Guan Yu didn't know how long he had been unconscious. In a daze, Guan Yu seemed to see many old friends and brothers again.
When Guan Yu woke up again, he was even a little unsure whether he was still in the dream.
Because he saw a familiar yet unfamiliar face.
I say familiar because this dark face is one of the faces that Guan Yu will never forget in his life.
It's strange because there are many more wrinkles on the third brother's face and white hair on his head than a year ago.
"Third brother?!" Guan Yu tried to ask, but the hoarse voice and weak state surprised Guan Yu himself and made it a bit difficult to accept.
Zhang Fei, who had been paying attention to Guan Yu's condition, quickly stepped forward, gently pressed Guan Yu's shoulders, and said, "Second brother, don't get up. Let's take care of ourselves."
Zhang Fei had paid great attention to his volume and lowered his voice when speaking, but it was still harsh to Guan Yu's ears.
At this time, Guan Yu somewhat understood something, but he also didn't understand it.
He has been mentally prepared for some things, arranged what should be arranged, and dealt with what should be dealt with.
But there are some things that he still needs to figure out and figure out.
Therefore, Guan Yu supported his body, tried his best to keep himself awake, and asked slowly, "Wei Thief."
"The Wei thieves have retreated, second brother, please feel relieved." Zhang Fei said quickly.
Obviously, Zhang Fei understood what Guan Yu wanted to ask and what his second brother was most concerned about now.
But Zhang Fei's answer did not satisfy Guan Yu, so Guan Yu tried to say something else.
At this time, Xu Shu who was on the side also came up and whispered to Guan Yu, "Your Majesty, please be at ease. Sima Yi retreated from Wancheng and led his remaining army to retreat to Kunyang. The concubine has ordered Shi Zai to lead the troops to pursue him. Wuguan Guohuai, After learning that Wancheng was occupied, he took the initiative to abandon the pass and withdraw his troops. It is estimated that they have also retreated to Kunyang, so the three generals can lead their troops here."
"Now we have 110,000 horses and infantry. After resting and regrouping, we will march to Luoyang under the leadership of the three generals. We will discuss all matters in the army with the three generals. Please take care of yourself, sir. The body is the most important thing.”
Xu Shu said a lot, but in fact, Guan Yu was relieved after hearing that the Wei army was withdrawing to Kunyang and Zhang Fei broke through Wuguan to intercept and came to Wancheng.
Guan Yu, who was relieved, fell into a half-dream state again. He seemed to be awake, but he seemed to be in a dream again.
Seeing Guan Yu fall into deep sleep again, Zhang Fei and Xu Shu were both a little silent and glanced at each other. Finally, Guan Yinping was left to look after Guan Yu, and they left the Chinese military tent with heavy expressions on their faces.
On the one hand, both of them are now very worried about Guan Yu's condition, worried that if Guan Yu falls asleep this time, he may never wake up again.
After all, this was the only time Guan Yu sobered up in the past few days.
On the other hand, although the things Xu Shu just told Guan Yu were true, Xu Shu did not explain all the key information clearly.
The war is not completely over.
Sima Yi did lose Wancheng, but before leaving Wancheng, by holding the withdrawal channel at the north gate, Sima Yi collected more than 8,000 defeated troops, including Sima Zhao and others.
Deng Ai was indeed ordered to pursue Sima Yi's retreating defeated troops, but Deng Ai did not expect that under such extremely unfavorable circumstances, Sima Yi would dare to set up an ambush halfway and ambush Deng Ai.
Although Deng Ai responded well to the battle and successfully broke out without causing casualties, it was precisely because of this that Sima Yi widened the distance between him and his pursuers. Deng Ai had lost the ability to rely on pursuit to destroy Wancheng's defeated army. Opportunity.
As for Wuguan, the first thing Sima Yi did after evacuating Wancheng was to send someone to notify Guo Huai of Wuguan that Sima Division retreated.
Wancheng has been lost, and there is no point in continuing to hold on to Wuguan. Instead of ruining this army of seven or eight thousand people in vain, it is better to gather it back and retreat to Kunyang.
After receiving the news of the fall of Wancheng, although Guo Huai and Sima Shi of Wuguan were also panicked, their military qualities were not low. They discussed with each other, continued to set up false flags on the tower, and then led their troops to retreat overnight. , retreated all the way, taking the northeast direction of Li County, and retreated directly to Kunyang.
Zhang Fei, who was under Wuguan, really didn't expect that Guo Huai withdrew his troops so quickly. It took him a whole morning before Zhang Fei's scouts discovered something was wrong. The whole Wuguan was a little too quiet. When they arrived for closer inspection, It was later discovered that the soldiers on the Wuguan Tower were all straw men.
In this way, Zhang Fei and others, who wasted half a day, were unable to catch up with Guo Huai's retreat. They could only lead the troops all the way through Xixian and Lixian, and headed southeast to Wancheng, where they merged with Jingzhou. military.
It was also at this time that Zhang Fei learned that Guan Yu had fainted during the siege. Under such circumstances, how could Zhang Fei have the thought to command the army to continue the attack.
Zhang Fei's mood is understandable, but it is impossible not to continue to maintain pressure on Wei Jun.
The strategic purpose of this Northern Expedition is of course to occupy Wancheng and open up the passage into the hinterland of the Central Plains. But now is such a good opportunity. If we don't try to attack in the direction of Luoyang and wait for the enemy to slow down, it will not be so good. opportunity.
Zhang Fei could not keep calm in fighting, but Xu Shu could still keep his calm. After receiving the authorization from Zhang Fei, the cavalry general, Wang Ji took the order and led 30,000 infantry to join Deng Ai who had been chasing him before. Ten thousand people were sent to attack Kunyang.
Then there is no more.
