Chapter 275 The summoned tiger has arrived, a bad feeling
In December of the first year of Zhangwu of the Han Dynasty, Zhang Liao led the 30,000 Cao Wei army and finally arrived outside Yancheng.
Zhang Liao's army set out from Wancheng around mid-November. According to the normal schedule, Zhang Liao could have led his army to reach outside Yancheng before December.
But because Zhang Liao saw through Guan Yu's intentions, he adopted a slow march strategy.
Although this strategy ensured that Zhang Liao's army would not be ambushed by the enemy to a large extent, it undoubtedly also greatly affected his marching speed.
Zhang Liao led his army to reach the outside of Yancheng, which took almost twice as long as Xu Huang's.
At the beginning, many people in the army did not understand Zhang Liao's arrangement.
Although Zhang Liao is the commander-in-chief of Cao Wei's 30,000-strong army, with such an important and huge army, no matter how reassured Cao Pi is, he cannot let Zhang Liao take charge of it alone.
Therefore, when Zhang Liao went on an expedition, Cao Pi sent many famous ministers to assist in the army.
For example, Du Xi, a famous minister of Cao Wei, was one of them.
Du Xi, named Zixu, was from Dingling County, Yingchuan County.
When Du Xi was young, he was praised by his contemporaries as one of the "Four Famous Scholars" in Yingchuan. Yingchuan was a gathering place for countless outstanding scholars in the early years of Jian'an. Du Xi's ability to stand out among them shows his excellence.
Of course, the reason why Du Xi enjoys this honor is inseparable from his background.
Du Xi's great-grandfather Du An and grandfather Du Gen were very famous. They were famous scholars during the reign of Emperor Huan Ling and both were ranked two thousand shi.
In terms of family background, Du Xi was a member of a noble family with a royal family background.
Later, when the world was in chaos, Du Xi fled to Jingzhou. Liu Biao received him as a guest, but Du Xi looked down on Liu Biao.
Even because a friend recommended him to Liu Biao, he was so angry that he wanted to break off the relationship with that friend.
The reason why Du Xi was like this was not because he had much foresight to realize that Liu Biao was not the master of Ming Dynasty.
Since he was born into a noble family in the Central Plains, his political stage should be in the north.
This obsession is the common thought of most scholars in the world.
Because of this obsession, Du Xi went through all kinds of hardships to escape Jingzhou and defected to Cao Cao in the early years of Jian'an.
After Du Xi defected to Cao Cao, Cao Cao appointed him the governor of Western Hubei.
At that time, Xi'e County belonged to Nanyang County and was adjacent to Liu Biao in the south. Banditry activities were rampant.
After Du Xi took office, he first showed kindness to the people. He sent the old and weak people to their hometowns to work in the fields, leaving the strong men to defend the county.
In the sixth year of Jian'an, Jingzhou Mu Liu Biao sent 10,000 infantry and cavalry to attack Western Hubei. Under such circumstances, Du Xi personally led more than 50 officials and civilians, armed with bows, arrows and stones, to fight with them.
In this almost fatal situation, Du Xi killed hundreds of Liu Biao's troops before the battle, with more than thirty casualties.
Although Liu Biao's 10,000-strong army was able to invade the city later, Du Xi was able to break out.
This battle made Du Xi famous.
So Zhong Yao, the captain of the Sili School, recommended that he be appointed as Yilang to join the military. Later, he was recommended by Xun Yu and was appointed as the prime minister.
When Cao Cao was alive, he considered that Du Xi was a genius with both military and political skills, so he was repeatedly given important tasks by Cao Cao to stay in the town, such as staying in Hanzhong back then and Guanzhong not long ago.
The reason why Cao Pi asked Du Xi to follow Zhang Liao was, firstly, because Du Xi had experience fighting against the southern army, and secondly, because of Du Xi's impressive resume.
Nowadays, Du Xi holds the position of General Guard and Protector of the Army.
Cao Wei's position as an army guard was different from that of Ji Han. In his early years, Cao Cao was betrayed by many people, so he was very uneasy about generals with different surnames.
Whenever a general with a different surname leads the army alone, he will send a guard to follow the general with a different surname.
Because Cao Cao's original purpose of setting up the post of Guards was not simple, Du Xi's Guards had much greater power than Fa Miao's Guards.
The main responsibility of the Fa Miao Guards is to detect and report violations of generals. He also has the power of supervision. If he wants to punish certain criminal generals, he also needs to report to Mi Yang.
However, under special circumstances, Du Xi's guards can directly seize the military power of the general.
Before Du Xi saw Zhang Liao leading the army to march slowly, this obviously violated Cao Pi's order for Zhang Liao to quickly rescue Fancheng, so Du Xi, who was a guard, asked Zhang Liao directly:
"When General Wei defeated Sun Quan, he only led more than a hundred tiger warriors. He marched forward with loyalty and light armor, so he was able to catch him by surprise, break through the enemy base and defeat the enemy army.
