For a military strategist of Sima Yi's level, as long as he finds a clue and thinks along this clue, Sima Yi can easily find the truth of the matter.
Obviously, Wu and Shu united again, put on a show together, and deceived the Wei Dynasty.
Considered from this perspective, General Cao Zhen's strategy of thinking that Wu and Shu were at odds with each other and could take advantage of the situation to launch an attack to regain Guanzhong was based on wrong intelligence from the beginning.
Although doing this may have caught the Shu thieves off guard, the Shu thieves may have been planning matters related to the Northern Expedition. Although they were unprepared and were given an advantage by General Cao Zhen, as time went by, those of the Shu thieves The Northern Expedition armies were gradually in place, but the real danger was the counterattack by the Wei soldiers who entered Guanzhong.
Not to mention anything else, Guo Huai had been tricked and could only retreat to the fortress group. With no one to respond, he could not even retreat to Wuguan.
Under such circumstances, how do you make Sima Yi believe that General Cao Zhen can continue to win like this against Zuo Fengyi? !
This is just looking at the entire Guanzhong strategy from the perspective of the Shu thieves. If we look at it from the perspective of the Soochow rats. Now that Zhou Yu is standing still in Jiangxia, what kind of trouble is he doing again? !
Even if he killed Sima Yi, he wouldn't believe it. Zhou Yu was waiting for Guan Yu to free up his troops in Jingzhou so that he could sneak attack on Jingzhou. Guan Yu was not a fool. If the two families were really hostile, how could Guan Yu be so confident and bold in sending troops north? !
Therefore, Sima Yi now suspects that Zhou Yu's 30,000 Soochow soldiers in Jiangxia are just a cover, and their real purpose may not be in Jingzhou.
Based on Soochow's current power distribution, if their target is not Jingzhou, there is only one possibility - Yuzhou or Pengcheng.
If Sun Shiwan has no future, he will not think of having a fight with Jiaozhou Shixie to decide who will be the governor of Jiaozhou, right? !
Besides, although today's Shixie does not belong to Soochow in name, in fact, it is no different from the vassal of Soochow. How could Sun Shiwan send troops to attack Jiaozhou for a nominal matter?
Therefore, the real purpose of Soochow is either Runan or Pengcheng.
But it doesn’t seem to be that easy, right? !
As for Pengcheng, Jia Kui is guarding it, and Jia Kui is supported by most of Yanzhou. Soochow has been unable to break it for so many years, and it will be even more impossible to break Soochow in such a short period of time.
As for Runan Cao Xiu, although he is a bit impatient, he is still an outstanding clan general with some abilities. He has guarded Runan for many years, has geographical advantages, and has Wang Ling of Xuchang as his support, so the problem should not be big.
For a while, although Sima Yi couldn't see clearly where the focus of Soochow's attack was, it was most likely Qingxu or Yuzhou. Although he felt that Wei's defense was not a big problem, he still needed to be reminded.
Therefore, Sima Yi immediately reported to the emperor, sent his speculation to Luoyang by fast horse, informed Cao Rui, and then suggested that Cao Rui issue an order to order Jia Kui and Cao Xiu to strengthen their alert, so that General Cao Zhen could withdraw his troops at the right time and hold on to Tongguan. For the best.
Guanzhong may not be captured, but Tongguan cannot be lost.
To put it bluntly, what Sima Yi is most worried about now is Cao Zhen.
Cao Zhen brought 20,000 central imperial troops, 30,000 Silijun soldiers, and 20,000 Wei cavalry led by Niu Jin to help. If these people were blocked in Guanzhong, the losses of Wei would be too great.
Therefore, Sima Yi urgently sent a warning to Luoyang, and also wrote to Guo Huai, asking Guo Huai to hold on for a while and wait for reinforcements from the Emperor of Luoyang. He really could not spare any resources to rescue him.
