The entry of Fazheng and Pang Tong into Hanzhong means that Liu Bei's second Northern Expedition has officially entered the stage of strategic preparation.
During this period, Fazheng and Pang Tong were constantly sorting and analyzing intelligence from various places, integrating soldiers, looking for weaknesses in Cao Wei's Guanzhong defense, and making strategies for dispatching troops.
Only this time, the person who took the lead in strategic planning was Pang Tong.
Although the strategy of the last Northern Expedition was discussed by everyone, the main figure who ultimately formulated the strategy and always accompanied Liu Bei to make suggestions was Fa Zheng.
This time he was replaced by Pang Tong, not because of Fa Zheng's humility, but because Fa Zheng's physical condition has not been very good in the past two years.
During the Northern Expedition two years ago, Fazheng probably felt that he was about to die, so he hid his illness and worked hard, thinking that he could repay Liu Bei's kindness before he died.
In the end, he was almost dead but failed, so Zhang Xi came up with an idea to save her.
Fa Zheng was excited now that he didn't have to die. He felt that he was able to do it again, so he had to follow Liu Bei's Northern Expedition despite his illness and help Liu Bei make plans.
I don't know whether it was because he didn't take good care of himself, or because he didn't take enough rest to get rid of the disease. Anyway, Fa Zheng's body has been very weak in the past two years. As long as there is a slight change in the climate, it is very easy to catch wind and cold.
Although it is not completely fatal, Fazheng is indeed not as energetic as before.
As for matters like the Northern Expedition, it is of great importance and must be weighed in many ways. A lot of energy must be invested in intelligence analysis. You must think in many ways when formulating a strategy. You must always keep your head clear when following your lord to make plans. Zheng Zheng is worried about what he will do. Before this point, it would be impossible to check for Liu Bei's leaks and fill them in time.
Therefore, when formulating a strategic plan this time, Fazheng offered to assist Pang Tong in doing things. The main strategy was left to Pang Tong to formulate.
There is no problem with Pang Tong's ability, but he took a little risk in using his troops. This may not be a big deal, but it is really not a small thing.
For example, regarding the Northern Expedition route, Pang Tong made a risky move.
Liu Bei's army now occupies Longshan and Baoxie Road, which means that it has two channels to enter Guanzhong at the same time. Normally, it only needs to advance from these two roads step by step, and attack the pass from left to right, and the threat is already great. .
According to Zhuge Liang's idea, he would station troops in Shanggui and food in Yongzhou, shorten the supply line as much as possible, and then order one army to leave Baoxie Road and the other army to leave Longshan Road to besiege Chang'an.
If there must be a change, it would be that there is a slight controversy over whether the main offensive force should be placed on Longshan or Baoxie Road.
Zhang Xi and Huang Quan actually have the same idea. After all, this approach is the safest at the moment.
But Pang Tong refused.
Pang Tong's plan would indeed place soldiers on Baoxie Road and Longshan Road, but these two roads were not the main offensive forces.
According to Pang Tong's idea, Liu Bei personally led a group of suspected troops out of Baoxie Pass to attract the attention of the Wei army in Guanzhong. At the same time, he asked Zhang Xi to lead troops out of Shanggui and threaten Cao's army along the east bank of the Wei River.
However, these two routes do not require an immediate opening of the situation, but require that Cao's army in Guanzhong be mobilized as much as possible to join these two directions.
Pang Tong's real killing move was actually on Chencang Road - the Wei army who defeated Chencang Road broke out from the flank of the defenders on Baoxie Road and made an arc around the entrance of Baoxie Road and the Cao army's camp on the east bank of the Weishui River. Behind him, he directly cut off the connection between Cao Jun and Chang'an on both sides of the Wei River.
In this case, both Cao's army at Baoxie Pass and Cao's army at Longshan Pass will be cut off from their logistics supply lines. It won't take long to surrender these Cao troops without any bloodshed, and then the army will approach Chang'an.
At this time, the number of defenders in Chang'an City will be severely reduced, and the Han army will not suffer any major losses, so the difficulty of attacking Chang'an will be reduced a lot.
Pang Tong's plan sounded a little taken for granted for a while.
The first question is how Pang Tong can quickly break through Chencang Road and quickly complete the march to cut off the retreat before Cao Jun at Longshan and Baoxie Road can react.
Secondly, how big is the size of this army? Once the connection between Chang'an and Cao Jun on the Weishui River is cut off, how can it withstand the joint attack of Cao Jun on the Chang'an River and Cao Jun on the Weishui River.
But Zhuge Liang and Fazheng didn't need to think about these two questions, and neither Zhang Xi nor Huang Quan were in a hurry to ask.
Because it seems that these two problems can really be solved.
Guard General Chen Cangdao, according to Zhang Xi's latest information, is Cao Pi's brother-in-law, Xia Houmao.
Xiahou Mao was the eldest son of Xiahou Dun. Because of his relationship with Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Mao had been loved by Cao Cao since he was a child. Cao Cao even married his daughter Princess Qinghe to Xiahou Mao.
After Cao Pi succeeded to the throne, because of Princess Qinghe's relationship and Xiahou Dun's long-term guarding the rear, he had a good relationship with Cao Pi, so he also wanted to promote Xiahou Mao, but he could never find the opportunity.
