Zhang Xi was a little anxious.
It stands to reason that now Feng Xi is desperately trying to hold back Zhang He, and he has already led the army to block the marching route of Zhang He's rear army. Liu Yin is still on the flank, threatening the Wei army at all times, so he only needs to attack with all his strength and strive to defeat him. This Wei army will do the trick.
But Zhang Xi always felt uneasy.
On the one hand, Zhang He's rear army, under the command of the general named Wang Chang, set up a circular defense. The soldiers' organization and combat power were not weak. For a while, they were really unable to break through the defense line organized by this man.
On the other hand, Zhang Xi always felt that he seemed to have made the wrong decision.
Think about it carefully, now that Zhang He has occupied Wugong County, Zhang Xi's mission to seize Wugong County and choose the opportunity to send troops to sneak attack Chang'an has failed from the beginning.
What Zhang Xi has to do next is actually to stop Zhang He's army, prevent the Wei army from threatening the flank of Wuzhangyuan, and just relieve Guo Huai's army.
Therefore, for Zhang Xi, there is actually no need for him to intercept Zhang He's rear army. It is not impossible to allow Zhang He's rear army to enter Wugong County.
Even if Zhang He has this supporting army, if he wants to attack Wuzhangyuan, he must first defeat the 20,000 troops he brought with him. If he cannot do this, even if Zhang He goes to Wuzhangyuan, he will just ignore his head and his back. Food and grass will be cut off at any time, and they are just looking for death.
In this case, Zhang Xi actually does not need to take the initiative at all. He only needs to have a head-to-head battle with Zhang He under the Wugong County. Even if Zhang Xi is more shameless and imitates a certain Sima, he will not be able to escape. Zhang He had no choice at all.
Anyway, with Zhang He's personality and age, there is a high probability that he would not be able to give women's clothes to others. Even if he did give them away, Zhang Xi would not have no coping strategies. He could just continue to learn from Sima.
The initiative lies entirely in Zhang Xi's hands.
But now, Zhang Xi made the decision to lead troops to intercept Zhang He's rear army.
Indeed, once this decision is completed, it will not only cut off the threat of Wuzhangyuan, but can even force Zhang He back to Youfufeng. If there is still strength left, Zhang Xi can still sneak attack Chang'an.
But if it fails, Wuzhangyuan will also be in danger.
Why did I make such an imprudent decision? Isn't this inconsistent with my usual character? !
The current development of the war situation has clearly verified this point.
Yes, the rear army led by Wang Chang has been blocked by Zhang Xi's 10,000 soldiers, twenty miles east of Wugong County. Liu Yin's 3,000 soldiers are always threatening him on his flanks. From a conventional point of view, , as long as Feng Xi can hold back Zhang He's supporting troops and Zhang Xi strives to attack, then the rear troops led by Wang Chang will suffer heavy casualties even if they are not completely wiped out.
But the actual situation is not like this.
From Zhang Xi's perspective, it was he and Liu Yin who surrounded the 7,000 Wei troops led by Wang Chang. But from Wang Chang's perspective, it can actually be seen as Wang Chang leading 7,000 soldiers to hold Zhang Xi and Liu back. Thirteen thousand people were hiding, waiting for Zhang He to come out from Wugong County. They attacked from both sides and defeated the enemy in one fell swoop.
Once Zhang Xi is unable to block Zhang He and Wang Chang's front and rear attacks and his troops are defeated, it is really unknown whether he can still stop Zhang He from attacking Wuzhangyuan.
In other words, Zhang Xi clearly had an opportunity to hold Zhang He down safely, but now he chose a battle plan with high results and high risks.
The two armies are in a matryoshka state of mutual attack. If one fails to respond well, the consequences will be very serious.
Either a big victory or a big defeat. There is basically no intermediate state.
It would be understandable if that old man Wei Yan made such a decision, as his fighting style was originally like this.
But Zhang Xi himself wondered why he made such a decision.
Zhang Xi always felt that he had been influenced by something, maybe from Liu Bei, maybe from Pang Tong, maybe from Zhuge Liang? !
This Northern Expedition was originally a hastily prepared one. The army's grain and grass reserves were only prepared for half a year. The most troublesome thing for Fazheng and Liu Ba, who are now in Hanzhong, is to adjust grain from various places. In order to prepare for the unfavorable situation of food and grass supply after the army has been on campaign for more than half a year.
But this time the Northern Expedition went extremely smoothly. It has only been two months since Liu Bei sent out his troops in mid-September, and he has already surrounded the main force of the Wei army along the Wei River. As long as he waits for a while, the main force of the Wei army will have enough food. Once it collapses, we can drive our troops straight into Guanzhong and attack Chang'an.
Such a poorly prepared battle has made such smooth progress. Not only Liu Bei, the monarch, but also Pang Tong, Huang Quan, and even Zhuge Liang and others were eager to seal the victory as soon as possible.
Otherwise, given Zhuge Liang's character, would he agree with Pang Tong's plan to attack Chang'an? !
Everyone's mentality became more or less impatient, and Zhang Xi was unknowingly influenced by these people and made such a decision.
