Cao Zhen felt that he was really unlucky.
Five thousand men fought against nearly 20,000 enemy troops. Cao Zhen did not suffer a major defeat. He was still able to fight and retreat at the same time, maintaining the combat effectiveness of the army and preventing the army from disintegrating.
But Xia Houru, this idiot, guarded so many camps in difficult terrain and had more than 7,000 soldiers in his hands. He could hold on to each camp one by one and resist one by one to delay the time. As a result, this guy actually lost everything in six days. In the camp, those who abandoned their helmets and armor will run to Chang'an.
Really, when Cao Zhen encountered Xia Houru's defeated army on the way, he almost couldn't hold back his temper and killed this guy directly if his surname wasn't Xiahou.
Cao Zhen really wanted to scold his mother, but now that the situation is like this, it is meaningless for you to distinguish who is right and who is wrong, and whose responsibility it is.
Now before Cao Zhen, there is a very real problem - what should I do? !
The fall of Baoxie Pass meant that Zhao Yun could lead his troops straight into Guanzhong, but now he was facing the unlucky situation of having the enemy in front and Zhao Yun behind him.
If Cao Zhen cannot make a decision in time, what he will face is that he will be attacked from both sides by the Shu army and completely defeated.
Therefore, after Cao Zhen accepted part of the defeated troops brought by Xia Houru, he had no time to hesitate and immediately launched a counterattack against the Kou Feng army that had been chasing him.
Cao Zhen wanted to use this counterattack to catch Kou Feng off guard, open a gap, and retreat toward Chang'an.
It has to be said that Cao Zhen made a very timely decision and launched the attack very quickly, catching Kou Feng by surprise.
Kou Feng never expected that Cao Zhen, who had been fighting and retreating, would suddenly launch a counterattack. Kou Feng was really unprepared for a moment, and the pursuing front army was instantly defeated.
Just when Kou Feng thought that Cao Zhen was planning a decisive battle here and began to prepare troops to respond to Cao Zhen's attack, Cao Zhen suddenly made a false shot, turned around, and retreated to the southwest.
Kou Feng was a little confused for a moment and didn't quite understand what Cao Zhen's sudden change meant. But no matter what Cao Zhen's purpose was, since he was retreating to the south, Kou Feng would definitely not be able to let him do so easily.
Kou Feng also immediately turned around and launched a pursuit of Cao Zhen's army.
Cao Zhen was still the same, fighting and retreating at the same time, but always maintaining a distance from Kou Feng and retreating to the south step by step.
Kou Feng chased for almost forty miles, and realized something was wrong. If he continued to chase, he would be heading towards Chang'an.
Now is not the time when Kou Feng and Meng Da entered Guanzhong from Youfufeng more than ten days ago. Xu Huang should have already returned to Guanzhong at this time, right? !
Kou Feng suddenly had an idea in his mind and realized that Cao Zhen might be tempting him to go south. In cooperation with Xu Huang to encircle and annihilate him, he immediately slowed down his pursuit and began to send out scouts to investigate the surrounding enemies. At the same time, he sent out messengers to find Meng Da's troops.
At this time, Meng Da was actually contacting Kou Feng urgently. Meng Da was also afraid that Kou Feng would not know the situation and rashly pursue Cao Zhen, causing unnecessary losses.
Now that the entire battle has begun, and the overall situation is extremely favorable to Liu Bei's group, there is no need to compete with a small Cao Zhen.
Zhao Yun and Chen Dao led their troops out of Baoxie Road. Once they combined all the troops of Meng Da and Kou Feng, there would be about 30,000 people on both sides.
With these troops, it may be difficult to march eastward to attack Chang'an, but occupying the Wei River and cutting off the food transportation from Chang'an to Longshan Road can be done in minutes.
The person who should be anxious now should be Cao Ren who is holding on to the Longshan Road.
