Shu Chen

Chapter 373
After Sima Yi's submission to Luoyang, the emperor Cao Rui saw it and praised it immediately.

Moreover, he also showed it to the important ministers who can plan military and state affairs, so that the previous doubts and noisy words melted away.As for the last sentence that needs to be "prepared to defend the thief Wu", everyone skipped it.

Because Sima Yi's reminder was a bit late, now Wei and Wu have started fighting again!

But it was not Jiangdong who kicked off the war this time, but General Zhengdong Man Chong who was stationed on the Huaiyou front.

Before the war broke out last year, Man Chong had gone to Luoyang with the intention of raiding Jiangdong's army station in Shu County, Lujiang County.At that time, Cao Rui agreed, but finally gave up because of the current situation.

As soon as the spring plowing started this year, Man Chong sent his chief officials to lead his troops eastward along the water, taking advantage of his unpreparedness to make great achievements in the first battle.

Not only destroyed many garrison troops in the state of Wu, but also burned and killed the grain seeds and cattle plowed in the spring, and captured hundreds of soldiers and soldiers from Jiangdong garrison fields.

This small battle, which was just a daily conflict between Wei and Wu, made Cao Rui very happy.

Without him, the Luoyang Central Army he supervised last year was tossed so badly by the thieves Sun Quan's attacks, this time he finally let out a bad breath.

Therefore, he not only issued an edict to reward Man Chong and rewarded the soldiers with property, but also gathered important court officials to discuss: Since the thief Wu Bingfeng intends to fight on the Jingxiang front, if Man Chong, who is both offensive and defensive, is not transferred to Jingyu to supervise the battle?
This proposal was not initiated by Cao Rui.

In the first month of spring, when the Northwest War was about to start, Luo Yang's important minister proposed that Man Chong, who was praised by Cao Rui as a "heavy weapon of imperial Wu", should be transferred to Runan County, Yuzhou to sit in command of the upcoming two-line battle.

Runan County in Yuzhou is connected to Yingchuan in the Xuxia Tuntian in the north, can enter Jiangxia County from Yiyang Sanguan in the south, and follow Rushui to Shouchun in Yangzhou in the east. Sudden increase in authority!
But no one is worried that Man Chong will take full advantage of his power.

As one of the few important ministers in the three dynasties of the Wei State, Man Chong has a pure and loyal temperament and has never had a heart for power.

In his early years, he had been imprisoned and tortured Yang Biao, the fourth generation and three princes, and had broken dozens of Runan gentry families.

Now that he is getting old, why should he guard against his love for power?

As for taking part in the dispatch of Wang Chang, the general who conquered the south, with his authority as the general who conquered the east.
Regardless of his official career or past achievements, Wang Chang, who has a comparable official position, needs to perform the gift of nephew in the next generation in front of Man Chong, and there is no need to worry that this move will cause dissatisfaction among the generals in Jingxiang.

However, before this proposal was discussed in court, Cao Rui first wrote to ask how he would like to be favored.

Being full of favors flatly rejects it.

One is to refuse on the grounds that he is old and mentally weak, and it is difficult to coordinate the military affairs of the two places and miss the military affairs.

The other is that Huaiyou's defense cannot be relaxed.

The Jiangdong navy is elite, and it is only a short period of time from Wuchang to Chaohu Lake in Yangzhou.Don't look at the current thief Wu Bi with the whole country attacking Jingxiang, but if there is a sudden attack from east to west, the loose Huaiyou front may be broken.

Furthermore, his thinking about the defense of the Jingxiang front still insisted on abandoning Shiyang City in Jiangxia and using Anlu City as a defensive point.I feel that if we can eliminate the advantage of the Jiangdong Navy's ability to come and go freely, and force Sun Quan to go ashore to fight, there will be no worries whether he participates in the defense of the Jingxiang front.

At that time, although Cao Rui did not take the advice of destroying Shiyang City, he also praised Man Chong's analysis.

However, this moment and that moment also.

The area around Luoyang fell into a famine at the beginning of spring, and it was difficult to appease all the hearts of the people in a short period of time, even if it was related to COFCO's food relief.In other words, the Luoyang Central Army may not be able to rush to the aid of Jingxiang.

