Ma Tan received Zhuge Liang's reply, didn't say anything, handed over the men and horses to Wei Yan, and rushed to Chang'an with only the personal guard battalion and Cheng An, who was escorted by dozens of warriors. He was clear about Zhuge Liang's intentions, but he couldn't find any reason to oppose it, so he had to accept it.

In front of Wei Yan, Cheng An promised to cooperate with Zhao Su to mobilize the Heavenly Masters and Daoists in Guanzhong to help Ma Tan defend Chang'an and the eastern passes. Cheng An has been an official for most of his life, and now he has finally become an official, and he has become a Taishou of 2,000 stones, of course, he knows what kind of price he has to pay to remove the word "temporary receiving".

Wei Yan was also very satisfied with Zhuge Liang's arrangement, so that Guanzhong and the eastern part of Guanzhong would have no worries, and he would have enough autonomy to no longer have to discuss with Ma Yan about everything. No matter how close he and Ma Jian are, they are not as happy as being the masters alone.

After Ma Yan left, Wei Yan guarded the Wuwu and sent a large number of scouts to closely monitor Cao Zhi's movements. Cao Zhi rested for three days in Wuzhangyuan, set off again, and headed west along the south bank of Weishui, heading straight to Chencang.

After receiving the news, Wei Yan did not go out of the city, except for sending someone to send the news to Zhuge Liang, he did not leave the city at all, but instead focused on strengthening the city defense.

Wuzhangyuan was more than 100 miles away from Chencang, and Cao Zhi walked for three days. This was a completely normal marching speed, which was very different from the previous rapid march of more than 100 miles a day. His calmness surprised Wei Yan very much, you must know that it is impossible for Cao Zhi to break into the pass with too much baggage, even if he snatches some baggage grain and grass from Ma Yan's hands, he can last a few more days, but it is also very limited. He can't be so suave.

In fact, at this point, there is no turning back, he is not in a hurry to conquer Chen Cang, and he can still rush so slowly and methodically, which is really surprising that he is calm and even ruthless.

Only people who don't take their lives seriously can be so calm. This is similar to the merry genius in the impression.

It can be seen that rumors are sometimes unreliable.

Knowing that Wei Yan did not catch up, although Cao Zhi had been mentally prepared, he was somewhat disappointed. However, he was not discouraged, but a little more generous and tragic. On the march. I am still interested in writing poems. After arriving in Chencang, he did not rush to attack the city, but asked people to set up defensive lines in the north and east of the city first, and prepare for blocking reinforcements. At the same time, he ordered his subordinates to cut wood. Build siege engines.

Chen Cang is in the north of Weishui. The water flows into the Weishui in the east of the city, and it is a small city facing water on three sides. Chen Cang originally had no city, after Zhuge Liang entered Guanzhong. Only then did he build a city in Chencang.

From Chencang to the south, you can enter the Sanguan and enter Hanzhong through the old road; To the west, you can go up against the water, until Linwei, through the Kei Valley, you can enter Longyou; To the north, you can trace the river up to Xiaoguan and Liupan Mountain; To the east, you can follow the Weishui to Chang'an.

The importance of Chencang's geographical location can be seen. It can be said that the eastern part of Guanzhong is centered on Chang'an, and the western part of Guanzhong is centered on Chencang, and Zhuge Liang's order to build a city in Chencang is undoubtedly an extremely wise decision. Now, Chen Cang is still guarding the tuntian near Linwei. The scale of the tuntian in Linwei is not large, and it is not the same as the tuntian in Huangshui, but after the tuntian on both sides of the Huangshui was destroyed by Xiahouba, the tuntian near Linwei is very precious.

What's more, there is still a lot of grain in Chencang City.

Cao Zhi's intention to attack Chencang is also very obvious, after taking Chencang, he can not only get food supplements, but also get the results of Linwei's Tuntian, cut off Zhuge Liang's path to support Longyou, once Shangqi falls into the hands of the Wei army, Hao Zhao can go down the river and contact him.

