There is a saying, Cao Xiu sometimes does things, which are indeed quite wicked.
He knew clearly that Gao Tanglong was just a scholar who was good at politics and did not understand military strategy, but he only left two thousand soldiers for him and asked him to stick to Shangcai and gather the defeated troops. This was basically equivalent to giving up on Gao Tanglong directly.
Cao Xiu never thought that Gao Tanglong could return to Shangcai alive.
Cao Xiu was quite unkind, but Gao Tanglong had no regrets.
With Gao Tanglong's persistence, he couldn't do it if he was asked to abandon the land and run for his life, and he couldn't do it if he was asked to ignore the life and death of his soldiers.
Gao Tanglong does not understand military affairs, but he understands people's hearts, and he also knows how important it is to hold on to hope in such a situation of defeat and flight.
Gao Tanglong is a Confucian who has his own values and persistence, and he is also a true Confucian who is willing to practice his own values and persistence.
Therefore, Gao Tanglong stayed in Yingyang without any complaints, leading two thousand soldiers to defend the city while gathering the defeated troops who fled to Yingyang from various places.
As for Cao Xiu's eagerness to return to Shang Cai, Gao Tanglong had no intention of complaining about Cao Xiu.
Shangcai is an important geographical location. Even if Gao Tanglong doesn't understand military affairs, he can always read a map.
Therefore, Cao Xiu had to rush back to Shangcai to hold on. Gao Tanglong understood that that place really couldn't be lost.
It's just that Gao Tanglong is also a little worried about the ability of the enemy's commander. Since he can force General Cao Xiu to this point, will he just leave Shang Cai alone? !
You know, after Gao Tanglong led his troops to Yingyang, Shangcai was really just an empty city.
Regarding this point, in fact, it's not that Soochow Army coach Lu Xun didn't think about it, but he thought about it, but didn't do it.
Because the Wei army suddenly appeared in Yingyang, Lu Xun could not determine how many troops Cao Xiu had left behind in Runan, and whether there were enough troops left behind in other counties like Yingyang.
Although this situation is unlikely based on the intelligence obtained before the war, Lu Xun must consider that he is now fighting in Runan. It is an away battle for the Soochow Army and cannot be taken lightly.
No one dares to say that intelligence is 100% accurate, especially when fighting away from home, so more consideration must be given.
Moreover, for Lu Xun, the biggest task at the moment is to kill or capture as many Wei soldiers as possible along the line from Ruyin to Yingyang.
As long as Cao Wei's defensive forces are completely defeated in this battle, then when he attacks other counties in Runan, Lu Xun will have enough strength at hand to push forward all the way.
And if before the battle to encircle and suppress Cao Xiu began, Lu Xun divided his troops to attack other Runan counties. If his troops were too small, he would not be sure that he could directly attack Shangcai. If he had more troops, there would be loopholes in the encirclement of Cao Xiu.
Therefore, after Lu Xun thought about it for a while, he decided to take a more conservative approach and deal with Cao Xiu first, and then take advantage of Cao Xiu's defeat to go north to attack the other counties in Runan.
And this gave Cao Xiu the opportunity to lead his troops on a rapid march and rush back to Shangcai.
The journey back to Shangcai from Yingyang is shorter than the journey from Ruyin to Shangcai, and Cao Xiu can directly withdraw his troops back to Shangcai. The counties along the way are still under the control of the Wei army, but Lu Xun If Ruyin sends troops, he must attack the counties one by one. There is no way to bypass these counties and attack Cai directly.
In this way, Cao Xiu rushed back to Shangcai with 13,000 soldiers before Lu Xun. At this time, Lu Xun had defeated the three counties of Xincai, Pingyu, and Baoxin, and was only one step away from Shangcai. A Ruyang County.
Cao Xiu was very lucky that he rushed back to Shangcai before Lu Xun, but the current problem was still serious.
After Lu Xun joined the three-pronged army of Xu Sheng, Ding Feng, and Sun Sheng, the total strength had reached more than 50,000, while Cao Xiu only had 13,000 defenders on hand, and he had just experienced a major defeat. The defeated army was very low in morale and morale.
Although Shangcai is Cao Xiu's home base for many years, all city defense measures are very strong. However, no matter how strong the city wall is, it still needs soldiers to guard it.
A defeated army is a defeated army after all. Even with the protection of the city wall, without sufficient fighting will and morale, Cao Xiu could not guarantee that his more than 10,000 soldiers could defend Shangcai in the face of nearly four times the enemy siege.
For this reason, Cao Xiu arranged for the defense of Caicheng and quickly wrote two letters.
One letter was given to Jiang Ji, hoping that Jiang Ji would persuade Jia Kui to make as much noise as possible in Guangling County and force the Soochow Army to divide its troops and go to Guangling County for rescue.
At this time, Cao Xiu didn't know the dilemma Jia Kui was facing. He was still wondering whether Jia Kui was so petty. Seeing that he was defeated, he still stood still at the border of Pengcheng Kingdom. Facing the defenseless Guangling County, there was no Any ideas? !
Cao Xiu himself had no shame in writing to Jia Kui anymore.
First, the relationship between the two is not good. Everyone knows this. Cao Xiu has bowed his head once, and he doesn't want to bow his head a second time.
