Overlord!

Chapter 172
The prospect of Sun Ce's coalition forces demarcating the Huaihe River is undoubtedly excellent. Sun Ce can gather the strength of Jiangdong and send his troops westward to attack Yuan Shu and capture Huainan.Liu Bei can go north along the Sishui River and recapture Xiapi.

The two fought back to back, completely like Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, able to sweep the princes of the Quartet, and finally rule the north and south of the Yellow River.

It's just that if the Sun Liu coalition army wants to achieve all this, there is undoubtedly an extremely critical premise, that is, they must quickly defeat the more than [-] men under Ji Ling's troops in the first battle with lightning speed.

Therefore, after Tian Yu clearly introduced the current battlefield situation in Dongyang with a few sentences, Sun Ce immediately asked: "Everyone in Xuzhou, civil and military, are outstanding people in the world, and they have been facing each other for a long time in Dongyang. I think that you cannot do nothing all day long. , Waste food and grass. There must be a good strategy to defeat the enemy, and it can defeat Jiling's three armies."

Liu Bei's more than [-] paces here in Dongyang, after such a long period of repairs, the army's morale has stabilized.In particular, Jiangdong gave him [-] shi of military rations, [-] pieces of cloth, [-] pieces of armor, and even [-] sets of fine black armor.

Funding Liu Bei with money, food, and supplies of this scale, coupled with Liu Bei's corporals, is enough to make Liu Bei the most valiant general under the command of one of the princes.He may not have such a large army in Xiaopei and Xinye.

You know, when Cao Cao was at his worst in Yanzhou, he had more than [-] elite soldiers under him, and then he got money and food from Yuan Shao to expel Lu Bu.

Liu Bei is brave and good at fighting, and he is one of the few famous generals in the world who can compete with Cao Cao.

Liu Biao gave Liu Bei a subsidy. After Liu Bei took a rest, he personally commanded a huge victory, defeating the army commanded by Xiahou Dun, Li Dian, Yu Jin and others.

Ji Ling under Yuan Shu's command, and the five divisions of the commander-in-chief to attack Liu Bei, will not be stronger than Xiahou Dun, Li Dian, and Yu Jin.

With so many civil and military generals and schools in Xuzhou stationed here, they may have defended against danger in the early stage, with deep ditches and solid bases to block the enemy, restore morale, and reorganize the morale of the army.

But for such a long time, there has been no decisive battle with Ji Ling, which is not in line with Emperor Zhaolie's personality that likes to fight head-on.

After hearing Sun Ce's words, Tian Yu explained to Sun Ce: "Wu Hou's plan, although our coalition forces intend to defeat Yuan Jun with lightning speed, but I think that in the battle, it is not appropriate to act too hastily."

"The so-called haste makes waste. I will wait for the right time, and then I can complete my work in one battle."

"Waiting for the right time?" Sun Ce was amazed. Sun Liulian's military alliance should have been established. What does this time mean?
But what the army lacks most now is time. After waiting like this, Lu Bu has re-stabilized the army's morale and made up for the emptiness.

It's time for Yuan Shu to manage the Huaihe River, and then attack the fortified city. The battle will be extremely difficult for both Sun Ce and Liu Bei.

Tian Yunai said: "I have been stationed in Xuzhou for nearly two years. According to my observation, in recent years, the weather has become colder and colder, and it is often colder than in previous years."

Sun Ce nodded in approval. At the end of the Han Dynasty, this was the famous Little Ice Age, and the weather was getting colder every day.

Food, clothing, shelter, and transportation, why is clothing the first in people's livelihood?In this severe winter, if you don't have food, you can last for three or two days, but if you don't have clothes, you can't last a night.Wang Dou can run barefoot along the Yangtze River, but if he goes barefoot along the Huaihe River, his toes may freeze off in a few days.

Tian Yu continued: "According to my inquiries with the elderly nearby, the Huaihe River never freezes in previous years. But now it freezes almost every year. And now it's October! I thought the Huaihe River would freeze in a few days."

Tian Yu's words not only surprised General Jiangdong, but also surprised many civil and military personnel in Xuzhou.

If the Huaihe River freezes, wouldn't it be difficult to supply the army?

Whether it is marching and fighting, or transporting food and grass, water transport is no longer possible, and the difficulty of marching has increased by more than several times.

For Jiang Dong, this is extremely unfortunate news.

It has been more than three months since Jiangdong sent troops to the Northern Expedition in June and July. It is only through the water supply of a large number of ships that the logistics are sufficient and worry-free.

If the Huaihe River were to freeze, food would have to be transported from Ping'an County, Guangling, with carts, soldiers, oxen and horses all the way to the front line under the snow and ice. Even ten times!
Everyone was unwilling to believe that what Tian Yu said had come true.

Sun Ce frowned, confirming that what Tian Yu said was true.Historically, Cao Pi was forced to terminate his campaign against Wu because of the freezing of the Huaihe River.In October of the sixth year of Huangchu, Cao Pi traveled to the old city of Guangling, where he watched soldiers along the river. There were more than [-] soldiers and banners hundreds of miles away.However, in the severe cold of the year, the waterway froze, and the boat could not enter the river, so it was brought back.

