Zhang Fei glared. "Didn't the strategist say that as long as we took Fushui Pass and Jiameng Pass, our army had already won half the battle? Why are you talking such discouraging nonsense now to fool me?"
Zhuge Liang said, "My original plan was to seize the two passes intact. That way, we would only need to station several thousand elite troops there and use the terrain to hold off Yuan Clan reinforcements coming from Hanzhong, keeping them outside Yizhou. I never expected Yuan Xi to be so decisive as to dismantle and burn both passes!"
Huang Yueying frowned. "An ordinary commander would surely defend the two passes to the death. After all, they are protected by natural mountain barriers."
Zhuge Liang said, "The passes may be dangerous, but with the Black Tortoise Mechanism Beasts you rushed into production, breaking through their gates would not have been difficult. Unfortunately, Yuan Xi seems to understand our army rather well. He simply tore down the passes, leaving neither side with anything. This shows that Yuan Xi did not earn his great reputation in the Central Plains through luck alone."
Zhang Fei said, "Neither side wants these two passes now. We can just settle it in Western Sichuan, can't we?"
Zhuge Liang shook his head.
Huang Yueying said, "General Zhang, you do not understand. Losing the natural barriers of the two passes is extremely disadvantageous to our army. We only have half of Jingzhou as our foundation, and these ten thousand soldiers are already the last of our military strength. Meanwhile, Yuan Army reinforcements will continue streaming into Western Sichuan from Hanzhong."
Zhuge Liang said, "Including Yongzhou, there are fourteen provinces under heaven, and Yuan Xi already controls eleven of them. We are using the strength of half a province to contend with