There is a saying in the art of war: "A soldier can be attacked when he is halfway across."
The same goes for ambushes.
When Yan Yan, General Jianyi of the Han Dynasty and Li Yan's chief historian, led the 6,000 people in the front and just stepped out of the trail, Guo Huai, who had been waiting for a long time, had people beat the big cowhide drum of the attack.
It's not that he didn't know that Li Yan was coming with the Chinese army from behind.
Not to mention that he was not one of the important officials who wanted to capture Liu Bei, the first emperor of the Han Dynasty.
Rather, he was worried that he would bite off more than he could chew and end up being self-defeating.
Li Yan's direct subordinates were all trained by the late emperor Liu Bei after the Battle of Yiling in the past, using the remnants of various ministries as generals to resist Sun Wu; they could be called elite divisions wherever they were. Guo Huai saw them just walking out of the trail.
They began to form a formation, and when the troops were extremely dense, they knew that if they attacked too late, a good ambush would turn into an encounter between the two armies.
The Wei army has suffered too many defeats in recent years.
Morale has long been flagging.
With the Han army's strong military appearance, if they did not attack while their foothold was not stable and their formation was not yet formed, could the Wei soldiers break through the enemy's formation?
But once it cannot break through and cannot form a cover-up, when Li Yan's Chinese army arrives, will the Wei army still be able to defeat it?
Guo Huai felt that the chance was low and did not dare to take the risk.
When the opportunity arises, it must be cut off.
After all, he had been a soldier for many years and was also a good general of the Wei State.
Therefore, he suppressed the greed in his heart and let the ambush troops suddenly rise up to attack the Kowu tribe from both sides.
The Han army, which was caught off guard, was inevitably scattered to pieces.
The worst sufferer was General Yan Yan of Jianyi.
Ke Wu came with more than ten tribesmen to greet him, and then while the two were talking shoulder to shoulder, he pulled out the long dagger at his waist and stabbed him in the chest and abdomen. He stared in disbelief and was covered in blood.
The only sound that came out from his crowded throat was "ooh", and he fell sideways to the ground with great regret.
The Northern Expedition was against the Wei Dynasty, and all the generals took their lives.
The way he died, he was penniless.
The general was suddenly killed, the Wei army set up an ambush, and the Han army, which had no array to rely on, was immediately in chaos.
Especially since they had almost no defense against Kowu's people.
The battle situation presented a one-sided massacre.
The only thing that is surprising is that they live up to their reputation as elites.
In the panic, they were able to rely on Xiaoshi Xiaowu to fight, causing many casualties to the Wei army and the Kewu tribe.
Li Sheng and Huang Xi also died in the battle.
They have no reason to live, and they dare not surrender and live.
When the decision was made to send troops, the two of them were the main combatants. If they returned by chance, they would be blamed; if they surrendered, their families would be implicated, and Menmei would never recover from a fall.
If a real man dies, his ears will be dead! It is better to gain a reputation as a loyal man.
But no matter how stubbornly the Han army resisted, they were ultimately defeated after half an hour due to calculated calculations or unintentional calculations.
Of the six thousand soldiers, more than three thousand were killed in the battle, and about a thousand surrendered before the battle.
The other nearly a thousand defeated soldiers, because they were close to the entrance of the trail and saw that all the generals in the army were dead in battle, turned around and returned in defeat.
Naturally, Guo Huai would not give up the opportunity to pursue.
He instead asked General Pang Hui of Liyi to surrender the prisoners, and kept an eye on Ke Wu so as not to take advantage of this opportunity. He asked the tribesmen to pretend to be defeated and plunder the other Li people in Zhiyang County; he pursued with two thousand elite troops.
Two thousand elites are enough!
The narrow trails made it difficult for the defeated troops to retreat.
Especially at this time, the Chinese army led by Li Yan also entered the trail.
It was inevitable that he would be blocked by his own defeated troops and had to retreat back.
Those who were pushed and trampled to death, those who were killed by Guo Huai, the whole trail was filled with the corpses of the Han army, which stretched for more than 20 miles!
