My younger brother Zhuge Liang
Chapter 759: Pincer Attack, Pincer Attack Zhang He
Chapter 759: Pincer Attack, Pincer Attack Zhang He
The sixteenth year of Jian'an, the nineteenth day of the twelfth lunar month.
That was the fourteenth day after Zhao Yunnan crossed the Yishui River and invaded Zhongshan County.
Bohai County, Nanpi siege camp.
The more than 30,000 Cao troops under Zhang He and the more than 10,000 Cao troops that Gao Lan had just defeated had already made preparations for retreat. However, the generals in charge of the highest decision-making of the army had been slow to make the final decision.
The entire Cao camp was shrouded in a solemn and murderous atmosphere, as if the air was frozen by the harsh climate of the cold winter.
Some people may think that it was a bit slow for Zhang He to start considering running away twelve days after Zhao Yun entered the country.
But in fact, this speed is already very normal. It can even be said that it is the result of Zhang He's strict military discipline and quick coordination.
After all, Zhao Yun was the first to take action, and Ma Chao and Taishi Ci lagged behind him by a day or two, so it was only the twelfth day since the last army of Liu Bei's camp entered the country.
Moreover, during the first three to five days of Zhao Yun's attack, Cao's high-ranking officers still did not understand the enemy's situation, and did not know whether Zhao Yun was feinting to divert the enemy's attention or launching a full-scale attack. It was not until the first batch of counties along the border were breached, or even when it was heard that Zhao Yun was approaching a large city at the county level, that Cao's army could truly judge the enemy's intentions.
In addition, the information was transmitted, and Zhang He could not retreat directly if he felt dangerous, and he had to wait for Xiahou Dun's military order. In addition, Zhang He could not retreat directly, and had to wait for Gao Lan, who was deeper behind the enemy than him, to retreat first, and Zhang He had to cover Gao Lan and leave together...
After weighing all these complicated considerations, Zhang He was forced to make the final decision on the fortieth day after Zhao Yun's entry, which was considered very fast.
Moreover, before officially leaving, he also had to ask Gao Lan about his experience and thoroughly understand the enemy's movements and combat capabilities so that he could retreat prepared.
Otherwise, blindly diving into the vast snowfield would be tantamount to seeking death.
……
God's will did not seem to be on Zhang He's side. Perhaps it was because it was approaching the end of the twelfth lunar month, which is the coldest season of the year, and the weather conditions were particularly bad in the past few days.
Zhang He and Gao Lan, who was slightly injured, sat around the fire in the central military tent of the Nanpi siege camp. They asked their personal guards to open the curtains of the tent to let the biting cold wind blow in, allowing the two to observe the weather conditions outside.
In the sky outside, heavy snow continued to fall, like salt and fluff.
Outside the tent, the patrolling guards had trampled the snow into slippery, icy paths, and people had to be very careful to avoid slipping. In places where no one was standing, it was clear that the snow had accumulated to a thickness of at least several inches, and it was getting thicker.
If Zhang He decided to stay in the camp, the heavy snow would actually be in his favor, because the cold and the melting snow would hinder the attackers' charge.
Although heavy snow would greatly increase the difficulty of transporting supplies, Zhang He had sufficient winter supplies in his camp, so he did not need to transport any. Instead, the enemy who was about to besiege him might have to bear huge logistical losses.
But the problem is that if he really wants to hold on and wait for help, many places in the rear of Jizhou may be lost before the winter is over. By then, even if he can survive until February, Zhang He will still be desperate.
If I were to be completely surrounded by the enemy and the noose around my neck gradually tightened, it would be even more difficult to struggle out than it is now.
At least Zhao Yun and Taishi Ci have not surrounded them yet. The battlefield they are on is not in the Bohai County area, but at least two hundred miles away from Nanpi.
If he left immediately, Zhang He would have to guard against Zhuge Jin's pursuit - of course, Zhuge Jin's vanguard was Ma Chao, also a fierce general that made Cao's army tremble with fear.
In addition, there is a possibility of counterattack from both inside and outside by Zhou Yu in Nanpi City.
As long as Zhang He is confident that he can hold off Ma Chao and Zhou Yu, he can still escape if he makes a prompt decision.
"As long as we leave this camp, the heavy snow in the sky and the snow on the ground will immediately turn from our comrades into our enemies. But we have no choice. If we continue to delay, when the enemy's four armies from inside and outside surround us, we will have no chance to retreat."
Zhang He walked to the door of the tent and grabbed a handful of flying snowflakes. Although he didn't catch anything solid, the snowflakes melted the moment they touched his palms, but his inner anger and helplessness could be felt from his shaking fists.
