At the beginning of November, Deng Ai led more than 10,000 foot soldiers to escort grain and grass down the Yangtze River, through Zhongshui, and transferred to Pengcheng.

Upon hearing the news of the arrival of grain and grass, Lu Xun sent Wei Feng to lead 5,000 cavalry to escort the whole process for safety.

When Deng Ai and the others entered the border of Xiapi County, Xiahouba also got the news and was very disappointed. The two sides confronted each other, he and Lu Xun were at a stalemate in the area of Qiaoxian, Wei Ba and Zhang He were fighting near Pengcheng, and no one could help anyone. Now that Wei Ba has reinforcements and grain and grass, the situation is very unfavorable to the Wei army.

Whether it is Zhang He, Sima Yi, Wei Ba, or Lu Xun, this time the two sides sent the strongest lineup, and no one has any obvious advantage, and it is not surprising that the battle situation has entered a stalemate. However, Xiahouba knows very well that today's Wei State is no longer the Wei State of the past, half of the country has been lost, and the country is weak and the people are poor, and its strength has been greatly weakened. The entire battle array is maintained by Qingzhou and Jizhou, and it is already in an embarrassing state.

Wei Ba could spread the grain supply to the south of the Yangtze River, but Wei could no longer find more sources of supply. If the battle cannot be resolved in the short term and a decisive advantage is obtained, the Wei state will be defeated.

If the opponent is replaced, Xiahou Ba will use cavalry to raid the opponent's supply line. Long-distance running is the tactic that cavalry is best at. Cutting off the opponent's supply lines can not only hit the opponent but also take food from the enemy, which is a good thing to kill two birds with one stone. Whenever the battle is deadlocked, both sides will consider this tactic.

Judging from the number of cavalry, Xiahou Ba obviously has more advantages.

But he didn't dare, because his opponent was Lu Xun.

They fought fiercely in the county for more than half a month. Judging from the situation, Xiahouba and others have been attacking, and Lu Xun has been defending, but Xiahouba knows that he has not taken any advantage. It's too difficult to find Lu Xun's flaws. Compared with the offensive on the surface, Xiahouba and the others were actually very careful, for fear that Lu Xun would find a flaw and be caught off guard.

It is not so much that Lu Xun's army makes Xiahou Ba jealous, but that Lu Xun is a person who makes Xiahou Ba jealous.

Xiahou Ba could only watch this opportunity slip away from him. pinned his hopes on Zhang He to block Wei Ba. Trapped in Pengcheng. In fact, he himself knew very well that with Zhang He's troops, this task was already difficult to complete. He just hoped that Zhang He, a veteran, would be able to create a miracle. Peng Cheng is so important. Can't let him be controlled by Wei Ba.

Xiahou Ba really wanted to rush to Pengcheng. At least a part of the people rushed to Pengcheng to support Zhang He, but he couldn't. Compared with Pengcheng, the strategic position of Qian County is not important. Political status is very important. He could not leave easily, and could only confront Lu Xun here until the emperor's edict or the general's military order arrived.

……

Deng Ai and Wei Feng walked into the Chinese army camp quickly, and as soon as the tent door was lifted, Wei Ba walked out of it, clapped his hands and smiled: "The two brothers came together, and they are not welcome, please bear with me." ”

Although Deng Ai is Wei Ba's distant cousin, he never dares to call himself a cousin in front of Wei Ba. Hearing Wei Ba's words, he subconsciously took a step back and let Wei Feng walk in front.

Wei Feng laughed, grabbed Wei Ba's shoulders, lowered his voice and said, "Ziyu, your sister-in-law asked me to bring you a message, your move is indeed too high." Now the iron work has sufficient funds, the progress has been greatly accelerated, and it is estimated that the production time can be advanced by half a year. ”

"That's a good thing." Wei Ba smiled evilly: "It's my sister-in-law who is planning properly, and her ability to make money is three points stronger than Yuanrong." ”

"Where, where." Wei Feng said a few words of humility with a smug face, and he couldn't close his mouth with joy.

Everyone thought that the Wei family had developed a new jishu for horse armor, and they were waiting for the order to start production. In fact, Weijia Tiezuo only developed a new alloy jishu and completed trial production, which is still a long way from real mass production, and the development funds required are even more amazing. Without the deposit of several large orders, it is impossible to officially put into production in a short time.

So Wei Ba came up with a way, he showed the horse armor in Liaodong, played a majestic style, and tried his best to exaggerate the power of the new horse armor, forcing all parties to avoid being at a disadvantage, so they could only buy horse armor from Wei Jia Tiezuo, and they didn't even see a piece of armor, so they paid a huge deposit first. They didn't know at all that it was these deposits that supported the production of the Wei family's iron works, and without these deposits, it would be impossible for the new horse armor to equip the whole army on a large scale.

The reason why there is such a misunderstanding is because they don't understand the Jishu development model of Wei Jia Tiezuo at all, they don't know the difference between shiyan sexual production and mass production, and of course they can't imagine that Wei Ba would use such a shameless trick to empty the white wolf.

From beginning to end, the only people who really knew the inside story were Wei Ba and Wei Feng and his wife, and even Wei Yan didn't know. He has been complaining that Mrs. Xi does not give priority to equipping his cavalry, if his cavalry is all equipped with horse armor, where will Xiahou Ba be arrogant.

Only Wei Feng understands that if Wei Ba can do this, he will definitely not be stingy with these ten thousand sets of horse armor. The problem is that Wei Jia Tiezuo can't take out so many horse armors now, so how can he equip him.

