Chapter 43 Ziwu Valley!

During the Three Kingdoms period, Zhuge Liang, the Prime Minister of Shu Han, sent troops from Chengdu to prepare to cross the Qinling Mountains and attack the Cao Wei regime in the north. His general Wei Yan proposed a plan:

Zhuge Liang asked Zhuge Liang to command the army and go north from Xiegu Avenue with great fanfare to attack Chen Cang, an important town in Wei State, and take advantage of the opportunity to attract the main force of the Wei army.

Wei Yan himself led 10,000 elite troops and secretly marched along the Ziwu Valley Trail. He rushed to Chang'an City in ten days, caught the Wei army off guard, and thus captured Chang'an City and Tongguan natural dangers in one fell swoop.

Then he attacked Zhuge Liang in front and behind to capture the entire Guanzhong region. In this way, the strength of Shu Han greatly increased, and there was hope of eliminating Cao Wei and recapturing the Central Plains... This plan was the famous "Ziwu Valley Strategy!"

However, Zhuge Liang believed that Wei Yan's plan was too risky, and ten thousand elite soldiers were likely to go but never return, so he did not adopt it. Instead, he adopted a more stable plan: the army went out to Qishan to attack the Longyou area, and then took steps to attack Chang'an little by little.

The result was: the Shu army's front line was too long and the logistics food and grass supply was not enough, so that all six trips to Qishan were ineffective.

After Zhuge Liang's death, the later ruler Liu Chan was incompetent, and Shu Kingdom was as declining as rivers, and was eventually destroyed at the hands of Cao Wei.

The Shu Kingdom was destroyed, but Wei Yan's plan to make Ziwu Valley triggered fierce debates among later generations and gradually formed two factions of opinions:

A group of people believed that Zhuge Liang was right, sending troops from Ziwu Valley was too risky and had no confidence in success. Not only could he not be able to take Chang'an City, but he would also lose the elite troops of Shu Kingdom.

Another group of people believed that the Ziwu Valley was feasible because Zhuge Liang was too cautious and missed the opportunity.

The two factions have different opinions and argue endlessly, and there has been no result yet. The "Ziwu Valley Strategy" has also become one of the famous historical unsolved cases!

...

"Yu Lang, in your opinion, is the strange plan of Ziwu Valley possible?"

"Haha, the battle on the battlefield is unpredictable, and it can't be explained clearly in just a few words. But we can do a sand table deduction and maybe we can infer the answer."

"Oh, what is sand table deduction?"

"It is to conduct the deduction of the war process on an accurate sand table."

While speaking, Li Zhao collected some small stones, sand, and wooden sticks, and then placed the terrain of Hanzhong, Qinling and Guanzhong in the open space. Although it was reduced countless times, it was still true... Cui Zongzhi was stunned.

You should know that ancient observation technology was backward, and it was very difficult to make a map. Even if it was barely made, its accuracy was not satisfactory. Sometimes the distance was inaccurate, sometimes the place name was incorrect, and sometimes even the direction would be wrong.

Therefore, before the war begins, the generals must check the terrain in person, otherwise the arrangement of troops will be based on the map, and it will be a piece of paper talk. It would be strange if they don’t defeat the war!

Before Li Zhao traveled through time, he worked as a mountain special forces soldier for several years and had seen many high-definition military maps... Now, he relied on his memory to create a sand table, so it was natural that he would be effortless.

Soon, the sand table was made, and Li Zhao and Cui Zongzhi began to deduce...

"The Qinling area has a lot of rain in autumn, and the plank road is very difficult to walk. Prime Minister Zhuge is quite aware of the times, so every time he sends troops to the north, he chooses spring to ensure smooth roads."

"This is true, but the terrain of Ziwu Valley is quite special and belongs to a low-altitude deep valley. Even in early spring, it often rains heavily, making the road very difficult to walk. According to this calculation, even if the Shu army uses its energy to take advantage of it, it will be able to push at most twenty or thirty miles a day. In ten days, it will not even take half of the journey."

...

"The key to food is food. If you are trapped in Ziwu Valley, what should more than 10,000 people eat?!"

Military sand table deduction is not as simple as fiddling with a few stones. All factors must be taken into account in order to get the answer.

Li Zhao and Cui Zongzhi discussed for a whole hour, and the deduction finally came to an end:

It has to be admitted that the terrain of Ziwu Valley is too steep and the weather is fickle. If Wei Yan advances from here and is lucky, it will take at least twenty days to get out of Ziwu Valley. Even if he goes out, his food and grass will be exhausted and his soldiers will probably not have the strength to attack Chang'an City.

Even if the defenders forcefully attack Chang'an City, if the defenders resist desperately, the Shu army would be difficult to invade without heavy siege equipment, and then they would be surrounded by the counter-attack and the entire army would be destroyed...

If you are not lucky, the Shu army cannot even walk out of Ziwu Valley, and the food will be out of stock and disperse in the middle. It would be great if ten thousand soldiers could escape back one-tenth of them!

(In the eighth year of Jianxing, Cao Zhen led a 100,000 army to attack Shu Kingdom along Ziwu Valley. As a result, it encountered heavy rain on the way. The army walked for more than a month, but had not even completed half of the journey. His morale was low and he had difficulty in replenishing supplies, so he had to retreat... This shows how difficult it is to travel to Ziwu Valley.)

