Zhang He held on tenaciously for three days, until the fire in the city had burned almost everything that could be burned. Zhang He then organized his soldiers to break out from Lueyang and retreat to the direction of Shanggui.
In order to quickly open the passage from Lueyang to Shanggui, Zhang Xi did not completely encircle Lueyang, but adopted the strategy of surrounding three ques and one. Therefore, Zhang He did not suffer too much losses in his retreat. There are more than 15,000 horse infantry troops in Shanggui.
It was not a serious casualty to Cao's army, but at any rate it opened up the passage to Shanggui. Liu Bei could finally break through Lueyang and lead his troops to join Zhang Fei.
Lueyang was a bit miserable. Most of the houses in the city were burned down, and all the people were homeless in the winter. Sometimes Zhang Xi felt that this was entirely his own fault.
But there was no way, these were troubled times, and the only thing Zhang Xi could do was to ask Liu Bei to send some soldiers into the mountains to cut down trees, and try his best to help the people of Lueyang City rebuild their houses.
Liu Bei had no objection at all to this. After all, both sides now had a surplus of troops, and they could not deploy too many troops at a time. It was appropriate to leave some soldiers in the rear.
As for the people of Lueyang City, when they heard that Liu Beijun was willing to help rebuild their houses, they all immediately felt grateful to Liu Bei. The village elders and aristocratic families also praised Liu Bei for his benevolence and righteousness. This is quite ironic, because it was Liu Beijun who set off the fire in Lueyang City. .
But you are afraid of comparison in everything.
It is true that Liu Bei's army started the fire, but Liu Bei's army at least asked his soldiers to help rebuild their homes. The original leader of Lueyang, Zhang He, was afraid that someone would secretly communicate with Liu Bei during the fire and take advantage of the fire, so he did not allow the people to go out to put out the fire spontaneously, which led to many People watched helplessly as their houses were burned down.
Well, after such a comparison, Liu Bei suddenly seemed more "benevolent and righteous".
In the final analysis, these are troubled times, and there is no real benevolence and righteousness in troubled times. Even Liu Bei's "benevolence and righteousness" is just more conscience and bottom line than other princes.
It has been fifteen years since he traveled to this troubled world, and Zhang Xi has somewhat accepted some reality.
Although I knew that people in troubled times would be very miserable in the past, I still felt that this era was a magnificent era, and I was full of yearning to make contributions in this era.
But now, facing the evil he had done, Zhang Xi still couldn't accept it.
Zhang Xi now has unprecedented hope - it would be better for the world to end the war as soon as possible.
In this way, at least the people will not suffer like this anymore.
Therefore, the troops went to Gui.
Quickly defeat Cao's army in Shanggui and cut off Long. In this way, the northern part of Yongzhou, which has been fighting for almost three months, can temporarily settle down.
Of course Liu Bei wanted this too, but Cao Hong, who was in a hostile position, obviously didn't think so.
Cao Hong is not a battle madman, but Liu Bei has Liu Bei's stance, and Cao Hong also has Cao Hong's stance.
Liu Bei wanted to help the Han Dynasty and restore the glory of the Han Dynasty, but Cao Hong felt that the source of the world's turmoil was careerists like Liu Bei.
If only there were fewer ambitious men like Liu Bei and Sun Quan, the world would have been peaceful long ago.
Besides, what the emperors of the Han Dynasty had done to the world. If the Cao family hadn't sent out troops and efforts to clean up the old rivers and mountains, the world might have been harmed by the old Liu family.
Now Liu Bei wants to embezzle the fruits of their Cao family and harm the future of his Cao family. Cao Hong will definitely not do it.
Therefore, Cao Hong gathered his troops and defended Shanggui.
Thanks to Guo Huai's efforts, he defeated Zhang Fei and Wei Yan several times. Although he did not completely defeat the army led by these two men, he still pushed the defense line to a place forty miles away from Shanggui.
In this case, Cao Hong would not need to huddle all the more than 70,000 troops in Shanggui City, and would have enough time to expand the defense line.
Cao Hong himself led more than 30,000 soldiers to defend Shanggui City, while Guo Huai and Zhang He each led 20,000 soldiers and set up two camps to the north and northwest of Shanggui City to support each other and establish a triangular defense system. .
If Liu Bei wants to attack Shanggui City, he must first find a way to defeat Zhang He and Guo Huai's camps. But as long as Liu Bei attacks either of these two camps, then the defenders in Shanggui City and Cao Hong and the other camp will send troops. rescue.
Even if Liu Bei divided his troops and surrounded the two camps outside the city, cutting off the connection between the two camps, Cao Hong in Shanggui City could still send troops to rescue.
It is not so easy for Liu Bei to break through the camp when they are rescuing each other and responding to each other.
