Yes, the real reason why the Jingzhou soldiers retreated and returned for reinforcements was that the Han general, Guan Yu, the Hou Tinghou of the Han Dynasty, died of illness in Wancheng at the age of sixty-nine.
The death of a country's great general or army commander from illness is a major event in any dynasty and under any circumstances.
Once the news spreads, the morale of the army will naturally drop off a cliff, which will seriously affect the combat effectiveness.
Not to mention, the person who died of illness this time was Guan Yu.
What is Guan Yu's status within the Han Dynasty? He is probably equivalent to the idol of all soldiers and a military god-like existence in the army.
Since Guan Yu followed the late emperor to raise troops, he has been fighting for more than forty years. He has made great achievements in battle, shocked China, and was admired by the world.
Guan Yu's character was well-known for being arrogant but not humiliating his subordinates. He always treated his soldiers very well. In addition, he had ruled Jingzhou alone for more than ten years, and his prestige in the Jingzhou army was unparalleled.
His death will inevitably seriously affect the actual combat effectiveness of the Jingzhou Army, and Guan Yu's position as a general will also have a considerable impact on the Northern Army of the Han Dynasty and the soldiers of Yizhou County.
The general is dead, so it’s unclear whether the war will continue! ! !
This kind of thing is unavoidable even if Zhang Fei, who has a lot of prestige in the army, is in charge, not to mention that Zhang Fei has already fainted on the ground.
The eldest brother is gone, and the second brother is also gone. How can you ask Zhang Fei to keep calm?
He is also sixty years old. Although he can still lead troops into battle at his old age, how can Zhang Fei bear this kind of stimulation?
When Zhang Fei heard that someone was coming from Wancheng, his heart skipped a beat. When he saw that the person he saw was his eldest niece Guan Yinping, Zhang Fei felt only lucky.
As a result, Guan Yinping didn't even give him the last chance. When he saw his uncle and her husband in the tent, she burst into tears and delivered the news like a bolt from the blue.
Zhang Fei couldn't hold on on the spot, glanced at him, and fell to the ground.
Xu Shu and others were immediately busy working in a hurry. Under the treatment of military doctors, Zhang Fei finally woke up slowly. However, after recovering, Zhang Fei hugged his head and cried, and soon cried until he fainted again.
Under this situation, it was impossible for Zhang Fei to think about leading troops in the war. All military matters must be left to Wang Ji and Xu Shu.
The two of them probably discussed it and decided to retreat! ! !
Judging from the current situation, it is no longer possible to continue to advance troops.
The morale of the army's sergeants was severely affected, and not many of them had the heart to continue fighting against the Wei army.
One of the military commanders is dead and the other is unable to manage at all. Even if Xu Shu and Wang Ji continue to lead their troops to attack, the result may not be much better.
After all, if you look at the opposing team's lineup, you will know which one of those guys would miss such an opportunity.
Moreover, even if we can really persist in breaking through Kunyang's defense line, if we continue to go north, there will still be 100,000 well-prepared troops there.
If there was a chance of winning before, Xu Shu and Wang Ji really couldn't see the chance of winning in this situation.
Capturing Nanyang County has already completed the basic goal of this Northern Expedition. It is better to stop when it is good. Don't turn around and ruin the good situation in Yingchuan.
In this way, the Jingzhou army retreated and returned to reinforce.
Zhang Fei had no objection at all to this point. In other words, Zhang Fei's mind was no longer in the army at this moment. His current state even made Xu Shu feel scary.
He looked confused and distracted. He kept his eyes open day and night, but no one knew whether he was awake or asleep. When the late emperor passed away, he did not see the three generals like this.
Now Xu Shu is really worried, what if Zhang Fei has another bad situation, how will the army be turbulent! ! !
For this reason, Xu Shu had to find Deng Ai privately and ask Deng Ai to keep an eye on Zhang Fei and not let Zhang Fei get distracted. This is really important and is no joke.
After arranging this matter, Xu Shu ordered Kou Feng to lead the army to cut off the rear, and Wang Ping assisted him, and the entire army retreated to Wancheng.
After arriving in Wancheng, Xu Shu took the civil and military generals together to pay homage to Guan Yu, and at the same time sent messengers to Chang'an and Chengdu to mourn.
Until this time, Cao Zhen, who had always been a little trembling for fear of being plotted by Shu thieves, finally felt relieved.
Then, Cao Zhen felt awkward again.
The reason is that when the Shu thieves withdrew, Sima Yi once advised Cao Zhen that the sudden retreat of the Shu thieves must be due to a major change in the army. At this time, he should take the initiative to send troops to follow and pursue.
However, Cao Zhen rejected Sima Yi's suggestion on the grounds that the Shu thieves were deceitful.
