Chapter 447

Guo Huai's rout was expected by Cao Zhen, but it was unexpected. It is unrealistic to rely on Guo Huai's 15,000 men to block Wei Yan's army, but what Ao Zhen didn't expect was that Guo Huai was also slightly famous, and he had a lot of experience in arranging troops. But he didn't hold out for two days, and before Wei Yan arrived, he was broken by the vanguard of the Han army. Of the 15,000 people, only 4,000 or 5,000 people fled back to Chang'an City.

In this way, coupled with the recruits that Cao Zhen has frantically recruited these days, there are only 15,000 people in the entire Chang'an! In the case that Tongguan and Wuguan were successively blocked by the Han army, Cao Zhen himself did not know how long these people could hold out in Chang'an. He just hoped that His Majesty the Emperor could quickly quell the civil strife and send troops to support Guanzhong. If it is too late, this pass will become the territory of the Han army.

Guanzhong was lost, Liangzhou was even more isolated, and it would definitely not last long under the siege of the Han army on three sides, so that one-third of the land of the Great Wei State would be occupied by the Han army, which Cao Zhen did not want to see. Over the years, he has followed Cao Cao to fight in the south and the north, and how difficult it is to be alone from an ignorant teenager to now, Cao Zhen is very unwilling.

More unwilling than Cao Zhen is naturally Cao Pi. finally survived to his father Cao **, and he still thought that he could successfully ascend the throne, and after enjoying himself, he led the civil and military generals to expand the territory. Cao Pi was woken up by Han in his sleep, for no other reason, Sima Yi, who was stationed in Hanoi, learned that Cao Chang led his troops to ask for the guilt, and reported to Cao Pi in Yecheng overnight.

When he reached middle age, the wise and calm Sima Yi was certainly not afraid of how much turmoil Cao Zhen could set off. Not to mention that Cao Zhang only has 30,000 horses, even if it is 100,000, most of these people are elites who followed the first emperor Cao Cao's southern expedition to prepare for war. They have their own opinions, and the reason why Sima Yi firmly stood on Cao Pi's side when choosing a side was because Cao Pi was forbearant and calm enough, and he was the most capable of taking on a big role among the princes.

As long as Cao Pi occupies morality, Sima Yi is not afraid of Cao Zhang's overturning, but Cao Chang took away 30,000 front-line troops. If it is stationed in Xuchang, it will not be a big incident, but these soldiers and horses are stationed in Chang'an! Wei Yan has always been eyeing Guanzhong. Soon Sima Yi's fears became a reality.

After learning that Wei Yan had led his troops to attack, Sima Yi hurried to the direction of Tongguan with 3,000 men and horses in Heinei, trying to intercept Cao Zhang on the way. Cao Zhang hurried to Yecheng angrily, and 30,000 elite soldiers traveled day and night, but were stopped by Sima Yi when they arrived outside Luoyang City.

Sima Yi thought about his eldest brother Cao Pi, Cao Zhang knew it, but when he saw that Sima Yi only brought 3,000 people here, he couldn't help but feel that he had a chance to win! It's just that Sima Yi and Cao Zhangjian were followed by a scolding, which is not at all like a courtier's attitude towards the prince.

But it was this scolding that made Cao Zhang panic. Sima Yi is right, even if he is fighting for a big position, he must have a position to fight for. If you leave Chang'an with your soldiers and horses so recklessly, the direct consequence is that Guanzhong is empty, and Chang'an is empty!

"Strategist, what should I do now?" Cao Zhang realized that he had made a very serious mistake, and he didn't care about the identity of the prince, so he looked at Sima Yi with a respectful face, hoping that he could help him out of the siege. Cao Zhang knew that if there was no Han army to make trouble, perhaps some generals would be on his side.

With the 30,000 elite soldiers he brings, he may be able to attack Yecheng directly. But as soon as he left on the front foot, the Han army attacked Wei in three ways, so Cao Zhang became the target of everyone, not to mention others, even the 30,000 horses under Cao Zhang's command were afraid that most of them would not listen to Cao Zhang's command. At present, who still has the heart to follow you to win the heir?

