"How is it going with the Premier?"
Wei Yan heard Zhao Yun's question, and his mind became even more conflicted.
Zhao Yun had left Wuxing earlier and Wei Yan was following him. The evening before, Wei Yan received news about the heavy defeat of Han troops at Chijing, their retreat to Wuxing, and the Prime Minister catching a cold and being unable to handle affairs.
But seeing Zhao Yun in such a waning state, how could Wei Yan dare to tell him these things?
Wei Yan could only answer vaguely: "With the Prime Minister there, what danger can there be? General, do not worry!"
"That's good, that's good." Zhao Yun squeezed out those words from his mouth while pain still flickered across his face at times. Yet he managed to suppress it with his will and didn't make a sound of pain.
"General..." Wei Yan grasped Zhao Yun's hand, at a loss for what to comfort him with.
Zhao Yun whispered, "Wen Chang, hold this place for the Han. I have brought you 8,000 soldiers. Trust them to you."
Wei Yan nodded heavily, tears seemed to flash in his eyes: "General, you can rest assured! Since I have come to this place, I will not lose the Baishui!"
Zhao Yun nodded extremely lightly, merely looking at Wei Yan with his eyes while his mouth opened slightly but no sound came out.
Wei Yan was greatly alarmed and quickly brought his ear closer to Zhao Yun's front, asking, "General, do you have any final words to say?"
Zhao Yun's face showed pain, and he struggled to squeeze out a few words: "One day, bury me back to Changshan!"
Wei Yan felt the left hand he was holding of Zhao Yun gradually become soft, as if losing its strength, slipping out of his grasp and falling towards the bed.
In the tent, the personal guards and other generals wept together. Wei Yan personally arranged Zhao Yun's appearance, covered him with bedding, and then solemnly worshipped three times before standing up.
Wei Yan joined Liu Bei's army at Xinwei, fighting as a part of the departmental military.
As early as in Hebei, Zhao Yun was the main cavalryman by Liu Bei's side, responsible for leading the cavalry within Liu Bei's army.
During Liu Bei's seven years of stagnation in the small county of Xinwei, Wei Yan, who was previously an obscure minor official without any military experience, received military guidance from people like Guan Yu and Zhao Yun.
Zhao Yun is not only one of the few bear and tiger generals left in the Han Dynasty, but also the mentor who guided Wei Yan and Wei Wen Chang during their military service.
How distant is the revival of the Han Dynasty?
Zhao Yun did not mention his family or his descendants before he died. He knew that the Prime Minister and the government would take care of them.
Zhao Yun's last words were only one sentence, hoping that one day Wei Yan could help him be buried back to Changshan.
If it were not for the revival of the Han dynasty, how could the Han forces in the remote areas of Yizhou possibly have buried Zhao Yun back in his native Changshan, which is north of the Yellow River?
In the end, the revival of the Han dynasty is closely connected with the fate of countless people in Shu Han, connecting the macro and micro to form a collective will.
But as more and more people from Hebei like Zhao Yun pass away, when will the revival of the Han Dynasty come?
Wei Yan had made up his mind, and slowly stood up from in front of Zhao Yun's bed, turning to face the crowd.
As generals who have seen the realities of death, Wei Yan's grief cannot erase the military responsibility that lies here.
"General Zhi Dong has entrusted the military affairs of this matter to me. I am the General Defending the North, obeying the Prime Minister's command to lead troops for assistance here. Is there anyone among you who does not follow?"
Wei Yan interrupted the wailing of the crowd and shouted loudly within the tent.
The four camp officers of Zhao Yun's army looked at each other and simultaneously bowed: "We are willing to follow the General's command!"
...
After Wei Yan's reinforcements merged with Zhao Yun's army, they had a total of more than 20,000 troops.
After a simple funeral for Zhao Yun in the military, Wei Yan advanced towards the Baishui Pass with his troops on the second day.
After leaving 4,000 men to enter the Baishui Pass, Wei Yan set up camp and constructed fortifications outside the pass, facing off against Lu Su's camp.
Wei Yan arrived later, naturally knew the situation on the north side of Prime Minister Zhuge Liang's camp. However, with the excellent soldiers of the Shu Han army, it was not an easy task to attack Wei Yan's encampment at once.
Furthermore, Wei Yan's cavalry had an advantage and could gallop outside the encampment to shield them from time to time, making Wei Yan's attack even more difficult.
Fortunately, with sufficient manpower and a worry-free supply of grain and logistics, Wei Yan could only take a steady and solid approach, facing off and engaging in combat day after day.
In the more northern Wu Xing, the situation of the Shu Han army was becoming increasingly dire.
Wu Yi retreated every five days in the morning, and the sick Zhuge Liang was also sent away by Yang Yi's men on the same day.
On the sixth day, the Shu Han army retreated, and Cao Zhen pursued them immediately.
It was not during Cao Zhen's fifth day that he did not cross the river to attack the large camp of the Shu Han army in the east of Guodao waters, but Cao Zhen was unable to do so.
