Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 360
In August and September of the 24th year of Jian'an, in just half a month, the situation in Jingzhou was reversed instantly.

Huang Zhong's army marched south, broke through Jiangling within a day, and beheaded Lu Meng.

Shen Chen then divided the main force into two groups.

About 13 people along the way encircled and suppressed Sun Jiao in Yiling Yidao, Cheng Pu in Zhouling, Sun Quan in Shaxian, and the remnants of the three Jiangdong.

On the other hand, more than [-] people marched north along the Mian River, surrounded Xiangfan, and attacked Cao's army of [-].

The news quickly spread to the rear. Guo Jia in Xinye was shocked when he heard this, and immediately sent letters to Cao Cao in Guanzhong and Cao Pi in Yecheng respectively, asking for additional reinforcements.

Not only Guo Jia, but letters and official documents from Xiahou Dun and Yu Jin were also sent to the north like raindrops every day, telling Cao Cao the current situation.

Right now, the second city of Xiangfan is in danger under Shen Chen's onslaught and is in danger of overturning, so I hope Cao Cao will come to help as soon as possible.

September [-]th was the third day when Shen Chen surrounded Xiangfan.

Shen Chen arrived in Xiangfan on September [-]th, and began to land and surround the two cities on September [-]th.

Xiahou Dun and Yu Jin's scouts ran at almost the speed of dead horses, from Xiangfan to Xinye and Wuguan, then from Wuguan to Shangluo, and finally to Cao Cao's hands.

In the county government of Hu County, Cao Cao confronted Liu Bei for more than a month in the Ganting area. In terms of food and grass, Liu Bei came from afar, and he took the lead.

Although at the beginning he wanted to defeat Liu Bei as soon as possible, and then quickly went south to cooperate with Sun Quan to destroy Shen Chen.

But Liu Bei also fought steadily and steadily, and never gave him a chance to cut off the food road, so he could only be steady first, and did not choose to force troops. He just fought fiercely in the wild several times, and the outcome was neither.

At this time, just after lunch time in the morning, official documents from all over the country had already been placed on his desk, and what Cao Cao was most concerned about was that the official documents from Xiangyang were piled up on one side.

These messages were sent a few days ago.

The content inside is still that Shen Chen abandoned Xiangfan ten days ago, and the main force went south to Jiangling. Sun Quan asked Xiahou Dun and Yu Jin to send troops to help as soon as possible.

This suggestion was approved by Cao Cao. He thought Guo Jia was right. Although he also hated Shen Chen deeply, Guo Jia was right.

Killing Shen Chen will only make Liu Bei and Sun Quan the two weak people unite. Only by making Shen Chen preserve his strength and return to Xichuan can the two of them fight for Jingzhou.

Therefore, he asked Xiahou Dun and Yu Jin to write back from Wuguan, telling them to follow Guo Jia's plan.

This is the reason why Xiahou Dun and Yu Jin did not send troops for more than ten days from late August to early September.

Several clerks in the hall of the county government are processing official documents.

Cao Cao walked into the hall just after breakfast, and asked if there were any official documents from Nanyang. He was told that there were no official documents at present, so he sat on his desk and looked at some official documents reported from other places.

At this moment, Xu Chu hurried in from outside, knelt down on one knee and said, "King Wei, urgent report from Nanyang."

"Oh?"

Cao Cao immediately put down the official document and said, "Submit it."

"only."

Xu Chu presented the official document with both hands.

After Cao Cao opened it, he only glanced at it twice before his expression changed drastically, and he shouted, "Let Sima Yi, Jiang Ji, Dong Zhao, and Huan Jie come over immediately."

"Yes."

Seeing that his expression was not good, Xu Chu knew that something serious had happened, so he hurried out of the hall and ordered the guards to summon four counselors who were currently following Cao Cao.

The four of them didn't dare to be negligent when they got the news, and they all put down their official duties one after another, and hurried to the hall of the government office.

After everyone arrived, Dong Zhaocai went up and asked, "King Wei, what happened?"

