Master Sima finally discovered something was wrong.
If the Shu thieves divided their forces and went south to conquer Ruicheng County, then used Ruicheng County as their advance base, penetrated into Zhongtiao Mountain, and then left Zhongtiao Mountain in the direction of Anyi or Wenxi County, directly inserting the Wei army's retreat, what would happen? It's all over.
Ruicheng County is on the southernmost side of Hedong County. Now the Shu thieves are besieging the city to liberate the county. Even if Ruicheng County is really attacked by the Shu thieves, their battle report for reinforcements will not be sent to the county, let alone the Sima Division. Reinforcements came to the rescue. When Ruicheng County fell, it was impossible for Sima Division to know.
As for the Shu thieves, it is indeed difficult to cross the Zhongtiao Mountains. After all, the Shu thieves are outsiders and do not know the specific conditions of the Zhongtiao Mountains. In fact, even the locals in Hedong County, not many people are familiar with the Zhongtiao Mountains. The mountain road inside the mountain.
This is the biggest difficulty for Shu thieves to cross Zhongtiao Mountain.
However, this is just a little more difficult, but it does not mean that it is impossible. If there are really aristocratic families in Hedong County who cooperate with the Shu thieves inside and outside, and send guides who are familiar with the terrain of Zhongtiao Mountain to the Shu thieves, it seems that it would be difficult to cross Zhongtiao Mountain. It's not impossible.
Moreover, the Shu thieves also have an unworthy flying army that is good at mountain warfare. Now under the city of Jie County, Sima Division not only did not see this army, but even their commander Wang Ping disappeared. Did the Shu thieves really have something? Maybe he went south and crossed Zhongtiao Mountain.
If that were the case, it would all make sense.
It's not that Jiang Xu is incompetent or that he is strong in defending the city. It's simply that the Shu thieves didn't attack the city seriously. They just delayed the time and dragged themselves in Jie County so that they could cross Zhongtiao Mountain. The Shu thieves used their troops to gain time.
Moreover, if there is really a collusion between the Hedong family and the Shu thieves, then by the time the Shu thieves cross the Zhongtiao Mountains, no matter whether they arrive in Anyi or Wenxi County, I am afraid that there will already be someone inside to take over. It would be easy to get to these two counties.
The more he thought about it, the more Master Sima felt that this was very possible. Therefore, he had to retreat immediately.
First retreat to Yishi County, join Dai Ling, and then follow Dai Ling back to Anyi. As long as you return to Anyi first, under your nose, those Hedong aristocratic families will not dare to easily follow the Shu thieves The inside should be in harmony with the outside.
In this way, the situation in Hedong can be restored.
When Master Sima thought of this, he did not hesitate immediately and directly ordered the entire army to prepare and retreat early the next morning.
There are less than 10,000 people in total, and the distance between Jie County and Yishi County is only fifty or sixty miles, and it only takes two days of marching. There is no need to specially arrange rear-end troops, just fight and retreat along the way.
When Sima Division withdrew, Jiang Xu would certainly not let him go so easily. After all, Sima Division had really guessed correctly. Deng Ai and Wang Ping had indeed led their troops into Zhongtiao Mountain.
Long before sending troops to Hedong County, Deng Ai took the initiative to propose this strategy to Jiang Xu when discussing how to quickly attack Hedong County.
On the front, Jiang Xu led the troops to contain the main force of Sima Division. On the side, Deng Ai and Wang Ping led the Wudang Fei army to cross Zhongtiao Mountain and attack the enemy's rear route.
But this strategy is actually very risky.
First of all, Jiang Xu and Deng Ai did not know at that time what measures Sima Division would take to defend the east of the river. If Sima Division adopts a combat method of retreating step by step and luring the enemy deep, they may not wait for Deng Ai to cross Zhongtiao Mountain. His Sima division was able to retreat to Anyi.
In this way, sneak attack through Zhongtiao Mountain became a joke.
Secondly, Deng Ai did not know much about the internal situation of Zhongtiao Mountain at that time, and Wang Ping, as the commander of the Wudang Flying Army, could not guarantee that his troops could really cross Zhongtiao Mountain.
The Wudang Flying Army is just more adaptable to fighting in the mountains than ordinary county soldiers. It does not mean that they can easily find a way out in the unfamiliar mountains and old forests. Not to mention the army of this era, it is the army of World War II. There are many situations where people cannot get out of deep mountains and old forests.
So, this matter was only included as an alternative plan in the battle plan to attack Hedong County.
In fact, Jiang Xu and Deng Ai didn't know whether it could be used.
But just when Jiang Xu and Deng Ai spent time in Pubanjin and completed their assembly in Hedong County, the first good news came to their doorstep.
Sima Division did not choose the strategy of setting up defenses step by step and luring the enemy deep into the country. Instead, it assembled more than 20,000 troops and horses in Jie County and Yishi County and set up defenses on the spot, preparing to block the main force of the Han army's Northeast Expedition in Hebei Province in these two places. .
This kind of tactics is simply good news delivered to the door. Regardless of whether or not they adopt Deng Ai's strange plan, Sima Shi's current response is what Jiang Xu and Deng Ai want to see.
The second good news comes from the Wei clan in Hedong.
