In the midsummer of the fifth year of Jianxing, undercurrents were surging everywhere throughout the Central Plains.
But on the surface, the situation appears remarkably clear and simple.
War broke out in the Guanzhong area, Cao Wei's army attacked in full swing, and the Shu Han could only retreat in embarrassment.
Guo Huai's troops are quickly attacking Youfufeng. As long as they conquer Huaili, the capital of Youfufeng County, they can go north, occupy Mei County, and cut off the connection between Guanzhong and Hanzhong.
Cao Zhen led the troops and trapped the main force of the Yongzhou Army led by Zhang Xi. As long as the siege continued, the Yongzhou Army, which had its retreat and logistical supplies cut off, would inevitably collapse after the food and grass in Chongquan County were exhausted.
And Sima Yi of Wancheng, relying only on the defense of the camp outside Wancheng, blocked the northward attack of the Jingzhou Army of the Shu Han Dynasty. Wancheng was as stable as Mount Tai.
In terms of the overall situation, the war in Guanzhong was really beneficial to Cao Wei. Even Cao Rui, who was in Luoyang, was in a good mood and had even begun to imagine how his reputation would be improved after taking back Guanzhong.
You know, Guanzhong was lost in the hands of his father Cao Pi. If Cao Rui could regain Guanzhong in one battle, then at least his heartless father would no longer be able to compare with Cao Rui.
By that time, Cao Rui would really be qualified to be evaluated as "the legacy of Emperor Wu".
Cao Rui was waiting expectantly for Cao Zhen to send him a report, reporting the good news of regaining Guanzhong. But at this time, in Guanzhong, the first person who noticed that there was a problem had already appeared.
That is Guo Huai.
In terms of ability, Guo Huai is actually much stronger than Cao Zhen, but due to Cao Wei's employment strategy, he has always been able to rank under Cao Zhen and obey Cao Zhen's command.
But in terms of strategy and intelligence, Guo Huai is actually stronger than Cao Zhen.
Therefore, Guo Huai was the first person to notice that the current situation in Guanzhong was unstable.
Of course, this has something to do with the fact that Guo Huai attacked You Fufeng.
When making strategic arrangements before the war, Cao Zhen and others conducted detailed investigations on all troop movements and troop arrangements made by the Shu thieves in Guanzhong.
The Shu thieves in Guanzhong, in addition to the local county soldiers in Yongzhou, the Northern Han Army in Qinzhou, Zhao Yun's army in Liangzhou, Cao Zhen and other decision-makers cannot not be taken into consideration.
The Liangzhou Army Corps was better off, after all, they were far away. They had to mobilize troops from Liangzhou to rescue Guanzhong. The army reported an emergency, the Liangzhou Army Corps reorganized the army, and finally rushed thousands of miles to invade Guanzhong. It only took about two months. It simply cannot be done.
The distance between Wuwei and Guanzhong is really too far.
But the Northern Han Army stationed in Tianshui County, Qinzhou was a trouble after all.
A small part of the reason why Cao Zhen was eager to "send troops without authorization" was that Cao Zhen received a secret report that the Northern Han Army in Qinzhou might advance eastward. Cao Zhen must seize the time to attack Guanzhong before this army can advance eastward. Launch an attack.
Therefore, at the beginning of the attack, Cao Zhen specifically told Guo Huai that in addition to the attack speed must be fast, he must also pay attention to the movements of the Northern Han army stationed in Qinzhou at all times.
However, Guo Huai led his troops to break through the Youfufeng defense line and captured the city along the way. Nearly ten days had passed before they were blocked at Huaili City.
According to Guo Huai's understanding of the communication efficiency of this era, it would take about a month from the time when You Fufeng was in distress to the time when the Northern Army of the Shu Bandits in Qinzhou received the news and came east to come for reinforcements. Calculating the time, the Northern Army of the Shu Bandits , it’s hard to say whether they have entered Guanzhong from Sanguan at this time, but they must have sent troops to help.
