Johime Three Kingdoms

Chapter 627 Winter Operations
The first snow in the ninth year of Chuli came earlier than usual.

Chu State's Northern Expedition encountered some obstacles...

The Yellow River has a small displacement and fast currents, making it difficult for large boats to move along and small boats to capsize easily.

Although there were wars in the Yellow River Basin, they were not water battles. They were mostly land battles along the river. The river itself is more suitable for crossing in narrow places!

After all, Chu State's science and technology is "quick success" and is not comprehensive in many aspects. In terms of military industry level, airships can actually point it out.

However, for Chu State, this area is still blank, and it cannot be created in a short time.

Lu Xun was in a stalemate with the Wei State in the Guandu area for several months. Although he continued to win small victories, he was still unable to cross the river. Even in the age of artillery, after the "artillery bombardment" was completed, it always required "cavalry to charge" and "infantry to advance". OK.

However, across the Yellow River, in the narrow part of the river, artillery bombardment from across the bank is no problem.

And if the cavalry doesn't attack, the impact won't be big, but if the infantry doesn't attack... If we don't occupy this position, what's the use of just using artillery to "wash the ground"?

However, with the Yellow River across the river, it was too difficult for the infantry to cross. Therefore, the Chu army had all the advantages but was still unable to cross north.

The Wei army was not in vain. They organized pontoon battles many times, but were resisted by the Wei army.

Since the weather had just turned cooler in July, someone in the Chu State's court had already begun to impeach Lu Xun... Of course, the actual "impeachment" was not as serious as "impeachment". They just suggested that Bai Tu change his commander.

Although it is taboo to change coaches on the spot, Bai Tu is now in Xiangyang, and has even decided to set off for Wancheng, which is one step closer to the front line. By then, Bai Tu will be close enough to the front line, and naturally the impact of the coaching change will be very small. ——Bai Tu is the real “coach”.

Chu State also has many talented generals and commanders, so there is no need to bet on Lu Xun, but Bai Tu did not accept the suggestion of changing the commander!

The academicians in the palace, especially Chen Gong, who was also in charge of the Privy Council, also agreed with Bai Tu.

There were no problems with Lu Xun's strategy and tactics. The reason why he failed to achieve success quickly was firstly because Lu Xun himself tended to attack steadily, and secondly because Wei Guo deliberately delayed...

After Chen Gong developed the "real-time strategic wasteland reclamation model" with his "clear strategy", Lu Xun also imitated it in Yizhou.

Lu Xun didn't know how to make plans, but he developed his own strategy to assist in land reclamation based on "Book of Heaven Volume [-]: Feng Shui".

Lu Su's original understanding of "Feng Shui Scroll" was towards a strategic approach and the direction of observing the world's current situation, while Lu Xun was inclined towards a tactical approach and even developed extreme strategies such as "defeat formation".

However, now Lu Xun began to decipher the "Feng Shui Scroll" in a second direction, which was close to the direction of his teacher Lu Su, but he was more inclined to observe the influence of "human heart" on Feng Shui.

When people get together, the Qi moves, the luck of the dynasty can affect Fengshui, and the hearts of the people can naturally...

Lu Xun seemed tepid, but he had been strengthening the influence of Chu State and Bai Xue north of the Yellow River, and focused on attacking the hearts and minds of the defenders.

Lu Xun, who was once young and energetic and preferred stud tactics, was influenced by Chu State's overall style and years of overseas exploration, and began to prefer a steady and steady approach.

It's just that the Wei State has many famous generals and talented people. At this time, they only use the Yellow River as a barrier, so naturally it will not be so easy to break through!
Bai Tu would hear the criticism against Lu Xun, to a certain extent because Wei was already in a hurry...

It is not that there is really any high-ranking official in the court who has become the mouthpiece of the Wei State and is making countermeasures, but it is true that the Wei State is deliberately spreading unfavorable news against Lu Xun.

On the other hand, among the courtiers of the Chu State, there is indeed no one who is so imaginative as to be optimistic about the Wei State and work undercover for the Wei State, but there are many courtiers who are greedy and afraid of the Lu family!

Therefore, it is normal for some censors who are not good at military affairs to be influenced by folk news, or simply take the opportunity to act stupid for other purposes and try to impeach Lu Xun.

Bai Tu didn't understand this kind of little thinking. He just punished those who said nothing, talked nonsense, and didn't understand.

There was some truth in what others said. Although Bai Tu ignored them, he did not punish them.

Lu Xun's responsibility as frontline commander remained unchanged, and even...in September, Bai Tu went north again, leading half of the court to Wancheng!

When Bai Tu came to Xiangyang from Jinling, although Bai Tu did not build another palace, the entire Chu court basically moved here, leaving only a few officials to maintain it in Jinling - it was not really about moving the capital, but to mobilize troops first. Prepare.

After Lu Xun secretly sent a secret message to Xiangyang, Bai Tu decided to "go his own way" and move the center to Wancheng!

In contrast, this decision was even more resisted than Lu Xun's frontline command, and many courtiers thought that Bai Tu had acted too hastily.

After all, it's already September, is it possible that we still have to fight the Wei Kingdom in winter?

However, what is surprising is that the Privy Council and the chief officials of some confidential departments gradually supported this resolution...

Naturally, Wei Guo would not be completely unaware of such a big movement.

After learning that Bai Tu was heading north again, that is, the main force of the Chu army was pressing northward again, Wei State also became nervous. At the same time...Cao Cao was nervous and had some small expectations.

The first snow in the ninth year of Chu Li came earlier than usual... It snowed for the first time in Guandu at the end of September, and the temperature dropped sharply!

However, judging from past experience, it will still take two months before the river freezes and the river can be used for horse racing and troops.

At this time, Lu Xun began to build the obsolete simple Bai Gong cannon on the other side of the river. After that... he threw a large amount of scattered sand, gravel and dead branches on the river every day, in an effort to push down the thin floating ice on the river!
After water freezes, it becomes less dense and can float - this also ensures that as long as it is deep enough, the temperature under the ice will not be too low.

It can be said that this is the basis for water to become the "source of life". Otherwise, if it starts to freeze from below, it will be completely frozen once a year, and today's living creatures may not be able to survive...

It is precisely because ice can float on the surface of the water and play the role of insulation, rather than sinking and allowing the water above to continue to dissipate heat, so it is relatively difficult to freeze water.

Now Lu Xun is starting from this point to accelerate the freezing of the river water!

In addition, the weather was indeed colder this year. Finally, in late October, the river surface froze to a level that could overwhelm large troops, and Lu Xun also successfully pushed the front to the north of the Yellow River!

Faced with the aggressiveness of the Chu State, the Wei State began to abandon the line along the Yellow River. Perhaps it felt that it could no longer hold on, or perhaps... it wanted to have a showdown with the Chu State on the Hebei Plain.

Just when the morale and combat effectiveness of the Chu army began to be affected by the cold, the first batch of cotton-padded clothes from Chu State finally arrived!
From the seeds that Gan Ning sent back the year before last, many official villages have begun to cultivate cotton since last year, and this year they have fully planted it.

Although there has been little response from the public for the time being, and it will take time to popularize it, the large number of official villages has ensured the planting area of ​​cotton, and textile machines and the like are readily available...

When the Wei State wanted to take advantage of the cold to overwhelm the "careless" Chu State, the Chu army finally began to distribute cotton-padded clothes...

(End of this chapter)