Chapter 2795: Wei Wu raised his whip and burned Guandu
Yuan Jiuling's departure, coupled with the fall of Baima City, these two bad news could not be worse, forcing Cao Cao to abandon Guandu.
After all, Guandu's position was too far forward. If Le Yi couldn't defend Puyang, Cao Cao might not even have a chance to escape.
Cao Cao originally had great confidence in Le Yi, thinking that even if he was not Bai Qi's opponent, he could at least hold Dongjun for a few months.
However, with the fall of most of the East County such as Baimadu, Dunqiu, and Baima City, Cao Cao obviously did not have much confidence in Le Yi's ability to hold Puyang.
It is precisely for this reason that Cao Cao chose to abandon Guandu in order to minimize losses. However, with Zhang Liao and Jia Xu around, it was not easy to retreat safely from Guandu.
Just as Cao Cao was planning how to withdraw his troops from Guandu, Zhang Liao also received news that Bai Qi had defeated Baima and was about to march to Puyang.
This made Zhang Liao happy, but he also felt a little impatient in his heart. After all, among the three major battlefields in Yanzhou, the middle route army had the largest number of troops, but the progress of the attack was the slowest. On the other hand, the north and south routes were almost finished.
On the Yingchuan battlefield on the south road, the Qin army led by Ying Hao almost crushed the Wei army all the way, and easily reached the city of Xuchang with extremely low casualties. Cao Wei only had Xuchang left in the entire Yingchuan.
On the battlefield of Dongjun on the North Road, except for Jia Fu being plotted by Le Yi and suffering a small defeat, the overall situation was extremely smooth. Except for Puyang and Yanxian, all other cities were captured by Bai Qi.
Only the Chenliu battlefield in the middle has not been able to break through the three major defense lines on the western front two months since the war began, and it has not even been able to penetrate Chenliu territory.
The middle route army led by Zhang Liao obviously has the largest number of troops, but the progress of the strategy is the slowest. There are three reasons for this:
First, Cao Wei is the most well-prepared in the middle, and the Chenliu line of defense is already the strongest. In addition, Cao Cao is personally in charge, so it is naturally the most difficult to defeat.
Second, the battlefield in Chenliu involves the most cities. Eighteen counties in eastern Henan, plus seventeen counties in Chenliu, total a total of thirty-five counties.
You must know that there are fifteen counties in Dongjun and only seventeen counties in Yingchuan. The total number of cities in these two battlefields is not as many as the number of cities in Chenliu battlefield.
Third, the purpose of the Qin army in the middle from the beginning was not to quickly capture the city, but to pin Cao Cao here. That's why Zhang Liao fought so steadily.
Zhang Liao naturally knew the mission of his army, but seeing the northern and southern armies fighting consecutive victories, he still felt a little anxious in his heart, wondering if he could have a plan and at the same time inflict heavy damage on the Wei army.
But after thinking deeply, Zhang Liao still gave up. After all, the combination of Cao Cao and Fan Li was equally difficult. Even Jia Taifu, who had no calculations, was no longer sure of winning when facing them.
"Commander, the general has defeated Baima. Once Puyang is captured, Cao Cao's rear will be threatened. Do you think Cao Cao will abandon Guandu?" Zhang Liao asked with a smile.
Jia Xu smiled and said: "With Cao Cao's suspicious personality, he will definitely give up Guandu."
"Okay, if that's the case, then I can't let him escape."
After saying this, Zhang Liao was ready to give orders and be ready to pursue at any time to prevent the Wei army in Guandu from escaping.
But Jia Xu shook his head at Zhang Liao and said: "This time Cao Cao retreats, our army can pursue him, but we cannot severely damage the Wei army."
"Forehead……"
Zhang Liao was startled and asked in confusion: "Military advisor, why is this?"
The opportunity to severely damage the Wei army was right in front of him, but Jia Xu asked him to give up. Zhang Liao really couldn't understand this.
Jia Xu did not answer, but asked instead: "Do you think Cao Cao retreated to Chenliu County after abandoning Guandu, or did he abandon the western front and directly retreat to the eastern counties of Wei?"
Zhang Liao thought for a while and replied: "We should abandon the west and retreat to the east."
Jia Xu did not answer, but took out a map of Wei State from his arms, which marked the military strength of Wei State in various places, as well as the distribution of grain and grass.
