Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 243 Cai Mao is in a hurry

In October of the 13th year of Jian'an, Yecheng was finally conquered.

Yuan Tan fled to Bohai.

And it was at this time that Cai Mao got the news of Liu Bei's departure.

Tens of thousands of troops have been stationed in Jiangling at this moment.

Not only Jiangling, but also Chanling, Huarong and other places have stationed a large number of Xiangyang soldiers and horses.

The fleet of the Yangtze River Navy is sailing day and night in Yunmengze and the Yangtze River area, and the Jiangxia Navy is not to be outdone, cruising in the north of Dongting Lake and the Chibi area.

The places where they lived have become land in later generations, such as Jianli City and Shishou City in Hubei Province, but they were still lakes at that time.

So apart from the Hongkou area which is land, the north to Yunmeng Lake and the south to Dongting Lake are the places where they confront each other.

Neither side started a dispute. Even when the Jiangxia Navy provoked, the Yangtze River Navy would deliberately back down, giving up the north and south of Hongkou, that is, the Dongting Lake and Honghu areas of later generations, while retreating to the two counties of Chanling and Huarong .

But in October, when Cai Mao heard that Liu Bei had officially entered Sichuan, he had passed through Baidi City and was heading for Linjiang in mighty strength.He immediately made multiple preparations, and Jiangling's side suddenly became active.

Jinxiang is located three miles east of Jiangling City. To the east of this place is Yunmengze. In the Han Dynasty, Jiangling to the southeast of hundreds of square kilometers is the area of ​​Yunmengze, and the water area is very large.

At this moment, countless ships were docked densely at the Jinxiang Wharf, all of which were locked with iron cables.

At that time, Yunmeng Lake could not simply be regarded as a lake. Even though Yunmeng Lake had begun to shrink significantly during the Qin and Han Dynasties, it still had an area of ​​tens of thousands of square kilometers, larger than five Dongting Lakes.

So at least if you look at this big lake from the river bank, you will feel like you are looking at the vast ocean with rolling waves and waves.

A lake of such a large area is vast and boundless, and the wind and waves are extremely strong.Naturally, there is no way for ships to be scattered and fixed on the docks. They can only choose to connect the ships with iron locks or wooden boats, so as to prevent the ships from being blown away by wind and waves.

This method is Cao Cao's "iron chain boat" during the Battle of Chibi, and it is not a strategy offered by Pang Tong to Cao Cao. It is a common way of stopping ships in southern regions such as Chu, Wu, and Yue from the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods. This is how ships stop.

Therefore, to a certain extent, Cao Cao's loss in the Battle of Chibi was not due to the way of "connecting boats with iron cables", but because he believed in Huang Gai's false surrender, allowing the false surrender fleet full of fish paste to approach easily To the wharf of Wulin where he parked.

Under normal circumstances, when the warship fleet stops at night, of course they cannot approach the past.Especially in such a period of war, the Yangtze River has already been controlled, and merchant ships from all over the country are not allowed to travel to prevent people from being inquired about.

But at the moment, there are a large number of ships coming in and out of Jinxiang Wharf, some from the Yangtze River Port in the south, and some from Yunmengze Lake in the east. There are a large number of small and medium-sized ships entering and leaving the wharf port every day.

In the distance, a group of soldiers came out of the city of Jiangling, stepping on the rammed earth and making a creaking sound. The wharf stretched for more than ten miles, and thousands of ships seemed to have no end in sight. People coming and going on the river bank There were so many. After the team of sergeants entered the pier, they lined up on the pier.

Li Ying, the Zhonglang general who was in charge of stationing in Jinxiang today, was originally Zhang Yun's subordinate. Later, because Cai Mao's generals suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Badong, he transferred several middle and high-level generals from Zhang Yuna. , including Huo Jun.

Huo Jun's elder brother Huo Du once shined in the battle of Yingchuan when Liu Biao attacked Cao Cao, but he died of illness within two years. His younger brother Huo Jun inherited his trilogy and is now the captain of Cai Mao.

