In fact, Zhang Xi also thought about why there was such a big difference between the army commanded by Zhang He.
After thinking about it, Zhang Xi felt that there were two possibilities.
One is that Zhang He deliberately showed weakness and arrogance to the enemy, luring our army to take the initiative to attack, and then setting up an ambush to severely damage our army.
This possibility exists. After all, Zhang He is not a good person. Not only has rich combat experience, he is also a wise and courageous person.
The other one is that Zhang He's old illness relapsed and he started to deteriorate again.
This possibility is also not small.
As far as Zhang Xi knows about Zhang He, if it is a joint operation with large corps, Zhang He will often have no sense of presence like Shenyin, whether it is when Cao Cao pacifies Hebei, or when Xia Houyuan pacifies Xiqiang, or during the Battle of Hanzhong , Zhang He has never fought a decent victory.
On the contrary, when leading the army alone, Zhang He can often explode with amazing combat effectiveness. For example, in the Battle of Hanzhong, when Xia Houyuan was elected as the commander-in-chief of the army after his defeat, he was able to gather the remaining troops and stand firm, blocking Liu Bei's pursuit of victory; another example is In history, he ran for more than 300 miles day and night, and pressed Ma Su to the ground and rubbed him in the street pavilion, forcing Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition to end miserably.
Zhang He is not incompetent, but his shortcomings are also not small. When he cannot see the benefits, he will never take risks, let alone try his best.
So there are both possibilities.
But now the leader of Shanggui is Cao Ren, and the next ranked second is Cao Hong, and then Zhang He and Guo Huai compete to see who ranks third. In this case, Zhang Xi feels that Zhang He is more likely to fail. An ambush is more likely.
This is why Zhang Xi wants to send troops to try to counterattack. If Zhang He is really messing up, then defeating Cao Jun's Lueyang front line attack and pushing the front line back to Shanggui will be of great help to Liu Bei's army. .
Once Zhang Xi leads his troops closer to Shanggui, Zhang Xi can try to attack the city with catapults. Zhang Xi believes that in the face of such a situation, Cao Ren has no intention of continuing to confront Zhang Fei, and Liu Bei's defense line will definitely shrink. The troops tried to drive Zhang Xi away from Shanggui.
At that time, the entire battlefield can be mobilized. If the soldiers on the two fronts commanded by Zhang Fei and Liu Bei also follow into Shanggui, Cao Ren will be in a situation where he cares about one and loses sight of the other.
When the rewards far outweigh the costs, Zhang Xi is still willing to take the risk and give it a try.
Of course, Zhang He cannot be underestimated. After all, it is possible that Zhang He is taking the initiative to attract Zhang Xi to send troops to attack, so Zhang Xi still makes the preparations that need to be made.
In the entire Lueyang front line, Zhang Xi had 25,000 soldiers, 20,000 of whom were stationed in various places, and there were 5,000 that he couldn't put down, so Zhang Xi arranged for them to be stationed at the street pavilion. Now, Zhang Xi put these five Thousands of people were transferred over to serve as the general reserve team.
If Zhang He really set up an ambush to attract Zhang Xi to take the initiative, then these 5,000 reserve troops could break Zhang He's ambush at the critical moment and help the army retreat without causing too much loss.
If Zhang He is just showing off, then these five thousand people will not move for the time being and just think of it as a field march training.
After taking countermeasures, Zhang Xi suddenly waved his military flag when Cao's army failed to launch an attack one day and retreated sparsely. Liu Bei's army in Lueyang, led by Chen Shi, Wu Yi and Wu Ban, marched across the entire line. Fight back.
Cao Jun was obviously caught off guard by this. He had been accustomed to the rhythm of attacking in the morning and withdrawing in the afternoon, and there was no one to command specifically, so he was naturally not prepared for the enemy's sudden counterattack.
With just one attack, Liu Bei's army had already caught Cao Jun's retreating tail. Wu Yi, who was the most capable, even led his troops into Cao Jun's formation, tore a hole in Cao Jun's army and went straight to Zhang He's Chinese army camp.
This speed of progress not only shocked Zhang Xi, but also Zhang He.
Although it was said that it was a bad show, Zhang He's request was to achieve neither success nor fault. If Liu Bei's army were to break into his central army and force his central army to retreat, causing the defense line to collapse, then Zhang He would not be able to escape the responsibility for the defeat. .
After all, Zhang He didn't like to suffer a big defeat.
At this time, Zhang He finally worked hard and asked the soldiers left behind in the Chinese army to rush forward to block Wu Yi's assault force. At the same time, he began to order the defeated troops to gather up and move closer to the Chinese army as much as possible, trying to encircle and annihilate Wu Yi's troops who were too forward. .
Zhang Xi naturally also discovered that Wu Yi was a little too forward, but since he had already broken into the enemy's center, Zhang Xi could not say that he would call Wu Yi back now.
In addition, Cao's army was in a panic on the battlefield, and it would take time to retreat. Zhang Xi thought for a moment, gritted his teeth, and ordered Chen Shi and Wu Ban to continue to strengthen their attack, tear open the openings from other directions of Cao's army, and rush into the central army. .
