Chapter 179 Conquering Nanxiang County
Obviously, Wei Jun's fantasy of quickly entering Xinye City by water was shattered.
Ma Su was well prepared and brought his army directly to greet them.
Interestingly, the Wei army had a total strength of 5,000, but it was still afraid of the Shu army, which only had 2,000 men, and did not dare to advance. When Ma Di led his troops to the front, the Wei army retreated quickly and did not engage with Ma Di at all.
The Shu army had just defeated Guanqiu Jian's 30,000 troops with hundreds of cavalry. Even though Guan Qiujian only commanded the second-line troops and was not an elite force, the combat effectiveness of the Shu army should not be underestimated.
The Shu army was too scary, so I still didn’t fight them.
However, Ma Su has always been unyielding when he is in power. If you take one step back, he is eager to take two steps forward. Seeing the Wei army retreating in an attempt to avoid its sharp edge, he pursued it himself without saying a word.
On the Han River, the Shu army pursued the Wei army for more than ten miles, killing thousands and hundreds of Wei soldiers and destroying the reinforcements. Then the Wei army in Fancheng retreated more than 20 miles in a sensible manner, looking at it from a distance and not moving forward.
Then Ma Su returned to the army and stationed himself under Xinye City again, sitting down in silence in an extremely arrogant manner. As soon as the probing horse detects the arrival of reinforcements from the Wei army, Ma Di immediately leads his troops to rush out, blocking the enemy for more than ten miles and chasing them fiercely.
The soldiers and horses stationed in various places in Nanyang are also second-line troops, and their combat effectiveness is not high. Compared with veterans like Ma Di, they are really inferior. After being surrounded by Ma Di three or four times for reinforcements, the Wei army finally changed their strategy and began to gather together towards the front line of Fancheng, preparing to gather a large army and rush to support Xinye.
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Just when Ma Su was stationed at Xinye City and Zhang Han, who was at Julu City, was frightening reinforcements from all walks of life. In the westernmost part of the entire Nanyang War Zone, the defenders of Nanxiang County were patrolling.
Originally, there was only one Nanyang County in the Nanyang Basin, and all counties were counted as one county. However, since the Liu Biao period, Nanyang County has been dismembered and divided into three parts.
To the south is Xiangyang County with Xiangyang Fancheng as its core, to the north is Nanyang County with Xinye as its seat, and to the west is Nanxiang County with Nanyang County as its center.
After Xinye was besieged, Nanxiang County also dispatched some troops to help. At this moment, there are not many defenders in the entire county, basically only a few militiamen left.
Originally, in the opinion of the defenders, there shouldn't be any big problems in such a remote place.
But the reality is probably disappointing them.
The first thing to notice something was wrong was the defenders of Wudang County. Early in the morning, they saw densely packed ships going down the river in the upper reaches of the Danjiang River. The flags of "General Zhang of Han Dynasty" and "General Zhao of Han Zhendong" were flying on the leading ship.
"It's the army of the Shu people! The enemy is attacking!" When they saw the Shu army coming down the river, the Wudang defenders were shocked, and their morale was in chaos for a while.
Under normal circumstances, there are front-line troops stationed here, relying on the narrow surface of the Danjiang River to defend it. But at this moment, due to the attack on Wu, all the elites stationed here have been transferred away, leaving only the old, weak, sick and disabled.
There is a big difference between elite soldiers and weak troops. A group of militiamen alone cannot stop Zhao Yun and Zhang He, even if they just cross the river in a small boat.
The Shu army was as strong as a broken bamboo, crossed the pass along the river, and stormed Wudang County with Zhang He personally as the vanguard. After a day of siege, the Wudang defenders could not resist. The county magistrates and military officials all abandoned the city and fled. The Shu army took advantage of the situation and attacked the city.
Wudang County is the barrier of Nanxiang County, a city defense relying on the mountains. Once this place was lost, Nanxiang County opened its door facing Shangyong direction.
"I didn't expect that the Wei army's defense in this area was so weak. Prime Minister Zhuge really had a clever plan." After taking Wudang, Zhang He was a little surprised. Obviously, he didn't expect that such a critical pass was not heavily guarded by Cao Wei.
"This is not some magical plan. The main troops are probably attracted by Youchang." Zhao Yun understood the specific situation, and his old face showed a bit of nervousness.
"I don't know what's going on with You Chang in Xinye... He is a pillar of the Han Dynasty, so nothing can happen to him..."
"That kid Ma Su... I'm too smart to play with him. He won't die." When he mentioned Ma Su, Zhang He frowned, as if he was thinking of some bad memories. Then he shook his head, waved his hands and said,
"Hahahaha... Junyi, one of the four dignified pillars of Hebei Province, is really unpleasant to be plotted by Youchang in the first battle. But it is not a shame. After all, even Guo Huai is in the hands of Youchang." Zhao Yun saw Zhang He's His expression made him smile.
Zhang He is one of the few veterans of his generation, and his ability in commanding troops is even better than that of Zhao Yun. Such great talents have been plotted by Ma Su, so there is really nothing to worry about.
After thinking about this clearly, Zhao Yun then relaxed and led his troops and Zhang He to continue to advance south. The Shu army left some troops to garrison Wudang, and then headed down the Danjiang River to attack Nanxiang County.
Zhuge Liang's plan for this battle has also come to light. He wants to capture Nanxiang County!
The theoretical scope of Nanxiang County is quite large, extending from Zhuyang to the south, Shunyang to the east, and Danshui to the north.
However, the Shu army's goal was not that big, just the counties west of the Danjiang River from Nanxiang County to Wudang. This area of counties is protected by the Danjiang River and supported by mountains behind it, making it an easy-to-defend but difficult-to-attack area.
And as long as Wudang is still in the hands of the Shu army, the soldiers and horses of the Shu Han can rush down the river from Shangyong to help here at any time.
As for why Zhuge Liang is interested in this place...
Not only is Nanxiang County easy to defend but difficult to attack, the Shu army has a chance to defend it. The main reason is that you can enter the Qinling Mountain Road by going upstream from Nanxiang County and Danshui River.
And at the end of this Qinling Mountain Road is Wuguan, a famous tourist attraction in Guanzhong!
After all, the Prime Minister still couldn't forget his plan of the Northern Expedition to Guanzhong. This time I saw the opportunity and made some preparations for the future Northern Expedition.
Of course, if the Wei army goes all out to seize Nanxiang County, the Shu army may not be able to hold it. Therefore, the core plan of the Shu army is still to defend Wudang, so that the superior soldiers can come out at any time.
The magistrate of Nanxiang County was even more cowardly than the Wudang magistrate. He abandoned the city and left before Zhang He and Zhao Yun arrived. The Shu army almost took over and occupied the seat of Nanxiang County.
Once these two places were conquered, all the counties west of Danjiang were defeated. With almost no loss of troops, the Shu army quickly captured most of Nanxiang County.
The complete fall of Nanxiang County almost represented the complete collapse of Nanyang's defense line. Although the main strongholds, Fancheng and Wancheng, are still there, a hole has been punched in the corner of the defense line.
When the news came back to Luoyang, all civil and military officials in the court fell into silence, and no one dared to speak. Cao Rui's face darkened, and he was angry but also a little sad.
Damn, the people in Xishu have nothing to do, right? How could you just hit me?
Aren’t you crusading against Soochow? You hit him!