Wei Ba stood at the head of Shangluo's city and looked at the lively Wei army positions in the distance, but was a little distracted.

Sima Yi took six days to get from Wuguan to Shangluo, with an average trip of more than fifty miles per day. This was only a little faster than the standard marching speed. Wei Ba believed that this was just for the emperor to see. In the first few days of the marching, he had been following the standard itinerary - marching forty miles a day.

This is very different from Sima Yi during the Battle of Fangling, but it is not Sima Yi's cowardice against the enemy, but Sima Yi's tactic.

No matter how urgent it is to get to the Shangluo 280 miles, it is only a day or two to take the lead. Sima Yi would rather use one or two days to advance steadily and come to Wei Ba slowly with a posture of being pressed by Mount Tai, to show the calmness of a strong man. He has no sharp sword, is as clever as he is, and he has strong strength. I don’t need to be in a hurry at all, nor is it short of one or two days. I will defeat you step by step.

This is a psychological contest. Just as Sima Yi was not in a hurry to attack the city outside Wuguan City, but spent ten days building siege equipment and preparing for the siege.

Outside Shangluo City, Sima Yi was also doing preparations in an orderly manner.

Wei Ba retreated from Wu Pass to Shangluo. The city-guarding equipment he built himself could not be transported, so he could only burn it. Sima Yi could not rush with heavy thunderbolt chariots, siege chariots and other large equipment, so he could only go to Shangluo and then make it on site.

This process is also a process of comparing each other's psychology.

Seeing countless enemy troops logging, analyzing, manufacturing, and debugging under their noses, thinking that once the equipment is built, it will be pushed to the battlefield and launching bloody battles. This kind of mental pressure accumulated day by day and amplifying day by day is beyond the reach of people who have not experienced it personally. It is like tying a death row prisoner there, not killing him, but letting him watch the executioner prepare for the preparatory work. When the tools with the smell of blood are placed in front of him, many people will have mental breakdown before the body is created.

Sima Yi, who is good at speculating on people's hearts, is obviously clear about this.

Although Wei Ba was first in the battlefield, he was not unfamiliar with these things. Whether it was his master Zhao Yun or his father Wei Yan, they all told him these principles. Based on what they said alone, Wei Ba was not enough to deal with such a scene. After all, it was said that it was one thing, and it was another thing to experience it personally. The reason why he was able to face it calmly was that in this regard, he was more confident than Sima Yi.

The city walls of Shangluo are not as strong as Wuguan, but his preparations in Shangluo are more sufficient than Wuguan. There are more Thunderbolt chariots, crossbow chariots, stone bullets and arrows piled up like mountains. The workshops in Chang'an are still processing day and night, transporting them continuously. His strategic reserves are far from what Sima Yi can match. The longer Sima Yi prepares, the more beneficial it is to him.

This is why he wanted to burn Wuguan City. It was not to burn people, but to cover up his own advantages.

The advantages on the surface are far less lethal than the advantages hidden in the dark.

So when Sima Yi tried to put mental pressure on him, he seemed very relaxed, almost distracted. In the eyes of others, this is the demeanor of a general, and the confidence and calmness of the face without changing its expression.

After the counterattack on the retreat road, the prestige in Wei Ba's soldiers' hearts increased day by day. Although Deng Zhi once again proved his strength with his record, he was still slightly inferior to Wei Ba and could only helplessly take away most of his light by Wei Ba.

It is both lucky and unlucky to fight side by side with Wei Ba. Fortunately, Wei Ba can give him great help, but unfortunately he can only become a foil.

"Ziyu, what are you thinking?" Deng Zhi slowly walked to Wei Ba, with his hands behind his back, looked at Wei Jun in the distance, and asked softly.

"I'm thinking about... the war in Longyou." Wei Ba turned around and bowed slightly. No matter how young hero he was in the minds of the soldiers, he was a junior in front of Deng Zhi, and this etiquette was still necessary.

"Longyou... is really worrying." Deng Zhi sighed, frowned slightly. "Ziyu, do you think the Prime Minister can... win?"

"The winner is half the winner." Wei Ba said: "Analyzing the situation of both sides, both have advantages and disadvantages. It depends on who can play to his own advantages and curb the other party's advantages."

"In fact, if the Prime Minister retreats to Longshan, his advantage will increase greatly." Deng Zhi turned his head and looked at Wei Ba: "What do you think?"

Wei Ba did not answer him immediately. Deng Zhi's meaning was very obvious. He was not guessing whether Zhuge Liang would retreat to Longshan and enter Guanzhong, but asking him if he would welcome Zhuge Liang into Guanzhong. He arranged Zhao Guang to Longshan, and the meaning was very obvious. It seemed to block the Wei army's retreat, but in fact it was also blocking Zhuge Liang's retreat.

However, this is only symbolic, just like the door has no lock, and only one branch is used to block a gentleman and not a villain. If Zhuge Liang wanted to enter Longshan, Zhao Guang would definitely let it go. Even if he wanted to block it, he could not.

"I think the Prime Minister will not retreat into Guanzhong." Wei Ba said with something in his words.

Deng Zhi sighed again and said nothing. He already knew what Wei Ba meant and did not welcome you, but if you really wanted to come, I would not break up and keep you out. But he used another statement: Zhuge Liang himself would not be willing to come.

