Actually, Zhuge Liang ordered the entire army to suspend the attack and take a short rest, which cannot be regarded as bait.
The attack in the past few days was not going well. Although the morale of the army was not low, it was inevitable that there was some anxiety. In order to prevent some generals from starting a fight and ignoring the attack, Zhuge Liang ordered a temporary rest.
Well, these generals are talking about none other than Guan Ping and Kou Feng.
One thing to say is that these two people are really not qualified commanders. At most, they are qualified generals. This has been the case for these years and it is impossible to change.
If someone can command them and make them obey orders, then they can also exert extremely high tactical value. But if you let them command the troops alone, it will be fine if they encounter small problems, but when it comes to large-scale operations like now, which require coordinated operations, In battle, there is only a slight difference between the two.
It's easy to get carried away when fighting, so some restrictions must be implemented. Otherwise, the first place where morale will be damaged due to being unable to attack for a long time is theirs.
This is a very practical reason, and Zhuge Liang must intervene to adjust the offensive rhythm of the entire campaign.
On the other hand, the reason does have a lot to do with the imminent arrival of reinforcements led by Wang Chang.
Zhuge Liang asked Zhang Xi for help, originally hoping that Zhang Xi could send some troops to help. Zhuge Liang would be very satisfied if ten or twenty thousand people could come.
After all, in the Hedong War, Zhang Xi used 70,000 people to contain 100,000 people. If too many were deployed, the deterrent effect would be reduced, and Zhang Xi might fall under the siege of the Wei army.
But Zhuge Liang didn't expect that Zhang Xi actually asked Wang Chang to bring 30,000 soldiers to help, and he retreated to Mengjin Ferry with more than 10,000 Qiang and Hu cavalry and more than 20,000 county soldiers. Then Zhuge Liang must use these 30,000 soldiers. On the blade.
Pausing the attack and resting for a day was not only to maintain the morale of the army, but also to wait for the arrival of Wang Chang's troops before launching a general attack.
As for Sima Yi, if he wants to arrange a withdrawal now, Zhuge Liang is confident enough to complete the mobilization in a short time and send troops to pursue him. If he misses this opportunity to withdraw, Zhuge Liang will not give Sima Yi anything in the future. Opportunity to withdraw.
Wang Chang's 30,000 men were the signal for Zhuge Liang's decisive battle. As soon as the signal for the decisive battle was reached, he began to attack with all his strength.
Therefore, whether Sima Yi withdrew his troops or stayed put was actually within Zhuge Liang's plan, and was not at all a bait to induce him to withdraw voluntarily as Sima Yi thought.
After a day's truce between the two sides, the war continued the next day.
It was still a third-line attack, but this time the attack lasted only two days, and Guo Huai was the first to be unable to withstand it.
There was no way. In the past, Guo Huai used 30,000 people to fight against Zhuge Liang's less than 40,000 people. Although it was hard work, relying on the defense of the camp and the support of Jujube City behind him, he was not too at a disadvantage.
But now, Guo Huai is using 30,000 people to deal with the attack of nearly 70,000 Shu bandits. Wang Chang has already led reinforcements in place.
The gap in strength has further widened, and the enemy generals Guo Huai has to face are incomparable to the other two lines of defense.
Which of the four Zhuge Liang, Wei Yan, Hu Fen, and Wang Chang is easy to mess with? !
Zhuge Liang was resourceful and well-organized.
Wei Yan and Hu Fen were extremely brave and fought fiercely.
Now that there is another Wang Chang who is talented in literature and martial arts, and good at checking for leaks and filling in vacancies, it is strange that Guo Huai's life is easy.
At the beginning, Guo Huai could still hold on, but after experiencing the daily casualties of up to a thousand people in three days, Guo Huai really couldn't hold on anymore.
It's not that Guo Huai has suffered so many casualties that he can't support the situation, but if the current casualty figures continue to accumulate for a long time, and hold on for another ten days, the west defense line alone that Guo Huai is responsible for will likely suffer tens of thousands of casualties. above.
Guo Huai had only more than 30,000 soldiers under his command, and suffered more than 10,000 casualties, which was one-third of the casualties.
I'm afraid that before the Shu thieves can't attack for a long time and their morale is low, the soldiers under their command will be unable to hold on first, and the morale of the army will be unstable due to excessive casualties! ! !
Guo Huai must take this possibility into consideration in advance and inform Sima Yi in advance so that Sima Yi can make a decision in advance.
And Sima Yi was actually under a lot of pressure.
After all, Guo Huai has 30,000 men, and his opponent has only recently increased to 70,000 men. Sima Yi has always used less than 20,000 men to fight against the attack of 50,000 soldiers commanded by Deng Ai.
Sima Yi was able to survive before. On the one hand, Sima Yi's ability to use troops was really strong, and he commanded and defended watertight. On the other hand, it was because Sima Yi was determined to huddle in the camp and remain motionless, never doing anything unnecessary.
In the previous four or five days of the offensive, Deng Ai was relatively cautious and rational in his use of troops. If the enemy had a defensive gap that could be exploited, Deng Ai would seize the opportunity to break through. But if the breakthrough failed, Deng Ai would immediately retreat his troops. Will choose to attack by force.
To put it simply, Deng Ai's military style was still influenced by his teacher, and he was not willing to sacrifice the lives of his soldiers to win victory.
Sima Yi also took advantage of this and was able to block Deng Ai's superior force attack.
But now, even people like Zhuge Liang have ordered an all-out attack, so Deng Ai can no longer use troops according to his own ideas. As a commander, when he should be ruthless, he must also be ruthless.
