Shuhan

As soon as the manifesto was issued, the army set out immediately.

Sima Yi led 40,000 infantry and cavalry including Zhang Liao, Qian Zhao, Niu Jin, Hu Zun, etc., passed through Guzhu and crossed Jieshi. Youzhou Governor Wang Xiong joined the expedition, and Xianbei, Goguryeo and others also sent troops.

The army marched forward in a mighty force, heading straight for Liaodong.

The window period for attacking Liaodong was only two or three months. After these two or three months, the road from Youbeiping to Liaodong would be blocked, so from the very beginning, Sima Yi wanted to win a quick victory.

of course
A quick victory depends not only on yourself but also on your opponent.

Tens of thousands of Wei troops marched towards Liaodong in a mighty manner. The spies deployed by Gongsun Yuan on the front line quickly passed the news to Liaosui City.

"The Liao River is raging, and it is difficult for the Wei army to cross the river. We just need to hold on to our positions and delay time. The Wei army's long expedition will not last long!"

This is also the reason why Gongsun Yuan dared to challenge the State of Wei, not because he did not know his own weight.

On the contrary, he knew his own worth too well.

Gongsun Yuan thought: Although I am a jerk, as long as time passes, no matter how unhappy you, the Wei State, are, you can only treat me as a fart.

"Send out scouts to see which direction the Wei army will attack from."

The Liaosui defense line was dozens of kilometers long. The number of soldiers under his command, including those forcibly conscripted, was only 15,000. Most of them were civilians. Only more than 5,000 of them could be considered combat soldiers and professional warriors.

It is impossible to completely defend an area of ​​more than 10,000 people spread out over dozens of kilometers.

The only way for them to defeat Wei's elite troops was to find out the movements of the Wei army in advance, arrive before it completely crosses the Liao River, and defeat the enemy halfway across the river.

"Inform the lord of this news. The Wei army is coming to attack. If the battle is in full swing, we need to send troops from Xiangping to rush over."

More than 10,000 people are probably not enough to stop the Wei army.

Although Bei Yan was not a world-famous general, he was quite clear about his abilities.

More than 10,000 people are asked to stop the Wei army of 100,000 (the Wei army is said to have 100,000 troops). Does he have the ability to do so?
The mighty army of Wei State has quietly arrived at the west bank of the Liao River. The river water in the night seems to be swallowed up by the darkness. Only the sound of the rushing waves echoes in the night sky, like the roar of a beast, announcing its wild power.

June is the height of summer, with abundant rainfall. The Liaohe River surges like a giant dragon winding across the earth.

Under the moonlight, the surface of the river was shimmering with ripples, a dance of water waves and moonlight.

On the other side of the river, the outline of Liaosui City is vaguely visible, and the towering city walls seem to be telling the vicissitudes of time.

The Liao Tunnel defense line stretches out like a giant dragon, guarding the tranquility of the Liaohe River.

Sima Yi had no expression on his face. He just said to his men, "Set up camp and send out scouts to gather intelligence."

When you first arrive, it is natural to collect information first, and then discuss other things.

The next day.

The tents have already been set up.

But the walls of the village are still being built by cutting down trees.

Fortunately, there is not much else in the Northeast at this time, but there are many trees.

There's simply no end in sight.

Here, it must be difficult to build a wall and clear the field.

In the main tent of the Chinese army.

Sima Yi summoned all the generals.

Zhang Liao, Qian Zhao, Niu Jin, Hu Zun and others all looked eager to try.

The impact of Sima Yi’s pre-war mobilization is still there.

Especially when viewed from across the river, Liaosui City in Liaodong looks just like that.

The so-called Liaosui defense line of dozens of miles is more like a joke.

It's nothing more than an earth wall, about ten feet high. In some places there is not even an earth wall. Can this be considered a line of defense?
Ridiculous!

Therefore, everyone wants to make achievements first.

If we don't stop the war in Liaodong, we won't even have the chance to gain credit in the end.

Sima Yi looked around at everyone and did not immediately mention the attack on Liaodong. Instead, he looked guilty and said with emotion: "As a minister, we should share the worries of Your Majesty and eliminate harm for the Great Wei. In the past, Duke Zhou built Luoyi and Xiao He built Weiyang Palace. Today, the palace is incomplete, and this is my responsibility.

However, north of the Yellow River, the people are poor and the corvée labor is heavy, so it is impossible to revive everything. Therefore, Your Majesty temporarily stops the internal affairs to save the present emergency. "

Sima Yi sighed and said, "My father and I have come this far. If we still can't produce any decent results, we will be ashamed of the Great Wei and His Majesty!"

"The world is created, the sun and the moon shine again. When I encounter opportunities, I will do my best. I will sweep away all the filth and return to my hometown. I will clear the vast land and unify the eight wastelands. I will return home after my mission is accomplished, and wait for punishment in Wuyang."

After sighing for a while, Sima Yi's eyes were like an eagle, and he immediately got to the point: "The school office has roughly explored the enemy's situation. There are more than 30,000 soldiers in Liaodong. 15,000 of them are now stationed in Liaosui. Another 15,000, 5,000 are stationed in Shoushan, and 10,000 are stationed in Xiangping."

