Hanzhong, Mianyang.
After nearly a month of marching, Zhuge Liang, leading most of the prime minister's office and 20,000 central troops near Chengdu, had arrived at Mianyang County.
The terrain of Hanzhong County is actually mostly a basin.
During the seven years that Wei Yan garrisoned Hanzhong, the governor's office was located in Nanzheng, which was roughly located in the center of the Hanzhong Basin.
And Mianyang is located at the westernmost part of the Hanzhong Basin.
Dingjun Mountain, where the late lord Liu Bei led his army to fight against the Wei army and Huang Zhong killed Xiahou Yuan in battle, is also on the edge of Mianyang.
Logically speaking, Chang'an of Wei State was on the northeast side of Hanzhong.
The reason why the Wei army took a detour to the west and attacked Hanzhong from the direction of Qishan and Wudu was essentially because of the Qinling Mountains. The Ziwu Road, Baoxia Road, and Tangluo Road that lead directly to Guanzhong were all very difficult for the army to travel.
It is for this reason that Zhuge Liang chose Mianyang, west of Hanzhong, as the location for the Prime Minister's Residence. If you start from Mianyang and head northwest, you will face Qishan.
On the first day after arriving in Mianyang, it was late and everyone had gone to bed early. Early the next morning, Zhuge Liang went to the prime minister's residence to discuss matters.
The morning sunlight shone obliquely into the hall through the doors and windows, and Zhuge Liang looked quite high-spirited.
Zhuge Liang looked at the ministers in the hall and said, "Everyone, I submitted a memorial to Your Majesty in March to plan a northern expedition. Today, the Prime Minister's Office and the troops have arrived in Mianyang. I will make preliminary arrangements for the affairs of the government first."
Everyone in the hall stood in silence.
"Wen Chang." Zhuge Liang looked at Wei Yan and said, "You are the governor of Hanzhong ordered by the late emperor. First, you will explain the military affairs of Hanzhong to everyone in the prime minister's office."
"As you command." Wei Yan stepped out and bowed, saying, "Reporting to the Prime Minister, when I first became the governor of Hanzhong in the 24th year of Jian'an, the total number of troops in Hanzhong was about 10,000."
"Over the years, as the imperial court relocated people to Hanzhong, the military strength in Hanzhong also gradually increased."
"At present, the total number of troops stationed in Hanzhong is 15,000."
Wei Yan looked up at Zhuge Liang and continued, "Eight thousand troops will be stationed in Nanzheng, two thousand in Baozhong. One thousand will guard Yangping Pass, one thousand will guard Wuxing, two thousand will be stationed in Xingshiwei, and one thousand will be stationed in Huangjinwei."
"Before the Prime Minister led his army to Hanzhong, this was the distribution of troops in Hanzhong."
Zhuge Liang nodded slightly: "Did you all hear clearly what Wen Chang said just now?"
"Who can explain to everyone why this division is necessary?"
Seeing Zhuge Liang holding his military dispatch and examining everyone in the Prime Minister's Mansion, with Prime Minister Sima Wei Yan standing at the front and Chief Clerk Xiang Lang standing in a row, a hint of pride appeared at the corners of their mouths.
At that moment, there were no more than ten people standing in the hall.
Zhuge Liang's Xiangfu system at this time was actually not much different from Cao Cao's Ba Fu back then. For example, Wei Yan, as the governor of Liangzhou, the governor of Hanzhong, and the general of Zhenbei, also had to hold the title of "Sima" in the Xiangfu system.
Yang Yi stepped out and bowed, saying, "I am willing to explain."
Zhuge Liang pointed at Yang Yi and said, "Duke Wei, please tell me what I am talking about."
Yang Yi said calmly: "In my opinion, General Wei's arrangement in Hanzhong is actually in accordance with the deployment of the late emperor, combined with Zhang Lu's old wisdom when he defended Hanzhong."
