When a new variable appeared in the Nanyang war, the war in Tongguan, Zuo Fengyi, had become clear.
Wei Yan led three thousand cavalry to attack Tongguan, and succeeded in a sneak attack, cutting off the retreat route and food supply line of Cao Zhen's main army, forcing Cao Zhen to return to counterattack Tongguan.
At the same time, Emperor Wei Ming Cao Rui, who had given himself a posthumous title in advance, ordered Xia Houshang to lead 10,000 imperial guardsmen to march day and night to attack Tongguan. It was necessary to recapture Tongguan and return to the main force of Sili led by Cao Zhen.
Without these main forces, it would be impossible to hold on to Luoyang.
Therefore, Wei Yan, who was attacked from two sides, had an extremely hard time holding on at Tongguan.
Inadequate military strength is one aspect.
The difficulty of dismounting three thousand cavalry to defend the city was greater than Wei Yan imagined. Many of them were temporarily trained to operate the city defense equipment. During the process of defending the city, there were often confusions caused by untimely responses.
In the battle for the city, such a rush means that the enemy will take the opportunity to attack the city wall. Once the enemy climbs the city wall, they will have to fall into bloody hand-to-hand combat.
They also took the cavalry from Liangzhou. Although they did not know how to handle the city defense equipment, their personal combat effectiveness was still quite strong and everyone was brave. Only then did they drive the Wei army off the city wall again and again.
But people always climb up the city wall like this. Wei Yan, who is familiar with the battle of defending the city, knows very well that if he continues to defend like this, he will lose it sooner or later.
Wei Yan was very anxious about this, but he had no choice.
On the front of Tongguan, 10,000 soldiers commanded by Dai Ling and Wang Chang climbed the city tower using siege equipment built in advance by Wang Chang. On the back of Tongguan, Xiahou Shang, who arrived at Tongguan three days late, ordered people to build siege equipment and ordered the use of arrows. The arrow suppressed the Tongguan city wall.
If the two were on the same side, it would be easier for Wei Yan to defend, but unfortunately, this was a flanking attack.
On the one hand, Wei Yan had to organize his soldiers to block the climbing attack of the soldiers commanded by Dai Ling in front. On the other hand, he also had to be on guard against arrows shot onto the city wall from behind the pass. However, Wei Yan only had 3,000 troops on hand, which was simply not enough.
And there is another most critical issue here - Tongguan's defense is not external but not internal.
Tongguan was originally built by Cao Cao to defend against the Liangzhou warlords in Guanzhong. The main defense direction was against enemies coming from Guanzhong.
On this side, when Cao Cao built Tongguan, he focused on strengthening the defense, and later expelled the Liangzhou warlords. However, within ten years, Liu Bei occupied Guanzhong again, causing Cao Wei to strengthen its defense several times on the side of Tongguan facing Guanzhong. .
But the back side of Tongguan leads to the Hongnong Sili area. These places are Cao Wei's traditional advantageous areas, so Cao Wei has not paid much attention to the defensive measures on this side.
But now that Wei Yan has occupied Tongguan, this problem has become highlighted.
Apart from anything else, the female wall on the front of Tongguan is one foot higher than the female wall on the back of Tongguan.
Facing the attacks from Dai Ling, Wang Chang and others in the front, Wei Yan could barely cope with them, but Wei Yan was helpless against the arrows shot from the back of Tongguan.
If Xiahou Shang is allowed to finish building the siege equipment and use the siege equipment to attack, then Wei Yan really has to consider whether he has the possibility of dying in Tongguan.
Yes, Wei Yan didn't want to retreat.
Although Zhao Yun repeatedly warned Wei Yan before setting off, he asked Wei Yan to act according to the opportunity and hold on to Tongguan if he could. If he could not hold on to Tongguan, don't fight desperately. Withdraw if you can.
But who is Wei Yan, and his awkward temperament allows him to do such a thing? !
This "foreign religion meeting at Tongguan" was originally strongly advocated by Wei Yan, and was finally carried out after obtaining the support of Zhao Yun. Although Zhang Xi did not object openly, he always showed that he was not too willing. If this plan failed, then Will Wei Yan still have the qualifications to raise his head in front of Zhang Xi in the future? !
This is absolutely unacceptable to Wei Yan, an aloof and aloof person.
Therefore, Wei Yan really planned to defend Tongguan.
But, even though he has this awareness, if he can successfully complete the predetermined plan, it is actually better to live or not. Now that Wei Yan has done what he should do, it depends on Zhang Xi.
And Zhang Xi is also taking risks at this time.
Yes, Zhang Xi, who has always regarded cautious use of troops as his creed, is now taking risks.
With only 10,000 soldiers, he began to pursue Cao Zhen's more than 40,000 retreating soldiers. Isn't this an adventure? !
If Cao really wants to be thoughtful and launch a comprehensive counterattack during the withdrawal, Zhang Xi may face heavy losses at any time.
The reason why Cao Zhen didn't do this was, on the one hand, the threat of the five thousand Liangzhou cavalry led by Zhao Yun, and on the other hand, Cao Zhen really didn't want to continue to tangle with Zhang Xi and had to retreat as soon as possible to counterattack Tongguan.
