Shu Chen

Chapter 197
There is a saying in the art of war: "Soldiers can be attacked halfway through."

The same goes for ambushes.

When General Jianyi of the Han Dynasty and Li Yan's Chief History Yan Yandu led the 6000 people in the front, Guo Huai, who had been waiting for a long time, had someone beat the cowhide drum for the attack.

It's not that he didn't know that Li Yan came behind with the Chinese army.

Not to mention that he didn't want to capture one of the important ministers who supported Liu Bei, the first emperor of the Han Dynasty.

It's that he's worried about being greedy and self-defeating.

Li Yan's direct subordinates were all trained by the first emperor Liu Bei to defend against Sun Wu after the battle of Yiling in the past;Guo Huai saw that they had just stepped out of the trail and started to form formation, and when the military was extremely strict, he knew that if the attack was late, the good ambush would turn into an encounter between the two armies.

Wei Jun has lost too much these years.

Morale has long been low.

Considering the strictness of the Han army, if they don't attack when they are not stable and formed, can the soldiers of the Wei army break through the enemy's formation?

And once it can't break through, it can't form a concealed kill, and when Li Yan's central army also arrives, can the Wei army still win?

Guo Huai felt that the chances were slim, and he didn't dare to take the risk.

When the opportunity arises, when it is broken, it will be broken.

After all, he has been a soldier for many years, and he is also a good general of Wei State.

Therefore, he also suppressed the greed in his heart, and let the ambush soldiers suddenly rise up and attack the Kewu tribe from left to right.

The Han army, who was caught off guard, was inevitably rushed to pieces.

The worst was Jianyi General Yan Yan.

Ke Wu brought more than a dozen people from his tribe to meet him, and while the two were talking shoulder to shoulder, he drew out the long dagger at his waist and stabbed it into his chest and abdomen.Let him stare in disbelief, his throat filled with blood froth could only make a "hoo hoo" sound, and he slanted to the ground with great regret.

In the Northern Expedition against Wei, the generals obeyed their orders.

He died like this, penniless.

The main general was killed suddenly, the Wei army ambush, and the Han army without an array to rely on was also in chaos.

In particular, they have little defense against Ke Wu's people.

The battle situation showed an overwhelming massacre.

The only eye-catching thing is that they are all worthy of the name of the elite.

In the panic, he was able to rely on Xiaoshi and Xiaowu to fight, causing many casualties to Wei Jun and the Kewu people.

Li Sheng and Huang Xi also died in battle.

They have no reason to live and dare not surrender and live.

When making the decision to dispatch troops, the two of them are the main fighters, and they will be punished if they return by chance; if they surrender, they will even implicate their families and make the door slump.

Man, death is death!It's better to win the name of loyalty.

But no matter how stubbornly the Han army resisted, after half an hour, they still ended in defeat after half an hour.

Of the [-] soldiers, more than [-] died in battle, and about a thousand surrendered before the battle.

And nearly a thousand other rout soldiers, because they were close to the entrance of the trail, turned their heads and returned in rout after seeing all the generals in the army died in battle.

Naturally, Guo Huai would not give up the chance to pursue him.

Instead, he asked General Liyi Pang Hui to take the captives, and kept an eye on Ke Wu not to take this opportunity to let his tribe pretend to be a rout and plunder other Li Shus in Zhiyang County;

Two thousand elites are enough!
The narrow trail makes it very difficult for the rout to retreat.

Especially at this time, the Chinese army led by Li Yan also entered the trail.

It is also inevitable that they will be blocked by their own routs, and they have to retreat back as a last resort.

Those who pushed and trampled each other to death, those who were killed by Guo Huai's tail, and the entire trail were full of corpses of the Han army lying on the ground, stretching for more than twenty miles!

Like a road leading to hell.

After the Chinese army under the supervision of Li Yan withdrew from the trail, there was no time to organize soldiers to form a defensive formation.

Under the great victory, Guo Huai, who was at the back, was full of vigor, like an arrow drinking the long wind, piercing through Li Yan's formation with the momentum of thunder.

Let the Han army continue to collapse for thousands of miles.

Fortunately, Jiang Wei, the commander of the rear army, was five miles behind.

When he, who was escorting the luggage and supplies, heard the shouts of killing ahead, he ordered the soldiers to drop the luggage and move forward slowly.

It also saved Li Yan's life.

Guo Huai's leading pursuers had always followed the Chinese army's banner.

When he saw Jiang Wei approaching with his formidable soldiers, he led the army back along the trail, saying that the number was too small to defeat the Han army again.

Originally, he had no intention of taking the opportunity to take back Xiping County.

The Gaoxiang Department of the Han Army has been guarding Daxia County.

If Guo Huai leads the army into Xiping County, he will inevitably be cut off from his way back.

Furthermore, there are not many soldiers and horses of Wei Guo sticking to Jincheng County. Once he leads the army out, the Wei Yan tribe outside Sangyuan Gorge in Yuzhong County will know the news, and they will definitely attack!
The purpose of setting up an ambush is to use a victory to motivate the morale of the Wei soldiers in order to stick to Jincheng County.

