The Three Kingdoms: I asked you to save Guan Yu, not to destroy Sun Quan.

Chapter 780 Trying to go big again?

With Lü Jian's surrender, the other Wei troops in the camps that were blocked by the Han army lost their will to fight and chose to surrender after receiving the news.

Then Sun Lang was in a terrible predicament, busy receiving prisoners while simultaneously leading his troops to take over the Wei army's camp.

Sun Lang was busy until dawn before he successfully took over all the camps. After taking over, Jiang Wei, Zhang Bao, and E Huan, who had fought a fierce battle with the Wei reinforcements sent by Xu Huang all night, finally completed their blocking mission and led their troops to withdraw.

However, this was not a difficult task for Jiang Wei. He originally thought he would be attacked from both sides by Xu Huang and Lü Jian, and the battle plan was based on this deployment. As a result, Lü Jian was forced to surrender, and Jiang Wei and his two companions only needed to face Xu Huang's attack, which greatly reduced the pressure.

After a brief handover with Sun Lang in the morning, Jiang Wei and the other two led the Wudang Flying Army to carry the wounded back to the county town. The Wei army instinctively pursued them when they saw them retreating, but then tragically discovered that the mountain stronghold ahead was full of Han flags. Knowing that Lü Jian was dead, they had no choice but to retreat.

When the news reached Zhangling, Xu Huang nearly fainted, his vision blurred. He managed to steady himself by holding onto the table before angrily cursing, "Damn Zhang Yide! You pseudo-Han people have already occupied half the country, yet you still take such risky moves. Aren't you afraid of losing everything?"

Zhang Fei's tactics were simple: first, send a detachment to infiltrate behind the Wei army and block their retreat; then, send the main force forward to join the detachment in a pincer attack, encircling and killing the Wei army.

This is tantamount to violating the cardinal rule of military strategy: to venture deep into enemy territory alone. If not careful, the flanking force responsible for the infiltration will be wiped out by the enemy. Normally, few people would do this, but since Guan Xing rose to prominence, it seems that all the Han generals have taken a liking to this tactic. Is it interesting?

In the past, when the Han army was weak, people could understand why they would take risks and fight. But now that the Han army has occupied half of the country, why are you still doing this? Aren't you afraid of losing all the wins you made before?

Despite this, the fact is that the Han army won the gamble again, wiping out tens of thousands of Xu Huang's soldiers and a general, leaving Xu Huang feeling as if he was bleeding all over.

But what's the use of feeling sorry now that things have come to this?

Xu Huang cursed at the air for a long time but had no choice but to accept reality. He began to redeploy his troops and set up defenses. Now, two-thirds of the Dahong Mountain area had fallen into the hands of the Han army. The remaining third could not be taken by the Han army under any circumstances. Otherwise, the Han army could easily rush into the Nanyang Plain to harass the main force of the Wei army. In that case, none of the hundreds of thousands of Wei soldiers would be able to sleep well.

Although Xu Huang was extremely unwilling, he still wrote two battle reports during the redeployment and sent the bad news to Cao Pi in Wancheng and Cao Ren in Fancheng.

Compared to Xu Huang's exasperation, Cao Pi and Cao Ren appeared much calmer, simply glancing at him before going about their business.

Neither of them had much hope of victory, so they had prepared themselves mentally for defeat long before the war began, making it much easier for them to accept the bad news of heavy losses.

At the same time that Cao Pi received the bad news, Liu Bei received the good news. He then summoned his generals to share the joy, and then that was the end of it.

This battle only resulted in a regional victory for the Han army, but did not give them a strategic advantage. Therefore, the various armies should not be impatient. They should simply do their jobs according to the original plan and continue to develop their strength in a cautious manner.

Liu Bei remained as steady as an old dog, but Guan Xing had a plan in mind. He returned to his tent and went to the sand table he had made himself to study and ponder. At the same time, he kept moving the red and black flags representing the Han and Wei sides, trying to stir up trouble again.

After staring at the sand table in deep thought for a long time, Zhuge Liang suddenly walked in, stood behind Guan Xing, and asked softly while waving his feather fan, "What are you thinking about?"

Guan Xing was startled by the sudden sound and quickly turned around, bowing and asking, "Why has the Prime Minister come?"

