Liu Bei and Li Su made their final preparations before the expedition in Mianyang. While busy with the controversy, they turned their attention back to the northern line to see what arrangements were made for the Shangyuan Festival in the first year of Xingping and the Chang'an court.

After all, it was two and a half months since early November that Li Jue personally attacked Fazheng's Wuzhangyuan camp. After finding that he could not get any benefits, he retreated.

These two and a half months are the key nodes for subtle changes in the relationship between various forces in the Chang'an court. The results of the Mahan counterattack last year will be concluded by the emperor and the three dukes at the end of the year, and will determine whether it is the promotion or the reprimand. Their mobilization will also affect the final distribution of troops of the defensive party before Liu Bei's attack.

On the day of the Shangyuan Festival, Li Jue, Guo Si and Jia Xu were all staying in Chang'an City. Even Zhang Ji temporarily handed over the defense work of Youfufeng to his deputy, and took a few days to go to Chang'an to pay homage to the emperor and attend the Shangyuan Festival ceremony.

Li Jue was not really a military merit this year last year. If Fa Zheng hadn't come out of Wuzhangyuan and stole him.

Then with Li Jue's cunning threat, although he sent troops late, he would definitely get the opportunity to pick peaches on other battlefields, so that he would at least be comparable to Guo Si in terms of final military achievements.

As a result, at the Shangyuan Festival ceremony, the emperor summed up the achievements of all the auxiliary ministers last year. There was nothing to be able to gild Li Jue, which made him slightly depressed. Many flattering ministers in Chang'an City liked to change their minds. On the Shangyuan Festival, they went to Guo Si's mansion to send gifts and greetings, which made Li Jue feel very unhappy, but it was not easy to get angry.

Guo Si annihilated more than half of Ma Chao's main force in Huating battlefield and still suppressed Han Sui to fight, which was of course the biggest winner last year.

Although he was in Chang'an, his generals such as Wu Xi were still besieging Ji County with his army, and he might be able to kill Han Sui's head within a few months. Liu Xie praised Guo Si heavily for this, promoted him from the right general to the General of Cavalry, and officially joined Li Jue, who was the General of the Chariot.

(Note: In history, Li Jue should have added Sima's rank at this time, but he has not yet added it)

However, no one can blame Guo Si for his promotion, because he severely damaged Han Sui and was even expected to eliminate Han Sui. Judging from the court at the end of the Han Dynasty, it was indeed an amazing achievement. The Qiang Rebellion in Liangzhou caused by Han Sui has been ten years. Huangfu Song once became the general of the chariot and cavalry, and Dong Zhuo did not kill Han Sui when he was the general.

If Han Suizhen died in the end at Guo Si, it would be like Guo Si completed an unfinished achievement that Huangfu Song and Dong Zhuo had, then there would be an excuse for him to get the high positions that Huangfu Song and Dong Zhuo had obtained.

Of course, all this is just a hypothesis. Han Sui, a ten-year-old thief, has its own reason. He lost so badly in history, but he lost so badly once or twice. Huangfu Song and Dong Zhuo had annihilated Han Sui's army in tens of thousands of people, but unfortunately Han Sui himself could break through and run away in the end. Maybe Guo Si was not lucky enough, and even if he conquered Ji County, he would break through and escape by Han Sui himself.

In the end, due to various coincidences, Chang'an in the first year of Xingping formed a pattern of "five prefectures".

Fan Chou died early and there were no "six palaces". Li Jue and Guo Si were added to the three public palaces. Zhang Ji also made military achievements last year and was promoted from the general of the four towns to the latter general, but his qualifications to leave the palace were still a little short of his qualifications.

As for Duan Wei, who opened high and left low, he still led 40,000 people to guard Huayin and Hongnong, blocking Wu Han's words without caring about the world, working hard on farming, and confronting Henan Yin Zhu Jun.

Last year, Duan Wei still had no military achievements. Seeing that he was a general of the Central Army, who was still a lieutenant climbing into the car, and Duan Wei was promoted from General of the Central Army to General of the Pingdong, he was neither jealous nor joined the court struggle.

Under the four generals of the Han system, there are four expeditions, four towns, four An and four Ping, so the General Pingdong is only slightly higher than other miscellaneous generals in the lower class that do not have southeast, west and north. In other words, Duan Wei's current official positions are only slightly higher than those of General Zhang Fei, the General Fu Bo, Zhao Yun, and the General Guan Yu, and they are not competing for this. They are also considered a person who enjoys poverty and enjoys the way.

...

