Guan Yu's third son "Guan Suo" joined the army. Zhang Xi, the commander-in-chief of the Southern Expedition, was "overjoyed" and immediately appointed "Guan Suo" as the vanguard and guide of the army, sealing mountains and opening roads and building bridges when encountering rivers.
In fact, they gave Guan Yinping 3,000 men and allowed them and his wife to lead the army alone, so that they could have a separate tent and avoid crowding into the military tent with others.
As for whether Guan Yinping can command these three thousand people, Zhang Xi is not worried that if Guan Yinping can't, won't Deng Ai be able to? !
With Deng Ai's current ability, he can definitely shoulder the responsibility of leading 3,000 men as a vanguard officer.
Anyway, Zhang Xi can't get rid of this young couple, so let's stay for now. According to Deng Ai's description, Guan Yinping can be regarded as a fierce general, at least there is no problem at all in charging into battle.
However, Zhang Xi still wrote a private letter to Liu Bei, the King of Hanzhong in Chengdu, to understand the cause and effect of these things. She was his eldest niece. If she didn't say this, Zhang Xi was afraid that Liu Bei would be dissatisfied.
After doing this, the army continued to move forward.
Deng Ai and Guan Yinping led the army and marched all the way to Bodao.
After arriving at Bodao, Zhang Xi paused his march and began to analyze the enemy intelligence based on detailed reports.
At present, three of the four counties in Nanzhong are in rebellion. Only the prince and his wife of Yongchang County and the meritorious officer Lu Kai have not responded and are holding on to the county to prevent the rebels from entering.
Yong Kai also sent several messages to Yongchang County, hoping to persuade Wang and Lu Kai to surrender. He also sent troops to attack. However, Lu Kai's family was also a wealthy family in Yongchang County. If he was determined to resist, Yong Kai's small number of troops would be useless. Unable to hit.
However, Yongchang County is located in a remote area, and the troops Wang and Lu Kai have can only protect themselves.
After rebelling against the three counties, Zhang Xi was unable to send people to contact Wang, his wife and others in Yongchang County for the time being, so this group of troops could not be considered for the time being.
Among the three counties, Gaoding, the king of Yi in Yuexun County, had the largest number of troops, probably nearly 10,000 people.
However, according to the fighting characteristics of the Yi people, all the people are often soldiers. At best, everyone can go into battle to kill the enemy, but at worst, among these ten thousand people, there may be old, weak, women and children. The number of people who can really fight is probably It has to be doubled, which is only five or six thousand people.
Yong Kai and Meng Huo of Jianning County probably have thousands of soldiers and horses each, and the combined number of soldiers and horses exceeds that of Yuexun County's Gaoding. But the problem is that although these two armies cooperate in name, they both They are commanding their own troops, and there is no possibility of unified and coordinated operations.
Moreover, Jianning County is behind Yuexun County. If Zhang Xi wants to attack Yong Kai and Meng Huo of Jianning County, he will most likely end up copying Yuexun County's haute couture.
As for Zhu Baoma of Xianggang County, he has the smallest number of troops, only two or three thousand men. This man is not a man of great talent or strategy. Although he has been coordinating the rebellion, he has always insisted on staying in Xianggang County. Obviously he just wants to fish in troubled waters. This person is not a big problem.
After figuring out the enemy situation in the three counties, Zhang Xi began to make arrangements - dividing his troops.
It is impossible to completely pacify the three counties without dividing the troops. Fighting them one by one will not only be time-consuming and labor-intensive, but also increase the logistical pressure. After all, the food and supplies are not that sufficient.
Therefore, Zhang Xi chose to attack Gaoding in Yuexun County first, and then assigned 5,000 troops to Ma Zhong to deal with Zhu Bao.
Zhang Xi believed in Ma Zhong's strength. At the same time, Zhang Xi also knew that in history, it was Ma Zhong who led the partial army and defeated Zhu Bao by himself and regained the county.
As for the middle route, Zhang Xi also followed the historical arrangement and ordered Li Hui to lead five thousand troops and advance to Pingyi County to defend it.
Zhang Xi, on the other hand, took the remaining 20,000 troops and marched into Yuexun County. He first attacked Gaoding and attracted Yong Kai and Meng Huo from Jianning County to come for reinforcements.
