Cao Rui ultimately did not adopt Chen Qun's suggestion and activated Xiahou Ba.
The reason is simple. Although Xiahou Ba is a clan general and has a reputation for being good at military strategy, he also has a fatal flaw - he has no battle experience.
Now Cao Rui, after being disappointed with Sima Yi and his son, no longer trusts those so-called reputations.
Especially the kind of person who has never been on the battlefield but is boasted as someone who understands military strategy and military affairs. When Cao Rui heard this, he was wary.
At the beginning, this group of aristocratic families also boasted about Sima Yi and his son in the same way, and they even boasted about "Sima Ten Dragons". But in the end, why did my Luoyang disappear? !
In Cao Rui's view, Xiahou Ba can be used, but he can only go out with the army to test the value of his abilities on the battlefield. As the commander of an army, Cao Rui is really worried.
Therefore, Cao Rui proposed his own candidate - General Qin Lang.
Although Qin Lang did not have much military experience, he only experienced the counterattack battle, and that battle ended with the Wei Dynasty's disastrous defeat.
However, both Guo Huai and Cao Zhen praised Qin Lang's performance afterwards, saying that he was humble, led troops well, and was adaptable to changes, and he was a good general.
In addition, Qin Lang can be said to be the only one who has achieved military exploits in that counterattack. Qin Lang once defeated the troops left behind by the Shu thieves and killed the Shu general Jufu.
This is a person that Cao Rui can trust and who does have experience in leading troops on the front line.
Although as the commander-in-chief of the army, he may still have insufficient qualifications for the time being, no matter how he looks at it, Cao Rui is a more suitable candidate than Xiahou Ba.
When Chen Qun saw this posture, he couldn't recommend it himself. The emperor thought Qin Lang could do it, so what nonsense could he say?
Another one, although Qin Lang is not as qualified as Guo Huai, he is indeed stronger than Xiahou Ba. And judging from his performance in the last counterattack, Qin Lang is not the kind of person who is arbitrary. He can put down his own arrogance and is willing to obey others. suggestions.
Let Qin Lang lead the troops south to guard Hedong, and at the same time have Sima Division and Sima Zhao brothers to help make plans, and at the same time coordinate the relationship with the Hedong family, it should not be a big problem.
Although there are military risks in the defense of Hedong and Hanoi counties, the most important thing is probably the political confrontation.
As a close confidant of the emperor, Qin Lang represented the emperor's attitude. When he went out to control Hedong, his political value was much higher than his military value. In fact, he was also a good candidate.
Chen Qun thought about it for a long time and felt that Qin Lang might not be a good choice.
So let’s do it.
The monarch and his ministers reached a consensus, and Chen Qun began to mobilize troops and generals. Cao Rui was also anxiously waiting for Cao Zhen to return to the army. It was also very important to go south to support Hulao Pass.
Now Cao Rui is really worried about Sima Yi. Even though Cao Rui knows that Hulao Pass is strong, but Sima Yi is guarding there, Cao Rui is really worried that one day he will end up like Luoyang.
Therefore, Cao Rui urgently needed Cao Zhen to return to Yecheng as soon as possible, and then go south to take over from Sima Yi to command the defense of Hulao Pass and guard the gateway to Yanzhou from Henan.
And Cao Zhen did not let Cao Rui wait too long. In mid-February, Cao Zhen led his troops back to Yecheng, but he did not meet the emperor in person at the first time.
It's not that Cao Zhen has any special ideas, it's just that Cao Zhen can no longer directly enter the palace to meet the emperor.
Cao Zhen is ill and has been for half a month.
This disease is either serious or minor - typhoid fever.
Typhoid fever in these days is fine if the smaller ones can survive it with their own immunity, but if the typhoid fever enters the lungs of the older ones, it is like going to hell.
When Cao Zhen led his troops to pacify Liaodong, it happened to be winter again. I believe everyone knows what the state of the three eastern provinces was like.
Not to mention that Cao Zhen was still leading the army in battle. During the march, even as the commander of the first army, he could only take limited measures to keep warm.
And to be honest, Cao Zhen is also a bit unlucky.
After leading the troops to Liaodong, Cao Zhen survived the confrontation in the previous month and the decisive battle in the middle month. However, on the way back to the army, he reached Youzhou, and the weather began to warm up. Cao Zhen was infected with the wind and cold.
It was just a minor symptom at first, nothing serious. Cao Zhen also felt that his health didn't matter, and that going south to support Luoyang was the most important thing. He didn't care about it at the time.
But when the leader reached the boundary bridge, which was only more than two hundred miles away from Yecheng, Cao Zhen immediately fell ill.
And this is one of the reasons why Cao Zhen did not lead his troops back to Yecheng until mid-February, half a month later than his original plan.
Cao Zhen really couldn't walk fast, and he even reached the point where he could only rely on a bicycle to return to the army.
The second reason that affected the speed of returning to the army was the army's sergeants. At this time, the sequelae of the Liaodong Operation slowly began to appear.
In the bitter cold land of Liaodong, even the general Cao Zhen had to freeze when fighting there, let alone the ordinary soldiers on the front line.