When Wang Ji led his troops and Deng Ai rushed to Kunyang, Sima Yi's 7,000 Wancheng defeated troops and Wang Ling's 10,000 Yingchuan troops had already gathered here.
The actual strength comparison between the two sides was about 38,000 versus 17,000, and the Han army had the advantage.
Wang Ji and Deng Ai discussed it and felt that it was not impossible not to dominate the army with their own strength, but it also represented the orthodoxy of the Han Dynasty.
If Emperor Guangwu has a spirit in the sky, another meteor will fall from the sky. This time it should hit the Kunyang city occupied by the Wei army on the opposite side.
Of course, this is a bit fanciful, but in terms of military strength and morale, the Han army is indeed the superior side.
Therefore, Wang Ji ordered the entire army to camp, and then Deng Ai was responsible for cutting down trees and making siege equipment on the spot. Not too many, as long as they can pose a threat.
On the one hand, half of the Wei army in Kunyang City was defeated and their morale was not high. Wang Ji did not intend to give Sima Yi a chance to regain his morale.
Therefore, as long as they can launch an attack quickly and pose a threat to Kunyang city defense, Wancheng's defeated army will definitely have no intention of fighting, which will also affect the morale of Yingchuan County soldiers.
On the other hand, although Kunyang City was the place where Emperor Guangwu became famous, it was not Emperor Guangwu's "Longxing Place".
Kunyang is just ordinary, a small city located at the junction of Yingchuan County and Nanyang County.
From a geographical point of view, Kunyang is indeed the main road connecting Yingchuan County and Nanyang County. However, whether it was the Yellow Turban Rebellion at the end of the Han Dynasty or the rise of the princes later, it did not have a great impact on Kunyang. This place Ever since Cao Cao raised troops and united with the Yingchuan family to occupy Yingchuan, it has been under the control of Cao Wei.
Therefore, Kunyang City has never been under great threat, so there is no need to strengthen the city walls or hoard arsenals.
The city wall of Kunyang is not high, and it does not have enough weapons. It really does not need any large-scale siege equipment. Some hook ladders and ladders will be enough. It may even be possible to create a sufficient deterrent to the Kunyang city defense without even building a ram. .
Therefore, Deng Ai only spent five days cutting down trees, building hooks and ladders, and preparing to launch a strong attack on Kunyang.
But... it happened that at this time, Cao Zhen led the main force of 25,000 Sili troops and rushed to Kunyang.
A few days later, Guo Huai and Sima Division also led the 7,000 remaining soldiers of Wuguan to retreat here.
At this time, the balance of forces between the two sides was reversed. Wang Ji only had more than 37,000 people on his side, while the Wei army once again gathered 50,000 people in Kunyang.
As for Kunyang, a small city, 90,000 people suddenly gathered inside and outside the city. Attacking the city was not the first priority. Field battles between the two sides became the first choice.
Kunyang City could not accommodate so many defenders, so Cao Zhen led his troops to set up camp in the southwest corner of Kunyang City, forming a horns with Sima Yi and others in Kunyang City to assist in the defense.
Wang Ji saw Cao Zhen leading his troops. In order to prevent Cao Zhen from dividing his troops to attack his flanks, Wang Ji had to divide his troops and let Deng Ai continue to watch Sima Yi and Wang Ling in the city from the front of Kunyang City, while he, leading the two men, had Thousands of people moved to camp not far from Cao Zhen's camp, and the two armies faced off.
There seemed to be tensions around Kunyang, but in fact, both armies were a little bit defensive for a while and couldn't fight.
Wang Ji was worried about the size of the Wei army and his inability to judge whether the Wei army would have follow-up reinforcements, while Sima Yi was worried about the morale of the army. After all, most of the Wei army came to Kunming after experiencing a defeat. Yang.
No one dared to take the initiative to attack, they all wanted to stabilize the wave first and put defense first.
When Wang Ji saw that the situation was somewhat deadlocked, he had no intention of risking a forceful attack. He immediately sent a military report to Wancheng to explain the situation, and hoped that Xu Shu would send troops to help as soon as possible.
After all, although the Han army is currently resting, its total strength is already as high as 110,000. Even if 10,000 troops are left to garrison in Wancheng, the available troops will still be around 100,000.
But now here in Kunyang, Wang Ji only has 40,000 troops.
Kunyang is located in an open area. Xinmang's army of 200,000 people besieged Kunyang back then, and tens of thousands more troops would not be a problem.
As long as they regain the strength advantage, it is actually not too difficult to capture Kunyang.
Therefore, the current overall situation is still beneficial to the Han army.
Under such circumstances, Xu Shu received a military report from Wang Ji.
Logically speaking, Wang Ji's thinking was correct. Xu Shu directly sent troops and used his superior strength to directly push Kunyang and even the entire Yingchuan County.
But it happened that at about the same time, Xu Shu received a request for reinforcements from Shi Bao, the governor of Xiangyang and the governor of Jiangling.
Wenpin's military report stated that about ten days ago, the Soochow navy suddenly moved up the Han River, and the vanguard even reached the outskirts of Yicheng County next to Xiangyang.
Shi Bao's military report stated that since half a month ago, the Soochow Navy had dispatched troops from Shaxian and Lukou directions in Jiangxia on the pretext of training, often cruising along the Yangtze River. The most recent one was only a few meters away from the port outside Gong'an City. Fifty miles.
The military reports of these two people actually conveyed one meaning - Soochow was unstable.
This made Xu Shu have to hesitate.
Should we continue to march into Yingchuan, attack Henan, and intimidate Luoyang, or occupy Wancheng, close it after it is built, and return to the army to assist in the defense of Xiangyang and Jiangling to prevent Soochow from backstabbing.
Xu Shu really couldn't decide this issue by himself.
(End of chapter)
