It's not that Cao Zhen thought of a better way, so he disagreed with Guo Huai's strategy. In fact, Cao Zhen also recognized Guo Huai's retreat strategy of wheel warfare, using offense instead of defense, as the only effective strategy at present.
And Cao Zhen is not the kind of person who is jealous of talents or arrogant. He is self-aware and knows that no one except Guo Huai can give unified command in this matter.
Even if Cao Zhen were to direct it himself, he still wouldn't be able to do what Guo Huai did.
Therefore, Cao Zhen did not object to Guo Huai's retreat strategy. What he objected to was for Guo Huai to stay behind with three thousand forbidden troops. This kind of thing was too dangerous and a famous general like Guo Huai could not take the risk.
As the governor of Yongliang, Cao Zhen not only had to consider the current war situation, he also had to consider what would happen after this war. The northwest region was basically undefeated, and in the end he could only surrender the three assistants to defend the hinterland of the Central Plains.
But if we really want to fight a defensive battle with the third auxiliary, then Guo Huai and Zhang He are his right-hand men, and neither of them can be missing.
Therefore, Cao Zhen did not want Guo Huai to risk his retreat. If something went wrong, he would have even fewer generals at hand.
Moreover, Cao Zhen also held different views on the imperial army leaving behind.
Logically speaking, as the governor of Yongliang, Cao Zhen should at least treat his soldiers equally. But in fact, Cao Zhen really couldn't do this.
The Forbidden Army was the personal army of His Majesty the Emperor of Wei. Although it was now included in the Yongliang battle sequence, it was lent to him by the Emperor of Wei. Compared with ordinary county soldiers, it was really different.
Furthermore, even if we do not consider it from the perspective of combat effectiveness, in the next three auxiliary defensive battles, it is obvious that the Forbidden Army is more worthy of relying on. The county soldiers are basically local soldiers, but the family members of the Forbidden Army are basically in Hebei.
Now that Liu Bei's army has arrived at the Third Auxiliary, it is still unknown whether the Third Auxiliary Chang'an can be defended. It is hard to say what the county soldiers are thinking at this time, and whether the local aristocratic families will still side with the Wei Dynasty. But The Forbidden Army must be on the side of the Wei Dynasty. They have no worries about fighting, and their families are all in Hebei.
Therefore, whether in terms of military morale or combat effectiveness, the Forbidden Army is obviously much more important than the county soldiers. Cao Zhen definitely hopes that more Forbidden Army can be withdrawn to Chang'an.
As for the last batch of soldiers fighting in the wheel battle, the task of narrow escape and escape can be left to the county soldiers.
This does not mean that these county soldiers are required to resist desperately. As long as all the imperial troops can board the ships and retreat, then even if these county soldiers choose to surrender to Liu Bei, Cao Zhen will not have any complaints.
Cao Zhen himself was not sure whether the Sanfu area could be defended, and it was Cao Zhen who took the initiative to ask these county soldiers to stay and break up the rear. Under such circumstances, as long as Cao Zhen is still in Chang'an, it is naturally impossible to do anything to the families of these county soldiers. Liquidated according to Wei law.
Therefore, Cao Zhen suggested that all the county soldiers, regardless of whether they still have combat effectiveness, be gathered together and reserved as the last batch of combat troops. As long as Guo Huai receives the withdrawal of most of the forbidden troops, he will go directly to the army. The ship retreats.
No matter how demoralized and weak these county soldiers are, even if they choose to surrender when they go into battle, they can still hold on for at least a quarter of an hour.
By that time, being able to hold on for a quarter of an hour was enough for Guo Huai to withdraw safely.
that's enough.
This is the retreat strategy formulated by Cao Zhen. Guo Huai felt that this was somewhat unsafe. However, since Cao Zhen had already made a decision, and it was made to protect him, Guo Huai, Guo Huai had nothing to say. .
Now, all they have to do is wait for the fleet sent by Man Chong to arrive and then act according to the plan.
According to Cao Zhen's prediction, Man Chong's fleet should arrive at the ferry they currently occupy tomorrow, or at the latest the morning of the day after tomorrow.
Cao Zhen believed in Man Chong's ability. After all, he was an official who had stayed from the time of Emperor Taizu Wu. If he didn't have some skills, he wouldn't be able to get along in front of Emperor Wu.
And Man Chong did not disappoint Cao Zhen.
After receiving Cao Zhen's message, Man Chong immediately launched his ruthless tactics and "recruited" more than two hundred large and small ships from the wealthy families near Chang'an.
This amount basically hijacked all the cargo ships on the ground in Chang'an.
It was a matter of life and death for nearly 50,000 troops, and Man Chong really couldn't care less.
So what if he offended the local aristocratic families? Without the 50,000 troops to hold on, even if Man Chong treated these aristocratic families as ancestors, Chang'an would change its surname to Liu in a matter of minutes.
On the contrary, as long as these 50,000 troops are taken back, the Wei army will still be the "king's division". At worst, the emperor can just ask the emperor to compensate the aristocratic families in Chang'an afterwards.
In this regard, Man Chong saw it very clearly, so he did not hesitate to use cruel tactics. In the process of "confiscating" the ships, he also took several small and medium-sized aristocratic families to kill chickens and scare monkeys. Inside, more than two hundred large and small merchant ships were seized.
