Chapter 6 Confrontation at Street Pavilion
"General, it has been detected that the Shu army in Jieting is divided into five groups, and the troops are stationed for defense."
Ma Su's movements could not be concealed from the Wei army's scouts, and soon the movements of the Shu army in Jieting were delivered to Zhang He's desk.
In fact, Zhang He's defeat was inexplicable, and Zhang He still feels very aggrieved to this day.
Fifty thousand Wei troops were attacked at night by the Shu army during their march. Thousands of soldiers and horses were lost in one battle, which was a shame.
So after Zhang He gathered his troops again, he camped twenty miles away from the street pavilion and sent scouts to inquire about the specific situation of the street pavilion.
"Have you found out the number of Shu troops and who the generals are?" Zhang He looked at the scout's report and asked with a frown.
"General, judging from the smoke and military flags, the number of the Shu army should be less than 10,000. Its commander is named Ma Su, and he is a direct descendant of Zhuge Liang, the Prime Minister of Shu."
"Ma Su? But he is the younger brother of Ma Liang, the head of the Ma family?" Zhang He frowned slightly and asked after a long time to react.
"Of course." The deputy general nodded.
"I didn't expect that the Ma family in Jingnan would produce so many talented people." Zhang He shook his head gently and couldn't help but sigh.
"Since Zhuge Villager sent him to guard the street pavilion, he must have been prepared. This battle will not be easy."
"That's not necessarily the case." The deputy general scratched his head and said after looking at the specific information given by the scout.
"According to the intelligence, this Ma Di is just an appearance. If he leads more than ten thousand troops to defend Jieting City, we will probably lose a lot of money if we try to capture him."
"But now they are guarding Jieting City with only two thousand men, and only Shu general Wang Ping is guarding the city. The rest of the tribes have gone up to the mountains to set up camps, and each tribe has less than two thousand men."
"The troops are so dispersed and it is extremely difficult to coordinate with each other. This is a military exploit given to the general by God."
"Haha, I'm afraid it's not a battle achievement." Zhang He sneered and looked at the map with a gloomy look.
They are all veterans for many years, and he can see the problems of the Shu army without his subordinates reminding him. There is no water source at first glance on the four mountains. As long as the water source is cut off and surrounded on all sides, the Shu army will be in chaos in a short time.
By then sending troops to cover them up, it would be easy to defeat them.
But Zhang He saw a deeper problem, that is, the Shu army was too scattered. If the Wei army wanted to defeat them, they had to divide their forces and encircle them, and then wait for the Shu army to collapse on their own.
If he were beaten one by one, he would probably have to be beaten for a month. Then he would not save Longxi, just pack up and go back to Chang'an to receive his punishment.
And how long will it take to wait for the Shu army to collapse? Is there any water stored in the Shu army camp? If so, how long would the Wei army have to surround it before the Shu army ran out of water?
This is something that the current intelligence cannot tell Zhang He at all, so Zhang He has to make his own judgment.
And based on the situation where the Wei army suddenly got angry as soon as it approached the Shu army that night, Ma Di was either prepared or was reckless.
Considering Ma Su's identity, Zhang He estimated that the latter was unlikely.
"I'm sure Ma Su has already made full preparations and is waiting for us to send troops to encircle him." Zhang He marked on the map and immediately turned pale.
Under his plan, the Wei army would also divide its troops into five locations and set up five military camps to surround the Shu army.
As a result, the Wei army, which originally seemed to have plenty of troops, appeared to be very small.
And if the Jieting fails to be captured before the Shu army annexes the entire Longxi, the 40,000 Wei army that cannot be gathered in a short time will face disaster when the Shu army's reinforcements arrive!
"Ma Su is trying to drag us into a gambling game, a game he already knows the outcome of!" Zhang He saw clearly that all this was calculated, and secretly took a breath of air.
In his opinion, this was a losing game. After all, he had no trump cards and he had no idea how many trump cards his opponent had.
Seeing Zhang He's arrangement, the lieutenants fell silent and were all secretly frightened.
"General, we must not fall into the Shu army's trick, otherwise not only will Longxi not be saved, but the tens of thousands of Guanzhong soldiers will also be in danger!" A deputy general said with his hands in hand, and the other deputy generals also nodded.
"Of course it can't be like this, otherwise we will be fooled by Ma Su and have no choice but to follow his rhythm." Zhang He shook his head, but drew a line on the map, which went directly through the street pavilion.
"Ma Di's plan is indeed good, but the troops he left at the street pavilion are too few and too scattered. It is impossible for Wang Ping's two thousand troops to withstand our army's siege."
"So I just ignored the Shu troops stationed in the surrounding mountains and gathered the main force to knock down the street pavilion. After that, I left 15,000 soldiers and horses to guard the street pavilion and prevent the Shu army from joining forces. I personally led 30,000 elite troops to continue the rescue. Long."
"At that time, you only need to send troops everywhere to prevent the Shu army from joining forces in one place to block the grain road."
Zhang He's plan made several lieutenants look at each other and remained silent for a while.
"I know what you are thinking. This is indeed a taboo for military strategists, but we have no other choice." Zhang He shook his head and could only smile bitterly.
"We are at a disadvantage, and now we have no choice but to do this. We can only say that we are glad that Ma Su chose to divide his troops, so that the Shu army is less able to disperse and threaten the grain road."
"If he insists on guarding the street pavilion, I'm afraid we won't even have a chance to gamble."
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A few days later, the Wei army finally made a comeback as Ma Di expected and quickly surrounded Jieting City. However, the Wei army did not cut off the water source of the Shu army. Instead, they divided their troops to guard all the mountain roads leading to Jieting, and then began to build siege equipment.
"Is Zhang He trying to break up the Shu army one by one?" Ma Su couldn't understand Zhang He's actions, but he patted his thigh with regret without delay.
"Fuck, if I had known that I would go to Shoujieting City, I would have been able to stay comfortable in the city for two days before I died."
"General, should we rush to the rescue of General Wang Ping?" A guard stepped forward cautiously and asked.
"We will definitely go to the rescue. It is not the style of our Han army to remain motionless when our friendly troops are in trouble," Ma Di said.
"Gather your troops and horses to follow me down the mountain to provide support. We must not let anything happen to Wang Ping!"
"Wei!" The attendant immediately turned around to deliver the order, but was stopped by Ma Su.
"Wait, by the way, everyone must follow me! You are not allowed to pass me!!!"
"Uh... Yui!"
Two thousand Shu troops quickly gathered and, led by Ma Di, charged from top to bottom toward the Wei army's formation.
But soon Ma Su finally understood why he was suffocated to death on the mountain by Zhang He in history.
The mountain in Jieting is very steep, and there are only a few mountain roads where soldiers and horses can go down the mountain. The Wei army only needed to set up their military formations and set up powerful crossbows, but the Shu army would not be able to charge forward at all.
Ma Di led his troops to rush into the Wei army's formation several times, but to no avail. Ma Su himself was extremely "lucky". Not a single arrow hit him, and he could only return to the mountain in disgrace.
After the Shu troops on all sides failed to attack the formation, Zhang He confidently launched an offensive against Jieting.
Tens of thousands of Wei troops launched an all-out offensive against Jieting.