After running and retreating all the way, Cao Zhen and Guo Huai retreated for seven or eight days, and finally led the remaining soldiers to retreat into Wuguandao.
Retreating to Wuguan Road, it is relatively safer.
Wuguan Road is surrounded by mountains and its geographical location is relatively narrow. If the Shu thieves dare to pursue them, Cao Zhen and Guo Huai would really dare to set up an ambush to abate the evil spirit of the Battle of Guanzhong.
Unfortunately, Shu thieves are very cunning, and it is difficult for them to commit this kind of military common sense.
No matter what, Cao Zhen and Guo Huai were finally able to calm down a little and discuss what to do next.
It doesn't mean that all the tasks have been completed if the two men withdrew the remaining troops to Wuguan. Guo Huai needed to hold on to Wuguan to prevent Shu thieves from attacking the pass in large numbers, and Cao Zhen still had to lead troops to rescue Wancheng.
But now, the two men have enough troops at hand, which is more than 8,000 people, including the lightly wounded.
With this small force, you have to defend Wuguan and support Wancheng. You can't even kill Cao Zhen.
But the emperor's edict had to be implemented, and the importance of Wancheng could not be ignored with the strategic vision of the two men.
Jingzhou's gateway to the Central Plains is Nanyang County and Yingchuan County. Wancheng and Xuchang are two places that have to be fortified.
Therefore, Wancheng must save him.
Cao Zhen thought about it for a long time and discussed with Guo Huai - leaving 3,000 forbidden troops for Guo Huai, plus the 3,000 county soldiers originally stationed at Wuguan, a total of 6,000 people were guarding Wuguan. Cao Zhen himself led 5,000 forbidden troops, recruited 15,000 new soldiers, and rushed to Wancheng under the stars at night.
The distribution of the forbidden troops on hand is not a problem, but where do these 15,000 new recruits come from? !
Cao Zhen's mind was really spinning fast - weren't there still hundreds of thousands of people who had retreated from the pass into the pass?
It's okay to recruit troops on the spot.
When Man Chong heard Cao Zhen's decision, he almost lost his temper.
Damn it, I've already received such a big reputation for relocating people. You, Cao Zhen, still think my reputation isn't bad enough, right? !
These migrant people have just entered the pass and are already in danger. You still have to recruit troops to go to the battlefield. Are you really not afraid of provoking a civil uprising? !
But Cao Zhen also has his own reasons.
First, His Majesty’s edict must be obeyed. You, Man Chong, are not ignorant of the strategic importance of Wancheng. It is certainly impossible to allow Shu thieves to enter the Central Plains. If I don’t recruit troops on the spot, how can I support Wancheng? !
Secondly, because these people who entered the customs were not settled for a while, it would take a certain amount of time until the court sent officials to resettle them. It was better to enlist in the army. At least they would have military pay and rations. Not only would they be hungry, but they could also reduce the burden on their families. .
Well, that's what Cao Zhen said. You can't say it's unreasonable, but Man Chong still quarreled with Cao Zhen.
The reason is very simple. When you recruit troops, you must take away strong laborers. Without strong laborers, how can these people in Guanzhong farm and settle down in Guanzhong? !
Just rely on the young, old and women at home? !
After all, although Man Chong is a cruel official, he is not a person without a moral bottom line.
Since he was the one who moved these Guanzhong people into Guanzhong, he always has a responsibility. Even if he can't make these Guanzhong people properly resettled, at least he can't let them lose the backbone of their families and lose their ability to live at all from now on. Hope.
For this reason, Man Chong and Cao Zhen really quarreled, and the quarrel was very fierce.
But unfortunately, Cao Zhen was the governor of Yongliang after all, and his position was much higher than that of Man Chong. Although Man Chong was a veteran of two dynasties, Man Chong in this time and space only had qualifications but no achievements, and his confidence in speaking was not enough after all.
When Cao Zhen raised the right of holiday, all Man Chong's objections were ineffective.
