Chapter 636 Time of day

   After resting in Jicheng for a few days, the scab on Feng Yong's buttocks began to peel off, and he could finally try to sit down.

  Zhang Bao's illness is a bit troublesome.

  Although it did not continue to deteriorate, signs of improvement were extremely slow.

   This made Feng Yong very worried, and Guan Xing was even more anxious.

  Guan Xing felt that the conditions in Jicheng were not very good, and wanted to send Zhang Bao back to Jincheng, but Feng Yong flatly refused.

  Tetanus cannot be stimulated by itself, whether it is sound, light or other things, it will cause the attack of the disease. The bumpy journey back, I am afraid that before returning to Jincheng, Zhang Bao will die because the body cannot bear the attack of the disease.

Under such circumstances, Feng Yong had no choice but to ask Duanmuzhe to go to Nanxiang himself with his letter, and ask Nanxiang to send enough cinnabar and toad cake as soon as possible, and take some honey from Si Niang by the way, and at the same time let Fan A came to Longyou as soon as possible.

  After he finished arranging these things, the prime minister of the great Han Dynasty in Xiangwu sent another military order, asking Feng Yong and Guan Xing to lead the army westward.

  Although the two were worried about Zhang Bao, they could only tell Fan Qi to take good care of Zhang Bao, and then took people to Xiangwu.

  As far as Feng Yong knows, Longxi prefect You Chu behaved the same as in history at the very beginning, threatening that as long as the big man could sever the connection between Guanzhong and Longxi for a month, he would surrender the county.

   Now it’s May, and the old monster Zhuge led the main force to go there, but failed to take it—You Chu, why is your month different from other people’s month?

  As the president of Dongfeng Express, Feng Yong has reason to ask this question.

  Because Longxi is the most remote place in Longyou.

  Remote location means higher transportation costs.

  The grain road from Hanzhong to Longyou basically overlaps with the West Han River.

  Because this can transport grain by water, the cost is greatly reduced.

  The upper reaches of the Western Han River is called Yangshui, and Yangshui is close to Qishan Mountain, so Qishan Fort is the largest grain storage base in the Northern Expedition.

   From Qishanbao to Longyou, the largest transportation organization is Dongfeng Express.

   Now that the Northern Expedition has been dragged on for four months, the pressure on grain transportation has gradually emerged, and the consumption of grain and grass is not usually large.

  If it weren’t for the old demon Zhuge who took a workshop quota to cut a lot of leeks before the Northern Expedition, and if the Yunnan horses of Dongfeng Express were really easy to use, at this time, the army of the Northern Expedition should have started to run out of food and grass as it did in the original history.

  But Old Demon Zhuge didn't seem worried at all, and was even in the mood to take Feng Yong and Jiang Wei around.

   Seeing the prime minister of the Han Dynasty who was walking in front bent down beside the Wei River, observing the river carefully, Feng Yong was really puzzled as he didn't know what he was doing.

   This makes no sense! Zhuge old demon's actions are not in line with his style at all.

  The longer Xiangwu City is delayed, the greater the logistical pressure. With Zhuge Laoyao’s historical style, he should try to minimize the impact of the war on the people of the Han Dynasty. There is no reason to delay so much!

   "Prime Minister wants to eat fish?" Feng Yong made an excuse to follow along. The water level was very low at this time, and the river bed could already be seen in some places, and some fish could even be seen swimming around in it.

   "How about I go down and touch two of them? Although this fish is not big, it can be eaten..."

  The Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty glanced at Feng Tubie, "You brought the cook here?"

  Feng Yong rolled his eyes twice, and said with a dry smile, "How can there be no cook in the army?"

"You know what cook I'm talking about." Zhuge Liang felt a little helpless when he saw his appearance, "You never forget to satisfy your appetite when you march or fight, no wonder you have so much knowledge in your teacher's school, you just choose one Let’s learn the art of easy teeth.”

   Feng Yong shrank his neck and stopped talking.

  Zhuge Liang didn't want to let him go like this, pointing to Xiangwu City to the west, and asked, "Let me ask you, if it were you, how would you capture this city?"

   "That's not easy, just throw a stone at it!"

  Feng Yong said without hesitation, "Prime Minister, this is also something I don't understand. I have already brought the catapult battalion here. Why didn't the Prime Minister directly attack the city?"

   "For this small city, I asked my engineer, and he said that as long as it hits for five consecutive days, the city can definitely be broken."

  Remote location also has the advantage of being remote, that is, the general city is not too tall, and it is built with rammed earth. If you take back the cannon and smash it for four or five days, this city wall will definitely not be able to stop it.

   "Engineer?" Zhuge Liang thought for a while, and then realized who he was talking about, "You mean Wen Shi, who is good at arithmetic in the catapult camp?"

"right."

   "Then what? The city is broken, and most of Cao's thieves are horse troops. How can we wipe them out?"

   Zhuge Liang asked.

   "Total annihilation?"

  Feng Yong was taken aback.