Tian Yu said at this time: "The water in the lower reaches is flat, and the boat can barely pass through. But in the upper reaches of the Huaihe River, on the line of Huai Ling, the water trend is tortuous, winding sharply from north to south. As long as there is ice floes blocking it, it is enough to cut off the supply of Yuan Jun's water transport. Yuan Shuwei Build the river course and level the Huaihe River. It must be far ahead of us in the cold weather, so the weather is on me!"

Flowing and floating, boats and boats are difficult.The cone can't penetrate the ground, and the sound of fen is profound.This is "He Shuo Han" written by Cao Cao. It has the most impressive feeling of a military strategist about the current situation where ice blocks are floating in the river and it is difficult for boats to move forward.

Yuan Shu didn't practice moral government, and eventually he suffered from it.

Tian Yu said: "I thought Yuan Jun's generals marched into Xuzhou for the first time. They didn't know Xuzhou's climate, nor did they understand Xuzhou's geography and water situation. They never thought that the supply water transportation would be blocked in the Huailing area. The weather is cold, and their soldiers are short of winter clothes and supplies. Difficult, just a few days, will suffer from the cold disaster, frostbite will reduce the number of personnel, and the combat power will be greatly reduced."

"As for my soldiers in Xuzhou, there are more than [-] bolts of cloth newly sent by Marquis Wu. Their uniforms are neat and their equipment is excellent. As long as they constantly harass and harass the enemy army, making them tired of coping and having to face the severe cold and snow, their army will surely decline. "

"When it is exhausted to the extreme, our allied forces can make great strides forward and destroy the enemy with one blow, and complete their meritorious service in one battle!"

"Hahaha! Kindness! Kindness! Great kindness!" Sun Ce laughed and got up, and said to Tian Yu: "Guorang is indeed a good general, he can make the best of the right time, and with the help of General Huaihedong, I can reach a hundred thousand troops! !"

He is indeed the famous general who defeated the Soochow Fleet in Youzhou in history!

In history, Sun Quan sent general Zhou He to lead a mighty navy fleet across the sea into Liaodong to form an alliance with Gongsun Yuan, so Tian Yu was ordered to restrain the armies of Youzhou and Qingzhou to conquer.

As a result, the emperor of Wei State saw that the Eastern Wu army was numerous and powerful, and they were crossing the sea. He thought it was difficult to win, so he ordered Tian Yu to stop his army and retreat.

But Tian Yu reckoned that the Jiangdong Fleet will return, and the wind will be strong at the end of the year. He must be afraid of drifting waves and will go to Chengshan to avoid danger.So he disregarded the edict of the emperor, marched quickly with his army, cut off the dangerous points, and set up troops to guard them.Sure enough, encountering a bad wind, the Jiangdong Fleet hit the mountain and sank, drifted to the shore, had nowhere to escape, and was captured by Tian Yu's army.

This is a general who can make the best use of time and place.

Sun Cenai said: "Okay! Just as Guorang said, I will wait for a few more days, and then I will do my best!"

After Sun and Liu Lianjun became the war subordinates, good luck finally sided with Sun Ce this time.

The Sun-Liu Allied Army made all preparations, just waited for the right time, and then took off with the trend.

And it may be that both Liu Bei and Sun Ce are lucky, and the situation is a bit better than Tian Yu expected!
Only three days after Sun Ce arrived in Dongyang, it was freezing cold, and ice floes appeared on the surface of the Huaihe River.

However, the loss of personnel and casualties of Ji Ling's army was more serious than anyone expected. There was still food and grass in the army, but there was a serious shortage of soldiers' robes and clothes!
Yuan Shu's army marched earlier than the Jiangdong army. They marched into Xuzhou in midsummer, and most of the soldiers in the army did not carry winter clothes.But Yuan Shu didn't buy more clothes for the soldiers, so the soldiers had to write letters back to their hometowns, begging their parents, wives, daughters, brothers and even friends to give them a piece of clothing or borrow a piece of clothing for them to wear.If there is no clothes to send, I may really freeze to death on this severe cold battlefield.

However, Yuan Jun's soldiers are not enough to cover their expenses according to the gratuity they received. If they have wives and children, how can they be safe from cold and hunger?

They serve Yuan Shu as soldiers on weekdays, and their salaries are not enough to support their wives and parents. At this critical moment, where do their wives go to collect a set of winter clothes for them and send them to the front line?

Many Yuan Jun soldiers are disheveled, this word is a vivid image in the true sense.

Many soldiers had only one single garment, and in the cold winter, their necks were exposed, their legs were bare, and only a short brown coat wrapped their upper body.

After the severe cold, in Yuan's camp, every night there were soldiers corpses in the camp.

At this time, each battalion only had the elite descendants of the general, who were able to guard the night and put ordinary soldiers on duty, and they were completely sent to death. Before midnight, the soldiers would freeze to death on the barracks and gates.

