In order to prepare for this Northern Expedition, Yongzhou's troop adjustments and grain reserves had begun as early as March. By now, preparations were already in full swing.
According to Zhuge Liang's arrangement, Zhang Xi has transferred most of his soldiers who have been in the army for many years and are well-trained to the Zuofengyi area, preparing to invade Tongguan in two months to create momentum.
In the Youfufeng area, in addition to the original 5,000 county soldiers, the remaining 15,000 people are all newly recruited and newly trained county soldiers.
You Fufeng has the Uburg Group to assist in the defense. In the plan for the next Northern Expedition, it will mainly serve as a feint attack. It is understandable that there will be more recruits.
Moreover, although the newly trained county soldiers lack combat experience, it does not mean that they lack weapons and weapons. They still have combat effectiveness.
Therefore, in terms of the comparison of military strength, it coincides with the main direction of Cao Wei's advance, forming a relatively tacit situation. Fengyi on the left has more troops, while Fufeng on the right has less troops.
In other words, in accordance with the requirements of the Northern Expedition, launching an active offensive is feasible in terms of military strength.
And if it is just a simple defense, it is unrealistic to immediately launch the Northern Expedition in a short period of time after the confrontation between troops and food is consumed.
This was the first reason why Zhang Xi advocated launching the Northern Expedition in advance.
The second reason also lies in the deployment of troops.
Now there are 20,000 county soldiers in Chang'an, and Zuo Fengyi has more than 15,000 county soldiers distributed in various places. More than 30,000 people face Cao Wei's 50,000 people. Although the military strength is slightly inferior, they are not unable to fight.
Cao Wei must have known this comparison of forces through careful intelligence. If he tried to lure the enemy into deep combat at this time, he would be really looking down on the intelligence of Cao Zhen and Wang Chang.
To lure the enemy deeper, you have to bear the risk of the Zuofengyi area being completely destroyed, and the Zuofengyi area is still full of soldiers and generals from the Tuntian District. If you still have to carry out such a risky strategy, Cao Zhen can be fooled. , that’s really stupid.
Therefore, Zhang Xi felt that in this case, the success rate of luring the enemy deep was already very low. It would be better to directly send troops to entangle Cao Wei's main army, and then wait until the Northern Army entered Guanzhong before launching a full-scale counterattack and take advantage of the situation. Northern Expedition, counterattack at Tongguan.
Zhuge Liang thought it over and decided to agree to Zhang Xi's suggestion.
This was done in a hurry from the perspective of preparations for the Northern Expedition and was not completely prepared. However, from the perspective of defending Yongzhou and ensuring the progress of the Northern Expedition, it was indeed a relatively safe approach.
After Zhuge Liang made his decision, Zhang Xi immediately ordered Liu Yin of You Fufeng to rely on You Fufeng's Wubao Group and stick to it, and not to advance without orders.
Immediately afterwards, Zhuge Liang and Zhang Xi made a division of labor.
Zhuge Liang led five thousand county troops to stay in Chang'an to prevent Cao Wei's partial troops from attacking Chang'an. At the same time, he waited for the Northern Army led by Wu Yi to enter Guanzhong, and then unified command of the entire Northern Expedition.
Zhang Xi personally led 15,000 county troops to Zuo Fengyi to support Wei Yan and others who had already set off first, and entangled the main force of Cao Wei led by Cao Zhen.
The entire strategy adopted a strategy of defending on the right and attacking on the left, and launched an attack on the Northern Expedition outposts in advance.
In this way, Zhang Xi led his troops out of Chang'an, and after seven days of rapid march, they finally arrived at Chongquan County in the middle of Zuo Fengyi.
The speed of Cao Wei's advance was indeed fast enough. After the troops left Tongguan, they advanced all the way to the west, conquering seven counties including Huayin, Ruixiang, Wangcheng, and Linjin, and approached Chongquan.
It just so happened that at this time, Wei Yan, who had arrived at Chongquan in advance, had received Zhang Xi's military order, understood the combat intention, and immediately deployed defenses on the spot. He gathered the combat troops from the four districts to move closer to Chongquan, and established a defense line in Chongquan. Waiting for Zhang Xi to lead troops to help.
