Zhang Xi inadvertently reminded Zhuge Liang and let Zhuge Liang get out of his psychological misunderstanding.

Zhang Xi mentioned that the soldiers he transferred could not guarantee combat effectiveness, but Zhuge Liang realized that in fact, the three armies marched together, and it was not required that each army had the ability to attack fortified positions.

According to the strategic planning, among the three route armies, there is one road with the largest number of soldiers and horses, but the responsibility is to feint and attack the soldiers and horses, so the strength of the combat effectiveness of the soldiers and horses on this road has little impact.

As long as the number of people is large enough, it can bluff Cao Wei's side to gather troops to deal with it.

For the rest, as long as we do a good job of deploying the battle, cover up the shortcomings of the combat strength through the command of the battle, and prevent the enemy from noticing the uneven combat effectiveness of the Han soldiers and soldiers, and not being seen by the enemy.

Although it is a bit risky, it is not impossible to temporarily recruit tens of thousands of people into the army.

After all, Zhuge Liang still has time.

Even if there is a Northern Expedition, it does not mean that Zhuge Liang gives an order today, and the army will set off tomorrow. There's a lot of work to be done.

Grain and grass should be allocated and hoarded in advance, soldiers should be assembled in advance, ordnance should be prepared in advance, and even generals must arrive in their respective combat areas in advance to plan the time and route of the march.

It will take at least half a year, or even longer, to complete all these things.

This time is enough for Zhuge Liang to temporarily recruit forty or fifty thousand recruits.

And for these recruits, Zhuge Liang does not require them to have much combat ability, only requires them to be familiar with the array, and can do the basic arrangement of troops, and that's it. Anyway, it was used to bluff people, and I didn't expect them to really go into battle to kill the enemy.

In this way, plus the 30,000 more people that Zhang Xi squeezed out from Jingzhou, he could make up 70,000 or 80,000 people to arrange the third route of soldiers and horses.

And Pang Tong carefully estimated it, and also put forward a request, if the Wudang Flying Army was incorporated into the third route of soldiers and horses, then seventy or eighty thousand people should be enough to achieve the goal.

The reason why Pang Tong had to prepare 100,000 people was to attack Huguan, if there was not enough strength advantage, he would not be able to fight Huguan once Cao Wei responded to it and sent additional reinforcements to Huguan, then this road of soldiers and horses would be completely in vain.

Now there is a quota of 20,000 people less, but if there is one more Wudang flying army who is good at mountain warfare, follow the combat method of crossing the Wuguan in the past, and attack the Huguan before and after. That's not a big deal if there are 20,000 less.

This is not a big deal.

Zhuge Liang pondered for a while, whether he fought in Hanoi County or crossed the river in Dong County, in fact, the mountain combat ability of the Wudang Fei Army could not be brought into full play, and it was just a strengthened version of the county soldier to be used, wasting the combat talent of the Wudang Fei Army in vain.

This arrangement can be regarded as the best use.

Even if this matter is settled, then all that remains is the feint attack, the arrangement of the actual attack, and the selection of the leaders of the various armies.

The direction of the feint attack was finally determined - 200,000 troops from Luoyang crossed the north bank of Mengjin and feinted to attack Hanoi County.

On the one hand, it is because there is a ready-made landing site on the north bank of the Yellow River, and it is impossible not to use it. Attacking from here made it easier for Cao Wei to believe in the main direction of the Han Dynasty and attract Cao Wei's troops to gather.

On the other hand, in the three-way army, this road of soldiers and horses is just in the middle, and it is easy to echo each other, once the situation changes and the strategic deployment needs to be adjusted, it is relatively easy for this road of soldiers and horses to support Dongjun or to rescue Hedong.

And the commander of the soldiers and horses along the way can't be someone else, it must be Zhuge Liang himself.

After all, this road has the most soldiers and horses, and it needs to take on the role of attracting Cao Wei's troops, if it weren't for Zhuge Liang to command it himself, Zhuge Liang himself would not be at ease.

And the deputy marshal is Xu Shu.

One of the soldiers and horses of the other two actual attacks, Dongjun, sent 100,000 troops, including 50,000 Yanzhou County soldiers and 50,000 Han forbidden troops, the commander was Zhang Xi, and the deputy commander was Wei Yan.

It's not hard to see why.

Now Zhang Xi is the first person in the military, and the Northern Expedition is such a big thing, it is impossible for him not to appear in the Northern Expedition If there is no Zhang Xi, it will be something that will arouse Cao Wei's vigilance.

Moreover, arranging Zhang Xi in Dongjun to face Guo Huai on the other side of the Yellow River is also a kind of meaning to contain Guo Huai and force Guo Huai not to easily transfer troops. In this way, Cao Wei will be more convinced that the main direction of attack of the Han Dynasty is in Hanoi County.

