Chapter 628 Making an attack in the east and attacking in the west
When the Han and Wei sides were engaged in constant tug-of-war on the Baimajin front line. In Puyang City northeast of Baimajin, thousands of Wei soldiers were guarding the city casually.
They are only a hundred miles away from the front line, but to these soldiers, everything seems to have nothing to do with them.
There is no other reason. As the former seat of Yanzhou, Puyang City now has little strategic value. Even if the Shu army came over and occupied Puyang, it would not have much impact on Cao Wei.
The real Yanzhou administrative seat has been moved to Linqiu east of Jishui. Puyang's only role at the moment is to provide a shortcut for the Hebei army to move south.
Therefore, from the beginning, the defenders of Puyang did not think that there would be a fight on their side.
However, what they faced this time was Ma Su, who never followed normal routines...
Just when the Wei army in Puyang was slacking off in work, smoke and dust suddenly rose from the front line of Zibaima. Countless Han cavalry were looming in the smoke, running towards Puyang at extremely fast speeds.
The Puyang guard was shocked when he saw this posture. Then without saying a word, he turned around and drove away without any hesitation.
On the contrary, when Cao Wei's regular army ran away, the local soldiers in Puyang spontaneously went to the top of the city and tried to resist. However, the command of these wealthy private soldiers is not unified. Although their fighting will is good, they are still difficult to use.
The Han army attacked Puyang with a blitz and climbed to the top of Puyang City in only two hours.
"Your Majesty! Puyang has basically been captured, and only some of the remnants are still resisting." Jiang Wei reported to Ma Dihui,
"Before dusk, our army can enter Puyang and continue eastward early tomorrow morning."
"Huh? Why is it so slow?" Ma Su was not very satisfied with this speed. He frowned, looked at Puyang and asked in confusion.
The Han army's persistent night attack in Baimajin was from the beginning to cover the transfer of the main force. And Ma Su's real target is still Yanzhou in Henan!
What Sima Yi said before was correct. Before Yanzhou was conquered, Ma Su's logistics and food routes would be threatened. Before Yanzhou, south of Jishui, was captured, the northern expedition to Hebei was an option Ma Su was destined not to choose.
Ma Su just likes to take risks, but he is not stupid and cannot do anything to make fun of the fate of tens of thousands of troops.
In Baimajin, the Han army launched successive night attacks in order to hold back the main force of the Wei army. Relying on the time gained, all Ma Su needed to do was to march eastward from Puyang, quickly cross the Pu River and Jishui, and stop the Yanzhou government at Linqiu with a large army.
As long as Ma Di can go smoothly, he can bypass the main force of the Wei army in Jiyin, penetrate into the heart of Yanzhou, and completely cut off the connection between Yanzhou and Hebei.
This is also a very risky move, but in Ma Su's opinion it is even a bit conservative.
"Your Majesty, the local powerful in Puyang have a very bad attitude towards us. Even though the city has been broken, there are still rural soldiers resisting..." Jiang Wei smiled bitterly and reported to Ma Su helplessly.
"Then kill them all."
Ma Su raised his eyebrows, and then ordered expressionlessly.
"So many big families in Luoyang have been killed, including these local big families. Since they are still unwilling to cooperate, let's kill them all."
Now that the political center of the imperial court is definitely in Kansai, there is no need to be polite to the Kanto clan. If you are unwilling to cooperate, deal with them all, and at the same time shock the remaining ones who are unclear about the situation.
Facing Ma Di's instructions, Jiang Wei did not dare to neglect and immediately rode to the front army to command.
Puyang City can only be regarded as a small city standing in front of Ma Su. Ma Su still has a long way to go. So he only rested in the city for one night. At dawn the next day, Ma Di led the Han army to continue eastward, and the army went straight to Zhencheng on the Jishui River.
Because the road from Baimajin to the east and across Puyang to Jishui is extremely difficult, it is generally not the first choice for marching.
Back then, Yuan Shao headed south from Baima and headed straight for Guandu without even looking in the direction of Yanzhou.
Therefore, at first, the Wei army in the direction of Yanzhou did not expect that the Han army would attack from here. Especially the Wei army in Zhencheng lacked even the most basic psychological preparation when they discovered that the Shu army suddenly came to the city!
"What's going on? Aren't the Shu army still fighting fiercely with the Taiwei in Baima Jin? Why did they suddenly come from Dongjun?" The guard of Zhencheng was eating at the time. When he heard that the Shu army was coming to kill him, he dropped his chopsticks in fright. On to the ground.
"Captain! The Shu army is about to attack the city. We must defend the city as soon as possible..."
"What are you guarding? Run away!" The captain interrupted the general's suggestion without hesitation and ordered with a pale face.
"Ma Su likes to kill people. How can we stop such a terrifying butcher? For the sake of your own life, run away!"
Ma Su's reputation for killing and surrendering over the years is still there, and it has become even louder after the Heyin Incident. But this is not entirely a bad thing, at least most officials have become more and more afraid of Ma Su since then.
If you can't fight again and again, surrendering will mean death, so it's better to run away quickly!
The same is true for the defender of Zhencheng. He is not a native of Yanzhou, so he naturally doesn't care whether Ma Su massacres the nobles there. So after a token resistance, he immediately ran away with his bodyguard carrying the bucket.
Zhencheng was quickly defeated without a fight, and the Han army advanced incredibly fast.
And Zhencheng is not an exception, most cities in Yanzhou are in this situation at this time. Ma Su led 20,000 Han troops from Bai Majin to attack diagonally, and they were unstoppable along the way.
It wasn't until Ma Su arrived in Zhencheng that Xiahou Xuan in Baimajin was shocked to hear the bad news. At this time, Xia Houxuan, no matter how stupid he was, realized that he was being fooled!
"So the night attacks of these ten days are just an illusion. Is Ma Su's plan still to attack in the east and attack in the west?" Xia Houxuan's face was a little ugly, and there was a bit of despair in his eyes.
Through the continuous night attacks, the Wei army was depressed during the day and had no energy to pay attention to any changes in the Shu army. The result was that Ma Su had already reached Zhencheng, and he didn't notice it at all.
"General Xiahou, it's not too late for us to react now." Seeing Xiahouxuan's posture, the confidant next to him quickly comforted him,
"Now that Ma Su has left with the main force of the Shu army, there will never be more Baima Jin Wei Shu army. We can take advantage of the situation and go south..."
"Why do you think I am desperate? Is it just that I was tricked by the Shu army?"
Xia Houxuan glanced at this confidant, with a trace of bitterness on his lips.
"We can't defeat the existing Shu army in Baimajin, so why are we talking about counterattack? Apart from watching Ma Su encroaching on us step by step, we probably have no other option?"
"Da Wei, I'm afraid it's really going to end!"