The Formation of the Central Kingdom < The History of the Three Kingdoms> [113th]
Author: Wen Junxuan
113th Jiang Wei Northern Expedition (Middle)
Xiahou Ba's defection was undoubtedly a great advantage for Jiang Wei, who was bent on the Northern Expedition. Xiahou Ba was stationed in Longxi County, and as soon as he surrendered with his army, the entire defense of Longxi was empty. Jiang Wei immediately led his army over the Qishan Mountains into Longxi, summoned the Qianghu tribe in Longxi, and then crossed the Yellow River to collect the Qiang people who had been defeated by Guo Huai. At the same time as the march, Qiang Wei ordered the construction of two castles under the Qishan Mountain, with two yamen guards, Gu'an and Li Xin, respectively, as a stronghold and rear base to lure Qiang Hu to surrender, just as Liao Hua had built a city on ChengzhongShan the previous year.
At this time, it was the autumn of 249 AD, and more than half a year had passed since the change of Gaopingling. Xiahou Ba's rebellion, Sima Yi shunshi handed over the military power of the capital Yongliang and Liang prefectures to Guo Huai, and also promoted him to the rank of general of Zhenxi. In line with the principle of separation of military and government, the post of Yongzhou Assassin Was transferred to Chen Tai. Chen Tai is the son of Chen Qun. Chen Qun, along with Sima Yi, Cao Zhen, and Cao Xiu, was appointed by Cao Pi before his death, and had been friends with Sima Shi and Sima Zhao since childhood. Putting aside this relationship, Chen Qun was the direct formulator of the Nine Pins Zhongzheng system, and Cao Shuang wanted to revise this policy, although Chen Tai was unwilling to directly take sides at that time, there was no reason in his heart to support Cao Shuang.
The operational plan for dealing with Jiang Wei's Northern Expedition to Xiping this time was specifically formulated by Chen Tai. Jiang Wei dared to keep only two tooth gatekeepers to guard the city, because Xiahou Ba's departure, the Qianghu of Longxi fell to Shu Han. Chen Tai believed that the location of Qicheng was far from the base camp of the Shu Han Dynasty, and the transportation of grain was difficult. Let these Qianghu help with long-distance transfer, and they may not cooperate for a long time. As long as jucheng is surrounded, there is a good chance that the soldiers will take it down without bloodshed.
Specifically carrying out the siege task were Chen Tai and Deng Ai, who had been promoted to the post of Taishou of Nan'an, plus Xu Qian, who was serving as the protector of Shu. This official position was originally also Xiahou Ba's, and now that Xiahou Ba had become a Shu general, he transferred Xu Qian. After Chen Tai and his party arrived at Qicheng, they did not rush to attack the city, but besieged and did not fight, and cut off the water source and grain routes at the same time. Even if Juan and others go out of the city to challenge, they are still hanging up the battle card. After a long time, the Shu army in the city could not stand it. If the food supply is not enough, you can also diet, no water can not, fortunately it has entered the winter, the snow and snow water can be drunk.
Relying on dry food and snow water could not last long, or rely on Jiang Wei to return to the army to relieve the siege of Jucheng. Jiang Wei, who was advancing in Xiping, could only return to help. It looked like a great war was about to break out under the city, but this battle did not start. Chen Tai saw that Jiang Wei had returned to help and made a second move, letting Deng Ai enter the Bailongjiang River Valley, and at the same time asking Guo Huai to personally lead the army into Taoshui. The purpose was to block both ends of The Niutou Mountain, so that Jiang Wei's situation was embarrassing. Niutou Mountain is the watershed between Longxi County and Yinping County, if he goes to save Qicheng and does not save it, Jiang Wei will not be able to retreat into Wudu, nor will he be able to retreat into Yinping. In this case, Jiang Wei could only withdraw Ton ping before Guo Huai and Deng Ai reached the north and south of Niutou Mountain. As for Jura'an and Li Xin, who were holding out in Qicheng, they had no reinforcements and had to surrender the city.
