To some extent, Zhuge Liang made a mistake.
His strategy did deceive Tongguan guard Xia Houshang, and also caused differences of opinion between Liu Ye and Chen Qun, but in the end, Cao Rui's decision still did not go as Zhuge Liang expected.
Cao Rui really deserves to be a monarch with the legacy of Cao Cao. At least in terms of decision-making, Cao Rui does reflect his decisiveness and has an adventurous spirit similar to Cao Cao.
He ignored Tongguan, which was close at hand, and ordered Cao Zhen to immediately raise troops to rescue Wancheng, which directly caused Zhuge Liang's strategy of luring the enemy to go bankrupt.
In this case, Cao Zhen did not disobey Cao Rui's order again. The account of sending troops without permission has not yet been settled. If he disobeys orders again, then Cao Zhen really doesn't want to live.
Therefore, even though Cao Zhen knew very well that his soldiers were still not fully rested and their morale was still low, he still gritted his teeth and set out to support Wancheng.
Of course, he did not just lead the soldiers with low morale to die. Cao Zhen planned to move a little more slowly on the march to Wancheng, stopping and stopping along the way to slowly restore the morale of the soldiers.
In this case, when they arrive in Wancheng, they won't be able to just act as cannon fodder in numbers.
As for whether doing so would cause Wancheng to be stretched thin or even lost, Cao Zhen thought it was unlikely.
Sima Yi still had at least 20,000 soldiers, and with Sima Yi's ability to lead the army, he could hold on for a month, which was really not less than ten days and a half.
Another one is that Sima Yi sent out a memorial every three days asking for reinforcements. In Cao Zhen's view, this proved that Sima Yi still had the strength to defend Wancheng. He sent a memorial every three days to stop the Shu thieves When attacking, you can also write notes and call for reinforcements at fixed times and at fixed points? !
If one day Sima Yi's sparse memorials changed from a regular one every three days to an irregular request for reinforcements in Luoyang, that would be a real danger signal, indicating that Sima Yi was under too much pressure to have time to think about these things.
So, Cao Zhen still had some confidence to do this.
But Cao Zhen was confident, and Sima Yi felt uncomfortable.
To be honest, Sima Yi sent out a letter asking for reinforcements every three days, which was indeed not to the point where he could no longer hold on. He also used this fixed frequency of sending letters to tell the important ministers and the emperor that although he was in urgent need of reinforcements, But the war in Wancheng is still within control.
But... you, Cao Zhen, can't stop and go all the way, saying you are here to support Wancheng, but you have been walking for four or five days without even leaving the border of Henan, right? !
Another thing is that the current situation is no longer the same as when Sima Yi sent his last letter asking for help seven or eight days ago.
Seven or eight days ago, what Sima Yi had to deal with was the frontal Jingzhou Army using siege equipment to fight for casualties. But now, Sima Yi found that five thousand Shu thieves had emerged from his flanks for no apparent reason.
What's even more terrible is that some of these five thousand Shu thieves launched a night attack without their knowledge.
If he hadn't always been very strict with the garrison's vigil discipline, he and his second son Sima Zhao often went out at night for inspections. Maybe they would have allowed these Shu thieves to sneak attack.
Let’s go back in time a little, to four days ago.
Just after Sima Yi finished writing his routine request for help and asked the horse to be sent out of the city, Sima Yi began his routine patrol of the city.
Patrolling the city, on the one hand, is to check the defense situation of the city. On the other hand, the coach often appears in front of the defenders when there is nothing wrong, which also helps to improve the morale of the defenders.
Sima Yi always insisted on doing this. After patrolling the city, Sima Yi returned to his house to have dinner and went to bed directly after dinner.
For no other reason than to get up early the next day and conduct a surprise inspection of the city's defense situation in the early morning.
There was no way. Faced with the siege of 90,000 people, Sima Yi had to think more carefully about the matter. For example, what should he do if the Shu thieves made a time difference and launched an siege at dawn in the early morning.
If they are caught off guard, although they may not necessarily lose the city, increased casualties are inevitable.
The current Sima Yi could not afford such unnecessary casualties caused by neglect.
Just like that, early the next morning, before it was fully light, Sima Yi appeared on the south gate tower with his bodyguard and second son Sima Zhao.
Sima Yi was meticulous in investigating everything, but Sima Zhao, who was unlucky enough to get up early with him, couldn't help but yawn and complained, "My father was too worried. He attacked in the early morning, and his sight was blocked, so the attack was difficult." It is inconvenient, and it is not in accordance with the art of war. How could the Shu thieves do such an unwise thing?"
When Sima Yi heard this, he immediately became angry.
"Thank you for claiming to be familiar with military books. Don't you know that soldiers are not afraid of deception?!" Sima Yi reprimanded his son directly in front of the soldiers guarding the city, saying, "Since ancient times, there has been no standard method for using military force. How to use the art of war?" The beauty lies in one mind, how can it be applied mechanically?!"
