Chapter 629: Strike later and send troops to pursue
Although Xu Chu's strategy was not as good as that of Jiang Ji, he had been Cao Cao's guard for many years and had seen more big scenes than Jiang Ji.
Although the current news shocked Xu Chu more than the big scenes he had seen in the past, after a period of time, Xu Chu finally managed to recover.
But when Xu Chu recovered, he found that his military advisor Jiang Ji was still in a daze. This moment made him extremely anxious.
Xu Chu quickly stood up and strode to Jiang Ji, hugged Jiang Ji's shoulders and kept shaking:
"Strategy! Strategist!"
Where should our army go next?"
Xu Chu's voice was already loud, and because he was speaking in a hurry and he was very close to Jiang Ji, his thunderous voice instantly made Jiang Ji's ears ring.
The most important thing is Xu Chu's power, how can Jiang Ji bear it?
Under Xu Chu's vigorous shaking, Jiang Ji felt that all the bones in his body were about to fall apart.
When Xu Chu saw Jiang Ji rolling his eyes, he realized something was wrong and quickly let go of his hand.
In the past, when assassins attempted to assassinate Cao Cao and were discovered by Xu Chu, many of the assassins were beaten to death by Xu Chu.
Even assassins with martial arts skills are like this, let alone Jiang Ji who has been pampered for many years.
After Xu Chu let go, Jiang Ji finally had some time to breathe, but the burning pain in his arms still made Jiang Ji grimace in pain.
Especially Xu Chu's behavior of not stopping his mouth even though he stopped, made Jiang Ji's mind even more headache-ridden.
"General, if you keep yelling like this, I will go down to see the late emperor!"
After having a chance to breathe, Jiang Ji finally said these words.
After hearing Jiang Ji's words, Xu Chu just stopped shouting.
But Xu Chu's eyes were still eager to look at Jiang Ji.
Jiang Ji could naturally notice Xu Chu's eager gaze.
And Xu Chu is in a hurry, wouldn't he be in a hurry?
But the current situation is very unfavorable to them. They must not make a wrong step now, otherwise they may end up like Cao Zhen.
After his ears were cleared, Jiang Ji began to think carefully.
Cao Cao valued Jiang Ji very highly during his lifetime. This is probably because Jiang Ji proposed many good strategies for Cao Cao during his lifetime.
After careful consideration, Jiang Ji's thoughts gradually became clear.
After organizing his words, Jiang Ji looked up at Xu Chuyan and said:
"According to my expectation, Ma Chao may take three different actions next.
The first is that Ma Chao will continue to launch fierce attacks on our army with the morale of the army greatly boosted, with the intention of annihilating our army in one battle.
The second is that Ma Chao will temporarily hold back his troops and wait for the developments of our army before taking action.
As for the third type."
At this point, Jiang Ji's language paused.
Xu Chu was listening well, but he saw Jiang Ji stopped talking, which made him subconsciously widen his eyes like bells in anxiety.
Those dark and huge eyes looked at Jiang Ji Maomao. He didn't want to go through what happened just now, so he quickly continued:
"The third option is that Ma Chao will abandon our army and ignore it, and then directly send troops to attack Tongguan!"
When he heard the first two possibilities, Xu Chu's face was anxious but still calm. But after hearing this possibility, Xu Chu stood up in a hurry.
"Horse dares to hear!"
Xu Chu's tone was both anxious and resentful.
Although Xu Chu was not good at military strategy, it does not mean that he did not know some basic military common sense.
Tongguan is too important to the current Wei Dynasty and cannot be lost.
Once Tongguan is captured by the Han army, the Han army's cavalry and Luoyang will have only one city defense, Hangu Pass, which is not as good as Tongguan.
At that time, the morale of the military and the people in Luoyang will definitely be in chaos.
Xu Chu, who was well aware of this danger, kept circling in circles anxiously. While circling, Xu Chu asked Jiang Jidao:
"In the opinion of the military advisor, which action will the horse choose?"
The reason why Xu Chu is so anxious is not only worried about the safety of Tongguan, but also because he cannot accurately know what Ma Chao's next move will be at the moment.
If he doesn't know Ma Chao's next move, he won't be able to counterattack accordingly.
This feeling of being like a blind man exploring the road was something Xu Chu couldn't accept in his heart.
After hearing Xu Chu's inquiry, a look of embarrassment appeared on Jiang Ji's face.
