At the beginning of November of the sixth year of Jianxing, Wei Ba led the guard battalion to Wuguan and met Deng Zhi.

Since Zhuge Liang's soldiers came out of Longyou, the Shu Han army has occupied Guanzhong for more than two months. Because of the unexpected loss of Tongguan, Cao Wei's belated reinforcements were blocked in Tongguan, Pubanjin could not advance, Cao Zhen's hard-earned ships were wreaked havoc by Wei Yan, and Jihua, who forcibly crossed the Yellow River, was frustrated.

After receiving Cao Zhen's request for guilt, Cao Rui immediately made a choice, he personally rushed to Wancheng, and ordered the hussar general Sima Yi to march to Wuguan, and be sure to attack Guanzhong as quickly as possible.

Although Sima Yi was unwilling, in the face of the emperor's edict, he did not dare to disobey anything, and immediately led an army of 40,000 to Wuguan with great momentum.

When the news reached Wuguan, Wei Bazheng and Deng Zhi were patrolling the city wall. Deng Zhi went to Wuguan for more than a month, and also spent a lot of thought, the city wall can be repaired where it can be repaired, the north side of the hillside also built a simple small fortress, the south side extends to the Danshui bank, there are corresponding fortifications.

"The general put a lot of thought into it." Wei Ba praised sincerely.

"And rightfully so." Deng Zhi's words were polite, but there was no smile on his face. Wei Ba only brought the personal guard battalion, but he did not bring any baggage, he had already realized that Wei Ba wanted to give up the martial arts. "Join the army, Wuguan is a master, don't open it, and you must not fall into the hands of the enemy."

Wei Ba frowned, "But we can't hold the martial pass." ”

"If you haven't kept it, how can you say that you can't keep it?"

"It's too far, and logistical supply is difficult."

"With Danshui on the side, what's the difficulty in transporting it by boat?"

Wei Ba shook his head helplessly, he knew that Deng Zhi was in a hurry, and he might even suspect that he was doing it on purpose. He had to patiently explain: "General. It's not that you don't know that it's almost early winter, and the amount of water is insufficient. Tracing the water upstream, you can only go to Lantian, you have to go down the Dan water, at least to Shangluo to navigate. It's easier said than done. Let's not talk about it, just from Lantian to Shangluo, there are 150 miles of mountain roads. It's okay to say that the food can't be transported by thunderbolt at all. ”

Deng Zhi looked at Wei Ba, his eyes full of doubt and anger. "That's why you're really here?"

"Of course, can I still deceive the general?" Wei Ba spread his hands: "I'll be honest, I don't want to lose Wuguan either." With the military pass in hand, we can threaten Nanyang at any time, if it is not for helplessness. With such a favorable location, how can I give up so easily? ”

"In that case, things are much easier." Deng Zhi waved his hand: "I don't dare to ask too much, I just want to invite the army to build some thunderbolts and ballistae here." I've got all the timber ready, as long as you send some craftsmen over. ”

Wei Ba was surprised. Deng Zhi didn't say much to him, and led him to see the treasury. After looking at the warehouse, Wei Ba knew how much thought Deng Zhi had put into it, and also understood that there were few decent houses in Wuguan City, and outside Wuguan City, it was not just because of the strong walls and clear fields that they were so clean, it turned out that those houses were forcibly demolished by Deng Zhi.

Is this guy demolished, so ruthless and so efficient?

Looking at those large and small timbers, and then looking at Deng Zhi's vicious face, Wei Ba knew that it was not easy to persuade Deng Zhi to give up Wuguan, and if he didn't get it right, it was likely to force this temporary ally to turn his face.

"Okay, I can help you build a thunderbolt and a repeater. I have one request, though. ”

"You say." Seeing that Wei Ba was relieved, Deng Zhi's tone also eased.

"We try our best to defend, but we can't stick to the art of war, when necessary, we must take the preservation of strength first, withdraw to Shangluo, and even withdraw to Lantian."

Deng Zhi showed a rare smile and raised his palm: "I understand this truth." A gentleman's word? ”

"It's hard to chase a horse." Wei Ba smiled bitterly and raised his palm and touched Deng Zhi.

……

Although Wei Ba worked overtime to arrange to build the thunderbolt, Sima Yi came faster, and before they were ready, Sima Yi's forward arrived outside Wuguan City.

Among the generals who led the team was Wei Ba's old acquaintance, Jin Dongliu.

Jin Dongliu was captured by Wei Ba in Anqiaosai, and later escaped from Hanzhong, but was deceived by Wei Ba again. After returning to Wancheng, he swore that it was impossible to march in the Meridian Valley, and Sima Yi and his son believed it, and as a result, Wei Yan sent troops from the Meridian Valley and captured Tongguan in one fell swoop, changing the entire battle situation.

Sima Yi's father and son did not blame Jin Dongliu, after all, this was a matter of the Guanzhong Theater and had nothing to do with them directly. They also believed that Jin Dongliu did not intend to cooperate with Wei Ba to carry out strategic deception, and he himself was fooled, so they did not punish him. However, Jin Dongliu couldn't forgive himself, this time Sima Yi sent troops, he took the initiative to ask for an order, to serve in the forward battalion, even if it was to be an ordinary soldier.

Sima Yi didn't let him be an ordinary soldier, but still gave him 3,000 people and asked him to go to Wuguan City to check the situation first. However, he is not the main general, and the main striker will be Hu Zun. During the Battle of Fangling, Hu Zun lost Mulan Sai, but he escaped back alive, not as embarrassed as Jin Dongliu, so this time the two sent troops together, Hu Zun looked down on Jin Dongliu a little, and cynicism between words was inevitable.

