Chapter 596 Cao Wei counterattacks
With the collapse of the left and right wings, the outcome of this battle has been decided.
Tian Yu himself failed to commit suicide and was captured alive by Ma Su. A large number of Wei soldiers were strangled by Han cavalry during their escape, and suffered heavy losses from being trampled on each other and beaten by Han sabers.
But in the final analysis, the Han army only numbered 30,000 people. After the Wei army suffered extremely heavy losses, most of the soldiers could still be recovered alive.
What's more, Tian Yu was captured, but Fei Yao had already escaped in advance. He led his troops and horses a hundred miles away and set up banners to gather the defeated army, which stopped the Wei army's decline.
In the Battle of Hulao Pass, the Han army defeated the Wei army with a small number and defeated the Wei army with the advantage of cavalry. Fei Yao's count after the war revealed that the entire army had lost about 40,000 men, and almost all of the Youzhou cavalry brought back by Tian Yu from the north were lost.
This discovery made Situ Gaorou look ugly, but Fei Yao was very satisfied with the result.
"It's very good. After this battle, we didn't lose more than half of our troops. In fact, the whole army only needs to rest for half a month before they can go back to the battlefield. This is beyond my expectation."
Gao Rou: "..."
Have the generals from Kansai become this cowardly? In total, if you are not destroyed by Ma Su, is victory?
"Since General Tian was defeated and disappeared, it is now up to me to take full responsibility for the army."
Fei Yao shrugged, disapproving of Gao Rou's speechlessness, and instead arrogantly put the general seal in his pocket.
When fighting with Tian Yu, Fei Yao knew he was going to be defeated just by looking at his layout. As someone who is fighting against Ma Su, instead of trying your best to defend in order to be undefeated, you still want to plot against Ma Su?
If you don't lose, who will lose?
Facing an opponent of Ma Su's level, being undefeated is already pretty good, right?
"So... Captain Fei can do something?" Gao Rou was a little helpless. He was not a military commander, he was just sent to supervise the army. But judging from the current situation, Wei's situation is precarious.
"Yes, yes, but it's not that easy." Fei Yao shook his head and said calmly.
"Although the Shu army is massive and has a tenacious will to fight, in the final analysis, Guandong is our Wei Dynasty's home court, and there are many ways we can choose to play here."
"So try your best to fight against Ma Su at Tiger Lao Pass, and find ways to attack from other passes to divide the Shu army's strength. When Ma Su is involved and dispatches troops to rescue, he has no time to take care of us..."
"We will send troops when the time comes. We will take advantage of the empty Hulao Pass and defeat them in one battle!" Gao Rou subconsciously took it, but then she was greeted by Fei Yao's eyes.
"When the time comes... we will be safe and Ma Su will not go eastward."
Gao Rou: "Ah?"
Are you considering your methods to ensure that Ma Su will not go east after taking Luoyang? From the beginning to the end, you regard Luoyang as a place that must fall!
Gao Rou was right. For a veteran like Fei Yao, he knew very well how desperate it was to seize territory from Ma Su.
Ma Su is here, and even if you resist desperately, he may not be able to stop him. Since you still want to drive him away beautifully?
Simply greedy!
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Compared with Cao Wei's bleak prospects, the Battle of Hulao Pass once again made Ma Su famous.
All the Han army officers and soldiers saw Ma Di's heroic appearance again, watching him lead the army to crush the enemy army several times their own from the front. It not only boosted the morale of the entire army, but also frightened Cao Wei in one battle.
For a time, everyone in the Han army was extremely excited, and their morale skyrocketed.
Ma Su didn't care about this. He had a headache at the moment.
After Tian Yu, a stubborn old man, was forcibly kidnapped by Ma Su, he went on a hunger strike. No matter what they said, he remained silent and refused to reply to them.
Ma Su was also helpless about this. He really couldn't understand why Tian Yu was so stubborn. Wang Jun's die-hard loyalist was not afraid of death because of Jiang Ji's important use, which made him feel that he had been favored by the country.
You are a great talent conquered by the late emperor, but it doesn’t matter, so why should you?
But just when Ma Su was at a loss, Liu Yin made a suggestion.
"General, senior Tian insists on refusing to cooperate. He is probably worried about his family in Yecheng, right?" Liu Yin looked at Tian Yu's back and said with a frown.
"After all, the puppet Wei's rebellion is extremely cruel. If he surrenders, his family may no longer have a chance to survive."
"Is it because of this? Didn't we already have countermeasures in place? Didn't Lao Zhang's little boy be rescued back then?" Ma Su frowned and asked, feeling a little strange about this.
It is normal for Cao Wei for family members to sit together. This system has existed in all dynasties. But Ma Su didn't ask Tian Yu to surrender immediately and go to the battlefield. Why don't you fake your death for a while and wait until we rescue your family to talk about it?
There is no need to be so direct, just want to die.
"No, General, since General Zhang, the puppet Wei has changed the hostage system." Liu Yin shook his head and said helplessly to Ma Su.
"They have already paid attention to the widows of generals who died in battle, and it is almost impossible to do what they did before. Especially for those who are missing on the battlefield, if their whereabouts cannot be found, their families will be focused on, so..."
"Tsk...the old Cao family is so ruthless. They immediately figured out the thoughts of the frontline generals." Ma Di was speechless, but he still had to admit that such a system could indeed guarantee the bottom line.
Just like now, Tian Yu would rather go on a hunger strike and starve to death than surrender.
"In this case, the only choice is to exchange hostages." Ma Su shook his head and felt a headache for a while.
"Before that, let's send Guo Rang to the rear and see what Gong Heng can do."
With the current level of caution of the Wei army, it is probably very difficult to capture a Wei general. Fortunately, Luoyang, where Jiang Ji is now, has been heavily surrounded, and it is a certainty that the city will be destroyed and captured.
After Jiang Ji is captured, Tian Yu's family can be exchanged for it, and this living fossil may be able to relax.
Of course, there is another way to save Tian Yu's family, and that is to quickly advance the front and defeat Cao Wei to shock the whole country. When everyone was trying to calm down the chaos and resist the Han army, they took advantage of the chaos to save people.
However, this method was obviously not very realistic, and it was eventually shelved.
In the following days, the Han and Wei sides started a stalemate around Hulao Pass. The Wei army became watertight under Fei Yao's personal defense, which also prevented Ma Su from making a surprise attack.
However, in the direction of Hulao Pass, Fei Yao adopted a defensive stalemate strategy. But in other directions, Wei Jun began a series of moves.
Soon, Ma Di, who was in charge of Hulao Pass, received a series of urgent letters from the rear.