You must first set up camp before you can fight. This is a principle that any general in the world knows.
When more than 100,000 Wei troops surrounded Nanzheng City, Cao Zhen did not immediately issue an order to attack.
His move of letting more than 100,000 Wei troops besiege the city just now was more of an intimidation method. Cao Zhen hoped to use this to disrupt and lower the military morale in Nanzheng City.
Unfortunately, what Cao Zhen didn't know was that his plan had come to nothing under Mi Yang's ridicule.
Cao Zhen didn't know Mi Yang's response, but this did not affect his next move.
An order to set up camp was quickly issued from the central army where Cao Zhen was located and spread throughout the three armies.
Under Cao Zhen's order, more than 100,000 Wei troops set up camp and began to move in an orderly manner.
Siege warfare is generally a protracted war.
The current Wei army has the capital to engage in a protracted war.
After giving the order for the entire army to camp, Cao Zhen took the lead in summoning some of his close generals and began to discuss the Wei army's next offensive strategy.
Among the generals, Wang Shuang was the first to speak:
"Mi Yang led the army to Nanzheng, not because he wanted to seek death, but because he knew that Nanzheng was the foundation of Hanzhong, and he had to go to Nanzheng in person to stabilize the morale of the army.
At present, our army besieged Mi Yang in Nanzheng, and asked General Hussar to lead his army to isolate the reinforcements from Yizhou. In this way, Mi Yang would not expect the arrival of reinforcements.
Next he will definitely choose to fight to the death.
The city of Nanzheng is fortified and thick, and the Han troops in the city are all elites from Liangzhou. If our army attacks forcefully, there will be heavy casualties.
Therefore, it is better for our army to adopt the strategy of siege but not attack, and let the rebel army be trapped in Nanzheng. When the rebel army runs out of food and grass, our army will launch another attack. In this way, Nanzheng City can be easily captured.
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Wang Shuang's suggestion quickly aroused the approval of many Wei generals.
After all, the Wei army's strategy had been going on just as Wang Shuang said.
But Cao Zhen rejected Wang Shuang's proposal.
"Nanzheng did not fall into the enemy's hands overnight. They gathered food and improved the city's defenses. This is what the bandit army has been doing for the past few years. Although Mi Yang's entry into Nanzheng was a helpless move, with his wisdom, he should
He is not someone who will seek his own death.
I believe that Mi Yang's move was because he believed that the food and grass that Nanzheng had hoarded in the past was enough for him to hold Nanzheng for a period of time.
The lack of food in Hanzhong does not mean that there is a shortage of food in Nanzheng. Besides, if Nanzheng is short of food, how can we not be able to hold on for several months?
At present, nine out of ten Hanzhong is owned by our army, and Mi Yang will not break out casually.
Furthermore, I received news a few days ago that Zhuge Kongming has put down the Nanzhong rebellion. With his talent, if he is given a few months, he can easily recruit tens of thousands of elite troops.
Although I have sent generals of hussars to station outside Yangping Pass to block Yizhou's reinforcements, Zhuge Kongming is not a man who knows nothing about military strategy. In addition, with tens of thousands of elite soldiers in hand, it is still unclear who will win and who will lose in the battle between the two armies.
If Zhuge Kongming defeats the hussar general and leads his army from Yangping Pass to aid Nanzheng, then our army will no longer be able to capture Nanzheng.
Now that the elites of Liangzhou are in an isolated city, God's will may cause them to perish in the future, but how can the military war be completely left to God's will?
Our army should go all out, surround it on three sides, attack Nanzheng fiercely, and then send a cavalry army to roam outside Yangping Pass. If the enemy's reinforcements arrive, the cavalry can seize the enemy's food and grass. This way, we can attack internally and defend externally, which is a complete plan."
After Cao Zhen expressed his opinion, many Wei generals turned to support Cao Zhen.
In the current situation, the Wei army is definitely at the upper hand, but this does not mean that the Wei army is in a foolproof situation.
As Cao Zhen said, Zhuge Liang has put down the Nanzhong rebellion, and the first major thing that the Han Dynasty should do next must be to rush to Liangzhou at all costs.
And with the desperate reinforcements from the Han Dynasty, can Cao Hong guarantee that he can stop Yizhou's reinforcements?