Deng Zhi also understood the subtle meaning of this. The father and son of the Wei family, including Zhao Yun, were originally a suspicious soldier, a bait to restrain the main force of the Wei army. Zhuge Liang's army in Longyou was the real main force. If Longyou was lost, Guanzhong, which was originally regarded as an abandoned son, would have become his biggest gain in this Northern Expedition. How should we deal with the merits in the future? The father and son of the Wei family were unstable factors in the Jingxiang faction, Zhao Yun was the representative of the Yuan Cong faction, and those who supported them were the Hanzhong tribe and the Tianshi Taoist believers in Guanzhong. These were not the alien forces that Zhuge Liang was willing to see.

In this case, since there is half the chance of victory, Zhuge Liang will not retreat into Guanzhong easily. He will definitely choose to fight with Zhang He, defeat Zhang He, and then seize the entire Longyou and win his own victory.

Besides, in Zhuge Liang's own heart, he is probably more than 50% of winning.

In fact, to a certain extent, Deng Zhi also thought so. Zhang He's cavalry broke into Longyou, which seemed terrible, but it wasn't necessarily terrible when he thought about it. Thousand miles of raids were extremely risky, and the food and grass were not too much. The physical strength of the soldiers would be very poor, and their combat power would be greatly damaged. The psychological deterrence effect was greater than the actual effect. As long as Zhuge Liang did not lose his footing and withstand Zhang He's pressure, he could seize this opportunity and turn the disadvantages into advantages. Deng Zhi knew the perseverance of Zhuge Liang's nature. From the 13th year of Jian'an to the 3rd year of Zhangwu, when Zhuge Liang truly monopolized the power, he endured it for fifteen years.

Rather than saying that this is a crisis, it is a challenge, and it is also an opportunity to break the deadlock. Whether you can seize this opportunity depends on who is smarter, Zhuge Liang or Zhang He.

This is not only a contest between the two of them, but also a contest between the Shu Han and Cao Wei, which can even determine the national destiny of the two countries in the next few years and decades.

Deng Zhi was silent for a long time and finally said: "Planning depends on people, and doing things depends on God. We have done everything we should do. Next, it depends on God's will and whether God will bless me."

Wei Ba said nothing. He didn't believe in God. God was too busy to care about so many idiots. In history, although the Han Dynasty had not yet perished, it could not be delayed for too long. If there was really God, I was afraid that the Han Dynasty had abandoned it. The last one who could decide the outcome was the people. Zhuge Liang and Zhang He each had their own strengths and weaknesses, it depends on who could seize the opportunity and who could win this victory.

From a historical perspective, Zhuge Liang is not Zhang He's opponent, but now history has changed, and the balance of power between them is different from history. It seems that Zhuge Liang has a slight advantage, but will the result change?

Compared with the showdown between Zhuge Liang and Zhang He, Wei Ba was more worried about the safety of Guanzhong. It doesn’t matter if Longyou lost. If you defend Guanzhong, this Northern Expedition cannot be considered a failure. Longyou is alone for thousands of miles, Cao Wei is out of reach, and there is still a chance to seize it in the future. The fundamental thing is to defend Guanzhong.

However, he is now unable to help Zhao Guang. On the one hand, he faces Sima Yi and Cao Zhen’s more than 100,000 troops and the counterattack of the entire Wei Kingdom. It is already a miracle that he can support Zhuge Liang. On the other hand, the time is very bad. When he goes there, should he support Zhuge Liang or watch the tiger fight?

Unlike Deng Zhi, Wei Ba had no confidence in the battle situation in Longyou. He said that the winner was half the winner, but it was just a comforting person. In his opinion, Zhuge Liang was right and Zhang He was strange, and his hard strength was almost the same. However, in terms of soft power, it was obviously a general like Zhang He who had the upper hand. On the battlefield, the commander's response was very important, and this was Zhang He's strength and Zhuge Liang's weakness.

If Zhang He has no logistics, it is conducive to quick battles and quick decisions. Will Zhuge Liang fight for a long time? I'm afraid it may not be. If he wants to defend instead of attacking, retreating to Longshan is obviously the best way to do it. If he does not retreat, then the two sides will be equal on this point, and no one has much advantage.

Who will win if he dies? Wei Ba is more inclined to Zhang He to win, although he does not want to see this result. After all, the conflict between him and Zhuge Liang is an internal conflict, while the conflict with Cao Wei is a conflict between us and the enemy. Once Longyou falls, the general of Guanzhong will be attacked on three sides, and the pressure on his shoulders is even more unimaginable.

With these 20,000 regular troops alone and 30,000 to 40,000 newly recruited soldiers, he really had no confidence in facing the three sides of Cao Wei's army surrounded by more than 100,000 troops.

Alas, in the end, the same thing is said: planning is for people, and success is for heaven. When things come to this point, any negative emotions such as regret and hesitation are useless. All he can do is to use his brain and use all the resources he can use to defend Guanzhong. Even if it is more than one day, it is good.

Because he knew that not only he had to work hard now, but Cao Wei also had to work hard. Shu Wei and snipe and clam were fighting each other, and there was Sun Quan waiting to be a fisherman next to him. Everyone was not only fighting for strength, but also perseverance. Whoever could hold on for a longer time would have the possibility of seeing the final victory.

There are conspiracies between people, and countries are more about power and scheming. The strength is obvious. Scheming can seize the initiative for a while, but it is impossible to always seize the initiative. The final contest is still hard power and the wisdom of both parties to deal with the crisis.

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Chapter completed!