Overlord!

While Man Chong, the prefect of Runan, was very troublesome, Cao Ren, the general of the Cao army guarding Cai and Ru, was also well versed in the art of defense.

He personally led the main force to guard the line of Ruyin, a strategic military town in Runan. This is where the Yingshui River, the most important waterway in Runan, flows through. Going up the Yingshui River can lead directly to Xu County, where Cao Cao was governed.

Then Zhang Xi, the captain of Diannong in Runan, guarded Xincai along the Ru River in the west, and against all opinions, Cao Xiu, the Cao family's Thousand Mile Horse, who had just been weak, guarded Longkang in Pei State.This is the rightmost one of the three waterways in the Shouchun Middle Road Northern Expedition.Although it is located in the country of Pei, it is also included in Cao Ren's defense line.

This deployment is not as rigid as Cao Hong's, and its defenses are impregnable. The Northern Expedition of the central army must fight a tough battle in order to defeat the enemy head-on and fight through step by step.

So Sun Ce said: "Cao's army is blocked by the city in the middle. If we build a stronghold and fight poorly, we may not be able to break through Cao's defense for several months. Do you have any advice to help me defeat the enemy?"

The situation Sun Ce mentioned has already happened.

Lü Meng led more than [-] people on foot and cavalry up the Ying River, intending to invade Xu County.

There was also a battle with Cao Ren in the early stage. Cao Ren refused to fight but was at a disadvantage and lost more than a thousand men, so he never left the city again.

Lu Meng had many powerful generals under his command, such as Gan Ning, Zhang Liao, Xu Huang, Xu Sheng, Zhou Tai, Ling Cao, Han Dang, etc. No matter how fierce Cao Ren was, he couldn't beat Cao Tianren's performance under Ruyin City.

However, Cao Ren was determined to hold on. Although Lu Meng had countless elite soldiers and generals, it was not easy to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop.

At this time, Zhang Hong, who had been planning strategies for Sun Ce, was the first to speak, saying: "The surprise troops penetrate deeply, kill the enemy and break the army. If Gou Ling's troubles are not over, the trapped beasts will want to fight, and the battle of revenge will be endless. I think this battle "Soldiers are at the bottom, and strategy is at the top. We should use vertical and horizontal support to attack and fight."

"Now the general will lead the troops south of the Yangtze River for the Northern Expedition. They will go up to the river table and go down to Cai Ru. They will set up ships and camps around the Genjiang River. From Jiankang to Ruyin, it will be six or seven hundred miles. The ships will cover the river and the flags will be decorated with stars and candles."

"So all the righteous disciples in Runan are rising up everywhere, and the tycoons and chiefs from all directions are calling for help. The sound of drums and drums shakes the heaven and earth, and the military power is very strong."

"Therefore, the general should be a hero of the Guanglian Alliance to help his army, and then consolidate Yuzhou in the interior, so that the people have naked reserves and the fields have grain. Then he divides the generals and commanders, and leads the tiger brigade with a hundred thousand elite soldiers. It is not enough to destroy the captives in one fell swoop. A little diligence, Master Wang, will serve the world."

Using vertical and horizontal assists to attack, Zhang Hong also agreed with Sun Ce's words. If he directly attacked Cao Ren's defense line head-on, it would not be easy to win.

After all, Cao Cao's power is not an idle prince. His laws are strict, his soldiers are refined, and his strong generals guard his base. When the morale of the army is stable, it is difficult to be destroyed by foreign enemies.

But if we can use vertical and horizontal techniques to make all parts of Huaibei surrender to Wu one after another, so that the county boundaries are peaceful and the territory is substantial, then even if Cao's army still defends its base, it will not be a worry.

Sun Ce has always been open to speaking out, but Jia Xu, another advisor he relies on, has always been very protective of himself. He rarely gives advice unless he takes the initiative to ask.

Sun Ce looked at him and asked, "What advice does Jia Qing have?"

