I am not an ant thief in the Three Kingdoms

The situation this time reminded Zhang Baiqi that the plague may be the biggest enemy they face when they want to attack Jiangnan in the future, even stronger than Liu Bei's hundreds of thousands of troops. After all, their large army can defeat the hundreds of thousands of big Han troops Dao army, but in the face of the plague, they must be the ones who are defeated. If there are not enough doctors and herbs to prepare, I am afraid that there will be more soldiers who died of illness on the battlefield than soldiers.

It can be said that this attack on Jingzhou, even if it did not capture much territory, but the lessons learned this time can be regarded as the biggest gain.Know what to face when attacking Jiangnan, and what preparations to make.

There are only more than 20 of them now, and tens of thousands of them have already fallen ill. Zhang Baiqi can't imagine how many soldiers will fall ill if they really launch a million-strong army to attack Jiangnan, and will it cause a plague. How many more people will die?
I'm afraid that the great situation that Da Dagan has done may completely collapse because of a plague.

This is not Zhang Baiqi's wild thinking, but the plague in this era is so terrifying. Many colds in modern times are just like flu, but in this era, there is basically no cure, and they can only be cured by the patient's own immunity. Resist, if you can't bear it, you will die!
And most people in this era are short of food and clothing. Even soldiers in the army may be malnourished. In this case, what good body can be used to resist the virus.In fact, it is the majority that cannot bear it!

After discussing with Zhang Baiqi and Yang Feng, they decided to report the situation they encountered to Xu Wei in detail. Now they can only leave it to Xu Wei to find a solution. Liu Bei's attack!

Youzhou, Ji County.

Zhang Baiqi's letter was quickly passed to Xu Wei through Feige.

Xu Wei was taken aback by what Zhang Baiqi and the others said: "The soldiers who attacked Nanyang County were so seriously ill. Tens of thousands of people fell ill!"

Now Xu Wei has asked Wang Lei and Fan Xian to change the direction of attack. They will join forces to attack Xuzhou, and attack Jiujiang County in Yangzhou and Jiangxia County in Jingzhou respectively. If they want to use such a multi-way attack method, it will be difficult for Liu Bei to finish!

So he decided to take advantage of the momentum of the army, completely pull out Liu Bei's stronghold north of the Yangtze River, push the front line directly to the north of the Yangtze River, approach the city, and prepare for the next attack on Jiangnan!But he didn't expect that Zhang Baiqi and the others would receive such bad news before his army reached the south of the Yangtze River.

Then Xu Wei said fortunately: "Fortunately, the outbreak didn't happen in the Yangzhou area. When Fan Xian's navy comes to Yangzhou, it will bring us good news!"

Xu Wei knew that Jiangnan has a vast terrain, many waterways, and complex terrain, including hilly terrain and swampy land. Today's Jiangnan is not a fertile land for later generations to attack and develop, but most of the area is in a barren land. Only around the city is a little civilized. This kind of Jiangnan can be said to be a fragmented area. Even if Xu Wei has more troops, it is difficult to defeat Liu Bei at once, basically impossible.Xu Wei can only slowly devour Liu Bei's territory step by step!
It can be said that since he eliminated Cao Cao, the mode of fighting for hegemony has begun to change. The cavalry has basically withdrawn from the stage of fighting for hegemony, and has changed from a leading role to a supporting role. In the future, they can only find borders in Liangzhou, Bingzhou, and Youzhou. In order to be able to use them, there is still a need for cavalry in the Western Regions, but on the battlefield of attacking Jiangnan, the cavalry can play an extremely small role, so we must prepare to start reducing the size of the cavalry.

...

As for the infantry, they are still useful, but because they want to attack the land in the south of the Yangtze River, the infantry in the north is basically useless. In this era, the climate is not acclimatized, and it may kill people. It is difficult for the soldiers in the north to wait for the atmosphere of Jiangnan.

And even the soldiers in the Central Plains must recruit the infantry close to the Jianghuai area, and use the infantry from these places as the main force to attack Liu Bei. It is not short if these soldiers are not trained, and it will not be possible within two or three years.

At the same time, the navy is about to become the main battle force. Jiangnan in this period has not undergone much development at all. The rivers are wide, there are many swamps, and there are many lakes. This is the situation in Jiangnan at this time. Even before Liu Bei developed Nanjun, there was a Xiangyang is a large swamp.

Cao Cao was defeated in the Battle of Chibi. When he wanted to retreat, he encountered a swamp. He almost couldn't return to the Central Plains. This is still the southern county near the Yangtze River. The degree of development is the same. The counties and counties in Jingzhou are even more wild. And the Yangzhou area is not much worse than Jingzhou. This is the territory of 6 provinces in later generations. There are many rivers, swamps and lakes, but the population is not much. The practicality of ships here exceeds that of horse-drawn carriages!Fighting in such a place can only be done by using the army.

