In October of the third year of Han Zhangwu, outside Yelang County, Qiqi County.

I still remember that in early February, Deng Ai was ordered by Prime Minister Zhuge Liang to lead thousands of Liangzhou troops into Qiqi County to defeat Zhu Bao.

Unfortunately, Deng Ai's army contracted the miasma as soon as it entered the confines of the county.

Although the number of infected people was small, and although Meng Xu, who accompanied the army, found a way to treat the miasma for the Liangzhou army in time, the combat effectiveness and military morale of the Liangzhou army were still affected because of this incident.

Under this unfavorable situation, Deng Ai's 5,000-strong Liangzhou army encountered an even more difficult dilemma.

Tens of thousands of Jiaozhou soldiers from Jiaozhou, under the leadership of Shihui, came to Qiqi County, and took advantage of the unstable and declining combat effectiveness of the Liangzhou army, relying on the advantages of numbers and geography, and gradually formed a situation of encirclement of the Liangzhou army.

The most important thing is that Yu Tuo around Shihui put forward a "embattled" strategy for Shihui.

Under the influence of this strategy, the military morale of the Liangzhou army was even more sluggish.

But fortunately, the Liangzhou Army had two excellent generals at that time - Deng Ai and Shi Bao.

After discussion, Deng Ai and Shi Bao took a series of measures to stabilize people's hearts in a timely manner, and led the army to hold the camp, which prevented thousands of Liangzhou troops from falling into a situation from which they could not recover.

With the passage of time, the situation in Yelang County has also undergone a lot of changes.

The first change is that although Zhu Bao sent someone to intercept the road, fortunately Deng Ai sent a messenger in time, and there was still a messenger who finally broke through the siege and went to Yizhou County to ask Zhuge Liang for help.

After learning of the danger faced by Deng Ai's army, Zhuge Liang was shocked.

He had thought that Sun Quan would secretly assist the rebels in Nanzhong, but he didn't expect Sun Quan to dispatch so many troops and be so blatant!

After Zhuge Liang was shocked, he even changed his tactics.

Since Yonghong had just suffered a big defeat, Zhuge Liang decided to give up attacking Yizhou County for the time being.

He immediately led nearly 10,000 Han troops who had just entered Yizhou County to rush to Deng Ai in Qiqi County.

Zhuge Liang knew very well that Deng Ai's army must not lose, otherwise the entire situation of counterinsurgency in Nanzhong would be reversed.

But no matter how worried you are, the terrain in Nanzhong is steep and difficult to navigate, and the marching speed of Zhuge Liang's army has been greatly affected.

By the time Zhuge Liang led Yelang County outside, a month had passed since Deng Ai asked him for help.

In the past month, Deng Ai has been fighting hard almost every few days.

But fortunately, thanks to the strict discipline of the Liangzhou army and Deng Ai's good command, thousands of Liangzhou troops did not suffer a fatal blow in this month.

And the news of the arrival of Zhuge Liang led the army was also quickly known by Shihui.

When he learned the news, Shi Hui asked Yu Yu to turn over, and Yu Turn, who was deeply versed in the art of war, did not disappoint Shi Hui, and he said to Shi Hui again: In order to prevent the Jiaozhou soldiers from falling into the situation of being flanked in front and back, Yu Fu suggested that Shi Hui should let go of the encirclement in the west.

This is a tactic of encircling three and missing one, which can not only reduce the fighting spirit of the Han army, but also prevent the Jiaozhou army in the west from falling into the situation of being attacked from the front and rear.

Shi Hui had also read the art of war, and Yu Tuo's suggestion made him feel that it was very in line with the current war situation, so he followed Yu Tuo's suggestion.

Due to Shihui's intention to let go of the encirclement, Zhuge Liang's army was able to smoothly enter the heartland of Yelang County and join Deng Ai's army.

And when the two Han armies are combined, it means that the Han army has the strength to fight the enemy.

But Zhuge Liang was cautious by nature, or he had other plans in his heart, and in the face of the generals' invitations to fight, Zhuge Liang did not agree.

In the months that followed, Zhuge Liang did only two things:

The first thing was to send Shi Bao back to Liangzhou and report a message to Mi Yang.

If everyone doesn't think it's strange to say this first thing, the second thing Zhuge Liang did is incomprehensible.

On the one hand, Zhuge Liang did not allow the generals to take the initiative to fight, and on the other hand, he did not lead the Han army to slowly retreat to Yuewang County.

As if he didn't know that there were tens of thousands of enemy troops a few miles away, he quietly led the Han army to be stationed outside Yelang County, and only raised troops and talked about martial arts every day.

The second thing Zhuge Liang did, not only the generals of the Han army couldn't understand it, but even Shihui and Yu Fu felt very puzzled.

With Zhuge Liang's previous performance, he is not what the rumors say - only internal affairs.

Although Zhuge Liang's record is not as dazzling as Mi Yang, he can be regarded as a person who knows soldiers.

