Man Chong obviously overestimated himself and underestimated Zhuge Liang.
After seeing Zhi County divide his troops to break through, Zhuge Liang did not intensify his attack as Man Chong expected, striving to break through Zhi County as soon as possible.
On the contrary, Zhuge Liang also made the same choice - to divide his troops.
When Man Chong saw that Zhuge Liang suddenly divided his troops and returned to Heyang via the original route, he immediately became anxious.
There is only one way to pursue Qin Lang in the north. He must first defeat Zhi County before advancing to Yewang County. Now Zhuge Liang is not in a hurry to attack Zhi County. Instead, he divides his troops and goes south. There is only one purpose, which is to reinforce Beizhong City and attack Wen County.
Once the Shu thieves conquer Wen County, they will definitely continue to march eastward towards Chaoge. If others don't know, how can Man Chong not know that Chaoge now has no troops available as Xia Houxuan leads the army to go on an expedition.
In fact, the key node of the situation in Hanoi County lies in Chaoge County. If Chaoge County can be captured and threaten Yecheng, then it will become meaningless whether the Wei army is still holding on in other counties in Hanoi County.
In fact, Zhuge Liang's idea was exactly this - to seize the opportunity to seize the opportunity when Chaoge's troops were empty and the morale of the Wen County defenders was low, to attack Wen County and capture Chaoge, thereby directly threatening Yecheng.
Originally, because Xiahou Ba's side in Wen County defended very tenaciously, and Qin Lang served as a flanking support in Heyang City, Zhuge Liang really had nothing to do against Wen County for a while.
Later, as Qin Lang took the initiative to retreat, Zhuge Liang's flank threat was relieved. However, because Qin Lang suddenly withdrew to Yewang, it not only blocked the passage from Bingzhou into Hanoi, but also shortened the distance to Chaoge. With Wen's cooperation It is not that easy for Xiahou Ba who is stationed in the county to attack Chaoge.
Even if the war in Hanoi goes unfavorably, the defenders in these two places can shrink and retreat to Chaoge at any time to continue their defense.
Originally, Zhuge Liang was still worried about this matter, but who knew what the Wei army was thinking. First, Qin Lang took the initiative to attack inexplicably, and then Xiahou Ba was unwilling to be alone with the two armies. He ignored the good defensive strategy and insisted on taking the initiative to attack. In the end, he lost his troops and generals, and trapped the city.
At this time, Zhuge Liang had already seen the possibility of breaking through Wen County and attacking Chaoge. However, according to Chaoge's detailed reports, Chaoge and Xia Houxuan were stationed with 10,000 people at that time. If he rashly attacked Chaoge at this time, Attacking Xiahou Ba in Wen County may cause Xiahou Ba to retreat and retreat to Chaoge.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang remained patient and waited for changes in the battlefield situation until he received the news that Xia Houxuan led his troops to leave Chaoge and go to Yewang County. Zhuge Liang immediately divided his troops into fifty thousand and handed them over to Pang Tong's command to attack by force. Wen County.
Zhuge Liang's own combat goal changed from conquering Zhi County and encircling and annihilating Qin Lang's troops to holding back the defenders so that they could not quickly return to Chaoge.
Even Zhuge Liang himself was not in a hurry to attack Zhi County.
As long as Zhi County is not lost, the Wei army that retreated to Yewang first will have no reason to withdraw to Chaoge. To do so would be equivalent to abandoning this Wei army of more than 40,000 people.
There are more than 40,000 people. Not to mention Qin Lang, even Sima Yi may not have such courage.
On the contrary, what Zhuge Liang is most worried about now is that after Man Chong saw through his strategy, he chose to break through, retreated to the wild queen to join Qin Lang, and then retreated collectively.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang was not in a hurry to attack the city, but the siege was still very tight.
Zhuge Liang personally led the army to attack the south gate, Zhang Yi led the army to attack the west gate, and Hu Fen led the army to attack the east gate. As for the north gate, Zhuge Liang only arranged two thousand soldiers for surveillance, and did not arrange other manpower.
It's not that Zhuge Liang intended to let the Wei army survive, the main reason was that this time his opponent was Man Chong, not Qin Lang.
If the person staying in Zhi County is Qin Lang, Zhuge Liang's arrangement may cause big problems. After all, with Qin Lang's ability to deal with the situation, after seeing through Zhuge Liang's strategy, he probably won't think too much because of the urgency of the situation. Seeing that the three gates are surrounded, only the north gate is open, so they will definitely choose to retreat through the north gate.
But the problem is that the person staying in Zhi County this time is Man Chong. Man Chong's strategic ability is definitely much stronger than Qin Lang.
It was so obvious that the North Gate was surrounded by three buildings. How could Man Chong really believe that the North Gate was his way out? !
Even if he was full of favors from Zhuge Liang's point of view, he would arrange an ambush all the way outside the north gate, just waiting for the Wei army to retreat from the north gate.
