As the governor of Yongliang in the Great Wei Dynasty, Cao Zhen was really pitiful in this Guanzhong defense battle.

But this is not Cao Zhen's fault, his responsibilities are decided, he can't leave Chang'an easily, he must be in command in Chang'an.

In fact, so far, Cao Zhen has done a very good job.

Cao Zhen formulated the basic strategy of Guanzhong's defense, which was to keep the enemy from the outside.

Guanzhong is too important, not only as an economic region in the world, but also as the starting point of foreign trade, the most important logistical support point for controlling Yongliang and the two prefectures and fighting foreign invasions.

Guanzhong began to be gradually developed from the pre-Qin period, and now it has lasted for thousands of years, although there have been some twists and turns in the middle, but it has long been a densely populated and economically developed area, and it is an important source of taxes for the imperial court.

In the early years, several rebellions in Liangzhou spread to Guanzhong, especially in the years when Ma Chao and Han occupied Guanzhong, the warlords of Liangzhou attacked Guanzhong wantonly, which did make Guanzhong lose a large number of people, the land was abandoned and dilapidated, and Guanzhong was indeed a mess.

But after Cao Cao recovered Guanzhong, the first thing he did was to migrate the population of Yongliang and even Hanzhong to Hanzhong on a large scale, and restore the population and taxes of Guanzhong. This shows the importance of the Guanzhong region.

In such an area, Cao Zhen made the decision to defend against the enemy, which can be said to be to ensure that the Guanzhong region as much as possible, especially the three regions of the core essence of Zuo Fengyi, Right Fufeng, and Chang'an, would not be damaged by the war.

For this reason, Cao Zhen carefully planned the defense method, and at the same time gave enough autonomy to the guards in various places, not only veterans like Guo Huai and Zhang He, Sun Li of Sanguan, Xiahou Nan of Chen Cangdao, and Cao Zhen gave them a certain right to make decisions on the spot.

In fact, if everything develops according to Cao Zhen's plan, Cao Zhen is really confident that he will block these Shu troops of the Northern Expedition along the Weishui coast and prevent them from entering the hinterland of Guanzhong.

But. Since Liu Bei officially sent troops to the Northern Expedition in October, the troops went out of the Baochuan crossing, and the army began to arrive in Wuzhangyuan, Cao Zhen has not received any good news.

First of all, Xiahou Nan, after only defending for half a day, decided to give up Chen Cangdao and retreat into the hinterland of Guanzhong.

Really, Cao Zhen really wanted to cut Xiahou Nan directly. But whoever ties a dog in Chencang City can't only guard it for half a day, right?!

But Cao Zhen couldn't do this, Xiahou Nan was not only the husband of the eldest princess of Great Wei, but also the eldest son of Xiahou Nan, and even directly ordered Xiahou Nan to be executed for fear that Cao Pi would be angry, Cao Zhen didn't dare to tell Cao Pi in the report, Xiahou Nan only guarded Chencang Road for half a day.

If he really wants to kill Xiahou Nan, Cao Pi not only can't explain to his sister, but also can't explain to Xiahou's family.

The Cao family and the Xiahou family can be said to be interdependent, Xiahou Xuan and Xiahou Yuan can be said to be people who have worked hard for the foundation of the Cao family, and it doesn't matter if they have many in-laws between each other, Xiahou Nan will not die, but the relationship between the Cao family and the Xiahou family cannot be affected by this.

This is Cao Zhen's first grievance.

And the second grievance is the loss of Meixian.

Well, it's complicated.

Yes, Cao Zhen can continue to blame Xiahou Nan, after all, if Xiahou Nan hadn't lost Chen Cangdao so easily, Meixian County would not have been besieged by the Shu army immediately.

However, the loss of Meixian, Cao Zhen also knew that he had his own responsibility, why did he choose such a waste to garrison Meixian? !

Cao Zhen still attaches great importance to Wang Sheng, because this person is brave and brave, has made many military exploits in the army, has qualifications and merits, and is half a local, Cao Zhen wants to borrow such a person to win the hearts of the people in Guanzhong, so he asked Wang Sheng to guard Meixian County to show reuse.

But Wang Sheng actually only guarded Meixian for two days, and let the Shu general Wei Yan easily seize Meixian. It's another piece of shit.

Cao Zhen doesn't understand, you only have two thousand defenders in your hands, facing six or seven thousand Shu troops attacking the city, who gave you the courage to open the city gate and run out to fight with people? !

Why don't you even look at who your opponent is?!

That's Wei Yan, the general of a hundred battles who followed Liu Bei in his early years to fight in the east and west, and the person who can be trusted by Liu Bei and entrusted with the military of a state, do you think that you, a captain who can only be stationed in a small county town, can defeat?!

Can't you just keep the city and wait until you come to your rescue?!

Boy. Just two days, only two days, Meixian was lost in such a mess.

Cao Zhen was depressed, when he received the lost battle report from Meixian, he had just left Chang'an with 15,000 forbidden troops for only three days.

Even if he can fly now and fly to Meixian, it is impossible to snatch Meixian back in Wei Yan's hands.

Seriously, at this time, Cao Zhen really didn't know whether he should retreat or continue to march.

But considering that Meixian County was lost, the main forces of the Cao Wei army along the Weishui River were at risk of running out of food, and Sun Li, who had dispersed the pass, had no way to rescue, but the Guo Huai army in Wuzhangyuan had to find a way to come back.

With more than 42,000 Wei troops, Cao Zhen really couldn't afford to lose.

