clever."

Zhuge Liang was stunned for a moment, and then laughed. He got up and turned out from behind the case, turned his hands in his hands, turned to Wei Ba, stared at his eyes for a moment, and said with a smile: "Boy, do you want to be a clever minister?" I don't like that. ”

Wei Ba nodded awkwardly: "Follow the Prime Minister's teachings." ”

"Hmm. Although you have made some mistakes in this war in the three eastern counties, in general, it is still remarkable. Thank you for your hard work, go back and have a good rest, I will have more important tasks to hand over to you. ”

"Whoa." Wei Ba replied loudly: "That...... Prime Minister, I'll retire first? ”

"Wait." Zhuge Liang stopped him and thought for a moment: "Ziyu, I want to ask you, what do you think about the current situation?" ”

Wei Ba didn't react for a while, and looked at Zhuge Liang blankly. Zhuge Liang also looked at him, and the two stared at each other, and the atmosphere in the big tent was a little weird for a while. After a while, Wei Ba realized what Zhuge Liang meant. He lowered his head and thought for a long time, then he raised his head again and looked at Zhuge Liang seriously: "Prime Minister, my subordinates think that it is better to slow down than to rush." It doesn't matter if you take a long time to prepare, once you send troops, you will be off the line, but there is no room for recovery. ”

Zhuge Liang narrowed his eyes and bowed slightly. "I see, you can go back and rest first."

Wei Ba retired, and when he got out of the big tent, he remembered one thing. Zhuge Liang said that he wanted Meng Da, Wei Feng and Zong Pre to form a team, so what should Zhuge Qiao do? Could it be that he is also on his way back?

Wei Ba walked forward while thinking about his thoughts, and halfway through, he saw Peng Xiaoyu, the blue-faced beast maidservant who came to greet him. Although Peng Xiaoyu was wearing a servant girl costume, her face was full of happy smiles, if it weren't for outsiders watching, I was afraid that she would wave her hand and greet Wei Ba.

Although he still hated the blue spot, Wei Ba was still very happy to see his little maidservant, he walked up quickly, and said with a smile: "I haven't seen you for a few months, do you want to be a young master?" ”

Peng Xiaoyu blushed and giggled, but refused to speak. She followed two steps, and suddenly found that something was wrong: "Young master, where are you going?" ”

Wei Ba smiled: "I'll go to the prisoner camp and say goodbye to a friend." ”

"What friends are there in the camp?" Peng Xiaoyu said in his mouth, but he still obediently followed Wei Ba towards the prisoner camp.

Wei Ba went to the prisoner camp to see Jin Dongliu. The two walked all the way, no less bickering, now the situation is different, Wei Ba is the prime minister's mansion who returned from meritorious service to join the army, but Jin Dongliu is a captured Wei general, and it will be inconvenient for Wei Ba to come to see him in the future.

Seeing Wei Ba come to see him, Jin Dongliu was not very surprised, but when he saw Peng Xiaoyu beside Wei Ba, he was stunned for a moment, looked at Peng Xiaoyu intently, and didn't speak for a long time, exactly the same as when Wei Ba saw Peng Xiaoyu for the first time.

Wei Ba smiled: "I can't imagine that your taste is really different, can you also see that although my maid is not very good-looking, she is a very smart woman?" ”

Jin Dongliu came to his senses at this time, shook his head, glanced at Peng Xiaoyu again, and said with a smile: "Rude and rude, please forgive me for joining the army." "―――――― the renovation of the circuit in the community, the power went out early in the morning, and the call did not come until now, and the update was late, please Haihan.