At this point, the Wei Shu clash caused by Xiahou Ba's defection should be regarded as coming to an end. Guo Huai meant that he should return to Longxi and Xiping to collect the Qiang people who had responded to Shu Han. However, Deng Ai, who had already entered the Bailongjiang River Valley, was unwilling to withdraw. Deng Ai thought that Jiang Wei had not gone far, and if the Wei army withdrew like this, it was likely to be killed by a horse gun, so he took the initiative to stay on guard and camped on the north bank of the Bailong River.
Unsurprisingly, three days later, Liao Hua led his troops to the south bank of the Bailong River, made a posture of preparing to cross the river to attack Deng Ai, and even built a bridge on the river. It was the bridge that aroused Deng Ai's vigilance. In Deng Ai's view, his own troops are small, the water is shallow in winter, and if the other side really wants to fight, he can directly cross the river to attack. Now it took man-hours to build a bridge, indicating that Liao Hua's purpose was only to drag himself, and the main force must have followed Jiang Weidong into Taocheng. This taocheng city is likely to be the city built by Liao Hua in the Bailongjiang River Valley, according to the heavy mountains, sixty miles from the place where Deng Ai garrison was, and also on the north bank of the Bailongjiang River. After Jiang Wei could not cross the river to attack strongly, he withdrew.
In general, Jiang Wei took advantage of the change of Gao Pingling in the Wei state and achieved a lot of gains. In addition to Xiahou Ba, who took the initiative to descend, he also gathered many Qiang people who returned to Shu by taking advantage of the chaos. Another gain was that in the process of marching into Xiping, a Wei general named Guo Xun was captured. Guo Xun is also recorded in the history books as Guo Xuan and Guo Xiu. Talent is the most important, the three kingdoms of Wei Shu and Wu are quite kind to the enemy generals who are willing to surrender, and Jiang Wei himself is the general of the Wei state. Therefore, after Guo Xun expressed his willingness to surrender, he was given the title of Left General of Shu Han.
Guo Xun did not really surrender, and had been looking for an opportunity to assassinate Liu Chan. What is uncertain is whether Guo Xun did this out of personal thought or received orders from Wei Guo. However, Liu Chan was emperor. The guards are so tight that you can't bring weapons to the temple. In this case, Guo Xun turned his target to the general Fei Yi. The assassination site was in Hanshou.
Han Shou is Ye Meng Guan. This name was not the first time it was used in the Central Kingdom, before Liu Biao positioned his station in Xiangyang, located in The West of Dongting Lake, Hanshou County in Wuling County, which was once the seat of government of Jingzhou (northeast of present-day Changde City, Hunan Province). The word Hanshou in Guan Yu's "Marquis of Hanshou Pavilion" refers to this. After Cao Pi replaced the Han Dynasty, Sun Quan took advantage of the situation to change this Hanchang in Jingzhou to "Wuchang". Shu Han, as the inheritor of the political heritage of the two Han Dynasties, renamed Ye Meng, who had entered the Shu dynasty, hanshou, so that this good name, which means "the prosperity of the Great Han", could continue to protect himself. Interestingly, after the three families returned to the Jin Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty renamed Wu Shou back to Han Shou and renamed this Han Shou of Ye Meng to "Jin Shou". It's just that everyone has changed back and forth, and none of them can make their country longer.
Fei Yi did not want to go north, but only wanted to defend Chengcheng. This is also why Zhuge Liang and Jiang Huan both moved their garrisons forward to Hanzhong, while Fei Yi was stationed at Hanshou, the defensive gateway. In fact, even hanshou, Fei Yi only moved in a year ago. Before that, he was basically in charge of Chengdu. There is a saying that Fei Yi was looking for someone to look for, and staying in Chengdu was not conducive to his promotion to the position of chancellor, so he moved to Hanshou.
Han Shou was also unable to protect Fei Yuan. In 253 AD, in the first month of the sixteenth year of the Shu Han Dynasty, the Shu Han general Fei Yi held a grand New Year banquet in his garrison of Hanshou. At this New Year feast, the happy Fei Yi drank a little too much. Fei Yi had reason to be happy, and before the New Year, Liu Chan granted Fei Yi the right to open the house. Zhuge Liang and Jiang Huan had both opened the palace, and Fei Yi was also waiting for this day. This meant that he was one step closer to the position of prime minister.
