Sun Quan is not lying, he is really poor and crazy now. If he hadn't been poor and crazy, he wouldn't have been so annoyed by Lu Xun and Pan Jun's suggestions.

Wuling was taken away by Wei Ba, Sun Quan also felt that he had lost face, the actual loss was not big, and the real income was Linyuan and several nearby counties, and the Chenyang area could basically only be self-sufficient, as for those barbarians in the mountains, he didn't expect to squeeze any oil and water out of them, but he just hoped to recruit a few soldiers to make up for last year's losses.

For so many years, Sun Quan has been deliberately trying to master Jiaozhou, because Jiaozhou is one of the only financial resources that he can control, or directly the only financial resources, and there is no one. Jiaozhou was taken away by Wei Ba, and the wealth that could be at his disposal was gone, and if he wanted to make a difference, he could only rely on the snort of the Jiangdong clan.

In these days, land represents everything, without land, there is no wealth, without wealth, what do you rely on to raise soldiers?

What do you do without money?

In the first battle of Xiangyang, he was deceived by the Shu Han people, but Xiangyang did not take it, and the soldiers lost tens of thousands, and even one of his sons died. wanted to take revenge, but was played by Zhuge Liang and Wei Ba, the old one, and Zhuge Liang only sent Wei Ba alone, and turned Wuling upside down, and now it has become a profit, and even his small Jiaozhou treasury has been robbed.

Does this still make people live?

Sun Quan now has only two willingness: one is to get some money, and the other is to kill Wei Ba.

He thought a lot of ways to get money, the north was blocked by Wei, and the west was blocked by Shu. Originally, it could still develop to the south, but now Jiaozhou is unreliable, he can only set his sights on Liaodong and overseas, it is said that there are Yizhou and Bozhou overseas, and there are small barbarian countries above, if you can conquer those places, you can not only plunder the people as soldiers, but also increase your wealth. However, the sea was sinister, and many ministers disagreed, or even resolutely opposed. This made Sun Quan a little reluctant to act rashly. If Zhang Fen can transform the warship like Wei Ba. By reducing the danger of going to sea, he might be able to persuade the ministers to implement a strategy of conquest and relieve the empty treasury.

In addition to getting some extra money. Another wish can also count on Zhang Fen.

Sun Quan has been reflecting for a while. He was thinking that Wei Ba could rise to prominence. One person can make him scorched. After thinking about it, he felt that Wei Ba had two strengths that ordinary people could not reach, one was that Wei Ba had a military pawn. The Wei family is a fierce warrior. is good at raiding, and is even better at fighting in the mountains, so Wei Ba is like a fish in water in the mountains, and dragged Lu Dai and others fat and thin, and the thin ones to death; The first is that Wei Ba is proficient in mechanical jishu, and he has done things that many people think are impossible by making various machines. For example, in the Battle of Xiangyang, because he had Jishu who had a warship, he started from a building ship, and by defeating the Wei army's sailors, he miraculously suggested a sailor. Another example is in Chenyang, he burned Chenyang with that appalling siege vehicle, and actually conquered Chenyang overnight. Another example is in Yanguan, he also used his mechanical jishu to build a moving bamboo city, and quickly conquered Yanguan.

In addition, Sun Quan felt that Wei Ba was not extraordinary. Of these two specialties, the latter undoubtedly plays the biggest role. No matter how strong the warriors are, after all, one cannot be a hundred, and in a big war, the role that a limited number of warriors can play is very limited. The latter is different, Wei Ba's mechanical jishu can create one miracle after another.

Sun Quan once wanted to lure Wei Ba to Wu State, and it was precisely because he took a fancy to Wei Ba's mechanical jishu, although the role of Wei Ba's mechanical jishu at that time was far less brilliant than it is now, and it was only because of his advantages in the transformation of warships that Sun Quan's interest was aroused.

If Sun Quan's thoughts were originally a little vague, now after being reminded by Sun Luban, Sun Quan's thoughts suddenly became clear.

He found a way to deal with Wei Ba.

As long as Wei Ba's mechanical jishu can be restrained, it is possible to defeat Wei Ba, and the combat effectiveness of the Wu army can be greatly improved.