Jia Xu immediately handed over his hands and replied: "Now the generals, all the elite soldiers and brave generals are gathered here, and the military orders are serious. Qiu has done nothing wrong. It can be said that all the righteous people in Runan responded. In Yuzhou, the whole state expressed the same voice. Cao Ren's people are trapped. Beast city. At this time, I thought that the three armies were gathered together, and they were not able to move forward, which was disappointing."

"If we can advance decisively, use Lü Meng's vanguard to surround Cai from the west, use armored cavalry to cut off the enemy's food routes from Liang and Pei, and also send generals to lead the navy to defeat Chen, then everyone in Huaisi and Si will respond, and the castles will be close to each other. Come down next time!"

Hiss~ Hearing this, Sun Ce took a deep breath.

No wonder Jia Xu kept silent. It turned out that his plan was even more radical than Zhang Hong's!
This is almost the same situation as Li Shimin's attack on Luoyang. He marched from all directions and fought in all directions, destroying Wang Shichong's troops and granaries garrisoned everywhere, causing the garrison generals and prefectures and counties in Guandong to surrender to the Tang Dynasty one after another.

Since the beginning of the war, Cao Cao's army has relied on strong cities. Since Cao Cao unified the Central Plains, he has built a defense line in Huaibei to resist the Jiangbei Expedition.

The strength of these cities is unquestionable. It would not be easy for Lu Meng to break through Ruyin when Cao Ren was in a disadvantageous situation.

But are these cities insurmountable?
This is really hard to say!
At least these three important military locations guarded by Cao Ren were all just fortified cities along the river.If under normal circumstances, the Jiangdong Navy bypasses this place, the defenders can attack the civilians on the follow-up canal boats at will, which is indeed a threat to the food routes of the Jiangdong army.

But the problem is that Runan is located in Henan, a famous plain!Later Sun Ce also came here. It was really a flat river. Standing on a high ground, he could see into the distance and see nearly a hundred miles at a glance.

It is precisely because of this flat terrain that is suitable for farming that during the Han Dynasty, Runan had 37 counties and more than two million people, making it the second largest county in the world after Nanyang.

This is where the cavalry can march. Next to the three rivers, there are a large number of cities that can be marched into, such as between Yingshui and Rushui, that is, between Ruyin and Xincai counties, and between Gushi and Linyang. county.Between Ruyin and Longkang, there is also the territory of Xiyang, Song State, and Sishan.

And Gushi is the important place of Huaisi in the true sense. In the Northern Expedition, there has always been a battle here.

In the Spring and Autumn Period of that year, Wu and Chu were fighting for hegemony. In order to seize the strategic location in the Huaihe River Basin, the state of Wu fought with the coalition forces of Chu, Dun, Hu, Shen, Cai, Chen, and Xu here. After defeating the coalition forces of the seven nations in one battle, Wu became hegemonic. .

This is the radical point of Jia Xu's opinion. He proposed that the army march on both land and water, and attack the road on foot and cavalry to connect with the rebels in Runan. The boat division followed behind and attacked the granary at the rear of Cao's army, cutting off the food route of Cao's army, thus increasing his momentum. Shock the enemy.

At that time, Cai, Ru, Liang, Chen, Pei and other prefectures and counties will all surrender to Wu, and the powerful and powerful families will submit their castles one after another.

Then connect the rebel armies and the Yellow Turban Army who have revolted in various places to stabilize their rule, enrich Xu and Henan, and wipe out the enemies in one battle!
Sun Ce hesitated and said: "The key to this plan is that Cao Jun cannot send troops from the front to return reinforcements. If Cao Jun suddenly sends out surprise troops and returns with [-] elite infantry and cavalry, our three armies will be incomparable."

In a siege battle, the most fearful thing is undoubtedly that when one's own main force is exhausted, the enemy's army comes for reinforcements.

If Cao Jun brings back [-] troops from the front line, cooperates with Cao Ren, and fights internally and externally, I am afraid that the main force of Jiangdong Army will be destroyed. By then, tens of thousands of troops will be lost in one battle, and the treasury and military strength accumulated over the years will be lost. Lost in one battle.Within a few years, Jiangdong no longer had the financial resources to support the Northern Expedition.

