As for the importance of Qishan Fort, as early as when Chengdu was doing the Northern Expedition strategy, Zhang Xi emphasized it to Zhuge Liang and others, and it was also recognized by everyone.

This nail must be removed, otherwise it will be tied to the supply line of your own grain route, which is quite uncomfortable.

It doesn't matter if the attack goes well, once the attack doesn't go well, or the front line is frustrated, then this Qishan Fort will be as uncomfortable as a fish bone stuck in the throat.

However, when I was in Chengdu, because it was on paper, everyone did not know much about the specific situation of Qishan Fort, so we could only simply treat Qishan Fort as a military fortress.

To break through a military fortress, even if it requires a quick breakdown, it is not impossible.

After all, Qishan Fort is not a fortress group, he is an independent fortress, and the surrounding county towns are quite far away from Qishan Fort, so they can't rescue each other, so whether it is to attract the defenders out with a strategy, or to storm it, there is a way.

But when he arrived in Hanzhong, after Fa Zheng collected the information about Qishan Fort, he also gasped - this military fortress was actually built on a mountain?!

And what made Fa Zheng feel even more uncomfortable was that Qishan Fort was not only on the mountain, but also there was only one way up the mountain, which condescendingly occupied a geographical advantage, and there was no shortage of water sources on the mountain, which was uncomfortable.

With such intelligence information, Fa Zheng found Zhuge Liang and Zhang Xi, and the three of them had discussed it and came to a consistent conclusion.

Or, let the soldiers crowd on the mountain road, attack from the bottom up, and pile down this Qishan Fort with their lives.

But the scale of Qishan Fort can garrison an army of 3,000 to 5,000 people, and if you occupy a geographical advantage, you can't pile it up without 10,000 people.

The loss of this soldier is a bit unacceptable.

Then the only way left is still to besiege but not attack, waiting for the defenders in Qishan Fort to run out of food and grass and go down the mountain to surrender.

So, to a certain extent, if Ma Tan can really control the water source, it is not an unacceptable choice to go up the mountain and let your Zhang He's cavalry pass, and your remaining grain and grass will all be under my threat, and without grain and grass, even if you go to rescue Liangzhou, you won't be able to last a few days.

As for Zhang He's cavalry surrounding the mountain, Ma Jian is actually not afraid, anyway, his purpose is to drag out time, and if you have the ability, Zhang He will continue to surround me, and wait for me to run out of food and grass.

But Ma Tan's problem is that he didn't expect Zhang He to come so quickly, he hasn't completely controlled the water source, and Zhang He will arrive when he does a good job in defending the water source area, and Ma Jian will be at a loss next and easily let Zhang He occupy the water source.

This is the most critical factor in Ma Tan's failure to defend the street pavilion.

But these problems do not exist in Qishan Fort.

Until Zhang Xi led the troops as the vanguard and marched quickly to approach Wudu County, Zhuge Liang and Fa Zheng's suggestion to Qishan Fort was to besiege it with a small number of soldiers and horses, bypassing Qishan Fort and going straight to Liangzhou.

But Zhang Xi wanted to try it after all, to see if he could pull out this Qishan Fort.

And the way Zhang Xi thought of was to sneak attack.

I found Jufu, Zhang Yi, Wei Yan, and Zhang Xi to discuss their ideas with the three of them to see if they could do it.

"Wudu County can go down every day, but the key to this expedition is not in Wudu, but in Qishan Fort!" Zhang Xi took the military map, pointed out the location of Qishan Fort to the three people, and said, "If you don't take this place, you will be like a fish in your throat, and you won't be happy!" ”

Ju Fu, Zhang Yi is not a novice on the battlefield, and he also has a good strategic vision, not to mention Wei Yan, who is too dignified and guarded, if he can't see the importance of Qishan Fort, then don't mess up.

Therefore, after listening to the specific situation of Qishan Fort, the three of them all frowned and thought.

In the end, it was Wei Yan, who was the first to suggest, and said, "Why don't you take advantage of the fact that he doesn't know the movement of the army at this time, and he is unprepared and makes a detour to attack this place?!" ”

Although, Wei Yan and Zhang Xi are incompatible, but the matter on the military front is a matter of national affairs, and Wei Yan and Zhang Xi have no intention of turning over old accounts.

Not to mention, Wei Yan's thoughts coincided with Zhang Xi this time.

"I mean the same thing!" Zhang Xi nodded and said to Wei Yan, "I intend to postpone the march to Wudu, so that the guards of Qishan Fort will not be aware of it, so that people will go over the mountains and detour, avoid the surveillance of Wudu County, and raid Qishan Fort. After taking Qishan Fort, then Kewudu. ”

But this strategy, in fact, also has its risky side.

Jufu is shallow, just frowning, thinking about how to say this.

But Zhang Yi followed Zhang Xi for a while after all, and knew Zhang Xi's temper, so he said bluntly, "But Qishan Fort is still a hundred miles away from Wudu, and a hundred miles of raiders may not be conducive to war." And our army, more than 20,000 people, how can such a large army avoid the surveillance of Wudu and make a detour to sneak attack?! ”

Zhang Xi still nodded and agreed with Zhang Yi's statement, but still insisted, "Therefore, the raiding army must be mainly elite, with no more than a few thousand, and it needs to be raided day and night to raid Qishan Fort." Qishan Fort is 100 miles away from Wudu County, and the march is only three or four days, and four days after the surprise army sets off, we will lead a large army to besiege Wudu. ”

"In this way, if we break through the Wudu, the raiding army will not be able to conquer Qishan Fort and be prepared for Liangzhou!" Jufu finally put forward his own suggestion.

