My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 570: One hand blocks the enemy, the other hand harvests

"The Cao bandit has been cut off from retreat by our army! All troops attack! Drive the Cao bandit back to Yangping Pass!"

With the resolute encirclement and penetration of Wang Ping and Wei Yan on the northern front, Cao Xiu's army formation was completely broken and cut off.

On the main battlefield of the central army, Zhang Fei keenly seized this decisive advantage, and immediately deployed all his reserve troops to launch a desperate general attack.

The entire army pressed forward, and strictly followed Zhang Fei's orders, charging and shouting loudly, letting the Cao army soldiers know that their retreat had been cut off, which greatly undermined Xiahou Yuan's military morale.

Xiahou Yuan's direct troops, which had previously fought desperately with Liu Bei's army and were quite resilient, could not withstand the psychological fear at this moment and finally collapsed gradually. They were penetrated head-on by Zhang Fei and were killed to pieces.

Zhang Fei himself saw the opportunity, wielding his spear and leaping on his horse, led his guards to personally charge in order to expand the victory. His snake spear flew left and right, and his men were no match for the enemy. They charged back and forth in a big way, destroying the most resolute points of Cao's resistance one by one, until the entire army fled.

War is ultimately about morale. Once morale is lost and the troops realize that their way back is cut off, the blow to morale is always fatal.

Seeing this, Xiahou Yuan fought bravely to cover the retreat and held on, just wanting to buy time for the friendly forces to retreat to Yangping Pass in an orderly manner.

But he ultimately failed to fully achieve this goal. After personally fighting for a long time and being wounded in two places, Xiahou Yuan was still protected and retreated by his personal guards.

Cao's army's retreat gradually turned into collapse, and Zhang Fei chased the enemy closely. In the end, most of Cao's army was driven back to the camp in a panic, and there were still thousands of people in the rear army. Because they were caught too tightly by Zhang Fei and could not get rid of him, they were eventually abandoned by their own troops.

Seeing the camp gate being closed by friendly forces, the Cao troops blocked outside could only flee like birds and beasts, or surrender in an organized manner.

……

"Today's battle was a great success! Xiahou Yuan suffered another great defeat. I think he has lost all his courage and will definitely not dare to come out to fight again."

Zhang Fei defeated Xiahou Yuan and forced him to flee back to Yangping Pass. He was in great spirits and immediately called Wei Yan and Wang Ping to comfort his generals and ask about their well-being and concern for their injuries.

Zhang Fei also said generously: In today's battle, they cut off Cao's flank and cut off Cao's retreat to the southern valley of Baoxiadao, causing Cao's army to waver in morale, which can be regarded as the first merit. So when the battle is over in the future, when judging merits and rewards from the eldest brother, Wei Yan and Wang Ping will be given priority for promotion.

Wei Yan and Wang Ping naturally thanked them repeatedly, thanking their commander for his clear rewards and punishments and giving credit to his subordinates. The minor injuries on their bodies didn't seem to hurt that much anymore.

Wei Yan also followed Zhang Fei's words and continued to boast and praise: "In today's battle, I'm afraid we have annihilated more than 20,000 enemies. If Cao's army hadn't relied on the natural barrier of Yangping Pass, it would have been possible to annihilate Xiahou Yuan completely!"

Zhang Fei waved his hands proudly. He must have listened to the report and had a rough idea of the results of today's battle, so he said a few humble words:
"Not that many. In the bloody battle in the morning, only a few thousand enemy soldiers were killed or wounded at most. After the enemy collapsed in the afternoon, we took advantage of the victory and killed and captured thousands of people in just a quarter of an hour. In total, Cao's army suffered a total of more than 10,000 casualties.

There should be about 26,000 to 27,000 men left under Xiahou Yuan's command, but several thousand of them were led by Cao Xiu and Jia Xu and had retreated to the southern valley entrance of Baoxiade, separated from the main force.

"This old thief Jia Xu is too good at running. He is now defending in a dangerous place with the Baoxiang plank road behind him. I am afraid that those thousands of people will be difficult to annihilate. Our army should think about how to completely eat up the more than 20,000 people who are surrounded by Xiahou Yuan at a relatively low cost."

