Guo Huai fell into hesitation.
The Northern Army of the Shu Thieves indeed entered Guanzhong ahead of schedule as he had guessed, which meant that theoretically, he could be counter-surrounded by the superior forces of the Shu Thieves at any time.
Logically speaking, Guo Huai's best solution now is to lead his troops to withdraw from You Fufeng, focusing on preserving Wuguan.
However, the operations of the Shu thieves and the Northern Army gave Guo Huai a hint of the possibility of a comeback.
If the Shu thieves arrived with an army of tens of thousands, Guo Huai would not have to think about it. It would be too late to withdraw his troops now.
But the Northern Army of the Shu Thieves actually came with less than ten thousand people, specifically only seven or eight thousand infantry soldiers. Light troops rushed in to rescue Huaili, and the main army was still crossing the river.
Guo Huai, who had experience in withdrawing troops from the Weishui River, knew very well how long it would take to cross tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, as well as to supply food, grass and ordnance. He would not be able to get through it in less than three to five days.
And this time difference, in Guo Huai's view, does not mean that he cannot attack the 8,000 Northern Army of the Shu thieves head-on, or even kill this army in one fell swoop.
And even if he takes a step back, from the perspective of evacuating Youfufeng, if he can defeat the advancing Shu army vanguard in one fell swoop, Guo Huai will not have to worry about pursuing troops behind him when retreating in the future. In fact, he may only need If you retreat to the fortress group in Youfufeng, you will have enough time to use these fortress groups to resist the counterattack of the Shu thieves. You can still retain an advance base in Youfufeng without completely retreating to Wuguan.
For Guo Huai now, retreat is naturally the safest choice, but it is a bit embarrassing. The battle is not without hope of victory, but it needs to be fought quickly. Once he is held back by the Shu thieves, it may not be that easy for him to retreat.
Guo Huai thought for a while and finally made his decision - fight.
This decision was based on both practical considerations and Guo Huai's own selfishness.
In reality, the Shu soldiers advanced lightly, with only 8,000 vanguards. In Guo Huai's hands, Qin Lang's 5,000 cavalry alone was enough to deal with the 8,000 infantry, not to mention that Guo Huai also held more than 10,000 infantry. .
Guo Huai really didn't think it would be difficult to defeat an infantry of 8,000 people with such a superior force.
In terms of selfishness, Guo Huai's record over the years has been notorious.
From Liangzhou to Guanzhong, from Guanzhong to Guannei, we were losing all the way.
Although the coach Cao Zhen was mostly scolded, Guo Huai's reputation was also implicated a lot. The reputation he gained in Liangzhou and Longshan in his early years is now almost no longer mentioned.
If he doesn't win a decent victory and is finally scared away by these eight thousand Shu thieves, Guo Huai thinks that he will probably never have the face to lead troops on the battlefield again in his life.
Therefore, we still have to fight, and we must fight quickly.
After making the decision, Guo Huai immediately made adjustments to the current military strength.
First, Guo Huai suspended his attack on Huaili County and only assigned 4,000 men to monitor the four gates of Huaili County. Guo Huai gathered all the remaining 7,000 soldiers back and prepared for the battle.
Secondly, Guo Huai sent a military envoy to give Qin Lang an order to ignore the reinforcements from Chang'an and rush back to join him as soon as possible.
Even if the reinforcements from Chang'an were allowed to march towards Huaili, they would not be able to outrun the cavalry. There would be at least two days of time difference.
This time difference was enough for Guo Huai to defeat the vanguard of the Northern Army of Shu thieves at Huaili City, and then retreat calmly to the fortress group to defend.
Anyway, he doesn't plan to attack Huaili anymore. Guo Huai really doesn't care whether your support is in place.
With Qin Lang's withdrawal, he also brought quite good news to Guo Huai.
According to Qin Lang, the reinforcements that came from Chang'an to support Huaili did not have strong combat effectiveness and limited organization.
However, after three days of cavalry and shooting fighting, the cavalry led by Qin Lang caused about two thousand casualties. The reinforcements of the Shu thieves in the camp also showed signs of bombing the camp more than once, but they were quickly put down.
Qin Lang originally considered taking advantage of the instability of the enemy's camp to launch an attack, but he was worried that this was a deliberate illusion created by the enemy to lure him into attacking, so he did not dare to move without permission and did not take the initiative to launch an attack.
From Qin Lang's point of view, Guo Huai can understand Qin Lang's approach - after all, it is the first time to lead an army, so being careful not to make mistakes is the most important thing.
But the information Qin Lang brought back was enough for Guo Huai, who had been on the battlefield for a long time, to come to the conclusion that the reinforcements in Chang'an were just a ragtag group of people whose combat effectiveness was worrying, so they really shouldn't take it too seriously.