Zhang Xi wanted to repeat his old trick and use a counterweighted catapult to throw burning coals for a fire attack. However, Zhang Xi soon discovered that if he could not defeat the two camps in front of Shanggui City, he would not be able to get close to Shanggui City.
Throwing coal fire at the enemy's camp can certainly burn down the camp, but Cao's army will soon be able to retreat and build a new camp. From the first Zhang He's camp to Shanggui City, there were more than forty soldiers miles, the distance along this road can at least build three more camps.
Furthermore, Cao Jun still had nearly 20,000 cavalry, and the camp's logistical supplies could completely rely on Shanggui City. There was no need for special grain collection. Therefore, Zhang He did not need to consider the issue of grain and grass at all. There was no need to arrange soldiers to put out the fire this time. As long as Zhang Xi's catapults appear, Zhang He can directly lead the cavalry to attack Liu Bei's army formation and burn these catapults.
After all, in terms of the number of cavalry and the quality of individual soldiers, the Qiang and Hu cavalry led by Ma Chao were not as good as the Cao Wei cavalry on the opposite side.
Faced with this situation, not to mention Liu Bei, Fazheng, Pang Tong, and Zhang Xi were all in a bit of a dilemma.
There are ways to break the situation, but some of them outweigh the gains.
To break the situation, the only way to break the situation is to send soldiers to attack the camps according to the conventional method, and strive to destroy the two camps while killing a large number of Cao's troops. As long as they reach the gate of Shanggui City, Cao Hong will only be able to defend Shanggui. .
At that time, the catapult can exert its greatest power.
But there are also quite a few hidden dangers in doing so.
To pull out the camps guarded by two famous generals, Liu Bei's losses would certainly not be small. You must know that Cao's army still has 40,000 troops that have not come over, and all Liu Bei's troops are here.
If the losses during the attack on Shanggui are too great, then Cao Ren's arrival with reinforcements will form a flanking attack on Liu Bei's army, which is a taboo for military strategists.
Therefore, Pang Tong, Fazheng, and Zhang Xi discussed for a long time and suggested to Liu Bei that it would be better to postpone the attack for a while.
Wait a moment, wait until Cao Ren personally leads the troops to Shanggui, Cao Jun will not have reinforcements coming for the time being, and then make plans.
In this way, although Cao Jun will have a certain advantage in terms of military strength, Shanggui is such a big place, and the amount of food and grass that can be stored is limited. With so many Cao Jun crammed into Shanggui, Cao Jun's logistical pressure will definitely be great.
It is winter again, and the Wei River is still frozen. Even after it thaws, the Wei River will still face spring floods. It will be more difficult to transport grain and grass upstream from the Wei River. At least until March next year, Cao Jun can only rely on going up to Yi. They lived on the food and grass stored in the city.
But the problem is that there are still nearly three months until March, and if Cao Ren comes to help in January, one Shanggui city will have to hold 100,000 Cao troops. Even if Shanggui city is full of food and grass, it will not It might be enough to store enough food for a hundred thousand troops for two months.
Cao Jun's logistics will definitely have problems.
When Cao Jun's logistical pressure reaches a certain level, Liu Bei does not need to take the initiative to attack Cao Jun. Cao Jun will even give up the city defense and take the initiative to go out of the city to seek a decisive battle with Liu Bei Jun. At that time, things will become much easier to handle.
With a hundred thousand troops defending a city, it would be too difficult to break through it.
However, the field battle between 100,000 troops and 60,000 troops is still in mountainous terrain where the battle formation cannot be fully deployed, so Liu Bei's army has a great chance of winning.
After all, Cao Jun didn't have much strategic depth behind him. There was only one city, Shanggui, and there was no way to retreat.
But Liu Bei has already conquered Tianshui County and Guangwei County. He has many retreat routes behind him and can advance and retreat freely.
Therefore, after formulating the strategy, Liu Bei immediately asked Gao Xiang to lead the troops to rescue Zhang Fei's troops, and at the same time conveyed his latest order - to reorganize his formation along the Shanggui and Lueyang lines to confront Cao Jun, but he was surrounded and surrounded. Don't attack.
It means wasting, consuming Cao Jun's food and fodder, waiting until Cao Jun can no longer withstand the logistical pressure and taking the initiative to fight. At that time, he will wait for an opportunity to defeat the enemy.
This trick is disgusting, but very effective.
Cao Hong had no choice but to quickly write to Cao Ren, asking his eldest brother to either bring fewer troops or more food and grass when he came to support. In short, don't be stupid and only bring 40,000 people to eat. food.
But the problem is that when Cao Ren received Cao Hong's letter, he had already entered Guangwei County with 40,000 soldiers, which was only more than a hundred miles away from Shanggui. This letter came a little late.
After receiving Cao Hong's notification, Cao Ren felt a little numb. He couldn't bring his troops back now, could he? !
(End of chapter)
