Chapter 557: Wei Yan's Strange Scheme
Cao Pi made a decision, and in the form of an edict, sent to Cao Zhen, who was on the front line, this is a very responsible act, which is much better than some leaders who have won the battle because of their own merits and lost the battle because of their incompetent subordinates.
And on Cao Zhen's side, it was indeed as Cao Pi expected, Cao Zhen did not wait for Cao Pi's edict stupidly, but took decisive action without waiting for the edict to arrive.
It's not that Cao Zhen doesn't understand this rule, and it's not that Cao Zhen doesn't know that his plan is related to Da Wei's control of Guanzhong, it's really that this plan was originally to grab time, and now, time is very unfavorable to Da Wei.
Cao Zhen must find a way to snatch this time back.
Liu Ye can see the key node of the plan in Luoyang, he is on the front line, and he is the first supporter of Guo Huai's plan, of course Cao Zhen also knows, so he must march to Meixian as soon as possible, and launch an attack on Meixian before Wei Yan's main reinforcements arrive.
And Wei Yan from Meixian County is also a little hesitant now.
At the beginning, according to the strategic intention formulated by Zhuge Liang and others, it was believed that Wei Yan would be encircled and suppressed by the Wei army after occupying Meixian, so the plan set at that time was to let Wei Yan hold on to Meixian for a period of time and wait for the main Han army of Wuzhangyuan to come to help.
But the current situation is not too different from when Zhuge Liang and others formulated their strategies.
Obviously, Zhuge Liang and others thought that the Wei army would encircle and suppress Wei Yan and counterattack, based on the fact that Wei Yan needed at least twenty days to seize Meixian, and at that time, the Wei army should have moved to the vicinity of Meixian, and in the face of Wei Yan, who had not gained a stable foothold, if he did not counterattack, it would really violate the common sense of the battlefield.
But the current situation is that Wei Yan's march was too fast, and the journey was too smooth, from the beginning of the attack on Chencang to the end of the capture of Meixian, it all added up in less than ten days.
At this time, near Meixian, there were no Wei soldiers and horses, and Guo Huai's army was still confronting the main army of the Han Dynasty in Wuzhangyuan.
The situation on the battlefield has changed, and Wei Yan's mind has also changed.
Wei Yan has always been a general with his own ideas, and he has his own set of rules for judging the battlefield situation.
When the development of the situation on the battlefield was inconsistent with the pre-war strategic plan, Wei Yan did not necessarily mean to implement the strategy.
In those days, there were no means of instant communication such as telephone and telegraphy, and many times it was necessary to rely on the generals themselves to make their own judgments.
And Wei Yan is not the kind of brainless general, of course he will analyze it himself.
Because he marched too fast, the time to seize Chencang Dao and Meixian was too short, at this time, the Wei army may have just received the news that he had seized Chencang Dao, and he may not necessarily know that he had seized Meixian.
At this time, the Wei army will definitely send reinforcements to rescue Meixian, if Chang'an sends reinforcements, will there be a state of emptiness of troops? !
If he leads the troops to attack Chang'an at this time, it seems that he really has a trick!!
Wei Yan was really not whimsical, after thinking of this idea, Wei Yan began to study the map.
….
This time, Cao Wei's defensive measures against Guanzhong were basically the strategy of defending the enemy from the outside.
Guanzhong has a very natural advantage, surrounded by four levels, and blocked by the Qinling Mountains, making the defense of Guanzhong very easy.
Although during the last Northern Expedition, the Wei army lost the Longshan Road, allowing the Han to complete the Broken Dragon and easily capture Liangzhou, but the four important checkpoints in the pass were still in the hands of the Wei army.
In particular, the Sanguan in the face of Longshan Road and the Xiaoguan in Liangzhou were the most important barriers to defend the Han Dynasty from the northwest into Guanzhong.
As for the southwest direction, because the Han army occupied the Baochuan Road, the Wei army had to focus on the defense of Wuzhangyuan and Chencang Road. The overall idea is to go with the defensive idea of defending against the enemy.
can be located behind Xiao Guan's Zuo Feng Yi, because Xiao Guanding is in the front, and Wei Jun is in Zuo Feng Yi, no
There are too many troops arranged to guard it, and the huge Zuo Fengyi, and the total number of defenders is not more than 5,000.
Therefore, if Wei Yan crossed the Wei River from Meixian County, entered the southeast area of the Wei River, made a detour from here to enter Zuo Fengyi, and then attacked Chang'an all the way from Zuo Fengyi, it was possible to directly attack Chang'an.
And once Wei Yan's troops come to Chang'an City, with the current number of defenders in Chang'an, it is really possible to fight in a battle, which is much more reliable than the Meridian Valley conspiracy he mentioned earlier.
Meridian Valley conspiracy, in the execution stage, there are two problems that cannot be avoided, this point Wei Yan has been sprayed by Zhang Xi more than once, so Wei Yan's memory is very profound.
The first is that Wei Yan cannot guarantee the occupation of Chang'an in the short term.
Second, even if Wei Yan can occupy Chang'an, there is no guarantee that he will be able to get reinforcements from his own people in time, so as to hold Chang'an.
