Sima Yi's fear of Deng Ai was actually not low at all.
In Sima Yi's view, Deng Ai's own ability to lead troops is not low, coupled with his experience in Xiangyang over the years. To put it bluntly, his two sons combined may not be his opponents.
Even though his son is now very famous, the reputations of these two boys are all blown up by the wealthy families, and a large part of them are specially designed by the Shu thieves to win over them and should not be taken seriously.
Maybe his two sons are really capable, but after all, they did not receive military training early like Deng Ai, and they are still in a state of knowing what is happening in the military but not knowing why. The experience gap between the two sides , it’s too big.
Ten years later, maybe his two sons may not be worse than Deng Ai now, but now, Sima Yi does not think that his sons can be Deng Ai's opponent.
In fact, Sima Yi had a vague feeling that if Deng Ai was given another ten years to train and let him stand alone, he might not be able to stop this kid if they really meet again on the battlefield in the future.
The future life is indeed terrifying.
Just like now, Sima Yi couldn't understand what the real purpose of Deng Ai was when he chose to go deep alone and lead 10,000 troops to march towards Wancheng.
Not to mention that Deng Ai came to attack Wancheng. Sima Yi did not believe that Deng Ai could do such a thing that went against military common sense.
Therefore, this little fox must have another purpose.
But even so, although Sima Yi couldn't see through Deng Ai's true purpose, Sima Yi's military talent was there. He didn't need anyone else to teach him, he knew the "myself first" approach.
No matter what your purpose is, I don't believe you dare to attack Wancheng with 10,000 people. In this case, I'll just follow my original strategic arrangement.
Sima Yi decided to remain unchanged in response to all changes and wait for Deng Ai to actually take action before making any response.
Sima Yi was Sima Yi after all. He could keep his composure and let Deng Ai march to Wancheng while he remained stationary in Wancheng.
And in this way, Deng Ai led the army to advance. The further he went towards Wancheng, the weaker he felt.
He was already walking slowly enough. In two days of marching, he averaged only about twenty miles per day. But even so, Deng Ai was now only forty or fifty miles away from Wancheng.
If we go further, we will really reach the gate of Wancheng.
However, Sima Yi still didn't react at all. Apart from understanding Deng Ai's marching route and speed through reconnaissance cavalry, there was no other response. Could he really let himself attack Wancheng? !
Sima Yi dared to let him go, but Deng Ai didn't even dare to move forward!
Ten thousand people attack Wancheng, a strong city garrisoned by 30,000 people. They are not going to attack, but they are going to die.
Deng Ai had to suspend his march and sent out reconnaissance cavalry to investigate the Wei army's defense arrangements within forty miles.
Then, Deng Ai probably understood why Sima Yi dared to be so confident and bold and let him in.
Towards the south of Wancheng, from southwest to southeast, Sima Yi set up a total of five camps. These camps were distributed in an inverted U shape as a whole. The distance between each camp was less than twenty miles, and they supported each other very well. convenient.
Each camp has between one thousand and two thousand troops stationed there. The five camps combined have about seven or eight thousand troops.
Obviously, these camps were Sima Yi's auxiliary defense facilities distributed around Wancheng to support Wancheng's defense line.
Sima Yi did not, like Zhang Liao, set up defenses in Deng County, a hundred miles ahead of Wancheng. Instead, he adopted a shrinking defense method, closing the outer defense lines within forty miles away from Wancheng.
In Sima Yi's view, the purpose of Zhang Liao's three lines of defense is to keep the enemy out. The advantage is that it will not directly threaten Wancheng's security. The disadvantage is that once it is besieged by the enemy, Wancheng wants to quickly Rescue is also very difficult.
There are only three lines of defense, and there is a possibility that the enemy will break through them one by one.
Sima Yi's current defense setup is centered on Wancheng, with various camps scattered around it, shortening the rescue distance between each other and forming an entire defense system.
This kind of defense system is not a new trick, but it does work.
If the Shu army wants to attack Wancheng, it must first eliminate the threats from the surrounding camps. And to eliminate the threats from these camps, it must concentrate its superior forces and attack a camp with all its strength in a short period of time.
Once one of the camps cannot be captured in a short period of time, the Wei troops from other camps and even Wancheng City will come out of the city to assist, and the Shu thieves will also face the dilemma of fighting on two fronts.
If we have too few troops, we can't attack. If we have too many troops, we can't withstand the consumption of five camps.
According to Sima Yi's calculations, if he wanted to completely break through his outer camp fortifications, he would have to find a way to break through at least three of them. Here's how much the Shu thieves had to pay.
And even if the Shu thieves really pulled out the camps outside the city one by one and began to formally attack Wancheng with Wan City's solid defenses, how much food would the Shu thieves need to waste and how many soldiers would they lose to truly threaten Wancheng's security? !
By that time, the imperial court's reinforcements had probably already arrived in Wancheng.
This was the reason why Sima Yi dared to let Deng Ai get close to Wancheng.
Not to mention Deng Ai's 10,000 people, even the remaining 30,000 people approached Wancheng together, and Sima Yi was not afraid.