Gao Lan, standing by, had a linen bandage wrapped around his arm, the result of the injury he sustained on his way back to Nanpi from Tianjin. He was clearly more depressed than Zhang He.
In particular, he was more attached to things that he had already obtained but now had to give up than Zhang He.
When retreating from Tianjin, Gao Lan had already thrown away all his cartloads of supplies. Now he had to abandon the siege fortifications that he had spent so much effort to build and douse the frozen camp with ice water.
It can be seen that Gao Lan's heart is far less resolute than Zhang He's, and he has no idea of letting go of things and giving up the sunk costs he has already invested.
"What a pity for this fortified camp. We spent so much effort to build it. It was all thanks to Sima Yi's boasting that if the enemy dared to come to rescue Zhou Yu, they would be beaten to a pulp in front of this frozen camp... Oh, it was all built in vain!"
While Gao Lan was cursing angrily, he couldn't help but use his uninjured arm to punch hard on the wooden pillar supporting the tent, causing the snow on the top of the tent to fall down.
The road outside the tent curtain that was originally trampled by the messengers was instantly buried again by the falling snow, which was more than a foot thick.
Zhang He and Gao Lan were both a little surprised when they saw this. They had never thought that there would be so much snow on the roof of their central army tent where they were holding meetings. This direct visual impact finally made Zhang He and Gao Lan make the final decision.
If we delay any longer, the snow will only pile up more and more. How will we break out then? The more we hesitate, the greater the loss will be!
If we retreat now, although the heavy snow will affect our march, it will also affect the enemy's pursuit. It is better not to delay any longer.
In the end, Zhang He made a painful decision.
If it weren't for the trick Sima Yi helped him think of, which gave him such a solid camp and the illusion that he was holding on, he wouldn't have hesitated until this moment.
It can be said that it was Sima Yi's little trick that backfired, causing Zhang He and Gao Lan to hesitate and prepare for at least one more day, or even longer, because they were reluctant to give up the sunk costs.
Gao Lan saw that Zhang He had made a thorough decision, so he stopped worrying and became more open-minded. Gao Lan focused more on the tactical level, thinking about how to withdraw the troops more safely and securely, and what tactical precautions should be taken.
Combining his previous experience of retreating from Tianjin, Gao Lan advised: "When withdrawing, we must not only beware of Zhuge Jin and Ma Chao's pursuit, but also beware of Zhou Yu in Nanpi City opening the gates to counterattack and entangle us.
When I was withdrawing troops from Tianjin, Xu Sheng, a general under Zhou Yu who was surrounded in the city, saw the reinforcements coming and decisively rushed out to fight me. Xu Sheng's total force was far less than mine, but his soldiers were very motivated when they heard that the reinforcements had arrived, and they just wanted to delay me.
He had a few thousand soldiers and horses, but he dared to chase after my army which was several times larger than mine. In the end, he dragged us until Ma Chao arrived, and I had to pay the price of thousands of casualties and cut off my arm to survive. This time we will withdraw the siege of Nanpi, and Zhou Yu in the city may still have the strength to fight back, so we must be on guard!
Maybe the wars of more than two months so far were all Zhuge Jin's tricks. He wanted Zhou Yu and Xu Sheng to deliberately show weakness and repeatedly pretend to be exhausted in order to seduce us to continue to participate. He is really vicious!
During the two or three years of truce, Zhuge Jin had come up with countless insidious tactics and sharpened his weapons. In this rematch, our army could clearly feel that the enemy's equipment was much better than three years ago.
In particular, the enemy has many more powerful crossbows than before, and their power seems to be stronger than before. There are many other details that I can't explain at the moment. In short, you must be careful on the battlefield."
After listening to this, Zhang He's expression became more serious. He bowed to Gao Lan but did not say anything. It was obvious that he accepted Gao Lan's advice and was grateful for the valuable experience that Gao Lan had gained at the cost of thousands of casualties.
He must be on guard against Zhou Yu.
We should also be more careful to see if Zhuge Jin has come up with any new weapons in the past three years. Maybe when Zhou Yu was defending the city, Zhuge Jin did not equip him with the most elite equipment, just to keep it secret for a while so as to better trap the enemy.
……
While Zhang He and Gao Lan were preparing to withdraw their troops, they were in the northeast of Cao's main camp in Nanpi City, further downstream of the original Zhangshui River.
Ma Chao's 8,000 elite Xiliang cavalry and Zhuge Jin's 40,000 Youzhou troops, including Xu Sheng who had just been rescued from Tianjin City, were also preparing for the pursuit.
Ma Chao and Zhuge Jin arrived here not long ago, and they set up camp 20 miles northeast of Nanpi City last night. Before that, Ma Chao's main focus was on Lecheng County in Hejian County. After ensuring that the enemy troops in Lecheng County would not break out and harass their rear, Ma Chao dared to send troops to intercept Gao Lan and pursue Zhang He.