   "Of course we have to wipe it all out," Zhuge Liang said slowly, looking to the west, "The 20,000 horse troops are the elite of Liangzhou. If we can wipe out this army here, we will have a lot of trouble in pacifying Liangzhou later."

   "More importantly, Hao Zhao has guarded Hexi for many years and has long had prestige. Many people in Hexi trust him. If he is allowed to return to Liangzhou, it will be a big trouble."

  Feng Yong was shocked when he heard it, sure enough!

   Zhuge old demon is so abnormal, it turns out that he really has some other purpose, he actually wants to wipe out all the people in Xiangwu city.

   "But the prime minister, the Cao thief is guarding the river, and there is still a retreat to the west..."

  Feng Yong paused suddenly when he said this, his eyes involuntarily looked towards Weishui, a bright light flashed before his eyes, **** I am a pig!

"Understood?"

   Zhuge Liang looked at him meaningfully and asked.

  Feng Yong nodded woodenly.

  Zhuge Liang looked at Jiang Wei who had been standing behind silently, "Does Boyue understand?"

   "Is the prime minister waiting for the Wei River to become a danger for Cao's bandits to defend, and then take the opportunity to cross the river and cut off the retreat of the bandit army in Xiangwu City?"

  Jiang Wei also looked suddenly enlightened.

  Zhuge Liang smiled, pointed at the two of them, "It's not too stupid after all."

   Then he shook his head again, "Of course, this is only the last step. The Wei River is gradually drying up, and the bandits Cao will surely know that if they cross the river early, they may alarm the bandits in the city and make them escape from the city."

   "So, our first step should be to find a way to drive the Cao thieves from outside the city into the city, and then surround them to death."

  In the past, it was naturally impossible for the Han army with pure infantry to realize this idea, but Guan Xing brought cavalry and the Qiang-Hu coalition army to cooperate with the original three-sided encirclement, so naturally there would be no problem.

  Feng Yong scratched his head, this is still wrong!

  The statement that ten rules surround it, even if it is a bit exaggerated, at least it makes sense.

  More than 50,000 people are going to surround a city guarded by more than 20,000 people, and the opponent has a lot of horses, which doesn't look reliable.

   "But Prime Minister, it's not easy to surround, is it?"

  Feng Yong asked again.

  Zhuge Liang smiled meaningfully again, "Usually, it's not easy to encircle. But now, taking advantage of the fact that they didn't notice the Wei River, I ordered people to dig deep trenches and build barriers on the three sides of Xiangwu."

   "Then Hao Zhao believed that there was a retreat to the west, and the horse army in his hand was elite, so it was a big mistake not to stop it."

   "It's not easy for him to break through as long as the trench barrier is completed? Then we wait patiently for the Wei River to bottom out, then we can directly cross the river and block the west side with heavy troops."

Speaking of this, Zhuge Liang smiled confidently again, "As long as the city is built by the water, the wells in the city must be closely connected with the water flow outside the city. If there is no water outside the city, the wells in the city will have little water or even dry up. "

"More than 20,000 people live in this small city, and there are still horses to use, plus the needs of the people, the water in this city is definitely not enough. It seems that this year's Longyou, I am afraid that it will be difficult, and there may be a severe drought. .”

   "It turns out that the Prime Minister already knew that Longyou would suffer a severe drought this year?"

  Jiang Wei suddenly woke up.

  Zhuge Liang chuckled, and looked at the sky, "The so-called harmony between people at the right time and place, isn't it something that a handsome man must know? Longyou used to have a rainy season at this time."

"Transporting grain from Hanzhong to Longyou depends on the water of the Western Han Dynasty. This is the lifeline of the Northern Expedition. How could I not pay attention to it? According to previous years, the water level of the Western Han Dynasty will skyrocket as early as April, and as late as May, making it difficult to ship. grain."

   "But this year is very abnormal. From April to now, there hasn't even been a single rain, and the drought in Longyou is a foregone conclusion. Xiangwu is also located in the upper reaches of the Wei River, so it will inevitably be the first to stop."

  Feng Yongyue broke out in a cold sweat when he heard it, and suddenly thought of something: A few days ago, old man Wei failed to attack the city and suffered heavy losses. Could it be part of Zhuge Old Demon's plan?

   Let that Hao Zhao be proud for a while, thinking that the tens of thousands of big men will not be able to capture Xiangwu.

  Then these three sides encircle and make a long-term siege, which is actually the paralysis of the old demon Zhuge. Behind the seemingly helpless move, he has quietly completed the action of blocking the three sides.

  Guan Xing brought the cavalry over at this time, which happened to make up for the lack of mobility of the Han army.

  Finally, with the help of this year's abnormal weather, Hao Zhao's thoughtful retreat became safe and secure.

  Feng Yong wiped the sweat from his forehead: I said that the prime minister was not in a hurry at all, and even asked professional teams like engineering teams to dig ditches and build barriers every day, so he was already dead.

  (end of this chapter)