On June 27, Shen Chen gathered all the remnants of the army and returned to Luoyang.

At this time, Pound also crossed the river and joined him.

Coupled with the reinforcements of Ganning and Zhoutai, he has about 30,000 people in his hands, and the troops are still relatively sufficient.

Although it is still very small compared to Sima Yi's 120,000 people in the south, it is not as good as Wuqiu's frugality, but there are many things that can be done.

The main reason is that there are 150,000 on Zhuge Liang's side, and Sima Yi is fighting with 150,000 people head-on, and he has to prevent more than 30,000 people from sneaking up on him, which is really a little difficult for him.

So now the more than 30,000 people in Shen Chen's hands can be described as a decisive force, walking sideways in Henan, the hinterland of Cao Wei.

To the north, he can go to Hanoi County and unite with Zhao Yun's 40,000 people to dispose of Wuqiu Jian together.

To the south, he could unite Zhuge Liang's 150,000 army and attack Sima Yi in the north and south at the same time.

Therefore, after arriving in Luoyang, Shen Chen held a meeting in Luoyang to discuss with many generals what to do next.

He had been to the Luoyang Imperial Palace, and Cao Wei had repaired it well, but it was obviously impossible for him to occupy the palace, so he convened everyone in the original Cao Wei Sangong Mansion.

Below, Pang De, Gan Ning, Deng Ai, Jiang Wei, Zhou Tai and other generals sat on the left and right, and Shen Chen was in the main position, looking down at the people below.

The mansion of the three princes is next to the palace, and it is magnificent. The architectural style of the powerful houses in the Han Dynasty liked to be so large, the house was large, the windows were small, and it was easy to make the lighting in the house not very good.

Therefore, it is often seen that when the magnates of the Han Dynasty discuss in the Han Dynasty building in later TV dramas, candles must be lit on both sides to light up the house during the day.

At present, there are turtle and crane lanterns burning on both sides, and the house is brightly lit, and Shen Chen looks at everyone's faces with joy.

Jiang Wei had reported to Shen Chen before that although Cao Rong used Hu Zun to block the arrows, he did not escape back to the cabin by himself, but was dragged back by his guards at the risk of death.

This shows that he is also very likely to be hit by an arrow, if he is injured and dies, then the blow to Cao Wei will be very big, maybe it is not good to say that within this year, it is possible to go north in one fell swoop, eliminate Cao Wei, and the Han Dynasty will dominate the world again.

"Cao Ei's life and death are unknown now, and I haven't passed on his news in Yecheng, but don't be too happy, if Cao Ei is not dead, there is still a hard battle to fight."

Shen Chen saw that everyone was elated, so he reminded loudly: "At any time, don't hold the best result for the enemy, but for the worst result. Now that things have been done seventy percent, Cao Wei's victory rate is less than thirty percent, we must continue to work hard, don't celebrate in advance. ”

It is not necessary to open the champagne at halftime, and everyone has to dispel this idea.

"Yes."

And they answered.

Then Shen Chen continued: "Now that I have occupied Luoyang, will I go north or go south after that, what do you think?" ”

"Naturally, it went south."

Gan Ning is now in his sixties, old and strong, and he was the first to say: "As long as Sima Yi is destroyed first, then Cao Wei will not have many troops at all, and he will go north in one fell swoop and sweep away the entire north, which is just around the corner." ”

"yes."

Pang De also shouted: "Sima Yi is gone, we can also join forces with the general to extinguish Xiahou Yuan, so that Cao Wei will no longer have troops available, this is a great time." ”

"Sima Yi now has more than 100,000 people in his hands, this is already Cao Wei's last troops, destroy him, Cao Wei will be peaceful!"

"Yes, going south and uniting with the prime minister is the right way."

"Governor, go south."

The rest of the generals also echoed one after another, after all, the total strength of Cao Wei is already very pitiful, and Sima Yi's main force is Cao Wei's last bit of elite.

There are 50,000 recruits on the Western Front, and they are the soldiers of the family.

