Not only did Liu Bei want to buy time, Cao Pi also wanted to buy time.
Due to the lag in news transmission, Cao Pi did not receive the news of Liu Bei's Northern Expedition until mid-October. By the time Cao Pi decided to go on his own expedition, prepared for the expedition in Yecheng, and led the 150,000 elite Central Army, it was already ten It's early January.
But as soon as Cao Pi left the gate of Ye City, he immediately received an urgent document from Guo Huai, the governor of Liangzhou, saying that Liu Bei personally led the main force of the Shu army to attack Yongliang.
After Cao Pi learned about it, he immediately summoned Jiang Ji, Cao Ren, Xu Huang, Zhang He, Xia Houshang and others who were accompanying the army to discuss the matter.
After learning that Liu Bei's main force was in Yongliang, Cao Ren and others were all shocked and realized that they had misjudged the Shu army's strategic purpose.
Although Cao Pi pretended to be calm and said that Liu Bei "has no big ambition and left the pass to take Liangzhou because of a small loss," in fact, all the generals of Cao Wei knew that there was a misjudgment in the strategic direction this time, which led to the focus of the deployment of troops. There was a deviation in the direction. Among the troops in Yongliang, only Guo Huai's Liangzhou Army was still capable of fighting.
However, although he made a mistake in judging the strategic direction, Liu Bei has now revealed his chess pieces to the public. Cao Pi does not need to continue to guess, but it is easier to deal with it.
Another thing, so what if Liu Bei got the upper hand by surprise this time, Guo Huaike would just stay in Tianshui County with the Liangzhou Corps.
Cao Pi still trusts Guo Huai's ability. Even if he faces Liu Bei's main army, Guo Huai should still be able to do it as long as he can use the mobility of the Liangzhou Corps to contain Liu Bei and create time for his own reinforcements.
Liu Bei's group is basically composed of infantry, while Guo Huai leads all cavalry.
Therefore, although Cao Pi was surprised when he learned the news, he was not too worried. Until he led his troops across the Yellow River and approached Luoyang, bad news came one after another.
Within three or four days, Cao Pi fell to Tianshui County one after another. Guo Huai led the Liangzhou Army to attack Ji County but failed. The Liangzhou Army was defeated at the foot of Ji County. Guo Huai led 3,000 soldiers to defend Shanggui County. A series of news .
Among them, the Liangzhou Army was completely defeated in just half a month, which was definitely beyond Cao Pi's imagination.
This would be a big deal.
The problem now is no longer that Guo Huai was stalling for time. Cao Pi went to the rescue and trapped Liu Bei to death in the north of Yongliang.
The question now is when Liu Bei will cross Longshan and attack Chang'an.
Cao Wei's army is also full of talents, not to mention that the battle has reached this point. Anyone with a little strategic vision can see that as long as Liu Bei takes Longshan, he will really be able to advance and retreat freely.
If you advance, you can have a glimpse of Chang'an in Guanzhong; if you retreat, you can cut off Longshan and regain Liangzhou.
This is why when Guo Huai saw that his defeat was certain, he desperately retreated eastward and ran to Shanggui. Liu Bei could not be allowed to occupy Longshan so easily.
The only good news now is that Liu Bei seems to have only occupied one Tianshui County. Among the five counties in the northern part of Yongzhou, there are still four counties in his own hands or his attitude is not clear.
Cao Pi actually didn't understand why Liu Bei left these four counties alone and didn't attack them. Wasn't this leaving a time bomb for his own retreat? !
But soon, Cao Pi learned Liu Bei's plan from the civil and military officers under his command - as long as he seizes time to cut off Long, so that these prefects of Yongliang prefectures and counties cannot see the hope of Cao Wei coming to rescue, then sooner or later these prefects will They will all choose to surrender.
Even if they are unwilling to surrender, the wealthy families in the city will surrender on their behalf.
From a military perspective, Cao Pi may not understand why Liu Bei didn't attack the four counties, but after explaining the military perspective and looking at this matter from a political perspective, Cao Pi immediately understood it clearly.
To put it bluntly, if you, Cao Wei, can make the aristocratic families from all over Yongliang see your strength and still have the willingness to rescue them, then you don’t need to be able to defeat Liu Bei head-on. As long as you can gain the upper hand and block Liu Bei on Longshan Road, then these The noble families of Yongliang will also choose to raise troops to help you attack Liu Bei's retreat.
But if you, Cao Wei, are not strong enough and are defeated by Liu Bei, then these Yongliang families will not sacrifice their lives for you, Cao Wei, and Liangzhou will naturally not belong to you, Cao Wei.
Therefore, there is no need to discuss the top priority. Even Cao Pi, a military savant, can see this. Does anyone need any advice? !
"In this case, when a general is needed, he will lead part of the Chinese army to set off first, rush to Longshan day and night, support General Guo Huai, guard Longshan, and defeat the enemy in front of him." Cao Pi gave such an order.
But the question is, who to send? !
This is a very critical question.
The first thing Cao Pi thought of was his only good brother in the Cao clan, Xia Houshang.
However, Xia Houshang was not young at this time, but with his qualifications and leadership experience, even Cao Pi was a little embarrassed to say it if he wanted to name him personally.
so.
"Uncle, I may have to trouble you to go there for this matter!" Cao Pi said to Cao Ren with a smile.
In order to show his cordiality, Cao Pi did not even call Cao Ren by his official title, but called him "uncle", which gave Cao Ren enough face.
But Cao Ren hesitated slightly and did not immediately accept the order.
It's not that Cao Ren didn't want to accept this military order, but in Cao Ren's opinion, he was not a good choice for this march.
