Wang Ping's success in luring the enemy deep was not great, and he only killed and wounded more than 200 enemy soldiers.
Cao Wei's Central Forbidden Army was not a vegetarian either. The sergeants' combat effectiveness and tactical literacy were very high, and their organization was also very strong. Although Wang Ping had the terrain advantage, it was still unrealistic to cause a large number of casualties in a short period of time.
In addition, Zhu Zan noticed it in time. The Wei army did not go deep into the mountains and forests, so they retreated in time, which did not give Wang Ping enough time to fight.
However, things on the battlefield are not simply measured by the number of casualties.
The Wei army, which originally pursued the enemy in one go, encountered a hasty counter-attack by the enemy and suffered considerable losses. The morale of the army will definitely be greatly affected.
However, the Shu army successfully lured the enemy deeper and launched a counterattack in the mountains and forests. The morale of the army was greatly shaken, and they pursued them instead. Zhu Zan was at a loss for a while.
At this time, it depends on the general's personal military quality and whether the military orders issued are correct.
If it were Sun Li, he would have organized soldiers to resist on the spot at this time. Even if he had to pay a little more casualties, he would not be able to let the other side really drive away his troops. Even if he could, he would still fight for casualties and rely on the numerical advantage. Reorganize a counterattack and knock down the morale of the Shu army.
But Zhu Zan is not Sun Li. Although he is also a qualified general, he is not an excellent commander. Zhu Zan's military order is to withdraw the entire army to the small town and rely on the town's defenses to continue to block the Shu army. attack.
What Zhu Zan did was not a big mistake. When encountering an ambush, it was common sense for a general to leave the battlefield as soon as possible and reorganize the army for fighting.
However, Zhu Zan's order was somewhat inappropriate and actually caused the Wei army to retreat all the way, giving Wang Ping the opportunity to follow and pursue him. When Zhu Zan returned to the town and gathered the defeated army, he found that this time he lost money in the battle. More than five hundred imperial soldiers were killed.
This is because Cao Wei's imperial soldiers are highly trained and organized, and they only lost more than 500 people when they were able to maintain defeat without chaos. If it were an ordinary Wei army, a major defeat would be inevitable.
Wang Ping, who was pursuing, immediately ordered a suspension of the pursuit after seeing the Wei army retreating to the town.
If they pursue further, they will hit the Wei army's defenses. Wang Ping's on-the-battle command is much better than Zhu Zan's, and he will not make such a mistake.
Wang Ping ordered the pursuit to be suspended, the entire army gathered its troops, and counted the losses. Wudang Feijun also lost nearly 300 people in the battle.
Such losses made Wang Ping worried about their lawsuit.
The Wudang Feijun he brought behind Sanguan was only more than 2,500 people, and he lost 300 people in one fell swoop. If we fight a few more such field battles, even the Wudang Feijun will collapse.
This battle made Wang Ping realize that his Wudang Feijun was not a strong force in the world. At least fighting on an open plain, the Wudang Feijun was really unable to defeat the Wei army on the opposite side.
Although Wang Ping still doesn't know that the Wei army opposite is the Central Forbidden Army, it does not prevent Wang Ping from making an immediate judgment.
Pause the attack on the town, set up camp outside the town, and merge the two previously occupied camps into one.
Originally, Wang Ping's army was divided into two camps, so that they could support each other.
But in the current situation, the Wei army has a large number of troops and strong combat effectiveness. If Wang Ping divides his troops and garrison them again, he will really be asking for his own death.
It happened that both camps were burned to varying degrees, so one of the camps was demolished, and the dismantled materials were used to repair and expand the other camp.
With the defense of a complete camp and a defensive battle with the Wei army on the opposite side, this is the best way Wang Ping can think of now.
There is a saying that when Wang Ping demolished one camp and repaired another, Zhu Zan actually understood Wang Ping's intentions, and Zhu Zan did consider whether to launch an attack while Wang Ping was building a camp. , at least Wang Ping cannot be allowed to build defense facilities.
