In the morning, Guo Huai led his men out of the west gate and camped on the north bank of Wei River.
Meanwhile, Zhang He was running about in a state of exhaustion, leading his cavalry at a gallop along the Longshan Pass road.
The entire length of the Longshan Pass road is six hundred miles, and Zhang He set out on the morning of December first. Just as noon was approaching and the distance from Shanggu was about one hundred miles, Zhang He encountered messengers sent by Guo Huai.
Zhang He, looking tired, sat on his horse. The high-intensity march for four days, at a speed of one hundred and twenty miles a day, even made this robust veteran feel a bit overwhelmed.
After taking the dispatch from the messenger, Zhang He read it carefully, then sighed softly, "Could it be that we will meet the Shu army as early as tomorrow?"
"What does this mean, General?" asked Chen Ping, a military counselor on the horse next to Zhang He.
"Just read it yourself," Zhang He threw the dispatch from Guo Huai to Chen Ping. "The Shu troops are about two thousand infantrymen, and they are expected to advance north along the Longshan Pass road as early as this morning."
"A hundred and twenty miles, slowest three days, fastest two days, they should have arrived by now anyway."
Zhang He raised his left hand and made a gesture, turned his horse around, and began to walk in the direction he had come from slowly.
Lueyang city is about twenty miles to the north, so the Shu troops will take at least one day to arrive. Zhang He is not in a hurry now.
But the military counselor Chen Ping beside him couldn't help but feel tense: "Reporting to General Zhang, the Shu army has 20,000 infantry, while we only have 2,000 cavalry!"
Zhang He slightly raised the corners of his mouth and smiled, saying, "It's no problem, I will take them."
Chen Ping was still somewhat confused, seeing Zhang He's change of expression from the gloom of several days ago to a composed, even somewhat delighted demeanor, really felt inexplicable.
But Zhang He's approach is indeed based on his own reasoning.
Subduing the Yellow Turbans, fighting against Gongsun Zhang, confronting at Guandu, pacifying the North China, expelling Wuhan to Ulan Chuan, subduing Huainan, making bold steps in the Guan right region...
For decades, Zhang He has participated in countless battles of all sizes, and he is truly a man who has "fought a hundred battles."
Zhang He's worries and confusions of the past few days were merely due to the uncertainty of the battlefield and the situation in Longyou region. Now that he has seen the battlefield in front of him, he believes that it is time to fight!
Chen Ping followed Zhang He, and out of a military advisor's duty, he began to calculate how to block the enemy.
On the morning of December first, Zhang He's 2,000 cavalry set out first, followed by the 8,000 infantry behind. The infantry marched 70 miles in a day's urgent journey, and Lueyang city to the north is 480 miles away from Chen Cang.
...
The 8,000 infantry behind them will arrive at Lueyang city on the seventh night of December, and normally they will arrive at the city by morning of the eighth.
If the Shu army marched at the same pace, 60 miles a day, they would reach near Lueyang on the sixth night. If they marched 40 miles a day, it would take until the evening of the seventh.
It can only be said that this time is just barely on schedule, and it can even be said to be too fortunate!
If all goes as planned, the 8,000 infantrymen from Chen Cang will arrive in Lueyang nearly simultaneously with the Shu troops.
Looking at Zhang He riding his horse in composure in front, Chen Ping followed behind and felt a wave of admiration. What is the demeanor of a famous general? What is the demeanor of a famous general's bearing?
Among contemporary generals, is there anyone who can surpass Zhang He?
...
However, things often do not go as planned. After the news that the Shu forces were approaching reached the various counties and prefectures in the Longyou region, there was a drastic change.
The first to be affected were the prefectures of Hai County in Tiwater and Zhao Dao, Zhuo Tai, Xingming in Longxi.
Gao Xiang's 1,000 cavalry, having been refused by Ma Zun, camped several miles outside the city of Ji County. The next day, after receiving intelligence from a scout, Gao Xiang witnessed Prefect Ma Zun leading all 1,500 county troops towards Shanggu.
Gao Xiang did not stop them.
The task given to Gao Xiang by the Prime Minister Zhuge Liang was to use the mobility and intimidation of cavalry, along with the emissaries signed off by Zhuge Liang in a factory-line manner, to go to various prefectures in Longyou region and persuade them to surrender.
After Ma Zun left, Gao Xiang immediately sent another messenger into the city to negotiate again with the leading families and Yin Shang, the Prefectural Clerk of Tiwater County who was garrisoning within the city.
On one side, it is to coerce and entice, while on the other side, it is to bow and accommodate.
From the perspective of an outsider, the principle is very simple.
If the prominent families in Ji County still held noble national feelings and a loyal heart to the Great Wei, and refused to surrender at this moment, then it could only be said that each of the wealthy households in Ji County deserves a title of Marquis within the empire.
However, the Prefectural Commissioner Ma Zun led the garrison army to escape! As an official from Luoyang, you have betrayed Ji County first and we are only forced to do so!
However, Taiwater had produced many loyal subjects in the past. One of the four current Grand Secretaries of the Wei Dynasty, Yang Fu, whose full name is Yang Yishan, is from Hai County in Tiwater.
In the 17th year of Jian'an, when Ma Chao and his various groups of Qiang and Hushu raided Longyou region, neighboring counties all responded to it, but only Hai County held out to the death.
It was for his heroic defense of the nation in that battle that Yang Fu was granted the title of Marquis within the Empire and appointed as the Remote Governor of Yizhou.
However, things were very different at that time and at this moment.
