Guo Huai led his troops to break through You Fufeng's fortress defense group and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
This bunch of defense groups stretching for dozens of miles has been quite difficult for me over the years.
Not only are the fortresses connected to each other and supporting each other, it is quite difficult to fight one by one, but the fortress itself is also extremely strong. It is all made of the "artifact" cement from the Shu thieves. There is no way to destroy the fortress. Come and break.
Cement is really a good thing. Over the years, the Wei Dynasty spent countless amounts of grain and lost countless fine crafts before hoarding a small amount of cement. All of it was used in the walls of Wuguan, Tongguan and Hangu Pass. It's under construction.
As the guard of Wuguan, Guo Huai knew how strong this thing was. It was a good thing that could not be hit by a thunderbolt cart without leaving any trace.
It is precisely because of this that the most troublesome part for Guo Huai in the strategy for You Fufeng is these fortress groups. Guo Huai also thought for a long time before he came up with the idea of using the speed advantage of the cavalry to cut off the connection between the fortress groups and then defeat them one by one. way to do it.
Now, the biggest difficulty in conquering Youfufeng was finally overcome by himself. The next step was to use the speed advantage of the cavalry to quickly pursue the retreating Shu army.
As long as the last Shu army is surrounded and annihilated, the next battle will become much easier.
However, something happened somewhat unexpectedly.
Niu Jin was unwilling to cooperate with Guo Huai and continued to attack You Fufeng.
The reason is simple, this is not the combat purpose of the cavalry regiment commanded by Niu Jin.
According to the strategic arrangement, after Guo Huai breaks through the Right Fufeng fortress group, the cavalry regiment led by Niu Jin should turn north in time, attack the intersection of Right Fufeng and Zuo Fengyi, and quickly advance to Zuo Fengyi. Where to follow the attack? The main force of the Yongzhou Army of Shu thieves confronting General Cao Zhen.
After completely wiping out the main force of the Yongzhou Army, they then cooperated with the main force of the Wei army led by General Cao Zhen to besiege Chang'an.
This is Niu Jin's combat mission.
Moreover, in Niu Jin's view, the Youfufeng Army has been crippled, and the remaining thousands of soldiers are enough to deal with Guo Huai's more than 10,000 Wuguan garrison, and there is no need for cavalry to continue to fight together.
Youfufeng is too big and too deep. If Niu Jin follows Guo Huai and continues to fight, and Guo Huai really wants to lead his troops deep into Youfufeng to attack Mei County or even disperse the pass, then Niu Jin's cavalry regiment may not be able to survive in a short time. Detour to Zuo Fengyi to support General Cao Zhen.
Once General Cao Zhen fails in the battle, even if Guo Huai really captures the entire Youfufeng, what's the point? !
There is a saying that if the Han Dynasty only had the Yongzhou Army, then Guo Huai would also agree with Niu Jin's judgment. But the problem is that according to the intelligence obtained by Guo Huai, the elite Northern Army of the Shu thieves has entered Youfufeng and may support Chang'an at any time. .
Guo Huai didn't know where the tens of thousands of Northern troops were now, whether they were in Fufeng on the right, Fengyi on the left, or directly entered Chang'an.
Without cavalry, we have to rely on our own 15,000 men to pursue the remnants of You Fufeng's army who may be supported at any time. If they collide head-on, it's not certain who will encircle and suppress whom! ! !
Therefore, Guo Huai insisted that Niu Jin follow him to pursue the remnants of You Fufeng's army, at least until he captured Huaili County and threatened Chang'an's flanks before Niu Jin withdrew.
By that time, with the city in hand, Guo Huai was confident that he could deal with the threats from Chang'an and the Northern Han Army by defending the city. But before that, Guo Huai did not dare to waste his time.
Guo Huai's judgment can be said to be very comprehensive.
But, there is still the same problem - there is no clear subordinate relationship between Niu Jin and Guo Huai.
In terms of official position, it is true that Guo Huai is higher, but Niu Jin is in charge of the cavalry regiment directly under the emperor Cao Rui. His combat orders are only to cooperate with Guo Huai's march, not to follow Guo Huai's command, so Niu Jin also has enough confidence. Can refuse.
The two men had some disagreements for a while, which also caused the Wei army to be somewhat slow in advancing.
In just one day, the two men reached an agreement under Qin Lang's mediation - Niu Jin left five thousand cavalry under Qin Lang's command, and cooperated with Guo Huai to pursue the defeated Shu bandits, while he led the remaining ten thousand Five thousand cavalry were sent to support General Cao Zhen in attacking the flank of the Shu thief Yongzhou Army.
But the time difference of this day gave Liu Yin a chance to breathe, and he led the defeated troops all the way back to Huaili County.
Even Jufu, because of the one-day time difference, was able to walk a little further west and stop in Hu County to rest and stop the pursuing troops.
