Five thousand cavalry suddenly rushed out from the side, instantly disrupting Cao Zhen's deployment. The Wei army suddenly faced a flanking attack from the left and right, and had to fight in a hurry.
Zhao Yun's troops, with the sudden help of Wei Yan, the situation was instantly reversed. Zhao Yun took the lead and led the army into the Wei army's battle formation.
The two sides fought for nearly three hours.
Wei Yan and Zhao Yun killed more than 3,000 enemies, while almost 2,000 Shu troops were killed.
Counting the fighting in the previous two days, Cao Zhen's 20,000 men were left with about 15,000 men, Zhao Yun's 6,000 men were left with more than 4,000 men, and Wei Yan's 5,000 cavalry suffered little losses, that is,
Three to five hundred people were killed.
After disrupting Cao Zhen's Wei army, Wei Yan knew how to give up when he was ready. The purpose of his trip was not to fight with Cao Zhen, nor to annihilate Cao Zhen.
He has to rush to Tongguan.
Liu Chan in Tongguan is very dangerous now.
At the same time, after a fight, Cao Zhen led his army to retreat to Chang'an. Wei Yan saw Cao Zhen's purpose and wanted to return to Chang'an and hold on.
After all, Chang'an is a big city.
Once Cao Zhen's troops enter Chang'an, even if Prime Minister Zhuge Liang arrives with a large army, it will not be that easy to capture Chang'an.
That’s what Cao Zhen thinks.
There is another prerequisite for leading the main force of the Shu army to the Guanzhong Plain for encirclement and annihilation, which is that they have to wait until reinforcements from Luoyang arrive in time.
He had not been in a hurry to return to Chang'an City before.
One is to wait for Luoyang's reinforcements, and at the same time, they are also waiting for Zhuge Liang's main force of the Shu army.
If you enter Chang'an too early.
Perhaps Zhuge Liang knew that Chang'an City was difficult to defeat, and he might withdraw his troops and return to Hanzhong at any time.
Now——
Cao Zhen’s purpose is very simple.
Annihilate all the main forces of the Shu army, thereby clearing the way for the Wei Dynasty to destroy Shu.
Cao Zhen’s decision makes sense.
Once Zhuge Liang's army approaches Chang'an and the Wei army mobilizes a large army from Luoyang to fight with it, the Shu army will not be completely wiped out in time. It is estimated that within ten years, it will be difficult to have the strength to make another northern expedition.
But Zhuge Liang was very excited about this.
Because what he needs now is time, he needs to rush to Tongguan as soon as possible. For him now, Liu Chan's safety is more important than anything else.
As for the risks he would face, he could no longer care about it now. If anything happened to Liu Chan in Tongguan, it would be a disaster for the big man.
So these days.
All the soldiers and horses of the Han army marched day and night.
Fortunately, they encountered no resistance from the Wei army along the way, and their marching speed was much faster than expected.
At this time, Zhuge Liang could only hope for reinforcements from Cao Wei and Luoyang, but they had not yet arrived at Tongguan in time.
Let’s talk about outside Chang’an City.
After Cao Zhen was attacked by Wei Yan and Zhao Yun, Guo Huai wanted to lead his troops to rescue him, but he was afraid that Lu Peng, who was impersonating Zhang Bao outside Chang'an City, would lead his troops to pursue him.
At the time when Guo Huai was in dilemma, Cao Zhen's army began to retreat towards Chang'an City.
After Cao Zhen's troops retreated outside Chang'an City to join Guo Huai, they wanted to join forces to fight the pursuing Zhao Yun and Wei Yan. Unexpectedly, Wei Yan pursued them to the foot of Chang'an City and suddenly led his troops eastward.
What is the place east of Chang'an?
Cao Zhen naturally knows.
Tongguan——
Tongguan is the passage from Guanzhong into and out of Luoyang. Wei Yan did not attack Chang'an, but instead led his army to the east. It didn't take much thinking to know that he was going to capture Tongguan.
Maybe?
Cao Zhen couldn't help but feel a chill on his back.
A few days ago, he sent multiple messengers to Luoyang to report the news, but to this day, he has not received any news from Luoyang.
Could it be that Tongguan had already been captured by the Shu army?
If so.
There will be danger in the pass.
Cao Zhen now ordered Guo Huai to divide the nearly 3,000 cavalry he brought with him in addition to his own 5,000 cavalry, and ordered Guo Huai to immediately pursue Wei Yan.
If Tongguan has been captured by the Shu army.
Guo Huai can chase to Tongguan and attack from both sides with the Wei reinforcements outside Tongguan. Even if Wei Yan now rushes to reinforce Tongguan, there are nearly 8,000 Wei cavalry following Guo Huai in the pass, and the Shu army will not be able to defend Tongguan for long.
