Xiahou Shang didn't have any contradictions with Cao Zhen, he actually conveyed to Cao Zhen the emergency military situation of the Shu army's increase, so that Cao Zhen was ready to support Tongguan at any time.

However, on the side of the Son of Heaven, Xiahou Shang had to write a book to explain the situation - why he had already led his troops to relieve the siege of Tongguan, and he was still stranded in Tongguan and did not return.

Don't forget, Xiahou Shang is the general of the Protector Army, and his duty is to defend the Son of Heaven's army, and the Central Forbidden Army he leads is still the last forbidden army force around Cao Ei.

It is impossible not to tell the Son of Heaven not to know about going out to fight with such a force and staying and not returning.

But the problem is that as soon as Xiahou Shang reported this, Cao Rong was shocked when he received the battle report.

Two days ago, I just received Cao Zhen's request to play a sparse performance, and learned that Cao Zhen had given the 90,000 infantry cavalry coalition army to Lang, and there were only 25,000 people left, and Cao Rong almost didn't slow down at that time.

If Cao Rong wasn't still young, and his physical fitness was so much better than his father's, it was estimated that he would have to have dark eyes.

Now it's okay, the previous results have not been digested, and Xiahou Shang has brought bad news to himself again.

Cao Zhen was no longer in waves, after all, he still returned to the pass with tens of thousands of soldiers, and Tongguan was lost and recovered, after all, it was to protect the barrier in the Sili area.

Now Xiahou Shang sent an urgent battle report, saying that the Shu thieves gathered 60,000 troops to attack Tongguan, and Xiahou Shang only had 10,000 troops stationed in Tongguan If Tongguan is lost again, then Cao Rong really has to think about whether to move back to Yecheng.

Cao Rong hurriedly ordered someone to find Liu Ye and Chen Qun and ask these two people for advice.

It's not that Cao Ei doesn't have a coping plan himself, it's true. The overall situation is very complicated.

The situation on Wancheng's side was also very tense, and Sima Yi had a letter asking for help almost every three days, hoping that Cao Yi would send reinforcements to Wancheng as soon as possible.

Cao Rong did send an edict to Cao Zhen after Cao Zhen returned to the Guannei, hoping that after he finished his rest, he would lead his troops to Wancheng to rescue Sima Yi as soon as possible.

But Cao Rong also knew that Cao Zhen's army retreating to the pass was not discouraged and its combat effectiveness was worrying, so Cao Zhen was given ten days to rest and recuperate.

But now, Tongguan is also in an emergency, if Cao Zhen leads his troops to support Wancheng, who will support Tongguan?!

But as long as Cao Rong can still draw out enough troops at hand, it will not let Cao Zhen go around such a big circle to support Wancheng.

Therefore, Cao Rong now needs to make a choice, whether to save Wancheng or Tongguan.

This is not something that Cao Ei can make a decision by pondering it alone, Cao Ei must seek the opinions of important ministers in the court.

And now in Luoyang, the only people who have a certain military strategy ability and can represent the opinions of important ministers in the DPRK and China are Chen Qun and Liu Ye, Sun Zi and Liu Fang, who are in charge of government affairs all year round, and they can't talk about it.

Cao Rong still knows very well who should be asked about something.

But the problem is that Liu Ye and Chen Qun are a little unsure of such a big matter.

The battle report from Sima Yi in Wancheng was very serious.

Shu thieves 90,000 Jingzhou army besieged Wancheng, after nearly a month of siege and hard fighting, now the defenders of Wancheng have dropped from 30,000 before the war to about 20,000.

One-third of the casualties, Wancheng has reached a critical moment, if there are not enough reinforcements to support Wancheng, continue to suffer such casualties, the morale of the defenders of Wancheng will collapse sooner or later.

In terms of Wuguan, according to the joint report of Sima Yi and Guo Huai, the Shu thieves gathered 40,000 troops outside Wuguan Road, but because Wuguan Road was narrow, they could really enter Wuguan Road and station, and the Shu thieves who attacked Wuguan were only more than 10,000 people, which was not enough to form a substantial threat to Wuguan, which was garrisoned by seven or eight thousand Wei troops.

Therefore, the crux of the problem is still in Wancheng.

Once Wancheng is lost, Wuguan will be cut off from the Central Plains and lose the value of continuing to hold on. Wancheng is here, Wuguan is here, Wancheng is lost, and Wuguan can't be defended.

At that time, the hinterland of the Central Plains will not only open its door, but even face the invasion of more than 100,000 Shu thieves.

Therefore, the earlier plan was to let Cao Zhen rest for a while from the remaining Si Li army under his command, and then let Cao Zhen directly lead the troops to support Wancheng.

As long as Wancheng is not lost, the safety of Si Li will be guaranteed enough.

But for now. The Shu thieves over Tongguan also increased their troops, and they increased their troops by 30,000 all of a sudden.

If this news is true, then Tongguan will also face the danger of being breached.

And once Tongguan is breached again, the Shu thieves don't even need to go around from Wancheng to attack Luoyang, as long as they cross a Hongnong County, and Luoyang is ahead.

What's worse is that now Cao Rong can't take out any troops to stop it.

