Don't tell me, in Chencang City at this time, Xia Houmao was really considering whether to abandon Chencang City and retreat to Guanzhong.
Wei Yandu had already sent out scouts to investigate the situation in Chencang City. No matter how lazy the Wei army scouts were, they should have realized that the Shu army was under their noses. If they didn't know this, they would be seeking death.
After the Wei army scouts discovered the Han army scouts outside Chencang City, they quickly cheered up and fought with the Shu army scouts. After finally finding out some information about the Shu army, they quickly reported it to Zhuge Qian.
After Zhuge Qian heard the news, he was furious. The enemy is already twenty miles outside Chencang City, and you have only just discovered it now? !
It doesn't matter if you discover it too late, but after you have been working on it for so long, you don't even know who the leading general of the opponent is, except for the approximate strength of the troops. How dare you guys send such information to the top? !
It's true that Zhuge Qian really wanted to kill a few scouts to correct military law. But it was already this time. No matter how many scouts he killed, it would not help.
The most important thing now is to quickly inform Chencang City guard Xia Houmao of this information, so that Xia Houmao can organize the entire army to assemble, open the treasury, distribute ordnance, and prepare the soldiers to defend the city.
The enemy will not give himself much time to prepare.
When Xiahou Mao heard that no less than 20,000 Shu troops had invaded Chencang Road, he was shocked.
There is a saying that Xia Houmao, who had just learned the news, was just a little stupid because of the surprise, and he had not rushed forward so quickly that he abandoned the city and ran away.
Really, although Xia Houmao was a little incompetent and greedy for money, he was not scared out of his wits when he heard about the Shu army's attack.
But Xiahou Mao really didn't expect that the Shu army would suddenly appear on Chencang Road. This was completely different from what he thought.
Xia Houmao, although Zhuge Qian felt that this was an unreliable second-generation noble relative, Xia Houmao himself still felt that his ability was very strong.
This can't be blamed on Xiahou Mao. Whether he was in Yecheng before or now in Chencang, a group of people always praised and echoed what he said, which made Xiahou Mao really think that his ability was not bad.
Although he is not necessarily comparable to his father Xiahou Dun and uncle Xiahou Yuan, compared with his peers such as Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu, the gap should not be very big. Yes, this is how Xiahou Mao understands his own abilities.
Therefore, after Xia Houmao's own "careful research and judgment", he came to the conclusion that the main force of the Shu army had been deployed, the direction of attack was clearly discernible, and it was impossible for there to be any extra troops to invade Chencang Road.
Xia Houmao was quite convinced of his conclusion.
But now, the intelligence from his own scouts completely shattered Xiahou Mao's confidence, and the Shu army really came to invade Chencang Road.
As a result, Xia Houmao fell into a deep self-doubt - he didn't believe it, but he had to believe it when the facts were in front of him.
But in the current situation, there is not much time left for Xiahou Mao to continue to doubt himself. The Shu army is indeed about to attack the city, and Zhuge Qian has come to ask for orders. This kind of thing cannot be a joke.
Therefore, Xia Houmao, who reacted, immediately grabbed the scout information from Zhuge Qian and read it carefully.
But Xia Houmao read the information back and forth several times, but other than knowing that the enemy army numbered 20,000, he didn't get any valuable information.
Who is the enemy's leading general? ! What is the deployment of troops? ! Are you carrying large siege engines? ! Where is the location of grain, grass and military supplies? !
There is no such information. How to fight this? !
Yes, at this time, Xiahou Mao still had no intention of abandoning the city and running away. His first reaction was to hold on to Chencang City and prevent the Shu army from entering Guanzhong.
But the problem now is that Xia Houmao knows no other information except that the opponent has an attack scale of no less than 20,000 people. There is a saying in the art of war: Only by knowing yourself and the enemy can you survive a hundred battles. If you don't know any information, how can you defend Chencang City? !
Xia Houmao, who claimed to have read military books, had no effective way to deal with this situation where the enemy's situation was unclear.
Xia Houmao didn't know what he should do at this time, so he could only make a simple judgment based on the strength of the troops.
There are only 5,000 Chencang defenders, while the Shu army on the opposite side is at least 20,000, or even only 20,000. Xia Houmao is now starting to worry about whether he can defend Chencang City.
In addition, Xia Houmao carefully recalled the current situation of the treasury in Chencang City, and this worry became even more serious.
Chencang's treasury now only has less than a month's supply of food for 5,000 soldiers, and only enough weapons to equip 4,000 soldiers.
Yes, in Chencang's warehouse now, not only is the stock of military rations small, but there is also a very large gap in ordnance.
In the first half of this year, Xia Houmao frantically resold rations and ordnance to make money, and then falsely reported losses to Cao Zhen in Chang'an, asking Cao Zhen to transport rations and ordnance to replenish the treasury.
If there was no war situation, Xiahou Mao, relying on his status and identity, would not be impossible to block this hole and replenish the rations and ordnance needed by Chencangdao to defend the city.
But in the second half of the year, some changes took place in this situation.
It was okay in July and August. Cao Zhen from Chang'an was still kind and gave some military supplies and weapons to Jia. But in October, after Liu Bei led his troops out of Baoxie Road, all Cao Zhen's thoughts were on resisting Liu Bei's Northern Expedition. On the road, the frequency of supply transportation to Chencang Road has also dropped a lot.
This has led to Xia Houmao's failure to completely close the hole in Chencang Dao's treasury until now.
The food and grass were okay, but Xia Houmao still had a bit of a bottom line. He also knew that the consequences of a lack of food in the army would be extremely serious, so he still kept a month's supply of food and grass.
