As soon as Buqi arrived at Elk Island, he received two pieces of good news. First, Quan Cong was ordered by Sun Quan to lead 10,000 elite Wu troops to come to reinforcements; The second is that Wei Ba personally led a large army into Fenggao, confronted Xiahou Ba, and already protected his flank.

Now, everything is ready, just wait for him to drive straight in and attack Linzi with Sun Shao.

Bu Qi was very satisfied, and with the 10,000 people brought by Quan Cong, he already had an army of 25,000, and in terms of strength alone, he was already an irreproachable general. Coupled with the kindness shown by Wei Ba, after this battle, he will become a general by Wei Ba's side and become Sun Quan's spokesperson.

Of course, he knew that Wei Ba would not let Sun Ce and his family dominate, and he hoped that the strength of the Sun family would be in the hands of more people, so that it would be safe for him and easy to control. And he is now in the role, which is exactly what Wei Ba wants to see. Otherwise, he would not have been so high-profile and personally covered the flanks for him.

Bu Qi did not dare to slack off, and after urgently discussing with Elfang, without waiting for Quan Cong to arrive, he first led the army to land, passed through Donghai County, and rushed all the way to Linzi.

The news of Bu Qi's entry into the battlefield was delivered to Xiahou Ba as quickly as possible, and the direction of his attack made Xiahou Ba feel even more desperate. Buqi did not advance northward according to the common strategy of the Wu army, but directly skipped Xuzhou and Huaiyin by sea, and entered the battlefield from Donghai County, which made the insistence of Xiahouwei and others in Pengcheng meaningless.

Xiahou Ba knew that he was invincible, but he still attacked Wei Ba head-on, hoping to break through his interception and have a chance to face Bu Qi. Relieve Wang Ling's worries.

The two sides engaged around Tarzan.

As soon as the war began, Xiahouba fell into a comprehensive passive dilemma.

Xiahou Ba is attacking, Wei Ba is defending, relying on the favorable terrain of the Taishan area, Xiahou Ba attacked very hard, and Wei Ba defended very easily.

Xiahou Ba's soldiers were good at fighting, but Wei Ba's soldiers were even better at fighting, especially in mountain warfare. Most of Wei Ba's footmen came from the mountainous areas of Jingzhou and Jiaozhou, and they were too familiar with mountain warfare. Compared with. Xiahouba's subordinates were far less proficient in mountain warfare than them.

Xiahou Ba gathered the most powerful armaments of the Wei State. Because of this, he was the most powerful legion in the Wei army. But in front of Wei Ba, his advantages could not be shown at all, whether it was a ballista or a thunderbolt. Or some other ordnance. He has a big gap with Wei Ba.

As for the cavalry. This was originally Xiahou Ba's most powerful weapon, but now, he had to admit it. Wei Ba's cavalry, both in quantity and quality, has far surpassed him.

The last item, logistics supply, military salary, money and food, Xiahou Ba can't look at Wei Ba's back, and the two sides are not on the same level at all.

Xiahou Ba attacked fiercely for more than ten days, paying the price of two or three thousand people, but he could not shake Wei Ba's position in the slightest.

In these more than ten days, Bu Qi led the army day and night, defeated the sporadic resistance of the Wei army along the way, and finally appeared in the south of Linzi City, after several battles, pulled out Wang Ling's acropolis outside the city, blocking Wang Ling's retreat.

At this point, the encirclement of Linzi by the Shu Han army was completed, but Xiahou Ba was blocked by Wei Ba in Fenggao, and it was difficult to move an inch.

……

Wang Ling stood on the city wall, looking at the continuous military camps outside the city, looking at the thunderbolts and ballistas that were being erected, and his heart felt chills. Xiahou Ba can't count on it, he can only rely on himself. But he knew very well that he couldn't stop Wei Ba with his own strength alone.

There were more than 10,000 people in the city, and the troops were sufficient, but without reinforcements, the city could not be defended after all. And Wei State now has no strength to support him, except for Xiahou Ba. What's more, he also knew that even if he put a lot of effort into checking the people in the city, he might not be able to eliminate all the details. Wei Ba is a businessman, not only businessmen from the south, but also local businessmen, who may have become Wei Ba's eyes and ears.

Everything in Linzi City may be transparent to Wei Ba. But he didn't know how much strength Wei Ba had.

"Boyu, the situation has come to this, what can I do?"

Don't drive Wang Ji's expression is gloomy, the matter has come to this, and he has no power to return to the sky. As Wang Ling's right-hand man, as the actual person in charge of Qingzhou's government affairs, he knew that the people of Qingzhou wanted to do so, that the general trend of Wei was gone, and that any struggle would be in vain. However, he couldn't say these words to Wang Ling, he could only accept his fate, Wang Ling had the grace of appreciating him, and he should repay Wang Ling for life and death.

A guard walked over quickly: "My lord, a messenger is coming." ”

"Emissary?" Wang Ling and Wang Ji glanced at each other: "Whose messenger?" ”

"Empress Dowager Guo's envoy, however, he now represents Wei Ba."

Wang Ling is angry, what kind of mess is this, how can Empress Dowager Guo's envoy represent Wei Ba?

The guards were also a little speechless, and Wang Ling had to go down the city and meet the messenger.

This messenger is none other than Guo Xiu.

The first thing Guo Xiu said when he saw Wang Ling was: "Messenger, you shouldn't guard Linzi." ”

Wang Ling was silent. Guo Xiu is the messenger of the Empress Dowager Guo, and his opinion is the opinion of the Empress Dowager Guo. Long before Wei Ba landed, he received rumors that Empress Dowager Guo had reached an agreement with Wei Ba to cede Qingxu to Wei Ba in exchange for Wei Ba agreeing to Wei as much fief as possible when Wei Ba agreed to be a vassal of Wei. Now that he heard Guo Xiu say this, he knew that it was not a rumor, it was the truth.

