In fact, Zhang Xi also knew that Cao Zhen might have deliberately released false news, the withdrawal of troops was fake, and it was true to lure himself to take the initiative to attack Linjin.

After that, Cao Zhen used a similar method to consume his own troops, and then launched a counterattack to defeat the remaining Yongzhou army led by himself in one fell swoop.

Really, this simple plan, Zhang Xi can't fail to see it.

But the problem is that Zhang Xi didn't dare to take the risk Now that Wei Yan has gone to attack Tongguan, calculate the time, at this time, Cao Zhen should indeed have received the news of the attack on Tongguan.

Therefore, Cao really withdraws his troops, and there is a probability of at least 30% that he will really withdraw.

And Zhang Xi obviously couldn't let Cao Zhen just withdraw his troops to besiege Wei Yan, regardless of whether Wei Yan captured Tongguan or not.

Therefore, Zhang Xi could only take the risk of sending troops to attack Linjin County and delay Cao Zhen's retreat.

In fact, Zhao Yun was against Zhang Xi sending troops immediately.

There is no other reason, the number of troops is insufficient.

Zhang Xi only had 10,000 foot soldiers on hand, plus the 5,000 cavalry in Zhao Yun's hands, the total strength was only 15,000 people, and the foot soldiers of the Liangzhou army were still thirty miles away from Dali County.

Therefore, Zhao Yun's suggestion was to wait another day and wait until Su Ze led the troops to arrive, and then launch an attack on Linjin County.

Moreover, Zhao Yun also clearly told Zhang Xi that although his 3,000 heavy cavalry had excellent combat effectiveness on local battlefields, he now only had 2,000 rangers.

If there are not enough rangers to protect the two wings of the hoplites, when they encounter Cao Wei's light cavalry again, the effect that the hoplites can play may not be large, or even a bad one, and will let Cao Wei's light cavalry ride to death.

After all, Cao Wei should still have 8,000 light cavalry by now.

It is indeed not the time to enter the army now.

In fact, Zhang Xi also knows this.

But Zhang Xi really didn't dare to bet on Cao's real or false withdrawal.

Sending troops a day late, under normal circumstances, is indeed not a big deal, but in the current situation of Zuo Fengyi, Tongguan can't afford to waste this day.

This day may be the day that will change the victory or defeat of the entire Guanzhong battle.

Another one, the Liangzhou infantry led by Su Ze. Su Ze, who was originally planned to arrive in Dali County in five days, is still one day away from Dali County, whether he can arrive in time within one day, this Zhang Xi does not dare to gamble.

Zhang Xi has no impression of Su, after all, this product is not mentioned in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", and Zhang Xi doesn't know what his specific ability is, whether he is really willing to be a big man, and he still has to put a question mark.

To put it bluntly, Zhang Xi still doesn't trust this Su Ze, for fear that this product is deliberately delaying the fighter.

Therefore, Zhang Xi did not dare to wait for the infantry led by Su Ze, he had to send troops as soon as possible to delay Cao Zhen as much as possible.

Zhang Xi wants to say something else, Zhao Yun may be able to continue to persuade him, but when it comes to whether Su Ze is credible or not, don't talk about Zhang Xi, even Zhao Yun muttered in his heart.

This is a person who can hold out for five or six years for the sake of Great Wei, if it weren't for the fact that there was no one in Liangzhou to use, those Liangzhou heroes were even more untrustworthy than Su Ze, and Zhao Yun would not let Su Ze lead the troops into Xiao Pass with him.

Therefore, Zhao Yun thought about it and felt that what Zhang Xi said might also make some sense.

Therefore, Zhao Yun could only agree to Zhang Xi's troops, and at the same time ordered the hoplites and rangers to attack together, and re-serve as an auxiliary arm of the infantry to protect the infantry flanks.

This is not a way to give full play to the maximum combat power of the heavy cavalry, but in today's situation, Zhao Yun really has no choice.

In this way, Zhang Xi led 10,000 foot soldiers to march towards Linjin County, while Zhao Yun personally led 5,000 cavalry to cover the flank and guard against the surprise attack of the Wei cavalry.

And Cao Zhen. Cao Zhenyi was overjoyed when he saw that Zhang Xi and Zhao Yun had all left Dali County.