The population of Liaodong is only over 100,000.

Being able to mobilize 30,000 soldiers means that every citizen has become a soldier.

of course
These so-called 30,000 soldiers actually contain a lot of water.

After all, exaggerating military strength is a common practice for everyone. For example, although his Wei army had only 40,000 people, it claimed to have an army of 100,000.

Before the fight even starts, I'm going to scare you to death!

"Does anyone have any good ideas to defeat the enemy?" Sima Yi looked around at everyone and asked.

Niu Jin stepped forward and saluted Sima Yi, saying: "Bei Yan is just an unknown person, and the Liaodong Army is definitely not an elite force. This time we only need to fight them head-on to defeat them, and there is no need to use other strategies!"

"Perhaps we can gather intelligence, break the enemy at the weak point in the Liaosui defense line, and wipe out the Liaosui defenders."

Hu Zun also offered suggestions.

Zhang Liao frowned slightly and said, "The Liaosui defense line is long, tens of kilometers long. Bei Yan has only tens of thousands of men, so it is impossible for him to cover everything. Our army can use the strategy of making a feint to the east and attacking the west to cross the Liao River. After that, we can annihilate the Liaosui defenders or go straight to Xiangping. It is up to us."

Zhang Liao saw the weakness of the Liaosui defenders at a glance.

That means there are not enough troops and they are only concerned with the front and not the back.

All it takes is a feint to the east and an attack in the west, and the so-called Liaosui defense line will be vulnerable.

"good!"

Sima Yi clapped his hands and smiled, saying, "Wenyuan's plan is very good. Make a feint to the east and attack the west. And don't defeat Bei Yan too quickly. Instead, fight with him a few times to attract Xiangping's troops to Liaosui. Then, make a feint to the east and attack the west, cross the Liao River, and drive straight to Xiangping."

If he defeated Bei Yan in one fell swoop, Gongsun Yuan would see the gap in strength between him and the Wei army.

Once the gap in strength appeared, Gongsun Yuan would not dare to fight a field battle with the State of Wei, but would choose to protect himself in a fortified city.

Although if they can defend themselves in the fortified city, Sima Yi will surely win this battle.

but.
Between field battle and city defense battle, which is better to destroy the enemy? The choice is obvious.

In a field battle, as long as one can win or break the enemy's position, with the presence of cavalry, one can turn it into a pursuit and cause huge casualties.

If there were any backup plans in advance, such as going around the opponent in advance or something like that.

It may even be possible to completely annihilate their army.

However, it is very difficult to achieve this when attacking or defending a city.

Even though this city is not a fortified one, it would still cost a huge price to capture it.

And time.

Sima Yi had already made a big promise in front of the emperor.

We will conquer Liaodong within a year!

The pretentious words had already been said, and Sima Yi did not want to bear the consequences if they were not completed.

"I am willing to lead a detachment of troops to camp south of Liaoze, raise many flags, and feint an attack on the siege trench to contain the Liaosui defenders."

Niu Jin immediately stood up and accepted the order.

Among the people present, Zhang Liao and Qian Zhao were both no match for him.

He definitely can't compete for the position of the vanguard of the enemy. Since he can't compete for the position of the vanguard of the enemy, then let me be the detachment and attract the main force of the enemy!
Although the achievement is not as great as defeating the enemy, it is at least an achievement, isn't it?
Moreover, the battlefield is changing rapidly. Who knows whether his small force can achieve extraordinary success?

Sima Yi nodded and said to Niu Jin: "General Niu will lead 3,000 soldiers and horses, bring more flags and tents, and when they rest and cook, each of them will have five stoves to attract the Liaodong army."

"promise!"

Niu Jin accepted the order immediately.

"General Hu Zun leads 3,000 soldiers to try to cross the river where General Niu Jin is stationed. Remember, do not force the crossing. If Bei Yan organizes his troops, pretend to retreat in a panic."

Hu Zun understood that the task of helping Gongsun Yuan gain confidence was handed over to him.

"The last general takes command!"

As I said before, the battlefield changes rapidly, who knows whether his three thousand men will achieve other merits.

Even if he had not achieved any other merits, this feint attack was still a significant achievement.

Now that we have a big guarantee, it all depends on our luck.

"General Wenyuan will lead the cavalry to wait in the meantime and break the deadlock at the critical moment. Lieutenant Qian Zhao will lead 10,000 elite infantry to ambush the south of Liaosui. After Niu Jin and Hu Zun attract the main force of Liaosui, we will cross the river and drive straight to Nixiangping!"

"The last general takes command!"

Zhang Liao and Qian Zhao immediately stepped out and saluted Sima Yi deeply.

Compared with Niu Jin and Hu Zun's small forces, their group is the complete main force.

If the war in Liaodong develops as expected, then they will be the ones who will make the main contributions!

In the next few days, Niu Jin Hu Zun began to take action on the north side of Liao Tunnel.

At the beginning, Hu Zun sent 500 people to cross the river, but the other side was slow to react. Although there were more than 1,000 people, they were killed and repelled by his 500 people. After seeing the follow-up reinforcements of the Liaodong Army, Hu Zun pretended to be defeated and fled back in a panic.

