My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 629: It seems impressive, but it is actually a loss-making

Cao Cao decided on an overall strategy of feinting attacks from the east and west to lure the enemy, and then winning over Cai Mao from the middle before taking action.

The war machine of the Xudu court soon began to operate according to this plan.

Express messengers with a 600-li express were sent everywhere at once. In just three or four days, Cao Cao's order was delivered to Chang'an and Yecheng successively.

Then the commander of Cao's army would make specific plans and deployments and hand them over to the generals on the Chencang and Hejian fronts to carry out the offensive tasks required by the prime minister.

Since Xiahou Yuan was killed in battle in the winter of the previous year, the number of Xiahou generals, who had always held great power under Cao Cao, has been reduced to three people due to the loss of one of their members.

The battle lines that Cao Cao needed to maintain were getting longer and longer, and he did not have enough trusted confidants, so his layout became increasingly stretched.

After the spring plowing ended last year, Cao Cao carefully considered this issue and then made specific adjustments in the summer and autumn of last year.

After the adjustment, the powers of the three leaders of the first generation of the Cao family were changed to the following arrangements:
Cao Hong was stationed in Chang'an and was in charge of the military defense of Guanzhong and Xiliang.

Xiahou Dun was stationed in Yecheng and was fully responsible for the military defense of the Hebei battlefield. The military power of the entire Jizhou and Youzhou's Daijun, Shanggu and other places were under his jurisdiction.

Cao Ren was stationed in Suiyang, the core of Liang State, and was in charge of the defense of Yanzhou and Yuzhou. He had to withstand the pressure from Liu Bei's army in Qingzhou and Xuzhou in the east, and also take into account the defense line along the Huai River in the south. He was the most arduous general in Cao's army.

Cao Cao was also a man who knew how to appoint the right people to the right positions. He knew that among his brothers and cousins, Cao Ren was the best at defense and had the strongest abilities, so naturally he would be given more responsibilities. Cao Ren also had the most powerful generals under his command.

Among the generals of different surnames who were later named as the Five Elite Generals in history, except Zhang Liao who is with Liu Bei, the rest, Yu Jin, Le Jin and Xu Huang, are all in Cao Ren's defense zone.

Yu Jin was in charge of the defense zone between Xudu and Nanyang, protecting the capital.

Xu Huang was responsible for the Huaihe River defense line and the defense of Fuli area against the eastern Xia Pi County.

Le Jin was stationed in Qufu and was responsible for Yanzhou's defense against Qingzhou, Pengcheng and Xiaopei.

Cao Hong's task was the easiest among the three governors, because of the barrier of the Qinling Mountains, it was basically impossible for Cao and Liu to launch a large-scale attack across the Qinling Mountains in the future. Moreover, Guanzhong was dilapidated and there was not much internal affairs and farming work to do.

Cao Hong has a violent temper, so even if he were to be there, he wouldn't be a drag on the civil affairs. All he had to do was hold the Qinling defense line.

Therefore, Cao Hong did not have any generals of the level of the Five Elite Generals under his command. He only had some young generals who had just risen to prominence during the Battle of Hanzhong the year before last. This included Cao Xiu, Cao's nephew, and some of Xiahou Yuan's generals who had been led by Cao Xiu during his breakout the year before last, such as Guo Huai and others.

As for Xiahou Dun, among the three great commanders, although his military talent was not necessarily better than Cao Hong, he was still good at farming and internal affairs.

Jizhou is rich and Yecheng is not the front line. Cao Cao also needs people like Xiahou Dun to develop military farms in the rear and ensure sufficient food and soldiers.

As for the military shortcomings, Cao Cao handed Zhang He over to Xiahou Dun, who was stationed at the front line of Hejian County to defend against Zhou Yu in the east and Zhao Yun in the north.

Although Zhang He's commanding ability was not very strong, due to the large population of Jizhou, there were many soldiers and soldiers who could be raised locally. Therefore, Cao's army in Jizhou basically relied on the advantage of numbers to offset the advantages of Zhao Yun and Zhou Yu.

