Now that the Qiang and Hu Rangers led by Ma Dai have arrived in Luoyang, Huang Quan's navy will go to build a pontoon bridge near Heyang County to help Ma Dai cross the river from there and harass Hanoi County.
Without the assistance of the navy, it would be impossible to attack Hexinzhou again.
Therefore, what Zhang Xi has to do now is to increase the offensive intensity on the front of Mengjin Ferry, attract the attention of Sima Shi and Xiahou Ba, and create opportunities for Ma Dai to sneak across the Yellow River.
The Hexinzhou combat plan was abolished and a frontal assault began.
Once Zhang Xi entered the state of frontal attack, the pressure on Sima Division and Xiahou Ba who were defending Mengjindu would be greatly reduced.
After all, Mengjindu is now considered a semi-military fortress, and the defense facilities are still very complete. If Zhang Xi only attacks from the front, Sima Division can deal with it relatively easily, and the threat is not great.
They attacked and defended each other like this for seven or eight days, until Master Sima and Xiahou Ba got together again and held a small meeting.
Does this Zhang Yuanchang, who is known as a famous general in the world, only have this way of exchanging lives for lives and attacking the city by force? !
If this is the case, then this so-called famous general is a bit too cool, right? !
Anyway, Master Sima didn't believe that Zhang Xi's reputation as a famous general was blown out of proportion. He must have had his reasons for doing so.
But the question is what the hell is Zhang Xi planning? !
Hexinzhou? !
Sima Division had already strengthened the security there and arranged for five thousand soldiers to be stationed there. It would not be as easy as before to capture Hexin Prefecture.
Moreover, the whereabouts of Huang Quan's Yellow River navy are now unknown. Without the support of the navy, it will not be that easy to land in Hexin Prefecture.
After some thought, Xiahou Ba felt that the problem might lie with the unknown Yellow River navy.
To attack Mengjindu, in addition to a strong frontal attack, naval support is also very important. At least the attack can be carried out from the area along the Mengjindu river.
Now Huang Quan's Yellow River navy suddenly disappeared. It was obvious that the Shu thieves were up to something.
As for who it was, Xiahou Ba also speculated whether the Shu thieves had the idea of attacking from the east to the west and pretended to attack Mengjin Ferry from the front. In fact, the main force changed the direction of the attack and found a way to cross the Yellow River elsewhere.
Don't tell me, Master Sima agreed with Xiahou Ba's guess.
Although it is said that crossing the Yellow River is not that simple, and not everywhere is suitable for naval transportation, but their opponent is Zhang Xi after all. Who knows if this world-famous general has some fantastic ideas to solve this problem? , they don’t dare to take anything lightly.
Therefore, with the support of Xiahou Ba, Sima Division launched a frontal exploratory attack on the Shu bandit camp.
The purpose is just to test and understand whether the Shu thieves are bluffing, but are actually dividing their troops elsewhere.
Then, Master Sima was driven back in disgrace.
On the one hand, Sima Division was only conducting a tentative attack, so he only brought 5,000 soldiers to fight, and suffered a disadvantage due to too few troops.
On the other hand, the crossbowmen of the Shu thieves were too strong. Before they even got close, they killed hundreds of people with a single burst of fire. When they finally got a little closer to the enemy's stronghold, Sima Division was again captured. Tens of thousands of Shu thieves came out from all directions and beat him up.
Therefore, it was assumed that Sima Division was going to test the attack and did not dare to get too close. In addition, Xiahouba sent troops in time to support the retreat, so Sima Division was allowed to return to Mengjin Ferry. But even so, the casualties of this tentative attack were There are as many as two thousand people.
I feel sorry for Master Sima, I don’t want anything I don’t want.
However, after this trial, Master Sima finally understood that the number of Shu troops on the opposite side had not decreased. Anyway, there were quite a lot of Shu thieves who participated in beating him.
Therefore, Sima Division judged that it was still impossible for the Shu thieves to divide their forces and sneak across the Yellow River.
As for whether the Shu thieves had other reinforcements to sneak across the Yellow River, this Sima division could not guarantee it.
But no matter what, just in case, Sima Shi still sent a message to Heyang County, hoping that the Heyang County guard would always be vigilant and pay attention to whether there were any signs of Shu thieves sneaking across the river.
Heyang County is on the west side of the north bank of Mengjindu Yellow River, not far from Mengjindu and Wenxian County. Of these two places, one is where Sima Division is fighting, and the other is Sima Division's home base. Therefore, the river Sima Shi was more concerned about the defense of Yang County. He made his uncle Sima Jin serve as the garrison of Heyang County and led 3,000 soldiers to garrison.
Once the Shu army is discovered crossing the river, it is possible not to retreat, but to hold on and wait for reinforcements.
After such a trial and arrangement, Master Sima finally felt a little more at ease.
But within three days, Sima Division received an urgent report from the direction of Heyang County.
Sima Jin mentioned in the battle report that there were about 20,000 Shu thieves who crossed the river secretly in Heyang County. After some looting, they did not attack Heyang County, but chose to go northwest.