He looked up at Xu Chu and replied:
"In my opinion, Ma Chao is most likely to choose the first action."
Jiang Ji made this judgment not just by guessing.
Jiang Ji's basis came from his understanding of Ma Chao.
It can be seen from Ma Chao's past combat examples that although Ma Chao is a fierce and brave general, he is not good at military strategy.
With Ma Chao's strategy, it would be difficult for him to directly attack Tongguan by surprise.
"If Mi Yang were here, he would most likely take the third action."
In order to support his judgment, Jiang Ji subconsciously moved Mi Yang out.
After hearing Jiang Ji's words, Xu Chu's mood became slightly more stable.
Yes, how could he forget this?
Ma Chao is not Mi Yang after all, this can be seen from recent battles.
If Mi Yang had led his troops to attack him during this period, Xu Chu would have no confidence in holding the fortress.
It's just that Tongguan is too important, and a little emotional stability is not enough to reassure Xu Chu.
Xu Chu, who has been a guard for many years, has a cautious temperament.
"I will send more scouts to carefully explore the actions of the rebel army."
This was Xu Chu's guarantee for Jiang Ji's views.
After making this arrangement, Xu Chu squatted down and looked at Jiang Ji and said:
"If Ma Chao really predicts this and takes the third action, how will our army deal with it next?"
Preparing for the worst case scenario and planning an escape route in advance is also a manifestation of Xu Chu's cautious temperament.
After hearing Xu Chu's question, especially after hearing the unknown meaning in Xu Chu's words, Jiang Ji's eyes showed hesitation.
But no matter how hesitant, as Xu Chu's military advisor, he had to say something.
After all, Jiang Ji was smart. After setting what kind of action the Han army would take in advance, it was not difficult for Jiang Ji to deduce what the Han army would do.
"If Ma Chao really abandons our army and goes straight to Tongguan, then his concern should be that our army will become Tongguan's reinforcements.
Therefore, under normal circumstances, Ma Chao would not immediately send his army to Tongguan to avoid alerting our army. Instead, he would send a vanguard army to surprise Tongguan.
The vanguard army is certainly not slow in its movements, but as long as there is an army marching on the vast plains, it is not difficult for our army to send out scouts to detect its whereabouts.
And once this happens, in order to ensure the safety of Tongguan, our army, our army..."
Speaking of this, Jiang Ji was a little speechless.
But Xu Chu's eyes suddenly became stern, and he said seriously to Jiang Ji:
"Now it is a matter of life and death for the Wei Dynasty. Why should I hesitate?"
Now Xu Chu's tone is no longer urgent, but majestic!
Xu Chu, who had been fighting for many years, had an evil aura about him. This evil aura burst out in front of Jiang Ji without reservation at this moment, making Jiang Ji's heart feel as if it was being grasped by a pair of big hands.
Either out of fear or out of concern for Wei, Jiang Ji finally said with a trembling tone:
"Our army can only abandon the wounded and weak, and choose the best to march back to Tongguan!"
After saying these words, Jiang Ji felt as if all his strength had been drained away in an instant.
Jiang Ji's words made Xu Chu laugh with satisfaction.
It's indeed a good idea.
It's just a little cruel.
Based on the current situation between the two armies, even if Jiang Jin could guess three possible actions that Ma Chao could take, the initiative in the current war is not in the hands of the Wei army.
In other words, the Wei army cannot act rashly at the moment, and all Xu Chu can do is send out scouts to continue to explore the Han army's path of action.
And this will inevitably make the Wei army further passive.
Under normal circumstances, this passive posture would make the Wei army's rescue operation difficult.
But there is a way to save this passive situation, and that is what Jiang Jijian said - abandon the car to save the handsome man.
In the previous ambush battle, the Wei army had a large number of wounded, and in order to take care of those wounded, some of its troops had to be separated.
If he had brought the wounded with him when he returned to Tongguan, his marching speed would certainly not be fast, and he might even be pursued by Ma Chao's army.
In order to prevent this dangerous situation from happening, and to be able to return to Tongguan as soon as possible, it is the wisest choice to decisively abandon the wounded.
If there were not the burden of the wounded, even if the Han army set off one step earlier than them, they would probably rush back to Tongguan before the Han army.
Because compared to the Han army, Xu Chu did not need to carry much baggage and food for the march - Tongguan still belonged to the Wei army, and there was no shortage of baggage and food in Tongguan.
Jiang Ji's method can be praised as "preemptive".
