The Three Kingdoms become stronger when they get treasures

Chapter 507 Retreat to Chang'an

The side that chooses to defend the city is usually because its strength is weaker than the enemy. If the strength of both sides is equal, they will usually go out of the city for a decisive battle, because the trapped city, although protected by the city wall, is a great test for the morale and confidence of the soldiers.Zhang Liao's famous battle shocked Xiaoyaojin, and he also used thousands of soldiers to defend Sun Quan, who was known as an army of [-].Even though there was a huge difference in troop strength, Zhang Liao still led his troops out to fight a wave to boost his morale, because at that time Cao Cao was leading the main force in Hanzhong and could not return to help.

Defending the city is because they cannot be defeated, so they have to defend it, but they can't last long if they just defend it. Unless they know that reinforcements will arrive soon, they will definitely find an opportunity to go out of the city and fight back to improve morale.Zhuge Liang attacked Chen Cang, but Hao Zhao couldn't hold out because he knew that Zhang He was on the way to rescue, and he could afford to wait.

Cao Ren planned to defend Chencang, but not purely, because Chencang city was too small to hold an army of [-]. Cao Ren left [-] soldiers in the city, and the rest camped by the Wei River, intending to block the Chu army by the river and the city.

Although the Chu army also has 30 troops, it is impossible for them all to come out in force. On the one hand, there cannot be so many troops in this area. No matter how many troops come, they can only watch the fun from behind; on the other hand, they must protect Your own food path.

In Zhang Wu's view, the battle of Chencang was just the prelude to the decisive battle in Guanzhong, and the real battlefield should be in Chang'an.

In the spring of 218 A.D., Wei and Chu fought in Chencang. The Wei army stood firm on the bank, and the Chu army was repelled when they crossed the river several times.Zhang Wu, king of Chu, came to the front line in person, ordered a catapult to be built on the bank, and fired kerosene bombs and poisonous smoke bombs to the opposite bank, and then Zhang Wu activated the skill of "calling the wind and calling the rain".

Taking advantage of the chaos in the Wei army camp, General Wei Yan of the Chu army led the Wuwei battalion to forcefully cross the river by boat, broke the Wei army formation, and seized a landing place on the other side of the river. After the Chu army crossed the river one after another, the Wei army retreated to Chencang.

Both Cao Ren and Sima Yi deserved to be good defensive commanders. Even though the Chu army was assisted by weapons such as kerosene bombs and poisonous smoke bombs, under the tenacious defense of the Wei army, they were unable to take Chen Cang for a long time.The Chu army also tried to dig tunnels to bury gunpowder under the city of Chencang, but they failed to dig several tunnels. The ground was full of hard rocks.

In the summer of 218, Zhang Wu sent Ma Chao to lead the cavalry to cut off the grain road of Chen Cang, and Xu Shu led another army to attack Mei County to cut off Cao Ren's retreat.

Ma Chao's hometown is Fufeng Maoling, Fufeng is now part of Baoji, and Maoling is now Xingping City.When he came to Chencang, Ma Chao had just returned to his hometown, and he was very familiar with the terrain here, and there were even many old Ma family's old departments here.Ma Chao recruited many iron cavalry from Xiliang. With Ma Chao and Pang De's bravery, the Wei army's transport team was often robbed. As a last resort, Cao Ren finally gave up Chencang and shrank his troops to defend Chang'an.

In a big city like Chang'an, there are generals such as Cao Ren, Yu Jin, Zhang Jai, and top strategists such as Sima Yi, Cheng Yu, and Liu Ye defending the city. There are still nearly 30 troops in the city, and there is no shortage of food. Sending out a million troops may not necessarily be able to attack.

Now there is not much difference in the strength of the two sides. Even if the Chu army uses catapults and kerosene bombs, they can't do anything about the tall and thick walls of Chang'an City. After all, this was once the capital of the Han Dynasty.If soldiers are sent to attack by force, even if the soldiers of the Chu army are exhausted, they will not be able to take down the city.