After the Shangyuan Festival ceremony, Li Jue held a banquet at the General's Mansion of Cheqi and Cavalry on the next day to invite Guo Si, Jia Xu and Zhang Ji to discuss the defense deployment for the new year. He also wanted to take the opportunity to make some changes to the defense.

In Li Jue's mind, of course, he also had the consideration of weakening political enemies and strengthening centralization, but it was more for the external strength of the entire camp.

After Guo Si was on par with him, the courtesy of attending the banquet became more and more carefree, so he sat down and started drinking and shouted loudly. However, Guo Si was not bad-hearted, just a rough man, and he didn't think that there were too many detailed policies in the cable power, so he couldn't even take care of it if he didn't understand.

There were several officers in Li Jue's mansion who were following Guo Si, who were a little rude to Guo Si and dared not speak out. They thought he was a villain, but they were all stopped by Li Jue with his eyes.

What's more, because of a small butterfly effect, Li Jue's confidant Hu Feng, was killed by Xu Huang in Wuzhangyuan because of his orders. Therefore, Li Jue currently lacks a person with high martial arts skills and confidentiality enough to direct the swordsman to cause trouble at the banquet.

Others under Li Jue may also be loyal enough, such as his nephew Li Bei. But Li Bie's martial arts are far inferior to those of Guo Si and Fan Chou. Even if the other party is drunk, he may not be able to do it. If he makes a fuss at a banquet, he may be able to kill Li Jue. Therefore, you must not have any thoughts about things that are not sure about.

After Guo Si was a little happy, Li Jue discussed the important matter in front of him, Zhang Ji and Jia Xu:

"Adu, Wenhe, in my opinion, in the new year, the trend of Liu Bei's northern expedition is becoming more and more serious than last year. They laid a nail in Wuzhangyuan, the capital was very dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and they could only surround and not attack. How should our army adjust its defensive forces? Should we immediately strengthen the defense forces of Ji County and Chencang?

In my opinion, the pursuit of Han Sui and Ma Teng is not so important. Their main forces have been wiped out too much, and the remaining troops have traveled far northwest, and the pursuit of thousands of miles is too expensive. Moreover, if they just want to survive, flee to the Western Regions and even hide their names, how can they catch up? How can they kill them all?"

This is not wrong. Although at least half of Li Jie's original intention was to tie up the hands and feet of his colleagues and prevent them from making more contributions than themselves, in the end, he also made a mistake and successfully attracted hatred by inciting the "Liu Bei threat theory".

A bit like the intellectually retarded experts from some think tanks in the United States in later generations, who became Brzezinsky and others, who played the "XX threat theory/XX collapse theory" without thinking. Although when they were yelling, they were gambled with their worthless academic reputation ALL-in, which made no sense in theory. But as long as the bet was right, the reputation would immediately rise.

If you win, you will be hit, but the process is blindly confused.

But in Guo Si's ears, he felt that Li Jue was hindering his meritorious service—

In the past winter, because the cold weather was not conducive to siege, the battlefield in Ji County was basically surrounded but not attacked. Finally, the weather was getting warmer, and the food and supplies in the city were also exhausted by the siege that lasted for more than three months. Now it was time to give the last blow, how could Li Jue’s people pick peaches?

Guo Si was drunk and spoke loudly, and immediately shouted: "When will Liu Bei cause trouble? Han Sui's destruction is right in front of him! You can't lose the big because of small things, and lose the near because of distance! That's the elderly thief who neither Huangfu Cheqi nor Taishi could kill back then.

Zhiran, you must beware of Liu Bei, I agree. Your troops are enough. My people will continue to attack Han Sui when the snow melts. It won’t take long to offer his head. If Liu Bei really dares to do anything, I will also divide his troops to help you at any time."

Li Jue was a little angry, but said calmly: "How can you be careful about Liu Bei's sake? This is also for everyone and for the court! Of course, everyone should do their best.

Zhang Ji, tell me, your little ones are going to be guarded by Chencang and Mei County. Maybe there will be Huaili in the future. Can you be prepared for it? And Lantian Wuguan Dao defends Yuan Shu, my direct troops have been on the defense in the past two years, and I have already undertaken part of the assistance."

Li Jue's second half of the sentence was turned to Zhang Ji, and he was just doing things fairly, not for his own consideration. Zhang Ji was originally a captain under Lu Bu. During the Dong Zhuo period, Lu Bu defended Lantian and Wuguan. After Zhang Ji went to Chen Cang, Li Jue did make more and more efforts in defending Wuguan Road.

