There is a saying that Guanqiu Jian has the potential to become a famous general.
Guanqiu Jian has a very smart and calm mind, and is very capable of adapting to situations. He is very good at judging the battlefield situation and making more correct choices.
With these precious qualities, as long as Guanqiu Jian has more battle experience, it is not an extravagant hope to become a famous general.
But now Guanqiu Jian is still too young after all. He only entered the battlefield seriously after Guo Huai discovered his talent.
In terms of battlefield experience, ten Guanqiu Jian combined cannot compare to one Wei Yan.
In the past half of his life, Wei Yan has worked his way from a low-level soldier to his current position. He has experienced no less than a hundred battles, large and small, ranging from bandit suppression to maintain local security, to the Battle of Sichuan and the two Northern Expeditions. Wei Yan also participated and made great contributions.
How could such a person who has been on the battlefield for so long experience find his footing unstable after entering the battlefield? Even if Xu Chu were to take command, he would not make such a stupid mistake.
Therefore, Guanqiu Jian's plan to launch an attack while Wei Yan's footing was not stable was simply out of his mind.
Wei Yan came all the way. When the scouts found that Wu Ban was less than five miles away from him, he had already stopped marching and arranged defensive formations and simple defensive measures on the spot. He was not in a hurry to meet Wu Ban, but believed in Wu Yan. Ban has this ability. He can lead his soldiers to fight and retreat, and then retreat to join him.
And Wu Ban did not disappoint Wei Yan, fighting and retreating all the way. Although the casualties were not small, they finally completed the rendezvous with Wei Yan while the large force preserved their combat power.
Therefore, Guanqiu Jian's cavalry assault not only did not cause Wei Yan's supporting army to be in chaos, but instead ran into the defensive formation that Wei Yan had arranged in advance.
There is a saying that Wei Yan led infantry after all, and he was really at a disadvantage in terms of arms. Even if he responded in advance, the casualties were still high after the impact.
However, Guanqiu Jian did not immediately launch a series of attacks. Instead, after discovering that Wei Yan was on guard, he immediately ordered his cavalry troops to start taking circuitous routes again, trying to find gaps in Wei Yan's army's defense or simply bypass Wei Yan's army and continue to pursue Wu Ban. The Shu army.
Not to mention that Guan Qiu Jian had the potential to become a famous general. Even at this time, Guan Qiu Jian still did not give up his calm thinking.
Wei Yanjun's supporting troops looked to be quite large, at least three to four thousand people, which meant that there were only one or two thousand people guarding Mei County now.
If Wu Ban is allowed to lead the army back to Mei County, the defenders of Mei County will instantly number nearly 10,000 people. In this way, even if these Shu troops and the supporting Shu troops are completely wiped out outside Mei County, it will be difficult to capture Mei County. .
But if you can bypass this supporting force and try to intercept Wu Ban's infantry, this will not only delay Wu Ban's marching speed, but also cause the Shu army to break up and allow the supporting troops to come and join together. You can still delay time. Create an opportunity for Governor Cao or Governor Guo to recapture Mei County.
After making a simple analysis, Guanqiu Jian immediately made a decision, asking the cavalry to speed up, make a large circle again, avoid the interception position of Wei Yan's troops, and pursue Wu Ban's troops.
As for Wei Yan, after seeing Guan Qiu Jian asking the cavalry to start detouring again, he immediately understood Guan Qiu Jian's intention.
Wei Yan didn't panic, but instead showed a sneer.
I used to think that this Wei army commander had some ability, he could bear not to attack his troops who were leaving the city to lure the enemy, and he had some judgment ability. But now it seems that he is still too green after all.
If you want to take a detour to chase, then go for it.
Wei Yan didn't care about Guan Qiujian's actions. After seeing Guanqiu Jian leading the cavalry to start a large detour, he directly ordered to abandon the defensive position and march forward to meet Wang Ping's Duanhou Army.
Wei Yan's 4,000 men, plus Wang Ping's more than 4,000 men, totaled more than 8,000 men. Even if the Min family's infantry were elite, how could they still be able to defend themselves against a force disadvantage of more than twice as much? !
As long as this Wei army infantry is eliminated, how long can you hold me back with your three thousand cavalry? !
You know, it's only forty miles away from Mei County. It's going to be dark soon. If you have the ability, you can use the cavalry to pursue me in the middle of the night.
Wei Yan's purpose was very simple, which was to use some of the casualties of the troops led by Wu Ban in exchange for the Cao Wei infantry that Guan Qiujian used to pursue the main force at night. As long as there was no such infantry, the Wei army would have no way to continue to bite after nightfall. own troops, and by the time dawn comes, it is estimated that he, Wu Ban and others will have already withdrawn to Mei County to rest.
In fact, in Wei Yan's eyes, the biggest obstacle to the response this time was not the three thousand cavalry commanded by Guan Qiujian. On the contrary, the biggest trouble was the more than three thousand infantry led by Zhu Zan.
Now, when the opportunity comes, Wei Yan will never let it go.
Zhu Zan led the imperial army in pursuit, which was not very smooth to begin with.
Yes, the combat effectiveness of the Wei Forbidden Army is very strong, but from the time Zhu Zan led the army to the present, the Forbidden Army soldiers he led have rarely experienced high-intensity combat for a few days, and they were not able to sleep well at night. Already very tired.
The reason why they can still bite the rear-cutting troops led by Wang Ping is that on the one hand, the Wudang Flying Army led by Wang Ping has also suffered a serious attrition, and its combat effectiveness cannot be compared with before. On the other hand, the ordinary Han soldiers under Wu Ban The combat effectiveness of the three thousand soldiers was not even as good as the fifteen hundred Wudang flying army led by Wang Ping.
