Farmer of Shu Han

"Come here!"

"Master?"

"Go and invite Tuoba Xianbei's envoy to the front hall. I will be there shortly."

"Here."

Since the ambush of the Han army on the border of Youzhou a few years ago, Sima Yi and Tuoba Xianbei formally established an offensive and defensive alliance.

He even promised verbally that as long as the Han army could be defeated, if Tuoba Xianbei wanted to take Liaodong as his habitat in the future, he could send troops from Youzhou to help.

Compared to working for King Feng Gui to beg for food, what Sima Yi gave was undoubtedly much more generous and attractive.

So this is one of the important reasons why most of the Tuoba Xianbei clan are willing to form an alliance with Sima Yi.

These past few years have been the honeymoon period between Tuoba Xianbei and Sima Yi. Not only did the two sides have constant transactions across the border, but they also had constant exchanges of envoys.

The envoy of Tuoba Xianbei who was in Yecheng at this time was none other than Tuoba Liwei's second son Tuoba Xilu, and he was also Tuoba Desert Khan's strongest competitor.

When Tuoba Xulu received the news, he did not hesitate and rushed to the Taifu Mansion:

"Foreign Minister Tuoba Xilu pays homage to the Grand Tutor."

After all, although he represents Tuoba Xianbei, to the Hu people, the remaining power of the Han family for four hundred years is vaguely visible and has not completely dissipated.

And Ji Han has bucked the trend in these years, and has the intention of reuniting the prestige of the Han family that had become vague.

Therefore, Tuoba Xulu, who came from the northern grasslands, still has a certain admiration for the Han Dynasty in the Central Plains.

In addition, he was just Tuoba Liwei's envoy to Southern Xia. Facing Sima Yi, the Lord of Hebei, he naturally had to keep his attitude low.

Unexpectedly, Sima Yi didn't treat him politely, and just said:

"I have received definite news that the Han Kingdom has sent troops, claiming to be five hundred thousand, and intends to cross the Taihang Mountains in three groups and invade Hebei."

"Five million?" Tuoba Xilu was shocked, "At this time?"

He looked at Sima Yi in horror, but saw that the other party's expression was solemn, but there was no sign of panic.

Tuoba Xilu calmed down and reacted. He asked again:

"Master Taifu, is the news reliable? How could Han possibly send troops at this time?"

This is winter!

At this time, the grassland is facing a white disaster.

Although Southern Xia is warmer than the grassland and has more food and clothing than the grassland, people freeze to death and starve to death.

It is even more incredible that Han wanted to cross the Taihang Mountains at this time.

Because the mountains will only get colder and harder to walk on.

A gust of mountain wind is enough to make someone accidentally fall off the cliff.

Is the Emperor of Han crazy?

"Of course reliable."

Taifu Sima's expression remained unchanged, and he patiently explained to the envoy who represented his ally in front of him:

"In fact, I have received news that Han may send troops a month ago. At least half a month ago, the forward of the Han army has arrived in Taiyuan."

"I informed Tuoba Langjun that you are coming after I got the news about the Han army's commander."

Tuoba Xilu asked subconsciously:

"So who will lead the Han army this time?"

"Feng Mingwen." Sima Yi glanced at Tuoba Xilu and said, "It's the Feng Wen God spread on your grassland."

Whether you hate Feng or respect Feng, you have to admit one thing: he profoundly changed everything on the grassland, including people and livestock.

Not only did it change the way of grazing on the grassland, but it also changed the way of life and even diet.

Some people in the grassland say that he is a messenger sent by God.

But Feng's reputation for being fond of killing - and often killing thousands or even tens of thousands of people at once, with a killing speed and quantity comparable to the plague - also made him notorious on the grasslands.

Therefore, some people call him the Messenger of Plague.

Hearing this name at this time, Tuoba Xulu's heart beat faster.

Although he has never met this person, he drove out the Xianbei in the west, massacred the Xianbei in the central part, and became famous in the grassland. Who can not hear this person's name?

Countless Xianbei people were either kidnapped by him to work as laborers, or massacred and exterminated by him.

I heard that in the valleys of Qiaoshan, you can still hear the cries of resentful souls. In the rivers of Henan (i.e. Hetao), most of the fish and shrimps are blood red, and people dare not eat them.

Not to mention on the grassland, even the Grand Tutor's son (i.e. Sima Zhao) had a look of fear on his face when he mentioned this person.

I heard from Mr. Sima that when this man was in Nanzhong, there were already rumors that "the sun cannibalize human flesh and blood, and the night can eat three thousand women."

Later, I heard that the witches of the Southern Barbarians learned through divination that this person was the reincarnation of the Ghost King. She soaked her body with secret medicine for seven days and seven nights, and then went to serve Ghost King Feng in person.

King Feng Gui was extremely happy and let Nanman go.

Regardless of whether this rumor is true or not, it can be seen that this person is equally cruel to the Southern Barbarians, Southern Xia people, and grassland people.

Thinking of these rumors, Tuoba Xilu couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva:

"Feng Guiwang personally led the army? Five hundred thousand?"