The 40,000 Jizhou soldiers Cao Zhen brought to Liaodong all had a lot of frostbite on their bodies. As time went by and the weather warmed up, these frostbites broke out collectively.
That is to say, the military doctors in Cao Wei's army are not just for food, and they are somewhat prepared for this. Otherwise, Cao Zhen would not have arrived at Yecheng in mid-February, and he might not have been able to reach Yecheng in another month.
But even so, each of the soldiers who returned from the victory in pacifying Liaodong suffered from frostbite, and among them, there were probably less than 20,000 of them who did not affect the battle.
It is not impossible for the remaining soldiers to recover, but they need at least one or two months of rest before they can recover. At least in the short term, they will no longer be able to go into battle to kill the enemy.
Cao Rui, the depressed one. What does it mean that the house leaks and it rains all night? !
It is now.
Forty thousand Jizhou soldiers defeated Gongsun Yuan without thousands of casualties. However, one frostbite caused more than 10,000 soldiers to lie down and need to rest for two months.
But now, Jizhou soldiers still need to go south to support Hulao Pass, and the commander-in-chief Cao Zhen, who is leading the army, can only lie in bed.
What can be done? !
Cao Rui can't force Cao Zhen to go to war despite being sick!
In the past two years, the decline of the clan generals has made Cao Rui quite sentimental. Xia Houshang died of illness at the end of the previous year, and Cao Xiu also passed away in the middle of last year because he could not survive the attack of back carbuncle.
It's only February this year. If something unexpected happens to Cao Zhen again, Cao Rui will really go to the Ancestral Temple to confess to Emperor Taizu Wu.
At this time, Cao Rui could only persuade Cao Zhen to rest in peace and recuperate. As for going south to support him, how about calling Xiahou Ba first and talking to him? !
But even so, Cao Rui still felt a little headache and worried.
It's not that he's worried about Xiahou Ba, but Cao Rui is worried about Sima Yi.
If Cao Zhen could go south, Cao Rui would of course choose to let Cao Zhen lead the troops. When they arrived at Hulao Pass, they would directly pass the edict to deprive Sima Yi of his military power and hand it over to Cao Zhen as commander.
But if Xiahou Ba is now appointed as the commander-in-chief of the reinforcements going south, Cao Rui will no longer be able to deprive Sima Yi of his military power. Cao Rui will be even more worried if Xiahou Ba is appointed to command the battle to defend Yanzhou.
Cao Rui did not dare to think about the consequences of letting a man with no experience in commanding an army rush onto the battlefield. With Xia Houmao's lessons learned, Cao Rui would not make the same mistake as his father.
Therefore, Cao Rui really had no choice but to choose to believe Sima Yi again.
But if you continue to believe Sima Yi's words, Cao Rui's heart is so noisy. It's really bad.
In the end, there was no other way. In order to relieve himself, Cao Rui called Chen Qun, Man Chong, and Liu Ye to ask whether it was appropriate to do so. After the repeated efforts of the three people, Cao Rui decided to go with it. Give Sima Yi another chance.
However, Cao Rui somewhat put a tight spell on Sima Yi - he issued an edict to Sima Yi to stick to Hulao Pass and not to send troops to fight without authorization.
In the Battle of Luoyang, if Sima Yi hadn't gone out and killed 15,000 people at once, how could he not have been able to defend Luoyang? !
As for Xiahou Ba, Cao Rui also gave Xiahou Ba a right - to maintain integrity and control the three armies.
It is to follow the example when Sima Yi was appointed to stay in Luoyang, and assign Xinbi as his deputy to Sima Yi to restrain Sima Yi's power when necessary.
This is an insurance, and it is in the hands of Xiahou Ba. During normal times, Xiahou Ba has no right to control Sima Yi. But if Sima Yi has nothing to do and sends troops to wander around, Xiahou Ba can directly deprive Sima Yi of his military power and take over Hulao. About defense.
Anyway, Cao Rui feels that the most important thing now is to stabilize the defense lines in various places and not give the Shu thieves a chance to continue to expand. Then in the future, when his troops are detonated and the army recovers, it will not be impossible for him to regain his strength. The possibility of seizing Luoyang.
After making these arrangements, Cao Rui relaxed a little and asked Xiahou Ba to lead his troops south as soon as possible. But before the army set off, Cao Rui received another news that made him unhappy.
Zhuge Dan of the Eastern Wu Dynasty sent troops from Xiapi to occupy Pengcheng Kingdom.
Pengcheng State, although Cao Wei has actually given up in order to shrink its troops to defend Yanzhou, but Soochow has never occupied it, so this place is still Cao Wei's territory in theory.
Now Cao Rui has just lost Luoyang, and you, Soochow, have invaded and occupied Pengcheng. This is somewhat adding insult to injury.
Even though Cao Rui was mentally prepared for the loss of Pengcheng Kingdom, he was still very unhappy.
What made Cao Rui even more unhappy was Chen Qun's proposal to send an envoy to Jiangdong to explore the possibility of joining forces with Sun Quan of the Eastern Wu Dynasty to fight against the Shu thieves.
Now that we are reduced to seeking an alliance with the Soochow gang, do you think Cao Rui can be happy?
(End of chapter)
