In the Shanggua City of Tianshui County, Pang Tong looked at Wei Yanqi, who came to visit, and said, "Where did you come from?" ”

Wei Yan told him about leaving the Meridian Valley and then attacking Xiahou Yuan with his back, and pleaded guilty: "The last general was confused, and he fought steadily according to Mr. Kong Ming's instructions, and made a dangerous sneak attack, so that he lost his troops and lost his generals, and also caused General Zhao Yun to give up the strategic point in advance and be willing to be punished!" ”

After listening to this, Pang Tong said in his heart: Since the Meridian Valley is successful, why bother doing it. It is only necessary to occupy the ferry along the Weishui River and block the grain route of Cao's army, and within twenty days, Xiahou Yuan will inevitably retreat from the army. Now the losses are huge but useless. But it's not too bad, and the batch of grain and grass burned is enough for Xiahou Yuan to feel uncomfortable.

After thinking about it, he said: "Wen Chang, whether you are guilty or not, I have no right to say, and Kong Ming has no right to say it, only the lord has the final say in this matter."

Sooner or later, you have to give up, you have to give up whether you come or not, it has nothing to do with you. Now, you should be well prepared to deal with Xiahou Yuan, if you feel that you are in trouble, then you should take advantage of the crime. You have entered Longyou, and that is just right, just to help me reject Xiahou Yuan. ”

Wei Yan said: "Xie Junshi! The military advisor just commands! ”

Pang Tong said: "You lean over, you haven't been in Longyou these days, and you don't know the form." I'll tell you about it first, and you can give me a supplement!

Our army marched from Wudu County, attacked along Qishan Avenue, and quickly captured the two counties of Tianshui and Nan'an. Because of the urgency of time, the counties under the jurisdiction of the two counties did not surrender.

Xu Miao, the Taishou of Longxi County, and Zou Qi, the Taishou of Anding County, are both people who have won the hearts of the people and have outstanding abilities, but they refuse to surrender, and our troops are insufficient to capture them in a short time.

In order to gain time, stabilize Longyou, take everywhere, and send Zilong to the street pavilion to delay time. Zilong has been guarding the street pavilion for nearly 50 days and has completed the preliminary plan.

First, we took Qishan Fort, which was an important place to march into Longyou, where there was no city, but a strong fortress.

When we started the attack, we didn't have time to attack, so we had to send troops to garrison it. Fortunately, the troops of Qishan Fort can only defend themselves. After that, Chen Shi besieged Qishan Fort for more than 40 days, constantly attacking the Cao army in the fort, and the Cao army in the fort was afraid of surrendering, and the road from Hanzhong to Longyou was unimpeded.

Second, most of the subordinate counties of Tianshui and Nan'an have been taken, and some important counties have also been replaced with the officials I brought. Half of the county seat of Longxi County was also taken.

Xu Miao, the Taishou of Longxi County, was a strange person, and when Xiang Pet besieged the city, he sent 3,000 soldiers and horses out of the city to force Xiang Pet to retreat. He also brought a message to Xiang Pet: As long as he can sever Longyou's connection with Guanzhong for two months, he will surrender! If you take the initiative to attack, your soldiers and horses will definitely not be able to attack!

Xu Miao knew that in two months, our army had taken a large number of county towns and gained a firm foothold, and with the buffer of fighting with Cao's army, as long as it fought steadily, Longyou would fall sooner or later.

Tianshui Linwei City has not been taken for a long time, and I think there is a reason why Ma Dai, who is attacking the city, is Ma Chao's cousin. The people feared and hated Ma Chao for having slaughtered Ji County.

I have already sent Chen Shi to exchange Ma Dai back, so that he can appease the people and capture several important county seats! These two counties can be said to pose no mortal threat for the time being.

Third, as you can see, I have relocated the people north of Xiangping and Shanggua, purchased surplus grain and grass, and filled in the wells. In order to force Xiahou Yuan not to ignore the fortress and divide the momentum of Cao's army! At the same time, he was subject to the transfer of grain and grass. We can't and don't dare to press the whole army to reduce the pressure on our troops!

Fourth, Jincheng County has been taken, and some people in the four counties of Weiwu and Xiping have raised troops to respond. Liangzhou can be said to have basically won, and Ma Chao has led the main force back to help.

What is not good for us now is Xiahou Yuan's attack on the street pavilion, and I expect that Xiahou Yuan has three strategies for using troops.

Let me start by attacking the fortress I have set up, as we envisioned.

