According to Guo Huai's combat deployment of luring the enemy deep, Le Wei led his troops across the Yellow River in Wei Yan. After completing the gathering of troops, he did not struggle with Wei Yan's troops in Huaxian County. Instead, he conserved his strength and retreated directly to Chaoge City to rendezvous. Xia Houxuan.
Huaxian County is about forty miles away from Chaoge, so it only took Le Wei two days to complete all the withdrawal plans.
And Wei Yan, after occupying Huaxian County, did move towards Chaoge City.
It's not that Wei Yan was hot-headed and changed the battle plan temporarily. After all, he had made it clear to Wei Yan beforehand that Chaoge could not be captured too quickly in this Northern Expedition.
However, as the frontline commander, Wei Yan certainly had the right and ability to adapt to the situation. Wei Yan still felt that Huaxian had been occupied, and it would be somewhat unjustifiable if he did not attack Chaoge.
Even if you want to advance eastward, you must buy yourself enough time to go to Ji County for support.
According to Wei Yan's considerations, if he immediately turns east after capturing Huaxian, he can indeed attack Jixian quickly. However, Chaoge is too close to Huaxian, and Wei Yan may leave in the morning. In Hua County, Wei Jun who was in Chaoge in the afternoon would learn the information and immediately send fast horses to warn Ji County and even Liyang.
Therefore, Wei Yan thought that it would be better to lead his troops to Chaoge first, make a posture of attacking Chaoge, force the Wei army in Chaoge to ask for help from Li Yang, and then feint a shot to quickly withdraw his troops and march eastward. In this way, it would be Chaoge. Wei Jun realized that something was wrong, and the two letters with completely opposite battle conditions should make Guo Huai hesitate and give himself some time.
In this way, Wei Yan led his fifty thousand soldiers and horses to the gate of Chaoge City.
Le Wei and Xia Houxuan, who were in Chaoge City, almost made their reactions immediately after a brief discussion.
Le Wei immediately sent a fast-horse military envoy to Li Yang to inform Wei Yan that troops were approaching Chaoge and hoped that Guo Huai would quickly send reinforcements according to the pre-war deployment.
Xia Houxuan also immediately dispatched a fast horse to report to Cao Shuang in Yecheng, so that Cao Shuang could respond in advance.
Neither of them felt there was anything wrong with Wei Yan's attack on Chaoge.
It's not that these two people are brainless. First of all, the name of a person is like the shadow of a tree. Wei Yan, as the second person in the military on Ji Han's side and also a famous general in the world, came to attack Chaoge with an army of 50,000 people. They couldn't ignore it.
On the other hand, the geographical location of Chaoge is very important. It can be said that it is the outer defensive circle on the west side of Yecheng. It is impossible for the Shu thieves to attack this place during the Northern Expedition.
Therefore, neither of them felt that there was anything wrong with Wei Yan's attack on Chaoge.
But then, something was wrong.
When Wei Yan led his troops to the foot of Chaoge City and established a stronghold, they stood still and made no movement.
First, he did not take the initiative to challenge, and second, he did not order his soldiers to go out of the city to cut down trees and build siege equipment. If it weren't for the faint sight of smoke rising from the Shu bandit camp and the flashing of human figures from the upper floors of Chaoge City, both of them would have doubted. Is there an empty camp outside the city?
But the problem is that for two consecutive days, there was no movement from Wei Yan, which made Le Wei and Xia Houxuan, who were guarding the city, somewhat uneasy.
What on earth is Wei Yan going to do? !
At this time, Le Wei and Xia Houxuan had some differences on how to deal with Wei Yan's strange behavior.
Le Wei believes that their original duty is to guard Chaoge. No matter what conspiracy Wei Yan is playing outside the city, since he does not choose to attack the city, we can just stand still. Anyway, it is not Wei who is anxious.
But Xia Houxuan doesn't think so.
Xiahou Xuan believed that Wei Yan's use of troops in this way must be deceptive.
Although I'm not sure what conspiracy he is up to, since his behavior is so weird, it is necessary to lead the troops out of the city to check the truth, so that we can better guard Chaoge.
The difference between the two people is actually related to Xia Houxuan and Le Wei's own experiences.
Xia Houxuan is the eldest son of Xia Houshang. He is only twenty-eight years old this year.
Due to his background and family background, Xia Houxuan basically grew up in Yecheng. Although he has gradually been involved in politics for eight years since he was twenty years old, this is the first time for him to lead troops out of town.
Therefore, he actually did not understand the cruelty of war, and his understanding of military strategies came mostly from books.
In addition, Xia Houxuan's own growth environment also had a considerable impact on him.
Xia Houxuan can actually be said to be the founder of the celebrity culture in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. Although he also has the ability to do practical things, he also likes empty talk. Therefore, the children of the aristocratic families he befriended are also such people who advocate empty talk. many.
