Cao Zhen had 30,000 soldiers from Bingzhou and prefectures, and according to the news from Cao Wei Xizuo of Hongnong County across the river, Wang Chang's Shu army only had about 14,000 soldiers, and they had to be divided to guard the main roads leading to Luoyang. City.
At least in terms of crossing the river, Cao Zhen felt that he still had an absolute advantage.
Although it can be expected that this will be a hard battle and Wang Chang will definitely mobilize heavy troops to defend the ferry, Cao Zhen feels that he has the advantage of troops and the defense facilities at Hongnong ferry are not too strong. There is still hope for a hard fight. of.
Then Cao Zhen successfully crossed the river.
It's not that Cao Zhen's commanding ability has reached the point where he can overwhelm Wang Chang, nor is it that Wang Chang deliberately fails to contribute. The real reason is that Wang Chang took the initiative to abandon the defense of Hongnong Ferry and concentrated his troops in the Mianchi and Xin'an areas.
There is only one road leading from Hongnong to Henan County. If Cao Zhen wants to lead his army to attack Luoyang, he must take this road. There is no second choice.
Therefore, Wang Chang felt that instead of using inferior troops to fight a war of attrition with Cao Zhen at the ferry, it was better to retreat proactively and take advantage of the city defense advantages of the counties along this avenue to fight a defensive battle with Cao Zhen.
In this way, with the troops Wang Chang had on hand, it was not impossible to contain Cao Zhen's 30,000 troops.
The reason why he did not start to block Cao Zhen's army in Shaanxi County, which is closer to the Yellow River, was Wang Chang's intention.
When blocking Cao Zhen's army in Shaanxi County, Cao Zhen had his back on the Yellow River and used the Yellow River waterway to transport supplies and baggage. Wang Chang had no choice at all.
It would be better to take the initiative to shrink the troops, set up defenses in Mianchi, and take the initiative to lengthen Cao Zhen's logistics supply line. If so, there will be more things that can be done.
But no matter what, Cao Zhen finally led 30,000 Bingzhou County troops to capture Shaanxian County and achieved his first victory since the counterattack on Heluo.
But Cao Zhen couldn't be happy.
Everyone is a general who has led troops for many years. It is impossible for a commander of Cao Zhen's level not to know what Wang Chang is planning.
What makes Cao Zhen depressed is that he still has to follow the strategic route set by Wang Chang, because he has no other choice.
It's really unpleasant to feel that the initiative on the battlefield is not in your own hands.
But the situation was such that Cao Zhen could not stand still in Shaanxi County. He had to move east as soon as possible, attack Luoyang, and cooperate with Sima Yi east of Luoyang to form a double-team on Luoyang.
You have to do it even if you bite the bullet.
For this reason, Cao Zhen led his troops straight to Mianchi County, where he and Wang Chang engaged in an offensive and defensive battle.
Although Cao Zhen had the military advantage, Wang Chang also had the defensive advantage of defending the city.
The final victory or defeat is unknown for the time being, but for a while, Cao Zhen's advance was blocked to the west of Mianchi by Wang Chang.
At this time, Zhuge Liang, who was stationed in Luoyang, and Sima Yi, who was attacking Gong County, had already noticed that the Heluo war was in a stalemate, but neither of them was too worried because they both had back-ups.
Sima Yi's back-up force was the Yanzhou County soldiers led by Jia Kui.
As long as Jia Kui's Yanzhou County soldiers can come to the rescue in time and re-establish a military advantage in Gong County, Sima Yi believes that Deng Ai and Wang Ping in front of him will not be able to stop him for long.
Zhuge Liang's back-up force was also reinforcements. He was waiting for the Guanzhong County soldiers led by Liu Yin and the Hanzhong soldiers led by Wu Yi to rush to Heluo for reinforcements.
As long as these two armies enter the pass and threaten Yingchuan County, or cooperate with Wang Chang to encircle and annihilate Cao Zhen's Bingzhou soldiers, once a breakthrough is achieved, the situation on the battlefield will inevitably reverse. Sima Yi has no other choice except retreating to Hulao Pass. .
Both of them are waiting for their backup variables to arrive.
Relatively speaking, Sima Yi's backhand variables are closer. Yanzhou is right next to Henan County. As long as Jia Kui completes the gathering of troops, the support route will be much closer than Liu Yin, Wu Yi and others.
But Yanzhou County soldiers also have a problem, that is, in order to prevent Soochow from betraying its promise, the speed of gathering troops has been very slow.
On the contrary, although Zhuge Liang had to go through Chengdu to mobilize his troops, with the memorial personally endorsed by Zhuge Liang and Zhang Fei, it was just a process within the Han court. Zhuge Liang's deployment of troops was faster than that of Yanzhou County soldiers. many.
This is also the reason why Sima Yi sent troops without authorization and took the initiative to attack - if he waits longer, I am afraid that the reinforcements from his Shu thieves will arrive in Heluo before the Yanzhou soldiers from the Wei Dynasty.
The purpose of Sima Yi's attack was to interrupt Zhuge Liang's speed of mobilizing troops and buy himself time.
Judging from the current situation, Sima Yi's actions are still very effective.
As Sima Yi took the initiative to send troops and started the Heluo counterattack in advance, Soochow's withdrawal speed from the Huainan area immediately accelerated a lot.
Obviously, Soochow was waiting for Cao Wei to make the first move to attract the attention of the Shu thieves, so that they could safely mobilize their troops eastward to attack Jingzhou. Now that the goal was achieved, the withdrawal speed naturally became faster.
As Soochow Wu mobilized a large number of troops from Huainan and marched eastward to Jiangxia County, Jia Kui in Yanzhou suddenly felt much less pressure. Now he could also mobilize a large number of soldiers to gather in Chenliu County. After gathering 30,000 reinforcements, Jia Kui did not wait for the follow-up troops to gather, and personally led the army to assist Sima Yi who was fighting in Gong County.
