A few days later, in the eighth month of the leap year, Cao Ying's whole army crossed Pubanjin and set foot on the land of Guanzhong on the west bank of the Yellow River, making Tongguan, which was guarded by the Guanzhong coalition army, lose its strategic significance. At this time, as long as you cross the Weishui to the south, you can fight a decisive battle with the Guanzhong coalition forces in the Guannei.

How could the Guanzhong coalition army not understand this truth, they had been trapped in Tongguan for half a year by Cao Ying's strategy, missed this year's autumn harvest, and the military rations were almost exhausted. If Cao's army was allowed to cross the Weishui easily, the battle would basically be lost.

For this reason, Ma Chao sent cavalry patrols on the south bank of Weishui on the one hand, and as soon as the vanguard of Cao's army crossed the river, he immediately launched an attack to prevent it from establishing a camp. At the same time, Liang Xing, who was defeated by Xu Huang, continued to operate in the west of Pubanjin to the north of Weishui, and continued to attack Cao's army. He also sent Ma Yu to lead 5,000 cavalry to the north bank of Weishui to increase the intensity of harassment.

Suffering from the large number of cavalry in the Guanzhong coalition army, Cao Jun was very annoyed by Liang Xing's rotation with horses, but there was not much he could do, so he could only divide his troops to guard the grain road. At the same time, Cao's army secretly transferred boats from the Yellow River into Weishui, built a pontoon bridge with boats overnight, and camped south of Weishui, but was defeated by the cavalry assault sent by Ma Chao. After repeated attempts several times, they were all retreated by Ma Chaojun, not only failed, but also lost some soldiers and horses.

The battle situation fell into an unfavorable side for Cao Jun, and Cao Ying had to gather everyone to the Chinese army's big tent again to discuss matters. And Sima Fuqiang won the favor of Cao Ying and Jia Xu with his exquisite sand table, and was also able to attend to explain the topography of the Weishui generation to everyone.

Cao Jun is currently facing two major problems, one is how to defeat Liang Xing, who is wandering north of Weishui, and play with horses to ensure the smooth flow of grain routes; The second is how to camp on the south bank smoothly, otherwise it will be consumed like this, and Cao Ying will send the Guanzhong coalition army to a Tongguan in vain.

For these things, Cao Ying and Jia Xu must have discussed them privately for a long time, but they couldn't find a good solution to them, so they needed to brainstorm at this time. Although Huang Zhi, the newly appointed counselor, was familiar with this history, he did not dare to express his opinions indiscriminately.

As far as he knows, in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", there should be a hermit of Zhongnan Mountain who dreams of Mei Jushi Lou Gui Zibo at this time. Also in "Pei Note on the Three Kingdoms", Pei Songzhi also quoted Lou Zibo's advice in "The Biography of Cao Concealment". But at this time, he looked around at the civil and military generals attending the meeting, but he was the only one who did not see this person, and even Huang Zhi never found that there was such a person who went out with the army.

He glanced at Sima Fuqiang for help, and the big man whispered in his ear, "History books may not be the truth, Lou Zibo and his people cannot be examined, and the historical materials that have survived to this day are concentrated in "Pei Note Three Kingdoms", and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is only based on Pei Songzhi's statement. In fact, this person is not mentioned in the "Zizhi Tongjian", and this person never appears in the official list of the Wei State. ”

Huang Zhi nodded, although he didn't know as much about history as Sima Fuqiang, but if this Lou Gui was really as Cao Ying commented, 'Uncle Zi's plan, he couldn't be alone', then he should be a famous strategist, and he would definitely not even be able to test the year of birth and death. In the original text of "Three Kingdoms, Wei Shu, and Cui Yan's Biography", it is mentioned that "Nanyang Xu You and Lou Gui are all punished for their old fears. Although Xu You's birth year cannot be examined, everyone in the world knows that he was "executed" in 204.

"So what to do?" Without Lou Gui, Huang Zhi began to worry about Cao Jun.

Sima Fuqiang smiled, "I'll come." ”

Immediately, he went out to offer advice to Cao Ying, "The minister is good at observing the sky, and he knows that the inner sky will be cold." It can gather sand and irrigate, freeze ice as a base, and the camp can be completed. ”

Cao Ying was overjoyed when he heard this, so he used Ma Qiang's strategy to solve the problem of camping on the south bank. As for the issue of the north bank, Xiahou Yuan, the general of Zhengxi, was left to lead Xu Huang and Zhu Ling to lead 10,000 troops, waiting for the opportunity to exterminate the two armies of Liang Xing and Ma Play. As for the specific details of the North Shore, he left Huang Zhi and others, who were deeply trusted by him, to plan slowly for Xiahou Yuan.

Three days later, Cao Ying successfully crossed to the south and set up an ambush to repel Ma Chao's stealing soldiers. At this time, it was the ninth lunar month of 211, the cold current of Siberia was moving south early, the weather was freezing and the ground was freezing, the Guanzhong coalition army was short of food and grass, and the defeat was irretrievable.

