Although Cao Pi's plan is a bit taken for granted, it is not without the possibility of success.
After all, Zhang Liao is also a famous general. At Xiaoyaojin, he was able to attack Sun Quan's Chinese army with tens of thousands of guards with 800 troops. Sun Quan had to defend himself with a gun. If Zhou Yu hadn't arrived in time with his troops, Sun Shiwan might have been responsible. In Xiaoyaojin, there is no such troublesome situation as today.
Now, Cao Pi didn't ask Zhang Liao to recreate the battle of Xiaoyaojin. He also knew that Sun Shiwan's military skills could not compare with famous generals like Guan Yu, but Zhang Liao also had 30,000 soldiers.
Thirty thousand versus fifty thousand, with Zhang Liao's ability, it is not impossible to defeat Guan Yu.
Although Guan Yu is indeed a famous general in the world, it's not like Guan Yu has never been defeated. Emperor Taizu Wu also captured Guan Yu alive.
Cao Pi had a good idea, but there is a saying that "plans cannot keep up with changes."
Just now, Cao Pi was still imagining that as long as Zhang Liao defeated Guan Yu, he could send troops to reinforce Pengcheng and give Jiangdong a slap in the face. When Chang'an Cao Zhen sent a battle report, Chencang Road fell.
Cao Pi was completely stunned.
Cao Pi was not someone who didn't understand military affairs, and Cao Cao was very good at training his sons.
Cao Pi, Cao Zhang, and Cao Zhi all actually led troops and went to the battlefield at the request of Cao Cao. Cao Pi followed Cao Cao to attack Yecheng, Hebei, and learned from his father by the way. He mentioned someone else The daughter-in-law of the family became his wife; Cao Zhang once led troops to put down Wuhuan's second rebellion, which shocked Liaodong; although Cao Zhi had little experience in leading troops, Cao Cao also tried to let him lead an army on an expedition, but Cao Zhi drank too much The mistake made Cao Cao completely disappointed. Not only was he deprived of his military power, but he also completely lost his qualifications to compete for Cao Cao's successor.
Therefore, Cao Pi, the successor carefully trained by Cao Cao, was not ignorant of military matters.
The entire battle in Guanzhong was always in Cao Pi's mind, and Cao Pi was also very clear about the importance of Chencang Road. Once Chencang Road was broken, the Shu army could enter Guanzhong in large numbers, and the first to be affected was Cao's army's grain harvest on the Weishui River. Land, Mei County.
Currently, there are only 2,000 defenders in Mei County, and Cao Pi would not be so stupid as to pin his hope of holding on to Mei County on the fact that the Shu army did not know that this was the Wei army's grain harvesting land on the Weishui River. Since Liu Bei occupied Baoxie Pass, the entire Guanzhong The military layout was already difficult to hide from the careful inspection of the Shu army.
Cao Pi didn't even have time to think about how Chen Cangdao was lost. He immediately had someone send an edict to Cao Zhen, asking Cao Zhen to quickly send troops to support Mei County.
Although Cao Pi believed that with Cao Zhen's ability, he would not have to wait until his edict arrived before making arrangements, but there were some things that were of different nature whether he said it or not.
But not two days after Cao Pi's edict was sent out, Cao Pi received another battle report from Chang'an. Cao Zhen left Man Chong to guard Chang'an, and personally led 15,000 Chang'an garrison to rescue Mei County. The result was not yet Halfway through, I received news that Mei County had been lost.
Now Cao Pi's eyesight went dark.
Why was this loser Xia Houmao so blind in the first place that he thought of letting this bastard go to the front line to do military exploits? !
But now, things have become like this. No matter how anxious and angry Cao Pi is, there is nothing he can do. How Chang'an responds is the most important thing.
Regarding this response plan, Cao Zhen also mentioned a combat plan in his battle report to Cao Pi - to recapture Mei County.
Cao Zhen still has the style of a general. After he learned that Mei County was lost, he did not panic, nor did he immediately choose to withdraw his troops and defend Chang'an. Instead, he immediately sent out scouts to find the real reason for the loss of Mei County.
When they learned that the Shu army only raided Mei County with thousands of vanguard troops, and that Mei County was captured due to lack of preparation, they immediately became interested.
Although Cao Zhen was also very dissatisfied with Wang Sheng's unreliability and was actually defeated by thousands of people, but now he has 15,000 men, if he takes advantage of the fact that the Shu army has not established a stable foothold in Mei County, he also launches a surprise attack. , it may not be possible to recapture Mei County.
Therefore, Cao Zhen still led the army to march towards Mei County. Within two days of walking, he encountered the messenger sent by Guo Huai.
Guo Huai elaborated on his plan in the letter, and this plan coincided with Cao Zhen. Cao Zhen directly asked the messenger to go back and tell Guo Huai, and act in accordance with Guo Huai's plan.
At the same time, in order to notify Man Chong who was guarding Chang'an to make logistical preparations, and to give Cao Pi an explanation, Cao Zhen sent a battle report to Cao Pi, in which he elaborated on the plan he and Guo Huai made together.
This plan made Cao Pi feel a little more at ease, but after all, he still felt unsure.
For this reason, Cao Pi urgently summoned Liu Ye, told him the current situation in Guanzhong, and asked Liu Ye what he thought of the joint plan between Guo Huai and Cao Zhen. !
Liu Ye was also unlucky.
In fact, the field that Liu Ye is better at is not at the military level, but at the government affairs level.
But Cao Pi couldn't help it. There really weren't enough manpower now.
This time Cao Pi went on an expedition in person, and he actually had quite a few advisers who were good at military affairs with him. Although Cao Pi left Jia Xu, an old fox, to look after his family in Yecheng, he still brought people like Man Chong, Jiang Ji, and Liu Ye with him. , to advise on military strategies at any time.
