We can't blame Cao Zhen for being stingy. Cao Zhen gave Wang Lang five thousand troops and horses based on normal military judgment.
If it is a city defense battle, facing an attack of 10,000 enemy troops, it is enough to have 5,000 people defending the city.
As for the cavalry, they could not be used to attack the city, and Cao Zhen did not believe that Zhang Xi would be stupid enough to let the cavalry dismount to fight at this time, which was a pure waste of cavalry combat capabilities.
Moreover, Cao Zhen did not ask Wang Lang to block Zhang Xi for a long time, as long as he could block Zhang Xi for a few days. Even if he failed, Cao Zhen might allow Wang Lang to retreat at any time, without having to defend the city.
With such favorable combat conditions, giving Wang Lang five thousand soldiers and horses is already enough preferential treatment.
Furthermore, Cao Zhen also needs to consider his own timing.
Of the 40,000 infantry, 10,000 were divided and only 30,000 were left. Even if they rushed to Tongguan and joined Dai Ling and Wang Chang who were sent to Tongguan in advance, there would only be 40,000 soldiers and horses available to attack Tongguan.
After all, Tongguan is a powerful pass. Although there cannot be too many defenders to kill thousands of people, Cao Zhen doesn't know if Luoyang will send people to attack Tongguan at this time. He must ensure that he has enough superior troops to form an attack on Tongguan. Advantages of rolling.
There was not much food and grass in the army, and some time was wasted on the march. If Tongguan cannot be conquered within ten days, then the food and grass will be exhausted, and the consequences will be disastrous.
Cao Zhen also had to consider the worst outcome. With a force ten times worse, it would be no problem to conquer a city within ten days, but to conquer a great pass. Cao Zhen had never tried it, so he had to consider the worst outcome.
Allocating 5,000 troops to Wang Lang was partly due to the need to gain time for the attack. On the other hand, 5,000 troops were also necessary to stop the Shu thieves.
This was an arrangement made by Cao Zhen considering that Wang Lang had been a high-ranking civilian official all year round and had no combat experience.
As for why Han De was not allowed to guard Huayin, Cao Zhen also needed to leave a backup.
Wang Chang and Dai Ling have already been sent out. Niu Jin is still alive and dead. There is a high probability that he has no one at hand. If he doesn't even have the last general, then Cao Zhen will have to go into battle and charge into the battle by himself.
In addition, it was Wang Lang who took the initiative to ask for military service, so Cao Zhen could not refute Wang Lang's face. So he gave Wang Lang five thousand soldiers and horses to garrison in Huayin, and continued to return to Tongguan.
That depressed Wang Lang. He asked for 10,000 men to be stationed, but he gave them 5,000. Wouldn’t this cost him his life? ! !
Yes, Wang Lang also knew that five thousand people were enough to guard a Huayin County town. If too many people were placed in the city, they would not be needed for defense.
But the problem is, the opponents are Zhang Xi and Zhao Yun.
Wang Lang can temporarily ignore the cavalry commanded by Zhao Yun, but the infantry led by Zhang Xi is an opponent that even Guo Huai and Cao Zhen dare not underestimate.
When the troops are sufficient, they can still fight for consumption. Now that the troops are insufficient, Wang Lang really has no confidence.
This is not just a quarrel between the two armies in front of the battlefield, but a serious fight for their lives.
But now there is nothing we can do.
He came up with the idea, and he took the initiative to defend the city. In this case, could Wang Lang say that he couldn't defend it or couldn't defend it? !
I just have to catch the duck and put it on the shelf.
And Zhang Xi, after leading his troops to chase Huayin, was a little scratching his head.
During this pursuit, what Zhang Xi was most worried about was that Cao Zhen would leave troops behind for defense in Huayin.
After all, if you want to go to Tongguan, you must pass through Huayin. The traffic conditions in these days are so restricted.
You can walk on small roads, but you can't march on a large scale, and if you take small roads without a guide, you will most likely be taken directly into the mountains without being able to get out.
A large-scale march must take the main road, and if you want to take the main road, you must pass through Huayin County.
Of course, this does not mean that there is nothing we can do about Huayin County. In fact, we can go around the city along the outside of the city wall, ignore the Wei army in Huayin County, and continue to pursue Cao Zhen on the road east of Huayin County.
But the problem is that when a large army fights, there must be logistical supplies. Your army can bypass the city to pursue Cao Zhen, but your logistical supply and grain transport team cannot bypass the Wei army in Huayin County.
The battle ahead of you is inextricably linked. Turn back to Huayin County and directly cut off your logistics supply line. Are you chasing Cao Zhen or do you want to die?
This was a taboo among military strategists, and it was also the reason why Wang Lang believed that Zhang Xi would not make such a mistake and bypass Huayin County to pursue Cao Zhen.
But this time, Wang Lang was a little stunned. After Zhang Xi led his troops to Huayin County, he only stopped for a while without even setting up camp. He detoured directly from the south of Huayin County to the east.
Zhang Xi really took the risk of violating a military taboo, bypassed the defenders in Huayin County, and continued to pursue Cao Zhen.
Wang Lang was confused. What kind of wild operation was this? Did he not even want the logistics? !
Wang Lang was thinking at that time whether to send troops immediately to attack the flank of Zhang Xi's army who was marching in a detour. But when he saw Zhao Yun's 5,000 cavalry still remaining outside Huayin County, Wang Lang understood at that time why Zhang Xi dared to do this.
This kid actually used cavalry as a means of containment to contain the remaining Wei troops in Huayin County, and then took a detour to pursue General Cao Zhen.