But no matter what, the strategy has been made, and it is not a failed strategy. Although there are risks, the benefits after success are also expected. Zhang Xi cannot suddenly change the strategy at this time.
It's just that the strategy is a bit risky, and there's nothing wrong with the strategy. Just deal with it carefully.
After finishing his thinking, Zhang Xi came to the front line in person, found Gao Xiang, and took over the command of the front army.
It's not that he was dissatisfied with Gao Xiang's command, but it was just a distance of twenty miles. Even if Feng Xi tried his best, he couldn't keep Zhang He's marching speed down.
Zhang He will arrive sooner or later, the only difference is whether he arrives two hours later or three hours later.
Therefore, Zhang Xi did not have much time to fight Wang Chang. Since he decided to fight, he must defeat the rear army led by Wang Chang as soon as possible.
Gao Xiang's command cannot be said to be wrong. When faced with a circular formation defense, it is necessary to put pressure on the enemy in all directions so that the enemy cannot connect with each other under pressure. Only in this way can it be possible to break into the enemy's formation and divide and surround the enemy. Breaking the Circle Formation, basically does this.
However, the problem now is that Zhang Xi doesn't have that much time, nor that many troops. He can only take a risk.
After taking over the command, Zhang Xi ordered the entire army to temporarily withdraw and rest, and at the same time sent an envoy to contact Liu Yin's headquarters.
Facing the defense of the circular formation, in addition to the more conventional method of breaking the formation adopted by Gao Xiang, there is actually another way to crack it. However, this cracking method not only requires the high quality of one's own soldiers, but also requires the organization of the opponent's soldiers. not enough.
That is to focus on a small area of attack, attract the enemy soldiers in the circular formation to focus on defense, and then choose other areas with weak defenses to break into the circular formation with sharp knives.
Doing so not only requires the attack of one's own soldiers to put unstoppable pressure on the enemy, so that the enemy's soldiers can focus on defense, but it also requires that the enemy's organization is not enough, the deployment of troops is not smooth, and the coordination with each other is not smooth. Coordinate to expose gaps and flaws in other positions.
This method is actually not suitable for the current battlefield.
Today's Han and Wei armies have insufficient combat power and insufficient organization. It is always the Han army, not the Wei army. The gold content of the Wei Forbidden Army is still relatively sufficient at this time, both in terms of personal quality and organizational level. It is not comparable to the Han army composed of ordinary county soldiers.
However, Zhang Xi still chose this tactic. He first asked the soldiers to retreat and rest, reorganize the offensive formation, and then sent someone to notify Liu Yin, allowing him to choose the opportunity to break into the enemy's formation.
It's not that Zhang Xi has no choice but to take a gamble, but that Zhang Xi has calculated correctly that at one moment, even the highly organized Wei Imperial Army will involuntarily reveal its flaws.
That's when - a pincer attack breaks out.
Zhang Xi didn't believe it. When Zhang He appeared behind him, Wang Chang could still resist the temptation to break out and continue to defend his position in a circular formation.
If this was the case, Zhang Xi really dared to turn around and hit Zhang He first. After all, Zhang He could only send out two thousand people to respond if he was strangled to death.
As long as Wang Chang is determined to break through, he must cooperate with Zhang He to attack from the front and back. At that time, Wang Chang will definitely not be able to maintain the circular formation, and flaws will definitely be exposed.
What Zhang Xi has to do now is to put as much pressure on Wang Chang as possible to prevent Wang Chang from easily completing the formation change and leading his troops to break through.
Therefore, reorganizing the attack and focusing on putting pressure on Wang Chang is Zhang Xi's first choice now.
After readjusting, Zhang Xi commanded the Han army to continue attacking, this time choosing a key breakthrough method.
At this time, Wang Chang obviously didn't realize what Zhang Xi planned to do, but he just felt that the Shu army's attack this time was not as good as before.
Wang Chang dared to set up a round formation for defense. On the one hand, he believed in the organization and combat effectiveness of the Forbidden Army. On the other hand, he had no choice. If he did not set up a round formation and attacked the Shu army, whether he could win or not was one thing. Even if If you can win, how many fighting men you have left in your rear army is another matter.
In a war, no one is immune. What Wang Chang can do is to reduce his own casualty rate as much as possible.
Therefore, Wang Chang chose to set up a circular formation.
The advantage of the circular formation is that soldiers in various units can respond to each other and cooperate with each other to try to create a local situation of many versus few. In this way, defense will be much easier and the casualty rate will be much lower.
If the Shu army continues to surround itself with troops and attack from all sides as before, then it will have to focus on command to ensure that no one breaks through. There will be too many places that require coordinated command.
We can continue to persist now, but if there are another 10,000 people in the Shu army, it will be difficult to say.
But now, the Shu army suddenly retreated and reorganized their offensive formation. They no longer chose the strategy of all-out attack, but adopted the strategy of key breakthroughs. Can this thing really be useful? !
Anyway, Wang Chang felt that it was not as effective as the initial attack.
After all, now Wang Chang only needs to focus on one direction to defend and deploy his troops. Unlike before, he had to look at the overall situation to deal with it, and the pressure on his heart is much less.
The legendary Shu army general Zhang Xi is at this level? !
(End of chapter)