While scolding, Sima Yi looked at Sima Zhao's sleepy look, and became even more angry.
"You are so young, but you are so sleepy. Don't you hear that "you sleep during the day, and rotten wood cannot be carved"?! People who march and use troops worry about the weather day and night and dare not slack off. How can you become a great weapon?! "
Sima Yi really couldn't stand the virtue of his second son, and Sima Zhao didn't dare to express any dissatisfaction with his father's reprimand. It is only natural for me to discipline my son.
But, Sima Zhao, a half-rebellious person, didn't pay much attention to his father's lectures.
Jaeyu takes a nap and I don't sleep during the day. Now that I'm a father, you don't let people sleep well. You come out in the early morning to conduct a surprise inspection of the city defense.
What does this have to do with "rotten wood cannot be carved".
Besides, it's not like I haven't read a book. Zaiyu became a doctor in Linzi. Can this be considered dead wood? !
As for marching and fighting, if the commander is worried day and night, not eating well or sleeping well, how can his subordinates believe that the commander is ready? Well, Sima Zhao is in his early twenties. Although people of this age are precocious, at this age, It is also normal for the body to be bent.
After all, he is a child of an aristocratic family, and he has two parents, so he doesn't have much chance to stand alone.
But immediately, Sima Zhao was dumbfounded.
When Sima Yi went to the west gate after inspecting the defense of the south gate, Sima Zhao was not happy.
Outside the south city gate is the Jingzhou Army camp where the Shu bandits are stationed. It makes sense to focus on patrolling the defense here, but what is the point of checking the west gate, which leads directly to Wuguan? !
But, since I have spoken like this, what can a son say? !
Just continue to follow. After the inspection, go back early and maybe catch up on some sleep. In this way, Sima Zhao followed Sima Yi and set off for the Ximen Tower.
Not even halfway through, Sima Zhao was surprised to find that many torches suddenly appeared on the west gate tower. Under the light of the torches, he could faintly see that many people were climbing up the city wall.
Sima Zhao is so stupid. What is going on? !
How could there be a Shu bandit attacking from the west gate direction? !
Although the west gate and the south gate seem to be just around the corner, in fact, the terrain outside Wancheng is very complicated. To go around from the south gate to the west gate, you need to climb three hills.
At that place, Sima Yi had already sent people to set up a warning post. As long as there was movement, Sima Yi would not be unaware of it.
Shu thieves can appear in this way, which means that the Shu thieves are not coming from the south gate, but should be coming from the direction of Wuguan.
Could it be said that Guo Huai and his brother in Wuguan have been defeated by Shu thieves? !
Sima Zhao was stunned, but Sima Yi didn't have the time.
"Quickly mobilize troops and rescue Ximen!!!"
After Sima Yi said these words, without hesitation, he took only a dozen personal guards around him and ran towards the south gate tower.
He really didn't go to die, Sima Yi was not that stupid.
The current battle situation at the west gate is that the defenders and the Shu thieves who have climbed up the tower are fighting each other. They urgently need someone to take command, so Sima Yi only brought a dozen personal guards there.
It was not that dangerous. As long as Sima Yi arrived at the tower in time and commanded the defenders to fight in an orderly manner, it was possible to stop the Shu thieves from attacking the city.
At the same time, Sima Yi was also wondering how the Shu thieves climbed onto the tower from the west gate. Was Wuguan really lost? !
But no matter what the actual situation is, we must first repel this sneak attack by the Shu thieves.
As Sima Yi quickly arrived, Wang Ping, who had just climbed up the tower, suddenly felt very stressed.
After Wang Ping captured Xixian County behind Wuguan and obtained sufficient supplies of grain and grass, Wang Ping made a choice between counterattacking Wuguan and sneak attack on Wancheng - to sneak attack on Wancheng.
After all, Wuguan was a heroic pass. Although Wang Ping climbed the mountain and detoured behind Wuguan, there were only more than 4,200 soldiers left out of 5,000, and he did not have enough siege equipment.
Secondly, although as Wang Ping occupied Xi County, Wuguan fell into a dilemma of being attacked from both front and rear. However, there was also Li County behind Xi County. Once Li County found out that Xi County had fallen, Wang Ping would also be trapped. The state of being flanked from both sides.
The most terrible thing is that once Li County discovers Wang Ping's troops, he will definitely call Wancheng for help. At that time, there will be no possibility of Wang Ping attacking Wancheng.
Therefore, in order to maximize the results of the battle and to better hide his whereabouts, Wang Ping decided to lead his troops to bypass Li County and go straight to Wancheng.
Then he repeated his old trick, and in the early morning before dawn, he selected thousands of people with night vision capabilities to launch a night attack on Wancheng.
(End of chapter)
