Chapter 1001 Challenge
Autumn has arrived, and the field where Wuzhangyuan was stationed, after harvesting the crops, is left empty.
Half of the leaves on the trees have fallen off. As long as there is a slight breeze, there are always some detached wooden leaves flying high in the sky like red and purple birds.
The autumn tiger has begun to recede, and the sun has become milder.
In the Qinling Mountains, there are heavy rains in summer and light rains in autumn.
Especially in autumn, if you are walking in the Qinling Mountains, it is normal to encounter rain for more than ten days in a row.
Gloomy, wet weather, mud and fog, gave the land an unnatural green color - the product of boring, constant rain - that hung over the fields and fields like a thin net.
This kind of weather brought great inconvenience to the Han army in Wuzhangyuan.
During the months of confrontation, Zhuge Liang crossed the Wugong River several times, hoping to gain a foothold on the east bank.
But every time it rains, the Wugong water flowing into the Wei River from the Qinling Mountains always surges.
Sima Yi took the opportunity to send out infantry and cavalry, trying to drive the Han army back to the west bank.
The two sides went back and forth like this for several months.
Not to mention the leading generals of the two armies, even Zhuge Liang couldn't help but frown:
Sima Yi has been holding firm for so long. Could it be that Feng Yong's detour to merge with the state has failed?
Autumn has already entered, and in two months, winter will begin.
By then, the army led by Feng Yong would be thousands of miles away from Liangzhou, and it was still a desert prone to white disasters. It would be difficult to keep up with supplies, and the consequences would be unpredictable.
Looking at the motionless Wei army camp on the other side from the Wuzhang Plain, Zhuge Liang finally couldn't hold himself back:
“Come, prepare pen and ink.”
After the preparation of the pen and ink was completed, the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty wrote a letter of war in his own handwriting and sent someone to the other side. He only said that he wanted to meet Sima Yi to decide the outcome.
After the Prime Minister’s letter was delivered to the Wei military camp, Sima Yi read it and just smiled and passed it by, and then said to the Han envoy:
"Kong Ming and I have never met formally in person, but we have exchanged letters for a long time. When we were in Luoyang, Huang Gongheng and I talked about the land of Shu, and he often sat up and sighed."
“I never thought that I would be competing with him now.”
Speaking of this, he had some emotion on his face, "Although Kong Ming and I have different views, I deeply admire Kong Ming's ambition. I wonder if he is still in good health?"
Seeing that the other party asked about the prime minister, the Han envoy quickly replied:
“I’m thinking of Duke Lao Ming, but the Prime Minister is in good health.”
“Oh, can you still eat?”
“I am tired from the army and cannot eat as well as at home, so my appetite is worse than before.”
"That's right." Sima Yi nodded, "I have heard that everything in Shu is related to Kong Ming, and with the busy military affairs, he may not have time to spare."
The Han envoy nodded:
"Ming Gongzhen is the prime minister's confidant. These days, the prime minister often eats less and sleeps late. He really has no leisure."
Sima Yi smiled:
“After you go back, you can advise Kong Ming for me and ask him to take care of himself.”
)
"Sima Yi asked me to take care of myself?" After hearing the messenger's reply, Zhuge Liang was startled, then frowned, "What did he say at that time? Please tell me in detail."
Not only did he ask the envoy to explain in detail how Sima Yi answered questions, but he even asked the envoy to cross-examine Sima Yi's demeanor and movements at that time.
After letting the envoy go out, Zhuge Liang sat alone in the tent, thinking to himself:
“This Sima Yi is clearly asking me to take care of myself, but secretly he is demonstrating to me that he is aware of my physical condition and is determined that I cannot continue to lead the army and stay here for too long...”
Before he could finish his thoughts, the Prime Minister suddenly put his fist to his mouth and started coughing.
At this moment, I saw figures shaking outside the tent:
“Prime Minister, Wei Yan wants to see you.”
Zhuge Liang put his fist down and barely stopped coughing:
"come in."
The curtain was opened, and Wei Yan hurriedly walked into the tent. Before he could stand still, he directly asked:
"Prime Minister, what's going on? Did Sima Yi agree to a showdown with us?"
Autumn wind accompanied Wei Yan into the tent.
Feeling a slight chill, Zhuge Liang couldn't help coughing twice, then glanced at Wei Yan and said calmly:
“Sima Yi has been occupying the east bank for a long time. If he was willing to agree, why would he wait until today?”
When Wei Yan heard this, he couldn't help being disappointed, and then he felt unwilling to do so. He couldn't help but say:
"Prime Minister, in the past few months, the army has been unable to cross the water several times. Sima Yi has already found out the details of our army. Now that the opportunity to fight has been lost, it is up to the enemy, not us, to respond or not."
"If the Prime Minister could listen to the last general's words, instead of waiting for news about Feng Yong after arriving at Wuzhangyuan, why not prepare to cross the water early, and he would be at the foot of Chang'an City now!"
“Even if we fail to cross the water later, we can still raise our troops to the west and wait for an opportunity to capture Chencang. This is a good strategy. Why are we in a dilemma?”
