The loss of Hulao Pass was a fatal blow to Sima Yi's strategy of retreating to Dongjun.
The loss of Hulao Pass means that the Han army has an outlet to directly send troops to Dongjun from Luoyang. With the loss of most of Chenliu County, Jiyin County is isolated and helpless, and it will inevitably be difficult to preserve the Shu thieves in these three places. Linked together, this is an extremely fatal gap for the Wei army's defense.
At that time, Zhuge Liang led his troops out of Hulao to attack Suanzao, Deng Ai led his troops out of Jiyang to attack Changyuan, and Hu Zun of Liang State led his troops into Jiyin and went north to attack Puyang. The Wei army stationed in Dongjun was to attack From the east and south, we faced the attacks from the Shu bandits.
To the west of Dongjun is Taishan County, and to the west of Taishan County is Xuzhou Langya County. Sima Yi is not sure what Soochow's current attitude is.
As for the north side, there is no need to mention it. It is the natural danger of the Yellow River.
In other words, Sima Yi now leads an army of more than 100,000 people and is trapped in a narrow area from Puyang to Suanzao. This situation may lead to the collapse of the entire army at any time.
Now Sima Yi is already a little exhausted mentally and physically.
Since the Yanzhou Defense War, Sima Yi has not had a smooth day, and what is even more frustrating is that this unsatisfactory situation has nothing to do with Sima Yi's own ability.
From the beginning, Sima Yi's strategic concept was to use Yingchuan County and Hulao Pass as the front line, forcing the Shu bandits to fight a Yanzhou defense battle in Hulao Pass or Yingchuan County.
In Sima Yi's vision, as long as they were fully prepared, the Shu thieves would have no chance of pushing the front to Yanzhou.
The best result is to consume a large amount of Shu thieves' strength in Yingchuan County or in front of Hulao Pass to defeat their attack. The worst result is to pay the price of Yingchuan County and Chen State. Use Soochow's threat and containment power to defend the rest of Yanzhou.
However, this strategic concept has not yet been implemented. The emperor's order came, asking Sima Yi to take the initiative to lead troops to attack Luoyang.
The emperor's idea was to disrupt the Shu bandits' Northern Expedition deployment, but the emperor never thought that sending troops so proactively would also disrupt Sima Yi's strategic deployment.
After Sima Yi's sneak attack on Luoyang failed, the emperor's strategic concept failed, and the Shu thieves took advantage of the situation and directly launched the Northern Expedition, causing Sima Yi to rush to the battle without completing his Yanzhou defense strategy.
This is the most critical factor in Sima Yi's inability to take the strategic initiative in this battle of Yanzhou.
In addition to the reasons for the failure of the strategic response, there were also many human factors that led to the Yanzhou battle.
The first one is that Yingchuan County surrendered so quickly that it completely exceeded Sima Yi's imagination.
In Sima Yi's view, Yingchuan County, where Chen Tai, the son of Chen Qun and a representative of the Yingchuan family, may not necessarily be able to block the Shu bandit's attack, at least it will not be defeated so quickly. But the result is , Yingchuan County even surrendered and was defeated, and they couldn't wait for Sima Yi to withdraw from the direction of Hulao Pass.
For this reason, Sima Yi had to let the soldiers who had stayed in Chenliu and Dongjun to defend themselves quickly go south to support Chen Tai who was fighting in Yanling. This resulted in a lack of troops in the northern part of Yanzhou and gave Wei Yan the opportunity to cross the river and enter with light troops.
The second human factor that accelerated the collapse of the Yanzhou War was Cao Zhao's reckless advance.
Until now, Sima Yi still didn't understand why Cao Zhao wanted to confront the Shu thieves' cavalry team? !
The situation in Yanzhou is that there are more Shu thieves and fewer Wei soldiers. Cao Zhao's cavalry is the most effective team to contain the Shu thieves' infantry. As long as Cao Zhao has any brains, he should not choose to attack the Shu thieves' cavalry.
Even if the Shu thieves' cavalry is defeated one-on-one, the Shu thieves' infantry strength is still twice that of the Yanzhou regiment of the Wei Dynasty. The battle situation is still favorable to the Shu thieves. What practical significance does it have for the strategic defense of the Wei Dynasty? !
According to Sima Yi's strategic plan, the cavalry led by Cao Zhao went south and shuttled back and forth between Jiyin County and Chenliu County. They relied on the speed of the cavalry to avoid the Shu cavalry and specifically raided the weak points of the Shu's infantry attack to assist himself or Jia. Kui guarded Yongqiu and Dingtao, so that Sima Yi could confidently block the Shu thieves in the south of Yanzhou, exhaust their food supply, and force them to retreat.
In the end, Cao Zhao was lucky and chose to go head-to-head with Pound. In the end, Pound was defeated before he could win. But during the Battle of Yongqiu, Sima Yi had 10,000 cavalry in his hands, so he didn't have to cower. The city was passively defended.
But now, even bigger man-made troubles have come. Hulao Pass has also been lost.
