Jiang Wan was ordered to lead three thousand county troops out of the city. His purpose was not to go to Huaili County to encircle Guo Huai.
The task Zhuge Liang gave Jiang Wan was to seize the opportunity to sneak attack on the Youfufeng fortress group occupied by the Wei army, cut off the Wei army's logistics supplies and retreat routes, and block Guo Huai's withdrawal.
Zhuge Liang is not a god after all, and he is not on the front line. He does not understand the actual situation on the front line. He really did not expect that because of the urging of his two letters, Wu Yihui would only take 8,000 people to rescue Huaili, resulting in the surrender outside Huaili City. Guo Huai made a time difference.
In Zhuge Liang's expectation, when Wu Yi led 30,000 Northern troops to Huaili, Wu Yi himself could completely defeat Guo Huai's troops with the help of the Northern troops who had been carefully trained over the years, without Liu Yin even having to leave the city to assist in the battle.
Once Guo Huai's army is defeated, they will inevitably choose to retreat to Wuguan. To retreat to Wuguan, they must first pass through You Fufeng's fortress group.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang risked the instability of Chang'an and gave Jiang Wan three thousand men to block Guo Huai's army's retreat.
It turned out that Jiang Wan did follow this military plan. After he led 3,000 people to leave Chang'an, he went straight to the Youfufeng fortress group.
However, there is still a problem.
Today, the east side of Chang'an, whether it is Zuo Fengyi or right Fufeng, is already the territory of the Wei army in name. You cannot expect that all the county magistrates east of Chang'an are Liu Yin. Some of these people are still holding on, but Most of the county towns chose to surrender when faced with the Wei army's attack.
This is a life-saving rule in troubled times. Even Zhuge Liang cannot blame these county magistrates.
What Jiang Wan had to do was to lead his troops through these counties before reaching You Fufeng's fortress group.
An army of three thousand people is much more flexible in command than an army of tens of thousands, and is more suitable for penetration and penetration operations, but three thousand people are not a minority after all.
Jiang Wan was making a sneak attack again, so he was bound to pursue speed and stealth. Therefore, it was impossible for him to carry a baggage and grain team, nor to supply supplies in the counties along the way. You could not determine the counties along the way, and everyone was looking toward the big man.
Therefore, for this sneak attack, Jiang Wan asked his soldiers to carry fifteen days' rations each and set out from Chang'an City. He waited until the Youfufeng fortress group was captured before resting and replenishing supplies.
To be honest, this is a bit risky. After all, Chang'an is not close to the Youfufeng Fortress Group. A normal march would take at least seven or eight days, not to mention that Jiang Wan sometimes had to take detours away from some counties to ensure the confidentiality of the march. It takes even longer.
And if the fortress group cannot be captured in the remaining time, Jiang Wan's three thousand soldiers will be in danger of running out of food.
And the reality is much more serious than Jiang Wan expected.
Originally, Jiang Wan and Zhuge Liang had expected that they would encounter some difficulties when sending troops to cut off the enemy's retreat, and would need to take a detour to waste time. Therefore, out of caution, they both thought that the soldiers should be able to carry more rations to deal with unexpected events. Trouble.
However, the weight of an individual soldier is limited. The soldiers need to carry enough ordnance and armor, and then carry rations. The limit is fifteen days. The remaining part can only be supplied through local supplies or logistics transportation from Chang'an.
But Jiang Wan did not have this condition, so he could only set out with these soldiers and fifteen days of food and grass.
Along the way, Jiang Wan was also trying his best to plan the marching route, shortening the distance to the fortress group as much as possible while bypassing various county towns. If everything went according to Jiang Wan's prediction, it would cost up to seven to In eight days, Jiang Wan could reach the fortress group and launch a surprise attack.
However, things did not develop exactly as Jiang Wan expected.
Still close to Chang'an, Jiang Wan's march went smoothly, almost moving in a straight line towards the goal.
But the farther away from Chang'an, the less familiar Jiang Wan was with the place. He was not sure how many counties he passed along the way had surrendered to the Wei army, or whether there were any Wei army scouts along the way.
Therefore, Jiang Wan had to be cautious and would rather take more detours than let the Wei army notice his movements.
This march took a little longer, but Jiang Wan only spent an extra day and arrived safely near the county seat closest to the fortress group.
But at this time, the biggest trouble appeared.
The Wei army's defense of the Youfufeng fortress group was not careless or unprepared.
