"Someone is coming!"

"Master?"

"Go and invite Tuoba Xianbei's envoy to the front hall. I will be there shortly."

"Here."

Since the ambush of the Han army on the border of Youzhou a few years ago, Sima Yi and Tuoba Xianbei formally established an offensive and defensive alliance.

He even promised verbally that as long as the Han army could be defeated, if Tuoba Xianbei wanted to take Liaodong as his habitat in the future, he could send troops from Youzhou to help.

Compared to working for King Feng Gui to beg for food, what Sima Yi gave was undoubtedly much more generous and attractive.

So this is one of the important reasons why most of the Tuoba Xianbei clan are willing to form an alliance with Sima Yi.

These past few years were the honeymoon period between Tuoba Xianbei and Sima Yi. Not only did the two sides have constant transactions across the border, but there were also constant exchanges of envoys.

The envoy of Tuoba Xianbei who was in Yecheng at this time was none other than Tuoba Liwei's second son Tuoba Xilu, and he was also Tuoba Desert Khan's strongest competitor.

When Tuoba Xulu received the news, he did not hesitate and rushed to the Taifu Mansion:

"Foreign minister Tuoba Xilu pays homage to Taifu."

After all, although he represents Tuoba Xianbei, to the Hu people, the remaining power of the Han family for four hundred years is vaguely visible and has not completely dissipated.

And Ji Han has bucked the trend in these years, and has the intention of reuniting the prestige of the Han family that had become vague.

Therefore, Tuoba Xulu, who came from the northern grasslands, still has a certain admiration for the Han Dynasty in the Central Plains.

In addition, he was just Tuoba Liwei's envoy to Southern Xia. Facing Sima Yi, the Lord of Hebei, he naturally had to keep his attitude low.

Unexpectedly, Sima Yi didn't treat him politely, and just said:

"I have received definite news that the Han State has sent troops, claiming to be five hundred thousand, and plans to cross the Taihang Mountains in three groups and invade Hebei."

"Five hundred thousand?" Tuoba Xilu was shocked, "At this time?"

He looked at Sima Yi in horror, but saw that the other party's expression was solemn, but there was no sign of panic.

Tuoba Xilu calmed down and reacted. He asked again:

"Master Taifu, is the news reliable? How could Han possibly send troops at this time?"

It's winter!

At this time, the grassland is facing a white disaster.

Although Southern Xia is warmer than the grassland and has more food and clothing than the grassland, people freeze to death and starve to death.

It is even more incredible that Han wanted to cross the Taihang Mountains at this time.

Because it will only get colder and harder to walk on the mountain.

A gust of mountain wind is enough to make someone accidentally fall off the cliff.

Is the Emperor of Han crazy?

"Of course reliable."

Taifu Sima's expression remained unchanged, and he patiently explained to the envoy who represented his ally in front of him:

"In fact, I got the news that Han might send troops a month ago. At least half a month ago, the forward of the Han army arrived in Taiyuan."

"I informed Tuoba Langjun that you are coming after I got the news about the commander of the Han army."

Tuoba Xilu asked subconsciously:

"So who will lead the Han army this time?"

"Feng Mingwen." Sima Yi glanced at Tuoba Xulu and said, "That's the Feng Wen god spread on your grassland."

Whether you hate Feng or respect Feng, you have to admit one thing: he profoundly changed everything on the grassland, including people and livestock.

It not only changed the grazing methods on the grassland, but also changed the way of life and even diet.

Some people in the grassland say that he is a messenger sent by God.

But Feng's reputation for being fond of killing - and often killing thousands or even tens of thousands of people at once, with a killing speed and quantity comparable to the plague - also made him notorious on the grassland.

Therefore, some people call him the Messenger of Plague.

Hearing this name at this time, Tuoba Xulu's heart beat faster.

Although he has never met this person, he drove out the Xianbei in the west, massacred the Xianbei in the central part, and became famous in the grassland. Who can not hear his name?

Countless Xianbei people will be kidnapped by him to work as laborers, and they will be massacred and exterminated.

