Xiang Lang and Hu Ji looked at each other and shook their heads in unison, with helpless smiles on their faces.

Zhuge Liang's 80,000 main forces fought for a long time without success, and in the face of Zhang He's 10,000 elite cavalry, there was still a danger of collapse, so they asked Wei Ba for help, but Wei Ba had already arrived at Longguan, and the grain had also been transported to Linwei, so he had already made preparations.

Could it be that he was an unpredictable prophet, and he had long known that Zhuge Liang would lose to Zhang He, so he was ready to respond in advance?

If it was a few days earlier, even Xiang Lang, who had always been not very optimistic about Zhuge Liang, would have felt that Wei Ba was self-righteous, let alone Hu Ji, who had always respected Zhuge Liang. But now that the military rations of Mumen have been robbed, Zhuge Liang pursues the cavalry with foot soldiers, and has lost the initiative, unless he can kill Zhang He and the 10,000 elite cavalry in Mumen, otherwise his defeat is decided. In this case, asking for help from Wei Ba has become the only option, otherwise the army will face the danger of running out of food, and Wei Ba's unpredictable prophet is surprising, but it is also irrefutable. You could suspect that he was just lucky, but he guessed it.

Next, will Zhuge Liang be defeated by Zhang He, as he expected? Or, can Zhang He jump out of Zhuge Liang's outflanking as he expected?

Judging from the fact that Wei Ba hoped that they would lure Guo Huai out of the city, Wei Ba was ready, and he was thinking about the next step to fight for Longyou. The capture of Shangqi was to be able to prepare for the future counteroffensive in the right zhanzhu foot.

In other words, he believed that the first Northern Expedition in Longyou had no suspense to fail.

Although Xiang Lang was pessimistic, he was not pessimistic to this extent, and as for Hu Ji, he did not agree with Wei Ba's opinion. He thinks things are nowhere near that messy. Zhuge Liang and Ma Tan surrounded and annihilated Zhang He with 50,000 horses, and there was still a possibility of turning defeat into victory.

"This jihua ......" Xiang Lang nodded at the reply sent by Wei Ba, shook his head, and stopped talking. Weidu. Yiyang has another talent. ”

Hu Ji smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Xiang Gong, why do you have to be like this. You should know. Wei Wenchang is not very easy to get along with. ”

Xiang Lang smiled slightly and didn't say anything more. He knew Hu Ji's concerns. Although Hu Ji is a new savage of Yiyang like Wei Yan, they have little contact. In other words, Wei Ba is a lone wolf in the Jingxiang lineage, and he doesn't have a good relationship with anyone - this is of course related to his character. This time, Zhuge Liang asked the Wei family father and son to send troops to Guanzhong, and he personally led the main force out of Longyou, the meaning of which is self-evident. However, the world is unpredictable, as a result, Zhuge Liang himself is in a dilemma, but Wei Ba took advantage of the help of the Heavenly Master Dao and the heroes of Hanzhong to rise up, not only to hold Guanzhong, but also to save the battle situation in Longyou. From a military point of view, this is an unexpected gain, but from a political point of view, it is a great hidden danger - the Liliang that Zhuge Liang originally wanted to weaken is now stronger.

Whether it is Xiang Lang, who has reservations about Zhuge Liang, or Hu Ji, who wholeheartedly supports Zhuge Liang. I don't want to see this outcome. The existence of Liliang within the Jingxiang system who can confront Zhuge Liang is not a good thing for the Jingxiang system itself. What's more, Wei Ba still has the shadow of the Yuan Cong Department and the Yizhou Department behind him.

Therefore, Xiang Lang and Hu Ji tacitly vetoed Wei Ba's battle, at least for the time being. They replied to Wei Ba in a letter, only mentioning Linwei's military rations and expressing gratitude for his preparations, but as for luring the enemy Jihua, they did not mention it, pretending not to know about it, and only said four words: stand by and move.

Then Hu Ji sent an urgent military report to Zhuge Liang, Wei Ba brought some military rations from Guanzhong, although the amount is not large, it can only maintain the army for half a month, but this means that the prime minister does not have to be forced to fight Zhang He because of the crisis of military rations, you still have time. In addition, there is another layer of meaning that cannot be literally stated: Wei Ba is willing to send grain to Longyou, which shows that he still understands the general situation, and there is no possibility of internal contradictions breaking out for the time being.

……

Zhuge Liang's face was pale, his hands under his big sleeves were trembling, and his sideburns were layers of fine cold sweat.

He had just received an urgent military report from Wang Ping: Ma Jian had not only been defeated by Zhang He outside the city of Xixian County, but he had also disappeared.

This news was so shocking that Zhuge Liang didn't react for a long time. He read the general newspaper over and over again, but still couldn't believe his eyes. Ma Jian was defeated? Zhang He jumped out of his encirclement, took plenty of food and grass, and once again began his unpredictable raid tactics. The jihua he wanted to encircle and annihilate Zhang He at the wooden gate had just begun, and was broken by Zhang He like this.

What made him even more unacceptable was that Ma Jian was missing. This is really bad news, worse than his defeat, even worse than his death. Losing a war, or even dying in battle, is an acceptable thing - the battlefield is dangerous, everyone can know - but Ma Jian is missing, no one is alive, no body is dead, that is an unacceptable result.

He didn't die, but he never showed up, and there was only one possibility: he became a deserter.

The forward general who led the main force of 30,000 actually became a deserter? What a scandal this is, and what a resounding slap in the face? For Zhuge Liang, who promoted him against the public, what kind of appalling mistake is this? How did he account to those who opposed him in the first place?