But the war had changed too quickly in the past few months, and everyone was in danger. Cao Pi had no choice but to send Jiang Ji to Pengcheng and Man Chong to Chang'an. Apart from Liu Ye, the only one left with Cao Pi was Sun. Zi, Liu Fang, these two unlucky guys.
Cao Pi is not an old fool. When faced with this kind of military strategy that is related to the success or failure of Guanzhong, instead of asking Liu Ye, should he ask Sun Zi and Liu Fang? !
Although Liu Ye felt that he was better at government affairs, Liu Ye's suggestions on military affairs were often very to the point and hit the point. Even Cao Cao praised this. Of course, Cao Pi would not regard Liu Ye as a pure The political affairs officer will look at it.
Liu Ye had no choice but to study Guo Huai and Cao Zhen's plan carefully for a long time, and finally came to a conclusion - the key to the success or failure of the plan to retake Mei County lies in whether Guanqiu Jian can delay the Shu army. The advancing speed of the main force of the partial division.
If Guanqiu Jian can slow down the march of this army and create time for Guo Huai to lead the army to Mei County, then the five or six thousand Shu troops in Mei County will definitely not be able to stop Governor Cao Zhen and Guo Huai's governor. Attacked from both sides.
But if Guanqiu Jian cannot slow down the advance of the Shu army and gets reinforcements in Mei County, and Governor Guo Huai and Cao Zhen cannot retake Mei County in a short time, then the entire battle situation in Guanzhong is likely to collapse rapidly. .
This is a risky move. If it is done well, everything will be alive, and there is still hope for Guanzhong to hold on.
If you don't move well, you will lose everything, and Chang'an may not be safe.
Liu Ye told Cao Pi all his opinions, but Liu Ye would not give Cao Pi any suggestions or influence any of Cao Pi's decisions.
This matter is too big and affects the entire Guanzhong. Only Cao Pi can make this decision.
And Cao Pi was also quite embarrassed.
Cao Pi understood Liu Ye's analysis and knew that only he could make such a decision.
If you choose to be more conservative, you should immediately send a message to Cao Zhen, suspend the plan of Cao Zhen and Guo Huai, and ask Cao Zhen to find a way to contact Guo Huai, re-formulate a retreat plan, abandon the Weishui front line, shrink his troops, and defend Chang'an with all his strength.
But if you choose to be more radical, you should support Cao Zhen and Guo Huai's plan. As long as Mei County is recaptured, the defensive line from the Weishui River to Qishan Mountain will still be there. Relying on this defensive stand, you can drag down the Shu army's logistics, and finally The one who wins is still himself, and there is no need to worry about Chang'an facing the threat of soldiers.
The pros and cons are already clear, now Cao Pi needs to make a choice.
And Cao Pi. To be honest, Cao Pi is more inclined to choose a conservative approach.
For Cao Pi, his hope was of course to be able to stop Liu Bei's Northern Expedition and defend Guanzhong.
After all, Liu Bei is old, and the future is still unknown. If Liu Bei has an accident, given the current foundation of the country in Western Shu, as long as Liu Bei dies, it may cause some kind of turmoil. Moreover, even if the internal political power of Western Shu is stable, at least in the In the next three to five years, Xi Shu will not have enough energy to launch another large-scale war.
Cao Pi is only in his thirties this year. He feels that he can definitely survive Liu Bei and he can afford to wait.
At that time, if Cao Pi has Guanzhong in hand, he can use Guanzhong as a springboard to mobilize an army to counterattack Yongliang.
This is Cao Pi's most ideal state.
But the current situation has reached a point where it is difficult for Cao Pi to maintain this ideal state. Therefore, Cao Pi's bottom line is that he can actually defend Chang'an.
As long as Chang'an is still in his hands and Liu Bei is not given a chance to peek into the Central Plains, then when things change in the future, Cao Pi will at least have hope of regaining Guanzhong.
In this case, even if Guanzhong is recaptured, the Wei army will still be in a strategically passive state in Guanzhong when the Shu Han calms down and launches another Northern Expedition.
Looking at it this way, Cao Zhen and Guo Huai's plan is actually to try their best to protect Guanzhong and strive for the best plan for strategic counterattack in the future.
Therefore, Cao Pi was really hesitant.
Should he take the initiative to take aggressive risks for the sake of future strategy, or should he choose to retreat temporarily to protect the bottom line? Cao Pi ultimately chose the former.
Take a risk.
There are actually two reasons why Cao Pi made this choice.
One is that Cao Pi believes that even if he chooses a conservative plan, Guo Huai's army will retreat from the northwest of the Weishui River to the southwest of the Weishui River. There is a great risk in itself. If the retreat plan is not thorough, or Cao Zhen, Zhang He and others do not respond in time, Guo Huai's army will retreat. If the Huai army is overtaken and pursued by the Shu army, it may lose troops and generals. In this case, the power to defend Chang'an will be greatly weakened.
It's not that if Cao Pi wants to hold Chang'an, he will definitely be able to hold it.
The second thing is that there is somewhat of Cao Pi's selfishness in this.
Cao Pi knew that he was indeed not as good as his father, but knowing some things in his heart was one thing, but hearing it from others was another matter.
There are always people who say that their courage is not as good as that of Emperor Wu. Now Cao Pi also wants to take a risk and prove himself.
After all, he was the founding king who truly created the Wei Dynasty.
I am a patient with late-stage obsessive-compulsive disorder, and I cannot tolerate odd-numbered chapters as the last update of the day. However, I am afraid of being scolded if I only update one chapter, so I will update three chapters today, and will return to two chapters in the future.
(End of chapter)