As for Wei Yanma. Wei Yan and Zhang Xi are also old partners, and Wei Yan, as the general of Yanzhou's town guard, is more comfortable commanding Yanzhou county soldiers, which is also a matter of course.

The choice of the coach in these two directions is easy to decide, and it will not arouse Cao Wei's suspicion. But the third way, that is, the coach of the attack on Hedong, several people discussed it with each other, which was still a bit controversial.

What does Zhang Xi mean, aren't Jiang Xu and Pang Tong still idle, just let the two of them take command of the soldiers and horses along the way.

Just right, let Pang Tong take command, and Jiang Xu will be the deputy marshal to assist.

Jiang Xu's own ability to command troops is not bad, he can make up for the gap in Pang Tong's experience as a commander, and this strategy was also formulated by Pang Tong, he knows best where the focus of this strategy is, and if you want to respond to the situation, Pang Tong's presence is the most suitable person.

But Pang Tong was very surprised to resign the coach candidate.

There are three reasons for this.

First, it is because the situation of Pang Tong and Xu Shu is different.

Xu Shu was able to lead the troops to fight alone in the last Northern Expedition, on the one hand, because the generals under the command of Xu Shu had many generals from the Jingzhou department, and Xu Shu could achieve the effect as long as he commanded these people well.

On the other hand, Xu Shu is actually not without experience in leading troops, he has a lot of experience in accompanying the army during the period when he assisted Guan Yu to defend Jingzhou, and he is very familiar with military affairs.

But Pang Tong is different from Xu Shu, he is actually the same as the late Yihou Fa, both of them are pure strategists.

Although it cannot be said that Pang Tong did not have the experience of going out with the army, Pang Tong was accustomed to making suggestions rather than making decisions on his own, and he had no experience in commanding operations on the spot. It is not appropriate to suddenly lead the troops into battle.

Second, Pang Tong also needs to sit in Chang'an and deal with rear government affairs with Li Yan.

Especially in this situation, Zhuge Liang just made a mess of personnel reform, and hurried to the Northern Expedition before the mess was finished, in case there is a change in the place, someone is needed to be able to sit in Chang'an, and someone must be able to lead the troops to quell the rebellion, so he and Li Yan are both indispensable, and they must stay in Chang'an to stay, just in case.

Third, Pang Tong recommended a more suitable candidate to lead the troops than him - Deng Ai.

According to Pang Tong, today's Deng Ai, after nearly 20 years of combat experience, what he lacks now is not ability, but an opportunity to lead the army.

Therefore, Pang Tong suggested that Jiang Xu be appointed as the chief commander and Deng Ai as the deputy marshal to lead the third route of soldiers and horses.

Suggest it. Zhang Xi is a little difficult to reply.

You have to avoid suspicion.

Deng Ai is Zhang Xi's personal disciple, which is well known to the world, and Deng Ai's ability, at least in the eyes of the Han high-level, there should be no problem for him to take over Zhang Xi's mantle in the future.

But these words, Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong and others can say that Zhang Xi can't say that.

Zhang Xi also believes that the current Deng Ai already has the ability to take charge on his own, but he, who is a master, is not good to take the initiative to mention this matter, and when Pang Tong proposes, Zhang Xi must also shut up.

But fortunately, over the years, Deng Ai's ability has been recognized by many people.

For example, Xu Shu.

Since Zhang Xi entered Sichuan, Deng Ai has basically grown up in front of Xu Shu's eyes, and over the years, what Deng Ai's actual ability is, Xu Shu knows best. Deng Ai served as the deputy marshal of the Third Route Army, and Xu Shu was almost the first to agree.

As the commander of the Third Route Army, Jiang Xu actually doesn't know much about Deng Ai's ability.

However, Jiang Xu has no reason to oppose this.

On the one hand, Deng Ai is Zhang Xi's personal disciple, and even if Jiang Xu really doesn't look down on Deng Ai, he has to give Zhang Xi a little face.

On the other hand, in this operation, the Han Forbidden Army fought under Zhang Xi, which meant that his nephew Jiang Wei was also fighting under the command of Zhang Xi, and for the sake of his nephew, it was impossible for Jiang Xu to offend Zhang Xi.

In addition, Deng Ai's own ability is not bad, and he only serves as Jiang Xu's deputy. Then why does Jiang Xu still oppose it?!

Pang Tong proposed, Xu Shu, Jiang Xu agreed, Zhang Xi did not speak, Li Yan. Li Yan is a good person, and he finally took advantage of Meng Da's matter to repair his relationship with Zhang Xi, so that he would not say annoying things at such a time.

In this way, the commander of the three-way army was decided.

After that, it is time for each to discuss the issue of transferring combat generals. But these are already some trivial and not very important things.

In this regard, the strategy decided that the Han was going to start the Sixth Northern Expedition.

(End of chapter)