Outside Luyang City, 60,000 Han troops were waiting in force, while inside Luyang City, 40,000 Wei troops were on guard.
Theoretically speaking, it cannot be considered a wrong choice for the side with a weak military strength to use defensive battles to consume the enemy's troops and morale.
But there are always people who have different opinions.
The first person to have an opinion was Wang Ling.
"General, don't you know that if you defend for too long, you will lose? Why don't you go out of the city and fight the Shu thieves to decide the outcome?!" Wang Ling said dissatisfied.
You really can't blame Wang Ling for being dissatisfied. In the past few days, Wang Ling was beaten so hard by Zhuge Liang's siege that he could barely cope.
The saying that if you defend for a long time, you will lose, you are not talking about the west gate where Sima Yi is stationed, but the south gate where Wang Ling is stationed.
Of course, this does not mean that Luyang will fall. After all, with Sima Yi's support, even if Wang Ling is pinned to the ground and beaten wildly by Zhuge Liang, Luyang will not fall. But whoever is beaten knows the pain, and it is also embarrassing.
Well, in the same city, Sima Yi from the west gate and Zhang Xi, a famous general in the world, are attacking and defending each other. No one can do anything to the other. They are locked in a stalemate and get to the south gate, and Zhuge Liang is the only one who pins him down on the ground and beats him wildly? !
Yes, Wang Ling knows that this is the reason why his commanding ability is not as good as Zhuge Liang's. But the problem is that the people in the world don't know.
Before that, Zhuge Liang had always been regarded by people all over the world as a management genius like Xun Lingjun, who was good at sitting in the rear and managing government affairs.
Being beaten by such a person was unable to fight back, and Sima Yi needed to send troops repeatedly to support him in order to save the situation. Wang Ling felt that not only was his reputation damaged, but it might also become a stepping stone for Zhuge Liang to become famous through his military use.
Wang Ling couldn't continue the battle to defend the city, but in the field battle, Wang Ling felt that he might not have no hope of winning.
Compared with the battle to defend the city, the changes in the field battle are too fast. The two armies face each other and fight with real swords and guns. Without enough experience in battle, it is difficult to achieve perfect planning.
As for Zhuge Liang, judging from his command of these sieges, his military style is relatively upright, and his strictness is not surprising. It belongs to the kind of upright military style.
Obviously, this is not a general who was killed in the wild on the battlefield, but a civilian general who read military books and commanded the military formation according to the methods of military books.
In addition, Zhuge Liang himself does not have much experience in leading troops in combat, which means that Zhuge Liang does not have enough experience in battle. Maybe this is something Wang Ling can take advantage of.
In field battles, the most important thing is the ability to adapt to the situation. Perhaps this aspect is Zhuge Liang's weakness.
This is the real reason why Wang Ling asked for a field battle.
And the superficial reason?
"The city of Luyang is small. We can only defend the city with ten thousand people, but our army has 40,000 people, so we cannot do our best. Moreover, our army has 40,000 people and the bandit army has 60,000 people. Even though there is a difference, their strength is not something to be afraid of. Why? If we are trapped in an isolated city and refuse to go out to fight, won't we lose the spirit of our army?!"
This is the official reason given by Wang Ling.
Luyang is not a fortified city. No matter how prepared in advance, the city wall is only so high and thick, and the city is only so big, there is no room for 40,000 people to stand on the wall together.
Each time only 10,000 people fight, and the remaining 30,000 people watch the show. This is a waste of defensive resources.
The comparison of the strength of the two sides is only 40,000 to 60,000, which is not without the strength to fight. It is not good for morale to always shrink in the city and be beaten passively.
Therefore, Wang Ling asked to take the initiative to lead troops out of the city and station them in the southwest corner of Luyang, forming a horn with Luyang for easy defense.
You have to say that Wang Ling's proposal is in line with the current actual needs, and it is not entirely for his own face. But Sima Yi also has Sima Yi's own concerns.
Since he was left behind in Luoyang, Sima Yi must consider the entire Sili area to consider the problem.
The Shu thieves launched the Northern Expedition again after a year. Sima Yi did not believe how comprehensive the food preparations of these Shu thieves could be, and there was no danger to defend between Yingchuan and Henan. Once the two roads were lost, not only Sima Yi would be The subordinate areas, even Yanzhou, will also be affected.
In this case, the only option is to use the numerical advantage to block the two passages and hold on until the supply of food and grass for the Shu thieves is unfavorable, or to delay and wait for the reinforcements to be transferred from Hebei.
that's it.
This is one of Sima Yi's guiding thoughts in formulating this Yingchuan defensive battle.
Although this method is a bit stupid, it is the safest, and in terms of effect, it is also the combat method with the least damage to the Sili area.
The Shu thieves captured Guanzhong during their second Northern Expedition, and the Manchu people migrated to Guanzhong. Although it brought a lot of floating population to Sili, it also placed a great burden on Sili's finances.
At that time, Cao Ruike was sitting in Luoyang. He could not watch these people become refugees or live in seclusion. He would definitely provide money, food and land to resettle these Guanzhong people who migrated to Sili. This was a sign of Sili's current situation. The first violation of interest distribution also increased the burden between the aristocratic families and the people in the Sili area.
The common people will not pay attention to how much benefit the imperial court can gain from this. They only know that the Guanzhong people come to Sili to make a living, which will inevitably affect their living space.
And the wealthy families don't care about how many benefits the court can get. What they care about is how many benefits they can get. But under Cao Rui's nose, they can't get too many benefits at all.
Cao Rui is much harder to fool than his father Cao Pi.
