Zhuge Liang and Zhang Xi, who were in Liang County, naturally didn't know what Sun Quan was planning behind his back, and their main energy now was still on how to conquer Luoyang.

Zhuge Liang's division of troops did not surprise Sima Yi's expectations, and Sima Yi finally took the lead, plugging all the loopholes around Luoyang in advance, and not giving Zhuge Liang a chance to cut off Luoyang's wings.

If it goes on like this, Luoyang will not be easy to fight.

From a military point of view, the capture of any city in this era is nothing more than two means.

First, the troops were crushed and the hard attack was successful.

Second, isolate the city and wait until the city is exhausted and surrenders.

Obviously, at the moment, neither approach is suitable.

The Han army did not have enough strength to crush the defenders of Luoyang, and the effect of isolating the city was not satisfactory.

Zhao Yun and Wu Yi attacked Xuchang in Yingchuan, and at first it was quite smooth, easily occupying Xiangcheng, and then starting from Xiangcheng and arriving in Xuchang.

But then, the march did not go well.

Chen Tai insisted on holding the fortified city of Xuchang while asking for help from Yanzhou and Runan, after only half a month, Guo Huai and Jia Kui came to help one after another, and Zhao Yun and Wu Yi's attack could only stop at Xuchang.

Deng Ai led the troops to attack the Tiger Prison Pass, trying to cut off the connection between Henan County and Chenliu County, but according to Deng Ai's report, the sneak attack failed, and the Wei army had already expected to arrive at the Tiger Prison Pass first, according to the pass, Deng Ai only brought 10,000 troops, which was too difficult to conquer the Tiger Pass.

At the beginning, the princes of the Eighteenth Route could not attack the Dong coalition army, and Deng Ai could not do anything.

The only good news is that on the Mengjin side, Zhang Fei and Wei Yan are clearing the outer defense line of Mengjin and trying to besiege Mengjin after joining forces.

However, after the Sima brothers retreated to Mengjin, according to Mengjindu, there was Hanoi behind them, and although there were so many soldiers in the two counties of Hedong, all kinds of money, food and materials could still be supported.

Although the Hedong soldiers brought by Sima Shi were very poorly organized, they could also burst out with extremely high combat effectiveness in a short period of time under the encouragement of sufficient material conditions.

For a while, he was also at odds with the Northern Han Army and the county soldiers led by Zhang Fei and Wei Yan.

But this state, after all, can't be too long-lasting, maybe it can be supported for a while, but after holding each other for a long time, Meng Jindu is the easiest place to be broken through.

Therefore, the question that Zhuge Liang has to consider now is whether to continue such a strong attack and strive to completely cut off Luoyang's wings, or choose to focus on defense, according to the enemy's reinforcements, and then concentrate his forces to besiege Luoyang.

No matter which one you choose, it seems to take a lot of time.

Although let's say that before this Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang was also prepared for a long-term battle, and the preparation of military rations was prepared according to the standard of one year of operation, but there is one thing to say, once the war continues for more than a year, it will definitely have an immeasurable impact on the livelihood of the Han people.

This has nothing to do with the size of the territory, it is determined by the economic foundation of this era. The livelihood production under the small-scale peasant economy is very fragile, and natural disasters, wars, heavy national taxes, etc., may cause a very big blow to the small-scale peasant economy.

Zhuge Liang may not be able to fully understand the cause and effect relationship here, but with his IQ and experience, it is impossible not to understand these truths.

Therefore, if he can, Zhuge Liang still hopes that he can solve it quickly.

Again, Zhuge Liang didn't want to harvest a ruined Heluo region.

After careful consideration back and forth, Zhuge Liang decided to regather his forces and suppress Luoyang.

However, it is also necessary to seriously consider where to recover the troops.

Deng Ai went to sneak attack the troops of the Tiger Prison Pass, and it was better to take it back directly. Anyway, it is impossible to take the Tiger Prison Pass, and the defenders of the Tiger Prison Pass do not dare to withdraw easily, they must ensure the rescue passage of the Wei army.

Deng Ai's withdrawal of troops has nothing to do with it.

On the Yingchuan side, Zhuge Liang felt that he could actually withdraw his troops back.

Chen Tai's purpose is to hold Yingchuan, once the Northern Expeditionary Army retreats, Chen Tai will inevitably choose to keep up with the recovery of Yingchuan counties, and it is unknown whether he will lead troops to Luoyang to support.

Again, even if Chen Tai had the heart to support Luoyang, the troops in his hands were insufficient.

Not to mention anything else, once Xuchang withdraws the siege, Guo Huai of Runan will definitely have to return to defense as soon as possible. Of course, if Zhu Ju of Runan sent troops to occupy the three counties of Runan, it would be good news for the Han Dynasty.

And Meng Jindu's side really can't be withdrawn.

Mengjindu is connected between Hedong, Hanoi and Luoyang, if the siege is withdrawn, not only Hebei reinforcements can come, Hanoi, Hedong two counties of material support can also cross the Yellow River and reach Luoyang.

In this way, Luoyang is too difficult to fight.

Therefore, if it is possible, Zhuge Liang still hopes that Wei Yan, Zhang Fei and others can conquer Mengjin and completely block the material supply channel in Luoyang.

Moreover, 10,000 people were withdrawn from Tiger Pass, 10,000 people were withdrawn from Yingchuan, and there were nearly 40,000 soldiers in addition to the 17,000 people in Liang County.

It is basically the same as the defenders of Luoyang. It's still a little hard to fight.

