Qin Lang's patience surprised even Zhuge Liang. He didn't expect that this fake Cao Cao could be so calm.
But, Zhuge Liang is not worried either.
Zhuge Liang has received the battle report from Chang'an. Jiang Xu, who was responsible for attacking Hedong, forwarded it through Chang'an and sent it to Zhuge Liang in Hanoi. The content of the military report was the news that Deng Ai was marching eastward and entering Bingzhou.
According to Zhuge Liang's estimation, as long as Deng Ai captures Gaodu County and Qin Lang's retreat is threatened, he will naturally choose to withdraw his troops.
At that time, Zhuge Liang can take advantage of his troops and pursue them.
Therefore, there is no need to worry now, we should continue to besiege the city and attack Zhi County.
And this attack took almost a month. Now Zhuge Liang was really surprised.
Counting the time, Deng Ai should have been in the army for almost two months, right? !
Why is it that Qin Lang in Zhi County is still holding on and has no intention of retreating? !
Is it because something happened to Deng Ai that he has not captured Gaodu County yet, or is this Qin Lang really talented and able to remain calm even when his family's back is threatened? !
In fact, at this time, Qin Lang was already anxiously circling his tent.
However, it was not because of the fall of Gaodu County, but because Qin Lang finally received a military report from Xia Houxuan and learned that Xia Houxuan had led his troops to leave Chaoge to support his retreat.
This should have been good news. With Xia Houxuan's support, Qin Lang could arrange a calm retreat without worrying that the Shu thieves would follow him and kill him.
But the real problem is that Xia Houxuan only brought 10,000 troops.
Not to mention Qin Lang, even Man Chong is now frowning with a grimace on his face.
What can ten thousand soldiers and horses do? !
The opponent has an army of 110,000 to 20,000 people. With these few soldiers and horses, let alone supporting them, it is lucky to be able to avoid being defeated.
Originally, Man Chong persuaded Qin Lang to continue to hold on, because he predicted that the Shu thieves were unlikely to go south. Even if they went south, they would not be able to break through Yewang County for a while. As long as the supporting troops and horses arrived in time, when Qin Lang led more than 50,000 soldiers to return to aid Yewang, That can still guard the wild king and defend Yecheng.
But now, it is ridiculous to have only 10,000 soldiers and horses to support them. With these few soldiers and horses, it is not enough for them to garrison the Wild King on the spot.
From this point of view, it is better to arrange the evacuation as early as possible, rather than being unable to do anything now. !
Man Chong really didn't know how the imperial court made decisions, and how could it make such a decision that seemed right but actually caused chaos. But the matter was over, and it was useless to complain.
It is better to think about what kind of retreat plan should be adopted to ensure that most of the soldiers are withdrawn.
Zhi County is more than a hundred miles away from Yewang County. If the retreat time, retreat route and rear troops cannot be reasonably arranged, the pursuit of more than a hundred miles along the road will be fatal.
At this time, Qin Lang was somewhat complaining about Man Chong. You said what a blind idea you came up with, but you continued to hold on, waiting for reinforcements to come in. If I had known that this would be the case now, I should have arranged for the withdrawal of troops when I learned that Gaodu County had fallen.
Why waste nearly a month like this? !
However, Qin Lang is still complaining. One thing he is good at is that he knows where he is and what responsibilities he should bear.
Therefore, Qin Lang decided to divide his troops and retreat against the defenders of Zhi County.
He led 10,000 cavalry and 30,000 infantry to stay in Zhi County and be responsible for breaking up the rear. Man Chong was responsible for retreating first and leading 30,000 soldiers back to Yewang County.
As for Xia Houxuan's 10,000 soldiers, don't let him come to Zhi County to support them again. Just stay in Yewang County and set up defenses on the spot.
As for Qin Lang himself, he will stay in Zhi County for at least ten days to ensure that Man Chong leads his troops back to Yewang, and then leads his troops to break through.
With the protection of the cavalry, Qin Lang believed that the possibility of the Shu thieves chasing him was not high. In fact, Qin Lang felt that if he commanded it properly, it would not be impossible to retreat with the cavalry to protect the remaining infantry.
The proposal of this strategy made Man Chong silent for a long time. Finally, he sighed and raised his objection.
It's not that I object to Qin Lang's retreat plan.
This retreat plan, at least in theory, is indeed feasible. If the total strength of the Shu thieves is about 50,000, it is really possible to escape unscathed.
After all, the deterrent effect of ten thousand cavalry is still great.
But unfortunately, there are 112,000 Shu thieves. The qualitative changes caused by quantitative changes are terrible.
Ten thousand cavalry faced 110,000 or 20,000 infantry. Unless they had Huo's cavalry command skills, there was no way they could escape unscathed.
Not to mention, the Shu thieves' crossbows are so powerful that they can defend the city for a while, and even the field cavalry may not be their opponent.