Therefore, Meng Da urgently sent people to find Kou Feng, hoping that he would quickly lead his troops to join Zhao Yun and Chen Dao at the Baoxie crossing, and must not give Cao's army a chance to defeat them.
Cao Ren in Shanggui has more than 80,000 soldiers. Even if half of them are divided to open up the grain road, the current Meng Da and Zhao Yun armies cannot stop it. Kou Feng must hurry up to join forces, so as to cut off Cao Ren. Liangdao's capital.
Fortunately, Kou Feng was not confused this time. After sensing something was wrong, he slowly stopped the pursuit. After contacting the messenger sent by Meng Da and learning that Baoxie Road had been captured, Kou Feng also realized the change in the current situation. , hurriedly led the troops westward, and rushed to join Zhao Yun and others.
Cao Zhen, who retreated to Chang'an, met Xu Huang near Xi County who was planning to outflank Kou Feng. He immediately explained the latest situation to Xu Huang.
Xu Huang was also confused.
Why is it so good that the Baoxie crossing will be lost? !
And once Baoxie Road is lost and the Shu army is allowed to establish a defensive position at the entrance of Baoxie Road, the consequences... Well, Xu Huang no longer dares to think about it.
Not to mention that Hanzhong now has a direct passage to Guanzhong, but the Shu army at Baoxie Pass can send troops at any time to cut off the grain and grass transportation on the Wei River. Cao Ren's army in Shanggui is already in danger.
Under this situation, Xu Huang could no longer make a decision on his own and had to report back to Cao Pi in Chang'an and ask Cao Pi for a decision.
Xu Huang immediately discussed with Cao Zhen, and both of them decided to temporarily withdraw their troops and retreat to Chang'an. They would hold Chang'an first and then listen to Cao Pi's decision.
Should we re-gather troops to block Baoxie Road, or abandon Yongliang and retreat to defend Guanzhong.
This is not an ordinary decision, it is a big decision related to the future development of the entire Cao Wei Group. It cannot be decided by Cao Zhen and Xu Huang.
Cao Pi, who was in Chang'an, and Cao Ren, who was in Shanggui, almost immediately received the news that Baoxe Road had been lost.
Cao Pi was so angry that he burst into incompetent rage. He was furious in front of Sun Zi and Liu Fang, and then immediately ordered Cao Zhen to behead Xia Houru to correct military law.
Xia Houshang was already stunned. Is this the first time someone from Cao Cao's lineage has taken action against a general of his own clan? !
Although I knew before that Cao Pi didn't trust the generals of his clan, but they were his own family members. Doing so would destroy the Great Wall.
Xiahou Shang didn't know what to say to Cao Pi's order. He could only kneel down and beg hard, hoping to save the life of his clan brother.
Cao Pi finally calmed down, knowing that under the current situation, rashly killing the clan generals would not do him any good.
Faced with the pleas of his close friends, Cao Pi borrowed a donkey from the slope and ordered Xia Houru to be relieved of all official positions and escorted back to Chang'an to await his death.
Xiahou Shang barely breathed a sigh of relief, and then began to suggest to Cao Pi that Cao Ren quickly lead his army down the Wei River, block the Shu army at the Baoxie crossing, and return to defend Chang'an.
The implication is to ask Cao Pi to give up Yongliang.
The situation is now here, and Cao Pi actually has no choice.
Unless Cao Pi can now mobilize at least 50,000 troops and let Xu Huang lead them, they can defeat Zhao Yun before Hanzhong's reinforcements pass through the Baoxie Road to support Zhao Yun, and block the Baoxie Road again. Otherwise, the longer it takes, the more likely it will be. The more disadvantageous it is to Cao Jun.
Cao Ren's 80,000-strong army in Shanggui will always be threatened by Zhao Yun. As reinforcements from Hanzhong enter Guanzhong and more and more soldiers are under Zhao Yun's command, Zhao Yun will really have the confidence to attack Chang'an directly.