If this is the case, Wang Lang is not worried anymore.
Without Zhao Yun's cavalry to cover the flanks, Zhang Xi only led 10,000 infantry to pursue Cao Zhen's main army, so the threat was much smaller.
Even not counting the 35,000 soldiers in Cao Zhen's hands, Cao Zhen still had 8,000 cavalry at his disposal.
Eight thousand cavalry, even if their morale is not uniform and their combat effectiveness is worrying, is still more than enough to contain ten thousand infantry.
For Wang Lang, being able to contain Zhao Yun's cavalry was considered as completing General Cao Zhen's mission.
And the most important thing is that cavalry cannot attack the city! ! !
Wang Lang, who was originally worried that he might not be able to stop the enemy's attack on the city because of his lack of troops, now felt relaxed.
If you are capable, let the cavalry fly up the city wall! ! !
Wang Lang was relieved, but only for one day.
Early the next morning, Wang Lang was shocked to find that Zhao Yun's cavalry, who had been camping outside the city yesterday, broke out of camp early this morning and headed southeast to chase Zhang Xi's large army.
Wang Lang suddenly wondered what was going on? !
Could it be that Zhao Yun's cavalry stayed outside Huayin County for a day just to prevent him from leaving the city to pursue the infantry? !
But what's the point of doing this? !
Your troops and horses have all passed, but the logistics and grain transportation team can't get there, right? !
By doing this, wouldn't it still directly expose the logistics channel to the attack range of the Wei army in Huayin County? !
Or are the Shu thieves confident that they can completely defeat General Cao Zhen's main army in just one or two days? !
Isn't this a bit too joking? !
Wang Lang was hesitating whether to continue to stay in Huayin County and wait for the Shu thieves' grain transport team to arrive and attack the food transport team, or to leave Huayin County now and join General Cao Zhen.
After all, the food and grass that General Cao Zhen left for himself was actually not very much, only enough for about fifteen days.
Just when Wang Lang was hesitant, Huayin County once again welcomed an army.
This army has a strength of 20,000.
They were the Liangzhou infantry led by Su Ze.
This is also the greatest confidence that Zhang Xi and Zhao Yun dare to pursue Cao Zhen directly.
Zhang Xi took the risk of sending troops to pursue Cao Zhen. Although it was a risky move, his biggest reliance was that the Liangzhou infantry led by Su Ze were only half a day to a day's journey away from him.
If Cao Zhen really chooses to fight back against the pursuers led by Zhang Xi, Zhang Xi is absolutely sure to delay Cao Zhen's main army for half a day to a day, giving the Liangzhou infantry led by Su Ze time to rush to the battlefield and join the battle.
Therefore, Su Ze, who was unlucky, actually kept marching along the way and kept changing his marching destination.
From the beginning, Zhao Yun ordered to rendezvous in Chongquan County and instead went to Linjin to participate in the battle. As a result, Su Ze had not led his troops to Linjin when he suddenly received a military order saying that Zhang Xi had repelled Cao Zhen's army. They are pursuing with all their strength, let Su Ze catch up as soon as possible and move towards Tongguan.
Su Ze didn't have anything to complain about. After all, when marching and fighting, sudden changes in the situation at the front were common.
But the soldiers of the Liangzhou Legion had some complaints.
It's not that they complained about the constant change of marching destination. What they complained about was that if they arrived at the battlefield later, they might not even be able to drink soup.
That place in Liangzhou is poor, really poor.
People who come from that place really don't have much thought about their own lives. After all, in Liangzhou, they not only have to face survival problems such as desolate land, but also the problem of restlessness of alien races.
Fate is something that Liangzhou people have had their heads tied to their belts since they were born.
Therefore, Liangzhou people are famous for being unruly and unruly in the Han Dynasty. There is no way, otherwise, it is very likely that they will not survive in Liangzhou.
In the past, the imperial court paid little attention to Liangzhou and just sat back and watched the people of Liangzhou fend for themselves. Apart from frequent rebellions that attracted the attention of the imperial court, the Liangzhou people had no good solution.
But now, the Han Dynasty has regained control of Liangzhou, and in the past few years, both Xu Miao and Zhao Yun have established initial prestige and credibility in Liangzhou. Under the leadership of Zhao Yun, entering the pass to participate in the war, for the people of Liangzhou, Not only can you obtain military honors, but more importantly, you can obtain military merit fields.
The most terrible thing is that there are rumors in the army that if you gain military merit in entering the Pass, the land you will be allocated will be the land in Qinzhou. If you have greater merit, you may be allocated the land in Guanzhong.
Especially these days, who wants to hang out in Liangzhou if they can be from Guanzhong? !
I had no chance before and had no land of my own. When I went to Guanzhong, I could only live as a hermit for a wealthy family with no future.
But now, if you slow down a little bit, all the military fields in Guanzhong will belong to those cavalry! ! !
Look at the cavalrymen. I heard that they directly defeated Cao Wei's elite cavalry regiment this time. Each of them has at least two or three military merits. How many of them can be divided into such military merits? !
Look at yourself again. You are either marching or marching along the way. Can you still catch up with the opportunity to fight?
Don't look back and come all the way from Liangzhou to Guanzhong, but get nothing.
Just when the Liangzhou soldiers were quite dissatisfied, Zhao Yun sent someone to deliver the order, saying that there was a city ahead and that there were about 5,000 Wei troops guarding the city.
The Liangzhou soldiers were all very happy.
But when these soldiers were happy, Wang Lang and Su Ze felt uncomfortable! ! !
(End of chapter)