Although the Wei Imperial Army was tired, its organization and training were there after all. Although Zhu Zan could not completely defeat Wang Ping's rear-cutting army, he had the upper hand and could still capture this army.
But all of this was suddenly reversed as Wei Yan's new troops joined the battlefield.
The combat effectiveness of Wei Yan's supporting troops cannot be compared with that of the Wei Imperial Army, but Wei Yan's troops are a fresh force, and Wei Yan's commanding ability is much stronger than Zhu Zan's.
After Wei Yan joined the battlefield, he immediately found Wang Ping and took over the command of the war. At the same time, he ordered Wang Ping to lead the Wudang Fei Army to temporarily retreat and rest. He commanded more than 6,000 ordinary Han soldiers to complete the siege of Zhuzan first. .
Wei Yan had also heard of the Wudang Feijun unit. When he first partnered with Zhang Xi, Wei Yan often heard Zhang Xi talk about the combat characteristics of this unit.
As a unit that focuses on long-distance attacks, it is a waste in itself if you use him to interrupt the rear.
Therefore, after Wei Yan used his own soldiers to gradually block Zhu Zan's army's attack, he immediately asked Wang Ping to lead the Wudang Fei army who had taken a short rest to attack, take a circuitous route, penetrate directly behind Zhu Zan's army, and block Zhu Zan's retreat route.
Wei Yan wanted to use the Wudang Feijun's penetration ability to completely suffocate this three thousand elite Wei army infantry to death here.
There is a saying that at this time, Wang Ping, as the commander of the Wudang Fei Army, was actually not qualified. He did not understand the essence of the Wudang Fei Army, but only used the Wudang Fei Army as an ordinary elite force. .
In terms of commanding ability, compared with Wei Yan, Wang Ping is still somewhat behind.
Although Wang Ping in history succeeded Wei Yan as the prefect of Hanzhong after Wei Yan's death and continued Wei Yan's defensive strategy in Hanzhong, Wei Yan's several battles with Guo Huai in history were basically outside Hanzhong, and Wang Ping's defeat against Cao Shuang was The Shu army could only adopt the strategy of luring the enemy deep. On the one hand, it was due to the different current situation. On the other hand, it was also a circumstantial evidence that Wang Ping was inferior to Wei Yan.
But this can't be blamed on Wang Ping. Wang Ping was born as a peasant, and his status was there. It was not easy for someone to reuse him. Until now, he is still illiterate. Not to mention seeing it, he has never even touched it.
Although Wei Yan is not a great scholar, he has been reading and literacy at Liu Bei's request since he was in Xinye. Although Wei Yan has never read the Military Book seriously, he has followed Liu Bei and partnered with Zhang Xi many times. I've heard a lot about it too.
There is a reason for the gap between the two. It cannot be said that Wang Ping is really inferior to Wei Yan. Wang Ping also has Wang Ping's advantages.
Wang Ping, if nothing else, his ability to comprehend is really strong. When Wei Yan issued this military order, while Wang Ping was executing it, he seemed to be vaguely aware that he had made some mistakes in commanding the flying army. , it’s just that in this battlefield, it’s not suitable for deep thinking.
But no matter what, Wang Ping still strictly implemented Wei Yan's military orders, led the Wudang Fei Army, and took advantage of the Wudang Fei Army's advantage in running attacks to detour behind Zhu Zan.
As for Zhu Zan, although Zhu Zan's ability is indeed mediocre and his adaptability is insufficient, it does not mean that Zhu Zan does not know what kind of situation he will face once he is intercepted by Wang Ping.
Zhu Zan had experienced the fighting power of this unworthy flying army.
In the past, when the Wudang Feijun was mixed with ordinary soldiers, Zhu Zan could sometimes contain the Wudang Feijun by suppressing the ordinary soldiers. Now that the Wudang Feijun has independently formed a way around the rear and does not retreat, then he really has to answer. Here it is.
Now, Guan Qiujian led the cavalry to attack in a roundabout way. Zhu Zan was the biggest commander on the battlefield, and the battlefield was a place that was changing rapidly. Zhu Zan could not always stick to Guan Qiujian's order before leaving.
Therefore, Zhu Zan saw that Wang Ping was about to outflank Wang Ping, and immediately ordered the entire army to retreat while fighting, striving to break away from the contact as soon as possible.
On the one hand, Zhu Zan believed that by retreating briefly and luring the Shu army to pursue, he could lengthen the distance between this Shu army and the retreating Shu army, causing a disconnect between the retreating Shu army and the retreating Shu army. At the same time, he could continue to After containing this Shu army, Guanqiu Jian's surprise attack was relieved to reduce the pressure.
On the other hand, if Guan Qiujian realized that something was wrong and wanted to come back to rescue him, he might be able to cover up from behind this rear-cutting force and attack him from both sides.
Zhu Zan's idea is not wrong. With his ability, it is not easy to make such a decision before the battle. But Wei Yan would never do such a thing.
Wei Yan knew exactly what he was here for.
For the infantry in front of us, it would be best if we could encircle and annihilate them. In this way, after nightfall, we would not have to worry about the Wei army biting the tail of the retreating army and slowing down the retreat.
But if we can repel this Wei army and make it unable to bite our rear wing, then we don't necessarily have to fight to the death with this Wei army.
After all, Guan Qiujian's cavalry is still outside. It's really hard to say when they will withdraw.
Therefore, when he saw Zhu Zan leading his infantry to fight and retreat, Wei Yan also consciously asked ordinary soldiers to break away from the Wei army step by step.
After doing this, Wei Yan issued a new military order to Wang Ping, who was outflanking, to pursue the Wei army for ten miles, and then withdraw immediately towards Mei County without joining the main army.
(End of chapter)