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As long as Tongguan is opened, the crisis in Guanzhong can be resolved immediately, and there is great hope for the complete annihilation of the Shu army.
Then Guo Huai led nearly 8,000 cavalry and chased Wei Yan toward Tongguan.
As for Cao Zhen, he only has more than 10,000 infantry troops left, but there are more than 4,000 Zhao Yun's troops outside Chang'an City, as well as nearly 10,000 Shu troops stationed outside Chang'an City.
If he fights these two armies now, he may not have many troops left when Zhuge Liang arrives. By then, Zhuge Liang will launch a massive attack and Chang'an City will be destroyed. If Tongguan has been captured by the Shu army now.
After Zhuge Liang arrived and occupied Chang'an, he sent his troops to rescue Tongguan and sent troops to garrison Pubanjin and Wuguan.
If this is true, not only will this battle fail to completely annihilate the main force of the Shu army, but the final result may be that the Shu-Han Dynasty takes over Guanzhong and then captures Liangzhou and other places.
Now he just hopes that his guess is wrong and Tongguan is still in the hands of the Wei Dynasty.
Cao Zhen then led the army to Chang'an, and then sent troops to notify Tongguan, Wuguan, and Pubanjin defenders.
If these three passes are still in the hands of the Wei Dynasty, there is still hope for everything. If we remind the three passes to take precautions as soon as possible, there may be hope of annihilating the Shu army.
Cao Zhen led the army into the city, and Zhao Yun and Lu Peng joined forces. Zhao Yun was a veteran on the battlefield, so Lu Peng naturally handed over the command obediently. More than 6,000 people outside Chang'an City were all under the command of Zhao Yun.
At this time, there were more than 15,000 defenders in Chang'an, and Zhao Yun now only has more than 6,000 or 7,000 people. It is definitely not advisable to attack Chang'an by force.
In fact, it was impossible to even surround Chang'an, so Zhao Yun chose to stand firm and wait for help. He just stationed outside Chang'an City and did not attack Chang'an.
Just contain it.
With their troops here, Cao Zhen would definitely not lead his troops to rescue Tongguan. If he dared to lead his troops to rescue Tongguan, Zhao Yun would definitely lead his troops to capture Chang'an.
Just when Zhao Yun and Cao Zhen were confronting each other in Chang'an, Cao Wei's right general Zhang He led 50,000 elite troops to the east of Tongguan and approached Huangxiang Ban.
Huangxiangban is located on the edge of the Yellow River in the northeast corner of Tongguan. It is the only way to enter Tongguan, but the road here is narrow and is not conducive to the passage of large armies.
Zhang He arrived here on the evening of March 22nd. He first stationed his army in the wilderness outside Huangxiang Ban, and then ordered people to pass through Huangxiang Ban to inquire about the situation.
Not long after leaving Luoyang, Zhang He received news that Tongguan had been captured by the Shu army. Now it was impossible for him to quickly pass through Tongguan. If he wanted to enter Guanzhong, he had to get through Tongguan.
It's just that he doesn't know yet that the person who occupied Tongguan will actually be the Emperor of Shu Han Liu Chan. If he knew that Liu Chan was guarding Tongguan, Zhang He would probably wake up laughing from his sleep.
Zhang He's 50,000-strong army approached Tongguan, and Liu Chan in Tongguan suddenly became nervous.
Who is Zhang He?
As a time traveler, he must know that he was a famous general of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period who had experienced hundreds of battles.
According to original historical records, during Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition, it was because Cao Rui sent Zhang He, and Cao Zhen put all the main forces under the command of Zhang He.
In the end, it was precisely because Zhang He defeated Ma Su at Jieting that Prime Minister Zhuge's first Northern Expedition, which was originally a dream start, could only end in defeat with the loss of troops.
Since then, although Zhuge Liang made five consecutive northern expeditions, and Jiang Wei made nine expeditions to the Central Plains, they all ended in failure until the final demise of the Shu Han Dynasty.
Because Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition was the one closest to success. If Ma Dijieting had not been defeated by Zhang He, the Shu Han might have quickly occupied Longyou and Liangzhou.
But the first Northern Expedition failed.
Next, Zhuge Liang continued the Northern Expedition. Cao Wei had already prepared. Facing the well-prepared strong Wei, it would be very difficult for the weak Shu to succeed.
Now Liu Chan has traveled through time.
He wanted to change the direction of the First Northern Expedition.
The battle to break the situation is about to break out.
The first difficulty he faced was to block the famous Cao Wei general Zhang He east of Tongguan.
……
……
This chapter has been completed!