This time, Liu Bei's camp deployed a total of more than 100,000 offensive troops against the Jizhou region ruled by Cao Cao. Zhao Yun's side only had 20,000 elite cavalry and almost no infantry, in order to quickly penetrate and advance and make a big splash behind the enemy. So although the total number of people on that route was small, their combat effectiveness was definitely very strong, and they had already occupied more than half of the local cavalry in Youzhou.
On the middle road, Ma Chao himself has 8,000 elite Xiliang cavalry, and now they are all equipped with the latest sophisticated weapons and armor produced by Liu Bei's camp.
The remaining 40,000 troops were local soldiers from Youzhou, led by Zhuge Jin himself. Xu Sheng was only an assistant, and there were a bunch of other generals with slightly weaker qualifications and abilities. In short, there was no shortage of core talents, and the organization of the troops was absolutely guaranteed.
Taishi Ci also led 30,000 Qingzhou soldiers to the south, as well as some of Yuan Tan's former second-line troops.
In this way, the total number of Liu Bei's first wave of attacking troops exceeded 100,000. If the battle line is further advanced and more people are needed to fill the line and surround the rear nail city, Zhuge Jin can continue to draw reserve troops.
Considering Youzhou's small population and harsh cold climate, it is not easy to deploy troops on such a scale.
The army was able to sustain its expenses by transporting grain to Youzhou by sea before the war and storing it there. In addition, the army relied on the purchase of large quantities of Hu people's pigs and sheep from the border market of Yuyang to make salted meat to subsidize military supplies. In general, the troops of Youzhou still had to take the route of elite troops.
If we only compare the number of combat troops, Zhang He and Gao Lan together have 50,000 people. Add to that the general reserve of the Hebei war zone controlled by Xiahou Dun in the rear, and the garrisons in various places, and the Cao army can gather about 100,000 troops, which does not seem to be at a disadvantage.
But in terms of military quality and combat effectiveness, those 100,000 men could definitely not be compared with Zhuge Jin's 100,000 men.
Of the 50,000 Cao troops in the rear, except for the elite front-line soldiers under the command of Xiahou Dun, the remaining at least 30,000 were miscellaneous troops defending the territory and filling the line.
Zhuge Jin did a good job of intelligence work before the war, so he was well aware of the comparison of the enemy's strength. Now that the war was imminent, he could command with confidence.
Ma Chao, Xu Sheng and other generals originally thought that Zhang He and Gao Lan's forces were not inferior to theirs, and were a little nervous. But seeing Situ's calm demeanor, Ma Chao and Xu Sheng were also infected, and their fighting spirit and self-confidence were both overflowing.
Zhuge Jin was very satisfied with everyone's mentality. When the battle was about to begin, he gave appropriate instructions and gave a brief summary of the general combat strategy.
"Zhang He and Gao Lan are worried that Zilong and Ziyi will attack from both the north and south, so they dare not stay for long. I predict that they will retreat in the next two days.
If we want to deal with Zhang He alone, we don't have the advantage in numbers, so we don't need to fight hard and fiercely to annihilate the enemy immediately. We just need to hold on to Zhang He and slow down his march.
Then, he sent timely messages to Zilong and Ziyi every day to keep in touch, so that they would not have to worry about the retreat at the critical moment, and could march around the city and speed up to Xiu County behind Dongguang, cutting off Zhang He's retreat route along the frozen Zhang River.
After Zhang He retreats from Nanpi, he will first return to Dongguang County, where he attacked Nanpi. If he is willing to enter Dongguang County, we cannot stop him, and there is no need to stop him.
At worst, we can turn around and surround him in Dongguang County, and then our army will split up to expand the victory in other places, so that the whole Jizhou controlled by Cao thieves will be rotten. Dongguang County is a small county, so we can keep it in his hands for a few more months!
However, if Zhang He passes by Dongguang County but does not enter the city, and continues to retreat to Xiu County further upstream, then our army must definitely block Zhang He outside Xiu County, preventing him from escaping into the city and leaving him in a dilemma. The ultimate strategic goal is to severely damage or even annihilate Zhang He’s main force on the main battlefield on both sides of the Zhang River between Dongguang County and Xiu County! "
As Zhuge Jin spoke, he drew two lines on the map with the ribs of his folding fan.
A road runs from Anping, the border between Zhongshan County and Hejian County, straight south to Xiu County.
This road was chosen for Zhao Yun. According to the plan, Zhao Yun's northern army would go around to the east of Xiu County from this direction and cut off Zhang He's retreat to Xiu County from north to south.
Another road runs straight north from Pingyuan County, the seat of Pingyuan County, and also goes to Xiu County.
