Zhao Yun supported Wei Yan's strategy of "Meeting Different Taoists at Tongguan" for a simple reason - the cavalry was fast.
If Wei Yan was asked to take 3,000 infantry to attack Tongguan in a detour, Zhao Yun would definitely not support it. It would be basically the same as committing suicide.
But, if the cavalry led by Wei Yan cannot defeat him, can I still not be able to run away? !
As long as the Wei army sent to support Tongguan was not cavalry, or even if it was cavalry, as long as Wei Yan did not waste time and found that the situation was not right, it would not be a problem to retreat to Chongquan in time.
In this way, the first two problems Zhang Xi was worried about were no longer problems.
If Cao Zhen was not stationed in Linjin, but retreated directly to Tongguan. After all, Cao Zhen led the army to retreat, and the main force of the army was mostly infantry. The retreat speed would definitely not be comparable to the speed of the cavalry. Wei Yan led 3,000 rangers to attack Tongguan, he will definitely arrive at Tongguan earlier than Cao Zhen.
If Cao Zhen was indeed stationed in Linjin, but only sent reinforcements to Tongguan to send additional guards, Cao Zhen would definitely not be stupid enough to send cavalry to Tongguan, and his own cavalry might not be enough.
Therefore, even if Cao Zhen sends reinforcements, they must be infantry, and infantry still cannot outrun the cavalry.
In other words, if Wei Yan led the cavalry to attack Tongguan, no matter how you look at it, he can get to Tongguan before the Wei army's infantry. If he marches all the way in a hurry, he may even gain three to five days of attack time.
As for the problem of not being able to capture it within three to five days, and possibly being surrounded by the enemy's superior forces. Can they run, can the cavalry be surrounded by the infantry? !
Chongquan is about 1,560 miles away from Tongguan. If the infantry is marching, food supplies and other issues may need to be considered. But if it is the cavalry, the round trip is only four or five days. The marching rations carried with them are enough. Supported.
There is no need to even consider the issue of logistical supplies.
Then there is only one question left - how to attract the Wei army in Tongguan to take the initiative to fight? !
This problem was originally the most difficult one, but Zhao Yun felt that he seemed to have a solution.
In Dali County before, Zhao Yun won a decisive victory in the cavalry battle and killed Cao Wei's cavalry commander Niu Jin. Now Zhao Yun has a full set of official seals of Niu Jin in his hands.
This is a trophy.
Therefore, Zhao Yun felt that Wei Yan could completely let the cavalry put on the Wei army's clothes, fly the Wei army's flag, and "escape" back to Tongguan in the name of Niu Jin's defeated army.
As long as you use Niu Jin's command or seal to win the trust of the Tongguan guard and falsely open the Tongguan city gate, then the next thing will be much easier to handle.
Of course, it doesn't matter if the deception is not possible. If the enemy sees through it, do the Tongguan defenders still dare to take the initiative to go out of the city to meet the enemy and use infantry to fight the cavalry? !
Therefore, in Zhao Yun's view, this "different way of meeting Tongguan" combat plan has become a feasible combat plan with the speed bonus of the cavalry.
It was successful. Needless to say, it completely blocked the Wei army's retreat. With Tongguan's defense firmly defended, even if the Wei army wanted to counterattack, it would not be able to break through it in a short time.
If we fail, we won't suffer much loss. If we can't defeat him, we can run away. At worst, we can retreat to Chongquan County and continue to advance step by step. We don't have to worry about Wei Yan falling into death.
With Zhao Yun's support, Wei Yan suddenly became stunned and challenged Zhang Xi again.
No way, Wei Yan's current affiliation is still under the Yongzhou Governor's Department. Zhao Yun's support does not give him a reason to send troops. If Zhang Xi insists on disagreeing, it will be in vain.
And Zhang Xi. Zhang Xi has actually been persuaded, but there is still another problem. Zhang Xi feels that it is not safe.
"If you really occupy Tongguan, how many days can you hold it with only three thousand soldiers?!" Zhang Xi looked at Wei Yan and asked the last question.
This question must be asking, Wei Yan was really stunned.
It’s really hard to answer.
Wei Yan led his troops to attack Tongguan this time. Even if he really opened the city gate and captured Tongguan, the environment he was in also meant that he could not rely on the Wei army to surrender his troops. The only thing he could really rely on was the three thousand cavalry. .
Of course, the issue here is not whether the cavalry can be used to defend the city. The cavalry can also be used as infantry if they dismount.
No one had done this before because the cost of training cavalry was too high. The cost of training one cavalry was enough to train ten infantrymen. Under normal circumstances, no one would have the luxury to use cavalry to attack or defend a city.
But just because you don’t use it, doesn’t mean you can’t use it! ! !
If it really comes to the situation Wei Yan faced, after occupying Tongguan and lacking guard troops, it is not impossible to use the cavalry as infantry to defend the city.
The real problem is that cavalry can dismount and be used as infantry, but cavalry are not infantry after all, and their usual training content is still different.
If you let the cavalry dismount to fight in the field, there might not be a big problem, but do the cavalry really know how to operate the defensive equipment used to defend the city? !
Maybe in a short period of time, when there are many people, this problem is not a problem, but as the defense time becomes longer and the soldiers are depleted, it is a big problem whether they can reasonably allocate troops and use defensive equipment to defend the city.
Therefore, Zhang Xi's question is actually asking whether Wei Yan can use 3,000 cavalry to exert the effect of 3,000 infantry in defending the city, and how long Wei Yan can hold on to the situation after occupying Tongguan.
This is also the reason why Wei Yan couldn't answer immediately.