In this way, Guanzhong and Longyou were reconnected.

Cao Zhi has another plan, such an important terrain, of course Zhuge Liang will not sit idly by. He was not in a hurry to march, just to give Zhuge Liang enough time to come to the rescue. As long as Zhuge Liang moved his troops to Chencang, then he would not be able to take care of the north, and Zhang He would have a chance.

He believed that with Zhang He's sophistication, he would not fail to seize such an opportunity.

Three days later, Cao Zhi officially began the siege of the city. However, his attention was not on Chen Cangcheng, but in the direction of Huangshui. The direction of Huangshui has been very quiet, and there is no shadow of reinforcements in sight, and Zhuge Liang does not seem to have rescued Jihua in Wangxian County. This made Cao Zhi very uneasy, but it also strengthened his determination to conquer Chen Cang. Since Zhuge Liang is not fooled, then he will attack Chen Cang, and after taking Chen Cang, see if Zhuge Liang is in a hurry.

Chencang is a new city, not big, plus three sides of the water, unable to deploy troops, so although Cao Zhi only has 15,000 men, he still has enough troops to attack.

Chen Cang has 3,000 soldiers and two guards, one is Huo Yi and the other is Liao Hua.

Huo Yi was ordered by Prime Minister Zhuge Liang to lead 2,000 troops to reinforce Chen Cang. Liao Hua originally did not lead troops, he was too guarded by Fufeng, stationed in Yongxian County, and was responsible for the affairs of Tuntian on both sides of the Huangshui. Cao Zhi came, and Ma Dai was unexpectedly defeated at the hands of Xiahou Ba, so he couldn't hold Yongxian at all with his little Tuntian soldiers, so Zhuge Liang ordered him to give up Yongxian, and withdrew to Chencang with more than 300 Tuntian soldiers and all the grain, and cooperated with Huo Yi to defend the city.

At this moment, Huo Yi and Liao Hua stood side by side on the city wall, looking at the Wei army outside the city, looking at those tall thunderbolts, Liao Hua frowned: "Is Ma Jun also in the army?" ”

Huo Yi was silent, he didn't know if Liao Hua was right. Judging from the ordnance being deployed by the Wei army, the level of these ordnance is not bad, compared to the Shu Han army, which inevitably reminds people of the mechanical wizard Ma Jun of Wei who can compete with Wei Ba.

"Probably not." Gongcao Ma Zun also stood on the city wall, and when he saw this scene in front of him, he remembered the battle of Shangqi that year. But now it's reversed, he is a Shu Han person, and the one who attacked the city was a Wei person. Ma Jun is his fellow clansman, he is more familiar with Ma Jun's situation, and when he heard Liao Hua suspect that his clansmen might be outside the city, he hurriedly explained.

"Ma Jun is east of Tongguan, Emperor Wei ...... Cao Rui ordered that he should not participate in any military operations. Ma Zun looked at Huo Yi and Liao Hua with some embarrassment: "Cao Zhi went deep alone, obviously killing himself, and it is impossible for him to take Ma Jun with him for such a death-defying action." ”

"Say so. This clansman of yours is still quite used by the Emperor of Wei. ”

Ma Zun smiled reluctantly: "Craftsmen, of course it is more popular at this time." Speaking of which, this is also because of Wei Ba, if it weren't for his great victory in Xiangyang, probably no one would have noticed him. When he was in Luoyang, he just made some gadgets to please the nobles. ”

The corners of Huo Yi's eyes twitched, and he suddenly remembered a sentence relayed from different channels, which was said to be one of Wei Ba's many strange theories.

Wei Ba once said to people that even a trivial move is after being superimposed by various factors. It is also possible to have an unimaginable consequence. A butterfly in Chengdu flapped its wings. It is possible to cause huge waves in the East China Sea.