Cao Cao's face was very ugly and he said: "I have underestimated Liu Bei. He doesn't know where the soldiers and horses came from. Shen Chen personally led tens of thousands of troops north to Xiangfan and surrounded two cities."

"How is this possible?"

Everyone was shocked.

Jiang Ji even said: "Sun Quan only took action in June, when Liu Bei was still in Wudu, it took at least a month for the news to spread, even if he immediately transferred troops from Hanzhong to the south at that time, it would take three or four months. Where is it so fast?"

"Could it be from Fangling Shangyong? It's impossible. Fangling Shangyong is really close to Jingzhou, but the road is rough and difficult. Even if you send troops from Hanzhong, it will take a long time to get to Shangyong."

Sima Yi pondered: "King Wei, can you find out where the enemy army came from? How is the situation on Sun Quan's side?"

"I don't know for now."

Cao Cao shook his head: "Yu Jin's letter just said that it has been raining heavily in Xiangfan for the past few days. Shen Chen's fleet suddenly went up the river from the south of Mianshui. He has not yet understood the situation on Sun Quan's side."

Sima Yi pondered and said: "Then we can only plan for the worst. Liu Bei gathered a group of troops in a short period of time and suddenly went east along the river to attack Yiling, Yidao and Sun Quan's army in Jiangling. , because Shen Chen didn't use all his strength."

"Ah."

Cao Cao murmured: "I think so too. If he has wiped out Sun Quan, it will not be a mere tens of thousands of people, but more than a hundred thousand. Now it is not a question of finding out where the enemy army came from, but to solve the problem of Xiangfan The siege will do."

"Let Xia Houyuan and Xu Huang rush to help immediately."

Dong Zhao said immediately.

Xia Houyuan and Xu Huang garrisoned 4 troops in Shangluo, which is located in the middle of Wuguan. The north can rush to Chang'an, and the south can go to Nanyang. Arranging them here is the credit of the two sides' rush to help.

Cao Cao said with a sad face, "Shen Chen's fangs are extremely ferocious. If you just let Xia Houyuan go away slowly, you may not be able to win. You have to send talents from Yecheng."

"Then who can lead the army?"

Huan Jie asked.

When Cao Cao was asked all of a sudden, his brows were furrowed.

The situation in Jingzhou is not known now, but they only brought tens of thousands of people north to besiege Xiangfan through Shen Chen, instead of all the main forces. Judging that Sun Quan is still alive, the Jiangdong Army should only be besieged rather than destroyed, so there is still hope for the southern war.

The problem is that Cao Cao knows that Shen Chen's troops are strong, and Xia Houyuan and Xu Huang's mere 4 people may not be able to solve the siege of Xiangfan, but if he wants to continue to reinforce Nanyang, he must have an experienced general.

However, Cao Cao, who is now fighting on two fronts, is facing the dilemma of having no generals to send.

Because they are courageous and resourceful, and able to fight tough battles, there are only a few commander-level generals who can barely challenge Shen Chen.

Cao Ren died early, Cao Hong was beheaded, Xiahou Dun was in Xiangfan, and Xiahou Yuan was a reinforcement.The clan members Cao Xiu, Cao Zhen, and Xia Houshang are still relatively junior.

The first member of the clan, general Jiang Jin, was also in Xiangfan. Xu Huang followed Xia Houyuan, Zhang Liao and Xue Ti to besiege another part of the Jiangxia navy, Su Fei and Chen Sheng, in Hefei on the eastern front.

The rest Le Jin was killed, Li Dian, Shi Huan, Han Hao and others died of illness. Zang Ba and Zhang Xi had qualifications, but they belonged to the third-line generals all the year round. It must not be Shen Chen's opponent.

After thinking about it for a long time, Cao Cao went to the doctor in a hurry, and said whimsically: "Zijian has always been talented. If he is allowed to lead the army, what do you think?"

"Forehead"

Everyone looked at each other without speaking.

Only Sima Yi cupped his hands and said, "Your Highness is young and promising, maybe it can be done."

"Ah."

