After solving his worries, Wei Yan immediately led his troops back and marched directly to Hangu Pass along the road from Shaanxian County, Mianchi, and Xin'an.
After passing Hangu Pass, you will reach Luoyang City.
With such a big news, Xin Pi and Sima Zhao, who were in Luoyang, naturally got the news a long time ago.
Xin Pi was responsible for reporting the specific situation to the court and requesting reinforcements from Hebei. At the same time, he contacted Hedong and Hanoi counties to request that they quickly dispatch county troops to guard Chang'an.
Sima Zhao, on the other hand, directly led the five thousand soldiers who were left behind in Luoyang, and marched straight to Hangu Pass on a starry night.
This is the last line of defense before Luoyang.
The guard general of Hangu Pass was Xia Houhe, so the seventh son of Xia Houyuan, the general who conquered the west, was also the Henan Yin appointed by Cao Wei.
Theoretically, Xiahouhe, as the Yin of Henan, could stay in Luoyang and manage politics, but he took the initiative to ask for orders to go out to Hangu Pass to hold on to this last barrier for Luoyang.
There is a saying that Xiahou Yuan's descendants are really much stronger than Xiahou Dun's lineage.
Xiahouyuan's lineage includes Xiahouba, Xiahouhe, Xiahouhui, Xiahouwei, Xiahourong and others. Although they have their own strengths in literary and martial arts training, most of them can be regarded as talents. In Xiahoudun's lineage, there is only one Xiahou Mao. They have already lost all the face of this family, not to mention that Xia Houmao's two younger brothers participated in the plot to frame Xia Houmao together with Xia Houmao's wife, Princess Qinghe. This mess in the family was even brought to Cao Rui's attention.
Really, the gap is really too big. I don’t know how Xiahou Dun educates the next generation.
Well, I'm going too far, let's go back to Xia Houhe.
Although Xiahouhe had high moral integrity and was willing to serve the country, he actually did not know much about military strategy.
It’s not that he didn’t understand anything. As Xia Houyuan’s son, Xia Houhe still knew a little about military strategy. But Xia Houhe’s real fame lies in his eloquence. People at the time said: Qingbian has talent.
Therefore, he was stationed at Hangu Pass. Sima Zhao was worried no matter what, so he quickly led his troops to Hangu Pass to take charge of the defense of the pass.
Xia Houhe was dissatisfied with this.
If you want to say that Sima Yi did this, then Xiahou He can still approve it. After all, Sima Yi has sufficient qualifications and has indeed shown good military talents in recent years. He was worried about Xiahou and guarding Hangu Pass and led troops to guard it. , Xiahouhe will not be dissatisfied at all.
But why do you, Sima Zhao? !
In fact, the deeper question is - why do you, Sima Zhao, think that I can't hold the Hangu Pass, but you can hold it once you come? !
This is not a joke.
But fortunately, Xia Houhe was very broad-minded and well-educated. In addition, Sima Zhao always brought troops to help for state affairs, so Xia Houhe would not have trouble with Sima Zhao at this time.
There is only one worry: Yes, I am not good at military affairs, so I am really not sure of blocking the attack of the Shu thief Wei Yan. Do you, Sima Zhao, have the confidence to defend Hangu Pass? !
Xia Houhe was not arguing with Sima Zhao in a weird way, but he was sincerely asking Sima Zhao. After all, once Hangu Pass was broken, Luoyang would be really in danger.
Sima Zhao could only smile bitterly and replied to Xia Houhe, "You can only be loyal to the country."
With this sentence, Xiahouhe was embarrassed to have any trouble with Sima Zhao. This man risked his life to guard Hangu Pass and fought for the foundation of the Wei Dynasty. As a clan general, what else could Xiahouhe say? .
He directly handed over all command rights and handed them over to Sima Zhao.
And Sima Zhao was not polite, and the current situation did not allow Sima Zhao to be polite.
The situation is really bad.
From the external environment, Luoyang's defense is very problematic.
Theoretically speaking, Luoyang is located in the Zhongzhong of Henan County, with Hedong in the north, guarded by the two counties of Hanoi, Hangu Pass in the west, Hongnong County outside Hangu Pass, Yingchuan County in the south, and Yanzhou in the east. There are people all around. Archguards are not so easily broken.
But now the situation is completely different.
Hongnong County in the west surrendered without a fight, allowing Shu thieves to penetrate into the heart of Sili, while Yingchuan County in the south faced a siege of 70,000 Shu thieves. Once Yingchuan County was defeated, it might even threaten Luoyang Dongdong. Yanzhou was facing Yanzhou, so Sima Yi, who was left behind in Luoyang, had to personally lead his troops to rescue him.
Now Luoyang can only rely on the two counties of Hedong and Hanoi, as well as the last barrier on the west side of Luoyang, Hangu Pass.
Let’s ignore the problems of the two counties of Hedong and Hanoi. Let’s just talk about Hangu Pass. The current Hangu Pass is no longer the grand pass in the pre-Qin period.
Hangu Pass in the pre-Qin period was really a place where one man was responsible for the pass and no one could open it.
In the history before this, Hangu Pass had only been breached three times, but two of them were breached by Liu Bang and Xiang Yu each in the chaotic times of the late Qin Dynasty when Hangu Pass was almost undefended.
Only once was it lost in a serious battle between the two armies, and the famous general who broke through Hangu Pass was Kuang Zhang of Qi State. This was a famous general who was so low-key that he was not recorded in "Historical Records".
All in all, the Hangu Pass in the pre-Qin period was really very strong, but that doesn't mean that the current Hangu Pass is really that strong.
