In the large tent of the Chinese army, all the generals had arrived. Zhuge Liang nodded to Yang Yi, indicating that he should inform everyone of the latest military situation first.
"Everyone, according to the reports from Old General Zilong and various scouts, the Wei troops in Yicheng, Wugong and Chencang seem to be showing signs of abandoning the city. Fei Yao, Guo Huai and others are mobilizing troops in the past two days, intending to join forces. He probably wants to go east to reinforce Cao Zhen." Yang Yi said loudly.
Guan Xing said: "It seems that our army's strategy of delaying the attack in the past few days has worked. Fei Yao and others lead the army eastward, and places such as Xicheng will become empty. In this way, our army can take the opportunity to capture the city."
He cupped his fists and said to Zhuge Liang, "Prime Minister, General Zilong still has nearly 10,000 troops under his command, allowing him to occupy Xicheng and other places after the Wei army withdraws."
"Well, we still have to take the city, but the more important ones are the three Wei armies, Fei Yao, Guo Huai, and Qin Ji. The three of them have a total of more than 10,000 troops, including not a few cavalry, about five Qianqi, so the combat power of that generation is still very impressive.
Therefore, our army's efforts in the past few days are not only to lure them out of the city, but also to find ways to annihilate this group of Wei troops, which will be of great benefit to the future war situation. Therefore, I want to divide my troops and go west to set up an ambush halfway. I wonder what you think? Zhuge Liang said.
Everyone knew that this was a plan of siege and reinforcements that had been planned for a long time. Now that it was about to be realized, no one had any objections. They all said in unison: "Please give the order, Prime Minister."
"Okay." Zhuge Liang nodded, looked at Yang Qing and said, "Listen to your orders."
"The general is here." Yang Qing stood up and clasped his fists.
Zhuge Liang said: "I order you to lead your cavalry to set up an ambush on the north bank of the Wei River and attack the enemy halfway across the river."
"promise."
Zhuge Liang smiled and added: "You know, I will give an order to General Zilong later and ask him to lead the troops to follow the Wei army. When the Wei army arrives at the shore of the Wei River, you can attack from the north and south. Of course, the battle situation is changing rapidly. Where are you? The flanking attack on the Wei army must depend on the actual situation and cannot be limited to both sides of the Wei River."
"Yes, Prime Minister, don't worry. Now that Guo Huai and the others have finally come out of the city, Qing will never waste this golden opportunity."
Zhuge Liang nodded and said: "Okay, I'll leave the matter to you in the west." After a pause, he said to the others: "Once Fei Yao, Guo Huai and others evacuate, General Zilong takes the opportunity to occupy the city, and we don't have to do it here. If we keep our hands, we must immediately launch a fierce attack on Anling, break through the city and capture Cao Zhen in the shortest possible time."
Although Yang Qing led his soldiers and horses to collect a batch of grain and grass a few days ago, the Han army still has more than 20,000 people. They eat and chew horses every day, which consumes a lot of money. Therefore, this will be the last big offensive of the Han army. Every action must be completed in the fastest time. The more you persist, the greater the results of this Northern Expedition will be.
"I will obey the Prime Minister's military order." The generals understood this truth and had been looking forward to this day for a long time. At this moment, they were really excited when they heard this, and they all replied loudly.
Two days later, news of Fei Yao, Guo Huai, and Qin Ji's respective withdrawals from Yicheng, Chencang, and Wugong reached Anling. Yang Qing, who had already prepared everything, immediately led more than 5,000 cavalry toward the Weishui River.
Fei Yao and his three men made careful arrangements when they evacuated the city. Fei Yao was the first to evacuate. After he led his troops out of the city, he immediately moved closer to Chencang to meet Guo Huai. After the two meet up, they will head towards Wu Gong together, where Qin Ji will be waiting for them.
Zhao Yun originally wanted to take advantage of the Wei army in Chencang to retreat and attack them with superior strength. Unexpectedly, the Wei army coordinated with each other and defended tightly and failed to give him a chance, so he had to watch them leave for the time being.
When Guo Huai withdrew, he only symbolically left hundreds of old, weak, sick and disabled people in Chencang. Therefore, when Zhao Yun sent troops to attack the city, they opened the city gates and surrendered without any resistance.
