Guo Huai is a little anxious now.
Although as early as when he retreated from Wuzhangyuan, Guo Huai had thought about how he should retreat to Chang'an if the counterattack on Mei County was unsuccessful, and he also made a response plan in advance. But after the actual retreat began, Guo Huai was always very nervous.
Because Guo Huai knew very well that there were many capable people in the Shu army, and these people would not watch him retreat like this.
There are countermeasures, and Guo Huai has thought about it several times. He feels that the problem should not be big, but he can't help but worry.
So far, Guo Huai's retreat plan has been going smoothly. As long as he arrives at the Wei River and joins the more than 10,000 Chinese troops under Governor Cao Zhen, he can set up a defense line on the spot and wait for the fleet from Chang'an to take everyone back. .
According to Governor Cao Zhen's reply, as early as ten days ago, Governor Cao Zhen had sent people to notify Man Chong who was staying in Chang'an to collect ships of all sizes to assist everyone in retreating. According to Governor Cao Zhen's estimation, they would only need to hold on along the Weishui River for two or three days at most. Man Chong The fleet should be arriving soon.
At that time, most of the soldiers in the army can retreat to the other side of the Wei River and completely get rid of the entanglement of the Shu army.
As for the issue of food and grass, let's wait until we get to the Youfufeng area on the other side of the river.
Even Governor Cao Zhen can't solve this matter for a while. We can only wait and see whether Man Chong has the ability to search for enough food to support everyone while searching for transport ships.
Therefore, for Guo Huai, as long as he can reach the Wei River safely, that is the first step to victory.
But this step, Guo Huai thinks, should be the most difficult step. Wei Yan, the guard of Mei County, is not a fuel-efficient lamp. He has also gained quite a reputation in northern Yongzhou over the years. After fighting against him in person, Guo Huai also discovered that this man After all, he is a man with the air of a general.
How could such a person allow him to retreat to the Wei River so easily? !
During the retreat, Guo Huai was always worried about Wei Yan's reaction and did not dare to relax for a moment.
Therefore, when Wen Qin, who was guarding the rear army, sent a message to him on horseback, saying that he had found traces of Wei Yan and was bypassing him towards the direction of the Chinese army, Guo Huai breathed a sigh of relief.
The army of nearly 40,000 people retreated and marched for a full seven or eight miles. Wei Yan took a detour again, and the road needed to be walked was longer. Therefore, Guo Huai had enough time to follow the rear army Wen Qin. Make timely adjustments and responses to the information passed on.
And with Guo Huai's strategy and IQ, he basically guessed what Wei Yan was going to do. This guy came here for the logistics of his Chinese army.
To be honest, Guo Huai is really not worried that Wei Yan will burn his own grain and grass. After all, Guo Huai is very clear about how much grain and grass he has left. With that little grain and grass, whether it is burned or not has little impact on his army. The whole army knows that now the grain and grass are burned. Insufficient problem.
But the problem is that the baggage is not just food and grass. Some spare ordnance, some wooden tents and curtains used in the camp, etc., are all in the baggage camp.
If Wei Yan was allowed to burn all these things on fire, then how could Guo Huai stand guard along the Weishui River for two or three days, waiting for Man Chong's fleet to arrive? !
Don't talk about fighting with your back against the wall. Anyone with some brains and experience on the battlefield knows that this kind of thing can't be done by "fighting with your back against the wall". If you don't understand anything but "fight with your back against the wall", you will be thinking about your own death. Not fast enough.
Therefore, Guo Huai must not be able to watch Wei Yan lead his army to attack his central army. These baggage materials must be preserved. This is the capital that Guo Huai holds on to.
Although Guo Huai arranged a lot of troops in the Chinese army, and Guan Qiujian led two thousand cavalry on the flanks of the Chinese army to protect and provide support. However, Guo Huai always felt uneasy.
After all, Guanqiu Jian was a bit younger, and he had appeared more as a counselor before. The only time he commanded a battle was to lead the cavalry to intercept Wei Yan's rear army. This mission failed in the end.
In other words, Guo Huai had not actually seen Guan Qiujian's commanding ability with his own eyes. He could only analyze the final results and draw the conclusion that Guan Qiujian was not Wei Yan's opponent.
Last time, Guan Qiujian led 3,000 cavalry to intercept 7,000 infantry. In the end, he lost 1,000 cavalry, and was fooled by Wei Yan. He successfully connected his rear troops. What do you want Guo Huai to believe this time? Will Guanqiu Jian be able to block Wei Yan's attack? !
Although Guanqiu Jian felt that he had no problem and thought that this was a good opportunity for him to avenge his previous shame, Guo Huai did not believe it.
After much deliberation, for the sake of safety, Guo Huai transferred 3,000 men from his forward army to strengthen the Chinese army's protection of grain, grass and baggage, just in case.
But as a result, the 8,000 former troops originally led by Guo Huai now only have 5,000 left.
The former army is generally used as a vanguard. Its main purpose is to open roads across mountains and fill bridges when encountering water. There are not too many troops. Guo Huai also feels that there is unlikely to be too much danger ahead, so he dares to deploy troops like this. .