Cao Wei's reinforcements finally arrived at the Heluo battlefield earlier than the reinforcements of the Han army.
Faced with such changes in the battlefield, Zhuge Liang sighed and launched the second plan.
Zhuge Liang immediately ordered that Deng Ai should not continue to confront Sima Yi in Gong County, and that the entire army should return to Luoyang to defend and not give Sima Yi a chance to encircle and defeat him.
At the same time, Zhuge Liang ordered Wang Ping on the flank to take the initiative to develop southward and assemble in the direction of Yingchuan County. Instead of returning to defend Luoyang, he tried to enter the area west of Yingshui as soon as possible, link up with Zhang Yi in Xiangcheng, and obtain logistical supplies from the direction of Nanyang. , on standby.
Regarding Mengjin Ferry, Zhuge Liang also ordered Huang Quan to lead the navy ashore, join Xiang Chong's more than 10,000 troops and horses, abandon Mengjin Ferry, return to Luoyang, and let Cao Wei's soldiers and horses from Henei County cross the river.
Only in terms of Hongnong County, Zhuge Liang gave Wang Chang a certain degree of autonomy, allowing him to judge for himself whether he could defend Hongnong. If he could not, he could resist continuously, but the final bottom line was that he must defend Hangu Pass. Let Cao Zhen's army enter Henan County.
In other words, Zhuge Liang's current strategy is to shrink his defense and defend Luoyang with all his strength.
As for this response, Sima Yi was a little confused.
It cannot be said that it was a wrong decision to shrink the defense of Luoyang, but Zhuge Liang's timing of shrinking was too early, and the extent of shrinking his troops was too great.
This is equivalent to the two sides just trying out the battle on the battlefield, and Zhuge Liang then shrinks the entire army. If Zhuge Liang had this ability, he should not have lost Luoyang so easily.
Therefore, Sima Yi was a little hesitant, unsure whether he should immediately send troops to surround Luoyang.
The marching speed was a bit slow, so slow that Xiahou Ba couldn't bear it anymore.
"Now that the Shu thieves are defeated and retreating, the entire army has retreated to defend Luoyang. Why do we and other generals who are pressing the border hesitate to move forward?!"
Xiahou Ba directly questioned Sima Yi at the military meeting.
Xiahou Ba really can't understand it.
The Shu bandits in the front have fled all the way back to Luoyang. The Shu bandits in the south have withdrawn into Yingchuan County. Although they have increased the defense burden of Yingchuan County, they have also cut off the possibility of returning to Luoyang. There are also troops at Mengjindu in the north. The news came that the soldiers from Hanoi County had completed the assembly across the river and were heading towards Luoyang. How could the Eastern Route Army, which is the main force, on our side, Sima Yi, stand still? !
Isn't that what you, Sima Yi, said to me when you were about to take the initiative? !
Sima Yi was also embarrassed. He was really not easy to answer this question.
However, Wang Ling stood up and spoke for Sima Yi.
"The young general is unaware of Zhuge Liang's resourcefulness. Now that the situation among the Shu rebels has not yet collapsed, he has so easily withdrawn his troops to defend Luoyang. There may be some fraud involved."
Wang Ling was also someone who had experienced the Four Conquests. He had a certain understanding of Zhuge Liang and Zhang Xi about that battle. Not to mention Sima Yi, Wang Ling was basically being restrained all the way. There is no choice.
Therefore, Wang Ling still quite approves of Sima Yi's current approach. Zhuge Liang retreated too quickly. If you say there is nothing fishy, Wang Ling will be the first to not believe it.
But this statement, although it cannot be said to be unreasonable, is somewhat unconvincing in front of Xiahou Ba.
Xiahou Ba's ability is indeed the strongest in Xiahou Yuan's lineage. With more training in the future, he will be a candidate for a general. But not now.
The current Xiahou Ba has not experienced too many battlefield baptisms, nor has he had much battle experience. All his abilities come from the military books he has read and learned in daily life, so he really can't understand it. Just a guess. What is the reason for suspending the advance?
Even Jia Kui, who didn't know Zhuge Liang very well, didn't quite understand this matter.
"Even though Zhuge Liang is resourceful and resourceful, there is no room for Zhuge Liang to use his strategy in this situation. Hesitating to move forward may lead to disaster."
Jia Kui also expressed his opinion.
Jia Kui has no shortage of strategies and battlefield experience, but judging from the current situation, Jia Kui really doesn't see that Zhuge Liang has that kind of room for maneuver.
Mengjin Ferry, Gongxian is very close to Luoyang, so it is the most normal choice to retreat into Luoyang after withdrawing the troops. The Wei army took advantage of the situation to surround Luoyang, and there was no risk of stretching the supply line and increasing logistical pressure.
As for Yingchuan County, Chen Tai is not aggressive enough, but he is more than capable of defense. The Yingchuan family also has a practical need to protect their own interests.
In addition, Guo Huai's troops in Runan County have not been mobilized. Even if Wang Ping's troops retreat to Yingchuan and join forces with Zhang Yi from Xiangcheng to attack Xuchang, Guo Huai can reinforce them at any time.
This also cut off the possibility of the Shu thieves entering the hinterland of Yanzhou by capturing Xuchang.
Judging from the current situation, Jia Kui really can't see any reason to hesitate.
In fact, Sima Yi couldn't see it, he just subconsciously thought it was weird.
However, when using troops to fight, you cannot rely entirely on your own perception of the situation. The battlefield situation is now extremely favorable to the Wei Dynasty. With the approval of Xiahou Ba, Jia Kui and others, then let's go to the army.
Surround Luoyang City.
(End of chapter)