With a one-to-one comparison of military strength, it is a bit impossible to even besiege the city, let alone break the city.

Unless Sima Yi is an idiot like Xiahou Nan, otherwise, this Luoyang is really a bit difficult to fight.

I have to think of other ways to lure Sima Yi out of the city.

"I want to lead Zilong into Yique Pass, and Yuan Chang's master and apprentice will lead the army into Dagu Pass. What does the chief think?! Zhuge Liang looked at the map and asked Zhang Xi.

And Zhang Xi carefully checked the map, a little puzzled.

Otani Pass

Zhuge Liang's operation in front of him is to collect dragon troops to increase the ability to attack fortifications, how to re-divide the troops after collecting the troops? !

In this case, why not honestly divide the troops to attack, as long as you can capture Mengjin and block the Tiger Pass, then Luoyang will fall into a state of isolation.

Although it takes a lot of time to do this, and it may take half a year and a year, as long as Luoyang can be captured, then this Northern Expedition can be regarded as a complete victory.

What kind of operation is this second division of troops after collecting troops?!

Zhang Xi looked at Zhuge Liang incomprehensibly.

Zhuge Liang naturally understood what Zhang Xi meant, and began to explain, "The purpose of gathering troops is to make Sima Yi firmly believe that we want to attack Luoyang, and the division of troops is to make Sima Yi think that there is an opportunity to take advantage of my desires."

Zhuge Liang began to get up "like this" in front of Zhang Xi.

And Zhang Xi, the more I listen to it, the more I feel that Zhuge Liang's strategy is a little familiar, isn't this a copy of the Battle of Lucheng? !

Divide the troops to defend, then hold on to one place, take the initiative to retreat in another, lure the enemy to pursue and surround the rear, and finally set up an ambush to encircle and annihilate. This is the battle of Lucheng, the battle in which Zhuge Liang fought Sima Yi with a head of 3,000.

But there's a problem here. In the battle of Lucheng, Zhuge Liang temporarily solved the logistics problem by transporting military rations by water, but the Wei army did not know, and thought that the Han army was far away and it was inconvenient to transport grain, so it could not be held for a long time.

And Zhuge Liang, this guy, also acted in a special play and cut the wheat in Shangqi, which made Sima Yi really think that the Han army was short of food and had to choose to supply on the spot.

Only then did Zhuge Liang retreat all the way, Sima Yi did not doubt that he was in hot pursuit. The Shu thieves are short of food, once they are defeated and retreated, they are really retreating, and there can be no fraud.

But now, the Northern Expedition of the Han Dynasty is after the autumn harvest in September, and it is already the end of October, and the grain that should be harvested has already been harvested, and there is nowhere to harvest wheat.

Again, this Northern Expedition has just been going on for less than two months, even if you clearly tell Sima Yi that there is a shortage of food now, he Sima Yi may not believe it!!

It is not difficult to transport grain from Jingzhou to Sili.

As for Sima Yi, the old fox, how could he easily take the initiative to send troops to attack, and how could he easily choose to pursue and give Zhuge Liang a chance to set up an ambush halfway?!

Zhang Xi raised his own questions, but Zhuge Liang only smiled slightly and said, "So. . . Liang wants to withdraw his troops!! ”

After speaking, Zhuge Liang pointed his finger to Xiangcheng in Yingchuan County and said, "If Xiangcheng is lost, our army's grain road will be in danger. Can Sima Yiyan not believe that I will withdraw my troops to save me?! ”

Zhang Xi suddenly realized, but then, he immediately objected, and said, "Xiangcheng is lost, and our army's grain road will be exposed under the peak of the Yingchuan Wei army. With such a risk, the prime minister is not afraid of a whatever?! ”

Such a dangerous thing, with Zhang Xi's temperament, he would definitely not agree.

Even, Zhang Xi looked at Zhuge Liang, who was only cautious all his life, suspiciously, how could he take the initiative to make such a risky decision?!

This Zhuge fish head won't also be crossed, right?!

But Zhuge Liang just shook his head helplessly and said, "The strength of the army is like this, Liang wants to break the Wei thief quickly, so Liang thinks that only two generals are needed to defend the two cities of Kunyang and Luyang, although the grain road is dangerous, it will not be broken." It's not necessarily a try. ”

Zhang Xi continued to think about it seriously. It seems that what Zhuge Liang said also makes sense.

The grain road of the army, two important nodes, one is Luyang, the army grain and grass pass directly from there, and the guarantee is the grain and grass sent from Luyang to Liang County. The other is Kunyang, as long as Kunyang is not lost, the Wei army will not be able to bypass Luyang and directly cut off the grain and grass sent from Nanyang to Luyang.

If these two places are not lost, then the integrity of the grain route will still exist.

Although it will face the harassment of the Wei army at any time, resulting in the loss of grain transportation, it is not to the point where the army is really out of food, and the attack on Kunyang and Luyang is enough to give Sima Yi the determination to take the initiative to attack and fight.

It's just that it's still too risky.

And most importantly

"Who can defend these two cities?!" Zhang Xi asked.

You can't let me and Zhao Yun go to guard Kunyang and Luyang. If you want to do this, not to mention Sima Yi, Chen Tai of Yingchuan may not take the initiative to occupy Xiangcheng.

Fools know that there must be something greasy in this.

Zhuge Liang smiled and said, "Wang Zijun, the second general Zhang Boqi, is enough." ”

Wang Ping and Zhang Wei, yes, it's really okay!!

(End of chapter)