Zhuge Liang and Zhang Xi, who were in Liang County, naturally didn't know Sun Quan's secret plans. Their main focus now was on how to capture Luoyang.
Zhuge Liang's division of troops did not exceed Sima Yi's expectations, and Sima Yi finally took the lead and blocked all the loopholes around Luoyang in advance, preventing Zhuge Liang from cutting off Luoyang's wings.
If this continues, Luoyang will be hard to fight.
From a military perspective, capturing any city in this era requires nothing more than two methods.
First, the troops are crushed and the attack is successful.
Second, isolate the city and wait until the food in the city is exhausted to surrender.
Obviously, at present, neither method is suitable.
The Han army did not have enough troops to crush the Luoyang defenders, and the effect of isolating the city was not satisfactory.
Zhao Yun and Wu Yi attacked Xuchang in Yingchuan. It went smoothly at first, and they easily occupied Xiangcheng. Then they set out from Xiangcheng and arrived at Xuchang.
But then, the march didn't go smoothly.
While Chen Tai defended the fortified city of Xuchang, he asked Yanzhou and Runan for help. Less than half a month later, after Guo Huai and Jia Kui came to help one after another, Zhao Yun and Wu Yi's attack could only stop at Xuchang.
Deng Ai led his troops to sneak attack Hulao Pass in an attempt to cut off the connection between Henan County and Chenliu County. However, according to Deng Ai's report, the attack failed. The Wei army arrived at Hulao Pass first as expected and defended the pass. Deng Ai only brought 10,000 troops. It was too difficult to conquer Hulao Pass with this small force.
When the Eighteenth Route Princes attacked the place where Dong and the coalition forces could not attack, Deng Ai was unable to do anything.
The only good news is that for Mengjin, Zhang Fei and Wei Yan have joined forces and are clearing Mengjin's outer defense line in an attempt to besiege Mengjin.
However, after the Sima brothers retreated to Mengjin, they defended themselves at Mengjin Crossing, with Hanoi behind them. Although the support from the two counties in Hedong only had so many soldiers, they could still provide all kinds of money, food and materials.
As the saying goes, there must be brave men under heavy rewards. Although the Hedong soldiers brought by Sima Division were poorly organized, they were able to explode into extremely high combat effectiveness in a short period of time when stimulated by sufficient material conditions.
For a while, they were at a stalemate with the Northern Han Army and the county soldiers led by Zhang Fei and Wei Yan.
But after all, this state cannot last too long. It may be able to be sustained for a while, but after the stalemate lasts for a long time, Mengjindu will be the most vulnerable place to be broken through.
Therefore, the question Zhuge Liang has to consider now is whether to continue such a strong attack and strive to completely cut off Luoyang's wings, or to choose to focus on defense, seize enemy reinforcements, and then concentrate his forces to besiege Luoyang.
No matter which one you choose, it seems to take a lot of time.
Although, before the Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang was also prepared for a long-term war. The preparation of military rations was based on the standard of one year of fighting. But there is a saying that once the war continues for more than one year, it will definitely have a negative impact on the people's livelihood of the Han Dynasty. Produce immeasurable impact.
This has nothing to do with the size of the land, but is determined by the economic foundation of this era. People's livelihood production under the small-scale peasant economy is very fragile. Natural disasters, wars, heavy state taxes, etc., may cause a very heavy blow to the small-scale peasant economy.
Zhuge Liang may not fully understand the causal relationship here, but with his IQ and experience, it is impossible for him to not understand these principles.
Therefore, if possible, Zhuge Liang still hopes that a quick victory can be achieved.
Furthermore, Zhuge Liang did not want to harvest a dilapidated Heluo area.
After much deliberation, Zhuge Liang decided to gather his troops again and attack Luoyang.
However, where to withdraw the troops also needs to be carefully considered.
Deng Ai went to sneak attack Hulao Pass and just withdraw the troops. It was impossible to capture Hulao Pass anyway, and the defenders of Hulao Pass did not dare to withdraw easily. They had to ensure the Wei army's rescue channel.
Deng Ai's withdrawal of troops has nothing to do with it.
Regarding Yingchuan, Zhuge Liang felt that he could actually withdraw his troops.
Chen Tai's purpose is to defend Yingchuan. Once the Northern Expedition retreats, Chen Tai will inevitably choose to follow up and regain the Yingchuan counties. It is still unknown whether he will lead troops to Luoyang for support.
Another thing is that even if Chen Tai has the heart to support Luoyang, he does not have enough troops.
Apart from anything else, once the siege of Xuchang is withdrawn, Guo Huai of Runan will definitely return to the defense as soon as possible. Of course, if Zhu Ju of Runan sends troops to occupy the three counties of Runan, it will be good news for the Han Dynasty.
As for Mengjindu, it seems that they really cannot withdraw.
Mengjin Ferry connects Hedong, the two counties in Hanoi and Luoyang. If the siege is withdrawn there, not only the reinforcements from Hebei can come, but the material support from Hanoi and the two counties in Hedong can also cross the Yellow River and be delivered to Luoyang.
As a result, Luoyang will be too difficult to fight.
Therefore, if possible, Zhuge Liang still hopes that Wei Yan, Zhang Fei and others can conquer Mengjin and completely block Luoyang's supply channels.
Moreover, 10,000 people were withdrawn from Hulao Pass and 10,000 people were withdrawn from Yingchuan. Together with the 17,000 people in Liang County, there were nearly 40,000 soldiers.