And to deter Liangzhou Haoyou and the Qianghu tribe from daring to disagree.

If you are greedy for merit, wouldn't all previous efforts be wasted?

Taking a step back, the casualties of the Han army in this battle will not come to the side within this year.

Indeed, within this year, the big man will no longer use weapons.

After Prime Minister Zhuge Liang knew the result of the battle, he asked Zheng Pu and Guan Xing's troops who were going to attack Zuli County in Wuwei County to withdraw back, and ordered Wei Yan's troops not to move without authorization.

Because of Li Yan's wrong decision-making, the Han army lost nearly [-] people, and they were all elites!
For a big man with small land and few soldiers, it is already a wound.

Furthermore, if you want to attack Jincheng County, Xiping County must be the main direction of attack.

When the soldiers just lost, whether it is to rest the soldiers and appease the Qiang tribe in the Huangshui River Valley, or to adjust the duties of the general rate, it will take time.

Wu Yi, who had already been promoted to General Zuo, led his headquarters into Xiping County, succeeding Li Yan as the general of the West Road Army.

Li Yan returned to Hanzhong.

Going back voluntarily.

After he returned with the defeated army, he personally killed Ke Wu's eldest son, let Jiang Wei and Liao Hua appease Li Shu, and returned to Hanzhong with his followers.

It's not just that he has no face and stays in Xiping County.

It's even more because he hurt the background of the Northern Expedition of the Han Dynasty.

Regardless of whether the big man can regain his vitality in the future, he will never have the opportunity to lead the army again, and no soldiers are willing to die under his command.

He knew this very well.

However, Prime Minister Zhuge Liang has not yet presented to the court how to investigate his guilt.

As far as the prime minister is concerned, no matter how he pursues Li Yan, he cannot make up for the regret in his heart.

The death of General Wei Zhao Yun and Veteran General Chen Shi made the prime minister sad that the generals of the Han Dynasty were not able to take over, and he was preparing his troops to speed up the process of the Northern Expedition.

But Li Yan's defeat crushed his hopes.

Perhaps, I will not have the chance to see the big man enter Guanzhong?

However, after my death, who can shoulder the banner of restoring the Central Plains?
At that time, all the courtiers who admired the kindness and righteousness of the late emperor will die, who can make all the forces of the Han court wholeheartedly serve the Northern Expedition against Wei?

In the prime minister's office in Hanzhong, the lights are kept on every night.

The prime minister was sleepless day and night, as if he had returned to the night before the Southern Expedition.

Even the neatly trimmed three-time beard is more silver than black.

232 AD was also the first year of Sun Wu's Jiahe.

Sun Quan changed his Yuan again.

The reason is that in the winter and December of last year, a Liaozuo in Kuaiji County said that Jiahe was born, so he amnesty and changed the Yuan.

It is hoped that Sun Wu's national fortune will be like that of Jiahe, which can thrive in the harsh environment of winter.

However, changing Yuan did not bring him any good luck.

Hope is just hope.

Since the defeat of the Wuling barbarian rebellion in the past two years and the failure of Zhonglang to trick Sun Bu into surrendering to the enemy, Wu and Wei fell into a brief period of peace.

Needless to say, the border of Jingzhou is guarded by Lu Xun, and there are always few soldiers.

Although Zhu Ran, who was in Jiangling City, was quite enterprising, Lu Xun, who assisted the crown prince Sun Deng in the rear, thought it was not a good strategy to attack Wei from Jingzhou, so there were few battles.

It also gave Sun Quan the idea of ​​finding another way.

For example, generals Wei Wen and Zhuge Zhi led the army to float to Yizhou to develop new territories.

However, due to the long voyage and the unacceptable environment, the army led by him suffered many casualties, and only thousands of people were relocated to Yizhou, which was even fewer than the dead soldiers.In a rage, Sun Quan executed Wei Wen and Zhuge Zhi for their crimes, completely forgetting that Fuhai Yizhou's decision was his own willful action.

He also sent people to Liaodong to make friends with Gongsun Yuan.

In the third month of this spring, General Zhou He and Colonel Pei Qian were sent to Liaodong to buy war horses.

Naturally, Wei Guo couldn't hide this matter.

Gongsun Yuan was originally a vassal attached to the state of Wei. The emperor Cao Rui was very angry at him for colluding with him and selling horses against Wu, so he asked Tian Yu, the general of Yiyi, to lead the troops of Qingzhou to prepare for the crusade.

Later, I heard that Eastern Wu used the navy to communicate with each other, and the Wei army's navy was difficult to match, so Tian Yu was temporarily held back.

However, Tian Yu is a good general!
After coming to Qingzhou to serve, he actively patrolled the coast to prepare for the war on the grounds that the East China Sea was very windy and rough in winter.

At that time, many generals of the Wei army laughed at him.

Afterwards, the navy of the State of Wu encountered a storm and drove the fleet to take shelter in Chengshan, where they were all captured by Tian Yu.

However, Tian Yu did not receive a reward.

He is a sideman.

