Zhang Xi was still working hard to boost the morale of the army, but in fact, all the soldiers defending the city knew that the street pavilion could no longer be defended.
The current Jieting City is in dilapidated condition, many city walls have collapsed, and there are still not enough manpower to repair it.
In other words, even if it is repaired, I am afraid it will not last long and will still collapse. The soldiers no longer have the idea or patience to do such a seemingly useless thing.
Now Zhang Xi is seriously considering whether to lead his soldiers to retreat temporarily and retreat to the second line of defense built at the beginning to survive for a while.
Before the war, Zhang Xi built three lines of defense to guard against Zhang He's cavalry who might arrive from the direction of Longshan Road. But in fact, Zhang He did not come from the direction of Longshan Road, but from the direction of Shanggui City.
Therefore, among the three lines of defense, except that the first line of cavalry, which was used to defend Fei Yao, played a slight role and is basically useless now, the second line of defense is actually no different from a fake one.
Because the defense points of the camps are different, the defense points of the first two camps are towards Longshan Road, and Zhang He came from the direction of Shanggui. Therefore, even if Zhang Xi leads the army to retreat to the second line of defense, Zhang He's There are no defensive measures in the direction of march. Once there, it is really just a matter of survival.
Another thing, now Fei Yao has basically cleared the camps and antlers of the first line of defense. Once Zhang Xi retreats to the second line of defense camp, he will almost take the initiative to lead Fei Yao and Zhang He to complete the merge, completely surrounding himself in the second line of defense. The defensive camp was completely in a state of death.
Instead of this, Zhang Xi felt that he might as well fight to the death in the street pavilion or at worst abandon the city defense and fight with Zhang He's army in the field. If that didn't work, he could still let the soldiers break out and maybe still have a chance to survive.
As for myself, let’s talk about it after the fight is over tomorrow.
After all, it's not completely hopeless. Didn't Wang Ping sneak around and attack.
If Wang Ping succeeds in his raid tomorrow and the situation improves, then this street pavilion will have a chance to continue to hold on. I hope Wang Ping will not disappoint.
And Wang Ping did not disappoint Zhang Xi.
In fact, with the incompetent mountain movement ability of the flying army, it did not take two days to attack Zhang He behind him.
But Wang Ping delayed it for two days, and there was really a reason for it.
Because Wang Ping encountered the same group of companions who were moving in the mountains and forests, trying to take a detour and sneak attack on Zhang He.
Zhang Fei led more than 4,000 infantry and set out five days ago. They also climbed mountains and waded in rivers to bypass Guo Huai's surveillance, trying to sneak attack behind Zhang He's army.
After being severely manipulated by Zhang He and defeated at the gate of Shanggui City, Zhang Fei led his army back twenty miles, tried his best to stabilize the defense line, set up camp in the stronghold, gathered the defeated troops, but found that Zhang He did not pursue the victory.
In this regard, Zhang Fei predicted Zhang He's intention immediately - Zhang He planned to take advantage of the time difference in the transmission of the message to sneak attack Zhang Xi at the street pavilion.
This made Zhang Fei very anxious and angry.
It's not that Zhang Fei doesn't have confidence in Zhang Xi, it's really that no one can be on guard at all times for things like sneak attacks.
Especially the street pavilion where Zhang Xi is located.
You know, before Zhang Xi went to Jieting to garrison, Zhang Fei was in the direction of Shanggui. That is to say, in Zhang Xi's concept, his retreat was guarded. But now Zhang Fei was caught off guard by Zhang He , there was no time to notify Zhang Xi immediately, so theoretically, Zhang Xi was unprepared for the retreat.
If Zhang He succeeds in his sneak attack and captures the street pavilion, then the entire Longshan will be under Zhang He's control.
If it really turned out like that, it would be entirely because of Zhang Fei's temporary underestimation of the enemy that caused the current situation. Zhang Fei would definitely not be able to forgive himself.
Therefore, Zhang Fei was very anxious and almost immediately wanted to lead his troops to fight again, repel Guo Huai in front of him, and send troops to meet Zhang Xi.
But Jiang Xu persuaded Zhang Fei.
Now Guo Huai is waiting for Zhang Fei to take the initiative to attack. If he attacks Guo Huai now, he will simply fall into a trap set in advance.
Moreover, Jiang Xu believed that Zhang Xi had always been cautious based on his colleagues in Ji County. Even if Zhang He succeeded in a sneak attack, Zhang Xi would not be defeated all of a sudden. He should still be able to hold on to the defense line of the street pavilion and wait for reinforcements. of.
So the first thing Zhang Fei has to do now is to gather the remaining troops and ask the King of Hanzhong for reinforcements. After the reinforcements arrive, he will send troops to defeat Guo Huai, reoccupy Shanggui and cut off Zhang He's retreat.
As for the direction of Jieting, as long as the King of Hanzhong gets the message, he will definitely send troops from Guangwei County. Those who rescue Jieting should not forget that the King of Hanzhong has a group of Qiang and Hu cavalry, the group led by Ma Chao.
Although Guangwei County has not yet been completely captured, it is not impossible for Ma Chao to lead the Qiang and Hu cavalry to rush to Jieting.
The cavalry is fast, and it is only three or four days' journey from Guangwei County to Jieting. As long as Ma Chao leads his troops to Jieting, it will not be that easy to capture Jieting with the infantry in Zhang He's hands.