Once the Northern Expeditionary Army begins to attack, whether it is to attack Wudu County or Qishan Fort, these two places will send messengers to Liangzhou, if they can't quickly conquer these places and lead the army forward, I'm afraid that Liangzhou will be able to get the news quickly and be prepared.

After all, Fa Zheng also said that this time to send troops, the most important thing is strange, and the emphasis is on speed. If Liangzhou is prepared, the next battle will not be easy.

In fact, Zhang Xi also knew, but he felt that the problem should not be big.

Wudu County is not difficult to fight, most of Wudu County has been infiltrated, basically the army drove over, and the people opened the city and surrendered, what Zhang Xi is doing now is just attacking Qishan Fort four days in advance.

Even if the Liangzhou Legion learns the news four days in advance and wants to adjust the deployment and switch the defensive focus, it may not even have enough time to transfer troops, so there should not be much of a problem.

The soldiers of these years are not mechanized troops, nor are they rabbit troops, and it is simply unrealistic to want to adjust the soldiers in place in four days and change the entire battle situation.

Therefore, Zhang Xi insisted on implementing his own strategy.

And Ju Fu and Zhang Yi didn't insist too much, after all, Zhang Xi's reason was that the transfer of troops in the past years, even if it was elite, it was a miracle that it could complete the deployment of troops in ten days, and it was really not enough for four days.

And Wei Yanma

"In this battle, you can't do it unless you have a general!"

Well, Wei Yan emphasized this point.

Indeed, there is a saying that it is absolutely impossible to take thousands of soldiers to climb the mountain and detour in three days, run to Qishan Fort more than 100 miles behind Wudu County to launch a surprise attack, and also require that the raid be successful under the condition of occupying a geographical disadvantage.

But when Wei Lao Pifu said this now, he didn't mean to remind Zhang Xi that he should be careful in employing people. The meaning of this thing is that this raid must be done by yourself.

The four people present can afford the title of "general", except for Zhang Xi, the former governor of the Northern Expedition, who is too guarded by Wei Yan in Hanzhong.

The old horseman is tactfully asking for war.

And Zhang Xi, Zhang Xi really didn't have the kung fu to quarrel with the old horseman, and when he came up with this strategy, he knew that only Wei Yan could do it.

"Generals can personally select elites in the army, with a limit of 5,000 people, and more is disadvantageous." Zhang Xi nodded and agreed to Wei Yan's request for battle, and said, "This raid on Qishan Fort, if you can overcome it, you can overcome it, if you can't overcome it, you don't have to force it, besiege it without attacking, and wait for us and other troops." ”

Wei Yan sneered and said, "Since Wei Mou was in the army, he has not encountered an invincible place and does not need other soldiers, only 3,000 people in the headquarters can be used, and Qishan Fort will be !! ”

Zhang Xi frowned slightly when he heard this.

Although let's say it, Wei Yan's words sound really uplifting, at this time, the general needs to have such will and confidence, but is it really enough for you to bring only 3,000 people?!

This is not the time for us to be angry.

Zhang Xi thought for a while, but still said to Wei Yan, "The general should not be careless. This time we are taking risks. The more you take risks, the more cautious you should be. Although the general's headquarters is elite, the number is too small, so it is more secure to bring 5,000 people to go. ”

To tell the truth, Zhang Xi is really not raising the bar with Wei Yan, he really thinks so.

But Wei Yan also has his own reasons.

Although Zhang Xi generously allowed Wei Yan to select elites in the camp and form 5,000 people. But who doesn't know what's going on with the training and organization of the army in these years.

Everyone is a general, what kind of virtue is it to the corporaries, can you still understand?!

Instead of letting Wei Yan pick out five thousand so-called elites that he was not familiar with, Wei Yan would rather take three thousand people from his own headquarters to do such a dangerous thing.

After all, he was a soldier trained by himself, although he was not necessarily the strongest in combat, but he was the most familiar to Wei Yan.

Wei Yan knew very well where the marching limits of the soldiers he led were, what their minds were, what methods they needed to use to motivate, and where they could give full play to their combat effectiveness when commanding.

Therefore, Wei Yan is not raising the bar with Zhang Xi, he really thinks that bringing 3,000 people from his headquarters is more suitable for long-distance attacks than bringing 5,000 people that he is not familiar with.

But Zhang Xi was still more concerned and persuaded Wei Yan, but Wei Yan didn't want to explain so much to Zhang Xi.

Lao Tzu has Lao Tzu's thoughts, and there is no need to tell you.

"This matter does not have to worry about the front governor, Wei Yan only needs to bring 3,000 soldiers and horses from his headquarters, if he can't conquer Qishan Fort, please behead me!!" Wei Yan said with an arrogant face.

Really, it's just that there is no military order in these years, otherwise Zhang Xi will rush to this old horseman, and he will have to set up a military order for this old horseman.

Don't think that the military order is only valid for Ma Yan, you know?!

(End of chapter)