When Cao Ren was in Jiangling, he only relied on two camps outside the city and used more than 10,000 defeated troops who had just retreated from Chibi to defend Zhou Yu's attack of 40,000 to 50,000 men for nine months. This was still when Cao Ren was "defeated" by Guan Yu. "North Road", the results achieved despite the poor transportation of grain and grass supplies.
In Wancheng today, Sima Yi has a total of 30,000 troops. There are five camps outside the city, and there is no one behind him who can cut off the northern route. Sima Yi is confident that even if the court does not send reinforcements for a year or two, as long as there is enough food and grass to support him, This Wancheng cannot be lost.
Facing such a defense system, Deng Ai was indeed a little helpless. His 10,000 people simply couldn't defeat such a hedgehog shell.
By this time, Deng Ai probably guessed Sima Yi's true purpose.
The old fox became an old hedgehog, or even an old turtle, and he just couldn't stick to his idea.
In this way, the initiative in the war is no longer in the hands of Guan Ping and others.
Originally, if 40,000 people fought against 30,000 people, the 30,000 people would still defend the city. With enough fortifications and city walls as cover, they would definitely not be able to defeat them by force.
In this case, the conventional way to attack a city is to find a way to force the general to lead his troops out of the city to fight in the field, and to consume the enemy's troops in the field. Only in this way can it be possible to break the offensive and defensive situation and capture the local city.
But the old turtle is obviously not the kind of stupid young man who will fight when provoked. This old turtle is very bad.
After Deng Ai figured out Sima Yi's defensive strategy, he first chose to retreat ten miles back to ensure that he was more than fifty miles away from Wancheng, so that he would not be attacked by Sima Yi's army from Wancheng. He set up camp and then immediately sent people to notify the passers who were less than forty miles behind. Ping, quickly lead the troops to join us.
The old fox has no special strategy, and there is no trap. However, the old fox has now been promoted to the old turtle. He has made up his mind and cannot retreat. With the few troops we have, there may be nothing we can do against this old fox.
Guan Ping and Guan Xing, who received Deng Ai's battle report, were a little overwhelmed by the prospects of the war described by Deng Ai. Fortunately, it was necessary to lead the troops to join Deng Ai, so Guan Ping and Guan Xing decided to Lead the troops and set off, and after meeting Deng Ai, they will discuss the specific battle strategy.
This time, the three little ones were really stumped.
After Guan Ping led his troops to join Deng Ai, the three of them arrived forty miles south of Wancheng for on-the-spot inspection. Guan Ping's brows did not relax.
"With such a distribution of camps, Sima Yi must have a great talent!!!" Guan Ping sighed.
Although it may seem unacceptable, in fact, Sima Yi is only seven years older than Guan Ping, and the two can barely be considered peers.
However, Guan Ping admitted that if he was asked to defend Wancheng, he might not make such defensive arrangements, and even if he had thought of it, the distribution and troop arrangements of the camp would not be as perfect as Sima Yi's.
The distance between each camp is neither far nor close, covering the large defensive area of Wancheng from the southwest to the southeast to the maximum extent, and they can also connect to each other and support each other in a short time.
If the enemy attacks a camp, they will encounter a joint attack from the city and the other two camps in a short period of time. In response to each other, without a siege of more than 10,000 troops, it really cannot pose a threat to any camp.
If we really want to capture a camp, the enemy will probably lose a lot of troops.
The strength of Guan Ping's troops is not that they cannot fight, but that after the battle, how many troops will be left to pose a threat to Wancheng. Guan Ping cannot guarantee this. I am afraid that when the time comes, Sima Yi will hold back his strength and launch a counterattack, completely defeating him. Did you bring these tens of thousands of Xiangyang soldiers? !
Guan Ping really couldn't think of any good solution, and Deng Ai was also at a loss. Guan Xing was still relatively optimistic.
It's not that Guan Xing can't see clearly the situation in front of him, Guan Xing still has this point of vision.
However, Guan Xing's thinking is still a bit like that of a civilian official - although this defensive measure looks very good, we still have to fight to find out how it actually works!
Besides, they have arrived at Wancheng City. If they don't even fight, but just watch helplessly, and confront Sima Yi of Wancheng, isn't that what Sima Yi wants? !
Since it is what the enemy wants, we must not let him get what he wants. If we fight first, maybe we will find that the enemy is not that difficult to deal with? !
When Guan Ping heard this, he vaguely felt that it made sense. Due to emotions and reasons, how could he know the enemy's defense without a fight? !
No matter how well-designed the defense system is, if it is not matched by the corresponding combat capabilities of the soldiers, it will be nothing more than a showpiece.
Deng Ai also felt that a beating was not unacceptable.
Therefore, Guan Ping decided to let Deng Ai lead 10,000 soldiers the next day to tentatively attack a camp on the southwest side.
Then. Deng Ai proved that the defense system built by Sima Yi was really useful at the cost of more than a thousand casualties.
Now, we're in trouble!
(End of chapter)
