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

Chapter 220 Nobody's a Fool

Time was of the essence, and Zhao Yun dared not delay. After briefly learning about the surrounding terrain from Jiang Wei, he led his White Feather Soldiers quietly toward the Wei army's outpost.

Upon receiving orders, the soldiers at the outpost remained on duty late into the night, not resting, and were all on high alert.

However, such a small number of men posed no threat to Zhao Yun's White Feather Army. Zhao Yun easily captured the outpost in just half an hour, with almost zero casualties.

Zhao Yun then left 300 men to dig ditches, cut down trees, and build camps near the outpost, while he personally led the remaining troops to Lizigou and Xinjia Laocha to find places to ambush Wang Ping's approaching army.

at the same time……

On the official road leading to Baliwan, the Wei army advanced rapidly in a long line, with Sima Yi leading the vanguard.

Strangely, Sima Yi stopped as soon as he left the Xianhe Valley and entered the territory of Baliwan. After looking around, he raised his hand and waved, and the soldiers behind him quickly dispersed to both sides and began to ambush in the ditches and gullies along the road.

Judging from this, Sima Yi was not planning to leave, but instead intended to ambush Zhuge Liang at the junction of the Xianhe Valley and the Baliwan Mountain area.

Zhang He led the main force and quickly arrived. He glanced at the ambushing soldiers and said, "Zhongda, are you sure Zhuge Liang has already seen through our intention to retreat and is leading his army in pursuit?"

Sima Yi shook his head and said, "I'm not sure, but we have to be careful. Last night, when Zidan was smuggling supplies to Jicheng, he was caught by Shu scouts. The fact that we couldn't catch the Shu scouts proves that the news was leaked. With Zhuge Liang's intelligence, he will definitely see through our intentions because of this."

"If that's the case, then Zhuge Liang's decision to have Guan Ping challenge us outside our camp during the day is a bit like protesting too much. Does he really think I, Sima Zhongda, am a fool?"

"I guess the reason why Zhuge Liang hasn't appeared yet is because he's waiting for us to enter Baliwan. General, look, there's a flat plain in front of us, but behind us are ravines and mountains. If we really enter Baliwan, our cavalry will be useless. So we must fight the Shu army on the plain."

Previously, the Shu army was stationed at Shehu Valley, where the terrain was even more complex than that of Baliwan. If the Wei army were to launch an offensive, they would certainly not fare well. Therefore, Sima Yi thought of retreating to Jieting first.

However, the incident the Shu army scouts witnessed the smuggling of Cao Zhen the night before made Sima Yi realize that the road to Jieting might be difficult to traverse, which led to the current situation.

Zhang He said, "I believe you are right. Let's fight the Shu army to the death at the bottom of Xianhe Valley. But it's still early. Should I lead the army into Baliwan and repel the Shu army's blocking force first?"

There are no secrets between sworn enemies. Zhang He had known Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei for over thirty years, and Sima Yi had also followed Cao Cao and fought against Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang many times. They knew each other very well.

Therefore, Sima Yi concluded that while Zhuge Liang was on his way, he must have sent troops to flank them and cut off their retreat, meaning that their route to Jieting had been blocked.

Sima Yi pondered, "Not for now. First, send scouts to investigate the situation there, find out the strength and deployment of the Shu army's blocking force, and then send troops north after Zhongquan (Xiahou Ba) returns to join forces with Zhongquan to attack the Shu army's blocking force from both sides."

Now that he realized Zhuge Liang might send troops to intercept him, how could Sima Yi not take countermeasures? He had already sent a fast horse to Xiahou Ba, who was heading to Jieting, to order him to lead his troops back.

This is a good idea, but it's a pity for Xiahou Ba. He had barely settled down at Jieting when he had to turn back. It's so frustrating.

Zhang He nodded and said, "Alright, judging by the time, Zhong Quan should have already received the order to lead the army out. If nothing unexpected happens, he should be back by nightfall."

Zhang He was the commander-in-chief in this battle, but neither Zhang He nor Sima Yi realized that everyone was gradually taking Sima Yi as the leader, and even Zhang He himself began to rely on Sima Yi.

Sima Yi continued, "How is General Cao Zhen doing? Has he been discovered by the Shu army?"

Zhang He laughed and said, "Don't worry, he has already left the city and hidden himself. As soon as the battle starts here, he can immediately storm into Shehu Valley and destroy the Shu army's stronghold."

Cao Zhen was not in the army, but was hiding in the mountains outside the city on Sima Yi's orders, preparing to launch a surprise attack on the Shu army's stronghold.