Both. This time Cao Xiu was defeated again and had to rely on Jia Kui to send troops to rescue him. This kind of thing Cao Xiu felt a little too embarrassed.
Therefore, asking Jiang Ji as a middleman is the best way.
The second letter was written by Cao Xiu to his good friend Wang Ling.
Cao Xiu hoped that Wang Ling could allocate another 5,000 soldiers to him to help him defend Shangcai.
After all, once Shangcai falls, the Soochow Army will control the passage to Yingchuan County, and at that time, Yingchuan County will face pressure from both Shu and Wu.
Therefore, guarding Shangcai is actually reducing the pressure on Yingchuan County.
Although Cao Xiu also knew that he had just wasted the 10,000 soldiers sent by Yingchuan County to support him. At this time, there were not many soldiers in Yingchuan County. If he asked again, he would be pushing the envelope.
But Cao Xiu had no choice. He had to defend Shangcai, and it was better to ask for troops from his good friend than from Jia Kui.
Cao Xiu really didn't expect Jia Kui to be able to help him much. He could send troops to Guangling and attract the Soochow army to divide their troops. That was already the limit. After all, the distance was a bit too far.
However, Yingchuan County is still very close to Runan County, and Cao Xiu also felt that Wang Ling would not refuse his request.
Then Wang Ling directly rejected Cao Xiu.
It's not that Wang Ling doesn't give him face, or that he can't clearly see the current situation in Runan County. It's really that Cao Xiu doesn't know that the current situation in Yingchuan County is actually not much better.
Now the Shu thieves have gathered 90,000 people in Nanyang County and are besieging Wancheng. But if Fan divides 20,000 troops and sends troops from Xinye to attack Yingchuan County, Wang Ling is so anxious that he jumps to his feet.
The standing troops of Yingchuan County only have 20,000 troops. He has already lent Cao Xiu 10,000 troops. If he lends another 5,000 troops, he will use 5,000 Yingchuan troops to resist the attack of 20,000 Shu bandits. What's going on? !
Therefore, under this situation, Wang Ling would never dare to lend troops to Cao Xiu again.
Moreover, Wang Ling is not the kind of mediocre general who only looks at the situation without looking at the future. He must take into account the entire battle situation in the southern part of the Central Plains.
Ninety thousand Shu thieves attacked Wancheng of Nanyang County. According to military reports, General Cao Zhen's plan to counterattack Guanzhong seemed to have encountered setbacks. Guo Huai in the right Fufeng area had already taken a defensive position.
If Sima Yi can no longer withstand the strong attack of Shu thieves, and Wuguan is attacked by Shu thieves again, he must have enough troops on hand to deal with the terrible situation after Wancheng falls.
Once Wancheng falls, the only person who can stop the Shu bandits from marching into Luoyang immediately is Wang Ling in Yingchuan County.
Therefore, now Wang Ling is seriously short of troops and is thinking about how to summon more troops. As a result, Cao Xiu wrote a letter saying that he suffered a huge defeat and that the 10,000 Yingchuan soldiers suffered heavy losses. You want me to borrow another five thousand people? !
Wang Ling did not reply to the letter and broke up with Cao Xiu, which can be regarded as a good-tempered and well-rested representative.
But no matter what, after Cao Xiu's defeat, the 10,000 soldiers who were lent will definitely not come back. The most troublesome thing is Cao Xiu's side. If Shangcai falls again, Yingchuan County may face a situation where the Shu and Wu armies will attack. .
Then it is even more necessary to have enough troops.
To this end, Wang Ling also started writing letters.
Wang Ling has a lot of letters to write.
The first letter was written to the emperor in Luoyang.
Cao Xiu was defeated and Yingchuan lost 10,000 county troops. The emperor had to give an explanation. Calling local county troops to fight was not a big deal. Wang Ling had the right, but calling Cao Xiu to fight in Huainan was not a big deal. That was out of the question. In the battle in the jurisdiction, it was easy to say that he won the battle. Now that he was defeated, Wang Ling had to plead guilty to the emperor.
This is a matter of attitude.
The second letter was sent back to Cao Xiu, informing Cao Xiu of his current predicament. Not to mention borrowing troops, he was now in a dilemma of insufficient troops.
The third letter was written to Sima Yi of Wancheng.
I told Sima one thing - if Wancheng cannot be defended, he must give him a signal in advance so that he can have the opportunity to send troops to meet Sima Yi and block the Shu thieves' passage north to Luoyang.
The fourth letter. This is not one letter, but seven or eight letters.
This is what Wang Ling wrote to the aristocratic families from all over Yingchuan, asking these aristocratic families to come to Xuchang to get together.
There is no way, there are not enough troops, we can only think of ways to defeat Yingchuan from these aristocratic families, but in a place with many aristocratic families, defending Yingchuan is also protecting these aristocratic families.
During the time of peace, you aristocratic families enjoyed the benefits of the Wei Dynasty. Now that Yingchuan is in trouble, you should come up with something, right? !
Don't even think about fooling Wang Ling casually. Don't forget, he is the Taiyuan Wang family, nephew of the great Han Situ Wang Yun, and he is also from a wealthy family.
We are all foxes on the same mountain, so don’t talk about chatting with anyone.
(End of chapter)
