The Wei army suddenly went south again from Yewang County and counterattacked Heyang, which also shocked Zhuge Liang.
To be honest, this change was really beyond Zhuge Liang's expectation. After all, he did this because he lacked common sense in battle formations.
We are clearly at a disadvantage in terms of military strength, but we give up our advantage in city defense, take the initiative to attack, and engage in an offensive battle with the side with superior military strength. What kind of stupid decision is this? !
Even if Cao Wei has 20,000 cavalry as the vanguard, so what? !
The impact of cavalry is indeed very strong, and the results of surprise battles will be huge, but the problem is that cavalry is not an invincible unit in this era.
The focus of cavalry is assault, which is to appear suddenly on the battlefield and cause powerful damage. Using cavalry to attack a defensive infantry formation, even if it has the advantage of arms restraint, is unlikely to achieve much results.
Spearmen, shield soldiers, and archers can all slow down the impact speed of the cavalry and reduce the impact power of the cavalry.
Although it still cannot completely offset the superiority of the cavalry, the Han army has a large number of people after all. If it really comes to the point of exhaustion, it can even kill 20,000 cavalry.
Not to mention, Zhuge Liang also has a big killer weapon in his hand - a phalanx of five thousand Zhuge Liennu No. 2 units.
When the terrain is preset and the cavalry is not given a chance to kill at close quarters, the crossbowmen are the most effective unit against the cavalry. Whether it is Qin Nu against the Xiongnu, or Yuan Shao against Gongsun Zan in the Battle of the Boundary Bridge, the crossbowmen always defeated the cavalry. of.
When the Qin army fought against the Xiongnu, they had the advantage in the number of Qin crossbows. One hundred thousand Qin crossbows were fired at once, and even the brave and capable Xiongnu cavalry had to retreat.
Not to mention the Battle of the Boundary Bridge. The two sides were in an encounter. However, Yuan Shao seized the favorable terrain of the Boundary Bridge first, and then used the Euphorbias to block the cavalry charge. He fired a series of powerful crossbows and defeated Gongsun Zan's Baima Yi. from.
But now, Zhuge Liang can meet these two conditions to defeat the cavalry.
Zhuge Liannu No. 2 is no worse than Qin Nu in terms of range coverage and strike sustainability.
Although the number was a bit smaller, the cavalry brought by Bi Gui were not as many as the Huns.
As for terrain, with Zhuge Liang's military vision, it is easy to find a suitable place to ambush the cavalry. Even if there is no suitable terrain, Zhuge Liang can also create such terrain by artificially arranging the matching of military services.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang really didn't understand how Qin Lang had the confidence to take the initiative to attack Heyang County.
But, since the Wei thief is mentally retarded, Zhuge Liang can't just let go of such a good opportunity to defeat the enemy.
After learning through scout investigation that Bi Gui was leading 20,000 cavalry as the vanguard heading south, Zhuge Liang took the initiative to lead his troops to attack, and the two sides fought a battle at Zhiguan in the northwest of Zhi County.
In the first battle, Bi Gui won, repelling the main vanguard of the Northern Expedition led by Hu Fen, with 3,000 men, and forced Zhuge Liang to retreat twenty miles and re-camp.
In this battle, Bi Gui once again led the cavalry to victory, repelling the 5,000 troops led by Zhang Yi, and forced Zhuge Liang to retreat thirty miles to camp again.
After three battles, it is impossible to win again.
This simple tactic of luring the enemy deep may not be of much use against famous generals such as Ma Yi and Guo Huai, but against fools like Bi Gui who lack military strategy and are eager to take credit, it is a good idea. An accurate one.
Zhuge Liang lost two battles in a row, and Bi Gui was immediately happy, thinking that Zhuge Liang was nothing more than that. He led the cavalry in pursuit and smoothly fell into the battlefield designed by Zhuge Liang.
Zhuge Liang lured the Bingzhou cavalry led by Bi Gui to the vicinity of Qiziling in the southwest of Zhe County. He used the mountainous terrain here to compress the cavalry's impact space, and then preset the Zhuge Liannu phalanx. Five thousand Zhuge Liannu volleys fired, almost in the The moment the battle began, the Bingzhou cavalry suffered heavy casualties.
Seeing that the situation was not good, Bi Gui wanted to retreat, but the retreat road was blocked by Zhuge Liang early with rocks. Bi Gui was in a dilemma.