After all, Sima Yi was not having it easy either. He was besieged by 90,000 Shu thieves and even Wancheng needed reinforcements. How could he still have the ability to divide his troops?
When Sima Yi's memorial was sent to Luoyang after another seven days, Cao Rui had already started to suffer from toothache and anger.
Damn it, Sima Yi, since he saw the signs, he should have sent it along with the last Shuzou, so why don't you send it now to take care of the shit?
Let’s not talk about Soochow. Our general Cao Zhen has now been outflanked by Shu thieves and has experienced a major defeat. It is still unknown how many soldiers can withdraw to Tongguan, and even whether Tongguan can be defended.
In short, you Sima Yi said it was too late! ! !
Speaking of this matter, we have to go back the timeline a little bit, back to when Guo Huai encountered the counterattack of the Northern Han Army in Youfufeng.
At about the same time, Cao Zhen's situation with Zuo Fengyi began to take a turn for the worse.
In fact, the fight went very smoothly at first.
Through his hesitant advance in the early stage, Cao Zhen attracted Zhang Xi to take the initiative to advance, and finally attracted Zhang Xi outside Dali County.
If Zhang Xi can be lured into taking the initiative to attack the city, thereby giving the cavalry led by Niu Jin the opportunity to attack from the flank, with the advantage of the cavalry over the infantry, this will most likely be a rout, and Cao Zhen will most likely defeat Zuo Fengyi in one battle. , and then went straight to Chang'an and regained Guanzhong.
But that Zhang Yuanchang was not someone to be trifled with after all. It was as if he suddenly realized his combat intentions and suddenly led his troops to retreat. He wanted to shrink the supply line and retreat to Changling, relying on the city defenses of Changling and Chang'an.
Of course, Cao Zhen couldn't give Zhang Xi this chance, so his attack this time was quite decisive, and he didn't make any mistakes in command. He finally trapped Zhang Xi in Chongquan County, and also let Niu Jin, who came for reinforcements, , with the advantage of cavalry, Zhang Xi's logistics supply line was completely cut off.
According to Cao Zhen's estimation, even if he did not take the initiative to attack Chongquan, as long as he besieged Chongquan County for a month or two, when the food in the city was exhausted, the entire Yongzhou Army of Shu thieves would lose their combat effectiveness due to lack of food, and would eventually have to surrender.
However, Cao Zhen still recognized Zhang Xi very much. He always felt that if he did nothing by besieging the city, Zhang Xi might find some loophole and lead his troops to get out. Therefore, Cao Zhen did not underestimate the enemy and did not do anything. After preparations for the siege, the attack on Chongquan County was immediately launched.
The earlier he had conquered Chongquan County and defeated the main force of Shu thieves in Yongzhou, the earlier he would have been able to feel at ease.
There is a saying that Cao Zhen's response was not wrong, but the problem was that just like Guo Huai miscalculated the time when the Northern Han army would come for reinforcements, Cao Zhen also mistakenly believed that the Shu thieves would not have reinforcements arriving in the short term.
In other words, Cao Zhen didn't think that the Shu thieves would pose any threat to him if reinforcements arrived.
This is not really because Cao Zhen became a little distracted after besieging Zhang Xi. In fact, Cao Zhen was quite calm.
Unlike Guo Huai's army that attacked You Fufeng, Cao Zhen's side really gathered the main Wei army in the Sili area. They were much stronger than Guo Huai in terms of both military strength and soldiers' combat power.
There are 20,000 central imperial troops, 30,000 division imperial troops, 5,000 headquarters cavalry, plus 15,000 elite cavalry regiments from Niu Jin for reinforcements, for a total of 70,000 people.
The main force of the Yongzhou Army of Shu thieves on the opposite side only has more than 20,000 people, and the only remaining Changling County garrison that can support Chongquan only has more than 5,000 people, and the total number is only 30,000. .
Cao Zhen did not divide his troops to attack Changling out of caution.