Even if it is forced to do so, the number of soldiers and horses rushing to help cannot exceed [-].

After all, when the soldiers' families are still worrying about food, forcing the soldiers to go out to fight will inevitably lead to the lack of fighting spirit.

It may even induce mutiny and other things because of the unstable morale of the army!
Under such circumstances, even Sima Yi, who was far away in Guanzhong, reminded him to beware of Jiangdong's possible invasion. Cao Rui, out of consideration for a rainy day, had nothing better than moving Man Chong to Runan as a backup for the Jingxiang front. thoughts.

Moreover, once this idea was put forward, all the princes who discussed it agreed with one voice.

Man Chong, who received the imperial edict, had no choice but to lead three thousand soldiers to Ancheng on the south bank of Rushui in Runan County, even though he was disappointed in every way.

Yes, only the supervisor led three thousand soldiers and horses.

This is the result of his reasoning and hard work - too many soldiers and horses should not be transferred away from Huaiyou, lest the defense be empty and the thief Wu will take advantage of it.

As for whether such a small number of soldiers and horses will be useless as a backup for the Jingxiang front, Cao Rui granted him the authority to temporarily control Yanzhou's military affairs.Moreover, his garrison in Runan is equivalent to taking over the power of General Wang Chang, who conquered the South, to supervise Yuzhou in disguise.In this way, when he needed to go to help, he could send [-] soldiers from the county at any time.

Cao Rui and Gong Gun thought that with a defense-based strategy, these troops were sufficient to keep Jingzhou's counties from losing their battle lines.

However, a defense that does not maintain its offensive power will eventually fall into a passive state.

Spring and April, the first ten days.

Sun Quan, who got five hundred war horses from the great man for free, supervised the invasion as scheduled.

The tactical deployment this time is similar to last year.

As before, personally lead the army to defend Shiyang City in Jiangxia, don't send Lu Xun and Zhuge Jin to go northward against the Mian River to prevent the Nanyang and Xiangyang garrison troops from rushing to help.

However, Zhu Ran's troops moved to Dangyang to station.

This move puzzled all the generals of the Wei State, because with Dangyang's position, they could neither force Xiangyang nor stop the road to help. Why is this so!
But soon, they knew Zhu Ran's intention.

When Jiangdong sent troops this time, there were more than [-] people from Pan Jun's department.

Pan Jun is a native of Hanshou in Wuling. When Liu Biao took control of Jingzhou, he became well-known and was awed by the people of the prefecture and county.

The soldiers and horses under his supervision first inherited the Danyang soldiers of Rui Xuan, the general of Fenwu Zhonglang, and later fought against the Wuling rebellion and the Wuxi barbarian rebellion, and recruited strong soldiers from them, especially good at fighting in the mountains.The warlord came here this time, heading west to the Jingshan area between Linju County and Bian County, using his personal prestige to persuade the barbarian tribes to return to righteousness, and migrated to live in Wu territory.

Naturally, if the barbarian tribes are willing to migrate, it is Guiyi.

If you don't want to, it will be a battle against the traitors attached to the Wei Dynasty.

And Zhu Ran's garrison in Dangyang was to protect Pan Jun's troops.

In this regard, the generals of Wei Jingzhou either said to send troops to rescue, or claimed that this was Jiangdong's trick to lure the Wei army out of the city to fight.

In the end, General Wang Chang of Wei Zhengnan made the final decision.

Since the troops are insufficient and we will not rescue them first, we will make a plan after the emperor Cao Rui leads the Luoyang Chinese Army to come.

His decision is wise.

Gai Yinmanchong summoned soldiers and horses, and after entering Jiangxia County from Yiyang Sanguan, Sun Quan abandoned the besieged city and went to intercept; while Lu Xun and Zhuge Jin's troops also transferred to station outside Anlu City to support them.

It can be seen from this that Jiangdong's strategy is to compete with Wei Guo for attrition.

Sun Quan also heard the news that Luoyang was famine and the tigers and leopards were riding in Hexi.

(End of this chapter)