The war in Yanzhou fell into a brief calm, but everyone knew that this was just a prelude to another war. Once the war in Yanzhou officially started, it would probably be an earth-shattering showdown between large armies.
It is even possible that this is a battle that determines the ownership of the world in one battle.
Relatively speaking, another battlefield, the Hedong battlefield, is really looking like a truce now.
Zhang Xi still led his troops at the gate of Wen County. He didn't say fight or not fight. He just fought every two days for three days, and was in a confrontation with Xiahou Ba in Wen County.
The Qiang and Hu cavalry led by Ma Dai were wreaking havoc in Hedong County, and now they began to slowly withdraw from Hedong, returned to Hanoi County, and joined Zhang Xi.
This is not to say that Ma Dai was unable to succeed, or that Sima Division returned to Hedong to aid Hedong in time and expelled Ma Dai from Hedong County. This is not the case.
Qiang and Hu Rangers, they have inherited two characteristics of the Hu people.
One, is speed.
The Qiang and Hu Rangers inherited the combat characteristics of the Barbarians in the North. Their cavalry were basically rangers without armor. Their purpose was to maintain the speed of a thousand-mile attack. Even logistical supplies, these Qiang and Hu Rangers basically didn't care.
Because the combat characteristics of this group of people is to go to one place and plunder another place. They do not need to bring their own logistics supplies, and they rely entirely on plundering to support the war.
This is one of the reasons why the Qiang and Hu Rangers were able to travel long distances into Hedong County and plunder everywhere, causing the entire Hedong County to be in a state of panic.
The other one is greedy for money.
These barbarians have no concept of strategy and tactics at all, and they have no idea what it means to take the overall situation into consideration.
When they entered Hedong this time, they regarded this place as a place where they could reasonably plunder. Not only did they rob food, but more importantly, they did not let go of any of the gold and silver treasures.
The terrible thing is that Hedong is really spacious.
Not only the aristocratic families gather here to live together, but also the ordinary people are richer than the people in other places.
How had I never seen these Xiliang barbarians in such a rich place?
Think about it, when these guys were plundering Liangzhou, they all thought that Liangzhou occupied by the Han was a prosperous place. This time when they arrived at Hedong County, a truly prosperous place, there was room for them in those two eyes. Something else? !
If Ma Dai hadn't still had some prestige among these barbarians and the Han military power was getting stronger day by day, Ma Dai would have been able to restrain these Qiang and Hu people and prevent them from killing innocent people indiscriminately. Otherwise, Hedong County might not have suffered a loss this time. It’s as simple as a little money, food and property.
But even so, this robbery by the Qiang and Hu cavalry also made the Hedong families have a lot of resentment and opinions towards the big Han.
There was no way, this group of Qiang and Hu riders were too greedy and robbed too much. Some even went so far as to use war horses to carry the stolen money and fight on foot.
The Qianghu Rangers without horses, fighting on two legs in the plains, are not as effective as the ordinary bandits in Hedong County! ! !
When Ma Dai saw something was wrong, he hurriedly gathered his troops, intimidated and deceived, and withdrew from Hedong County with this group of idiots who had no sense of tactics.
Otherwise, if these guys are allowed to keep robbing people in Hedong County, they might not even know how they died.
Therefore, it was not actually the Sima Division who returned to the division in time to rescue and use force to force this group of Qiang and Hu Rangers to withdraw from Hedong, but this group of Qiang and Hu Rangers who had never seen the world grabbed everything they saw, and in the end they could no longer grab it. Then he took the initiative to withdraw from Hedong County.
But this did not prevent the Hedong aristocratic family from praising Sima Shi very highly. Even the Hedong aristocratic family used their connections in the Wei Dynasty to forcefully win Sima Shi a "Hedong victory".
To be honest, Cao Rui couldn't laugh or cry when he saw the memorial handed over by the Hedong minister.
Cao Rui was not a fool, and Master Sima had no intention of treating Cao Rui as a fool, so Master Sima truthfully described the development of the battle situation in the military report sent to the court.
It was really not his Sima Shi who was capable, but the Shu thieves who took the initiative to withdraw from Hedong County. Although Sima Shi didn't know the reason, it was certainly not his own fault.
Well, at least when Cao Rui saw this military report and cooperated with Minister Hedong's report, he still had a good impression of Master Sima.
But, Cao Rui really couldn't just dismiss the Hedong minister's remarks.
The Hedong Family has its own needs, and Cao Rui also has Cao Rui's own considerations.
Cao Rui actually knew the reason why the Hedong aristocratic families asked for merit for Master Sima in the court through their connections.
These bastards must be hoping to use this method to praise Sima Division, and then lead the court to realize the importance of Hedong, so that Sima Division and his 30,000 infantry can be stationed in Hedong County.
