Sima Yi was not surprised that Chen Tai was able to hold Xuchang, with the status and influence of Chen Tai's family in Yingchuan, plus the help of Guo Huai and Jia Kui, it was not a big problem to hold Yingchuan.

But to say that Chen Tai can still wave his army to recover Xiangcheng. This was somewhat unexpected by Sima Yi.

In fact, when Zhuge Liang gathered his troops and marched into Luoyang, Sima Yi did guess that the Shu thieves would withdraw their troops from Yingchuan County, and Chen Tai's pressure would be much less.

But Xiangcheng. It is an important town to protect the safety of the Shu thief's grain road.

Xiangcheng was lost, and the supply channel of the Shu thieves was directly exposed to Chen Tai's soldiers.

Sima Yi almost subconsciously suspected that this was a trap deliberately set by Zhuge Liang to lure Chen Tai's light troops to break through, and then set up an ambush to encircle and annihilate the defenders of Yingchuan.

But later, Sima Yi saw from the military newspaper that Chen Tai had the same suspicion and was stationed in Xiangcheng without moving. However, after more than ten days of investigation, nothing suspicious was found.

The Shu thieves only arranged 3,000 soldiers to guard each in Luyang and Kunyang, and they didn't find any other traps and ambushes.

Even, Chen Tai took the risk of taking the initiative and sent a small force to attack the grain transportation team of the Shu thieves, and achieved good results, burning a small part of the grain and grass.

If it is not really a last resort, Zhuge Liang thinks that it is better not to use this "next strategy" for the time being.

Sima Yi can't be sure, but Jingzhou side. There is a real possibility that something will happen.

On the surface, Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition was insufficient and had to concentrate his forces to attack Luoyang, so he transferred rear soldiers to the front to support, resulting in weak guards on the grain road. Also said in the past.

It's just some excuses for Chen Tai to explain why he didn't come to Luoyang to rescue, what troops are insufficient, what threatens the Shu thief's grain route to reduce the pressure on Luoyang, and so on.

Therefore, Sima Yi sent a letter back to Chen Tai, telling him that if he could, try to attack Luyang or Kunyang and cut off the grain route of the Shu thieves. But be careful with your troops, don't fall in love with the war, and if you find that the situation is not right, you should immediately retreat and keep Xiangcheng.

Judging from Chen Tai's previous reaction, either Chen Tai himself has good military strategy, or he has the help of superior people, and if you want to lure him to take the initiative to attack, you need to have enough patience.

And if you really want to talk about it, as long as Luyang and Kunyang are not lost, the Shu thieves can't say that they have cut off the grain route, although under the threat of Chen Tai in Xiangcheng, the military food will definitely be lost, but it is not impossible to continue to maintain the war.

If Jingzhou is in an emergency, it is also possible for Zhuge Liang to take the risk of choosing to transfer troops, fight a quick battle in Luoyang, and then return to Jingzhou.

Therefore, Zhuge Liang just ordered someone to send an order to Zhang Wei, asking him to increase the frequency of transporting grain and grass, and strengthen the protection of the grain and grass transportation team, so as to relax Chen Tai's vigilance.

However, according to the military report sent by Zhang Wei, Chen Tai's attack was very fast from the scale to the speed of withdrawal, and it was obvious that Chen Tai was worried about the Han army's initiative to retreat the defensive line.

In this way, after giving Zhang Wei the next order, Zhuge Liang gave Zhang Xi an order to ask him to temporarily stand still at Dagu Pass and wait for the right time.

One is an official order.

But the question is, how can Sima Yi "notice" that he is beginning to be "impatient", or even "in chaos"?!

Lack of food and grass?!

If he really made up his mind, couldn't hold on, and adopted such a passive tactic as defending and retreating the enemy, I am afraid that there would really be nothing he could do about him for a while.

But what is this change?!

Continue to look at Chen Tai's military report, then there is no nutrition.

Only at that point can Sima Yi really be fooled and take the initiative to go out of the city to seek to break his army, so that Zhuge Liang will have a chance to break the enemy in a battle.

After replying to Chen Tai, Sima Yi rethought this Zhuge Liang, what did he think? !

Sima Yi tried to consider the problem from Zhuge Liang's point of view, although he had some clues, but. I always felt like something was wrong.

After all, Jingnan and Jiangxia are in the hands of Eastern Wu, and with the strength of the monarch of Eastern Wu, a typical unsatisfactory character, it is really possible to send troops to attack Jingzhou when the Jingzhou army goes north to attack Luoyang.

For a while, Zhuge Liang really couldn't think of any good way or that there was a way, but it was definitely not a good method.

And this pressure. Actually, there is.

Of course, Sima Yi was not short of eyes, and he would not rely on his own brain to decide the next battle plan, so he immediately sent people to contact the detailed work in Huainan and Eastern Wu to seek more direct evidence support.

At the same time, Zhuge Liang, who had already marched to Yique Pass, also received a military report from Zhang Wei in the rear.

But because of his concerns, Chen Tai did not dare to harass the grain transportation team of the Shu thieves on a large scale, and the follow-up reinforcements of the Shu thieves came quickly, Chen Tai had few soldiers and had to retreat immediately. Otherwise, the results should be even greater.