Under such a situation, even if the Shu thieves get more reinforcements, even if 30,000 more reinforcements arrive, his total military strength will still be higher than that of the Shu thieves.
More importantly, Cao Zhen had 20,000 cavalry.
On the Guanzhong Plain, the importance of 20,000 cavalry cannot be compared to that of 20,000 infantry.
Therefore, Cao Zhen is really not worried about reinforcements when Zhang Xi is trapped in Chongquan County. In other words, Cao Zhen is still looking forward to it. If the Shu thieves really have reinforcements, he really doesn't mind trying to get reinforcements out of the siege.
Then, Cao Zhen encountered similar treatment as Zhang Xi, letting the cavalry led by Zhao Yun penetrate directly into Dali County behind him, cutting off his food supply channel.
Cao Zhen made the same mistake as Guo Huai here. He did not have the habit of sending scouts behind him. Zhao Yun also relied on the speed of the cavalry to make a large circle and bypass the scouts on Cao Zhen's flanks. He ran to the vicinity of Dali County behind Cao Zhen.
In addition, that is Zhao Yun. Although he is low-key, he is still among the "Five Tiger Generals".
As the actual first cavalry commander of the Han Dynasty after Ma Chao, Zhao Yun had his own understanding of the use of cavalry.
In addition, Zhao Yun's strategy is not comparable to a reckless man like Ma Chao.
When Zhao Yun made a big circle and ran to the vicinity of Dali County, he did not immediately show up with great fanfare, forcing Cao Zhen to return to the army.
He only sent three thousand cavalry to attack Cao Zhen's grain transport team from Dali County to the front line of Chongquan County.
On the border of Guanzhong, the speed advantage of cavalry was too great. Cao Zhen could not afford to use cavalry to protect the grain transportation team. Zhao Yun easily allowed Zhao Yun to successfully attack Cao Wei's grain transportation team several times.
When Cao Zhen learned that three thousand cavalry appeared in his rear, although he was surprised, he didn't pay much attention. The total number of cavalry he had on hand was 20,000. This was Cao Zhen's confidence.
Moreover, Cao Zhen has never seen the Shu thieves and cavalry until now. In Cao Zhen's opinion, the Shu thieves on the border of Yongzhou cannot be all infantry, and there is not even a cavalry team, right? !
Even though the Shu thieves lack war horses and it takes time to train cavalry, the Shu thieves have been occupying Liangzhou for a long time. In an area as large as Yongzhou, it shouldn't be difficult to build a 3,000-person ranger team, right? !
Rangers are not heavy cavalry, and the training requirements for cavalry are not high. It is not difficult to get them.
Therefore, Cao Zhen subconsciously thought that this cavalry team was the Yongzhou Rangers sent out by Zhang Xi to threaten his food routes. He did not think about the Liangzhou Army.
After all, Liangzhou is still relatively far away from Yongzhou. Even if we count from the time when we besieged Chongquan County, the Liangzhou Army has just learned the news at most. If it wants to come to rescue, it needs to organize the army, arrange logistics supplies, and set off. Including the time spent marching on the road, the total would take at least twenty days to a month.
This time was enough for Cao Zhen to defeat Zhang Xi and besiege Chang'an.
Therefore, Cao Zhen's response to the cavalry appearing behind him was simply to ask Niu Jin to send out five thousand cavalry to encircle and suppress the scattered rangers of this Shu bandit.
In Cao Zhen's opinion, five thousand versus three thousand, he could not be underestimated in any way.
Then. The five thousand cavalry sent by Niu Jin were attacked by Zhao Yun's seven thousand cavalry, and they retreated to Chongquan County in embarrassment.
At this time, Cao Zhen finally understood that the size of the cavalry behind him was not three thousand, but nearly ten thousand.
This meant that the Liangzhou Legion entered Yongzhou at least half a month earlier than he expected.
This is not a good thing! ! !
(End of chapter)