"Do you want to call four hundred ships? This doesn't look like a reconnaissance mission."

Li Ying looked at the warrant, it was indeed the handprint of the Taiwei currently stationed in Jiangling, and there was a seal on it.

Wang Jie and Li Ying, who led the team this time, were old acquaintances, they were both old generals who followed Zhang Yun's account back then, and said rather complainingly: "Go to die."

Li Ying saw the resentment of her colleagues, and jokingly said: "Why, the Taiwei asked you to go to Qingcao Lake and fight with the Jiangxia Navy?"

"That's not likely, but it's about the same. Send me to the south to be Tang."

Wang Jie shrugged.

"To be Tang? Tianmai's resident."

Li Ying glanced at Wang Jie sympathetically, and said, "Didn't you ask the Taiwei?"

Wang Jie spread his hands and said, "What's the use? It was the Taiwei who asked me to persuade him to surrender."

"Liu Pan saved Tian Mai's life, I'm afraid he won't surrender, and your sister"

Li Ying hesitated for a moment.

Wang Jie smiled wryly and said, "Let's take one step at a time."

While the two were talking, the people on the pier had already started to unlock the boat, ready to let Wang Jie's army board the boat.

Not far from where they were chatting, there were several desks next to the official building on the wharf and dock. Behind the desks, more than a dozen officials were checking the accounts.

For example, Jiangling now has [-] to [-] troops stationed, plus the surrounding Qianling and Huarong, the soldiers, ships, food, and ordnance that come and go every day must be counted.

So there are a lot of officials like them, hundreds of them, and every day they have to register any goods and personnel coming in and out of the wharf.

Among them, a military chief bookkeeper about 30 years old was kneeling on the table, holding the account book in his hand and looking at it. He seemed to be looking at the account book seriously, but his ears were listening to the conversation between Wang Jie and Li Ying.

After a while, the boats on the pier finally sailed out.

There are a total of [-] ships, large and small, including three building ships, more than [-] ships such as 艨艟 and fighting ships, more than [-] ships such as Maotu, Zouge, Luzhi, and Xiandeng, and two scouts, yachts, flying boats, and red horses. More than a hundred ships.

Seeing the ship coming out, Wang Jie and Li Ying greeted each other, then returned to the team to give orders, and the mighty thousands of troops began to board the ship and prepare to set off.

After noon, another army came slowly from Jiangling City.

This time when Li Ying saw this general, she put on a different face, because this man was his sworn enemy Han Hu in the army. Still the same.

Neither of them wanted to talk to each other, so Han Hu slapped the military order in his hand on Li Ying's desk, and then waited for the auxiliary soldiers and civilian husbands on the pier to adjust the boats.

Li Ying snorted coldly and didn't speak, and the director next to him naturally couldn't hear what Han Hu was going to do.

Soon more than 300 ships departed from Jinxiang Wharf.

Two days later.

On October 13th, Jian'an [-]th year, Changsha County, Luo County.

The rolling Yangtze River is vast, and Zhuge Liang sat cross-legged at the foot of Qipan Mountain in the northwest of Luoxian County. This place is not Miluo City in later generations, but the Quyuan Management District in the northwest of Miluo City.

This area belonged to Luo Ziguo in the Spring and Autumn Period, including Miluo City, Yueyang County, and Xiangyin County in later generations, and Luo County in the Han Dynasty was located here.

Luo County is between the Xiangjiang River and the Mishui River. The opposite bank of the Xiangjiang River in the northwest is a large landmass, but now it is a vast lake.

Several flying boats came against the current, and finally landed slowly on the pier of the pavilion at the foot of the mountain.

Zhuge Liang stood up to greet him.

The cabin of the airship opened, and a strong and strong young man walked out. Seeing Zhuge Liang, he immediately smiled and said, "Brother."

"Xiaoqing."

Zhuge Liang was wearing a blue robe, a white cloak, a Jinxian crown on his head, and a pair of silk shoes with golden silk cloud heads on his feet.

