After all, Yan Zhi was not as talented as Yan Rou. After hearing the news about Banshi County's defense, he made two decisions.
The first decision was to order all the garrison troops from the three eastern counties of Dai County to support Dai City, and they must defend this county.
This decision is not wrong. Daicheng is the county seat of Daijun. It has the largest number of Dingkou and is also the residence of Daijun’s aristocratic family. If this place is lost, the remaining counties of Daijun will not have the confidence to hold on.
But there was a big problem with the second decision.
Yan Zhi believed that the defenders in the three eastern counties of Daijun, plus the 5,000 defenders in Daicheng itself, totaled only 8,000 people, and it would be difficult to resist the attack of the Shu bandits.
Therefore, Yan Zhi ordered the defenders of Pingyi, Shenhe, and Gaoliu County to withdraw across the board, abandon the northwest of Dai County, and return to support Dai City.
Once this order is given, it will be completely bad.
Originally, the defenders of Pingyi County had a geographical advantage, and even Deng Ai might not be able to break through this key Hulukou position in a short time. However, Yan Zhi ordered the withdrawal of Pingyi County, allowing Deng Ai to easily break into Dai County.
The same goes for the defenders at Gaoliu and Shenhe. They originally had the Great Wall as a northern barrier, which could completely block the cavalry led by Liu Bao and Bu Dugen. But once they withdraw, they will voluntarily give up the barrier and can move from north to south. Enter Daijun.
What's even more terrible is that whether it is from Pingyi or Gaoliu, it will take time to join the two counties and retreat to Daicheng, and it is obvious that the Han army will not give them this time to retreat.
Especially in Gaoliu and Shenhe, the attackers were cavalry, while the defenders were mostly infantry. After losing the protection of the Great Wall, the defenders in these two places were chased by cavalry during their retreat and suffered heavy losses.
After Deng Ai broke through Pingyi, he drove straight in. He pursued and defeated the retreating defenders of Pingyi many times. Before the Pingyi defenders could withdraw to Dai City, this force was killed by Deng Ai halfway. .
Therefore, when Deng Ai, Wang Jun, Liu Bao and others met at the foot of Dai City, a situation directly formed where 70,000 infantry and cavalry besieged the 8,000 defenders.
The strength ratio was close to ten to one. In such a situation, Yan Zhi was really panicked.
The battle report asking for reinforcements had been sent out half a month ago, but considering the distance between Daijun and Yecheng, even if the court mobilized troops for support immediately, it would probably take a month for reinforcements to arrive.
Originally, Yan Zhi thought that as long as he could hold the Pingyi defense line, it would not be a problem to delay it for a month. Unexpectedly, in just ten days, the Shu thieves had already broken through Banshi County and marched into Dai City. In less than twenty days, the troops arrived at Dai City and completed the rendezvous.
There are still 8,000 soldiers guarding Dai City, but Yan Zhi is really unsure about whether they can defend it for ten days.
Furthermore, Yan Zhi is not sure whether reinforcements will arrive in ten days. After all, until now, the court has not given a clear answer.
In fact, at this time, the Wei court did not reach an agreement on whether to support Daijun.
Or to put it more bluntly, Cao Shuang has never made up his mind.
Originally, according to Cao Shuang's plan, he mobilized the last defenders of Yecheng to support Chaoge. As long as the county soldiers from Fanyang County could arrive in Yecheng in time, there would still be 20,000 county soldiers guarding Yecheng, at least they would not be without troops. Available.
However, Fanyang County soldiers had just entered the territory of Jizhou, and an urgent military report came from Daijun. This made Cao Shuang hesitate, whether he should send Fanyang County soldiers south to guard Yecheng, or return to the north. Go up to support Daijun.
According to Huan Fan's suggestion, it is recommended that this army go north to support Dai County. The current Fanyang County soldiers have just left Fanyang County and are in the northern area of Jizhou. Going to support Dai County is closer than coming to Yecheng to garrison. many.
But Cao Shuang has been hesitating.
As long as Cao Shuang had the ability to respond quickly enough, the war in the Wei Dynasty would not have fallen to the current situation. In the Han-Wei War, the Wei Dynasty has fallen to the current situation. At least half of it was due to Cao Shuang's decision-making. Slow, caused by the inability to keep up with the changes in the war.
Cao Shuang is not a person who is good at making decisions.
However, Cao Shuang's hesitation this time was not out of his own selfishness or lack of decisiveness like before. His hesitation still made some sense.
The war has reached this point. Once the Shu thieves from Daijun break into Jizhou, they will be completely surrounded by Shu thieves for a long time. Whether Yecheng is guarded by a garrison or not, there is not much difference. It is just a matter of the time when it is lost.
Therefore, Cao Shuang really didn't want to let Fanyang County soldiers come to Yecheng to guard his own safety.
Cao Shuang wanted Fanyang County soldiers to directly enter the Zhongshan Kingdom, garrison in the Zhongshan Kingdom, and defend the Shu bandits on the spot as they moved south.
According to Cao Shuang's concerns, if Fanyang County soldiers are directly sent to support Daijun, no one knows whether they can catch up along the way. It is naturally best to catch up. If not, Fanyangjun soldiers have not yet arrived at Daijun. Daijun If it is occupied by Shu thieves, Fanyang County soldiers will be caught off guard and may be defeated by Shu thieves moving south.