After a fierce battle, the Bingzhou cavalry was defeated and suffered heavy losses. Unfortunately, Bi Gui himself died in the fighting.
In Bi Gui's defeat, not to mention the loss of 20,000 Bingzhou cavalry, Qin Lang, who later led 50,000 infantrymen southward, began to have a dilemma.
The forward cavalry was destroyed and Bi Gui was killed. If Qin Lang continued to lead his troops south, he would have to use 50,000 infantry to fight Zhuge Liang's 100,000 army head-on.
No matter how I thought about this battle, I felt it was unlikely to win.
But it is not appropriate to retreat now. Qin Lang has already led his troops to the vicinity of Zhi County, which is already far away from Yewang County. If he retreats rashly at this time and the Shu thieves catch up again, the morale and morale of the 50,000-strong army will be greatly affected. It was completely broken up, and it didn’t even have the ability to protect itself.
In desperation, Qin Lang could only make one decision-to march into Zhi County.
Forget about counterattacking Heyang. The possibility of retreating back to Yewang is not very good. Then we can only set up defenses on the spot in nearby Zhi County. With 50,000 soldiers plus the city defense of Zhi County, we can withstand the attack of Shu thieves. .
But there is a problem with Zhi County. In the original defense strategy, when Qin Lang retreated to the Wild Queen, Zhi County was abandoned.
Zhi County is now an unmanaged battlefield buffer zone. There are not many Dingkou people who can be recruited as auxiliary troops. There is not a large amount of food reserves, there is not enough defense equipment, and the city defense has not been reinforced. This is not a place suitable for staying for a long time.
Given the choice, Qin Lang would not choose Zhi County as a defensive place, but Bi Gui's defeat was too simple. He defeated 20,000 cavalry in less than five days. Qin Lang was caught off guard, and there was a city that could Guarding is better than fighting in the field with Shu thieves.
Now, Qin Lang can only hope that he can block the Shu thieves' attack for a while. If Xiahou Ba succeeds at Mengjindu, the Shu thieves will retreat with all their strength, and the pressure on his side will drop sharply. There is also the possibility of returning to the Wild King and continuing to hold on.
As for Xiahou Ba, Xiahou Ba didn't get anything good either.
Zhuge Liang dared to march westward to Heyang County with an army of 1340,000 men. On the one hand, he really wanted to lure the snake out of its hole, but on the other hand, it was because besides Ma Dai, the guard on Mengjindu's side also had Pang Tong.
Although Pang Tong was not very good at leading troops in battle, in terms of military strategy, Xiahou Ba still wanted to hide it from him? !
At the beginning, Xiahou Ba stood still. Pang Tong thought that although this boy was young, he was also talented and could hold his breath. But when Xiahou Ba actually sent 50,000 troops to besiege Beizhong City, this evaluation dropped a lot.
The talent is there, but if it really needs to be used, it still lacks some firepower.
It can be seen that this is a strategy to lure the snake out of its hole, but after all, he still couldn't resist the temptation.
Moreover, in Pang Tong's eyes, Xiahou Ba's tactics of encirclement and reinforcements were not really considered a brilliant move.
Okay, if you want to call for reinforcements, then I will send troops to see who fights whom in the end.
It was very simple to send out troops front and back to lure Xiahou Ba into an ambush. Then Pang Tong commanded his soldiers to conduct a surprise attack and counter-siege. Liu Yin in Beizhong City also seized the opportunity to take the initiative and cooperated with Pang Tong and Ma Dai's troops to attack Xiahou Ba in front and back. Ba lost more than 7,000 soldiers and fled back to Wen County in embarrassment.
This is because Xiahou Ba was quick to see opportunities and had excellent emergency response capabilities. This was able to save part of the main force and retreat to Wen County. Otherwise, Wen County might not be saved.
However, after experiencing this defeat, Xiahou Ba's troops not only suffered heavy losses, but also suffered a serious low morale. They had more than 50,000 soldiers, but they could only retreat in Wen County and did not dare to fight again.
In this way, Qin Lang's hope was really dashed.
Qin Lang's 50,000 soldiers were besieged by Zhuge Liang's 120,000 troops in Zhi County and struggled to hold on. Xiahou Ba was trapped in Wen County by Pang Tong's troops and did not dare to move lightly.
The situation in Hanoi has deteriorated again.
What's even more terrible is Deng Ai of Hedong County. At this time, he led 30,000 troops to march eastward, invaded Bingzhou, and took Gaodu directly.
(End of chapter)