Therefore, he had no direct idea of Zhang Xi and Wei Yan. Although he recognized that they were famous generals in the world, he had no direct idea of how powerful they were and how sophisticated their military tactics were.
But Lehui is different.
Le Wei is the eldest son of Le Lin, a standard martial arts disciple.
Le Jin died early, and Le Wei received limited education in military strategy. Moreover, Le Jin himself was not the kind of general who was good at using strategies. He was better at leading troops to charge into battle first. This led to Le Wei's failure in addition to his martial arts skills. , I am not proficient in strategy.
But there is also an advantage, that is, Le Wei never thinks that he is a general who is good at using strategies to win. He will choose a safer approach - he will do whatever the coach says.
Although in this way, Le Wei's shortcomings in emergency response have become, but at least he does not have to worry about greater losses caused by mistakes in response.
Therefore, the difference between the two people this time is actually the difference between obeying military orders and responding to the situation on the battlefield.
But this disagreement is actually easy to resolve.
First of all, there is actually no direct subordinate relationship between Le Wei and Xia Houxuan. They were ordered to join forces in Chaoge City.
Secondly, if we have to dig deeper, according to the unspoken rules of Cao Wei's officialdom, when fighting abroad, without a clear appointment of a commander, generals with foreign surnames must obey the command of the clan generals.
Obviously, as a clan general, Xia Houxuan would not be unreasonable if he really wanted to command Le Wei in battle.
What's more, Xia Houxuan proposed that he lead the 10,000 Chaoge garrison under his command to take the initiative to go out of the city to test. Le Wei led the Wei army that retreated from Huaxian County to Chaoge to guard Chaoge, and at the same time be prepared to respond. Just in case this happens, even if the responsibility needs to be investigated after the war, each other's responsibilities are clear, and there will be no problem of who is dragging the other down.
Le Wei thought about it for a while and thought it could be done.
After all, the issue that Le Wei is most worried about is actually the issue of power and responsibility. Now that Xia Houxuan has taken the initiative to clarify this, Le Wei has no worries anymore.
In this way, on the third day after Wei Yan's army came to Chaoge City, Xiahou Xuan led 10,000 soldiers under his command to take the initiative to leave the city and launch an attack on the Han army camp outside.
Then. The only one thousand soldiers left in the Han army's camp abandoned the camp and left as soon as the Wei army launched their attack.
Only then did Xia Houxuan realize that he seemed to have been fooled.
Wei Yan's real target is not Chaoge City, but somewhere else. Although he doesn't know where it is, if Wei Yan's main force is withdrawn without knowing where it is, it will have a big impact on the defense of the entire southern Hebei Province.
But fortunately, Xia Houxuan immediately realized that Wei Yan had just established the stronghold just the day before, and it was definitely impossible to withdraw on the same day. This would greatly affect the morale of the army.
Therefore, if the Shu thieves wanted to withdraw their troops, they should only have one day yesterday. They had already left the city early this morning to test and discovered the Shu thieves' empty stronghold.
Therefore, if Wei Yan retreated last night or early this morning, he would not be able to go far. This is an opportunity.
Wei Yan was eager to withdraw his troops and leave Chaoge. Once he withdrew, he would not make many preparations. If he could catch up in time and follow him for a while, even if he could not win a big victory, he could at least dampen the spirit of the Shu thieves.
When he thought of this, Xia Houxuan raised his head and observed the direction in which the thousand Han troops were fleeing. While sending people to the city to notify Le Wei, he ordered the entire army to follow and pursue the Han troops.
This Han army was left behind to break up the rear, and eventually failed and retreated. It must have joined the main force. As long as it followed their defense line to catch up, there was no need to worry about not being able to catch up with the main force of the Shu thieves.
Xia Houxuan happily chased after him, and then came back with a disgraced face.
Just kidding, with Xia Houxuan's little battlefield experience, how could it be possible that Wei Yan, a famous battlefield general's opponent, had chosen to bluff a withdrawal, and how could Wei Yan not make arrangements for his retreat.
Wei Yan arranged for the rear army to set up an ambush on the withdrawal route early. If the Wei army came after him, he would fall directly into the ambush. If no Wei army came after him, it would just be a waste of half a day.
As a result, Xia Houxuan jumped straight in.
If Xia Houxuan hadn't sent a military notice to Le Wei in Chaoge City before setting off, Le Wei felt that Xia Houxuan's pursuit was too hasty and quickly led troops to respond. It's hard to say whether Xia Houxuan would have been able to withdraw.
But this time, the two juniors were stunned. Xia Houxuan, who was still ambitious at first, was now honest and huddled in Chaoge City and did not come out.
(End of chapter)