Wei Yan and Wang Ping had no overall information before, and it was only after listening to Zhang Fei's retelling that they synchronized the military situation.

So, in today's battle, about 30% of Xiahou Yuan's troops were killed or captured, about 10% broke out, and the remaining 60% were repelled and fled back to Yangping Pass, completely turning to retreat and defend.

If Xiahou Yuan's troops still had the courage to fight to the death, considering the geographical advantages they relied on, even if Zhang Fei attacked with all his might, he would have to suffer at least 10,000 casualties before he could have a greater chance of defeating the enemy.

Therefore, in order to preserve their own manpower, this battle must not be fought hard. Because Xiahou Yuan's food supply route was cut off, so was his retreat route. Zhang Fei's best option next was to stay where he was and strengthen the defense of the road that had just been cut off today to prevent Cao's troops at Yangping Pass from joining forces with Cao's troops at the southern valley of Baoxiadao.

In this way, as long as they persist, once Xiahou Yuan has eaten up all the food, the entire army will surely collapse automatically.

However, the food that Xiahou Yuan had in Yangping Pass could have lasted for a month or so, and today's battle lost 40% of his troops. With fewer people, the original food could last longer, perhaps up to two months.

If we implement some more frugal measures, such as controlling the amount of grain we distribute in small quantities and collecting other tree barks and grass roots, we may be able to hold out for three months.

Therefore, if they wanted to minimize their own military losses, Zhang Fei and Liu Bei had to be prepared to cross the Micang Mountain to maintain their food supply for three months.

Zhang Fei's 40,000 men had to rely on the original food reserves in the Hanzhong Basin and the food transported from the Mi Cang Mountain Road to survive for more than three months. At the same time, Liu Bei and Gan Ning had to ensure that Cao Cao was blocked for three months, so that Cao Cao could not open up the Chen Cang Road west of Yangping Pass and rescue Xiahou Yuan.

This is using the consumption of food to save lives. If 10,000 or 20,000 soldiers were killed or wounded less, hundreds of thousands of more shi of military rations would be consumed. Zhang Fei's 40,000 soldiers consumed 60,000 shi of military rations per month during the war, which would be nearly 200,000 shi in more than three months. Moreover, the road to Micang Mountain is so difficult to travel. If 200,000 shi of grain were to be transported into the Hanzhong Basin, the amount of grain consumed at the starting point would be even greater.

Moreover, the nearly 100,000 troops Liu Bei's army left west of Yangping Pass and on Jinniu Road also needed food, but the transportation loss was not that high. If all was taken into account, if the battle really lasted another three months, the 700,000 or 800,000 dan of military rations that Liu Zhang's army had previously left at Jiameng Pass and that were seized by Liu Bei's army might not be enough, and Liu Bei's army would have to raise more food from the rear or other directions.

Of course, the terrain of Hanzhong is disgusting, which is the same for Cao and Liu. Liu Bei needs to consume a lot of food to fight a protracted war like this, and Cao Cao needs it too.

Xiahou Yuan didn't need any more supplies from Cao Cao. He could just eat the stock and wait for death.

But the more than 80,000 people Cao Cao left in Chencang Road, as well as the troops left in Hechi and Chencang County in the rear, also needed food. Most of them had to cross the Qinling Mountains to transport their food.

Therefore, if this battle continued, it would be a huge logistical challenge for Cao and Liu to completely destroy Xiahou Yuan by besieging and cutting off his food supply. After this battle, it is estimated that both sides would have to rest for a year or two to restore their food reserves and manpower.

……

After Zhang Fei and Wei Yan had figured out the situation, the direction of the next action plan became clear.

"If Xiahou Yuan refuses to surrender and insists on holding out until food and aid run out, he can hold out for two or three months, given the steepness of Yangping Pass and the fortifications he has continuously reinforced. If our army wants to reduce casualties and besiege and destroy the enemy, we cannot expect to rely on the food being transported in from Mi Cang Mountain.

