At the end of February in the fifth year of Emperor Zhangwu of the Han Dynasty, just half a month after Liu Feng led his army to Jieting, Wei Zuo General Zhang Heyi led his army to outside Jieting.
The speed of the Wei army's approach shocked Liu Feng.
Liu Feng originally expected that the Wei army would send a large army to Jieting, and it would take three months at the earliest.
This was not a random guess by Liu Feng, but a unanimous conclusion made by all the generals in the army before Liu Feng left Tianshui.
In the first month of the year, Liu Bei had just led his army into Longyou, and it was only that month that the three counties of Tianshui surrendered without a fight.
Luoyang is thousands of miles away from Longyou. Even if Cao Zhen rushed the news six hundred miles to Luoyang, in the face of such a huge change, Cao Wei would normally have to discuss it for a while.
This is a natural shortcoming of any large central court under decentralized checks and balances.
Especially the current pseudo-emperor of Cao Wei is still the same Cao Pi who is obsessed with power.
Cao Wei's mobilization of reinforcements from outside was another time-consuming task.
Due to the above factors, it is reasonable for Han generals to speculate that Cao Wei's reinforcements would arrive at Jieting as early as March.
But what I didn't expect was that the Wei army came faster than expected.
To think that the Wei army could advance so quickly, apart from the fact that the general of the Wei army may be good at attacking and fighting, the Cao Wei court also maintained unimaginable efficiency in dealing with this great change.
Liu Feng's guess was correct. No Han before would have thought that Cao Rui, who was only twenty years old, could decisively react to the great changes in Longyou in one day.
After hearing the news of the arrival of the Wei army, Liu Feng climbed up the mountain again and wanted to observe the Wei army's military situation from a high perspective.
From Liu Feng's sight, he saw that the Wei army had just arrived at Jieting Road and was not in a hurry to attack the Han army.
The Wei army is building a camp on the spot.
Liu Feng also saw that many Wei troops went to the surrounding dense forests to collect materials and began to build and assemble various siege equipment.
Perhaps due to the distance, Liu Feng was not able to see all the other information about the Wei army at once.
But at least judging from the smoke and dust floating in the distance, the number of Wei troops will definitely not be less than tens of thousands.
In addition to having a rough estimate of the number of the Wei army in his mind, Liu Feng also learned the identity of the general who came to aid the Wei army from the flags hung high by the Wei army.
Zhanghe!
After knowing that Zhang He was leading his army to the street pavilion, Liu Feng gradually became cautious.
Although Liu Feng had been in confinement for three years, as a deputy general, he knew a lot of information about the Wei army before he was in confinement.
For example, in the early years, the Wei army had a reputation similar to "Five Sons of Good Generals".
Cao Wei always valued clans over different surnames in military affairs. Over the decades of Cao Cao's campaign, there were only a handful of examples of people with different surnames being able to single-handedly control the military power of a place.
And these five good generals are all embodiments of this rare case.
Cao Cao paid special attention to these five people. It is obvious that the talents of these five people are among the best in the world.
Although to this day, only Zhang He is left among the so-called "Five Good Generals" of Cao Wei. The others died or surrendered, and most of them were defeated generals of the Han army.
But the person who accomplished this great feat was the old general Guan Yu, not Liu Feng.
Moreover, Liu Feng also knew that the reason why those three good generals were defeated by Guan Yu was that, apart from Guan Yu's superb ability, another important reason was that all three of them were framed by the Cao clan.
For example, Yu Jin, whose seven armies were flooded, actually did not want to set up camp in low-lying areas after he led his troops outside Fancheng.
It was Cao Ren who forced Yu Ban to do this...
Without the help of Cao Ren and Cao Pi, Guan Yu might not have won those battles that year.
The more he knew, the more fear Liu Feng felt.
With Liu Feng's character, he wouldn't have been afraid before the battle started, but who made Liu Bei so afraid of Zhang He?
Liu Bei's fear of Zhang He was clearly reflected as early as the Battle of Hanzhong.