But something seems a little wrong.
According to Cao Wei's menacing posture, Wei Yan was actually ready to gather more than 10,000 soldiers in Chongquan County to resist the siege of Cao Wei's 50,000 army and hold on for at least ten days.
After all, it would take a certain amount of time for Zhang Xi to lead his troops. If there were any more accidents on the way, Wei Yan might have to hold on longer.
To be honest, although the gap in strength is a bit larger, in Wei Yan's view, it is not too big. It is only about three times the gap in strength. Field attacks may be disadvantageous, but holding the defense line and not giving Cao Wei a chance to break through is still possible. very big.
Of course, a tough battle is inevitable.
However, the actual development seems to be a little different from Wei Yan's expectation.
First of all, after Cao Wei occupied Linjin County, he showed a look of hesitation and did not have the same momentum as when he first attacked.
The Wei army first stayed in Linjin County for three full days. I don't know whether they were resting or staying deliberately, but in any case, it always gave Wei Yan time to gather the troops scattered in the four major combat zones.
In the next five days, the Wei army's offensive also seemed very slow. In five days, it only pushed the front more than fifty miles forward and occupied Dali County on the west side of Shanxi. Then it showed its strength again. A stagnant posture.
It seems that the Wei army did not show any eagerness to advance.
Wei Yan didn't know the specific reason, but Cao Wei's advance was so slow, which made Wei Yan feel a little relieved.
After all, more than 10,000 people versus more than 50,000 people would be a fierce battle after all. Wei Yan wished that Cao Wei's advance was slow to create enough time for Zhang Xi to lead troops to support him.
Of course, Wei Yan was not a fool. He would relax his vigilance when he saw Cao Wei's slow advance. Wei Yan still took all the necessary countermeasures.
Not only did they send enough scouts out to collect intelligence, ascertain the movements of Cao Wei's army, and prevent the Wei army from playing tricks on you, but also sent partial troops to cut off your own retreat.
At the same time, Wei Yan himself was also actively strengthening the city defense in Chongquan County, hoarding grain and grass, inspecting the defense, and making preparations for long-term defense.
They continued to defend in this way until Zhang Xi led 15,000 reinforcements into Chongquan County. The 50,000 Cao Wei army led by Cao Zhen still had a forward force of 10,000 stationed in Dali County and a main force of 40,000 in Linjin County. Any attack to the west.
They have stopped attacking for seven or eight days.
This is obviously not in line with military common sense. Regardless of the advantage of the early raid, is it possible that the Wei army is waiting for the Han army to assemble and then have a showdown with the Han army? !
Is Cao Wei so confident that he can defeat 30,000 Han troops with 50,000 Wei troops? !
Or is it that Cao Zhen attaches great importance to martial ethics and does not intend to use sneak attacks to win, but wants to fight the Han army in Zuo Fengyi in an upright manner? !
Okay, that's a joke.
This kind of fighting method that emphasizes martial ethics has basically disappeared since Song Xianggong. If Cao Zhen had this kind of brain, could he have gained such a great reputation in the northwest region? !
Therefore, Zhang Xi and Wei Yan jointly judged that Cao Wei must have something up his sleeve.
But the question is what is Cao Wei's plot? !
Could it be that the Cao Wei army on the opposite side was deceitful and did not have 50,000 men at all? Therefore, Cao Wei was afraid of being seen through by the Han army, so he would rather stop advancing than bluff? !
Regarding this point, let alone Zhang Xi, Wei Yan had already suspected it.
After all, it was Wei Yan. We did not discuss strategy and government affairs, but only military command and battlefield strategy. Wei Yan was no worse than Zhang Xi. He had long suspected this and sent out scouts to investigate in detail.
Perhaps due to time constraints, the information obtained was not accurate, but it was enough to show that there were actually 50,000 Wei troops stationed near Linjin.
There may be some discrepancies, but the gap will definitely not be more than 5,000 people.
