Zhang Xi found out the next day that Cao Hong replaced Zhang He and became the supreme commander of Cao's army in Lueyang.
After all, the handsome flags have been changed, from Zhang He's handsome flag to Cao Hong's handsome flag, which can be seen from a long distance away.
A little more investigation will reveal that the enemy has changed its generals before the battle.
Zhang He is difficult to deal with. Zhang Xi knows this very well, but now he is replaced by Cao Hong and Zhang Xi expresses hehe.
It's not that Zhang Xi looks down on Cao Hong, it's really that Cao Hong doesn't have a good record.
For a long time, Cao Hong always defended Cao Cao every time he went on an expedition. Even Cao Cao knew that although Cao Hong was brave, he was not the best person to lead the army in battle. Such a person could be a general but not a commander at all.
In addition, Cao Hong came to Lueyang this time because he was appointed by Cao Ren to strengthen Lueyang's front-line offense. Therefore, both his personal leadership style and combat purpose were much more impatient than when Zhang He was the coach.
The coach of one side is very restless when attacking. Although he looks more powerful than when Zhang He was showing off, he actually doesn't pose much of a threat.
For every military order Cao Hong gave, even Wu Yi could guess what his purpose was and what he would do next, let alone Zhang Xi.
Cao Hong's every move is as obvious as his actions, which are to bully you with more soldiers because I have more soldiers, and to suppress others purely with force.
But the problem is that Cao Hong's so-called large number of troops is only 30,000 to 20,000. This kind of number of troops cannot play a decisive role in the local battlefield of this war.
On the contrary, because Cao Hong's military orders and purposes were easily guessed, his offense was not as efficient as when Zhang He was the coach.
The only thing Cao Hong is better than Zhang He is probably that Cao Hong doesn't care whether the soldiers' physical strength can hold up, and continues to launch attacks on Liu Bei's army's defense line, putting pressure on Liu Bei's army for a long time.
Cao Hong may have wanted to use this continuous attack to crush Liu Bei's army's fighting will. However, such a high-intensity attack itself was also a severe test for Cao Jun's fighting will.
You must know that Cao Hong is on the offensive side. If the attack does not make progress for a long time, the impact on one's own morale will be much greater than that of the defensive side.
Zhang He actually saw this in his eyes, and he was very aware of the disadvantages of Cao Hong's actions.
But the problem is that now Zhang He is only a deputy general. He has just been deprived of military power by Cao Ren and was demoted to a deputy general. He is working hard to make a mess. A fool would mention this to Cao Hong.
If it were Cao Cao, maybe Zhang He's suggestions would still be accepted, but this is Cao Hong. If Cao Hong had such a mind, he wouldn't have followed Cao Cao for so many years and could only be a general who charges into battle, unable to act alone.
You must know that Cao Hong is named Cao, a serious general of the Cao Wei clan! ! !
Zhang He is also a veteran of Cao Wei, and he has a fairly good understanding of the personalities and temperaments of the generals within Cao Wei. He knows that Cao Hong is not the kind of person who can listen to suggestions.
Anyway, I am no longer the leader, and I am not responsible for losing. It is a complete mess.
Once Zhang He failed, Cao Hong's attack was completely under Cao Hong's control, and Zhang Xi felt much more relaxed in dealing with it.
Even Zhang Xi is still wondering whether he can give Cao Hong a little more water to attract him to continue to strengthen his attack, lure the enemy deeper, and then set up an ambush to trap Cao Hong.
This trick is not new. If the opponent is Zhang He, Zhang Xi would not dare to use it. After all, it can be easily seen through.
But if the opponent is Cao Hong, there is at least a 70-80% chance that Cao Hong can be fooled.
Zhang Xi's only worry is that if Zhang He sees through his plan, he will alert Cao Hong, causing the plan to fail.
After all, if he wanted to lure the enemy deeper, Zhang Xi would definitely have to fake defeat several times to give up some lines of defense.
If Cao Hong hadn't been fooled, it wouldn't have been that easy to take back the defense line he had left.
So Zhang Xi weighed it again and again and felt that it was better to be more cautious.
Anyway, it is not bad to persist in this way and consume the morale and combat effectiveness of Cao Jun. When Cao Jun's combat effectiveness drops to a certain level, he can organize a counterattack and gain good results.
However, Wu Yi did not agree.
From Wu Yi's point of view, it is understandable for Zhang Xi to be cautious when facing an old fox like Zhang He, but does Cao Hong really need to give him this face? !
Therefore, Wu Yi personally found Zhang Xi, asked Zhang Xi to fight, and proposed a plan to lure the enemy deeper.
Look, Zhang Xi said, this plan to lure the enemy deeper is really not new. Not only can he think of it, but Wu Yi can also think of it.
To be honest, although Wu Yi does not have a strong presence in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and does not seem to have any special achievements, in fact, Wu Yi in history was a rare and famous general in the middle period of the Shu Han Dynasty.
At least he is much stronger than Zhang Ren in history, and his real combat level may not even be lower than that of Li Yan.