Wei Yan is now the number one general in the Prime Minister's army, and also serves as the military advisor and general. It is within his scope of responsibilities to make suggestions to the Prime Minister.
In this current situation, given Wei Yan's character, it would be abnormal not to complain a few words.
If it had been another person in power, hearing Wei Yan's words, he would have been relegated to the cold palace long ago.
However, Zhuge Liang knew Wei Yan's temperament and cherished his bravery, so he was too lazy to argue with him.
He just wrote another letter and then ordered:
“Come here, bring me some women’s clothes.”
“Prime Minister, there are no women in the army, so where can we find women’s clothes?”
"There are no women in the army, so we take grain to the people to exchange for some clothes."
)
Hearing the prime minister’s strange words, Wei Yan couldn’t help but ask:
“What does the prime minister want women to wear?”
“Sima Yi has more troops than me and good location, but now he doesn’t dare to fight. He is even worse than that woman.”
"Since he wants to be a woman, I will give him some women's clothes to see if he can still sit still."
Wei Yan smiled:
"What is the difference between the Prime Minister's actions and the anger of a child? If he is really determined not to fight, he will think of an excuse to stop it."
Wei Yan kept chattering, which made Zhuge Liang a little impatient.
The Prime Minister said: "You have to try it before you know."
Wei Yan saw that the prime minister still refused to listen to what he said, so he had to leave in dismay.
Zhuge Liang led the army out of Hanzhong this time. Although he had already planned with Feng Yong, Zhuge Liang was cautious and would not place all his hopes on Feng Yong.
As a preparation for Feng Yong's failure, Zhuge Liang asked the auxiliary soldiers and civilians to live in Wuzhangyuan and the shores of the Wei River to cultivate fields to provide resources for long-term garrison and prevent shortage of military rations.
So, although there are indeed some common people near Wuzhangyuan, there are definitely no big families, and they are basically all gray-headed and Guizhou-headed people.
The women's clothes that the soldiers found were all clothes worn by country women.
The prime minister had already written the letter and had it sent to the other side along with the woman's clothes.
When Sima Yi learned that Zhuge Liang had sent someone to deliver a message again, he smiled and said to his left and right:
"I think Zhuge Liang is really anxious, and he keeps urging me to go out to fight. As the saying goes, what the enemy wants, I can't stop. The more anxious he is, the more cautious I must be."
After finishing speaking, he ordered, "Come here and bring over the letter from Zhuge Liang."
The guards received permission and then allowed the Han envoy to enter the commander's tent.
“I’ve met Mr. Ming.”
Sima Yi smiled with a smile on his face and said kindly:
"Let me see what Kong Ming is going to say this time..."
“Oh, Kong Ming is really interested.” Sima Yi laughed and said, “Send it over.”
He took the box from the Han envoy and put it on Sima Yi's desk.
Sima Yi unscrewed the nose button and opened the box. He saw neatly folded clothes inside. He couldn't help but said "Huh" and thought to himself, this is strange. Why did Kong Ming send me this?
Out of curiosity, he reached into the box, took out the clothes, shook them out subconsciously, and then a woman's skirt was suddenly displayed in front of everyone.
What is even more striking is that as Da Sima shakes his clothes, a tube top falls to his feet...
It turned out that in order to assemble a complete set of women's clothing, the Han soldiers even brought back the tube top to the prime minister, and the prime minister sent the set of clothing intact.
quiet!
The entire handsome tent was suddenly so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
The generals on the left and right were all dumbfounded, looking blankly at the great Sima holding up the woman's skirt with both hands... and the tube top on his feet.
Even though Sima Yi's endurance skills were in a state of perfection, his old face still couldn't help but twitch when faced with such an embarrassing situation.
He wanted to throw the clothes directly on the ground, but when he saw the generals on the left and right looking at him blankly, he took a deep breath and forced a smile:
“The clothes Zhuge Liang sent are of very poor quality. Could it be that the Shu Kingdom is too poor? It can’t even afford better clothes?”
No one answered.
Because no one knows how to proceed.
Sima Yi looked at the Han envoy and shook his skirt again:
“What does Zhuge Liang mean by asking you to send this?”
"Returning to Duke Ming, the Prime Minister said that the Wei army is more numerous than the Han army, and it occupies a favorable position, but it is unable to retreat and is worse than that woman. If Da Sima really wants to be a woman, the Prime Minister will make it happen."
“锵!”
“锵!”
“锵!”
…
When the generals in the tent heard this, they drew their swords and glared angrily:
“Bold! You thief dare to humiliate us, you are seeking death!”
Those who are even more impatient want to come forward directly:
"After I kill the thief with one strike of my sword, I will go find Kong Ming and fight to the death!"
"Stop!" Sima Yi saw this and immediately shouted loudly: "Who dares to kill someone in the commander's tent without my permission?"
After stopping the Wei generals, Sima Yi said coldly: "When the two countries are at war, we will not kill the envoys! Zhuge Liang has lost his conduct as a gentleman, but I cannot lose my etiquette."
