After learning the news that Zhang Fei was going to lead an army of 50,000 troops to the Northern Expedition, the first thing Sima Yi did was to increase the number of scouts sent to the surrounding areas.

Although Sima Yi has been in the office, he has never commanded the soldiers to fight alone in the real sense.

But Sima Yi is a good learner.

What's even more valuable is that Sima Yi was Cao Cao's close adviser for a long time.

During that time, even if Cao Cao never specifically taught Sima Yi anything, Sima Yi, who was good at learning, still learned a lot of valuable military techniques from Cao Cao.

Perhaps before, the art of strategy and war in Sima Yi's mind was only in the realm of theory.

But in the past three years since he was stationed in Wancheng, the mutual exchange with Li Yan gave Sima Yi the opportunity to practice his strategy.

Sima Yi can't be called a famous general who is a genius in Tianzhong, but what he is best at is to use the existence of the enemy to make himself progress step by step.

Sima Yi suddenly increased the number of scouts sent out, in order to find out as much as possible the next movement of the Han army.

Sima Yi, who is deeply thoughtful, understands a truth.

What the enemy lets you see is not necessarily the truth.

And in order to truly find out the truth, or to get closer to the truth, the existence of scouts is very important.

After a wave of scouts came back, Sima Yi quickly learned the following news:

"Report: Zhang Fei has arrived in Xinye!"

"Report: There is a change in the Han army stationed in Xinye!"

Not long after learning the above two news, Sima Yi got another piece of news that made the soldiers and civilians of Wancheng uneasy.

"Zhang Bao led three thousand troops, and he is rapidly heading towards Thorn Yang!"

After learning the news, Sima Yi's eyes narrowed.

He did not heed the advice of his subordinates and immediately sent reinforcements to Thornyang.

The reason why his subordinates were so anxious was that the ministers in Wancheng agreed that Zhang Fei would wait until the 50,000 Han troops were assembled before leading the army to the north.

Even Sima Yi thought so at first.

Therefore, he only sent scouts a few days ago to further investigate the movements of the Han army, and did not send reinforcements to Jianyang in time.

But Zhang Fei's movements were faster than Sima Yi and the generals of Wancheng expected.

Three days ago, they had just received the news that Zhang Fei was going to lead an army of 50,000 troops to the north.

But three days later, the vanguard of the Han army had already appeared outside the city of Thornyang.

Zhang Fei's unexpected move caught Sima Yi and the generals of Wancheng off guard.

But Sima Yi was not as flustered as his subordinates.

Although he did not send reinforcements to Jianyang in time before, because Jianyang was the main route for the Han army to advance northward, Sima Yi had spared no effort in repairing the city defense of Jianyang in the past three years.

Moreover, Thorn Yang is currently facing the problem that reinforcements cannot arrive in time, but this does not mean that there is no certain number of soldiers in Thorn Yang City.

Even if Zhang Fei brought all the 20,000 Han troops in Xinye City, it would not be a big problem for Jianyang City to hold on for a while.

Now compared to the safety of Jianyang, Sima Yi is more concerned about what Zhang Fei's intention is in using troops like this.

first publicly released the news, so that he thought that he would wait until the 50,000 Han troops were gathered before he set out.

In this case, he led the army to attack Thorn Yang with lightning speed, thinking of catching himself off guard.

On the surface, Zhang Fei's purpose was to capture the Thorn Yang so as to completely open the passage to the north.

This purpose, judging from the information gathered so far, seems to be very clear.

The current Wancheng generals also think so.

But Sima Yi, who has always been cautious, feels that things will not be so simple.

Sima Yi seemed to feel that there was a layer of fog lingering in his heart, making him always feel uneasy in his heart.

But he couldn't cut through that fog now.

Just as Sima Yi was meditating, the subordinates on the side urged more and more urgently.

"General, you can't lose the thorny sun!"

This reminder from his subordinates woke Sima Yi up.

Yes, no matter what Zhang Fei's real purpose is, Thorn Yang is an existence that cannot be given up.

Once Jianyang is captured by the Han army, then the southern part of Wancheng will be in no danger to defend.

After realizing this, Sima Yi soon began to dispatch troops.

He looked at the general who had reminded him—Niu Jin.

"You immediately lead 5,000 troops to set off for Thorn Yang, and when your army arrives, if the thief army has already begun to besiege the city, you don't need to rush to break through into the city.

There is a south in the north of Thornyang City, and you can gather in that place. ”

After hearing Sima Yi's general order, Niu Jin immediately took the order in a deep voice.

Looking at the back of Niu Jin leaving, Sima Yi said to the remaining generals:

"You can go back and pack up, and in a few days, I will lead the rear army to Thorn Yang."

Sima Yi's general order was somewhat puzzled by the generals, but they did not disobey Sima Yi's general order openly, and they left the hall one after another after saluting.

The puzzlement on the faces of the generals could naturally be seen by Sima Yi.

Sima Yi also knew why the generals were puzzled.

As the saying goes, saving the city is like fighting fires, and Jianyang City is an important city, and in the case of the Han army coming to the city, under normal circumstances, Sima Yi should send the army to support.

But at the beginning, Sima Yi only sent 5,000 sergeants.

5,000 sergeants sounds like a lot, but in the face of 20,000 Han troops, it is still a risk to protect yourself, not to mention joining forces with the defenders in the city to defeat the Han army?

