Chapter 255 [Dragon and Phoenix Dance] (6)
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"Has Pang Shiyuan withdrawn his troops?" Zhuge Liang took the letter of war handed over by Bocai in the main hall of the Wancheng County Magistrate's Office and said in surprise.
Bo Cai responded, "That's right. The scout came to report that last night, General Pang led the central army to withdraw ten miles from the camp, and the enemy troops retreated thirty miles. Then, late at night, he set up camp in Xipingao. An hour ago, General Pang sent envoys to send a letter of war, and the military advisor then led his army to arrive."
Bo Cai had a deep experience in the Xiliang Army, had a long battle and had great military achievements. He was the first general to follow Li Li to fight. He was also one of the five generals in the army. His official rank was still above Zhuge Liang. Although he had not personally commanded a large-scale battle, he was loyal to his duties and worked diligently to do everything that Li Li gave. There had never been any mistakes in more than ten years. This is military merit, military achievements, and the capital for him to be promoted to a general in command.
Therefore, he is qualified to be on par with Zhuge Liang, and he doesn't have to be polite to speak, and he can just speak bluntly according to facts. However, Zhuge Liang was the chief general of the three armies in the Battle of Nanyang. Although Bo Cai had a high official position, he was also a general under his tent and was waiting for dispatch.
Zhuge Liang frowned slightly after hearing this. After reading the book of Zhan, he handed the book of Zhan to Sima Yi sitting beside him, and began to ponder. The moment Sima Yi saw Zhan Shu, his eyelids twitched violently. After reading it quickly, he handed the book of Zhan to Lu Bu, and Zhan Shu was circulated among the generals.
After thinking for a while, Zhuge Liang said to Bo: "Pang Shiyuan's move is quite strange. As our army entered Wancheng, the situation on the battlefield had undergone a fundamental change. Our army had strong troops, while the Jingzhou army was weak. It was not surprising that Pang Tong chose to retreat, as expected. However, he opened the letter to fight to the decisive battle even though he knew that the Jingzhou army was far inferior to our Xiliang army. This move was beyond my expectations and was inconsistent with reason. What is the general's opinion on this?" Bo Cai called him a military advisor to show closeness. Now he reciprocates and calls Bo Cai the general to show respect. It is not difficult to see from this that there is no intrigue in the Western Jin army, and all generals followed Li Li's military orders and obeyed orders. The upper and lower levels were consistent. At least the atmosphere in the army is very good, and the phenomenon of fighting for fame and fortune has not yet been revealed.
The "General" made Bo Cai quite useful. The only resentment in his heart disappeared. He immediately smiled and said, "Military advisor, don't be polite. From today on, Bo Cai in the city will all follow the orders of the military advisors, but if there is a call, the military advisor will just give orders. Finally, he will do his best."
Zhuge Liang stood up after hearing this, bowed his hands and said, "The General is very wise, and Liang is afraid."
Bo Cai bowed and returned the salute and said frankly: "This time the Jingzhou army raided Nanyang. The last general was not careful for a while, which led to the loss of Deng County. Tie Zhu and General Huan Yi died in the battlefield and lost his troops. For this reason, the last general had submitted a memorial to Your Majesty for punishment. Now the last general is already in a position to be punished, and this time he will have to be punished in the military advisor's position, so that he can feel at ease.
Not to be hiding the military advisor, since the war lasted for several days, the last general did not find any unusual things about the Jingzhou army, nor did they notice any extraordinary actions of Pang Tong. Since Wancheng was trapped until now, the Jingzhou army has been in a proper manner except for attacking the city day and night. It has been attacked for seven days in the outer city bunkers, but it has never been able to move forward and has no threat to the city. Therefore, the last general believes that Pang Tong’s letter of invitation to fight was just a temporary measure, clever deception, and taking the opportunity to delay the time and wait for an opportunity to withdraw the army."
Zhuge Liang shook his head gently: "General, do not underestimate the enemy. Pang Tong led the Northern Expedition with a mission this time, and he would never retreat easily before he achieved his goal. As for the decisive battle, as the general said, this is a delaying strategy, taking the opportunity to stabilize our army and delay the time."
Speaking of this, Zhuge Liang paused, turned his head to look at Sima Yi, and asked, "Have Zhongda ever seen some clues?"
Sima Yi knew what he said, and knew that what Zhuge Liang said was about Zhan Shu. He immediately said calmly: "Yourself-destruction of his shortcomings will make it more obvious."
Zhuge Liang's expression moved and said in surprise: "Oh, how can I see it? Zhongda said bluntly, we are willing to hear it carefully."
Bo Cai and Lu Bu nodded when they heard this. The other generals in the hall: Ma Chao, Zhang Fei, Yang Fu, Guan Yu, Zang Ba, Sun Li and others nodded and agreed. They really wanted to hear what Sima Yi had and why he said something amazing. After all, all the people in the hall were famous at this moment. Even Yang Fu, the chief clerk of the army, became famous in the battle of Yizhou. However, in time, he might not be able to enter the hall and become one of the ministers. Only Sima Yi was unknown. However, Kong Ming led the army to the southern expedition and placed him in the position of the chief of the army, above Yang Fu, and his seat was relatively close, and he was on par with Zhang Fei, the chief general of the Zhuque camp. This arrangement undoubtedly made the generals feel that Zhuge Liang was a nepotist and placed Sima Yi, the guard of the shogunate in front of the deputy generals of each battalion.