Taking advantage of Fei Yi's drunkenness, Guo Xun assassinated the great general who was proud of the spring breeze. Whatever Guo Xun's motives, Fei Yi's death brought Shu Han into the Jiang Wei era. It cannot be said that Jiang Weile saw Fei Yi being stabbed, nor can it be said that Fei Yi's focus on recuperation must be wrong. At least in the same year, Zhuge Ke used his life to prove the systemic risks of the forced Northern Expedition. The two are more of a line dispute, and they are also for the good of Shu Han. Compared with the internal struggle between Wei and Wu. The internal struggles of the Shu Han were the least. From Zhuge Liang to Jiang Wan, to Fei Yi, to Jiang Wei, the four generations of rulers all took the affairs of the state as their responsibility, lived a very clean life, and did not expand their family power.
Jiang Wei's troops in the Fei Yi era could not be regarded as the Northern Expedition strictly speaking, but were all to receive Qiang Hu and rebels who were willing to surrender to Shu when there was civil unrest in the State of Wei. Now that Fei Yi is dead, Jiang Wei can finally really come to the Northern Expedition. Sleepy touched the pillow is that Zhuge Ke, who is now in charge of Eastern Wu, defeated the invading Sima Zhao in Dongxing just when Fei Yi was assassinated, and was preparing to plan an unprecedented Northern Expedition. When Xiang Liu left the Qi Mountains, he agreed with Eastern Wu to go north together. It has been almost twenty years since then, and although Wu Shu has been an ally in the past twenty years, he has never really joined forces again.
In the summer of 253 AD, Jiang Wei, who had agreed with Zhuge Ke to jointly carry out the Northern Expedition, led tens of thousands of troops. Although there were many attacks before, but because of insufficient troops, there was no formal siege of the city, and this time finally had the capital. Jiang Wei was ready to take Nan'an first, and then Take Longxi. More than twenty years ago, Wei Yan had defeated Guo Huai in Nan'an when he was out of Qishan. How Wei Yan went, the route was not recorded, but Jiang Wei was recorded this time. Specifically, after entering the Hanyuan Valley, Jiang Wei did not attack the two nodes located in the Qi Mountains, Xi County and Halo City, but moved west to shiying, one of the watersheds between the Western Han River and the Wei River.
Previously, Jiang Wei had already settled in Shiying, so he could go out of Qishan Mountain to the west and attack the Taoshui River Valley and Longyou. This time, after Jiang Wei arrived at Shiying, he went north to the Shandan River, a tributary on the right bank of the Wei River, and entered the Wei River Valley through Dong Ting. Then march sixty miles northwest of Weishui to capture Nan'an Commandery.com. Longyou Commandery Zhi Xiangwu is on the west side of the Road, and if you can successfully take the Road, you can immediately take The Xiangwu. As soon as he came out of Qishan, the Shu army did this. However, at that time, Longxi Taishou You Chu swore not to surrender, and Zhuge Liang was anxious to take Guangwei County in the east, so he did not forcibly take it.
The 200,000-strong army of Eastern Wu attacked the new city of Hefei, and the Shu Han side also used tens of thousands of troops with a small capital. At present, sima shi was in charge of the state of Wei, and sima zhao was in charge of military affairs. Logically, Wu's army was powerful and should send Sima Zhao's army to Jianghuai to rescue him. It was just that Sima Zhaogang was defeated at the Battle of Dongxing, and sending him to Jianghuai to lead the army would not only play drums in his heart, but also be despised by the Wu army. Therefore, Sima Zhao was appointed as the general of Zhengxi to garrison Chang'an and sit on the western front; Sima Shi and Sima Zhao's uncle Sima Fu led to Shouchun to prepare to attack Zhuge Ke.