But while Sun Ce was hesitating, Jia Xu said solemnly: "With the wisdom of the general, he must know that Cao's thieves cannot be eliminated by one person. From the beginning to the end, Jiangdong has never shouldered the heavy responsibility alone to defeat Cao's thieves. The general, with his heroic resources, has already joined forces to defeat the thieves. Therefore, all our allies will work together to attack Cao Cao. With the current situation, Cao Cao will not be able to return to the army in front of the formation, so the general has no worries!"

In fact, what Jia Xu said was very tactful!
In fact, what he wanted to express was obviously completely opposite to what he said.

Sun Ce also felt suddenly enlightened.

That is, as a prince, you have to give up the feeling of taking responsibility for your destiny.

Who said that Cao Cao must be defeated by Jiangdong?
Who said that Jiangdong would play the main offensive role in this Northern Expedition?
As long as you relax your mind, you can immediately think about it. Jiangdong is actually serving as an assist in this battle.

It is intended to help Yuan Shao distract Cao Jun's energy and shake Cao Jun's military morale!
If Cao Cao really dared to send [-] troops south, I am afraid that before he could even move from Yanzhou to Yuzhou, the entire defense line behind him would collapse, and Yuan Shao would defeat the main force.

Although Yuan Shao had more or less shortcomings, neither Sun Ce nor Cao Cao dared to look down upon him in the slightest.

Let him lead an army of [-] men and march southward, not only to wipe out the enemy captives in one fell swoop, but to beat Cao Cao until he can't breathe.

Cao Cao was able to make a comeback in history because he didn't make too many mistakes, and Yuan Shao's subordinates produced two rebel generals one after another.

If Cao Cao's rear is unstable and [-] cavalry are deployed on the front, he will definitely be defeated by Yuan Shao.

By the time Yuan Shao's army defeats the main force of Cao Cao's army in the north, and the Jiangdong army attacks his inner circle, it is inevitable that Cao Cao's power will be overthrown in one fell swoop.

Therefore, Sun Ce quickly believed Jia Xu's assertion that Cao Cao would never dare to send troops to return reinforcements under the pressure of Yuan Shao.

This is Jiangdong's opportunity to seize the provocation. He should boldly advance his troops, unite the Yuan clan in Runan and the Yellow Turbans such as Liu Pi and Gong Du, and respond to the general trend of the world uniting to attack Cao Cao.

Sun Ce immediately made a decision and said: "It is now that the Central Route Army has made great achievements. Eternal honors are fought for in an instant. This Northern Expedition will wipe out the Yuzhou and Qingzhou areas in one fell swoop."

As Sun Ce's military order was issued, the Northern Expedition of the Central Route Army suddenly became more vigorous. They were attacking cities and territories from all directions and advancing fiercely.

The attack direction of Sun Ce's army was not limited to Runan, but also involved various counties such as Chen, Liang, Ru, and Pei.

The battle situation was as Jia Xu had asserted. Cao Ren did not expect that Jiangdong's army would attack from all directions, and pull out the garrisons on all sides of his granaries, passes, and dangerous obstacles without losing his main force.The elite soldiers and armored cavalry attacked and defeated Linyang, an important town in Runan, in one battle. To the west is Ge Ling Pavilion, where the famous Ge Pei is located.

Cao Ying's general Xu Chu once gathered thousands of people here to fortify the wall to ward off the invaders.More than [-] Gebei thieves tried to attack Xu Chu. Xu Chu's army was small, and they were exhausted from fighting. All their arrows and stones were exhausted. They relied on Xu Chu's bravery to repel the thieves.

But this time, with the rebels in Runan rising up everywhere, tycoons and chiefs from all over the world came to the rescue. Liu Pi, Gong Du and other leaders of the Yellow Turban Army in the Gebei area gathered more than [-] people to help the expedition to Jiangdong general Zhang Liao went to war here.

The Gebei thieves, who numbered only ten thousand, had beaten Xu Chu's tribe to exhaustion, but now Liu Pi, Gong Du and others had gathered thirty thousand, and the momentum was even greater. At least Man Chong, the prefect of Runan, was helpless.

