The Wei army attacking in the direction of Mengjin Crossing had a strength of 70,000 to 80,000, but the Wei army in Gong County was unnecessarily holding on to wait for reinforcements despite its inferior strength. This cannot but make people think too much.
Zhuge Liang also once wondered whether there was something wrong with his prediction. The direction of the Wei army's attack was really not at Hulao Pass, or whether Sima Yi really believed that his son would lead 70,000 to 80,000 people to break through Mengjin Ferry and attack directly. Luoyang's ability.
If this is the case, what is the correct way to deal with it?
But after Zhuge Liang thought about it seriously, he still felt it was impossible.
The first reason is still the old answer. Zhuge Liang did not think that Sima Yi would give the hope of breakthrough to others, and he could feel free to feign attacks for others.
Without him, it's just that Sima Yi is worried.
Over the years, Cao Wei's military talents have indeed withered seriously, especially after the older generation of famous generals passed away one after another, and the young and middle-aged generals failed to step up in time.
And after Cao Zhen and the few remaining talents of Cao Xiu's generation died of illness, Cao Wei suddenly only had two people left who could truly take charge of their military affairs.
One is Sima Yi, the other is Guo Huai.
The situation of Guo Huai is very delicate. Although he is capable, he is not favored by Cao Rui, so he has never been reused. Now he is only in Yingchuan County, responsible for assisting Chen Tai in guarding Yingchuan.
On the Hedong side, there is only one Qin Lang and one Sima division who has some battle experience, but you have to expect them to break through Meng Jindu's defense and even break through Luoyang. Zhuge Liang can only say that if Sima Yi really thinks so, he is too underestimated. .
On the other hand, in terms of strategic layout, although the Wei army could approach the north gate of Luoyang after breaking through Mengjin Ferry, only breaking through all the way would not be enough to pose a great threat to Luoyang.
After all, Luoyang is a fortified city. If Zhuge Liang directly called back Wei Yan's 30,000 troops after being breached at Mengjin Ferry and retreated to Luoyang with more than 40,000 troops, Zhuge Liang would be confident that he could defend Luoyang even if Sima Yi was besieged by 200,000 men. For some time, wait for the arrival of reinforcements.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang did not think that Sima Yi would use such a straightforward and tough method to capture Luoyang. He should still want to disperse the Luoyang defenders as much as possible, and then personally lead the army to advance directly to Luoyang.
And if it was for this purpose, conquering Mengjindu would not be of any benefit to Cao Wei. On the contrary, it would cause tension in Mengjindu and force him to divide his troops from Luoyang to rescue Mengjindu. This should be Sima Yi's ultimate goal.
This can also explain why Sima Yi asked Wang Ling to hold on to Gong County. As long as Gong County was not lost, Wei Yan's troops could still be attracted. If Gong County was abandoned and retreated, Wei Yan's troops would definitely not be able to advance to Hulao Pass. Go.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang judged that Sima Yi would most likely use the fueling tactic to support Gong County in exchange for Zhuge Liang using the fueling tactic to send additional reinforcements to Mengjin Ferry.
This was Zhuge Liang's judgment after repeated thinking, but this judgment could not help Zhuge Liang jump out of the current battle situation.
After all, Sima Yi really added fuel to the fire, but Zhuge Liang did not have the strength to send enough reinforcements to Mengjin Ferry.
Even if they knew that Mengjin Ferry could not be easily lost, if Zhang Yi and Huang Quan could not hold it and retreated from Mengjin Ferry, then the Wei army would obviously not leave Mengjin Ferry unoccupied. If Mengjin Ferry was lost, many subsequent Northern Expedition strategies would be useless. It unfolded directly.
Therefore, Meng Jindu still had to save him, but he also had to find a way to break away from the battle situation created by Sima Yi and find a way to regain the initiative on the battlefield.
But, it's not easy.
After all, Cao Wei has been preparing for the counterattack on Luoyang for almost a year. All the preset battlefields and strategic situations are planned around Luoyang. Unless Zhuge Liang abandons Luoyang or reopens a second battlefield, it will be difficult to escape Sima Yi. strategic layout.
It was impossible to give up Luoyang, and Zhuge Liang did not have enough troops on hand to open a second battlefield.
After much deliberation, Zhuge Liang finally decided to dispatch Wang Chang from Hongnong County to lead troops to Mengjindu for rescue, while he sent Xiang Chong to lead 5,000 troops to guard Hangu Pass.
In view of the special terrain of Hangu Pass, before Xiang Chong left, Zhuge Liang repeatedly told Xiang Chong to pay attention to the river on the north side of Hangu Pass and to camp along the river just in case.
Doing so is actually tantamount to temporarily giving up the defense of Hongnong County and shrinking troops to station troops in Luoyang.
As for Wei Yan, who was besieging Gong County on the east side, Zhuge Liang ordered him to strengthen his attack and ensure that he continued to pose a threat to Gong County. If possible, it would be best to completely defeat Gong County before Sima Yi increased his troops.
