Something's wrong. Something's really wrong! ! !
Two days have passed since Zhang He responded to Wang Chang's troops and retreated to Wugong County.
On the first day, there was no movement in Wugong County, which was understandable for Zhang Xi.
After all, the Wei army just broke through the encirclement yesterday and withdrew from Wugong County. It must take a period of rest and reorganize the team, otherwise it will not be able to quickly restore its combat effectiveness.
Therefore, on the first day, Wei Jun did not leave the city to challenge, which was within Zhang Xi's expectation.
But the next day, there was still no movement from the Wei army. Is this somehow no longer a problem? !
What the Wei army lacks most now is time, and Zhang He cannot possibly not know this.
Whether Zhang He wants to defeat his army head-on or bypass his camp by a small road to sneak attack on Wuzhangyuan, he must set off as soon as possible.
But Zhang Xi did not notice any movements of the Wei army.
On the main road, the gates of Wugong County were tightly packed. Wei Jun was busy working back and forth on the city tower. Seeing that there were a lot of people, they were constantly repairing the city wall and carrying supplies to defend the city. From that posture, it looked like they were going to fight a tough defensive battle.
But the person least likely to fight a defensive battle is you, Zhang He? !
What is this nonsense? !
As for the small road, Zhang Xi also asked Gao Xiang to send out ten groups of scouts a day to keep an eye on the mountain road day and night. As long as Zhang He led his troops into the mountain road, Zhang Xi asked Gao Xiang to start setting up fire starters in the valley in the direction of Dachangji.
But in two days, let alone the Wei army, not even a woodcutter was seen there.
So, does Zhang He no longer care about the life or death of Guo Huai's army and plans to destroy it in Wugong County? !
If this is the case, Zhang Xi can breathe a sigh of relief. But Zhang Xi doesn't believe that Zhang He has such a personality.
Yes, Zhang He likes to show off, but when it comes to scoring. When being forced, Zhang He never shows off.
Zhang He's flank attack on Wuzhangyuan this time was related to the life and death of the Wei army in Mei County.
Zhang Xi didn't want to believe that Cao Zhen of Chang'an would give Zhang He a military order that didn't matter whether it was completed or not. If Zhang He really messed it up here, then Cao Zhen would really blame Zhang He for the destruction of the Wei army in Mei County. on the head.
Even if Zhang He is a veteran of two dynasties, he cannot withstand such a pot.
Therefore, there must be something wrong with Zhang He. Maybe there is some conspiracy involved.
No, you have to try.
Zhang Xi thought about it for a long time, and finally decided to personally lead his troops to the gate of Mei County and make a posture of attacking.
Before the attack, according to the rules of this era, Zhang Xi still sent an envoy to shout at the city, inviting Zhang He to speak before the formation.
In other words, there is a process of persuading surrender.
Although Zhang Xi knew that Zhang He would not choose to surrender, these days, it is the rule to follow such a set of procedures. What if there is an unexpected gain? !
Moreover, Zhang Xi's main purpose is to see if Zhang He is in Wugong County.
Soon, Zhang Xi saw Zhang He's handsome flag appearing on the city tower. A general, wearing conspicuous armor, stood under the handsome flag and let his soldiers shout to the outside of the city.
When the two armies are fighting, Zhang Xi and Zhang He are the main generals. Unless there are special circumstances, neither of them will easily venture into the front of the battle line. Don't look back. If someone doesn't respect martial ethics and shoots an arrow, it will be over.
Therefore, Zhang Xi was two arrows away from Wugong County. Although Zhang He climbed to the top of the city, he was only standing far away under the protection of the guards. He was still quite far away from the female wall. .
From such a distance apart, neither of them could actually see clearly what the other looked like. They could only vaguely judge whether it was the person or not based on their height and armor style.
Zhang Xi looked over from a distance. Judging from their stature and armor, the people under the commander's flag might indeed be Zhang He. Plus, Zhang He's commander's flag was here. Most people really believed that the people under the commander's flag were indeed Zhang He. It was Zhang He himself.
But the problem with Zhang Xi is that everyone knows that even if Zhang He stands less than one meter in front of him, he has to wonder if Zhang He has a twin brother.
Not to mention a situation that is simply impossible to distinguish with the naked eye.
As for the handsome flag, there is a saying. In this era, "names and weapons should not be faked by people." Under normal circumstances, a handsome flag, a symbol of identity, had to be kept with him even if Zhang He died in battle.
However, Luo Guanzhong's "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" really penetrated into Zhang Xi's heart.
In that book, there were not just one or two people who handed over the commanding flag to their subordinates to bluff or make false claims.
Not only did Cao Cao do it, Liu Bei did it, and even Zhuge Liang did it.
Don't look back. Zhang He also came out like this, leaving the commander's flag in Wugong County to bluff, and chose his own elite troops to attack Wuzhangyuan from other roads.
In Zhang Xi's opinion, it is still very unreliable to simply rely on handsome flags to identify people.
Zhang Xi thought for a while and decided to let the sergeant continue to shout.