Once Yong Kai and Meng Huo go north, Li Hui can immediately lead his troops south, take a circuitous route over the mountains, attack Meng Huo and Yong Kai's hometown Wei County, and directly cut off Yong Kai and Meng Huo's retreat.
In order to ensure that Li Hui completed the mission, Zhang Xi handed over Wang Ping and the thousand troops he led to Li Hui's control.
As for Ma Su, Zhang Xi brought him with him, for no other reason than to let him feel what a real military formation was like.
Now Ma Su has basically adapted to this complicated life in the military camp. After being separated from the logistics force and coming to the Chinese military tent, Ma Su still felt a little uncomfortable.
Moreover, because he did not participate in the previous strategy meeting, Ma Di was very confused about Zhang Xi's current approach.
In Ma Su's opinion, Zhang Xi's actions were too slow.
At this time, the main force of Couture was mainly concentrated on the Yanniu, Dingze and Beishui front lines, while Zhang Xi led more than 20,000 troops and also advanced towards the Beishui front line.
However, Zhang Xi's daily marching distance was less than twenty miles. He did not set off until dawn and started setting up camp just after noon.
It's December now, and the weather in Nanzhong is rarely cool. If we don't take advantage of this time to rush forward quickly and defeat the enemy in one fell swoop, when the weather turns hot after next spring, our group of Yizhou soldiers will not be able to defeat these local natives of Nanzhong. .
Therefore, Ma Di went out of his way to find Zhang Xi and offer advice to Zhang Xi.
"Don't you, the governor, hear the principle of "soldiers are more valuable and faster"?!" Ma Di found Zhang Xi, cupped his hands and said to Zhang Xi, "Now the Yi King Gaoding's troops are few and scattered. Why doesn't the general advance quickly and defeat the enemy in one fell swoop? Marching like this will be delayed for a long time. , if Yongkai was built in Ning, and Meng Huo came to help, wouldn’t it be a mistake?!"
Zhang Xi glanced at Ma Su and thought to himself, do you still know that soldiers are valuable and quick? !
Then you were caught off guard by Zhang He, the mountain-climbing general, at the street pavilion? !
Moreover.
"You have been familiar with the art of war since you were a child. This is indeed the truth." Zhang Xi smiled and explained to Ma Su, "There is indeed a saying in the art of war, "Soldiers are more important than speed", but there is also a saying, "Haste makes waste". When using troops, Tao, we must take advantage of opportunities. If we advance quickly, we can indeed defeat Gaoding, but Gaoding's troops are barbarians from this county. Although they are defeated and hidden in the mountains, how can we find them?! Furthermore, Meng Huo and Yong Kai led troops to support Gaoding. If Gaoding was defeated quickly, these two men would not dare to come again. If these two men stick to Jianning County and do not leave, we will attack them one by one despite the lack of geographical advantage. Wouldn't it be wrong? Time-consuming?!"
At this point, no further explanation is needed, Ma Su understood immediately.
Zhang Xi deliberately slowed down his march, waiting for these three groups to join together, and then defeated them in one fell swoop, completely putting down the rebellion.
Thinking back to what Zhang Xi said before, "In the way of using troops, opportunity comes first." I suddenly seemed to notice something, and I was thoughtful.
From then on, Ma Di rarely spoke and did not give Zhang Xi any advice. He just stood aside and observed Zhang Xi's strategy of leading troops.
Zhang Xi walked very slowly along the way, marching slowly, creating a lot of time for the enemy troops to gather.
As for the enemy, Gao Ding learned that Zhang Xi had led 20,000 troops to Beishui. He immediately felt like he was facing a formidable enemy. While shrinking his troops, he urged Yong Kai and Meng Huo to rush to help.
Couture's rebellion was not about some mineral deposits. To a certain extent, it was understandable that he rebelled.
After all, the Han government these days does not pay much attention to ethnic policies, so in the South Central region, it is very common for Han bureaucrats to oppress the barbarians.
And Gao Ding was a native of the Yi people. He just felt that Yuexun County was the territory of the Yi people. Why should the Han people be allowed to ride on the heads of the Yi people? !