Yes, Jiang Xu had a good idea, but regarding Jiang Xu's perfect imagination, Zhang Fei raised a question - how do you know that Ma Chao will arrive on time this time? !
To put it bluntly, Zhang Fei didn't believe Ma Chao at all.
Back in Ji County, Ma Chao arrived late, forcing Zhang Xi and Zhang Fei to sacrifice their soldiers' lives to gain a chance to defeat the Liangzhou Army. How did they know that Ma Chao would be there in time this time? !
Another thing, when Zhang Fei was in Hebei County, he had heard that Zhang Xi had some unpleasant feelings with Ma Chao because he stopped Ma Chao from killing the Zhao family. How could the petty Ma Chao fully support Jieting regardless of past grudges? !
Jiang Xu couldn't answer this question. If Ma Chao had this ambition, why did the powerful Liangzhou gangsters unite to deceive him?
The Ma family is also a famous family in Liangzhou.
When Zhang Fei said this, even Jiang Xu murmured. He felt that Zhang Xi's situation was quite bad now.
Therefore, Zhang Fei once again proposed that he decisively send troops to defeat Guo Huai. Even if he knew that Guo Huai was waiting for work, and even if his own troops were seriously insufficient, he would still reduce the pressure on Zhang Xi no matter what. If he could defeat Guo Huai, he could outflank Zhang He. The retreat route would be the best.
But Jiang Xu always felt that this method was too inefficient and the possibility was too low. He repeatedly tried to dissuade Zhang Fei.
Zhang Fei, a man with a bad temper, almost got rid of Jiang Xu and wanted to act recklessly. Jiang Xu couldn't help it. After holding it in for a long time, he came up with an idea that seemed to work.
Jiang Xu suggested that Zhang Fei and his 4,000 infantrymen should take a detour from the mountain road to avoid Guo Huai's surveillance on the opposite side to meet Zhang Xi.
As for Jiang Xu himself, he pretended to be Zhang Fei and was temporarily in charge of the camp, continuing to gather the remaining soldiers. He could restore morale and hide it from Guo Huai for a while.
Doing so would be tantamount to temporarily giving up the plan to attack Shanggui, and first concentrate on solving Zhang He's threat, but this also has hidden dangers.
Once Guo Huai sees that Zhang Fei is not in the camp, it may lead to Guo Huai sending troops from Shanggui to defeat the camp hosted by Jiang Xu and fight back to Tianshui County, threatening the entire Liu Bei Group's retreat.
But Zhang Fei felt that this was the best method currently available.
He wanted to bet on whether Zhang Fei would cooperate with Zhang Xi to defeat Zhang He first, or whether Guo Huai would discover something was wrong first. Once Zhang Fei succeeded in defeating Jiang Xu, the whole chess game would come alive.
As for Guo Huai first discovering something was wrong, well, Zhang Fei had already lost once and had such serious consequences, so it wouldn't be a big deal if it was more serious.
Besides, behind Zhang Fei is Liu Bei's main army, and Wei Yan is guarding Xi County to ensure the entire army's retreat. Guo Huai may not be able to march to Tianshui so quickly.
As long as Zhang Fei can deal with Zhang He in time, then turn around and fight Shanggui again, cutting off Guo Huai's retreat, then Guo Huai won't be able to run far.
Therefore, Zhang Fei decided to take Jiang Xu's suggestion and lead the 4,000 soldiers who had returned to the army to take a detour from the mountainous area to avoid Guo Huai's surveillance and march towards the street pavilion.
After five days of effort, Zhang Fei led his troops through Lueyang. When he was approaching Zhang He's back, he happened to meet Wang Ping on the mountain road who was detouring behind Zhang He.
After figuring out the current battle situation and battle plan at the street pavilion, Zhang Fei decided to merge with Wang Ping. Together, the two of them, with a total of more than 7,000 people, moved toward Zhang He's retreat at full speed.
At this time, Zhang He was in a very good mood and was making final preparations to attack the city.
Everyone can see that today's Jieting defenders are nearing the end of their strength. They only need to increase their offensive intensity tomorrow and they should be able to capture Jieting.
As long as Jieting is captured and Longshan is controlled, Zhang He's quick rescue of Longyou will be regarded as an unparalleled achievement, and he can reverse Cao Jun's passive situation in Yongliang in one fell swoop.
With this meritorious service, Zhang He no longer has to worry about being controlled by others in the future. He will definitely be given the title of wife and shadow, and he will be the sole leader.
Therefore, Zhang He was in a really good mood, and even thought about how he would ridicule this bastard who gave himself a nickname after conquering the street pavilion tomorrow and capturing Zhang Xi.
But before that, Zhang He still didn't take it lightly.
This is the most valuable thing about Zhang He.
Maybe Zhang He lacks the ability and courage to win more with less and turn the tide, but Zhang He has always been very calm. Even if he encounters a good situation, he will not indulge himself too much and still maintains a relatively calm mind.
Zhang He did not forget to send scouting horses to the left and right wings to guard against Zhang Xi's possible death blow.
At the same time, Zhang He also arranged a certain amount of manpower to protect the rear wing. Zhang He did not completely relax his defense just because Guo Huai was in the rear. He still did all the protection that needed to be done.
However, Zhang He still believed in Guo Huai's ability after all. He felt that there had been no warning signs from Guo Huai so far, so there should be no changes in the direction of Shanggui.
At this time, Guo Huai slowly discovered that something was wrong.
Are Zhang Fei's troops on the opposite side too small? !
(End of chapter)