Although this was jiang Wei's biggest capital in so many years, it was indeed difficult to attack the city. Zhuge Ke's side of the 200,000 people can not take the city of Hefei, which is guarded by 3,000 people, and the same is true of Jiang Wei's side. After a little longer, the grain is not enough. At the same time, the reinforcements led by Yongzhou Tai tai were already on the road. In order to be able to withdraw safely, Jiang Wei said that he was ready to abandon Nan'an and directly turned around to attack Di Dao.
Di Dao was located on the side of Taoshui, the geographical center of Longxi County, and in order to connect Qianghu, Jiang Wei had indeed been using troops in this direction before. After Chen Tai heard about it, he was ready not to rescue Nan'an first, but instead rushed to enter Didao City. After the plan was reported to Sima Zhao, the latter believed that Jiang Wei had sent troops to subdue the Qiang people and accumulate grain and grass several times before, including this attack on Nan'an, all in order to make the Qiang outside the Sai dynasty submit to Shu Han and prepare for the attack on Wei. Therefore, there must be deception in this, Jiang Wei threatened to attack, in fact, he wanted to retreat. Sima Zhao's judgment was correct, and just as Chen Tai was marching to Luomen, fifty miles from the mouth of the Dan River in Shanshan, he received news that Jiang Wei had burned his camp and retreated. In other words, Chen Tai did not fight with Jiang Wei.
Sima Zhao had just experienced a major defeat and was in urgent need of a victory to establish his power, Jiang Wei withdrew, and there was no chance for the Shu battlefield for a while. Fortunately, there are also cases happening on the Guanzhong side. Seeing wu and shu going north at the same time, Qiang Hu on the other side of Guanzhong was also a bit unable to sit still. Specifically, it was the Qianghu rebellion in Xinping County. Xinping Commandery (新平郡) was a new county built on the north mountain of the Guanzhong Plain when Li Dai and Guo Feng held Emperor Xian of Han hostage, and the county seat corresponded to Qi County in present-day Bin County, Shaanxi Province. Sima Zhao did not engage Jiang Wei this time, and conveniently put an end to the Qianghu Rebellion in Xinping. Nowadays, the highlands north of the Guanzhong Plain have almost all become the world of Qianghu, and where the fire is extinguished, it is only a headache to heal the head and a foot pain to heal the foot. Sima Zhao decided to make a northern expedition, that is, to establish his own power and to make the Qianghu people submit again.
The goal of the expedition was set at "Lingzhou County", which had been established in the Western Han Dynasty, corresponding to the current Yongning County of Wuzhong City, Ningxia, located in the Xitao Plain. If it is said that the gains and losses of the front and rear plains are related to the safety of Hezhou and the Shanxi Plateau, then what the Xitao Plain can threaten is the safety of Yongzhou and Guanlong. The Xitao Plain was included in the Category of Northland Counties during the Two Han Dynasties in order to remove this threat. This time Sima Zhao marched into Lingzhou, and the history books used twelve words: "Yaobing Lingzhou, Beiyu Zhenxuan, and traitors surrendered." This meant that there was no fighting along the way, and the march itself shook Qiang Hu and expressed his willingness to submit to the State of Wei.
Back to the Shu Han side. It should be noted that after Fei Yi's death, Jiang Wei did not immediately take over the position of great general, just like Zhuge Liang died, although Jiang Huan was the successor, he also had to accumulate merit and do it step by step. It is difficult to seek government without being in its position, and in a mature bureaucratic system with a clear division of labor, the position is still very important. Otherwise, Fei Yi would not have been happy about the opening of the house.
The impact of the lack of formal appointment was that Jiang Wei's preparation for this attack was insufficient, especially since his attack had only been a few months after Fei Yi was stabbed, and even if authorized, it was difficult to make sufficient logistical preparations according to the goal of the all-out Northern Expedition. The strategy of fighting if you can win and withdrawing if you can't win is right, Shu Han doesn't have so much capital to consume. Zhuge Ke held out on the front line, turning an underprepared battle into his own farewell battle, and Jiang Wei withdrew in time without any loss.
