The beginning of the Three Kingdoms Cheng Yuanzhi

Chapter 267

In the early winter of October, when the cold wind was blowing on the land of Youyan, the mansion of King Wei in Yecheng was warm.

The news that the [-] Xiliang army invaded Guanzhong reached Yecheng half a month ago.

After Cheng Yuanzhi heard the news, he did not move for a long time. He only ordered Zhong Yao to guard the existing city and not to fight Ma Chao.

Although this order puzzled the counselors in Hebei, it made the Xiliang army helpless.

They have never seen this kind of play in the city of the strong.

In this era, usually, if someone who is not as strong as the defender comes to bully him, the defender will definitely immediately mobilize his troops and go out of the city for a decisive battle.

But now, there are as few as 5000 people and as many as more than [-] people in the counties and cities of Guanzhong.

Wherever the Xiliang army went, there were all fortified cities, and there was no one to fight with them. It was freezing cold, and they traveled for hundreds of miles, but they could only go to the countryside to plunder.

This made the Xiliang army very desperate, feeling powerless and powerless.

Seeing that it was difficult to make a move in a hurry, Ma Chao sighed at Wangcheng in the eight hundred li pass, so Ma Chao adopted the words of his subordinates and divided his troops to seize Tongguan.

.........

Yecheng, Wei Palace.

Cheng Yuanzhi and Chief Military Advisor Jia Xu sat opposite each other at the banquet, toasted and drank together, discussing the war in Guanzhong.

Since Jia Xu unraveled his knot, he has been more active in making suggestions than before. It just so happens that this time he is most familiar with the Xiliang army's rebellion, so after thinking twice, he came to offer suggestions in person.

"The King of Wei has delayed sending troops to resist the enemy. Could it be that he wants to wait until the next spring to send troops again?"

Cheng Yuanzhi shook his head: "Don't worry, the army is new and vigorous, so it's not too late to make a plan and then move. After Ma Teng, Han Sui, Dong Zhuo, Li Jue, Guo Si and others took turns to cause disasters in the Guanzhong counties, The population is sparse, most of the rest are in the city, and it is rare to see a single family in a hundred miles in the wilderness, even if there are one hundred thousand troops in Xiliang, what can we do?"

Jia Xu stroked his beard, and said with his jaw: "Even so, the natural danger in Tongguan has been lost, and the counties in Guanzhong are trapped. How can Tianwei allow the border bandits to blaspheme! The king of Wei should revive the king's division as soon as possible, and settle down with lightning speed. The invading enemy will frighten the little ones."

"Oh? Guan Wenhe has a well-thought-out plan, could it be that he has a good plan to defeat the enemy?"

Cheng Yuanzhi looked at Jia Xu with expectation.

Jia Xu smiled slightly, and said humbly: "Back to the King of Wei, Xu really has a clumsy plan that cannot be put on the table."

Cheng Yuanzhi suddenly became interested: "I also have a strategy! Wen He, don't rush to say, you and I each write the strategy in our hearts, and confirm each other, how about it?"

Jia Xu nodded again and again: "Dare not to obey orders, King Wei please!"

"Wenhe please!"

The two then stopped the wine bottles, fetched pens and inks, each wrote the strategies in the palms of their hands, dried them and clenched them into fists, and put them together.

After a while, they all opened their palms.

I saw the word "divorce" written on Jia Xu's palm, but the word "differentiation" was written on Cheng Yuanzhi's palm.

The general idea is similar, but the subtleties are not the same.

Jia Xu thought for a while, then cupped his hands and said, "The king of Wei has a good opinion, it's not as good as peace."

Cheng Yuanzhi waved his hands repeatedly and laughed: "The separation plan is clever, but it won't be useful for a while. Only when the horses are defeated first and the two armies come to a stalemate, the separation plan will be useful. Today, Xiliang's [-] soldiers are coming menacingly." , suddenly unavailable.”

"As the saying goes, one enemy is difficult to defeat, and two enemies are easy to win. Han Sui is over seventy years old and twice as old as Ma Chao. Even if the two join hands, they must have different thoughts and thoughts. If they want to break it, they all rely on the word "differentiation". .”

"However, the most important thing right now is how to enter the pass, and where to enter the pass."

Hearing this, Jia Xu shook his head repeatedly, and sighed inwardly: he has never seen anyone who is better at using troops than the King of Wei when it comes to fighting in the army.

Sighing, Jia Xu still frowned and thought.