Anyway, Sima Yi never thought that Chen Taihui would lead troops to support Luoyang, and Chen Tai could take the initiative to send troops to attack the Shu thief's grain road, in Sima Yi's opinion, it was already a manifestation of his imminent change.

In addition, it is rumored that Zhuge Liang is quite cautious in using troops, and if he fights with that Zhang Yuanchang, he should not adopt this strategy of using troops.

Therefore, in fact, Zhang Xi was also thinking about whether there was a suitable way to force Sima Yi to take the initiative to send troops.

Insufficient troops?!

That's for sure, but the question is, when Zhuge Liang launched a strategic offensive, wouldn't he have calculated the troops he needed to use, and only now did he suddenly find out that the troops were not enough to conquer Luoyang?!

Taking a step back, even if Zhuge Liang is really so stupid, he can now transfer troops from Chang'an or Jingzhou, especially Jingzhou soldiers, it is not a long way to come to Luoyang to help in the war.

But the problem is, Sima Yi always felt that this matter was not so simple, why did Zhuge Liang be so anxious and quickly march into Luoyang?!

It doesn't make sense.

A Chen Tai is so cautious, it can be seen that it is really difficult to say whether his strategy can hide from Sima Yi.

Could it be that there was some unexpected situation that caused Zhuge Liang to start using troops urgently?!

Seeing this, even Sima Yi began to wonder a little, could it be that Zhuge Liang was really in a hurry to attack Luoyang, so he gathered too many troops and did not have enough troops to protect the grain road? !

As for whether Zhuge Liang deliberately designed it this way, Sima Yi didn't believe in using the grain road as bait, and anyone who was not a brainless fool would not use the grain road as a bait to lure the enemy.

Sima Yi is from a big family, and in the Heluo area, where the big families gather, although the Sima family can be regarded as having the right to speak, there is still a gap with those top families.

By the way, Zhuge Liang also mixed his own idea of "next step" in Zhang Xi's military order and solicited Zhang Xi's opinion.

This is a strategy that will lead to a big defeat if you are not careful.

If the entire Heluo region united to put pressure on Sima Yi, then Sima Yi would have to fight even if he didn't want to, I'm afraid.

Everything seemed to be going according to Zhuge Liang's plan, and Chen Tai really sent troops out to recover Xiangcheng, and attacked in the direction of the army's grain road.

Normally, after the grain and grass are attacked, they must strengthen the protection of the grain and grass team, and if they don't do this, it will cause Chen Tai's suspicions.

On the one hand, Chen Tai can make a wrong judgment to Sima Yi, and on the other hand, it can also lure Chen Tai to take the initiative to launch an attack on Luyang or Kunyang, intending to cut off the grain and grass of the Northern Expedition.

As long as Xiangcheng is still in his hands, then the grain route of the Shu thieves will never be safe, and it will always be a big threat to the Shu thieves.

For example, Cao Rong personally issued an order for Sima Yi to take the initiative to fight and seek to defeat the Han army.

The remaining one is to create enough pressure on Sima Yi, so that Sima Yi has to send troops when he can't withstand the pressure.

Well. In this case, it seems that I will feel much less stressed all of a sudden.

Therefore, to a certain extent, Zhuge Liang felt that it was necessary for him to give Sima Yi a little more "confidence", so that he could have enough confidence to take the initiative to fight.

So. Could it be that something happened in Jingzhou?!

No, transporting grain and grass from Jingzhou to Nanyang, and then from Nanyang to Luoyang, this supply line is not too long, right? !

No, as far as Zhuge Liang shows now, he doesn't look like the kind of person who cares about his head.

It's just that Zhang Xi hasn't thought of this method of letting the big families unite to ask Sima Yi to fight.

As for Zhang Xi, after leading the troops to occupy Dagu Pass, he could be regarded as dividing his troops with Zhuge Liang.

Compared with Zhuge Liang's deliberate design, Sima Yi was more inclined to have some changes, and Zhuge Liang had to do it.

In Zhang Xi's view, there are only two possibilities for Sima Yi to take the initiative to attack.

Although Zhang Xi knows the general strategy, it is not possible, and Zhang Xi is not sure.

After all, the opponent is Sima Yi, an old turtle and an old fox.

But this kind of thing, Zhang Xi just wants to be blind, and Cao Ei can't listen to Zhang Xi, whether it's the Cao Ei in history or the Cao Ei in this time and space, they are all very sober sober-minded monarchs, and it is impossible to give such an order that lacks heart.

To be honest, Zhuge Liang didn't want to use such a scheme, but if it really came to the point of being forced to do so, it was better to ask for the opinion of the Yuan Chang first.

However, it will take time.

And at this time, Zhuge Liang's military order, as well as his letters, arrived.

In terms of military orders, there is nothing special, and Zhang Xi can follow them.

But Zhuge Liang's letters, especially the "next step" mentioned in Zhuge Liang's letters, made Zhang Xi's eyes light up, but he also fell into contemplation.

There is a way, but the price is indeed not small.

(End of chapter)