Well, in the final analysis, Cao Zhen is still reluctant to give up the strategic advantages that he has built up with great difficulty, and he is reluctant to give up the results achieved in this counter-attack.

Once he withdraws to Tongguan, it is equivalent to starting all over again, Cao Zhen doesn't think that he will have such a good opportunity next time.

This can't be blamed for Cao Zhen's thoughts.

Even if he lost Niu Jin and 10,000 cavalry, Cao Zhen felt that he was still the superior side in terms of total strength.

20,000 Shu thieves trapped in Chongquan, these time of siege, it is impossible to have no losses, and the morale of the army will also be greatly affected.

Similarly, the Shu thief Liangzhou cavalry behind him, the scale of more than 10,000 people, after a fierce battle, it is also impossible to have no battle damage.

Therefore, the total strength of the Shu thieves combined was only 25,000 to 27,000 people.

On Cao Wei's side, there were losses in the siege battle, but the total strength of the infantry was still 45,000, of which 5,000 were stationed in Linjin, so Cao Zhen could actually call 40,000 infantry soldiers.

The cavalry suffered the greatest losses, about 12,000 men, and 8,000 cavalry remained.

Regardless of the morale of both sides, just the number, the remaining cavalry of the Wei army is no less than the Liangzhou cavalry of the Shu thieves.

And even if the overall combat strength of the soldiers is conservatively estimated, and the morale affects the comparison, Cao Zhen also believes that this is still a five-five situation.

Maybe being in the wilderness, facing the threat of the Shu thief Liangzhou cavalry on the back road, the Wei army may face a certain danger, but after retreating to Linjin and entering the battle to defend the city, Cao Zhen felt that he was not without the strength to fight.

And as long as he delays long enough on his side, drag the Yongzhou soldiers and Liangzhou soldiers to Zuo Feng Yi, and wait until Guo Huai breaks through the right Fufeng, he can still get the final victory.

This was all Cao Zhen's thoughts, so he immediately ordered the whole army to return to the army and retreat to Linjin.

Of course, for Tongguan, Cao Zhen did not have anything wrong, he thought about it, or recognized Wang Chang's worries, therefore, he decided to send Wang Chang to lead 3,000 foot soldiers back to Tongguan to strengthen the defense of Tongguan and prevent Shu thieves from sneaking attack.

When he went out to Guanzhong, Cao Zhen left his brother in Tongguan, and Cao Tai, the son of Cao Ren, led 3,000 troops to garrison, but now it seems that it is a little unsafe.

The need to strengthen the army is one thing, Cao Tai's ability is one thing, Cao Tai doesn't even have one-tenth of Cao Ren's ability.

After all consideration, Cao Zhen still asked Wang Chang, the former Tongguan guard, to lead his troops back to Fangtong Pass to ensure his final retreat, which made Cao Zhen more at ease.

Wang Chang is quite pleased with this. The general listened at least half of his words.

Although Wang Chang felt that the general's retreat to Linjin was a little indecisive, if he held Tongguan, there was no problem in retreating to Linjin.

Therefore, Wang Chang did not say more.

At the same time, in Chongquan County, Zhang Xi was also convening generals to discuss matters.

To some extent, in fact, Zhang Xi's life is much sadder than Cao Zhen's.

was cut off from the back road, blocked in a county town to fight a defensive battle, and the troops were still at a disadvantage, if it weren't for the protection of the city wall, Zhang Xi would have been defeated by now.

But such days can't last long, most of the food in the city has been consumed, and it is estimated that it will last about ten days at most, and the whole army should run out of food.

What's even worse is that because of the joint blockade of the Wei army's infantry and cavalry, Zhang Xi was almost cut off from the outside world, and a lot of information could not be transmitted to Zhang Xi in Chongquan County.

To give the simplest example - Zhang Xi knew that Zhao Yun's Liangzhou army had entered Xiaoguan in advance, but where it was and what tactics Zhao Yun planned to use to relieve Chongquan County, Zhang Xi didn't know anything.

Whether it was the envoys sent by Zhao Yun or the meticulous reconnaissance cavalry under Zhang Xi, under the siege and blockade of the Wei army's infantry cavalry, it was extremely difficult to transmit information.

Therefore, in fact, if Zhang Xi wants to make a decision in Chongquan County, sometimes he really needs to take the risk of guessing in combination with the actual situation.

For example, three days ago, a large number of Wei cavalry suddenly moved, and they did not know where to go, and early this morning, about 3,000 cavalry fled back from the northeast in embarrassment.

Combined with Zhang Xi's knowledge that Zhao Yun led the Liangzhou Legion into Xiaoguan in advance, calculating the time, Zhang Xi came to the judgment that this was Zhao Yun leading the Liangzhou Legion to the vicinity of Chongquan County, and it was even possible that he had defeated the Wei army for a while.

The Wei army transferred at least more than 10,000 cavalry, and returned more than 3,000 people, if it was really defeated and returned, then Zhao Yun might be nearby, ready to launch an attack on the Wei army at any time.

In general, based on the observed results, it is possible to draw such conclusions.