So let's face it, sometimes people are too smart, which may not be a good thing. Zhuge Liang calculated that Man Chong would not trust the north gate, so he simply opened the north gate and concentrated his troops to guard the three gates to prevent Man Chong from breaking through.
As for Man Chong, it was indeed as Zhuge Liang expected. He simply did not believe that Zhuge Liang would deliberately let go of the north gate's defense. No matter how he thought about it, Man Chong believed that the east gate was the most suitable line of defense for him to break through, and it was also the only direction he could choose. .
This is determined by the terrain near Zhi County.
To the west of Zhi County, there are mostly mountainous areas. The mountain roads are rugged and difficult to navigate, and it is easy to be chased and entangled by Shu bandits.
To the south of Zhi County is where Zhuge Liang's main army is stationed. There are a large number of crossbowmen arranged by Zhuge Liang. Even if Man Chong wants to break out, he may not end well under the attack of arrows from these crossbowmen. .
Not to mention the area north of Zhi County, which had been abandoned by Man Chong from the beginning.
In this case, only the east gate is left to break out of the encirclement.
Moreover, there is an advantage to breaking out to the east, that is, there is a large plain area to the east of Zhi County, and Manchong's most sharp breakthrough weapon is the 10,000 cavalry in his hand. The cavalry can fight in the plain area and has combat effectiveness. Advantage.
Therefore, after Man Chong saw through Zhuge Liang's plan to divide his troops, he stayed in Zhi County for six days. After predicting that Qin Lang had led his troops back to the wild king, he still arranged his own retreat strategy.
During these six days, because Zhuge Liang had no intention of serious attack on the city, the casualties of Man Chong's soldiers were not large, and the organizational structure was still intact.
Therefore, Man Chong's first choice was to launch several counterattacks against Zhuge Liang's main army at the south gate.
The purpose is to interrupt the frequency of Zhuge Liang's siege, and at the same time guide Zhuge Liang to return his attention to the frontal battlefield.
After four days of continuous counterattack, Man Chong felt that the time was ripe.
Early on the fifth day, the defenders of Zhe County continued to march out of the south gate as before and launched a counterattack against the Shu bandits' camp. When the counterattack progressed to about noon, the east gate of Zhe County suddenly opened, and Man Chong personally commanded the cavalry. Start a breakout operation.
Ten thousand cavalry led the battle, trying to break through the first east gate defensive line of the Shu bandits. Immediately afterwards, the infantry followed, breaking through the gap torn by the cavalry, and as many as they could break through.
Even those Wei soldiers who were still fighting fiercely with the Shu bandits outside the south gate were originally Man Chong's bait. Man Chong had no hope of breaking out.
Sometimes, for the sake of the overall situation, sacrifice is necessary, and Man Chong can really do it.
It's just that Man Chong overestimated himself and underestimated Zhuge Liang after all.
Zhuge Liang had already figured out Man Chong's plan so clearly, so how could he not calculate Man Chong's true breakout direction? !
Zhuge Liang actually didn't do anything else. He just transferred the five thousand Zhuge Liangnumen originally assigned to his central army to the east gate and gave them to Hu Fen to command.
As for you, when Man Chong ordered the cavalry to attack and clear the way and tear open the Shu thieves' defense line, what greeted him was a rain of arrows from the sky.
After a confrontation, the Wei army's cavalry lost more than 300 cavalry in one fell swoop.
Not to mention, the biggest advantage of Zhuge's Liannu is that it fires continuously, and the rate of fire is extremely fast. In less than one stick of incense, the Wei cavalry lost nearly two thousand cavalry before they even approached the Han army's line.
Seeing this situation, Man Chong had nothing to do. There was no turning back when he opened his bow.
If we don't take advantage of this momentum and rush out, it may be too difficult to have this opportunity next time.
Therefore, Man Chong could only bite the bullet and kept giving orders to urge the cavalry to continue charging into the formation, while he could only lead the infantry and quickly follow up despite the rain of arrows.
Now, it's time to fight hard.
Man Chong's desperate efforts immediately put a lot of pressure on Hu Fen. The advantage of the cavalry in the plain area is still very powerful. Even with the help of Zhuge Liannu, the first line of defense of the Han army is now Already in danger.
However, after the Wei army broke through the first line of defense and broke into the Han army's formation, once it fell into a melee, Zhuge Liannu was unable to be effective.
For this reason, Hu Fen must make a decision immediately.
Should we continue to push hard and delay the attack for a while, or should we retreat proactively, risk the risk of a loose formation, and continue to maintain the attack distance of the crossbow.
Hu Fen quickly weighed it back and forth in his mind, and finally decided to delay.
Hu Fen had no confidence in his commanding ability. He did not think that he could effectively command the soldiers to retreat and reposition in such a chaotic situation. Once he chose to retreat, he would inevitably be broken through by the Wei cavalry.
Then, Hu Fen could only choose to hold on and try his best to hold on until Zhuge Liang from the south gate divided his troops to come for reinforcements.
Besides, isn't it just trying your best? It's like no one can do that.
(End of chapter)
