My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 568: One Battle Determines Hanzhong's Ownership

Faced with the enemy troops swarming in like a tiger descending from a mountain, an old scoundrel like Jia Xu, of course, immediately judged that the Cao army was doomed and could no longer hold out.

However, not everyone is as prudent as Jia Xu.

After all, Xiahou Yuan was a fierce general who had been famous for many years and had a heavy burden of prestige. It would be very difficult for him to abandon his army and escape before the army completely collapsed.

Therefore, although Jia Xu tried to pull, he failed to completely hold on. Xiahou Yuan still rushed towards Wei Yan with hundreds of hastily organized elite cavalry, trying to save the defeat.

At this moment, Wei Yan's side had already gained an absolute numerical advantage on the battlefield, and a considerable number of Xiahou Yuan's infantry were dispersed.

However, the Danyang soldiers had come over the mountains and did not carry any long weapons, let alone war horses. Only a few generals and officers such as Wei Yan had horses, and most of them were temporarily captured in the two battles. They were extremely scarce, and there were only about a dozen horses in the entire army.

Xiahou Yuan organized hundreds of cavalry to charge, and Wei Yan could only fight against the cavalry with short-armed infantry with five or six times the number of people. For a while, he was pushed in front of Xiahou Yuan.

Fortunately, the terrain in the camp was complex, and it was not easy for the cavalry to charge at a high speed, so the two sides managed to fight to a stalemate with equal strength.

"You thief, you shall die! Wei Yan, you thief, I will make you pay with blood today for all the debts I have owed since Diaoyucheng!"

Xiahou Yuan was also filled with anger. All the frustrations he had suffered over the past year had accumulated in his heart, and now it completely burst out. When he saw Wei Yan, he rushed over with all his might, and soon he and Wei Yan were engaged in a battle.

"Don't run, you man Xiahou! Today I will exchange your head for General Anxi! No one is allowed to snatch it!" Wei Yan looked very eager to make progress, his eyes shining, but the light in his eyes was not because of hatred or hostility, but more of greed.

That look made Xiahou Yuan even more impatient and angry. He had never seen anyone in the world dare to use him as a bargaining chip to achieve merit. So Xiahou Yuan's moves became more and more ferocious and reckless, just wanting to kill the bandits to vent his anger.

"This old man's moves are sophisticated and vicious. He is indeed someone that Cao the thief relies on. I underestimated him..."

The two sides fought to the death, and after more than ten moves, Wei Yan's greed and enthusiasm cooled down a little, and he had to admit that Xiahou Yuan's decisiveness and courage were extraordinary.

After all, Wei Yan was only 25 years old, still a young man full of vigor. He had enough physical strength, but not enough experience in battle and risking his life, so he could not take advantage of Xiahou Yuan.

Xiahou Yuan, on the other side, was just 40 years old, after all, twelve years earlier than the Battle of Dingjun Mountain in history. His martial arts and physical strength were still at their peak, and his combat experience was not bad. Wei Yan was not like General Huang Zhong who had the advantage of a surprise attack during the same period in history, so it was inevitable that he would be caught in a tough battle.

All I can say is that it’s not that Wei Yan didn’t work hard, but his personal strength was slightly worse than Huang Zhong’s, and he lacked the experience and life-threatening experience.

If both sides waited another ten years, Wei Yan would have grown up a little and fought again, and Xiahou Yuan would have passed his peak, the result would be unknown.

After a fierce battle, Wei Yan was in danger. He relied on his courage and ruthlessness, risking his life with every move, and finally managed to repel Xiahou Yuan's fierce attack despite both sides suffering losses.

However, this was not a duel, but a chaotic battle. In just a cup of tea, Wei Yan's army had overwhelmed Xiahou Yuan. After a chaotic battle, Xiahou Yuan's cavalry was gradually surrounded and unable to resist.

More and more Danyang soldiers rushed to Xiahou Yuan, forcing him to deal with them in a daze and he could only devote a small part of his strength to deal with Wei Yan. Seeing that he could not do anything, he had to grit his teeth and flee.

