The situation Guo Huai has to face now is not only the gains and losses of Houlumei County, but also the problem of food and grass supply. The Shu army in front of him is not a fuel-efficient lamp.
After a farce-like battle, the Shu army launched a fierce attack on its eastern defense line of Wuzhangyuan, forcing Guo Huai to dare not leave the mountain road on the east side of Wuzhangyuan.
The Shu army took Zhang Xi as the front commander and commanded more than 10,000 soldiers to attack the Wei army's eastern mountain road camp.
Guo Huai has already learned what kind of abilities Zhang Xi has. Not only is he dexterous in using soldiers, but he also likes to come up with some weird ideas. The repeating crossbow arrow that Guo Huai still hasn't figured out the principle of is a clear proof.
Zhang Xi personally led the troops to attack the mountain camp on the east side of Wuzhangyuan, but Guo Huai did not dare to take it lightly.
Although Guo Huai still occupies a geographical advantage, the mountain road on the east side of Wuzhangyuan is narrower and steeper than the mountain road on the west side. If Guo Huai directs it personally, it is impossible for Zhang Xi to get into the fine work. But the narrow mountain road means that Guo Huai The camp set up by Huai on the mountain road cannot be too big, and at most a thousand people can be stationed in it.
To continue to accept the opponent's attack of 10,000 people with 1,000 people is actually a lot of pressure.
Although Zhang Xi's army cannot invest too much force in the mountain road attack due to the narrow mountain road, the problem is that Zhang Xi's army can rotate at any time, but Guo Huai really doesn't dare. If he is caught by Zhang Xi, he will change defense. If we attack at a gap, the camp may be lost.
Guo Huai did not doubt Zhang Xi's ability at all. In other words, Guo Huai suspected that the purpose of Zhang Xi's non-stop attacks on the mountain camp was to force him to switch defenses and seize the opportunity to attack the camp in one fell swoop.
Therefore, when Guo Huai faced repeated attacks by Zhang Xi's troops, he could only rely on the soldiers in the original camp to support him. When the camp's troops were damaged, he only sent a small number of reinforcements into the camp.
If this force continues for a long time, not only the casualties of the soldiers, but also the psychological endurance of the soldiers will reach the limit, and collapse is possible at any time.
The battle at the front was already uncomfortable for Guo Huai, but the Shu army at the rear broke through Chencang Road and directly threatened Mei County. I don't know what the current war situation in Mei County is like.
Soon, Guo Huai received the news he least expected to receive. Guanqiu Jian quickly sent a battle report, and Mei County was lost.
Guo Huai's eyes darkened when he saw this news, and he almost fainted.
The fall of Meixian County was a huge blow to the front line. Guo Huai didn't even read Guan Qiujian's next suggestion carefully. He just threw the battle report on the ground and kept breathing heavily.
This startled Wen Qin, who quickly helped Guo Huai sit down in the tent. Helping Shunqi to see that Guo Huai was almost relaxed, he picked up the battle report on the ground and started reading it himself.
Wen Qin was also surprised when he saw that Mei County had been lost.
However, Wen Qin was mainly surprised by the speed of Mei County's fall, and did not think too much about the impact of Mei County's fall.
It's not that Wen Qin doesn't have this sensitivity, it's mainly because Wen Qin is not the commander-in-chief of the entire army. His responsibilities and burdens are not as heavy as Guo Huai's, and he doesn't feel as deeply about the entire army's retreat being cut off.
In different positions, the methods and angles of thinking about the same thing are different. Therefore, although Wen Qin was surprised when he saw the fall of Mei County, he still saw Guan Qiujian's suggestion later.
After thinking for a while, Wen Qin also discovered the unreasonableness of Guanqiu Jian's suggestion, but looking back and thinking about it carefully, it seemed that the Wuzhangyuan army did not have many options to choose from.
Of course, the most important thing is that Wen Qin did not need to make this decision. Wen Qin returned the military report to Guo Huai.
After Guo Huai took over the military report again, he finally calmed down and could continue reading.
After reading Guan Qiujian's suggestions, Guo Huai slowly calmed down and began to consider the feasibility of Guan Qiujian's plan.
There is a saying, Guanqiu Jian and Wen Qin could both think of the inappropriateness, how could Guo Huai, a famous general, not see it.
But similarly, Guo Huai also knew about the situation of the original Wei army in Wuzhang that both Guanqiu Jian and Wen Qin could think of.
However, this decision is not easy to make.
The option of continuing to confront the Shu army in Wuzhangyuan is definitely not among Guo Huai's options.
Now Guo Huai has only two choices.
One is to follow Guanqiu Jian's suggestion and take a big shot.
As long as Mei County can be recaptured and the grain and grass are recaptured, even if the Shu army is released from Wuzhangyuan and confronts the Shu army along the Weishui River, it is not impossible to win.
Even if we do this, several counties along the Weishui River will most likely be completely destroyed.
The other is to quickly find a way to withdraw the army, get ahead of the Shu army, and station in Wugong County first. After obtaining a certain amount of supplies in Wugong County, whether it is contacting Zhang He in Youfufeng to support him, or crossing the river and retreating to the east of the Weishui River, there will be supplies along the way. At least there is no need to worry about being chased by the Shu army along the way.
Although the former approach is risky, if it succeeds, at least the entire Guanzhong will not be corrupted.
Although the latter approach is safe, once Mei County is surrendered and the gates on the west side of Guanzhong, including Sanguan and Chencang Road, are opened, the Shu army can enter and exit Guanzhong at will, while the Wei army can only retreat to Chang'an.