In this way, with Guo Huai full of dissatisfaction, Niu Jin led the cavalry regiment north to support Cao Zhen, while Guo Huai and Qin Lang continued westward, chasing the defeated Shu bandits and attacking Huaili.
At this time, Zuo Fengyi and Zhang Xi were leading their troops to retreat.
After finally figuring out the entire battlefield situation and knowing what the Wei thieves were up to, Zhang Xi immediately wrote down his judgment and asked his troops to send it to Zhuge Liang who was in charge of Chang'an. Then he immediately ordered the entire army to retreat, first Withdraw to Chongquan County.
Wei Yan didn't have any objections to this retreat. They all thought it through together and understood what kind of situation his army would encounter if they continued to stay outside Dali County. Wei Yan was not the type to oppose for the sake of opposition. Naturally, I have no objection to retreating.
But Cao Zhen has an opinion.
At such an old age, Wang Situ was brave enough to lose the argument, and he deliberately showed weakness and lost the battle. This should be a moment for the Shu thieves to have their army's morale greatly shaken. Are you going to retreat? !
Remove the hair, come and fight quickly, come and attack! ! !
Dali County is not a strong county town. Your military morale is so high, and you are fighting a battle to defend the territory. Maybe I will be defeated after a few days of attack! ! !
With such an advantage, you didn't even fight and just retreated? !
Do you still want to show off your face? !
The most important thing is, now that you are retreating, how can I pin you here and let the cavalry attack your flank after You Fufeng breaks through? !
Cao Zhen was really furious. He had never seen such a shameless thing.
But the current situation is like this. The Shu thieves on the opposite side have no shame. Instead of attacking, they choose to retreat. They are also afraid that Cao Zhen will lead his troops to pursue them. They actually retreated overnight without even clearing up the camp.
Therefore, when Cao Zhen climbed up the city tower early in the morning and looked at the Zhangxi military camp, he discovered that the Shu thieves had already retreated.
In this case, the Shu thieves may have gone twenty or thirty miles away, and even if they pursue them, they may not be able to catch up.
Cao Zhen, who was depressed, quickly called Wang Lang, Wang Chang, and Dai Ling to discuss what to do next.
We have to find a way to continue to hold back the Shu thieves.
But things are already like this. Wang Lang's suggestion is - if he retreats, we will follow him.
On the one hand, it’s impossible not to follow up. We are here to regain Guanzhong. How can we just let the enemy retreat without even chasing him? !
On the other hand, only by catching up can it be possible to stick to the Shu thieves. No matter what, it is impossible for the Shu thieves to abandon the entire Zuo Fengyi. If they just retreat to Chang'an, they will definitely stay and continue to stick to Zuo Fengyi.
Don't give the enemy too much rest time.
And Wang Chang. Wang Chang hesitated for a moment, but took the initiative to stand up and remind Cao Zhen that the Shu thieves retreated so simply. Could it be that Zhang Xi had seen through the strategy and was retreating now to shorten the logistics supply line and not give him any supplies? A chance for the cavalry corps on the flanks to cut off the retreat? !
At most, Cao Zhen was considering whether Wang Lang's words made sense, but Wang Chang's words immediately made Cao Zhen excited.
This possibility is not impossible. In other words, in Cao Zhen's perception, Zhang Xi suddenly withdrew so simply, then he must have seen something.
Chase, must chase, we cannot let the Shu thieves shorten their logistics supply line so easily, especially we cannot let the Shu thieves directly retreat to Gaoling County.
Once Zhang Xi shrinks his troops and withdraws to Gaoling, he will be too close to Chang'an, and there is no possibility of cutting off his logistical supplies.
If possible, Cao Zhen must find a way to hold Zhang Xi back in Chongquan County to create enough time for the cavalry regiment to cut off Zhang Xi's return route.
Therefore, Cao Zhen immediately ordered the entire army to march towards Chongquan.
And after arriving in Chongquan, Cao Zhen no longer wanted to use the sticky tactics of the past. He sent Han De as the vanguard and asked him to arrive outside Chongquan County in advance, and then launch an attack immediately without making too many adjustments. city.
Even if there are only hooks and ladders and human lives piled up, we must immediately launch an siege. We cannot let the Shu thieves leave the city so easily.
Immediately afterwards, Cao Zhenyou asked Wang Chang to lead the only 5,000 cavalry. Taking advantage of the speed of the cavalry, they detoured directly behind Chongquan County. If they encountered Shu thieves withdrawing from Chongquan County, they would immediately hold back the Shu thieves regardless of the cost. The advance speed was high enough to contain the harassing Shu thieves, waiting for him to lead the main force to support.
The most important thing is to stall for time until the cavalry regiment coming from Right Fufeng arrives on the battlefield.
Only in this way can the entire strategy be considered perfectly achieved, laying a solid foundation for the subsequent siege of Chang'an.
By the way, Cao Zhen also started to complain. What happened to Guo Boji? Did he break through You Fufeng and then let the main cavalry come for reinforcements? ! ! !
(End of chapter)