But he led his troops to leave Chang'an, and the goal was directly aimed at Yecheng, Cao Pi must have known, and others must have known that Cao Zhang is now difficult to ride a tiger. If you give up these 30,000 soldiers and horses easily, you may die a miserable death. But if they insist on continuing to invade Yecheng, not only will they have no chance of winning, but the mutual attack between the brothers will only cheapen the Han army.

Twenty years ago, the lesson of Yuan Shao's three sons vying for the throne is still vivid. Yuan Shaoguandu was defeated, but it did not hurt the root, and Cao Cao was still like a thorn in the back. But Yuan Shao's sudden death turned the situation in the entire north upside down. Cao Cao, who considered himself the most formidable enemy in his life, failed to solve the problem of the heirs, causing the three brothers to turn against each other, and Cao Cao swept Hebei in only two years.

Sima Yi looked at the young and vigorous Cao Zhangdao: "You can lead your troops to return to Guanzhong immediately to intercept Wei Yan's army, if you can successfully drag down the Han army, Yi will be the Ming Sheng, and open the net to the point." Yi then led his troops to Wancheng for reinforcements...... Now that the Han army is attacking Wei in three ways, the truth is unclear, and it should be dealt with by multiple heads! ”

"In this way, thank you to the military division, and I hope that the military division will say a lot of kind words in front of the eldest brother, and Zhang will lead the troops back to Guanzhong." Hearing that Sima Yi was going to Wancheng, Cao Zhang seemed to see a glimmer of hope again, if Sima Yi was dragged by the Han army, and he led his troops to kill a horse pistol, maybe he would be able to take Yecheng and take the throne? So Cao Zhang immediately promised Sima Yi, and then turned around and prepared to turn back with the soldiers and horses.

After Cao Pi was awakened, the battle report flew like snowflakes, and began to return his third brother Cao Zhang to lead the troops to leave the defense area without permission, followed by the Han army's three-way attack, Tongguan was lost, and Wuguan was broken...... Although Cao Pi was inferior to Cao Cao militarily, he still had political sensitivity. Of course, he thought of the Cao Yuan controversy twenty years ago.

What's more, Wei's advantage over Han today is not as obvious as Yuan Shao's advantage over Cao Cao back then. And when the ministers of Wei heard that Liu Cong was attacking from three directions, they were even more frightened. They have dealt with Liu Cong for more than ten years, and naturally know that Liu Cong is a superior who dares to enter, but he never fights uncertain battles.

What they don't know even more is that Liu Cong, as a traverser, has been trying to live in peace with Wei on the surface for the past three years, but in private he has been preparing for the Northern Expedition all the time! He was waiting for an opportunity - Cao Cao died! This may seem a bit illusory to others, the so-called plan is in people, and success is in heaven. Cao Cao's death is certainly the best time, but do you know when Cao Cao died?

But Liu Cong just knew, even if he couldn't predict accurately, he guessed that eight or nine were not far from ten, after all, Cao Cao fought in the south and the north, and he fought all his life, and suddenly stopped and began to enjoy the life of the emperor, so he was naturally not far from the end of his life. This is Cao Cao's self-knowledge, he knows that his time is short. On the other hand, it was the sudden idleness that accelerated the end of Cao Cao's life!

The Han people held the belief that they would win, but some people in Wei began to mumble, and when Cao Cao was there, he only barely resisted Liu Cong. Now that Cao Cao has died of illness, Cao Pi's talent is obviously inferior to Cao Cao, but Liu Cong is in the prime of life. The most terrible thing is that Cao Zhang, the king of the eight calves, actually left the defense area without permission, in the eyes of some pessimistic people, this is tantamount to giving up the entire Guanzhong region!