You must know that from Gepi to the north, only a few dozen miles away is Pingyu, the administrative seat of Runan!

Although these Yellow Turbans are responding to the dependent Yuan Shao, Yuan Shao is now fighting an allied force with Jiangdong. These Yellow Turban thieves can also be regarded as the front of Jiangdong Army approaching Runan!To the south of Xu County, the officials were all panic-stricken.

Sun Ce also adopted Zhang Hong's plan to enrich the rebels and bandits, and allocated [-] shi of grain to supply the rebels.

Liu Pi happily sent thousands of people back with rice, and moved the rice back to his camp one by one.

Thirty thousand stone rice is enough for these dependent people to eat for half a month or even a month to ensure their fighting strength.

And within a month, the battle in Runan will be decided!

Being able to use [-] kilograms of rice to support the attack and increase the winning rate, Sun Ce was naturally generous and showed no stinginess.

While Zhang Liao's elite cavalry was running rampant, Jiangdong's boat division also attacked Pei from the right, cutting off all supplies of Cao's army on the right, and advancing directly towards Liang and Chen.

If these two areas are also defeated, then Cao Ren's heavy troops will be besieged by enemy forces from all directions like Wang Shichong's lone army in Luoyang, while distant states and counties will surrender to the enemy one after another.

The key is that the situation facing Cao Cao's army is even more critical. If these counties are captured, the entire Yan and Henan provinces will be in panic, and Cao Cao's tens of thousands of troops on the front line may collapse!

Just when Cao Ren was in a dilemma, in mid-April, half a month after Sun Ce's army's northern expedition, another piece of bad news about Cao's army, the good news of Jiangdong's army spread to Huaisi!

The morale of the Jiangbei Expeditionary Army was greatly boosted, but Cao's army became increasingly frightened and its morale was shaken.

After many days of fierce attack, Lu Meng and his troops finally broke through Xincai City where Zhang Xi was stationed!
In this battle, Lü Meng did not use any tricks. Just like Pang Tong's attack on Luocheng, he personally supervised the siege.

General Gan Ning led the attack, and Lü Meng followed with his elite troops.

The army invaded and attacked in the morning. Lu Meng held a drum in his hand and beat the war drum himself to cheer up, and all the soldiers jumped into the air.

Gan Ning was the first to enter the battle, and he was unstoppable. Those who followed him were as good as ten, and they were invincible.

After boarding the city, Gan Ning personally fought bravely to break through the strongholds. He was not afraid of death. He wore more than twenty wounds and broke into the heavy army. He stabbed Zhang Xi, the defender of Cao's army, among the three armies. He seized the big banner and danced, and the armies under the city fought. Excited, then broke it when eating!
This battle was not just as simple as breaking through a Cao army's city and beheading hundreds of people. It meant that there was a huge hole in Cao's army's defense on the Cai and Ru lines!

After breaking through Xincai, the Jiangdong army can go up the Ru River and penetrate directly into Yingchuan!
This front cannot be viewed in isolation. If it were just a breakthrough along this line, the situation would still be as Zhang Hong said, where surprise troops would penetrate deeply, kill the enemy and destroy the army. If the danger is not over, the trapped beasts will be eager to fight, and the battle of revenge will end. Then there is nothing left.

But the problem is that this is the western front of the three lines of the Central Route Army, and the breakthrough here will correspond to that of the West Route Army!

Their attack direction is all Yingchuan.

These [-] troops echoed from left to right. Even if they marched straight in, they could not be regarded as a surprise force that penetrated deeply and was in deep trouble.

It can even be concluded at this time that Jiangdong's Northern Expedition, with the victory in these two battles, may not expand Jiangdong's territory much, but in terms of momentum, nearly half of the success has been achieved!

Regardless of whether the Central Route Army and the Right Route Army achieved any results, it is an established fact that the Central Plains was shaken and Cao Ying was panicked.

Sun Ce took advantage of this opportunity and decisively sent several cavalry to Ruyin City. He raised his whip and pointed it at his command, as if he were besieging the city, in order to anger Cao Ren.

