Cao Zhen's 8,000 cavalrymen would reach Lueyang in one day, and Cao Rui's 16,000 cavalrymen would only have three days left. Just as Qian Zhao, Cao Zhen, Yang Fu and others were worried, the Wei army was short of food and grass in Lueyang and needed a quick victory. Deng Ai, who was highly expected by the emperor, was now leading thousands of food carts on the Longshan Road. "Censor Deng, Censor Deng, please wait a moment." Deng Ai was riding a horse at the front of the convoy. A middle-aged official came running up behind him, panting and greeting him. Deng Ai stopped his horse and asked, "Why did you call me?" The clerk stepped forward and bowed: "Report to Censor Deng, please come to the back and take a look. One of the rear guards died today." Deng Ai's grain transport team consisted of a small number of Fufeng County soldiers and the other half of civilians from Chencang and Mei County. They were just transporting grain, and if someone died for no reason, they would be held accountable. Deng Ai was a very conscientious person and it was impossible for him to turn a blind eye to such things. "I'll give you a horse. You lead the way and take me there quickly." Deng Ai did not dare to delay and rushed to the rear team where the dead people were. The body of a man in his early fifties was hunched over on the grain cart, while the team supervisor was squatting by the roadside with a sad face. After Deng Ai looked him up and down for a few times, he called the team supervisor over and asked, "How did this man die? You are the team supervisor of this team, so you should have an explanation."
The team supervisor bowed and then explained in a thick Guanzhong accent: "Yushi Deng, Zhang Liu and I live in the same village, so we are close neighbors. Eight years ago, the imperial court fought in Hanzhong, and after the withdrawal, about hundreds of people were settled in our village, and Zhang Liu was one of them." "When the grain team set out, each village and township had already been notified to bring more clothes. But Zhang Liu kept silent. His clothes looked thick, but who knew they were stuffed with reed catkins or something like that?" The team supervisor was chattering non-stop, but Deng Ai had already figured out the whole story. Zhang Liu was originally from Nanzheng, Hanzhong. During the chaotic period at the end of the Han Dynasty, Zhang Lu occupied Hanzhong, and the people in Hanzhong rarely suffered from famine. In the 24th year of Jian'an, Emperor Wu of Han, Cao Cao, attacked Hanzhong. After losing the battle with Liu Bei, Cao Cao retreated to Guanzhong and ordered Du Xi to relocate about 80,000 people from Hanzhong to Guanzhong, Henan and other places. Zhang Liu, who was originally from Nanzheng, was obviously one of the people who were relocated. Deng Ai asked softly: "Is it too poor?" The captain was still talking, trying to clear himself of responsibility. When he heard Deng Ai's question, he quickly agreed, "The censor is right! Zhang Liu was just too poor, lacked winter clothes, and refused to ask or borrow from others, so he froze to death. This was indeed an accident..." Deng Ai did not want to bother with these minor details, so he pointed to the team leader and said, "Since you and he are from the same hometown, take ten people to find a conspicuous place on the roadside to bury Zhang Liu first, and then move him back to Chencang on your way back." "Well, well, let's do as the censor said." The team supervisor was delighted to see that Deng Ai did not care about anything, and hurriedly called on his companions to go to the side of the road to dig the soil. Deng Ai didn't say much, but silently mounted his horse and galloped back to the front of the team. Deng Ai, who was born in a poor family, could best understand the thoughts of these rural farmers. Zhang Liu died of cold and exhaustion, perhaps because he was not wearing enough clothes, perhaps because he was a foreigner and was excluded by the locals, perhaps because he had some disease, or perhaps because he was too proud and had no friends, so he couldn't ask others for help... In short, in Deng Ai's 30-year life, he had seen many people like Zhang Liu who died in unclear and silent ways. Deng Ai was originally from Xinye, the small town where Liu Bei had stationed troops in Jingzhou for a long time. He was a fellow villager of Deng Zhi, Wei Yan and other Shu Han generals. When he was eleven years old, Cao Cao conquered Jingzhou and forced all the people in Xiangfan and Xinye to move inland. Deng Ai also moved to Runan with his mother and made a living by herding cattle. Deng Ai knew best the difficulties faced by these outsiders who were forced to migrate by the imperial court. When he was twenty years old, Deng Ai might have had more sympathy for these poor people. When he was thirty years old, if such things happened in front of Deng Ai again, it would only make Deng Ai feel angry. Deng Ai, who was appointed by the emperor to an official position in the office of the Grand Minister of Agriculture in Luoyang, was invited to the home of the Grand Minister of Agriculture Xu Shu for a banquet that night. Deng Ai was young after all, and before the third round of drinking had even passed, Xu Shu had already asked him all about his life experiences. Xu Shu knew that Deng Ai was a man of great talent in governing the country, so he also talked to Deng Ai about the general situation of the world. Before leaving, the half-drunk Deng Ai asked Xu Shu: "Mr. Xu, I have seen so many poor people and so many sufferings. Will the world really get better?"