Now that Cao Ren has died of illness, Guanzhong is facing a direct threat from Shu thieves. No matter how crazy Cao Pi is, he will not put Xiahou Mao in such an important position in Guanzhong Chang'an, so Cao Pi chose to let Cao Zhen be the governor of Yongliang.
But Cao Pi still put Xiahou Mao into Cao Zhen's hands, and asked Cao Zhen to help take care of Xiahou Mao. It didn't take much, just a little credit, so that he could be rewarded when he returned to Yecheng.
Cao Zhen readily agreed.
At this time, Xia Houmao had not shown many bad deeds, and he even had a good relationship with the various Cao Cao and Xia lords. Everyone was willing to give face and help praise him. Cao Zhen really didn’t know what Xia Houmao’s actual ability was, but since The emperor has recommended it, so he should still be capable.
This is actually not surprising.
Historically, when Zhuge Liang launched the first Northern Expedition, Cao Rui even felt that it was relatively safe to have Xia Houmao guarding Chang'an. Later, because Zhuge Liang left Qishan Road, all three counties rebelled, and Hexi was shaken. This made Cao Rui I feel a little worried.
Then, under Liu Ye's persuasion, Cao Rui, who had just succeeded to the throne and needed to establish his authority, took charge of the army and personally took charge of Chang'an. It was at that time that Cao Rui discovered that the uncle he had placed high hopes on was actually a fool.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand military matters. Guo Huai is here to help you anyway. But how can you resell food and grass for the Chang’an garrison, collude with aristocratic families to embezzle farmland, and finally have your wife and brother join forces to falsely accuse you of treason? !
Whether it was running the army, running the government, or running the family, Xia Houmao could not do anything well. If it weren't for the fact that his uncle's surname was Xia Hou and his complicated relationship network, Cao Rui would have had him killed.
Therefore, at this time, no one would think that Chencangdao guard Xiahou Mao was a fool. Cao Wei did not think that, except for Zhang Xi, Ji Han did not think that Xiahou Mao was a strawbag general.
The main reason why Pang Tong made such a plan to sneak attack Chencangdao was that Xiahou Mao did not have much experience in battle. Although Chencangdao is good for defense, if the defender is inexperienced and a sneak attack is carried out, it is not impossible to succeed.
Cao Wei certainly did not expect that the Han army would leave the easy-to-travel Longshan Road and Baoxie Road and send soldiers to attack Chencang Road, and send troops from Chencang Road to attack the rear of Cao's army's front line on the Weishui River.
This was Pang Tong's surprise victory.
As for whether the attacking army will be attacked from the front and rear by Cao's troops from Chang'an and Weishui, there is really no need to worry about this.
Pang Tong will strictly control the timing of sending troops. He will definitely gather a large number of Cao troops at the intersection of Longshan Road and Baoxie Road before sending troops to Chencang Road.
As long as we can send troops from Chencang Road and detour behind Cao Jun on the Weishui River, there will not be many defenders left in Chang'an City at this time.
At this time, Chang'an City was too late to prepare for this army to attack Chang'an. How could it take the initiative to attack this Han army from a flank? !
As for the Cao army on both sides of the Wei River, although they can launch a counterattack to open up the passage, the troops behind them only need to hold on for a period of time. When the soldiers on Longshan Road and Baoxie Road follow up in time and follow them to pursue and attack, then Cao Jun may even attack again. Defeated without a fight.
At that time, Chang'an can be directly surrounded.
The general idea is this. Pang Tong felt that something was going on. After thinking silently, Fazheng supported Pang Tong's plan, while Zhuge Liang and Huang Quan expressed opposition.
The reason why these two people objected was simple: it was too risky.
Once the attack on Chencang Road is frustrated, the army that attacked Chencang Road will be withdrawn, which will not only affect the morale of the army, but also affect the arrangement of the Northern Expedition.
At that time, whether they take Baoxie Road or Longshan Road again, even if they can fight out, they will only encounter a difficult-to-gnaw Guanzhong strong city. Chang'an Cao's army will definitely shrink its troops to defend.
But Pang Tong said that this kind of thing is difficult to avoid.
Even if they march in a safe way, Cao Jun may choose to abandon the defense line along the Wei River, shrink to Mei County, and stick to Chang'an. This will not change whether he chooses to go to Chencang Road.
Zhuge Liang and Huang Quan still disagreed, especially Huang Quan, who made it clear directly - once you send troops to attack Chencang Road, you will have to consume food, and there must be soldiers lost in the attack, right? !
If the attack fails and these soldiers return to Hanzhong and redesign their offensive strategy, the loss of food, grass and soldiers during this sneak attack will be wasted.
Our logistical pressure is already very high, our troops are not as sufficient as Cao Wei's, and we may face the possibility of a tough battle at any time. Our conditions really don't allow you to be so wasteful.
Pang Tong still persisted and argued hard, while Zhuge Liang and Huang Quan insisted on disagreeing, thinking that it would be better to follow the traditional route, be more prudent, and enter Chang'an bit by bit.
Now that the situation is favorable to us, why do we have to play so fancy and take such risks? !
Pang Tong couldn't convince Zhuge Liang and Huang Quan, so he glanced sideways at Zhang Xi. Could you please say something? !
Zhang Xi. In fact, Zhang Xi was also wondering whether he should support Pang Tong's strategic vision.
After all, that is Xia Houmao! ! !
If Xia Houmao could defend Chen Cang, he wouldn't believe it even if he beat Zhang Xi to death! ! !
(End of chapter)