The situation on the battlefield at this time is that Ma Chao has already occupied Tongguan, thus blocking the way for the army to advance westward. The counties in Guanzhong and the defenders in Hanzhong are like turtles in a urn.

Therefore, it is urgent for soldiers to enter the pass.

Of course, Ma Chao can be regarded as a lonely army at this moment.

Normally speaking, it is a taboo for military strategists to go deep alone.But when it comes to Ma Chao, this taboo does not exist.

Ma Chao's [-] soldiers are all cavalry, and what he desperately wants is to fight Cheng Yuanzhi in the field and defeat the latter's vital force.

Even if they are defeated in a field battle, they can flee back to Xiliang from the Guanzhong Plain in a day or two with a wave of the horsewhip.

Therefore, marching into Guanzhong to fight Ma Chao decisively has to be done step by step.

But if you want to enter Guanzhong, you must first cross Tongguan.

Although Tongguan is a dangerous pass where "one man guards the pass, ten thousand men cannot destroy it", it is not a narrow pass where "a thousand troops cannot move among one person", but a wide pass where "a hundred people line up and attack together", requiring thousands of troops Wanma was stationed.

Fortunately, Tongguan is not the only way to enter Guanzhong, there are other routes.

There are three main routes to enter Guanzhong from the Central Plains. From north to south, they are: the northern route exits Hedong, and crosses the Yellow River from Fenglingdu, Pubanjin, and Yumendu to the west; From Wancheng, sneak in through Wuguan and Lantian.

Usually, if the Kwantung army wants to enter the pass, the first choice is to enter through Tongguan; the second choice is to cross the Yellow River from the east of the river;

Based on the fact that there are three routes to choose from to enter Guanzhong, Tongguan has always had very few defenders, which allowed Ma Chao to take the opportunity to occupy Tongguan.

After a long time, Jia Xu said, "I don't know where the king of Wei wants to enter the army?"

Cheng Yuanzhi asked someone to bring a map, pointed to a place, and said, "Here!"

The winter of the 15th year of Jian'an.Cheng Yuanzhi led an army of [-] troops to display on the north bank of the Yellow River east of Tongguan. He personally attracted the attention of Ma Chao and other Xiliang troops in front of the formation.Nail the [-] Xiliang Army firmly in Tongguan.

On the other side, Xu Chu was ordered to lead [-] troops to go up the Yellow River north, cross the Yellow River from the Pubanjin Ferry to the west, station troops on the West River, and set up camp on the spot to meet the follow-up troops to cross the river.

After finding out the news, Ma Chao had to retreat to Guanzhong in order to avoid being attacked by the enemy. He set up his formation and tried to fight Cheng Yuanzhi in a field battle to decide the outcome.

At this time, more than 30 soldiers and horses gathered in the entire Guanzhong, of which 15 were the Xiliang Army; the original [-] to [-] defenders in Guanzhong were scattered in various cities;

War is imminent.

From December of the 15th year of Jian'an to February of the following year, there were more than ten fierce battles between the two sides.

Thanks to the Xiliang army's long guns and fast horses, the Xiliang army won more victories than lost.

But after several battles, the fighting spirit of the Xiliang army became weaker and weaker. The other soldiers and horses suffered little losses, but the losses of the Ma Chao army increased.

This is because Cheng Yuanzhi ordered all the troops and horses to fight against the Xiliang army, and he recognized Ma Chao's subordinates to fight to death, and did not actively attack the other troops and horses.

Especially Han Sui's followers, they would take a detour when they met on the battlefield.

After more than a dozen battles like this, the way Ma Chao looked at Han Sui changed.

The Xiliang army no longer had the momentum to move forward bravely, and retreated while fighting, and they were about to retreat back to the border of Liangzhou.

Cheng Yuanzhi only used a simple differentiation plan, which almost broke the alliance between Ma Chao and Han Sui.

As a result, the Xiliang Army became suspicious of each other. Seeing the strange situation, the other eight warlords also chose to be wise and protect themselves. They all chose to fall behind Ma Chao in the battle and let Ma Chao's army fight hard.

In this way, the battle between the two sides continued, but Ma Chao's strength declined sharply, getting worse day by day.

By March of the 16th year of Jian'an, the Xiliang coalition forces had completely withdrawn from the border of Guanzhong, and the two sides were at a stalemate in Jicheng, waiting for the final decisive battle.

(End of this chapter)