Zhuge Liang couldn't think of any statement that could convince everyone. Ma Tan not only failed to live up to his hopes and failed to stop Zhang He, but also completely negated all his previous decisions. The person he trusted the most not only failed to give him any help, but made him unable to justify himself in front of everyone.

This result is obviously more unacceptable than Ma Tan's death in battle.

Zhuge Liang was very disappointed and very angry. He was completely unprepared for this outcome, and in his eagerness, he couldn't find a reason to reassure himself.

How do I deal with the scrutiny? How do I explain to them where Ma Tan is going? How do I deal with this dilemma?

Zhang He ran away with the cavalry, he took away enough military rations, and even if the rest were still in the wooden gate, I am afraid they would not be able to fall into his hands. He is now going to run out of food, and the initiative is all in Zhang He's hands, even if Zhang He doesn't attack, as long as he waits for ten days and a half months, he can only retreat.

The retreat was quick, and the wooden gate was not far ahead, and he could have returned to Hanzhong from here, as long as it was announced that the mighty Northern Expedition had ended in an almost humiliating manner.

This is the way Zhuge Liang never imagined the end. He also thought about the possibility of failure, but he didn't think that it would be such a failure.

Everything was because of Ma Yan, not only because of his defeat, but also because of his undignified escape.

Zhuge Liang's hands and feet were cold, and he was in a mess for a while. He paced back and forth in the tent, and suddenly he felt so lonely. His son Zhuge Qiao died in Hanzhong, and the empathetic Fei Yi was ordered to go to Jiangling, and the only one around him who could really understand his mind was Jiang Wei, who had just surrendered, but he was an outsider, and he couldn't understand the complicated relationships within Shu Han at all, and couldn't give him powerful help.

Ma Yan, a confidant who used to be able to help him, has now become his biggest heart problem.

This blow came too suddenly, so that Zhuge Liang couldn't accept such a reality for a while, and he was as calm as him, and he was also a little flustered.

Huo Yi stood aside, watching Zhuge Liang pacing back and forth in the tent, feeling Zhuge Liang's loss and nervousness at the moment. He has been by Zhuge Liang's side for so long, and he has never seen Zhuge Liang lose his temper so much. Even when Zhang He successfully attacked Mumen's military rations, he had never been so nervous.

He even doubted that Zhuge Liang could still think calmly at this moment.

Of course, he knew that all this was because of Wang Ping's military report, and it was all because of Ma Yan's unexpected performance.

To be honest, Huo Yi was also a little shocked, and when he saw Wang Ping's military report for the first time, he couldn't believe his eyes. He once thought that this was Wang Ping's slander - Wang Ping, as a subordinate general and an illiterate Ba man, had a bad relationship with Ma Yan, who was born in the Jingxiang clan.

Ma Tan will be defeated, and will there be no news after the defeat? Although it has not been confirmed, it is the greatest possibility that he did not die on the battlefield and did not show up for a long time, so becoming a deserter is the greatest possibility.

Will Ma Tan be a deserter? Didn't he know that this result was more unacceptable than dying in battle?

Huo Yi felt a little sorry for Zhuge Liang, as the person in charge of the clerical work around Zhuge Liang, he knew very well what kind of blame Zhuge Liang would face.

It would be a catastrophe, a catastrophe that had been building up for a long time and the anger would erupt intensively.

Anyone facing this catastrophe will be at a loss. At least Huo Yi didn't know what he could do to solve the situation if he faced this situation. Compared to this political catastrophe, the current war situation is less important.

Yang Yi hurriedly walked in, and the account book in his hand trembled: "Prime Minister, our military rations ......"

As soon as Huo Yi looked at Yang Yi's face, he knew that he had no good news, it was nothing more than that there were a few days left in the military rations, and even if he withdrew to Hanzhong now, he couldn't support it, so he immediately stepped forward and stopped Yang Yi: "Yang Changshi, the prime minister is thinking about a big thing, you better wait." ”

Yang Yi didn't know what was going on at all, and was very dissatisfied with Huo Yi stopping him, and his eyes widened: "Big deal, what is a big deal?" Grain and grass are the most important things in the army. ”

Huo Yi was just about to say more, Zhuge Liang walked over, waved his hand, motioned for Huo Yi to retreat, and said to Yang Yi angrily: "What's wrong with the grain and grass?" ”

Yang Yi was startled when she saw Zhuge Liang's bloodshot eyes, and the arrogance that she had just spoken to Huo Yi suddenly disappeared without a trace. He bowed slightly: "Prime Minister, there are only seven days of food left in the army." If we don't contact Hanzhong again and let them rush to transport food, we will run out of food halfway through. ”

Zhuge Liang said lightly: "Withdraw, when did I say I was going to withdraw?" ”

Yang Yi raised her head in surprise: "Prime Minister, if you don't withdraw, do you want to fight on an empty stomach?" ”

Zhuge Liang was speechless, stunned for a while. He had been thinking about Ma Jian just now, and when Yang Yi's words pulled him back to the battle in front of him, he realized that there was something more important than Ma Yan's matter.

I'm upset, this is not the mentality that a general should have. Zhuge Liang suddenly woke up and secretly screamed ashamed.

——————

On Monday, ask for a referral ticket!

It's been a bit of a thing in the past two days, and it's been busy, but it's almost over, and it will soon be back to normal, and the debt owed will definitely be paid off in these two days. Please bear with me. (To be continued.) )