In September of the 22nd year of Jian'an, Yangping Pass in Hanzhong.
The commanders of the two armies before and after Yangping Pass each received a letter at almost the same time.
Liu Bei received an urgent battle report from Guan Yu and reported to Liu Bei his record of flooding seven armies, capturing Fancheng, and forcing the surrender of Xiangyang.
Liu Bei laughed immediately after seeing it and sent the battle report to the three armies as an encouragement.
After Fazheng and Pang Tong saw the military report, they immediately found Liu Bei. While congratulating him, they were also a little worried.
Guan Yu's attack on Xiangfan at this time would effectively prevent Cao Cao from marching westward to support Xiahou Yuan, but Guan Yu might also face the situation of Cao Cao personally leading his army southward.
At that time, there is really a question mark as to whether Xiangfan can hold on.
If you want to keep Xiangfan, in addition to Guan Yu who needs to hold on, Hanzhong also needs to think of some way to break the current deadlock as soon as possible.
Xia Houyuan also received a personal letter from Cao Cao.
In Cao Cao's letter, he explained to Xia Houyuan in detail the changes in Xiangfan, which made him dare not easily support Hanzhong now. He hoped that Xia Houyuan would defend carefully and not rush forward, which gave Liu Bei an opportunity.
After holding on until winter, Cao Cao would be able to get rid of Guan Yu's threat and enter Hanzhong to support him.
After Xia Houyuan read the letter, although he was a little worried, he was not worried.
Although he still has no reinforcements and after several battles, he only has more than 20,000 people in his hands, but Yangping Pass is still in his hands.
Although Liu Bei on the opposite side received support from Hanzhong and his number increased to more than 80,000, he was still blocked by Yangping Pass and had nothing to do with him.
Therefore, Xia Houyuan feels that there will be no problem in holding on until next spring, let alone winter.
But at this moment, Liu Bei made a move.
It's unclear whether it was Liu Bei's own suggestion or Pang Tong Fazheng's plan. Liu Bei made a move that was completely unexpected by Xia Houyuan - he personally led a group of soldiers to cross the Mianshui River south and crossed Micang Mountain via the mountain path. Bypassing Yangping Pass from the mountain road and entering Dingjun Mountain in the hinterland of Hanzhong, people who were mainly anti-Visitors suddenly appeared behind Xia Houyuan.
Xia Houyuan really didn't expect that Liu Bei would do this. This is a typical case of going deep alone. Did Liu Bei's army not need all the logistics and food supplies? !
Because it was so unexpected, Xiahou Yuan did not notice Liu Bei's mountain climbing behavior. It was not until Liu Bei led Fazheng and Huang Zhong to appear behind him and completely occupied Dingjun Mountain that Xia Houyuan suddenly realized that he seemed to be about to be captured. Attacked from both sides.
Xiahou Yuan quickly adjusted his strategic deployment, recalled Zhang He who was stationed in Guangshi, and ordered Xu Huang to station at Yangping Pass. Xiahou Yuan led Guo Huai, Zhang He and others to camp at the foot of Dingjun Mountain to fight against Liu Bei.
But Xia Houyuan reacted a step too late after all. Liu Bei had already occupied Dingjun Mountain, which meant that Liu Bei had the condescending geographical advantage.
In order to avoid being directly attacked by Liu Bei's group, Xia Houyuan decided to go on the defensive and built antlers around the camp for defense. At the same time, he assigned 5,000 troops to Zhang He and ordered him to hold on to the mountain road on the right side of the camp.
Anyway, I don’t know what Xia Houyuan was thinking, but he actually dared to divide his troops when facing a defensive situation. It was probably Xia Houyuan’s judgment that Liu Bei’s troops coming over the mountain would not be too large, and he would not be able to survive more than 10,000 people.
In short, Xia Houyuan divided his troops like this, Fazheng was almost happy to death.
I heard that the attackers racked their brains and tried every means to mobilize the defenders to divide their troops. Today was the first time I saw that the defenders actually took the initiative to divide their troops.
Fa Zheng immediately suggested that Liu Bei lead the main force of the army down the mountain to burn the antlers and attack Zhang He's tribe. He and Huang Zhong continued to garrison the camp, pretending to be suspicious and attracting Xia Hou Yuan's attention, so that Xia Hou Yuan did not dare to easily assist Zhang He.
Yes, Fazheng's original intention was to buy Liu Bei time to eat Zhang He's 5,000 men.
It's not impossible, Liu Bei brought them elite soldiers.
Not the elite soldiers from Shu, but the elite soldiers who originally guarded Baidi City, the Baijie soldiers.
Chen Dao, the commander of the Baijie soldiers, was transferred to the Hanzhong battlefield by Liu Bei. He could climb mountains and wade with Liu Bei and still maintain combat effectiveness. Among the current Liu Bei army, apart from the five thousand men under Zhang Fei, only the Baijie soldiers could do this.
Then Zhang He was confused, why was it always me who got hurt? !
In Guangshi, it was already very uncomfortable to fight with less and more. Xia Houyuan was finally transferred back from the Guangshi battlefield, but he came again and was besieged by Liu Bei. Why?
Moreover, Zhang He discovered to his horror that the soldiers in front of him were attacking at night.