On the current battlefield, Cao's army is in a panic when it retreats and is attacked. Although Zhang He commands the Chinese army to block Wu Yi, if Wu Ban and Chen Shi can break through the interception of Cao's army from other directions and break into the central army's area, then Zhang He will We must divide our forces to resist. Once he cannot resist, Zhang He's defeat will be certain.
As for the possible encirclement that Wu Yi might encounter on the front, Zhang Xi also has a reserve force of 5,000 people at all times, ready to go into battle at any time. Whether it is to strengthen the attack in Wu Yi's direction or to take Wu Yi out, he has already made preparations for it. Prepared.
Now, it depends on the development of the battlefield situation.
At this point, Zhang He finally stopped showing off and was completely defeated.
Zhang He used all his skills, sat firmly in the central army tent, and made arrangements in the middle. He first commanded the central army to resist Liu Bei's three-pronged offensive. At the same time, he gathered Cao Jun's retreating soldiers and ordered them to detour to the rear army. Reorganize the formation, form a reserve team, and re-enter the battlefield when necessary to stabilize the front.
Zhang Xi was also stunned for a moment. This Zhang He actually stabilized the defense line in such a complicated situation by relying solely on his own planning, without giving Liu Bei's three-pronged offensive army any chance to take advantage of. .
I have to say that Zhang He is truly a famous general in the world.
Zhang Xi looked at the somewhat stalemate situation in front of him, then looked at most of the defeated troops of Zhang He's rear army who were about to complete their assembly, thought for a while, and made a decision.
Invest the five thousand reserves on hand.
In fact, Zhang Xi had two choices when he joined the reserve team at this time.
One is to strengthen Wu Yi's frontal attack and strive to allow Wu Yi to break into the Chinese army and directly attack Zhang He.
As long as Zhang He can be forced to retreat, Cao Jun's defense line in Lueyang will collapse, and it will be impossible to reorganize the front.
The other is to welcome the troops after the break and to coordinate the retreat of Wu Yi's army.
Now that they are retreating, Liu Bei's army has not suffered much loss. However, Cao's army has suffered a lot in the initial rout. There are many soldiers killed in battle and many soldiers who fled. Liu Bei's army has already won, so it is not necessary to retreat at this time. deficit.
Zhang Xi was, at best, cautious, at worst, a little suspicious. Zhang Xi chose the second option, sending a reserve team to break up the rear. At the same time, he ordered the entire army to retreat, withdraw the defense line, and redefine the position.
Because Zhang Xi always felt that even if Wu Yi led the army to get in front of Zhang He, with Zhang He's martial arts and combat command style, you might not be able to defeat Zhang He head-on.
What if Zhang He had some backup, or if Zhang He defeated Wu Yi's former army head-on and drove Wu Yi out again? At that time, Zhang Xi did not have enough reserves to use, and if he ordered a retreat, it would be possible Will face Zhang He's counterattack.
Therefore, Zhang Xi felt that to be on the safe side, it was better to accept it as soon as it was ready.
But what Zhang Xi did not only made Wu Yi and other generals dissatisfied, but even Zhang He secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Wu Yi and other generals of their own felt that as long as they worked harder, they should be able to break through Cao Jun's defense line. At that time, they might be able to completely defeat Wei Jun, and even capture Zhang He alive.
Of course, Wu Yi and others were not willing to retreat under such circumstances, and flew away after seeing their great achievements.
As for Zhang He, Zhang He was really relieved.
Zhang He really has no backup plan. If Wu Yi really breaks into the Chinese army's tent, then all Zhang He can do is probably lead the troops to charge in person, block Wu Yi, and delay time for the rear army to assemble. The outcome is only between 50 and 50. .
Fortunately, Zhang Xi chose to retreat instead of attacking, so Zhang He still had the opportunity to gather the remaining soldiers and minimize the losses.
But even so, Cao's army suffered more than 2,000 casualties in this day's battle, which was already considered a very heavy loss.
Zhang He couldn't help but sigh, the descendants are really formidable. If you don't pay attention, it can easily lead to a disaster. Fortunately, you have dealt with it properly. Otherwise, once the defense line collapses, the casualties of more than 2,000 people will not be able to stop it.
Although Zhang He thought so and felt that what he did was okay, it seemed that Cao Ren did not think so. In Cao Ren's view, the Lueyang front-line defenders commanded by Zhang He were beaten like shit.
In the early stage, he was delayed in advancing the army, which delayed the opportunity to fight. Although he advanced in the army in the later period, his command was poor, resulting in heavy losses among the soldiers. Cao Ren did not punish Zhang He on the spot because he was an old minister of Cao Wei.
In addition, the Weishui River has not yet thawed, and it is very difficult to transport grain and grass from the coast of the Weishui River to Shanggui. The logistical pressure on Cao Jun is increasing, and Cao Ren really can't hold on.
Therefore, Cao Ren was worried and sent his younger brother Cao Hong to the front line of Lueyang, replacing Zhang He as the offensive commander of Lueyang line, and demoted Zhang He to Cao Hong's deputy general.
Now it's good, Zhang He is completely open.
(End of chapter)
