Well, in the final analysis, Cao Zhen was still reluctant to give up the strategic advantage he had finally established, and he was reluctant to give up the results achieved in this counterattack.
Once he withdraws to Tongguan, it will be like starting all over again. Cao Zhen doesn't think he will have such a good opportunity next time.
We can't blame Cao Zhen for having such thoughts.
Even though he lost Niujin and 10,000 cavalry, Cao Zhen felt that he was still the superior side in terms of total military strength.
There are 20,000 Shu thieves trapped in Chongquan. It is impossible to attack the city without losses during these hours, and the morale of the army will also be greatly affected.
Similarly, the Shu thieves Liangzhou cavalry behind them numbered more than 10,000 people. After a fierce battle, it was also impossible for them to suffer no casualties.
Therefore, the total strength of the Shu thieves was only 25,000 to 27,000.
On Cao Wei's side, there were some losses in the siege, but the total infantry strength was still 45,000, of which 5,000 were stationed in Linjin. Therefore, Cao Zhen could actually mobilize 40,000 infantry.
The cavalry suffered the greatest loss, with a total loss of about 12,000 people, and there were still 8,000 cavalry left.
Regardless of the morale of both sides, just talking about quantity, the remaining cavalry of the Wei army is no less than the Liangzhou cavalry of the Shu thieves.
Even if he conservatively estimates the overall combat strength of the soldiers and compares the impact on morale, Cao Zhen also believes that this is still a 50-50 situation.
Perhaps in the wild, facing the threat of Shu thieves Liangzhou cavalry, the Wei army may face certain dangers, but after retreating to Linjin and entering the defensive battle, Cao Zhen felt that he was not without the strength to fight.
And as long as he delays long enough and drags both Yongzhou soldiers and Liangzhou soldiers behind Fengyi on the left, he can still win the final victory after Guo Huai breaks through Fufeng on the right.
This was all Cao Zhen had in mind, so he immediately ordered the entire army to return and retreat to Linjin.
Of course, Cao Zhen did not take Tongguan seriously. After much thought, he still recognized Wang Chang's concerns. Therefore, he decided to send Wang Chang to lead 3,000 infantry back to Tongguan to strengthen Tongguan's defense and prevent sneak attacks by Shu thieves. .
When he went to Guanzhong, Cao Zhen left his younger brother, Cao Ren's son Cao Tai, to garrison in Tongguan with three thousand troops, but now it seems that it is not safe.
On the one hand, the military strength needs to be strengthened. Cao Tai's ability is one thing, but Cao Tai does not even have one-tenth of Cao Ren's ability.
After comprehensive consideration, Cao Zhen asked Wang Chang, the former guard of Tongguan, to lead his troops back to defend Tongguan to ensure his final retreat. This would make Cao Zhen feel more at ease.
Wang Chang was quite pleased with this. The general at least listened to half of what he said.
Although Wang Chang felt that the general's retreat to Linjin was not decisive enough, if Tongguan was to be defended, there would be no problem in retreating to Linjin.
Therefore, Wang Chang did not say any more.
At the same time, in Chongquan County, Zhang Xi was also convening the generals to discuss matters.
To a certain extent, Zhang Xi's life was actually much more difficult than Cao Zhen's.
Being cut off from their retreat, they were blocked in a county town to fight a defensive battle. Their troops were still at a disadvantage. If it weren't for the protection of the city wall, Zhang Xi would have been defeated by now.
But such days cannot last long. Most of the food in the city has been consumed. It is estimated that after another ten days or so at most, the entire army will be out of food.
What's even more terrible is that because of the joint blockade by the Wei army's infantry and cavalry, Zhang Xi was almost cut off from the outside world, and a lot of information could not be passed to Zhang Xi in Chongquan County.
To give the simplest example - Zhang Xi knew that Zhao Yun's Liangzhou Army had entered Xiaoguan in advance, but Zhang Xi had no idea where exactly they were and what tactics Zhao Yun planned to use to relieve Chongquan County.
Whether it was the envoys sent by Zhao Yun or the reconnaissance cavalry under Zhang Xi, under the siege and blockade of the Wei army's infantry and cavalry, it was extremely difficult to transmit messages.
Therefore, in fact, if Zhang Xi wants to make decisions in Chongquan County, sometimes he really needs to make risky guesses based on the actual situation.
For example, three days ago, a large number of Wei cavalry suddenly mobilized and disappeared. Early this morning, about three thousand cavalry fled back from the northeast in panic. Zhang Xi could observe these things while standing on the Chongquan County Gate Tower. fact.
Combined with Zhang Xi's knowledge that Zhao Yun led the Liangzhou Army into Xiaoguan in advance, Zhang Xi concluded that Zhao Yun had led the Liangzhou Army to the vicinity of Chongquan County, and it was even possible that he had won a small victory. Wei Jun for a while.
The Wei army transferred at least more than 10,000 cavalry, and more than 3,000 people returned. If they really returned in defeat, Zhao Yun might be nearby and could launch an attack on the Wei army at any time.