At the beginning, our army was defending the city, and General Wei chose to take the initiative to attack. Now Fancheng is in urgent need of rescue, but General Wei made the army move so slowly. What is the reason for this?"
If someone else asked Zhang Liao, he would definitely be too lazy to answer, but Du Xi's status was special. He knew that Du Xi's question was probably Cao Pi's question, so he patiently explained to Du Xi:
"At that time, Sun Quan's army came from afar, but our army had been staying in the city for a long time to recuperate. In addition, in terms of the battlefield situation at that time, the geographical advantage was favorable to our army.
Therefore, our army can take the initiative by surprise.
But now Fancheng is besieged by the bandits, and the soldiers in Fancheng cannot go out. The favorable terrain outside Fancheng is no longer in our army's hands.
Nowadays, our army is strong and has abundant food and grass, but Jingzhou is barren, so it is the bandit army that wants a quick victory at this time.
From the time I sent out troops, I was not worried that the enemy would attack Fancheng, because Fancheng could not be captured by the enemy in a short time.
What I'm worried about is that they will use the tactic of encircling a point to mobilize reinforcements, waiting for work, and then setting up an ambush to attack our troops along the way.
Now the enemy's morale is high, and our army has not yet established a strong camp. If our army accelerates its advance, it will give the enemy an opportunity to take advantage of it.
Soldiers are crafty and good at changing circumstances, this is the correct principle."
After Zhang Liao explained this to Du Xi, a look of approval appeared on Du Xi's face.
Du Xi, who has been entrusted with important tasks by Cao Cao many times, is certainly a man who knows the military.
Perhaps he could not be as far-sighted as Zhang Liao and nip danger in the bud, but he knew that there must be a reason why Zhang Liao deliberately marched slowly.
It's just that he knows that he knows, but he still wants to ask about some things so that the emperor Cao Pi in the rear can know.
When the emperor was not personally campaigning, the guards might have some discretionary power.
But now that the emperor is in Wancheng, his biggest task as a guard is to serve as the communication link between the emperor and Zhang Liao.
Now the emperor and the three princes and nine ministers in Wancheng are all focusing their attention on this battle.
After appeasing "Du Xi", Zhang Liao was able to successfully let the 30,000 Cao Wei army go according to his plan.
After arriving outside Yancheng, everything was as Liu Bei and Guan Yu expected. Zhang Liao began to camp the army at the site where Xu Huang originally camped.
Sun Li in Yancheng saw that the second wave of reinforcements he had been waiting for finally arrived, and the big stone that had been piled on his heart for the past few days finally fell to the ground.
Unlike Fancheng, Yancheng was not surrounded by Han troops.
Therefore, a small number of the Wei cavalry who were defeated by the Han army on the banks of the Han River fled to Yancheng.
And based on the accounts of the Wei cavalry who escaped, Sun Li knew better than Cao Xiu what happened on the bank of the Han River that day.
After understanding this, Sun Li was shaken and only hoped that the emperor could send a second wave of reinforcements as soon as possible.
Otherwise, if Fancheng fell due to the turmoil in military morale, then Yancheng's fall would only happen in a moment.
Now, after Sun Li had been waiting for more than a month, he finally saw the arrival of reinforcements, and they came from generals like Zhang Liao, which made Sun Li feel even more relaxed.
Zhang Liao's personal leadership may not guarantee that he will defeat Guan Yu, but at least he can guarantee that he will not make some low-level mistakes.
After Zhang Liao's army set up camp outside Yancheng, Sun Li led a group of subordinates out of the city to meet Zhang Liao in the camp.
Zhang Liao has not been entrusted by Cao Pi yet, so he has issued an imperial edict and entrusted him with the responsibility of governor.
But after Cao Xiu was trapped in Fancheng, General Zhang Liao of Wei, whose military rank was much higher than that of Sun Li, certainly had the authority to command Sun Li in Yancheng.
In the big tent, Sun Li met Zhang Liao.
After meeting Zhang Liao, Sun Li reported the information he had detected so far to Zhang Liao one by one.
After listening to the news reported by Sun Li, Zhang Liao nodded to Sun Li.
Because of the defeat of the 20,000 Cao Wei cavalry, Sun Li did not inform Zhang Liao of his original strategy for Cao Xiu as he had explained to Cao Tai before.
However, when Cao Tai was defeated and returned to Wancheng, he talked to Cao Pi and other ministers about Sun Li's advice.
I don’t know what other ministers thought after learning about Sun Li’s suggestion. Anyway, Zhang Liao was very satisfied with Sun Li’s suggestion.
In Zhang Liao's opinion, if Sun Li's suggestions were implemented properly, there would be a chance to repel Guan Yu's attack without expending too much effort.
But it is a pity that no matter how good Sun Li's strategy is, once there is an error in the implementation, the strategy will be in vain.
However, although Sun Li's plan could no longer be implemented after the defeat of 20,000 cavalry troops, this did not affect Zhang Liao's appreciation of Sun Li at all.
