I really don’t blame Cao Zhen and Guo Huai for thinking this way, they are really forced by the situation.
If you continue to hold on, you will be flooded sooner or later. At that time, there is nothing you can do, so you might as well take a chance and go out of the city to fight.
Although there are still risks, after all, his own military strength is at an absolute disadvantage, but in any year of war, it is not a matter of who has more soldiers. If this is the case, Emperor Wu will not fight in Guandu and directly surrender to Yuan Shao.
As for Chibi, Emperor Wu said that he burned the ships to retreat because of the plague in the army. It definitely had nothing to do with the little Zhou Yu.
Well, well, that's it, at least according to Wei's official standards, that's it.
All in all, there is still hope of winning in the battle.
Cao Zhen and Guo Huai are both good generals, and all the troops in the army are forbidden troops. As for the Shu thieves, Zhang Fei is a reckless man. Guo Huai had dealings with him in Shanggui three years ago, although it was not good either. Troublesome, but not too difficult.
As for Liu Bei, Liu Bei is indeed a hero of the world, but unfortunately, heroes may not have the ability to personally command in battle.
At least compared to Emperor Taizu Wu, Liu Bei was not even a little worse.
Liu Bei has been fighting all his life. Except for the wonderful battle of Hanzhong, the rest of his military career really has no highlights.
They took over the four counties in Jingnan, which they voluntarily surrendered. When they entered Sichuan, their opponent was Liu Zhang, a coward. Cao Zhen and Guo Huai really felt that they could do it instead.
Really, if Liu Bei's opponent in the Battle of Hanzhong had not been Emperor Taizu Wu, Cao Zhen and Guo Huai might have simply ignored Liu Bei's record.
As for Pang Tong and Zhuge Liang, they are just military advisers. Huang Quan, Wu Yi and others are just pioneers. That is, the old general Zhao Yun and the Mei County guard Wei Yan still need to be careful, but Cao Zhen and Guo Huai feel that their abilities , may not be worse than these two people.
Therefore, Cao Zhen and Guo Huai still have a certain degree of confidence in taking the initiative to fight to break the situation.
But... there are some things. It's not what Cao Zhen or Guo Huai thinks. That's what the facts are.
After all, Liu Bei was not the Liu Bei they thought he was. Pang Tong and Zhuge Liang were not mere counselors. Even Huang Quan, Wu Yi and others were not just pioneers.
Liu Bei, for the first half of his life, either used less to defeat more, or used rabble and newly recruited soldiers to fight against elites. It is really normal for him to be unable to defeat others.
It is true that Liu Bei was not a military strategist and could not defeat more with less than Zhou Yu or Cao Cao. But if you really regard him as a mediocre person who cannot command, then you would be looking down upon him.
Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong have indeed always appeared as counselors, but they are not without military command capabilities.
Pang Tong may be a little inferior in this aspect, but since he can formulate strategies, he has a good vision, and his ability to grasp the battlefield is not much worse. He is not some rookie who is commanding on the battlefield for the first time, but he has never He just led an army alone.
As for Zhuge Liang, let alone that.
Today's Zhuge Liang is because Liu Bei has so many talents under his command that he does not need to shoulder everything. Naturally, he has no chance to show off his military commanding talents. Come on, one of the Ten Philosophers of the Martial Temple, are you kidding me? !
Even if Cao Zhen and Guo Huai are added together, with the same force, neither of them is enough to bully Zhuge Liang alone.
As for Huang Quan and Wu Yi, due to the closed environment of Yizhou, their reputations have always been low, but it does not mean that their abilities are any different.
In history, after Huang Quan surrendered to Cao Wei, he was promoted to a general of chariots and cavalry. Did he really think that Cao Rui was blind and couldn't see people's talents? He was just trying to win people's hearts by giving such an official position to a reduced general? !
Not to mention Wu Yi, in the middle and late stages of Ji Han, he relied on the two generals Wu Yi and Wei Yan to support the situation, and his historical record was very good.
So, with this lineup configuration, Guo Huai and Cao Zhen's battle plan hit the iron plate as soon as it started.
To be honest, the timing chosen by Cao Zhen and Guo Huai to play was actually quite good.
They kept waiting, waiting for about ten days. When the Shu thieves had almost built the dam, the ground had basically thawed, and the Wei River began to slowly thaw. It was obvious that the Shu thieves were about to succeed.
The Shu thieves thought that their great success was about to be accomplished, so it was somewhat of a precaution. If they sent troops at this time, they would be able to achieve some unexpected results.
Therefore, after continuing to defend Huaili City for ten days, Cao Zhen and Guo Huai made a division of labor.
Cao Zhen was responsible for leading 10,000 soldiers to defend Huaili, while Guo Huai led 14,000 infantry out of the city to attack the embankment defended by the Shu army.
The original intention is to catch the enemy by surprise, defeat the Shu bandits stationed on the embankment as soon as possible, and then see if there is a chance to occupy the embankment. If it is too late, destroy the embankment immediately, at least make a hole to release water, and do not allow the water to accumulate stand up.
But the problem is that the first step of the plan did not go smoothly.
Because, the people who led the troops to garrison the embankment were not the three thousand weak Shu thieves decoys that Cao Zhen thought, but a mixed force led by Wang Ping, with six hundred useless flying troops as the backbone and more than two thousand elite Northern troops as flesh and blood.
The purpose of this unit's combat is not to completely block Guo Huai's army's attack, but to hold off Guo Huai for a period of time and create opportunities for other units to contain Guo Huai.
Cao Zhen thought he was a soft persimmon, and he only needed to seize the opportunity to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop. But in fact, he almost broke two of his front teeth when he bit into it.