Zhao Yun left two thousand troops to defend Chencang, while he led the remaining troops towards Xicheng. Unexpectedly, Yicheng was also like Chencang, with only a few hundred Wei troops remaining, so Zhao Yun recovered Yicheng without any blood.
Chencang and Yicheng are both strong cities built on the Wei River. The Han army had been attacking for a long time but could not capture them, but now they were recaptured so easily. This made many soldiers feel dreamy for a while, and they couldn't figure out why the Wei army We must take the initiative to abandon the defense of the second city.
The sergeants below were confused, but Zhao Yun and Deng Zhi were
Understanding the reason, they knew that if they could not defeat Guo Huai and others to completely establish the victory of the Northern Expedition, then Chencang and Xicheng, two important towns that the Han army had longed for for a long time, would eventually be lost.
Therefore, Zhao Yun and Deng Zhi did not stay longer in Yicheng. They also asked a partial general to guard the city with two thousand soldiers and horses, while they led the remaining six thousand soldiers and horses to pursue Wugong.
At this time, Guo Huai and Fei Yao had led their troops to Wugong. After settling their troops, Qin Ji led the two men to the lobby of Wugong County Temple and retreated to the left and right, planning to quietly discuss the next plan.
"Shijun Guo, according to the order of the general, after our three armies join together, the soldiers and horses under General Fei will be under the command of the king. Please tell me how to act in the future."
In terms of official positions of the three of them, Qin Ji was just a partial general, and naturally had the lowest official position. As for Guo Huai and Fei Yao, their official positions were actually the same. However, Cao Zhen considered that Guo Huai had been in Guanzhong for a long time and was more familiar with the geographical scenery of Guanzhong, so he transferred these tens of thousands of people to Guanzhong. The command of the Wei army was handed over to Guo Huai.
Fei Yao was open-minded and had no grudges about it. He cupped his fists and said, "Yes, the rest will be decided by Guo Shijun."
"Okay, you're welcome to Guo."
Guo Huai did not hesitate and said directly: "The general has long expected that after we evacuate, Zhao Yun will not only capture the city, but also lead his troops to pursue it. As expected, the general expected. According to the scouting horse report, Zhao Yun has led The army pursued him to Xicheng.
Therefore, we must immediately withdraw our martial arts and rush back to Chang'an to rescue the siege. It is getting late at this time. We will lead the troops and set off early tomorrow morning, rushing to the Weishui River first, pretending to cross the Weishui River north to Anling, and wait for Shu. After the army was fooled, they turned eastward and rushed back to Chang'an without stopping. "
"Okay, let's do it like this." Fei Yao nodded.
Qin Ji also nodded and laughed: "Haha, the Shu army would never have imagined that instead of going to Anling to reinforce the general, I would go to Chang'an first to relieve the siege."
It turns out that Cao Zhen understood that if Guo Huai and others directly led troops to attack Anling, not only Zhao Yun would lead troops to pursue them, but Zhuge Liang would also send troops to stop them and besiege the city for reinforcements.
Therefore, he gave up the idea of letting Guo Huai and others rush directly to Anling for reinforcements, and instead asked them to return to Chang'an to lift the siege of Chang'an first, and then go to Anling to attack the Han army from inside and outside with him.
He thought that there were three advantages to advancing troops like this. First, it could avoid being annihilated by the Han army before the reinforcements arrived at Anling. Second, Chang'an was the foundation of Guanzhong. It had been besieged for a long time, which was very demoralizing for the people, so it had to be relieved as soon as possible.
Third, Chang'an is only a few dozen miles away from Anling. It is more secure for Guo Huai and others to rely on Chang'an to come to aid than to go north from the Weishui River. Moreover, if things go wrong, he can also lead his troops back to Chang'an with the support of Guo Huai and others.
So Cao Zhen decided on this plan to attack the north and attack the east, preparing for a desperate fight with the Han army.
Early the next morning, Guo Huai, Fei Yao and Qin Ji led tens of thousands of soldiers and horses towards the Wei River. At this time, Zhao Yun was still nearly a hundred miles away from them. After learning that the Wei army was heading north, they sent fast horses to report to Zhuge Liang and Yang. Qing, while leading all the Han soldiers, chased him quickly.