When Zhuge Liang was in power, Li Yan basically guarded Jiangzhou and governed the local area. The battles he fought were either to annihilate the bandits or to repel the barbarians in the south. However, Wu Yi actually followed Zhuge Liang on the Northern Expedition, fought against the main force of Cao Wei, and fought with the main force of Cao Wei. Like Wei Yan, he was the main general in Zhuge Liang's previous Northern Expeditions.
And Wu Yi in this time and space does not seem to be following the romance line, but is like the Wu Yi in history who was good at conquering and fighting.
In this Northern Expedition, although Wu Yi had been following the main force of Liu Bei's army and had no sense of presence in the early stage, Wu Yi made a lot of contributions when he attacked Guangwei County. Guangwei County governs Linwei County. It was Wu Yi's troops who climbed to the city first.
In this world, although Liu Bei's real wife is Bu, Wu Yi's sister Mrs. Wu was still taken as a concubine by Liu Bei because of Bu's "virtuous and virtuous" relationship and because Liu Bei wanted to win over people in Sichuan. , so Wu Yi is still considered a relative.
Such a person puts forward his own suggestions to Zhang Xi, and Zhang Xi has to consider it to some extent.
The plan is not a good one, but it really is not impossible.
Wu Yi put forward his idea to Zhang Xi: He could take advantage of this period of time when Cao Jun stepped up his offensive and show a defensive posture at a certain defensive line. Once Cao Hong discovered this, he would definitely strengthen his attack. Here we are. At that time, wouldn't it be natural to retreat if the city could not be defended? !
And once Liu Bei's army's defense line was broken through at one point, wouldn't it be natural for Liu Bei's army in other directions to panic, abandon their own camps, retreat and set up another line of defense? !
Wu Yi didn't believe that such a large area of defense was abandoned. With Cao Hong's brains, he could withstand such a huge temptation and still stand still. He would definitely lead his troops to catch up and strive to expand the victory.
At that time, an ambush is set up to ambush Cao Hong. Even if Cao Hong cannot be captured alive, he can still defeat Cao's army and take advantage of the situation to cover up and kill him.
This is why Wu Yi's entire combat plan is really worthless, but it is really in line with the current battlefield situation.
Zhang Xi had nothing to add to this, but asked Wu Yi a question - in case Zhang He sees through this strategy, adopts a step-by-step approach, slowly advances, seizes Liu Bei's defense line and then reins in the troops to defend himself. The lost defense line will still be lost. Can it be taken back again? !
Yes, Zhang Xi also believes in Wu Yi's judgment of Cao Hong. This guy really doesn't have the brains or the patience to resist this temptation. But Zhang He can really do it.
If Zhang He sees this and makes a suggestion, and Cao Hong adopts this suggestion, wouldn't we have lost a lot of existing camps and defense lines in vain? !
Wu Yi also hesitated about this.
It's not that Wu Yi didn't think of this, it's just that
"Now Cao's army in Lueyang is eager to fight, and the commander-in-chief is Cao Hong, who is crazy and unintelligent. Even if Zhang He reminds him, he may not listen."
This is the answer Wu Yi gave. He was betting that Cao Jun was eager to win, and that Cao Hong would not listen to Zhang He.
This rhetoric is undoubtedly one that Zhang Xi cannot accept.
Indeed, Zhang Xi does not deny that in many cases, war is just guessing and gambling, but it is really not such a gambling method.
Guessing and winning on the battlefield need to be based on actual intelligence, not blind guesses and blind bets.
Although the character of the enemy coach is also a very important reference, you cannot pin all your hopes of victory on the character shortcomings of the enemy coach. This is too unsafe.
What if people calm down this time and listen to Zhang He's words? !
But Zhang Xi couldn't accept it, purely because Zhang Xi also had problems with his character. He was too cautious. He pursued the highest success and safety with his troops and strategies, completely ignoring that there was no guarantee of victory on the battlefield itself. Case.
Wu Yi couldn't understand this. In a war, if you are 50% sure of winning, you should take a gamble. What's more, Wu Yi felt that the current impatience displayed by Cao Jun and the abilities and character flaws of the commander Cao Hong , the success rate of this strategy must be higher than 50%.
Wu Yi repeatedly insisted on this and argued with Zhang Xi. For this reason, he did not hesitate to recruit Chen Shi and Wu Ban to seek the support of these two generals.
The reason why Chen Shi and Wu Ban supported Wu Yi was simple - they also felt that Zhang Xi was too cautious.
In the counterattack of the past few days, if Zhang Xi had not sent an order to retreat, Cao's army might have been defeated. How could it have happened today?
Now Wu Yi has made a good suggestion. Although it is a bit risky, this risk is taken by the leading generals, and there is no need for Zhang Xi, the coach, to come forward. Why can't he agree? !
Therefore, both Chen Shi and Wu Ban chose to support Wu Yi's plan and asked Zhang Xi for permission to ambush Cao Hong.
Faced with such a situation, Zhang Xi was a little helpless. It wasn't that he couldn't use coercive means to suppress these things, but the problem was that doing so was very detrimental to the unity of the military.
But Zhang Xi couldn't let these generals take risks just because they were eager to perform meritorious service. The soldiers didn't provoke anyone. Zhang Xi didn't want to happen under his rule if one general was incompetent and exhausted the entire army.
So let’s discuss it and improve it.
(End of chapter)
