Chapter 166 Chapter 26 Tu Shu Divides Han Sui (2)

When Jia Xu returned to Yecheng for the first time, he was grateful to Cao Cao for his trust in him. Along the way, he had thought about taking Tongguan for a long time. Only then did he have the opportunity to speak up, and he said: "In "Sun Tzu's Art of War", the war There are two types of "main battle" and "guest battle". The so-called main battle is to bring the enemy into our territory and wipe out the enemy in the form of defense; while the guest battle is to invade the enemy's territory actively and attack the enemy. Annihilate the enemy. Although the main battle seems passive, it is easier to master; the guest battle seems to be quite active, but it is much more difficult to carry out in practice. I think everyone here understands this truth."

Xun You then asked: "Now that our army is engaged in 'offensive warfare', Mr. Jia thinks, where are the difficulties encountered?" Jia Xu said: "This question also needs to be answered by Sun Tzu. He discovered nine geographical forms of offensive and defensive warfare: scattered ground, light ground, contested ground, crossed ground, wide ground, heavy ground, intersecting ground, and dead ground. Among them, only scattered ground The land belongs to the main battle place, and the other eight categories belong to the guest battle place..." Cao Cao asked: "Then, is Tongguan, where we are facing off against Ma Chao, a 'war for land'?"

Jia Xu shook his head: "For our army, Tong is a 'land struggle', but I secretly think that there will be no results if we always fight there. You know, if the enemy army has natural dangers and our army advances The battle of 'Contesting Land' is already invincible. Why do we fight with him in vain?" Cao Cao asked anxiously, "So what?" Jia Xu said: "Among the eight places in the guest battle, the 'key ground' should be the main one. If the 'battle ground' is obviously unable to win the battle, you should divert your attention and look for the 'key ground'. Entering the heavy ground attack battle, you have already gone deep In the enemy's environment, the mood of the soldiers is unprecedentedly tense, not as loose as in the "light land" war, nor as helpless as in the "struggle land" war, and they will go all out. Sun Tzu said: "The way of being a guest is to go deep It is special, the master can't be overcome', and it is said: "The way of being a guest, deep is special, shallow is loose." Even in the important places that usually seem to be time-consuming, you must go all out and make a quick decision. Specifically to Our army's westward expedition, my intention, is not to spend any more time on the 'land' of Tongguan, but to look for breakthroughs along the Weishui River and the Yellow River, go deep into the enemy's territory, and engage in a decisive and important battle with the enemy!"

Xu Huang nodded excitedly when he heard this, and asked: "But how can we achieve a quick victory? Everyone knows that it should be like this, but when we are in the middle of the battle, there will always be unexpected situations. It's been hard." Jia Xu continued: "Of course, if you want to win a quick battle, there must be prerequisites. When Sun Tzu said this, there are two points for us to keep in mind: one is to do everything possible to narrow the strategic goal. Fighting a battle is a battle. Every battle won is a crucial battle of decisive significance, lest the front line be dragged around and cannot be restrained; the second is to search the enemy's situation in advance, the so-called "one who does not know the plot of the princes cannot pre-deliver; Those who are in the shape of danger and frustration cannot march; those who do not need a guide cannot gain ground. The reason why I have always opposed the army is to hide and kill regardless of the situation, and only say "who will take this city with me" or " This is the meaning of the brutal style of whoever killed this person with me. Now we can immediately send agents to sneak into the pass and search for the enemy's situation in detail, so that we can use it when our army marches west."

"By the way," Xu Huang interjected, "I have heard that Ma Xiaoyong, the Guanzhong army, is especially good at using spears. My forward army should be specially selected and specially made with armor, otherwise it will be difficult to resist." The generals then raised many specific and subtle questions in a hurry, and tried to solve them one by one.Finally, Cao Cao said: "As I said just now, the initiative of this war is in the hands of our army. After this meeting, my confidence has been strengthened. Jia Xu just tactfully criticized some of my previous battles." Fang Lue made criticisms, regardless of the fact that he was just transferred back from Jiangling, which shows his sincerity. I have made up my mind to visit Tongguan in person and lead a large army westward to Guanzhong.

"Today's decree: Jia Xu is the general staff of the Western Expedition Army, Cao Ren is the first army, Xia Houyuan and Xu Huang are the second army, Zhang Liao and Le Jin are the third army, Xu Chu led his personal guards For the fourth army, immediately march west. "Cao Pi stayed in Yecheng, he should recruit talented people for the country, and actively prepare food and grass, so as to relieve the worries of our army going west." "Cheng Yu cooperated with Xun You to station in Jizhou to contain Liu Bei; Cao Hong stayed in Xiangyang. At the time of the ban, we can immediately send agents into Guanzhong to find out the enemy's situation. In this western expedition, I swear to seize the fertile soil in Guanzhong!"

