Fufeng on the right, Guo Huai's army is in the middle.
"Can the reinforcements arrive?!" Guo Huai paced back and forth anxiously, asking his deputy general Du Xi from time to time.
Du Xi said helplessly, "General, don't be too impatient. The army has reported that reinforcements will arrive within three days."
When Guo Huai heard that it would take three days, he became anxious and kept pacing back and forth in the army.
"Three days. It's too slow!"
Listening to Guo Huai's mutterings, Du Xi could only continue to persuade and said, "General, the reinforcements are sent out according to the emperor's order after all. A slight delay is normal. Generals must not be impatient to deal with the enemy head-on. "
It is assumed that this is Du Xi, a senior general in Cao Wei's army.
Although his reputation is not obvious, Du Xi himself has very strong qualifications. He has held important positions as early as Cao Cao's period. During the Battle of Hanzhong, Du Xi was Xia Houyuan's deputy general. After Xia Houyuan died in battle, it was Du Xi and Guo Xi. Huai and others jointly elected Zhang He as commander, and continued to gather the remaining troops to resist Liu Bei's army.
That was more than ten years ago. At that time, Du Xi and Guo Huai already had a good relationship.
Now that the two are working together, it can be said that they know each other well and have a pretty good personal relationship.
Therefore, Guo Huai would also tell Du Xi some of his inner thoughts.
"The general is too impatient after all!!!"
This is Guo Huai's complaint against Cao Zhen.
He hastily ordered the march without following the imperial edict and failed to make all preparations, which resulted in his side falling into a rather passive situation from the very beginning of the march.
Guo Huai only had 20,000 soldiers in his hands, and these 20,000 soldiers were used to guard Wuguan. Even if he wanted to attack, the first thing he had to do was to ensure the safety of Wuguan.
Therefore, Guo Huai must leave at least 5,000 men to guard Wuguan to deal with possible sneak attacks by Shu thieves after he goes on an expedition.
The number of soldiers Guo Huai could really lead into battle was only fifteen thousand.
On the opposite side, Youfufeng not only has more than 40 fortification groups blocking its advance at the Wuguan crossing, but also has a military strength of about 15,000 to 20,000 people. It does not have an advantage in terms of its own strength.
But according to strategic requirements, Guo Huai's side is the key breakthrough in this counterattack. All of Zuo Fengyi's military actions are to contain and support.
With just such a small number of people and facing a continuous group of fortifications, how could it be so easy to break through?
As for the defensive effect of the Shu bandit fortress group, Guo Huai, who has been conducting raids and harassment operations in recent years, knows very well. Each fortress can operate alone or in conjunction with each other. Without enough troops, it is impossible to block and divide these fortress groups. connections between.
But the problem is that what Guo Huai lacks most now is soldiers.
If he really wants to counterattack Guanzhong according to the original strategic plan, Guo Huai should not be short of soldiers. After all, this is his main attack direction, and he certainly cannot be allowed to attack the entire Youfufeng with 15,000 soldiers.
But the problem was that the 20,000 cavalry originally assigned to his command did not obey Guo Huai's dispatch at the first time and set out from Henan to support Wuguan.
Cao Zhen could order Guo Huai, who was stationed at Wuguan, to send troops in the name of a holiday, but Guo Huai did not have enough rights to ask Niu Jin, the commander of the cavalry unit stationed in Henan, to obey his orders.
Cavalry troops generally belong directly to the emperor, but Niu Jin declined Guo Huai's request for Niu Jin to lead troops into Wuguan on the grounds that he had not been ordered by the emperor and needed to submit a report for instructions.
Guo Huai was helpless.
There is indeed no clear reporting relationship between Guo Huai and Niu Jin. According to the strategic arrangement, Niu Jin will be assigned to Guo Huai only after the plan to launch a counterattack begins.
But the problem is that it is still unclear whether this march can be regarded as the beginning of the counterattack strategy.
In fact, both Guo Huai and Niu Jin are veteran generals who have been in the army for a long time, especially Niu Jin. He has more seniority. In his early years, he was Cao Ren's general and followed Cao Ren in the north and south. of.
Both of them could actually see clearly that now was not a good time for the Western Expedition, and all preparations had not been made.
But under such circumstances, General Cao Zhen suddenly ordered the dispatch of troops, but he only ordered it in the name of a holiday. There was no emperor's edict. Generals with a little political savvy all knew that there was probably something wrong with this.
Guo Huai and Niu Jin had different reactions to this.
Guo Huai chose to obey the order. On the one hand, he did not want to offend Cao Zhen. On the other hand, Cao Zhen's order was in the name of a holiday, and he could not refuse.
