Three Kingdoms: I am not Cao Rui

Cheng Xi looked up at Cao Zhen, who was sitting in the middle of the tent, and then looked at Du Xi's expression, then hesitantly said:

"General, Xiabian has been captured by the Shu army, and the two cities of Hechi and Wudu are both under attack. If the Shu army holds Xiabian to the east to block our army, and attacks Qishan to the west, or Wuxing and Hanzhong to the south, what should we do?"

"I think it's better to dispatch troops as soon as possible to avoid any trouble."

Cao Zhen did not refute or blame Cheng Xi, but just smiled:
"Shen Bo's advice is honest, but the situation in Guanxi may have changed between the second and fourth years of Taihe. Shen Bo is not very familiar with it, so it's no wonder he asked this question."

After that, Cao Zhen looked at Du Xi and said, "Military Advisor, please explain this to Shen Bo to ease his worries."

"Okay." Du Xi nodded slightly and said calmly: "In the third year of Taihe, the Shu army invaded twice, and this year there was a severe drought and food shortage. Therefore, many things that should be done are either too late to be done, or there is no money and material resources to do them."

"Does Shen Bo know Wuxing Pass?"

Cheng Xi nodded and said, "I know that Wuxing Pass controls the main road from Chencang to Hanzhong, and it is the most important."

Du Xi said: "After repairing Wuxing Pass last year, there was no spare energy to repair Wujie City. According to the original deployment, General Zhang Junyi should have stationed in Xiabian, but due to many problems such as food and logistics, he had to station in Qishan."

"In other words, although Wei has taken over all of Wudu County, Xiabian, Wudu, and Hechi have been abandoned for too long. It will take too long to reclaim the wasteland and transfer people to it. After much deliberation, they have no choice but to leave it vacant. The court is also aware of this."

"This year, there is a shortage of food in Guanxi, and the Shu army has come from afar. We should respond with a defensive stance. Xiabian and Wudu are just empty cities. The Shu army has no real benefit in occupying them, and it will only waste military resources. When their food runs out, the Shu army will retreat."

Cao Zhen said loudly: "Military Advisor is right."

"However, although we have to confront them and force them to retreat, it would be a good thing if we can find an opportunity to fight. It won't be too late to make arrangements tomorrow when we advance and see the Shu army's military situation with our own eyes."

Cheng Xi cupped his hands and replied, "I understand."

Cao Zhen smiled and said, "This is an obvious thing. It is normal that Shen Bo did not know this when he first arrived."

In fact, Cheng Xi still had many questions in his mind that he hadn't asked, but it was too late to ask them.

The Shu army came from afar, and Wujie was bound to be lost. What would General Lu in Dazhong do? How would Zhang Zhengxi in Qishan advance?
Since the general and military advisor Du already have a strategy, all we have to do is wait.

It doesn't matter if you give up Xiabian. This kind of talk can only be said and done by General Cao Zhen. This is why the imperial court trusts and values ​​important generals from the clan. If it were Chen Situ of Jingzhou, Zhao Dujian of Jingzhou, or Zhang He, Guo Huai and other generals, they would not be able to escape the charge of being cowardly.

As for what His Majesty was thinking, Cheng Xi really couldn't guess.

Guanxi had a total of 80,000 troops, including 7,000 county soldiers from Liangzhou, totaling more than 70,000. However, due to the limitation of food and grass, Cao Zhen did not recruit 8,000 county soldiers from Yongzhou when he came to Hechi, but only brought 5,000 foreign troops and 10,000 cavalry from the Yulin Right Army.

The situation in Qinzhou was better, but still not optimistic. Zhang He had 20,000 soldiers, including 15,000 foreign troops and 5,000 Qiang soldiers, so it would be difficult to mobilize all of them.

It's not that the generals are incompetent, it's just that Yongzhou, Qinzhou and Hanzhong are too vast, and there is a shortage of food this year.

The next day, October 11, General Cao Zhen left one thousand cavalrymen to garrison Hechi and led the remaining five thousand infantrymen and nine thousand cavalrymen westward.

When facing the enemy in the field, caution is the key.

Since Xiabian City was eighty miles west of Hechi, the army followed Cao Zhen's order and marched forty miles before setting up camp using the terrain.

On October 12, Cao Zhen continued to lead the army forward. Today's march distance was shortened by half again, to only 20 li. At noon, the army began to set up camp, being as cautious as possible.

The scouts ahead had already reached the outskirts of Xiabian City, and were shocked by the Shu army's formation there, so they hurriedly reported the situation back. After receiving the news, Fei Yao, the general Sima, hurried to Cao Zhen's tent and informed him of the latest military situation he had discovered today.

After hearing this, Cao Zhen pondered for a few moments and said, "So, the Shu army has at least 20,000 or 30,000 people?"

"There shouldn't be any mistakes." Fei Yao replied in a deep voice: "The team leaders are He Gui and Jiang Ming. They are both veteran scouts who have been with the general for more than ten years. They will definitely not make any mistakes."

"The Shu army used Xiabian City as a base, and with the help of the mountains and rivers, built more than ten camps of different sizes near the city, and controlled the area around Xiabian. General, the Shu army's advance this time doesn't seem to be that easy to deal with."

After hearing what Fei Yao said, Cao Zhen remained silent. After a long while, he spoke:
"The Shu army is well prepared, and I am not unprepared either. Gongwei, you will come with me tomorrow to investigate ahead."

Fei Yao did not speak at the first moment. After a few moments, he hesitated and said, "The general's body is as heavy as a mountain. How can he go to the front line to investigate in person? Why not let your subordinates do it for you? I will lead the troops west at dawn tomorrow and return before noon."