Ancient wisdom? How come you said that my military arrangements were all obtained from others?
Wei Yan, who was standing in the front row, felt quite unhappy. He frowned and turned to look at Yang Yi.
Wei Yan had heard of Yang Yi a long time ago, but he had almost never dealt with him. Why did this man speak so rudely to him?
Moreover, when discussing matters in the Prime Minister's Mansion, one should address people by their titles. Yang Yi should have called him 'Sima Wei', how could he have called him 'General Wei'? Did he treat me, Wei Yan, as an outsider in the Prime Minister's Mansion?
Yang Yi's eyes were only fixed on Prime Minister Zhuge in the hall, as if he could not see Wei Yan's expression at all.
Zhuge Liang certainly noticed the expressions of the two men, but he didn't care for the moment.
"Go on." Zhuge Liang said in a flat tone.
When Wei Yan heard Zhuge Liang's words, he turned back to face the front. He wanted to hear what Yang Yi had to say.
Yang Yi, courtesy name Wei Gong, was a military officer of Guan Yu in Jingzhou in his early years. Later, Guan Yu sent Yang Yi to Chengdu to report to Liu Bei on official business and discuss world affairs with Liu Bei, so he was summoned by Liu Bei to his left general's mansion.
When Liu Bei was named King of Hanzhong, he promoted Yang Yi to the position of Shangshu.
Later, when Yang Yi was serving as the Shangshu, he had a rather bad relationship with the Shangshu Ling Liu Ba at that time, which alarmed Liu Bei, who eventually transferred Yang Yi out of the Shangshu Tai.
Although Liu Ba was not a good-tempered person, Yang Yi was indeed not a good person since he could have quarreled with Liu Ba to such an extent.
Yang Yi cupped his hands and said, "I have heard that when the late emperor stationed troops in Hanzhong, he sent the prime minister to build a siege at Xingshi Mountain at the southern entrance of Tangluo Road. The late emperor also set up the Wuxing Governor in Wuxing, west of Ju County, to guard against the Wei army from the direction of Wudu."
"When Zhang Lu was in Hanzhong, he stationed troops in the Golden Valley, which connected to Ziwu Road in the east. General Wei built the Golden Valley several years ago, probably because he learned from Zhang Lu's wisdom."
Actually, this was Wei Yan's first day at work in the Prime Minister's Mansion. He was new to the job and was not familiar with his colleagues. Therefore, even if Yang Yi said this, Wei Yan was unwilling to argue with him.
Wei Yan clasped his hands and retorted: "Your Excellency, I am stationed in Hanzhong, and what I did was just to adapt to local conditions. Hanzhong is a basin, and it is common sense to station troops to defend the important roads." Wei Yan paused, then said: "Hanzhong's terrain is like this, anyone would deploy the troops in the same way. It is not like what Yang said, that we inherited the old system or borrowed someone's wisdom."
Zhuge Liang nodded and said, "What Wen Chang said is right. What Duke Wei said just now was a bit too much."
Yang Yi bowed slowly and then returned to the queue as if nothing had happened.
Zhuge Liang continued, "As Wenchang said just now, there are already 8,000 troops stationed in Nanzheng in Hanzhong County, and 2,000 in Baozhong."
"The 20,000 central troops I brought with me this time will also be stationed between Mianyang and Nanzheng for training."
"It is already April. It will take some time to train soldiers, store food, and prepare military equipment. From now until next spring, I hope everyone in the Prime Minister's Office will work together to prepare for the Northern Expedition."
Everyone saluted.
……
In the afternoon, Zhuge Liang and Wei Yan had a private conversation in the prime minister's residence.
Wei Yan was certainly a military general, but he served as the prefect of Hanzhong for many years, and basically all the affairs of Shu Han with Wei had to go through Wei Yan's hands.
Wei Yan cupped his hands and said, "Prime Minister, the troops sent to Liangzhou to sow discord among the Qiang people have now received a report."