However, Zhuge Liang was the righteous brother of Your Majesty. He was the charity of the emperor and had the power to open the palace. It was understandable to recruit a few guest guests. However, it was the first case for him to directly bring his aides into the army and give him a high position. Several other generals in the army who had the power to open the palace had never done this. Therefore, Sima Yi's current position is very prominent, which made the generals quite angry. However, Zhuge Liang was the chief general and a close confidant in front of Your Majesty, which made the generals dare not speak out, and could only let it go, and everything had to be taken after the war.
In front of everyone, Sima Yi was not frightened at all, and said in a hurry: "The letter of war said that Pang Tong was willing to lead his troops back thirty miles in his opinion. Obviously, this was an excuse for him to know that he was defeated and had to lead his troops to retreat. Many problems were exposed. First, the Jingzhou army could not capture Wancheng for a long time, and the troops were defeated, but he was unwilling to fail, and his power was a dilemma. Second, judging from the siege of the previous ten days, it was not Pang Tong who was in charge of the Jingzhou army, but Huang Zu and Wenpin. Therefore, Pang Tong had no chance to make any mobile phones at all, so naturally there would be no extraordinary performance. Third, the Jingzhou army retreated instead of retreating, which means that he still had a support from the rear. This is what I said below to self-destruct his shortcomings."
Speaking of this, Sima Yi paused and looked around the people in the hall, but saw that everyone nodded with some understanding and recognized his analysis. Seeing this, Sima Yi was calm on the surface, but in fact he was very excited in his heart, and he felt like he was urging and giving instructions to the country. This feeling was very good and very useful to him. Speaking of which, this was the first time he showed his face in the army, the first time he went to war with the army, the first time he came into contact with the army, and the first time he was recognized by the generals.
No matter how good Sima Yi feels, how high his talents are, and how great his abilities are, if he does not have the opportunity to display his talents, even if he has the talent of heaven and earth, it will be in vain. There is never a shortage of amazing talents in the world, but there are only a handful of people who have the opportunity to display their talents. If he has the talent but cannot stand out, his talent will be buried. Therefore, he has the saying of "excellent talent". But now, Kong Ming has provided him with a stage to display his talents, ask him for advice in front of the generals, and give him the opportunity to show himself, so as to gain a foothold in the army. This is support, just like the grace of knowing the favor.
After secretly calming down, Sima Yi took a deep breath and continued: "If Pang Tong was forced to withdraw his troops because of his classmates' friendship and self-destruction, then openly sending a letter of war to invite our army to fight is an attempt to overthrow it. Judging from the current situation of the battle, even if Pang Tong has reinforcements behind him, he will arrive soon, but as long as the Jingzhou army does not come out in full swing, the chances of winning are not high, and at most it is only 50% or 50% of the battle.
This has been fully demonstrated in the previous battle. The Jingzhou Army suddenly launched an attack and took the initiative to take the lead, but after ten days of fighting, the casualties of its troops were twice as great as that of me. This itself shows that our army's combat effectiveness is by no means comparable to that of the Jingzhou Army. Even when facing more than twice the Jingzhou Army, our army dared to fight head-on and be sure to win. Therefore, even though we knew that the front-on-front decisive battle was not the opponent of our army, Pang Tong pretended to submit a letter of war. What is this to be sought to cover up?”
Speaking of this, Sima Yi showed a mysterious smile on his face and continued, "If you want to cover up, you must be trying to hide something, or there must be an unspeakable purpose. I guess that Pang Tong's purpose is nothing more than three possibilities. One is to delay the army, delay time in the name of the decisive battle between the two armies, retreat to Xipingao and wait for reinforcements to arrive.
Second, use this period of time to prepare in advance to plan the conspiracy to defeat our Western Liang Iron Cavalry. Third, use the main army to restrain our army, attract our attention, and send a surprise soldier to achieve the expected goal." At this point, Sima Yi immediately stopped talking and stopped. If he continued, he would be suspected of deliberately showing off. People in the military should avoid showing off their verbal benefits and just express their own opinions. It is useless to talk big. It is not only useless to convince the public, but it is annoying.
Sima Yi's explanation made the current situation of the battle situation vividly and thoroughly analyze, and this conclusion was unanimously recognized by everyone, including Zhuge Liang.
So the purpose of the lobby discussion was achieved. Then Zhuge Liang stood up and said, "Zhongda's words are very consistent with my wishes. After you return to the camp, you might as well follow this idea. Now you are not as good as a quiet person. You can send this matter to Luoyang and inform Your Majesty. We are here for a long distance, and we will rest for two days, and then discuss and make decisions. All the generals will return to the camp to rest."
The generals agreed in unison and then stood up and left. After the generals left, Zhuge Liang smiled and said to Sima Yi: "Thank you hard for Zhongda, and follow me out of the city to see the camp where Pang Tong's army had previously stationed to prevent any fraud. I wonder if Zhongda is willing to go with him?"
"I really want to ask for it. I am so lucky." Sima Yi responded happily.
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Chapter completed!