The brothers knew each other, and Deng Ai sat quietly on the side. Wei Ba and Wei Feng said a few words of homely things, turned to Deng Ai and said, "Brother Shizai, how is the situation in Jiangnan?" ”

Deng Ai bowed, took out a book and handed it to Wei Ba. This is written by Changsha Taishou Zhang Table to Wei Ba, and the main content is to report on the harvest in Changsha this year.

Changsha is the most populous of the four counties in the south of the Yangtze River. If you don't count the foreign hukou attracted by Wei Ba after he took control of Jiangnan, but calculate the population of the last year of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the population of one county in Changsha is equivalent to the population of the other three counties combined. Even now, Changsha County is still the most populous of the four counties in the south of the Yangtze River, half more than Lingling, which ranks second. Changsha County was included in Wei Ba's rule, which played a pivotal role in the growth of Wei Ba's strength.

Zhang Biao understands this very well, so he is well aware of the heavy responsibility on his shoulders. Wei Ba asked him to be Changsha Taishou, not because his article was done well, but because he hoped that he could pick up this important task. And Zhang Biao himself also hopes to use this opportunity to revive the Guanghan Zhang family and correct his father Zhang Song's name.

Zhang Song is one of Liu Bei's heroes in Shu, but because Zhang Song was killed by Liu Zhang before Liu Bei succeeded, Liu Bei himself died a few years later, so the position of the Guanghan Zhang family in the Shu Han court was a little embarrassing. They were ostracized by the people of Yizhou and the people of Dongzhou, but they were not accepted by the Jingxiang lineage. If it weren't for that, Zhang Biao would not have decided to vote for Wei Ba in the first place.

Now that Wei Ba has given him a chance, of course he has to perform well. Every August, after the autumn harvest, it is the time for the counties to count the population, money, grain, and taxes, and before the end of the year, each county should send a planner to the capital to report the harvest to the prime minister's office. Wei Ba, as the military governor in charge of the counties in the south of the Yangtze River, of course he also had to receive a report, but this report was usually not so fast, and he could not see it until the end of the year. Zhang Biao asked Deng Ai to bring the report to Wei Ba in advance, and also took advantage of Deng Ai.

Wei Ba roughly swept a few numbers and was very satisfied. "Boda's ability is enough to be a qualified taishou, how is his official reputation?"

"It's fine." Deng Ai said two words briefly, and directly brought the topic to the war. "General, there are four ...... Pengcheng besieged Four months, right? ”

Wei Ba couldn't cry or laugh, his heart said that this thing was really a person who didn't understand human feelings, no wonder Zuihou would be killed by Zhong Hui's baby. He asked rhetorically, "What good advice does Brother Shizai have?" ”

Deng Ai said without thinking: "The general is teasing in Pengcheng...... stay, can't give full play to the strengths of the sailor, after all, it won't ...... Such as safety at sea. Tens of thousands of troops confronted each other, and the cavalry of the Wei army had the upper hand, once they found an opportunity to break through...... attack, it is likely to be overthrown...... Defeat. The soldier is expensive, not expensive for a long time, in Ai's opinion, it is better to break Zhang He's wall as soon as possible...... It is better to send grain, grass and ordnance to Pengcheng. ”

Wei Ba smiled: "Who does Brother Nashi Zai think can take on this important task?" ”

Deng Ai stood up and arched his hand: "What the general leads...... The sailors, led by General Dangkou, are cavalry, and they are not good at foot ...... Foot fighting, or by ...... I'll be the striker. ”

"I know you're not at ease." Wei Feng jumped up and scolded with a smile: "You don't want to rest all the way, you are just panicking in Changsha, and you want to have a good time in Pengcheng." ”

Deng Ai smiled awkwardly and explained, "I really don't ...... Not that means, well, I do...... It's kind of interesting, but it's a quick battle...... Hurry up to avoid long nights...... Many, this is indeed a soldier...... The art of war is important. ”

Wei Feng was about to say, Wei Ba waved his hand and motioned for them to sit down. "What Shi Zai said is very true, it is most appropriate for you to be the striker. Zirou, you lead the cavalry to cover the flanks. ”

"Whoa." Wei Feng put away his smile and responded seriously.

"Shizai, you have worked hard from afar, rest for two days, and then fight." Wei Ba pointed at Deng Ai: "Zhang He is a famous veteran, experienced, and unflawed, you have to be careful." ”

"Whoa." Deng Ai bowed down to receive the order.

……

Under Peng City, in the camp of the Wei army, Zhang He paced back and forth in the tent with his hands behind his back. Zhang Xiong and Tian Fu knelt in front of him, their faces gloomy.

They had just received news from Tian Yu that Wang Ling was still stationed in Lu County and refused to go south to support. However, Wei Ba's reinforcements had already arrived in Pengcheng, with a strength of more than 23,000 troops, nearly 10,000 more than them.

Their advantage is only that they have a little more cavalry, but considering that Wei Ba's cavalry may be equipped with horse armor with strong defensive capabilities, the advantage in the number of cavalry is likely to be offset, and Wei Ba attacked, they defended, and the advantage of cavalry could not be fully utilized, and they were greatly discounted, and they were already at a disadvantage.

If Wei Ba started to attack now, break their siege, and send grain, grass and ordnance into Pengcheng, their hard work in the past few months would have been in vain.

"Order Xiahouba, let him move closer to me and set up camp in Xiaoshan." Zhang He was silent for a long time, and resolutely ordered: "Jinjiang, write to your father again, let Wang Ling stay in Lu County, and ask him to go south to support our army and take Pengcheng together." ”

Zhang Xiong reminded: "General, Xiahou Ba wants to protect the capital. ”

"Luoyang can't hold it, and what else can it do." Zhang He waved his hand: "Only by recapturing Pengcheng can it be possible to hold the capital, if Pengcheng is lost, my Great Wei will probably only have Yecheng to defend." ”…… (To be continued......)