Sima Yi had to admit that he could not entirely blame Wang Ling for the loss of Hulao Pass. After all, it was normal for Wang Ling not to be able to defend Hulao Pass, and it would be a surprise if he could.
However, the strategic position of Hulao Pass is too important. Even if Wang Ling's loss is helpless, the impact on the battle situation will still be too great.
The eastern front defense door is wide open.
In a battle, the strategic layout was not in place, and his teammates stabbed him one after another. Sima Yi felt that he really did his best.
Now Sima Yi is already thinking about whether it's time to give up on Yanzhou.
The terrain of Dongjun is narrow and there is not much strategic depth to exploit. Behind it is the natural danger of the Yellow River. Even if they want to retreat, they will need the help of the Wei army in the Hebei area. They cannot cross the river with their legs.
If you want to retreat, you must be prepared in advance, otherwise you will be crowded and jump into the river.
And if you want to keep it, it’s actually not impossible.
Although Sima Yi retreated all the way from the south of Yanzhou to the north of Yanzhou, except for the cavalry team led by Cao Zhao, the strength of the infantry team led by him did not suffer much loss. Instead, he received 30,000 reinforcements.
Now, Sima Yi even had nearly 110,000 troops in his hands. If he only wanted to defend the line of Fengqiu, Changyuan, Puyang, and Jujube, the troops would be completely sufficient.
However, this is a result that needs to be considered at the tactical level, but from the strategic level, Sima Yi felt that there was no need to continue to defend Yanzhou.
If Hulao Pass is still in hand, Luoyang cannot directly attack Yanzhou. If the two northern counties of Yanzhou are defended, even if the Shu thieves occupy the central part of Yanzhou, they will always have to face the pressure of the Soochow forces in the south and the Wei forces in the north. .
He is a rat in a bellows, a character who suffers from both sides and can no longer concentrate on achieving breakthroughs.
But once Hulao Pass was lost, the Shu bandits occupied the entire Henan County, which was equivalent to connecting the Heluo area and central Yanzhou, forming a joint force. In this case, it is not said whether Soochow will come to this Hun. Even if they have to wade through the water, the Shu thieves are still strong enough to fight on two fronts.
Rather than fighting the Shu bandits in Dongjun, which is difficult to hold, and losing troops and generals, it is better to save the troops, retreat to Hebei, and rely on the natural dangers of the Yellow River to fortify on the spot.
Moreover, once the army retreats to Hebei, the Shu thieves in the Hedong area will certainly not dare to go deeper, and the siege of Hedong will also be solved.
Therefore, Sima Yi's current plan is to see if there is a chance to retreat to Hebei while preserving his strength as much as possible.
This is not easy. After all, it is impossible for the Shu thieves to watch the main force of the Wei army that was forced to the Yellow River retreat. They will inevitably press on the entire line and force the Wei army.
Therefore, in order to retreat, Sima Yi must first hold the line of defense, otherwise, the retreat will only turn into a rout.
Similarly, such a large-scale retreat would probably not be possible without the central coordination of the imperial court. In the previous retreat, Sima Yi could make his own decision, but this time, Sima Yi had to report to the emperor and ask the emperor to send people to collect ferries to support him.
To this end, Sima Yi once again began to adjust his strategy.
First, Guo Huai's army was recalled, and he was asked to continue to lead the troops to guard Suanzao, and to cooperate with Chen Tai of Fengqiu to block Zhuge Liang's army coming out of Hulao Pass.
Then, Sima Yi divided 10,000 troops to go to Puyang and handed them over to Jia Kui's command.
Regarding Puyang, Sima Yi not only asked Jia Kui to defend Puyang when facing Hu Zun's troops heading north from Jiyin County, but also hoped that Jia Kui could find a way to recapture the White Horse Ferry as soon as possible and expel the Shu bandits stationed there. Navy troops to create conditions for future withdrawal.
In the end, it was Sima Yi himself who led 40,000 soldiers to confront the pursuers led by Deng Ai in Changyuan County, blocking Deng Ai's advance.
Suanzao, Changyuan, and Puyang, these three places form a line of defense. They must block the Shu thieves and wait for the imperial court to send people to assist them in retreating.
After doing this, Sima Yi thought about it again and wrote a letter to Jiang Ji who was assisting Guo Huai in Suanzao to guard, asking him to take his secret letter and detour to Taishan County and enter Langya County to find the people stationed in Langya County. Zhuge Jin.
The purpose is to persuade Zhuge Jin, and then let Zhuge Dan send troops from Xiapi, march into Shanyang County, and threaten the flanks of the Shu thieves in Jiyin County.
As long as the Soochow forces officially enter Yanzhou, Lu Xun, who is staying in Peiguo, will definitely not sit idly by and ignore it. He will definitely choose to send troops to the counties in the southern part of Yanzhou. Xu Shu in Yongqiu will definitely not dare to send more troops to the north.
In this way, Wei's line of defense was relatively stable.
(End of chapter)
