I am Li Shimin of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 172 Guarding Huai County

Zhao Yun led the [-] Shenwu Army to Huai County, Hanoi County. At the same time, he also carried some large bed crossbows for defensive use. He was going to take a stance here to resist the coalition forces of Yuan Shao and Cao Cao.

Before coming here, Li Shimin had already told him the strategic intention of this time, to defend Huai County, to prevent Cao Yuan's allied forces from fighting from the north bank of the Yellow River to the south bank, at least to defend layer by layer, or threaten the enemy so that they dare not easily Crossing the river can be delayed as long as possible.

The reason for guarding in Huai County is that Huai County is the seat of Hanoi County. The city is high and thick, which is good for defense. In addition, it is [-] miles west of Huai County, and the south is the back of Hulao Pass, and then [-] miles west to reach Geely There is a natural ferry in the county, from Jili crossing the river, you can go directly to Mengjin, and go around to the back of Luoyang.

Therefore, Huai County is a very important strategic location.

As the Yuan-Cao coalition army encroached step by step, a large area of ​​the city west of Huai County also fell into the hands of the enemy, and the coalition army did not seem to encounter any decent resistance along the way, which made Yuan Shao overjoyed, feeling that victory was close at hand.

However, Cao Ren and Sima Yi did not dare to be careless in the slightest. They had seen how powerful the Bingzhou Army was, and they would never be intimidated by themselves into abandoning the city. They must have planned their retreat in an orderly manner.

Because wherever the coalition forces went, there was hardly a drop of food, and apart from the big households in the city, most of the civilians were also transferred away.

All of this is naturally a strategy discussed by Li Shimin and others, to lure the enemy deep, temporarily avoid the edge, and fortify the wall to clear the country.

As the front line of the Cao Yuan coalition army continued to stretch, the logistics supply of the coalition army became more and more difficult. Since it was impossible to plunder nearby to replenish military supplies, the only way to transport food and grass from Wei County was from thousands of miles away.

This is another reason why Yan Liang defended Wei County. The surrounding area of ​​Wei County is the main grain-producing area of ​​Jizhou. The land is fertile, the water source is abundant, and the grain is harvested year after year, storing one-third of Jizhou's grain.

The coalition army is also racing against time. Since the Bingzhou army is advancing by retreating, then they are not welcome, and they will fight faster.In less than three days, the coalition forces had reached the boundary of Huai County.

The road was full of wind and dust, and the army was somewhat exhausted, so after discussing with Cao Ren, Yuan Shao and Cao Ren set up camp [-] miles east of Huai County, and prepared to rest for a day. storm.

Although Cao Cao and Yuan Shao's armies are allies with the same goal, they don't trust each other very much, so the two armies camped separately, but the distance is within ten miles. Time can also provide timely support, it can be said that the defense is tight.

…………

In Huai County, the county government has been requisitioned as a temporary headquarters, and the messengers and soldiers coming and going are hurried and grim. It is obvious that everyone knows that the enemy's heavy troops have already reached Huai County, and a life-and-death battle is imminent.

The situation is very grim and not conducive to Zhao Yun's army.

In the hall of the county government office, Zhao Yun and the main generals in the army stared at the map pasted on the wall, frowning tightly. For a while, the hall could hear needles being dropped, and the silence was depressing.

"Report..." Everyone's thoughts were interrupted by this hasty shout, and they all looked at the scouts outside the door.

"Report to the general, according to the investigation of our army's scouts, the commander of the enemy Cao Cao's army is Cao Ren, with about [-] troops, all of which are elite troops. They are stationed in Shizichuan, thirty miles east of Huai County, and Yuan Shao personally leads the army. It seems that there are nearly [-] soldiers, stationed ten miles north of Cao Ying." The scouts in the army told Zhao Yun the news of the investigation.

Pei Yuanshao couldn't hold back when he heard the words, he jumped out and said, "General Zhao, why don't our troops take advantage of the enemy's unsteady foothold and launch a sneak attack tonight to catch them off guard. This will let them know that our Bingzhou Army is not easy to mess with!"

Zhao Yun was a little moved, and also wanted to kill them, but now his strength is limited, if he steals the camp rashly, the risk is unpredictable, and it may not be worth the loss, and it will be even more detrimental to his next defense.

So he cast his eyes on the military adviser Chen Gong, and asked uncertainly: "Military adviser, in your opinion, can our army go and give them a blow?"

Originally, Chen Gong was guarding Chang'an with Xu Shu, but the battle in Hanoi was related to the overall situation, and Chen Gong had served as the prefect of Hanoi and Hedong counties before, so he knew the situation here very well, so Li Shimin transferred him to Hanoi to cooperate with Zhao Yun in guarding Luoyang of the North Gate.

Chen Gong thought for a while, and said: "General Zilong, the most important thing for our army right now is to defend Huai County and prevent the enemy from crossing the line of defense. Moreover, our army has only fifty thousand troops. Our army was caught by surprise. Besides, Yuan Shao has countless talented people, and Cao Ren is also a talented general with both civil and military skills. Even if our army goes out in full force, it will not take advantage of it. It is better to stick to it first and wait for the right time."

Zhao Yun nodded involuntarily, and finally decided: "That's right, let's pass on the order. Let's get enough energy today and don't send troops for now. We have battles to fight later."

All the generals said, "No!"

Fortunately, Zhao Yun listened to Chen Gong's opinion, otherwise if he insisted on sending troops, he would fall into the enemy's trap.

…………

In fact, Cao Ren and Yuan Shao had a premonition that it was very likely that Zhao Yun would lead an army to attack, so both armies ambushed heavy soldiers in the camp, waiting for the enemy to take the bait.

However, to Yuan Shao and Cao Ren's disappointment, the long-awaited Zhao Yun army did not arrive, and the spies sent to see Huai County's eastward advance sent news that Zhao Yun's army had not left the city at all.

Thanks to the secret march of Zhao Yun's army, the enemy has not yet figured out the reality of the Bingzhou Army, and it is not yet possible to know exactly how many troops there are in Huai County.

Inside Cao Jun's camp, Cao Ren looked anxiously at the marching map, not at all joyful that his great achievements were about to be completed, but rather worried.

The enemy has been avoiding the edge of their own allied forces, and the few cities in front have not resisted at all. The enemy army obviously wants to defend the forces in the army, so there may be a lot of troops in Huai County.

Suddenly seeing Sima Yi marching in the army, a flash of inspiration flashed in his mind, and he remembered that this Sima Yi was from Hanoi. The Sima family used to be extremely prominent, with disciples and old officials all over the world. Maybe Huai County also has forces loyal to them.

"Brother Zhongda, if Zhao Yun can't shrink back, our army will inevitably have a fierce battle with him. I don't know if Zhongda has a good plan to help me defeat the enemy." Cao Ren looked at Sima Yi expectantly.

"General Cao, what I was about to report to you is that the county magistrate of Huai County is a student of my father, and he is absolutely reliable. I have already contacted this person secretly, first to find out the real situation of the enemy, and second, to let him compare the timing and come with us." The inside should cooperate with the outside."

"Okay, that's great." Cao Ren said overjoyed.

(End of this chapter)