Just in case, Sima Yi still left Xinpi to guard Luoyang, and left five thousand soldiers to guard Xinpi.
Secondly, in order to prevent Zhang Xi of Dagu Pass from taking advantage of the opportunity to attack Luoyang with his retreat cut off, Sima Yi handed over his command to his general Wang Lin and asked him to lead two thousand troops. They headed toward Dagonguan with bluffing, making an offensive stance to contain Zhang Xi.
Then, Sima Yi took 18,000 soldiers, led the troops out of the city, and quickly marched towards Yique Pass, hoping to defeat it in one battle.
Only when he arrived at Yique Pass would Sima Yi know whether his idea was right or wrong. If it was wrong, it would still be too late to withdraw to Luoyang and defend it.
The march originally required at least five or six days, but under Sima Yi's urging, it only took about four days for Sima Yi to lead his troops to Yique Pass.
At this time, Yique Pass was still guarded by Shu soldiers. The towers were covered with flags, and defenders patrolled back and forth from time to time. But there was always a strange atmosphere inside.
According to common sense, Sima Yi has already led his troops to the city. Shouldn't the Shu thieves guarding the gate mobilize urgently and be ready for a battle at any time? !
Why are you so calm and still patrolling? !
Sima Yi had a sudden thought and decided not to set up camp but to launch an attack directly.
As the forwards of the Wei army attacked a hundred steps in front of the wall and began to shoot arrows at the city tower to suppress the Shu thieves defenders, the Shu thieves on the city tower dispersed in a flurry.
Not long after, the gates of Yiqueguan were opened wide, and a group of people similar to the local powerful gentry came out, "eating pots of wine to welcome the king's master."
Only later did Sima Yi find out that the Shu thieves patrolling the city tower were just the last group of Shu thieves soldiers arranged by Zhuge Liang before leaving, with a strength of less than 500 people.
These people were used to bluff and keep an eye on the gentry and powerful people in Yique Pass to prevent them from revealing the whereabouts of the Shu thieves.
As for Zhuge Liang, he withdrew his troops and went south three days ago.
When Sima Yi heard this, his eyes suddenly lit up.
Really, Sima Yi was worried at first. Even if he guessed Zhuge Liang's response strategy correctly, if Zhuge Liang withdrew his troops too early, he might not be able to catch up. If Zhuge Liang had withdrawn his troops the last time he sent troops to Yique Pass , this time back and forth, at least ten days, enough for Zhuge Liang to withdraw his troops to Luyang.
But now it seems that Zhuge Liang has just withdrawn his troops, and it has only been less than three days since he withdrew his troops. I am afraid that he has not even gone out of Henan County.
He still has a chance to defeat the enemy in a single battle.
When he thought of this, Sima Yi immediately stopped staying at Yique Pass for long. After appeasing the wealthy gentry in Yique Pass, Sima Yi entered the city in the morning and led his troops out of the city again in the afternoon, pursuing them towards the Southern Avenue.
We must chase Zhuge Liang, defeat the retreating Shu bandits of more than 20,000 people in one fell swoop, and then turn around and surround Zhang Xi's troops, shattering the Shu bandits' dream of the Northern Expedition in one fell swoop.
Now Sima Yi no longer has time to think about what is intuitive and unintuitive. The situation he can see and the situation he can judge shows that he has a great advantage now.
Sima Yi led his troops to pursue him for three more days, until they reached a place less than thirty miles away from Liang County. Sima Yi received a report from the scouts in front, saying that he had seen the retreating army of Shu thieves, not far from the southeast. To ten miles.
The distance of ten miles is already a very short distance for the army, and it can basically be regarded as being within the scope of the battlefield.
In this case, there was only one thing Sima Yi needed to do - speed up his march and attack the Shu thieves from the rear wing as soon as possible.
They were already ten miles away from the enemy. Sima Yi believed that Zhuge Liang must have known the situation of the pursuing troops behind him at this time. Therefore, Sima Yi could not give Zhuge Liang an opportunity to adjust his deployment and arrange for the enemy to be cut off. He must launch an attack as soon as possible to disrupt Shu. The thief's retreat formation.
Only in this way can the Shu thieves' command contact be cut off as quickly as possible and achieve a great victory.
Theoretically speaking, there is nothing wrong with Sima Yi's response, and it is the most correct battlefield response. But the premise is that his enemy is really in the process of retreating unprepared.
In fact, when Sima Yi urged his front army to take the initiative to attack, but was strongly blocked by the Shu thieves' rear wing army, Sima Yi realized that something was wrong.
Less than a quarter of an hour into the battle on the battlefield, Sima Yi found that a team of 5,000 people suddenly appeared on his flank. When the leading general's flag had a big word "Zhao" on it, Sima Yi had only one thought.
No, I fell into a trap! ! !
At this time, Zhuge Liang was sitting on his bicycle frame, looking at the scene in front of him with a smile, feeling quite emotional. It was not easy, and he finally deceived this old fox.
The moment when the trap is really caught may be as simple as one side retreating, the other chasing, and then the ambush comes out, and the matter is settled. But the series of arrangements before falling into the trap is the real key.