An important factor in Wei's ability to compete with Han was that Wei had a strong cavalry and many plains in the north. The advantage of cavalry made it impossible for Liu Cong to go deep alone. But if Liu Cong gets Guanzhong, then Liangzhou will definitely become a red thing. With Liangzhou, Liu Cong can also build a powerful cavalry.

As worried as Sima Yi, in addition to Cao Pi, there were also the main generals of the three fronts: Cao Zhen, Xu Huang and Zhang Liao. Especially Zhang Liao on the Eastern Front. Over the years, Jiangdong has not been peaceful, Gan Ning and Lu Xun sang and harmonized, and the will gradually push to the Huaihe region, where Zhang Liao is located, Hefei has become a bulge, wrapped by Lujiang and Jianye.

And after Liu Cong learned that Wei Yan sent people to seize the customs clearance, he wanted to do his best to cooperate with Wei Yan to realize the Meridian Valley plan that year. Therefore, soon after the launch, Liu Cong moved to Xinye, claiming that he wanted to drive to Xuchang in person. Guan Yu and Yu Ban attacked Wancheng day and night!

Sima Yi saw that his expectations were not bad, so he first coaxed Cao Zhang to recapture Tongguan, and he led 20,000 defenders from Luoyang and Xuchang to Wancheng to support Xu Huang. A long-planned battle of the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains began in full swing after Cao Cao's death. And this time, Liu Cong did not make any more reservations, including the middle road, and tried his best to besiege Wancheng with the armies of Xiangyang and Jiangling, the purpose of which was to make the east and west lines attack with peace of mind, especially Wei Yan in Guanzhong, and take the action of closing the door and beating the dog!

Wei originally had more than 70,000 soldiers in the Guanzhong and Liangzhou regions, and although Wei Yan, who was stationed in Hanzhong with He Chongbing, had a gap, he could at least hold on. Cao Zhang's sudden departure disrupted Cao Zhen's entire deployment, and Guo Huai's rapid defeat made Cao Zhen have no choice but to shrink to Chang'an, waiting for reinforcements from Anding, Tianshui and other cities.

Of course, Wei Yan refused to let go of such a good opportunity. Although Tongguan is dangerous, he can't withstand the Wei army's attack day and night, so he must take advantage of the time when the middle road is pinned down and Tongguan and Wuguan are strangled to death, and the Wei army in Guanzhong and Liangzhou will be cleaned up as soon as possible!

After arriving in Chang'an, Wei Yan immediately asked Pang De and Huang Zhong to lead 10,000 cavalry to continue westward to cut off and reinforce the Wei army, and he and Pang Tong, Deng Ai and others surrounded Chang'an on all sides to attack the city day and night. Pang Tong originally wanted to imitate Liu Cong's attack on Chengdu when he used Kong Ming lanterns to take advantage of the night gap, but due to the large population of Chang'an and Liu Cong's orders, Wei Yan had to adopt the original heroic method. However, compared with Chengdu, although Chang'an has high walls and large cities, its morale is completely different.

Back then, Huang Quan resisted stubbornly in Chengdu and was ready to break the net. And now more than 5,000 of the soldiers in Cao Zhen's hands are recruits, who have no combat experience at all, and can only do some auxiliary work on the city wall. The other 5,000 people fled from the Chang'an front, and they witnessed the Wei army's superiority suddenly broken by the Han army and then strangled in one fell swoop! Therefore, although Cao Zhen, Guo Huai and others have outstanding ability to lead troops, it is difficult for woodcutters to cook without rice!

It was difficult for the cavalry on both sides of the city to give full play to their advantages, and Cao Zhen could only watch the gaps in the walls of Chang'an appear one by one, and watch his 15,000 soldiers decrease day by day. Wei Yan's 50,000 army attacked the city, Chang'an was very empty around it, and it lasted less than half a month, the south gate of Chang'an was broken through by Wei Yan and others, and then tens of thousands of troops poured into the city, Cao Zhen still did not wait for the day of reinforcements after all.