This route was chosen for Taishi Ci. According to the plan, Taishi Ci's southern army would also go from this direction, go around to the east of Xiu County, and cut off Zhang He's retreat to Xiu County from south to north.
Ma Chao's current task is to slow down Zhang He's actions and mislead Zhang He's judgment.
For example, Zhuge Jin was not worried about Zhang He's retreat to Dongguan County, but he could let Ma Chao act as if he was very worried about Zhang He's retreat to Dongguan County, so as to cause some confusion in Zhang He's arrangement of the rhythm of marching and resting.
After all, it takes at least two days to march from Nanpi back to Dongguang. From Dongguang to Xiuxian, it takes at least another two days. In such a long period of time, if there is a slight problem with the rhythm, it will easily accumulate a considerable time difference in the end.
Then, you can also use the method of driving away and forcing Zhang He to move away to prevent him from straying too far from the preset retreat route and being encircled by Zhang He. If Zhang He's retreat route is biased to the north, Ma Chao will have to find a way to push him south. Similarly, if the retreat route is biased to the south, he should also be driven north.
After Ma Chao and Xu Sheng understood Situ's intention, they went back to prepare.
Just one or two hours later, scouts from Liu Bei's army rushed back to the camp to report that they had discovered that Zhang He had already broken camp and assembled all his forces to the east of the city.
After hearing this, Zhuge Jin immediately stood up and said solemnly, "Mengqi, we can press on. You lead 8,000 cavalry and try to stay close to Zhang He, but don't get into the range of the enemy's powerful crossbows. Just keep them at bay. The rest of the infantry, follow me and advance slowly."
"I obey your command!" Ma Chao immediately agreed, strode out of the tent, and led his cavalry towards Zhang He's camp.
Zhuge Jin did not let Ma Chao take action too early because he was afraid of scaring Zhang He and causing him to be afraid to leave the camp. That was why he deliberately set up camp 20 miles away from Zhang He when he set up camp.
……
Ma Chao's cavalry was very fast and arrived at the destination in less than half an hour.
When he arrived, he saw that Zhang He's main force had already left the camp and was retreating westward in an orderly formation.
Zhang He and Gao Lan had 40,000 to 50,000 men, all of whom were veterans of long battles. Ma Chao only had 8,000 men, so it was impossible for him to just charge in and fight head-on.
Therefore, Ma Chao only stayed to the north of Zhang He's army, sometimes close and sometimes far away, making it impossible for Zhang He to change his formation into a long snake formation with a faster marching speed. He could only march in a slower and more cumbersome formation. As we all know, the long snake formation can march very fast, but if it is intercepted by enemy cavalry, it can be easily cut in half.
"Zhang He, you dare to fight me! If you defeat me, you can leave safely. Otherwise, you will be entangled by my Xiliang cavalry and you will never be able to retreat to Dongguang County!"
While harassing the enemy, Ma Chao personally led his troops in shouting and cursing. The cavalrymen around him also helped to shout, causing Cao's army to become a little panicked for a while.
Seeing Ma Chao showing off his might, Zhang He had to be on high alert, but he did not dare to send out cavalry to confront Ma Chao, nor did he dare to fight him.
In the end, Zhang He just had people scolding him: "Ma Chao! If you want to fight, just charge our army! How can you be a hero if you just wander around like this!"
Upon hearing this, Ma Chao just laughed wildly: "You want to wait for my army to charge? Sure! When Situ's 50,000 infantry catch up, they will naturally charge at your formation! I just need to hold you back for a dozen miles!"
Upon hearing this, the soldiers of Cao's army became even more worried.
Even Zhang He was somewhat surprised: Did Zhuge Jin really want to fight me with Ma Chao's strength alone? Wasn't he going to wait for Zhao Yun and Taishi Ci to attack me from both sides?
Could it be that Zhuge Jin was so anxious because he saw that I retreated too decisively and knew that Zhao Yun and Taishi Ci would not be able to arrive in time and would be retreated to Dongguan County by me?
If he was fighting Ma Chao and Zhuge Jin alone, he could consider turning back to engage in battle... But if he had known that he had to engage in battle earlier, wouldn't he have just stayed in the solid camp built of ice walls and waited for the enemy's attack!
We have already withdrawn our troops from the camp and lost our defensive fortifications!
However, Zhang He soon calmed down and realized that there was no other way. If he did not leave the solid camp of the ice wall, Zhuge Jin would continue to wait and would not attack at all, giving Zhao Yun and Taishi Ci more time to arrive.
There is no way. You have to give up the geographical advantage. If you don't give it up, the enemy will not fight with you at all.
Then we can only try our best under the existing conditions to see if we can defeat the enemies one by one and force them back.
(End of this chapter)
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