I can only say that there is still a lot of room for improvement in acting.

The next few days were all like this, but my acting skills improved a lot.

Seeing that the Wei army had been probing the north of Liaosui, Bei Yan sent people to inquire about the situation. The people who reported back said that the Wei army camp had flags flying, an astonishing number of tents, and earthen stoves that could provide food for 20,000 people.

Bei Yan, who received the news, made a judgment immediately.

The main force of the Wei army was north of Liaosui and south of Liaoze.

The Wei army wanted to cross the river north of Liaosui!

As a result, a large number of soldiers guarding Liaosui were transferred to the north of Liaosui.

Bei Yan personally led the army and fought several battles with the Wei army that crossed the river.

At the beginning, they were no match.

But as they adapted to the rhythm of the battlefield, the initiative gradually fell into their hands.

In the most recent attack, they even killed the Wei army that was crossing the river and forced them to flee in a panic.

just
Bei Yan, who was so overwhelmed by victory, did not even look closely to see why the 'Wei Army' that he had defeated in the past few days was so vulnerable.

Many of them had already collapsed before they even started fighting.

If you look closely, you will see that those people are not from the Wei army headquarters, but forced laborers.

In short.

After fighting with the Wei army for several days, Bei Yan felt that his strength was no different from that of the Wei army.

"Everyone says that the Wei army is a heavenly army. I thought they were very powerful. But now it seems that they are just like this. Why should we be afraid?"

Bei Yan laughed loudly with a sneer on his face.

"However, the offensive of the Wei army has been reduced in the past few days. I am afraid that the intelligence has been collected. There are too many reinforcements in the north of Liaosui, so the south is empty. We must ask the lord to send troops to help. If we can defeat the Wei army in Liaosui, not only can Liaodong be defended, but we can also take Liaoxi and Youbeiping. It seems that it is not impossible to take over the entire Youzhou."

Bei Yan is now a little inflated.

"Reorganize the weapons and armor. In the next few days, let the soldiers eat and drink well. After a few days, defeat the Wei army and go to Lulong Pass to eat horse meat!"

The man was in Xiangping and had just got off the carriage.

Gongsun Yuan soon received military news from Bei Yan.

"The Wei army is so weak? Could it be that the troops coming here are not elite troops of the Wei army, but a mob?"

Gongsun Yuan frowned slightly, somewhat puzzled.

Yang Zuo observed the situation and said, "I heard that Wei was defeated by Han several times, and more than 100,000 elite soldiers died. I'm afraid most of them are dead. The remaining ones will naturally defend against Han in Guandong. Those who came to attack Liaodong this time are definitely not the elite of Wei."

Yang Zuo has been trying to curry favor with Gongsun Yuan these days.

The purpose was to be valued by Gongsun Yuan.

"What you said makes sense."

Gongsun Yuan nodded slightly.

"But there is still Zhang Wenyuan in the Wei army, so we must not underestimate the enemy."

Sima Yi did not have much reputation, but Zhang Wenyuan and Gongsun Yuan were still wary of him.

After all, it is definitely not an easy task to defeat 100,000 people from Jiangdong with only 800 people.

"So, my lord, you mean not to send more troops?"

Increase troops?

Gongsun Yuan's eyes flickered and he was very hesitant.

The Han envoy had previously brought the Han emperor's oral instructions, and the Han emperor Liu Chan said in person that Sima Yi's target was definitely not Liaosui, but Xiangping.

That's why.

On the Liao Tunnel line, Gongsun Yuan did not put his entire fortune at risk.

Instead, he divided 5,000 troops to garrison Shoushan and more than 10,000 elite troops to guard Xiangping.

but.

Gongsun Yuan only listened to Liu Chan's first sentence, but did not listen to what Liu Chan said afterwards.

Liu Chan then said: Abandoning the city and fleeing is the best strategy. Relying on the Liao River to resist the Wei army is the second best strategy. If you stay in Xiangping, you will be a prisoner.

Abandon the city and flee. As long as you have troops and horses waiting for the main force of the Wei army to leave, you can naturally come back. By then, Liaodong will still be yours.

There will just be some loss of strength, but you can relocate the people in advance, right?

By relying on the natural barrier of Liaohe River to block the Wei army, there is a possibility of victory.

But if we hold on to Xiangping, we will die.

"The Wei army is vulnerable. If we can defeat Sima Yi at Liaosui, it will really enhance the prestige of our Gongsun clan."

Gongsun Yuan gritted his teeth and said, "General Yang, you lead 5,000 soldiers to Liaosui to support Bei Yan."

Five thousand people?
But is it too little?

Yang Zuo wanted to talk but hesitated, but he didn't dare to say more, so he could only agree.

"I will obey your orders!"

Xiangping is an important town that must be defended.

All Gongsun Yuan could mobilize were the 5,000 men guarding Shoushan.

unconsciously.

After many twists and turns in history, we have returned to the starting point.

Will Sima Yi be able to defeat Gongsun Yuan so easily this time? (End of this chapter)