Cao Cao stroked his beard, tapped his chin lightly and said: "Then let Cao Zhi be the general of Nanzhong Lang, and lead the army to rescue Xiangfan. Then let Xia Houyuan and Xu Huang go south to Fancheng to rescue the siege."

"Yes."

Everyone should get down.

"Report!"

At this time, another official document was sent.

This time it was a letter from Xiahou Dun.

Because Xiahou Dun was in Xiangyang, the messenger wanted to cross the river, but he was a step slower than Yu Jin's official document.

The content of the letter is similar to that of Yu Jin's side. It is now heavy rain in Xiangfan, and Shen Chen's army is going north to surround Xiangfan. I hope Cao Cao can send reinforcements as soon as possible.

After Cao Cao's instruction, a while later, Guo Jia's letter also arrived.

Afterwards, battle reports followed one after another, and at night, more than ten battle reports in a row were delivered to Cao Cao's desk.

After Cao Cao read all these letters one by one, he responded immediately.

A letter of order was sent from Cao Cao's government office and transferred to Nanyang, Yecheng, Chendu and other places, and his order was conveyed to the garrisons in various places.

In this battle, he sent a total of three reinforcements.

The first line was led by Xia Houyuan and Xu Huang, and supervised eight ministries, each with 5000 people. The commanding ministries, Yin Shu, Zhu Gai, Zhang Shun, etc., totaled 4 people from Shangluo to Nanyang.

On the second day, Cao Zhi planned to head south from Yecheng.

The last road was led by Zang Ba, from Xuzhou to the Zhangliao Department on the eastern front, and headed for Nanyang.

It wasn't until after all the arrangements and orders were issued that Cao Cao finally had time to discuss and analyze the situation with the advisers.

Guo Jia said in his letter that although he didn't know what happened to Sun Quan, judging by the number of enemy troops, the Jiangdong army should not have been wiped out.

This point of view coincides with that of the advisers around Cao Cao.

Because now the Caowei Group doesn't know what happened in Nanjun, and their only information is one - that Shen Chen suddenly led an army of tens of thousands to surround Xiangfan.

As for how he stood out from Sun Quan's siege, no one knew where the large number of ships suddenly appeared in Xiangfan.

According to the known information, more than half a month ago, Shen Chen was still alone with tens of thousands of troops, surrounded by Sun Quan and Cao Cao. Among them, the total number of Jingzhou troops was about 12, and only 5 of the [-] people in the Huangshe Department were in Xiakou. , [-] in Wancheng.

Shen Chen's army had 7 troops, of which more than 3 were in Jiangling. Wenpin Zhou Buyi's 5000 had just left Xiangfan and retreated to the south. Zhao Yun and Shamoke attacked Yiling with 2 in Zhijiang.

Cao Jun's 10 people are distributed in Xiangfan, Xinye and other places.

More than 6 members of Sun Jiao’s troops of Sun Quan’s army are distributed in Yiling and Yidao, about 5 of Lu Meng’s troops are in Jiangling, about [-] of Sun Quan’s headquarters are in Zhouling and Shaxian, and there are [-] to [-] defenders in Xiling, Jiangxia .

That is to say, the frontal battlefield in Nanjun is that Shen Chen's army has less than 10 people, and it is against the 27 Cao-Sun coalition army. It can be said that the real enemy is outnumbered.

It stands to reason that in such a headwind situation, it is impossible for Shen Chen to make a comeback if he is still caught between the east, west, north, and south sides.

But now that such a situation has emerged, other things will naturally happen.

Therefore, everyone combined all kinds of factors, combined with Guo Jia's guess, and they believed that Liu Bei should have prepared a navy in Yizhou to kill at the critical moment, cooperate with Shen Chen to surround Sun Quan's army, and then go north to destroy Xiangfan Cao's army.

Cao Cao also agreed with everyone's deduction. At the end, he looked around and sighed and said: "The boy who sells shoes is unpredictable. He actually ambushed a navy army early and killed the widow. Sun Quan was caught off guard. The widow had no choice but to suspect that Sun Quan planned to attack Jingzhou He already knew about it."