In other words, the time before Guo Huai to capture Huaili and then attack Mei County would not exceed twenty days.
However, the reconnaissance cavalry sent by Guo Huai to Mei County, northwest of Huaili County, has so far not received any intelligence of a large-scale army moving eastward.
On the other hand, about 10,000 reinforcements were dispatched in the direction of Chang'an, and they were slowly approaching Huaili County.
The movements of this unit also puzzled Guo Huai.
Logically speaking, Huaili is now under siege by itself, and the morale of the defenders in the city is not high, and the city may be breached at any time. If Chang'an sends reinforcements, it should be eager to rescue Huaili.
But the speed of action of this unit can be said to be unhurried. They marched no more than twenty miles in one day. Rather than coming to rescue Huaili, they were more out for an outing.
What did Jiang Wan, who was in charge of Chang'an, think? Was he really a scholar leading the army and didn't understand military affairs at all? !
How could there be such reinforcements coming to the rescue?
However, Guo Huai couldn't leave the support soldiers alone.
Although the speed of twenty miles a day is slow, they are still heading towards Huaili. In another two or three days, the support army should arrive at Huaili. This is not what Guo Huai wants to see.
Therefore, Guo Huai weighed the situation and sent 5,000 cavalry led by Qin Lang to lead troops to encircle the supporting army.
Anyway, now it is a siege battle. The biggest role of Qin Lang's cavalry is to prevent the Shu thieves in the city from leaving the city to fight and burn the siege equipment. But now it seems that the defenders in the city have been reduced to less than 4,000 people, and there is no such thing. Able to venture out of the city under the siege of more than 10,000 soldiers.
So Qin Lang's cavalry actually stayed in Huaili to serve as a warning at most, and could not help at all in the siege.
It is better to use this cavalry to block the reinforcements sent by Chang'an.
When cavalry fights on the plains, it has a huge advantage over infantry. Five thousand cavalry is more than enough to deal with ten thousand infantry.
Although Guo Huai still doesn't know what Qin Lang's cavalry commanding ability is, even if a fool like Xia Houmao leads 5,000 cavalry, even if he can't defeat the 10,000 infantry, he can still stop them from advancing towards Huaili, right? !
With this calculation, Guo Huai sent Qin Lang and led 5,000 cavalry to intercept the 10,000 Shu bandit reinforcements in Chang'an.
Guo Huai couldn't understand what happened after that.
Qin Lang is indeed not Xia Houmao. He is much better than the arrogant and conceited idiot Xia Houmao.
But there is one thing, Qin Lang still has some flaws.
Qin Lang has no experience in commanding cavalry at all, or in other words, this is Qin Lang's first time on the battlefield to command combat, and he does not even have experience in commanding infantry.
But after all, Qin Lang had read some military books. Although he made many small mistakes along the way, there were basically no major mistakes. In accordance with Guo Huai's expectations, he blocked Chang'an's Shu bandit reinforcements without any danger.
But the problem is that the Shu thieves' response to the reinforcements is a bit confusing.
Not only Qin Lang, a rookie on the battlefield, couldn't understand it, but also Guo Huai, a veteran who had been on the battlefield for a long time, couldn't understand it.
The reinforcements of the Shu thieves actually camped on the spot, assuming a defensive posture, and had no intention of advancing towards Huaili.
So, what are these Shu thieves doing? !
Faced with an interception by the enemy, instead of breaking through the encirclement, fleeing to Huaili City or retreating to Chang'an, they instead camped on the spot, trying to rely on the advantages of the camp to fight the cavalry in the wild? !
Really, let alone the issue of logistical supplies, can the wooden camp just block the cavalry attack? !
Apart from anything else, as long as the cavalry launches a volley, how many soldiers in your camp are enough to consume five thousand cavalry? !
The most important thing is that if this army is surrounded and eliminated by the Wei army less than fifty miles away from Huaili County, the impact on the morale of the Huaili defenders will be very bad.