“This man is just a talker. Killing him will not only be useless, but will only make us, like Zhuge Liang, laughed at by the world as a womanizer.”
He asked everyone to stand back to their original positions, then looked at the Han envoy and said word by word:
"I originally thought that Zhuge Liang was a famous person in the world, but I didn't expect that he acted like a villain and liked to humiliate others."
"In that case, if he wants to fight, then I will fight. You go back and tell Zhuge Liang that as soon as I prepare my troops and horses, I will choose a day to issue a letter of war to him and decide the outcome!"
But when he saw Sima Yi, he was so angry that he wanted to rise up.
After all, no one else would have been able to bear this insult.
After receiving Sima Yi's reply, the Han envoy did not stay too long and left.
After the Han envoys left, the Wei army generals all asked:
“Da Sima, have you really made up your mind to fight the Shu captives to the death?”
Don't blame them for asking such a question, after all, as Ge Thief said, it is obvious that his side has the advantage of troops, and it is fighting on the home field, so it has an advantageous location.
In the past six months, the Shu captives are about to take over. Anyone else would feel extremely aggrieved.
If you hear that Da Sima is finally going to fight, is there any reason not to be happy?
Sima Yi looked gloomy, bent down, picked up the tube top on the ground, and put it back into the box together with the clothes in his hands.
Although his movements were slow, everyone could feel the anger on his body:
"Ge Thief is too insulting. How can I swallow this?"
“Great Sima Yingming!”
Wuzhang Yuanjun's tent, Zhuge Liang couldn't help but be a little surprised after hearing the report from the Han envoy:
“Did Sima Yi really agree to the challenge?”
“Hui Prime Minister, that’s exactly what happened.”
Zhuge Liang frowned slightly, but before he spoke, Wei Yan was overjoyed:
“I only thought that Sima Yi still didn’t dare to go to war as before, but I didn’t expect that the prime minister’s plan actually came true!”
Zhuge Liang pondered for a while, and then looked at the messenger with some confusion:
“Then Sima Yi is really angry?”
"Yes."
Zhuge Liang asked the envoy to tell the story in detail, and then waved his hand: "You will step back first."
After the envoy retreated, Wei Yan couldn't help but feel a little anxious when he saw that he lowered his head and said nothing, seeming to be thinking about something:
Will the Prime Minister start to hesitate again?
Haven’t the Prime Minister learned a lesson from the confrontation over the past few months?
"Prime Minister, Sima Yi has agreed to go to war. This is a rare opportunity. I will ask for orders and would like to be the vanguard."
Zhuge Liang did not answer, but said to himself:
“I thought that Sima Yi would continue to defend the east bank like before, but his sudden agreement was beyond my expectation.”
Wei Yan couldn't wait to say, "The prime minister is angry with women's clothes, but he can't be offended. Is it any wonder? Prime Minister, it's better not to hesitate."
Zhuge Liang glanced at him.
Earlier you said that I was like a child getting angry when I gave women clothes, and now you are saying that he cannot be offended?
“Sima Yi has a lot of power, how can he be easily provoked? There must be something inside that I can’t think of..."
“The Prime Minister has challenged him many times before, which shows that he is eager to fight. Now that Sima Yi finally accepts the challenge, why is he hesitant again?”
Haha, I am eager to fight, just to show Sima Yi. I don’t know if the other party has been fooled, but I didn’t expect you to take it seriously first...
Zhuge Liang thought to himself, if I hadn't behaved like this, how could I have appeased the generals? How can we confuse thieves?
It’s just that he didn’t know how to say these words, so he nodded and said:
"That's all, if that's the case, then go down and prepare your troops and wait and see when Sima Yi will send the letter of war."
Hearing this, Wei Yan immediately clasped his fists excitedly and said, "The last general takes orders!"
Just as the two sides were preparing their troops for a fight, Tan Ma suddenly sent a message:
“Prime Minister, I’m here to report that there is an army of Wei thieves in the direction of Chencang, coming towards Wuzhangyuan.”
When the Prime Minister heard this, he immediately raised his eyebrows, and then as if he thought of something, he suddenly laughed:
"I wonder why Sima Yi dares to accept the challenge? That's it!"
Zhuge Liang smiled while looking towards the northeast, his face full of joy, and at the same time there was a trace of relaxation that was not easy to detect:
“Feng Mingwen finally lived up to my high expectations.”
PS: It’s really none of my business that I can’t see the map. I originally had this account, but now I went out of my way to register a new reader account and recharged it with 50 yuan.
Originally, I wanted to post pictures using my new account, but I found that they were all for the same reason: I could only see them myself, and no one else could.
I heard that it needs to be reviewed. This reminds me of a certain platform that successfully summoned Dragon Ball.
It seems that the map is a bit tight...
PS: I am currently hospitalized. I have been working overtime for the past two weeks. I am really tired. My back hurts badly when I sit down for more than half an hour. I went to register for a check-up and the doctor directly issued a hospitalization note.
There is really no way to guarantee updates.
(End of this chapter)