In this day and age, soldiers who can see at night must be elite soldiers, and soldiers who can launch attacks at night are several times more organized than ordinary soldiers.
Such an elite soldier, not only with a ferocious attack, but also with an extremely high degree of organization, would hardly give Zhang He a chance to adjust and breathe. As long as the defense line was slightly loosened, an overwhelming force would immediately come forward.
Zhang He understood that Liu Bei was taking advantage of his small number of troops to defeat Zhang He's soldiers and then outflank Xiahou Yuan.
Therefore, Zhang He did not dare to be careless and was attacked in the middle of the night. Before dawn, he had already sent people to Xiahou Yuan's camp to ask for help from Xiahou Yuan.
Xia Houyuan was also surprised.
Xia Houyuan was very aware of Zhang He's ability. Back in Guangshi, he held back Liu Bei's nearly 20,000 troops with 5,000 men, but Zhang He had never asked for help so quickly.
This abnormality shows that Zhang He is facing Liu Bei's main army attack.
If this was the case, Xia Houyuan immediately realized that these well-established camps in front of him might just be suspicious soldiers.
Out of caution, Xia Houyuan sent reinforcements to Zhang He and at the same time launched an attack on Liu Bei's camp on the top of the mountain.
A tentative attack. After all, the opponent occupies a high ground. Even if there are only one or two thousand people defending it, if he does not have a sufficient number of soldiers, he will not be able to kill him.
Xia Houyuan only judged whether Liu Bei was still on the mountain based on the movement of the opponent's troops, the direction of movement of flags and drums on the mountain, and the number of arrows.
As a result, Xia Houyuan discovered that Liu Bei's army on the mountain moved quickly, but his flags did not move much. He had the upper hand on the top of the mountain. When faced with the attack, he used arrows to repel the enemy more than to fight head-on.
Of course, the most important thing is that the arrows shot are quite sparse.
Combined with the battle report from Zhang He, Xia Houyuan immediately made a judgment that Liu Bei's army had moved and was heading to besiege Zhang He's camp.
Therefore, Xia Houyuan only left 3,000 men for himself, and the rest were sent to support Zhang He, ordering Zhang He to try his best to stop Liu Bei and delay time.
Xia Houyuan knew that Liu Bei would not be able to bring much food and grass when he came over the mountains. It was inconvenient to transport food and grass along the mountain road. The longer the delay, the more unfavorable Liu Bei's food supply would be.
As long as Liu Bei runs out of food and retreats, he will win.
Until now, Xia Houyuan is still relatively sober and has the demeanor of a famous general.
Although he only left 3,000 soldiers for himself, there were indeed only 2,000 soldiers in Liu Bei's Dingjunshan military camp. These people were more than capable of defending, and it was simply unrealistic to attack Xiahou Yuan's camp.
Not to mention, Xia Houyuan also specially built antlers to prevent Liu Bei's army from suddenly rushing down from the mountain.
Therefore, the focus of both sides is on the victory or defeat of Zhang He and Liu Bei.
But Fa Zheng really couldn't understand the next few things.
Both sides must take some offensive and defensive measures, even if they are suspected soldiers and empty camps.
For example, if Xia Houyuan built antlers, then Fazheng would have to find a way to burn these antlers. If it was necessary to go down the mountain to fight, these antlers would be a hindrance after all.
But Xia Houyuan personally led four hundred elite soldiers to repair the antlers himself. What does this mean? !
Fazheng really couldn't understand, but Fazheng knew that it would be a pity if he let such a good opportunity pass.
Moreover, Xia Houyuan didn't just come to repair the antlers once. He patrolled the antlers defense for three or four days in a row. When he saw any antlers that were unqualified or had been burned by Liu Bei's army, he personally directed people to repair them.
In fact, Xia Houyuan also made a misjudgment about Liu Bei's soldiers on the mountain.
Xia Houyuan judged based on the density of arrows in the last attack that the total strength of Liu Bei's group on the mountain was probably between one thousand and two thousand men.
Since the main attack is on Zhang He's side, the ones left behind in the camp can basically be suspected soldiers, those who have more than enough defense but not enough offense.
Therefore, Xia Houyuan judged that Liu Bei's army on the mountain would not take the initiative to attack down the mountain.
On the other hand, Xia Houyuan was also a little overconfident. He felt that he had led 400 elite personal guards. Even if Liu Bei's soldiers came out with a thousand soldiers, he would still be able to fight with these 400 elite soldiers.
Therefore, Xia Houyuan went out to repair the antlers by himself.
If you come here once, Fazheng may still be hesitant. If you come here for three or four days in a row, can Fazheng let you go? !
Seeing Xia Houyuan appear again, Fa Zheng immediately ordered Huang Zhong to take out all the two thousand soldiers in the camp, trying to complete his victory in one battle and directly kill Xia Houyuan.
Huang Zhong has been staring at Xia Houyuan for more than a day or two. If he can't catch this great power that comes to his door, his sixty years will be in vain.
Then there is no more.
In the battle of Dingjun Mountain, veteran general Huang Zhongqu killed Xia Houyuan and made an unparalleled contribution.
He cut off the emperor's foundation and became famous throughout the ages.
(End of chapter)
