Cao Xiu had no choice but to break out in the direction of Xia Cai in order to preserve the morale of his remaining soldiers, although he knew it might be a trap.
In fact, no matter whether you choose the Cai direction or the Ping'a direction to break out, you will eventually reach Ruyin.
There is no way, the traffic conditions in these years are like this, there are only a few external roads in each county, and Ruyin is an important town in Runan, there is always one road in these counties leading to Ruyin.
Only main roads are suitable for marching. Although there are also small roads in various counties, Cao Xiu still has more than 40,000 soldiers left. Marching on small roads has to break up the marching troops.
Ordinary marches would not take small roads, let alone Cao Xiu now trying to gather his troops and withdraw his troops to escape.
Therefore, if Cao Xiu steps down from Cai or Ping'a, the result will be the same. In the end, he will definitely reach Ruyin first, and then choose an opportunity to break out in other directions.
Ruyin is now under Lu Xun's control, and Lu Xun is also ready to intercept Cao Xiu.
At this time, Cao Xiu was still trying hard to find other ways to break out of the encirclement, constantly sending out reconnaissance cavalry to look for weaknesses in the Soochow Army's defense. At the same time, he had to divide his troops as much as possible to block the Soochow Army's pursuit from behind.
As the encirclement network gradually narrowed, Cao Xiu was gradually at a disadvantage in terms of strength comparison.
Cao Xiu is not yet sure how many Soochow troops are blocking Ruyin ahead, but what is certain is that it will not be less than 20,000, otherwise the Soochow troops will not be able to stop him from breaking through.
As for the strength of the pursuit force from the rear, the number of pursuers starting from Shouchun is about 20,000. If Xu Sheng of Dangtu can gather his forces in time, the number of pursuers will not be less than 10,000. To give a rough estimate, the strength of the siege forces will be , probably around 50,000 people.
After several fierce battles, the number of troops that Cao Xiu could still directly control at this time was about 40,000. As for Zhang Pu and the 5,000 people he led, who were left behind by Cao Xiu outside Shouchun City, could they return to the army? I have given up hope.
Shouchun's pursuers were already behind him. Zhang Pu and his rear-cutting troops knew what the outcome would be without even thinking about it.
The better result was that the soldiers were dispersed and Zhang Pu at least survived.
The worse outcome would be that Zhang Pu and his five thousand men would be wiped out.
Therefore, Cao Xiu had to allocate 5,000 men to Xue Qiao again, making Xue Qiao responsible for the entire army's rear.
As for Zhang Te, Zhang Te was borrowed from Wang Ling. Cao Xiu had to give Wang Ling some face so as not to let him take on too dangerous tasks.
Another thing is that Cao Xiu actually looks down on Zhang Te. After all, this man has not shown particularly good leadership qualities from the beginning of the war to the present. In terms of overall ability, compared with Zhang Pu and Xue Qiao, he is not very good. Big difference.
It’s not Cao Xiu’s fault. After all, Zhang Te was a man. Neither Zhuge Dan nor Guanqiu Jian in history noticed that this man had any special abilities. And his most dazzling achievements in history were not so much about his personal abilities. It is better to say that the opponent is too conceited.
Well, I'm going too far. In short, in order to break out of the encirclement, Cao Xiu must choose his most trusted subordinate to break the rear. Even if Zhang Te is capable, Cao Xiu would not dare to suddenly appoint him to break the rear.
Cao Xiu did not dare to take this risk.
Of course, Cao Xiu wouldn't worry too much about who would end the war. What really made Cao Xiu uneasy was the morale of the army.
Since they chose to break out from Xia Cai, Wei's soldiers seemed to be relieved. They marched with almost no supervision and urging, and they marched in the direction of Xia Cai with all their might.
Really, that retreat speed was faster than the usual marching speed. If Cao Xiu hadn't repeatedly issued orders to restrain the troops, they would not have withdrawn now, but would have broken up and fled for their lives.
With the current withdrawal status, Cao Xiu did not dare to think what chaos the soldiers would become once they encountered the Soochow Army's interception in Ruyin.
Even though Cao Xiu tried his best to restrain him, the restraint effect was not great on the soldiers who were eager to escape.
And if military law is to be used to forcibly restrain it, it is not that Cao Xiu has never tried it, but now the army is withdrawing to break out. To put it bluntly, everyone is running for their lives. If the restraint is too strict, I am afraid that his army will not wait for the Soochow army to catch up. It was time for a mutiny.
The discipline of soldiers these days is just like this, no matter which country they are in, it is no better.
Cao Xiu was really anxious, but his anxiety could not change the current situation. Now Cao Xiu understood more and more why the commander of the Soochow Army let go of the defense of the two counties and took the initiative to let himself retreat.