I'm not afraid that you will come, but I am afraid that you will not come.

Cao Zhen immediately ordered the whole army to reorganize and prepare for a battle with the Shu thieves in Linjin County!!

However, this military order has only been issued for less than half a day, and a new order has been issued from the Chinese military tent - the whole army packed up and prepared to retreat.

The difference between the two military orders before and after this is so big, not to mention the middle-level partial generals, captains, and low-level soldiers, and they are a little at a loss to listen to which one?!

Wang Lang and Han De even found Cao Zhen directly and asked the reason. The order in the army is changed every day, but it is a big taboo, and it is easy to disperse the hearts of the army.

But Cao Zhen couldn't help it, he just took out a military report and handed it to Wang Lang.

What kind of attitude Han De is, Cao Zhen can ignore it, but Wang Lang can't.

Wang Lang is not only a veteran of the Three Dynasties, but also Situ of the Great Wei, he is also ordered to supervise the army, such a very different military order, Cao Zhen must give him an explanation.

And after Wang Lang read the content of the military newspaper, his face was also pale and he couldn't speak for a long time.

The military report was sent by Wang Chang, and it was less than two days after Cao Tai's letter asking for help, but the military report sent by Wang Chang was not a request for reinforcements, but told Cao Zhen that Tongguan was lost.

If he can't return in time to recapture Tongguan, then it will only take less than 20 days for the army to be disheartened because of the lack of food, and it will be broken by the Shu thieves.

That's why there is such a huge contrast between the military orders. Cao Zhen didn't want to retreat, but now, he couldn't do it if he didn't retreat.

"How can this be so" Wang Lang muttered in disbelief while checking the military report repeatedly.

How so?!

In fact, Cao Zhen also wanted to know in his heart, how could this be!!

According to the battle report sent by Wang Chang, the Shu thieves only used 3,000 people to sneak attack Tongguan, and their own clan brother was easily breached by Tongguan with the same strength.

If it weren't for the fact that Cao Tai himself was not in front of him, Cao Zhen would have wanted to directly order the military law to deal with it.

What's wrong with the old Cao family and the Xiahou family, how many famous generals and brave generals have been produced in the first generation, why is this only the second generation, and there are so many wastes. First Xiahou Nan, then Cao Tai, how can the actions of these two bastards be worthy of their father's prestige?!

Today's Cao Zhen has classified Cao Tai and Xiahou Nan as a grade, but there is one thing to say that Cao Tai is really wronged.

Although the loss of Tongguan has something to do with Cao Tai's lack of ability, Cao Tai is really not a waste like Xiahou Nan.

This has to start four days ago.

Wei Yan ran all the way with three thousand rangers, and in order to grab time, he didn't even make too many detours, except for a circle near Linjin County, and went straight to Tongguan.

And in the county towns occupied by the Wei army along the way, it was not that no one found Wei Yan's cavalry, but because Wei Yan's cavalry were all wearing the armor of the Wei army and holding the banner of the Wei army, plus Wei Yan passed directly through the periphery of the county with such a big grin, there was no behavior of hiding traces at all. These county commanders all thought that there was some urgent task ahead for this cavalry to carry out, and naturally no one would send scouts to inquire about the purpose of this cavalry.

As for Wang Chang, Wang Chang was also unlucky, he did not lead troops to support Tongguan at the beginning, but first followed Cao Zhen to withdraw his troops to Linjin, and then Cao Zhen gave him soldiers and horses and talismans, and asked him to set off for Tongguan.

Therefore, Wang Chang was actually left behind by Wei Yan from the beginning of his departure, and he was led by the slower infantry, so it was naturally impossible to detect such a force along the way.

In this way, Wei Yan spent two days and rushed to Tongguan all the way unimpeded.

Next, it is the most important thing, to deceive the opening and closing of the door.

Wei Yan still acted according to the predetermined plan, falsely claiming that it was the elite cavalry of Cao Wei who was defeated in Dali County, because they were scattered when they broke through and were blocked by Shu thieves, so they gathered some cavalry along the way and retreated to Tongguan.

And at this time, Cao Tai, the general of Tongguan, did not just rely on Wei Yan's words, so he stupidly opened the gate and let people in.