Therefore, what they can do is pass their losses onto the people of Sili.
The Shu thieves' third Northern Expedition not only defeated most of Sili's county soldiers, but also captured Nanyang, directly placing Yingchuan County within the attack range of the thieves.
Under this situation, Sima Yi took over Luoyang to stay behind. He must restore the defense forces in Heluo and Yingchuan areas as soon as possible, and invest all money and food in the military. People's livelihood issues can only be considered later.
But in this way, Sima Yi actually knew very well that it would also cause serious damage to the people in the Sili area.
Sili is so important, not only because Luoyang is here, but more importantly, it is one of the most mature agricultural production areas developed in the entire Han Dynasty. In an agricultural society, this is the foundation of kingship.
Unless Sima Yi really makes up his mind to completely defeat Sili, otherwise, as long as Sima Yi is still sure of being able to defend Sili, he will of course choose the plan with the least loss to stop the Shu thieves' attack.
After all, Sili is still Sili of the Wei Dynasty. After the Shu thieves are defeated, the Wei Dynasty will continue to rule.
Therefore, stationing troops to stand firm, although stupid and passive, can at least reduce losses and prevent the Shu thieves from breaking through the city and breaking into Yingchuan.
But if Wang Ling is divided into battles, although the horns can effectively consolidate the defense, as Sima Yi himself knows, there are no less than five ways to defeat this horns.
Once the Shu thieves were defeated one by one, the number of Luyang's defenders was weakened, and Sima Yi was really not sure that he could defend Luyang.
Therefore, Sima Yi still chose to reject Wang Ling's proposal and continued to hold on.
Wang Ling was very dissatisfied with this pretense.
In fact, Wang Ling doesn't know Sima Yi's concerns. After all, he is also a general who can be both civil and military.
But there are some things that Wang Ling has to say, and there are some attitudes that Wang Ling has to show. Anyway, I proposed to take the initiative to fight, but you, Sima Yi, disagreed. So, in the future, you can't say that I, Wang Ling, are afraid of the Shu thieves. .
Yes, although I was beaten badly by Zhuge Liang, at least I still had the courage to take the initiative. Those who really lack courage were not the ones beaten by me, Wang Ling, who had this idea.
You can somewhat save your reputation.
This is purely based on his own interests and just to save face. He really wants to send troops if he can't tell whether he is right or wrong. Wang Ling is not the kind of person who is afraid of getting into trouble.
In fact, Sima Yi also knew what Wang Ling was thinking. They were all old foxes, and no one should be fooled.
But now the situation is difficult. If you, Wang Ling, want some face, I can give it to you, as long as you don't destroy my strategic plan.
What really embarrassed Sima Yi was the letter sent by Chen Tai from Kunyang.
The letter mentioned that the Yingchuan family was very dissatisfied with the Wei army's inability to hold on, and they were willing to provide money and food, and even sent the family's private soldiers to the front line to help.
But there is only one condition, and that is to repel the Shu thieves as soon as possible and protect the country and the people.
From the perspective of the Yingchuan family, they certainly do not want to see the Shu Han army wandering back and forth at their own gate, fighting here and there, all fighting on the Yingchuan border.
Yes, the two armies are now facing each other in Kunyang and Luyang. But with the advent of the war, it will definitely not be just these two counties that will be affected. People in several surrounding counties will appear to have fled to avoid the war. , refugees, even hermits.
These aristocratic families would not care if the landed people fled. They would even take the initiative to send people to take over the land left behind by the landed people after they fled and expand their private lands.
But the escape of the refugees and hermits is a huge loss to the wealthy family.
Now the entire western border of Yingchuan County has been affected by the war, and if the war continues for the first half of the year or even a year, the Yingchuan County family is really not willing to accept this loss.
Don’t forget, the southeastern part of Yingchuan County is not very peaceful. On the Runan County side, only Shangcai and other three counties are still in the hands of the Wei Dynasty. The Soochow Zhu Zhuji who stationed troops in Ruyin harasses the north from time to time. , Yingchuan County is also within the scope of influence.
Therefore, the aristocratic families in Yingchuan County certainly hope that the war in the Western Region can be ended as soon as possible.
Moreover, the aristocratic families in Yingchuan County also don’t understand that you, Sima Yi, clearly have 40,000 troops, plus Chen Tai’s 10,000 soldiers stationed in Kunyang, there are also 50,000 soldiers. His total army of Shu thieves is only 70,000. That’s all.
What can't be beaten? !
Not enough money and food? !
It doesn't matter, we can still get some together if we squeeze.
Not enough troops? !
We will gather the servants who look after the house and guard the courtyard and deliver it to you. You only need to be responsible for providing weapons and armor.
In this way, if you, Sima Yi, stay in Luyang without moving, it will really be unreasonable.
This can be regarded as a threat to Sima Yi from the Yingchuan County family. If you, Sima Yi, cannot defeat the Shu thieves' attack in a short period of time, then if you, Sima Yi, still want something from the Yingchuan family, will the Yingchuan family continue? I support you Sima Yi, but it’s hard to say.
This is the real trouble for Sima Yi.
Guarding Yingchuan is impossible without the support of the Yingchuan family! ! !
As for Chen Tai, his attitude is also worthy of Sima Yi's consideration.
In the letter, Chen Tai said that he understood Sima Yi's strategic plan and believed that there was no problem in sticking to the strategy of waiting for changes. But since you can understand my strategy, why can't you more effectively appease the Yingchuan family and let them choose What about supporting yourself? !
What is Chen Tai's real purpose in writing this letter? !
(End of chapter)
