Wang Chang tried his best, but it was too difficult to stop a thousand cavalry with three thousand infantry without complete preparation.
In order to expand the interception area as much as possible and not give Zhao Yun the opportunity to command the cavalry to bypass the flanks of the infantry formation, Wang Chang had to stretch the defensive formation as far as possible to the two wings, which resulted in the Wei army's defense depth being very shallow.
Zhao Yun didn't play any detour trick with Wang Chang at all. He just charged directly, using the impact of the cavalry to break through the infantry interception defense line, and went straight to the main gate of Tongguan.
Although Zhao Yun lost more than a hundred cavalry for this, the advantage was that the breakthrough was fast enough, not giving the Wei army time to respond to the pursuit, and it was also convenient for Wei Yan to open the main gate of Tongguan and allow him to enter the pass.
As for Wang Chang, in order to intercept Zhao Yun's cavalry, 3,000 infantrymen also suffered casualties of nearly 500 people. The impact of the cavalry was so terrifying. The loss ratio of one to three against the cavalry can be regarded as the result of the Wei army's hard work. .
But it didn't stop him after all.
As Zhao Yun led his troops into Tongguan, Zhang Xi on the flank of Tongguan also stepped up his attack.
Since Zhao Yun directly led the troops into Tongguan, the more than 2,000 cavalry left on the flanks were left without a general. Seeing this situation, Zhang Xi immediately sent an envoy to pass the order, asking the two thousand cavalry to quickly move closer to the central army and accept the order. Under his own command, they attacked Cao Zhen's central army together.
Cao Zhen had been beaten badly to begin with, but if more than two thousand cavalry came to help, Cao Zhen really couldn't think of any consequences besides being defeated.
Therefore, Cao Zhen was not slow to respond and directly ordered Dai Ling to lead troops to reinforce the Chinese army.
Your opponents are gone, and there is no point in guarding the flanks any longer. It is better to come over and help the central army and defend the central army.
As for the gap in the Wei army's right-wing defense line, in order to prevent Zhang Xi from sending troops to break through, Cao Zhen asked Wang Chang to divide his troops to block the flank, which also increased the defensive thickness and reserves of the Chinese army.
Wang Chang had no choice but to use the 2,500 reserve troops who had just failed to intercept Zhao Yun to the right defense line. By the way, Wang Chang also began to withdraw his troops from the front of Tongguan on a small scale, hoping to withdraw another 3,000 troops as soon as possible. The city army came down.
There is no way, Wang Chang is really a little scared now. He always feels that he is fighting against these Shu thieves. If he doesn't have a reserve team at hand, he will always feel uneasy.
As for the weakening of the siege army, Wang Chang didn't care about that much now.
Facts have proved that Wang Chang's concerns were correct.
Inspired by Zhao Yun's invasion of Tongguan, Zhang Xi and Su Ze stepped up their attacks on the Wei army opposite them.
Zhang Xi's side is relatively easy to deal with. Cao Zhen has gathered Dai Ling's 5,000 soldiers, plus the 2,500 infantrymen sent by Wang Chang to cover the flanks, and can be mobilized to support at any time, plus his own 2,500 infantry. There were less than 3,000 defenders left. In terms of military strength, Cao Zhen was finally not much different from the Han army facing Zhang Xi.
Although Zhang Xi has more than 2,000 cavalry to help him, Cao Zhen also has 2,000 archers. He finally has a long-range suppression weapon. It is more or less a threat to both infantry and cavalry.
In this way, although Zhang Xi repeatedly urged his soldiers to attack on the Chinese side, the progress was still not smooth.
But the left wing of the Wei army's defense line, the right wing where Su Ze mainly attacked, achieved a breakthrough.
The right-wing Wei army originally had 5,000 men to resist the attack of 10,000 men, and since falling into a cross-over melee, the Liangzhou army has slowly gained an advantage.
In addition, the right-wing Wei army was under the unified command of the central army Cao Zhen. For a while, Cao Zhen was busy dealing with Zhang Xi's attack and obviously did not pay attention to the command of the right wing. This allowed Su Ze to seize the opportunity.
Although Su Ze was also a civil servant, since he was favored by Cao Pi and appointed to such an obvious military position as a Qiang Protector Colonel, how could he be someone who did not understand military formations? !
Under the command of Su Ze, the Liangzhou army seized a small point and attacked forcefully. Finally, they penetrated the left flank of the Wei army and rushed into the main battlefield of Tongguan.
Once the Liangzhou Army makes a large-scale breakthrough on the left wing and even completely defeats the defensive forces on the left wing, then the Shu thieves will either outflank Cao Zhen of the Chinese army or continue to break through and break into Tongguan before Wang Chang can intercept him. , are not situations Wei Jun is willing to face.
When Cao Zhen saw that the left wing was breached, he was really anxious. He quickly wanted to divide his troops to intercept, block the breakthrough gap of the Shu thieves again, and drive the Shu thieves back again. But could Zhang Xi give him this opportunity? !
Zhang Xi directly ordered that he lead the Chinese army with flags to press forward. This was a signal for a full-scale attack.