Because it was October, it was getting colder in the south, and instead of holding a feather fan in his hand, he put his hands behind his back, looking at Shen Chen with a smile on his face like an exiled immortal.

Shen Chen walked over with a smile, looked him up and down, and said, "Brother is getting thinner again, compared to the busy affairs in the army, with daily management, there is always no time to eat."

"I can do daily life, but Xiaoqing is getting stronger and stronger."

Zhuge Liang did not respond positively, but the absence of a response was basically an acquiescence. Now he and Guan Yu are alone in charge of the army, and Guan Yu is in charge of the army, while he has to manage all the affairs of the army. It is true that sometimes he is busy and does not eat on time.

Shen Chen walked side by side with him, looked at the rolling Mishui on the east bank, and suddenly said with a feeling: "This is the Mishui River? I just don't know where Jia Changsha mourns Qu Tan?"

"That is."

Zhuge Liang pointed to the left bank of Mishui one mile away and said, "This is where Qu Jun threw himself into the river."

Shen Chen looked in the direction he pointed, and saw that the left bank of the Mishui River was lush with water and grass, and the dense basil and weeds were taller than a person.

480 Six years ago, Qu Yuan threw himself into the river here.

There are no relics on the riverside, except that later Chu people spontaneously built a mausoleum on the riverside to commemorate Qu Yuan, and there is nothing left.

Even the mausoleum of the Clothes Tomb is now only ruined walls. In the Western Han Dynasty, there were still people commemorating it. Jia Yi, Sima Qian and other celebrities came to condolences and sacrificed to him. Still care about the dead?
Looking at such a desolate Miluoyuan, Shen Chen said with some emotion for a while: "The country is broken and the mountains and rivers are there, and the city is full of spring grass and trees. I feel the flowers splashing tears, and the birds are frightened. I don't know that the country of Chu was broken at that time." When the news of the news reached Qu Jun's ears, how sad and indignant did he jump into this cold river to die for his country?"

Zhuge Liang couldn't help but said softly: "Jia Taifu wrote a letter to pay tribute to Qu Jun. Tai Shigong came to Luocheng to worship Zhengzheng when he was 20 years old. Presumably at that time, they could also feel the sadness and pain of Qu Jun when the country was in ruins. feeling."

"I don't think they feel it."

Shen Chen shook his head: "There is no empathy in this world. When Jia Yi and Sima Qian were here, the power of the Han Dynasty was flourishing. What they felt was just the same underappreciation as Qu Yuan."

Zhuge Liang thought for a while and said, "That's true."

Shen Chen pointed to the north and said: "When the country is really ruined and the family is destroyed, isn't it what we can feel right now? Everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the country, and my brother and I have to work hard."

"mutual encouragement."

Zhuge nodded brightly.

The two walked to the pavilion by the river step by step.

The surrounding areas are actually not uninhabited. As the former land of Luoziguo, Luo County is a large plain area alluvial by the Xiangjiang and Miluo Rivers, full of rice fields and countryside.

It's just that no one lives on the river bank because they are afraid that the flood will destroy the village and fields, but there is still a wharf.

There are pavilions at the wharf, and the nearest village is two or three miles away, but from the chessboard to the wharf at the foot of the mountain, there are countless sentry posts and beacon towers. In the northwest, it is close to the confluence of Xiangjiang River and Mishui River, overlooking Dongting Lake. There are also a large number of military forts.

Now Liu Pan is stationed in Luo County. Due to the large area of ​​Yunmeng Lake in the Han Dynasty, including the northeast of Yiyang City, Hunan Province, the west of Xiangyin County, and the west, north, and east of Yuanjiang City, it is still a vast ocean.

Therefore, if Cai Mao's army wants to go south, it must take the Xiangjiang River by boat, otherwise it has to cross the Wuling Mountains and Xuefeng Mountains, so this place is the only way to pass.

Liu Pan's army is stationed here, obviously with a strategic intention to guard the main road.

