Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 456 I am a hero of faith in Jiangdong, who dares to kill me

On the evening of October [-], Cao Jun had already arrived outside Hefei.

Guan Yu stood on the top of the city and frowned.

Behind him was a middle-aged scholar, with his hands in his sleeves, bent slightly, in a humble gesture.

The evening wind gently brushed their faces, blowing their robes in the wind.

Guan Yu said in a deep voice: "Hefei City was taken down by me with great difficulty, so let me give up like this, Lu Boyan, are you joking?"

Lu Xun said with a smile: "You should understand a truth. This is always the case in this world. Only when you give up can you gain. If the first emperor couldn't abandon the north, how could he be able to dominate the world in the south? Abandon first, then take. For righteousness."

Guan Yu felt that Lu Xun was talking nonsense, so he shook his head and said: "I have never felt that I should give up first and then take it. If it is for victory, a short-term avoidance is not a bad thing. But what I want to ask you is, What if after Cao Jun went south, he only took Hefei and stopped chasing him?"

Since the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Guan Yu has followed Liu Bei to conquer the north and south for many years.It's not that he doesn't understand the principle of strategic abandonment.What he was afraid of was that the enemy would not fall for it at all. If he withdrew his troops back, they would only occupy Hefei. Wouldn't it be a waste of effort to conquer Hefei after a year of fighting?

Lu Xun said softly: "Don't worry, Junhou, I will give the enemy a reason that they can't refuse. What's more, if Junhou is worried, it's easy. When you leave, set a fire and burn the city of Hefei, anyway. Don’t you, Junhou, also plan to forge a new city?”

"Burn Hefei?"

A flash of surprise flashed across Guan Yu's old face. After a while, he turned around and said slowly, "Then do as you wish. If it doesn't work, I will behead you."

"Yes."

Lu Xun still clasped his hands in his sleeves and raised his head to look at the sky.

October is the beginning of winter.

It didn't snow in Huainan, the rainy season was over, but the weather was a bit dry like in late autumn.

The breeze blows the willows on the banks of the Shishui River, and the surface of Chaohu Lake in the distance reflects the setting sun like a mirror.

The mountains under the setting sun are withered and yellow autumn leaves, the maple leaves are red like February flowers, and there are waterfowls flying in the sky.

It's a fine day for a fire.

Lu Xun thought to himself.

Outside Hefei City, in Cao Jun's camp.

Cao Xiu sat on the main seat, and more than a dozen generals from Lu Qian, Zang Ba, Xue Ti and other ministries were seated below.

Besides them, Liu Ye and Jiang Ji were also sent as staff officers.

For this raid on Huainan, Cao Wei transferred the Youzhou cavalry in the north to Henan. Once the reinforcements from Nanyang rushed to the rescue, the cavalry would raid the Nanyang Basin.

So even if this plan failed to take Huainan back, it doesn't matter if Sun Quan didn't do anything big in the rear.

The worst result is that they withdraw, and then Cao Jun, the main force in Henan, turns Nanyang upside down.

But there is good news.

Sun Quan had already burned Jianye's granaries. According to their intelligence estimates, Guan Yu had less than two months' worth of military rations left at most.

"This is a letter from Gu Li sent by Sun Quan's department. Our scouts have also detected that Jianye Taicang is indeed on fire."

Cao Xiu threw the official document in his hand on the table, looked around and said: "According to the detailed investigation before, Guan Yu had a year of grain and grass in Hefei, but this year's spring rice harvest was delayed, and the autumn rice has just been harvested. The grain transportation should be in October. Arriving at the end of the month."

"But last year's food delivery was in December, does that mean that Guan Yu only has two months of food and grass now?"

Lu Qian asked.

"good."

Cao Xiu nodded: "Since Guan Yu attacked Hefei, we have been closely monitoring their grain transport ships in Yangzhou, and we are very clear about every time they transport grain on a large scale. Last December, Guan Yu had just captured Hefei. , Our detailed work saw the grain transport fleet sailing into the city of Hefei with our own eyes."

The 30 army consumed [-] shi of food per month. When Guan Yu first attacked Hefei, the food and grass were not concentrated in his camp, but were placed separately. All the food was stored in Chao County in the south. Grain for two months.

It's not that I don't want to put food in the camp, but for safety reasons.

It seems that Yuan Shao would store food in Wuchao for a reason. When besieging the enemy, if it is placed in the headquarters camp, once the warehouse is attacked, the risk will be greater.

Therefore, in history, neither Yuan Shao nor Cao Cao would choose to store food in the military camp, but to find another place.

Yuan Shao chose Wuchao.

Cao Cao chose to put the grain on the water.

For example, every time Cao Cao attacked the enemy, he mostly transported grain by water. He besieged Yecheng and dug Baigou.When Ping Yuan Tan, Yuan Shang, Yuan Xi and others were digging the Pinglu Canal and Quanzhou Canal, and then went south to fight the Battle of Chibi, dredging the Fei River, etc., all for the purpose of transporting grain and grass.