In my opinion, after today's great victory, we should contact Big Brother and the military advisor as soon as possible by carrier pigeon to see what plans they have, such as dividing our troops to take Nanzheng, Nanxiang and other counties to obtain some surplus food, so that our stalemate can be greatly reduced. If we eat one stone of Cao's grain, we can transport several less stones of grain. This is the most cost-effective.

However, before we receive a reply from the military advisor, we must also be prepared to attack at any time and divide our forces to conquer various counties."

Wei Yan and Wang Ping immediately responded by saying they would obey orders and go back to make some preparations.

On the other hand, Zhang Fei released another carrier pigeon before dusk that day, delivering the latest battle situation in Mianyang to Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang.

Although Mt. Migang is steep and difficult to climb, with winding paths, it is still possible for a bird flying in a straight line to reach the mountain in one or two hours.

So when it got dark that day, Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang, who stayed in Yang'an Pass, knew the results of the battle achieved by Zhang Fei.

"Yide is becoming more and more like a famous general. Today's battle was well-behaved and decisive. He concentrated his superior forces on the north side of the battlefield and cut off Cao's army's route of retreat in one battle, thus securing victory. Xiahou Yuan fled back to Yangping Pass, and it seems that we will have to wait until he runs out of food and collapses. This time, we can finally kill Xiahou Yuan in Hanzhong!"

After reading the battle report, Liu Bei was also very pleased. He chatted and laughed with Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong to celebrate the victory and was happy for Zhang Fei.

After explaining the situation, Liu Bei changed the subject and talked about the matter Zhang Fei asked for advice in the letter, asking Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong to work together to think about how to expand the results of the battle and reduce the costs of the siege and stalemate phase.

Zhuge Liang was very cautious and did not express his opinion immediately. Instead, he first focused on confirming that Xiahou Yuan was indeed completely surrounded and his retreat to the southern valley entrance of Baoxiade Road was cut off.

Then, Zhuge Liang said after careful consideration: "Yide can completely cut off Xiahou Yuan's way back. It is really God's blessing to the Han Dynasty. It is worth congratulating you. Since Xiahou Yuan's troops are already trapped, I think the most urgent task for our army is to first divide our troops to completely block the southern valley entrance of Baoxiade Road.

We will further repel Cao Xiu and Jia Xu and force them into the valley on the plank road. Then we will seal the entrance to the valley and set up another camp at the southern entrance of the Baoxiade Valley. We can even temporarily repair a simple pass, thus completely cutting off the possibility for the rest of Cao's army to communicate with Xiahou Yuan.

As long as the Hanzhong Basin is completely cut off from the outside world, our army can send people to contact Liu Qi and persuade him to send a part of his troops to reinforce our army to attack Nanxiang County and Nanzheng County. Our army can also promise that after the success, a large amount of military equipment, warships, money and silk will be provided to Liu Qi's direct troops as a reward for their efforts.

The reason why Yide was unable to divide his troops to attack the counties of Hanzhong was mainly because his troops did not have an absolute advantage over Xiahou Yuan. Xiahou Yuan still had 20,000 or so soldiers hiding in Yangping Pass, while Yide had 40,000 soldiers, but there were also casualties in previous battles, so only more than 30,000 soldiers could be deployed for the battle at once.

If Yide sent too many troops to attack other counties, and the troops blocking the east entrance of Yangping Pass were weak, Xiahou Yuan would break through after a long period of neglect, which would be a big mistake. Therefore, it would be great if Liu Biao's troops in Yong and Xicheng could assist us.

Moreover, as long as we open up the Han River waterway in Nanzheng and Nanxiang counties, we may be able to supply some of the military rations for the decisive battle in Hanzhong battlefield by going upstream along the Han River from the counties upstream of Xiangyang.

We can make up for the money and food that Master Liu Qi paid for in other ways, or even give him a little more, which will also show that the Lord is a generous uncle and will not take advantage of his nephew."

Liu Bei was naturally very satisfied with Zhuge Liang's plan. However, he felt that the biggest problem was whether Liu Qi had the courage to respond to him.

(End of this chapter)