When Cao Ren saw this on the city, he was really furious. He hammered the city battlements with his fist and roared: "Young Sun Ce, how dare you despise me like this! Come here, pass my military order and send troops out of the city to form an array. I want to go in person." In the battle formation, take advantage of the enemy's weakness and personally capture the enemy's chieftain to boost the army's power!"

This is also Cao Ren's last chance!
Cao Ren really couldn't think of any other way to severely damage the three armies in Jiangdong to prevent the building from falling.

Therefore, he could only fight to the death, hoping to defeat the Jiangdong army besieging the city, and even capture Sun Ce, the leader of Jiangdong alive.

And this is indeed a good opportunity to defeat the enemy. The Jiangdong army may either use fine cavalry to conquer the outside, or it may divide its divisions and send troops to seize the cities and granaries near Ruyin, or even the boat divisions may advance in large numbers in order to cut off Cao's army's food route. , surrounded behind.

Even if he didn't know the size of the enemy army at this time, he could still conclude that Sun Ce was at his weakest in the camp.

So he angrily raised the three armies, opened the door and sent out troops, and marched behind the city, hoping to decide the battle.

In this battle, he dispatched all the troops he could dispatch, totaling nearly [-] people. Among them, there were about [-] elite soldiers from Cao's army, more than [-] elite soldiers sent by Man Chong, about [-] soldiers from the army, and hundreds of Cao Ren's private soldiers. The song of war.

These hundreds of private soldiers are Cao Ren's most elite direct descendants, and each of them is comparable to Jiangdong's elite.

What is the concept of this kind of private army? In the battle of Xiaoyaojin in history, in order to save Sun Quan, Ling Tong led 300 people close to him to break into the siege and resist Cao Jun with all his strength. All 300 people died in the battle. After Sun Quan was safe, he was the only one who bravely came out. .

Afterwards, Ling Tong was so sad that he burst into tears.

This kind of elite soldier can really fight to the last man, even if the whole army is wiped out, he still has to protect the general!

If there are three thousand elite soldiers like this, it will be easy to dominate in troubled times.

There are [-] such elite soldiers, and they can fight to the death to the last man, and they can sweep the world in just a matter of seconds.

It doesn't take much strategy, just push it flatly, and you can defeat any powerful enemy or foreign invasion.It doesn't matter whether the enemy army is a hundred thousand elite soldiers or a million grassroots bandits, it all depends on your command.

As for Sun Ce, the situation was indeed as Cao Ren imagined. Most of his elite troops had been sent out, and there were only about [-] soldiers left in the camp to besiege Cao Ren in Ruyin.

When he saw Cao Ren sending troops, Sun Ce was not afraid at all. With [-] Jiangdong elite infantry and cavalry facing Cao's army of more than [-] men, Sun Ce was confident that he could defeat them in one battle!
In particular, the most elite thousand elite dragon and bird cavalry have never been mobilized and are still in the camp.

With these thousand elite assault cavalry, Sun Ce also wanted to defeat the enemy.

Therefore, when Cao's army took advantage of the opportunity to attack, Sun Ce had no intention of defending with a strong camp. Instead, he immediately ordered the entire army to march out of camp and form a formation to confront Cao's army in the south of the city.

Jiangdong's army is really full of talents. Even if the [-]-strong army has mobilized more than [-] people to be divided into counties, the remaining army is still full of fierce generals.

In addition to the commander of the dragon and bird sudden cavalry, the commander of the valiant cavalry Zhonglang General Chen Wu, there are also the commander of the Xiuyi Guards Zhao Yun, Zhonglang General Cheng Pu, Zhonglang General Huang Gai, school captains Xu Yi, Quan Cong, Xian Yudan and others.

There are brave generals who are champions of the three armies, veteran generals who have been on the battlefield for a long time, as well as governors who are literary and military, as well as a large number of wise and resourceful people who are strategizing.

Sun Ce has so many heroes, civil and military personnel, so he naturally wants to accomplish all his achievements in one battle. As long as Cao Ren is defeated in this battle, the advantage of the Northern Expedition between Cai and Ru will be further expanded! (End of chapter)