But is this conclusion credible. Not to mention Zhang Xi, even Wei Yan, who has always been adventurous, felt that such an assertion was a bit arbitrary.

Couldn't it be his Cao Zhen's plan to lure the snake out of the hole?!

Is it difficult to deliberately transfer more than 10,000 cavalry, and then let more than 3,000 cavalry return under your nose, creating the illusion of a rout?!

If you really stupidly think that this is a signal for the Liangzhou Legion to come to help, you will happily open the city gate and prepare to cooperate with the Liangzhou Legion to attack before and after. Cao Zhen may have already ambushed the men and horses, and waited for the defenders in the city to take the initiative to attack!!

It's not impossible, with Cao Zhen's ability, he can still dig this kind of pit.

Of course, this is mainly due to the serious lack of intelligence on Zhang Xi's side, so he can't make a correct judgment. Otherwise, with Wei Yan's temper, if he knew that Zhao Yun had broken the Wei cavalry in Dali County, he would dare to rob Cao Zhen's camp tonight.

But because of the lack of intelligence, at this time, it was Wei Yan, who also thought that it should be important to defend the city, after all, their side had few troops, and after about twenty days of defending the city, even if the lightly injured soldiers were counted, the total number of troops who could go out of the city to fight was only about 15,000.

If you want to take the initiative to attack out of the city, you must have the certainty of killing with one blow, otherwise once there is an accident, the next defense of the city will be seriously affected.

The trio in Chongquan County, after some deliberation, reached an agreement - for the time being, regardless of whether the unusual movement of the cavalry outside the city was a signal for the Liangzhou Legion to come to help, their primary goal was to hold Chongquan County.

This is really a rare thing, especially Zhang Xi, who feels that it is rare for Wei Lao Pifu to agree with him, and he has a lot of peace of mind.

Originally, the matter is here, and there is nothing more, so it is still necessary to follow the original plan and do your own work of defending the city. But by the afternoon, Zhang Yi, who was stationed at the West Gate, was the first to discover that the Wei army besieging the West Gate had begun to dismantle the camp and assemble at the East Gate.

The east gate is where the camp of the Wei army is located.

And soon, not only Zhang Yi, but also Wei Yan, Wang Shuang, and Zhang Xi all began to discover that the Wei army, which was originally besieging the four gates, began to dismantle their respective camps and assemble in the direction of the east gate, and the cavalry team that had been cruising outside the city was now unknown.

Obviously, this is a sign that the Wei army is going to shrink its forces, and it is not known what to do next, but Chongquan County does have signs of withdrawing from the siege.

For this reason, Zhang Xi, Zhang Yi, and Wei Yan met again on the tower of the East Gate City.

While observing the actions of the Wei army outside the east gate, they discussed with each other, what tricks are these Wei troops playing?!

"Withdraw troops?!"

In the end, Zhang Yi couldn't hold his breath and said this word.

In fact, when the Wei army began to assemble towards the east gate, Zhang Xi, Wei Yan, and Zhang Yi all thought about whether the Wei army was shrinking its forces and preparing to withdraw.

It's not difficult to judge, the real troublesome question is - why did Wei Jun do this?!

Could it really be that the Liangzhou Army has come to help, and the Wei army sensed that it could not break through Zuo Fengyi and threaten Chang'an in the short term, so in order to preserve its strength, it wanted to withdraw its troops? !

Or, Cao Zhen is making a full set of plays, and he is still the same set of tactics to lure the snake out of the hole, making the illusion of withdrawing the army, luring the defenders of Chongquan County to pursue, so as to set up an ambush to encircle and annihilate him? !

Zhang Yi was struggling with this, thinking that it was possible in both aspects, but he lacked important evidence to support his judgment, so Zhang Yi did not dare to say his thoughts easily.

And Zhang Xi and Wei Yan will not be as simple as they think.

The withdrawal of the Wei army, it may be true.

No matter how Cao Zhen plays to lure the snake out of the hole, he will not choose to withdraw from Chongquan County. If some notoriously cautious guy continues to stand still in the city, Cao Zhen will do nothing good at all except for allowing Chongquan County to restore the grain route and intelligence transmission channel.

And with Zhang Xi's conservative character, he really did this kind of thing.

It's not the first time Cao Zhen has fought with Zhang Xi, and I don't know what the style of this product is.

Therefore, the retreat of the Wei army should be true, but where to retreat and what will Cao Zhen do next, both of them are thinking desperately, and then give their own responses.

The two of them are actually the kind of people who can formulate an overall strategy, and their vision will not be limited to one city, what they are thinking about is what kind of changes will occur in the situation in the entire Guanzhong after Cao Zhen retreats like this.

Especially Tongguan. Both of them were thinking about whether there was a chance to sneak attack Tongguan.

Yes, this time, not only the adventurous Wei Yan is thinking so, but Zhang Xi has actually been thinking about this possibility.

After all, as long as the Tongguan is blocked, it is equivalent to imprisoning the tens of thousands of Wei troops in the pass, and the temptation is too great.

(End of chapter)