Well, at least all the troops on the official side have been sent out. As for the private conscription, it has not been too smooth.

This is the dilemma they are facing now, and Liu Ye and Chen Qun are seriously thinking about how to deal with it.

Liu Ye thought for a long time, and first said, "Although the Shu thieves occupy the land of the four states, but Liangzhou is barren, and 30,000 soldiers and horses entering the customs to fight is already the limit, Yongzhou is less than ten years old, Dingkou is not attached, and more than 40,000 county soldiers are also reasonable, where did the Shu thieves come from, and transferred these 30,000 elite soldiers?!" ”

Liu Ye immediately questioned the strength of the Han army.

The main thing is the total strength of all the Han armies, and if the battle report on the front line is correct, it adds up to too much.

In the direction of Wancheng, according to Sima Yi, it is outrageous that Jingzhou soldiers have 90,000 troops, don't Shu thieves want Jingzhou? ! Is Sun Quan really a gentleman who keeps his promises?!

In the direction of Wuguan, if Guo Huai did not lie about the military situation, the 40,000 Shu thieves should have included the soldiers of Yizhou County.

So the question is, judging from all the current intelligence, the Shu thieves have gathered 200,000 troops before and after, and where did the Shu thieves get the 30,000 soldiers and horses to support Tongguan?!

With the number of Ding Kou of Shu thieves, if you want to support these 230,000 soldiers and horses, even if you use the standard of exhaustive military force, you will need at least 3 million Ding Kou, but in fact, without 5 million people, you can't support so many people. The development of Shu thieves has been fast in recent years, but with so many soldiers and horses, it is basically the power of the whole country, right?

It's hard to get 10,000 more people out, let alone 30,000 more people out of thin air?!

Well, even if the Shu thieves launched a national mobilization and organized some ordinary people to be cannon fodder. Where's the grain, grass, and ordnance?!

With the economic size of Shu, to support the attack of more than 200,000 people, how long can the grain and grass last? !

Therefore, Liu Ye suspected that either the 30,000 reinforcements of the Shu thieves were fake and a bluff, or that the Shu thieves' attack would not last, as long as they could hold on for a month or two, the Shu thieves would retreat because of the lack of food.

Liu Ye's suspicion is very reasonable, he basically saw Zhuge Liang's plan in Tongguan, and his analysis was quite in place.

But Mr. Chen objected.

Chen Qun thinks that the Shu thieves really want to use their troops to make a move, and the whole country will mobilize, and 30,000 people can be gathered in the land of Yongzhou.

After all, it is not impossible to gather the people and distribute some simple ordnance to be used as siege cannon fodder.

Chen Qun recognized Liu Ye's judgment and also thought that it would be very difficult for the Shu thieves to make up 30,000 trained county soldiers, but it was not impossible to get 30,000 people to come out as cannon fodder to attack Tongguan.

Although cannon fodder will not be of much help to siege the city, it can still be done by consuming the Wei army's defense equipment According to Xiahou Shang's battle report, Tongguan is now lacking everything, especially the arrows, bows and crossbows that are the key to defending the city.

Grain and grass can be transferred from Hongnong County to support Tongguan, but the ordnance stockpiled in Hongnong County can't even replenish Cao Zhen's 25,000 soldiers and horses, let alone Tongguan.

The ordnance defending the city must be sent from Luoyang, and this will take time.

Therefore, Chen Qun believes that although these 30,000 people are very likely to be a rabble, the threat to Tongguan is still substantial, so it is still necessary to consider the possibility of Tongguan being lost.

Two people, two opinions, but don't say it, how to deal with Cao Rong next, it's about to explode.

Back then, Emperor Taizu Wu was also facing such a vassal, and Emperor Taizu Wu was really a heroic figure of wisdom and martial arts.

Anyway, Cao Ei doesn't have much experience in subordinates who only do analysis and need to make decisions by themselves, after all, in the usual government and military affairs, whoever raises the problem will have a solution, and Cao Ei thinks it is feasible to adopt it.

Well, now the subordinates will only refute each other's opinions, but they just won't give a solution. What can Cao Rong do?!

Fortunately, Cao Ei is still more or less an assertive man, in the face of Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition in history, the ministers were also unscrupulous but there were no practical countermeasures, and in the end, Cao Ei personally made the decision, and drove to Chang'an to boost the morale of the army.

Now, Cao Rong has also made his own decision.

Since Liu Ye and Chen Qun both believed that the Tongguan side was holding on to death, there were more than 30,000 rabble, so they ordered the inner government and the county guards in various places, and the county orders cooperated closely to send the ordnance needed to defend Tongguan as soon as possible.

As for Cao Zhen, he immediately issued an edict, urging Cao Zhen to end his rest and recuperate and lead his troops to support Wancheng.

Compared with Tongguan, Cao Rong gave priority to Wancheng.

After all, if Tongguan is broken, there is still a Hangu Pass that can delay for a while, but if hundreds of thousands of Shu thieves are allowed to break through Wancheng and pour into Sili in one fell swoop. Relying on the 10,000 soldiers in Yingchuan County, they can't stop so many Shu thieves at all!!

Therefore, Wancheng's reinforcements are even more urgent.

(End of chapter)