Just as Guo Huai expected, with the abilities of Guanqiu Jian and Wen Qin, and the open terrain of Guanzhong, if these two really wanted to run away, Wei Yan and others would not be able to stop them for a while.
It's not a lack of capabilities, it's simply a lack of troops.
As Guanqiu Jian and Wen Qin also chose to break out and leave, the Wei army on the battlefield completely lost its backbone. In addition to fleeing in all directions, the only option left was to kneel down and beg for mercy.
After Wei Yan, Wu Yi, and Wang Ping joined forces, they did not choose to pursue Guanqiu Jian and Wen Qin.
One is the lack of troops.
After a great battle, the Han army also suffered heavy losses, especially Wei Yan's army, which was first charged and killed by Guan Qiujian's cavalry. The rear army suffered heavy losses and was besieged again. Today, Wei Yan's troops can still continue to fight. There are only more than 5,000 soldiers in the army. Even counting the coalition forces of Wu Yi and Wang Ping, the three troops combined are only 8,000 people.
On the other hand, the defeated troops of the Wei army were scattered all over the mountains and plains, with a total of six to seven thousand people. These defeated troops certainly could not just let go.
This is a ready source of labor and soldiers, which must be gathered as much as possible.
Therefore, the three of them were busy recruiting and persuading the defeated Wei troops to surrender, and had no time to care about Wen Qin and Guanqiu Jian, who had broken out of the encirclement.
After the three of them had collected the broken troops, the sky slowly turned dark. The three of them discussed it together and finally decided to retreat to Mei County to rest for a while before sending out troops to pursue Guo Huai the next day.
It's not that the three of them have become stupid. They don't know that soldiers are valuable and they are quick. This time they send troops to attack proactively. Neither Wei Yan nor Wu Yi, for the sake of marching speed, did not carry any baggage. They had no conditions to camp in the wild.
If it were okay in summer, it wouldn't be a big deal to cut down trees and build some fences to protect against wild beasts, and spend the night in the wild. But it was winter now.
In this weather, if there are no tent curtains to block the wind, and we spend the night in the wilderness with more than 6,000 Wei troops who have just gathered up and retreated, there will be a mutiny, right? !
It was with this in mind that the three of them chose to go back to Mei County to rest first.
Anyway, you Guo Huai ran so fast, and most of the Chinese army's baggage was lost. On such a winter night, the morale of the army is low, and there is no place to block the wind and cold. I don't believe where you can run! ! !
Since Guo Huai can't run too far, the three of them are not in a hurry. They might as well go back to Mei County first and arrange the retreated troops.
And when the three men had just led the troops back to Mei County and placed the defeated troops of Cao Wei in one place, Zhang Fei had already led the army to the gate of Mei County.
The arrival of Zhang Fei also brought good news to Wei Yan and others - the 20,000 troops led by Liu Bei himself will probably arrive in Mei County tomorrow afternoon.
More importantly, with the arrival of Zhang Fei's army, Mei County also has a new force capable of fighting.
After learning of the current situation, Zhang Fei unceremoniously took over the command of the war and let Wei Yan and Wu Yi lead the troops into his own order of battle.
Zhang Fei has the qualifications and the right to direct the next battle. Even Wei Yan, who is arrogant and arrogant, doesn't think there is anything wrong with it.
Zhang Fei also followed the advice of Wei Yan and Wu Yi and allowed the original defenders of Mei County to have a good night's rest.
Early the next morning, Zhang Fei asked Wei Yan to select 3,000 soldiers with reasonable fighting strength from the county soldiers he originally led, and follow his elite Northern Army troops to act.
As for Wang Ping, Wu Ban, and Zhuge Qian, they stayed to guard Mei County, collect the defeated Wei army, and wait for Liu Bei's 20,000-strong army to enter the city.
After making arrangements, Zhang Fei immediately led Wei Yan and Wu Yi to set out to continue pursuing Guo Huai's army.
By the way, Wang Shuang was taken with him by Wei Yan. Now Wei Yan has discovered that Wang Shuang's commanding ability is just like a pile of flying, but his ability to break out of the formation in chaotic battles can be used to great effect when necessary. effect.
Such a person cannot be a pioneer, but if he stays by his side and becomes a brave general, he can still be useful.
For this reason, Wei Yan temporarily promoted Wang Shuang to a higher level and appointed Wang Shuang as General Bi, which was regarded as stepping into the threshold of a general.
And Wang Shuang was also very excited about this. If he had known that he could get such treatment in the Han Dynasty, who would have thought of returning to the Wei Dynasty to be a small captain! ! !
Not to mention Wang Ping and others who stayed behind, let's just say that Zhang Fei led an army of more than 10,000 people, searched for traces of Guo Huai's army's retreat along the way, and pursued them all the way.
But the more they pursued along the way, the more doubtful Zhang Fei and others became. Where did Guo Huaijun go? !