In Hebei Province, Cao's army usually had more than 150,000 troops stationed there all year round, and sometimes the number could reach 200,000.

Zhao Yun on the opposite side only managed to maintain 50,000 elite soldiers due to the shortage of money and food, cold and poverty in Youzhou. This number was achieved in recent years because Zhao Yun and Mi Zhu, in accordance with Zhuge Jin's instructions, strengthened border market trade, engaged in large quantities of pickled meat, and traded fresh cattle and sheep with the grassland ethnic groups.

If we go back a few years, it would be impossible to maintain so many soldiers for a long time due to the bitter cold in Youzhou. When Gongsun Zan occupied Youzhou, he still had to rely on plundering Yuan Shao's territory from time to time to obtain sufficient supplies. Once there was nothing to rob, Gongsun Zan's economy quickly collapsed.

Together with Zhou Yu's troops in Jizhou and Bohai, as well as the troops that could be drawn from the hinterland of Liaodong, there were actually only about 70,000 to 80,000 people to fight against Xiahou Dun and Zhang He.

Liu Bei's army still had some reserve troops on the northern front, but they couldn't use them all to fight Cao Cao - because Liu Bei's army in the north had to guard against the Xianbei and Wuhuan people on the grassland, as well as Gongsun Kang's brother-in-law, Fuyu's ruler Wei Choutai. In addition, there were armed forces of the Three Han tribes on the southern peninsula, which could more or less involve Zhao Yun's forces.

Therefore, during the past two years of peace, Zhang He's number of people was twice that of Zhao Yun and Zhou Yu combined. It didn't matter if his general was a little weak, he had no problem holding on firmly.

……

After Cao Cao's order reached Chang'an, Cao Hong certainly could not act rashly, so he just made a brief deployment and then handed over the specific combat mission to Cao Xiu who was in Chencang.

After all, Cao Xiu was a general of the younger generation, and his official rank was not high. He was still only a cavalry captain - this promotion speed was not slow. Originally, in history, the young Cao Xiu was promoted to cavalry captain only before the Battle of Hanzhong.

In this life, the Battle of Hanzhong broke out twelve years earlier. Cao Xiu was not even a cavalry commander before the battle. He fought with Xiahou Yuan for more than a year and was promoted to cavalry commander gradually after accumulating merits.

However, because he was of the Cao surname and trusted by Cao Cao, his actual power was far beyond what his official title could represent. In the Guanzhong region, the few generals of other surnames who held the title of miscellaneous generals actually had to obey Cao Xiu's orders.

However, this time, Cao Xiu also understood the intention of the superiors, who only asked him to use the flexible and mobile cavalry units to launch feint attacks and harass the enemy for one or two months, so as to tie down and attract the enemy's manpower and create a gap in the central battlefield.

Therefore, those veteran generals who led the infantry were not among those Cao Xiu recruited. In the end, he only selected Guo Huai, a new general who was as young as him, to discuss how to implement the feint attack plan.

"Uncle Zilian ordered me to lead more than 10,000 cavalrymen to create momentum and feint to attack all places along the Chencang Road to tie down the enemy for several months. Sima Guo, can you tell me how to deploy this battle?"

In the Chencang camp, Cao Xiu did not bother to be polite with Guo Huai. After receiving the military order, he directly summoned Guo Huai and asked him straight to the point.

Guo Huai is younger than Cao Xiu, and is only in his twenties. During the Battle of Hanzhong two years ago, he was just an insignificant commander in the army.

But in the end, when the main force of Xiahou Yuan's army was destroyed, only Cao Xiu, with more than 2,000 cavalrymen, and Jia Xu and others successfully evacuated through the Baoxiade Road. Guo Huai was also among them, and he also led a group of cavalrymen to cover the rear and prevent Wang Ping from chasing Cao Xiu, which was considered a great achievement.

After the remnants withdrew, in order to maintain the face of the Guanxi Army, Cao Cao had to promote the officers of the surviving troops. Guo Huai was promoted to the military commander.