He probably didn't expect that he would be the butterfly now. Ma Zun is not bad at all, he is in Xiangyang, because the jishu who modified the warship has suddenly emerged. With a building ship, he captured more than ten building ships of the Wei army. Almost from scratch, the Hanzhong Sailor was rebuilt. The impact on both Wei and Wu was very obvious, Wei reused Ma Jun, and Wu reused Zhang Fen. They all have a lot to do with him.

And the biggest influence is Shu Han, Prime Minister Zhuge Liang has invested a lot of energy and effort in the transformation of Jishu, personally responsible for the design and manufacture of ordnance, the quality of Shu Han's equipment is high, and it is the leader of the Three Kingdoms.

"There is only one Ma Jun in the Wei State, but our Han does not only have Wei Ba." Huo Yi smiled softly and patted the big crossbow beside him: "These crossbows designed by the prime minister to defend the city are going to taste the taste of flesh and blood today." ”

Ma Zun looked at the murderous city-guarding crossbow and didn't say anything more. He knew that Cao Zhi was an outlaw, and once the siege began, it would inevitably be a thunderous blow. Neither Huo Yi nor Liao Hua have ever fought, can they hold Chen Cang? It stands to reason that if Zhuge Liang's main force rushes to support, Cao Zhi will not talk about attacking the city, and it will be good if he does not die. He couldn't figure out if Weishenme hadn't seen the shadow of reinforcements yet, was Zhuge Liang confident in Huo Yi and Liao Hua, or because he wanted to give up Chen Cang to ensure that Zhang He couldn't enter Guanzhong?

Ma Zun was uneasy.

Just when Ma Zun was worried, Zhuge Liang also faced many people's doubts. They couldn't figure out that Zhuge Liang Weishenme didn't rush to Chen Cang immediately, their strength was twice that of Cao Zhi, and they had the strength to kill Cao Zhi and get rid of this trouble, instead of letting Chen Cang be under Cao Zhi's threat. Once Chen Cang is lost, the consequences may be even more serious than the consequences of Ma Dai's defeat.

Zhuge Liang was indifferent to this, he worked late into the night every day, sometimes even up all night. Scouts are like butterflies wearing flowers, haunting the camp day and night, they are like silks, woven into a big web, and Zhuge Liang is the spider entrenched in the middle of the web, quietly waiting for the prey to surf the net.

Guan Xing couldn't help it, he took the initiative to ask to see Zhuge Liang and asked to lead troops to support Chen Cang. Unexpectedly, before he could speak, Zhuge Liang raised his head from the case, with a tired and haggard face, but a pair of eyes were scorching.

"Dingguo, you came just in time, I was about to send someone to find you."

"Looking for me?" Guan Xing was stunned for a moment, and then felt a chill in his back: "The prime minister has a task for me?" ”

"Yes." Zhuge Liang smiled and nodded: "There is a very important and very dangerous mission, I think it is difficult for the country to win." ”

"Prime Minister......" Guan Xing was confused, and subconsciously thought that Zhuge Liang was making fun of him. When did Cheng pay so much attention to me? Yes, the prime minister praised him before, but that was just lip service, for so many years, Zhuge Liang didn't treat him as a cronie. In Xiangyang, after he and Wei Ba became friends, Cheng became even more estranged from him, Guan Feng led his troops out of Chengdu and secretly helped Wei Ba take Wuling, which was more tantamount to breaking with the prime minister, and the layer of cloth between the Guan family and Zhuge Liang had been completely torn.

It is precisely because of this that Guan Xing does not have too many complaints about the situation in front of him, which is normal, but the prime minister's performance today is a little abnormal.

Feeling Guan Xing's suspicion, Zhuge Liang handed over a military report. Guan Xing took it in his hand, and he couldn't believe it even more. Will Zhuge Liang show him such an important military report? This has never happened before. This kind of treatment used to be only available to Ma Yan, but now only Jiang Wei can enjoy it, and when people like him know such news, most of them have already been zuihou.

"Hurry up, I still need your advice." Zhuge Liang responded to Guan Xing's surprise with a tolerant smile and gently urged

(To be continued......)