Therefore, by dividing the troops and retreating, it is indeed possible to save the 30,000 infantry who retreated first, but of the 10,000 cavalry and 30,000 infantry who stayed behind, we can only wait and see how many of them can retreat back to the Wild King. God's will.
For such a risky thing, Qin Lang chose to end Man Chong himself. He didn't know whether Qin Lang had a strong sense of responsibility or simply didn't know how serious the consequences would be.
However, as the head coach of the first army, Man Chong could not let him take this risk.
Therefore, Man Chong raised objections, not against the withdrawal plan, but on the grounds that "the commander is personally at risk for the safety of the entire army" and asked himself to exchange tasks with Qin Lang. He would stay and break up the rear, while Qin Lang led the troops to withdraw first.
In this regard, Qin Lang still expressed his opposition.
Qin Lang believed that although Man Chong had seen and trusted Man Chong's ability in making plans, he still had more experience in leading troops than Man Chong.
If he stays behind, he can contain the Shu thieves for a longer period of time.
Man Chong retreated to Ye Wang first, which was a good opportunity to use his planning expertise. According to the current situation, he made some fine-tuning to Ye Wang's existing defense facilities to deal with the follow-up attack of the Shu thieves.
This is an arrangement that kills two birds with one stone.
After listening to Qin Lang's words, Man Chong was finally convinced that Qin Lang didn't know the danger of staying behind to break off the rear. With Zhuge Liang's talent and the size of the Shu thieves' troops, it was impossible to give the retreating troops a chance to escape easily, and Yewang County will not be left with much time to adjust its deployment.
Qin Lang simply underestimated the Shu thieves' field combat capabilities and overestimated his own command ability.
If this is the case, then Man Chong cannot let Qin Lang stay and end his career.
Judging from Qin Lang's current mentality, if he were to cut off the rear, Zhi County, which could have been able to hold for ten days, would not be able to hold it for that long due to his carelessness and underestimation of the enemy.
Therefore, Man Chong stopped talking nonsense to Qin Lang and directly revealed his identity as a military guard and invited the emperor to fight.
The general guarding the army, when necessary, can use the emperor's order to control the whole army's favor. Using the emperor's order, he forcibly issued a military order, ordering Qin Lang to lead the troops to withdraw first, and to stay behind.
This move made Qin Lang stunned for a long time. He really didn't understand why Man Chong, who was so good just now, suddenly turned his back and took out the emperor's sword and acted arbitrarily.
But then, Qin Lang couldn't help but feel angry. He felt that Man Chong had betrayed him. He had trusted him so much before, but he actually disobeyed military orders at a critical moment and even carried out the emperor's battle to seize military power? !
Even if Qin Lang has such a good temper, he will inevitably get angry.
However, in the face of the Emperor's Festival, Qin Lang had to take it for granted. What Qin Lang couldn't figure out the most was why Man Chong had to fight with himself even if he took out the Emperor's Festival for a dangerous end-of-life mission.
This is not a military exploit.
Angry and confused, in the end Qin Lang could only accept the order angrily, return to his camp, and arrange the withdrawal.
And Man Chong. To be honest, Man Chong didn't want to do this, but Man Chong had no choice.
Because he offended too many people when he was a cruel official in the early years and left a bad reputation, Man Chong knew that only with the presence of Da Wei could he, his children, and his family be preserved. Once Da Wei was gone, no matter what Whoever is in power in the end, the aristocratic families from all over the Central Plains and Hebei will not let him go.
His own death is not a big deal. After his death, his children's family will inevitably suffer liquidation and persecution from aristocratic families, and it is impossible to survive in this era.
This is the fate of being a cruel official.
Therefore, even if Man Chong does not want to die and does not want to be loyal to the Wei Dynasty, he must do this to preserve his strength and vitality as much as possible for the Wei Dynasty. As long as the Wei Dynasty is still alive, his Man Chong family can still live a good life. .
Therefore, he must stay and break up the throne, not only for Wei, but more importantly, for himself and his family.
I feel helpless, but I have no choice.
Therefore, even if Qin Lang doesn't understand, Man Chong must do this.
Four days later, as Qin Lang led 30,000 troops and evacuated Zhi County first, only Man Chong, 10,000 cavalry and 30,000 infantry were left in Zhi County.
Although he had no choice, Man Chong still didn't intend to just accept his fate.
He also has 40,000 infantry and cavalry coalition troops, and the Shu thieves only have about 120,000 infantry.
Although the crossbowmen of the Shu thieves have an advantage and are very lethal, as long as I don't send troops and just stay on the spot, Man Chong doesn't think that he will definitely lose.
Anyway, the route from Zhi County to Yewang County is just this one, and you can't go around it even if you want to.
Let me see how capable Zhuge Kongming, who is famous all over the world, is! ! !
(End of chapter)
