After all, Wen Qin failed to hold the camp. After holding on until noon on the sixth day, the Wei army's last camp in Wuzhangyuan was still lost.
In fact, after Wen Qin opened the village gate early on the sixth day, he never thought about how long he could hold on.
The camp had been completely surrounded by the Shu army two days ago. Now more than half of the troops and horses of the headquarters were lost, and there was no possibility of breaking out. Even if Wen Qin had not made an agreement with the soldiers in advance, it would not have been possible to defend the camp on the fifth day. There was a mutiny early in the morning.
Therefore, early on the sixth day, Wen Qin opened the gate of the village and allowed the soldiers to leave the camp and surrender to the Shu army, which was regarded as fulfilling his promise.
But Wen Qin couldn't surrender, he had reasons to hold on.
People who had the same reason as Wen Qin to die from exhaustion were more than 500 soldiers recruited from the Central Plains or Hebei and other places.
Wei's laws are strict, and there are strict regulations on whether soldiers surrender, when to surrender, and how their families will be treated after surrender.
The most typical example is when Zhuge Ke attacked the new city of Hefei in history. Zhang Te, the defender of the new city, used a delaying tactic and told Zhuge Ke that the military law of Wei stipulated that if the city surrendered after a hundred days, the family members would not be implicated. He hoped that Zhuge Ke would let him collect a hundred people. After a certain period of time, Zhuge Ke actually agreed to surrender.
It's not that Zhuge Ke is stupid, but Wei Fazhen stipulated this. Under the situation at that time, if Zhang Te really wanted to surrender, this condition was very consistent with the actual situation at the time.
Today's Wuzhangyuan, even counting from the day Guo Huai led his army into Wuzhangyuan, is definitely not more than a hundred days old. Surrendering at this time is definitely a violation of Wei's military law. From the soldiers down to Wen Qin, everyone will be punished by military law. This will harm the family members.
The soldiers recruited from Hanzhong did not have deep scruples about military law. After all, it was really hard to say who Guanzhong would belong to in the future. If the Han Dynasty re-captured Guanzhong, then the so-called Wei military law would be a joke.
Therefore, it is considered very good for the local county soldiers in Guanzhong to accompany Wen Qin for five days.
But most of the remaining more than 500 soldiers were recruited from the hinterland of the Central Plains, or even Hebei, and came to Chang'an to serve in the garrison. If they surrender, their families in their hometown will be affected.
The treatment of these people's families after they died in battle was far better than the treatment their families received after they surrendered.
Therefore, although Wen Qin opened the gate of the camp and allowed most of the soldiers to leave the camp to surrender, there were still more than 500 soldiers following him and continued to defend the camp.
But such a small number of people could not stop Zhang Fei's attack. In less than an hour, Zhang Fei broke through the camp gate.
To be honest, Wen Qin thought about committing suicide and dying for his country, but sometimes thinking about it is one thing, but actually doing it is another thing.
After all, Wen Qin was still young, only in his twenties, and his eldest son was only five years old. With just a moment of hesitation, Wen Qin had a group of powerful Shu soldiers thrown to the ground, and was captured alive in front of Zhang Fei.
This was specially stated by Zhang Fei. After all, Zhang Fei admired Wen Qin very much.
In the first three days of holding on, all Zhang Fei could see was Wen Qin's calm command and bravery, but nothing else could be seen. Therefore, Zhang Fei's evaluation of Wen Qin was that he was a "quite courageous" person.
But in the next two days, it was obvious that nearly half of the Wei army had been lost in the battle. At this time, the ordinary troops would have collapsed long ago, but Wen Qin could use his own methods to continue to maintain the morale of the army and continue to block Zhang Fei's attack.
This is very valuable. It at least shows that the Wei army general has a deep military morale and has enough means to control his troops.
Zhang Fei immediately became interested in such a character, and specifically ordered that after the camp was breached, the Wei army general must be captured alive.
In this way, Wen Qin was tied up and went to see Zhang Fei.
When Zhang Fei took a look at Wen Qin, although he had been in a mess all his life and his armor was messy, it was obvious that this general was not very old. Zhang Fei began to have a love for talents.
He remembered the first time he met Zhang Xi.
At this time, Wen Qin was about the same age as Zhang Fei when he first met Zhang Xi.
At a young age, although he is still a bit immature in military use, his methods are good. Zhang Fei wants to persuade Wen Qin to surrender and serve the Han Dynasty.
But Wen Qin refused, very simply.
Anyone can surrender, but Wen Qin really can't.
Wen Qin's father was the commander of Cao Cao's cavalry, and Wen Qin was unfortunately involved in the "Wei Xi Case". If Wen Qin surrendered, no one in the Wen Qin family in Yecheng would be able to escape.
Therefore, Wen Qin asked Zhang Fei to kill him to save the family.
As soon as Zhang Fei heard this, he became even more reluctant to part with it.
Wen Qin wanted to die in order to preserve his family, which Lao Zhang admired very much.
But Zhang Fei really felt that it was a pity that such a young and talented man died because of Cao Wei's military tactics.
Zhang Fei still wanted to persuade Wen Qin to surrender, hoping to allow Wen Qin to serve the Han Dynasty on the basis of preserving Wen Qin's family.
