Jiang Wan took a certain risk by choosing to take the initiative.
But there was no way. Guo Huai's urging for food and grass from the rear revealed too much information.
Urging for food and grass showed that Guo Huai was still fighting at the front and had no intention of retreating.
So thinking about it from another angle, it shows that the Han's counterattack so far has not completely defeated the Guo Huai Army, and the two sides are still in a stalemate.
This was completely beyond Jiang Wan's expectation.
According to Zhuge Liang's judgment of the situation when Jiang Wan left Chang'an, at this time, even if Guo Huai's army did not retreat, it should have encountered a full counterattack by the Northern Army of the Han Dynasty.
At this time, Lantian County, which was behind Guo Huai, should have received an order to respond. However, the reality was that Guo Huai issued an order to transport grain.
This is extremely detrimental to Jiang Wan.
If Guo Huai did not retreat, but blocked the counterattack of the Northern Han Army, or even thought more seriously, Guo Huai repelled the counterattack of the Northern Han Army, and Jiang Wan, who was in Lantian County, fell into death.
Therefore, Jiang Wan had to risk his troops and launch an attack from Guo Huai's rear flank to coordinate the battle on the frontal battlefield.
To be honest, Jiang Wan's decision was a bit risky, because Jiang Wan didn't know the specific battle situation on the front line.
If the two sides are in a stalemate, Jiang Wan's proactive attack will break the deadlock on the battlefield and add considerable help to the main battlefield outside Huaili City.
But if Guo Huai had repelled the Northern Army's counterattack, then Jiang Wan's active attack would be suspected of causing death.
In fact, Jiang Wan understands all this, but he must take the initiative to attack. Attacking is a risk, and not attacking, waiting for success or failure ahead, is also a risk.
It's okay if the big man wins, but if he loses, Jiang Wan will be dead, and there will be no chance of returning to Chang'an.
Therefore, after thinking about it all night, Jiang Wan finally decided to take the initiative.
And God really favored the big man and Jiang Wan, allowing Jiang Wan to appear in the most appropriate place at the most appropriate time.
Guo Huai was out of options. He mobilized all the mobile troops he could mobilize. He only had more than a hundred personal guards at his disposal. These people were not enough to stop the three thousand Han soldiers.
The direction in which Jiang Wan appeared was even more fatal. He attacked from behind Guo Huai.
As a famous general, Guo Huai always paid attention to collecting intelligence near the battlefield. In the north, south, and west, Guo Huai sent many scouts and reconnaissance cavalry to detect the movements of the Shu army. Only in the east, Guo Huai did not send any scouts. .
Who would send scouts to investigate the enemy's situation in their own rear area? ! !
Of course, in addition to the unfavorable factors in the investigation, Guo Huai's decision-making errors in this battle also gave Jiang Wan the opportunity to rush to the rear and launch an assault.
Who told Guo Huai to choose to fight at night?
The sky was getting darker and darker. Even if Guo Huai sent scouts to the east, they could not detect too far. Under the cover of night, the three thousand county soldiers led by Jiang Wan had even marched to less than five miles behind Guo Huai. However, Guo Huai still knew nothing about the place.
Another thing, if it is a normal situation, at this time, the Wei army should have withdrawn its troops and returned to the camp. With the support of the camp, even if Jiang Wan really rushed behind Guo Huai, he would not have any chance to launch an assault on Guo Huai's army.
But Guo Huai insisted on choosing to fight at night. With these two favorable conditions, Jiang Wan directly reached less than five miles behind Guo Huai's military tent and launched an attack, completely catching Guo Huai off guard.
But Guo Huai was Guo Huai after all. He was indeed caught off guard by Jiang Wan, and he indeed had no soldiers at hand, and no backup plan at all. In this case, Guo Huai still remained calm and responded.
Seeing the Shu thieves coming from behind, Guo Huai, although cold sweat broke out on his back, quickly made a decision - the Chinese army moved forward and joined the Wei army and Qin Lang who were fighting in the center of the battlefield as soon as possible.
Generally speaking, when the commander of the Chinese army moves forward, it is a signal to strengthen the attack. But here, Guo Huai just wants to gather his troops as quickly as possible, reduce the time when the troops move closer to him, and guard the Chinese army.
At the same time, Guo Huai did not forget to send troops to notify the four thousand Wei troops on the north side to retract and defend. If possible, try to block Jiang Wan's army from the rear.
Although Guo Huai thought this was impossible, he did not just leave the four thousand county soldiers alone.
It can be said that Guo Huai's order was issued in a very timely manner.
He ran fast enough and quickly joined Qin Lang. Qin Lang, who also found that the rear was unstable, had already begun to command the cavalry to close the formation and no longer launched an assault on the Shu thieves infantry positions on the flanks.
In this way, Guo Huai had the first batch of troops to defend the Chinese army.
On the north side, the four thousand county soldiers who were blocking Chen Zhi returned to the defense very smoothly. Who knew that the soldiers under Chen Zhi's command were all rabble? Even Chen Zhi discovered the changes on the battlefield and wanted to command the rabble he had at hand. It delayed the Wei army to retreat, but if it really wanted to be executed, it could not be done.
