Chapter 513 507. Conquering Liangzhou

In the end, Zhuge Liang's mission was accomplished. Jiang Wei, who was desperate, had no choice but to surrender to the Han army under Zhuge Liang's plan. Zhuge Liang could have captured Pingxiang of Ma Zun at any time, but he spared his life in order to frame Jiang Wei.

Now that Jiang Wei had surrendered, Pingxiang City opened its doors and surrendered in less than two days under the successive attacks of the brave generals of the Han army.

Of course, it was not the governor Ma Zun, who was loyal to the Wei Dynasty, who came to his senses, but the three people under his command, Liang Xu, Yin Shang, and Liang Qian, who were unwilling to die with Ma Zun. After the fierce attack by the Han army on the first day, they were frightened and made plans at night. On the second day, they mutinied, tied up Ma Zun, opened the city and surrendered to the Han army.

By this time, most of Liang Province had been surrendered to the Han army. Zhuge Liang divided his army into 20,000 troops and asked Ma Chao and Ma Dai to continue westward to recover remote areas such as Jincheng, Longxi, and Wuwei. Those areas were a mixture of Han and Qiang people, and Ma Chao's prestige was still there, so 20,000 troops were enough for him.

Ma Chao was also very excited. He was a little depressed at that time, and after hearing that Guan Yu was killed and Jingzhou fell, he thought he would never have the chance to return to his hometown in this lifetime.

Ma Chao in the original timeline was also disheartened. After the defeat in Yiling, he knew that Ji Han had no ability to fight back to Liang Province, and died in depression.

However, in the current timeline, Feng Xi's refutation of Zhuge Liang's Three-Part Theory in the court made him vaguely feel a glimmer of hope. Like everyone else, he was holding his breath and waiting for the outcome of the Battle of Yiling.

The result was that under Feng Xi's arrangement, the Han army defeated the Wu army. Afterwards, the Han army was unstoppable and, with the cooperation of the old members of the Jingzhou army, directly recovered the entire Jingzhou, which made Ma Chao seem to see hope again. So he cheered up and cooperated with Zhuge Liang's orders to harass Guanzhong and Liangzhou several times. Although they all failed, at least the Han army was currently strong and there was still hope for a counterattack.

Finally, the fact that Jiangling and Chengdu agreed to march north this year gave Ma Chao a shot of encouragement. He also knew the situation of the Han Dynasty. With the four southern states, the military strength was not the same as before, and Sichuan only needed to target Liangzhou and Guanzhong, so the task was relatively easy.

Zhuge Liang also knew Ma Chao's obsession, so he gave him a chance to realize his dream and let him and Ma Dai lead their troops westward to recover the Han territory.

Zhuge Liang's central army also sent Guan Xing and Zhang Bao to attack Anding County. If Anding was captured, the Han army could attack Guanzhong from three directions: Hanzhong, Tianshui and Anding.

"Youchang, come and take a look at this picture."

Nanyang County, Wancheng. The Wancheng prefectural government had been turned into a wasteland in the previous fire, so Feng Xi just found a luxurious official residence and moved in, using it as his office.

Feng Xi nailed a map of the area near Tianshui County on the wall. Next to it was even a detailed map of an unknown place. Below it were generals such as Ma Su, Bao Feng, Bao Yi, and Xiang Chong, who had no idea what Feng Xi was going to do.

"Grand Commander, isn't this the map of Tianshui and Guanzhong?"

Ma Su looked at the map, somewhat puzzled. Tianshui was in Liangzhou, and had nothing to do with them now. Why did Feng Xi suddenly let him look at this map?

"If the Prime Minister orders General Zhao and General Deng to stay in Jigu as decoys during this northern expedition, and he personally leads the army through Qishan Road, Tianshui, Anding and other counties will be shaken..."

Feng Xi ignored their doubts and directly told everyone, especially Ma Su, about the deployment of Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition in the original timeline.

"Now, Youchang, if the enemy general Zhang He wants to break through from Jieting and cut off the head and tail of our army, and asks you to guard Jieting, how will you respond?"

Feng Xi pointed at Ma Su, and Ma Su was stunned. However, he just thought that Feng Xi was testing him. He thought for a moment and shook his head.

"Grand Commander, without the Jieting topographic map, I can't deduce it."

"Look, this is the topographic map of Jieting. Tell me what you think." Feng Xi seemed to have anticipated Ma Su's thoughts and pointed to the map next to him.

"Grand Commander, let me take a closer look..."

Ma Su looked at the map carefully, which even marked the height of the Jieting County city wall and whether there were water sources in the surrounding mountains.

"This is easy. If my 20,000 troops are to resist Zhang He's 20,000 vanguards and 30,000 central troops, we only need to rely on Jieting County, set up more traps and trenches on the main roads, reduce the enemy's attack surface, and cooperate with our army's gunpowder weapons to fight against Cao Wei's cavalry."

Ma Su thought for a while and gave his answer. Feng Xi was silent for a while. This answer could not be said to be wrong. After all, Ma Su had been with him for several years, and his tactics had long been updated to the current level of the Jingzhou Army. The existence of gunpowder weapons was justified, and gunpowder weapons were indeed a dimensionality reduction attack against Cao Wei's cavalry.

"What if there are no gunpowder weapons, just basic old-fashioned weapons?"

Feng Xi spoke and compressed the conditions a bit.

"That is still to guard the pass. Although the Wei army's cavalry is sharp, it is useless if we want to attack the city. We can still do as I said before, dig more trenches, lay caltrops, or even use flame trenches like the Grand Commander did before. We can completely defend Jieting before the Prime Minister's reinforcements arrive."

Ma Su thought about it for a moment, but his answer did not change.

"Then why didn't you consider dividing the troops into two groups, one to guard Jieting County, and the other to go to this lonely mountain, so that they can support each other and fight a desperate battle?"

Feng Xi pointed to the "famous mountain throughout the ages" called Nanshan and asked Ma Su.

Ma Su looked at Feng Xi with a very strange look. He didn't know whether the Grand Commander did it on purpose or was still testing him. This place had a little knowledge of military tactics. Anyone who had been to the battlefield could see that it was not possible to fight. The Grand Commander was certainly not the kind of person who only talked about military tactics on paper. He was probably testing himself.

"General, you have marked this place. It is a barren mountain with no water source. Soldiers have to go down the mountain or get water from Jieting County. Zhang He only needs to surround Jieting County. If our army is without water for several days, wouldn't that be a trap for us?

As for the so-called battle of the river, isn't it a gamble that we can defeat Zhang He? If the charge fails, won't our army's morale plummet? At that time, with no water available, the Nanshan division will surely be defeated, and the Jieting County will be left alone. "

Ma Su was in high spirits when he spoke. He used the small wooden stick handed to him by Feng Xi as a teaching stick and pointed at the topographic map of Jieting while talking. The generals below nodded frequently, and Feng Xi was extremely satisfied.

It seems that Ma Su has really learned something in the past few years with me. He is no longer the person in the original timeline who has never led troops, never been on the battlefield, and can only talk about military affairs on paper.

"Very good, Youchang, I am very satisfied. Okay, everyone, go down and reorganize the troops. It's time to prepare to attack Luoyang and teach Cao Li a lesson."

When Ma Su returned to his position, Feng Xi's expression became serious, and the other generals also became serious.

Luoyang, the old capital of the Han Dynasty, was already before them.

(End of this chapter)