"Has Thief Feng retreated?"

Jiang Ji, who was waiting at Zhiguan, received the news from the scouts and was a little unbelievable:

"Are you sure? Are you sure you really returned it?"

This battle between Han and Wei has exceeded everyone's expectations in terms of scale and duration.

It has already rained twice in the Hedong and Hanoi areas.

The coolness after the rain seems to announce the official entry of autumn.

Although the Central Plains area is not like the Hanzhong area, continuous autumn rains often occur in August and September.

But there will be a few autumn rains more or less.

After several successive groups of scouts reported that the Western bandits had indeed retreated, Jiang Ji could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

But I still have doubts in my heart:

"Why did Thief Feng retreat halfway?"

Maybe it was because the autumn rain made it difficult to walk on the mountain road, which made Feng Thief retreat.

I remember that back then, when Cao Zidan wanted to march to the right, the partial division he sent had to walk in the Ziwu Valley for a month because of heavy rain, before they could barely complete half of the journey.

Could it be that... things are changing?

Now it's Feng Thief's turn to be stumped by Qiu Yu?

Jiang Ji himself felt that this idea was a bit ridiculous, but for a while, he couldn't think of any other reason.

However, his doubts did not last long.

The transmission of news in Wei may not be as smooth as that of Ji Han.

However, the critical military situation on the southern front was related to the gains and losses of the Central Plains. Three days after Feng Yong withdrew his troops, it was finally delivered to Jiang Ji as quickly as possible.

"What happened to Hangu Pass and Shaanxian County?"

Jiang Ji took the military report and suddenly felt like the world was spinning.

"Aren't they always on tight guard at Maojin Ferry? How could something happen?!"

Jiang Ji's lips were trembling. If he hadn't cultivated himself over the years, he would have almost cursed.

Hangu Pass is understandable. After all, facing Tong Pass, it is normal for someone to attack it.

But the inexplicable loss of Shaanxian County really made him feel a little unreasonable - strictly speaking, it was not lost yet, but it was basically a matter of time.

How many days can the defenders of Shaanxian County hold out with their retreat cut off?

"What do the defenders of Maojin Ferry do for food? They don't even know how the Western bandit army crossed the river?"

Maojin Ferry was lost so quickly that no one from the defenders ran out.

As a result, Luoyang only knew that the Han army had crossed the river from Maojin Ferry, but how they got there is still a mystery.

Not to mention why the defenders of Shaanxian County allowed the Western bandit army to cross the river without any reaction, but instead cut off the enemy's escape route, which is even more of a mystery.

Jiang Ji was about to curse, but suddenly thought of something:

Where did the army of Western bandits at Maojin Ferry come from?

Thief Feng?

In the past few days, Thief Feng has made great efforts to attack Zhiguan.

Now it has started but ended, and retreated in an extremely strange way.

Could it be that he is defrauding me?

In fact, it was to cover the bandits who were sneaking across Maojin Ferry?

As soon as he thought of this, Jiang Ji was so frightened that his eyes widened, his mouth opened wide, dumbfounded, and cold sweat broke out on his back.

After a long time, Jiang Ji finally closed his mouth and squeezed out a sentence from between his teeth:

"Thief Feng, treacherous!"

I could only hear a "whooshing" sound like a cow's gasp coming from his mouth and nose.

The dizzying feeling came over me again.

"Master, Ji is incompetent and has been deceived by thieves. Luoyang...cannot be defended anymore!"

By this time, he had fully understood.

Thief Feng simply used himself as bait, made such a big noise, and deliberately drove slowly on Zhiguan Road, just to focus all eyes on him.

In fact, he had already sent another army from Hedong, quietly passed through the pass between Wangwu Mountain and Taihang Mountain, and ambush at Maojin Ferry.

Just wait until the time is right to cross the river in one fell swoop.

No wonder, no wonder Thief Feng suddenly retreated.

Just because he has achieved his goal, he no longer needs to act for himself in Zhi Guan Road.