The middle strategy is to divide the troops into Longyou, fight steadily, first support the counties that have not surrendered to obtain food, Longxi County and Linwei and other big cities have not yet surrendered, as long as we see reinforcements to arrive will be firm to defend the city, we do not have enough troops to firmly garrison everywhere, most of the small counties are nominally surrendered.

Xiahou Yuan's tiger steps to the right, shocks Zhuqiang, enters Longyou, Xiahou Yuan's prestige spreads, and someone will definitely fall to Cao Jun. If that's the case, we can only meet the 30,000 soldiers and horses reinforced by Zhuge Liang, and then gather Ma Chao and other troops to confront Xiahou Yuan head-on, and decide the ownership of Longyou and Liangzhou in a battle, so it is difficult to say whether the victory or defeat will be said.

The best strategy is the most effective but dangerous move, hitting our fatal weakness. That is, in addition to the soldiers and horses who confronted Zhao Yun, Xiahou Yuan led all the rest of the soldiers and horses to take Qishan Fort directly, and most of Longxi and Nan'an counties I didn't have time to collect grain and grass, and Cao's army plundered the grain of the people in the three counties as grain and grass, and we were powerless to stop it.

Xiahou Yuan set up a camp in Qishan, dug deep trenches, and even took Qishan Fort regardless of casualties, blocking our connection with Hanzhong and connecting the city where the monks of Longxi County were defending.

In this way, we can not get the support of Hanzhong, and the soldiers and horses have been fighting for two months when they enter Longyou, and some important places must also be guarded by troops, which can be said to be scattered, the soldiers are tired, and we have to guard against the repetition of the two counties, and the number of troops is not as good as the Cao army, and there is nowhere to retreat, so we can only take a risk to fight.

Our loss is a bit big, and more importantly, once we lose, we will be wiped out. However, I guess Xiahou Yuan doesn't understand the situation and may not dare to use this best strategy. Most likely!

The batch of grain and grass that you Wei Wenchang burned was burned well! In this way, Xiahou Yuan's grain and grass line was broken, and I estimate that Xiahou Yuan will not have more than twenty days of grain at most.

Without food and grass, the top strategy doesn't need to think about it, and the middle strategy can't stand, without food, the Cao soldiers who attacked Zhaoyun's fortress won't last long. We don't need to take the risk of defeating Xiahou Yuan head-on, we only need to defend it for another fifteen days. Xiahou Yuan still has to prepare the grain and grass on the way to retreat, right?

Now it is not known when the next batch of grain will arrive! That's why I'm going to change my strategy. Come! "The men entered.

Pang Tong ordered: "You bring this letter I wrote to General Ma Chao!" Remember to be secretive! Let General Ma Chao be sure to achieve what I wrote in my letter! "The men promised.

Wei Yan asked, "Strategist, what should I do?" You've almost got it arranged! ”

Pang Tong said: "Don't worry, Wen Chang. I don't think Xiahou Yuan is willing to give up Longyou, he won't risk attacking. It's not the city of Ji, which is governed by Tianshui, or the hexagram of this land of grain.

There are more than 4,000 soldiers and horses in Ji County, which is enough to hold on. There are only 2,000 soldiers and horses in our city now, not much, but fortunately they are all elite. Kong Ming has already sent 30,000 reinforcements, and it will take five days to arrive, so we will have to survive these five days. ”

Wei Yan said: "What should we do, military advisor?" ”

Pang Tong said: "If the two armies clash, to put it bluntly, it will be a blow, and it will be easy to suppress Xiahou Yuan's sharpness!" You help me defend the city, just in case. ”

Xiahou Yuan led 8,000 elite cavalry to find a gentle mountain to cross and enter Tianshui.

Xiahou Yuan found out that there were cities in Tianshui and Longxi that had not fallen. Detachment of cavalry rushed to support and strengthen their belief in defending the city.

Xiahou Yuan sent scouts to find out that the grain in Tianshui County had been collected, and now they were all stationed in Shanggua. Xiahou Yuan didn't talk nonsense, and led his troops straight to the upper hexagram.

rushed to the city of Shanggua, and his subordinates came to report that except for the south gate, the other three doors were wide open. Xiahou Yuan came to see it in person, and if this was the case, not only was the city gate open, but there was no one at the head of the city.

Xiahou Yuan pointed to the head of the city and said, "Come on, shoot an arrow at the head of the city for me to see if there are any ambushers." His men were commanded to go and shoot several rounds of arrows, but no one could be heard.