Sun Quan is not a Confucian student, he does not discriminate against Jishu, he just doesn't pay enough attention to Jishu.

Zhang Fen is a good candidate. When he was initially recommended by Qiu, it was because he had built a siege chariot, and he was only twenty years old at that time, which was about the same age as Wei Ba now. However, because his uncle Zhang Zhao did not approve, he had to force him to study, so he did not reuse him. Thinking about this, Sun Quan couldn't help but feel a little more resentful towards Zhang Zhao.

Sun Quan immediately ordered Zhang Fen to rush to Xiling and put him under Buqi to improve the siege vehicle. Once Shiyan succeeds, he is ready to send troops to regain Linyuan. Since Chenyang is occupied by Lu Xun, there is no reason to let Zhao Tong occupy Linyuan. If Zhao Tong can be captured alive, of course, it will be great. As for the war in Linhe, Sun Quan still has confidence in Lu Xun. He believed that Wei Ba was fighting in the mountains, and if he wanted to fight in an open area, he would definitely not be Lu Xun's opponent, at least he would not be able to achieve such brilliant achievements. In fact, during the Battle of Chenyang, if it wasn't for Lu Xun being injured first and Fei Yi making trouble from it, Wei Ba might not have had the opportunity to surprise Chenyang and burn Chenyang's grain and grass, Lu Xun would still have a chance to defeat Wei Ba.

Soon after Sun Quan's order was issued, Fei Yi rushed to Wuchang, and Sun Quan listened to his intentions and vetoed the proposal for negotiation. He agreed with Lu Xun's opinion, now Wei Ba has no sincerity to negotiate at all, and the negotiation is not interesting, so it is better to fight first.

Fei Yi was very helpless, he didn't know that Sun Quan was looking for a way to restrain Wei Ba, but he knew very well that Sun Quan's ministers obviously realized that the next battle was an opportunity for them to turn over. If Wei Ba can't defeat Lu Xun, all previous victories may be in vain.

Fei Yi sent an urgent report to Zhuge Liang again, hoping that he would give the necessary attention to the Jiaozhou battlefield in his busy spare time on the Guanzhong battlefield.

Time passed quietly in the exchange of orders from the three parties. When the autumn harvest was all over, and a large number of people in Wei State carried bags of newly harvested wheat to the front line on their shoulders and in boats, the situation in the world quickly became tense.

In late September, Emperor Bixia of Wei entered Wancheng and once again sent envoys to reaffirm the alliance with Sun Quan, the king of Wu, and presented two good horses and five swords. There were countless gifts, and once again proposed to send troops with Wu to attack Shu, with the Yangtze River as the limit, and share the world. Sun Quan sent someone to thank him, but he politely refused Cao Rui's suggestion to jointly send troops to attack Shu, saying that he was currently competing with Shu Han for Jiaozhou and Jingzhou, and had no time to attack Yizhou. As soon as he freed his hands, he sent troops to respond to Cao Rui.

Cao Rui also knew what kind of virtue Sun Quan was, and he knew even more about what Sun Quan was now made of by Wei Ba, and it was impossible for him to send troops to attack Shu. Xiahou Xuan's report had already been sent to his desk. learned that Wei Ba was reluctant to go to Guanzhong. I don't even want to go back to Chengdu. He was more or less relieved.

After Cao Rui arrived in Wancheng, the hussar general Sima Yi officially led his troops to the battle. Because during the Battle of Guanzhong, Wei Ba took the initiative to give up Wuguan and retreated the front to Shangluo, and then he never had the opportunity to recapture Wuguan. So Sima Yi drove straight in. The army marched all the way down to the city of Upper Los Angeles. He was in no hurry to storm the city. Instead, he ordered the craftsmen of the baggage battalion to look at the siege equipment in large quantities, determined to take Shangluo and enter Guanzhong.