Zhuge Liang and Shen Chen entered the pavilion and sat opposite each other. This time they came here, they were going to conduct a comprehensive strategic review, so as to prepare for tactical arrangements.

In fact, the overall strategy and tactics have been implemented long ago, but wars are changing all the time, and others will also adopt different strategies, so they have to maintain communication all the time to facilitate responses.

"Cai Mao must first take Jingnan, and then take Jiangxia. On this point, my brother is consistent with me."

Shen Chen took out a general map of Jingzhou. This map was drawn by himself. Although it is incomparable with satellite maps, it is much clearer than the popular maps at that time. He pointed to the location of Jiangxia County on it and said: "Cai Mao is afraid After capturing Jiangxia, we will face the threat from Jiangdong, so we must break Jingnan first and then take Jiangxia."

"good."

Zhuge Liang nodded slightly: "Jiangdong and the second son are in the same situation, like a tripartite confrontation. Jiangdong and the second son are strong, while the eldest son of Jiangxia is poor and weak, but no one dares to take the initiative to attack Jiangxia. Once Jiangxia is destroyed, the eldest son will definitely flee to Jingnan. At that time, the Second Young Master bordered Jiangdong, and the two sides were in the same situation."

This is where both Sun Quan and Liu Cong are embarrassed by each other. They stand on three legs. Originally, Liu Cong and Sun Quan did not interfere with each other.But once Liu Qi is beaten away or wiped out, Sun Quan wants to get Jiang Xia into his hands even if he dies, and Liu Cong will never give up.

In this way, even if Liu Cong beat Liu Qi away, he would have to deploy at least [-] to [-] troops in Jiangxia to defend against Jiangdong's invasion. How many troops would he have to regain Jingnan?
Therefore, the smartest way for Xiangyang should be to ignore Jiang Xia, concentrate firepower and immediately go south to attack Jingnan, and recover Jingnan first.

And there is also an advantage in taking Jingnan first.

That is the situation that will make Liu Qi obviously very passive.

He came to save Jingnan, Jiangxia was empty, and Jiangdong might take advantage of the void.

If he doesn't come to rescue, then Jing Nan will definitely not be able to resist.

So Liu Qi will be in a dilemma.

What Cai Mao didn't know was that they had formed an alliance with Jiangdong, at least Sun Quan had promised not to take advantage of this time to call.

"Cai Mao chooses Jingnan, so how will he choose?"

Shen Chen pointed to Zuotang, Hanshou, and Linyuan and said: "The waterway going south from the Xiangshui River was blocked by Liu Pan. It is very likely that he will divide his troops into two groups and attack both land and water. First, he will take Linyuan along the way and go to Yiyang to attack Changsha. Along the way, they confronted us on Qingcao Lake."

Linyuan County in the Han Dynasty was the seat of Wuling County in Jingnan, and it was also named Changde in later generations.

In fact, if you look at it from the maps of later generations, it will make people think that Changde should not belong to Hunan, because it is also on the Jianghan Plain, a city on the south bank of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River Plain, and is not surrounded by mountains like Hunan.

But if you look at Changde in the Han Dynasty, it is easy to understand why it belongs to Hunan.

Because at that time the entire northeast of Changde City belonged to the Yunmengze area, including Huarong County in Yueyang, Hunan, Nanxian County in Yiyang, Hunan, and Anxiang County in Changde. This large area was a lake in the Han Dynasty until the Tang Dynasty. Song will only surface later.

That is to say, from the north of the Yuanjiang River in later generations to the vast plain as large as the Yangtze River, it is roughly the area of ​​several cities and counties such as Huarong County, Anxiang County, Nanxian County, Shishou City, and Jianli City. Blowing bubbles at the bottom of Yunmengze Lake.

Therefore, in terms of geography in the Han Dynasty, Changde should obviously be located in Hunan.

This is also the main reason why Changde, which is located in the north and closer to Hubei, has always belonged to the four counties of Jingnan since the Qin and Han Dynasties.

It is also the magnificent Yunmengze that separates Jingnan and Jingbei from here.