Zhuge Liang asked, "It seems that what you want to say is not good news, otherwise you would have told me the result long ago."
Wei Yan nodded and said, "Prime Minister, that is indeed the case."
"I heard in Hanzhong that Qu Ying of Xiping County of Wei State rebelled in January and was suppressed in March. Qu Ying was also suppressed by Hao Zhao, a Wei general stationed in Jincheng County."
"Hao Zhao has been in Hexi for about ten years, right?" Zhuge Liang asked, "Did Hao Zhao lead the army alone this time?"
Wei Yan's expression remained serious. "Prime Minister, Hao Zhao is not the only one there. It is said that the newly appointed Liangzhou Governor Xiahou Ba and the general Lu Pan who was originally stationed in Tianshui have also sent people there."
"Xiahou Ba is Xiahou Yuan's son, and he is probably less than 40 years old now. And... there is another person, who I find quite strange. I don't know whether this news is true or not."
Zhuge Liang looked at Wei Yan and said, "It's okay. Wen Chang, just tell me."
Wei Yan said, "I heard that Luoyang has newly appointed a commander to protect the Qiang. He is none other than Lu Xun, who led the Wu army to fight against the Wei army at the beginning of the year and later surrendered to Wei."
"Lu Xun, Lu Boyan?" Zhuge Liang exclaimed, "This man actually came to Liangzhou?"
Wei Yan nodded and said, "After Zhang Wen of Wu came to Chengdu as an envoy, the Prime Minister's Office also told me about this in his monthly letter."
"If we calculate based on the time, Lu Xun should have been sent to Liang Province to serve as the Protector of the Qiang immediately after he surrendered to the Wei Kingdom."
"After hearing the report, I didn't believe it at first. But when Lu Xun arrived in Liangzhou, this matter was indeed too outrageous to be fabricated."
Too outrageous to be true?
Zhuge Liang sighed softly: "How can the people of Jiangdong be so weak-willed?"
Wei Yan said: "Whether Lu Xun is soft or not, the current situation in Liang Province is obviously different from a few months ago."
"From a military perspective, there is no news that Wei is sending more troops to Liang Province. But the fact that they first sent Xiahou Ba to be the governor of Liang Province instead of civil officials like Zhang Ji and Wen Hui shows some clues."
"Moreover, the Wei court had previously summoned Xiahou Mao back to Luoyang and appointed Zhang He as the governor of Yongliang. This man is even more difficult to deal with."
"Liangzhou..." Zhuge Liang said, "No matter what, the strategy I discussed with you earlier to take Liangzhou first cannot be implemented."
Wei Yan also responded solemnly: "Prime Minister is absolutely right!"
"If we set out from Hanzhong to march north, we can go through the Qinling Mountains to Guanzhong, or go northwest to Liangzhou."
"Guanzhong is powerful. If we take it, we will directly face Wei's central army in Luoyang. At the beginning of the year, Wu and Wei fought and lost so many soldiers and horses. I think we should re-evaluate the combat power of Wei's central army."
Zhuge Liang said: "Ten days. Starting from Luoyang and heading west, we can reach Chang'an in ten days."
Wei Yan replied, "That's right. It's hard to defend Guanzhong, so it's better to take Liangzhou first."
Zhuge Liang smiled and looked at Wei Yan: "I remember that Wen Chang had always said in his letters that we could start from Hanzhong and take Chang'an directly."
Wei Yan said: "This is one time, and that is another time."
"The general in charge of guarding Chang'an in Wei State before was Xiahou Mi, a member of the royal family. He was not good at military affairs, but he was trusted by Cao Pi because of his status as a member of the royal family."
"Now that the governor has been appointed Zhang He, we should be more cautious."
Before Zhuge Liang could speak, Wei Yan said, "Prime Minister, I think it is still feasible to lead an army to attack Guanzhong." (End of this chapter)