Generally speaking, such a conclusion can be drawn based on the observed results.
But is this conclusion credible? Not to mention Zhang Xi, even Wei Yan, who has always been adventurous, feels that this conclusion is a bit arbitrary.
Couldn't it be Cao Zhen's trick to lure the snake out of its cave? !
Is it difficult to deliberately transfer more than 10,000 cavalry and then allow more than 3,000 cavalry to return under your nose, creating the illusion of a rout? !
If he really foolishly thought that this was a signal for the Liangzhou Army to come to help, he would happily open the city gate and prepare to cooperate with the Liangzhou Army to attack from both front and rear. Cao Zhen might have already ambushed his troops and was waiting for the defenders in the city to take the initiative to attack. ! ! !
This is not impossible. With Cao Zhen's ability, he can still dig this kind of hole.
Of course, this is mainly because the intelligence on Zhang Xi's side is seriously insufficient, so he cannot make a correct judgment. Otherwise, with Wei Yan's temper, if he knew that Zhao Yun defeated the Wei cavalry in Dali County, he would dare to rob Cao Zhen tonight 's camp.
However, due to insufficient intelligence, Wei Yan at this time also believed that the priority should be to secure the city. After all, they had few troops here, and after about twenty days of defending the city, even counting the lightly injured soldiers, they could not get out of the city. The total combat strength was only about 15,000 people.
If you want to go out of the city and take the initiative to attack, you must be sure of a sure kill. Otherwise, if an accident occurs, the subsequent defense of the city will be seriously affected.
After some deliberations, the trio in Chongquan County reached an agreement - regardless of whether the unusual movement of cavalry outside the city was a signal for the Liangzhou Army to come for reinforcements, their primary goal was to defend Chongquan County. Lord.
This is really a rare thing, especially for Zhang Xi. He feels that it is rare for old man Wei to agree with him, and it saves him a lot of trouble.
Originally, there was nothing wrong with the matter at this point. We should still follow the original plan and do our job of defending the city. But in the afternoon, Zhang Yi, who was stationed at the west gate, was the first to discover that the Wei army besieging the west gate began to dismantle the city. Make camp and assemble towards the east gate.
The east gate is where the main camp of the Wei army is located.
And soon, not only Zhang Yi, but also Wei Yan, Wang Shuang, and Zhang Xi began to discover that the Wei troops who originally besieged the four gates began to dismantle their respective camps and assemble toward the east gate, while the cavalry that had been cruising outside the city began to The team's whereabouts are now unknown.
Obviously, this is a sign that the Wei army is going to shrink its forces. It is not known what will be done next, but there are indeed signs of withdrawing from the siege in Chongquan County.
For this reason, Zhang Xi, Zhang Yi, and Wei Yan met again on the east gate tower.
While observing the actions of the Wei army outside the east gate, they discussed with each other, what tricks are these Wei soldiers playing? !
"withdraw troops?!"
In the end, Zhang Yi couldn't hold his breath and said this word.
In fact, when the Wei army began to gather towards the east gate, Zhang Xi, Wei Yan, and Zhang Yi all thought whether the Wei army was shrinking its forces and preparing to withdraw.
This is not difficult to judge. The real troublesome question is-why did Wei Jun do this? !
Is it true that the Liangzhou Army has come to help? The Wei army realized that it could not defeat Zuo Fengyi and threatened Chang'an in a short time, so in order to preserve its strength, it wanted to withdraw its troops? !
Or maybe Cao Zhen was putting on a show, still using the same trick of luring the snake out of its hole, giving the illusion of withdrawing his troops, luring the Chongquan County defenders to pursue them, and setting up an ambush for encirclement and annihilation? !
Zhang Yi was struggling with this. He felt that both sides were possible, but he lacked important evidence to support his judgment, so Zhang Yi did not dare to speak out his thoughts easily.
But Zhang Xi and Wei Yan are not as simple as they thought.
It may be true that the Wei army withdrew.
No matter how hard Cao Zhen tries to lure the snake out of its hole, he will not choose to withdraw from Chongquan County. If a notoriously cautious guy continues to stand still in the city, Cao Zhen's actions will not only allow Chongquan County to restore food routes and information transmission channels, No benefit at all.
And with Zhang Xi's conservative character, he can really do this kind of thing.
This is not the first time Cao Zhen has fought against Zhang Xi, so he still doesn't know what his military style is.
Therefore, the retreat of the Wei army should be true, but where to retreat and what Cao Zhen would do next, both of them were thinking desperately and then gave their own responses.
Both of them are actually the kind of people who can formulate overall strategies. Their vision is not limited to one city. What they are considering is how the situation in Guanzhong will change if Cao Zhen retreats like this.
Especially Tongguan. Both of them were thinking about whether there was a chance to sneak attack on Tongguan.
Yes, this time, not only the adventurous Wei Yan was thinking so, but also Zhang Xi, who had also been thinking about this possibility.
After all, as long as Tongguan is blocked, it is equivalent to locking tens of thousands of Wei troops in the pass. The temptation is too great.
(End of chapter)