Sima Yi is so. The great general Cao Zhen is no exception. Although he was seriously ill and could not come to the front line to command, he sent the Pingxi general Xiahou Ba to the front line, and he was accompanied by Chen Tai, the servant. Ma Jun, the most outstanding craftsman of the Wei State, was also before Tongguan, under his command, the Wei army went up the mountain to cut wood and manufactured a large number of siege equipment, both in quantity and quality, compared to the equipment that Wei Ba had prepared for Tongguan at the beginning, and it also made Wei Yan in the city frown, eager to send someone to assassinate or kidnap Ma Jun.

Unlike the Wei army in front of Shangluo and Tongguan who were preparing to storm the city, Qin Lang, the cavalry general of Beidi County, and Tian Yu, the general of Fuyi, led 30,000 cavalry to wander around Beidi County and did not enter the position for a long time. Zhao Yun, who was stationed in Fuping, did not dare to be careless, and sent a large number of scouts to monitor the movements of the Wei army at any time. However, the Wei army did not relax, the main forces of the two sides had not yet contacted, and the scouts had already launched a fierce fight.

Longxi, on the other hand, was calm. In mid-October, Zhang He, the general of the cavalry of the expedition to the west, led 10,000 elite cavalry to lose his trace, and the general Hao Zhao of Zhenxi commanded 5,000 troops to defend Ji County, and Wei Ping, the general of the captive army, led 5,000 troops to defend Yuzhong. Zhang He's tactics are obvious, that is, to wait for the Shu army to attack the city, and his 10,000 cavalry is constantly active, so that the Shu army can not go all out, once the Shu army shows a flaw, he will be like a sharp knife stabbing in.

"Will Zhang He go to the Northland?" Zhuge Liang stood in front of the huge map and asked in a deep voice.

"It's entirely possible." Fengyi General Jiang Wei stood aside, looking at the knife-like wrinkles on Zhuge Liang's forehead and the white hair on his sideburns, and secretly sighed to himself, the prime minister is really old, and the gray hair on his head has increased a lot since this time. "However, what I'm more worried about is that Qin Lang and Tian Yu will attack Jingyang. Thousands of miles away, the cavalry can reach it in three or five days. If they join forces and ride 40,000 into Guanzhong, the situation is unimaginable. ”

"Without cavalry, we are very passive." Zhuge Liang sighed: "However, if they really come to Jingyang, it is not a bad thing, if we defeat these 40,000 foot riders, we will win half of the victory." Boyo, once the battle is engaged, can the Tiger Battalion be of great use? ”

"Please rest assured, Prime Minister." Jiang Wei said respectfully: "Prime Minister order, Wei must take the lead, and the people are in the position." ”

Zhuge Liang stroked his beard, and suddenly became a little distracted, and after a while, he came back to his senses and looked at Jiang Weidao, who was a little puzzled: "Your words remind me of Wei Ba." Wei Ba once said that people are more important than positions. When necessary, space can be exchanged for time, only important people, there is always a time to make a comeback. If a person dies, it is useless to get the city. Therefore, he prefers that the position is not in the position and the people are still there. ”

Jiang Wei kept his face silent, but Huo Yi couldn't help laughing on the side. Jiang Wei glanced at him, but Huo Yi didn't think so, as if he hadn't seen it.

"What does the prime minister mean?" Jiang Wei asked cautiously.

"It varies from matter to case, and it is impossible to generalize." Zhuge Liang said lightly: "Wei Ba has a wild temperament, and there is no trace of his soldiers, so send him to Wuling, he can beat Sun Quan to a great time." But when he was guarding Chang'an, it was not like this, he was also stubbornly guarding Tongguan and Shangluo, and refused to take a step back. It can be seen that he knows how to be strange, but he prefers to use it. ”

His gaze swept over Huo Yi and Jiang Wei's faces. "Boyo, Shaoxian, you have to work hard. Shao Xian is clever and thoughtful, different from Wei Ba, and each is good at its own strengths. What about Boyo, you have both Qi Zheng, the best of the two, but you are not as good as Huo Yi, but not as good as Wei Ba, if you can work hard, you can become a generation of famous generals, if you don't want to forge ahead, after all, you are just a Chinese person. ”

"Thank you Prime Minister for your advice." Jiang Wei and Huo Yi bowed down in thanks...... (To be continued......)