But now, where would Cao Pi find these 50,000 troops? !
In the direction of Nanyang, with Xu Huang's withdrawal, Guan Yu once again launched a strong attack on Wancheng. Zhang Liao was holding on. Although he temporarily blocked Guan Yu's attack, Zhang Liao himself couldn't tell how long he could block it, let alone Cao Pi died.
In this direction, Cao Jun felt that there were not enough troops. How could he deploy more troops to support Yongliang? !
In the hinterland of the Central Plains, there are not many troops, and they have to guard against Jiangdong. Sun Quan's reputation is not very good. He can even backstab his allies, let alone Cao Wei, who has always been hostile.
Even if he has made peace with Sun Quan now, Cao Pi will not worry about transferring any of Zang Ba Jiang Ji from Xiapi, Cao Xiu and Jia Kui from Runan.
We can no longer mobilize troops from Hebei and wait for the troops from there. The day lilies are already cold.
The only thing that can be done now is exactly what Xiahou Shang said, let Cao Ren give up going south to Gui before the food and grass are exhausted, block Zhao Yun to the west of the Wei River before Zhao Yun gets reinforcements, and prevent Zhao Yun from crossing the Wei River.
On the one hand, the 80,000 Cao army in Shanggui can be preserved; on the other hand, the defense of the Sanfu area in Guanzhong can be strengthened, and it is even possible to send some soldiers to Wancheng to support Zhang Liao and block Guan Yu's northward passage.
As for Yongliang, he could only give up.
After Xia Houshang explained all the current situations to Cao Pi, it was now up to Cao Pi to make a decision.
Cao Pi was very hesitant and entangled, and could not make a decision for a long time.
From a military point of view, Cao Pi knew that Xiahou Shang's judgment was correct. He could not hesitate any longer and must let Cao Ren lead the army back immediately. Otherwise, Cao Ren's 80,000 troops in Shanggui might be cut off from food routes at any time and be surrounded. If you want to withdraw again, you will have no chance.
But from a political point of view, abandoning Yongliang would be a huge blow to the King of Wei who had only been in power for less than a year.
Forget about Liangzhou, everyone has always considered it a barbaric land, and it has always been a financial burden to the central government. If it is lost, it will be lost, no big deal.
But once the northern part of Yongzhou is lost, Guanzhong Chang'an will be directly exposed to the Shu thieves, which will be a huge blow to Cao Pi.
The symbolic significance of Chang'an is too great. Once the Shu thieves capture Chang'an, Cao Pi will "do great things" in the future, and his persuasiveness will be much less.
Therefore, the northern part of Yongzhou must not be given up easily. To say the least, at least Chang'an cannot be lost.
But the current situation has left Cao Pi with no capital to continue to hold on to Longshan Road and retain the hope of making a comeback in northern Yongzhou. He can only choose the bottom line - guard Sanfu and hold on to Chang'an.
Therefore, Cao Pi finally made a decision after a day of hesitation.
Cao Ren was ordered to retreat along the Wei River from Shanggui and abandon Yongliang.
Only three days after Cao Pi's order was issued, Cao Pi received a battle report from Cao Ren in Shanggui. Three days ago, Cao Ren had arranged for Guo Huai to hold the line at Shanggui and then lead his troops to gradually retreat from Shanggui and retreat to Along the Wei River, Zhao Yun's army was blocked from leaving Baoxie Road and continued eastward to attack Sanfu to protect the safety of King Wei.
Although Cao Ren spoke nicely in the military report and seemed to be very concerned about Cao Pi's safety, Cao Pi became furious after reading the battle report.
Three days ago? !
Wasn't that when I just ordered the troops to withdraw? !
Do you, Cao Ren, have clairvoyance or good ears? ! I just gave the order in Chang'an, but you already knew about it in Shanggui? !
You know, this is called retreating without permission! ! ! !
(End of chapter)