In this way, when he is attacking the enemy, he does not need to store too much grain and grass in the headquarters camp. Every time he transports grain by ship, he does not have to worry about being robbed of the grain road, and secondly, he does not have to worry about the camp being breached and the grain being burned.

The same was true for Guan Yu's siege of Hefei. The grain was stored in the area from Ruxukou to Chao County in the rear, and the grain was transported to the camps outside Hefei by boats through Chaohu Lake and watering.

Cao Jun has no fleet, so naturally he cannot threaten his food security.

However, after the city of Hefei was conquered and the city was established, this method must be abandoned. The cost of successively transporting grain was too high, and it was obviously much easier to transport grain to the city for storage at one time than to keep transporting grain back and forth.

So now Guan Yu has changed the way of transporting grain.

The main thing is that the way of fighting in the city is like this. When besieging others, you can rely on water transportation.

However, when the city is besieged by the enemy, the water canals may be cut off. Therefore, when there are cities that can store food, it is natural to focus on city defense.

The current situation is that Guan Yu captured Huainan with 8 troops. The soldiers and horses were not all concentrated in Hefei City, but all the way to Hefei City along Ruxukou, and there were still scattered Han troops stationed in Jiujiang, Lujiang and other Huainan counties. , causing his soldiers and horses to not all gather together.

On the other hand, Cao Jun assembled all the soldiers and horses of Runan, Guangling, Peiguo, etc., a total of 12 troops marched southward and surrounded the city of Hefei.In the case of a large number of enemies, it is obviously not suitable to go out of the city to form a camp, and then transport food by water.

The only problem is that the new food was burned before it was delivered, so this would be a huge blow to Guan Yu's army who had two months of food left.

Zang Ba said: "If this is the case, wouldn't Guan Yu withdraw his troops soon?"

"Do not."

Jiang Ji shook his head and said, "Guan Yu must have been furious when he first heard about the food fire in the south, but the city of Hefei, which was captured with great difficulty, would never be lost so easily, so I thought he would stick to it for a while and urge the rear to transport the food."

"Well."

Cao Xiu thought it made sense, so he said: "But Guan Yu has a navy stationed on Chaohu Lake. If we want to rob the food road, our navy may not be able to defeat them."

In addition to the [-] defenders in the city of Hefei, the Han army also built a water dock and dock in the south of Chaohu Lake. The number of troops was about [-].

The Wei army had already sent troops to harass, but they couldn't stop their navy from entering Shishui or retreating into Chaohu Lake. Especially since Hefei City was right next to Shishui, the fleet could enter Shishui to meet Guan Yu's troops.

Although for this surprise attack, Cao Wei also prepared some ships, and they can go south along the Shishui from Shaopi Lake. The problem is that Cao Wei's water army is basically at the level that can help the army cross the river. It would be whimsical to fight against the Jiangdong Navy.

This was also proved later in Zhuge Ke's battle of Dongxing.Both Cao and Wei fought as far as Dongxingti, but Zhuge Ke only sent Ding Feng to raid thousands of people by boat, and defeated Cao Jun who was building camps on the water. Cao Jun drowned countless people in order to compete for the pontoon bridge.

So the northerners are not good at water warfare, which is indeed a relatively recognized thing.

Liu Ye said: "If you want to defeat Guan Yu, you must attack Ruxukou in advance to block his retreat."

"It's not that easy."

Cao Xiu shook his head and said, "Guan Yu won't withdraw his troops immediately, and our water army won't be able to get through and stop them."

Jiang Ji said with a smile: "There are other ways. If Jiangdong is in danger of being breached, then Guan Yu is eager to return and will definitely withdraw. As long as our army crosses the river, we may even capture the entire Jiangdong."

"Will Guan Yu let us cross the river?"

Cao Xiu laughed at himself and said, "They won't be so stupid that they don't put a navy on the river to intercept them."

Jiang Ji said: "So Guan Yu had to withdraw. The lack of food and grass is only the first step. The second step is to cut off the rear."

"You mean Sun Quan?"

Cao Xiu sneered and said, "This fellow has remained silent. It is said that he has fled from Xiangyang back to Jiangdong, but the south has not raised any incidents. It was agreed to send troops together. Unfortunately, this man is as cowardly as a mouse."

"Report!"

At this time, a messenger from outside the door hurried in and shouted: "Sun Quan has sent a letter, saying that he has launched an incident in Linhai, Kuaiji, and has broken through the county seat and occupied the land of the second county."

"Oh?"

Cao Xiu was surprised and said, "I didn't expect him to do it."