And if Sima Yi reported the purpose of not rescuing Thornyang, there was no need for him to let Niu Jin lead 5,000 soldiers to Thornyang, let alone say that he would personally lead the army to Thornyang next.

Sima Yi's arrangement sounded very contradictory, which was the reason why the generals of Wancheng were puzzled.

If you can't save it, it's better to be happy!

What the generals didn't know was that the reason why Sima Yi made such an arrangement was that he suspected that the Han army wanted to encircle the point and send reinforcements.

The tactic of encircling the point to send reinforcements was used by Guan Yu during the battle of Xiangfan.

Under this tactic, the fate of the Wei army, which was engaged in field battles with the Han army, is known to the world.

Although it is difficult for the Han army to come up with a luxurious lineup of Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Ma Chao gathered by 10,000 enemies, even if only Zhang Fei is in the Han army, the field combat ability of the Han army should definitely not be underestimated.

"When you are a rider, everyone is divided", this sentence is a true portrayal of Zhang Fei's courage during the battle of Xiangfan.

Under this true portrayal, Sima Yi can't help but be jealous.

The reason why he let Niu Jin lead 5,000 Wei troops first was to inform the defenders in Jianyang City that reinforcements had arrived, so that they could continue to hold on.

On the other hand, Niu Jinnai is a rare warrior in Wancheng.

In addition, the terrain in the south is steep and easy to defend and difficult to attack, so that the real purpose of the Han army can be further explored under the condition of ensuring the safety of the army.

From the point of view of the purpose of preventing being surrounded and sending reinforcements, Sima Yi's arrangement is very proper.

But Sima Yi always had a bad premonition in his heart, as if he had overlooked something crucial.

What is it exactly?

Niu Jin led 5,000 Wei troops, and soon came to Nanjuju, not far from Jianyang City.

Niu Jin was Cao Ren's general at the beginning, and Niu Jin stayed in Wancheng after Cao Ren's death.

Later, after Sima Yi sat in Wancheng, Niu Jin also became Sima Yi's general.

As early as when Cao Ren was under his subordinates, Niu Jin was often entrusted with the task of attacking fortifications by Cao Ren because of his bravery.

After attaching himself to Sima Yi, Niu Jin's bravery was further appreciated by Sima Yi.

And although Niu Jin fought bravely, he was not a reckless person.

As soon as he led his army to Nanjuju, he heard a report from the scouts, saying that the Han army outside Jianyang City had already set up camp.

And looking at the posture of the Han army, they have a situation of encircling Thornyang.

After hearing this, the adjutant general asked Niu Jin if he wanted to lead the army into the city to join the defenders of the city before the Han army's encirclement situation was formed.

Without Sima Yi's entrustment, Niu Jin would likely have taken the lieutenant's advice.

But in order not to disobey Sima Yi's orders, Niu Jin finally chose to gather and camp in the south to form a rivalry with Jianyang City.

After arranging the camp, Niu Jin personally wrote a military report and sent it back to Wancheng.

In the military report, Niu Jin reported the military information he had detected to Sima Yi in 1510.

In Niu Jinyu's military report, he mentioned two very important points.

The first point is that there are indeed a large number of Han troops gathered outside Jianyang City.

The second point is that the leader of the army to attack Thornyang City is undoubtedly Zhang Fei from the general flag.

This military report was only two days old, and it was quickly sent back to the hands of Sima Yi in Wancheng.

Sima Yi looked at the military report sent back by Niu Jin, and after pondering for a long time, he finally made a decision.

On the second day, Sima Yi led 10,000 troops south to rescue Jianyang.

Wancheng, as a strategic place to defend Luoyang, has always been garrisoned by heavy troops.

If Zhang He's 10,000 soldiers were added before, there would be 30,000 Wei troops inside and outside Wancheng alone.

However, with the departure of Zhang He's army, Niu Jin took another 5,000 soldiers to the south, and there are currently only 15,000 Wei troops inside and outside Wancheng.

And it was impossible for Sima Yi to take all the 15,000 Wei troops out of Wancheng, thus plunging Wancheng into a state of extreme emptiness.

When Sima Yi led the army to leave Wancheng, he specially said to the Wancheng guards who were left:

"After I leave with my army, you must send scouts to patrol the surroundings day and night, and you must not relax your carelessness.

I will lead the army to the south and gather in the south, and if there is an urgent military situation, you should report to me in time. ”

The one left by Sima Yi to defend the city was Dai Ling, the general of Cao Wei.

Although Dai Ling is not a well-known general, he has been in the army for many years, and he has always been deeply loved by successive generals with his calm military style.

It is precisely because of this characteristic of Dai Ling that Sima Yi will leave him to garrison Wancheng.

But despite this, Sima Yi continued to instruct Dai Ling several times.

In the face of Sima Yi's repeated instructions, Dai Ling did not dare to slack off, and he repeatedly promised Sima Yi that he would not take it lightly.

After receiving many assurances from Dai Ling, Sima Yi was relieved to lead the troops away.

But what Sima Yi didn't know was that on the day he led his army out of Wancheng, a Han scout hiding outside Wancheng immediately returned to the south after sensing the movement of his army leaving.

Today's chapter.

I'll take my time.