To conquer Xiangcheng in ten days, not only Chen Tai didn't think of it, but even Guo Huai himself didn't think of it.
You know, it took Guo Huai eight days to lead his army from Xuchang to Xiangcheng, and only two days were actually used to attack the city.
It takes two days to conquer a city. Unless the defenders have no intention of holding on, it will be impossible no matter what.
Obviously, the defenders of Xiangcheng had no intention of holding on to Xiangcheng. Guo Huai almost defeated them with one attack. If there wasn't something fishy in this, they wouldn't believe it even if they killed Guo Huai.
But the problem is that Guo Huai is not in the mood to care about what's wrong with the Shu thieves voluntarily abandoning Xiangcheng. He knows that if he doesn't lead his troops back to Shangcai to take charge, Zhu Zhi of Soochow may soon send troops.
Therefore, after Guo Huai captured Shangcai, he waited for Chen Tai and Jia Kui to join him. After briefly describing the siege process, he insisted on leading his troops back to Shangcai.
It's really hard for Chen Tai to keep him by force.
Guo Huai is already interesting enough. Not only did he help you defend Xuchang, but he also helped you capture Xiangcheng and almost regained the entire territory of Yingchuan. It is somewhat unjustifiable for you to stop him and prevent him from returning to defend his own defense area.
Therefore, Chen Tai allocated a lot of money, food, and silk to Guo Huai, and personally escorted Guo Huai out of the city and back to the army.
As for what Guo Huai warned Chen Tai before leaving, Chen Tai also listened.
Taking Xiangcheng in two days is problematic no matter how you think about it. Guo Huai can ignore this issue, but Chen Tai cannot but consider it.
So, by doing this, the Shu thieves are tempting themselves to go deeper and march towards Luyang or Kunyang? !
As long as you take the initiative to march in those two directions, will there be a very large encirclement network waiting for you? !
This is not impossible.
Not only Chen Tai thinks so, but Jia Kui also thinks this is very possible.
After all, Xiangcheng fell too quickly.
Therefore, Chen Tai had to send a large number of scouts to look for any traces of large-scale military activities near Luyang or Kunyang.
However, to Chen Tai and Jia Kui's expectation, there were no traces of anything strange.
The only trace of the movement of the army that can be found is still the trace that the main force of Shu thieves went north to Liang County and joined Zhuge Liang and others to march into Luoyang.
This time, both Chen Tai and Jia Kui were a little confused.
Could it be that the Shu thieves had to abandon the defense simply because they sent too many troops to the north and did not have enough troops to garrison Xiangcheng? !
If this is the case, Chen Tai once again sent scouts in the direction of Luyang and Kunyang.
Finally, I got information that there were three thousand Shu thieves garrisoned in each of the two cities, and the guard generals were named Zhang Yi and Wang Ping.
Not even Chen Tai, not even Jia Kui knew who these two people were.
I really don't blame these two people. Chen Tai has been with his father all year round. Now he has no choice but to stay in Luoyang to lead troops and help Sima Yi. He only knows some famous officials and generals in the enemy's army.
For example, Zhang Xi, Zhuge Liang, Wei Yan, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Pang Tong, Chen Tai and others have never even heard of Deng Ai's reputation.
And Jia Kui is stationed in the east all year round. If you want to talk about the generals in Soochow, Jia Kui may know them all, but he really doesn't know much about the Shu thieves.
Therefore, the capabilities of these two people can only be analyzed through paper information.
As a result, the paper intelligence told them that these two were just generals.
The gold content of generals with mixed numbers in these days, really means that they are not ranked high in the army at all.
Back then, the two partial generals Guan Yu and Zhou Yu were famous all over the world, but now, even the rogue generals and building and boat generals are mostly mediocre.
The miscellaneous generals really don’t mean anything.
From an experience point of view, if a person is stationed in Fancheng all year round and has no promotion experience, you can't tell whether he is good at guarding the city or whether he is really incompetent.
The other is that in the time when the Jin people were born, the military rank of a foreign general was largely determined by the number of his tribesmen.
Some leaders of large tribes can even get the title of cavalry general from the imperial court, but that title is just an honorary thing and really doesn't prove anything.
Therefore, these two men each led 3,000 troops to guard the two places of Luyang and Kunyang. Looking at the Northern Expeditionary Army's food road, at least based on their strength on paper, they seemed to be quite easy to bully.
Chen Tai was a little moved.
But after all, Jia Kui is more experienced and more mature than Chen Tai.
Even if these two people are trash, Zhuge Liang is not a trash, right?
Well, even if Zhuge Liang is a civil servant and does not understand military affairs, Zhang Xi, Zhao Yun, and Wu Yi are not idiots, right? !
