Han Xiang

Chapter 606 Guan Yu plans an empty city plan

"Common enemy?"

Cai Mao frowned and asked: "Are you talking about the frustrated Gan Ning who was under Huang Zu before? I heard that this man came from Hanzhong to help and gathered tens of thousands of naval troops, but General Zixiao had already led a heavy army to Fancheng. If he leads an army to attack me now, Fancheng and Xiangyang will definitely not be protected, and Liu Qi will not let him go."

"No."

Lu Meng shook his head and said righteously: "In addition to Gan Ning, there is also Lu Su!"

"Lu Su?" Cai Mao was stunned when he heard this, and asked in a deep voice: "Lu Su is not from Longxiang? He should be the prefect of Wu County, what tricks are you playing?"

Lu Meng hurriedly explained: "The general does not know that Lu Su mysteriously appeared in the lower reaches of the Han River with a thousand warships and [-] to [-] naval troops. He fought with me many times in Jingling, Lankouju and other places. Otherwise, How could I lead the army here? I just want to report this matter to General Cao."

Cai Mao stroked his beard and pondered, and after a moment he said coldly:

"Long Xiang has been at odds with Sun Quan for a long time. I heard that he has been immersed in development in the past two years. It turns out that he is secretly building warships. He wants to take over Yangzhou, so he sent Lu Su to destroy you. This matter is reasonable and has nothing to do with us. ?”

"My lord has surrendered to Prime Minister Cao. Lu Su's attack on me is equivalent to declaring war with the Prime Minister. Besides, Guan Yu and Gan Ning have many naval forces. If Longxiang's fleet helps them, wouldn't General Cao be passive in Jingzhou?"

Seeing that Cai Mao remained silent, Lu Meng continued to fight and said: "General, don't hesitate, take me to the bow of the ship to stop the fight. I am sincerely here to help Cao's army."

"The Grand Governor just said that no normal person would choose Liu Bei at this time. Is it abnormal to defeat your master Long Xiang?"

Cai Hao shook his head and sneered, then slowly stood up and said leisurely: "It's no problem to take you to the bow of the ship to stop the fight. You have the right to remember your life, and I will leave it to the Prime Minister himself."

"Alright, alright."

Lu Mengxin said that he was in prison and had no plans to go back alive to see Sun Quan, but he wanted to help Sun Quan preserve his strength as much as possible.

The navy fighting outside is Sun Quan's last source of capital.

If Cai Hao's fight had severely damaged his vitality, and if Lu Su had missed him and eliminated him, Lu Meng would not be able to rest in peace even if he died.

With Lu Meng stepping forward to stop the war, Xu Sheng and other generals could only retreat with hatred.

Cai Mao was blocking the way north to the Jieshui River, Ganning's navy was guarding the waters of Xiangyang, and Lu Su was pursuing the lower reaches of the Han River. Lu Meng's defeated army seemed to have no way to retreat.

Fortunately, Xu Sheng heard Lu Meng's final order while negotiating at the bow of the ship.

Lu Meng asked him to return from the original route of the Han River. If he encountered Lu Su's pursuers, he would decisively abandon the ship and go ashore, and then walk back to Xiakou by land.

Lu Su would most likely steal the warships as trophies, and Sun Quan would definitely get the information and set up defenses everywhere on land.

As long as they hold on for a while, when Cao Cao captures Jingzhou soon, he will naturally go down the river and destroy Long Xiang.

What Lu Meng wants to see most is for Lu Su to go north to help Guan Yu against common sense, which will completely drag Long Xiang into trouble.

Cao Cao might divide his forces to attack Huainan, so Long Xiang would not have enough energy to capture Yuzhang.

Long Xiang and Lu Su naturally predicted the problems that Lu Meng could think of.

Lu Su sent troops to Jingzhou with only one purpose, which was to eliminate Lü Meng's path and relieve Guan Yu from the siege.

There is absolutely no way that the battle with Cao Cao would be exposed in advance, which would affect Long Xiang's plan to sneak attack Xudu for several years.

Exactly as expected, Cai Mao did not wait for Lu Su to lead his troops to invade for a long time after Xu Sheng and others retreated, which indirectly confirmed Lu Meng's false analysis.

Song Qian is a dispensable character, and Cai Hao can kill him at will just to vent his anger.

But Lü Meng was Sun Quan's chief governor after all, and it would be more meaningful to kill him directly than to sacrifice him to Cao Cao, so he was temporarily imprisoned in Xinye County Prison and sent people to report to Cao Ren and Cao Cao respectively.

Cao Ren conquered Chaoyang along the way, led his army southward to Fancheng, and then occupied the nearby Deng County.

Chaoyang and Deng counties had neither guards nor civilians. The houses in the two cities were fully furnished, but there was no food left in the treasury or private houses.

Cao Ren vaguely felt that something was wrong, but he believed that Guan Yu would not care if he had more troops and would capture Guang Yu.

Until we entered Fancheng, we found that it was still an empty city.