The Wei family in Hedong secretly sent their family members to meet Jiang Xu, hoping to cooperate with the Han army inside and outside to seize Hedong.
The Hedong Wei family did this. On the one hand, Zhuge Liang continued to win over and divide the Hedong area when he was in Luoyang. On the other hand, the current acting head of the Hedong Wei family is called Wei Chen.
Yes, that's Zhang Zhongjing's disciple, Zhang Xi's former family doctor, Wei Chen.
Although Wei Chen is indeed a descendant of the Wei family, Wei Chen, like his master, doesn't want to get involved in family affairs. Therefore, before that, Wei Chen either studied medicine with Zhang Zhongjing or worked in Shu. He wandered around, seeing doctors when he was sick, and writing books when he was not sick.
For Wei Chen, this is the life he really wants to live.
But unfortunately, this good life finally came to an end eight years ago. Wei Jian, the head of the Wei family in Hedong, died of illness, and his eldest son Wei Guan was only ten years old at the time.
Therefore, Wei Chen was repeatedly persuaded by the elders of the family and had to leave Shu and return to Hedong, where he served as the acting head of the family for eight years.
Originally, Wei Chen was thinking that when his nephew officially came of age at the age of twenty, he would give up his seat so that he could continue to write medical books with peace of mind, and then send them to Xiaoxiang Academy for publication, benefiting the world, and becoming famous. As a result, the Han Dynasty went on the Northern Expedition.
Regarding this matter, Wei Chen had to send someone to contact Jiang Xu and Deng Ai.
It was really not that Wei Chen wanted to get involved in this matter, but that the elders of the Wei family gathered together to discuss it for several years, and finally decided to accept the invitation of the Han Prime Minister and return to the Han camp.
After all, judging from the current situation, it is probably inevitable for the Han Dynasty to prosper.
And the Wei family is not a big family with deep roots like the Pei family in Hedong. There are thousands of people in the family. The Wei family actually has a total of three houses in Hedong. Counting the branch families in other places, the entire family together, the genealogy There are only more than 200 people on board.
The Wei family became famous all over the world, relying on the literary talent passed down from generation to generation in the family and the amount of land in the family for the rare and unique book collection. For the Wei family, it was enough.
Therefore, for the Wei family, switching to the Han Dynasty would not actually have a great impact on their family interests.
What's more, the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty has promised that a new academy will be established in the Hedong area in the future, and the establishment of this academy will be left to the Hedong Wei family to take the lead. This is what the Wei family needs most.
Therefore, this is really not Wei Chen's personal behavior, but a family decision.
The reason why Wei Chen came forward to send people to communicate with the Northern Expeditionary Army of the Han Dynasty was purely because Wei Chen himself had been Zhang Xi's personal doctor, and he had a good personal relationship with Deng Ai.
In the early years, when Deng Ai was still young, he lived in the Zhang Mansion. He had a headache, brain fever, and wounds from guns and sticks, which were all brought to him by Wei Chen. The relationship between the two has always been good.
If you can speak well, you can achieve greater benefits.
With the surrender of the Wei family, the last shortcoming of Deng Ai's plan to cross Zhongtiao Mountain was solved, and the geographical problem of Zhongtiao Mountain was also solved.
With the guide, the support of the family who cooperated inside and outside, and the "help" of Sima Division's concentration of troops in Jie County, Deng Ai finally obtained Jiang Xu's consent, and together with Wang Ping, led the Wudang Fei Army all the way south to attack Ruicheng County.
Just half a month ago, as Deng Ai and Wang Ping's troops pressed forward, the Ruicheng County magistrate, who was guarded by less than a thousand people, chose to surrender in Kaicheng, while Deng Ai and Wang Ping took a short rest in the city and waited. After meeting the guide sent by the Wei family, they set off from Ruicheng County, climbed into Zhongtiao Mountain, and headed straight for Anyi County.
Calculating the time, Deng Ai and Wang Ping should have entered Zhongtiao Mountain for almost half a month now. This time should not be enough for the two of them to lead the troops out of Zhongtiao Mountain, let alone conquer Anyi City. .
In this case, Jiang Xu's responsibility is to delay Sima Division's return to aid Anyi. Once Sima Division withdraws, Jiang Xu must catch up regardless of whether he has a trap or not.
To put it bluntly, Jiang Xu was actually taking risks, but Jiang Xu had the capital to take risks and pursue them. He had many soldiers, and Jiang Xu could not afford to suffer an ambush or two.
But Master Sima really couldn't afford to lose this time.
Jiang Xu ventured all the way to pursue, but Sima Division did not dare to stop and block or set up an ambush on the spot, so he retreated all the way back to Yishi County.
Then, Sima Division rested for a while in Yishi County and made some explanations to Dai Ling. He left 5,000 people to Dai Ling to guard Yishi. He led about 20,000 people and continued to retreat, preparing to retreat to Anyi.
Of course, giving Dai Ling 5,000 men did not mean that Dai Ling would die. Sima Division only asked Dai Ling to hold on for five days. After five days, Dai Ling could abandon Yishi County and lead his troops to retreat to Anyi, or directly Going north, you can also retreat to Fenyin County for temporary shelter.
Master Sima just needs these five days.
(End of chapter)
