Under Sima Yi's arrangements, the front line near Dongjun was finally stabilized.
On the eastern front, Chen Tai in Fengqiu and Guo Huai in Suanzao responded to each other and defended the city. With nearly 50,000 troops, they temporarily blocked the attack of 40,000 troops and 20,000 cavalry led by Zhuge Liang.
After all, Guo Huai is a veteran and famous general. Although he has been frustrated over the years, his skills at hand have not declined at all.
Especially this time, Guo Huai was flanked by Chen Tai who was responsible for protecting him, and under his command were generals like Xia Houhe, Cao Yu, and Du Shu.
There is no doubt about Chen Tai's ability. He is capable of both literary and military skills, and it is impossible for him to make stupid mistakes easily.
Xia Houhe and Cao Yu are very self-aware people, especially Cao Yu. Theoretically speaking, Cao Yu is the person with the highest official position among all people, and he should be the defense coach on the Eastern Front.
But Cao Yu knew how much he had, and he was very open-minded and directly delegated power to Guo Huai, who was responsible for commanding the defensive battle on the eastern front, thus avoiding unnecessary internal friction.
As for Du Shu, although he may not be good at leading troops in battle, he is good at making suggestions. Jiang Ji is no longer around. Du Shu has taken on Jiang Ji's responsibilities, but he cooperates well with Guo Huai.
Really, the days of guarding the jujubes were almost the most comfortable and smoothest period that Guo Huai had ever had since he led his troops to face the Shu thieves. Even Guo Huai himself felt a little emotional. The days without his pig teammates were really difficult. wonderful.
And once Guo Huai has a reliable helper to help him, even if his opponent is Zhuge Liang, Guo Huai will not be weak at all.
In addition, Guo Huai was fighting a defensive battle on the eastern front. As long as he did not take the initiative to send troops to seek field battles, the cavalry led by Pang De would have little use. The actual comparison of offensive and defensive forces should be four to five. , the infantry strength led by Zhuge Liang was still slightly insufficient.
As for Zhuge Liang, there is really nothing he can do against Guo Huai.
The cavalry led by Pound could not be used to attack the city. They could only cruise back and forth on the passage from Fengqiu to Suizao, cutting off the connection between the two cities as much as possible.
Zhuge Liang had 40,000 soldiers in his hands, of which 30,000 were Han Imperial Guards and 10,000 were Luoyang County soldiers. But unfortunately, in siege warfare, it was difficult for the Han Imperial Army's combat effectiveness advantage to be fully utilized.
Coupled with Guo Huai's own planning and emergency response ability, for a while, Zhuge Liang really had nothing to do with Guo Huai.
But fortunately, now that Hulao Pass has been broken, and the passage from Zhuge Liang's front line to Luoyang has been opened, Zhuge Liang no longer has to worry about logistical supply issues. He can set up camp with peace of mind and supplement his skills during the attack on Hulao. For the siege equipment lost during the pass, be fully prepared before attacking the city.
If the confrontation lasts for a long time, Zhuge Liang believes that he will definitely win, but in the short term, it is indeed impossible to defeat the jujube easily.
On the western front, Jia Kui received support from Sima Yi, and his troops increased from 20,000 to 30,000. Jia Kui immediately sent his son to lead troops to attack Baima Ferry.
According to the detailed work of Jiyin County and the scout reports sent by Jia Kui, after Hu Zun led his troops to conquer Dingtao, he did not choose to go north immediately, but stayed in Dingtao for about ten days. Jia Kui did not know that Hu Zun What was the reason why Zun stopped his troops and refused to advance? But Jia Kui knew that he must seize this gap period and regain the Baima Ferry. Otherwise, when Hu Zun led his troops north, he might not have a chance.
As long as they can recapture Baimadu before Hu Zun's troops march north, and then quickly return to Puyang, it will not be that easy for the Shu thieves to break through Puyang, which is guarded by 30,000 soldiers.
The war on the Western Front has basically stabilized.
The most uncertain part now is actually Sima Yi versus Deng Ai in the middle.
Changyuan is not a fortified city, it is just an ordinary small county town. The height of the city wall is only five feet, and its size cannot accommodate 40,000 troops. Therefore, Sima Yi can only divide his troops, with 30,000 troops outside the city and 10,000 troops guarding the city. In the city.
The biggest advantage on Sima Yi's side is Sima Yi himself.
It is undeniable that in terms of pure military ability, Sima Yi is a famous general in the world. He is experienced in using troops, can change the situation in battle, and has outstanding strategies.
The Han army on the opposite side had Deng Ai as their commander-in-chief, and Kou Feng and Guan Ping as their two lieutenants. Any one of them was far inferior to Sima Yi, but if the three of them together worked together, Sima Yi would actually be more powerful. It's also a headache.
In addition, now Sima Yi actually has a very big disadvantage, that is, he has no generals to use, Cao Shuang and Gao Tanglong, and Sima Yi dare not let Sima Yi use either of them with confidence.
Therefore, Sima Yi could only lead the army in person and stationed outside the city. He had no choice but to leave Cao Shuang and Gao Tanglong to garrison inside the city. With these two guys, who dares to let them camp alone outside the city? Isn't that to send military exploits to the enemy? .
It is relatively safer to keep it in the city. After all, it is protected by the city wall.