The 30,000 infantry of Wei Yan's army at Qingni River had become extremely tired after three days of intense battles. They were not capable of crossing the river and attacking the well-fortified camp on the east side of the Huanghe River that Zhuge Liang had built.
The forces of Qian Zhao and Xiahou Ru at Baishui were also unable to act.
In other words, on the fifth day, Cao Rui and Cao Zhen spent more effort on reorganizing their troops instead of preparing to pursue the enemy.
To transfer Cao Hong's cavalry from Xiaolian to the south, to select 10,000 out of Zhuang Hei's 30,000 troops, to arrange for transportation of grain and supplies...
If they had hurriedly crossed the river to attack Zhuge Liang's main camp, they would likely have suffered a defeat.
However, after resting for one day, Cao Zhen led his army south on the sixth day and became more confident in his pursuit.
Taking advantage of their cavalry, even though the roads on either side of the river were narrow, they could continuously disturb from behind. Several cavalry units took turns, making the retreating Shu Han army suffer greatly.
From Chiting to Wu Xing, a distance of eighty miles, besides repeatedly attacking and succeeding, Cao Zhen also defeated the ambush troops that Wu Yi had set up thirty miles north of Wu Xing.
The so-called ambush troops refer to a thousand people hiding and waiting for the enemy.
But if one wants to ambush 30,000 troops with only 3,000 men, the world probably doesn't have such an appetite.
On the sixth day, by afternoon, most of the Wei army had reached outside the city of Wu Xing.
After arriving at the outer city of Wu Xing in the afternoon, Cao Zhen ordered Zhang He to lead two million troops to encircle Wu Xing and himself led 10,000 horsemen eastward to bypass Wu Xing and advance towards Ju Xian to the east.
Ju Xian is strategically located, almost at the midpoint of the line connecting Wu Xing and Mianyang.
And Mianyang is at the westernmost end of the Hanzhong Plain.
During the struggle for Hanzhong between Cao Cao and Liu Bei, the two armies were positioned in Mianyang. Huang Zhong's decisive victory over Xiahou Yuan at Dingjun Mountain was not far from Mianyang City.
Upon learning that Cao Zhen was leading troops to pursue, Zhuge Liang forced himself to get up from his illness, but for the moment, he could do nothing.
The Wei army was just too numerous!
Cao Zhen led 30,000 troops south, with 20,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 horsemen.
After Zhang Hei led 20,000 infantry to block the important pass outside Wu Xing, Cao Zhen could still spare 10,000 cavalry to launch a surprise attack on Ju Xian in the direction of Hanzhong.
In contrast, Zhuge Liang had even fewer troops in Wu Xing than Zhang Hei.
Originally, there were 35,500 soldiers in Chiting's camp, but Wei Yan took away 14,000 when he advanced south.
With only 21,000 troops left, after several days of fierce battles, retreats, pursuit, and scattered surrenders to Wei Yan's troops, there were only 10,000 men left in Wu Xing.
Including the 2,000 men left by Zhao Yun here, there were around 12,000 in total.
But most of them were the ones who had withdrawn from Chiting. After witnessing such fierce battles, how many soldiers could still serve and fight?
"Prime Minister, should we continue to hold our position at Wu Xing or break through and retreat?" Yang Yi saw no one speaking in the hall, so he took the initiative to ask.
The most critical period of high fever for Zhuge Liang had passed, and he had taken many medicinal soups and herbs in the past two days, with his condition gradually improving. However, the war situation still worried him.
"General Wei, what do you think we should do about breaking through?" Zhuge Liang sighed and slowly asked.
The crowd of officials and generals in the hall all turned their gaze to Yang Yi's face. If one were to count the faces carefully, many familiar generals had not been around since the beginning of the Northern Expedition.
Now is not the time to talk about the dead; what should be discussed instead is how to break through the encirclement!
Yang Yi responded in a low voice, "Reporting to the Prime Minister, we should break through towards Yang'an Pass!"
Wu Yi took a deep breath and said, "Prime Minister, we should retreat towards Yang'an Pass!"
"Underling agrees, we should retreat towards Yang'an Pass," Yuan Xuan answered with a bow.
Zong Yu and Wang Ping also agreed with the same opinion.
Zhuge Liang sighed deeply, shook his head, and his eyes and eyebrows were full of desolation.
What does Yang'an Pass mean? This is almost self-evident!
Hanzhong is to the east, Ju Xian is to the east, and Cao Zhen is also going east!
Yang'an Pass is to the south, as is Shu in the middle of the land, and Baishui Pass is also to the south.
As Cao Zhen leads 10,000 horsemen eastward, Hanzhong is already in great danger. If Zhuge Liang leads his army to launch a surprise attack eastward, he may not get far before encountering Cao Zhen's returning troops.
Only by heading south towards Yang'an Pass is there a chance of survival. Only in this way can the remnants of the Han Dynasty, these military and civil officials, be brought back as much as possible.
But what about Hanzhong? This is when it becomes difficult for a decision-maker. (The chapter ends)