Yes, Zhang Xi once again visited the main battlefield in person, and took the risk of being attacked by Cao Zhen again, leading his troops to press forward.
Under this situation, Cao Zhen really did not dare to mobilize his troops easily, which resulted in defensive loopholes in his defensive front. Once the Shu thieves seized the loopholes in his troop deployment and made a frontal breakthrough, the consequences would be even more serious than if someone broke through on the flanks.
As for breaking out of the formation, Cao Zhen did think about it, but when he saw that there were more than a hundred guards around Zhang Xi, and when he thought about the pain in his shoulders, thighs, and flanks, Cao Zhen thought, don't try the second one again. times.
Continue to hold on to the front, and leave it to Wang Chang as for the flanks. I hope Wang Chang will not let him down.
As for Wang Chang, he did not disappoint Cao Zhen.
But Wang Chang also wanted to complain that this battle was too frustrating and too passive.
Fortunately, he was cautious and withdrew 3,000 men from the front siege troops in time to serve as a reserve force. Otherwise, he would have to risk his life to intercept the Shu thieves.
No matter how you say it, Wang Changliu's hand finally came in handy. He led his troops in time to block the gap on the flank and surrounded the intruding Liangzhou soldiers.
After attacking for a period of time, because the incoming Liangzhou soldiers were too small and lacked backup support, they finally had to retreat temporarily after a period of melee to join the larger forces and continue the melee with the reinforced left wing of the Wei army.
As Wang Chang led his troops to the left defense line, he not only brought 3,000 reinforcements, but also personally presided over the confrontation between the left defense line and Su Ze. Although he was still at a disadvantage in terms of military strength and had been passively beaten, Wang Chang was still able to stabilize the situation. Hold the left defense line.
As for the Tongguan attack, without Wang Chang's command and supervision, the soldiers only relied on their own subjective will, partial generals, and the supervision of the captain to try to break through Tongguan, which was a fool's errand.
The intensity and frequency of Tongguan's frontal attacks were decreasing, and they might even stop the attack at any time, which made Wei Yan feel a little relieved.
At this time, Wei Yan could finally focus on dealing with Xiahou Shang's attack behind Tongguan.
Of course, by the way, I also have to introduce the current predicament of Tongguan to Zhao Yun, who has just broken into Tongguan.
Not counting the reinforcements brought by Zhao Yun, the total strength of the Tongguan garrison had dropped to about a thousand at this time, and most of them were fighting with injuries.
To be honest, when Zhao Yun saw that the Tongguan garrison was still fighting under such circumstances and did not mutiny or collapse, Zhao Yun himself was very surprised.
So is this still the same Liangzhou army that will waste its time if it can beat them, and surrender if it can't beat them? !
After so many years of hard work and hard training in Liangzhou, I have not corrected the shortcomings of the Liangzhou army. I only defended Tongguan for ten days, but these Liangzhou guys have changed their personalities? !
How could he still fight to the death despite losing two-thirds of his troops? !
But this is about it. In fact, Zhao Yun misunderstood.
Did the Liangzhou Army change their gender? On the one hand, Wei Yan did have some charisma. At least on the battlefield, he could still lead his soldiers to fight the enemy bravely.
On the other hand, mainly the soldiers of the Liangzhou Army did not find any good opportunities.
From the very beginning, Tongguan was surrounded by Cao Wei's army. When Cao Zhen led the army to Tongguan, there was indeed a fluctuation in the morale of the Liangzhou Army.
After all, the difference in military strength was huge. If Wei Yan had not set an example and personally went to the tower to kill the enemy and boost the morale of the army, the situation that Zhao Yun was worried about might have happened.
But in this case, as Zhang Xi and Zhao Yun led troops to follow, no one in the Liangzhou Army would be so brainless when they saw that their own reinforcements had arrived. They chose to surrender to the enemy when their own reinforcements had already arrived.
After that, after three days of hard fighting, their own reinforcements were still unable to come in to support them. The Liangzhou army did have the idea of abandoning the pass and breaking out. But at this critical moment, first Wei Yan killed Ma Mingzhi, and then Zhao Yun in the afternoon. With more than 800 cavalry, they broke through and entered Tongguan.
Under this situation, the evil thoughts that the Liangzhou Army had just had were immediately extinguished.
It can be said that the timing of Zhao Yun's arrival was very lucky, and he arrived at Tongguan just at the point when the defenders suffered heavy casualties and the morale of the army was about to completely collapse.
The current Tongguan garrison, due to the arrival of the garrison, is in a stage of high military morale. In addition, the intensity of the frontal attack has weakened. They only need to deal with the strong attack of the Wei army behind Tongguan. The pressure is also much less, and the military morale is much more stable.
But after Zhao Yun learned about the actual situation in Tongguan, he was not happy at all.
After helping Wei Yan repulse several attacks led by Xiahou Shang, and finally persisting until the sky turned dark, and the front and back passes entered a truce, Zhao Yun asked Wei Yan a key question in private.
How many more days can we hold Tongguan? !
(End of chapter)