But Zhu Zan did not do this in the end, because Zhu Zan was also quite afraid of the combat effectiveness of this Shu army.
In addition, the Wei army had just retreated to a small town to recuperate. After a small defeat, the morale of the army was greatly affected. Zhu Zan was really afraid to be careless, for fear that Wang Ping might have another conspiracy.
Zhu Zan's decision-making ability and courage on the battlefield were not as good as Wang Ping's. Therefore, at such a critical moment, Zhu Zan chose to hold his troops temporarily, rest and replenish the soldiers' ordnance, and did not interfere with Wang Ping's repair of the camp at the first time. .
At this time, the only right thing Zhu Zan did was to send a fast horse to deliver a letter to Sun Li who was still in Sanguan, informing him of everything that happened behind Sanguan.
After this letter was delivered to Sun Li, Sun Li's blood pressure went up when he read it.
Strictly speaking, Wang Ping detoured to the back of Sanguan to prevent Sanguan from sending reinforcements. Sun Li did not expect this. Although Zhu Zan's response after encountering the Shu army made a small mistake, it was not a response error after all.
But when Sun Li saw the battle report, he couldn't help but curse.
This Zhu Zan is somewhat indifferent to priorities.
The Shu army appeared behind Sanguan. This was obviously a signal that the Shu army had broken through Chencang Road. At this time, Zhu Zan should not take care of the more than two thousand Shu army. He should directly command the soldiers after completing supplies in the town. After the breakthrough, they marched quickly and went straight to Mei County.
The journey from Sanguan to Mei County is only four or five days. The dry food consumed on the road will not be too much, and it is enough for a single soldier to carry it to Mei County, so there is no need to worry about someone cutting off your retreat.
And with the level of organization of the Forbidden Army, four or five consecutive days of high-intensity marching is not enough to completely collapse this army. As long as they arrive at Mei County and have a certain period of rest, they can quickly regain their combat effectiveness.
But Zhu Zan's response was to stop in the small town and organize his soldiers to confront the Shu army behind the pass. This is a typical case of forgetting the priorities. Your target is not the Shu army that suddenly appeared! ! !
Well, even if Zhu Zan has his own concerns, it is not impossible to deal with the Shu army after the pass and then reinforce Mei County. But you actually faced the Shu army with inferior strength and received a small defeat, even Don't you dare send troops to harass the opponent at the critical moment, and watch the opponent build a camp? !
Can Sun Li's blood pressure not go up? ! !
It's true that Sun Li had the intention to go directly to the back of the pass to command the imperial army in combat. After all, Zhu Zan was a little worse. But no, Sun Li couldn't leave.
Zhao Yun, who was in front of Sanguan Pass, was not a vegetarian. The frequency of attacks in the past few days was very high, and the threat of attacks was getting bigger and bigger. After Sun Li lost half of his troops, it was already quite uncomfortable to defend. It was really uncomfortable. Dare to leave Sanguan rashly.
Therefore, Sun Li could only write a letter to Zhu Zan, reiterating that his strategic purpose this time was to reinforce Mei County. If possible, he would ignore the two thousand Shu army, march in a detour, and quickly reinforce Mei County.
As for the Shu army behind you, don't worry about him. It's okay to let him follow you and eat ashes.
Zhu Zan was also embarrassed after receiving Sun Li's reply.
Although there are fast horses in the army, it will take about two days to get to the small town. During this time, Wang Ping has already built a camp.
This camp is at the east entrance of the town. It is impossible for the army to avoid the surveillance of the Shu army and rescue Mei County. If soldiers are sent to resist while advancing, the marching speed will be slowed down. Is this really a good idea? ? !
Zhu Zan hesitated again and again, but finally decided to follow Sun Li's order.
On the one hand, Sun Li is the commander-in-chief, and Zhu Zan must obey his military orders.
On the other hand, Zhu Zan is just an ordinary general. His talents are limited and he can't think of any other better way, so he can only obey orders.