Like a road leading to hell.
After the Chinese army led by Li Yan retreated from the trail, they had no time to organize the soldiers to form a formation to resist.
After the great victory, Guo Huai, who was at the back, was full of vigor. Like an arrow that avenged the long wind, it pierced through Li Yan's array with thunderous momentum.
Let the Han army continue to be defeated for thousands of miles.
Fortunately, Jiang Wei, the commander of the rear army, was five miles behind.
He was escorting the baggage and grain. When he heard loud shouts of killing from the front, he ordered the soldiers to abandon the baggage and march forward slowly in formation.
It also saved Li Yan's life.
Guo Huai led the pursuit, always keeping an eye on the Chinese army's encirclement.
When he saw Jiang Wei approaching with his well-organized soldiers, he led his army back along the trail on the grounds that the number was too small to defeat the Han army again.
Originally, he had no intention of taking the opportunity to recapture Xiping County.
The Gao Xiang Division of the Han Army has been stationed in Daxia County.
If Guo Huai leads his army into Xiping County, his return route will inevitably be cut off.
Furthermore, the Wei State did not have many soldiers and horses stationed in Jincheng County. Once he led the army out, the Wei Yan tribe outside Sangyuan Gorge in Yuzhong County learned the news and would definitely attack!
The purpose of setting up an ambush was to use a victory to boost the morale of the Wei soldiers in order to defend Jincheng County.
As well as to deter Liangzhou Haoyou and the Qiang and Hu tribes from having any different intentions.
If you are greedy for merit, won’t all your previous efforts be wasted?
To take a step back, the casualties suffered by the Han army in this battle will prevent them from attacking the border within this year.
Indeed, the big man will not use swords again within this year.
After Prime Minister Zhuge Liang knew the result of the battle, he asked Zheng Pu and the Guanxing tribe who were preparing to attack Zuli County of Wuwei County to withdraw, and also ordered the Wei Yan tribe not to move without permission.
Because of Li Yan's wrong decision-making, the Han army suffered nearly 10,000 casualties in the battle, and all of them were elite!
For a big man with a small army and few soldiers, it was already a strain.
Furthermore, if you want to attack Jincheng County, Xiping County must be the main direction of attack.
When the army was defeated, it took time to rest and pacify the Qiang tribes in the Huangshui River Valley, and to adjust the generals' responsibilities.
Wu Yi, who had been promoted to General Zuo, led his headquarters into Xiping County and succeeded Li Yan as the commander-in-chief of the West Route Army.
Li Yan returned to Hanzhong.
Go back on your own initiative.
After he returned with the defeated army, he personally killed Ke Wu's eldest son, asked Jiang Wei and Liao Hua to appease the soldiers Li Shu, and then returned to Hanzhong with his retinue Beidao.
Not only did he have no face to stay in Xiping County anymore.
What's more, he damaged the foundation of the Han Dynasty's Northern Expedition.
Regardless of whether the Han Dynasty can regain his strength in the future, he will never have the opportunity to lead the army again, and no soldiers are willing to die under his command.
He knew this very well.
However, Prime Minister Zhuge Liang has not yet come to the court to investigate how to hold him accountable.
For the Prime Minister, no matter how he holds Li Yan accountable, he cannot make up for the regret in his heart.
The deaths of Wei General Zhao Yun and veteran General Chen Shi caused the Prime Minister to feel sad about the lack of leadership of the Han generals, and he was also working hard to speed up the process of the Northern Expedition.
But Li Yan's defeat crushed his hopes.
Maybe, I won’t have the chance to see a big man take over Guanzhong?
But, after my death, who can carry the banner of restoring the Central Plains?
By then, all the ministers who admired the late emperor's kindness and served him have passed away. Who can still make all the forces in the Han Dynasty serve wholeheartedly for the Northern Expedition against Wei?
In the Prime Minister's office in Hanzhong, the lights are not extinguished every night.
The Prime Minister was sleepless day and night, as if he had returned to the long nights before the Southern Expedition.
Even his neatly trimmed beard is much more silver than black.