Cao Zhen chuckled, "Gongwei, Gongwei, it is because I carry a heavy burden that I have to go to the front to investigate the enemy. More than 20 years ago, when Emperor Wu was alive, I often led troops in the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry to investigate. Now that I am a general, do you think I can't ride a horse?"

"General, that's not what I meant." Fei Yao saw that Cao Zhen insisted and it was difficult to dissuade him, so he lowered his head slightly.

Cao Zhen said: "It's okay. Order the troops to be cautious tonight and move early tomorrow morning." "Yes, sir." Fei Yao said.

Then he seemed to remember something and looked at Cao Zhen with a smile: "General, the Shu army is unprepared."

"Hahahaha." Cao Zhen came back to his senses and laughed for a long time before stopping.

Cao Zhen had been to Xiabian three times.

The earliest one was in the 23rd year of Jian'an, when Cao Zhen, together with Cao Xiu, Cao Hong, Zhang Ji and others, attacked Xiabian here and defeated Wu Lan, a general of the Shu army stationed in Xiabian, forcing Zhang Fei to return to the south.

In the second year of Taihe, Cao Zhen followed the emperor and led his troops here. They started from Xiabian and went along Qingni River to the vicinity of Chiting, and then defeated the Shu army.

Last year, that is, in April of the third year of Taihe, Cao Zhen led his troops here from Chencang. While responding to the advance of the Shu army, he also made the decision to give up relocating the people to Xiabian.

After coming here three times, Cao Zhen had a general idea of ​​the surrounding terrain, so he was fearless.

Starting from Xiabian and heading east, the area is all hilly and mountainous for 20 miles. Twenty miles away, there is a wide and flat area where Cao Zhen led his troops to camp yesterday.

In the early morning of the 13th, just after daybreak, Cao Zhen personally led 300 brave cavalrymen out of the camp. Their formation was sparse and wide, and they slowly advanced westward along the mountain.

Cao Zhen was in the center of the battle formation, looking sideways at Deng Ai on the right: "Shi Zai, how about the Wei Pushe in Chencang?"

Deng Ai supervised the grain transport from Chencang to Cao Zhen's army yesterday, and was called over by Cao Zhen today.

Of the two Zhonglang officers in the General's Office, Yang Dan was steady and law-abiding, but occasionally made mistakes and slacked off. In contrast, Deng Ai was not only more diligent, but also occasionally had brilliant ideas and almost never made mistakes in his daily work.

During the two years that Cao Zhen had been with this courageous and resourceful officer in his early thirties, he became increasingly impressed by his talents.

Deng Ai said, "I have long heard that Duke Wei is a prudent and steady person. Recently, I have been with him and found that he is strict in his conduct and meticulous in his accountability. This is something I have never seen before."

"Is that so?" Cao Zhen muttered to himself, holding the reins and looking forward, and then said: "It seems that the situation in Guanzhong has really forced Gong Zhen into a corner."

Deng Ai said: "If it were not an emergency, why would Your Majesty send Duke Wei to Chencang?"

Cao Zhen sighed softly, "No one can help if there is a shortage of food. Shi Zai has always been in charge of general affairs, but I wonder if you are interested in leading the troops?"

Deng Ai said, "I love military affairs the most in my life. Whenever I go to a place, I will observe the geography of the mountains and rivers. Previously, I thought I was inexperienced and never dared to talk about this with the general."

"If the general appreciates it, I am willing to give it a try!"

Cao Zhen said, "Well, come with me today to spy on the Shu army camp. When the time comes, I will let you try it. You have been polished into a useful tool, and there must be a chance for you to lead the army."

Deng Ai thanked him repeatedly.

As a scout, it is not advisable to take the main road. Cao Zhen led the cavalry along the small paths between the hills. Although it was a detour, it avoided the main road where the Shu army might be stationed.

When they were about eight miles from Xiabian, Cao Zhen's troops encountered a patrol of 20 soldiers. Three hundred cavalrymen against 20 men, although the Shu soldiers ran away when they saw this, they were no match for the cavalry's speed in the hilly valley and were easily killed.

About half a mile ahead, you will leave the hilly valley and reach the flat land north of Xiabian City, which is still six or seven miles away. There are many low mountains nearby, and the Shu army could not occupy every mountaintop when they first arrived here. They only occupied three or four places east of Xiabian.

Cao Zhen was already at the front of the team. After reining in his horse, he said to Fei Yao on his left, "Gongwei, Xiabian City is not far from here. The water is shallow now. I want to lead the army to cross the river from here to the west and gallop all the way to the northwest corner of Xiabian City. The road from here to there is smooth. The cavalry is fast, and if we turn back, the Shu army will definitely not have time to guard against it. What do you think?"

Seeing Cao Zhen's interest, Fei Yao also said proudly: "I am the general's deputy cavalryman, so you can go ahead!"

Deng Ai also silently adjusted the saddle under his crotch and got ready.

The terrain near Xiabian City, if described in detail, is a flat land that is six or seven miles wide from east to west and more than ten miles long from north to south, surrounded by hills and low mountains. Xiabian City was built in the southwest corner of this place, with its back to the mountains and facing the water.

Although Zhuge Liang had 25,000 soldiers here, he could not control all the passages at once. He could not take care of the small paths between the low mountains on the north side.

In the early morning, three hundred elite cavalrymen from the central army galloped from northeast to southwest in a spearhead formation, gradually increasing their speed.

When the cavalry poured out of the valley, the nearest Shu army camp, which was only a mile away, immediately sounded the gongs and drums in response. (End of this chapter)