But this time he was not persuaded to surrender, but invited Zhang He to go out of the city to fight.
The process used was to invite a battle, where each side sent five thousand troops out of the city to fight, and no one else could interfere with the outcome.
It's hard to know for sure, but if you dare to falsify the number of troops, you will have to bear the consequences of losing the battle and the morale of the troops will be greatly reduced.
However, "Zhang He" on the upper floor of Wugong County rejected Zhang Xi's invitation to fight.
This result made Zhang Xi frown immediately.
Something is really wrong. It is very possible that Zhang He is indeed no longer in Wugong County.
Judging from common sense, what Zhang He needs to do now is to win a quick battle, and when the troops are not superior, it is a very good opportunity to fight Zhang Xi with equal troops.
With the combat effectiveness of the Wei Forbidden Army, it was a very advantageous thing to face the Han army's county soldiers with equal strength.
Another one, each side sent 5,000 men. Although this force was a bit too much, it was not something Zhang He could not bear.
Once Zhang Xi's troops were defeated in a battle, or even killed a large number of Zhang Xi's troops, the morale of the Han army would plummet. Next, whether Zhang He wanted to attack Zhang Xi's military camp or risk a breakout to attack Wuzhangyuan, he would have greater certainty. .
How could a veteran like Zhang He choose to refuse such a good opportunity?
Zhang Xi thought about it over and over, and only came up with the reason that Zhang He was no longer in Wugong County.
And this is indeed the case.
After a day and a half of rest, the Wei army had already left the north gate of Wugong County early this morning when it was just dawn, and used the mountain road selected by Zhang He to sneak attack on Wuzhangyuan.
Zhang He took away 5,000 soldiers, but now in Wugong County, only Wang Chang and less than 1,500 Wei troops were stationed behind.
As for the handsome flag, it was indeed left by Zhang He. This was Wang Chang's idea.
Leaving Zhang He's commanding flag behind, Wang Chang could, if necessary, find a soldier with a similar build to Zhang He and wear Zhang He's armor to impersonate Zhang He and fool the Shu army general stationed outside the city in order to delay the attack.
But Wang Chang really didn't expect that the enemy general would notice it so quickly.
Zhang He led his troops and set out in the morning. In the afternoon, the Shu army sent people to attack the city and invited General Zhang He to answer questions in front of the battle line.
Where can Wang Chang go to find Zhang He? !
The only option is to follow the original plan and have someone pretend to be Zhang He, display Zhang He's handsome flag, and try to fool him.
But...it's really hard to fool.
That Zhang Xi was indeed a famous general. He was not swayed by what he saw. He actually proposed a fight.
To be honest, when he heard that Zhang Xi offered to invite 5,000 men for a battle, Wang Chang had the guts to agree directly, and then had people rush to recover General Zhang.
Why isn't this more certain of success than General Zhang's detour and sneak attack plan? !
However, military planning is not a game. Once it enters the implementation stage, it is not easy to stop it.
Especially in this era, the communication efficiency is so impressive. Even if Wang Chang wanted to notify him, he would not be able to find Zhang He for a while.
Another thing is that although Wang Chang also knows that Zhang Xi’s fight is suspected of being a test, but if Wang Chang really agrees, Zhang Xi will say that it is better to choose a date than to hit the sun, and he will directly ask for a fight in the afternoon. You let Wang Chang take it What to challenge? !
Now there are less than 1,500 soldiers in Wugong County, and the remaining 3,500 men are missing. Where can he, Wang Chang, find them? !
Letting ordinary people pretend to be soldiers and go into battle. Let’s not talk about whether this is an act of seeking death. Let’s just say that there are not so many middle-aged people in Wugong County.
Wugong County is a small county with a total population of less than 3,000 households. You can't just arrest all the women and children to make up the number, right? !
The most important thing is that once he agrees to a battle, "Zhang He" must go out of the city to command the distance, but it is relatively close. What if Zhang Xi sees that the general "Zhang He" from home is fake? !
Not only would it directly reveal that General Zhang He was no longer in Wugong County, but Zhang Xi could also use this as an excuse to cancel the war and instead directly attack Wugong County.
Doing so is really not a "breach of contract". After all, it is your own responsibility to take care of your losses first.
Therefore, Wang Chang could only choose to refuse Zhang Xi's invitation to fight.
Then Wang Chang belatedly discovered that his refusal to fight seemed to expose the fact that General Zhang He was not in Wugong County.
Such a good opportunity is given to you, and you don't even know that General Zhang He is really capable of seizing it? !
Wang Chang was a little anxious at the time, but the words had already been spoken and it was too late to regret it.
Moreover, Wang Chang calmed down afterwards, thought about it carefully, and found that Zhang Xi's fight was actually a two-sided affair - unless General Zhang He was really in Wugong County, no matter how Wang Chang responded, he would exposed.
Wang Chang was also helpless for a while. There were no famous generals who could make a name for themselves in this era. As expected, none of them were easy to deal with.
General Zhang He wanted to hide it from the other party for three days, but it had only been exposed in the morning.
(End of chapter)