However, the elite subordinates were sent to guard duty every day, and Ji Ling's army soon became full of complaints and morale was low.

This is not a long-term solution. You must know that during the war, the generals rely on thousands or even hundreds of elite subordinates. If they are defeated, the whole army can only be scattered.

Let the elite be so exhausted, it is completely the way to defeat.

But the severe cold weather has not improved for a long time. For five days in a row, the daily casualties of Yuan Jun's soldiers have been increasing. More than [-] soldiers died of freezing at night alone, and more than [-] soldiers were frostbitten.

This army lost more than [-]% of its personnel in just one severe cold.

Tian Yu's ambition was greatly boosted. In this case, Sun Liu's coalition army fought a decisive battle with Yuan Jun. As long as six or seven hundred of them could be killed, this 700-strong army would be on the verge of collapse.Counting the wounded and frostbitten soldiers, the casualties of the entire army may be close to 3%!
It seems that the total number of people who died of freezing and killing was only a thousand, which does not seem to be many.

But you must know that all this is not evenly distributed to the entire army!
There are five camps in Jiling, and the Sun Liu coalition army can choose to storm one of them and deal heavy damage!

There are 5000 people in a camp, thousands of people are killed, and two or 3000 people are injured. Even the iron army can't sustain this camp.

So Tian Yu took the initiative to find Sun Ce, and wanted to choose a camp as a breakthrough point instead.

After seeing Sun Ce, Tian Yu cupped his hands and said, "General Sun, it has been five days since the Great Cold, and now it is the time when Ji Ling's army is at its weakest. If you wait any longer, Yuan Jun's baggage should be delivered by land soon. I thought that our coalition forces should launch an offensive as soon as possible, and defeat part of the enemy army in the first battle. Part of the enemy army was injured and returned in defeat. Other routes must also lead the army to retreat. We will take advantage of the situation to cover up and kill, and fight day and night It must be able to accomplish its merits in one battle."

Sun Ce put away the letter in his hand, put it in his sleeve, then looked up at Tian Yu, and asked with a smile: "Good! The country has great ambitions, swallowing up [-] enemy troops, it makes people feel proud. Do you think we should attack Ji Ling's camp?"

Tian Yu said solemnly: "I heard that Ji Ling led the army to conquer Guangling this time. It was Du Zhonglang General Qi Ji, Liu Kai, Guangling Prefect Wu Jing and others who marched together. Wu Guangling is General Sun's uncle, General Sun Why don't you send a letter to Wu Guangling, asking him to support you, and join us in defeating Ji Ling, so as to contribute to the great cause?"

Sun Ce shook his head and said with a smile, "You misunderstood my uncle. As a man, he is entrusted with a heavy responsibility, so it is impossible for him to be cunning and repeat, and lead the army to rebel. He will abandon his official position at most and come to us. It is possible to do such an unjust thing as a counterattack.”

Tian Yu sighed and said, "This is a righteous man, and it's hard to force him."

Sun Ce spoke at this moment, and said, "But what Guorang said, breaking through from my uncle's place, I think it's the best choice."

Tian Yu asked in amazement: "Why? Could it be that Wu Guangling will take the initiative to lose the battle?"

Sun Ce shook his head with a smile, and said, "Of course not. On the contrary, it has a good reputation, so we must fight hard. To break down my uncle's camp, I'm afraid General Guan will have to go out in person."

"But my uncle has the heart to fight to the death, and the other ministries may not believe in his aspirations. If there is a delay and the rescue is not in time, we will defeat this unit and make the enemy's defeat irreversible. Breaking through from here is the best choice .”

Tian Yu hesitated for a moment, then said: "But if it's a fight to the death, not a defection, Wu Guangling's life may be in danger if the two armies fight."

Sun Ce waved his hand resolutely, and said, "Since my uncle went to the battlefield in person, he was naturally prepared to be shrouded in horse leather. How can we avoid danger when two armies clash? Besides, I believe that my uncle has been on the battlefield for a long time. If the battle goes wrong, he will be able to break through the siege In this battle, we will choose the Guangling Prefect's Department as the breakthrough."

The Sun Ce and Liu coalition forces fought, and the decisive battle was not decided by Sun Ce alone. Especially in this battle, the main force attacking the camp was the tens of thousands of Xuzhou soldiers under Liu Bei's troops. Sun Ce should contact Liu Bei about the war deployment no matter what.

So Sun Ce personally led the generals into Liu Bei's camp, faced the map with Liu Bei, and told about the decisive battle with his subordinates.

Especially when it comes to the important task of attacking the enemy's vanguard, Sun Ce solemnly said to Guan Yu: "Ji Ling is not a good talent. His [-] people are gathered in the east. Without other strange ways, it is difficult to make meritorious service. This situation is like that of King Wu. Hundreds of thousands of Liu Bi's army was blocked in Huainan. As long as the army cuts off its rear, even tens of thousands of troops will be all captives. Whether the cavalry can go straight behind depends on whether General Guan can defeat the vanguard of Yuan's army and serve as our cavalry. Make a way!"

(End of this chapter)