Cao Ren realized that Guan Yu had laid out the "empty city strategy" and obviously wanted to make a fuss on the grain road.All the generals in Cao's army are good at cutting off food routes. How can I, Cao Ren, make a red-faced thief cut off food?

There was Cai Mao guarding the waters of Xinye, and generals such as Xu Huang and Zhang Xiu were on the land route. They led tens of thousands of soldiers and horses as backup.

Guan Yu relied on Wancheng and more than [-] cavalry in Xi'e, so it would be good if he could defend the city.

Cut off my food supply?It's just a fool's errand.

Cao Ren thought this way, and so did Xu Huang and Zhang Xiu.

But among the warships parked in the waters of Wancheng, only a few patrol boats are moving every day.

At the end of September, the team transporting supplies was attacked by Gan Ning's navy while transiting in Xinye waters.

Xiangyang's warships were both large and small, and it took a certain amount of time to mobilize and deploy them. However, Gan Ning was able to come and go freely in his stern boat, but it was difficult for him to harass Cai Mao on the water.

Neither the grain boats nor the civilians could cross the river smoothly, so Cai Mao immediately asked Lu Xiang for help upstream.

After hearing the news, Xu Huang became suspicious of the warships in the river. He tried to build a pontoon bridge but was not blocked by Guan Yu's navy. Only then did he realize that he had fallen into the trap of the suspicious soldiers, so he and Zhang Xiu led their troops across the Huishui River.

Xi'e had no soldiers and horses to defend at all, and Wancheng only made simple resistance. The defender Pei Yuanshao abandoned the city and left.

Xu Huang was worried about Cao Ren's loss, so he and Zhang Xiu continued southward without stopping, and met Pei Yuanshao again in Nieyang in the southwest.

Pei Yuanshao waited for half a day and tried his old tricks again. As a result, when he was evacuating, Zhang Xiu predicted his path and was shot several times before he died in Rang County.

When taking Niyang to rest, Zhang Xiu curiously asked Xu Huang:
"General Xu, Pei Yuanshao is obviously stalling for time. What conspiracy are Guan Yu and Xu Shu plotting?"

"General Guan used the trick of doubting his troops and abandoned the warships at Tuishui to divert all his troops and horses. It seemed that he was preparing for a big event. From the Xinye Waterway grain road was attacked by Gan Ning, it can be seen that he should want to cut off General Cao's grain road. Fancheng and Xi'e The two cities are almost empty. If Fancheng and other places cannot supply supplies, General Cao's [-]-strong army will be in danger of running out of food in less than ten days." Xu Huang frowned and stroked his beard.

Zhang Xiu was stunned for a moment and almost blurted out:

"Guan Yu wants to encircle the area and call for reinforcements? He only has [-] troops at full strength. We and General Zixiao will have [-] troops. Is Guan Yu just crazy? Can a guy like Pei Yuanshao stop us?"

Xu Huang shook his head gently, "I didn't understand, but General Guan is not an ordinary person, and Xu Shu is also a scheming person. In short, if we take Anzhong and Rangxian, the grain road to Fancheng will be opened."

Zhang Xiu stroked his beard and smiled contemptuously, thinking that he was no better than Guandu at this time, Cao Ren was not as reckless as Yan Liang, and Guan Yu would not recreate the myth so easily.

"I estimate that Guan Yu has withdrawn to Guanzhong and deliberately left people like Pei Yuanshao behind. Tomorrow you and I will divide our troops into two groups to capture two cities. We must go south as soon as possible to join General Cao."

"good."

The next day, Xu Huang's troops marched into Anzhong, and Zhang Xiu marched into Rang County.

Anzhong was an empty city, while Zhang Xiu hit a wall in Rang County.

Xu Shu moved all the soldiers and civilians of Anzhong and Champion counties to Rang County to help defend the city.

When Zhang Ji was killed by an arrow in Rang County, Zhang Xiu felt a sense of fate when he saw Xu Shu commanding the archers to defend the city and fire arrows.

When Xu Huang and Zhang Xiu encountered obstacles in their march south, Cao Ren, who was in danger of running out of food, was also trying to save himself. He believed that he would have food if he had troops.

The terrain around Fancheng is low-lying, and there are no big cities except Deng County, which is an empty city. The closest ones are Yin and Xian counties, which are more than a hundred miles to the northwest.

In order to prevent Guan Ping from crossing the river and attacking him, Cao Ren sent his deputy general Niu Jin and [-] troops to the west to collect grain.

Niu Jin marched to the southeast of Yin County and was suddenly ambushed by Guan Yu's heavy troops.

Guan Yu was like a god descending to earth, and with his unstoppable warriors, he instantly scattered Cao's army, which had more troops.

Niu Jin defeated his troops and was isolated. Finally, he was driven to the edge of the pond in a panic.

While struggling to escape, Niu Jin sat down on his horse and got stuck in the mud, unable to extricate himself. He was stuffed by Zhou Cang, who was very good at water, and was captured alive.

(End of this chapter)