The following year, in 254 AD, Jiang Wei was granted the right to "supervise the Chinese and foreign militaries". This authority was also set up in the State of Wei, and both Cao Zhen and Sima Zhao had it. This China and foreign countries are not China and foreign countries, but refer to the Chinese troops stationed in the Beijing Division and the foreign troops stationed outside the Beijing Division. In layman's terms, it is the highest military commander in the country. With this appointment, even if there is no position of general for the time being, Jiang Wei can let go of a big job.
It is said that Jiang Wei should rest and recuperate for a while before the Northern Expedition. A sudden situation caused the war to break out ahead of schedule. Li Jian, the governor of Di Dao County in the State of Wei, wrote a letter asking for surrender. We have stressed the importance of Di Dao many times, and if we take Di Dao, it is equivalent to blossoming in the middle of Longxi, and then have the opportunity to take the entire Longxi County. Previously, there had been many incidents of false surrender to lure the enemy in Wei and Wu, and the great general of the Shu state had also been stabbed for the fake surrender, so the Shu Han Dynasty had a fierce debate over whether to believe Li Jian or not.
According to Jiang Wei's original intention, he definitely wanted to seize this opportunity, but the Shu Han courtiers were worried about deception. The key time was that Yue Wei taishou Zhang Ling stood up to dispel everyone's concerns. Zhang Ling is a native of Nanchong, Brazil, and was born in Hanmen. When Liu Bei and Liu Zhang were at war, some mountain thieves took advantage of the chaos to invade the county seat, and Zhang Ling stepped forward to protect the safety of the county magistrate, and after emerging as an official. Later, he was one of the "Three Marquises of Ping'an" for a long time under Ma Zhong.
Most of Zhang Ling's military and political career was related to the Zhenfu Qiangyi Rebellion, and he was familiar with the situation of the frontier ethnic groups. Yuewei was the most unstable county in the south, and before he went to Taishou, both Taishou were killed by rebels. After Zhang Ling left the town of Yuewei, Enwei was combined, and the barbarians were annexed. When he was ordered to return to Chengdu to pay homage to general Dang Kou, more than a hundred leaders of large and small barbarians voluntarily followed him.
On that day, King Jian jian asked to surrender, and his brother refused to surrender in the middle of the way, which delayed the time, and Jiang Huan was very worried at that time, that is, Zhang Ling believed that there was a problem with Jian Jian's brother, and Jian Jian would definitely come down, and the result was no worse. With the successful judgment of the last time, Jiang Wei also believed Li Jane's request to surrender. At this time, Zhang Ling was suffering from severe rheumatism, and even had crutches to help him stand up, but he still took the initiative to write to Liu Chan and asked him to go out with the army, and if he could take Liangzhou, he would defend the northern territory for the state domain; if he could not win, he would kill himself in return. Liu Chan saw that Zhang Ling was seriously ill and still had the ambition to wrap the body of Ma Ge, and he was also moved to tears.
Facts have proved that Zhang Ling's judgment is correct. As soon as the Shu army reached Didao, Li Jian surrendered Kaesong. If Jiang Wei did not take the opportunity to take the new county of Xiangwu in Longxi to the east, it was really a piece of sincerity to apologize to Li Jian. The most convenient way to rescue Xiangwu was Nan'an County, but by this time Nan'an Taishou Deng Ai had been transferred to Yanzhou to do the assassination history, and the following year he participated in the Pingyi Qiujian Rebellion. In addition, the closest to Xiangwu was Xu Qian, who succeeded Xiahou Ba as the protector of Shu. In terms of the garrison before Xiahou Ba, Xu Qian should also be stationed in Longxi.