In this way, Cao Zhen recruited troops from among the people who entered the pass. Within fifteen days, he semi-voluntarily and semi-forced recruited 15,000 new soldiers, with 5,000 forbidden troops as the backbone, and immediately set off to support Wancheng.
At this moment in Wancheng, Sima Yi actually felt that it would be much better for Cao Zhen to come to help than not to come at all.
The reason is very simple. Sima Yi is really confident that he can defend Wancheng with the 20,000 county soldiers in his hands.
It's not that Sima Yi's military command ability is better than Zhang Liao's, it's because Sima Yi's luck is not generally good.
In fact, if it weren't for Cao Pi's blind command and Zhang Liao relying on the three defense lines from Wancheng to Deng County, even if he couldn't repel the Jingzhou Army for a while, holding the defense line would not be a problem.
However, Cao Pi was impatient and insisted on forcing Zhang Liao to fight in the field to win. Zhang Liao had to make a plan and go out of the city to fight. In the end, the entire Wancheng defense line was leaderless. This was the most critical factor in Wancheng's emergency.
But now, Cao Pi himself knew that he had done something wrong, and he had the old fox Jia Xu beside him to give him some advice. The relationship between Cao Pi and Sima Yi was also good. Anyway, it was unlikely that Cao Pi would directly interfere with Wan in the short term. There was a war in the city.
In addition, God also helped. It snowed heavily for more than ten days in a row towards the end of December. In addition, the Shu thieves remained stationary in Deng County, which gave Sima Yi enough time to control the army, restore the morale of the army, and strengthen Wan. City defense.
Everything was almost ready, and the Shu thieves belatedly arrived and launched an attack on Wancheng.
Although Sima Yi is a bit exaggerated by the "Book of Jin", we still have to confirm that this person is also a rare military genius.
The most critical point is that Sima Yi sees the situation very clearly and knows what he should and shouldn't do. Under the current situation, don't expect to be able to repel these Jingzhou Shu thieves. He can only hold the line of defense and ensure that Wancheng is not lost. This is a very remarkable thing.
Therefore, Sima Yi's tactical idea is to defend to the death.
Considering the geographical location of Wancheng, there is no possibility of being completely blocked.
To the west of Wancheng is Wuguan, and to the north is the hinterland of the Central Plains. These two places can provide reinforcements and food supplies to Wancheng at any time. It is impossible for Shu thieves to trap Wancheng to death by surrounding them without attacking. .
In this case, with 20,000 versus 90,000, it is not impossible to hold on.
Without making any other unnecessary thoughts and just defending Wancheng, I don't believe that the Shu thieves can continue to be in such a stalemate.
With the size of the Wei Dynasty, even if Nanyang County remains at war, it will not affect other places.
But your army of 90,000 Shu thieves has been besieging Wancheng. Not to mention whether the grain and grass can be supplied, this year's spring plowing in Jingzhou will inevitably be greatly affected.
Sima Yi did not believe that the Shu thieves could continue their attack like this. According to Sima Yi's estimation, these Shu thieves would definitely retreat after fighting to the death in April.
I won't have time to plant a crop of summer grain when I go back in April. If we continue to delay, Jingzhou will definitely have a bad harvest this whole year.
After all, the Shu thieves have weak foundations and cannot withstand such torture.
In fact, this is indeed what Guan Yu is most worried about.
The problem of food and grass has always been Guan Yu's biggest problem when he went north to attack Fancheng.
It is true that Jingzhou is a grain-producing area, but most of Jingzhou's grain-producing areas are concentrated in the Jianghan Plain, that is, the Nanjun and Xiangyang areas, and the four counties in Jingnan. Due to restrictions on grain production, the population size has not increased. .
As for Nanjun and Xiangyang, there has been no cessation in the past few years.
Since Cao Cao went south in the 13th year of Jian'an, Jingzhou, which had been peaceful for a long time, fell into war. In the past ten years, Jingzhou has not been peaceful.