Seeing Tuoba Xilu's somewhat nervous look, Master Sima knew that this number might frighten the prairie barbarian in front of him who had never seen much of the world.

I saw him saying warmly:

"It's claimed to be only five hundred thousand. This is a false claim. It's not true that there are so many people. I expected only two hundred thousand."

"In addition to the civilians and auxiliary soldiers in the army, they must account for at least half, so the maximum number of soldiers will not exceed one hundred thousand."

"One hundred thousand..." Upon hearing this, Tuoba Xilu felt that it made sense.

After all, his tribe also claims to have 200,000 string control people.

But that's all the people in the clan who can ride a horse.

If those who can ride a horse and draw a bow are included, the number is only one hundred thousand.

In fact, only 50,000 people can actually go into battle.

"One hundred thousand troops are divided into three groups. Even if there is some emphasis, one group will only have 50,000 troops at most."

Taifu Sima continued to analyze Tuoba Xulu:

"Now Feng Mingwen is stationed in Taiyuan, and most of his generals are following him. Therefore, in my opinion, the route where the Han army will attack with heavy troops must be at Jingxing."

Sima Yi, who had more than 150,000 troops at his disposal, was not inferior in numbers.

But Sima Yi's own family knew about his family affairs.

If the Han army is allowed to enter Hebei, the 150,000 people he has on hand may not be able to defeat Feng's 100,000 people - at least in an upright battle in front of the formation, Sima Taifu has no confidence.

Of course, Feng was known for his deceit, so if he didn't fight openly and openly, this thief might not be afraid of anyone.

This is very troublesome.

There is a saying in the art of war: Use the right combination to win by surprise.

This thief is both good and evil, and he is the opponent that no one wants to face.

At least 70% to 80% of the Han army's infantry are wearing armor. Looking at our own side, it would be good to have ten out of a hundred wearing armor.

The difference between the cavalry and the cavalry is even worse.

Both the roving cavalry and the sudden cavalry lagged behind the Han army.

The weapons are not good, the armor is not good, and the horses are not good.

The only riding skill that originally gave Wei an advantage disappeared after the emergence of such a strange skill as the stirrup.

As for the Armored Cavalry...

That can't even be mentioned.

After Cao Zidan's defeat at Xiaoguan, the Wei Dynasty never thought about rebuilding the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry. However, due to the lack of money and food, they had no choice but to give up.

When the Wei Dynasty disbanded the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry in the early years, the Wei Dynasty had occupied all of the north, and Wu and Shu had no cavalry that could compete with the fine cavalry of the Wei Dynasty.

The most important thing is that the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry costs too much money and food.

To be honest, even now, Sima Yi has not fully figured out how the money, food, iron, cavalry and horses in the Han Dynasty came from.

It's like they keep popping up out of nowhere!

How else to explain the armor of the Han army?

How to explain the weapons of the Han army?

Not to mention the cavalry.

If you want to build a cavalry army from scratch, in addition to investing a lot of money and food, you also need to raise horses, train them, and practice riding...

These all take time and cannot be accomplished overnight.

According to common sense, someone who can train a brave and capable elite cavalry in ten years is considered a powerful person.

Even for Wu'an Lord Li Mu, it took several years, almost ten years, to train an elite army capable of defeating the Hu people.

However, the Han Dynasty was able to build an invincible armored cavalry army within a few years with only the two states of Shu and Liang.

It is simply unreasonable to marry his mother!

Even if you are a descendant of the mountain sect, you still have to be reasonable, right?

You are not a descendant of the Immortal Sect!

Can every horse produced by your horse farm be used as a war horse?

Your war horse doesn’t need to eat food?

Your cavalry doesn’t need training?

Oh, I know this, amazing skills!

Five years of hard training in riding skills is not as good as one year of practicing with stirrups. Such tricks are simply unreasonable!

Not a son of man!

…

Every time I think about this carefully, even a scheming person like Sima Yi feels a little frightened.

The Wei Dynasty has suffered successive defeats in recent years, which on the surface seems to be a crime of war.

In fact, it was the unreasonable rapid advancement of Han's strength and the rapid changes that were difficult to accept and even more difficult to understand.

Thinking about it now, it was precisely because the Wei Dynasty did not react at all, or was unable to understand these huge changes in the Han Dynasty, that it was constantly at a loss and made mistakes in response to the opponent's continuous advancement.

By the time he reacted, the general trend of the world had already changed.

After careful consideration, it is despair.

However, Taifu Sima could only hide this despair in his heart and did not dare to talk to anyone easily.

Not only because he had no way out, but also because he was unwilling to do so.

"Master Taifu," Tuoba Xilu had completely calmed down at this time and said tentatively, "The number of soldiers under your command is only more than that of the Han State, not less than that of the Han State, plus guarding the passes."

"Then Feng Wen, well, no matter how powerful Feng Wen is, it's probably not easy to break through the Taihang Mountain pass and enter Hebei, right?"

Being able to be sent by Tuoba Liwei as an envoy to Southern Xia to see the world, Tuoba Xilu may not have much knowledge about the Central Plains, but he is certainly not a fool.