The attack and defense under Xiangwu City was extremely fierce, and Zhang Ling, who had gone out with illness, was attacked and killed by Xu Qianbu, fulfilling his promise to die in battle; Xu Qian was also beheaded by Jiang Weibu. Although Xu Qian was killed and the Wei army was defeated, there is no record of Xiangwu City being conquered. If xiangwu could be taken, then Shu Han would be able to completely take the entire Longxi County, with Xiangwu and Qicheng as defensive points to counter the Wei state, including advancing on nan'an County, which was adjacent to Xiangwu. The city that could be used as a county was always bigger and stronger, and Jiang Wei, who was worried that the Wei army would gather a large army to counterattack, decided to withdraw his army, and when he left, he moved Di Dao and the people of Heguan and Lintao counties that fell to the wind into Shu Province.
After the previous two military operations in Longxi, many of the Qianghu tribes in Longxi had already attached themselves to shu Han, and this time Jiang Wei moved away basically ordinary people. After years of war, the population consumption is too large, and robbing people is a routine operation. The longxi was emptied, and the troops were defended here, and it was counted backwards by the counterattack of the State of Wei. Without the people, the Wei army sent people to defend the city, and the grain and grass had to rely on the rear supply. In terms of Longxi alone, the geographical advantage will not be greater than that of the Shu army.
After this withdrawal, in the summer of the following year (255 AD), Jiang Wei prepared for the Northern Expedition. This time it was because of two benefits, one was that Guo Huai died in the first month of the year. From the Battle of Hanzhong to stabilize Xiahou Yuan's military heart after his death, so that Liu Bei did not dare to cross the Han River to take advantage of the victory and pursue, Guo Huai became the main opponent of Shu Han for thirty-six years. The commander of the Wei state in the Yongliang area changed from one term to another, and did not replace this land snake. His death is definitely a celebration for Shu Han. In addition, Sima Shi also fell ill and died after the rebellion of Qiu Jian and Wen Qin, and the Wei dynasty would face another turmoil.
Guo Huai died, and according to the custom, Chen Tai of Yongzhou took over the position of the general of Zhengxi, and the governor of Yongliang was stationed in Chang'an. Succeeding Yongzhou was Wang Jing, a native of Qinghe, Jizhou. Chen Tai is a disciple of the family, and Wang Jing is a disciple of the Han family. Although he became an adult and became a famous scholar in Jizhou because of his knowledge, Wang Jing's mother had a clear understanding of his background. Thinking that he is a son of a peasant family, two thousand quintals of official positions is the upper limit of this background, and doing too high will cause trouble for himself. The sheriff's rank is 2,000 quintals, which means that Wang Jing's official position cannot be higher than that of the county sheriff.
Unfortunately, few people can resist temptation. In the end, Wang Jing still made the history of Sizhou and Yongzhou successively, and was later transferred to Luoyang to do Shangshu. In fact, Deng Ai ended up with a dismal ending, and it was not because he climbed too high. Today's Wei Guo, because he still has to fight with Wu and Shu, can give the han disciples a certain amount of space to show their heads, and if they want to be in a high position, they will always be more like walking on thin ice.
The Military Administration of the Long Right was, as usual, run by the Yongzhou Assassins. Wang Jing received the news that Jiang Wei was attacking in three ways this time: all the way out of Qishan to attack Tianshui; all the way out of Shiying to attack Qishan into Longxi; and all the way out of Jincheng. The first two routes have been used many times by the Shu Han Before, and the third route is more innovative. Specifically, this route starts from Yinping County, crosses the Niutou Mountain into the Tao River Valley, and then does not go north along the water to take Di Dao, but instead goes west to Lintao (Min County) and goes up the Tao River, passes through the current Lintan County in Gansu Province to connect to the source of the Daxia River, and then goes down the Daxia River north into the head of the river.
The Heshou area points to the current Linxia Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu Province, and the Daxia River is adjacent to the Daxia River, which corresponds to the city of Linxia. At the pass of the Daxia River out of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the two Han Dynasties established Baishi County, and the pass was called "Tumen Pass" in later generations. Last time, Jiang Wei had already divided his troops to collect the people of Heguan on the yellow river. It is very likely that this road was withdrawn from Tumen Pass. There are Qiang people who are familiar with the geographical environment to lead the way, and everything is not a problem.