"It seems that Prime Minister Zhuge is right. If he marched from Ziwu Valley, the Shu army would probably not even have a chance of winning."

"Yes, Ziwu Valley Qimeng is really too risky, almost the same as sending death... But, if I were the commander of the Shu army, I would definitely implement this plan. A surprise attack and capture Chang'an. Even if one fails, I will try the second and third time... I will never stop until I die."

"Oh, why did Yulang say this?"

Cui Zongzhi was a little confused. He used the sand table deduction to determine that Li Zhao had a very small chance of winning, and advocated the implementation of this plan and sent troops to attack Chang'an. Isn't this a contradiction?

"Haha, fighting on the battlefield is a risky thing. If you want to defeat the strong with the weak and fight against the big with the small, you must dare to take the big risks, otherwise it will be difficult to succeed.

In the Battle of Julu, Xiang Yu burned his boats and risked the destruction of the entire army, which inspired the fighting spirit of tens of thousands of Chu troops and defeated the Qin army in one battle.

In the Battle of Jingxing, Han Xin was in a row with his back, and the soldiers of the entire army were killed and then survived. Only then did he defeat 200,000 Zhao troops with fewer victory and more.

Prime Minister Zhuge was cautious all his life and thought twice before doing anything, and took every step forward. Although people with such a personality would not make any major mistakes, they would not be able to achieve great success. People with such a personality were even less suitable to lead troops to fight.

To put it bluntly, war is a life-threatening thing, and the brave will win when we meet on a narrow road!”

"Listen to your words, it is better to read ten years of books. Yulang is resourceful. If he commands a large army in the future, he will definitely win every battle and establish a great merit. I am very impressed by my brother!" After listening to Li Zhao's story, Cui Zongzhi couldn't help but pick up his thumbs up.

Before, I only knew that Li Zhao was skilled in chess, had a good alcohol tolerance, and could design some ingenious things, and did not want to have superb skills in military affairs.

If you find an opportunity to recommend such talents to the court, you will definitely become a pillar of the country. It is also a great contribution to the promotion of talents for the country!

...

Next, the two continued to discuss the pros and cons of the past dynasties, whether it is military, politics, diplomacy, system, taxation... Li Zhao all had incisive words, and when he heard that Cui Zongzhi applauded and praised him repeatedly.

After talking about this, I talked about a new topic: ambition!

The ancients said: To study, you must first set your ambitions. Once you have set your ambitions, you can focus on your knowledge in sequence. If you have no ambitions, it will not help you!

Only with ambition in life can you have the goal and motivation to move forward!

"Yulang, what are your ambitions?"

"Well, let me think about it, what are your ambitions?"

...

"Baoer wants to be a heroine, holding a sword, mounting a horse, robbing the rich and helping the poor, eliminating violence and safeguarding the good, and eating well, drinking well, having fun with the people she likes, and being happy every day, hehe!" Jin Baoer was the first to express her ambition, full of innocence, and a little ridiculous.

A girl's family doesn't study hard, and she thinks about dancing and guns all day long, so she may not find a house in the future.

"The villain has no ambitions, he just wants to serve his master for the rest of his life. Wherever the master goes, the white bun goes there. Whatever the master does, the white bun does, and what the white bun does." Bai bun does have no ambitions, or in other words, his life is already closely tied to Li Zhao.

Li Zhao begs for food and holds a bowl of white buns.

Li Zhao is selling his skills, and white buns beat gongs.

Li Zhao is rich and has a good meal, and the white buns are delicious and spicy.

Li Zhaoquan is dominating the world, Bai Mo is a rich marquis!

Third, it’s Cui Zongzhi’s turn. What kind of ambition does this little Duke of Qi have?

"My ambition is very simple. I will assist the emperor above, assert the people below, clear politics inside, and appease the princes outside, so that the world will be peaceful, just like Duke Liang and Du Lai, and their names will be left in history."

Fang Lianggong-Fang Xuanling!

Duke Du Lai - Du Ruhui!

They were the two most important counselors of Emperor Taizong Li Shimin. They helped plan the Xuanwu Gate Incident, seized the throne, and worked hard to govern, creating the Zhenguan governance... and were known as the "Fangshu Duan".

Cui Zongzhi took these two as an example, which shows that his ambition was to become a virtuous prime minister of the generation!

"Yulang, what are your ambitions?"

"My ambition is really a bit complicated."

Before traveling through time, Li Zhao's ambition was to make a lot of money, marry a beautiful woman, and then travel around the world together.

However, after traveling to the Tang Dynasty, life changed and ambitions changed accordingly. Some things that could only be thought of in dreams now have the opportunity to realize:

"I can't waste my life a hundred years. I want to drink the strongest wine, climb the highest mountain, see the most beautiful scenery, take the sharpest knife, ride the fastest horse, and defeat the most powerful enemy... wake up the world, lie drunk on the knees of a beautiful woman, smile lightly and dissipate the haze, and fight the bloody battle... After I complete these ambitions, I will choose a picturesque place, build a big house, and live in it with the people I like, eat well, drink well, and have fun every day!"

Li Zhao's ambitions are fierce in the first half, which makes people excited when they sound, but in the second half, it seems to be similar to Jin Baoer's!
Chapter completed!