This situation is not uncommon during wartime. For example, during the Eastern Front of World War II, when the German offensive was at its fiercest, a joke was circulated on the other side: If a company is wiped out and only one person is left alive, he is the company commander. If a battalion is wiped out and only one person is left alive, he is the battalion commander.

Xiahou Yuan's troops were annihilated at that time. After Cao Xiu escaped, Cao Cao needed to use this group as the backbone to rebuild the Guanxi Cao army. Therefore, all the surviving veterans had to be promoted to sergeants. Although Guo Huai had just reached the age of twenty, it was not surprising that he was a military commander.

Guo Huai was young and energetic, and was eager to make achievements, so he proposed a relatively radical tactic: "Since it is a feint attack to build momentum, quality is more important than quantity, and we should first send light cavalry that can move quickly, so as to avoid being entangled by the enemy.

The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry led by the general are well-armored, but they are not very agile. I am willing to lead several thousand light cavalry from Xiliang to scout and plunder everywhere. The general can lead the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry in person and stay in the center. In this way, even if the enemy army recognizes our strengths and weaknesses and dares to counterattack, our army can retreat at any time and will not be entangled by the mountain barbarians in Shuzhong. "

When Cao Xiu thought about it, he realized that this was indeed the truth, so he directly adopted Guo Huai's strategy.

He assigned five to six thousand light cavalry to Guo Huai, and ordered him to march south along the Chencang Road and the Qishan Road, spreading out a wide net to plunder and destroy along the way to create momentum.

Cao Xiu himself led five or six thousand heavy cavalry and prepared to advance to Hechi, Xiabian and other places, and then go on the defensive, stationed on the spot and provide support from the center.

In any case, he would definitely not attack the dangerous passes in Hanzhong by force.

After Cao Xiu sent out his troops, things did go smoothly at first. Along the Chencang Road from Chencang City to Yangping Pass, a full three or four hundred miles, there was no garrison of Liu Bei's army.

Although some people have settled in places like Hechi, they are all savages who have just moved back less than two years ago. They all fled and moved to avoid taxes.

The climate in the Qinling Mountains is similar to that in the north, and most local people grow wheat. Winter wheat is planted in October and can be harvested in May of the following year.

It was already April when Cao Xiu launched his troops. Although the wheat was not yet ripe, it was almost time for the filling period.

The local people were afraid of Cao's troops, so they had to abandon their crops, which were only a month away from being harvested, and fled in all directions. Cao Xiu also successfully obtained this supply, and no longer had to worry about food and drink, and he did not have to carry much military rations with him.

Those among the people who were not afraid of Cao's soldiers or who were reluctant to give up their harvests were captured by Guo Huai's light cavalry and taken back to Guanzhong after the battle. As for Yinping and Dazhong, Guo Huai's light cavalry could not penetrate deeply for the time being because those places were farther away from the front line.

However, it is only the beginning of April now, which happens to be the battlefield in Shu County in the south, and Liu Zhang has just surrendered for half a month.

Ma Chao's troops, who were previously sent by Liu Bei to participate in the mission of besieging Chengdu and intimidating Liu Zhang, had not yet returned to Dazhong. Therefore, facing Guo Huai's relentless pressure, the few Liu Bei cavalry in Dazhong did not dare to fight back, but only retreated into Dazhong County and defended the city.

The wheat grown in the military farms outside the city this year can only be controlled by Guo Huai for the time being.

If Guo Huai could control this area until the end of May, he would be able to smoothly harvest all the wheat that Ma Chao planted last winter.

……

Cao Xiu and Guo Huai set out from Chencang in early April. They were all cavalry and moved quickly. They arrived at Hechi and Xiabian on the eighth day of April.

By mid-April, the western route had reached the outskirts of Dazhong, while the eastern route was approaching the intersection outside Yangping Pass.