Zhang Liao himself was a general with a different surname, and he was a surrendered general.
When he was under Lu Bu's command, he defeated the Cao clan and Xiahou clan several times.
So after he surrendered to Cao Cao, he was actually suspected at the beginning.
It's just that Cao Cao is the hero after all, so a little suspicion will not affect his appointment of Zhang Liao.
Zhang Liao was also keenly aware of Cao Cao's suspicion of him, so after surrendering to Cao Cao, he continued to fight hard, thinking of performing meritorious deeds for Cao Cao to eliminate Cao Cao's suspicion of him.
But despite this, Cao Cao never really felt relieved about Zhang Liao until the eve of the Battle of Hefei.
Before Cao Cao's Western Expedition, he left three generals, Le Jin, Zhang Liao, and Li Dian, to guard Hefei.
But the strange thing is that Cao Cao did not appoint Zhang Liao, who was already on vacation at that time, as the commander-in-chief of Hefei. He just asked the three people to "consult together" when encountering major issues. This is undoubtedly a taboo for military strategists.
The reason why Cao Cao did this was simply because he was suspicious of Zhang Liao in his heart.
Because of Cao Cao's suspicion, the reward given to Zhang Liao by Cao Cao during his lifetime was biased.
In this case, it is impossible for Zhang Liao not to have any opinions in his heart.
It's just that he is a person who takes the overall situation into consideration. He will not turn this opinion into a rebellious heart. He will just have some natural affection for Sun Li, who is also a general with a different surname.
As early as when he was in Wancheng, Cao Pi revealed to him that if he could win this battle, he would be the governor of a town in Jingzhou.
Under such circumstances, Zhang Liao had already considered promoting Sun Li in the future.
In Zhang Liao's view, with the first generation of clan members leaving one after another, and most of the second generation clan members still growing up, Cao Wei's world now still has to rely on generals like them with different surnames to protect it.
It's just that this kind of thought was temporarily suppressed in Zhang Liao's heart.
Because he got a very important message from Sun Li's report.
That is, the puppet emperor Liu Bei has arrived outside Fancheng.
Sun Li only found out this news recently, and he had already sent the news to Wancheng.
Sun Li was able to learn this news because the scouts he sent before came back and told him that the imperial flag of the puppet Han emperor had been planted in the Han army camp.
The imperial flag of the emperor is very different from the ordinary military flag.
And because the boundary between the emperor and his ministers was quite clear, it would have been impossible for Guan Yu to erect the imperial flag if Liu Bei had not come to the Han army camp in person.
After learning the news, the faces of the Wei army generals present had heavy looks on their faces.
There were heavy expressions on their faces, not because they were afraid of Liu Bei's arrival.
In the minds of the Cao Wei ministers, although Liu Bei defeated the late emperor in the battle of Hanzhong, he mostly relied on Fa Zheng's plan.
Therefore, the ministers of Cao and Wei did not pay much attention to Liu Bei's ability to lead troops.
The reason why they felt heavy was because they felt that Liu Bei, as the puppet emperor, would actually go outside Fancheng in person.
That means the bandit army is determined to capture Fancheng this time.
This judgment is very different from the previous court discussions among the ministers in Wancheng.
Regarding Guan Yu's Northern Expedition, Cao Pi held many public meetings.
Although the ministers had various speculations about the purpose of Guan Yu's Northern Expedition at those court meetings, there was a consensus on one thing, that is, Guan Yu's army could not fight a protracted war.
Because of this consensus, after receiving the message from Du Xi, Cao Pi turned a blind eye to Zhang Liao's slow march.
But now that Liu Bei appeared in person outside Fancheng, he overturned the previous conclusions of the ministers based on "facts".
A general's personal expedition and a monarch's personal expedition are completely different things.
The latter means that as long as necessary, the monarch can use his own power and the national strength of the country to support him in a protracted war to win Fancheng.
And Zhang Liao knew that this was exactly what Cao Pi didn't want to see.
Before he led his army to set off, Cao Pi told Zhang Liao that he could only accept two outcomes for the Battle of Fancheng.
One is that Zhang Liao can defeat Guan Yu's army quickly and decisively.
One is that as many ministers have inferred, as long as they hold on for a period of time, Guan Yu's army will naturally retreat due to lack of food and grass.
No matter what the outcome was, what Cao Pi couldn't accept the most was that the Battle of Fancheng evolved into a protracted war like the Battle of Hanzhong.
The reason is very simple. Cao Pi was a monarch who paid great attention to personal prestige or face.
The defeat of Xicheng has already dealt a blow to his prestige. If the battle of Fancheng turns into a protracted war, the longer it goes on, the worse it will be for him.
Zhang Liao's political wisdom is not low. After realizing Liu Bei's arrival, he had a bad premonition in his heart.
But before Zhang Liao could start to think about his premonition, a pro-soldier came outside the tent to report:
Han Chariot General Zhang Fei led his army to challenge the camp.
Today's chapter.
(End of chapter)
This chapter has been completed!