There are also about 50,000 recruits who are still training in Yecheng, and most of them are soldiers and horses from the family.

As far as Sima Yi's situation on the southern front is concerned, among the 120,000 people, half of them are the elite left over from the Cao Cao Pi period, and the remaining half are new troops recruited in recent years.

On Xiahou Yuan's side, there are about 60,000 remnants of Cao Wei's eastern front, and the Zang Babu who were originally stationed in Xuzhou, the Lu Qian Department in Henan, and the remnants of Cao Xiu's army that fled back from Jiangdong, although they should have combat effectiveness if they are slightly integrated, their morale is almost lost by Guan Yu.

So to sum up, Cao Wei's total strength is now less than 300,000. This is still the transfer of Youzhou border troops, as well as the addition of a large number of family forces, so that there are barely so many people, otherwise they will all be defeated.

And at least more than one-third of them are new troops recruited by Cao Rong from various families using the means of the Jiupin Zhongzheng system.

Although the soldiers and horses of the family are not necessarily really bad to the point of a rabble.

For example, Liu Xiu, the founding emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, relied on the support of the Nanyang Haoqiang family and the Hebei Haoqiang family; Later, Li Yuan and Li Shimin in the Tang Dynasty also relied on the help of the Guanlong family group.

But the problem is that they all started during the melee of the princes, and everyone's starting point was similar, and the elite troops in the early days of the founding of the Western Han Dynasty and the Sui Dynasty were long gone, and the opponent was half a catty and eight taels, so the family's soldiers and horses were of great use.

And now in the south of the Han Dingding, the soldiers under his command are all elite in a hundred battles, and the strong army killed from the pile of dead people, not to mention the rich experience in birth and death, the key is that they are well-trained, unlike the soldiers and horses of the family, many of them are attached to the field slaves who have just put down their hoes.

Therefore, in this case, even on paper, the total number of troops sent by the southern Han is only 300,000, which is about the same as the strength of Cao Wei's side, but in terms of combat effectiveness and army quality, the two sides are very different.

Now the only thing that still has some combat effectiveness is Sima Yi's army, if Sima Yi is eliminated, then Cao Wei will have no possibility of turning over.

So in this case, everyone's call for going south and Zhuge Liang to jointly defeat Sima Yi is very high.

Only Shen Chen, Deng Ai, and Jiang Wei did not speak.

Seeing that Shen Chen had not settled down for a long time, Zhou Tai asked, "Governor Dadu, can't we fight the south?" ”

"No, I'm just thinking about the pros and cons of attacking the South or the North."

Shen Chen shook his head.

"Is it better to hit the south or the north?"

Zhou Tai asked again.

Shen Chen thought about it, saw the other two disciples under his disciple, and said with a smile: "Shizai, Boyo, what do you think?" ”

These two may not have thought as deeply as Shen Chen, but they didn't speak when they saw that Shen Chen hadn't spoken.

Deng Ai thought for a while and said: "The last general thinks that it is really good to fight the south, but since the Metropolitan Governor did not respond immediately, this shows that the Metropolitan Governor has his own considerations. ”

Jiang Wei also said: "Actually, the last general thinks that maybe it is better to hit the north." ”

"Oh?"

Shen Chen became interested, looked at Jiang Wei and smiled, "Boyo said it." ”

Jiang Wei thought for a while and said: "Sima Yi's camp in Henan is so impregnable, and the prime minister has not entered it for so long. In the north, we have already controlled Taihang Cheng, and we can cooperate with General Zhao at any time to destroy Wuqiu Jian. Compared with Sima Yi, it is better to fight. ”

"Hmm."

Shen Chen nodded slightly, and then looked around at everyone and said, "Let's talk about the advantages and disadvantages of beating Sima Yi and Wuqiu Jian." Sima Yi is Cao Wei's only main force at present, and if he can be destroyed, Cao Wei can easily be pacified. ”

"Not bad."

"Exactly."

"That's true."

Everyone nodded their heads, which was also the consensus of everyone.

"This is the only advantage of attacking Sima Yi, so I'll talk about the disadvantages."