Wang Ping, who was guarding Hanzhong, received the news on the tenth day of April that "Cao's cavalry appeared in the direction of Hechi", and then quickly rushed to Chengdu along the Jinniu Road to report the news.

The Shu Road was difficult and dangerous. It took the messenger four or five days to travel from Yangping Pass to Zitong. After Zitong, they entered the Chengdu Plain. The last four hundred miles were traveled very quickly, in just over a day.

So it took a total of six days, and on April 16, Zhuge Liang, who was in Chengdu, learned about Cao's attack.

It had been more than twenty days since Liu Zhang surrendered, and Liu Bei still stayed in Chengdu, helping Zhuge Liang to deal with the aftermath and supporting Zhuge Liang's power.

Therefore, after receiving the news that Cao's army on the northern front had taken action, the top leaders of Liu Bei's camp responded very quickly.

Liu Bei asked Zhuge Liang directly: "In your opinion, Cao Cao suddenly sent troops to invade. Is it a full-scale attack or a test to contain the enemy? How should our army respond?"

Although Zhuge Liang was a man of great foresight, he could not instantly determine the enemy's true intentions. After all, decision-making also requires intelligence support.

The first message Wang Ping sent was too vague. He reported it immediately after hearing that Cao Xiu was attacking, but he was unable to find out how many people Cao Xiu had, what their military composition was, and what their combat effectiveness was.

If Wang Ping was given another three to five days to engage in exploratory battles with the enemy, he might be able to find out more details. But Wang Ping was also in a hurry, so he must report the news as soon as he got it, and report again when there were more details.

Therefore, Zhuge Liang could only make a preliminary judgment based on the words "Cao's army invaded": "Cao Cao's sudden dispatch of troops must have been because he learned that our army was fighting with Liu Zhang, and wanted to interfere with our army's actions and help Liu Zhang survive.

Liu Zhang had just surrendered for more than 20 days. Given the isolation of Shu, Cao Cao certainly didn't know that Liu Zhang had surrendered, so his rescue was sincere. However, it is still unknown how much manpower he invested and how determined his will was.

But none of this matters, because once Cao Cao knows that Liu Zhang has surrendered and there is no chance for him to take advantage of, even if he is very determined at the beginning, he will immediately lose heart.

Therefore, our army can completely take advantage of the situation and continue to cover up the news of Liu Zhang's surrender. Then, take advantage of these few days to let Ma Chao's cavalry pass through Jiameng Pass and Yinping Huida as soon as possible to station in the middle.

Once Ma Chao returns to his position and finds out the enemy's situation and confirms that the enemy does not have an overwhelming advantage in size, he can launch a counterattack. Before the counterattack, he can spread the word at the right time to let Cao's army know that Liu Zhang has surrendered.

In this way, Ma Chao will be able to take advantage of the Cao army's panic and win a great victory. As long as the enemy's combat power is no more than three or five times that of Ma Chao, it will be no problem to repel them! In addition, Wang Ping can also assist Ma Chao from the side and attack from the flanks along the Chencang Road along the Hechi direction to expand the results of the battle. "

While Zhuge Liang was talking, he had already taken out the map and showed it to Liu Bei.

As we all know, after crossing the first 200 miles of Qinling Mountains, the Chencang Road forks into a "human" shape when it reaches Hechi County.

The stroke on the west side leads all the way to Wudu, Xiabian, and Dazhong. After passing Wudu, you can turn north and take the Qishan Road to Ji County in Tianshui County.

The road on the east side of Chencang Road leads from Hechi to Yangping Pass.

Therefore, if the main force of Cao's army was greedy for farming in Dazhong and took the western side to fight and refused to retreat, and was counterattacked by Ma Chao, then when Cao's army retreated to Hechi, Wang Ping could definitely stab out from the fork in the road and stab Cao Xiu in the waist, cutting off a few more pieces of meat.

Of course, if Cao Xiu encountered difficulties in Da Zhong and immediately retreated to Wudu, and then went directly from Wudu to Tianshui County via the Qishan Road instead of Hechi County and the northern section of Chencang Road, then Wang Ping would definitely not be able to intercept him.