Thinking that I was over sixty years old, I was being played with by a child.

After figuring this out, Jiang Ji couldn't help but feel ashamed, ashamed, angry and angry:

"Thief Feng, you are going too far!"

Then he felt a sweetness in his throat, and with a "wow" sound, he spit out a mouthful of blood, turned over, became so out of breath that he passed out.

Just when Jiang Ji fell into a coma, Sima Shi, who was still staying in Gaodu City, had not yet received news of the crisis in Luoyang.

At this time, he had just had his sarcoma removed and was wrapping his left eye with a white cloth, looking somewhat like a one-eyed pirate.

Niu Jin, who was following him, was quite worried about his health and persuaded him more than once to return to Luoyang to recuperate.

Master Sima naturally refused.

So Niu Jin advised again:

"The Central Supervisory Army is ill. If you don't want to return to Luoyang, you can retreat to Tianjing Pass."

Master Sima pointed to the north and sighed:

"General Niu, I don't want to retreat, but the traitors have sent a large army to the north a few days ago, and most likely they are going to attack Shangdang."

"The Shangdang is in danger, and I have the strength. If I retreat without fighting at this time, and just sit back and watch the traitors attack friendly forces without caring, how will I gain a foothold in the army in the future?"

Master Sima is not a stupid person. He knows very well why the Lord allows him to lead an army alone this time.

Originally, things were going very smoothly.

Wei Yan has a very high reputation among the Western Bandit Army, and it is his first time to lead an army. He does not dare to expect to defeat this man head-on, but your Excellency has already paved the way for him.

As long as Wei Yan is defeated in the end, he will naturally take some credit for this matter.

But something went wrong in the end.

During the battle at Gaoping Pass, all the soldiers saw his embarrassed appearance, and he lost a lot of prestige.

If he retreats without a fight at this time, I am afraid that he will never have the opportunity to lead an army again in his life, let alone be given an important responsibility by an adult.

Therefore, Master Sima knew that even if he could not cross Gaoping Pass to support his eldest son, he would still act as if he could attack Gaoping Pass again at any time.

At least on the surface, we should try our best to delay the rebel army living in Gaoping Pass so that they dare not leave the pass and go northward without any scruples.

It's not that he doesn't want to retreat, but that he has no way to retreat now.

In other words, since we haven’t had a chance to withdraw yet, we have to have a justifiable reason, right?

Of course, Master Sima knew about Sima Yi's plan.

Moreover, the Shangdang side has also sent the latest news to itself via Hanoi.

Sima Division was waiting for the news that the Party's defenders had returned to Hanoi, so that he could legitimately withdraw.

Seeing that Master Sima could not be persuaded, Niu Jin could only sigh helplessly:

"Central Supervisory Army, do we still want to test today?"

Master Sima smiled and said:

"Why not go? The thieves dare not go out to fight. This is the time to boost the morale of our army and wash away the humiliation of the previous defeat."

After learning that the army of Western bandits in Gaoping Pass had gone north, Sima Division did not dare to neglect. He sent a group of troops and made a gesture of attacking Gaoping Pass again.

Who would have expected that the current garrison in Gaoping Pass would only focus on guarding the pass and protecting the retreat of the bandits from the north, and did not even think about leaving the pass to fight.

After the first attempt by Master Sima failed, he sent out troops several times.

Even in the last two times, they directly provoked Guanxia. Even if their own sergeants shouted insults at Guanxia, ​​the Western thieves in Guancheng seemed to be deaf and ignored them at all.

After these days of testing, even if Master Sima is inexperienced, he can still see:

The Western thief is determined to cross Danshui by force and capture the eldest son!

Thinking about it, the main force of the army must be in the north. Nine times out of ten, only the bandits who can barely guard the pass are left in the city.

It is estimated that the generals guarding the Western Bandits in Gaoping Pass knew that they had few troops, so they retreated to avoid fighting.
To be continued...