Shen Chen continued: "Disadvantage one, as Boyo said, Sima Yi is the main force, and his people should not be underestimated, the camp is like a turtle's shell, hard and difficult to gnaw, not so easy to knock down. ”

"Disadvantage two, even if it can be defeated, it will be protracted to destroy Sima Yi. Once he fights for a year or two, Cao Rong is very likely to train a new army in the rear. ”

"Disadvantage three, we have few soldiers after all, if my expectations are not bad, Sima Yi is likely to choose to retreat. Because he should know his current situation very well, but I don't know how long it will take him to leave, and if he goes north, we may not be able to stop him, and if he retreats to Hanoi, we may not even be able to get rid of Wu Qiu Jian. ”

He elaborated on the pros and cons of the matter.

Sima Yi's military ability is beyond doubt, and his performance in history also proves this, when he fought Liaodong and Mengda, it became a blitzkrieg, and when he fought Zhuge Liang, he became a turtle shell.

Now his opponent is Zhuge Shen Chen, who is stronger than Zhuge Liang in history, and it is inevitable to defend it strictly.

Even if Zhuge Liang and Shen Chen were full of firepower, it was not so easy to capture.

So this turtle shell is still relatively difficult to chew.

As Shen Chen himself said, going south to attack Sima Yi must be a protracted process. This process lasted too long, and Cao Rong in the rear might train a new army.

In addition, Shen Chen felt that Sima Yi might retreat, and if he retreated to Hanoi County, then things would not be easy to handle.

"It's worthy of being the Metropolitan Governor, and he knows everything."

"The words of the Metropolitan Governor are very reasonable."

"Why don't you go north?"

When the generals heard Shen Chen's words, they changed their words and began to recognize the remarks of going north.

Shen Chen waved his hand helplessly, and said: "Let's listen to the pros and cons of going north to fight Wuqiu Jian, the advantage of going north is that Wuqiu Jian has fewer soldiers, and most of them are new troops, and the combat effectiveness will not be too high, and it will be easier to eliminate him." And after gaining the annexation of the state, it can immediately threaten Hebei, and it can also destroy Cao Wei. ”

"The shortcomings, one is that the Huns are uncontrollable, and their current situation is still to surrender to us. However, according to the internal report, Cao Jun controlled the families of the high-ranking Huns, and it is still possible to rebel again. ”

"Second, if Sima Yi was smart, he would definitely choose to withdraw his troops. If we don't quickly eliminate Wu Qiu Jian in the north, we may face the risk of being flanked. ”

"The third is that although the prime minister has a lot of soldiers and horses, his army is bloated and his speed of action is slow, and he can occupy Luoyang, Henan and other places as soon as possible, and he may not be able to rush north to help us quickly. In other words, if we go north, we will not be able to link up with the prime minister. ”

After a thorough analysis, the pros and cons between going south and going north suddenly became clear and orderly. Everyone thought about it carefully and felt that Shen Chen's words were very reasonable.

Shen Chen finally said: "I have explained the pros and cons between going south and going north, do you think, which one is better?" ”

"There are advantages to going south, and there are benefits to going north to the north, which is difficult to say."

"In fact, in summary, whether it is going south or north, it is possible to eliminate Cao Wei. The main thing is to look at the drawbacks and see which one is bigger. ”

"That's just as well."

Everyone said.

If you go north to destroy Wuqiu Jian and occupy the state, you can take Yecheng, the capital of Cao Wei, from Taihang Mountain.

Going south to destroy Sima Yi and occupying Henan, he could also cross the Yellow River to eliminate Cao Wei.

Therefore, no matter which of these two succeeds, it represents a comprehensive and overwhelming victory for the Han against Cao Wei, and it will soon be able to dominate the world.

The difference is which is better to play and which is more able to win quickly.

Everyone discussed for a long time, some felt that it was feasible to go south, and some felt that it was advisable to go north, but they never discussed what regulations came out.

Others feel that they should simply advance the army Henan Yin and cut off Sima Yi's back road.