If before attacking Tongguan, Wei Yan could still use the speed advantage of the cavalry to advance and retreat freely, then once Tongguan was really captured, Wei Yan would have no choice. He must defend Tongguan.
To defend Tongguan, Wei Yan only relied on 3,000 soldiers who had been transferred from cavalry to infantry. Wei Yan really couldn't predict how long he could hold Tongguan.
Because, when that time comes, Tongguan will not only have to face the counterattack army sent by Cao Zhen, but also may have to face the reinforcements sent by Luoyang to open a retreat for Cao Zhen.
This is a double attack.
If you can only hold on for three to five days, then there is little point in attacking Tongguan. On the contrary, you will be trapped in Tongguan.
You must hold on for enough time. If you estimate his logistical supply limit based on the strength of Cao Zhen's army, you must hold on for at least fifteen days.
"You can defend it for ten days. If you don't survive for ten days, you will risk your life and go to the country."
This is the answer Wei Yanzai gave based on his own experience and judgment as much as possible, considering various difficulties in defending the city.
This answer made Zhang Xi and Zhao Yun frown.
Ten days is a bit too short.
From here to Tongguan, no matter how fast the cavalry is, it will take about two days. Including the reaction time of the Wei army after learning that Tongguan was lost, it will take at least about five days in total. In other words, even if Wei Yan captured Tongguan, he would still be standing From Zhang Xi's perspective, he can only hold on for fifteen days at most? !
if it is like this.
"Ten days. This plan is quite dangerous." Zhao Yun thought for a while, sighed, and said.
Zhang Xi also nodded.
Fifteen days is too short.
Indeed, judging from the size of Cao Zhen's army, the interval between Cao Zhen's food and grass supplies was probably about fifteen days. But who knew that Cao Zhen did not stock up on prepared food and grass during the march into Guanzhong? !
It doesn't need to be much, as long as it can provide five more days of food and grass supply, it will be enough for Cao Zhen to counterattack Tongguan, open up his own food channel, and continue to threaten Guanzhong.
And with the current remaining 15,000 soldiers of the Yongzhou Army, plus Zhao Yun's 5,000 cavalry, they cannot effectively attack the army led by Cao Zhen within fifteen days.
It doesn't seem to matter much whether we seize Tongguan or not.
But wouldn't it be a pity if Wei Yan was so anxious that he didn't use such a good strategy? !
"Although this plan is dangerous, it must be tried. If Tongguan can be defeated, the Wei thieves in the pass will be in chaos, and it may not be possible to defeat them in one battle!!!" Wei Yan quickly added.
Holding on for ten days was what Wei Yan said based on the most difficult situation he encountered. It does not mean that he can only hold on for ten days.
If Cao Wei's reaction was a little slower, his soldiers could maintain their morale longer and defend for half a month. Even under optimistic circumstances, it would be possible to defend for twenty days! ! !
But this rhetoric was not enough in front of Zhang Xi.
As for Zhang Xi, Wei Yan also knew that he should be cautious in using troops. Whenever there is a possibility that exceeds his expectation, he would hesitate and subconsciously think that if something is uncontrollable, try not to do it.
But Wei Yan is not of this character. He believes in practical combat. The battlefield situation is inherently changeable, and no one can completely predict what will happen on the battlefield. So the only thing left is to make decisions based on experience.
Without a real fight, who knows how long you can hold on? !
Therefore, Wei Yan and Zhang Xi quarreled again over this issue.
Zhang Yi was the person with the lowest official position present. He was not easy to talk to. Of course, this was also related to the fact that he was used to these two powerful generals quarreling with each other.
But Zhao Yun couldn't stand what this looked like.
"You two, please don't quarrel!!!" Zhao Yun scolded him directly without giving any face, "Commanders in battle should stay calm first, what's the point of making a noise?!"
Well, only Zhao Yun has the qualifications to reprimand the two of them. After all, strictly speaking, Zhao Yun, Zhang Xi, and Wei Yan are not generals of the same era.
Even with Wei Yan's unruly character, he still had to give face to Zhao Yun.
Zhao Yun was also muttering at this time. The two people were no longer arguing, but he was not sure whether the battle of "different paths meeting Tongguan" should be carried out.
Zhao Yun is not too cautious like Zhang Xi, but he is not too reckless like Wei Yan. Holding on for ten days, or even holding on for fifteen days if Wei Yan performs at his best, is actually not too safe.
If you want to compete for full merit, you must hold on to Tongguan for at least one month. But Zhao Yun also knows that relying on 3,000 people to hold on to Tongguan for one month is blind.
Therefore, Zhao Yun thought about it for a while and said, "Chang Wen, if I give you five thousand soldiers and horses."
He only said half of this, and then Zhao Yun couldn't say any more.
Since they are pretending to be Niu Jin's defeated troops, three thousand men and horses are already the limit. If Cao Tai is not a fool, he will wonder why these five thousand men did not go to Cao Zhen to return to the army, but ran to Tongguan further behind. Come.
Therefore, the number of troops really cannot be large, otherwise there will be no conditions to fraudulently open the Tongguan gate.
But at this moment, Wei Yan couldn't hold it in any longer.
"A certain family only needs 3,000 troops to attack Tongguan. If they cannot hold on for fifteen days, they are willing to be punished by military law!!!"
Well, yes, Wei Yan changed his mind and changed from holding on for ten days to holding on for fifteen days.
Moreover, Wei Yan also made bold statements similar to a "military order".
but.
"If you don't stay for fifteen days, you old man Wei won't even have a chance to come back. What a waste of military law!!!"
Someone responded.
Zhao Yun suddenly felt that he had a headache.
(End of chapter)