But it is precisely this kind of person who knows the soldier who has made an operation that other people who know the soldier are completely incomprehensible.

There are only two possibilities in this situation: either Zhuge Liang's strategy surpasses them too much, or Zhuge Liang is blindly commanding.

At the beginning, Shihui and Yu Fu also felt that Zhuge Liang might be deceitful, so they also adopted the tactics of standing still, just like Zhuge Liang.

But as time went by, Shihui, who wanted to be patient with Zhuge Liang, couldn't hold back.

For several months, Zhuge Liang had been standing still and sending troops to challenge him in front of his camp, but Zhuge Liang also refused to go to war on the grounds that he could not understand what the enemy was scolding because of his language barrier.

Shi Hui cannot be said to be impulsive and impatient, but he is an ambitious person.

Shihui knew very well that the purpose of his coming here was to defeat the Han army and become famous in the world, and the Han army had not been fighting, so how could he defeat it?

Do you want to continue to storm the Han army camp?

When this idea came to mind, there was no need for Yu Xuan's dissuasion, and Shihui naturally dispelled this idea.

At the beginning, there were only a few thousand Liangzhou troops holding the camp, and his tens of thousands of troops could not be attacked, but lost a lot of soldiers and horses.

Now that the Han army has tens of thousands of troops, it is even more impossible to take the Han army camp by means of onslaught.

After ruling out this idea in his heart, he felt that he could not do anything about the Han army, and he would inevitably become impetuous.

So he thought of Yu Flip again.

Yu Tuo didn't have much to do about the current battle situation, but under the persecution and urging of Shihui, Yu Flip finally came up with a plan.

He concluded that Zhuge Liang might not have other plans, and it was precisely because Zhuge Liang had no plans that he had no choice but to adopt the tactics of standing still.

After judging this, Yu Fu had a new plan in his heart.

He suggested that since Shihui had made up his mind to stay put, Shihui could take this opportunity to contact Zhu Bao and Yonghong, so that they could transfer more soldiers and horses to besiege the Han army again.

If Zhuge Liang sensed the danger of retreating before several armies surrounded him, then Shihui could take advantage of the geographical advantage to launch an attack on the retreating Han army.

If Zhuge Liang still stuck to the camp and was indifferent to the affairs of the outside world, then after the army surrounded Zhuge Liang's army by several routes, the military spirit of Zhuge Liang's army would definitely be shaken.

At that time, their fighters also came.

After thinking about Yu Tuo's strategy, Shi Hui felt that Yu Tuo's strategy did have merit.

Shihui was also a decisive person, and after deciding to adopt the strategy of Yu Xuan, he hurriedly sent messengers to contact Zhu Bao and Yonghong.

In the previous wars, due to the enthusiasm of the Shihui, Zhu Bao has been preserving his strength.

When he got Shihui's letter, Zhu Bao wanted to refuse Shihui's request, but he thought that Shihui was his ally, and the current Qiqi County could not do without Shihui's help, not to mention that in Zhu Bao's opinion, Shihui's idea also had a great possibility of success.

If he can defeat the Han army in this battle, then Zhu Bao is still happy.

As for Yonghong, not to mention, he had just been defeated by Zhuge Liang a few months ago, and he had been looking for a chance to take revenge.

Now that the opportunity has come, and with strong allies as the backing, Yonghong has no reason not to agree to Shihui's request.

So not long after, Zhu Bao and Yonghong led their troops to Yelang County.

Among the two, because Zhu Bao has been preserving his strength, the army he brought with him has 8,000 people, which is all his family background.

Compared with Zhu Bao, Yonghong, who had just been defeated, really couldn't take out too many troops, and this time he only led an army of 3,000 to Yelang County.

Of course, although the number of people is not as large as Zhu Bao, these 3,000 troops can be regarded as the last reliance in Yonghong's hands.

It can be said that for this battle, Shi Hui, Zhu Bao and Yonghong have successively taken out all the hole cards in their hands.

When he learned the news that Zhu Bao and Yonghong led a large army to help, Shihui was overjoyed.

Even if the army brought by Yonghong is not much, but at present, the three of them have joined forces, and the total strength has exceeded 20,000.

It was still a little difficult for the army of more than 20,000 to break through the Han army camp, but it was still not a big problem to besiege the Han army again with the help of geographical advantages.

So at the end of October of the third year of Han Zhangwu, the Han army in Yelang County fell into the siege of the rebels again.

It seems that for a while, the embattled situation faced by the Han army half a year ago is about to be staged again.

In order to further attack the morale of the Han army, Shihui not only spread rumors outside Yelang County, but also spread the news that Zhuge Liang's army was surrounded by regiments in several nearby counties loyal to the Han army.

Judging from the current situation, this news can be regarded as a fact.

So when the news spread, it also reached Liu Bei's ears soon after, causing him to be anxious and worried.

But no matter how eager Liu Bei is, what's the use of worrying?

At present, the Han Dynasty has no available generals, let alone adjustable soldiers, and all Liu Bei can do is to believe in Zhuge Liang.