From Cao Zhen's point of view, that bastard Zhang Xi is not easy to mess with. Since he dares to bring ten thousand soldiers to pursue him, he is naturally sure that if he rashly fights back, it will not do Cao Zhen any good once he gets into a fight.
You can still win, but the problem is that it will take a few days to get rid of the bastard on the other side.
If it takes too long, no matter what if Zhang Xi is defeated, as long as Tongguan is not broken, the food and grass in his army can only last for about fifteen to twenty days. After these days, the army will be short of food but unable to attack. After going to Tongguan, the 40,000-strong army will be defeated by the Shu thieves without any need to attack.
Therefore, although Cao Zhen wanted to fight back and beat Zhang Xi, he still had to endure the current situation and wait until he retreated to Tongguan and rejoined Wang Chang and others before making plans.
Cao Zhen really didn't want to get entangled with Zhang Xi, but Zhang Xi couldn't simply let Cao Zhen retreat. He had to slow down Cao Zhen's marching speed and reduce the pressure on Wei Yan.
However, with only 10,000 soldiers, there is indeed a limit to what Zhang Xi can do.
Taking the initiative to attack Cao Zhen's main force, Zhang Xi could not do such a heartless thing.
Taking the initiative to attack means that all ten thousand soldiers need to be devoted to the attack, otherwise they will not be able to pose a substantial threat to Cao Zhen's main army.
But once all 10,000 soldiers are committed to the attack, Zhang Xi will have no backup, and the initiative to deal with it will all be in Cao Zhen's hands.
Although Zhao Yun's cavalry can pose a threat to Cao's army, Cao Zhen also has thousands of cavalry in his hands. Although his morale is not high after a big defeat, if Cao Zhen is really willing to sacrifice all his cavalry, he must annihilate Zhang Xi. With the infantry, Zhang Xi had no other way to deal with it except retreating at an opportunity.
Therefore, Zhang Xi followed the Wei army and looked for opportunities to attack the rear flank of the Wei army.
They don't pursue mass annihilation. If they have a chance to take a bite, if the enemy reinforces, they will retreat at a distance. If the enemy dares to pursue, Zhao Yun's cavalry will seize the opportunity to attack. When the enemy returns, they will continue to catch up and bite again if they have the opportunity. One mouthful.
Although doing this would not hurt Cao Zhen, it would cost the Wei army hundreds of people at most each time, but it really made Cao Zhen disgusted.
Just like a wolf following behind, it doesn't attack directly, it just hangs you, and you will be bitten if you let go. Cao Zhen can accept this loss, but he can't stand the anger in his heart.
Furthermore, the morale of the army will also be greatly affected.
After all, they were on the way to withdraw, and the morale of the Wei army was not very high to begin with. No matter how unexpectedly they were caught up from behind, killing hundreds of people, the morale of the Wei army would be easily affected under such pressure.
Even Wang Lang could tell that he could no longer let the Shu thieves follow him like this.
Cao Zhen also knew this, but the problem was still the same - how to intercept the Shu thieves without getting the army into entanglement with the Shu thieves.
For this reason, Wang Lang gave his own suggestion - divide his troops to intercept.
Wang Lang suggested that after retreating to Huayin County, not far from Tongguan, Cao Zhen would leave 10,000 soldiers to garrison Huayin to block the pursuit of Shu thieves. Cao Zhen himself would lead the remaining 30,000 soldiers and 8,000 cavalry. March at full speed and rush back to Tongguan.
The reason why we chose Huayin County is that Huayin County is only about sixty miles away from Tongguan, not too long nor too short, just two days' march.
The most important thing is that the road leading to Tongguan must pass through Huayin County.
Wang Lang did not believe that Zhang Xi would violate the taboo of military strategists and continue to pursue General Cao Zhen without capturing Huayin County.
Wang Lang felt that although he didn't know much about military affairs, he was still compared to people like Cao Zhen, Sima Yi, and Guo Huai. At any rate, he was also the prefect of Kuaiji back then. Although he was beaten badly by Sun Ce, he had also experienced battles. of.
Furthermore, Wang Lang did not want to completely defeat Zhang Xi in Huayin County. What he wanted to do was to hold on in Huayin County for a period of time to buy time for General Cao Zhen to counterattack Tongguan.
No matter how ignorant he was of military affairs, Wang Lang felt that he could still do it if he led 10,000 people, faced an enemy attack of equal strength, and held a county seat for about ten days.
And Cao Zhen also felt that what Wang Lang said was the most appropriate way to deal with it at the moment.
There is really no hope that Wang Lang will retreat from the enemy, as long as he can delay Zhang Xi for a while.
In this case, Cao Zhen left five thousand troops and horses for Wang Lang and asked him to garrison Huayin, while he continued to rush to Tongguan.
And Wang Lang. Wang Lang doesn't know what to say now.
What I want is 10,000 troops and horses. When such a life-threatening situation is at stake, why does the general still have the bargaining skills? !
(End of chapter)
