Sima Yi withdrew his troops from Luoyang, hurriedly and slowly, and finally led 45,000 soldiers to Yanling, successfully blocking the attacking troops led by Xu Shu.
And Xu Shu, after settling the pacification issues in Yingchuan County, also went to the Yanling front line to direct the attack on Yanling and open the Yanzhou channel.
The two sides set up their battle formations at the foot of Yanling City.
This was a big battle. Ji Han, with Xu Shu as the commander, gathered about 150,000 troops to attack Yanling. On Sima Yi's side, including Chen Tai, Guo Huai and others who were defending Yanling City, there were nearly ten people in total. Ten thousand troops.
Of course, a large-scale battle involving nearly 250,000 soldiers cannot be a simple city attack and defense battle.
Besides, there is no room for so many people in Yanling City.
This was actually a large-scale battle with Yanling City as the center and the surrounding counties as peripheral battlefields.
Xu Shu took the lead in seeking change. He still appointed Jiang Xu and Kou Feng as the commanders of the two armies and divided their forces to attack.
Jiang Xu's troops and horses along the way are still the same. Wang Ping's 10,000 Wudang flying troops are at the front, supplemented by Qinzhou County soldiers led by Jiang Xu, and go north to attack Wei County in Chenliu County, while Kou Feng uses 20,000 troops from Xiangyang County. The army, supplemented by 10,000 troops from Guanzhong County led by Guan Qiujian, attacked Fugou County south of Yanling.
Seek breakthroughs on both flanks, then detour to outflank Yanling's rear route and besiege Sima Yi.
Xu Shu himself led the 80,000 Guanzhong and Nanyang coalition forces, with Zhang Ni as the vanguard, and faced off with the main force of Yanzhou County soldiers led by Sima Yi at Yanling.
Xu Shu's strategy of dividing his troops was not a new or brilliant strategy. With Sima Yi's eyes, he could naturally see through Xu Shu's purpose at a glance - to induce him to divide his troops.
However, although this tactic was not very clever, Sima Yi really couldn't ignore it.
Regardless of whether Wei County or Fugou County fell, the Shu army could outflank Yanling and cut off the retreat of Sima Yi's army. Therefore, in these two places, even though Sima Yi knew Xu Shu's purpose, he had to follow Xu Shu's plan. Go for a walk.
There is no way, this is the military strength. Now Sima Yi's military strength is not as good as Xu Shu, so he has to be led by Xu Shu.
Moreover, what's even more terrible is that in addition to these two regular troops, Xu Shu also sent out another killer move - sending 20,000 Liangzhou cavalry led by Pang De to go south from Chen State and follow the Chen State line. , plundered the three southern counties of Yanzhou.
The purpose is to use cavalry plunder to create chaos in Yanzhou. Once the rear falls into chaos, the Yanzhou soldiers in the front will be demoralized and will have no intention of fighting.
This move is currently the most difficult and most unpredictable for Sima Yi.
As we all know, the only thing that can hold them back is the cavalry. The infantry is simply unable to compete with the cavalry in plain areas like Yanzhou.
Therefore, Sima Yi had no choice but to order the Jizhou Cavalry Regiment originally stationed in Taishan County to go south to intercept the Liangzhou Cavalry led by Pang De. As for the infantry, Sima Yi did not send any infantry. After all, it was useless to send them. Can't beat it.
In addition, although the cavalry is very destructive, it is not good at attacking the city. As long as the city is not broken, Sima Yi can barely explain it in front of the emperor.
After all, the cavalry must be dealt with by the cavalry.
It's just that it will take a certain amount of time for the Jizhou cavalry to go south. For the losses during this period, Sima Yi estimated that his guard might come to complain to him again.
Well, anyway, now that Sima Yi has gradually become accustomed to people like Cao Shuang, you can't talk to him. The more you talk to him, the more seriously he will take himself.
Just ignore him.
In this way, Sima Yi used his own adjustments to promptly support the defenses of Wei County and Fugou County. He personally led the troops to Yanling and blocked Xu Shu's front line. Finally, Sima Yi was reluctantly maintained.
Although overall, the Wei army is still at a disadvantage, at least it is not like before when Yanling was in danger and Yanzhou could not be protected at any time.
However, this situation did not last long for Sima Yi.
Shortly after Sima Yi led his troops to Yanling, he suddenly received a military report from Wang Ling. Zhuge Liang, who was in Luoyang, suddenly led more than 10,000 Luoyang defenders to Gong County to join the Han army led by Wei Yan.
Then, Zhuge Liang stayed in Gong County and refused to leave.
Zhuge Liang's stop immediately put a lot of pressure on Wang Ling. Wang Ling judged that Zhuge Liang suddenly led his troops forward, obviously to put pressure on Hulao Pass, to contain the Wei army in the east of Yanzhou, and to suppress the Shu army in Yingchuan County. The thieves broke through Chenliu County to create conditions.