Although Zhuge Liang also knew that this possibility was unlikely. After all, his opponent was Sima Yi, and he should not give himself such a simple chance to break the game. But he always has to try.
As a last resort, Zhuge Liang sent military envoys to Nanyang to inform Zhang Xi and Xu Shu, who were gathering forces in Nanyang, about the current battle situation in Luoyang. If possible, Zhuge Liang hoped that they could complete the assembly as soon as possible and lead the troops to launch the Northern Expedition.
As long as the Northern Expedition officially begins, conquering Yingchuan County and entering Yanzhou will open up a second battlefield, and it will force Sima Yi to give up attacking Luoyang and return to the army to defend.
Zhuge Liang's thoughts were conveyed to Wancheng in Nanyang County along with the military report from the military envoy.
Here, Zhang Xi and Xu Shu are gathering troops as quickly as possible to prepare for the Northern Expedition.
As soon as Zhuge Liang's military report arrived, Zhang Xi and Xu Shu quickly understood Zhuge Liang's strategic intentions after a brief discussion.
However, it is still difficult to launch the Northern Expedition immediately.
Today, there are only 120,000 soldiers and horses gathered in Wancheng.
The county soldiers from Xiangyang County and Dongsan County in Jingzhou followed Zhang Xi northward and had already arrived at Wancheng. The 50,000 army soldiers from Guanzhong and the 20,000 Nanjun Army were also not far away and finished in Wancheng. Gathered.
However, the total of 70,000 troops from Qinzhou and Liangzhou were still on their way to assemble and had not arrived.
And the most important thing is that the soldiers who have now been assembled in Wancheng are all infantry, not a single cavalry.
If the Northern Expedition is launched in advance, this force may be enough to attack Yingchuan County, but it is still very dangerous to enter Yanzhou or Hedong without cavalry.
Therefore, Zhang Xi and Xu Shu discussed whether they should divide the work a little bit.
Xu Shu continued to wait in Wancheng for the army to gather in place, especially the cavalry from Qinzhou and Liangzhou, and he must urge them to reach the front line as soon as possible.
Zhang Xi led 50,000 infantry in advance to support Luoyang and prevent Luoyang from danger.
Zhang Xi thought about it, he wanted to divide his troops with Xu Shu anyway. Xu Shu's main attack direction was Yingchuan, while Zhang Xi wanted to lead troops to Hedong. Setting off first would not affect the Northern Expedition's plan.
Moreover, Zhang Xi led infantry and was slow. Although he set out a few days earlier, the cavalry was fast. As long as he seizes the time to catch up, it might not take much time to arrive in Luoyang to meet up. This way, both rescue and rescue can be taken into account. Luoyang will not delay the Northern Expedition.
Xu Shu thought about it and felt that at this stage, he could only use this emergency method first, so he agreed with Zhang Xi's approach.
In this way, Zhang Xi led 30,000 Dongjun soldiers and 20,000 Southern troops to Luoyang in advance.
Needless to say, the commander of the army must be Zhang Xi. Zhang Xi, the general accompanying the army, thought about it carefully and decided to take Liu Yin, Meng Da, and Fu Wei with him.
The Southern Army has its own commander. Jiang Wei, Wen Qin, and Guanqiu Jian are all in the army. Zhang Xi does not need to worry about the generals leading the army. Zhang Xi is mainly responsible for the soldiers of the three eastern counties.
As for the three eastern counties, the main commander was actually Kou Feng. Kou Feng was somewhat aggrieved and dissatisfied with Zhang Xi for not choosing him to choose Meng Da.
However, on the one hand, Kou Feng needs to stay and command the remaining 20,000 Xiangyang County soldiers to cooperate with Xu Shu in fighting. On the other hand, from a purely military perspective, Meng Da is incomparable to Kou Feng in terms of ability. Less.
In addition, since Zhang Xi was entrusted by others and promised Li Yan, he would naturally fulfill his promise, so he took Meng Da with him.
As for Liu Yin, there is not much to say. He is Zhang Xi's old subordinate and a general who is good at defending. After counterattacking Hanoi County, Zhang Xi will also need a general who is good at defending to guard the Hanoi ferry and ensure his own retreat.
As for Fu Wei, Zhang Xi really had no special intention in choosing him. It was simply that among the generals assembled in Nanyang, Fu Wei came earlier and was also the one with the most outstanding ability.
Compared to generals like Yang Qun, Ding Li, and Li Fu, Zhang Xi would definitely choose Fu Xu, who was more adept at fighting.
In this way, after selecting the leading generals and arranging the military supplies and weapons, Zhang Xi sent troops ahead of schedule and marched north to Luoyang five days after receiving Zhuge Liang's battle report.
At about the same time, Sima Yi also gave up the practice of continuing to watch the battle at Hulang Pass and led his troops forward to support Gong County.
After all, Zhuge Liang's current garrison in Luoyang only has 5,000 men. Fighters have already appeared.
(End of chapter)
