After Cao Zhen pondered for a moment, he sighed: "This valley is located in the main road. It is narrow and steep. The Shu thieves must be well-positioned and ready to occupy the dangerous positions. In addition, the sky is dark, and it is impossible for our army to attack by force. The only plan for now is to withdraw."
After that, he led his bodyguards to mount their horses and shouted loudly: "A certain Cao Zhen, I wonder which general is waiting for you in the valley? Can you come out and talk to me?"
Halfway up the mountain, Zhao Yun and Liu Yin were sighing that their ambush had been discovered by the Wei army. Suddenly they heard Cao Zhen shouting from the bottom of the mountain, and the two ordered their sergeants to light torches and emerge.
"This is Zhao Zilong from Changshan. I have been waiting here for General Cao for a long time." Zhao Yun stroked his beard and said with a smile.
Cao Zhen said: "I didn't expect that it was Old General Zhao who cut off the rear in person. Cao hurriedly hurried along and was still unable to capture the old General. What a pity!"
"Haha, thank you, General, for escorting us all the way back to Hanzhong. As the saying goes: You will be farewell after a thousand miles. The General has shown his sincerity by sending you here. If you ask the General and the brothers to turn back here, and send them further, it will be annoying. . It’s okay for me, I’m just afraid that my son-in-law won’t agree.”
As soon as these words came out, Liu Yin immediately led all the soldiers to shout in unison: "Kill, kill, kill..."
Cao Zhen was furious when he saw this, but seeing that there were no fewer than a thousand torches on the mountain, he had to suppress his anger and sneered back: "Human Shu people are hospitable, but today it seems that they are just lies. Humph, Cao will be visiting Hanzhong soon, Until then, the old general must not turn him away."
After that, without waiting for Zhao Yun's response, he turned his horse's head and returned to the front of the formation, telling Yan He and others to retreat. As a result, the Wei army's front team changed to the rear team, and the rear team changed to the front team, and slowly retreated.
"General Zilong, should we catch up?" Liu Yin suggested, looking at the Wei army's retreating back.
Zhao Yun shook his head slightly: "Forget it, it's already dark and it's not good to pursue them. Let them go." After a pause, he said again: "I ordered the brothers to set up camp. They will stay here tonight to prevent the Wei army from coming back tomorrow." Then withdraw to Hanzhong."
"promise."
The Wei army had marched for several miles on the plank road. Yan Heda Ma came to Cao Zhen and reported, "General, the Shu army has not left and is cutting down trees to set up a stronghold."
It turned out that Cao Zhen did not completely give up the pursuit, and asked Yan He to stay near the valley to observe secretly. Once the Han army thought that the Wei army had withdrawn and relaxed its vigilance and abandoned the valley, he would immediately lead his army to counterattack.
Unexpectedly, Zhao Yun was so cautious, causing his last glimmer of hope to fail.
"That's all, go back to the front group and lead the retreat."
Seeing that Cao Zhen was unhappy, Yan He suggested, "General, there are still fire starters for the Shu thieves on the plank road. Why don't we use them to burn down the plank road and get rid of the bad breath?"
Cao Zhen took a deep breath and smelled the smell of fire oil. After thinking for a moment, he shook his head: "Forget it, burning the plank road will cost the Shu thieves some people's energy, but if the Shu thieves want to invade again, they can also use another way. The effect of attacking is not too great. Besides, the Shu thieves can attack from the north of Baoxie Road, and our army can also go south from this road in the future. It would be a pity to burn them."
"Yes, I understand."
Cao Zhen added: "Although I failed to achieve full success this time, I finally defeated Zhao Yun's Shu army, and I can give an explanation to the emperor. After I return, I will immediately count the results of the battle and report my victory to the emperor."
"No." Yan He responded.
Early the next morning, Zhao Yun sent his scouts to explore north. After learning that the Wei army had really withdrawn, he immediately ordered all the troops to leave. They went to the Di Pavilion and met up with Deng Zhi and others. Ten days later, more than 7,000 people from the right army and 3,000 county soldiers from Liu Yin returned to Hanzhong smoothly.
Zhao Yun and others have pinned down the Wei army in Guanzhong for two months since more than 10,000 people from the right army left Xiegu as suspects. During this period, although they experienced dozens of large and small battles, because Zhao Yun and Deng Zhi only defended but did not attack, the losses to the army were not great.