When Sima Yi heard this, he immediately became unhappy and hurriedly persuaded Cao Zhen again. At this time, the Shu thieves had already taken the initiative on the battlefield and had a sufficient advantage in military strength. There was no need to withdraw troops at this time. It should be a real retreat. of.
Sima Yi even took the initiative to ask for help, saying that if the general was worried about the Shu thieves being deceived, he could lead his own troops to pursue them. The general would take care of him. Even if there was a deception, it would be Sima Yi who would be the unlucky one. As long as Cao Zhen responded in time, the Wei army would suffer losses. It won't be too big either.
But after Cao Zhen thought about it carefully, he still refused.
There is no way, Cao Zhen has been tricked too many times in Guanzhong, and this rhetoric is too deja vu. Every time Cao Zhen believes it, he will either lose his troops or lose his generals, or he will be implicated.
Anyway, our goal is to stop the Shu bandits from invading Yingchuan County. If they want to retreat to Wancheng now, let them retreat.
Pursuing is risky, so be careful when counterattacking! ! !
Cao Zhen once again ignored Sima Yi's advice and just stood still and made Sima Yi angry to death.
Actually, Sima Yi suggested the pursuit. On the one hand, he really judged that the Shu army was really retreating. On the other hand, Sima Yi was also a little cautious and wanted to follow and pursue to see if he could regain some face.
Sima Yi did not want to counterattack Wancheng, he was not that whimsical.
But during the pursuit, he fought a beautiful battle of annihilation and regained some reputation for his fault in losing Wancheng. This was also Sima Yi's goal.
After all, the process of Sima Yi's loss of Wancheng was really a bit too embarrassing, and it is normal to have such thoughts.
Well now, Cao Zhen didn't give himself this chance, and Wang Ling, another Yingchuan prefect who had the right to speak, was not willing to speak for him.
Sima Yi had no choice. With Cao Zhen here, Sima Yi's power in the army would not be that great. Cao Zhen wouldn't allow it, so Sima Yi really couldn't resist the order and pursue him.
Therefore, Sima Yi looked very ugly at that time. Although he did not say anything serious to Cao Zhen, he still said "the general missed the opportunity".
Originally, Cao Zhen didn't take it to heart. After all, it was normal for the military to raise any objections for discussion.
But when Cao Zhen realized that he had "missed the opportunity", he felt awkward no matter how he looked at Sima Yi.
Originally, everyone had lost their city and territory, and the eldest brother did not talk about the second brother. But now, there was a good opportunity in front of him. Sima Yi wanted to seize it, but Cao Zhen failed to seize it. If this spreads out, Cao Zhen will be even more embarrassed. Already? !
Of course, Cao Zhen wouldn't be angry with Sima Yi because of this matter. Cao Zhen still has this kind of heart. But the problem is that everyone wants to save face. If something like this happens, you can't let the general of a country go there. Are you, Sima Yi, apologizing and admitting your mistake? !
You, Sima Yi, are such a smart person. If you find someone to come and bridge the gap, then I, the general, will borrow the donkey from Poxia. Everyone will be able to live up to their reputation, so this matter will be over.
But Cao Zhen kept waiting and never waited until Sima Yi asked someone to come to him. What Cao Zhen was uncomfortable with was this. He felt that Sima Yi was a little too disrespectful to him.
As for Sima Yi. Sima Yi has high emotional intelligence and can bend and stretch, but the problem is that the current Sima Yi is not the old fox in his seventies. He is only in his forties now, and he still has a bit of his own temper.
Another thing, in fact, Sima Yi has not never thought about asking someone to give Cao Zhen a step forward, but now the army does not have such conditions.
There are only a few people who can speak in front of Cao Zhen, such as Guo Huai, Wang Ling, and Qin Lang. But they are all inappropriate.
Guo Huai's qualifications are older than both Cao Zhen and Sima Yi. There is no special friendship between Sima Yi and Guo Huai, so it would be inappropriate to ask Guo Huai to go.
Qin Lang is a suitable candidate, but the problem is that after Guo Huai withdrew his troops to Kunyang, in order to prevent anything unexpected from Qin Lang, he quickly sent Qin Lang back to Luoyang on the pretext that he needed to report the frontline battle situation to the court. Now Qin Lang is not in the army at all. .
As for Wang Ling, Wang Ling's identity was the prefect of Yingchuan and he was from the Wang family in Taiyuan. Regardless of his identity, he had no friendship with Sima Yi, who was from the Hedong family.
It’s a good thing that he didn’t add insult to injury for you, but you still want to ask him to intercede? !
Therefore, Sima Yi considered waiting until the war came to an end. After returning to Luoyang, he asked someone to talk to the general, hoping that the general would not keep this matter in mind.
But the problem is that Sima Yi never found this opportunity.
(End of chapter)