His ability lies in commanding the defending side. To put it bluntly, he is engaged in defensive battles. Offensive battles are also possible, but it is a conventional attack. When the two sides encounter each other and fight in the field, Cao Ren is sure to win.
But this kind of work that requires leading troops to raid thousands of miles, and still keeping the soldiers' combat effectiveness after such a long march, has never been Cao Ren's strong point.
This is Xia Houyuan's strength but unfortunately, Xia Houyuan.
Except for Xia Houyuan, probably the only one among the older generation of generals who can do this and is still in the army is
"Reporting to the King of Wei, it's not just the old minister who can shirk the situation. The old minister really has no ability to do so!" Cao Ren said to Cao Pi with his hand over his hand.
Cao Pi's expression changed slightly and he began to wonder what Cao Ren meant. At this critical moment that concerns the country, should I personally order your general and you not take action? !
Cao Ren continued, "The old minister recommended that these two people may be able to take on this important task."
Cao Pi's face looked better now, and he quickly asked, "Uncle, please speak."
Cao Ren was not polite and said directly, "One is Zhang He, the general of the left, and the other is Cao Xiu, the leader of the center."
Cao Pi heard this and nodded slightly, as if he had some understanding.
There are some things that everyone knows without saying it.
Cao Ren gave two candidates, a general with a foreign surname and a descendant of the Cao clan. How you choose is up to you, Cao Pi.
It's not a test or a test, it's just tradition. In Cao Cao's time, the Cao family had always used generals from the Cao clan to command generals with other surnames, so Cao Ren actually gave an answer.
That is to make Cao Xiu the chief general and Zhang He the deputy general. Together, they will lead the troops to quickly rescue Shanggui, occupy Longshan, and then rescue the four counties of Longyou.
But something happened to Cao Pi.
"In this case, I am ordering General Zhang He to lead the 50,000 troops of the Chinese army to advance westward quickly to rescue the Longyou counties." Cao Pi issued his order.
Cao Ren paused and wanted to say something, but...
"Uncle, General Zhang is an old minister of the late king. He has always been loyal and prudent. I don't think there will be anything wrong with him." Cao Pi smiled and said to Cao Ren, "As for Wen Lie, being alone is also of great use."
Nonsense, isn't it because Cao Xiu and Cao Zhi were relatively close at the beginning, so you are too petty. Who can you hide from anyone?
However, Cao Pi was now the king of Wei. There were some things that Cao Ren couldn't say even in private, so in the end he didn't say anything and quietly withdrew.
Zhang He In fact, there is no problem with Zhang He's ability, and Cao Ren believes in it, so Cao Ren is not worried about the outcome of Zhang He's troops going to rescue Long You this time.
What Cao Ren was really worried about was whether Cao Pi intended to overturn some of Cao Cao's strategies when he was still alive.
It doesn't matter anything else. It doesn't matter if you are plotting something with those aristocratic families, but if you don't keep this military power in the hands of your own people and hand it over to outsiders, can you really sleep? !
Outsiders with good relationships are just outsiders after all, and the Cao family are the real ones.
Cao Ren was somewhat worried, but soon, he no longer had to worry about these problems. Cao Pi targeted Cao Ren's younger brother, Cao Hong.
"Now that we have determined where the main force of the Shu army is, what is Governor Cao of Chang'an doing now?!" Cao Pi suddenly asked, "Why hasn't a letter arrived yet?!"
When Cao Ren heard this, his heart suddenly skipped a beat.
One thing to say, Cao Pi's question this time is indeed very reasonable.
You, Cao Hong, hold 50,000 elite troops in Guanzhong. In the early days, you said that you misjudged the main force of the Shu army and had a deadly fight with Zhao Yun on Baoxie Road. This makes sense.
After all, everyone made mistakes at the time.
But now, Guo Huai's Liangzhou regiment has been defeated and retreated to Shanggui. You, Cao Hong, are still fighting with Zhao Yun on Baoxie Road. Is your brain twitching? !
Regarding this issue, Cao Ren actually knew the truth.
After receiving the report from Guo Huai, Cao Hong discovered that his strategic judgment was wrong, and he thought about quickly getting rid of Zhao Yun and Chen Dao on the opposite side, and then went west to support Guo Huai.
But Cao Hong had two unexpected things.
The first thing I didn't expect was that Zhao Yun, Chen Dao and the 10,000 white soldiers they led were so capable of fighting.
With a force advantage of five to one, Cao Hong was still unable to completely force the two men into Baoxie Road, nor could he take advantage of the field battle to annihilate them.
These two thieves were so fierce that they huddled at the entrance of Baoxie Road. Cao Hong led his troops to attack, so he used the narrow terrain of Baoxie Road to fortify themselves and held firm.
It's not like Cao Hong didn't think of a way. For example, he pretended to be in a hurry to lead his troops westward, leaving some soldiers to guard the Baoxie Road, while he led a large group of troops to retreat temporarily. As soon as Zhao Yun and Chen Dao came out, they would immediately turn around and kill them. Two people.
But these two people were as motionless as a turtle. Cao Hong didn't dare to really leave like this. Neither of these two people was easy to mess with, and the soldiers under them were Liu Bei's personal guards. If Cao Hong really After leaving, God knows whether they will send troops directly to Baoxie Pass, defeat the guards they left behind, and then go straight to Chang'an.
Therefore, Cao Hong had no choice but to let Guo Huai hold on for a while, and then wait until his side took advantage of its military strength to deal with Zhao Yun and Chen Dao.
Then Cao Hong's second attack came unexpectedly - he didn't expect that Guo Huai could only hold out for less than half a month, and only three thousand people of the entire Liangzhou Army were trapped in Shanggui.
What do you want Cao Hong to do? !
(End of chapter)