After Cao Cao's defeat in Chibi, Nanjun fought a battle for Jiangling that lasted for nearly a year. After Liu Bei's group took control of Jiangling, it only stopped for two years. As Liu Bei entered Sichuan and Guan Yu stationed in Jiangling, Cao Wei's side came from Xiangyang from time to time. They sent troops to attack Nanjun, and there were more than ten large and small battles, which was enough on average twice a year.
Obviously, this was Cao Wei's purpose, not to give Nanjun a chance to recuperate.
This kind of thing didn't come to an end until Guan Yu gritted his teeth and launched the Battle of Xiangfan, captured Xiangfan, and took the strategic initiative to go north.
It is a pity that Guan Yu, who finally took the strategic initiative, did not allow Jingzhou to rest for two years. With Liu Bei's Northern Expedition, Jingzhou prepared two big battles involving the whole state in five years, and now it is indeed quite exhausted.
It is true that Jingzhou cannot last long, and the number of registered households in Jingzhou is not enough to support an army of 90,000 troops fighting all year round. The food and grass preparations are also seriously insufficient. Sima Yi's estimate that he can last until April is actually correct.
Therefore, Guan Yu was really anxious to capture Wancheng and end the expedition as soon as possible.
But unfortunately, Guan Yu has no say in the current Jingzhou Army.
It's not that Guan Yu has been ignored and lost his right to speak. Guan Yu is now suffering from a recurrence of old injuries. He is awake and confused for a while, and he really cannot lead the army in battle.
Although Du Du has arrived in Deng County to help Guan Yu recuperate his body and control his condition, Du Du's area of expertise is really not Jin Chuang recuperation, and it does not help Guan Yu's injury much.
In addition, Guan Yu himself is older and his physical fitness is not as good as when he was young. However, this injury also hurt his internal organs. Du Du can only try his best to help Guan Yu control the injury, but cannot completely cure it.
Guan Yu could not lead the attack in person, so according to the previous rules, Guan Ping had to go into battle in person.
But Guan Ping's ability, he had the upper hand against Zhang Hu, but it was somewhat lacking when he met the old thief Sima.
Not to mention Guan Ping, even Deng Ai at this time had to scratch his head when he met Sima Yi.
This old turtle was so guarded that there was no flaw at all.
After all, the weather in Nanyang County is much warmer than that in Guanzhong. Therefore, at the end of January, when Guo Huai and Cao Zhen were still confronting Liu Bei's main force of the Northern Expedition in Youfufeng, the snow in Wancheng had almost melted. .
At this time, Guan Ping led his army to set off and arrived at Wancheng City. It had been almost twenty days since they attacked Wancheng.
During these twenty days, Guan Ping and others discussed together and came up with all the ideas they could think of.
From the conventional use of military force to persuade people to surrender, to luring the enemy to divide their troops, and finally using deception to open the city gate, every conceivable method was used.
It's a pity that Sima Yi is just an old turtle and won't be fooled at all.
The army suppressed the situation and sent Sima Yi to persuade him to surrender. However, Sima Yi acted very loyal and patriotic. He not only showed his loyalty to Cao Pi, but also allowed Sima Yi to greatly improve the morale of the army. The gain was not worth the loss.
They sent soldiers to pretend to be the guards of Wuguan and pretended that Shu thieves were detouring westward to attack Wuguan. Wuguan was in a hurry and wanted to lure Sima Yi to send troops to rescue. However, Sima Yi just stood still and could not get out of Wancheng.
Finally, Deng Ai came up with an idea. He personally led thousands of people and pretended to be reinforcements sent by Wang Ling of Xuchang. He really wanted to deceive the gates of Wancheng. If Deng Ai's strength was not low, he was also smart enough to see the opportunity. Hurry, it is very likely that Sima Yi will trick him into the Wengcheng and shoot him directly.
In the end, Deng Ai gritted his teeth and stamped his feet and said that it was no longer possible, so he gave him thousands of soldiers and horses. He would learn from his father-in-law and go deep behind enemy lines to find a way to the north.
When Xu Shu heard this, he quickly stopped your father-in-law. That's Juebei Road. If you go, it's just to die.
(End of chapter)