Upon hearing this, Sima Yi laughed and said, "That's excellent. The Shu army's food and supplies are all in Shehu Valley. The Shu army can't possibly take all their resources with them when they go north to pursue. I'm certain that the Shu army's food and supplies are still in Shehu Valley. As long as we destroy the Shu army's food and supplies, no matter how powerful the Shu army is, they will only have one option left: retreat."

Zhang He said excitedly, "Moreover, with the Wei River blocking the way, even if the Shu army knows that Shehu Valley has been attacked, they will not be able to return in a short time."

"More importantly, the attack on Shehu Valley will definitely cause the morale of the Shu army to plummet and force them to retreat. This place is less than 20 miles from the Wei River. The Shu army is essentially fighting us with their backs to the Wei River. No one but the God of War can handle a battle with their backs to the river. I don't believe that Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang can surpass the God of War."

Since the desperate battle is difficult to replicate, and anyone who tries to replicate it will perish, they decided to do the opposite and let the enemy fight them with their backs to the wall.

Well, no problem.

Sima Yi looked at the plains ahead and said with high spirits, "That's right, let's fight the Shu army to the death at the bottom of the Xianhe Valley and see who has the last laugh."

After speaking, he looked at Zhang He, and the two exchanged a glance and began to set up the battlefield, waiting for the Shu army to arrive.

Baliwan.

Under Jiang Wei's leadership, Zhao Yun successfully arrived at Lizigou and Xinjia Laocha, easily taking over the Wei army outposts and beginning to build camps.

They were so busy that by dawn, a scout rushed over to say that Wang Ping had arrived.

Fearing that Wang Ping would get lost, Zhao Yun and Jiang Wei quickly put aside their work to go and meet him. The two sides successfully met at Dawanchuan.

Wang Ping approached Zhao Yun and bowed, saying, "This humble general greets the general. I have been ordered to come here. Please give your orders."

Zhao Yun helped Wang Ping up and said with relief, "I thought the general would wait until we fought the Wei army before arriving. I didn't expect the general to arrive so quickly, even ahead of the Wei army."

He does not mean that.

Jiang Wei frowned and said, "That's not right, Master. It's already the hour of Mao (5-7 AM), and the Wei army set off at the hour of Zi (11 PM-1 AM). It's been three or four hours already. Moreover, the Wei army doesn't need to take detours; they can just go straight. Even if they're moving slowly, the vanguard should have arrived by now, right?"

Wang Ping's expression changed slightly, and he quickly chimed in, "Yes, I thought you had already started fighting, so I didn't dare to delay for a moment on the road. But now it seems that the calm in Baliwan is a bit abnormal."

It was the darkest hour before dawn. Zhao Yun looked up toward Ji County and found it pitch black, with not a soul in sight. He couldn't help but say, "Something is amiss. It seems the Wei army has seen through the strategist's intentions and wants to fight the King at the bottom of the Trapped River Valley."

When two armies clash, especially when two equally matched armies are preparing for a decisive battle, their commanders will inevitably be as calculating as shrewd merchants, seizing every advantage, such as the choice of battlefield.

Both the Han and Wei armies wanted a decisive battle, but why did they remain locked in a stalemate for so many days? Because the attacking side always suffers losses, especially when attacking the enemy's carefully constructed camp.

The Wei army did not want to attack the Han army's heavily defended Shehu Valley camp. What could they do? They could only lure the Han army out of the camp first.

The Han army also did not want to fight to the death against the Wei army's main camp, so they could only wait for the Wei army to leave the main camp before taking action.

On this point, the Han army and the Wei army were perfectly in sync and hit it off immediately.

Now that both sides are willing to fight a decisive battle and have left the camp, how should they fight next?

Naturally, the battles were fought on battlefields of their own choosing. The Wei army wanted to fight a decisive battle on the plains to fully utilize the advantages of its cavalry, while the Han army wanted to fight a decisive battle in the Baliwan mountain area to neutralize the Wei army's cavalry advantage, which led to the current situation.

Zhao Yun, Wang Ping, and Jiang Wei were all exceptional individuals with IQs far exceeding the passing grade; after a little thought, they understood the Wei army's intentions.

Jiang Wei asked anxiously, "Then what should we do? Should we send someone back to remind the strategist?"

Zhao Yun had an uncanny confidence in Zhuge Liang. Upon hearing this, he laughed and said, "Don't worry. If the strategist couldn't even see through this little trick, he wouldn't be worthy of being a strategist. Let's just do our own thing and not worry about anything else. By the way, General Wang, did the strategist give you any other instructions before you came?"

Wang Ping slapped his forehead and cursed, "Look at my memory! Before I left, the strategist asked me to bring you a brocade pouch, saying that you could open it if anything unexpected happened."