Ma Chao had been waging war for over a decade, attacking the Qin region repeatedly and being defeated repeatedly by the imperial court. He even indirectly caused the deaths of his father and brother who were in service in Yin City, along with his entire family. This person without hope or future, has been discarded like rubbish by enlightened people in Longyou region for years. Those who pretended to surrender, it was also their right to turn against them if they ever saw fit.
But can the Shu Han and Ma Chao be the same thing?
One is a warlord who has exhausted all his resources and can only gather Qiang and Hui to attack Han counties, while the other is a person who claims to be the "son of the Great Han" and becomes an emperor, surpassing Cao Cao in establishing the country.
At this moment, the banner of "Han" still has a lot of appeal in Longyou region.
The four major households in Ji County, the Jia, Yan, Ren, and Zhao families, gathered together and seriously deliberated for several days.
The conclusion reached was that the Jia and Zhao families should leave Ji County first, while the Yan and Ren families would take the lead in surrendering.
These four families all lived in the same prefecture and had many marital and business connections. So, when it was said that the Jia and Zhao families were leaving, they actually took away many of the descendants from the Yan and Ren families as well.
The Yan and Ren families who stayed in the city were also operating in this way.
So-called major households in a prefecture, faced with a major army of several thousand or tens of thousands from any regime, are actually as insignificant as grass.
They had little room to straddle the fence between surrendering, running away, or dying.
After several days of hesitation, on the same day that Guo Hui set up camp outside the city, which was also on December 5th, the magistrate Feng Yi and the Jia and Zhao families left Ji County and fled to the eastward county of Xinyang that had not yet been captured by Shu troops.
Led by the Prefectural Clerk Yin Shang, the gates of Ji County slowly opened to welcome Gao Xiang's forces into the city.
Gao Xiang's forces had 2,000 cavalry. The other 1,000 that marched westwards carried the news of Ji County's surrender and letters from Yin Shang and the Yan and Ren families, which were also very smoothly used to persuade Zhongtao and Xinxing counties to surrender.
In a short period of time, half of the Tiwater prefecture and half of the Nan'an prefecture, all fell into Zhuge Liang's pocket.
Outside the city of Shanggu, Guo Hui still faced a severe situation with no improvement at all.
On the afternoon of the fifth day, Guo Hui was setting up camp outside the city of Shanggu, completing his plan for "pretended alarm". However, the continuous arrival of Shu forces from the southwest completely frightened Guo Hui.
Yesterday, that is, the fourth day, the 4,000 troops of Liu Wei's central army led by Liang Hua arrived near Shanggu first.
On the afternoon of the fifth day, the East Road Army of Shu Han, commanded by General Wei Yan and General Wu Ban, a total of 11,000 people, walked boldly to the camp left by Ma Su and others yesterday, facing Guo Hui across the Wei River as he was constructing his camp.
For the whole day, Guo Hui only repaired camps on the north bank of the Wei River and did not take any other action.
On the morning of the sixth day, Wei Yan and Wu Ban's 11,000 people also ignored the city of Shanggu on the north bank of the Wei River and Guo Hui's troops, simply repaired yesterday's temporary bridge after that, and continued to march north along the Longshan Pass.
Guo Hui's mood had been like a roller coaster in these days, fluctuating greatly, then rising again, and then falling again.
On the morning of the sixth day, the Shu forces on the eastward front advanced. In the afternoon, 15,000 people from Wu Yi's forces entered Wei Yan's newly vacated camp!
Guo Hui dared not take it lightly, so he quickly rode his horse back to the city, looking for Luo Ban.
Upon entering the city, Guo Hui asked in a hurry, "General Lu, when you sent letters to the Left General along the Longshan Pass the other day, did you also send any letters to Guanzhong via the Wei River?"
General Lu nodded, "I have sent letters to Guanzhong. It takes three days from Shanguo to the east, through Linwei, Wei River, and then to Chencang."
Guo Hui's right corner of his mouth was already blistering, and his voice had become hoarse. He kept pacing up and down in the courtyard of the Tiwater prefectural government, thinking and calculating the difference in information between various places.
On the afternoon of the fourth day of December, Guo Hui told Zhang He that the Shu forces should have more than 50,000 troops.
It should have been the evening of December 7th when the message was received in Chen Cang, which is far away in Guanzhong.
But looking back two days later, this information is already too far off from the current situation.
From Shanguo City to the east, along the Longshan Pass, there are as many as 30,000 Shu forces. At this time, there are about 20,000 on the south side of the Shuanghe River across from the city of Shanggu.
Even considering only the forces Guo Hui personally saw, there were already 50,000 Shu troops.
What about Ji County? What about Nan'an Prefecture? What about Longxi Prefecture?
Wherever along the way to the west, there are places like Xian County, Luocheng, Qishan... they all need people!
Guo Hui said in a hurry, "General Lu, now the Longshan Pass on our side has been completely blocked by Shu forces."
"Thankfully, the Wei River route is still open! We should quickly draft a new report and send it along the Wei River to Chen Cang, Chang'an, and to Your Majesty!"
General Lu's face was also equally serious. In the past few days, Shu forces around Shanguo City have come and gone one after another, and General Lu has been as worried as Guo Hui.
"How should we write it, General Hui?" Luo Ban asked.
Guo Hui said, "Tell the court that by the evening of December 6th, there were already 30,000 Shu soldiers marching north along the Longshan Pass. There are another 20,000 Shu soldiers outside the city of Shanggu now."
"The total number of Shu forces should be at least 700,000, if not more!"
Guo Hui sighed deeply: "Under the current circumstances, relying solely on the military forces of Longyou and Guanzhong is absolutely not enough to hold out. I beg the court and Your Majesty to come to our aid as soon as possible!" (This chapter is over)