When Jiang Wan arrived at the fortress group, he did not stupidly launch an attack directly. Instead, he sent out scouts and reconnaissance cavalry to prioritize the defense focus of the fortress group and the number of defenders.
After all, he was also General Ji Han in history. Although he was still immature and lacked experience in leading troops, Jiang Wan still knew the basic military knowledge.
Then Jiang Wan learned that Guo Huai had left two thousand soldiers to defend the fortress group.
What's even more terrible is that this force of 2,000 people is not evenly distributed among the more than 50 fortress groups. Guo Huai adopts a defensive strategy of solid outside and weak inside, stationing heavy troops in the outer fortress groups and approaching them. The fortress group in the Wuguan direction only has a small number of troops stationed there to ensure the smooth flow of logistics supply channels.
This means that the fortress group on Jiang Wan's side has at least a hundred Wei troops in each fortress, and they can support and coordinate with each other.
This move made Jiang Wan quite big-headed.
Jiang Wan actually knows the power of the fortress group best. After all, when he originally planned and built this fortress group, he and Liu Yin designed it. It costs money. As the chief steward, Jiang Wan must see how the money is spent. Worth it or not.
It can be said that Jiang Wan actually knows the fortress groups very well, but at the same time, Jiang Wan also knows that with the 3,000 men he has on hand, even if he can occupy individual fortress groups through sneak attacks, he will not be able to defeat the Wei army's joint counterattack. It must be able to block it, let alone cut off Guo Huai's retreat.
In order to break through the defense of this fortress group, Guo Huai invested 20,000 cavalry at one time. He used the mobility of the cavalry to cut off the connection between the fortress group and then used infantry to defeat them one by one. Jiang Wan only had 3,000 men and no cavalry. , he does not have the conditions to copy Guo Huai's tactics.
Therefore, Jiang Wan struggled in his heart for a long time and finally came to the conclusion that a sneak attack on the fortress group was basically impossible.
Well, in that case, let’s implement the second plan! ! !
Since Jiang Wan was sent out to attack the rear and cut off Guo Huai's retreat, Zhuge Liang would definitely not prepare just one plan, nor would he fail to take into account the possibility that Jiang Wan's attack on the fortress group would be unfavorable, resulting in a food shortage or Guo Huai sending troops to return for reinforcements.
So, actually there is a sub-plan.
If Jiang Wan determines based on the actual situation that it is impossible to attack the fortress group in a sneak attack, or if the attack is unfavorable, then he should not continue to struggle with the fortress group and can choose to march westward and capture Lantian County.
Although this cannot completely block Guo Huai's army's retreat, it can at least bury a nail in Guo Huai's retreat. If Guo Huai chooses to retreat via Guandao Road, he will inevitably encounter Lantian County.
Of course, if Guo Huai takes a small road to retreat, even taking Lantian County will be meaningless.
Guanzhong is a large plain, and Youfufeng is an area that was developed relatively early. Although there are only one or two major roads, there are too many small roads.
It is safest to capture the fortress group and block the passage to Wuguan Road. However, if the fortress group cannot be captured, the next best thing is to seize Lantian County and risk Guo Huai's retreat from the main road. .
According to the scout reports, there were only 500 Cao Wei defenders in Lantian County, and the magistrate of Lantian County was still the magistrate of Lantian County appointed by the Han Dynasty. Guo Huai did not have time to change the appointment.
This gave Jiang Wan a chance to fight.
Jiang Wan ordered the entire army to turn around and march straight to Lantian County, which was fifty miles behind him. After a day and a half of marching, Jiang Wan arrived at Lantian City.
Without making any adjustments, Jiang Wan ordered the entire army to form a formation, led the troops outside the city gate, called the formation in person, and invited the Lantian County garrison, the Lantian County Magistrate Wang Ge, to talk.
Yes, Jiang Wan did not want to attack directly with force.
Using 3,000 people to attack a city guarded by 500 people, if the defenders are determined to defend, even 3,000 people may not be able to attack it in a short period of time.
Of course, the most important thing is that the three thousand soldiers led by Jiang Wan have very little ration left and cannot afford to waste time.
Moreover, according to the art of war, if you are really forced to fight, you can only fight a siege, which is the last resort.
Jiang Wan obviously did not want to adopt such a tactic, so he wanted to use his eloquence to persuade the defenders of Lantian County to surrender.
The best strategy is to subdue the enemy's troops without fighting.
(End of chapter)