After all, the losses suffered by the Hedong families this time were really not small.
These days, the wealthy families have more and more thoughts. No one will put a lot of money and food in the city. This is under the eyes of the government. If they really want to pursue it, everyone will look bad.
Therefore, the Hedong family basically kept their money and food secretly in their own manor outside the city.
In peacetime, of course, there is no problem in doing this, but in wartime, especially when you encounter the Qiang Hu cavalry who will rob you if you have money, no matter what family you are, these Hedong families have no place to reason.
Even if he resented the big man, it could only be a private resentment and could not be expressed openly. After all, the people who robbed the things were Qiang and Hu cavalry. When he turned around, the big man retreated and refused to admit it, saying that the Qiang and Hu foreigners could not be restrained. This group of Hedong aristocratic families Nothing.
The Hedong aristocratic families don't want to suffer such a dumb loss again.
As for Qin Lang, in this Hedong defense battle, he showed the shortcomings of slow action and slow response. He was far less decisive than Sima Shilai. Although the effect of returning to the army immediately for rescue was not great, in the eyes of the Hedong family , at least Sima Shi, a descendant of the Hedong family, is more reliable than Qin Lang, an outsider.
Therefore, the Hedong family must hope that Master Sima will stay to guard Hedong County and let Qin Lang get out of here.
One thing to say, Cao Rui clearly understood this little thought. From a military point of view, it was impossible for Cao Rui to allow these Hedong aristocratic families to mess around.
They are still waiting for Sima Division to lead troops to rescue Yanzhou. How can they stay in Hedong.
But from a political perspective, Cao Rui really couldn't ignore the voices of these wealthy families in Hedong.
Most of the Central Plains aristocratic families are headed by the Hedong aristocratic family and the Yingchuan aristocratic family.
But now, it is basically certain that the Yingchuan family has surrendered to the enemy collectively, so the Central Plains family and the Hedong family are the only ones left.
At this time, if the opinions put forward by the Hedong Family are ignored and the Hedong Family takes the same path as the Yingchuan Family, Yanzhou will no longer have to defend it.
The two pillars of the Central Plains aristocratic families have directly turned against each other, so how can the aristocratic families in the Yanzhou area still be of the same mind as the Wei Dynasty? !
It's impossible even to think about.
Therefore, from a political perspective, Cao Rui must appease the wealthy families in Hedong at this time and let them continue to side with Wei.
Furthermore, Cao Rui has never received any good news since the start of the Yanzhou War. The entire imperial court knows that his army has been constantly being reduced in its sphere of influence in Yanzhou and Hanoi, and now it can only support itself.
Although they are still holding on, there is almost no good news.
But now, there is finally a "Great Victory in Hedong", and it is the Hedong aristocratic families who personally take credit for Sima Shi. They will definitely not stir up trouble. And as long as these Hedong aristocratic families don't stir up trouble, then the Hebei aristocratic families will not know the truth.
Therefore, in a sense, Cao Rui also needed such a "Great Victory in Hedong" to stabilize the morale of the military and the people.
After repeated consideration, Cao Rui finally made his choice.
The decree commended Sima Division for his "contributions" and recognized the existence of the "Great Victory in Hedong". He named Sima Division General of the Conquest of Shu and Marquis of Anping Ting. At the same time, he also ordered Sima Division to continue to defend Hedong to guard against the invasion of Shu thieves.
At the same time, Cao Rui issued an edict to promote Qin Lang to the Central Guard Army on the grounds of his meritorious service in the "Great Victory of Hedong". He led 10,000 Bingzhou cavalry and 20,000 Hedong County soldiers to fight in Hanoi County. He replaced Xiahou Ba in Wen County and let Xiahou Ba lead the army. Twenty thousand troops from Hanoi County went to Yanzhou to support them.
At least in Cao Rui's view, by doing this, he could not only stabilize the Hedong family, but also not delay the rescue of Yanzhou. He just changed the reinforcements commander from Sima Division to Xiahou Ba.
However, Cao Rui forgot one thing. Doing this would be equivalent to artificially creating a personnel change in Wen County, which would inevitably lead to certain changes in the situation.
Originally, Zhang Xi thought that Wen County, which was guarded by Xiahou Ba, was difficult to fight, so he simply stopped fighting and continued to work as a foreigner in Hanoi County, as long as he could contain the enemy. However, if Zhang Xi did not catch Cao Wei's large-scale change of defense with his troops If you take the opportunity, wouldn't it be too sorry for yourself? !
Okay, since you, Qin Lang, have come out of Hedong County, then you don't want to go anywhere.
(End of chapter)