Taifu Sima summoned him in such a hurry, probably because he wanted to ask his tribe to send troops to help.

But in Tuoba Xilu's view, not to mention that it was winter, the tribesmen on the grassland were fighting against the White Disaster with all their strength.

No matter how brave the warriors in the clan are, they are still made of flesh and blood and will freeze to death. How could they risk a white disaster and go south at this time?

Besides, the eagle on the grassland will only stay with the eagles in the sky, and will not fall to the ground to stay with the pheasants.

If Wei, despite having a numerical advantage and the right time and place, cannot defend the Taihang Mountain Pass, then they will lose the qualification to form an alliance with the Grassland Eagle.

The wily Sima Yi immediately noticed Tuoba Xulu's thoughts.

He couldn't help but curse inwardly.

Why do you think your Aweng Tuoba Liwei formed an alliance with me instead of surrendering to the Han Kingdom?

If Hebei really wants to lose, do you think that just Tuoba Xianbei of yours can stop someone from Feng of Han?

Not to mention Xianbei and Kebineng in the west, even Bu Dugen is stronger than you Suo Tou.

But the result?

If I really can't hold Hebei, all of you will just wait and work as laborers for God Feng Wen!

"Taihang Mountain can naturally be defended. No matter how powerful Feng Mingwen is, he is still a human being, not a god."

Even if he is a god, he is still the god of you prairie barbarians.

No matter how elite the Han army was, it would be impossible for them to cross the mountains and capture the Taihang Mountain pass in winter.

"What I'm worried about is not the Taihang Mountains, but the grasslands in the north." Sima Yi said solemnly, "Mr. Tuoba, you should have heard the story of Feng Wenshen crossing the desert from Liangzhou and entering Bingzhou from the north."

"No one can guarantee whether he will repeat his old trick and send troops from Pingcheng to bypass the grassland and go south."

Of course, Taifu Sima would not tell Tuoba Xilu. He was almost certain that as long as there was a chance, someone Feng would definitely emerge from a certain pass in the north of Youzhou, Jizhou.

Since the fall of Bingzhou, the Hu people in the area from Pingcheng to Juyongguan have been almost completely wiped out by the Han army.

Although there was no direct evidence, Master Sima knew that it was definitely Feng's handiwork.

How else to explain the battle at Youzhou Frontier Fortress?

Clearing out the barbarians in the north of Jizhou in advance seemed to cut off Jizhou from obtaining horses from the grassland.

In fact, in wartime, the battlefield can also be easily covered. With the ability of the Han cavalry, it is not difficult at all to set off from Pingcheng and raid Wuruan Pass (Zijing Pass).

Wuruan Pass is one of the nine passes in the world.

In addition, Master Sima suffered another big loss.

Naturally it is impossible to notice this.

Therefore, before the war started, he had already sent people to reinforce Wuruan Pass and guard it to the death.

Guarding the Wuruan Pass will not only prevent Feng's thieves from coming from the northern grasslands, but also prevent the Han army from entering Jizhou from Puyinxing.

It's just that although the north of Jizhou is on guard, the north of Youzhou also worries Sima Taifu.

Compared with a Wuruan Pass that can guard the enemies on both sides of the north and west, Juyong Pass in Youzhou, which is also one of the nine passes in the world, protects the safety of the entire Youzhou.

Not to mention, Yanshan Mountain, which stretches to the north of Youji and Hebei Provinces, has countless mountain passes, large and small.

Although these mountain passes cannot allow large armies to march in from the grassland, small groups of thieves can attack and harass them without any problems.

This means that this battle seems to be using the Taihang Mountains to prevent the Han army from advancing eastward, but in fact, a large number of troops are also deployed on the northern border defense line.

It can even be said that the front line of this battle is extremely long.

This is also the reason why Sima Taifu summoned Tuoba Xilu.

Isn’t this the right time for allies on the grassland?

As long as they send troops, they are not expected to defeat the Han army entering the grassland. As long as they can continue to harass from the rear, the Han army will not dare to easily attack the pass from the north.

Even as long as they can detect the main force of the Han army in the grassland and inform themselves in advance so that they can be prepared, the pressure in the north will be reduced a lot.

After listening to Taifu Sima's analysis, Tuoba Xulu finally understood.

Well, that's definitely a problem.

Even the leaders of the western Xianbei tribes and the central leader Kebineng were defeated by Feng Wenshen, which is enough to illustrate the power of the Han army's cavalry.

"It's just Taifu. No matter how powerful the Han army is, there is thick snow on the grassland at this time. How can their horses run?"

"Master Tuoba, Thief Feng has dispatched an army of 100,000 troops this time. Naturally, it is impossible to retreat easily." Taifu Sima cursed the idiot in his heart and said earnestly, "Winter will pass, and spring will pass. came.”

"The snow in winter can certainly help us stop the Han army, but what about when the snow melts in spring?"

"So I ask you to send your men quickly, return to the tribe, and inform Chief Tuoba so that he can make preparations as soon as possible."

Illustration of the Battle of Hebei: