Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 581 575. The Three Armies Meet
In the previous battle, both sides had made arrangements for their respective cavalry. Although there were ships in the south and horses in the north, Cao Zhen was in a hurry to return to Luoyang at this time, so the traditional Qiang auxiliary troops in Guanzhong naturally had no time to follow him.

Moreover, the previous Cao Wei suffered greater losses than in the original timeline, because the Battle of Xiangfan that year forced Cao Pi to spend more time recovering his troops and stockpiling resources, and even forced the Hebei Tuntianke to rebel several times.

Therefore, Cao Zhen's cavalry is only about equal to that of the Han army. However, the quality of the Wei cavalry is definitely better than that of the Han army. Many northern men have been making a living on horseback since childhood, so they are naturally more skilled in riding horses than southerners. This is a fact that cannot be changed.

But now these are not important, because although Wei still occupies Qingzhou, Jizhou, Bingzhou, and Youzhou, all the keys are now gathered in Luoyang. The head of Wei is here, if Luoyang is lost, then the collapse of Wei is not a dream.

Cao Li did not think about moving the capital, but by the time they realized it, it was too late. The Han army was everywhere in the west, south, and east, so he could not go to these places, so Cao Li's only choice was to move north.

However, with Fu Rong's landing in Bohai, Hebei is no longer safe under Fu Rong's siege strategy. Originally, Wei State had withdrawn a large number of soldiers from Hebei because of the war in Henan. In addition, a large number of people who were dissatisfied with Cao Wei's discrimination against Hebei took the opportunity to cause chaos, and the situation in Hebei was not much better.

And the most important point is that the Yellow River has been blocked by the Han army's navy. Zhang Nan personally led the team to transport Fu Rong to land, and then he and Zhao Lei began to block the Yellow River. With the level of the Wei army without even a navy, they can only cross the river secretly now, and large-scale migration is a pipe dream.

So even if Cao Li wanted to leave now, he had nowhere to retreat and could only wait for death in Luoyang City.

"Thank you for your hard work, generals. Did you gain anything today?"

Feng Xi saw the three generals coming into the tent and asked with a smile. Today, all the few cavalry of the Han army were handed over to the three generals in order to prevent Luoyang City from being attacked from the side when the two armies were fighting, or any other accidents.

"We saw Cao Zhen's fleeing army today, and we intercepted and killed them for a while, but the Wei army also had cavalry, so the gains were not too great. A conservative estimate is about three to four thousand people."

Jiang Wei's expression remained calm, showing no trace of sadness or joy, as he described today's battle situation.

"Three or four thousand... that's not bad. The total number of Wei troops would probably be around fifty or sixty thousand."

Feng Xi nodded. Now that the Wei army had fled back to Luoyang City, there were more soldiers in the city. It would be difficult for him to take Luoyang City with his own forces. After all, Luoyang City was a big city with hundreds of thousands of people. Even if the Han army could break through the city gate, it would be impossible for them to bombard the city indiscriminately. The losses in the street fighting would definitely be heavy.

At this point, Feng Xi was no longer in a hurry. He ordered the Han army to block the west, south and east gates of Luoyang in a semi-encirclement posture. He was not in a hurry to attack the city. At the same time, he ordered Jiang Wei and two other generals to lead the cavalry to other passes to persuade them to surrender.

Many of those passes relied on Luoyang for supplies. Now that Luoyang was under siege, and there were no famous generals guarding those passes, naturally many of them opened the city and surrendered.

Under the coercion of the three men, Dagu Pass and Xuanyuan Pass simply opened their cities and surrendered. There were no counties around them that could supply them with food and grass, and there were not many soldiers at their two passes, so surrender was a natural thing.

Feng Xi was not in a hurry to attack. He just ordered the Han army to start digging trenches and setting up defenses, as if he was planning to fight to the death with Luoyang City.

After nearly ten days, under the attack from both inside and outside of the Han army, Hulao Pass, the eastern gate of Luoyang, only put up a slight resistance before being breached by part of the Yangzhou army led by Xu Shu. The remaining Yangzhou army would attack Qingzhou under the leadership of Deng Ai, and then join forces with Fu Rong of Jizhou.

A few days later, the Sichuan Army, which was marching from Hongnong County, easily entered Hangu Pass under the leadership of Zhuge Liang. At this point, the three northern expeditionary forces of the Han Army met in Luoyang. "General, what should we do now?"

In Luoyang City, Cao Li's eyes were silent. Now, including the troops brought back by Cao Zhen, Luoyang City only had 80,000 troops in total, half of which were only capable of defending the city and not engaging in hand-to-hand combat.

And now there are nearly 200,000 Han troops outside the city. How can Cao Li not feel desperate?
"Your Majesty, I will do my best and die for this. Although the Han army is powerful now, I have a strong army and sufficient food in Luoyang. As long as we can hold out until the Han army can no longer afford it, or if there are other variables, there is still a glimmer of hope."

Cao Zhen had no more plans now. Not to mention him, even Chen Qun, Zhong Yao and others were helpless at the moment. They all saw how powerful the Han army was. The Jingzhou army rushed all the way, and all the passes and armies that blocked their way were wiped out.

At that time, facing a part of the Jingzhou army, Cao Li was so exhausted. Now facing the three armies of the Han army, Cao Li wanted to die. In other words, as the Emperor of Wei, he must not surrender, otherwise he would have considered opening the city.

"Well, in that case, I'll have to trouble you, General."

Cao Li could only sigh for a long while. Although Xiahou Mao did not make any particularly big mistakes and did not send too many troops, he also did not have much credit. He was almost like a tethered dog. So after Cao Zhen returned, Xiahou Mao naturally no longer cared about the city defense and handed over all power to Cao Zhen.

Faced with the current decline, Cao Zhen could only continue to summon civilians, strengthen the city defenses, assign tasks, and prevent the Han army from attacking the city at any time.

Compared with the lifeless atmosphere of Cao Wei, the atmosphere on the Han army's side was completely opposite.

"Brother Yuanzhi, it's been a long time since we last met. You really made me suffer."

Zhuge Liang met the white-haired Xu Shu in the tent, and the two shook hands and talked happily. Since Xu Shu came out of the mountains, the two had not met for more than 20 years. Although Xu Shu recommended Zhuge Liang, the two had never met in person.

"Haha, Prime Minister Zhuge, what are you talking about? I am just a small military advisor and general. The Prime Minister is the most powerful official among the ministers. How can you say that I am harming you?"

Xu Shu was very happy to see his old friend again after a long separation, and simply pretended to be stupid about Zhuge Liang's complaints.

"Hey, Military Advisor Xu, what you said is not right. Haven't you made outstanding contributions to Young Master Feng? You previously planned to kill Sun Quan, and it was the Prime Minister who personally requested the title for you."

Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun on the side also stood with Zhuge Liang and talked about the past with this military advisor who was the first but whose memory was second only to Zhuge Liang.

Xu Shu was a man of talent, but he did not have the smell of fermented bean curd that a scholar had. Instead, he seemed generous and magnanimous because he had been a knight-errant in his youth. Both Zhang Fei and Guan Yu were convinced by him. In a sense, it was precisely because of Xu Shu that the two of them later questioned Zhuge Liang.

"Alright, alright, General Three, stop teasing me. Didn't you see the Grand Commander beside me smiling so much?"

(End of this chapter)