Of course, Guo Si couldn't help but argue a few more words, just like "Although the truth is this, you don't say it sooner or later, and you're going to break up and talk about it. It's obvious that you want to grab the credit for it." The wording is not so straightforward, and you have to save face for each other, but everyone knows what the other person means in their hearts.

When he was about to come, Guo Si knew that he had a little naked rebuttal, and Zhang Ji seemed to be standing on Li Jue's side. Guo Si was anxious to help him: "Wenhe! You can judge this matter. Should I start and end well in the last battle against Han Sui? Moreover, Liu Bei's Northern Expedition came last year, did he come last year? I don't have to hurry up after I finish the battle, how could I come just by saying that?"

Jia Xu sighed lightly, and he also knew that if he didn't sell his face in this situation, Li Guo and others took a step back and tolerated, the court might have a chaos. The generals of chariots, cavalry, and cavalry, each opened their own governments, which was not a stable power structure.

Jia Xu had to try his best to be a peacemaker as fair as possible. He thought about it carefully and advised Li Jue first: "Zhiran, what Adu said makes sense, what you said makes sense. Liu Bei had to be careful, and Han Sui had to kill. He should not use killing Han Sui as an excuse to not work hard to prevent Liu Bei, nor can he prevent Liu Bei from stopping the arrow on the string.

But there should be a deadline for killing Han Sui. If the expiration is not successful, it is suspected that the enemy will respect himself. I think you might as well negotiate a deadline. If the deadline is less than that, if you don’t let Adu make achievements, it means you are jealous of the virtuous and capable. When the deadline is reached, he fails to make achievements, and he will delay his respect and take a step back. What do you think?"

Jia Xu said very well, and he really did not favor one or the other. Li Jue and Guo Si were used to listening to him and couldn't help but nod.

Li Jue said: "How long should it take?"

Jia Xu calculated: "It was too early for him to share Chencang and Mei County's defense. The Qinling Mountains' snow had not melted, and Liu Bei could not defeat it at all. Aduo said that it was a bit too late to return to defense before the autumn harvest. Although Liu Bei sent people to harass him during the autumn harvest last year, it was just to rob the grain and hoard it at the front line, not a full-scale attack.

This year he has a portion of the food stored in Dige, and the possibility of a full-scale attack cannot be said to be lacking. Taking the food stored in Dige last year, the consumption of four or five thousand soldiers in one winter and spring is reduced, I think if Liu Bei sent troops with 100,000 troops, the food would be enough for half a month. If he only sent troops with 50,000 troops, he could eat for one and a half months.

So, we have a little insurance. I think I can leave some allowance. According to the slack season in summer, the limit is two months away from the autumn harvest. This is the high-risk period when Liu Bei left the north. In addition, I found out that Liu Bei's army used unripe green wheat to replenish the military. Two years ago, Dong Yue and Fan Chou entered Chencang Road to attack Yangping Pass. The wheat fields along the way were also harvested in advance before the autumn harvest season, so we had to add another month..."

Guo Si was a little unhappy, afraid that Jia Xu would calculate the amount of miscellaneous insurance in advance, so he didn't have much time, so he interrupted: "Wenhe will tell you a number, I'll just agree!"

Jia Xu looked at Li Jue's face. Seeing that Li Jue did not look unchanged, he said, "We calculate the autumn harvest in Guanzhong in July. Liu Bei's palace can eat grain stored in Liu Bei and the grain with the army for two months, and the mill can be cut one month in advance. A total of three months will be deducted. We will limit it to April.

If Adu can conquer Han Sui in April, the achievements of destroying Han will naturally be yours, and then return to the army to help defend Liu Bei. If you still can't conquer by the end of April, then you will be temporarily suspended and put Liu Bei first. At that time, you and Zhang Ji will be responsible for Chen Cang and a defense in Ji County.

You should help defend Jieting again so that Han Sui's remaining troops will not rekindle. If Liu Bei joins forces with Liu Bei to make trouble after Liu Bei comes, Zhang Ji will help defend another Huaili - Aduo, what do you think?"

Guo Si thought about it and he had three months left, and it was three months from spring to early summer. It should be no problem to take Han Sui. At worst, he would have to spend his life to attack the city. Ji County is not a very strong city, it is just a county governor of a remote county like Tianshui County. At present, it cannot be captured because Han Sui had fled back with more troops and guards of tens of thousands, not because the city was solid.

It doesn’t matter how much the enemy is. Just exchange your lives for each other. As long as you break through, most people in the city will no longer have the will to resist. At least 20,000 to 30,000 prisoners will be left. As long as 20,000 to 30,000 prisoners are incorporated into their own troops, they are all old thieves. Isn’t their military power bigger than Li Jue?