However, even so, Sima Yi was still worried, fearing that these two guys would not be able to defend Changyuan County.
After all, the Shu thieves really have a lot of troops.
Here, Sima Yi also had to admit that he made a mistake in his judgment.
As news of Wei Yan's breakthrough from Hulao Pass reached Chenliu County, Guan Ping and Deng Ai, who had originally divided their troops to meet Wei Yan, had lost their target. Therefore, Deng Ai simply joined forces with Guan Ping to attack Changchun. Yuan Jinjun and the two of them combined have a total strength of 70,000.
Sima Yi's original judgment was that there would be about 50,000 Shu thieves pursuing Changyuan, so he was really confident that he would use 30,000 troops to contain most of the Shu thieves and ensure the safety of Changyuan County.
But the problem is that Sima Yi made a mistake in his judgment. Now the Shu bandits have 70,000 troops, not the 50,000 that Sima Yi originally expected. The extra 20,000 people are more than enough to attack Changyuan County, which is guarded by 10,000 people. .
If Cao Shuang and Gao Tanglong cannot defend themselves, it will be in vain no matter how well Sima Yi fights outside the city.
This is what Sima Yi is most worried about.
But after the actual battle, Sima Yi realized that he seemed to have underestimated Cao Shuang.
For a long time, because of Cao Shuang's behavior, he always made some discordant sounds, and these discordant sounds sounded so "wise". This led Sima Yi to think that Cao Shuang was probably another Xiahou Mao.
Although he has the aura of being the son of a famous general, he is actually just an unlearned and unskilled descendant of the clan.
But in fact, although Cao Shuang is indeed a bit ambitious and short-handed, at least he is not a guy like Xia Houmao who really knows nothing. No matter how smart Cao Shuang is, he at least still has something in his hands.
At least, Cao Shuang still understands the routine of defending a city.
Moreover, the current situation is already like this. No matter how much Cao Shuang fights with Sima Yi, there is no benefit. Although Cao Shuang was also afraid of death, he did not choose to escape from the battle like Xia Houmao.
On the one hand, Cao Shuang is somewhat stronger than Xia Houmao, and he still has some morale.
On the other hand, after Xia Houmao escaped from the battle, although he survived under the protection of Cao Pi, the future of Xia Houmao's lineage in the Wei Dynasty was completely ruined.
Nowadays, Xia Houmao's life is worse than that of ordinary clan members, and it is basically impossible to have a chance to turn around.
Cao Shuang saw Xia Houmao's fate, and of course he didn't want to make the same mistake as Xia Houmao. Besides, he was Cao Rui today. As Cao Zhen's son, Cao Shuang didn't know Cao Rui's attitude toward Xia Houmao? !
Even if he wanted to learn from Xia Houmao, Cao Rui would not learn from his father Cao Pi. Cao Shuang dared to escape from the battle, and Cao Rui really dared to chop off Cao Shuang's head.
Therefore, Cao Shuang had nothing to do. He was afraid of death, but he also knew that at this time, he could only have a chance to survive by holding on to Changyuan with all his strength.
Forced into desperation, Cao Shuang used all he had learned throughout his life. Moreover, this time Cao Shuang was not as arrogant as before. He could even listen to Gao Tanglong's suggestions.
As for Gao Tanglong, as long as you don't let him personally command the defense of the city, he still has some role.
Although Gao Tanglong is indeed a dabbler in terms of military strategy and command, Gao Tanglong has defended the city twice, once because his opponent was too weak, and once because his opponent was too strong and suffered heavy losses. But he has some experience in defending the city. .
Cao Shuang's life-long learning, coupled with Gao Tanglong's experience, and the small gap in military strength allowed them to barely hold Changyuan County. However, the troop loss ratio was a little larger.
But as long as he can hold on, Sima Yi is already very satisfied. For other things, Sima Yi will not even be demanding.
In this way, the battle in the middle was barely stabilized.
The Han army advanced in three directions, but all three were blocked. Deng Ai could not sit still.
On the one hand, Deng Ai needs to find a way to break the current stalemate. On the other hand, Deng Ai also sends a battle report to Yongqiu in the rear, informs Xu Shu of the situation on the front line, and seeks Xu Shu's next order.
At this time, Xu Shu actually knew that the three-pronged attack on the front line was blocked.
The simplest way to respond at this time is for Xu Shu to take the remaining 20,000 soldiers in Yongqiu and go north to support Deng Ai and others. By opening a gap in Changyuan County, he can break through the middle of the Wei army's defense line and cut and surround the Wei army.
But Xu Shu could not go north.
The reason is simple, Soochow sent troops.
Zhuge Dan led 20,000 soldiers, sent troops from Xiapi County, and easily entered Shanyang County. As a result, Hu Zun had to stay in Dingtao temporarily to prevent the Eastern Wu Army from attacking Jiyin County.
Lu Xun, who was in Pei State, also led his troops out of Dangshan after Hu Zun led his troops into Jiyin County, and re-entered Liang State. Now he is confronting 10,000 soldiers led by Guan Qiujian near Dangshan County.
Others, such as Zhu Ju in Runan and Sun Shao in Huainan, each sent troops, one threatened Chen State, and the other invaded Qiao County.
Obviously, Soochow took the initiative to get involved in this Yanzhou war.
In order to ensure the safety of his retreat, Xu Shu did not dare to go north easily.
(End of chapter)
