Volume 5: Overlord of the Sea Chapter 552 Guo Huai
Guo Huai's greatest fame outside the State of Chu was that he once won the second place in the military subject in the first imperial examination, second only to Fa Zheng who took the examination in the same year.
However, there is obviously an essential gap between the second and the first, especially Fa Zheng's advice during the Chu State's Western Expedition, which has made him famous.
For this reason, Liu Zhang was not only furious, but he even implicated Zhang Song, making Liu Zhang feel that this rat-looking guy was very suspicious. Zhang Song was so angry that he fell ill for several days. Later, under the persuasion of Huang Quan, Zheng Du and others, Liu Zhang personally went to the mansion to visit Zhang Song, and Zhang Song took office again.
Compared to Fa Zheng, Guo Huai is still mediocre...
In the State of Chu, being the second in military science, and the second in military science in the first imperial examination, was already dazzling enough. Moreover, Guo Huai was also appreciated by many high-ranking generals in the Privy Council, especially the generals of Bingzhou headed by Lu Bu - after all, Guo Huai was also from Bingzhou.
However, apart from the State of Chu, people's attention to the "second" was obviously insufficient. If they did not know that it was Guo Huai who was in charge of Badong, Zhang Ren and Yan Yan would not pay special attention to such a person.
After all, in Chu State, there are too many people who deserve more attention than Guo Huai...
After learning about Guo Huai's arrangements in Badong County, Zhang Ren and Yan Yan disagreed, thinking that he was just young and hot-headed and only knew how to talk big .
But there is one thing that Zhang Ren must have guessed wrong...
From the very beginning, Zhao Yun had no intention of assigning any tasks to Guo Huai!
Because Zhao Yun believed that he could trust Guo Huai with his back - you know, when the Wancheng Division was half-retreating, Guo Huai was actually handling the military and political affairs of Badong County.
However, people may not even have an impression of the second place, let alone remember that in addition to ranking second in the military subject, Guo Huai also got "A" in the civilian subject and the household subject.
Guo Huai in history was also a capable official who governed the military and political affairs of a place. He was in charge of Guanzhong for more than 20 years , and the military and civilians were all submissive. He blocked Zhuge Liang and Jiang Wei's northern expeditions several times...
Although there was no great victory worthy of being called a god, there had not been any major mistakes in more than twenty years.
In the middle period of Wei State, when Sima family began to ascend the path of becoming a powerful official, their base was Guanzhong. In order to guard against Shu State, Wei State had long appointed Sima Yi as the military and political governor of Guanzhong. As a result, several emperors of Wei State were short-lived, which allowed Sima Yi to gain power in Guanzhong.
Guo Huai had been in Guanzhong for a long time. Although he was a minister of Wei, he was also Sima Yi's "little brother".
However, Guo Huai is different from the always ruthless Sima, in that he is a man who values friendship and loyalty.
Historically, Sima Shi has been criticized for poisoning his first wife, who was also from the Xiahou family, because of his grievances with the Cao and Xiahou families.
Guo Huai's wife was from the Wang family - Wang Yun's Wang family... His brother Wang Ling was very loyal to the Cao family. After the Gaopingling Incident, Wang Ling was dissatisfied with Sima Yi's monopoly of government affairs and raised an army to support the king. However, he failed and his entire clan was executed...
According to the rules of the Han Dynasty, a married daughter was still counted as part of her mother's family, so Guo Huai's wife was also included.
However, Guo Huai wrote a letter to Sima Yi, saying that if the five sons were without their mother, they would be too sad to live alone. Without the five sons, I, Guo Huai, would be as good as dead...
After receiving the letter, Sima Yi pardoned Guo Huai's wife. This also shows that Sima Yi valued Guo Huai - at that time, Guo Huai had been operating in Guanzhong for 20 years, and the Sima family was still just a "powerful minister", so Sima Yi had to value him.
At this time, Zhang Ren and Yan Yan only thought that Guo Huai was a young and energetic general. After learning that he had deployed defenses in Zhi County, Zhang Ren led the vanguard to take the lead.
"General Yan, please stop competing for credit with us young people! Hahahaha..."
Zhang Ren said so, but Yan Yan understood that he did not want his weakness of being "good at defense but not good at attack" to be exposed too much.
"Then it's up to Justice."
…
While leading his troops to Zhi County, Zhang Ren received several reports, all of which said that the Chu army was "unusually moving", but the scouts did not explain clearly what the movements were "unusual", they just said... it seemed like they were digging on a large scale?
Zhang Ren didn't understand either - was he still digging a trap at this time? This young general of Chu State was too creative, wasn't he?
Only when he really got close to the Chu army's defense line did Zhang Ren discover that the Chu army, for some unknown purpose, had dug a deep ditch half a person's height in the plain area, and then piled the excavated sand in front of the ditch.
It can be vaguely seen that the Chu defenders... are hiding in the ditch and behind the earth wall.
"General, could it be that... the Chu army wants to use this earth wall to stop us?" Deputy General Zhang Li asked in confusion.
"What a pipe dream! Ali, you want to meet that Guo Huai!" Zhang Ren said with a cold face.
If you really expect the earth wall to stop the enemy, it would be wishful thinking. After all, at this height, even if the war horses "trained" by the Yunnan horses are not capable of sprinting, they can still jump over it. Not to mention that even ordinary infantry can only hold on for a while.
What advantage does the defender have if he hides in the back?
However, Zhang Ren will soon realize that he has completely misjudged his thoughts...
"Thank you, General!" Zhang Li said excitedly.
In front of the two armies, a gilded general walked out from the Shu army. After he entered within a hundred steps, someone from the Chu side could not help but ask Guo Huai: "Captain! Shall we fire?" - which is equivalent to the meaning of "fire" with a musket.
Guo Huai shook his head and said, "We are a righteous army. Let's see what he says first, and then shoot him!"
"Listen up, Chu villain! I am Zhang Li, the vanguard under the former general of the Shuhou Mansion. Do you dare to come forward to fight? I will capture you on the battlefield to avoid causing more casualties to the people of Ba County!" Zhang Li challenged.
Zhang Li specifically mentioned the people of Ba County, hoping to arouse the Badong people's hatred of the Chu people, but unfortunately... it had no effect.
As for whether he can win... Although I have never seen Guo Huai take action, it is certain that there is no such person among the golden and jade generals of the Chu State.
As long as it is still gilded, Zhang Li dares to fight...
"Oh, a confrontation between two armies is not a place for one person to show off his strength. Are all the warriors in Xichuan so brave and fierce? It's really disappointing!" After putting on armor, Guo Huai jumped out of the earth wall of the bunker and said, then jumped back again.
Zhang Li and Zhang Ren behind him were both startled when they heard this.
It is true that challenging someone at this time seems a bit reckless, but... isn't it because I guess that you, Guo Huai, are this kind of person that I'm challenging you like this?
Who would have thought that Guo Huai, who seemed so reckless in strategy, was actually so cowardly on the battlefield?
"Let's raise the flag...and the sharp arrows!" Zhang Ren said with a serious face.
Looking at the strange earth walls and gullies in front of him, Zhang Ren could probably guess that the State of Chu must want to fight a war of attrition with long-range attacks, but Zhang Ren was not worried.
Even though Chu's bows and crossbows were its strong point, they would not be able to do anything under the cover of such a knee-high earth wall. After all, if they could not stop the charge, how many times could they shoot along the way?