But now, neither of these problems seems to be a problem.
Now the defenders of Chang'an are coming to Meixian to support, and the army left behind in Chang'an can not support thousands of soldiers, while he is carrying 20,000 soldiers and horses, and it is a surprise attack, maybe he can really fight down.
As for the second question. The main force of the Han Dynasty is in Wuzhang Plain, and it is only fifteen to twenty days away from the march to Chang'an, and his own army of 20,000 can't even hold on for such a little time?!
Not to mention how much combat power is left of the Wei army that came to besiege him at this time. If Wei Yan wants to attack Chang'an by surprise, then he will definitely burn all the grain stored in Meixian County with a fire before leaving Meixian, and it is impossible for the Wei army to get any supplies, how can they maintain their combat effectiveness?!
The more Wei Yan thought about it, the more he felt that there was something wrong with this matter, as long as he waited for the rear army led by Wu Ban to arrive, Wei Yan planned to send troops directly, make a detour into Zuo Fengyi, and surprise attack Chang'an.
But. Wait, wait, Wei Yan waited for two days, but he never saw the arrival of the Wu Ban leader.
This one is weird.
After occupying Chencang Road almost bloodlessly, Wei Yan took Zhuge Qian and 7,000 troops to set off first in order to drive Xiahou Nan to Meixian, leaving Wu Ban to arrange defense in Chencang Road.
According to reason, most of the defenders of Chen Cangdao were taken away by Xiahou Nan, Chen Cangdao is not a big city, and Wu Ban is not an incompetent and short-sighted person, arranging defense should not waste too much time for Wu Ban, and it is just a day or two later than Wei Yan to set off.
….
If the time drags on for too long, it can't be called the front and rear army, and even once Wei Yan is in danger, Wu Ban is too far away to even rescue in time.
Therefore, the two-day distance interval is already the limit that Wu Ban can delay, and Wu Ban will not be able to delay until now that he has not arrived in Meixian County.
And Wu Ban didn't go to Meixian, so Wei Yan took the remaining 6,000 people to attack Chang'an. Being sprayed by Zhang Xi again is still a trivial matter, and this is purely to find a smoke.
Six thousand people captured Chang'an, this kind of thing, now Wei Yan no longer dares to think about it.
Therefore, Wei Yan had to wait for Wu Ban to join forces with him before he could really act, and now, what Wei Yan could do was to quickly send scouts to find Wu Ban's traces.
Although theoretically speaking, there shouldn't be any accidents along the way, but. Just in case!
Well, this is really not cautious, it's just military common sense, Wei Yan resolutely refused to admit that he was influenced by a certain earth dog.
As for Wu Ban, it was true that he only set off about a day and a half later than Wei Yan, and maintained a marching distance of about sixty miles from Wei Yan along the way.
At this distance, once Wei Yan is in danger and retreats for a period of time, Wu Ban accelerates the march for a period of time, which is enough to meet Wei Yan's command ability, and with 7,000 soldiers, it is basically impossible to encounter a situation that cannot be supported for a day.
Even Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi have no such ability.
Wu Ban was indeed marching according to Wei Yan's estimate, and he did not encounter any accidents along the way. It wasn't until Wu Ban found that a Wei army of thousands of people suddenly appeared behind him, and a Han army of more than 1,000 people who were fighting with this Wei army to the death.
Appears in the hinterland of Guanzhong
Wei Jun is not a new thing, but the appearance of Han troops other than himself is not only new, but also weird.
Wu Ban had to temporarily slow down his march and at the same time send scouts to investigate the origin of these two forces.
Soon, Wu Ban learned through the scouts that the two troops were coming from the direction of Sanguan, and they were really fighting, and the two sides fought all the way, and the casualties were not small.
Anyway, the three groups of scouts sent out by Wu Ban did not think that this was the Wei army digging a pit for Wu Ban's army, and there was no trace of any other ambush soldiers within a radius of thirty miles around these two fighting armies.
Of course, the most important thing is that the casualties of the Han army are very large, and if the army does not come to the rescue, it is really hard to say how long this Han army can hold out.
Wu Ban couldn't hesitate anymore.
He really didn't know why a Han army that he didn't know would appear behind him, but this Han army had been pestering the Wei army, not letting the Wei army come from behind him, no matter who it was, he had no reason to see death and not save him.
However, in order to meet each other just in case, Wu Ban also sent his own captain more cautiously, leading 3,000 troops to meet this Han army, in case of any change, he still has a backhand.
But. Wu Ban was stunned to find that the 3,000 soldiers he sent out did not suppress the Wei army, but also fell into a struggle.
This is a very abnormal imagination.
Generally speaking, it is difficult for the enemy to ensure the organization and morale of the army when there is a block in front and a chasing army in the rear, and in this case, the combat effectiveness will definitely be greatly reduced.
Wu Ban thought about it, there was only one possibility - this Wei army was itself coming for itself, and it was extremely combative!!
If that's the case, there's no way around it.
Wu Ban ordered, the whole army pressed, and this Wei army must be annihilated!
(End of chapter)
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