All the generals are gearing up, just waiting to fight.A high fighting spirit filled the entire army. In August, Cao Cao led the Western Expeditionary Army to Tongguan.In Tongguan, Yang Qiu and others, who had been slack for two months, naturally became nervous when they saw that Cao Cao was leading the army.No way, only send Pegasus to report to Ma Chao who is firmly seated in Liangzhou. Ma Chao received the report and urgently negotiated with Han Sui.Han Suidao said: "Cao Ren led the army to attack, and our army did not fight with him. Cao Ren couldn't delay, so he had to withdraw. Now that Cao Cao comes in person, we can use the previous method to delay him, so as to cut off his food and grass; then , When his soldiers are tired and numb, go out to fight with them. Tongguan is very dangerous. Forgive Cao Cao for making a stronghold, and it will not be strong. Our army's chances of victory are sure. After that, we will see Cao Cao's actions to determine our army's actions."

Ma Chao was overjoyed, and even said: "It's very good, very good. It's just that at the same time, in case Cao Cao doesn't come to attack the city, he arranges boats and rafts to cross the river. We can recruit Qiang soldiers to help Feng Yuan, Cheng Yi, Li Kan, and Zhang Heng , Hou Qian and others guard the mouth of the river." The plan has been decided, so Ma Chao and Han Sui set up a large army and headed for Tongguan.When he arrived in the army, Ma Chao gave the plan to Yang Qiu and others, and ordered the soldiers guarding the pass to fortify the wall and clear the field. No matter how provocative Cao Jun was, they would not fight within half a month.

Cao Cao saw that Ma Chao couldn't retreat, and he couldn't think of a way for a while, but he felt that what Jia Xu said was that confronting the enemy in "struggling for territory" was not a long-term solution.I was reading military books all day and night, and I read a passage explained by Jia Xu that day, and saw that when Sun Tzu talked about "heavy land", he said: "heavy land is to plunder", and he also said "heavy land, I will follow its food", and "to plunder in the wild, The three armies eat first" and other words.So he immediately called Jia Xu, Xia Houyuan and other civil and military generals, and said:

"It's been almost a month since our army came to Tongguan. Ma Chao just didn't fight, and it really turned into a war situation. I thought Ma Chao wanted to paralyze our army's fighting spirit, and at the same time, he wanted to waste our army's food and grass .Why don’t we use our strategy to continue to fight with him, and on the other hand, we will secretly send elites to spy along the coast, looking for breakthroughs, so as to enter the enemy’s territory and fight important battles. I don’t know if there is any news from the spies sent by Yuban?” Yu Jin replied: "Unfortunately, the few dispatched agents were captured by the Qiang people in Xiliang. The last general has already planned to lead a group of infantry, pretending to be merchants, to cross the river and enter Guanzhong."

Cao Cao said: "That's very good. It's just that before the battle in the important area, you need a lot of food and grass supplies. When you enter Guanzhong, you can find out where Ma Chao's army rations are stationed. After my army crosses the river, I will take the rations for my own use." At this time, Jia Xu came out and offered another plan: "Ma Chao has a violent temper, has the courage of Han Xin and Yingbu, but has no plans. At the same time, our army can spread suspicion, spread the epidemic in the army, and reveal that it intends to retreat. Seeing this situation, Ma Chao must have thought that the development of the situation was in his favour, and let his horses go to fight. At that time, our army can first ambush two ambush soldiers, and the army retreats, leading Ma Chao into the ambush circle, and give them a severe blow. If we can take advantage of the victory It would be best to capture Tongguan. If we cannot go down the city, our army will confront it again. And Ma Chao’s defenders along the river, seeing that I am blindly confronting Tongguan and not crossing the river, must relax their guard. At that time, Fang You can use troops against it." Cao Cao was overjoyed and thought it was a good plan. Sure enough, Ma Chao heard that there were many serious diseases in Cao's army, and Cao Cao also suffered from minor illnesses. He might plan to withdraw his troops for the second time.On this day, seven generals including Han Sui, Ma Dai, Ma Xiu, Ma Tie, Yang Qiu, Liang Xing, and Cheng Yin went up to the tower to watch, and saw Cao's army in the distance, with funeral flags flying, and many soldiers were paying homage to the dead; see also The base camp of Cao Cao and other generals was deserted, and the army was turning from the rear camp into the first camp, and was about to leave.