During the Western Han Dynasty, the Heshou area was part of Jincheng County, and was incorporated into Longxi by the Eastern Han Dynasty. It runs north along the Bactrian River to the south bank of the Yellow River. At the present Liujiaxia Reservoir, a hundred kilometers east along the south bank of the Yellow River, you can reach jincheng corresponding to the current city of Lanzhou. Therefore, if Jiang Wei set out to attack Jincheng from this point of view, it was theoretically feasible. Based on the judgment that the Shu army would attack in three ways, Wang Jing quickly sent a letter to Chen Tai and suggested that he lead his army south to Qishan and guard the Shu army from the Stone Camp; the new Shu protector army would go south to Qishan; and then transfer the Liangzhou army (mainly the Jincheng garrison) south to enter The Shu army in Yuhan and block the Shu army at Tumenguan.
Wang Jing had no experience in fighting against the Shu army, or even military experience. Chen Tai was different, in his opinion, the Shu army could not have so many troops to attack in three ways, it must be only one way. Wang Jing was asked to find out again which way to attack. At the same time, the Liangzhou Army's cross-border operations will have problems. The territory of Liangzhou has always been unstable, and the local Hao and Qianghu rebellions have never stopped. Since zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, he has not transferred the Liangzhou army into the Long right side to fight, that is, he is worried that there will be chaos after the emptiness of Liangzhou.
After rejecting Wang Jing's battle plan, Chen Tai ordered Wang Jing to gather the main forces of Long Right and garrison Di Dao. In terms of Di Dao's position, whether the Shu army came to attack Longxi or attacked Jincheng through Fenghan, it could react in time. As for the direction of Qishan, Chen Tai was not worried. First, this road has obviously been abandoned by Jiang Wei; second, Chen Tai is ready to lead his own army to the rescue, which can make up for the defensive vacuum left by Wang Jingxi in time. If the news of the Shu army's Northern Expedition was true, Chen Tai should have been able to get definite information on the road and know which way the Shu army was attacking from. For this reason, Chen Taiyan ordered Wang Jing to only hold Di Dao City and not take the initiative to attack before joining forces with him.
The Northern Expedition of the Shu Army was indeed led by three generals, in addition to Jiang Wei, there were also the Cheqi general Xiahou Ba, and the Zhennan general Zhang Yi. Although there were three generals on the expedition, it was true that as Chen Tai expected, Jiang Wei did not intend to divide the troops. None of the previous three routes were true directions of attack. Specifically, Jiang Wei was preparing to enter the Heshou area first, pretend to attack Jincheng, and then turn east from Taohan and attack the Taoshui River Valley (now the "Lanlang Expressway") along the Guangtong River, a tributary on the right bank of the Taoshui River. Longxi had almost been emptied, and this road would not encounter too many obstacles.
Seeing that Jiang Wei had come to the Tao River Valley, Wang Jing finally did not hold back. If the han disciples want to go further, they will need more battle merit than the children of the family, and they also need a little more adventurous spirit, which is particularly evident in Deng Ai. The place where the Guangtong River meets the Taoshui River is named "Guguan", which is about 25 kilometers south of Didao City. Wang Jing decided to report the whereabouts of Chen Tai's enemy troops while taking the initiative to move forward to Guguan to meet the Shu army. Therefore, it is located on the west bank of Taoshui, and Di Dao City is on the east bank of Taoshui. This battle was therefore known as the "Battle of Taoxi".
Di Dao City was previously the county magistrate of Longxi, and it was also the defensive center of gravity of the Wei army in Longxi, and before it was lost because the county magistrate sacrificed the city, Wang Jing was not a big problem if he insisted on waiting for help in Di Dao. The guest army sought a quick battle, and the Wei army took the initiative to abandon Jiancheng to go to the field, which was right in the arms of the Shu army. Jiang Wei's painstaking arrangement of the marching route was that the gambling king would not be able to hold his breath after his lack of military experience. On August 2, the two armies engaged each other, and as a result, the Wei army lost tens of thousands of troops in the battle, and after the defeat, Wang Jing had to lead the remaining 10,000 people to cross the Taoshui River to retreat to The City of Di Dao.