But the Chu army has gunpowder, and Chang'an City has a very fatal flaw, that is, it is located in the center of the Guanzhong Plain, surrounded by alluvial plains of the Wei River, and the Chu army can dig tunnels to blow up the city!

In fact, the most important thing in guarding Chang'an is to guard the passes in the four directions of the Guanzhong Plain, namely Tongguan, Sanguan, Xiaoguan and Wuguan. The Guanzhong Plain is a terrain closed on all sides. As long as these four passes are guarded to prevent the enemy from entering, Chang'an will be safe. of.

But once the attacker breaks through any pass, they can directly enter the narrow and long plain that stretches for [-] kilometers. On this vast plain, there will be no danger for Chang'an City to defend, and the enemy's troops will soon reach the city.

Although Chang'an City is large and has tall walls, there are many places that need to be defended, and the population in the city is extremely large, and the demand for food is great, so it cannot be defended for a long time.

The later Tang Dynasty also chose Chang'an as its capital. The Tang Dynasty was the most powerful among the Chinese feudal dynasties. Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty was also one of the few super cities in the world.However, during the 300 years of the Tang Dynasty, Chang'an, the capital, was breached six times, which shows how difficult Chang'an was to defend.

The protagonist Zhang Xiaojing in "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an" once expressed such emotion: "The world knows the prosperity of Chang'an, but has it ever known the fragility of Chang'an?"

The most depressing thing about Wei Guo now is that he is no longer the opponent of the Chu army in the field battle. If he can't defend the city in the field battle, it will be difficult to defend, because he dare not go out of the city to fight back, and the psychological pressure will be great if he simply defends passively.

When Ma Chao and Han Sui raised 20 troops against Cao Cao to attack Chang'an, Chang'an defender Zhong Yao personally led the troops out of the city to fight, but even Ma Dai couldn't beat him.

As a result, Zhong Yao didn't keep guard for long, and Chang'an fell into Ma Chao's hands more than ten days later.

Sima Yi knew that if he simply defended, he still couldn't defend in the end, because the opponent had powerful gunpowder. Although the walls of Chang'an City were very thick and strong, if they couldn't be blown up once, they could be blown up two or three times.

Over the past few years, the senior officials of Wei State also knew that this powerful weapon was called gunpowder, and they also knew that it was something made by Taoist alchemy. They also called people to imitate it, but the power was far inferior to the gunpowder of the Chu army.

Cao Pi and others knew that the gunpowder developed by Zhang Wu must have a special formula, and tried their best to send a large number of spies to steal the formula, but they never succeeded.

Therefore, Sima Yi suggested that we should not defend to the death, otherwise the morale of the soldiers would be slowly depleted in passive defense. It was better to take advantage of the fact that there was sufficient food, the strength of both sides was similar, and the morale was still good to engage in a decisive battle with the Chu army.

It is good to win, but even if you lose, it will consume the strength of the Chu army. Even if you exchange the 30 troops for the opponent's 20, it will buy Wei State ten years, and maybe there will be a turning point after ten years.

I have to say that Sima Yi's suggestion should be the best choice for the Wei army at the moment. Otherwise, if the 30-strong army shrinks and does not dare to fight, it will only make the soldiers gradually lose their confidence and fighting spirit. The longer it is delayed, the lower the chance of winning. Morale is the most important factor in an engagement.

Now is not the time when Sima Yi played against Zhuge Liang in history. At that time, Sima Yi could occupy Qishan's geographical advantage to defend, and I would not go out to fight you as you scolded me.Moreover, Zhuge Liang has neither kerosene bombs nor gunpowder, so he can only use the lives of soldiers to attack. The Shu Han has a small population, so Zhuge Liang is definitely unwilling to do such a loss-making business.

Therefore, Zhuge Liang's next few Northern Expeditions were exhausted by Sima Yi every time, and he had to retreat because he ran out of food and grass.But now that the Chu army has arrived at Chang'an City, and they are not short of food, since they can't afford it, it's better to have a quick fight.

(End of this chapter)