To be honest, with Cao Zhen's Xiao Jiujiu and Guo Huai's military tactics, if they were to play real battlefield command and hold on to the city, then Liu Bei and others would have nothing better to do except flood Huaili City. Method.
But if you want to play tricks, Cao Zhen's every move did not exceed Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong's expectations.
The plan had been drawn up long ago and there was no need to repeat it. The various departments of the Han army immediately acted according to the plan.
Zhao Yun led the Qiang and Hu cavalry to directly cut into the position between Guo Huai's army and Huaili, cutting off the Wei army's retreat route back to the city, and kept cruising to prevent the Wei army from breaking through from other directions.
Huang Quan, Wu Yi, and Wei Yan fought out from three directions, cooperated with Wang Ping's troops, and began to encircle and suppress Guo Huai's army.
Guo Huai was not panicked at first. This was something that he and Cao Zhen expected. After all, this time he went out to fight in the city, he took the bait to bite the Shu thieves. The risk was very high. Guo Huai did have a chance to be attacked. People's psychological expectations of siege have been raised.
In this regard, Guo Huai also has his own response plan.
But what Guo Huai didn't expect next was that he led his army to launch a fierce attack in the direction of Huang Quan, trying to open a gap from the position of Huang Quan's army and lead his troops to break through. However, he found that Huang Quan's army was well guarded and could not break through easily.
He wanted to turn to another direction to break out of the encirclement, but found that Wei Yan and Wu Yi's armies were encircling them very quickly, and they were rapidly narrowing the encirclement.
If he was really completely surrounded, even if Cao Zhen came out of the city to rescue him, he might not be able to succeed in a while.
Therefore, Guo Huai immediately made a decision and began to attack in Wang Ping's direction without hesitation.
At first glance, Guo Huai planned to attack the dike again. It was probably not to capture the dike, but simply because Wang Ping's direction was more conducive to breaking out.
Wang Ping also sneered at this. Anyway, in this expedition, he has fought too many battles with less to fight more. If you, Guo Huai, are really capable, try to see if you can break through my defense line.
Just as Wang Ping was preparing to resist Guo Huai's active attack, Guo Huai suddenly made a U-turn and attacked the joint area where Wang Ping and Huang Quan were commanding.
The place has not been completely encircled, there is still room, and the place is far away from Wu Yi and Wei Yan's headquarters, so they will not be able to get there in a short while.
This move to attack the east and the west really made Guo Huai succeed. After Wang Ping and Huang Quan discovered Guo Huai's true purpose, the two armies quickly moved closer, but they still failed to completely stop Guo Huai, allowing Guo Huai to lead most of the Wei army to break through. He found the gap and got out.
At this time, Cao Zhen, who was in Huaili City, also saw Guo Huai's breakthrough. He did not hesitate and immediately sent troops from Huaili, sending Guanqiu Jian to lead the last two thousand cavalry out of the city to contain Zhao Yun's troops. The more than 10,000 Qiang and Hu cavalry left Wenqin's 3,000 men to guard Huaili, and he took 5,000 soldiers to support Guo Huai's breakout.
It can be said that Cao Zhen's dispatch of troops went very smoothly.
Guanqiu Jian first went out of the city and took the initiative to launch a harassing attack on the Qiang and Hu cavalry led by Zhao Yun using the method of cavalry combat.
Zhao Yun's troops seemed to have no brains. They left as soon as they were attracted by Guan Qiu Jian, followed Guan Qiu Jian's troops and surrounded him, leaving the way for Cao Zhen to go out of the city to meet Guo Huai.
On Guo Huai's side, although the Shu army behind him was still in hot pursuit, he finally led most of his soldiers to rush out, and the progress was relatively smooth, and they were retreating towards Huaili City.
But, Cao Zhen and Guo Huai are both good generals after all. Even though they were at a disadvantage, they were keenly aware that something seemed not quite right.
Zhao Yun's cavalry troops were attracted away too simply. It is said that Zhao Yun's cavalry ability is not inferior to Xiliang Ma Chao, and he is not a brainless guy like Ma Chao. How could he be fooled so easily? !
Another thing is that Cao Zhen's response out of the city was a little too smooth. He encountered almost no obstruction from Shu thieves along the way. Guo Huai's breakout seemed a little too smooth. To have this offensive capability, Wang Ping would not have been able to lead the attack at the beginning. With 3,000 people blocking his way, would he give the Shu thieves a chance to be surrounded on all sides? !
Of course, the most fatal question is - Liu Bei's army has a total of nearly 60,000 people. Now there are only more than 30,000 people on the battlefield. Where did the remaining 20,000 people go? !
After combining this information and thinking for a moment, they both felt a chill on the back of their heads and necks almost at the same time.
Cao Zhen had no intention of rescuing Guo Huai, so he quickly ordered the front team to change the rear team and return to Huaili to aid.
At this moment, Guo Huai had no intention of breaking out. On the contrary, he ordered the breakout to be stopped on the spot and took the initiative to meet the Shu army's three-way pursuit army.
These three Shu thieves must be stopped here, otherwise once the Shu thieves from both sides are surrounded, even if he and Governor Cao retreat to Huaili, this Huaili will probably not be saved.
But the problem is that Guo Huai led 14,000 men out of the city. After a breakout, the army was panicked and only had about 10,000 troops left.
There were at least 30,000 Shu thieves chasing behind them.
With a military strength comparison of one to three, even Cao Wei's imperial army may not be able to get a good result in a field battle.
But there is no way, now is the time to fight for your life.
If the pursuers are blocked and Huaili City is defended, then there is still a chance for the army to retreat.
They couldn't stop the pursuers and couldn't defend Huaili. Even if Guo Huai and Cao Zhen could break through, God knows if they would have enough troops to return to Fangwuguan, let alone rescue Xiangyang.
Everything is only in this battle.
(End of chapter)