Until this time, the frequent reports of victory in Longyou made Zhao Yun and others loose their guard, and Cao Zhen seized the flaw and took advantage of the opportunity to plot. As a result, Jigu was defeated, the camp was destroyed, and the army had to retreat to Hanzhong.
Fortunately, Zhao Yun, a veteran general, still had great power, and personally stopped Cao's army from pursuing, so that most of the military supplies and soldiers were saved.
In two months, the Right Army lost nearly 5,000 of its more than 12,000 men. In the last battle alone, it suffered more than 2,000 casualties. Although the loss was not more than half, it was not small.
However, the Han army inflicted more damage on the Wei army. According to estimates by Zhao Yun and Deng Zhi, the casualties of Cao Zhen's army should be no less than eight or nine thousand people.
However, a few days ago, Cao Zhen still called the Battle of Jigu a great victory in his report to Emperor Wei, and threatened that the prisoners of war killed nearly 10,000 Han soldiers and captured countless military supplies, which made Cao Rui very happy in court. , immediately sent envoys to Xicheng to reward the troops.
Although Cao Zhen's report was extremely exaggerated, it did defeat the Han army. If the casualty ratio between the two sides was not taken into account, it would be normal for the Wei army to claim victory. What's more, with Longyou losing consecutively, Cao Wei really needs a victory to cheer him up.
It's not like Cao Rui didn't know that Cao Zhen's battle report was exaggerated, but in order to calm people's hearts, he had to pretend not to know.
Sure enough, when the good news spread throughout Guanzhong and back to Luoyang, many people put away their inappropriate thoughts, and the panic in the DPRK calmed down a lot.
Zhao Yun and others rested in Baocheng for a few days and then returned to Mianyang. Of course, envoys had already gone to Longyou to inform Zhuge Liang of the matter.
The news reached Shanggui. Although Zhuge Liang and others regretted that the news of ordering the right army to retreat came too late, they could accept the current result.
"Although Zilong and the others made mistakes in Jigu's failure, they successfully retreated to Hanzhong, and the losses in sergeants and baggage were not too great. What's more, they not only successfully completed the task of containing the Wei army in Guanzhong, but also gained a lot, which can be said to be a great achievement for their hard work. ." Zhuge Liang put down the battle report in his hand and said to everyone.
Yang Yi smiled and agreed: "Yes, if General Zilong and the others had not attracted Wei Ting's attention and successfully contained the tens of thousands of troops in Guanzhong, the victory I am waiting for in Longyou would not have been so easy."
"Yes, the victory of the Northern Expedition, General Zilong, should be remembered as their first achievement. They attacked more with less, and strengthened the weak enemy. Although there was a small setback, most of the right army was saved, which can still be regarded as a victory." Ma Su also praised the right army. A few words about the army.
Zhuge Liang nodded, and suddenly asked Yang Qing, who was sitting next to Ma Di: "Mingzhi, the battle report said that it was you who arranged Liu Yin and the others' march north. Why didn't I hear you mention it? If Liu Yin hadn't led the county troops to respond in time, Zilong and the others would have This time it is dangerous. Even if we can retreat to Hanzhong, the casualties of the army will probably be huge."
Yang Qing replied with a smile: "Qing was just a temporary idea, thinking that even if General Zilong received the military order to retreat, it would be good to have someone to take care of him. Anyway, after Liu Yin came back from Xicheng, he was responsible for transporting troops to Chiya and Dige. Zi Liang Cao, it would be a good idea for him to go north to take a look.
But I was afraid of being too cautious and making people laugh, so I just wrote the letter privately without informing the Prime Minister. I never thought that it would really play a big role this time. What a fluke. "
"Is it a fluke? Or did you foresee it?" Zhuge Liang gave him a somewhat thoughtful look.
"The Prime Minister is overly praised. How can Qing have the ability to predict the future? He is just used to being cautious and likes to make more preparations. This is how he luckily came in handy."
Yang Qing quickly found an excuse to explain. He couldn't say that he knew that Zhao Yun was forced to retreat to Hanzhong because he lowered his guard and failed in Jigu. He could only explain it by saying that he was cautious by nature.
Fortunately, Zhuge Liang seemed to accept this statement and no longer dwelled on the matter. Instead, he ordered Hu Ji to write a commendation document in recognition of the You Army's achievements.