Guo Si pretended to make a bold decision: "Okay! I keep my promise. After saying that, I will listen to Wenhe. If I can't conquer at the end of April, I will be responsible for helping Chen Cang. What? Zhiran, please give me a message!"

Li Jue had a gloomy face, brewed a gentle expression, and said with a smile: "Okay, it's up to April. If you haven't captured it yet, I'll send Li Bei, and Li Ying will help you."

Li was Li Jue's nephew. In history, he followed Fan Chou to beat Han Sui. After returning, he complained to Li Jue that Fan Chou and Han Sui Pan had a friendship with his fellow villagers, so he did not kill Han Sui. This led to Li Jue setting up a plan to get rid of Fan Chou at the banquet.

As for Li Ying, Li Jue's cousin, now he is appointed as a military lieutenant, and is considered a new group of "Eight Criminals in Xiyuan" (after Dong Zhuo seized power, he did not abolish the official positions of "Eight Criminals in Xiyuan", but later he continued to change new people to serve these positions)

The reason why Li Jue agreed was obviously because Jia Xu's calculations were very reasonable and well-founded. According to the methods they knew about Liu Bei's Northern Expedition to raise grain, Liu Bei did have to go to the Northern Expedition after April to ensure that there was no shortage of food.

If the northern expedition was really in February and March, firstly, it was too far from the autumn harvest, and secondly, what if the farmers in Guanzhong were about to plow spring, they encountered war and disrupted their production plans and fled without spring plowing? Then Liu Bei would be stunned. Even if he could not receive the autumn grain of the year until autumn, he would definitely be wiped out.

Li Jie can only agree with conditions.

When Guo Si heard this, he said, "Good guy, he didn't act anymore." He said that as soon as the deadline came, he would ask his cousin and nephew to come to compete for the credit. The food scene was really ugly.

But it doesn't matter, he is confident that he can kill Han Sui by the end of April!

"Okay! Then it's a matter of a matter of determination! Let's go!" Guo Si didn't want to drink wine anymore, and didn't want to delay too much in a day. He just wanted to destroy Han Sui as soon as possible and at all costs, becoming a great achievement that Dong Zhuo had never made.

He took away all his direct troops who were still in Chang'an, the capital, and the prisoners he had just captured from Han Sui, as well as the besieged troops in Ji County.

In this way, in just a few days, the Tianshui battlefield gathered a total of 70,000 people from the 230,000 army in Guanzhong. He ignored everything else and attacked Han Sui's lair with all his strength!

Including Yang Ding, the general who followed Guo Si to attack Ma Chao last year, and Yang Ding's 10,000 people. He was originally arriving at Wuzhangyuan battlefield by chance because of the pursuit of Ma Chao, but now he was transferred by Guo Si on the grounds of being in a hurry, asking Li Jue and Zhang Ji to find someone to lead troops to make up for Yang Ding's lack of

There were 160,000 people left, and Zhang Ji, Youfufeng, had 40,000 people under him, so he had to leave 15,000 people in Chencang and 15,000 people in Ji County to dilute the defensive forces. More than 10,000 people were led by Zhang Xiu and Jia Xu to pursue Ma Teng in Wuwei County.

Moreover, the troops guarding Chen Cang had to further divide some people to guard Jieting, so as not to escape Han Sui's remnants would cross Longshan and enter Guanzhong to become bandits.

Zhang Ji once felt that Chen Cang's defense was too weak, so he wanted to appeal, but was rejected by Guo Si. Guo Si's reasons were sufficient:

It turns out that you have 30,000 to 40,000 people to defend Chen Cang, and you have to defend the enemy in the west and south at the same time. Now Han Sui, in the west, has helped you clean up and fight. If you only need to defend the south, is half of the people not enough? Moreover, Liu Bei's main attack direction is clearly the Mei County of Dige tactics, and Chen Cang is not important!

Zhang Ji had no choice but to accept the result of "only 20,000 people defending Chen Cang and Jieting".

Eliminate Zhang Ji's 40,000 people, the Guanzhong Army still has the last 120,000.

Li Jue personally brought 50,000 people to Chang'an, Duan Wu brought 40,000 people in Huayin, Hongnong, Li Bie brought 10,000 people in Huaili, Li Ying brought 10,000 people in Lantian, and Dong Cheng brought 10,000 people in Puyangjin, Hedong, just in time to guard the key points of the passes in various places in Guanzhong.

The defence division of the 230,000 troops was clearly arranged at the end of January and all were in place.

——
Chapter completed!