Could these people not know the importance of the food road to the army, so they would send two incompetent wastes to guard the food road? !
So, it’s better to be cautious, don’t rush to attack, and observe for a while before making any move.
When Chen Tai thought about it, it seemed that Jia Kui was right.
Moreover, in terms of battlefield experience, Jia Kui was indeed stronger than himself. Chen Tai felt that he had to obey his words.
After all, Chen Tai was Chen Qun's son. Although he behaved like a kid from an aristocratic family, he had nothing to do with a playboy. He still knew what he should and shouldn't listen to.
In this way, after Chen Tai occupied Xiangcheng, he temporarily stood still in Xiangcheng and observed the situation.
For a time, the war in the direction of Yingchuan fell into calm again.
At the same time, Sima Yi, who was in Luoyang, could still keep his composure, but his partner Xin Pi, a seventy-year-old man, was even more out of control than he, a middle-aged man in his forties.
The main reason why Xinpi couldn't calm down was that Zhuge Liang led his troops to leave Liang County, divided his troops into two groups, and occupied Yique Pass and Dagu Pass.
Those were the two southern passes among the eight passes in Luoyang, and people were beaten right to their doorsteps.
What's even more terrible is that Xinpi suggested that Sima Yi send troops to guard the two passes to prevent the Shu thieves from easily occupying the two passes, but Sima Yi didn't listen at all. He really didn't send a single soldier to Luoyang, he just guarded the city of Luoyang so calmly. move.
What are the Eight Passes in Luoyang? In Sima Yi's eyes, these two so-called passes have no military significance at all except for collecting taxes.
Why divide the troops to guard him?
Anyway, Sima Yi really wasn't worried about losing the two passes, but Xinpi was very anxious.
Well, even if you are not worried about losing the two passes, you should still be a little more cautious about Mengjin Ferry in the north.
There is not only our connection with Hedong and Hanoi counties, but the two sons who came to help you with various supplies are still fighting to the death there.
If we really let the Shu thieves attack Mengjin, let alone cutting off the material supply channels, your two sons probably won’t be able to come back either! ! !
Don't talk about it, Sima Yi is indeed a little worried.
But the problem is that Sima Yi actually knows very well that the goal of the Shu thieves is to allow him to take the initiative to attack from Luoyang as much as possible. Whether it is attacking out of the city or dividing his troops for rescue, this is what the Shu thieves hope for most.
Today, there are only 35,000 people guarding Luoyang in total, and the Shu thieves in the south also have about 37,000 people. The pressure on this side is huge, and Sima Yi will be very strong. If he rashly divides his troops to rescue Meng Jin, then he will This is playing into the hands of the Shu thieves.
Of course, Sima Yi didn't care about the life and death of his two sons, but the problem was that there was really no need to rush.
The two brothers Sima Division and Sima Zhao retreated to Mengjin Port with nearly 20,000 people, while the Shu thieves only had more than 20,000 people attacking. The strength comparison was almost one to one, even if Sima Division led Hedong The soldiers may be a ragtag group, but the numbers are there, and they can last for a certain period of time no matter what.
It's not that Sima Yi didn't save Meng Jin, but that Meng Jindu was not yet at the point where he had to send reinforcements himself.
In guarding Luoyang, the most important thing now is to compare who can hold his breath more. Once someone can't hold their breath anymore, they will really fall into a passive situation.
Sima Yi was very aware of the current situation, and he didn't feel that he could control the situation, so he was still waiting.
Wait for Zhuge Liang to make a move.
Sima Yi believed that Zhuge Liang would not continue to spend so much. If he continued to spend like this, the damage to the Shu thieves would be great. If Sili and Wei really wanted to create a lose-lose situation and let the rats of Soochow take advantage. , I believe this is not what Zhuge Liang wants to see.
Of course, Sima Yi didn't mean to hold on. He was not that cowardly yet, and the current strength of the Wei Dynasty was not enough for Sima Yi to adopt such a cowardly strategy. However, an attack requires a suitable fighter opportunity, and troops cannot be sent out at will. , if you want to send troops, you must pursue victory with one blow.
This is Sima Yi's plan now.
Zhuge Liang, who was south of Luoyang, independently chose to divide his troops into two groups, occupying Yique Pass along the way and Dagugu Pass along the way. In Sima Yi's view, it was simply an act of weakening his own offensive strength. Why should he take the initiative to attack in this situation.
Just let them divide their troops like this. Anyway, in terms of the number of troops, they still have an advantage.
There is a saying in the art of war: divide it if it is doubled, surround it if it is five times, attack it if it is ten times. Even if you include the Shu thieves who besieged Mengjin, the strength comparison is less than two to one, so why should I be anxious! ! !
(End of chapter)