This memorial immediately confused Master Sima.
It's not that Master Sima was confused by the news of the Shu army sneaking across the Yellow River. Sima Master was still somewhat prepared for this. What Sima Master really didn't understand was why these Shu thieves went northwest after sneaking across the Yellow River.
From a military point of view, these Shu thieves who sneaked across the river should now attack Heyang County and Wen County with all their strength. After capturing Wen County all the way, they can directly threaten Mengjin to cross the north bank of the Yellow River and attack the rear flank of the Wei army led by Sima Division. , cutting off the Wei army's food and grass supplies.
Coupled with Zhang Xi's strong attack from the front, Mengjindu would inevitably be unable to hold, and Sima Division could only choose to withdraw its troops to the interior of Hanoi County to hold on.
At least this was Sima Division's prediction, so he actually made a strategic arrangement in advance to ask Heyang County and Wen County to hold on and provide timely support.
But what are the Shu thieves going to the northwest for? !
Heyang County is already to the west of Hanoi County. If the Shu thieves go northwest along Heyang County, doesn't that mean they have entered the territory of Hedong County? !
If Hedong County is empty of troops, then Sima Division has to worry, but in Hedong County, there are still 10,000 Bingzhou cavalry and 20,000 Hedong County soldiers led by Qin Lang.
The Shu thieves entered Hedong County with only 20,000 soldiers. What threat could they pose to Qin Lang? !
Master Sima really couldn't figure it out, but since the Shu thieves crossed the river and went northwest instead of coming in his direction, then Master Sima naturally didn't need to pay too much attention to the Shu thieves who entered Hedong County. Qin Lang would naturally deal with them.
Now, Sima Division still decided to lead the troops to stand still at Mengjindu and intercept Zhang Xi's troops head-on.
Master Sima's response was really beyond Zhang Xi's expectation, and even Zhang Xi was stunned.
According to Zhang Xi's estimate, Sima Division would definitely choose to retreat to rescue Hedong County after learning that Ma Dai led his troops across the river and penetrated into Hedong County. Why is he still so interested in confronting him here? !
Could it be possible that Master Sima had a grudge against the Hedong family and deliberately refused to save him? !
The same question is also lingering in the hearts of the heads of the big families in Hedong. Has the little boy of the Sima family forgotten which family he belongs to? Why don't you come back to rescue him in such a critical situation? !
Or is it that your Sima family doesn’t take the interests of our Hedong fellows at heart at all and just wants to protect Wen County? !
For this reason, the heads of the Hedong family were constantly surrounding Qin Lang, hoping that Qin Lang would come forward and send Sima Division back to Hedong for rescue.
To be honest, Qin Lang is secretly happy in his heart. You guys looked down on me at first, but now it’s okay, please come to me! ! !
It feels good, but Qin Lang still cannot ignore the interests of the Hedong families.
Similarly, Qin Lang also couldn't figure out what Master Sima was thinking. !
Twenty thousand Shu thieves cavalry were raging in Hedong County. Although they did not pose much of a threat to the big cities, the manors, fields, money and food of the major families outside the city were all plundered by this group of Shu thieves cavalry.
Even if it is not for the sake of these aristocratic families, but for the sake of the people in Hedong, Qin Lang cannot be indifferent to these Shu thieves and cavalry who are so wreaking havoc.
Therefore, while Qin Lang sent additional reinforcements to the counties in Hedong to defend the city, he also released the only 10,000 Bingzhou cavalry he had on hand, asking these Bingzhou cavalry to search for the whereabouts of the Shu thief cavalry. If possible, defeat these Shu thief cavalry in the wild.
However, Qin Lang also knew that he only had 10,000 cavalry on hand, while the Shu thieves had 20,000 cavalry in total. If he wanted to rely on cavalry to win, his side would be at a disadvantage in terms of strength.
Therefore, Qin Lang had to give an order to Sima Division, asking him to choose an opportunity to retreat to Hedong County to encircle and suppress the Shu thieves cavalry that broke into Hedong County.
And when Sima Division received the order from Qin Lang, he compared it with the military report from Heyang County and was ready to kill the person who sent it.
The reason is very simple. The military newspaper in Heyang County only said that the people crossing the river were 20,000 Shu rebel soldiers. It didn't even mention half of the cavalry. The Sima Division thought it was only 20,000 infantry soldiers crossing the river.
Twenty thousand infantry broke into Hedong. Facing Qin Lang who had 10,000 cavalry and 20,000 county soldiers, it was certainly not a big threat. But when 20,000 cavalry broke into Hedong, the result might be completely reversed.
Why did the Heyang County guard delay the military flight? He should be killed. Well, forget it, it's okay.
It's not that Master Sima doesn't want to hold the Heyang County guard responsible, it's just that he is his uncle Sima Jin, and it is his father who should be held accountable, and he is not qualified.
So, let’s make up for it.
Send the order to withdraw the troops.
(End of chapter)
