Inside Liyang City.
At this time, Guo Huai was indeed a little anxious.
The initial battle situation since the Shu thieves sent troops to the Northern Expedition and crossed the Yellow River was indeed developing as Guo Huai expected.
After Guo Huai ordered Le Wei to withdraw north to Chaoge, he did receive a joint military report from Xiahou Xuan and Le Wei, and learned that Wei Yan had led 50,000 troops and was heading north towards Chaoge.
As long as Xiahou Xuan and Le Wei can defend Chaoge and hold back Wei Yan's 50,000 troops, then Guo Huai can concentrate his forces to deal with Zhang Xi's 50,000 Shu bandits in Linji County.
Moreover, as Zhang Xi expected, Guo Huai did not send troops immediately after Jixian was besieged. Instead, he ordered Zhang Hu to stick to Jixian while he stayed put in Liyang and waited for the opportunity.
After all, there are still 20,000 defenders in Ji County. Even if Zhang Hu is not as good as his father Zhang Liao, he is not incompetent. With 20,000 people defending a city, facing the siege of 50,000 people, they will not be defeated all at once. Lost.
Liyang is not far from Jixian, and it only takes two days to march. As long as Zhang Hu can hold on for ten days and a half, which dampens the offensive spirit of the Shu thieves, then Guo Huai will send troops to attack again. Defeat Zhang Xi's 50,000 troops.
Even if Zhang Xi leads the elite imperial army of Shu thieves, the result will be the same.
But just when Guo Huai thought that the entire Jizhou defense strategy would go as he expected, Xia Houxuan and Le Wei once again sent a joint battle report.
Xia Houxuan rashly pursued and ambushed, losing thousands of people. Wei Yan led the troops, but their whereabouts are unknown! ! !
Really, when Guo Huai saw this battle report, he didn't know how to describe his mood at that time.
This familiar feeling is here again! ! !
Guo Huai considered himself to be well-versed in the art of war, poems and books, and was proficient in both literary and military strategies. He had led troops in battles for more than thirty years, so he was considered to be rich in experience. However, in these years, he felt like he had been unlucky for eight lifetimes. In a great situation, I encountered various pig teammates.
Forget about the Battle of Hebei County. In that battle, Guo Huai admitted that it was his carelessness. He did not expect Zhang Xi to be so capable of defending, and he had to compete with Zhang Xi, which led to him missing the best chance to win. But in all subsequent battles , Guo Huai didn't think it was his fault.
In Wuzhangyuan, Guo Huai was ordered to stabilize the defense line in the face of danger. When he was in a stalemate with the Shu thieves, Mei County fell behind him, causing Guo Huai's direct retreat to be cut off and he was trapped in despair.
In Youfufeng, Guo Huai almost swept through the whole county and was about to capture Youfufeng and press on to Chang'an. However, something went wrong with his pig teammates behind him, forcing him to retreat.
Later in Wuguan and Runan, Guo Huai had to retreat again and again because others could not hold the place. Guo Huai wondered why he encountered pig teammates so easily and no one could help him. Someone to share the pressure with? !
Same now.
Xia Houxuan, this bastard, has clearly told you that it is enough to guard Chaoge and contain Wei Yan. Why do you want to pursue him so rashly? !
If Wei Yan wants to withdraw, let him withdraw. Find out the direction of his withdrawal, and fly a book to report now. The loss of thousands of soldiers and horses is still a trivial matter. Wei Yan's main army just "disappeared" on the battlefield? !
This is a big deal. Who knows where Wei Yan will come out from.
For this reason, Guo Huai was worried for several days and did not dare to take it lightly.
Wei Yan is also a famous general in the world, and his whereabouts with 50,000 troops and horses may determine the success or failure of the entire Yellow River defense. Under such circumstances, Guo Huai dare not easily lead troops to support Jixian, let alone encircle and suppress Zhangxi. .
Now Guo Huai seriously doubts whether this is a trap set by Zhang Xi, waiting for him to take the initiative to send troops, and then use Wei Yan's troops to set up an ambush to ambush him in the field.
For this reason, Guo Huai sent countless sentinels to contact various counties in central and southern Jizhou, hoping to find traces of Wei Yan's troops as soon as possible.
However, there has been no clear news.
This made Guo Huai a little relieved.
No trace of Wei Yan's main force was found in the counties in central and southern Jizhou, which means that Wei Yan had only one direction to go, which was to go along Huaxian to Jixian, join Zhang Xi's troops, and attack Jixian.
After all, it is now under the control of the Shu thieves, so it is normal that the Wei army's scouts cannot detect it.
If this is the case, Guo Huai's defensive strategy of luring the enemy into dividing his forces and defeating them one by one will most likely not succeed.
However, this can also hold the main army of Shu thieves near Baima Ferry. As long as we rely on the defenses of Ji County and Liyang and carry out city defense battles step by step, we can also hold back the Shu thieves and drag them out until they run out of food. .
After all, in terms of food and grass supplies, the Wei army was fighting at home and had the support of the entire Jizhou. It could still outlast the Shu thieves in terms of consumption.
It's just that this is a bit passive, and it won't have much military exploits. However, the current situation is like this. Being able to defend Jizhou is victory, and Guo Huai will not force anything.
But just two days after Guo Huai felt relieved, he suddenly received a battle report from Zhang Hu - the Shu thieves in Ji County had divided their forces.
Zhang Xi divided his army into 30,000 troops and appointed Jiang Wei as general. He suddenly went north and followed the trail towards Neihuang County.
Judging from this march route, they should be trying to bypass Liyang County and attack Neihuang County.