Just a few days ago, the generals had just received a battle report from Jiange - the Han army attacked the Central Route Army camp at night, causing heavy losses to the Central Route Army.
If many Wei generals had confidence in Cao Hong's ability before, then after receiving this news, many people couldn't help but murmur in their hearts.
On one side was Zhuge Liang, who had won a great victory in Nanzhong, and on the other side was his own hussar general who was taken advantage of by the enemy generals and led to defeat. Regardless of the influence of position factors, many Wei generals felt that Cao Hong might not be Zhuge Liang's.
opponent.
Not only many Wei generals felt this way, but even Cao Zhen was very disappointed with Cao Hong's performance.
If it weren't for the critical moment to seize Liangzhou, and if he was worried that a sudden change of battle would affect the morale of the army, Cao Zhen would have taken away Cao Hong's military power with a military order.
The disappointment in Cao Hong from top to bottom led to Cao Zhen's worry just now, which affected many people.
Under this influence and his belief in Cao Zhen, Cao Zhen's opinion quickly turned into a formal military order and spread throughout the three armies.
Even though many generals in the world did not want to engage in a brutal siege, if the time came to have to take this step, many generals would make this decision without hesitation.
After unifying the internal views, Cao Zhen asked the generals to retreat and proceed according to today's plan.
After most of the Wei generals retreated, Cao Zhen discovered that Liu Ye was still in the tent.
No matter how high his status is, Liu Ye is currently only a military adviser to Cao Zhen and does not have any military power in his hands.
So it is obvious that all Wei generals will be busy in the next period of time, but he will appear very relaxed.
But Liu Ye didn't want to make no achievements in such a battle.
When Cao Zhen saw that Liu Ye seemed to have something to say, he stepped back and then asked Liu Ye:
"If you have any opinion, please feel free to speak out."
Cao Zhen originally thought that Liu Ye had slightly different views on the combat strategy he had arranged, but it was obvious that Liu Ye, who was always good at guessing his intentions, did not stay for this reason.
"The general's arrangements are extremely appropriate. As long as nothing unexpected happens, Liangzhou will be owned by our country within half a year."
When Liu Ye opened his mouth, he first affirmed Cao Zhen's arrangement, and then expressed his own opinion:
"Ran Ye believes that in addition to encircling Nanzheng with strong troops, our army also needs to capture Seoul as soon as possible.
Seoul controls the Han River and is located between Yangpingguan and Nanzheng. If the enemy has reinforcements, they will definitely use Seoul as a springboard.
In other words, if there are reinforcements coming from the direction of Yangping Pass to aid Nanzheng, as long as Seoul is in the hands of our army, our army will still be able to advance and retreat freely without any danger."
Hearing Liu Ye's suggestion, Cao Zhen couldn't help but look a little hesitant.
He also knows the importance of Seoul, but as the saying goes, it is necessary to mobilize a large number of troops to capture Nanzheng as soon as possible. Under this situation, is it meaningful to divide the troops to capture Seoul?
Of course, what Liu Ye said makes sense. Capturing Seoul has great strategic significance, but the strategic significance of seizing Seoul is mainly reflected in preventing reinforcements from Yizhou.
On the one hand, he had already dispatched tens of thousands of Cao Hong's elite troops to prevent dangers, so why bother to do more?
Although Cao Zhen did not have much confidence in Cao Hong, it did not mean that he would rashly mobilize his main troops to attack Seoul because of his lack of confidence.
No matter how stupid Cao Hong is, with tens of thousands of elite soldiers leading the way to the stronghold, it is not difficult to hold the passage outside Yangping Pass.
Moreover, the strategic purpose of the Wei army was to seize Nanzheng, not to guard against reinforcements from Yizhou. How could we put the cart before the horse?
When Liu Ye saw the hesitation on Cao Zhen's face, he knew that his suggestion might be adopted, and he planned to work harder.
But just when Liu Ye was about to speak again, Wang Shuang, who had just left outside the tent, suddenly broke into the tent:
"General, something bad is going to happen!"
Wang Shuang's panic and the contents of his report made Cao Zhen immediately stand up from his seat.
He didn't blame Wang Shuang for being rude, it was all because the reaction that came to his mind left him no time to care about it:
Is it possible that the Han army took advantage of its own army's unstable foothold and attacked directly?