So, what on earth do the generals of this Shu bandit reinforcements think? !
Guo Huai really didn't understand, but Chen Zhi couldn't help it.
Chen Zhi's purpose in fighting was never to rescue Huaili.
According to Zhuge Liang's private order to him, he was asked to take these ten thousand people as far away from Chang'an City as possible to eliminate hidden dangers.
As for the direction of Huaili, just give the defenders hope of seeing the arrival of reinforcements and encourage Huaili to continue to hold on. If you can force Guo Huai to divide his troops, it will be an unexpected gain.
Chen Zhi knew his combat purpose very well, so he chose to march twenty miles a day.
On the one hand, Chen Zhi was acting under orders, intending to use his reinforcements to attract the attention of Guo Huai's army, so he could not march too fast and gave Guo Huai time to react.
On the other hand, Chen Zhi is also at fault here.
It was also Chen Zhi's first time to lead an army in battle. He also had no battle experience. He had always been a civil servant handling government affairs. This time, because there was really no one to send in Chang'an, Zhuge Liang had to use Chen Zhi and Jiang Wan. A civilian official leads the army.
Therefore, Chen Zhi actually has no experience in leading ten thousand people in combat, and he needs to explore many things by himself.
Don’t think that it is easy to lead troops in battle, especially when there are tens of thousands of people. What is the thinking of each soldier? How to ensure everyone’s morale during the march, and how to guard against the enemy’s possible attack at any time along the way. Attacking is not that easy.
For example, most modern people have experience of participating in tour groups. Just think about the mentality of everyone when traveling and put it into the mentality of ordinary soldiers.
That was only twenty or thirty people, but they could generate thirty or forty thoughts. Now Chen Zhi is bringing ten thousand people with him.
Don't really expect the soldiers of this era to be more disciplined than tourists, let alone Chen Zhi leading a ragtag bunch.
Therefore, traveling twenty miles in one day was not only Chen Zhi's act according to the order, but also the maximum speed Chen Zhi could march with this ragtag group of people.
But thanks to this, when Qin Lang led five thousand cavalry close to Chen Zhi's ten thousand troops, Chen Zhi's infantry had a leisurely breakfast and had not had time to dismantle their tents and hit the road.
Now, don't go on the road, just reinforce the camp on the spot and assume a defensive posture.
If the infantry came, then this rabble might disperse in one fell swoop and escape from the battlefield or back to Chang'an, which Chen Zhi could not stop.
But who brought the cavalry? !
How could a man with two legs outrun a cavalry with four legs? !
If you choose to run away at this time, you will be caught up by the cavalry in a short time, and the number of five thousand cavalry is enough to ensure that most people will not be able to escape such pursuit.
Therefore, it is better to camp and defend on the spot, wait for Chang'an to send reinforcements to meet everyone, and withdraw to Chang'an.
There is no problem with Chen Zhi's eloquence, and Qin Lang's rapid approach also gives Chen Zhi the opportunity to use his eloquence. In such a bad situation, guarding the camp is really the only way out.
As for the reinforcements from Chang'an, Chen Zhi knew that there would be no reinforcements from Chang'an to assist them. This was Chen Zhi's excuse to deceive this mob.
In this way, Chen Zhi could still continue to fulfill Zhuge Liang's orders, not only holding back part of Guo Huai's troops, but also preventing these rabble from retreating to Chang'an.
As for how it will end in the future, to be honest, Chen Zhi himself doesn’t know.
The matter of deceiving one's own soldiers can be sustained for a while, but it cannot last for long, not to mention that these so-called soldiers are just a ragtag group put together by some grain smuggling teams.
Chen Zhi could only hope that the Northern Army led by Wu Yi could arrive at Huaili and launch a siege against Guo Huai's army before he reached his limit.
Otherwise, Chen Zhi may only end up dying in his own army.
(End of chapter)