After Wang Ge saw it, he said worriedly: "The land in the south of the Yangtze River has indeed been plagued by plague these years, and our army has to pay attention to this situation. The soldiers in the south of the Yangtze River may still have a little resistance to the plague, but basically all the soldiers in our army are Soldiers in the Central Plains, they are a bit unacceptable when they come to the south of the Yangtze River. If another plague breaks out, our army may be defeated by Liu Bei. In power, if we don’t stop the southern expedition now, wait for the Jiangnan plague After the end, we will attack Jiangnan again!"

But Xu Wei shook his head and said: "Fan Xian and Wang Lei have already brought hundreds of thousands of troops to attack Yangzhou. Now we are recalling the army based on the Jingzhou epidemic, which will definitely affect the morale of the army! And our army is not Going deep into the south of the Yangtze River is not to occupy the land north of the Yangtze River, but to lay the foundation for our army to attack the south of the Yangtze River in the next step. Although the epidemic is prevalent in the south of the Yangtze River, it rarely enters the Jiangbei area!"

Jia Xu thought for a while and said, "In all dynasties, soldiers from the Central Plains and Hebei were used to attack the north, but soldiers from the south are generally used to attack the south, just to prevent acclimatization."

"The first emperor sent an elite army to attack Lingnan, but not many of the Qin army were killed by the savages in Lingnan, but most of them died from the epidemic in Lingnan. The great Qin can only rely on prisoners to attack the remnants of the six countries, and the ruling has to guard against the mistakes of the first emperor."

"Now that we have completely annexed the entire Central Plains, we can recruit hundreds of thousands of troops in Yuzhou, Xuzhou, and even Luoyang, which are close to the Central Plains, to prepare for our attack on the south of the Yangtze River."

Wang Ge thought for a while and said, "Jingzhou is indeed an evil sect in recent years, especially the epidemic and its rampant. My subordinates feel that we have occupied more than half of the entire Han Dynasty. Even if Liu Bei occupies a remote place in the south of the Yangtze River, But it’s just lingering, we don’t need to be in such a hurry to capture Jiangnan, we’d better wait a few years, when we have enough food and grass, and the army is well trained, it won’t be too late to attack Jiangnan.”

...

Now that there is a dangerous situation like epidemic disease in Jiangnan, Wang Ge also feels that this is not the time to attack Jiangnan.At the very least, they have to wait a few years after the epidemic has passed before coming to Jiangnan.

He was really very afraid of the plague. He was a commoner in Jizhou back then. When the plague broke out in Jizhou, he was the only one left in his family, and [-]% of the people in his village died.

This is because the great virtuous teacher sent his disciples to rescue their village. Otherwise, he would not dare to imagine how many people died. It was because of this encounter that he was even more afraid of the plague.

Although the morale of the Dagan army is like a rainbow, hundreds of thousands of soldiers rush to the front of the Han army, attacking and killing, but if they are infected with the plague, no matter how brave the soldiers are, it will be useless, and the Dagan army will suffer heavy casualties!

Xu Weidao: "Send a team of doctors with the best medical skills from Jizhou to support them. First let Zhang Baiqi and the others stand by. At the same time, let Fan Xian and Wang Lei pay attention to the situation of the plague. If there is such a situation, stop the attack of the army going south. pace."

At this time, after Cao Cao surrendered, Wang Lei's army rested for three days, then went directly south to Xuzhou, joined Xuzhou's attacking army, and then divided into two groups to attack all the way, all the way to Jiujiang County.

When Xu Wei's order was issued to the front line, Wang Lei and the others didn't care. After all, it was Jingzhou that had the epidemic, not Yangzhou. Yangzhou was thousands of miles away from Nanyang County. They didn't believe that the epidemic would come here!
And because Fan Xian and his navy defeated Cao Cao's army, it can even be said that Cao Cao's downfall, the navy should take the main credit. The army followed the coastline of Xuzhou all the way, and then rushed into the Huaihe River Basin.

Under the command of Fan Xian, the Daqian navy advanced by land and water, and the two armies immediately started a fierce confrontation.The Yangzhou army lost all its vigor, not to mention the coach Guan Yu, and was taken away by Guan Yu with a large number of elite troops, so that at this time, Jiujiang County was seriously insufficient in defending the main army, and it was not an opponent of the main army at all.

It can be said that Fan Xian was extremely lucky, because his navy marched so fast that the Han army had no time to defend. When Fan Xian came to the Jianghuai area, it was the time when the defense of the entire Jianghuai area was at its weakest. , Fan Xian called in suddenly.

He cooperated with the troops attacking Xuzhou, attacking by land and water.The Yangzhou defense forces were caught off guard and retreated steadily.Many of Liu Bei's defensive attacks did not work at all, and they were conquered by Fan Xian and the others.In front of Fan Xian's navy, the Jianghuai defense line was like a blank sheet of paper. With one blow, most of Jiujiang and Lujiang counties fell instantly, and the Huaihe defense line fell completely.