Xu Shu was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Shi Zai, everything in the world has its origin. You are in charge of farming in Yingchuan County. Where did you use the food you took from the people?" Deng Ai said without hesitation: "They were all transported to Shouchun by the county! In the fifth year of Huangchu, the sixth year of Huangchu, and at the end of the seventh year of Huangchu, we fought against Wu for three consecutive years. All the available grain in the county was sent to Huainan and Shouchun!" "What is the grain used for in Shouchun?" Xu Shu asked again. Deng Ai replied: "Use it to conquer Wu!" Xu Shu looked at Deng Ai: "Why do we want to conquer Wu?" Deng Ai opened his mouth slightly and was about to continue speaking. Even though he was half drunk and his mind was a little confused, he understood what Xu Shu meant. The people were suffering because the imperial court was collecting grain. The imperial court was collecting grain in order to pacify Wu and Shu, but Wu and Shu had not yet been pacified... Even if the emperor was like a sage, he could only reduce the grain collected by the military farms by 10%. The root of all things, after all, is the separatist rebellion between Wu and Shu, which has caused unrest in the world! Deng Ai took a deep breath, rode his horse to the head of the team alone, and then galloped forward for a long distance in one breath, stopping after about a quarter of an hour. The mountains along the Longshan Road obscured the road under the slanting rays of the afternoon sun. The end of the road was Longyou, where the separatist bandits invaded Wei. We must achieve success there! …… At about the same time, on the afternoon of the 19th, the messenger sent by Ma Su from near Lueyang arrived outside Shanggui City and took a lot of effort to find Wu Yi's central military camp. Zhuge Liang went to Shanggui on the 19th to meet his generals. As early as when he was in Ji County, he had informed Ma Su, Zhao Yun, Wei Yan and other generals in Lueyang. The messenger came to Wu Yi's camp to look for Prime Minister Zhuge. "A messenger sent by Ma Su? What does Ma Youchang want?" Outside the camp, south of the Wei River, Wu Yi was observing the progress of the siege from afar on a built watchtower. The guard bowed and saluted: "General, the messenger Du Bo said that he came to look for the Prime Minister and found you here." Wu Yi said impatiently, "If he wants to find the Prime Minister, just go find him. Why would he find me? Tell Ma Youchang not to send anyone to find me unless it's extremely urgent. Stop causing trouble for me." The guards responded awkwardly. According to the rules, the general must be informed of the arrival of such a messenger. The general was unhappy, and the guards could only cover up for him and told the messenger in a nice voice that the prime minister went to Linwei at noon. After thanking the guards, the messenger turned around and mounted his horse to leave, but the guards stopped him from behind and said, "Excuse me, brother, is there any urgent military information that you are sending this message so urgently?" "The Wei army's reinforcements have arrived in the northeast of Lueyang, with about 15,000 infantry!" The messenger said this while riding on his horse, and then rode away quickly. The guard was stunned for a few moments, and after confirming that he had not heard wrongly, he quickly jumped on his horse to inform Wu Yi. It was not until the evening that the messenger caught up with Prime Minister Zhuge's army heading eastward on the road. Military officer Fei Yi took the letter, read it carefully several times, and talked with the messenger for more than ten sentences before saying to him in a gentle voice, "The army has already set up camp. Please wait here for a while. The Prime Minister should have a reply to Military Officer Ma. Then you can set out with the messenger I sent." The messenger saluted and said, "Thank you for joining the army." After Fei Yi walked a few steps as usual, he seemed to feel something was wrong and began to jog towards where Zhuge Liang was. Fei Yi, panting, handed the letter to Zhuge Liang personally. After he said a few words, Zhuge Liang's brows became solemn. "Wen Wei, gather all the officials in the palace!" "Yes, sir." Fei Yi immediately sent someone to call all the other officials here. Everyone in the prime minister's office also had their own division of labor. The chief secretary Xiang Lang was in charge of general affairs, the military officer Yang Yi was in charge of confidential matters, and the military officer Ma Su was in charge of military strategy. After Ma Su was sent to supervise the Eastern Route Army, Fei Yi was the one who was in charge of military strategy planning beside Zhuge Liang. After Zhuge Liang's officials arrived, Fei Yi told them about the military situation in which 15,000 Wei troops had arrived in the northeast of Lueyang, and the expressions of everyone in the tent became solemn.
Zhuge Liang sat in the middle of the tent and asked loudly, "Wenwei, what do you think about this?" Fei Yi bowed and said, "Prime Minister, Ma Youchang made it clear in his letter that this time, 15,000 infantrymen are coming to support us." "Since Zhang He built Sanguan this year and cut off the Baoxiadao, Tangluodao, and Ziwudao, about half a year ago, the only two trade routes for privately trading Shu brocade between Hanzhong and Wei were Longyou and Shangyong, so the military situation of the Wei army in Guanzhong was not very clear." "When I was in Ji County, I heard from Yin Shang, the chief clerk of Tianshui County, that the court in Luoyang sent 20,000 additional troops to Chang'an, led by Qian Zhao and Zhu Gai. Now it seems that the Wei army that appeared north of Lueyang must be the Wei army in Chang'an." Zhuge Liang nodded and said, "Yes, it must be the army coming from Chang'an. In your opinion, how should we deal with this Wei army?" Fei Yi thought for a moment, then replied: "Reporting to the Prime Minister, if the infantry troops were to be led here, they would have come day and night after receiving the news." "I think the Wei army must be exhausted after traveling all the way from Chang'an, and our army has been in Lueyang for nearly ten days. We should wait for them to tire out and attack the unprepared with the prepared. Both Zhao and Wei are experienced generals, so we should attack the Wei army quickly and not miss the opportunity." (End of this chapter)