Chapter 621 Ma Di went east, intending to visit Sizhou
Sima Yi's prediction was very accurate, and his second son really stood out.
Sima Zhao led 100,000 Wei troops, divided into three groups and set out from Shouchun. The army headed straight for Dongxing. During this period, Wu Jun was unable to defend himself and acted extremely cowardly.
This gave Sima Zhao confidence, causing the entire army to despise the Soochow Tribe. When the three armies advanced towards Dongxing, they didn't even send out any scouts.
In their view, the generals in Soochow were basically all junior generals, and the soldiers were afraid of fighting and would not dare to take the initiative to attack. They can successfully occupy Dongxing, and fierce fighting between the two sides will break out along the Yangtze River.
However, on the night when Sima Zhao's army entered Dongxing, the Wu army's leader Lu Kang personally led a surprise attack with 3,000 soldiers. Thousands of Wu troops took advantage of the night to rush into the Wei army's tent and quickly disrupted the Wei army camp.
Sima Zhao apparently forgot that although there were no veteran generals on the opposite side, there seemed to be none on his side either. Except for Guo Huai, who is a veteran, the entire army is also a junior with little experience.
This fatal carelessness led to the defeat of 100,000 Wei troops in Dongxing. Countless soldiers trampled on each other and died while running. Only Guo Huai's timely stabilization of the military formation prevented the Wu army from continuing to expand its victory.
In the end, Cao Wei worked hard and prepared to regain face in the battle of Dongxing in the south, but he suffered an unprecedented defeat.
Fortunately, Sima Yi was not slow to react and quickly sent a message to Sima Shi to respond. With the support of the two groups of Wei troops, at least they didn't lose all their pants.
Originally, this battle was a good start for Cao Wei to safeguard the legitimacy of his destiny and find a way to regain the face he had lost in Luoyang.
However, the face was not found, but Cao Wei was completely disgraced.
I can't even beat Soochow, it's so fucking embarrassing...
The news reached Luoyang, and Ma Di was also extremely surprised by Cao Wei's defeat.
"Isn't there no leader Ding Feng in Soochow? If I remember correctly, Lu Kang is not yet twenty years old, right?"
Looking at the information sent by the Military Council, Ma Su said to himself in astonishment. Obviously, the combat effectiveness of Cao Wei's army is now far lower than he imagined.
"When will the Wei army's combat power be so strong that it can compete with the Wu army? Is this still the great country in the Central Plains that used to suppress the big men?"
Although Ma Di has always been a prodigal, he still has high respect for the Wei army in the Central Plains. At the very least, Cao Wei could mobilize an army of 200,000 to 300,000 people, and with the wealth of Guandong, a skinny camel was bigger than a horse.
But in the battle of Dongxing, Ma Su could even show the weakness of the Wei army.
Obviously, the Wei army's combat effectiveness was extremely weak. Even Soochow can compete with them. It seems that they are really a broken house.
"Your Majesty, now the puppet Wei Dynasty has mobilized all the soldiers from Xudu to go south to support Shouchun. At present, Yingchuan County's frontline troops are empty, I think we should intervene."
At this time, Deng Ai, who was responsible for guarding Dagoguan, made suggestions to Ma Su.
The southern Henan area where Yingchuan County is located has flat terrain, a large population, and the land is very valuable. The only disadvantage is that it is a flat river, and once it is captured, sufficient troops will be needed to garrison it.
Therefore, at first, the Han generals did not think that they should go south early at this time. Everyone's strategic thinking still stayed before the Battle of Guanzhong, believing that our side should use natural dangers as a barrier to eat up Cao Wei's territory bit by bit.
But now, no one thinks so. At the level of the Wei army, even if they swallowed the entire Yuzhou in one go, they might not be able to counterattack.
However, regarding Deng Ai's suggestion, Ma Su frowned slightly and quickly shook his head and rejected it.
"No, not only is the grain road going south longer, but there is no water for a hundred miles from Luoyang to Dagu, and it's all overland."
"And the most important thing is that if we attack Xudu at this time, the main force of the puppet Wei army will inevitably retreat towards Xuzhou. This will not be conducive to our army's encirclement of the main force of the Wei army."
The last one was the most important. Ma Di didn't want the nearly 100,000 Huainan Wei troops to escape. If Cao Wei is forced to start a strategic contraction and gather all his troops in Hebei, it will be too troublesome.
"Let's honestly follow the original plan, rely on the Yellow River waterway to go all the way east, and conquer Yanzhou first." Ma Su waved his hand and made a conclusion on the next direction of the attack.
"Speaking of advancing eastward, Bo Yue, how is the war in Xingyang?"
"It's going well! Your Majesty!" Jiang Wei replied immediately, looking a little complacent.
"Before I led my troops back to Luoyang, we had already defeated Chen Liu. Now General Zhengnan is leading his troops to attack Jiyin County, which is only one step away from Puyang."
"And now the rebellion in Yanzhou has been put down by the puppet Wei Dynasty for us. Now that we invade Yanzhou, we can basically take over the entire state smoothly."
Regarding this progress, Ma Su nodded slightly and pondered for a while.
"In this case, I have been in charge of Luoyang for more than half a year, so it's time to make some moves."
"It just so happens that we took advantage of the defeat of the puppet Wei Dongxing and the whole country was in chaos to move eastward. If we can take this opportunity to capture Yanzhou, we can also cut off the route of Cao Wei's southern tribes to retreat north!"
Yes, Ma Di has been in Luoyang for more than half a year, and it is true that he can't sit still. There happened to be a fighter opportunity now, and Ma Di still wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to take action.
However, regarding Ma Su's decision, Deng Ai scratched his head and said,
"Your Majesty, the opposition forces in Luoyang have not been completely resolved yet, right? If you leave Luoyang and go to the front line, if Luoyang loses something..."
Ma Su's Heyin Incident completely offended the scholar-bureaucrats all over the world. Not only did Yanzhou, which had previously been inclined to surrender, come back to its side, but even a large number of wealthy local people in Luoyang who were willing to cooperate began to remain silent.
If the imperial court had not been in Kansai and Zhuge Liang had stabilized it, Ji Handu might have been at risk of disintegration in the marginal areas.
Especially, this is Luoyang. Although dozens of big families have been killed, the power of the family is still strong. At this time Ma Di left Luoyang,
"No, they don't dare to make trouble as long as I'm here." Ma Di waved his hands calmly, seemingly not caring what the opposition in Luoyang thought.
"By the way, this time not only do I have to conquer Yanzhou personally, but the prince also has to accompany the army! All the main forces of the ministries will be transferred to me in Guandong. Yanzhou must be decided in a battle!"
Deng Ai immediately heard what Ma Di said. Then he thought about the garrisons in various places in Sizhou...
In Hanoi County, the chariot and cavalry general Wu Ban was stationed, and in Beimang Mountain there was Pingqiang Colonel Wei Goufu in charge. The four gates in the south of Luoyang are guarded by Hu Du, Fu Qian, Huo Yi, Yang Xi...
"Hiss..." Deng Ai couldn't help but take a breath of air, and suddenly understood Ma Su's plan.
"Your Majesty, you really don't intend to give the Sizhou clan a way to survive!"