From this point of view, the Wei army in Linjin was not playing a bluff, nor was it a plan to attack Chencang secretly. They were actually stationed in Linjin and did not attack forward easily.
But this is strange.
The Wei army suddenly invaded this time with great momentum. In one fell swoop, they conquered seven counties of Zuo Fengyi and directed their troops towards Chang'an. The entire Zuo Fengyi army had been mobilized. Why did they suddenly stop the attack? !
It can't be that Cao Zhen is afraid of Zhang Xi and is worried that Zhang Xi will take advantage of him, so he plays it safe, right? !
This is just a joke. If Zhang Xi wants to take the retreat, he must send troops from Fufeng on the right and attack Huayin in a detour. Only in this way can it be possible to cut off Cao Zhen's retreat.
But by doing this, let’s not talk about whether it can be hidden from the eyes of Guo Huai who has already left Wuguan Road. Let’s talk about Huayin. Less than forty miles east of Huayin County is Tongguan. If Zhang Xi really leads his troops and appears in Where, who is surrounding whom? !
Didn't he take the initiative to get into Cao Wei's advantageous areas?
Zhang Xi felt that no matter how stupid he was, he would never do such a thing.
Therefore, this possibility was also ruled out by Zhang Xi.
After discussing with Wei Yan for a long time and continuing to eliminate some obviously impossible options, Zhang Xi came to the conclusion that there was a serious problem with Cao Wei's food supply.
This is the conclusion that Zhang Xi can draw under the current situation, and is the most likely conclusion to explain why the Wei army has stagnated.
Only when the Wei army led by Cao Zhen had serious shortages in logistics and food, would Cao Zhen attack very quickly in the early stage, but would not dare to move forward in the later stage. Cao Zhen had to wait until supplies were in place before he had the confidence to launch a second round of offensive.
After all, more than forty miles west of Tongguan, Zhangxi has been designated as a buffer zone. There are very few people in this area, and the land is basically uncultivated. It is expected that Cao Zhen cannot obtain food supplements on the spot.
As for Cao Zhen's ability to obtain certain supplies after conquering the two larger counties of Huayin and Linjin, but these supplies have to be supplied to 50,000 people, which is indeed a drop in the bucket.
This can also be understood why Cao Zhen hesitated after entering Linjin County. Linjin County is about a hundred miles away from Tongguan, which is just enough to supply the limit of food and grass for one expedition. If he did not rest in Linjin and wait for the second batch of supplies, , then Cao Wei may indeed face a situation where there is no food available.
Upon thinking of this, Wei Yan immediately suggested that he personally lead 10,000 men to rush to Dali County and try to attack Cao Wei's vanguard.
If it can be defeated, it means that Cao Wei is indeed short of supplies. Zhang Xi can immediately lead the rear army to follow up, join Wei Yan, defeat the Linjin Wei army in one fell swoop, and even counterattack Tongguan.
If you can't defeat him, don't ask. Cao Wei must have other unexpected moves, and Wei Yan will seize the opportunity and retreat to Chongquan to defend.
No matter what, you still have to give it a try.
It can be said that Wei Yan was much more cautious than before. He at least made plans that it might be a trap for the Wei army, and just asked to try to attack.
However, Zhang Xi still rejected Wei Yan's suggestion.
One is out of caution.
He only has a total army of less than 30,000 people. He is more than strong enough to defend but not aggressive enough. If he divides his troops without authorization, if there is any mistake, the disadvantage will be more obvious, which will not be conducive to the subsequent persistence.
Another one. If Cao Wei hadn't stopped because of supply problems, then Wei Yan's initiative to attack Dali this time was probably a trap.
Zhang Xi is also afraid that something unexpected will happen to Wei Yan and what will happen if he cannot come back.
After all, Wei Yan is now an important sharp sword in the Northern Expedition, and he is also the general of the Han Dynasty who controls the west. His prestige in the army is now second only to Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun and Zhang Xi. He is the top five famous generals in the army and cannot afford to lose.
(End of chapter)