At this time, Wu Yi had actually moved to a distance of ten miles on the flank of Guo Huai's former army.
I really didn't dare to get any closer. If I got closer, I would be within the detection range of Guo Huaijun's scouts.
In fact, this distance is already a bit unsafe.
After all, Guo Huai is a famous general with a good reputation. Even if he is eager to withdraw his troops, he will not do any investigation of the surrounding situation. It is considered negligent to send out scouts only ten miles away to investigate.
Wu Yi didn't believe that Guo Huai was such a negligent person, but Wu Yi couldn't help it.
The distance of ten miles was too small for scout reconnaissance, but it was already very far for Wu Yi, who wanted to raid Guo Huai's army.
The most valuable thing about a surprise attack is that it is sudden. Ten miles away is already the limit of a surprise attack. If it is further away, by the time you run up to the enemy, the enemy may have already set up defenses and formed a defensive formation, waiting for you to attack. Came to the door.
Therefore, Wu Yi could only risk being discovered by the scouts sent by Guo Huai, try his best to lead the army in stealth, and get closer to Guo Huai's front army bit by bit.
At this time, Wu Yi could only hope that Wei Yan could launch an attack on the Wei army in time to divert Guo Huai's attention, so that he might be able to move forward one or two miles. This pair of surprise troops came Say, it is very important.
And Wei Yan did not disappoint Wu Yi.
At this time, Wei Yan had already marched to a place five miles from the flank of the Wei army's central army, and directly launched an attack without any rest.
Wei Yan did not need to march in concealment. His purpose was to attract the attention of the Wei army and try to mobilize the Wei army to mobilize troops to the central army.
Therefore, Wei Yan was heading toward the Chinese army with great fanfare. Not only Wen Qin had detected it, but Guanqiu Jian had also been notified of it long ago and was already cruising near the Chinese army, ready to launch a cavalry raid on Wei Yan's army at any time.
After all, it was a shame for Guan Qiu Jian to play without Wei Yan outside Mei County. After all, Guan Qiu Jian was still young and had a strong temper, so he was still somewhat unconvinced and was holding back his energy to get revenge.
Therefore, after Guanqiu Jian received Wei Yan's location, he directly led his cavalry to the battlefield, blocked the advance route of Wei Yan's army, and waited for Wei Yan's army to arrive.
Guanqiu Jian still didn't believe it. With the two thousand cavalry at hand, he could not stop the seven thousand infantry.
This time, you, Wei Yan, want to take the initiative to attack, not to retreat. There is no room for you to play any false and true strategies. You only have so many people. It is obvious on the battlefield that the false and true strategies have lost their use.
Therefore, when Guanqiu Jian saw the Austro-Wei Yan army launching an attack from a distance, he was not polite and immediately ordered his cavalry to run, speed up, and head directly towards Wei Yan's army formation.
At this time, Wei Yan also saw the smoke and dust billowing in front, which was obviously the arrival of a large number of cavalry.
But what can Wei Yan do at this time? !
Wei Yan knew that Guanqiu Jian still had cavalry. Since he dared to lead troops to attack, he was naturally prepared to fight the cavalry.
It is true that this time Wei Yan has no room to make false or false plans, but it does not mean that Wei Yan has nothing to do with this cavalry.
Since you can't make plans, let's face it face to face and face it head-on!
Wei Yan gave an order, and some of the soldiers at the forefront of the front army raised their spears and formed a spear phalanx to meet the first wave of cavalry impact.
Wei Yan was prepared for heavy casualties due to this wave of impact.
But as long as you survive this shock, you, Guanqiu Jian, will not be able to display your great abilities.
At a distance of five miles, at the speed of the cavalry, if you want to charge back and forth against the infantry, there is not enough time.
Wei Yan's plan was very simple. He would withstand Guan Qiujian's attack regardless of casualties, and then the entire army would speed up and engage the Wei army's center as soon as possible, entangled with the Wei army in a melee.
No matter how powerful Guanqiu Jian's cavalry is, do you dare to charge with your own soldiers? !
But in this way, there is a fatal flaw - the Han army's formation after the cavalry attack is destined to be impossible to be too complete and compact. In this era of relying on battle formations and cooperative operations, such a rash war will make the Han army The soldiers fell into a certain degree of confusion in their cooperation and command, which led to a decrease in combat effectiveness.
But Wei Yan had no choice.
Rather than staying in place and forming a formation to resist the attack of Guanqiu Jian's cavalry, which would in turn cause heavy losses to the infantry, it would be better to try this method and see if there is a chance to win by relying on the blood and courage of the soldiers.
After all, the Wei army is retreating now. Don't expect the retreating soldiers to have much desire to fight.
This is Wei Yan's only chance.
Doing so is somewhat irresponsible for the lives of the soldiers, but Wei Yan used himself as bait in this battle to create opportunities for Wu Yi to defeat the enemy. Sometimes, on the battlefield, you have to make a choice.
What's more, Wei Yan is now standing in the spear formation, waiting for the first wave of Wei Jun's impact. Either he can withstand this offensive and everyone can fight for a chance of survival, or he can't withstand this offensive and Wei Yan will die first.
(End of chapter)