The cavalry around Xiahou Yuan could only pull out 200 to 300 cavalry to fight their way out of the encirclement, while the rest were stuck in the quagmire and could not get out. Xiahou Yuan and Wei Yan were both injured, needless to say.

……

"This Xiahou Yuan is quite capable. I underestimated him before. How hateful! Do we really have to wait for General Zhang's reinforcements to arrive before we can kill this beast?"

As the battle ended, Wei Yan panted and leaned on the ground with his sword, allowing his soldiers to help him clean and bandage his wounds.

In two battles over two consecutive days, both Wang Ping and Wei Yan suffered minor losses, which calmed down these young and energetic generals a little.

Wang Ping never fought in the frontal battlefield. He was impulsive and was defeated by Xiahou Yuan who played to his strengths and avoided his weaknesses. Wei Yan's situation was better. He won the frontal battlefield.

However, he failed to intercept and kill the general by force, and was forced to retreat after a bloody battle with Xiahou Yuan. Wei Yan himself was slightly injured, and of course Xiahou Yuan was also left with two minor injuries.

After the frontal battle, Wang Ping, who stayed on the mountain to guard the camp, also came down in time to help clean up the battlefield and collect prisoners. Seeing that Wei Yan was injured, he also came over to show concern and asked Wei Yan about his next plan:

"Is Captain Wei's injury not serious? Fortunately, we have defeated Xiahou Yuan's blocking troops. General Zhang's reinforcements will leave the valley smoothly without being intercepted.

In this way, the purpose envisioned by the military advisor has been achieved. Why don't we hold on here and rest, wait for General Zhang to arrive, and then launch the next phase of the attack?"

Wei Yan propped himself up with the help of his sword and waved his hand proudly: "No need to wait! We have captured some prisoners and have interrogated them urgently. Xiahou Yuan is in a hurry to block the way because he does not want our army to enter the Hanzhong Basin and cause corruption everywhere.

Their reinforcements coming via the Baoxiadao Road will arrive in two or three days at most. In such a short time, we may not be able to break through Yangping Pass by attacking from both sides. If we want to seize Nanzheng and attack the city, I am afraid we will not have enough time to build siege equipment.

However, there is a good chance of taking over Mianyang County! Mianyang County is only fifteen miles north of Dingjun Mountain, and this place is the grain storage area behind Yangping Pass. It relies entirely on Yangping Pass to provide protection on the west side, so the city wall of Mianyang County is dilapidated and basically has not been built.

We took advantage of Xiahou Yuan's emptiness to seize Mianyang County. If we can also grab some military rations, that would be even better. Once General Zhang's reinforcements arrive, we can use the enemy's rations to get food, and the army can come in through Micang Mountain to fight the enemy. "

When Wang Ping heard this good news, he certainly would not obstruct it and immediately agreed to attack with Wei Yan.

But after discussing it, the two decided that they should leave someone to guard the commanding heights of Dingjun Mountain. Otherwise, if Cao's troops coming from other directions recaptured the position, Zhang Fei's reinforcements would be in danger of being blocked and ambushed when they crossed Mi Cang Mountain.

Therefore, the final result of the discussion was to leave 3,000 men to defend Dingjun Mountain, more than 1,000 men to guard the entrance of Mi Cang Valley and camp on the road. The remaining 6,000 men would serve as a mobile force and follow Wei Yan to counterattack Mianyang County.

This time, Wei Yan and Wang Ping brought a total of 13,000 people. The difference was obviously the casualties from the previous two battles, of course, also including temporary reductions due to non-combat factors such as illness.

……

Regardless of his injuries, Wei Yan wanted to take advantage of the fact that Xiahou Yuan had just been defeated and most of the thousands of troops nearby had been killed, and immediately counterattack Mianyang.

In order to save time, he did not even have time to rest and directly ordered the victorious troops from the night battle at Dingjun Mountain to counterattack.

Anyway, after going down the mountain and walking another fifteen miles north, we will reach Mianyang County. This distance does not require special marching planning.