What's wrong with this? Guo Huai did nothing wrong. He was just following orders. The only problem is that Cao Zhen is the opposite. If he fails to disobey orders, what if the emperor doesn't want to blame Cao Zhen afterwards? He's not a human being. But it was Guo Huai.
Niu Jin, on the other hand, chose soft confrontation.
On the one hand, Niu Jin was senior enough, and the cavalry troops under his command belonged directly to the emperor. It was unacceptable for Niu Jin to mobilize without the emperor's order.
On the other hand, Niu Jin was also more experienced in doing things. He did not directly refuse Guo Huai's transfer order, but delayed the time by asking the emperor for instructions. There was no problem with this approach. ,
As for whether it will delay the opportunity for fighting, there is really no need to worry about this. After all, Niu Jin's troops are all cavalry. One day's running is enough for the infantry to walk for three days.
Moreover, Henan is very close to Luoyang. The cavalry can only report back immediately and can travel back and forth in four or five days. Even if there is a little delay in the middle, the impact will not be big.
In this way, Niu Jin specially sent someone with his own memorial to ask the emperor whether he should send troops out of Wuguan and obey Guo Huai's dispatch.
Regarding this point, Cao Rui did issue an edict, asking Niu Jin to lead the cavalry westward to Wuguan to cooperate with Guo Huai's actions.
However, there was also Qin Lang who arrived at Niujin Military Camp with the edict.
It was okay if Niu Jin didn't ask to play, but when he asked to play, it plucked a string that Cao Rui had always hidden in his heart.
As a general of the clan, Cao Zhen was able to mobilize troops without an edict in the name of a holiday. However, as a general whom the late emperor had hoped to re-use, Guo Huai did not even question Cao Zhen's orders and directly accepted them.
In the end, it was Niu Jin, the veteran general stationed in Henan, who was the first to send him a report asking for instructions. After all, he must have his own team.
Cao Rui would not be petty at this time. Since he had secretly decided to support Cao Zhen's western expedition, Cao Rui would not hold himself back.
But in terms of military power, Cao Rui was already a little worried. He didn't want to let these generals control the military power like this anymore. He had to have someone close to him control the military power, so that Cao Rui could sleep more peacefully.
But the problem is that Cao Pi died too hastily, and Cao Rui succeeded to the throne for a short time, and he didn't have time to cultivate his confidants.
The only person available is Qin Lang, and Qin Lang has no previous battlefield experience. Cao Rui is not sure whether there will be any accidents if he is sent to take control of the military.
At this moment, Qin Lang sensed Cao Rui's thoughts and took the initiative to step forward and ask Cao Rui for help.
Isn't it about to embark on the Western Expedition? I just want to take this opportunity to go to the army to experience myself.
On the one hand, he can accumulate experience and learn from General Guo Huai. On the other hand, if there is an opportunity to make achievements, he might be able to come back with gold, which will add a little prestige to his future as a general and control of the military.
Cao Rui thought about it, and it was right.
Moreover, Cao Rui is really relieved about Qin Lang. He is not a high-minded person like Xia Houmao, who will not interfere in the frontline war based on his clan status. Qin Lang's greatest advantage is that he is low-key and only does what he can. to things.
By letting such people go to the front lines to gild, they don't have to worry about ruining the war ahead, and they can train their own generals, the best of both worlds.
Therefore, Cao Rui immediately issued an edict, appointed Qin Lang as General Jianwei, and went to Niu Jin's army to issue the edict on his behalf. Then he followed Niu Jin and marched westward to Wuguan to support Guo Huai.
But because Qin Lang also accepted the order in a hurry, he had to sort out his salutes. Therefore, after a slight delay of two days, Qin Lang took the edict and set off for Niu Jinjun.
Therefore, it appeared that Guo Huai had already sent troops to You Fufeng, but Niu Jin and Qin Lang who followed were still leading troops on the way to Wuguan.
There was about a three-day marching gap before and after.
This gap is also something that Guo Huai is complaining about now.
Guo Huai didn't know how Cao Zhen was doing at Zuo Fengyi at this time, or whether he had attracted all the troops of the Shu thieves. Don't let the Shu thieves realize that something was fishy because of his slow action, and then react. This You Fufeng is not easy to fight.
Guo Huai was directing the offensive battle at the front, trying to put enough pressure on Liu Yin on the right side of Fufeng, so that he had no time to think about the overall situation. On the other hand, three days later, Guo Huai finally received the reinforcements he had been longing for. Twenty thousand cavalry.
With these 20,000 cavalry, the rest will be easy to handle! ! !
20,000 cavalry cannot capture Chang'an City, but 20,000 cavalry can flatten the entire Youfufeng, which is more than enough.
(End of chapter)