AD 232 was also the first year of Jiahe under Sun Wu.
Sun Quan changed the Yuan Dynasty again.
The reason is that in December last year, an official from Kuaiji County came to tell him that Jiahe was born, and he was granted amnesty and changed to the Yuan Dynasty.
It is hoped that Sun Wu's national destiny will be like the Jiahe, which can still flourish in the harsh environment of the cold winter.
However, changing the Yuan did not bring him any good luck.
Hope is just hope.
Since the suppression of the Wuling rebellion in the past two years and the failure of the plan to have Zhonglang's general Sun Bu pretend to surrender to lure the enemy, Wu and Wei fell into a brief period of peace.
Needless to say, the border of Jingzhou was guarded by Lu Xun, so there were always few troops.
Although Zhu Ran, who was stationed in Jiangling City, was quite enterprising, Lu Xun, who was assisting Prince Sun Deng in the rear, thought that it was not a good idea to attack Wei from Jingzhou, so there was almost no fighting.
It also gave Sun Quan the idea of finding another way.
If the generals were asked to defend Wen, Zhuge Zhi led his troops across the sea to Yizhou to develop new territory.
However, due to the long voyage and unsuitable acclimatization, the army he led suffered many casualties. Only a few thousand people moved to Yizhou, which was less than the number of soldiers who died. Sun Quan was furious and had Wei Wen and Zhuge Zhi executed for their crimes.
Completely forgetting that Fuhai Yizhou's decision was his own willful action.
He also sent people to Liaodong to befriend Gongsun Yuan.
In the third month of this spring, General Zhou He and Colonel Pei Qian sailed to Liaodong to purchase war horses.
Naturally, this matter could not be hidden from the Wei State.
Gongsun Yuan was originally a vassal attached to the Wei State. Emperor Cao Rui was very angry that he had colluded with him and sold his horses to Ni Wu, so he asked General Tian Yu to lead the troops in Qingzhou to prepare for a crusade.
Later, I heard that Soochow was using a large naval force to attack the enemy, and it was difficult for the Wei navy to defeat them, so Tian Yu was asked to hold off for the time being.
However, Tian Yu is a good general!
After coming to Qingzhou to serve, he actively patrolled the coast to prepare for war on the grounds that the East China Sea had strong winds and waves in winter, and the navy of Wu State would inevitably seek land to shelter from the waves when returning.
At that time, many Wei army generals laughed at him.
Later, the navy of Wu Kingdom encountered a storm and took shelter in Chengshan Mountain, but was captured by Tian Yu.
However, Tian Yu did not receive the reward.
He is a peripheral person.
Cheng Xi, the governor of Qingzhou, came from a wealthy family and was jealous that he commanded Qingzhou's troops, so he secretly appealed to Emperor Cao Rui, claiming that the jewelry and artifacts captured by Tian Yu were distributed to the officers and soldiers instead of being handed over to the government. Cao Rui, who had always liked jewelry, responded to this
He was secretly ashamed and angry, and he refused to reward him.
Contrary to colleagues and fighting for power and gain, this is also the normal behavior of important ministers and assistants of Wei State.
After all, Cao Wei was not in the right position.
Most of the ministers who abide by their faith and did not seek personal gain were liquidated, and few could transform from Han ministers to Wei ministers.
The internal affairs of Wei State have nothing to do with Sun Quan.
He knew that all the money spent on purchasing war horses had been wasted.
He also began to think about the war horses of the Han Dynasty again, and sent people to Hanzhong County to discuss the horse trade with the prime minister.
However, he still had an unexpected surprise.
Gongsun Yuan also had to hear about Wei's plan to attack Liaodong.
He who dared to usurp his uncle's position and stand on his own was naturally not an easy person to deal with.
In addition, Wei lost Longyou and suffered repeated defeats against the Han army, so he became ruthless and took the initiative to send his captain Su Shu and his lieutenant Sun Zong to present their vassal status to Sun Quan, as well as minks and horses.
It was agreed that one from the south and one from the north would jointly attack Wei.