If Cai Mao's army wanted to go south, they had to go by water.

However, more than half of his Yangtze River Navy has been lost. Although the remaining 2 Yangtze River Navy has the ability to fight on water, the rest of the army is from Nanyang. It is obvious that it will be in the battle with the Jiangxia Navy. at a disadvantage.

Therefore, Shen Chen believed that besides the navy, he would probably divide his troops into two groups. The Yangtze River Navy would contain the Jiang Xia Navy and Liu Pan's army that blocked the Xiangjiang River in Luo County, and the other would go south from Chanling.

Although the northeast of Changde is still a piece of land at this time, the north direction is probably the northwest of Anxiang County in later generations, Li County, Jinshi Beef Noodles, Jinshi City, Linli County and other places are already a piece of land. The area is called Zuotang, and the north is Chanling, which is later Gongan County.

Go south from Jiangling and cross the Yangtze River, go to Chanling and Zuotang, you can go straight to Hanshou County and Linyuan County, and then from Linyuan along the foot of the Xuefeng Mountains, go to Hanshou County and Yuanjiang City in later generations, you will be able to Kill and run to Yiyang County, and finally you can capture Changsha from Yiyang.

Historically, Liu Bei stationed troops in Chanling after the Battle of Chibi, and then renamed Chanling as Gongan, which means "Zuo Gongan camped out", so he took this route to go south and seized the four counties in Jingnan as his foundation.

Zhuge Liang listened to Shen Chen's analysis, nodded slightly and said: "Xiaoqing is right, I also thought the same way, if you want to take Jingnan, you must take Hanshou, Linyuan, and Yiyang."

"Now we don't have many troops deployed in the three counties of Tang, Hanshou, and Linyuan. I'm afraid it will be difficult to resist Cai Mao's army."

"Luo County also needs soldiers and horses to garrison, does Xiaoqing have any solution?"

"What do you think brother?"

Shen Chen looked at Zhuge Liang with a smile, he couldn't let him figure out a solution for everything, he didn't believe that Zhuge Liang didn't do anything.

Zhuge Liang rolled his eyes at him, and said: "I have visited Linyuan and Hanshou several times in the past few months. These two cities are in the north of Yuanshui. As long as you surround the three city gates in the east, west, and north, Linyuan will be easily breached, so you must give in."

"Ah."

Shen Chen nodded: "I knew that brother had an idea."

Zhuge Liang pointed to a place on the map and said: "This place is called Yaoshan, and the north of the mountain is Qingcao Lake. This is the only way to go from Linyuan to Yiyang."

Yaoshan is a mountain range in the southwest of Yuanjiang City in later generations. At that time, Yuanjiang City was still blowing bubbles at the bottom of the lake, and only an area near the Xuefeng Mountains was exposed on the water. Therefore, the exchanges between Linyuan and Yiyang Changsha in the Han Dynasty You have to rely on the Linhu Road at the foot of the mountain formed between the mountain and Yunmengze.

However, since the mountains around Yuanjiang City are not rugged and high mountains, they are not as exaggerated and difficult as Sichuan Bashu, so it is still a wide road, and there are even many small roads in the mountains and forests, so there is no problem in marching.

Shen Chen has never been to these places, so naturally he doesn't know the geographical environment there, but since Zhuge Liang thinks it's okay, he said: "Okay, let's listen to my brother's arrangement and set up an ambush here!"

"Not urgent."

Zhuge Liang waved his hand and said, "Now we are only doing tactical simulation, we still have to see it in practice."

Having been with Shen Chen for a long time, he also learned what tactical simulation and sand table deduction are.

However, at this moment, a scout came in a hurry from outside. They entered the pavilion and knelt down on one knee to Zhuge Liang, saying, "Report, military advisor, let me report carefully. The other school’s troops disappeared, the general asked me to report to the military division immediately.”

Hearing this sentence, Shen Chen looked at Zhuge Liang and said, "Cai Mao is in a hurry, it seems we have to be in a hurry too."

(End of this chapter)