Afterwards, Man Chong personally led the fleet, traveling day and night, upstream to meet Cao Zhen.
I can't help but be in a hurry. Firstly, time is tight, and Cao Zhen's army doesn't have much rations, so he can't wait too long. Secondly, it's already winter here. If God is unhappy one day and gives you a low temperature, then If it snows or something, it will be impossible to sail on the Weishui River.
Therefore, it can be said that Man Chong tried his best and appeared in front of Cao Zhen when Cao Zhen needed him most.
Logically speaking, when Man Chong appeared with two hundred large and small merchant ships, Cao Zhen should have breathed a sigh of relief.
Now Cao Zhen's army plus Guo Huai's army only has a total of about 30,000 soldiers. With 200 merchant ships, it only takes two trips back and forth to evacuate all 30,000 soldiers to the other side of the Wei River.
At that time, even if the Wei army is temporarily safe, as long as the food problem can be solved in time, all the more than 30,000 soldiers can withdraw to Chang'an.
But things often happen by coincidence. When good things happen, bad things also happen.
Man Chong brought a sufficient number of ships, but the Shu army on the opposite side also came with a sufficient number of reinforcements. The main force of the Han Dynasty's southern army led by Huang Quan also successfully arrived at Zhang Fei's camp on the bank of the Wei River.
What's even more terrible is that at this time, Liu Bei's imperial banner was erected in the Han army's stronghold, and Liu Bei's imperial convoy came to the shore of the Wei River.
This has a huge boost to the morale of the Han army, and has a huge deterrent effect on the soldiers of the Wei army.
The biggest headache for Guo Huai and Cao Zhen is that the originally planned retreat plan may be ruined.
At that time, when Guo Huai and Cao Zhen formulated a retreat plan of "attack instead of defense", the prerequisite was that Zhang Fei's army only had more than 10,000 men.
Zhang Fei was the commander of the army, so he divided his soldiers into several small legions of three to five thousand men, and launched an active attack. Without knowing the actual situation, Zhang Fei would not dare to act without permission, and would definitely focus on defending firmly.
But now, not to mention Liu Bei's personal visit, the total strength of the Shu army has reached 30,000. If you send a small army of 3,000 to 5,000 to take the initiative to attack, you are simply looking for death.
There is no need to send out large troops. Just send five or six thousand people to surround your troops. Even if you want to respond, you will not be able to respond immediately.
In other words, Guo Huai's retreat plan was going to go bankrupt from the beginning.
But things have reached this point, and Guo Huai has no choice.
Man Chong's fleet has arrived, and Liu Bei's army is also watching eagerly, waiting for the Wei army to launch an attack immediately when it begins to arrange its withdrawal. At this time, it is too late to change the retreat plan.
Therefore, Guo Huai suggested that Cao Zhen should retreat according to the original plan. Cao Zhen first led some soldiers who lacked combat capabilities to retreat to the other side and established a camp first.
As for myself, I still slightly modified the original retreat plan and continued to implement it.
In the original plan, Guo Huai planned to go step by step, sending one or at most two legions at a time to attack Zhang Fei's camp. In this way, even if Zhang Fei launched a counterattack, he would have enough reserves to mobilize to stop Zhang Fei's attack. .
But now, sending 6,000 soldiers to actively attack the 30,000-strong army is just giving away food.
Guo Huai had to invest three small legions at one time, nearly 10,000 people, during the first battle.
Facing a battle involving tens of thousands of people, Liu Bei wouldn't be so arrogant that he wanted to swallow it all in one go, no matter what he did, right? !
Don't tell me, Guo Huai's sudden attack, with a force of about 10,000, really surprised Liu Bei.
After all, Liu Bei really never thought that in the current situation, the Wei army would not give priority to retreat, or would strictly guard the camp to block his attack, but would he still dare to take the initiative to attack? !
This is indeed contrary to today's situation and a bit contrary to common sense.
But Liu Bei didn't expect that Liu Bei, who had been in battle for a long time, would not be at a loss by this change. Guo Huai was the attacker and Liu Bei was the defender. In the end, Liu Bei's side had the advantage.
Besides, Liu Bei also has a pair of Crouching Dragon and Phoenix chicks under his command. These pair are genuine Crouching Dragon and Phoenix chicks, not those "crouching Dragon and Phoenix chicks" on the Internet.
Guo Huai's strategy was indeed a bit strange, and it did catch the Han army off guard for a while. But the effect was really limited.
Moreover, Guo Huai's little little trick can still fool people at the beginning. After a long time, Pang Tong and Zhuge Liang, who can't figure out what this guy is thinking? !
Not to mention that Guo Huai's attack was not resolute. After an attack was unfavorable, he immediately retreated to the camp. On the surface, the substitution attack was to adjust the offensive strategy, but in fact, the mobilization of soldiers was very frequent, so frequent that it was not normal at all. The state that troops should be in.
In this situation, a pair of real Crouching Dragon and Phoenix chicks discussed for a while and directly suggested Liu Bei to attack across the board.
Don't you, Guo Huai, want to use offense instead of defense, hiding the truth from the enemy? !
It doesn't matter, let's attack with attack and attack on all fronts! ! !
I don’t believe that you have so many troops to attack me, and I don’t believe that your soldiers are really so upright and upright, each and every one of them puts life and death at risk! ! !
(End of chapter)