Well, this is also one of the military experience Zhang Xi taught Deng Ai.
Once Deng Ai chose to attack by force, Sima Yi, who was at a disadvantage in terms of military strength, could no longer hold on.
The most important thing is that Guo Huai, Chen Tai and others have successively sent people to come to ask for help, saying that the Shu thieves have intensified their attacks and intensified their offensives in the past few days. Obviously, this is not the impromptu intention of the enemy generals, but An organized attack.
Zhuge Liang wanted to use strong attacks to seek a single breakthrough, and then use one point to break through.
In this case, Sima Yi actually had two options to respond.
One is to stay and hold on until the Shu thieves' attack rhythm subsides, and then arrange to retreat. In this way, it is possible to complete the retreat without any danger.
However, it is hard to say how many people can be sent back.
Judging from the casualties currently reported on various defense lines in this round of assault, the Wei army will suffer at least 20,000 casualties in ten days. If the casualties that may be caused during the withdrawal are added, the soldiers in Jizhou can finally be withdrawn. It's God's blessing that there are 30,000 people.
Even if the 40,000 people who were evacuated in the first and second batches were included, only 70,000 people could be evacuated in total.
In this battle, not counting the Hedong area, Yanzhou was all over. The Wei Dynasty invested about 150,000 troops, but in the end, only 70,000 troops were withdrawn, and the entire Yanzhou was lost. Sima Yi's crime was not ordinary.
Of course, the prerequisite for being able to withdraw these people is that the Wei army must defend any one of the three lines of defense. If one of the three lines of defense is not defended, the outcome may even be that the entire army is annihilated and only the first group is withdrawn, and the second group of four retreats. Just ten thousand people.
This way of coping is too passive and the risk is too high.
The second way to deal with it is to cut off the wrist of a strong man.
Before the Shu thieves caused too many casualties, they immediately arranged to withdraw their troops, leaving some behind, and the rest of the main force quickly withdrew to Yanjin Ferry and retreated as quickly as possible.
However, considering that the total strength of the Shu bandits has exceeded 150,000, and they are assisted by cavalry, the arrangements for this withdrawal must be made with caution.
It's not that Sima Yi didn't have a corresponding withdrawal plan, but if he followed Sima Yi's plan, I'm afraid "selling" Chen Tai would not solve all the problems.
For this reason, Sima Yi had to write his thoughts and dilemmas into letters and send them to Suanzao City and the Western Front, to Chen Tai and Guo Huai, and asked them to make decisions together.
To put it nicely, it was the decision of the staff, but to put it harshly, Sima Yi actually hoped that these two people would take the initiative to stand up and take responsibility.
In the letter to Chen Tai, Sima Yi actually said it very straightforwardly.
He hoped that Chen Tai could lead five thousand people to defend the jujube.
He was not asked to die to serve the country, but he was asked to delay the withdrawal of the army for three days. After that, even if Chen Tai surrendered in Kaicheng, Sima Yi would try his best to save his family in Yecheng.
At the same time, Sima Yi also made it clear to Chen Tai in his letter that leaving Chen Tai to guard the jujube was actually a way to help Chen Tai himself and the Chen family in Yingchuan.
The fact that Yingchuan County was lost so quickly in this battle actually showed the Yingchuan family's choice and stance. They had collectively chosen to surrender to the Shu Han.
Even if Chen Tai returned to the Wei Dynasty, he would not be able to develop very well without the support of local aristocratic families.
On the contrary, as long as Chen Tai can hold on to the jujube this time, delay Sima Yi's withdrawal to three days, and preserve the main force of the Wei army to return to Hebei, it will be the Yingchuan Chen clan's loyalty to the Wei Dynasty.
As for whether Chen Tai surrendered to the Shu Han in the future, it no longer mattered. He was in a place where he was destined to die and fought for justice for the country. Even Cao Rui would not have any idea about whether Chen Tai surrendered to the Shu Han.
After all, it was Chen Tai who gave up first in the Wei Dynasty, not Chen Tai who abandoned the Wei Dynasty first. In these days, everyone is not required to die to save the whole country.
After Chen Tai surrendered to the Shu Han, he could also become the leader of the Yingchuan family within the Shu Han. The Shu Han court, whether it was to appease the Yingchuan family or because of Chen Qun's personal relationship with Liu Bei, would not He will embarrass Chen Tai and even reuse Chen Tai.
To a certain extent, Sima Yi's decision to leave Chen Tai to guard the jujube was actually giving Chen Tai a decent opportunity to switch camps without damaging the reputation of the Chen family in Yingchuan.
Of course, the most important thing is that doing so will also be beneficial to Wei.
This is also the reason why Sima Yi can "sell" Chen Tai with peace of mind.
Sima Yi could persuade Chen Tai in such a straightforward manner. After all, everyone is the spokesperson of a big family, and everyone has the same things in their hearts.
But for Guo Huai, Sima Yi couldn't say that. It was true that Guo Huai was also a child of a wealthy family, but Guo Huai was a man of integrity.
Moreover, Guo Huai, who served as an official for the third generation of the Wei Dynasty, is completely different from Chen Tai, a second-generation official.
It is impossible to persuade such a person with any interests. Only righteousness can persuade him.
In a letter to Guo Huai, Sima Yi stated that he preferred the second response plan to withdraw his troops immediately, and that Sima Yi was willing to personally lead the front to block the cavalry threat for the army, while at the same time handing over the central army to Guo Huai's leadership.
As for Guo Huai's reply, there were no surprises. How could an army commander put himself in danger? !
(End of chapter)