Scouts have been sent out for twenty miles, but still no trace of Guo Huaijun was found. There were traces of the army marching along the way, but there was no trace of Guo Huaijun stopping or setting up camp.
This gave Zhang Fei and others a bad premonition - this Guo Huai, in the middle of winter, wouldn't have chosen to march all night, right? !
If you marched overnight under normal circumstances, Zhang Fei and others would still understand.
With the organization and combat capabilities shown by the Wei army's forbidden army, although it is difficult to march overnight, it is not unrealistic.
But now, you, Guo Huai, are in a state of retreat and running for your life.
Under such circumstances, when marching through the night, are we really not afraid that the morale of the soldiers will completely collapse and then they will scatter and escape in the dark? !
Not to mention Zhang Fei couldn't figure it out, even Wei Yan and Wu Yi, who had directly fought against Guo Huai, couldn't figure it out either. Guo Huai was also a famous general after all. Even if he was fleeing, could he commit such a taboo among military strategists? !
Of course Guo Huai would not commit such a taboo. He also knew that with the current military morale, if the soldiers were forced to march overnight, the army would mutiny in minutes.
But Guo Huai had been feeling aggrieved for so long. At this time, he finally received good news.
Forty miles away from the front of Guo Huai's army on the bank of the Wei River, Cao Zhen had already moved in place and set up camp.
Now, the scouts sent by Cao Zhen finally contacted Guo Huai's army who was defeated and fled before dark, and brought them the good news.
This gave Guo Huai the confidence to mobilize the entire army and march overnight by lighting torches.
Forty miles is just a night's march. As long as everyone survives this night, they can return to the relatively safe camp and enjoy hot military rations.
Nothing could motivate these Wei soldiers more than this news.
Fleeing all the way, although these Wei soldiers said they "broke out of the siege", in fact, everyone was worried that the Shu army would be chasing them at any time. As long as they could hold on to the march that night, they would wait until they reached a safe camp. There is no need to worry about being followed and killed by the Shu army.
Guo Huai's encouragement, his desire for a sense of security, and the physical fitness of the escaped Forbidden Army as a guarantee, really allowed Guo Huai to achieve the miracle of letting his soldiers light torches on a winter night.
Therefore, Guo Huai's army, which had been running for a whole day and night, not only successfully joined Cao Zhen's 15,000 soldiers with more than 17,000 soldiers early the next morning, but also opened up a gap between them and the Han army. distance between.
Although the distance was only one day, this time was enough for Guo Huai's army to rest at ease and stabilize the morale of the army, which was panicked and low due to the defeat.
Early on the third day, Zhang Fei led more than 10,000 soldiers and appeared directly south of Cao's camp on the Wei River.
Zhang Fei chased him along the way and found no trace of Guo Huai's army setting up camp, so he naturally made his own prediction.
With Guo Huai's leadership ability, it is unlikely that he could not control the army, causing the army's morale to collapse and flee in all directions. Therefore, Zhang Fei judged that Guo Huai should have received assistance and support from Cao Zhen during the withdrawal process.
In this case, when Zhang Fei led his troops to Cao Ying by the Wei River, Zhang Fei didn't think there was anything strange about the current situation.
The problem before Zhang Fei now is simple - offense.
After all, Guo Huai's army was defeated. A day's interval might allow these Wei troops to briefly recover their morale, but they were not ready to fight immediately.
Therefore, the only force that can really hold on to the camp and fight against him is the more than 10,000 soldiers brought by Cao Zhen.
I have more than 10,000 soldiers at hand. In a one-to-one comparison of military strength, my opponent is a junior like Cao Zhen, so I don’t want to save them for the New Year? !
After Zhang Fei set up his camp, he immediately led the troops in person, with Wei Yan and Wu Yi as the left and right armies, and launched an attack on Cao Ying.
At this time, Cao Zhen was not in vain, he was already prepared to face the enemy.
Cao Zhen's ability in commanding operations will not be discussed for now, but Cao Zhen's ability to judge the situation and interpret the strategy is really not low at all.
Cao Zhen clearly knew that there must be a Shu army chasing Guo Huai. Although he didn't know who the pursuing Shu army commander was, Cao Zhen still had the appropriate response.
Therefore, Cao Zhen had long been prepared to hold on to the camp.
However, Cao Zhen did not expect that the enemy general who was chasing him was actually Zhang Fei.
Zhang Fei's fighting style is extremely tough and brave. Cao Zhen has often heard his uncles talk about this, and now he has personally experienced Zhang Fei's fighting style.
They really didn’t leave any reserve team behind, they just launched a fierce attack.
To a certain extent, the enemy's weapons and equipment are even stronger than the Central Forbidden Army led by Cao Zhen, and the strength of both sides is similar. If there is no camp as a defensive support and it is just a field battle, then Cao Zhen feels that he He may have been defeated.
At this time, Zhang Fei was also frowning.
Although this Cao Zhen is a junior, he still has some abilities.
This camp is a bit difficult to fight.
(End of chapter)