It's basically the same as the Luoyang defenders. It's still a bit difficult to fight.
With a one-to-one comparison of military strength, it would be impossible to even siege a city, let alone break it.
Unless Sima Yi is a fool like Xia Houmao, otherwise, this Luoyang is really difficult to fight.
He had to think of other ways to lure Sima Yi out of the city.
"I want to lead Zilong to march into Yique Pass, and Yuan Chang's master and apprentice will lead the army to march into Dagu Pass. What does Yuan Chang think?!" Zhuge Liang asked Zhang Xi while looking at the map.
Zhang Xi looked at the map carefully and was a little confused.
daguguan
Zhuge Liang's previous operations were all about gathering the dragon's troops to increase its attack capability. How could he then redistribute his troops after gathering his troops? !
In this case, why not divide the troops and attack honestly? As long as Mengjin can be captured and Hulao Pass blocked, Luoyang will be isolated and helpless.
Although this is very time-consuming and may take half a year, as long as Luoyang can be captured, this Northern Expedition can be regarded as a complete victory.
What kind of operation is this after gathering the troops and dividing them for the second time? !
Zhang Xi looked at Zhuge Liang incomprehensively.
Zhuge Liang naturally understood what Zhang Xi meant and began to explain, "The purpose of gathering troops is to make Sima Yi believe that we want to attack Luoyang, and to divide the troops is to make Sima Yi think that there is an opportunity to take advantage of my desire to do this."
Zhuge Liang started to do "such and such" in front of Zhang Xi.
As for Zhang Xi, the more he listened, the more he felt that Zhuge Liang's strategy sounded a little familiar. Isn't this a replica of the Battle of Lucheng? !
Divide the troops to defend, then hold on to one place, take the initiative to retreat to the other, lure the enemy to pursue and surround them, and finally set up an ambush to encircle and annihilate. This is the Battle of Lucheng, the battle where Zhuge Liang defeated Sima Yi with three thousand soldiers.
But there is a problem. In the Battle of Lucheng, Zhuge Liang used water to transport military supplies and temporarily solved the logistics problem. However, the Wei army did not know this and thought that the Han army was coming from afar and it was inconvenient to transport food and could not last long.
And Zhuge Liang even put on a special show, cutting the wheat in Shanggui, making Sima Yi really think that the Han army was short of food and had to choose to supply it on the spot.
After Zhuge Liang retreated all the way, Sima Yi had no doubt that he was hotly pursuing him. The Shu thieves were short of food. Once they were defeated, they would have truly retreated. There could be no fraud.
But now, the Northern Expedition of the Han Dynasty was after the autumn harvest in September, and now it is late October. The grain that should be harvested has been harvested long ago, and there is no place to harvest wheat.
Another thing, this Northern Expedition has just been carried out for less than two months. Even if you tell Sima Yi clearly that there is a shortage of food, Sima Yi may not believe it! ! !
It is not difficult to transport grain from Jingzhou to Sili.
How could Sima Yi, that old fox, easily take the initiative to send troops to attack, and how could he easily choose to pursue and give Zhuge Liang a chance to set up an ambush midway? !
Zhang Xi raised his question, but Zhuge Liang just smiled and said, "So. Liang wants to withdraw his troops!!!"
After speaking, Zhuge Liang pointed his finger at Xiangcheng in Yingchuan County and said, "If Xiangcheng is lost, our army's food supply will be in danger. How can Sima Yi not believe that I will withdraw my troops and rescue him?!"
Zhang Xi suddenly realized something, but immediately objected and said, "With the fall of Xiangcheng, our army's food route will be exposed to the military peak of the Wei army in Yingchuan. In such a dangerous move, the prime minister is not afraid of any eventuality?!"
With Zhang Xi's temperament, he would definitely not agree to such a dangerous thing.
Zhang Xi even looked at Zhuge Liang with suspicion. How could Zhuge Liang, who was always cautious in his life, take the initiative to make such a risky decision? !
Could it be that this Zhuge Yutou has also been time-traveled? !
But Zhuge Liang just shook his head helplessly and said, "The army is so strong. Liang wants to defeat the Wei thieves quickly. He can only do this. Liang thought that he only needs two generals to guard Kunyang and Luyang. Although the food road is in danger, , but it won’t stop. This may not be impossible to try.”
Zhang Xi continued to think carefully. It seemed that what Zhuge Liang said made sense.
There are two important nodes on the army's food route. One is Luyang. The army's food and grass pass directly there, ensuring that the food and grass are sent from Luyang to Liang County. The other is Kunyang. As long as Kunyang is not lost, the Wei army will have no way to bypass Luyang and directly cut off the grain and grass sent from Nanyang to Luyang.
If these two places are not lost, then the integrity of the grain road will still be there.
Although he would face harassment from the Wei army at any time, resulting in loss of food transportation, it would not be to the point where the army would actually run out of food. The attacks on Kunyang and Luyang were enough to give Sima Yi the determination to take the initiative and decide in a battle.
It's just that it's still a bit too risky.
And the most important thing is
"Who can guard these two cities?!" Zhang Xi asked.
You can't let me and Zhao Yun go guard Kunyang and Luyang. If you do, Chen Tai of Yingchuan, let alone Sima Yi, might not take the initiative to occupy Xiangcheng.
Any fool knows there must be something fishy here.
Zhuge Liang smiled and said, "Wang Zijun and Zhang Boqi are enough."
Wang Ping and Zhang Yi, yes, it’s indeed possible! ! !
(End of chapter)