He was a little weak, a little angry, and involuntarily shouted: "I eat Junlu, and naturally it is my responsibility to defend the land." Since the imperial court has not canceled my position as the assassin of Qingzhou, how can I leave without a fight? ”

Guo Xiu shook his head: "The general is loyal, I naturally admire it." However, if the general does this, not only will he not be able to hold Qingzhou, but he will bury more than 10,000 soldiers here. The general should know that my Great Wei doesn't have much strength anymore and can't afford such a loss. ”

Wang Ling wanted to speak and stopped.

Guo Xiu continued: "Our army is under-manned, the battle line is too long, and it is no longer able to defend. The meaning of the imperial court is to give up Qingxu and shrink the defense line, so that it may have the strength to fight. The general has been through a hundred battles, so he won't even understand this truth, right? ”

Wang Ling sighed: "So, I have harmed the country?" ”

Guo Xiu nodded: "The number of bases around Linzi has been lost, and you can be regarded as doing your best for the country, so don't insist anymore." Let's save a piece of vitality for the country. I can make a statement to the court to explain your good intentions and ensure that you will not be punished. ”

"Will I ever make it out alive?" Wang Ling said sarcastically.

"Yes." Guo Xiu nodded again: "I got Wei Ba's permission before I came into the city to make this matter clear to you." Abandon Qingzhou and you can take your men, including their weapons. He has only one condition, you can't appear in Shandong again. ”

Wang Ling raised his eyebrows: "Then where am I going?" ”

"This ...... It is up to the imperial court to decide. Guo Xiu hesitated: "Maybe it's Hedong, maybe it's Bingzhou, or maybe it's Youzhou." ”

Wang Ling couldn't help but laugh. He understood what Guo Xiu meant. Empress Dowager Guo had long wanted to give up Qingxu, so she didn't want him to stick to it at all, because this would only bury the limited number of troops inside. And Wei Ba is willing to let him go, it is not a good intention, he wants to reserve a point of vitality for Wei State, hoping that they can block Zhuge Liang on the Western Front.

Li Yan was defeated, the Western Front was Zhuge Liang's, and the contradiction between Zhuge Liang and Wei Ba was not weaker than the contradiction between Han and Wei. Send his army to Bingzhou to fight Zhuge Liang, he can get Linzi without firing a stone, why not?

At the end of the day, it's just a deal, and he's just an insignificant pawn. What's the point of struggling?

"Good calculation, good calculation!" Wang Ling laughed twice and waved his hand: "Guo Jun can go, you tell Wei Ba that I am willing to accept the will of the imperial court, withdraw from Linzi, and withdraw from Qingzhou." ”

Guo Xiu bowed and turned to leave. He didn't go to see Wei Ba, who was far away in Fenggao, but came directly to Sun Shao's camp. Wei Ba's confidant Yu Yan has arrived here to preside over the surrender of Qingzhou.

Three days later, Sun Shao and Bu Qi set up a posture and feinted to attack Linzi, Wang Ling resisted a little, opened the door to break through, and led more than 10,000 Wei troops to ride together with Tian Yu, and left Linzi in a hurry. After Sun Shao and Bu Qi discussed, Bu Qi entered the city to defend it, leaving 5,000 foot soldiers, and the rest were handed over to Sun Shao, who "pursued" and monitored Wang Ling's departure.

Linzi changed hands, and the news quickly reached Xiahouba's hands. Xiahou Ba wanted to cry without tears, so he had to order a retreat.

At the end of the year, Xiahou Ba and Wang Ling withdrew from Qingxu, and Wei Ba completed the task without much effort. He immediately reported to Chang'an as quickly as possible, and at the same time recommended Yang Wei to serve as the assassin of Xuzhou and lead the history of Qingzhou assassination.

At the same time that Wei Ba reported his victory to the Chang'an court, Xiahou Ba and Wang Ling respectively pleaded guilty to the Luoyang court. Everyone knows this matter, naturally there is no crime to say, the Son of Heaven issued an edict, Xiahou Ba returned to Suiyang, and Wang Ling withdrew across the Yellow River and entered Jizhou. After a short rest in Jizhou, he rushed to Hedong and defended the western offensive of Shu Han with the general Sima Yi.

News from all sides was sent to Chang'an one after another, and Chang'an was in an uproar. Opinions were quickly divided into two factions, one faction believed that the chariot general Wei Ba had great military achievements, and he captured Qingxu in just over three months, which was really a blessing for the country, and the court should be rewarded for his merits. The other faction thinks that Wei Ba's battle of Qingxu is too abnormal and is suspected of collaborating with the enemy, and when someone is sent to investigate thoroughly, at least Wei Ba should be transferred back to Beijing to report on his work and explain the matter clearly.

The two factions fought so hard that they almost tore their faces and were full of old fists. None of them could convince anyone, so they could only take turns to admonish the Son of Heaven, and the long and exhaustive debate made the Son of Heaven Liu Chan dizzy and restless. Liu Chan had no choice but to visit the Prime Minister's Mansion in person and ask the seriously ill Prime Minister for advice.

Zhuge Liang didn't say too much nonsense, only one opinion: to crown Wei Ba as the king to reward his merits; He was ordered to return to Beijing to report on his work, and was questioned by hundreds of officials at the court meeting, explaining clearly the war in Qingxu and Xuzhou, so as to set the record straight.

Liu Chan was stunned for a long time, and said suspiciously: "Father, will Wei Ba come?" ”

"If you don't come, it's not a blessing to the country." Zhuge Liang sat up, his eyes blazing: "The ministers should get rid of this trouble for His Majesty." ”

(To be continued......)