The only thing Cao Xiu can hope for now is that he can find the weak points of the Soochow Army's defense before the morale of the army is completely dispersed, and then take advantage of the situation to break through.
If the retreat route were longer, I'm afraid they would have to repeat the same mistakes as the Battle of Shiting in previous years, where they would be chased for thousands of miles and finally have to rely on the support of others to retreat safely.
Fortunately, after leading his army through Xiacai County, Cao Xiu received intelligence from the reconnaissance cavalry - he did not see too many Soochow troops on the west side of Ruyin.
Now Cao Xiu had no time to consider whether this was a trap deliberately set by the Soochow Army. He could only choose to go to the west before the morale of the army was completely scattered.
Therefore, after passing through Xia Cai and officially returning to the territory of Runan, Cao Xiu sent Zhang Te and asked him to lead five thousand troops to advance in the direction of Ruyin.
The purpose is to prevent the Soochow Army in Ruyin County from taking the initiative to intercept them.
As for Cao Xiu himself, he led the remaining 30,000 soldiers, diverted midway, and headed towards the main road on the west side of Ruyin.
According to Cao Xiu's plan, as long as Zhang Te can stop Lu Xun, and Xue Qiao behind him can delay Soochow's pursuit for a period of time, Xu Zhi has already occupied Yingyang, and is aware of his withdrawal route, and takes the initiative to send troops to respond. Then he leads the troops It is still possible for the 30,000-strong army to withdraw safely.
And as long as he has these 30,000 soldiers in hand, even if the Soochow army has 50,000 soldiers, Cao Xiu will not be afraid of fighting a defensive battle in Runan.
After all, Runan is the territory that Cao Xiu has managed for many years, and the Soochow Army knows everything about its field capabilities.
Cao Xiu's plan was good, but it was just a good plan.
First of all, it is whether Xue Qiao can stop the Soochow pursuers who have been chasing all the way from Shouchun and merged with Xu Sheng's army. This question really doesn't need to be thought about.
Xue Qiao was never a famous general, he was just Cao Xiu's confidant. He had the ability to lead troops in battle, but it was only limited.
Among the Soochow generals who pursued Cao Xiu, not to mention Ding Feng, Xu Sheng, and even Sun Sheng were more capable than him.
Not to mention, Xue Qiao only led 5,000 soldiers, but what he wanted to stop was the pursuit of 30,000 Dongwu soldiers.
It can't be stopped at all.
And there is the most critical factor here: everyone is running, why should we stop the rear.
This is the truest thought deep in the hearts of the soldiers led by Xue Qiao.
If Cao Xiu had chosen to personally lead the troops to break off the rear, it might still have some effect. After all, the commander personally broke off the rear and bought time for the soldiers to escape. This was considered leading the way.
Fighting under such a commander, the soldiers don't have to worry about being treated as outcasts.
But you, Cao Xiu, led the main force to break out of the encirclement at best, or to escape for your life at worst, but you left us behind? !
The soldiers were not like Cao Xiu, who was always worried about whether there would be an interception by the Soochow Army ahead. They did not have such a strategic vision.
In the eyes of ordinary soldiers, they have escaped from Huainan and fled back to Runan. Why should you withdraw first and we have to stop the pursuit of the Soochow Army? !
How much combat effectiveness can such soldiers, with such thoughts, encounter a general who is not very good at commanding operations? !
The Duanhou Army led by Xue Qiao almost collapsed at the first touch when they encountered Soochow's pursuing army. They didn't even buy Cao Xiu a day.
The same thing happened to the soldiers led by Zhang Te.
There may be something about the Soochow Army in Ruyin that cannot be concealed at all, and Zhang Te's opponent is not the arrogant and arrogant Zhuge Ke, but the famous general Lu Xun who is one of the top five commanders in the world.
So, Lu Xun easily defeated the five thousand intercepting army led by Zhang Te, and began to join the team that was chasing the main force of Cao Xiu's army.
Lu Xun never thought that Cao Xiu must be left behind in this battle.
Of course, it would be best if Cao Xiu could be retained, so that Runan could settle without a fight, but if not, it would not be unacceptable to try our best to kill the main force of the Wei army and weaken the Wei army's combat power.
As Lu Xun began to pursue Cao Xiu's main force from the flanks, the Soochow army in the rear also began to slowly pursue the 30,000 main Wei army led by Cao Xiu. Finally, at this time, there was a chaotic collapse.
At this time, Xu Zhi, whom Cao Xiu had high hopes for, was still staying in Yingyang County, at least fifty miles away from Cao Xiu.
The distance of fifty miles is neither far nor close. If Cao Xiu ran away by himself regardless of the soldiers, he would certainly be able to escape. But with 30,000 soldiers, this is not necessarily the case.
Cao Xiu was worried about these fifty miles. What price would he have to pay?
(End of chapter)