And when this situation, which seems very dangerous to outsiders, happened, what was Zhuge Liang, as the commander of the Han army in Nanzhong, doing?

He was staring intently at the map inside the tent.

Today's night was very dark, and the entire Han army camp was in darkness except for the necessary positions where torches were illuminated.

This thick darkness seemed to indicate the coming day of the Han army, and tens of thousands of Han troops were a little breathless.

However, in this vast and rich darkness, there is a glimmer of light that has always existed.

The light came from the candle flame in Zhuge Liang's tent.

It is precisely this light that has left a hope in the hearts of tens of thousands of Han soldiers.

How could Zhuge Liang not know that under the current situation, what kind of turmoil the Han army's military spirit would face?

Or maybe it was something he had foreseen.

After all, the current situation faced by the Han army has a direct relationship with him, the commander of the army.

In the past, it was not without generals that Zhuge Liang had suggested that the Han army would either retreat to Yuewang County in time, or defeat Shihui's troops before the enemy's army could be encircled.

But these suggestions, which seemed to them to be very pertinent, were all rejected by Zhuge Liang.

And Zhuge Liang's attitude of refusal was very resolute.

Zhuge Liang never hoped that someone could understand the plan in his heart, mountains and rivers, and bosom friends are always hard to find.

Because of his firm will, Zhuge Liang was not affected by the fact that the morale of the Han army had declined.

During this period of time, he didn't even hold a meeting, he just quietly sat in the big tent, observing the terrain outside Yelang County.

Zhuge Liang's wise eyes followed the movement of the candlelight in his hand, and observed the past on the map of Yelang County little by little.

Yelang County has a special geographical location, it is located at the intersection of the three main roads of Yuewang County, Yizhou County and Qiqi County.

This makes Yelang County a battleground for soldiers in this Southern Expedition.

If it weren't for that, the three rebels wouldn't have thought about it and tried their best to wipe out the Han army outside Yelang County.

But even if Yelang County is very important to the three counties, due to the backward economy of Nanzhong, the development of Yelang County has not been good for hundreds of years.

Yelang Prefecture is surrounded by mountains, and there are only three major roads outside the prefecture that connect to the three counties.

This is also the most important reason why the three-way rebels can encircle the Han army.

You don't need too many soldiers and horses, just send heavy troops to guard these three main roads, then all the ways out of the Han army will be blocked.

And today, Zhuge Liang has long been familiar with the terrain outside Yelang County.

The more he understood, the more confident Zhuge Liang was in the plan in his heart.

And at this moment, Yang Yi suddenly walked in from outside the tent.

After Yang Yi came in, he saw Zhuge Liang late at night, and he was still looking at the map and working for state affairs, and a look of worry appeared on his face in an instant.

"Prime Minister, it's dark at night, let's rest early!"

Zhuge Liang turned around after hearing Yang Yi's voice, and in the face of Yang Yi's worries, Zhuge Liang just smiled faintly.

He didn't respond to Yang Yi's concern, but asked softly, "Hasn't he left yet?" ”

When he asked this, Zhuge Liang was not idle, he returned to his seat and continued to deal with the military affairs on the bookcase.

Seeing that Zhuge Liang did not listen to his dissuasion, the worry on Yang Yi's face became more and more intense.

But he also knew that he couldn't persuade Zhuge Liang.

Yang Yi quickly replied to Zhuge Liang's inquiry: "Captain Deng has waited from early morning to now, and he has never left. ”

Hearing Yang Yi say this, Zhuge Liang hummed noncommittally.

Deng Ai asked to see him early in the morning, and Zhuge Liang knew what Deng Ai's purpose was in asking to see him.

But because there were still some details of the plan in his heart at that time, Zhuge Liang did not meet him.

originally thought that Deng Ai might leave soon, but what he didn't expect was that Deng Ai had been waiting until now.

A few hours ago, Zhuge Liang had instructed Yang Yi that if Deng Ai hadn't left at this hour, then he would come and tell himself—even if he had already fallen asleep.

Deng Ai's persistence made Zhuge Liang feel more and more that he was a talent that could be created.

Zhuge Liang then raised his head and said to Yang Yi, "Call him in." ”

Zhuge Liang's words made Yang Yi walk out of the big tent after bowing.

After Yang Yi left, Zhuge Liang looked at the empty tent, and he couldn't help but pull the cold cloak on his body.

He is also a human being, how can he not feel the cold and fatigue?

But he is the prime minister of the Han Dynasty!

At this time, Zhuge Liang remembered Shi Bao, who had left a few months ago, and he thought that Shi Bao might have already brought his letter to Mi Yang.

He asked Shi Bao to bring Mi Yang's letter, in addition to asking about the situation in the north and his views on the Wei army, he also emphatically said:

"At the end of the year at the latest, the teacher will win, wait a while, and wait for me to help you."

Thinking of this, Zhuge Liang let out a long breath.

The end of the year has arrived, and it's time for the battle in the south!

(End of chapter)