Zhuge Liang said, "When I was in His Majesty's tent just now, I noticed that everyone was happy because of the Three Generals' victory, but you were the only one who was frowning as if you had something on your mind, so I came to take a look."

Guan Xing was speechless. "You're standing right in front of me and you can still see my expression? Do you have eyes in the back of your head?"

While complaining, Guan Xing pointed to the sand table and said, "It's nothing, I just feel that this battlefield is very advantageous to us."

"Prime Minister, look, Nanyang is a basin. To the west are the Qinling Mountains, to the south is the Han River, to the east are the Dahong Mountains and Tongbai Mountains, most of which have fallen into our hands, and to the north?"

Zhuge Liang continued, "To the north, from west to east, are the Xiong'er Mountains and the Funiu Mountains, branches of the Qinling Mountains. The Funiu Mountains are connected to the Tongbai Mountains. There is a mountain pass between the two mountains, which is an important passage from Nanyang back to Luoyang or to the Central Plains. It is also the only way for the Chu Kingdom to reach the Central Plains. The Chu Kingdom built the Zeng Pass here in the past. The Zeng Pass is the core pass of the Fangcheng Fortress of the Chu Great Wall defense system. Therefore, this road is also called the Fangcheng Xia Road."

Guan Xing nodded and said, "That's right. Moreover, the Wei army's troops, supplies, and provisions are basically transported into Nanyang through Fangcheng Xia Road. If this road is cut off, hundreds of thousands of Wei troops, including Cao Pi himself, will be completely trapped in the Nanyang Basin."

Actually, there is a flat-topped mountain between Funiu Mountain and Tongbai Mountain. Fangcheng Xia Road is located between Funiu Mountain and Pingding Mountain. If this place is blocked, it is indeed possible to trap the main force of 400,000 to 500,000 Wei troops in the Nanyang Basin. But do you have that many troops?

Zhuge Liang patted Guan Xing's head with his feather fan and laughed, "You really dare to think like that. Don't you realize that the Wei army would not have a large number of troops stationed in such an important place?"

Guan Xing shook his head and said, "This idea is indeed a bit far-fetched, but Prime Minister, look at Luoyang again. Luoyang is also a basin surrounded by mountains. Back then, Emperor Ling ordered General He Jin to set up eight passes around Luoyang to defend against the Yellow Turbans. These were Hangu Pass, Xiaopingjin Pass, Mengjin Pass, Xuanmen Pass, Huanyuan Pass, Dagu Pass, Yique Pass, and Guangcheng Pass. The first four are all in the north and far away from us, so we can ignore them for now. But the latter four..."

"No matter which route you take from Luoyang to Nanyang, you have to pass through one of these four passes. Cao Pi also had to do the same if he wanted to return to Luoyang from Nanyang. Without these four passes, he could only retreat to Xuchang via Fangcheng Xiadao. In other words, as long as you occupy these four passes, you can block Cao Pi's way back to the capital and force him to Xuchang."

"Prime Minister, just think about it. If the emperor of a country is forced to the point that he can't even return to the capital, what a blow that would be to the morale of the Wei army if word got out?"

Luoyang was also a basin surrounded on all sides. People inside the basin had difficulty getting out, and people outside had difficulty getting in. In addition, Emperor Ling of Han built eight passes to defend against the Yellow Turbans, making Luoyang's defenses even more stringent.

Zhuge Liang waved his feather fan and said leisurely, "According to your idea, if the Han army is lucky enough to capture these four passes, Cao Pi, who has already left Luoyang and moved to Wancheng to take charge, will not be able to return. He can only take a detour to Xudu first, and then detour from Xudu through Xuanmen Pass or Hulao Pass back to Luoyang. This detour will be quite long. If our plan is proper, we may be able to take Luoyang during the time Cao Pi is taking the detour."

"Even if we can't capture the four passes, just making it look like we're attacking them will put the Cao Wei court in a panic. If they panic, they might make the wrong decisions, giving us a chance to seize a new opportunity, right?"

Guan Xing laughed and said, "Prime Minister is wise. That's exactly what I meant. Besides, running around won't take much effort. If it really doesn't work out, we can always come back!"

Now that Tongbai Mountain is in their hands, they can attack or defend as they please. If they can win, they can fight; if they can't, they can retreat. It's a win-win situation!

Zhuge Liang pondered, "We can give it a try, whether it's promising or not, but we need a general who can take charge. Who do you plan to send?"