"Being aware of variables, being good at setting up camp, and knowing the battle situation and terrain, everything is worse than planning." This was Liu Bei's evaluation of Zhang He at that time.
Liu Feng has always regarded Liu Bei as a god. It is normal for Liu Bei's attitude to affect Liu Feng.
But Liu Feng did not show the fear in his heart on his face. After roughly observing the situation of the Wei army, he returned to the camp.
But what Liu Feng may not have expected is that while he was observing the situation of the Wei army on the high mountain, Zhang He was also on the other side of the mountain, observing the situation of the Han army.
In about half a month, coupled with Ding Feng's day and night supervision, it was enough for the Han army to establish a camp on the flat ground.
Perhaps some details of the fortress have not yet been perfected, but the general framework has been established.
Looking at the Han army camp that stretched for miles and had defensive facilities gathered together, Zhang He couldn't help but sigh.
Five good generals, each with his own strengths.
One of Zhang He's strengths is that he is good at setting up camp according to the terrain.
As an expert in setting up camps, Zhang He could see at a glance the power of the Han army's camp.
The Han army's camp was directly at the throat of Jieting's main road.
When Zhang He and Cao Rui faced each other in Luoyang, Zhang He had predicted three countermeasures to Cao Rui when the Han army arrived at Jieting.
Among the three countermeasures, the one Zhang He was least willing to take was for the Han army to take control and attack the stronghold.
This method is most beneficial to the Han army and most disadvantageous to him.
But now that the matter has come to this, Zhang He doesn't lament too much.
After all, there are many talented people in the world, and we cannot expect that the Han army will not think of anything he can think of.
After observing the situation of the Han army's camp, Zhang He glanced at the general's flag hanging high in the Han army's camp, and then his eyes showed joy.
The Han army can fly any general flag, as long as it does not fly the military flag with the word "mi".
As long as Mi Yang didn't come in person, the battle would still be fought.
Although according to the mainstream view of the world, Xu Huang and Zhang Liao were defeated at the hands of Guan Yu, Mi Yang made indelible contributions in those two battles.
"The letter reflecting the connection with Jiangdong was sent to Fancheng" and "Giving women's clothes to Cao Pi". Without these two magical touches, how could Xu Huang and Zhang Liao be defeated so easily by Guan Yu?
Zhang He is one of the five good generals. When Guan Yu died and faced Mi Yang, how could he not feel the sadness of the rabbit dying and the fox dying?
Zhang He soon returned to the army.
When he returned to the army, Man Chong immediately greeted him.
Man Chong was previously sent by Cao Xiu to lead troops to Luoyang, but after leading his army to Luoyang, Cao Rui kept Man Chong behind.
Guanzhong is in danger, and it is the right time to employ people.
On the other hand, although Jiangdong sent troops to the Northern Expedition, according to Cao Xiu, there was nothing to worry about. In this case, Cao Rui naturally wanted to use such a great talent as Man Chong in the Guanzhong battlefield.
When Zhang He led his army to Longyou, Man Chong was named a participating general and became Zhang He's deputy general.
After Man Chong came up to greet him, he asked Zhang He, "Can General Zuo think of a way to defeat the enemy?"
There was unconcealable anxiety in Man Chong's tone.
Longyou was divided into two parts by the Han army and was in danger.
Faced with such a dangerous situation, it was difficult for Man Chong not to be anxious.
The reason why Zhang He went up the mountain to observe the enemy's situation in person was to think of ways to defeat the enemy.
Under Man Chong's eager gaze, a smile appeared on Zhang He's face. He nodded slowly and said:
"He now has a strategy in mind."
Hearing what Zhang He said, Man Chong couldn't help but be overjoyed.
He quickly asked: "May I ask the general what his strategy is?"
Seeing that Man Chong was so eager, Zhang He did not delay. He took him to a table and sat down. Then he took a piece of white paper and roughly drew a layout of the Han army's camp on the white paper.
After completing this move, Zhang He pointed to the Han army camp on the paper and said:
"The enemy general chose to camp on a key road that is several miles wide, leaving us with no choice but to attack one way. This is enough to show that the enemy general is a good general.