Cao Tai was still very cautious and asked some questions about the defeat of Dali County, and whether Wei Yan had enough to prove his identity.

Then Wei Yan asked people to pretend to be Niu Jin's flag bearer, and proved his identity with Niu Jin's cover.

Cao Tai believed it.

To tell the truth, Cao Tai can't be blamed here for believing Wei Yan's words so easily, really, there are some coincidences in it.

The cavalry duel outside Dali County, the Wei cavalry was defeated, and not all of them died on the battlefield or were captured by Zhao Yun, and there were also many Cao Wei cavalry who came out of the cracks in the battlefield and fled for their lives.

If it is not captured on the spot and has to surrender, as long as the cavalry can escape, most of the first choice is to flee back to Cao Wei's control area.

After all, according to the laws of the Wei State, if they could not return to the team in time, their families would be redistributed to others by Cao Wei.

Therefore, before Wei Yan arrived, Tongguan had accepted nearly 100 Cao Wei cavalry who had escaped from the battlefield in Dali County.

With such a precedent, when Wei Yan appeared outside Tongguan with 3,000 cavalry, although Cao Tai was a little suspicious of such a large cavalry scale, he could not rule out the possibility that these cavalry had indeed escaped from the battlefield in Dali County.

And Cao Tai was also cautious, he also specially found the Wei cavalry who had fled to Tongguan before, and asked them to identify the soldiers under the city and Niu Jin's subordinates, but the soldiers did not recognize the soldiers brought by Wei Yan, but for Niu Jin's cavalry, these Wei cavalry recognized them.

No one will not recognize the head coach of his own country.

And the cover is very special, generally speaking, it is unlikely to leave the coach's side, unless the coach is killed, or the defeat is too miserable, everyone is scrambling to flee for their lives, and they are powerless to care.

According to the story of the Wei cavalry who fled back to Tongguan before, Cao Tai learned that Dali County was such a fiasco, and Niu Jin's life and death were not easy to determine.

Therefore, after confirming that Niu Jin's cover was true, Cao Tai let go of most of his thoughts, but the little half was still wary.

Although Cao Tai asked people to open the gate and let Wei Yan and others enter the customs, he also asked Wei Yan and others to dismount, give up their horses and blades, and enter the customs alone.

It can be said that Cao Tai was already very careful, but Cao Tai underestimated Wei Yan's ability after all.

Just when Cao Tai sent troops to open the city gate and let people go out of the city to collect horses and weapons, Wei Yan seized the opportunity to launch a direct attack, relying on the speed advantage of the cavalry, and rushed into the gate before the Wei army closed the gate again.

In this whole process, Cao Tai faced the defects of sudden changes and serious lack of adaptability, which was vividly embodied. He didn't even make any effective orders, and he didn't even organize his soldiers to recapture the gate, and he just watched Wei Yan's three thousand soldiers enter the gate.

And Wei Yan was not polite to Cao Tai, and when all his soldiers entered the customs, Wei Yan immediately ordered that all the cavalry dismount and fight, transferred to infantry, and under the leadership of Wei Yan, went straight to Cao Tai, who was still in the city tower, and prepared to capture the thief and capture the king first.

And at this time, if Cao Tai can command calmly and fight against 3,000 soldiers with 3,000 soldiers, he may not really lose Tongguan.

But unfortunately, Cao Tai at this time made his second command mistake.

He did not order the Wei army, which still occupied this geographical advantage, to shoot arrows to prevent the Han army from ascending the tower, nor did he order the soldiers to take the initiative to attack to recapture the gate, cut off the back road of the Wei Yan army, and disturb the morale of the Wei Yan army.

He actually ordered the whole army to move closer to him and defend himself.

To put it bluntly, Cao Tai was still timid, for fear that Wei Yan would launch a surprise attack directly on him.

But the problem is that it's okay that Cao Tai doesn't give this order, and Wei Yan doesn't know where Cao Tai is now, after all, the city tower in Tongguan is still very large, and it is not easy to find the commander at once.

But Cao Tai's order, Wei Yan only needs to observe the direction of the Wei army's assembly a little, and he can easily find Cao Tai's location.

Then Wei Yan led people to kill Cao Tai.

(End of chapter)