Xiahou Yuan said: "I heard that the hexagram is guarded by a person named Pang Tong, this person is Liu Bei's military advisor, and he should not be underestimated. We have to be careful! ”

Jia Zhendao, a partial general, said: "The general should not be bluffed by these waste literati, and the last general will go to visit." ”

Xiahou Yuan stopped: "Be cautious!" Don't take any chances! ”

Jia Zhen said: "General, the last general led a few people to go, even if there is an ambush, there is no big loss." ”

Xiahou Yuan said: "Don't joke with your life!" ”

Jia Zhen said: "General, we can't delay it for too long. Don't worry, general, the last will be careful! Then he led the two into the city gate.

Jia Zhen cautiously approached, kept trying, and shot arrows into the city gate, but there was no movement. Horizontal heart, patted the horse into the city, just arrived at the city gate hole, fell into the dug horse trap pit, and more than ten people suddenly appeared on both sides to capture the three people.

Xiahou Yuan was shocked: "Sure enough, there is an ambush, go to the rescue!" Guo Huai hurriedly led the cavalry to rush to the city wall, and hundreds of people suddenly appeared at the head of the uninhabited city and fired arrows together.

Guo Huai didn't have time to take precautions, and hurriedly blocked the arrows. The Han army escorted Jia Zhen and two Cao cavalrymen and beheaded them in the city. When Xiahou Yuan saw it, he scolded with pain and anger in his heart: "Thief, wait for me!" ”

Guo Huai was suppressed by the bow and arrow, and the horse retreated. The scouts came to report, and there were soldiers and horses on the left and right. Xiahou Yuan said: "It turned out that he wanted to lure me into the city, and then surround me left and right!" Don't be afraid, go your separate ways! "The left and right generals divided their troops and left.

After a while, the scouts came to report again, and soldiers and horses appeared behind them, and judging by the flying dust, there were about a thousand people!

Xiahou Yuan looked at Shanggua City, and said unwillingly: "For the time being, I will retire and set up camp, and I am making plans!" ”

Pang Tong, the head of the city, saw Xiahou Yuan's retreat and said with a smile in his heart: Zhang Yide's plan to scare Cao Cao away from Changbanpo was really powerful. There were no soldiers and horses in the rear, but more than 100 people galloped with their tails tied to tree branches. Cao Jun's scouts looked at it from a distance, thinking it was a troop of soldiers and horses. The soldiers and horses at the left and right city gates were also bluffing, and the cavalry of the Cao army withdrew as soon as they came.

At night, it rained, Pang Tong looked at the rain and said with a smile: "After the rain, the Xiahou Yuan cavalry is useless. God help me! ”

Compared with Pang Tong's happiness, Xiahou Yuan was naturally depressed. I didn't attack the city with a sharp edge today, showing hesitation and cowardice, and I didn't dare to let go.

Xiahou Yuan swung his fist fiercely, where did his original spirit go, could it be because the opponent had changed and he became timid!

Guo Huai walked into the tent, and Xiahou Yuan calmed down and said: "It seems that the hexagram is prepared, and it is not easy to take it!" ”

Guo Huai said: "Actually, general, even if you desperately break the city, the thieves will burn the grain and grass!" Wei Yan must have brought the news to Pang Tong! ”

Xiahou Yuan frowned and said, "You mean to retreat?" ”

Guo Huai said: "Maybe the general's feeling is wrong!" ”

Xiahou Yuan said: "Maybe you're right! ”

Guo Huai said: "General, the rain is getting heavier and heavier, so guard against the sneak attack of the thieves!" Cavalry galloping on rainy days is difficult! I've got it covered! Xiahou Yuan nodded.

At the time of the third watch, a thousand people came out of Shanggua City and divided into five teams, brought big drums, and went to the vicinity of Cao Ying to beat violently, and then shouted. The Cao army drove out, and the Han army died down.

This side stopped, and the other side began. The cycle continued overnight, disturbing Cao Jun's peace! Cao Jun once chased deeply. The Han army led them to an ambush prepared in advance, and greeted them with bows and crossbows.

Cao Jun couldn't see in the dark, was not familiar with the terrain, and didn't dare to go out of the camp after suffering a dull loss. The next day, the morale of Cao's army was inevitably low, and Wei Yan led his troops out of the city to challenge.

When Xiahou Yuan saw Wei Yan, the Han army dared to go out of the city, and he had a strong intention to retreat, and personally went out to force Wei Yan to retreat. That night, he led his troops and horses to retreat.