The troops set out in the middle of the night and arrived at Mianyang at 1:00 am to start the attack. Wei Yan arrived quickly, and Xiahou Yuan fled back to Mianyang. As expected, he did not have time to organize a new defense, so he could only rely on one or two thousand defenders and the few remnants who escaped back to fight Wei Yan in a bloody battle.

The defense of Mianyang City was not strong, so Wei Yan made a desperate attempt and attacked from all sides. He finally broke through one point and swarmed into the city.

Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Xiahou Yuan wanted to rob some of the food and fodder for the troops. In the end, Jia Xu persuaded him: "General! The most urgent task now is to prevent Liu Bei from getting the food and fodder stored in Mianyang County! Let's set fire to it!"

This time, Xiahou Yuan listened to the advice. He dragged his injured body and led his cavalry to the treasury to set fire. He only took away the most valuable items and burned all the rest.

As the fire broke out in the city, Mianyang County was no longer defensible. The more than a thousand remnants of Cao's army who were still fighting on their own were unaware of the enemy's situation for a moment and were completely scattered by Wei Yan's charge.

At this point, the battle of Mianyang was basically over, and the sky was already bright. Wei Yan had fought two battles in one night and marched 15 miles. At this point, he was completely stretched to the limit and could only hold the city and go on the defensive.

At the same time, he also tried his best to send people to put out the fire, trying to save as much food and grass as possible that Cao's army had burned before its hasty retreat. After a lot of trouble, he really saved thousands of tons of military rations for Wei Yan. Although it was not much, it was barely enough for 10,000 troops to eat for more than half a month. If Liu Bei's army could quickly fight Xiahou Yuan in the Hanzhong Basin, this amount of food would be a small help.

On the other hand, Xiahou Yuan also suffered two consecutive defeats, and his troops were basically exhausted. He followed Jia Xu to abandon the city and flee, and soon faced a cruel choice.

"Even Mianyang has been lost. Should we take these few remaining troops and retreat westward to Yangping Pass, or eastward to Nanzheng?"

Jia Xu thought about it and could only think of a solution in desperation: "Let's retreat to Yangping Pass! If we retreat to Nanzheng, Yangping Pass will be attacked from both sides by Wei Yan, Wang Ping and Gan Ning, and we will definitely not be able to hold out for several days.

Once we lose the defense, Liu Bei's main force can enter the Hanzhong Basin through the Yangping Pass Road, and then our army will be finished! If we retreat to Yangping Pass, with the general in charge, we will have no problem holding it for a few days. When the reinforcements of Master Cao Xiu arrive, we can make plans.

When retreating to Yangping Pass, we must also make sure to set up another camp behind the pass, and never withdraw the entire army back into the pass. Otherwise, if the enemy cuts off the road from Yangping Pass to Jigukou, cutting off the way for Cao Xiu's reinforcements, the consequences will be disastrous! "

Xiahou Yuan thought that this was indeed the truth, so he had to choose the lesser of two evils and retreated westward from Mianyang to Yangping Pass, and temporarily set up another camp behind the pass, pretending that he planned to rely on Yangping Pass to resist the enemy from both the east and west.

……

In the next two days, both Cao's army and Liu Bei's army were temporarily exhausted after the great battle and were unable to make further progress.

Wei Yan was already at the end of his strength in Mianyang City. All he could do was to eliminate the remaining enemies, restore order, and carry out simple repairs on areas that were too severely damaged by the fire in order to resist a possible counterattack from the enemy at any time.

Xiahou Yuan also held out at Yangping Pass and waited for help. At the same time, he sent messengers to all counties in Hanzhong, asking them to guard their respective places carefully, close the city walls tightly, and not to be careless.

After learning of the incident ahead, the follow-up reinforcements of both sides also forced to march faster despite the dangers of the mountain roads.

Coincidentally, two days later, one day in late July,
The 30,000 Cao army reinforcements led by Cao Xiu took the Baoxiang plank road, followed the Mian River out of the Ji Valley mouth, and entered the Hanzhong Basin.

Because Mianyang County had been occupied by Wei Yan, Cao Xiu could not go directly down the Mian River into the city. He could only take the land route 30 miles north of the Mian River, turn southwest, and come to the camp on the east side of Yangping Pass to meet Xiahou Yuan.