The reason why Hangu Pass in the Pre-Qin Dynasty was easy to defend but difficult to attack was that it had a special geographical location with the Loess Plateau to the west, cliffs to the east, the rugged Qinling Mountains to the south, and the turbulent Yellow River to the north.
Hangu Pass is built at the mouth of a valley. The cliffs and dense forests on both sides form a natural barrier. The soldiers guarding the pass only need to guard the mouth of the valley to prevent the enemy from entering the pass.
But now, as the water level of the Yellow River sinks, a passage gradually appears in the dangerous location of the Yellow River in the north. This passage is relatively flat and very easy to pass.
This is equivalent to having a natural passage. Whether you are entering Guanzhong from Guandong, or attacking Guandong from Guanzhong, you don't have to go head-to-head with Hangu Pass, you can go around it directly.
The strategic value of Hangu Pass dropped instantly.
By the Han Dynasty, the Hangu Pass of Qin was basically abandoned. Its only function was to serve as a geographical coordinate to distinguish the princes inside and outside the pass.
During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, General Yang Pu of Louchuan was born outside Qin's Hangu Pass. In order to be rewarded by the Marquis of Guannei, he petitioned Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to request that Hangu Pass be built. At that time, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty also wanted to strengthen the centralization of power and implement the policy of "expansion from the Guan to the East". Therefore, he agreed to Yang Pu's proposal and built a new Hangu Pass, also known as Hanhangu Pass, to replace the original Qinhangu Pass. The pass became Hongnong County, and Hongnong County was established to the west of Hanhan Valley Pass.
What Sima Zhao and others are guarding now is actually Hanhan Valley Pass.
As for Wei Hangu Pass, strictly speaking, it is not really a pass. In order to deal with the threat of Ma Chao who occupied Tongguan, Cao Cao ordered Xu Chu to build a simple city defense to store grain and grass to prevent Ma Chao from leaving Hangu in the east. Off.
Ever since Cao Cao defeated Ma Chao in the Battle of the Weishui River, this place had no value and was abandoned.
If we really want to say that it has strategic value, and at the same time the city defense is relatively strong, the place that can be defended is Hanhan Valley Pass.
But no matter which Hangu Pass it is, it is really difficult to defend now. After the water level of the Yellow River sank, the natural channel has always been there. Hangu Pass has lost the strategy of one man being able to pass the pass and ten thousand people not being able to open it. It’s valuable.
To guard Hangu Pass, Sima Zhao not only had to guard the wall, but also sent people to guard the natural passage that bypassed Hangu Pass. The terrible thing was that this passage was not only flat, but also very wide.
And how many troops can Sima Zhao use to guard Hangu Pass now? !
Eight thousand people.
Five thousand people were transferred from Luoyang to help, plus the 3,000 garrison at Hangu Pass itself, for a total of 8,000 people.
If Hangu Pass is still as dangerous as before and cannot be bypassed at all, then eight thousand people guarding it will be enough.
But the problem is that now we have to defend Hangu Pass. We not only have to defend the pass, but we also have to defend the wide and flat channel on the north side that was exposed due to the sinking water level of the Yellow River. In this way, eight thousand troops seems to be a lot. But once the two sides are divided, there is really a serious shortage of troops.
As for the Shu thieves, after occupying Hongnong County, not only did they have logistical supplies, but with the help of the Hongnong family, they used the ready-made state and county arsenals to improvise 10,000 or 20,000 troops, which was not a problem at all.
Although the combat effectiveness of these people is definitely not very good, they are enough to be used as cannon fodder.
Under such constant fluctuations, Sima Zhaozhen didn't have much confidence that he could defend Hangu Pass.
Now there is finally new news about his brother Sima Shi who lost his position in Pubanjin.
With the support of the Hedong family, the Sima Division, which had returned from Pubanjin, organized a second line of defense in Hedong and mobilized more than 10,000 troops to defend Hedong.
If we can get this army to come to our aid and guard Hangu Pass together, then Sima Zhao won't have to put so much pressure on him.
But the problem is, not to mention Sima Zhao, even Xinpi Chijie issued an edict to Hedong County, asking them to lead troops to assist Luoyang as soon as possible. This group of aristocratic families and local prefects and magistrates were all pushing back and hesitated to move forward.
In fact, everyone knows what these Hedong families are thinking. The soldiers gathered by the Hedong families must be used to defend Hedong.
Yes, Luoyang is very important, and everyone has many interests in Luoyang, but the question is, if the soldiers and horses from Hedong go to support Luoyang, and the Shu thieves change the direction of their attack and cross the river again to attack Hedong, what will the Hedong families do to resist? !
Of course the Hedong family does not want to lose the interests of Luoyang, but if their hometown is gone, even if Luoyang is saved, what practical significance will it have to the Hedong family.
Therefore, the Hedong family's hesitation and hesitation actually wanted to keep this Hedong army of more than 10,000 people to defend Hedong, instead of going to Luoyang to work for the Wei Dynasty.
This is not a problem that Sima Shi can solve. Sima Shi is not powerful enough. Maybe Sima Yi can convince these Hedong aristocratic families, but the problem is that Sima Yi is in Luyang now.
Therefore, from the perspective of the external environment, Sima Zhao's defense of Hangu Pass really had no reinforcements from outside and no dangerous ground to occupy. To a certain extent, the situation Sima Zhao is facing now is really the same as Ma Di's defense in history. The street pavilion is very similar.
The road is wide and there is no danger to defend, so we can only camp on the road and fight hard to buy time for Sima Yi to return to the army to rescue Luoyang.
If Sima Yi is delayed until he returns to the army, there is still a possibility of Luoyang being defended. If Luoyang is not lost, Sima Yi himself will become a turtle in the urn.
Therefore, the pressure on Sima Zhao was really great.
(End of chapter)