But for the ordnance of the 5,000-strong garrison, Xia Houmao now only has 4,000 sets of ordnance in stock. In other words, Xia Houmao cannot even ensure that the 5,000 garrison is fully equipped with ordnance, let alone armor.
There is a lack of armor, so the soldiers will not complain too much. After all, the armor coverage rate here is really "touching". The soldiers are used to it with or without armor.
But if you don't even have weapons, if you let these soldiers go into battle, big trouble will really happen.
Once the soldiers know that they are reselling military rations and weapons so that they can no longer use weapons for the war, and the rations are only enough for a month, they will mutiny, and the army will definitely mutiny.
There is a Shu army attacking the city outside, but there is a mutiny among the soldiers inside. What the hell.
At that time, it will no longer be a question of whether Chencang can be defended, but a question of triggering a rebellion.
Xiahou Mao didn't care about the deathly soldiers. Xiahou Mao didn't care how many people died.
But if it causes a mutiny in the army and leads to the fall of Chencang, then whether you can save your life from the rebel army, or even have a chance to escape, is a big problem!
Instead of doing this, it would be better to retreat into Guanzhong as soon as possible and not plan any good strategies.
Anyway, I am the brother-in-law of the Emperor of Wei and the eldest son of Xiahou Dun. Even if he returns to Guanzhong, who can do anything to him? !
After thinking about this inner drama, Xia Houmao finally chose to protect himself as his first priority.
Xia Houmao immediately ordered the entire army to assemble, prepare to conserve their strength, and retreat into the pass to defend. Zhuge Qian was so frightened that he quickly stopped the Prince Consort.
This is not about preserving strength, this is about escaping from battle! ! !
No matter what the high-sounding reason is, there is really no retreat on Chencang Road. Twenty thousand Shu troops crossed Chencang Road and took advantage of the opportunity to enter Guanzhong. Zhuge Qian did not dare to think of the consequences.
At that time, I don’t know whether Zhuge Qian, the commander-in-chief of Xiahou Mao, will die, but Zhuge Qian, the deputy general of Chencang, is definitely dead.
Besides, Chencang is easy to defend but difficult to attack, and we have a strong city in hand, with Chang'an in Guanzhong behind us. It only takes a month to go back and forth.
As long as we can hold on to Chencang for a month, Governor Cao Zhen of Chang'an will send reinforcements, and we don't have to worry about not being able to hold on.
Zhuge Qian really didn't understand why Xiahou Mao's first reaction was to withdraw his troops when he heard that the Shu army was coming. !
Zhuge Qian repeatedly persuaded Xiahou Mao to think twice, but Xiahou Mao would not listen to Zhuge Qian at all.
How do you ask Xia Houmao to explain to Zhuge Qian the reselling of military supplies and weapons from Chencang's treasury? !
What's more, Xia Houmao also knew that Zhuge Qian had secretly reported something to Cao Zhen. If Cao Zhen hadn't concealed it because of his noble birth and complicated internal relations, he would have been unlucky to Zhuge Qian. On my body.
But even so, Cao Zhen wrote a letter to reprimand Xia Houmao, which made Xia Houmao quite angry.
Therefore, Xia Houmao will never tell the truth to Zhuge Qian. He does not give Zhuge Qian any reason now, just to assemble the defenders and retreat.
Zhuge Qian repeatedly tried to persuade Xiahou Mao to stay and resist, and repeatedly emphasized the advantages of defending the city. But Xiahou Mao did not listen at all.
At the end of the quarrel, Xia Houmao became a little annoyed and said that since Zhuge Qian is willing to stay and defend, he will give you two thousand soldiers and horses to guard Chencang, and he will definitely take away the remaining three thousand.
Of course, Xia Houmao couldn't say that he abandoned the city and fled. He made an excuse for himself - the Shu army left Chencang Road and invaded Guanzhong. He must tell the governor Cao Zhen the news face to face.
Can you find a decent excuse to make Zhuge Qian angry? !
Do you, a general guarding a city, need to do this kind of thing that can be done with just one scout messenger? !
But Xia Houmao insisted on leaving, and Zhuge Qian had no choice. After all, being a high-ranking official would kill someone.
However, even if Xiahou Mao wants to leave, he can't just leave. After all, the army has to assemble and distribute food and grass. It will take a day or two. This time is enough for Wei Yan to rush to Chencang City and launch the attack. The city is under siege.
This cannot be blamed on Wei Yan. After all, according to normal people's thinking, such an important place as Chencang City is notoriously easy to defend and difficult to attack. Not to mention waiting for reinforcements, at least it must be defended for a while. See Let's see if we can hold on? !
Who would have thought that all Xia Houmao could think about now was leading the troops to withdraw.
So, it's not that Wei Yan is anxious, it's that Wei Yan didn't expect Xia Houmao to stretch his crotch like this.
But when Wei Yan attacked like this, things became even more serious.
Originally, Zhuge Qian thought that Wei Yan led his troops to the city. Now even if you, Xiahou Mao, want to run away, it is too late. If you run now, you will be easily chased by the Shu army.
Now that you've reached this point, you have no other choice. You should just settle down and stick to it, right? !
As long as Xia Houmao defends for two days, he will find that guarding Chencang is not difficult at all, and he can even make achievements. Maybe Xia Houmao will give up the idea of leading his troops to retreat.
But after all, Zhuge Qian overestimated Xiahou Mao's courage and underestimated Wei Yan's ferocity. Wei Yan's siege was quite ferocious, which not only made it difficult for Zhuge Qian to deal with it, but also completely frightened Xiahou Mao.
(End of chapter)