It is said that in the valley of Qiaoshan, you can still hear the cries of resentful souls from time to time. In the river water of Henan (i.e. Hetao), most of the fish and shrimps are blood red, and people dare not eat them.

Not to mention on the grassland, even the Grand Tutor's son (i.e. Sima Zhao) had a look of fear on his face when he mentioned this person.

I heard from Mr. Sima that when he was in Nanzhong, there were already rumors that "the sun eats human flesh and blood, and the night devours three thousand women."

Later, I heard that the witches of the Southern Barbarians learned through divination that this person was the reincarnation of the Ghost King. She soaked her body with secret medicine for seven days and seven nights, and then went to serve Ghost King Feng in person.

King Feng Gui was extremely happy and let Nanman go.

Regardless of whether this rumor is true or not, it can be seen that this person is equally cruel and ruthless to the Southern Barbarians, Southern Xia people, and grassland people.

Thinking of these various rumors, Tuoba Xulu swallowed involuntarily:

"Feng Guiwang personally led the army? Five hundred thousand?"

Seeing Tuoba Xilu's somewhat nervous expression, Master Sima knew that this number might frighten the grassland barbarian in front of him who had never seen much of the world.

I saw him saying warmly:

"It's claimed to be only five hundred thousand. This is a false claim. It's not true that there are so many people. I expected only two hundred thousand."

"In addition to the civilians and auxiliary soldiers in the army, they must account for at least half, so the maximum number of combat troops will not exceed one hundred thousand."

"One hundred thousand..." Upon hearing this, Tuoba Xilu felt that it made sense.

After all, my tribe also claims to have 200,000 people who can control strings.

But that's all the people in the clan who can ride a horse.

If those who can ride a horse and draw a bow are included, the number is only one hundred thousand.

In fact, only 50,000 people can actually go into battle.

"One hundred thousand troops are divided into three groups. Even if there is some emphasis, one group will only have 50,000 troops at most."

Taifu Sima continued to analyze Tuoba Xulu:

"Now Feng Mingwen is stationed in Taiyuan, and most of his generals are following him. Therefore, in my opinion, the route where the Han army will attack with heavy troops must be at Jingxing."

Sima Yi, who had more than 150,000 troops at his disposal, was not inferior in numbers.

But Sima Yi's own family knew about his family affairs.

If the Han army were allowed to enter Hebei, the 150,000 men he had at hand might not be able to defeat Feng's 100,000 men - at least in an upright fight in front of the formation, Sima Taifu was not sure at all.

Of course, Mr. Feng was known for his deceit, so if he did not fight openly and openly, this thief might not be afraid of anyone.

This is very troublesome.

There is a saying in the art of war: Use the right combination to win by surprise.

This thief is both good and evil, and he is the opponent that no one wants to face.

At least 70% to 80% of the Han army's infantry are wearing armor. Looking at our own side, it would be good to have ten out of a hundred wearing armor.

The difference between the cavalry and the cavalry is too great to look at.

Both the roving cavalry and the sudden cavalry lagged behind the Han army.

Weapons are not good, armor is not good, war horses are not good.

The only riding skill that originally gave Wei an advantage was gone after the emergence of such a strange skill as the stirrup.

As for the Armored Cavalry...

That's impossible to even mention.

After Cao Zidan's defeat at Xiaoguan, the Wei Dynasty never thought about rebuilding the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, but due to the lack of money and food, they had no choice but to give up.

When the Wei Dynasty disbanded the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry in the early years, the Wei Dynasty had already occupied all of the north, and Wu and Shu had no cavalry to compete with the fine cavalry of the Wei Dynasty.

The most important thing is that the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry costs too much money and food.

To be honest, even now, Sima Yi has not fully figured out how the money, food, iron, cavalry and horses in the Han Dynasty came from.

It’s like they keep popping up out of nowhere!

How else to explain the armor of the Han army?

How to explain the weapons of the Han army?

Not to mention the cavalry.

If you want to build a cavalry army from scratch, in addition to investing a lot of money and food, you also need to raise horses, train them, and practice riding...

These all take time and cannot be accomplished overnight.
To be continued...