Therefore, the purpose of Gaoding's rebellion was to expel the Han people in Yuexun County, and because Yongkai promised him that as long as he raised an army, Yuexun County would be handed over to Gaoding to rule.
Therefore, Gaoding's rebellion does have the motivation to persevere.
But the problem is that the Han people are too strong.
Especially in the past hundred years, the Han people have always been the dominant force. Even if Gaoding wanted to rebel, he was still very scared when he saw more than 20,000 Han people coming towards him.
Gaoding's rebellion was to rule Yuexun County and to fight for the interests of the Yi people. Although he was determined to rebel, he was really worried that he could not defeat the Han people, so he kept urging Yong Kai and Meng Huo to go north quickly for support.
As for Yong Kai and Meng Huo. These two rebelled in order to equally share the mineral deposits in Jianning County, so they naturally refused to leave Jianning County easily.
But again, these two are more or less people who still have brains. They know that once Gaoding cannot stop them, they will have to face the Chengdu army directly, which is also very disadvantageous for them.
Therefore, despite their unwillingness, the two men personally led the troops to rescue Gaoding.
Among them, Yong Kai was closer in the end. He led five thousand troops and rushed to Beishui area first, while Meng Huo was still on the way.
At this time, Zhang Xi had also led his troops to Beishui and stationed them there, suspending their march.
Now in Beishui, the 15,000 allied troops of Gaoding and Yongkai are facing off against the 20,000 soldiers led by Zhang Xi.
But at this time, no one knew what was going on within the rebels. Gao Ding and Yong Kai were in internal strife.
No one knows the specific process. They only know that Yong Kai came to rescue Gaoding, but was killed by Gaoding's subordinates, and Gaoding also took the opportunity to annex Yongkai's soldiers.
This incident made Zhang Xi a little dumbfounded.
To be honest, it’s been a long time. Zhang Xi only remembers Prime Minister Zhuge Liang’s seven captures of Meng Huo. He doesn’t remember the high-definition, Zhu Bao, Yong Kai and other supporting roles. Even Zhang Xi himself I had forgotten that there was such an internal strife.
The price was paid with human heads and annexed troops. This kind of internal strife could not be fake. Meng Huo therefore stopped his march to Beishui.
Damn it, this high-end dress is not exquisite. We are leading the troops to rescue you. We are all kind to you no matter what. If there is any contradiction, you can't kill people and seize the army.
So are you really unable to bear it and want us to rescue you, or do you want to take this opportunity to annex us, and then you can surrender to Liu Bei in exchange for a high-ranking official and a generous salary? !
Meng Huo hesitated and immediately stopped his troops where they were.
This also means that Zhang Xi's plan to "gather and annihilate" the Nanzhong rebels has gone bankrupt.
Zhang Xi scolded his mother and ordered his soldiers to attack Gaoding immediately.
Since we can't eat them all, it's not unacceptable to eat the fifteen thousand people in front of us.
If they hesitate any longer, they should withdraw their troops and run away.
Zhang Xi ordered an attack, and Deng Ai and "Guan Suo", as vanguard officers, were the first to lead the battle and attack the left wing camp of the Gaoding Army. At the same time, Zhang Yi led 5,000 middle troops to follow up and attacked the middle of the Gaoding Army. Zhang Yi led 5,000 rear troops. , attacking the right wing camp of the Gaoding Army.
Zhang Xi led 5,000 men as the general reserve team.
Ma Di was puzzled and asked Zhang Xi, "Although that army is large, it is just a mob. It has just experienced internal strife and the morale of the army is not harmonious. Why doesn't the commander-in-chief attack with the whole army and achieve full success?!"
Zhang Xi just smiled and said, "When it comes to battle formations, don't be careless and underestimate the enemy. Expect the enemy to be lenient and know that there is no ambush?! Xi's move is just a precaution."
Zhang Xi can't say that I am afraid of death, so I should keep some troops to protect myself. Besides, it is necessary to keep a reserve team. If something happens, there won't be no troops available.
Ma Su nodded thoughtfully again.
On the opposite side, the soldiers of the Gaoding Army were disintegrating.
(End of chapter)