But once this "good strategy" is implemented, those abandoned Wei troops will basically be forced into a dead end.
Very cruel, very cruel.
Xu Chu naturally knew this, but he, who had long relied on the destiny of his family on the fate of Cao Wei, would he care about the life and death of those Wei soldiers?
After getting a satisfactory answer, Xu Chu slowly stood up.
"I will have everything arranged as soon as possible."
After saying this, Xu Chu left the military tent.
Looking at Xu Chu's leaving figure, Jiang Ji's eyes showed an unbearable look.
...
Just as Jiang Ji said, when Xu Chuguang sent scouts, the Wei army's scouts quickly detected the latest movements of the Han army.
Early in the morning of the next day, a Wei army scout reported the news to Xu Chu.
After hearing what he least wanted to hear happened, Xu Chu closed his eyes helplessly.
But then, his eyes suddenly opened again.
But at this time, his eyes were cold.
It was the Han army who forced him, so you can't blame him.
After comforting himself with this thought, Xu Chu quickly issued a cruel military order as originally planned.
After this cruel military order spread throughout the military camp, the wounded soldiers of the Wei army in the military camp instantly discovered that their colleagues who were originally taking care of them had actually left.
This sudden scene puzzled many of the wounded soldiers in the Wei army.
In fact, the wounded who can still be taken care of are not too seriously injured, and most of them can be taken care of for a period of time before being put back into battle.
Those wounded who were too seriously injured and had no use value had long been abandoned by Xu Chu on the battlefield.
Precisely because many of the wounded were not seriously injured, after they noticed this, they all got up and went outside the tent to take a look.
It's okay if you don't look at it, but when you look at it, a cry suddenly comes from their mouths.
They found that under the call of drums, those Wei troops who were able to move had already assembled.
After gathering, Xu Chu, the commander-in-chief, took the lead and led them towards the outside of the camp.
The wounded soldiers of the Wei army who had just experienced a major defeat naturally knew that Xu Chu would never take the initiative to attack the Han army at the moment.
So it is not difficult to guess why Xu Chu led his army out of the camp.
When many wounded people found out that they had become abandoned, some of them ran to the front of Xu Chu's march and knelt down to block the road, crying and begging Xu Chu not to abandon them.
Facing these wounded people blocking the road, Xu Chu now no longer regards them as colleagues, but as enemies.
The sword flipped in his hand, and anyone who dared to block his progress was killed by his sword.
Xu Chu's cruelty immediately drove away the other wounded. Facing the demon-like Xu Chu, many of the wounded knew that it was useless to plead for mercy at the moment.
So they could only watch Xu Chu leading thousands of his comrades, abandoning them and leaving without looking back.
After Xu Chu could no longer be seen, the wounded Wei soldiers who were left in the military camp could not help crying, pointing in the direction of Xu Chu and scolding loudly:
"Old thief Xu Chu, I curse you to die miserably!"
"Why didn't the Wei Dynasty die when it was so big?"
Miserable screams of anger and pain resounded throughout the Wei army camp.
Soon after, the wounded soldiers of the Wei army realized that there was no way out, and an idea naturally burst into their minds.
Soon, three or two wounded people helped each other and walked out of the camp. They were not following Xu Chu. The direction they were heading was toward the Han army camp.
When some wounded people did this, more and more wounded people took the same action.
Thousands of wounded troops, some trembling or crawling, moved towards the Han army's camp.
Ma Chao, who was in the Han army camp, soon learned the news.
After learning the news, not only Ma Chao, but also other Han generals were quite surprised.
To be honest, they really didn't expect that Xu Chu would suddenly take such a decisive step.
Although Xu Chu's actions were despised by all the Han generals, there is no doubt that Xu Chu's move caught them off guard.
After Ma Chao obtained evidence from his scouts about what the wounded Wei soldiers were complaining about, he made a decisive decision.
"Zhang Yi!"
"The end is here!"
At Ma Chao's call, Zhang Ni immediately walked out from the ranks of the generals.
"Gu has ordered you to be the commander-in-chief of the rear army. After Gu leaves, you will lead the army to escort the grain and grass towards Tongguan!"
After receiving Ma Chao's general order, Zhang Yi immediately bowed and accepted the order.
And Ma Chao's general order also directly exposed what he would do next.
"Ma Dai!
Immediately summon the elite cavalry in the camp, and I will see them all assembled in half an hour."
Thief Xu, do you want to escape back to Tongguan and pretend that you don't exist?