Even such confidential information, Jia Xu knows everything clearly, which shows that the Wei State has been infiltrated into a sieve, and there is no secret at all in front of Da Qin.
Jia Xu pointed to the distribution of grain and grass on the map and said: "In order to resist our army's attack, Cao Cao moved 70% of the country's grain and grass to the west for scattered storage before the war, so as to facilitate the supply of grain to the frontline battlefields.
Cao Cao could abandon the west and retreat directly to the east, but the army could withdraw, but the food and grass could not be moved away.
Once all the Wei troops on the western front withdraw to the eastern front, only 30% of the grain and grass reserves on the eastern front will not be able to support the consumption of Cao Wei's army. "
"Cao Cao can borrow from the Ming and Song Dynasties..."
Before he finished speaking, Zhang Liao knew that this would not work. After all, what Cao Cao lacked was not tens of thousands of stones or hundreds of thousands of stones, but millions of stones of food and grass.
The transportation of millions of stones of grain and grass is not that easy even in peacetime, let alone now during a war.
In addition, the Song and Ming countries also had too much to take care of themselves, so how could they lend millions of grains to Wei?
After Jia Xu's reminder, Zhang Liao almost understood what he meant, but he still asked tentatively: "What does the military counselor mean by taking a long-term approach to catch big fish?"
"That's right."
Jia Xu nodded and said: "The grain and grass in the eastern part of Wei State are limited and cannot support the consumption of the Wei army. Cao Cao will never give up on the western front unless it is absolutely necessary.
Therefore, this time, Cao Cao would at most abandon Guandu and retreat to Chenliu to prevent his retreat from being cut off if Puyang fell, leaving him with no time to react.
But if the loss of troops is too great, Cao Cao may give up Chen Liu and retreat directly to the east, and then our army's early preparations will be in vain. "
Hearing Jia Xu's words, Zhang Liao couldn't help but nodded. He deliberately fought steadily and dragged Cao Cao to the front line, just because he didn't want Cao Cao to lead his army back to the east.
There are ten counties in the Wei State, including eight counties in Yanzhou, one county in Yuzhou, and one county in Xuzhou.
Dongjun and Chenliu in Yanzhou and Yingchuan in Yuzhou are all outside the attack of the Qin army, but there are still seven counties in the strategic depth in the east.
If the main force of the Wei army on the western front can be completely annihilated, then the seven counties in the east can be informed. Otherwise, attacking city by city will obviously waste a lot of time in Wei.
"What the military advisor said is reasonable, but it is difficult to control the speed of pursuing the Wei army without severely damaging it. If it is too obvious, Cao Cao and Fan Li may see through it." Zhang Liao pondered.
"Please rest assured, Commander-in-Chief, Cao Cao and Fan Li are not mortals. They will definitely come up with a strategy to safely retreat to Chenliu under the pursuit of our army. Our army only needs to follow the trend."
As soon as Jia Xu finished speaking, soldiers came to report: "Inform the Governor and Military Advisor that Cao Cao personally led nearly ten thousand Wei troops to attack the camp before night."
After hearing this, Jia Xu and Zhang Liao looked at each other and smiled, obviously knowing that Cao Cao's attack on the camp was not really for the purpose of attacking the camp, but to cover the retreat of the main Wei army in Guandu.
"Give me the order to summon 10,000 archers to guard around the camp. Once the Wei army approaches, just shoot them back."
After Zhang Liao gave the order, Jia Xu added: "In addition, the camps in the rear were ordered to immediately prepare sand, soil and other fire-extinguishing materials.
After daybreak, Cao Cao will definitely burn Guandu to prevent our army from pursuing.
There are still a lot of supplies in Guandu, which were all burned by Cao Cao. It is possible to save as much as possible. "
"Just do as the military advisor says." Zhang Liao said solemnly.
"promise."
At the same time, Cao Cao, who led his army to pretend to attack the Qin army's camp, but was actually to cover the retreat of the main force, was secretly relieved when he saw that the Qin army did not leave the camp to fight, but only retracted its defense line.
Did Cao Cao know that Zhang Liao would not fight? Because he had implemented this harassment tactic many times. If Zhang Liao had to fight every time, the Qin army would have been exhausted.
"Send the order and divide into five groups to beat drums outside the Qin camp to disturb the Qin army's rest."
"promise."