Although relying on the two places of Fengyi on the left and Fufeng on the right, plus the strong city of Chang'an, it is not impossible to defend Guanzhong, once Sanguan and other places are lost, the Wei army will lose the initiative to defend.
After Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu brought peace to the world, why didn't he continue to make Chang'an the capital and instead choose Luoyang as the capital? !
On the one hand, there are political factors to consider, and on the other hand, it is also because the Guanzhong area has been beaten to pieces in years of battles, and production cannot be restored in a short period of time. Even if Chang'an like this can be defended, what is the use? !
Once the Shu army is allowed to enter and exit Guanzhong at will, Chang'an will be destroyed again sooner or later and become a bottomless financial pit. In this case, it is better to give up Chang'an directly, retreat to Wuguan and Tongguan, and protect the Central Plains.
It is not without precedent. Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu two hundred years ago was a precedent, and Emperor Wu did the same thing ten years ago.
Emperor Wu once ignored Guanzhong and only focused on preserving the hinterland of the Central Plains. Later, after the southern expedition to Jiangdong was unsuccessful, he thought of regaining Guanzhong. Before, Guanzhong had been controlled by the Liangzhou warlords led by Ma Chao and Han Sui. It just showed a superficial surrender.
But the problem is that such a big thing as abandoning Guanzhong is not something Guo Huai can decide, and the current emperor of Wei is not Emperor Guangwu or Emperor Wu.
Emperor Guangwu and Emperor Wu dared to do this because although they did not directly occupy Guanzhong, they had the ability to pacify or control Guanzhong, and later, they did both. But the opponent of the Wei army was the Shu army, and Liu Bei was not I will give you another chance to return to Guanzhong.
Although the current Emperor of the Wei Dynasty can be regarded as a wise emperor, in terms of military strategy and courage, he is indeed more than a little worse than the Emperor Wu. Once he abandons Guanzhong, it will be really difficult to get back from Guanzhong.
Therefore, for Guo Huai, this order to withdraw troops is actually not easy to give. Once it is given, it is likely to trigger a chain reaction and cause the Wei Dynasty to completely lose control of Guanzhong.
The Emperor of Wei can give this order, but if he really wants to settle the accounts later, Guo Huai will not be able to escape responsibility.
After much thought, Guo Huai still felt that it would be better for him to follow Guanqiu Jian's advice.
Now the army has about fifteen days of food reserves. It will take six or seven days to return to Mei County from Wuzhangyuan, and there are still nearly ten days to attack the city.
As long as Guanqiu Jian can really hold back the main force of the Shu army's partial division and prevent them from reaching Mei County quickly, then this battle is not impossible to fight.
Can Guanqiu Jian really do it? !
Guo Huai had no doubt that Guanqiu Jian was capable of holding down more than 10,000 soldiers for several days with three thousand cavalry.
But Guo Huai didn't quite believe that Guanqiu Jian could keep stalling like this. After all, the Shu army was not a vegetarian. If the more than 10,000 Shu soldiers really went to support Mei County regardless of losses, they would not be able to stop Guan Qiu Jian even if they were killed. live.
Guo Huai was really not sure about this issue, so he took the initiative to discuss it with Wen Qin.
Now Wen Qin not only has to be a military general, but also has to take up a part-time job in the army after Guanqiu Jian left. Fortunately, Wen Qin didn't get it for free. Although his military experience is a bit lacking, his mind is still relatively flexible and calm. of.
Therefore, Wen Qin thought for a while and said, "Has the general forgotten the governor of Chang'an Cao, General Zhang Fufeng?!"
Needless to say, Guo Huai immediately understood when Wen Qin talked about Cao Zhen and Zhang He.
Yes, once Mei County is lost, the most anxious person will definitely be Cao Zhen.
Cao Zhen is not that fool like Xia Houmao. He should have sent reinforcements when Chencang Road was broken through and Mei County was in emergency. Now, I am afraid that this reinforcement army has left Chang'an and rushed to Mei County.
As long as Guo Huai can send people to quickly contact the supporting troops and let them participate in the plan to counterattack Mei County, then he will have a new force to attack Mei County, so that he can allocate his troops to Guanqiu Jian. Guangqiu Jian was asked not to delay, but to directly stop the Shu army of more than ten thousand people.
As for the Shu army in Wuzhangyuan, it is very likely that they will pursue them when they withdraw their troops to counterattack Mei County. This issue can be left to Zhang He of You Fufeng.
Guo Huai did not believe that Zhang He was allowed to lead his troops from Fufeng on the right and use martial arts to directly threaten Wuzhangyuan. He, Liu Bei, dared to risk the threat of the army's flanks and pursue him with all his strength.
It's just that these things are all about time. If we report them to Commander Cao Zhen and let him coordinate, I'm afraid it will be too late.
Therefore, what Guo Huai has to do now is whether to risk offending Governor Cao Zhen and make a decision directly on the battlefield.
Fortunately for Zhang He, this old general has a lot of experience. As long as you explain the important relationship to him clearly, the old general should be able to distinguish the important from the important.
But the supporting army in Chang'an didn't know who the general was.
Guo Huai could only sigh at this, and then began to write letters to Zhang He and Cao Zhen. At the same time, he sent out sentries to the east bank of the Weishui River to look for this supporting army.
Now Guo Huai can only hope that both Cao Zhen and Zhang He can tolerate each other for the sake of the country! !
(End of chapter)