As for Sima Yi, Sima Yi thought so too at first. After all, this was a very typical two-pronged strategy.
But, Sima Yi thought about it carefully and felt that something was wrong.
Putting aside the fact that Hulao Pass is a powerful pass, it is not so easy to be breached. In terms of pressure, why didn’t Zhuge Liang just go to Hulao Pass and directly march to Hulao Pass? Instead, he chose to station troops in Gong County without any pain. ? !
Is there something fishy here? !
Sima Yi always had doubts about this matter in his heart.
On the one hand, he told Wang Ling to defend Hulao Pass and not to lead the army to attack easily. On the other hand, Sima Yi still felt that it would be better not to deploy the garrison of Yanzhou East County, which is close to the east of Henan County, for the time being.
In fact, Sima Yi also seriously considered whether to transfer the county soldiers from Dongjun south to assist in the battle.
After all, near Yanling now, the Wei army is at a disadvantage in terms of military strength.
To restore this disadvantage, in addition to adjusting the use of troops, the simplest and most direct way is to find enough reinforcements to fight in Yanling.
As for the deployment of reinforcements, except for the more than 10,000 county soldiers stationed in Dongjun, there are no mobile troops to be mobilized in Yanzhou today.
But Sima Yi was still hesitant and unable to come to a conclusion.
On the one hand, Sima Yi was worried that if Zhuge Liang really came to Hulao Pass and Wang Ling really might not be able to defend it, then the more than 10,000 county soldiers in Dongjun would be the closest military force to support the defense of Hulao Pass.
On the other hand, Sima Yi was still a little worried about the direction of Mengjin Ferry. If something unexpected happened there, it was not impossible for the Shu thieves to go down the Yellow River and directly attack the three northern counties of Yanzhou.
Originally, Sima Yi didn't have to worry about the defense of that place. Not only were there more than 13,000 county soldiers from Dongjun, but there were also 20,000 cavalry troops from Taishan County. The Shu thieves' main arms were infantry. When infantry encountered cavalry, The result can be imagined.
But now, in order to contain the Shu thieves' cavalry troops, Sima Yi had to transfer the cavalry troops stationed in Taishan County. Then, in the three northern counties of Yanzhou, only more than 10,000 infantrymen from Dong County were left. This Sima Yi is real I don't dare to transfer anymore.
It was at this time that Sima Yi finally received a late military report from Mengjin Ferry - the Shu bandits divided their forces to cross the river to threaten the east of the river. Sima Division was forced to retreat to Wenxian County for defense, and Mengjin Ferry fell.
After Sima Yi received this military report, he was both happy and having a headache.
Fortunately, I did not send Dongjun soldiers southward just for the sake of convenience. If the Shu thieves really went down the Yellow River, Dongjun would not even have basic defensive forces.
And the headache is also here.
If the Shu thieves really go down the Yellow River and attack the three northern counties of Yanzhou, the more than 10,000 county soldiers in Dongjun will be able to stand firm and wait for reinforcements at best, and will not be able to keep the enemy at bay.
It always feels like the entire Yanzhou defense has become full of flaws after being mobilized back and forth by the Shu thieves.
However, there are only so many troops. What Sima Yi can do is to try his best to adjust the deployment of troops and make up for the weaknesses in defense as much as possible.
For this reason, Sima Yi forcefully took out 10,000 people from the Yanling defense force and handed it over to Jia Kui, asking him to lead the troops north as soon as possible and go to Dongjun to set up defenses, just in case.
In addition, Sima Yi also sent military orders to Cao Zhao, who was leading the Jizhou cavalry, asking him to find an opportunity to block Pound's cavalry as soon as possible. After defeating Pound, he came to Yanling as soon as possible to help in the battle.
It's just that there are many twists and turns in the middle.
First of all, Sima Yi had just handed over his troops to Jia Kui and asked Jia Kui to lead the troops north. Xu Shu, who was keenly aware of the reduced strength of the Wei army in front, immediately led his troops to launch a strong attack on Yanling, causing Sima Yi to passively respond.
Secondly, after receiving Sima Yi's military order, Cao Zhao directly replied to Sima Yi that the trace of the Shu thieves' cavalry was difficult to determine. Although he also wanted to fight an early decisive battle, he could not help himself. In short, he could not block it in a short time. Pound's cavalry.
The third and the biggest blow to Sima Yi was the news - just when Jia Kui had just reached the junction of Chenliu County and Henan County, East County Guard Xia Houhe sent an urgent military report, saying that Shu thieves were going down the river and were attacking. The white horse landed, and the troops approached Puyang, the governor of Dongjun.
(End of chapter)