Jin Dongliu turned a deaf ear, he didn't talk much, but now he is even more silent.

The two climbed a small hill and overlooked Wuguan City, and Jin Dongliu naturally followed behind, silent as a stone.

Hu Zun struck the armor with a horsewhip, making a "pop" sound. He was not in a good mood either, last time in Mulansai, he accidentally fell into Wei Ba's way, and was attacked by Wei Feng from behind, and before he understood what was going on, those Shu Han soldiers like monkeys climbed up to the city. Sima Yi didn't punish him, and let him continue to lead the troops, but he was very unconvinced, and held his breath, this time he had to attack Guanzhong and capture Wei Ba alive.

"You went to Guanzhong, and you returned to Wancheng from this road, you should have a little impression of this place, right?" Hu Zun asked with a prickly voice.

Jin Dongliu was expressionless, squinted his eyes, looked at the city in the distance, and was bored for a long time, until Hu Zun's face was red, and then he said unhurriedly: "Wuguan is bordered by mountains in the north and Danshui in the south, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack. The terrain is dangerous, needless to say, if there is any flaw, that is, the distance between him and Chang'an is too far, even with Shangluo behind it is more than 200 miles. ”

"Easy to defend but hard to attack?" Hu Zun sneered, "Do you mean the city, or the people?" ”

Jin Dongliu frowned and swallowed back the words that followed.

Hu Zun didn't care about him, and pointed at Guancheng in the distance with a horsewhip, "I heard that the defender of the city is called Deng Zhi, an old man who is close to fifty years old, but has never led troops to fight. Can he hold Wuguan City? Hu Zun snorted disdainfully: "If you are afraid of the young and strong, you can't be afraid of the old and weak anymore." ”

Jin Dongliu's face suddenly swollen red, and he turned his head and pretended not to hear. Hu Zun looked at it for a while, and saw that there was nothing special about Wuguan City, so he hurried down. Jin Dongliu stayed on the hillside for a long time. He did not agree with Hu Zun's opinion, although Deng Zhi was unknown and had indeed not led troops before, but he believed that since Wei Ba could let him guard the military pass, Deng Zhi would not be too weak. At present, it is Wei Ba's father Wei Yan who guards Tongguan, and it is his master Zhao Yun who guards Pubanjin, how can the person guarding Wuguan be a useless old man?

Although Jin Dongliu was humiliated because he was deceived by Wei Ba, he had no ill feelings towards Wei Ba himself. The soldiers are not tired of cheating, they were originally enemies, and they were deceived by Wei Ba, they can only say that they are not smart enough, but they can't say that there is anything wrong with Wei Ba. On the contrary, he had more respect for Wei Ba, respect between enemies and enemies.

He believed that Deng Zhi would not be a useless person, and Wuguancheng was not so easy to fight.

However, after watching Wuguan, he was somewhat relieved. Judging from the situation seen, the city defense of Wuguan City is decent, not very like Wei Ba's handwriting, it is likely that Wei Ba is still in Chang'an and did not come to Wuguan.

If that's the case, then it's not a bad idea to storm to test Wuguan's defense and test Deng Zhi's ability. Even if there is a setback, it should not lose much.

Jin Dongliu smiled silently and walked down the mountain.

……

Just when Jin Dongliu was pondering on the mountain, Wei Ba was arranging craftsmen to organize production in Wuguan City, the drawings were ready-made, and the wood was also prepared, but Wei Jun came too quickly, and the craftsmen and related equipment he transferred from Shangluo were still on the way, and he wanted to build enough thunderbolts and ballistas in time, he was really powerless, so he could only make a few emergency first, and at the same time familiarize these craftsmen with the process.

Wei Ba implemented a modern industrial process in Chang'an, with a fine division of labor, and a large number of machinery to replace manpower, which could not be built in a day or two, and Sima Yi's vanguard had already arrived outside the city, so it was impossible to give him time to prepare calmly. He could only follow the existing model and build a few thunderbolts with similar power as the Wei army.

That's all, Deng Zhi was already overjoyed, he didn't see the spectacular scene of nearly 100 thunderbolts bombing Jianzhang Palace indiscriminately, he only wanted to have this legendary weapon, not too much.

Looking at the dozen or so thunderbolts that had just been formed, Wei Ba shook his head, but Deng Zhi was so happy that he couldn't close his mouth.

At this moment, the attack of the Wei army began.

Getting the news that the Wei army was arrayed outside the city, Deng Zhi was stunned for a moment, put away his smile, and sneered: "It's just in time, let them see the means by which Wei joined the army." ”

Wei Ba hurriedly said modestly: "No, no, no, it's for them to see General Deng's means." ”

Deng Zhi glanced at him, stretched out his hand and patted Wei Ba's shoulder: "Ziyu, then let them see our methods." ”

One old and one young, looking at each other. Deng Zhi was arrogant and pulled Wei Ba to the city. Wei Ba humbly asked Deng Zhi to go first. In terms of age, Deng Zhi is a few years older than his Lao Tzu, in terms of identity, Deng Zhi is a general of Yangwu, and he also has the identity of a central supervisor, he is just a member of the Prime Minister's Mansion, which is too far behind. Deng Zhi can be polite to him in front of everyone, but he can't help but recognize his position.

In the same way, he knows better that on this kind of occasion, the more high-profile you are, the more despised you are, and the more low-key you are, the easier it is to get praise, and no one will like a self-righteous offspring, especially an old man like Deng Zhi.

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Add more to ask for a monthly pass! Guys, can't you get up? You can't give up like that. (To be continued.) )