Regarding Sima Fuqiang's use of historical facts to "fool" Cao Ying, Huang Zhi inquired afterwards and found out that he had wronged him. This rough man is really a person who knows how to read the weather, and for this reason, the dream world has also given him the talent of "watching the sky". It was precisely when Sima Fuqiang "watched the sky" that he learned that the cold air from Siberia was moving south, so he boldly offered advice to Cao Ying.

Everything went well on the south bank, and the battle of Weinan was on the right track, but the things on the north bank gave Huang Zhi and Sima Fuqiang a headache. Neither the history books nor the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" mentioned that Ma Wan and Liang Xing attacked the grain road on the north bank, and they couldn't find ready-made historical facts to copy, so they could only rely on these two people to make their own suggestions.

For the planning of the battle of Weinan, Cao Ying can be said to have started the layout half a year ago, first letting Zhong Miao and Xiahou Yuan enter the customs on the grounds of destroying Zhang Lu, inducing Ma Chao and other Guanzhong coalition forces to rebel, and then the two sides stationed troops in Tongguan for more than half a year. This directly led to the Guanzhong coalition army missing the summer planting and autumn harvest, and the grain and grass supply was completely exhausted at this time.

Cao Ying's layout was undoubtedly successful, but it caused great trouble for Huang Zhi and Sima Fuqiang on the north shore. Ma Yu and Liang Xing, who were short of grain and grass, could be described as extremely vicious at this time, disturbing the grain road at night.

Since his debut, Cao Ying loves to attack the enemy's grain and grass, so he also looks the most closely at his own grain. If people make a slight mistake in the dream, the grain road on the north bank will be cut off, and the grain and grass will be robbed, and the consequences will be unimaginable. At the least, he will lose the favorability and contribution that he has worked so hard to cultivate, and at worst, he will lose his head by military law.

"Do you have a trick?" Huang Zhi asked Sima Fuqiang with a sad face.

His captain replied with a more bitter face, "Not at all! I can't copy things that are completely absent from the history books. And we don't know where the Xiliang cavalry is hiding at this moment, and we don't know where they will sneak up on us, and we can't help but set up an ambush. ”

These two people only relied on their own knowledge of history to get along like fish in water in the previous period, and now they are finally blind. The key is that Sima Fuqiang's "sand table deduction" skill level is not high enough to make a detailed sand table north of Weishui, otherwise judging by the terrain, he can really deduce the hiding place of the two Xiliang cavalry.

The people of the East China Sea did not know the whereabouts of the enemy, so they could only obediently guard the grain transportation team with Xiahou Yuan as coolies.

To be passive is to be beaten, this is an eternal truth.

Three days later, when the two armies on the south bank were holding each other in Weinan, Ma Wan and Liang Xing on the north bank finally dispatched. At that time, the grain transport team was passing through the east of Zuo Fengyi (now Dali County, Shaanxi) north of Weishui, when suddenly a cavalry team of about 5,000 men came from the northwest to seize grain and grass.

Seeing that the person leading the troops was Liang Xing, Xiahou Yuan immediately sent Xu Huang to lead the troops to meet the battle, while he continued to escort the grain transport team to continue south.

After walking a few miles forward, another army was killed in the southwest direction, led by Ma Wan, and Xiahou Yuan left 500 troops for Huang Zhi, and led his troops to meet him.

Seeing that Xiahou Yuan and Xu Huang were both led away, Huang Zhi suddenly felt a little uneasy in his heart, and hurriedly exchanged views with Sima Fuqiang. "Ma Qiang, do you think that the behavior of the Guanzhong Army is different?"

Sima Fuqiang touched his chin and thought for a moment when he heard this, "There is indeed something wrong." Knowing that they can't do it, they are purely fighting a war of attrition with us, which will only weaken their strength and will not help. You mean they have other conspiracies? ”

Huang Zhi nodded, "I do feel this way, but I can't find any evidence." It stands to reason that Liang Xing and Ma Play have already appeared, and their 10,000 soldiers and horses have also appeared, but I always feel that it is very bad to be secretly peeped at. ”

At this time, Zhang Wei, who had been listening quietly on the sidelines, suddenly spoke, "Did anyone tell you that in the Guanzhong Army on the north bank of Weishui, only Liang Xing and Ma played?" Why can't there be a third army? ”

Huang Zhi and Sima Fuqiang were shocked when they heard this, and Zhang Wei woke up the dreamer with a word, this is the killer weapon of the Guanzhong Coalition Army!

This place is located in the Guanzhong Plain, but it is not an endless plain like the North China Plain, but a loess plateau formed on the terraces of the river valley, that is, along the Weishui and the Yellow River, showing a long strip-like stepped landform.

This kind of terrain is not only suitable for cavalry to run long distances, but also suitable for taking advantage of the terrain height difference to ambush troops, which can be said to be unguardable. Therefore, Sima Fuqiang has always been unable to judge the movements of the Guanzhong coalition forces, and even if he can guess that they will arrange an ambush, he cannot know where they will come from.

At this time, the two of them saw that the road ahead was critical, and the mobility of the grain transport team could not be compared with the Xiliang cavalry, so the detour was a problem. After a brief discussion, the two decided to do the opposite.

As a counselor, Huang Zhi enjoyed supreme command in Xiahou Yuan's absence, and immediately ordered to turn around and retreat in the direction where Xiahou Yuan and Ma Dong were fighting.