It's just that at present, Shen Chen does not plan to send troops immediately.

His 30,000 men are now resting in Luoyang, and although he won a great victory in the previous battle, he also suffered a lot of casualties.

If it weren't for this campaign, he would have 40,000 people, and after Shen Chen got Hedong, the new army recruited by the follow-up training had been stationed in Chang'an, but he had not yet come to Hedong, so he had more than 70,000 soldiers and horses at that time.

After sending 5,000 people to the north to attack the border, Zhao Yun took 40,000 people to Qinshui, Pang De led 10,000 people to attack Jiguan, and he led more than 10,000 people to break Luoyang, counting more than 20,000 in his hands.

And Zhuge Liang sent 8,000 cavalry from Ganning and 3,000 infantry from Zhoutai as reinforcements, so that although the total strength was less than 40,000, it was about the same.

Therefore, it can be said that the losses in the first battle of Huting were relatively large.

The wounded who had just finished the battle had to be settled, the soldiers also needed to rest well, and the weapons, equipment, food and grass had to be transferred from the rear, so Shen Chen planned to attack again in another ten days and a half months.

Now that everyone in the military discussion has different opinions, and no result has been discussed, in the end, Shen Chen did not make up his mind, but decided to see the timing first.

However, only three days later, on the first of July, news came from the south.

"What? I killed Xiahou Shang? ”

Shen Chen sat under the corridor of the Three Princes' Mansion, pointed at himself in surprise and said, "Are you sure?" ”

The scout replied: "Yes, Sima Yi claimed that Xiahou Shang was seriously injured by the Governor of Dadu and died not long after he returned, so he sent someone to deliver a letter to Yecheng, which was intercepted by us, this is a letter. ”

As he spoke, he handed over the letter.

Sima Yi made two preparations, and wrote to Cao Rong while withdrawing his troops, but he did not decide to withdraw directly on the day of withdrawal.

Because Zhuge Liang's army of more than 100,000 people was eyeing him, and there was Shen Chen behind him, he pretended to be immobile, but in fact ordered the soldiers to pack up the camp, intending to find an opportunity to slip away directly.

Right now, one of the letters he wrote to Cao Rong was intercepted by Shen Chen.

The content of this letter is about Xiahou Shang's death.

When Shen Chen opened the letter, he saw that it recorded that Xiahou Shang was seriously injured and returned and died soon after, and at the same time, Sima Yi also expressed his determination to hold on in Henan to buy time for Cao Rong to train the new army in the rear.

After reading the letter, Deng Ai next to him said: "It seems that Sima Yi plans to defend in Yingchuan and other places, I don't know if he is really stupid or if he sees death as home, so he decided to hold on." He has an army of more than 100,000 people, and he consumes countless amounts of grain and grass every day, even if he has grain in stock, surrounded by our north and south, can he really hold out until Cao Rong comes to the rescue? ”

"Something is wrong."

Shen Chen put down the letter in his hand, turned his head and said to the captain of the guard standing outside the door: "Zhou Qi, when the battle situation was counted after the battle, did anyone say that they injured or killed Xiahou Shang?" ”

Zhou Qi reported to him: "The governor of the capital, no. I remember that at that time, Xiahou Shang's commander's banner had been guarded by many Cao troops, and we had not been able to enter it, and after General Jiang's team was killed at dawn, they left directly, and before leaving, we failed to break through Xiahou Shang's personal guards. ”

"Weird."

Shen Chen frowned and said, "We didn't seriously injure Xiahou Shang, why did he die suddenly?" And Sima Yi insisted, I did it? Although I don't want to let go of the people of the Cao family and the Xiahou family, it is incomprehensible to give me credit for this innocent reason. ”

"Could it be that on the way back or in the chaos, he was hit by a stray arrow?"

Jiang Wei said.

"It's possible, but it's very small."

Shen Chen pondered and meditated for a while, his eyes widened, and he shouted: "Order, the whole army gathers, Pang De stays in Luoyang, and the rest of the people immediately follow me across the river from Mengjin and take the state directly!" ”

(End of chapter)