It is impossible to completely bypass the surveillance of the Shu army at the east entrance of the town. If you march rashly and pass directly in front of the Shu army's camp, you will be intercepted by the Shu army.
Zhu Zan would not make such a low-level mistake. Therefore, Zhu Zan decided to divide his troops. He first sent more than 1,400 people to the Shu army camp to stop them, and then led the remaining 3,000 people from the camp on the other side of the east entrance of the town. , went to rescue Mei County.
When the Shu army saw that they were leading troops to advance eastward, they would definitely find a way to come out of camp to intercept them. Then the intercepted 1,400 men could temporarily block them for a while, and then wait until their 3,000 men left the town before fighting and retreating, followed by Three thousand of his own people gathered together.
As soon as the two armies merged and there was no risk of being intercepted by the Shu army, there were more than 4,000 people on his side, while the Shu army only had more than 2,000 people. Zhu Zan didn't believe that the general of the Shu army would dare to fight with him in a field battle. .
In the last battle, although the Shu army's combat effectiveness was indeed beyond Zhu Zan's expectations, in plain ground combat, the gap in combat effectiveness between the two sides was not large, and Zhu Zan had the advantage in strength.
As long as he is careful this time and is not led into the forest by the enemy, Zhu Zan is confident that he will win in the field battle and even completely defeat the Shu army.
After the plan was formulated, Zhu Zan took action immediately. After all, Mei County could last for how many days.
As for Wang Ping, he was also a little embarrassed when faced with Zhu Zan's sudden dispatch of troops.
Although Zhu Zan made some responses and sent more than a thousand soldiers to block Wang Ping's pursuers, in Wang Ping's view, this was also a good time for him to find a way to eat part of the Wei army.
He still has more than two thousand Wudang Feijun, but the Wei army sent by Zhu Zan to intercept him only has more than a thousand. As long as the connection between this intercepting army and the main force of Zhu Zan's army is cut off, Wang Ping is completely sure to attack this intercepting army. Effective strike.
It may not be possible to completely eat this blocking force, but it is easy to cause a large number of damage to the Wei army.
But Wang Ping didn't do this for a simple reason. The army was in short supply of food and grass.
Wang Ping led Wudang Feijun over the mountains and detoured to the back of Sanguan. He only had five days of rations left. There was not much rations in the two captured camps, and many of them were burned down when the Wei army retreated. The food Wang Ping was able to rescue was only enough to feed more than 2,000 people for three days.
Wang Ping has sent people to contact the guard at Chencang Road, hoping to get some support from the direction of Chencang Road. Although Xiang Chong, the guard at Chencang Road, agreed to Wang Ping's request and would send a batch of grain and grass, this would require Time, at least two or three days before it can be shipped here.
Originally, there was no problem with this time. Wang Ping snatched three days of food and grass, and Xiang Chong's food and grass supplies would arrive in three days. As long as Wang Ping continued to hold on in the camp for three days, the food and grass would not become a problem for Wang Ping's battle. shortcomings.
But now, the Wei army did not give Wang Ping a chance for three days. They were now trying to bypass Wang Ping's obstruction and go to rescue Mei County.
Wang Ping is obviously much stronger than Zhu Zan. He knows very well what his strategic purpose is for this battle, and he will definitely not allow Zhu Zan to support Mei County in such a big way.
But if he wanted to prevent Zhu Zan from going to support Mei County, Wang Ping would have to abandon his camp and lead his troops on an expedition. Then would he still be able to receive the supplies of food and grass delivered to Xiang Chong? !
Wang Ping didn't know, but Wang Ping knew that if he waited for food and grass supplies to be in place before pursuing Zhu Zan's Wei army, he might have reached Mei County before he could pursue them far.
Therefore, Wei Jun cannot be allowed to pass by like this.
When I accepted the mission and came over the mountains and ridges to undertake the interception mission, I came with the determination to die. Whether there were food supplies or not, we had to stop them! ! !
(End of chapter)