For this reason, Zhang Fei even went to Zhang Xi and asked Zhang Xi to give him an idea.
This guy has a lot of tricks up his sleeve, so he might have some way to get the best of both worlds.
At this moment, Zhang Xi really didn't have time to argue with Zhang Fei about this.
After the Wuzhangyuan camp was captured, some information was obtained from the mouths of some Wei prisoners. Although these surrendered soldiers or prisoners did not know much, if they asked more, they could always get a general idea.
For example, the purpose of Guo Huai's withdrawal this time. After comparing the confessions of dozens of prisoners and the accounts of some surrendering soldiers, Zhuge Liang and others can basically determine that Wei Yan has occupied Mei County, and Guo Huai's purpose of withdrawing is to To counterattack Mei County.
Now that Mei County has been captured, Wugong County, which is located on the flank of Wuzhangyuan, is a very important place. Zhang Xi must make preparations to unite the army to attack Wugong County as soon as possible. There really is not much time to figure out how to do it for Zhang Fei. The matter of persuading Wen Qin to surrender.
After Zhang Xi asked Zhang Fei clearly why he came and why Wen Qin didn't surrender, he directly suggested to Zhang Fei that he should be released.
First of all, releasing Wen Qin will not change the current situation in Guanzhong. Wen Qin does not have the ability to turn the tide.
Secondly, according to the provisions of Wei's military law, even if Wen Qin goes back this time, he will be punished, and his family will also be affected.
In this case, why should we be the villain? Let Cao Wei do it himself.
Wouldn't it be much easier to persuade Wen Qin to surrender next time when we meet him again? !
Zhang Fei thought about it and it seemed right.
Anyway, Zhang Fei didn't really want to kill such a young, promising, responsible and responsible young general. Since he didn't want to kill him, he might as well just let him go.
After Zhang Fei figured this out, he went back to the camp, untied Wen Qin, entertained him personally, and then released Wen Qin.
Not only did he release Wen Qin, Zhang Fei also released more than 200 soldiers who were unwilling to surrender and captured them together after breaking the camp and returned them to Wen Qin.
There are more than two hundred people, and they are still a defeated army. They can't play a big role, so it is better to just do it as a favor.
Even for fear that Wen Qin would not be able to explain it after he returned, Zhang Fei even wrote a letter to Cao Zhen, informing Cao Zhen of the ins and outs of Wen Qin's release. regulations of this era.
These days, after a general is defeated and captured, he not only has two choices: death in battle or surrender. After being captured, there is also the possibility of being sent back. Although it is rare, it is real.
Historically, when Soochow and Cao Wei fought, most of the captured generals of Cao Wei were sent back to Soochow, and basically none of them were persuaded to surrender or beheaded in public.
Because Ji Han has a feud with Cao Wei, there are very few situations in this regard, but that does not mean that Zhang Fei cannot do this.
What's more, as a cavalry general of the Han Dynasty, it was Zhang Fei's right to deal with prisoners of war in the army. Liu Bei would not even ask about this.
Wen Qin was just like this. Yesterday he was captured without a trace, and today he was released again without a trace. This feeling is very complicated.
Wen Qin really didn't expect that he could leave the Shu army camp alive. But now that he has left, and he brought more than two hundred soldiers with him, what should he do next? !
After calming his mind for a while and summarizing some ideas, Wen Qin finally remembered that he had to catch up with Governor Guo's army and inform Governor Guo of the loss of Wuzhangyuan.
Calculating the time, Governor Guo should have already arrived at Mei County and cooperated with Governor Cao Zhen to counterattack Mei County.
But now that the Shu army has broken through the camp in Wuzhangyuan, they will definitely not sit back and watch Mei County fall. They will definitely march with all their strength to attack Governor Guo.
There is not much time left for Governor Guo. Wen Qin must rush to Mei County as soon as possible to inform Governor Guo to take precautions.
After thinking about this, Wen Qin immediately took more than 200 people and set off lightly, and quickly marched to Mei County. The march of more than 200 people was definitely faster than the march of tens of thousands. He should be able to find Guo earlier than the Shu army. The governor's army.
At the same time, after breaking through the Wuzhangyuan direction, Zhang Fei rested for a day on the spot. After Liu Bei, who was behind, led his army through the Wuzhangyuan mountain road, he led the army, half a day behind Wen Qin, and officially marched towards Mei County.
Zhang Xi, on the other hand, has also organized the 20,000 soldiers he wants to command. He takes Feng Xi as the vanguard and leads 5,000 soldiers to set off first. He himself leads Zhang Nan and Liu Yin and 15,000 soldiers as the rear army. Go to Wugong County.
For Feng Xi, Zhang Xi's request was just one word: fast.
We must capture Wugong County before Zhang He.
After all, after the Wuzhangyuan camp was defeated, some information became clear.
Wei Yan has indeed led troops to occupy Mei County. Guo Huai returned to Mei County this time to counterattack Mei County.
If we estimate according to this routine, then Zhang He from Right Fufeng will definitely send troops to reinforce Wugong County and threaten the flanks of the main force of the Han Dynasty's Northern Expeditionary Army.
Therefore, Zhang Xi must seize Wugong County before Zhang He.
(End of chapter)