After Sun Quan received his reward, he was overjoyed and began to make preparations to send troops to confer the title.
Naturally, Gongsun Yuan's declaration of vassal status to Sun Wu was only the first step.
He also began to frequently send envoys to find the leaders of the three counties of Karasuma, as well as the Xianbei leader Ke Bineng, who had long been the vassal king of Wei, to discuss the matter of forming an alliance to attack Wei.
This became one of Wei Cao Rui's worries.
Although Guo Huai and Tian Yu both won great victories on the west and east fronts, he finally relieved Wei's mood of repeated defeats in battles.
But the war on the northern front was about to break out, which made him mentally and physically exhausted.
Because his third son, Cao Yin, who was less than one year old, died again.
This caused the entire hinterland of the Central Plains to secretly discuss the theory of destiny promoted by Qiao Zhou, a traitor against Shu, that "Cao Pi usurped the Han and was punished by heaven." The hearts of all the states and counties in Wei State were in turmoil.
We can't blame those people for spending their time after dinner.
Facts speak louder than words.
Even Cao Rui himself sighed secretly in his heart when he sat alone in the dead of night.
However, there is no turning back when the bow is drawn.
Since he is the emperor of Wei, he has no reason to be weak, and he must try his best to stabilize the situation despite the turmoil.
The method he was thinking of was also to kill the chicken to scare the monkey.
Instead, he wrote a private edict to ask the Chief Sima Cao Zhen and the General Sima Yi: "Can Liaodong be conquered at this time?"
It was planned to kill Liaodong Gongsun Yuan, a general who wanted to cause chaos, to intimidate the Wuwan and Xianbei tribes on the northern front from moving without permission.
At least, let them not dare to rebel against Wei within a few years.
Great Sima Cao really thought he could be defeated.
He felt that after Guo Huai's defeat of Li Yan, Shu would not attack Liangzhou again for a short time; even if he did, there would be nothing to worry about given the danger of Jincheng County and the vigor of the victory.
And Guanzhong was guarded by him personally, making it even more impregnable.
Therefore, Emperor Cao Rui did not need to worry about the war on the northwest front.
As for the general Sima Yi, he not only agreed, but also secretly returned to Luoyang Mianjun and asked for orders to personally lead the army to attack.
First, the Wei State needed a stable north so that it could safely deal with the alliance between Ni Shu and Ni Wu. It happened to take advantage of the recent setbacks of these two countries to take the lead in pacifying Liaodong.
On the other hand, there is no need to worry about the safety of Jingzhou.
Lu Xun of Soochow did not have a strong enterprising spirit, and Xia Houru could guard the place in his place.
Yes, Xiahou Ru has resurrected.
After Guo Huai's great victory, when he went to Luoyang Temple, he also attributed the first victory of the battle to Xia Houru. He claimed that the strategy of using the Qiang leader Ke Wu to fake surrender was left by Xia Houru.
All the people in the temple in Luoyang discussed that Xiahou Ru was defeated first and then plotted, and his merits and demerits were balanced, so he should be reinstated.
With the approval of the two important ministers, Cao Rui also officially made up his mind.
So he gathered his soldiers, prepared food and fodder, and planned to lead an army of 40,000 with Sima Yi as the main general to attack Liaodong.
And this matter is very secretive.
It all followed Sima Yi's plan.
Wang Xiong, the governor of Youzhou, was abandoned, and the veteran general Tian Yu and others who were very familiar with the frontier were not used, so as not to offend the enemy. On the pretext of deploying troops and horses from various departments, he secretly gathered the army in Beiping County, Youzhou, with the intention of taking the enemy by surprise.
Just like in the past, when he attacked Mengda with a long march, his troops were extremely fast.
Naturally, Zheng Pu, who was stationed in Pingxiang City, did not know about these affairs between Sun Wu and the State of Wei.
He is also on his way at the moment.
Prime Minister Zhuge Liang wrote a letter and summoned him privately to Hanzhong to discuss matters.
What was discussed was not detailed in the letter, but Zheng Pu could vaguely guess it.