But the troops are unpredictable, and the terrain of the street pavilion gives our army the possibility to defeat the enemy."
Looking at the Han army camp on the paper, Man Chong's face showed a pensive expression.
He was also good at military strategy, and the layout of the Han army's camp made some ideas emerge in his mind.
While Man Chong was deep in thought, Zhang He continued: "According to the military information received previously, Liu Bei currently has at most 50,000 infantry troops.
However, Longxi and Guangwei counties have not yet rebelled. If Liu Bei wants to seize the entire land of Longyou, he will definitely divide his troops to attack Longxi and Guangwei counties.
Longxi County is located in the northwest, the road is far away, and the local people are dangerous. If Liu Bei wants to quickly attack Longxi County, it will take at least 30,000 troops to do it.
Guangwei County is located to the east of Longshan Mountain. Shanggui in the county has always been the main route for our army to enter Longyou, and it is also the front and back of the rebel army's food route.
Even if Liu Bei does not immediately lead his army to capture Shanggui, he will definitely leave a heavy force behind to guard his retreat.
With the two forces divided, how many soldiers could Liu Bei send to the street pavilion?
I think it’s no more than ten thousand at most.”
Zhang He expressed his judgment bit by bit.
Zhang He's judgment made Man Chong nod repeatedly.
Although no specific military information had been reported at the moment, Zhang He, a famous general, still relied on his keen judgment to draw an inference that was close to the facts.
After Zhang He finished this inference, a smile appeared on his face and he asked Man Chong:
"With several miles of battalions and tens of thousands of troops, we can't keep it airtight, let alone just over 10,000 enemy troops?"
This is the opportunity for victory that Zhang He discovered after observing the Han army's camp just now.
Of course, if you want to turn the opportunity to win into the final victory, you must have corresponding tactics.
"Our army is several times larger than the enemy's, and there are tens of thousands of cavalry.
After our army builds siege equipment, we can first storm the bandit camp.
When the offensive is fierce, the enemy general will definitely dispatch sergeants from other places for rescue.
At that time, our army can detach a cavalry army to cooperate with the infantry and look for opportunities to storm another part of the enemy's camp.
If the enemy's army is saved in the east, our army will attack in the west. If the enemy's army is divided and defended, our army will be broken into pieces and consolidated to attack the enemy's weak point.
As time goes by, the enemy troops will definitely be exhausted and in a panic.
Why can't the enemy camp be broken when the enemy's morale is low?"
After Zhang He finished explaining the strategy in his mind, Man Chong couldn't help clasping his hands and laughing.
"When Emperor Wu was still alive, he once praised his general's ability to become unparalleled. I love you today."
In Man Chong's view, Zhang He's strategy was excellent.
But after laughing, Man Chong still had a question in his mind.
"Our army can break through one area of the enemy's camp with a few points of attack, but if we don't annihilate all the enemy troops, our army's retreat may be in danger."
What Zhang He just talked about was the strategy of breaking through the Han army's camp. Just because the Han army's camp was breached, it does not mean that the Han army will be completely annihilated.
At worst, the Han army can concentrate its remaining forces in one place and guard a large camp.
In this case, the Wei army still cannot pass through the street pavilion safely.
Zhang He had already made plans for Man Chong's doubts.
Zhang He said confidently: "As long as our army can tear open a hole in the enemy's camp and the enemy's entire army is annihilated, it will be a foregone conclusion!"
Faced with Zhang He's determination, Man Chong was surprised.
Facing Man Chong's surprised gaze, Zhang He's eyes showed a fierce look.
"Because at that time, I will send troops to circle behind the enemy's camp, cut off their food routes, destroy their water sources, and lose all their water and food. If Mi Yang comes personally, what should the enemy be afraid of?"
After hearing Zhang He's next plan, Man Chong was stunned for a moment, and then laughed again.
If this can be done, it will be great. If you like Mi Han, please bookmark it: (www.sodu777.net) Mi Han's novel search website has the fastest update speed on the entire Internet.
This chapter has been completed!