Therefore, the three thousand county soldiers led by Jiang Wan were somewhat affected and had to slow down their advance to deal with the threat of four thousand county soldiers coming from the north.
As soon as Jiang Wan slowed down the pace of pursuit, it gave Guo Huai a chance to breathe, and also gave Guo Huai a chance to re-judge the current situation.
One theory is that Jiang Wan still lacks some battlefield experience. If Wu Yi were to take command, he would most likely divide a thousand troops to deal with the Wei army on the north side, and he would lead two thousand soldiers to continue to pursue Guo Huai's central army.
The enemy's command center is right in front of us, and we cannot give this command center any time to stop and think.
Continue to maintain the pursuit speed, even if Guo Huai cannot be captured alive, it is a very important thing in itself to force the enemy's commander to be unable to issue effective military orders on the battlefield.
Unfortunately, Jiang Wan chose to slow down his advance, giving Guo Huai a chance to rethink the situation after meeting Qin Lang.
As for Guo Huai, he had nothing to think about. At this point, Guo Huai had only one choice, which was to retreat with his entire army.
There was no way, Jiang Wan's sudden appearance caused Guo Huai to make a huge misjudgment.
In fact, it cannot be said to be a misjudgment. It is just a common inference that when the Shu army can appear in the rear, but the defenders in the rear do not send any information, this itself shows that one's retreat may have been cut off by the Shu army.
Guo Huai didn't know that Jiang Wan only had 3,000 county soldiers. In his opinion, if Jiang Wan could lead thousands of Shu thieves to attack his rear flank, then Lantian County further behind must have been occupied by Shu thieves, and there might be more at any time. Many Shu thieves arrived.
Although it is not clear where the Shu thieves came from with so many troops, the northern army of the Shu thieves in Qinzhou has already entered Guanzhong in advance. Should Guo Huai bet that there is still peace behind him? !
Guo Huai did not dare to bet on this possibility. On the contrary, Guo Huai believed even more that the main force of the Wei army he led to attack You Fufeng had been surrounded by Shu thieves.
Looking back from this perspective, Guo Huai even came to a conclusion - no wonder Wu Yi came to rescue Huaili County with only 8,000 people. It turned out that these Shu thieves and the Northern Army simply let themselves underestimate the enemy. Drag yourself to Huaili County as a bait to continue fighting.
The real killing move was not the Northern Army in front of him, but the Shu thieves behind him.
In this case, if you still insist on not retreating in the encirclement, that is seeking death.
Guo Huai knew very well that the main force of Sili's army had already gone to Zuo Fengyi. If he wanted to wait for reinforcements to come to rescue him, he would probably have to count on Sima Yi from Wancheng to come and rescue him. But this was too far. Water could not dissolve the near fire. When Sima Yi arrived from Wancheng, his own bones were completely cold.
Therefore, the only option is to retreat.
At this time, Guo Huai was extremely lucky that he did not withdraw his troops and return to the camp, but chose to fight at night. This decision actually had a miraculous effect at this time.
Under the cover of night, if Guo Huai chooses to retreat, even if the Shu thieves want to pursue him, they will not be able to pursue him very far, and they will easily lose their pursuit target in the night.
When attacking, night is indeed detrimental to the Wei army, but when retreating, night is the best protective color for the Wei army.
Therefore, Guo Huai made a decisive decision and immediately ordered the remaining less than 6,000 infantrymen who were entangled with the Northern Army of the Shu thieves in the front to retreat and began to break away from the contact with the Shu thieves. At the same time, he took over the command of the cavalry from Qin Lang and let the remaining The 3,500 cavalry began to launch another surprise attack on the infantry on the front.
The purpose this time was not to defeat the enemy, but to help our infantry break away from the Shu thieves and not give the Shu thieves a chance to follow and kill them.
When the infantry of the Wei army gradually broke away from the contact with the Shu thieves, moved closer to him, and slowly left the battlefield, Guo Huai asked Qin Lang to lead the infantry of less than 6,000 people to take the first step, retreat from the small road, and strive to evacuate to the Youfufeng fortress group as soon as possible. Act according to actual situation.
This decision, in fact, is Guo Huai's protection for Qin Lang.
After all, Guo Huai still has a good political IQ. He knows the relationship between Qin Lang and the emperor. If it is for meritorious service, then Guo Huai would not mind giving some credit to Qin Lang. But now that he is defeated, he must ensure that Qin Lang does not do anything. The problem is, if he really needs to be held accountable afterwards, at least someone will help Guo Huai say some fair words.
Therefore, Guo Huai chose to let Qin Lang lead the infantry to retreat first, while Guo Huai, as the commander, led the cavalry to break up the rear.
Of course, Guo Huai is not afraid of putting himself in danger. After all, the cavalry he leads, and the Shu thieves opposite, except for scouts and reconnaissance cavalry, have no organized cavalry. How can the cavalry outrun the pursuit of the infantry? !
As for the four thousand county soldiers on the north side, it was not that Guo Huai wanted to abandon them, but that Guo Huai could only barely cover the retreat of the main force of six thousand infantry with more than three thousand cavalry in his hands, and he had no energy left to rescue the four thousand. County soldiers.
On the battlefield, there must be choices, especially when the army is defeated and withdraws. Guo Huai cannot cover everything.
So that's all.
(End of chapter)