Cheng Xi, the governor of Qingzhou, was born in a wealthy family, and jealous of him commanding Qingzhou's soldiers and horses, he secretly appealed to the emperor Cao Rui, claiming that all the jewels and utensils captured by Tian Yu were distributed to the officers and soldiers, not to the government.Cao Rui, who has always liked jewelry, was secretly ashamed and angry about this, and did not offer a reward.

It is also the normal state of Wei's important ministers and assistants to frame colleagues and fight for power and profit.

After all, Cao Wei's position was wrong.

Most of the courtiers who abide by their faith and do not seek self-interest are liquidated, and few people can change from Han Chen to Wei Chen.

The internal affairs of Wei State have nothing to do with Sun Quan.

He knew that the countless funds spent on purchasing war horses were in vain.

Also, he started thinking about the war horses of the great man again, and sent people to Hanzhong County to discuss the horse trade with the prime minister again.

However, he also had surprises.

Gongsun Yuan also had to hear about Wei Guo's plan to attack Liaodong.

He who dared to seize his uncle's position and stand on his own is naturally not an easy person to deal with.

Because the Wei State had lost Longyou and suffered repeated defeats against the Han army, it gave birth to a heart of self-sacrifice, so it took the initiative to send the school captain Su Shu and the Lang Zhongling Sun Zong to Sun Quan as ministers, and presented minks and horses.

It was agreed that one south and one north would jointly attack the State of Wei.

After Sun Quan got the report, he was overjoyed, and began to plan to send troops to the canonization.

Naturally, Gongsun Yuan's declaration of vassal to Sun Wu was only the first step.

He also began to frequently send envoys to find the masters of Karasuma in the three counties, as well as Ke Bineng, the master of Xianbei who had long become the King of Fuyi of Wei State, to discuss the matter of the alliance to attack Wei.

This became one of Cao Rui's worries in the state of Wei.

Although both Guo Huai and Tian Yu were victorious in the west and east, he finally eased the breath of Wei Guo's repeated defeats.

But the war on the northern front was about to start, and he couldn't help but feel haggard.

Because his third son, Cao Yin, who was under one year old, died again.

This made the entire hinterland of the Central Plains secretly discussing the fate of "Cao Pi usurping the Han and being condemned by heaven" preached by Qiao Zhou, a traitor against Shu, and all states and counties in Wei State were in turmoil.

It can't be blamed on those people who gossip.

Facts speak louder than words.

Even Cao Rui himself sighed faintly in his heart when he was sitting alone in the dead of night.

It's just that there is no turning back when the bow is opened.

Since he is the emperor of the Wei state, he has no reason to be weak, and he has to do his best to stabilize the turbulence of the situation.

The method considered is also to kill the chickens to make an example to the monkeys.

Instead, he issued an edict in private to ask Cao Zhen, Sima Yi, and Sima Yi: "Is it time, can Liaodong be conquered?"

He intends to use Gongsun Yuan in Liaodong, who is about to cause chaos, to deter Karasuma and Xianbei's ministries on the northern front from acting arbitrarily.

At least, let them dare not betray Wei for a few years.

Da Sima Cao really thought that he could be defeated.

He felt that after Guo Huai defeated Li Yan, Ni Shu would not attack Liangzhou in a short time;

And Guanzhong is guarded by him personally, which is even more impenetrable.

Therefore, the emperor Cao Rui did not need to worry about the war on the northwest front.

As for the great general Sima Yi, he not only agreed, but also secretly went back to Luoyang Mianjun, asking for orders to lead the army to attack in person.

One is that Wei State needs a stable north so that it can deal with the alliance against Shu and Wu with peace of mind.Just taking advantage of the opportunity when the two countries had just suffered setbacks, they took the lead in leveling Liaodong.

Another is that there is no need to worry about the safety of Jingzhou.

Lu Xun of the Eastern Wu Dynasty did not have a strong enterprising spirit, and Xia Houru could guard it instead of him.

Yes, Xia Houru is back.

After Guo Huai's victory, when he went to the Luoyang Temple, he also gave the first victory in this battle to Xia Houru.It is claimed that this trick of using the leader of the Qiang people, Ke Wu, to feign surrender was left by Xia Houru.

All the temples in Luoyang discussed that Xia Houru was defeated first and then conspired.

With the affirmation of the two trustees, Cao Rui also formally made up his mind.

They gathered soldiers and prepared food and fodder, and planned to lead [-] troops to Liaodong to attack them with Sima Yi as the main general.

And it's very secretive.

It was all according to Sima Yi's plan.

Abandoned Youzhou Inspector Wang Xiong, Veteran General Tian Yu, who is very familiar with the frontier, and others were not used, so as not to overwhelm the enemy; and using the defense of various troops and horses as an excuse, they secretly gathered the army in Youbeiping County, Youzhou, intending to surprise them.

Just like the speed of his soldiers when he drove to attack Meng Da in the past.

Naturally, Zheng Pu, who was stationed in Pingxiang City, did not know about these matters between Sun Wu and Wei.

He is also on his way at the moment.

Prime Minister Zhuge Liang wrote a book and privately summoned him to Hanzhong for discussion.

What was discussed was not detailed in the letter, but Zheng Pu could vaguely guess.

Because Li Yan has returned to Chengdu.

(End of this chapter)