After all, Yan Zhi's military report told Cao Shuang that there were 100,000 Shu thieves attacking Dai County, while only 20,000 Fanyang County troops were transferred, which was a huge disparity in strength.
Therefore, Cao Shuang thought of asking Fanyang County soldiers not to go to Daijun to support, but to set up defenses on the spot in Zhongshan Kingdom. When the defense was completed, he ordered the Daijun garrison to withdraw from Daijun and retreat to Zhongshan Kingdom.
In this case, not only can the Zhongshan Kingdom's defense line be relied on to stop the Shu thieves, but also the Shu thieves' supply line can be lengthened.
Theoretically speaking, Cao Shuang's tactics have certain merits. But there is just one problem.
North of Yecheng, there were only two counties, Zhongshan Kingdom and Changshan Kingdom.
Zhongshan Kingdom is due north of Yecheng and due south of Daijun. If the Shu thieves target Yecheng, Zhongshan Kingdom is indeed the fastest route to advance.
Changshan Kingdom is located in the northwest of Yecheng, and is adjacent to Huguan in Shangdang County, Bingzhou. Over there, Xiahou Xian led 10,000 Wei troops to besiege Huguan, but after fighting for almost two months, they still have not captured it.
If the Shu thieves did not go directly south to the Zhongshan Kingdom after capturing Daijun, but followed the trend to the Changshan Kingdom in the southwest, they would first eliminate Xiahou Xian's troops, join up with the Shu thieves' garrison at Huguan, and then march eastward to Yecheng. ,what to do? !
Once the Shu thieves captured the Changshan Kingdom, the purpose of opening up the food and grass channel between them and Bingzhou and lengthening the Shu thieves' food and grass supply line was completely in vain.
Of course, the most important thing is that Changshan has no troops available and is completely empty. Once the Shu thieves take this road, can we expect Xiahou Xian's 10,000 people to stop the Shu thieves? !
This guy led 10,000 people and attacked Huguan, which was only guarded by 3,000 people. They fought for two months but failed to defeat them. How can you expect him to turn the tide? !
Therefore, Huan Fan still suggested that Fan Yangjun soldiers should go north as soon as possible, enter Daijun, and support Yan Zhi in defending Daicheng.
As long as Daijun is not defeated, the Changshan Kingdom and the Zhongshan Kingdom behind Daijun will still be safe. If Daijun is defeated, the Shu thieves will follow the trend, and there will be too many changes.
For this reason, Cao Shuang hesitated for three days, and finally decided to follow Huan Fan's suggestion and send Fan Yangjun troops north to support Daijun.
But unfortunately, Cao Shuang still hesitated for three more days. When Fanyang Jun soldiers came to the junction of Zhongshan Kingdom and Daijun, the general Tang Long who led the Fanyang Jun soldiers received the news that Daicheng had been lost.
Really, it was only four or five days short of holding on to Daicheng for fifteen days. He lost more than half of his troops, but Yan Zhi, who never waited for reinforcements, finally could not withstand the pressure and chose to surrender in Kaicheng.
At this time, after the Han army captured Dai County, Deng Ai ordered Liu Bao and Bu Dugen's cavalry to serve as the vanguard and quickly move south to Zhongshan Kingdom to clear out the enemy.
Of course, Deng Ai had his own reasons for doing this.
Bu Dugen and Liu Bao were both loyal followers of Hu soldiers. Although they now obey Deng Ai's orders, the military discipline is really not that good.
During the attack on Dai City this time, because the cavalry could not directly participate in the siege, Deng Ai ordered two Hu soldiers to besiege the city on the outside. However, because of this, these Hu soldiers who had nothing to do inevitably made some robberies. matter.
Obviously, Deng Ai would not allow this to happen. His purpose of going north to Bingzhou to quell the rebellion was to protect the people. If these barbarians were allowed to act like this, wouldn't Deng Ai's work be in vain?
But, now the two Hu soldiers are his loyal followers, and their help is indispensable in this battle south. In order to stabilize the situation in the North in the future, Deng Ai cannot fall out with Liu Bao and Bu Dugen. Therefore, Deng Ai Accepting Wang Jun's suggestion, he let these Hu soldiers be the vanguard and go south first to fight the Cao Weijun soldiers.
In this way, it can not only weaken the Wei army's garrison in Jizhou, but also take over the Wei army's hand and weaken and restrict this group of lawless Hu people, getting the best of both worlds.
Therefore, these two groups of Hu soldiers would go south first and enter the Zhongshan Kingdom.
But, Deng Ai's move really caught Tang Long off guard. The Fanyang County soldiers he led were all infantry.
Forty thousand cavalry went south to fight against 20,000 infantry. In this case, if Tang Long continued to lead his troops into Daijun and ran into them stupidly, he would probably be violently beaten by the Shu bandit cavalry.
Tang Long was helpless and could only order the retreat while reporting to the court and asking about the next battle plan.
After Cao Shuang received Tang Long's battle report, he was also furious. He called Huan Fan directly and scolded him severely.
This time, Cao Shuang really had a good reason - Yazao had listened to me and set up defenses in the Zhongshan Kingdom, so why did the Fanyang County soldiers fall into such a dilemma.
It's fine now, one careless move will lead to losing everything.
(End of chapter)