At this point, Cao's Yangping Pass defenders, Xiahou Yuan's defeated troops who retreated to Yangping Pass, and the 30,000 reinforcements brought by Cao Xiu, all successfully joined forces and finally regrouped 40,000 troops near Yangping Pass, regaining the strength to fight.

But at the same time, Liu Bei's reinforcements led by Zhang Fei, numbering about 30,000, also followed the road opened up by Wei Yan and Wang Ping, crossed the Micang Mountain out of the valley, passed Dingjun Mountain and arrived in Mianyang County, arriving almost at the same time as Cao Xiu.

As a result, the total strength of both sides in the Hanzhong Basin was about 45,000 people (Cao's army still had 5,000 elite soldiers guarding the city of Nanzheng County), and they all entered the plain area of the basin, completely leveling the geographical advantages.

In terms of food and fodder, Cao's army still had a lot of food stored in Nanzheng City, but after Mianyang was captured, the defenders of Yangping Pass only had the food that was usually stored in the pass.

When Zhang Fei first arrived, he only had half a month's worth of dry food with the army, plus some surplus food from Mianyang and Dingjun Mountain. For a time, he was evenly matched with Xiahou Yuan.

At the same time, further west of Yangping Pass, at the Yangping Pass entrance and Yang'an Pass, Liu Bei and Gan Ning were still holding on tightly, cutting off the Chencang Road west of Yangping Pass and preventing Cao Cao's main force from coming to join forces with Xiahou Yuan.

The parties are like a sandwich, with you in me and me in you, separated from each other layer by layer.

To the west was Cao Cao, who was blocking the Chencang Road.

In the middle are Gan Ning and Liu Bei who are blocking the Yangping Pass.
Further east were Xiahou Yuan, Cao Xiu, and Feng Kai in Yangping Pass.
Further east is Mianyang County and Zhang Fei, Wei Yan and Wang Ping on Dingjun Mountain.

Of course, if we continue to look eastward along the Han River, there are 5,000 Cao troops in Nanzheng County, Cao troops in Nanxiang County further downstream, and Huang Zhong and Huo Jun in Xicheng further downstream.

The entire Han River is sandwiched in six layers, with enemies and our own forces intertwined and attacked from both sides.

However, there were dangerous mountains and passes between Cao Cao and Liu Bei and Gan Ning, and between Liu Bei, Gan Ning and Xiahou Yuan, so they could not fight a big battle for the time being.

Geographical factors dictate that whoever of the three parties takes the initiative to launch an attack will suffer huge losses and endure huge geographical disadvantages.

However, there was no geographical barrier between Zhang Fei and Xiahou Yuan.

Everyone was on the plain inside the Hanzhong Basin, with no strategic location to defend. Each of them was 40,000 against 40,000, and they did not have much food.

They all desperately wanted to kill the other side within a month, so as to ensure that they could regain control of the entire Hanzhong Basin.

Under such circumstances, both sides did not delay any further. Zhang Fei only rested for one day before heading west from Mianyang County and heading straight for Xiahou Yuan's camp behind Yangping Pass.

Xiahou Yuan also organized Cao Xiu and Feng Kai, and went out of the camp to form a battle line to fight Zhang Fei in a fair battle to decide the ownership of the Hanzhong Basin.

-

PS: Sorry, I've been having a writer's block these past two days... Mainly because the outline of the final battle strategy was changed, so I can't wrap it up. I'll try to write about Xiahou Yuan's final battle tomorrow.

Moreover, Cao's army still had so many troops, and it was really unscientific to let Xiahou Yuan die in Dingjun Mountain. Because the current Wei Yan really didn't have the strength, and the young Wei Yan was still far behind Huang Zhong. Even if we don't consider the stereotype, if you write that Wei Yan directly killed Xiahou Yuan, there will definitely be a lot of people who will jump out and say it's unreasonable.

Therefore, let Xiahou Yuan personally command this decisive battle in Hanzhong where 40,000 people fight against 40,000 people.

(End of this chapter)