It was at this critical moment that Guan Yu had led his guards back to Yangzhou. After he discovered that Yangzhou was in danger of falling completely, he integrated the army and asked Huang Zhong for help. Huang Zhong also knew the importance of the Jianghuai line of defense, although he could not send The infantry supported Guan Yu, but all the navy of 1 Jiangxia County supported Guan Yu, and at the same time asked Liu Bei for help!
After Guan Yu received the assistance of Huang Zhong's navy, he began to lead Yangzhou's navy to fight Fan Xian and the others.

...

The Yangzhou Army was originally formed by Guan Yu himself. At the same time, Guan Yu was a fierce general who was defeated by thousands of people. No one in the entire Yangzhou Army was an opponent of Guan Yu. , He himself is also a very charismatic general. Everyone admires Guan Yu very much, so the combat effectiveness of the Yangzhou Army in Guan Yu's hands is still extremely strong.But now after Guan Yu came back, Yangzhou immediately found the backbone, and his combat effectiveness was immediately raised by a level.

At this time, the Dagan army had already attacked Shucheng and other places in depth. After Guan Yu returned, he immediately strengthened the defenses of the troops in Shucheng, Juchao and other places, and ordered the navy from all over the river to gather at Caishiji.Stabilize the front line at Shucheng and Juchao.

After the battle situation stabilized, Guan Yu did not sit still, because he wanted to recapture the Jianghuai defense line. Although there was no saying in this period that if you defend the Jianghuai, you must defend the Huaihe River, but Guan Yu has been fighting for decades. extremely dangerous.

So Guan Yu and his many generals tried to restore their passive strategic situation. After a while of discussion, Guan Yu put the opportunity of turning defeat into victory on the navy.

He knows that the Yangzhou Army does not have an advantage in land battles, and it can even be said to be weak. After all, the Dagan Army has won hundreds of battles in the past ten years, and it can be said that it has never been defeated on land. In the downturn, even the number of troops does not have an advantage. Guan Yu understands that it is difficult for the Yangzhou army to win land battles.

After Guan Yu and everyone thought about it, they found that they still had an advantage in the navy.

Although the number of the navy of the Dagan Army is larger than that of Guan Yu.The warship in Fan Xian's hand was not only big, but also equipped with a lot of artillery.Judging from the previous battles between the Yangzhou Navy and the Dagan Navy.They are the battleships of the navy.Warships close to the main army will be bombarded to pieces.

But this does not mean that Guan Yu's navy has no advantage.Guan Yu and the others observed several water battles, and keenly discovered that the sailors of the Dagan Army were all made to adapt to sailing.These ships are not only built strong, but also extremely large, which is an advantage at sea, but they are weak in the river.Because the water level in the Jianghuai River is low and the river is narrow, the bigger the navy, the less flexible it is!These have become disadvantages in the Jianghuai area.

But Guan Yu's navy is different. Their main combat direction is to fight along the Huaihe River and Yangtze River.Basically, flat-bottomed boats are used. Although there are also large boats, there are not many of them, and most of them are small boats.Although these warships are small, they are large in number, fast, and flexible in turning, suitable for the waterways of the Yangtze River and Huaihe River.

And Guan Yu really seized the flaw of the big army, he concentrated all the Yangzhou navy, and at the same time had the advantage of the flexibility of the small boat.He took the initiative to launch battles against the Dagan navy in the Jianghuai area many times.

Guan Yu used small warships, loaded with fire starters, waited for the warships to get close to the ships of the Dagan Army, set fire to the branches on them, and used a suicide attack to rush towards the ships of the Dagan Army. Although Fan Xian bombarded these ships with artillery However, Guan Yu had prepared several hundred of these fire boats at one time, and it was impossible for Fan Xian's artillery to sink them all.

In this water battle, Fan Xian's ship's artillery did not exert its power at all.More than a dozen warships were completely set on fire, and then Guan Yu used this tactic to defeat Fan Xian three times in a row, and the Dagan Navy was completely kicked out of the Jianghuai area.

After Guan Yu defeated the navy of the Dagan Army.The waterways in the Jianghuai area became Guan Yu's transportation route.Guan Yu ordered the Yangzhou army to stick to the city, while the water army transported troops and concentrated its forces in a small area many times.Attack the weak areas of the Dagan army and cut off the food roads of the Dagan army.Wang Lei was too tired to deal with it.

Wang Lei wanted to send troops to completely encircle and suppress Guan Yu's army, but Guan Yu seized the loophole and concentrated his superior forces to wipe out several large armies.Without the support of the navy, Wang Lei's army could hardly move an inch in the Jianghuai area.

I am not an ant thief in the Three Kingdoms