Once the loss of Meixian leads to the Shu army entering Guanzhong in a big way, then Guo Huai's army will be the most important force to guard Chang'an in the future, and Cao Zhen must take this army out.

Otherwise, relying on the 15,000 people in Cao Zhen's hands now, plus the 10,000 people who supported Zhang He on the right, facing the nearly 100,000 Shu army after the meeting, this Chang'an would not be easy to defend.

Therefore, Cao Zhen did not think about retreating halfway, but continued to move in the direction of Meixian, but the goal had changed from supporting Meixian to receiving Guo Huai's retreat.

Guo Huai's ability, Cao Zhen trusted, he believed, when Guo Huai learned that Meixian was lost, he would definitely choose a suitable time and route, and it was difficult to judge how much Cao Zhen could withdraw from the Wei army in Wuzhangyuan, but the number would definitely not be too small, and someone would definitely have to respond.

So what Cao Zhen had to do at this time was to continue to march along the Weishui coast, and at the same time send scouts to find a way to contact Guo Huai and determine Guo Huai's retreat route, so as to respond.

However, halfway through, Cao Zhen's scouts hadn't contacted where Guo Huai was, but the scout messenger sent by Guo Huai had already found Cao Zhen and brought Guo Huai's new plan - to counterattack Meixian.

Guo Huai brought the latest intelligence to Cao Zhen, and now the Shu generals stationed in Meixian County are indeed Wei Yan, but Wei Yan is a light attack to take Meixian, there are only five or six thousand people in the city, and the large army led by Wei Yan has not yet arrived in Meixian County.

Now Guo Huai has ordered Biqiu Jian to lead 3,000 cavalry to delay the march speed of the main force of the Shu army's partial division, if Cao Zhen is not far from Meixian and can rush to Meixian in time, then ask Cao Zhen to lead the army to attack Meixian first, or cooperate with Biqiu Jian's department to defeat the main force of the Shu army's partial division and surround Meixian.

And Guo Huai will return to Meixian from Wuzhangyuan in no more than ten days, and cooperate with Cao Zhen to attack Meixian.

As long as you recapture Meixian County, regain control of this logistics supply town, and then rely on Meixian County to continue to block the advance of the Shu army. Guanzhong's overall strategy of keeping the enemy out of the outside world can still be realized.

Of course, Guo Huai will not only think about the good and not want the bad. If Meixian County can't be recaptured, then at least Guo Huai can join Cao Zhen's troops, and can get some grain and grass supplies from Cao Zhen's side.

After all, Cao Zhen's grain and grass supply was sent from Chang'an, and he didn't need to rely on Meixian's grain and grass supply.

However, it all depends on how the battle develops, and whether Meixian can be quickly recaptured. If it can be recaptured, then the next defensive battle in Guanzhong will become much easier to fight.

Therefore, on the one hand, Cao Zhen led his soldiers to start a rapid march, wanting to rush to the city of Meixian as soon as possible, whether it was to besiege the city and attack, or to cooperate with Biqiu Jian to repel the main force of the Shu army, the sooner he arrived, the better.

On the other hand, Cao Zhen also sent a letter to the full favor in Chang'an, asking him to increase the supply of grain and grass, and at the same time collect large and small ships in the Chang'an area, and if necessary, go north along the Weishui.

This is to prepare for Guo Huai's retreat in case the war is unfavorable.

But at this time, Cao Zhen still hopes to recapture Meixian, once the Shu army breaks into the hinterland of Guanzhong and burns the war to the city of Chang'an, even if Chang'an is held, it will not be a matter of one or two years to recover.

Therefore, Cao Zhen was really in a hurry on the way, and it was indeed the elite of Cao Wei's forbidden army, and in four or five days, he was stunned to march more than 200 miles, and arrived at Meixian County two days earlier than expected.

But as soon as he arrived in Meixian County, Cao Zhen received the third bad news.

After all, Biqiu Jian did not stop the main force of the Shu army from entering Meixian County and joining forces with Wei Yan.

But Cao Zhen also got a good news at the same time.

Even if the main force of the Shu army has entered Meixian, the defenders of Meixian County are only about 10,000 people, and they have experienced two major battles and retreated to Meixian in a hurry, and the morale of the army will inevitably be affected.

Cao Zhen slightly calculated the comparison of the military strength of the enemy and us in his heart.

The Shu army has more than 10,000 people guarding Meixian, but Meixian is not a military fortress, just an ordinary county seat, and it only takes less than ten days, and Wei Yan should not have time to arrange too many defensive means.

On his side, in addition to the 15,000 forbidden troops he brought, there are about five or six days left, and Guo Huai's army will also come from the west to attack Meixian.

Even if Guo Huai wants to arrange a part of the soldiers to block the pursuit of the Shu army, at least about 30,000 troops, Guo Huai can still bring them over.

If you calculate it this way, the total number of troops on your side should be about 45,000 to 50,000. The comparison of the enemy's military strength is five to one.

There is nothing wrong with this ratio of siege, the question is only when to take the city.

Wei Yan will definitely defend the city to the death, and the main force of the Shu army will not watch Meixian lose it, and will definitely find a way to quickly break through Guo Huai's broken rear army and come to pursue the main force of Guo Huai's army.

Therefore, what I have to do now is to weaken the strength of the defenders of Meixian County as much as possible, and create enough conditions for the one-hit killing of Guo Huai's army after the arrival of the army.

In this case, what are you hesitating about, immediately build a hook ladder, and the ants will attack the city.

(End of chapter)