After giving the order, Cao Cao went back and handed over the army to Xia Houyuan. After all, he still had many things to deal with, such as many matters regarding the retreat, so it was naturally impossible for him to stay and carry out the exhausted troops all night.
After returning to the camp, Cao Cao's heart ached when he saw the list of supplies handed over by his subordinates that could not be transported away from Guandu.
As the core of the three major defense lines in the west, Guandu needs to transport supplies to the first two major defense lines, so it naturally accumulates a large amount of grain and grass supplies, which even accounts for a quarter of Cao Wei's total supplies in the west.
Naturally, it was impossible to transport all the supplies. Even if Cao Cao ordered them to be transported overnight, at most only part of them could be transported, and the rest would naturally be burned and the Qin army would not be able to benefit.
"My lord, everything has been arranged, we just need to choose the next general." Fan Li said in a deep voice.
After Cao Cao was silent for a long time, he spoke: "Order Xiahou Yuan and Cao Chun to lead 5,000 infantry, 5,000 tiger and leopard cavalry, a total of 10,000 troops, and four generals: Tantaiyu, Kagutu, and Xiahou Dun."
Both Cao Cao and Fan Li obviously knew that it was impossible to hold back the main force of Zhang Liao and Qin's army by simply attacking the camp and setting fire to it, so they still had to leave behind the remaining troops.
This separation was obviously very dangerous, but Cao Cao left Xia Houyuan, Cao Chun, and three war-god-level warriors behind, so naturally he didn't let them die.
After Li Cunxiao was transferred, the strongest person under Zhang Liao was Zhang Dingbian. Now that the Wei army has three war gods, it is at least guaranteed to be stronger than the Qin army in terms of general lineup. Even if the army in the rear is exhausted, the generals can also Break out on his own and return to Chenliu.
Of course, with the fighting power of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, unless the Qin army sends an elite battalion to pursue them, it is naturally impossible for the entire army to be annihilated, and at most they will be severely damaged.
[Ding dong, Cao Cao's skill 'Wei Wu' effect 2 is activated;
Wei Wu: Hengshu composes poems, Wei Wu whips his whip; this is Cao Cao's unique fusion technique, which is composed of "encouragement" and "treacherous hero":
Effect 1…
Effect 2: You can designate a general from this camp to temporarily replace the "Cao Wei Eight Tiger Cavalry" and activate the combo skill;
…
Currently, Cao Cao's skill 'Wei Wu' Effect 2 is activated, and Tantai Yu is designated to temporarily replace him as one of Cao Wei's Eight Tiger Riders. 】
In the three Central Plains wars, although Cao Cao failed to defeat the Ming Dynasty, he and his generals have grown a lot, and the fusion skill of 'Wei Wu' is the best proof.
Before dawn, the Wei army responsible for making the noise retreated, and then retreated to Fengqiu City under the leadership of Cheng Yu. As for Cao Cao and Fan Li, naturally they had already withdrawn.
When the sky gradually turned white, Cao Chun, holding a torch in his hand, looked at the mountains of supplies in Guandu with a look of reluctance in his eyes. After all, these were all the blood and sweat of the people of Wei.
Although Wei's land reform policy allowed the people to obtain land, the agricultural tax was the highest among the countries. Together with other miscellaneous taxes, most of the people's harvests were taxed, so they could barely maintain food and clothing.
"It's time, let's set the fire."
Xia Houyuan sighed and said that he was actually reluctant to part with it, but he had to do it because otherwise he would not be able to cover the retreat of the main force.
Cao Chun reluctantly threw the torches into the grain depot, and then a large number of torches were thrown all over Guandu. In an instant, the entire Guandu was ignited, but the fire was not that big due to the gap.
This was naturally done intentionally by Cao Cao. After all, only when the fire in Guandu could be extinguished would Zhang Liao make every effort to put out the fire and rescue supplies, which would undoubtedly hold back part of the Qin army's strength.
What Cao Cao didn't know was that even if he didn't do this, Zhang Liao would still put out the fire. After all, his goal was to catch big fish in the long run. If he didn't put out the fire, it would be hard to give Cao Cao a chance.
Of course, even if Zhang Liao ordered the fire to be extinguished, the Qin army would still have sufficient troops to pursue it. However, there were traps laid by Cao Cao in advance on the road, which slowed down some of the pursuit of the Qin army.
(End of chapter)