However, if Cao Xiu chose this route, he would have to go a long way to get back to Chencang after retreating to Tianshui County, following the Weihe River valley from Tianshui, through Longshan, and downstream to Chencang. The total marching time and cost would increase significantly.

If Cao Xiu had not realized the potential danger, he might not have chosen the distant option instead.

All of this was beyond the control of Zhuge Liang, who was far away in Chengdu. He could only replay the situation first.

Whether Cao Xiu would be greedy for convenience and stay in dangerous places depends on his own military sense.

After listening to Zhuge Liang's arrangements, Liu Bei made a decision on the spot and indicated that the deployment should be carried out immediately.

Let Ma Chao, who had just withdrawn to Zitong, continue to march northward at full speed to Dazhong to meet Cao Xiu and Guo Huai.

After making this deployment, Liu Bei asked Zhuge Liang again: If Cao's army moves south, is it necessary to keep all the troops that had previously entered Shu to fight and participate in the destruction of Liu Zhang until Cao's army retreats?
Regarding this issue, "Zhuge Liang was cautious throughout his life." In the face of insufficient intelligence, Zhuge Liang still suggested that Liu Bei delay the army entering Shu for another one or two months.

Specifically, he said: "Although it is possible that Cao's army is not determined to attack Shu, perhaps they just want to share our forces. However, Shu is pacified, and Ma Chao and Wei Yan's former troops have been pulled to Hanzhong. We really need to keep more reserve troops around Chengdu to be on the safe side.

Although Liu Zhang surrendered, the subsequent reforms of our army will inevitably affect the interests of the noble families in Shu. Liu Zhang's surrendered army also has 50,000 to 60,000 people. Although there are many soldiers, they are not united. It has only been less than a month since he surrendered. If he is bewitched by others, it will definitely not be a trivial matter.

So please give me three months at most to suppress the noble families in Shu who oppose my military governance, and then remove the old and weak soldiers from Liu Zhang's army, retrain the young and strong, and reorganize them into the elite. Then, it will not be too late to withdraw the troops.

I made this deployment because I took into account that the military and civil forces in Guandong were strong enough to resist Cao Cao's subsequent moves. If we leave more troops in Yizhou, we may be able to expand our victory when we fight back against Cao Xiu.

Even if Cao Cao is feinting to lure the enemy, we can swallow his bait and break the hook in one gulp. Even if we are held back for some time, it will still be beneficial to our army."

Zhuge Liang's words, in layman's terms, mean one thing: I know the enemy might be fishing. But I put a big fish here, and even if Cao Cao is fishing, I will tear him apart with the bait and the rod. The extra price our army pays is just to let a big fish be raised in a small pond where it has no use for a while, and to waste a little more feed.

In other potential battlefields, our strength is still enough to ensure that Cao Cao will not catch any fish, so there is no need to calculate the accounts so carefully.

After Liu Bei thought about it for a while, he agreed with it.

He knew very well that the 50,000 to 60,000 troops that Liu Zhang had just surrendered, plus the 10,000 to 20,000 prisoners captured in previous offensive campaigns, would all require time to reform and reorganize.

These people are not wealth yet, but a burden that needs time and manpower to monitor and reform. But as long as he is given a year or two, these captives can slowly be transformed into wealth.

He needs this time to digest the results of the victory. He must not be reckless at this time. It is right to play it safe.

So he agreed to keep 100,000 troops in Shu until Zhuge Liang felt that the problem here had been resolved. This led to Zhuge Liang delaying until July before handing over 50,000 of the 100,000 troops to Zhang Fei to lead out of Sichuan.

However, this delay did not affect the overall situation.

Because of Zhuge Liang's cautious and prudent deployment, Cao Xiu and Guo Huai had to pay a higher price in the battlefields of Da Zhong and Wudu.

What was waiting for them was Ma Chao, who no longer had any worries, and his swift and vigorous counterattack.

(End of this chapter)