"No matter what happens, the top priority now is to rescue Xiangfan."

Jiang Ji pondered and said: "It would be even better if we could help Sun Quan get rid of his siege. Why don't the King of Wei deploy troops in Henan, let Yanzhou Governor Pei Qian conscript recruits, and let Xue Ti and Wen Hui from Huainan come from Lujiang?" Go south, go to Xiakou to relieve the siege?"

"Recruitment of recruits?"

Cao Cao pointed to the pile of official documents on the other side, and said with a wry smile: "You don't know, the rebellion in the rear is endless. Over the years, the front line has been fighting endlessly with Liu Bei, the corvee is serious, and the people are miserable. From last year to this year alone, there have been no fewer than two rebellions in various places. Ten times, and recruit recruits again, the whole of Henan will be turned against."

Historically, Cao Cao's rear has been unstable. This year, there are several times recorded, such as the rebellion of Geng Ji, Wei Huang, Wei Xi, etc., and the rebellion of Sun Lang, Hou Yin, etc., especially after the flooding of the Seventh Army. , Lu Hun's group of bandits received Yu's seal from afar, and branched out for it, and Yu's power shocked China.

The main reason is that Cao Cao has been fighting in those years, attacking Guanzhong, fighting Ma Chao, Ping Hansui, and conquering Zhanglu, and then the Battle of Hanzhong broke out. The people are in dire straits.

Not only Cao Cao, Liu Bei's battle in Hanzhong was also very difficult.Shu County and Ba County transported grain to Hanzhong. The logistics pressure was huge, and a large number of peasants were recruited, so that the corvee continued and the farming was delayed, making the people of Bashu miserable.

For this reason, he made an extremely important strategic mistake at the time, that is, after defeating Cao Cao, he immediately withdrew his troops back to Shu County to appease the people and lighten the corvee to handle internal affairs.

The result is that after Liu Bei left Hanzhong, Cao Cao's pressure was greatly reduced, so he began to deal with Guan Yu wholeheartedly, dispatched various troops to assist Cao Ren, and finally repelled Guan Yu, broke the siege of Xiangfan, and indirectly helped Sun Quan get Jingzhou.

The same is true now.

Cao Cao conquered Guanzhong, traveled long distances, had great logistical pressure, and the people were under heavy corvee, which led to endless rebellions in the rear.

Although Liu Bei's situation is similar, the battle of Wudu has been fought for more than half a year, and Liu Bei is also facing difficulties in logistical supplies.

But Liu Bei did one thing better than Cao Cao, that is, he suppressed the wealthy families, liberated a large number of people, and at the same time promoted Champa rice, which greatly improved productivity.

Through these measures, Liu Bei was barely able to support it, and now he is traveling a long distance to attack Guanzhong, but he is not on the verge of collapse.

Therefore, Cao Cao and Liu Bei are actually stretching their bowstrings now, and are beginning to grit their teeth to fight for national strength.

If Cao Cao recruits civilian husbands and recruits new soldiers now, it will be like the last straw that crushes the camel's camel. It is very likely to trigger a large-scale rebellion in Henan, and Cao Jun in Nanyang will have no way to rescue him.

Therefore, unless the country is about to perish, the foundation of the country must not be shaken.

At the end, Cao Cao stood up from the table, walked slowly to the entrance of the hall, covered his forehead that was getting more and more painful, and sighed, "I hope Yuan Rang and them will be safe and sound."

bang.

I don't know when.

Guanzhong also began to rain.

This battle between Liu Bei and Cao Cao.

Although I am not in Jingzhou, Jingzhou has become the key to their survival!
　Some people still say that taking half of Jingzhou is just to lure Sun Quan to attack. It is a loss of watermelon and picking up sesame seeds. I can only say that this battle involves the national fortunes of three countries, and half of Jingzhou is used to gamble on the other two countries. National Luck, why not gamble?It's because I'm out of my mind that I don't gamble, I'm still talking about my insanity, it's really annoying.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)