Zhuge Liang also spent a lot of effort and paid a heavy price to lure this old fox into the trap.
But now it seems that everything is worth it.
By the way, Sima Yi's nickname "Old Fox" was given by Zhang Xi. Zhuge Liang actually didn't like Zhang Xi's tendency to give people nicknames. After all, his nickname was really not that great. The elegant Zhuge fish head? ! How could Mr. Wolong sound so powerful?
Of course Zhuge Liang was not happy about being a "victim" before, but this time, Zhuge Liang really felt that the nickname given by Zhang Xi was really right. Sima Yizhen was just like an old fox, trying to lure him into the trap. too difficult.
But fortunately, now this old fox has finally fallen into the trap. The rest depends on whether he can keep this fox completely and defeat Croyang in one fell swoop.
It's really hard to delay any longer. If we delay any longer, although there are preparations on the Jingzhou side, the core figure leading the Soochow side this time is Zhou Yu after all, so we can't be too careless.
With such thoughts, Zhuge Liang waved his hand, and the rest of the army pressed forward, striving to end the battle as soon as possible.
Fifteen thousand people are holding the front, and five thousand people are attacking the flanks. The leader is still the old general Zhao Yun. Look where Sima Yi goes! ! !
At this time, the Wei army was already in a panic, but at this time, Sima Yi was still trying to adjust his formation.
This kind of moment is the moment that best reflects the gold content of the first army coach.
forward? !
We've sunk too deep and can't get out, so we have to give up.
There were 5,000 Shu troops on the flank. Sima Yi gritted his teeth and sent 5,000 soldiers from his central army to resist on the flank.
Don't seek to retreat the enemy, just seek to block it for a while.
Then Sima Yi ordered his Chinese army to move closer to him and use himself as an arrow to retreat! ! !
Indecisiveness leads to disaster! ! !
If you continue to fight hard, you will only be slowly surrounded by Shu thieves. After the flanks are defeated, your own central army will inevitably be directly threatened.
At that time, even if you want to withdraw, you will still face the pursuit of Shu thieves.
It's better to retreat quickly while the Shu thieves haven't completely surrounded them yet, and the Shu thieves on the flanks haven't defeated the intercepting troops they sent.
How much can be withdrawn?
Sima Yi's decisive decision to cut off his tail to survive really caught Zhuge Liang and Zhao Yun off guard. Isn't this too shameless? !
Yes, the current battle situation is that although the Wei army fell into an ambush plan, the front army was in panic, and there were enemy troops attacking from the flanks, and they were unprepared, but the problem is that the strength of both sides is now equal.
It is not that Sima Yi failed to make adjustments, use the Chinese army to intercept Zhao Yun's troops on the flanks, and concentrate his forces to break through Zhuge Liang's encirclement.
As long as he can break out of the encirclement, Sima Yi will not only be able to escape, he may even launch a counterattack and attack Zhuge Liang's troops.
With a strength ratio of 20,000 to 18,000, no matter how you look at it, it’s not like a strong man’s arm will be cut off immediately in a battle, right? !
Zhuge Liang was already prepared for Sima Yi to attack his central army and prepared a response strategy in advance. But Zhuge Liang really didn't expect your response of running away at the beginning of the war.
But Sima Yi didn’t think so.
Yes, 20,000 versus 18,000, I still have hope of fighting.
But the problem is, Zhuge Liang has put so much effort into Baal's design just to lure himself here and then set up an ambush to besiege him. How could he only have such a little back-up plan? !
What I see now is Zhuge Liang's 20,000 men. The flanks are currently only 5,000 Zhao Yun's men. But are you sure that there are only so many ambush troops? !
What if Zhang Xi at Dagonguan was actually bluffing and he himself had already led his troops to this area? !
Sima Yi could still stop Zhao Yun's 5,000 men, but if Zhang Xi joined the battlefield with 10,000 men, completely cutting off his own retreat, he would die without even knowing how.
Well, even to take a step back, Zhang Xi did not lead the troops, but Zhuge Liang rushed to set up an ambush at this place, which means that Zhuge Liang had made preparations in advance and took advantage of the right time and place.
And what Sima Yi can control is only one person, Renhe. Judging from the current situation, his soldiers can't really be called "he".
Since the beginning of the war, the Wei army has been retreating and losing ground. Although it has safely retreated to Chang'an, its morale has not been too high.
Coupled with Sima Yi's own defensive strategy, it also affected the morale of the army to a certain extent.
Taking the initiative to attack this time, Sima Yi successfully mobilized the enthusiasm of his soldiers and improved their morale. However, the problem is that this time he directly fell into the opponent's trap. If he continues to fight like this, the morale of his soldiers will only get worse. Hit the lower.
His own soldiers are not conducive to long-term fighting at all. If he fights hard, he will just give away his life in vain. So why should Sima Yi fight hard with the Shu thieves?
If we don't withdraw some troops back to Luoyang while we still can, and bury all these 18,000 soldiers, including ourselves, in this place less than thirty miles away from Liang County, then Luoyang will be ruined.
In the shortest possible time, Sima Yi made what he thought was the most correct decision. The strong man cut off his wrist and returned to defend Luoyang.
(End of chapter)