But the problem is that if Zhang Xi divides his troops like this, he will only have 20,000 people in his hands. As long as Guo Huai can take advantage of the situation and defeat Zhang Xi's 20,000 people staying outside Ji County, Jiang Wei's 30,000 people heading north will also be cut off. The way out is to become a turtle in a urn.
When Guo Huai heard the news, he frowned on the spot. Could such a highly risky strategy be done by Zhang Yuanchang? !
Can't? !
It is feasible in terms of tactics to divide the troops to take a detour and sneak attack on weak defenses.
If the coach under Ji County was replaced by Wei Yan, then Guo Huai would still have some confidence.
Wei Yan was quite reckless in his military use and lacked some delicacy. It was really possible that he took the risk and divided his troops, betting that Guo Huai would not be able to defeat the 20,000 Northern Expeditionary Army led by him.
But Zhang Xi has always been cautious in his military use. How could he make such a risky tactical choice? !
Therefore, Guo Huai judged at the first moment that this might be Zhang Xi's deliberate bait to induce him to take the initiative to send troops to leave Liyang to Jixian and besiege Zhang Xi.
As long as I leave Liyang, I am afraid that I will encounter an ambush by Shu thieves halfway before reaching Ji County. It may be Jiang Wei's return army, or it may be Wei Yan's troops.
After considering this, Guo Huai felt that it would be better for him to continue to stand still.
But... if you think more about some things, Guo Huai feels that it would be inappropriate not to send troops.
First, although Neihuang County is not a strategically important place, if it falls, the Shu thieves can indeed go north along Neihuang County and attack Yecheng.
Although based on the current defense situation of Ye City, there are only 30,000 Shu thieves. Even if they attack Ye City, there will not be any big threat. But after all, they have been attacked under the capital, and the government and the public will definitely be shocked.
At that time, regardless of whether he defeated the Shu thieves in the end, Guo Huai would definitely be held accountable by the court.
What if this is Zhang Xi's bluff? !
Could it be that the old fox was sure that he would not send troops easily, so he bluffed and deliberately divided his troops, using 20,000 soldiers to contain the 60,000 on his side, but sent Jiang Wei to attack Neihuang.
With the number of troops Huang defended, if he could not send troops to rescue in time, it would only take 30,000 elite Shu thieves to break the city in three to five days.
Once the Shu thieves break through Neihuang, they can attack Fanyang to the west.
Of course, capturing Fanyang is not a big deal, but further west from Fanyang is Wei County.
Neihuang and Fanyang are not strategic locations, but Wei County is! ! !
Once the Shu thieves capture Wei County, they can not only cut off Liyang's food and grass supply channels, but also cut off the connection between Yangping County and Yecheng, and block Yecheng's reinforcement channels.
As a result, there are too many changes that the Shu thieves can take advantage of.
In addition, there is a subordinate of Wei Yan whose whereabouts are still unknown. If Wei Yan did not come to Ji County and he also led his troops to Neihuang County, it would be troublesome.
The more Guo Huai thought about it, the more complicated it became. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that his brain was starting to run out of power.
According to the first level of logic, Guo Huai believes that he should continue to stand still. However, if based on the second level of logic, he may have fallen into a trap. At this time, Guo Huai, as the head coach, needs to make a decision. Make your own judgment.
After thinking for a while, Guo Huai made his own judgment - sending Xu Gai to lead 10,000 troops to support Neihuang County, while he continued to hold his troops in Liyang.
This is a relatively compromised approach.
If there are only 30,000 Shu thieves under Jiang Wei's command to attack Neihuang, then it is enough for Xu Gai to lead 10,000 soldiers to support Neihuang.
If Wei Yan also led troops to Neihuang, then the reinforcements brought by Xu Gai could at least help Guo Huai buy some time.
Without figuring out the real direction of Wei Yan's troops, Guo Huai never dared to take it lightly and could only adopt this relatively compromise response.
Just two days after Xu Gai led his troops and set off, Guo Huai received an urgent report from Neihuang County - Shu thieves had raised 100,000 troops to attack Neihuang County, and Neihuang County was in emergency.
This battle report was directly reported to Guo Huai, who was confused, but then, Guo Huai was happy again.
Finally figured out the true whereabouts of Wei Yan's troops.
Of course Guo Huai did not believe that Neihuang County would have 100,000 Shu thieves attacking the city, but even if the magistrate of Neihuang County was a coward and exaggerated the number of enemy troops. If only Jiang Wei led 30,000 troops to attack Neihuang County, Neihuang County would be Ling wouldn't even fabricate a lie about a hundred thousand people besieging the city.
Therefore, Guo Huai judged that Wei Yan's troops, who had temporarily lost their traces, should also go north together, heading straight from Chaoge to Neihuang, joining Jiang Wei, and storming Neihuang County together.
Under such circumstances, it is basically impossible for the two thousand defenders in Neihuang County to hold on. Even if Xu Gai's reinforcements arrive, they still cannot hold on! ! !
Neihuang County cannot be saved at all, but similarly, Zhang Xi's headquarters in Ji County now probably only has 20,000 people.
This is a perfect opportunity.
Guo Huai immediately gathered his troops and led 30,000 troops, heading straight for Jixian County! ! !
The temperature has dropped sharply recently, I caught a cold and had a fever, and I went to the hospital to have a fever. I didn’t save the manuscript, which resulted in a lack of updates.
I have a little more energy today, but my mind is still not clear. I wrote two chapters in a daze. I hope my health will be better tomorrow.
(End of chapter)