The reason is very simple. There is such a thing as bombing a camp to lure the enemy, but it is impossible to bomb the camp several times in three days. If we really do this, with the organization and discipline of soldiers in this era, the fake bombing camp will turn into a real bombing camp.
Therefore, the reinforcements from Chang'an must have really bombed the camp. It was just that the leading generals were quite capable, the scale of the bombing was not large, and they were discovered in time, so they were suppressed in a short period of time.
But at the same time, this also shows that the organization of this army may be worse than that of ordinary county soldiers. After being beaten for three days, the camp was blown up several times. There is no way it looks like a regular army!
Originally, Guo Huai was a little worried that the support troops would march in a hurry and rush to his flank to launch an attack on him. Now it seems that there is no need to worry about this aspect.
Even if the rabble reaches his flank, how much of a threat can it pose? !
What's more, with the speed of this army marching twenty miles a day, by the time they reach their flank, they will probably have already withdrawn.
In this way, Guo Huai quickly made adjustments and waited for the arrival of the Northern Army led by Wu Yi.
Wu Yi was indeed on his way. He was now only fifty miles away from Huaili, and there was about one day before he could directly face the Wei army that was besieging the city.
At this time, Wu Yi was no longer in a hurry, but slowed down his march and began to order his soldiers to prepare for battle.
If he ran over in such a hurry without making any preparations, wouldn't that be an opportunity for a head-on attack? Wu Yi was also a famous general in Sichuan, so he would not make such a stupid mistake.
Therefore, Wu Yi was also preparing for a head-on confrontation with Wei Jun.
The main fighting forces on both sides were gearing up, and Liu Yin, who was in Huaili County, naturally smelled this uneasy atmosphere keenly.
Today's Wei thieves did not launch an attack on the city, but only chose to besiege it? !
What's happening here? !
Is the Wei thieves' attack weak? !
Well, this is impossible. No matter how optimistic and naive Liu Yin is, he will not have such illusions when he has been beaten for almost ten days and the city defense has been almost completely destroyed.
Therefore, reinforcements must have arrived, and the Wei thieves need to defeat the reinforcements first, and then choose to attack the city.
From Liu Yin's perspective, he didn't know who led the reinforcements or how many there were.
The entire city of Huaili was surrounded by Wei troops, and Liu Yin had no chance to communicate with the outside world.
Liu Yin didn't even know that there was a reinforcement force from Chang'an forty miles to the north of him, and it had been beaten for three days.
Liu Yin could only judge by the direction of the Wei army's alert. The reinforcements probably came from his northwest direction. Liu Yin did not know whether it was the Northern Army in Qinzhou or the subsequent Northern Expedition in Hanzhong.
But it doesn't matter, the arrival of reinforcements is the greatest good thing for the current Huaili County defenders.
After holding on for ten days, more than 40% of the soldiers were injured. They had reached their limit.
If the general who defended the city was not Liu Yin, or if Liu Yin did not have the ability to unite people's hearts in desperate situations, Huaili City would have been unable to defend it long ago.
But even so, Liu Yin didn't think he could hold on for more than three days.
The city defenses are in ruins, and the military morale is on the verge of collapse. If we continue to defend like this, it will collapse sooner or later.
Originally, Liu Yin was still worried about what to do next, whether to lead the army to break out of the siege or to defend the city. Finally, reinforcements came.
With reinforcements, the morale of the defenders can be greatly improved and the defenders can be given hope of survival.
Liu Yin immediately spread the news throughout the army and asked the entire army to prepare for war and be ready to leave the city to receive reinforcements at any time.
This is not a special combat requirement, just the most basic response.
If the incoming reinforcements are small in number, then the city defenders must coordinate with the reinforcements to open a channel for the reinforcements to retreat into Huaili.
And if reinforcements come in large numbers and want to attack the Wei army outside the city, the soldiers guarding the city will also choose the opportunity to leave the city to support them and cooperate with the reinforcements in the attack.
This kind of response is just a routine response.
Liu Yin was actually a little worried about such a response.
The troops he had were really too small, with only a little over 3,000 men. He was a defeated army, and he had gone through a brutal ten-day battle to defend the city. It was hard to say how much combat power he had left.
If he ventured out of the city to meet him and was taken advantage of by the enemy, Liu Yin might not even have a chance to return to Huaili City.
Therefore, preparations for the battle have been made, but they do not mean going out of the city to provide support. Liu Yin needs to judge when to go out of the city to provide support based on the actual situation.
There is even a possibility of fighting without leaving the city.
At this time, Liu Yin also faintly lamented. If there were more than 3,000 people on hand, why would they be so passive?
However, the reality is that it is useless to think too much. It is better to be vigilant and observe the trends on the battlefield outside the city at any time.
I don't know who is leading the reinforcements and how many there are.
(End of chapter)