Liu Ye immediately said: "General, let's march. If Guan Yu hesitates and does not choose to withdraw, then we can just surround him. As long as we break through the Ruxukou and build iron locks on the Ruxu water to intercept their fleet, Guan Yu will have nothing to do. There is nowhere to escape!"

"March tomorrow!"

Cao Xiu waved his hand, it's getting late today, and he can only act tomorrow.

However, at night, fires broke out in the city of Hefei.

By dawn, the entire city had been burned, and Guan Yu's main force had fled to the ship and left south.

Seeing this situation, Cao Xiu knew that Sun Quan was putting pressure on Guan Yu from the rear, and without hesitation, he ordered the three armies to pursue. Even if Guan Yu had already crossed the river, their main force must cross the Yangtze River.

.

.

October 21, Wu County, Qiantang County.

When eating in the morning, Sun Quan's army in the distance had already crossed the Qiantang River and arrived outside Qiantang City.

At this moment, Sun Quan was riding on horseback. Besides General Gu Li, beside him were several brave young generals, all of whom were descendants of aristocratic families.

Liu Bei is not very friendly to the Jiangdong gentry, so this time when Sun Quan was restored, a large number of Jiangdong gentry contributed their efforts. Although they barely managed to gather 2 people, after they launched the uprising, in just over ten days, they broke through several The county seat occupies Linhai County and Kuaiji County.

There are not many guards in the two counties, and they are not their opponents at all. Liu Shen, the prefect of Wu County, is a rich man in Shu County. He used to serve as Liu Bei's Yizhou Biejia. The soldiers came to Qian Tang to take precautions.

On Qiantang City, Liu Shen saw Sun Quan's army crossing the river from a distance, so he said to the soldiers around him: ""Sun Tzu Marching Army" said: "The guests come without water, don't welcome them in the water, order Banji And hit it, benefit.Now that the enemy is crossing the river, we should also go out of the city and make a surprise attack before they finish crossing the river. "

So he led thousands of people out of the city.

Sun Quan saw that the gate of Qiantang City was opened, and the enemy was coming to attack halfway, so he also said to the left and right: "This battle is a battle of whether Gu can gain a foothold in Jiangdong again. You have to think about it. Both the land and the population will go back, and for the sake of the clan, we must go all out."

"only!"

Gu Li and several young generals responded one after another.

At that moment Sun Quan said again: "Now the army is crossing the river. We cannot allow them to attack halfway. You follow me to fight against them and cover the troops from the rear. As long as you occupy Wu County and cooperate with Cao Jun to wipe out Guan Yu, you will be able to revive Jiangdong." .”

Said to ride the horse to fight in person.

Sun Quan was actually very courageous, and he liked to be alone in the front every time he fought, but he didn't have the force value of his father and brother, so he made a lot of jokes.

However, this time is the key to whether he can restore the battle, so even if he knows that his force value is insufficient, he still has to fight in person.

Soon thousands of soldiers rushed towards the distant Han army.

The two sides quickly approached.

Both sides lacked bows and crossbows, so after approaching, they immediately began to line up the army, intending to start melee combat directly.

Liu Shen rode out, saw Sun Quan from a distance, and cursed: "Sun Quan, you repeatedly broke the covenant and attacked the late emperor. Even though you were captured later, the late emperor was kind and never treated you badly. Why did you escape from Xiangyang and rebel again? ?”

"Hahahahahaha."

Sun Quan laughed and said: "Jiangdong is the foundation laid down by my father and brother. Why should I hand it over to others? Liu Xuande is a mediocre man who weaves mats and sells shoes, and he is also worthy of being a lone master? Dreaming!"

Liu Shen sneered and said: "Your father and brother were heroes for life, but you are such an unbeliever and unrighteous son of the Sun family. Listen, Sun Quan, if you want to seek Jiangdong, it would be easy to take Wu County from me. If you dare to grow up immediately Shout three times that I am a hero of faith in Jiangdong, whoever dares to kill me! I admire you and hand over the seals of soldiers and horses."

"Oh?"

Sun Quan laughed and said, "Mr. Liu Shen, are you trying to humiliate me?"

Liu Shen said sarcastically, "You don't even have that face."

"Hahahahaha."

Sun Quan looked up to the sky and laughed loudly: "I am a hero of faith in Jiangdong, who dares to kill me!"

"I am a hero of faith in Jiangdong, who dares to kill me!"

"I am a hero of faith in Jiangdong, who dares to kill me!"

The voice was so loud that it let everyone around know that Sun Quan always liked treachery, and everyone silently lowered their heads.

A young general seemed to be completely unable to bear his face thicker than the city wall, raised the knife in his hand and said angrily: "You unfaithful and unrighteous rat, I dare to kill you!"

Before the words fell, the knife was raised and dropped.

Swish!
Heads fly.

　As usual, if you go out on a date, there will be one change today and tomorrow, and two more changes when you come back the day after tomorrow.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)